English Literature -5th Semester Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American journalist, novelist, short-story writer, and sportsman. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his adventurous lifestyle and his public image brought him admiration from later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short-story collections, and two nonfiction works. Three of his novels, four short-story collections, and three nonfiction works were published posthumously. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature. Hemingway was raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After high school, he was a reporter for a few months for The Kansas City Star before leaving for the Italian Front to enlist as an ambulance driver in World War I. In 1918, he was seriously wounded and returned home. His wartime experiences formed the basis for his novel A Farewell to Arms (1929). In 1921, Hemingway married Hadley Richardson, the first of four wives. They moved to Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent and fell under the influence of the modernist writers and artists of the 1920s' "Lost Generation" expatriate community. His debut novel The Sun Also Rises was published in 1926. He divorced Richardson in 1927 and married Pauline Pfeiffer; they divorced after he returned from the Spanish Civil War, where he had been a journalist. He based For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) on his experience there. Martha Gellhorn became his third wife in 1940; they separated after he met Mary Welsh in London during World War II. He was present with the troops as a journalist at the Normandy landings and the liberation of Paris. Hemingway maintained permanent residences in Key West, Florida (in the 1930s) and Cuba (in the 1940s and 1950s). He almost died in 1954 after two plane crashes in as many days; these consecutive accidents left him in pain and ill health for much of the rest of his life. In 1959, he bought a house in Ketchum, Idaho, where, in mid-1961, he ended his own life.

Ernest Hemingway Biography (1899–1961) Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway is seen as one of the great American 20th century novelists, and is known for works like 'A Farewell to Arms' and 'The Old Man and the Sea.' Who Was Ernest Hemingway? Ernest Hemingway served in World War I and worked in journalism before publishing his story collection In Our Time. He was renowned for novels like The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. In 1954, Hemingway won the Nobel Prize. He committed suicide on July 2, 1961, in Ketchum, Idaho.

Early Life and Career Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Cicero (now in Oak Park), Illinois. Clarence and Grace Hemingway raised their son in this conservative suburb of Chicago, but

the family also spent a great deal of time in northern Michigan, where they had a cabin. It was there that the future sportsman learned to hunt, fish and appreciate the outdoors.

In high school, Hemingway worked on his school newspaper, Trapeze and Tabula, writing primarily about sports. Immediately after graduation, the budding journalist went to work for the Kansas City Star, gaining experience that would later influence his distinctively stripped-down prose style.

He once said, "On the Star you were forced to learn to write a simple declarative sentence. This is useful to anyone. Newspaper work will not harm a young writer and could help him if he gets out of it in time."

Military Experience In 1918, Hemingway went overseas to serve in World War I as an ambulance driver in the Italian Army. For his service, he was awarded the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery, but soon sustained injuries that landed him in a hospital in Milan.

There he met a nurse named Agnes von Kurowsky, who soon accepted his proposal of marriage, but later left him for another man. This devastated the young writer but provided fodder for his works "A Very Short Story" and, more famously, A Farewell to Arms.

Still nursing his injury and recovering from the brutalities of war at the young age of 20, he returned to the United States and spent time in northern Michigan before taking a job at the Toronto Star.

It was in Chicago that Hemingway met Hadley Richardson, the woman who would become his first wife. The couple married and quickly moved to Paris, where Hemingway worked as a foreign correspondent for the Star.

Life in Europe In Paris, Hemingway soon became a key part of what Gertrude Stein would famously call "The Lost Generation." With Stein as his mentor, Hemingway made the acquaintance of many of the great writers and artists of his generation, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Pablo Picasso and James Joyce. In 1923, Hemingway and Hadley had a son, John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway. By this time, the writer had also begun frequenting the famous Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain.

In 1925, the couple, joining a group of British and American expatriates, took a trip to the festival that would later provide the basis of Hemingway's first novel, The Sun Also Rises. The novel is widely considered Hemingway's greatest work, artfully examining the postwar disillusionment of his generation.

Soon after the publication of The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway and Hadley divorced, due in part to his affair with a woman named Pauline Pfeiffer, who would become Hemingway's second wife shortly after his divorce from Hadley was finalized. The author continued to work on his book of short stories, Men Without Women.

Critical Acclaim Soon, Pauline became pregnant and the couple decided to move back to America. After the birth of their son Patrick Hemingway in 1928, they settled in Key West, Florida, but summered in Wyoming. During this time, Hemingway finished his celebrated World War I novel A Farewell to Arms, securing his lasting place in the literary canon.

Ernest Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls. For Whom The Bell Tolls. Ernest Hemingway. Themes Love Love wins even if it is cut short by death, injury, fear, or disgust. Robert Jordan and Maria quickly realize that they love each other beyond anything either of them has ever felt. Maria asks Pilar about how to approach sleeping with Jordan, and she worries that he will not truly love her because she is damaged from the rape. But Pilar tells her that truly loving someone and making love to that person can heal what was taken from her before. Jordan tells her "Thee, they cannot touch. No one has touched thee, little rabbit," meaning that she is still herself inside, no matter what someone has done to her physically, and that this is the person he loves, the Maria inside. It only takes that night to make them both believe that they are one person, that they are meant to be husband and wife, which is what they call each other on the third day. When they are forced to separate, Jordan says they are together, always. Love even enters the relationship of Pilar and Pablo, two people who almost seem to hate each other: Pilar insults and shouts at Pablo while he drinks himself into a stupor. But when Pablo throws out the equipment to blow up the bridge and stays away for the night, he is incredibly lonely without Pilar. He may fear death, and for that, Pilar is disgusted with him and ashamed of him. When he comes back and admits his wrongs, she feels the strength of his love for her. She can't help but return it, because he did the honorable and right thing for her sake, not just by returning, but by bringing men and horses to help repair the damage he has done to the mission. Courage and Self-Sacrifice In For Whom the Bell Tolls, courage is a necessity. Robert Jordan believes that courage involves not thinking and just doing, being so emotionally cold so that one can move forward and complete missions. But he discovers there is more to courage than he thought. His courage is tested at every turn, especially when he has to figure out how to wire the bridge without the materials that Pablo threw away. Anselmo's willingness to do this with him serves as a model of courage. Pablo also shows courage when he comes back to admit that he destroyed vital equipment for blowing up the bridge, and although he still hates Robert Jordan and doesn't want to do this job, he overcomes his fear of death for Pilar in order not to lose her. All of his guerrillas are willing to risk their lives, so he must risk his own in order to stay with her. The theme of courage is also shown in the lack of it, exemplified by Marty's paranoia. He suspects

everyone of treachery, and while he thinks he's being courageous by impeding progress, he is avoiding having anything happen to him at all, and this is an unforgivable lack of courage that affects everyone around him. Courageous self-sacrifice is part of what it takes to fight in any war, but particularly in the Spanish Civil War where only one side really had the advantage. The Republicans had few resources and were far less organized than the Nationalists because countries were unwilling to support a group who gained the support of Stalin's Russia (a brutal totalitarian regime with state-controlled media and education). The Republicans were left to their own devices, having to deal with Stalin's rationing of weapons and supplies, as well as disorganized volunteers and infighting between communist and socialist factions. In the novel the guerrillas living in the mountains sacrifice their homes and their comfort in order to take down the Nationalists. When Maria begins to do things for Robert Jordan that a wife would do, she tells him to promise that if there is ever any need he will shoot her. Then when Jordan breaks his leg, he sacrifices his happiness with Maria and probably his life by staying behind, while Maria and the rest of the guerrillas escape with their lives. Horrors of War The horrors of war are everywhere. The deaths of Maria's family and her rape at the hands of the Nationalists are only one example. The Fascist cavalryman who is forced to behead the people he kills in order to prove they are dead is horrified at the idea because it's so disrespectful. And Republicans are not immune to creating horrors of their own. The killing of priests is common, as the Church sides with the Nationalists, and people like Pablo are willing to shoot their own if they need their horses. The story Pilar tells of Pablo directing the bludgeoning of a village full of Fascists is so evil that it even upsets Pilar, who has become used to seeing people killed. The fact that Pablo was disappointed that the priest he killed didn't give a better performance as he died speaks of how far some killers have gone in their minds. But some of the Republican guerrillas don't want to have to kill anyone, and the day that Robert Jordan and Anselmo have to kill people to get to the bridge to wire it with explosives is a terrible day for both of them. Anselmo, in particular, is crying because he has had to kill people, and he hates it. He believes it is a sin to kill a man, even to kill the Fascists, and he realizes that in war it has to be done, but he doesn't believe in killing other people. Source: Course Hero For Whom The Bell Tolls. Ernest Hemingway. Symbols Ernest Hemingway uses symbols in For Whom the Bell Tolls to represent the essence of the relationships between major characters in the novel, the vulnerability they experience in hiding, and their physical environment. Rabbit In Spain rabbits are commonly used as meat, so they represent nourishment. Pilar cooks rabbit stews for the guerrillas, and they "eat like generals." Rabbits are also sweet little creatures, so in addition to calling Maria guapa, meaning "beautiful," Robert Jordan also calls her "little rabbit," a term of endearment. Both references appear frequently in the novel. However the term "rabbit" is also used to represent the vulnerability of the guerrillas in the mountains. The peasants are hunted down like rabbits, meaning that they are easy prey. Pines Pines are part of the landscape in the Spanish Pyrenees, and they serve as protection for the guerrillas, shielding them from gunfire and keeping them out of sight. The ground is covered with pine

