In Earle Birney’s descriptive lyric poem “Vancouver Lights” written during the Second World War, a reader is introduced to the poem through a visual panorama of sky, ocean, and city from on top of a mountain. The speaker is expressing his feelings of both celebration for human accomplishment and pessimism for probable doom while over-looking wartime Vancouver on a moonless night. Earle Birney alludes to Greek mythology throughout the poem, but the most prominent and chief allusion is to Prometheus, which is skillfully placed in the last stanza of the poem as it sparks the light to the underlying meaning. Earle Birney’s allusion to the Prometheus myth presents the poem in a way that reinforces the ultimate juxtaposition of lightness and darkness …show more content…
As one version of the myth goes, Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus were punished for not fighting alongside the Titans and were sent down to earth and given the task of creating man and protecting him. Prometheus gifted man fire and allowed him to stand upright like the gods. In a food sacrificing ritual to the gods, Zeus was tricked by Prometheus, which angered him very much. As punishment, he took fire from man and returned it to the heavens. Prometheus, who loved man dearly, defiantly climbed back up to the heavens and stole fire to return it to man. His punishment was to be eternally bound to a mountain while an eagle fed on his liver daily. Another punishment was the creation of a woman named Pandora who was to be married to Prometheus’s brother. As a wedding gift, she was given a box and told not to open it, which of course, curiously, she did, releasing all the evils in the world today. As she closed the box, only hope remained, locked …show more content…
When Birney writes “No one bound Prometheus Himself he chained / and consumed his own bright liver”, he is telling us that Prometheus, like humans, is the master of his own fate. He is responsible for his own suffering, even if it came at the cost of stealing fire and bringing light to man again. After Birney’s retelling of Prometheus, Pluto, the god of the underworld, who, by extension, represents darkness and gloom, signifies human’s darker impulses. Yet, after this dark reference, with the open-endedness of the last line: “there was light” (40), Birney concludes his poem with
The book "A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park explores the life of Salva, an 11-year-old boy living in South Sudan, after he is displaced by the Sudanese Civil War. First, in 1985, Salva and his classmates are instructed to run into the bush to escape the gunfire that was heard not far from the school. Then, he joins a group of travelers who are walking away from the war in Sudan, but they abandon him in a barn one evening while he is still asleep. After spending a few days with the barn's owner, Salva is sent away with a different group of travelers, must of whom accept him grudgingly. The group walks for a month toward Ethiopia, and eventually they arrive to the Itang refugee camp in Ethiopia.
Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikealson, teaches you that Justice should heal not punish. Cole Mathews is a troubled kid who beats up a kid named Peter Driscal. He gets in trouble and gets an opportunity to go to Circle Justice. Cole is banished to a remote Alaskan island where he gets mauled by a bear. This helps Cole realize that he has been taking the wrong path of life.
On July 5, 2016, Alton Sterling was fatally shot by Blane Salamoni, a Baton Rouge police officer, in a convenience store parking lot. Salamoni was responding to a call about a man brandishing a gun and thought that Sterling fit the description of the suspect. However, when Salamoni arrived at the scene, he immediately became violent in his use of force on Sterling. Body camera footage shows Salamoni “slamming him into a car; twice ordering the second officer, Howie Lake II, to use his Taser; and threatening to shoot Mr. Sterling with a gun pointed at his head” (Fausset, 2018). Also shown in the video is Sterling doing his best to follow Salamoni’s orders although he was being pushed around by officers for the duration of the encounter.
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns showcases various trials of grief and how characters deal with it. At the beginning of the book, the death of Mattie Lou Toy, a beloved grandmother, wife and mother sends shockwaves through Cold Sassy. The later deaths of Campbell Williams and Rucker Blakeslee shatter everyone even more. The loved ones display all different types of grieving processes including uniquely distressing ones for grieving spouses and children. Grief can harm an individual’s physical and mental health and can cause many long term issues.
