In "Annabel Lee," Poe uses several sound devices to
develop the rhythm in the poem.
Internal rhyme: "For the
moon never beams without bringing me dreams. . ." and "And so, all the night-tide, I
lie down by the side. . ."
Sibilance: "Can ever dissever
the soul from the soul. . ."
Alliteration: ". . .sounding
sea."
The main theme is a foreshadowing, a kind of calm before the storm.
The setting is a scene of typical domestic tranquility - Sunday dinner with the Manettes. The main protagonists, Dr. Manette, Lucie, Darnay, and Carton, are all present. Although everything seems peaceful for the moment, there are a number of signs that disaster is approaching. Dr. Manette's shoemaking bench and tools are present, indicating that the effects of his imprisonment are still there. There is a storm coming, and echoes of distant footsteps, which grow increasingly louder. The chapter ends with the line, "Perhaps, see, the great crowd of people with its rush and roar, bearing down upon them, too."
By the end of chapter two in Steinbeck's Of Mice
and Men, George does appear to be a good friend to
Lennie.
George can be a bit pushy and insulting at times,
like when he gets terse with Lennie about not having any ketchup, but for the most part
he takes care of Lennie. Most of George's shortcomings in his conversations with Lennie
are just the result of a lack of patience. He probably doesn't speak any more harshly
that most people would in dealing with Lennie.
And George
is careful to take care of Lennie. He brings beans for their meal the first night,
makes Lennie give up the dead mouse, brags about what a good worker he is, protects him
from aggressive people like Curly, and asks Slim about getting a puppy for
him.
The novel's society has no place for someone like
Lennie. George does his best to give Lennie a place.
The complete slanted inversion of Hamlet (The holiest Holy of all theatrical productions) so that it is told 'through a glass darkly' by a couple of minor characters and that those characters are not 'in' the play but cluelessly bouncing around, (ie at the whim of a fickle, God-like playwright who can mould reality) that is ironic. Hamlet turns from the world's best loved tragedy into a surreal farce.
Yesterday R+G were in the real world, normal R+G, or were they? "What's the last thing you remember", "I forget"... but then they were "sent for" and entered this weird theatrical drama. And their comi-tragic doom is certain. There's always blood. "The blood is compulsory." It is ironic because the characters have become self-aware of their environment enough to observe it is barely real, but not so self aware that they say, "oh we are in a play." The truth keeps slipping away from them, they go in the play, behind the scenes with the actors, back in the play, mind-games and reality puzzles,
"One... probability is a factor which
operates within natural forces.
Two... probability is not
operating as a factor.
Three... we are now held within sub or supernatural forces"
Those supernatural forces are 'the magic of the theatre'.
People tend to take everything they ever hear that sounds
romantic or sounds wise and they say that Shakespeare said it. I do not believe that
this is a quote from Shakespeare. Instead, I believe that it is a quote from a poem
called "Bedouin Song" by Bayard Taylor.
I have checked in
databases that include all of Shakespeare's plays and poetry and he never wrote those
words. In fact, he never even wrote the words "I love thee." Strange,
huh?
Anyway, I also have a link to the Taylor poem -- check
it out.
Napoleon and Snowball disagree about the best way to defend the farm. Snowball wants to create more rebellions on other farms by sending the pigeons to stir things up. Napoleon thinks the best way to secure their safety is to do it from within. He wants to get weapons and train the animals to use them.
Snowball believes the way to improve the farm is through the building of a windmill. Napoleon does not think it is a good idea, he wants to increase food production. They decide to put it to a vote. When the animals come together to vote, and the vote appears to favor Snowball's idea, Napoleon cues the nine dogs he took under his wing, and they rush at Snowball. Snowball is forced to run for his life, and narrowly escapes. He is never heard from again.
In Dante's pseudo-biographical work La Vita Nuova, there is a moment where a girl asks him what his true intentions were towards Beatrice. The insinuation is that Beatrice's girlfriends know what men want and are intrigued at the thought that Dante may be planning an affair with Beatrice, who was engaged to another man. In his youth Dante was known to get around and he suffered due to this reputation, more out of guilt than anything.
So do we believe that Dante's concept of love was simply courtly love? I certainly don't. I offer as evidence the poems he wrote during his exile concerning a common maid who drove him crazy because he desired her but she would be so cold with him. In the poems he even refers to her as a "bitch"! To drive our beloved poet to curse she must've been quite the seductress in bed, yet he was disgusted with how she played him.
It is my delight in this side of Dante, who speaks directly in his vernacular, that inspired me to explore the same issue of Love and Sex in my book _White Man's Inferno_, since Love (or rather the severe lack thereof) is what we're all preoccupied with.