needles, and they can either cushion a person who is hiding or they can get into one's weaponry, bags, and clothing. The smell of the pines is everywhere in the mountains, and Robert Jordan also enjoys the beauty of the sunlight through the pines to keep him occupied as he waits for the perfect moment to shoot a sentry. As a symbol the pine needles provide a connection to nature and the land of Spain, with which Robert Jordan has a physical relationship that mirrors his relationship with Maria. Sleeping Robe The sleeping robe is one of Robert Jordan's prized possessions, and it is extremely warm. Jordan uses it to sleep outside the cave. When Maria comes to make love to him under the sleeping robe, it represents safety and the warmth of their love. At the end of each full day in the novel, they are again safe in each other's arms under the sleeping robe. Planes The guerrillas in the mountains are only armed with explosives and guns, but the Fascists are heavily armed thanks to help from other countries. The planes bombing El Sordo on the hill are an example of how unprepared the disorganized Republicans are in fighting such a powerful enemy. Planes are also able to see all of the people hiding below, so for the guerrillas, they represent the vulnerability of hiding in the woods and the hopelessness of being so vulnerable to attack. Some unknown facts: In Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, published in 1940, American protagonist Robert Jordan fights alongside the Spanish forces during the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. As he fights for the Republican government against the Fascist regime led by Francisco Franco, Jordan experiences war in vivid, graphic, and illuminating ways. A well-traveled expatriate himself, Hemingway conveys the inevitable brutalities of war and considers the effects of technology on warfare. Concerned with the rise of automatic weapons and explosives in particular, For Whom the Bell Tolls is a solemn reflection on the similarities and differences between modern warfare and the battles of "primitive" civilizations—and how technology has made killing more impersonal. 1. Hemingway borrowed his title from a famous poet. The 17th-century English poet John Donne wrote in "Meditation 17" from Devotions upon Emergent Occasions: Any man's death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind, And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. Hemingway chose this title to reflect how, so many years after Donne, humankind was still interconnected yet torn apart by war, chaos, and death. The same poem by Donne is also the source of the adage "No man is an island." 2. For Whom the Bell Tolls was inspired by Hemingway's time as a reporter. Hemingway actually traveled to Spain during the Spanish Civil War in 1937 as a reporter for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Hemingway sided with the Republican government, while his wife supported Franco's Fascist regime. 3. For Whom the Bell Tolls was cheated out of winning a Pulitzer Prize. In 1941 the members of the Pulitzer Prize board voted For Whom the Bell Tolls as the winner.

However, the chairman, Nicholas Murray Butler, vetoed this decision because he was offended by Hemingway's novel. His decision overrode the rest of the committee. 4. Hemingway insisted that Ingrid Bergman star in the film adaptation of For Whom the Bell Tolls. Ingrid Bergman starred as Maria in the 1943 film adaptation of For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway first saw Bergman in the 1939 version of Intermezzo and purportedly later sent her a copy of his novel, with the inscription, "You are the Maria in this book." 5. Hemingway experimented with translation in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Literary scholars have long been fascinated by the language Hemingway uses in his novel. Though written in English, For Whom the Bell Tolls features strange literal translations from Spanish phrases and sayings. Hemingway also uses the antiquated words thee and thou to mimic the words vos and vosotros used to address others formally in Spanish. 6. The massacre Hemingway describes in For Whom the Bell Tolls was based on a real event. Though critics debate the exact setting of the massacre in Chapter 10, many believe the scene was inspired by events that occurred in the Andalusian town of Ronda during the summer of 1936. It is estimated that between 200 and 600 people were executed in the town during the Spanish Civil War. 7. Metallica was inspired by For Whom the Bell Tolls. The famous metal band Metallica included a song by the same name on their 1984 album Ride the Lightning. The song aims to capture Hemingway's tone in relation to the effects of modernized warfare on soldiers. 8. Hemingway traveled quite frequently as he wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway began work on For Whom the Bell Tolls in Cuba in 1939, after he purchased a house there. However, he brought the manuscript with him and continued to write it as he spent time in Sun Valley, Idaho, and Key West, Florida, over the next year. 9. Hemingway used to assist Irish novelist and poet James Joyce in bar fights. Much like the character Pablo in For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway was a drinker who considered himself something of a brawler. His frequent adventures abroad made him confident during fights. On at least one occasion when Hemingway was drinking with James Joyce, Joyce yelled, "Deal with him, Hemingway, deal with him!" regarding a man Joyce had picked a fight with but was unable to match in strength. 10. One of For Whom the Bell Tolls's characters broke gender stereotypes in Spain. Throughout the novel, Maria, Robert Jordan's lover, is described as wearing trousers instead of skirts. This was virtually unheard of in Spain before the civil war and highlighted Maria's stance as a guerrilla fighter, rebelling against the gender roles of her culture.

1.Hope Unit IV Poetry

1.Emily Dickinson 1)Hope is The Thing with Feathers

2)Because I could not Stop for Death 3)I am Nobody

4)A Bird Came Down The Walk

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - (314) BY EMILY DICKINSON

“Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me.

Emily Dickinson And A Summary of Hope Is The Thing With Feathers "Hope" Is The Thing With Feathers is one of the best known of Emily Dickinson's poems. An

extended metaphor, it likens the concept of hope to a feathered bird that is permanently perched in the soul of every human. There it sings, never stopping in its quest to inspire.

Emily Dickinson wrote this poem in 1862, a prolific year for her poetry, one of nearly 1800

poems she penned during her lifetime. Only seven of these were published while she was still alive. Her sister Lavinia collected and helped publish all of her poems after Emily's death in

1886.

The Belle of Amherst, so called, remains an enigma. Her poetry was highly original but was dismissed or simply misunderstood when she sent her work out for appraisal or publication. It was only after she had passed away and her poems circulated more widely that critics began

to appreciate her genius.

Her poems, together with those of Walt Whitman, were pioneering works that pointed the way to a new and refreshing era of poetry in the English speaking world.

Emily Dickinson seems to have been a recluse for most of her adult life, living at the family

home, only rarely venturing out. Quiet and timid, she never married or actively sought a permanent relationship, despite correspondence with several older men she viewed as her

protectors.

Her poetry however reflects a lively, imaginative and dynamic inner world; she was able to capture universal moments in a simple sentence, create metaphors that have stood the test of

time.

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers stands out as a reminder to all - no matter the circumstances each and every one of us has this entity within that is always there to help us

out, by singing.

Summary of Hope Is The Thing With Feathers Full of figurative language, this poem is an extended metaphor, transforming hope into a bird (the poet loved birds) that is ever present in the human soul. It sings, especially when times

get tough. Hope springs eternal, might be a reasonable summing up.

With typical disregard for convention, Emily Dickinson's odd looking syntax has clauses interrupted by dashes, and only one comma throughout. This can be confusing for the reader

because of the need to pause and place extra emphasis on certain phrases.

The rhythm of the poem varies in places too, which may not be apparent on first sighting. Readily set to music, the words are a reminder of the poet's yearning for fulfilment in both

creativity and love. And they beautifully encapsulate what hope is for us all - something that inspires and can make us fly.

1. How do we know that Dickinson is referring to a bird at the beginning of the poem? Hope is depicted as having "feathers", which is the first indication that Dickinson is comparing it to a bird. Hope also "perches" and "sings" like a bird. Dickinson uses

elements of a bird, such as its ability to fly and sing, to illustrate her idea of hope. Later in the poem, she explicitly refers to hope as the "little bird", which confirms the earlier

imagery.

2. What is the significance of seafaring in this poem?

In many literary texts, the idea of seafaring is used to symbolize extreme adversity and difficulty. Dickinson uses the imagery of seafaring in this poem, for example, the "gale" and the "storm" to emphasize the adversity that the little bird is facing. In the metaphor of the poem, seafaring is used to illustrate and represent the struggles humans face in

their lives, and their ability to overcome them with hope.

