The speaker of W. H. Auden's poem “The Unknown Citizen” gives recognition and admiration to an unidentified and nameless national who is described as a “saint”. In contrast to the aforementioned, W.H. Auden ridicules the speaker and his values by making clear and direct implications that through his lifetime of...

In the most commonly accepted versions of the poem “Barbara Allan,” there are several characters in the poem, all of whom have roles, albeit small in some cases, to play in the poem. However, the two main characters, Barbara Allan and Sir John, do more than play the most important...

This paper will focus on two poems by Amiria Baraka / Leroi Jones. It will demonstrate how they can be used in order to trace Baraka's own development from a poet influenced by the Beat and bohemian tradition of New York's Lower East Side to a much more radical aesthetic...

The most striking quality of Gwendolyn Brooks's “The Bean Eaters” is a sharpness fused with the poetic. The three stanzas present a point of view that is pointed and hard, even as the poet finally embraces the lyrical. The hardness exists through approach and tone; it is as though Brooks...

While reading Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “One Art”, it is easy to picture an older woman sitting in a rocking chair with warm tea and a ball of yarn for knitting. She has been to so many places and seen so many things. Instead of talking about those things while sharing...