One main theme present in this essay is the fact that suffering is inevitable. Everyone goes through their own type of suffering. In the essay, the deer was tied up and it was struggling to be let free, where as Alan McDonald was suffering as he was burnt two times. At a closer view, all of the travellers were also suffering mentally. They very much wanted to free the deer
In the book “A Long Walk to Water,” by Linda Sue Park, there are two stories that take place in Southern Sudan. Both stories overlap each other at the end. One of the stories is a fictional story and takes place in 2008 with a character named Nya. The other story is the true story of a boy named Salva and it takes place in 1980. Nya’s and Salva’s story both have social and cultural issues that they must face.
In the eyes of Aristotle, there are three modes of persuasion in order to successfully persuade the reader. These three modes are ethos, which deals with the character of the author, pathos, which deals with the emotional influence of the author on the speaker, and logos, which deals with the the author’s appeal to logical reasoning. Paul Bogard utilizes ethos, pathos, and logos in order to effectively build an argument persuading the audience against the world’s growing reliance on artificial light in his article “Let There be Dark.” Bogard is able to establish his credibility and put himself in the audience's good graces through a short personal anecdote. Next, he puts the audience in a good emotional state with his appealing word connotation.
The story of Icarus is a well known Greek myth that depicts the dangers of untamed hubris. Within the myth, Icarus, foolishly ignores his father’s warnings on the usage of his wax wings. With reckless abandon, he flies too close to the sun, his wings melt, and the result is him tragically falling to his death. The story is a simple enough, but remains a timeless allegory remembered centuries later. Nathaniel Hawthorne, if nothing else, was a master of the art of allegory.
“My heart is really pounding” I said. “That’s how you know you’re having fun” Margo said (Green 44). Paper Towns, written by John Green is a suspenseful, realistic fiction, romantic novel that takes place in orlando, Florida. Margo Roth Spiegelman and Quentin Jacobs are the two main characters in the story. Margo is the antagonist of the story; she is a girl who does things to get attention from others.
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” - E.E. Cummings. That’s exactly what Quinntin did to his life. Paper Towns by John Green is about a girl, Margo, and a boy, Quinntin. Margo is a straight A student with a decent family, but wants a new life or as she explains it, a non paper town life.
The trees burned. People rushed about screaming. ”Phaethon learned his father was right and not to lie. As a result of lying, Phaethon died and went too far down. He got punished for that by getting killed by
I have finished reading the book, Paper Towns by John Green. This book is about a boy named Quentin who is in love with this girl named Margo Roth Spiegelman. The problem is the Quentin would be considered a geek. However, Margo Roth Spiegelman is this really popular and down to Earth girl. She loves going on adventures and doesn’t fear danger.
While reading the book Paper Towns by John Green I noticed many things about the characters. One particular character, Margo, I was really fascinated by and I paid attention to everything she did. Margo is one of the main characters of the story, and most of the book is about finding her when she goes missing. As soon as I found out that she was missing I immediately started trying to figure out why she would leave.
Kathalyn Sinthavong Mr. Petersen English / period 3 28 April 2016 Paper Towns In the book Paper Towns by John Green the first part of the setting is taking place at Jefferson Park located in Orlando, Florida. Jefferson Park used to be a navy base but the navy didn’t need it anymore so they returned the land to citizens of Orlando, Florida, who decided to build a massive subdivision. Before Jefferson Park was a Pleasantville, and before it was a navy base, it belonged to an actual Jefferson, Dr. Jefferson Jefferson. Dr. Jefferson Jefferson wasn’t actually a doctor of any kind, he was just an orange juice salesman named Jefferson Jefferson.
Imagine if your crush breaks into your bedroom in the middle of the night and asks you to go on a mischievous adventure with you? Well, that happens in Paper Towns by John Green. The genre Paper Towns falls into is a YA novel, but it is also a mystery, and a coming of age novel. Quentin Jacobsen and Margo Roth Spiegelman go on a all nighter. They go around town getting revenge on their classmates that have done disgraceful things to Margo and Quentin.