Summary of “Hope” is the Thing with Feathers

Popularity: Written by Emily Dickinson, an American poet, “Hope” is the Thing with Feathers” is a masterpiece of spiritual expressions about hope and its impacts on

the mind. It was first published in 1891 and gained immense popularity due to its subject. Emily has presented hope as an ever-singing and selfless bird within the

soul of a person. According to her, hope as a golden quality of human being that shines even during adversity. Using it as a metaphor, she has highlighted the

importance of being hopeful and optimistic. Dickenson also explains that only hope can help us to remain positive during extreme situations.

Representation of “Hope” as a God-gifted Quality: The poet compares hope with a free and courageous bird that sings its wordless tune no matter what the situation is. This bird, as a silent companion, continues to preach the soul to stay steadfast and hopeful regardless of obstacles. Its song helps the devastated souls to regain their senses. By using the word “at all,” Dickenson shows that hope is everlasting, ever

shining and undefeatable. She compares human struggle with the storm and illustrates that hope serves as a beacon of light in that storm. Towards the end, she represents her own miserable plight. She expresses that hope helped her survive the tests and

trials of her life. Major Themes in “Hope” is the Thing with Feathers: Hope is the major theme that

runs throughout the poem. Emily says that hope resides in the hearts for good. It liberates us from despair and gives us the strength to move on. It only empowers us

and in return demands nothing. Briefly, as the sole theme of this poem, hope has been personified to show its importance to the weak souls.

Analysis of Literary Devices in “Hope” is the Thing with Feathers

Writers and poets use literary devices to make their poetry comprehensible, beautiful and rich. Emily Dickenson also has used some literary devices to express her spiritual thoughts.

The analysis of some of the literary devices used in the poem is given below.

Alliteration: It refers to the repetition of the same consonant sounds occurring close together in a row to create musical effects such as /h/ sound in “we have heard it in

the chilliest land” where this sound has created a musical quality in the line.

Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds such as the sound of /th/ in “the tune without the words” and the sound of /t/ in “that could abet the little

bird.” Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of the vowel sounds in the same line such as

the sound of /i/ in “I’ve heard it in the chilliest land.” Metaphor: There is one extended metaphor in the poem. Dickenson has compared

hope with “feathers”/ “bird” which shows how it sings and gives courage to the spirit of a person.

Personification: When an inanimate object is given human characteristics or qualities, it is personified. In the first stanza, Dickenson considers hoping a preacher that keeps on preaching and never stops. It sings its silent song in the hearts of the

men to fill them with spiritual power. In other words, she has personified hope in this poem.

Imagery: Imagery is used to make the readers perceive things through five senses. It helps them to create a mental picture of the objects described. The poet has used

images for the sense of sight such as, “bird”, “feathers”, “storm”, “land” and “sea.” Symbol: Emily has used many symbols to show the powerful impact of hope in our

lives. “Chilliest Sea” and “storm” symbolize struggles during trying times when hope is still there.

The analysis of these literary devices shows that Dickenson has made wonderful use of these literary devices to convey her message effectively.

Analysis of Poetic Devices in “Hope is the Thing with Feathers

Poetic devices are part of literary devices, but some are used only in poetry. Their use brings rhythm, continuity, depth and musical effects in poetry. The analysis of the devices

used in the poem is stated below.

Stanza: A stanza is the poetic form of some lines. There are three stanzas in the poem, each having four lines.

Rhyme Scheme: The poem is structured into a quatrain and a sequence of three rhyming lines. Lines five to eight are the quatrain whereas nine to twelve are three

lines. The rhyme scheme is ABCB. Meter: The poet has used iambic trimeter and iambic tetrameter alternatively in different lines. For example, “That perches in the soul —” is in iambic trimeter, while

“And sings the tune without the words —” is in tetrameter. Quatrain: A quatrain is a four-lined stanza taken from Persian poetry. Here, each

stanza is a quatrain, as well as each stanza, has four lines.

The analysis of these poetic devices shows that Dickenson has used these devices to create a melody with the rhythm in the poem while conveying the underlying message of hope.

2. Death TEXT Because I could not stop for Death (479) Emily Dickinson - 1830-1886 Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me – The Carriage held but just Ourselves – And Immortality. We slowly drove – He knew no haste And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility – We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess – in the Ring – We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain – We passed the Setting Sun – Or rather – He passed us – The Dews drew quivering and chill – For only Gossamer, my Gown – My Tippet – only Tulle – We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground – The Roof was scarcely visible – The Cornice – in the Ground – Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity – Emily Dickinson's Collected Poems Summary and Analysis of "Because I could not stop for Death --" In this poem, Dickinson’s speaker is communicating from beyond the grave, describing her journey with Death, personified, from life to afterlife. In the opening stanza, the speaker is too busy for Death (“Because I could not stop for Death—“), so Death—“kindly”—takes the time to do what she cannot, and stops for her. This “civility” that Death exhibits in taking time out for her leads her to give up on those things that had made her so busy—“And I had put away/My labor and my leisure too”—so they can just enjoy this carriage ride (“We slowly drove – He knew no haste”). In the third stanza we see reminders of the world that the speaker is passing from, with children playing and fields of grain. Her place in the world shifts between this stanza and the next; in the third stanza, “We passed the Setting Sun—,” but at the opening of the fourth stanza, she corrects this—“Or rather – He passed Us –“—because she has stopped being an active agent, and is only now a part of the landscape. In this stanza, after the realization of her new place in the world, her death also becomes suddenly very physical, as “The Dews drew quivering and chill—,” and she explains that her dress is only gossamer, and her “Tippet,” a kind of cape usually made out of fur, is “only Tulle.” After this moment of seeing the coldness of her death, the carriage pauses at her new “House.” The description of the house—“A Swelling of the Ground—“—makes it clear that this is no cottage, but instead a grave. Yet they only “pause” at this house, because although it is ostensibly her home, it is

really only a resting place as she travels to eternity. The final stanza shows a glimpse of this immortality, made most clear in the first two lines, where she says that although it has been centuries since she has died, it feels no longer than a day. It is not just any day that she compares it to, however—it is the very day of her death, when she saw “the Horses’ Heads” that were pulling her towards this eternity. Analysis Dickinson’s poems deal with death again and again, and it is never quite the same in any poem. In “Because I could not stop for Death—,” we see death personified. He is no frightening, or even intimidating, reaper, but rather a courteous and gentle guide, leading her to eternity. The speaker feels no fear when Death picks her up in his carriage, she just sees it as an act of kindness, as she was too busy to find time for him. It is this kindness, this individual attention to her—it is emphasized in the first stanza that the carriage holds just the two of them, doubly so because of the internal rhyme in “held” and “ourselves”—that leads the speaker to so easily give up on her life and what it contained. This is explicitly stated, as it is “For His Civility” that she puts away her “labor” and her “leisure,” which is Dickinson using metonymy to represent another alliterative word—her life. Indeed, the next stanza shows the life is not so great, as this quiet, slow carriage ride is contrasted with what she sees as they go. A school scene of children playing, which could be emotional, is instead only an example of the difficulty of life—although the children are playing “At Recess,” the verb she uses is “strove,” emphasizing the labors of existence. The use of anaphora with “We passed” also emphasizes the tiring repetitiveness of mundane routine. The next stanza moves to present a more conventional vision of death—things become cold and more sinister, the speaker’s dress is not thick enough to warm or protect her. Yet it quickly becomes clear that though this part of death—the coldness, and the next stanza’s image of the grave as home—may not be ideal, it is worth it, for it leads to the final stanza, which ends with immortality. Additionally, the use of alliteration in this stanza that emphasizes the material trappings—“gossamer” “gown” and “tippet” “tulle”—makes the stanza as a whole less sinister. That immorality is the goal is hinted at in the first stanza, where “Immortality” is the only other occupant of the carriage, yet it is only in the final stanza that we see that the speaker has obtained it. Time suddenly loses its meaning; hundreds of years feel no different than a day. Because time is gone, the speaker can still feel with relish that moment of realization, that death was not just death, but immortality, for she “surmised the Horses’ Heads/Were toward Eternity –.” By ending with “Eternity –,” the poem itself enacts this eternity, trailing out into the infinite. Source Wikepedia "Because I could not stop for Death" is a lyrical poem by Emily Dickinson first published posthumously in Poems: Series 1 in 1890. Dickinson's work was never authorized to be published so it is unknown whether Because I could not stop for Death was completed or "abandoned".[1] The speaker of Dickinson's poem meets personified Death. Death is a gentleman who is riding in the horse carriage that picks up the speaker in the poem and takes the speaker on her journey to the afterlife. According to Thomas H. Johnson's variorum edition of 1955 the number of this poem is "712". The poem was published posthumously in 1890 in Poems: Series 1, a collection of Dickinson's poems assembled and edited by her friends Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson. The poem was published under the title "The Chariot". It is composed in six quatrains with the meter alternating between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. Stanzas 1, 2, 4, and 6 employ end rhyme in their second and fourth lines, but some of these are only close rhyme or eye rhyme. In the third stanza, there is no end rhyme, but "ring" in line 2 rhymes with "gazing" and "setting" in lines 3 and 4 respectively. Internal rhyme is scattered throughout. Figures of speech include alliteration, anaphora, paradox, and personification. The poem personifies Death as a gentleman caller who takes a leisurely carriage ride with the poet to her grave. She also personifies immortality.[2] Her familiarity with Death and Immortality at the

