Author: NARGES HASANZADA

In this poem, the poet does not use any techniques to create the poem. he uses long lines although the poem is very short. This poem might have many different interpretation, depending on the time or period which the readers read it. if it was before Israeli and Palestinian conflict, I would say it is about would war II,  if it was before that i would say it is demonstrating the foundation of the two different religions but in two similar situation. but now I say it is because of the two country’s flight. It does relates the both men’s situation in which they are looking for their belongings. The fact that the conflict between politics should not affect regular people such as a father and shepherd. I assume that the main purpose of this poem is that human can live together in the same land despite of their difference in terms of religion or language.

“When You Are Old” is obviously a very romantic poem but it is also about aging.

The poem ” When You Are Old” is a poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeast, which the speaker directly addresses someone else and asks this person to imagine old age, a time of grey hair and general tiredness. This is bittersweet poem that revels the complexities of love. The poem has a fairly bleak outlook on aging, with the speaker suggesting to the addressee that life will  grow sadder and lonelier as youthful beauty fades away. throughout the poem the speaker is emphasizing on beauty of the addressee and how her future will look like . The speaker also hinting that the addressee has so many lovers because of her youthful and beauty which she many not have when she gets older and paler, and that she has to enjoy her young age before she gets old.

In this story , Chekhov has depicted many important situations and possibility which may happen for anybody at any stage of the life. For instance, Dmitri’s capacity about his self knowledge, or the other way around his knowledge about his capacity. Dmitri is someone who has a luxurious, personality always seeking for pleasure do not quire respect women but cannot live without them either. On the other hand Anna a young beautiful lady, who does not have a good relationship with her husband and feels that vacuum seriously in her life. This situation makes it easy for both to emerge in an unplanned relation. however, things do not turn to be what Dmitri had thought. Dmitri had thought that he is on a vacation by himself a beautiful woman available for him whom he could spend his time with. In contrast, Dmitri for the first time in his life falls in love with a woman and that changes his entire life. Dmitri a guy who never hides anythings from anybody has to hide the biggest secret in his life. He had never thought that one day he would miss a specific woman. All Dmitri’s changes of thoughts especially his thoughts about women, indicates his capacity of his self knowledge. He did not know all those things could happen in duration of a week. This story specifically Emphasizes on many important aspects such as: change of thought, love with age difference, safe shelter(heart), lack of self knowledge, hiding your real life and many secrets. It also significantly describes the importance of inner happiness over the materialistic life and luxurious life.

What does Wharton want us to consider about the ways in which we do or do not know certain people in our lives? E.g. friends, lovers, family.

Edith Wharton was an American novelist and short story writer of 18-19 Century, who had quiet emphasized on short stories related to the society and especially upper class society. In her short story Roman Fever she Demonstrates enough of significant points about friendship, social level difference, sacrifice, betrayal and of course love. There are many factors that could be considered throughout the story, from the beginning to the end of story. For example in the beginning when Mrs Slade wants to confess about the letter she had written 25 years ago, or at the end when she says”At the end of all these years. After all, I had everything; I had him for twenty-five years. And you had nothing but that one letter that he didn’t write”(Wharton 16 ). Roman Fever is a short story about it tells a lot about friendship, judgement and secret.. In this story both characters have done something wrong in their youth age, one for love and one for popularity and both get shocked 25 years later about some truth that has and had changed their lives. Mrs Ansley had betrayed her friend and became pregnant from Mrs. Slade’s fiance at that time however she sacrificed her love and kept her daughter from Mr. slade as a secret for many years and Mrs. Slade is the reason for all that to happen however her intention was something else. I have learned a lot from it for instance, it is not easy to trust people around you, or at least the truth is not always what you think.The very important point that I have learned from this story is that truth will  come out either it is sweet or bitter, if you sin you will be punished either today or some days later and also you cannot be rich or poor all the time.

How does Joyce depict the differences between Gabriel and the other characters in the story? How are they similar and different? 

Joyce makes clear every character’s personality, by describing them in details. for instance, in the beginning of the story he mentions that “Julia, though she was quite grey, was still the leading soprano in Adam and Eve’s, and Kate, being too feeble to go about much, gave music lessons to beginners on the old square piano in the back room. Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, did housemaid’s work for them”(Joyce 1). Same as Gabriel, he has a self-deceptive personality and he is always disappointed. He does not believe in himself. Anytime there is a conversation, his intention is to hide something from others, or the other way around. If someone wants to tell him the bitter truth he tries to avoid it. In my idea, Gabriel is a weak person who does not or cannot tolerate the reality. however, through the end of the story he understands that he should not be always running away from the truth, he realizes that avoiding the truth does not change anything. and he listens to the most bitter truth and secret of his wife patiently. I would say that his wife’s character is more similar to him because she hid something very important from him, all these years she just pretended that she loves him and she is happy.

Do you consider Wordsworth’s poetry optimistic or pessimistic or some combination of the two?

Wordsworth the masterful English romanticism poet knows how to play with the words, which makes it harder for readers to interpret if his poem are flowing toward optimism or pessimism. For instance, the first two lines of “Tintern Abbey” seem and mean to be pessimistic. It is phrased as the poet is complaining about the life and long seasons. However, it becomes more clear in the later lines which the poem is mostly flowed toward optimism and the poet is praising the beauty of nature. In my perception Wordsworth’s poetry is optimistic. However, the definition of the words in a poem are meant to be different based on every individual’s interpretation.