“ A Poison Tree”

 

                The poem entitled “ A Poison Tree” by William Blake talks about the anger felt by the persona. It is seen in the way the title of the poem was constructed and although it is not a complete sentence the meaning of its title is methaporically compared to a growing anger. In the first stanza the worse such as friend and foe show contradiction and disunity of the idea that the persona felt anger between friend and foe. In the second stanza through the use of the worse watered and sunned, it can be noted that it pertains to a growing plant. The poem also contains the rhyme scheme of aa, bb, cc, dd, ee, ff, and so on, it is an indication that the poem manifest continuous and growing attitude. the words that are used in the poem shows two opposing idea and consistently used in the first stanza; friend and foe; end and grow; second stanza- watered and sunned; night and morning.

                Also, in the first stanza the word “angry” can be associated to a seed of anger that is felt by the persona that instead of telling to a foe his emotion he tried to hide it by him. Thus, the more the persona hides the anger the more it grows just like a tree. In the third stanza it describes the growth of the tree through the use of words such as: grew, bore and shine. And although it creates a positive image the use of it in the poem still creates the opposite meaning. Thus, the kind of tree determines the kind of fruit it will bear, much as the anger felt by the persona and its result.

“The Daffodils”

“Daffodils” by William Wordsworth Longfellow is a poem consist of four stanzas that used descriptive language throughout the development of the peom. It suggests the idea of beauty of nature and how it affects human emotion. The title of the poem also suggest the time from which the poem was written, it reminds the arrival of spring season and that symbolizes new beginning and hope for mankind. Aside from the descriptive language used in the poem it is also important to note the use of figure of speech such as simile (I wandered lonely as a cloud), hyperbole (ten thousand saw I at a glance), and alliteration of the letter ‘h’ to the word hill and high (both pertaining to nature) found in the second line of the first stanza. The word daffodils was also compared to the “… stars that shine and twinkle on the milky way”, the author probably wanted to tell the reader how blessed the mankind is with the beauty of nature bestowed to us by God. Furthermore, the author used the abovementioned line in order to show what he felt in front of the bunch of daffodils.

                The poem has a rhyme scheme of AB AB CC DEDE, GH GH II and JJ KK LL it sugeests a continuous eotion manifested the mood of happiness, joy and hope.

The Other Two

                                The story entitled “The Other Two” exhibits the feminine and masculine attributes of the main characters in the story. Mrs. Alice Waythorn signifies the masculine characteristics; she was described by her husband as a woman that has the perfectly balanced nerves, that is usually a characteristics of a man as a superior in the society. Her husband, Mr. Wythorn on the other hand signifies the feminine characteristics, this was shown in the way he thinks. It was mentioned in the middle of the story that although Mr. Waythorn shold act as a man, his thoughts suggest the other way.

                “Waythorn, waiting in his private room wondered what the other thought of it. The newspapers, at the time of Mrs. Wythorn’s marriage, had acquainted their readers with every detail of her previous matrimoal ventures, and Waythorn cold fancy the derks smiling behind barick’s back as he was ushered in ”.

                It is also noticeable in the story how the other two husbands help in the development of the whole story especially the character of Mr. Waythorn and Mrs. Waythorn. That is the feminine characteristics of Mr. Wayhtorn and the masculine characteristics of Mrs. Waythorn are the cause of having”the other two characters” in the story.  This line suggest the gender oprresion of women and men as a superior, it is regard that a woman is a possession of her husband, Mr. Waythorn.

                “Waythorn felt himself yielding again to the joy of possesorship. They we his, those white hands with their flitting motions, his light haze of her hair and the lips and eyes…”

                This also suggest the stereotyping of men in the society, the term “sex parasite” is also attributed to the character of Alice Waythorn because during the time when the author Edith Wharton wrote the story she constructed the character to reflect the kind of women in the society.

The Cask of Amontillado

The story of Edgar Allan Poe The Cask of Amontillado talks about how Fotunato’s fate turned badly after he was buried alive by MOntresor. Edgar Allan Poe probably got this idea when he heard the story of the duel between the soldiers when he was a private in the year 1827. Edgar Allan Poe associated to the persona of two soldiers Lieutenant Massie and Captain Green. Since Edgar Allan Poe was known for his story about death and mystery, he was able to placed the theme of death in the story, death for Fortunato’s fate. The catacomb that was mentioned in the story plays a significant role in the life of Edgar Allan Poe during his stay at the Fort Independence when he was still a soldier, where he spent his spent his time writing stories like “The Cask of Amontillado”. The suspense in the story is where Montressor led Fortunato to the catacomb, Fortunato followed Montresor plan without doubt that his life will soon to end, much as with the genre used by Poe.