beginning of the poem causes the reader to feel at ease with the idea of Death. However, as the poem progresses, a sudden shift in tone causes readers to see Death for what it really is, cruel and evil [3]. This volta (turn) happens in the fourth quatrain. Structurally, the syllables shift from its constant 8-6-8-6 scheme to 6-8-8-6. This parallels with the undertones of the sixth quatrain. The personification of death changes from one of pleasantry to one of ambiguity and morbidity: "Or rather--He passed Us-- / The Dews drew quivering and chill--" (13–14). The imagery changes from its original nostalgic form of children playing and setting suns to Death's real concern of taking the speaker to the afterlife. There are various interpretations of Dickinson's poem surrounding the Christian belief in the afterlife and read the poem as if it were from the perspective of a "delayed final reconciliation of the soul with God."[6] Dickinson has been classified by critics before as a Christian poet as her other works have been interpreted as contemplation of the "merits of Christ and his past, present, and future relation to herself."[7] The speaker joins both "Death" and "Immortality" inside the carriage that collects her, thus personifying the two part process, according to the Christian faith, that first life stops and following death we encounter immortality though our existence in the after life. While death is the guaranteed of the two, immortality "remains ... an expectation."[6] The horses that lead the carriage are only facing "toward Eternity," which indicates either that the speaker has yet to reach it or that it can never be reached at all. Dickinson's tone contributes to the poem as well. In describing a traditionally frightening experience, the process of dying and passing into eternity, she uses a passive and calm tone. Critics attribute the lack of fear in her tone as her acceptance of death as "a natural part of the endless cycle of nature," due to the certainty in her belief in Christ.[6] In 1936 Allen Tate wrote, [The poem] exemplifies better than anything else [Dickinson] wrote the special quality of her mind ... If the word great means anything in poetry, this poem is one of the greatest in the English language; it is flawless to the last detail. The rhythm charges with movement the pattern of suspended action back of the poem. Every image is precise and, moreover, not merely beautiful, but inextricably fused with the central idea. Every image extends and intensifies every other ... No poet could have invented the elements of [this poem]; only a great poet could have used them so perfectly. Miss Dickinson was a deep mind writing from a deep culture, and when she came to poetry, she came infallibly.

3. "I'm Nobody

"I'm Nobody! Who are you?" is a short lyric poem by Emily Dickinson first published in 1891 in Poems, Series 2. It is one of Dickinson’s most popular poems. PFA the text. I'm Nobody! Who are you? (260) Emily Dickinson - 1830-1886 I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there's a pair of us! Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell one's name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog! Review Of ‘I’m Nobody! Who Are You?’ Thesis Statement: Emily Dickinson poem, “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?”, is successful on influencing readers that the best ideas can come from nothing. Introduction: I chose this as one of the famous poet’s known poem, which is found at Chapter 10.1, entitled: “The Speaker (Persona) in a Poem.” It can also be found from Thomas H. Johnson’s (1960) Book of “Complete Poems” as its 288th entry: “I’m Nobody! Who are you? — Are you- Nobody-Too? — Then there’s a pair of us! — Don’t tell! they’d advertise, you know. —- How dreary-to be- Somebody! — How public-like a frog- — To tell one’s name- the livelong June- — To an admiring bog!” What about the poem’s form, language, content, or other dimension do you find engaging?: I find engaging its genre of lyrical form, English language using informal diction and bearing a very good rhyme scheme (“o” sound in lines 1 and 2 with “g” in 6 and 8) with 2 stanzas. The theme shows how one can find the identity of self and gather the best ideas can come from only doing nothing. It uses the simile and metaphor figure of speeches, because it was able to compare or equate unlike things in similarity (“Nobody” vs “Famous” persons) and used the word “like” in line 6 in the second stanza. Moreover, to dissect the poem, when the word “they” was mentioned in line 4, wherein the poet was pertaining to famous people or any person situated in high levels the of society (Essay on Emily dickinson “i am nobody! who are you?” para. 1). With a very short content of only 8 lines, Dickinson was able to quickly reach out to others who would want to have the same privacy she experienced and also gain fruitful outcomes from this choice. Doing this is actually not seen as usual in famous persons or high level situated bodies. How does the poem’s use of language compare to that of everyday speech?: I can say that in terms of both modern and classic writing on poetry, it still uses informal diction, though there certainly will be a difference in the use of words if one can write it today. To

site a modern view on Dickinson’s way of writing in the “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” poem, Jessica Writes (2007) wrote an online essay saying that, it is evident here that she is referring to a friend that she had relationships kept in private, but were foretold mostly by her corresponding letters. Indeed she is successful in her field. Wherein, she was productive during times she was alone, nursing the gardens inside their yard, writing poetry and reading. Since, she preferred to be named as an anonymous poet to her poems; it shows a personal assessment as “A Nobody” in the society, being a direct reflection of ideals as a non-conformist to the society. Its psychological nature are greatly affecting to people and objects geared towards seeing themselves in this way in life. With today’s social pressures, even the smallest poem can help. Back in the old days, wherein classic literature are given birth to, renaissance and revolutions are greatly affected with writers who seek for a new beginning and freedom thru their writing skills. How do the differences and/or similarities between speech and poetic form affect your experience of the poem?: Domhnall Mitchell (2000), a very good critic of literature, mentioned in his book, that the poem “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” is a form of confessional poetry. Wherein, I agree with this thought. That is why it uses the simile and metaphor figure of speeches, because it was able to compare or equate unlike things in similarity, which is the Dickinson and akin others being the “Nobody” type of persons judged against the “Famous” type of persons (who would not likely to favor practices of a “Nobody.”) At first, a reader would have taught that Dickinson was talking about herself, but there is a quick turn of mood when the poem becomes about the reader. I find this interesting. This can be seen after the 1 line was said, which is a statement about Dickinson’s poetic self, and then there is a following string of questions pertaining to the reader’s own selves. Lastly, the poems 2 immediate concerns are: the readers asking who we are, as well as the how is the relationship existing between the reader and the poet (pp. 157-158). Do these differences and/or similarities influence how you think or feel about the subject matter of the poem?: In terms of familiarity, I can say that this poem is reflective of Dickinson’s life and not the persons she sites in her poem. It is more personal in nature. For instance, Arthur Versluis (2001), another very good critic of literature in history, mentioned the opinion of John Cody, in his own book, that her works are pronouncing of her madness as a result. That is why the poem, “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?”, has certain negativity touch on it. It was also quoted, “one will inevitably misunderstand and trivialize much of Emily Dickinson’s life and poetry if one fails to grasp the full intensity of her suffering and the magnitude of her collapse. For this reason let me state at the onset my thesis that the crisis Emily Dickinson suffered following the marriage of her brother was a psychosis” (p. 175). Conclusion: Yes, I agree that the best ideas can come from nothing. You can occupy your time with writing poetries like what Emily Dickinson is known for during her time. Yet, even if one decides a secluded life, society will hunt. Dickinson’s writes in such a way that she dictates and forces the reader’s mind to think the same and view society like her opinion. The advantage I can see here is that it is leading to a self-evaluation and growth in uniqueness as individuals. On the other hand, a disadvantage of her way of writing (as well as thinking) is that it fails to show the right personality for an individual. When, maturity takes place, when one knows his or her purpose in life, then the best ideas can come in, one can make fruitful outcomes and one can reach success. Even the quietest moments or disturbing scenes takes self-confidence and trust, a parallel thought to both being a “Nobody” and a “Famous” person.

SUMMARY “I’M NOBODY! WHO ARE YOU?” Summary The speaker exclaims that she is “Nobody,” and asks, “Who are you? / Are you— Nobody—too?” If so, she says, then they are a pair of nobodies, and she admonishes her addressee not to tell, for “they’d banish us—you know!” She says that it would be “dreary” to be “Somebody”—it would be “public” and require that, “like a Frog,” one tell one’s name “the livelong June— / To an admiring Bog!” Form The two stanzas of “I’m Nobody!” are highly typical for Dickinson, constituted of loose iambic trimeter occasionally including a fourth stress (“To tell your name—the livelong June—”). They follow an ABCB rhyme scheme (though in the first stanza, “you” and “too” rhyme, and “know” is only a half-rhyme, so the scheme could appear to be AABC), and she frequently uses rhythmic dashes to interrupt the flow.

