Everyone feels burdened by life at some point. Everyone wishes they could just close their eyes and make all the problems and struggles of life disappear. Some see death as a release from the chains and ropes with which the trials and tribulations of life bind the human race. Death is a powerful theme in literature, symbolized in a plethora of ways. In “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Eve” Robert Frost uses subtle imagery, symbolism, rhythm and rhyme to invoke the yearning for death that the weary traveler of life feels.
When the speaker in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Eve” pauses for a moment’s rest, he does not do so on a simple evening, but on the “darkest evening of the year,” the winter solstice (474). The winter solstice is the day marking the beginning of winter, when the sun is the sky for the shortest time, and the night is longest. Night, with its darkness and shadows, is a classic symbol of death. On the winter solstice, Death can be considered his strongest, for his time, the night, is the longest i…
A Defining Moment in My Papa’s Waltz
A Defining Moment in My Papa’s Waltz
An older boy remembered his father, a hardworking blue collar man. He remembered how his father would walk into the home each evening with scraped hands and perspiration stained shirts. His father was a tough man. He was the kind of man that refused to go to the doctor and rarely hugged his children. Yet, he was a good man. The boy remembered how his father provided for the family and often times his smallest actions proved his paternal love for them. One particular memory stood out among the rest. His father had returned home from work late one evening. He had been out celebrating his pay raise with some of his co-workers down at the local pub. He waltzed through the door bursting with excitement and proudly picked his son up swinging him around. The boy and father playfully tackled and wrestled in the living room. Similarly, poetry reveals unforgettable moments such as the one between the father and son. Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” captures a positive bonding experience between a father and son through vivid imagery and use of …