Newest Literature Essays

In ‘The Woman in Black’ Spider is an anthropomorphic character. He takes the form of a small dog owned by Samuel Daily. Although easily overlooked, the importance of Spider as a literary device in the novel should not be overlooked. The first...

The expression of human thought and emotion, art, has been around as long as humanity itself. Its emotional power has shaped the contemplation of many, from ancient Greek philosophers to postmodern writers. Martin McDonagh’s “The Pillowman” and...

Many people are under the impression that humans have evolved past their origins, that they have risen above animalistic tendencies; however, mankind forever remains part of the animal kingdom, and such a truism is demonstrated within Yann Martel’...

In ‘Emporium’, Gwen Harwood uses an extended metaphor to explore how women are presented with an illusion of choice, but are ultimately shamed and pressured into making choices that align with society’s ideals. By beginning the poem with a...

Western literature has long been dominated by an imposing patriarchal vision, privileging the voices of men in creating written records of their experiences, commonly centered around conventional heterosexual desire and affluent “artist”...

Nature in its many facets is a frequent topic of Dickinson’s poems, and she often chooses one or two specific elements to closely describe in her unique voice. In closely examining a specific item or instance, she often tries to see it from an...

In eighteenth-century America, a veritable tossed salad of people were coalescing into one place, forming a new nation with a unique identity. The world was watching to see what they would become – some with anticipation, some ready for mockery....

A word that features prominently in Tolkien’s first published work about Middle-Earth is “adventure.” The initial spark of the plot is Gandalf’s proposition that Bilbo accompany him on an adventure, and throughout The Hobbit, this is how Bilbo...

The play Electra by Sophocles has long been regarded as an excellent tragedy, from Cicero calling it a “masterpiece” (Csapo 67) to widespread modern praise. However, most of the critical discourse centers not around evaluating the larger picture...

The struggle for purpose, identity, and fulfillment has been difficult for a young woman in America through the centuries, as depicted by the various iterations of American domestic literature. From the “angel in the house” trope to feminist...

Studying literature from across the world has many merits, including seeing the vast scope of how people thought about the world around them and what it meant to live and be human. In many of these stories, women tend to get the short end of the...

‘Why Do You Stay Up So Late’, written by Don Paterson, introduces the poet’s vivid thoughts and feelings through the depictions of childhood memories, imagination and metaphoric recollections within the given extract. Don Paterson allows for the...

‘Marrysong’, written by Dennis Scott, focuses on the trials, tribulations and complexities of romantic human relationships when they metamorphose into marriage. Dennis Scott’s pictorial thoughts and feelings are expressed through the depictions of...

Sharmaji, written by Anjana Appachana, introduces its main protagonist, Sharma, as a proud, pretentious and petty man through the author's depictions of characters' emotions and reactions within one significant scene. Appachana allows for the...

‘The Planners’, written by Boey Kim Cheng, focuses on the animosity of various individuals responsible for the industrialisation of land in Singapore. Due to the ontogenesis, Cheng illusifies the ideology of development as a relentless race for...

The autobiographical novel and film My Left Foot demonstrates a wide range of interactions and attitudes between all those Christy encountered, ranging from his youth to his eventual success as a writer and painter and his marriage. As an...

Modernism was a radical method that yearned to revitalize the way modern-day civilization considered life, art, politics, and science. This rebellious mindset flourished between 1900 and 1930. With the arrival of World War II, modern-day...

Sult, written by Knut Hamsun, is a story that brutally illustrates the effect that one man’s hunger has on his life and work. Often referred to as “one of the great novels of urban alienation" (Heller 29), Hamsun takes a natural condition, hunger,...

In simple times, when work is easy and neighbors help each other, life is a blessed state. In troubled times, however, bitterness and hardship take their toll on society and replace goodwill with malice. The true account told in Zeitoun, by Dave...

Human beings, as thinkers, tend to assume that there is a causation for everything. Whether it can be proved through physics, psychology, or experimentation, most natural phenomenons have several explanatory theories that attempt to explain why...

Whilst this is a credible assessment of Yeats’s later works and can be supported through analysis of the poems ‘Crazy Jane talks with a Bishop’ and ‘The Tower’, it is a limited and superficial view which fails to grasp the metaphorical meaning of...

During the reign of Augustus Caesar, wartime conquests led to large expansions of the Roman Empire. With the addition of new territories as a result of each successful military campaign, the Roman people came to strengthen the longstanding...

In her 1688 novel, Oroonoko, Aphra Behn introduces her readers to an African prince who is sold into slavery in the Caribbean. Just seven years later, in 1695, Oroonoko was adapted by Thomas Southerne and performed on English stages. Using Behn’s...

Whether from one city to the next, one country to the next, or one continent to the next, travel is essential in allowing people to form new ideas about the world around them. Travel allows a person to step outside of the bubble of comfort that...