X Honest Names for All the Books on Your English Syllabus | The SparkNotes Blog Honest Names for All the Books on Your English Syllabus | The SparkNotes Blog Commentary Ironically, one of the most famous details of Dickinson lore today is that she was utterly un-famous during her lifetime—she lived a relatively reclusive life in Amherst, Massachusetts, and though she wrote nearly 1,800 poems, she published fewer than ten of them. This poem is her most famous and most playful defense of the kind of spiritual privacy she favored, implying that to be a Nobody is a luxury incomprehensible to the dreary Somebodies—for they are too busy keeping their names in circulation, croaking like frogs in a swamp in the summertime. This poem is an outstanding early example of Dickinson’s often jaunty approach to meter (she uses her trademark dashes quite forcefully to interrupt lines and interfere with the flow of her poem, as in “How dreary— to be—Somebody!”). Further, the poem vividly illustrates her surprising way with language. The juxtaposition in the line “How public—like a Frog—” shocks the first-time reader, combining elements not typically considered together, and, thus, more powerfully conveying its meaning (frogs are “public” like public figures—or

Somebodies—because they are constantly “telling their name”— croaking—to the swamp, reminding all the other frogs of their identities). 4. A Bird A Bird, came down the Walk - (359) BY EMILY DICKINSON A Bird, came down the Walk - He did not know I saw - He bit an Angle Worm in halves And ate the fellow, raw, And then, he drank a Dew From a convenient Grass - And then hopped sidewise to the Wall To let a Beetle pass - He glanced with rapid eyes, That hurried all abroad - They looked like frightened Beads, I thought, He stirred his Velvet Head. - Like one in danger, Cautious, I offered him a Crumb, And he unrolled his feathers, And rowed him softer Home - Than Oars divide the Ocean, Too silver for a seam, Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon, Leap, plashless as they swim. Source: The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition, edited by R.W. Franklin (Harvard University Press, 1999) "A Bird came down the Walk" is a short poem by Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) that tells of the poet's encounter with a worm-eating bird. The poem was first published in 1891 in the second collection of Dickinson's poems. Summary The poet encounters a bird on the walk who eats an angle-worm, drinks a dew from a convenient grass, and then steps aside to let a beetle pass. The bird then glances about, apparently frightened. The poet offers the bird a crumb but the bird takes flight. In this poem Dickinson watched the bird when it came down to the walk. The bird didn't know the poetess was watching it. It caught the angle-worm and it pecked it into two parts. Then it ate the raw flesh of the worm and drank a drop of dew from a nearby grass. Then the bird looks around quickly with its darting eyes in order to protect it from other evil forces. Then the narrator offers the bird a piece of crumb, but the bird neglects it and then it flies away. The poet observes that the flight of the bird is "softer" than moving the oars that divide the ocean or that of butterflies plunging soundlessly into space . The bird and its actions are captured in minute details in the poem, through vivid images. Critique Helen Vendler regards the poem as a "bizarre little narrative" but one that typifies many of Dickinson's best qualities. She likens the poet to a reporter observing a murderer in the act, and later, pretending fear that the murderer may be dangerous to herself and must be mollified by a "crumb". The bird takes flight and Vendler regards what follows - the description of the bird in flight - as "the astonishing part of the poem". Vendler notes that the poem typifies Dickinson's "cool eye, her unsparing factuality,

her startling similes and metaphors, her psychological observations of herself and others, her capacity for showing herself mistaken, and her exquisite relish of natural beauty".[3] Harold Bloom notes that the bird displays a "complex mix of qualities: ferocity, fastidiousness, courtesy, fear, and grace", and writes that the description of the bird's flight is that seen by the soul rather than the "finite eyes".[4] Vendler observes that Dickinson wrote two versions of the middle portion of the poem. The version she sent to her literary mentor Thomas Wentworth Higginson has no punctuation after "Head" and a period after the word "Cautious". In Dickinson's personal copy, there is a comma (not a period) after "Cautious". In the first version then, the bird is cautious, but in the second version, it is the poet who is cautious. In the fair copy, both a period and a dash follow "Head", and a comma follows "Cautious". The fair copy version is the one usually printed, and, as Vendler notes, this version accords with Dickinson's comic sense.[3] Dr. Chuck Taylor, poet and professor, believes this naturalistic description of a bird to be also symbolic. The description of the bird taking flight lightly suggests the same potential ease of journey for the soul to heaven, in spite of imperfection, such as killing to eat, as the bird eats the angle worm. Source:wikipedia SUMMARY “A BIRD CAME DOWN THE WALK—...” Summary The speaker describes once seeing a bird come down the walk, unaware that it was being watched. The bird ate an angleworm, then “drank a Dew / From a convenient Grass—,” then hopped sideways to let a beetle pass by. The bird’s frightened, bead-like eyes glanced all around. Cautiously, the speaker offered him “a Crumb,” but the bird “unrolled his feathers” and flew away—as though rowing in the water, but with a grace gentler than that with which “Oars divide the ocean” or butterflies leap “off Banks of Noon”; the bird appeared to swim without splashing. Form Structurally, this poem is absolutely typical of Dickinson, using iambic trimeter with occasional four-syllable lines, following a loose ABCB rhyme scheme, and rhythmically breaking up the meter with long dashes. (In this poem, the dashes serve a relatively limited function, occurring only at the end of lines, and simply indicating slightly longer pauses at line breaks.)

X Honest Names for All the Books on Your English Syllabus | The SparkNotes Blog Honest Names for All the Books on Your English Syllabus | The SparkNotes Blog

Commentary Emily Dickinson’s life proves that it is not necessary to travel widely or lead a life full of Romantic grandeur and extreme drama in order to write great poetry; alone in her house at Amherst, Dickinson pondered her experience as fully, and felt it as acutely, as any poet who has ever lived. In this poem, the simple experience of watching a bird hop down a path allows her to exhibit her extraordinary poetic powers of observation and description.

Dickinson keenly depicts the bird as it eats a worm, pecks at the grass, hops by a beetle, and glances around fearfully. As a natural creature frightened by the speaker into flying away, the bird becomes an emblem for the quick, lively, ungraspable wild essence that distances nature from the human beings who desire to appropriate or tame it. But the most remarkable feature of this poem is the imagery of its final stanza, in which Dickinson provides one of the most breath-taking descriptions of flying in all of poetry. Simply by offering two quick comparisons of flight and by using aquatic motion (rowing and swimming), she evokes the delicacy and fluidity of moving through air. The image of butterflies leaping “off Banks of Noon,” splashlessly swimming though the sky, is one of the most memorable in all Dickinson’s writing. Emily Dickinson's Collected Poems Themes Death is one of the foremost themes in Dickinson’s poetry. No two poems have exactly the same understanding of death, however. Death is sometimes gentle, sometimes menacing, sometimes simply inevitable. In “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –,” Dickinson investigates the physical process of dying. In “Because I could not stop for Death –,“ she personifies death, and presents the process of dying as simply the realization that there is eternal life. In “Behind Me dips – Eternity,” death is the normal state, life is but an interruption. In “My life had stood – a Loaded Gun –,” the existence of death allows for the existence of life. In “Some – Work for Immortality –,” death is the moment where the speaker can cash their check of good behavior for their eternal rewards. All of these varied pictures of death, however, do not truly contradict each other. Death is the ultimate unknowable, and so Dickinson circles around it, painting portraits of each of its many facets, as a way to come as close to knowing it as she can. Truth and its tenuous nature Dickinson is fascinated and obsessed with the idea of truth, and with finding it in her poems. She knows that this is close to impossible—like “To fill a Gap” teaches,

