The Great War brought about passionate feelings in all that it touched - from soldiers in the fray to the families left behind to mind the home. There were many who truly believed in the cause and saw it to be a battle of good against evil. For those American...

A comparison of William Blake’s poems “Holy Thursday” from Songs of Innocence (1789) and from Songs of Experience (1794) perfectly illustrates the dialectic between what Blake calls the “contrary states of the human soul” as they respectively depict completely opposite perspectives of a single event. The poems describe an Easter...

The poem “The Law of the Jungle” by Rudyard Kipling instructs the readers on the crucial importance of cooperation and discipline in the society by detailing the rights and responsibilities of the wolf pack. The words “The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf...

The nature of Renaissance poetry, certainly as seen in the sonnets of Shakespeare, is both complex and rich in meaning. The poet uses elegant language, strict iambic pentameter structure, metaphors, and other devices to “paint a picture,” and one usually expressing a deeply personal concern. The devices then add to...

The cultural moment of the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s was an especially significant time in American history for the literary, artistic, and musical expression of the Blacks who shaped its experience. While there were many influential creative people who shared in this important era, Langston Hughes is a writer...