One of the remarkable features of Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself is its adaptation of the epic poem genre. But, while classics of this genre have at their center a heroic figure, Whitman introduces a new vision of the heroic. Instead of glorifying acts of great courage and feats of tenacity and will power, the…
Category: Classics
Rhetoric Analysis: Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth
Frederick Douglass’ speech titled ‘What to the Slave is the Fourth of July’ is a passionate oration on the plight of black slaves in pre Civil War America. Delivered in 1852 the speech is elaborate and rationale but also emotionally touching. It is fair to claim that this speech is a key piece of American…
Cinematography of Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane has been voted the greatest American film to be ever made in poll after poll. And this assessment comes from critics, directors and fans alike. There are several reasons why this achievement is possible. When it was released in 1941, the film revolutionized and revitalized the art of filmmaking in Hollywood, which was…
Conflicts between the communities of Maycomb in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
To Kill a Mockingbird, first published in 1960, is an enduring masterpiece of American literature. Written by Harper Lee (for whom this was the first and last novel), the story speaks of a young girl’s (Scout Finch) love and support for her father and brother in the backdrop of the Great Depression. This was a…
The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
The poem The Lady of Shalott, arranged in four parts, talks about the inner dilemmas and conflicts that an artist faces constantly. The rewards of resolutely focusing on the artistic world are at times insufficient to compensate for the emptiness experienced in the artist’s personal life. Through the example of the Lady of Shalott and…
Shooting an Elephant: A critical appreciation
George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant is one of the best short stories to have appeared during the last days of British colonialism. Partly autobiographical in its content, the short story narrates the difficulties encountered by a colonial officer in Burma, as is sent on a mission to shoot down a rampaging Elephant which has already…
Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search For Meaning: A Perspective
Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning will continue to be a key text on human psychology due to its concerns with universal themes. The most focused of those themes in the book is that of suffering and human choice. Frankl suggests that even in the most hopeless and helpless of situations, where one is under…
Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl: A critical analysis
Victor Frankl’s classic work Man’s Search For Meaning is a rich source of psychological insight. Written based on first-hand observations of the lives of fellow inmates in Nazi concentration camps, the work succeeds in capturing key universal truths. The foremost of the book’s concerns is that of ‘meaning’ pertaining to human life. It talks about…
Social Commentary & Criticism in Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre has now attained an iconic status as a literary work. There are several reasons behind this achievement. The first is the inherent beauty and complexity of the novel. The twists, turns and fluctuations of fortune that comprise the plot are both original and engaging. The second most notable aspect of the…
Phaedra as an example of Enlightenment values
Are love, passion and other emotions as dangerous as the play seems to make them and is reason alone enough to achieve happiness? Are human emotions a sign of weakness, disease, lack of control, or absence of Reason in the play? What is the cause of this tragedy? Phaedra, originally part of the large body of Greek…