answering one question just leads to further questions—yet she also posits that a kind of truth can be found, if done so circuitously, as in “Tell all the Truth but tell it Slant –.” This is reflected in how she deals with all of her other themes. Her poems come back to these central themes again and again, but they are never treated in exactly the same way. She discovers new sides to each of them, comes at them from new angles, and by investigating each theme again and again in seemingly contradictory ways, she is finding the truth in her “Circuits.” Dickinson also clearly shows that truth is found more easily in negative or painful emotions. In “I like a look of Agony,” she shows how she can only trust people who are dying, because that is the one thing that cannot be faked. Her own grief and others’ is powerful to her, because, while it may not be pleasant, she has found something honest. And this drives her poetry—the experience of these painful emotions allows her to represent them faithfully, and thus write honest poetry. Fame and success Dickinson wrote many poems dealing with fame and success. These poems almost always elucidate the negative sides of these ostensibly positive things. In “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” to gain fame one must advertise oneself, use one’s own name and identity as marketing tools. This fame, also, is made meaningless by the fact that its audience is an unthinking “Bog.” “Success is counted sweetest –“ does not present quite so wholly negative a vision of fame and success. Success here, however, is dangerous, for it takes away the speaker’s ability to appreciate that success. This represents a general lessening of the successful person’s emotional realm, and if this success is in the field of poetry, that will certainly lead to weaker poems in the future. This focus on the negatives of fame and success makes it seem like Dickinson did not want them for herself, that she was happier unpublished and unknown. This is belied, however, by the simple fact that she wrote about them so frequently. She may have known very well the dangers of them, but clearly still found fame and success enticing and fascinating. Grief Grief is virtually omnipresent in Dickinson’s poetry. Other characters are few and far between in these poems, but grief is practically Dickinson’s primary companion. When other people do appear, it is often only grief that allows Dickinson to feel connected to them. She only trusts people who display “a look of Agony,” because it is the only emotion that she knows must be true -- thus it is only with the dead and dying that Dickinson’s wall of distrust collapses. In “I measure every Grief I meet,” grief does not just bring Dickinson closer to others because she can trust it, but rather because it is a bond between them, and knowing they are grieving too makes her burden of grief somewhat lighter. Thus, in “I like a look of Agony,” and “I measure every Grief I meet,” it is only grief that allows Dickinson to feel that she is a part of the community. Dickinson also shows another positive side of grief—it gives her strength. In “I can wade Grief –“ she makes it clear that happiness only intoxicates her, makes her stumble and ostensibly lose her great perceptive abilities. Grief, however, emboldens her, makes her

able to face anything, and gives her the strength and perceptiveness to write the poetry that she does. Faith Dickinson’s poetry is highly interested in faith, in God, in religion. The fact that she so often wrote in a traditionally religious hymnal stanza form emphasizes this fact. God is essential to her, yet she is unwilling to just accept the traditional dogma, and so explores other possibilities for faith in her poetry, just like while she follows stanza form, she breaks conventions of rhyme and punctuation. Often, many of her poems about nature seem to be the most religious. “There’s a certain Slant of light –“ presents this light as almost a divine vision, and shows how nature can be very closely tied to God, yet can also distance the reader from him. “The Bat is dun, with wrinkled Wings –,” shows that it is the ugly, eccentric creatures who can bring us closest to an understanding of God. Her poems never claim to any understanding of the divine, however. What she is most certain of is God’s inscrutability. Indeed, it is only her relationship to him that she can fully investigate. In many of her poems in which there is another figure besides the speaker, it is often unclear whether this figure is God or a lover, and these poems can often be read either way. This elucidates the profound closeness with God that Dickinson searched for. Freedom through poetry Poetry in Dickinson’s poems is an expansive, greatly liberating force. In “They shut me up in Prose –,“ society tries to limit the speaker to the acceptable female roles, shutting her in closets or in prose to prevent her from expressing herself. These limitations, however, only inspire her further, and fuel her to write her poetry. This they cannot limit, no matter how they try, for poetry is limitless, as she shows us in “I dwell in Possibility –“ — it is a house with no roof but the sky. This metaphor of poetry as house also allows Dickinson to transform what oppresses her—those female tasks of running the household—into a setting for what frees her—her poetry. This metaphor also allows Dickinson to take possession of poetry—it is not solely a male vocation, in the realm of politics and wars, but also a female vocation, situated in the house and garden. Intensity of emotion Dickinson’s poetry exhibits a profound intensity of emotion, and her poems also focus on this as a subject, extolling the virtues of such intensity. In “I like a look of Agony,” she shows that only the most intense emotions can be trusted, can be exhibited for others with honesty—and thus, only the most intense emotions belong in poetry. “Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat?” shows, however, that while positive, this level of emotional intensity is neither easy to produce and experience, nor is it easy to observe. In this poem, the speaker must enact a painful forging process to refine her emotions to this heightened level, and while it is glorious, almost divine when she does, it is still a challenging thing for the reader to observe. “The first Day’s Night had come” shows just how dangerous such intensity of emotion can be; why the reader must “dare” to witness it. In this poem, the speaker’s emotions are so overpowering that she cannot maintain a whole, incorporated identity, and she loses her mind. Thus while most of Dickinson’s poems extol the honesty in heightened emotions, we see that there is a risk in all of this.

The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams

The Glass Menagerie From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Glass Menagerie

Written by Tennessee Williams

Characters Amanda Wingfield Tom Wingfield Laura Wingfield

Jim O'Connor

Mr. Wingfield

Date premiered 1944

Place premiered Chicago

Original language English

Genre Memory play

Setting A St. Louis apartment, late 1930s

The Glass Menagerie[1] is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his histrionic mother, and his mentally fragile sister Laura. In writing the play, Williams drew on an earlier short story, as well as a screenplay he

had written under the title of The Gentleman Caller. The play premiered in Chicago in 1944. After a shaky start it was championed by Chicago

critics Ashton Stevens and Claudia Cassidy, whose enthusiasm helped build audiences so the producers could move the play to Broadway where it won the New York Drama Critics'

Circle Award in 1945. The Glass Menagerie was Williams' first successful play; he went on to become one of America's most highly regarded playwrights.

Characters Amanda Wingfield

A faded Southern belle, abandoned by her husband, who is trying to raise her two children under harsh financial conditions. Amanda yearns for the comforts of her youth and also longs for her children to have the same comforts, but her devotion to them has

made her—as she admits at one point—almost "hateful" towards them.

Tom Wingfield Amanda's son. Tom works at a shoe warehouse to support his family but is frustrated

by his job and aspires to be a poet. He struggles to write, all the while being sleep-deprived and irritable. Yet, he escapes from reality through nightly excursions to the

movies. Tom feels both obligated toward yet burdened by his family and longs to escape.

Laura Wingfield Amanda's daughter and Tom's elder sister. A childhood illness has left her with a limp, and she has a mental fragility and an inferiority complex that has isolated her from the outside world. She has created a world of her own symbolized by her collection of glass figurines. The unicorn may represent Laura because it is

unique and fragile. Jim O'Connor

An old high school acquaintance of Tom and Laura. Jim was a popular athlete and actor during his days at Soldan High School. Subsequent years

have been less kind to Jim; however, and by the time of the play's action, he is working as a shipping clerk at the same shoe warehouse as Tom. His hope to shine again is conveyed by his study of public speaking, radio engineering, and ideas of self-improvement that appear related to those of Dale Carnegie.

Mr. Wingfield Amanda's absent husband, and Laura's and Tom's father. Mr. Wingfield

was a handsome man, full of charm, who worked for a telephone company and eventually "fell in love with long-distance," abandoning his

family 16 years before the play's action. Although he does not appear onstage, Mr. Wingfield is frequently referred to by Amanda, and his

picture is prominently displayed in the Wingfields' living room. This unseen character appears to incorporate elements of Williams'

father.

Plot summary[edit] "Yes, I have tricks in my pocket, I have things up my sleeve. But I am the opposite of a stage

magician. He gives you an illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion."

The beginning of Tom's opening soliloquy.

The play is introduced to the audience by Tom, the narrator and protagonist, as a memory play based on his recollection of his mother

Amanda and his sister Laura. Because the play is based on memory, Tom cautions the audience that what they see may not be precisely what

happened. Amanda Wingfield, a faded Southern belle of middle age, shares a dingy

St. Louis apartment with her son Tom, in his early twenties, and his slightly older sister, Laura. Although she is a survivor and a pragmatist,

Amanda yearns for the comforts and admiration she remembers from her days as a fêted debutante. She worries especially about the future of her daughter Laura, a young woman with a limp (an after-effect of a bout of pleurosis) and a tremulous insecurity about the outside world. Tom

works in a shoe warehouse doing his best to support the family. He chafes under the banality and boredom of everyday life and struggles to

write while spending much of his spare time going to the movies — or so he says — at all hours of the night.

Amanda is obsessed with finding a suitor (or, as she puts it, a "gentleman caller") for Laura, her daughter, whose crippling shyness has led her to

drop out of both high school and a subsequent secretarial course, and who spends much of her time polishing and arranging her collection of little glass animals. Pressured by his mother to help find a caller for Laura,

Tom invites Jim, an acquaintance from work, home for dinner. The delighted Amanda spruces up the apartment, prepares a special

dinner, and converses coquettishly with Jim, almost reliving her youth when she had an abundance of suitors calling on her. Laura discovers that Jim is the boy she was attracted to in high school and has often thought of since, though the relationship between the shy Laura and the "most likely to succeed" Jim was never more than a distant, teasing acquaintanceship. Initially, Laura is so overcome by shyness that she is unable to join the

others at dinner, and she claims to be ill. After dinner, however, Jim and Laura are left alone by candlelight in the living room, waiting for the

electricity to be restored. (Tom has not paid the power bill, which hints to the audience that he is banking the bill money and preparing to leave the household.) As the evening progresses, Jim recognizes Laura's feelings of

inferiority and encourages her to think better of herself. He and Laura share a quiet dance, in which he accidentally brushes against her glass menagerie, knocking a glass unicorn to the floor and breaking off its

horn. Jim then compliments Laura and kisses her. After Jim tells Laura that he is engaged to be married, Laura asks him to take the broken

unicorn as a gift and he then leaves. When Amanda learns that Jim is to be married, she turns her anger upon Tom and cruelly lashes out at him,

although Tom did not know that Jim was engaged. Tom seems quite

surprised by this, and it is possible that Jim was only making up the story of the engagement as he felt that the family was trying to set him up with

Laura, and he had no romantic interest in her. The play concludes with Tom saying that he left home soon afterward and never returned. He then bids farewell to his mother and sister and

asks Laura to blow out the candles.

Themes MAIN IDEAS THEMES Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. The Difficulty of Accepting Reality Among the most prominent and urgent themes of The Glass Menagerie is the difficulty the characters have in accepting and relating to reality. Each member of the Wingfield family is unable to overcome this difficulty, and each, as a result, withdraws into a private world of illusion where he or she finds the comfort and meaning that the real world does not seem to offer. Of the three Wingfields, reality has by far the weakest grasp on Laura. The private world in which she lives is populated by glass animals—objects that, like Laura’s inner life, are incredibly fanciful and dangerously delicate. Unlike his sister, Tom is capable of functioning in the real world, as we see in his holding down a job and talking to strangers. But, in the end, he has no more motivation than Laura does to pursue professional success, romantic relationships, or even ordinary friendships, and he prefers to retreat into the fantasies provided by literature and movies and the stupor provided by drunkenness. Amanda’s relationship to reality is the most complicated in the play. Unlike her children, she is partial to real-world values and longs for social and financial success. Yet her attachment to these values is exactly what prevents her from perceiving a number of truths about her life. She cannot accept that she is or should be anything other than the pampered belle she was brought up to be, that Laura is peculiar, that Tom is not a budding businessman, and that she herself might be in some ways responsible for the sorrows and flaws of her children. Amanda’s

retreat into illusion is in many ways more pathetic than her children’s, because it is not a willful imaginative construction but a wistful distortion of reality. Although the Wingfields are distinguished and bound together by the weak relationships they maintain with reality, the illusions to which they succumb are not merely familial quirks. The outside world is just as susceptible to illusion as the Wingfields. The young people at the Paradise Dance Hall waltz under the short-lived illusion created by a glass ball—another version of Laura’s glass animals. Tom opines to Jim that the other viewers at the movies he attends are substituting on-screen adventure for real-life adventure, finding fulfillment in illusion rather than real life. Even Jim, who represents the “world of reality,” is banking his future on public speaking and the television and radio industries—all of which are means for the creation of illusions and the persuasion of others that these illusions are true. The Glass Menagerie identifies the conquest of reality by illusion as a huge and growing aspect of the human condition in its time. The Impossibility of True Escape At the beginning of Scene Four, Tom regales Laura with an account of a magic show in which the magician managed to escape from a nailed-up coffin. Clearly, Tom views his life with his family and at the warehouse as a kind of coffin—cramped, suffocating, and morbid—in which he is unfairly confined. The promise of escape, represented by Tom’s missing father, the Merchant Marine Service, and the fire escape outside the apartment, haunts Tom from the beginning of the play, and in the end, he does choose to free himself from the confinement of his life.

The play takes an ambiguous attitude toward the moral implications and even the effectiveness of Tom’s escape. As an able-bodied young man, he is locked into his life not by exterior factors but by emotional ones—by his loyalty to and possibly even love for Laura and Amanda. Escape for Tom means the suppression and denial of these emotions in himself, and it means doing great harm to his mother and sister. The magician is able to emerge from his coffin without upsetting a single nail, but the human nails that bind Tom to his home will certainly be upset by his departure. One cannot say for certain that leaving home even means true escape for Tom. As far as he might

wander from home, something still “pursue[s]” him. Like a jailbreak, Tom’s escape leads him not to freedom but to the life of a fugitive. The Unrelenting Power of Memory According to Tom, The Glass Menagerie is a memory play—both its style and its content are shaped and inspired by memory. As Tom himself states clearly, the play’s lack of realism, its high drama, its overblown and too-perfect symbolism, and even its frequent use of music are all due to its origins in memory. Most fictional works are products of the imagination that must convince their audience that they are something else by being realistic. A play drawn from memory, however, is a product of real experience and hence does not need to drape itself in the conventions of realism in order to seem real. The creator can cloak his or her true story in unlimited layers of melodrama and unlikely metaphor while still remaining confident of its substance and reality. Tom—and Tennessee Williams—take full advantage of this privilege. The story that the play tells is told because of the inflexible grip it has on the narrator’s memory. Thus, the fact that the play exists at all is a testament to the power that memory can exert on people’s lives and consciousness. Indeed, Williams writes in the Production Notes that “nostalgia . . . is the first condition of the play.” The narrator, Tom, is not the only character haunted by his memories. Amanda too lives in constant pursuit of her bygone youth, and old records from her childhood are almost as important to Laura as her glass animals. For these characters, memory is a crippling force that prevents them from finding happiness in the present or the offerings of the future. But it is also the vital force for Tom, prompting him to the act of creation that culminates in the achievement of the play. Motifs

MAIN IDEAS MOTIFS Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. Abandonment

The plot of The Glass Menagerie is structured around a series of abandonments. Mr. Wingfield’s desertion of his family determines their life situation; Jim’s desertion of

Laura is the center of the play’s dramatic action; Tom’s abandonment of his family gives him the distance that allows him to shape their story into a narrative. Each of these acts of desertion proves devastating for those left behind. At the same time, each of them is portrayed as the necessary condition for, and a natural result of, inevitable progress. In particular, each is strongly associated with the march of technological progress and the achievements of the modern world. Mr. Wingfield, who works for the telephone company, leaves his family because he “fell in love with [the] long distances” that the telephone brings into people’s consciousness. It is impossible to imagine that Jim, who puts his faith in the future of radio and television, would tie himself to the sealed, static world of Laura. Tom sees his departure as essential to the pursuit of “adventure,” his taste for which is whetted by the movies he attends nightly. Only Amanda and Laura, who are devoted to archaic values and old memories, will presumably never assume the role of abandoner and are doomed to be repeatedly abandoned. The Words and Images on the Screen One of the play’s most unique stylistic features is the use of an onstage screen on which words and images relevant to the action are projected. Sometimes the screen is used to emphasize the importance of something referred to by the characters, as when an image of blue roses appears in Scene Two; sometimes it refers to something from a character’s past or fantasy, as when the image of Amanda as a young girl appears in Scene Six. At other times, it seems to function as a slate for impersonal commentary on the events and characters of the play, as when “Ousont les neiges” (words from a fifteenth-century French poem praising beautiful women) appear in Scene One as Amanda’s voice is heard offstage.

What appears on the screen generally emphasizes themes or symbols that are already established quite obviously by the action of the play. The device thus seems at best ironic, and at worst somewhat pretentious or condescending. Directors who have staged the play have been, for the most part, very ambivalent about the effectiveness and value of the screen, and virtually all have chosen to eliminate it from the performance. The screen is, however, an interesting epitome of Tennessee Williams’s expressionist theatrical style, which downplays realistic portrayals of life in favor of stylized presentations of inner experience.

Music Music is used often in The Glass Menagerie, both to emphasize themes and to enhance the drama. Sometimes the music is extra-diegetic—coming from outside the play, not from within it—and though the audience can hear it the characters cannot. For example, a musical piece entitled “The Glass Menagerie,” written specifically for the play by the composer Paul Bowles, plays when Laura’s character or her glass collection comes to the forefront of the action. This piece makes its first appearance at the end of Scene One, when Laura notes that Amanda is afraid that her daughter will end up an old maid. Other times, the music comes from inside the diegetic space of the play—that is, it is a part of the action, and the characters can hear it. Examples of this are the music that wafts up from the Paradise Dance Hall and the music Laura plays on her record player. Both the extra-diegetic and the diegetic music often provide commentary on what is going on in the play. For example, the Paradise Dance Hall plays a piece entitled “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise” while Tom is talking about the approach of World War II. Symbols

MAIN IDEAS SYMBOLS Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. Laura’s Glass Menagerie

As the title of the play informs us, the glass menagerie, or collection of animals, is the play’s central symbol. Laura’s collection of glass animal figurines represents a number of facets of her personality. Like the figurines, Laura is delicate, fanciful, and somehow old-fashioned. Glass is transparent, but, when light is shined upon it correctly, it refracts an entire rainbow of colors. Similarly, Laura, though quiet and bland around strangers, is a source of strange, multifaceted delight to those who choose to look at her in the right light. The menagerie also represents the imaginative world to which Laura devotes herself—a world that is colorful and enticing but based on fragile illusions. The Glass Unicorn The glass unicorn in Laura’s collection—significantly, her favorite figure—represents her peculiarity. As Jim points out, unicorns are “extinct” in modern times and are lonesome as a result of being different from other horses. Laura too is unusual, lonely,

and ill-adapted to existence in the world in which she lives. The fate of the unicorn is also a smaller-scale version of Laura’s fate in Scene Seven. When Jim dances with and then kisses Laura, the unicorn’s horn breaks off, and it becomes just another horse. Jim’s advances endow Laura with a new normalcy, making her seem more like just another girl, but the violence with which this normalcy is thrust upon her means that Laura cannot become normal without somehow shattering. Eventually, Laura gives Jim the unicorn as a “souvenir.” Without its horn, the unicorn is more appropriate for him than for her, and the broken figurine represents all that he has taken from her and destroyed in her. “Blue Roses” Like the glass unicorn, “Blue Roses,” Jim’s high school nickname for Laura, symbolizes Laura’s unusualness yet allure. The name is also associated with Laura’s attraction to Jim and the joy that his kind treatment brings her. Furthermore, it recalls Tennessee Williams’s sister, Rose, on whom the character of Laura is based. The Fire Escape Leading out of the Wingfields’ apartment is a fire escape with a landing. The fire escape represents exactly what its name implies: an escape from the fires of frustration and dysfunction that rage in the Wingfield household. Laura slips on the fire escape in Scene Four, highlighting her inability to escape from her situation. Tom, on the other hand, frequently steps out onto the landing to smoke, anticipating his eventual getaway. A R R O W

L I T E R A T U R E

15 Facts About Tennessee Williams's The Glass

Menagerie BY KRISTY PUCHKO

OCTOBER 30, 2017

NEW YORK PUBLIC L IBRARY, B ILL Y ROSE THEATER COL LECTI ON / / PUBLIC DOMAIN 00:41 01:06 The Glass Menagerie is an American classic that tells a tragic family tale of love, bitterness, and abandonment. But beyond its delicate glass unicorn and heartbreaking drama, this Tennessee Williams play proved to be a defining moment for the author—and for theater history.

1. THE GLASS MENAGERIE IS A MEMORY PLAY. The play's story is narrated by a central character looking back on the events presented. The format gives the playwright more creative freedom in the narrative, as memories are affected by emotion and temporal distance. Williams says as much in The Glass Menagerie's notes on set design, which read, "The scene is memory and is therefore non-realistic. Memory takes a lot of poetic license. It omits some details; others are exaggerated, according to the emotional value of the articles it touches, for memory is seated predominantly in the heart."

2. THE NARRATOR WARNS HE IS AN UNRELIABLE NARRATOR. The story focuses on the impoverished Wingfield family at a time when their matriarch Amanda is pressuring her grown son Tom to find a suitor for his fragile sister Laura. Tom is the narrator of the tale. But in his first monologue, he warns, "The play is memory. Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic."

3. THE GLASS MENAGERIE WAS THE FIRST MEMORY PLAY. Williams coined the phrase to explain this groundbreaking new style. In its production notes, Williams wrote, "Being a 'memory play', The Glass Menagerie can be presented with unusual freedom of convention. Because of its considerably delicate or tenuous material, atmospheric touches and subtleties of direction play a particularly important part." He goes on to encourage those staging the show to be "unconventional" in their productions, noting such exploration was essential to preserving the vitality of theater. Other examples of memory plays are Harold Pinter's Old Times and Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa.

4. THE GLASS MENAGERIE BEGAN AS A SHORT STORY IN 1941. At 30, Williams wrote "Portrait of a Girl in Glass," which centered on the glass figure-loving Laura, rather than her brother Tom. She was presented as a desperately shy young woman with a fearsome mother, who went unnamed in this early incarnation. By 1943, Williams was in Hollywood, and so transformed the

short story into a spec script called The Gentleman Caller. After MGM Studios passed on the script, Williams reconceived it as a stage play in 1944.

5. THE TITLE REFERS TO LAURA AND HER GLASS ANIMAL COLLECTION. The Glass Menagerie's young female lead fawns over her titular collection, polishing them obsessively. Lovely but fragile, these prized figures are regarded as a metaphor for their owner. Notably, Laura's favorite is the glass unicorn, an unusual creature that her could-be suitor Jim says is “extinct in the modern world.” A popular reading of this exchange is that Laura is like this unicorn, out of place in the world around her.

6. THE GLASS MENAGERIE IS CONSIDERED WILLIAMS'S MOST AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL WORK. The frustrated protagonist Tom is named after the author, who was born Thomas Lanier Williams III. (Tennessee was a nickname earned in college.) The unhappy family life at the center of the play mirrored his own. Like the Wingfields, the Williams family included a dominating matriarch, Tennessee's mother Edwina, who raised the family largely without the help of her husband, a traveling shoe salesman. Like Amanda, Edwina was a faded Southern belle. Laura—nicknamed Blue Roses—was based on his older sister Rose, who struggled with mental illness and retreated to a world of isolation, surrounded by her beloved glass ornaments. Even the description of the Wingfield's St. Louis apartment mirrored a home the playwright once shared with his family.

7. IT MADE WILLIAMS AN OVERNIGHT SUCCESS (EIGHT YEARS IN THE MAKING). He'd written a slew of plays ahead of The Glass Menagerie's debut in Chicago in December 1944. But this was the first to earn widespread notice. In the Chicago Tribune, theater critic Claudia Cassidy declared that the play was "vividly written," "superbly acted," and, "paradoxically, it is a dream in the dust and a tough little play that knows people and how they tick." Rave reviews sparked such intense interest in Williams's very personal play that by March 31, 1945, the production had been transferred to Broadway, where it won a New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award just two weeks after re-opening. It went on to run for 563 performances, and made Williams a rising star in American theater.

8. LAURETTE TAYLOR'S BROADWAY PERFORMANCE IS LEGENDARY. The New York City-born actress performed on stage and in silent film, but she is best known for originating the role of Amanda Wingfield on Broadway. Once The Glass Menagerie opened, Taylor was nearly universally praised by critics and colleagues. "I have never been that affected by a stage action in my whole life. It made me weep," lyricist Fred Ebb said. Actress Patricia Neal deemed Taylor's Amanda "the greatest performance I have ever seen in all my life." And writer Robert Gottlieb, who witnessed this portrayal as a teenager, said, "When I saw her, I knew it was the finest acting I had ever seen, and, more than 65 years later, I still feel that way."

9. WILLIAMS WAS ONE OF TAYLOR'S BIGGEST FANS. Taylor's celebrated performance helped cement The Glass Menagerie's rarefied reputation. Looking back on her work in the production, Williams said, "There was a radiance about her art which I can compare only to the greatest lines of poetry, and which gave me the same shock of revelation, as if the air about us had been momentarily broken through by light from some clear space around us.”

10. SOME SAY THE SHOW HAS A UNIQUE CURSE. The theatre is ripe with superstitions and lore. One story around The Glass Menagerie centers on the seemingly impossible standard set by Taylor. Even decades later, her performance is the one by which all other Amanda Wingfields are judged. And while there have been seven revivals of the show since its initial bow, none of her successors has won the Tony Award. The curse suggests that because Taylor didn't win the honor for that role—the Tonys were not established until a year after Taylor's run—no one will. Since then, Maureen Stapleton (1965, 1975), Jessica Tandy (1983), Julie Harris (1994), and Jessica Lange (2005) performed the role with nary a nod. Cherry Jones scored a nomination in 2013, and Sally Field did the same in 2017. But neither took home the Tony.

11. THE PLAY GAVE WILLIAMS A SECOND SHOT IN HOLLYWOOD. He left Los Angeles smarting from the failure of The Gentleman Caller, but came back with a heralded Broadway hit. In 1950, The Glass Menagerie became his first produced screenplay. But though Williams imagined the great American actress Ethel Barrymore as Amanda, director Irving Rapper cast English comedienne Gertrude Lawrence in the Southern belle role. The perturbed playwright later declared this a "dismal error." The resulting film was ruthlessly panned. "[The film] comes perilously close to sheer buffoonery in some of its most fragile scenes. And this makes for painful diffusion of the play's obvious poignancy,