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1. Vivian begins the play with a friendly and common opening line to engage the audience- “How are you?”. However she then takes this phrase further into its various meanings and the feelings the phrase evokes within different people at different times in their life. Vivian’s inquiry and amiable conversation with the audience show how knowledgeable she really is the and the methods she uses in her role as a teacher. I would like to have her as a professor myself because she seems very deep and intellectual-a mysterious person that is not so easy to read. I also appreciate the humor she has about life and the acceptance she has embraced about her illness.

2. The doctors approach Vivian with a common procedure that they see to use on all patients, whether the Dr. is extremely knowledgable on every cancer term or he has had to give this same speech to all his cancer patients, the treatment seems to be the same for all cancer patients. The doctor seems to have to be believe that the procedure will work, giving his patient confidence and courage, however he does inform her how grueling the next eight months will be and how she has to remain tough. Vivian does not seemt to believe that the treatment will work as she remains very calm and settled throughout the conversation. I think that Vivian just goes along with the plan because she was just presented with this huge change in her life and she is not in the position to argue against any of these intense terminologies when she is dealing with life and death.

3.The scene with Vivian and her father follows right after another examination by the doctors of her sickly body. All of the huge and hardly comprehendable words that the doctors use to describe her condition is analogous to her past, when she was a child and her father taught her how to make sense of words she did not understand. This does not only bring memories of happier times back into her mind but it also expresses the frustration Vivian feels as her life and illness is being documented and tested, yet she has no clue what exactly the doctors are saying.

4. Irony is an statement or idea that means something other than may actually appear. There are many examples of irony throughout our world-politicians stand for some huge worldly matter that encourages all people to change their ways and follow under their proclaimed revolution, yet it is all a game to them and their own personal lives do reflect the motive to change at all. Throughout the play in particular, it is ironic that she is so knowledgeable and confident yet she is completely out of the loop when she converses with he doctors, or rather hears their terminology.

5. She is clearly a passionate person towards ideas, language, words, and feelings, yet throughout her visits in the hospital she is thrown words that mean nothing to her, words and a technical language that she can not comprehend or appreciate. This language does not allow for expression or the process of making sense of these words- this cancer talk is a language like no other, one that can not be valued or appreciated as equally as others. When she says this, I think she is being totally straightforward-she struggles with the language and words of the doctors yet she feels as though she can attempt to make some sense of it all with her prior knowledge of vocab to de-root the word.

6. When she is being explained what is wrong with her body and the steps her body will take will the cancer resides,  she loses her power-the will and ability to teach. I think this loss comes close to home for Vivian, she has expressed how important teaching is to her and how her entire adult life has been centered around this ability. And for cancer to literally take this power away, she feels barren and possibly weaker both physically and mentally.

7. Vivian says she is isolation because she is being treated for cancer not because she actually has cancer. Because Vivian was and still tries to remain a strong person, it is difficult for her to be the one pitied upon-the one who is losing the power over herself. It is hard for her to see herself as victim of this disease where she no longer has the greater insight or the ability to challenge other people to the complexity of knowledge, she is now the one who is puzzled by the whole matter and certainly does not want any one visitor to see her weakness.

8. From reading the many complex and in depth poem by Donne and challenging her mind to understand the meaning of his words, she has learned through his works and the effects of cancer about life and death-its boundaries and what it means to live knowing your going to die. Specifically, she has learned that life is a complicated puzzle and one is to go about all of their living days trying to figure out the puzzle, while acknowledging  the puzzle will never be solved. Being a cancer patient, she is no longer living life flippant about death. Death is becoming more real to her as her body approaches the end and she experiences the fears and unsureness of no longer living, breathing. Her studies have been very useful as far as confronting her own end because she as developed a strong and confident personality through depicting language and literature that permits her to accept what is and attempt to discover what can not be solved.

10. The Professor is not saying that scholars can not be sentimental, but rather they must first understand everything about the poem-the words, the punctuation, the intended feelings-before they begin or even include their own sentiment into an analysis of the poem. The only differentiation that the Professor makes is that Vivian has to take every aspect of the poem less lightly and view the details with more significance in order to make  a mature approach towards the meaning of the work. Her professor wants Vivian to know that she needs to be tough yet cautious is she decides to furtherer her career in poetry. And she also emphasizes the importance of human truth rather than wit, which Vivian does not make sense of at first. From this reflection of the past, it is clear to see that Vivian is going to become a scholar who incorporates feelings and rigidity into her expression of language through poetry-unlike her professor who takes the structure of the poem very literally and evokes feelings from the structure. I think that Vivian is more emotionally limited and struggles to hold and understand her own emotions while keeping up her confident and bold stature.

11. Both Jason and Vivian attempt to very serious and hide their emotions from others around them-it is important to feel and look powerful and indestructible. When the two are discussing Jason’s future-becoming an independent researcher-they both seem to recognize the unpleasant part of working with other people before reaching his goal, the interacting and petty conversations. However, they can never admit that they are stubborn to feel emotions or even let their fears and feelings show. Because Vivian is able to see how the two are so similar-all about knowledge and confidence-she realizes, through Jason, that she can not come to terms with her emotions and puts strength over everything else. When Vivian was his teacher she taught him to be tough, strong, and always challenged. And through her  grueling regimen, Jason became just that. Although Vivian may not have given him the ability to express his feelings, she did providefor him the elements to gain knowledge and treat life like a puzzle while constantly using his intelligence to figure it out. Thus, his attitude has been highly influenced by the time he spent with Vivian. This is clear through the way he values his intelligence and always being ahead of the game- not valuing life as much as he values the endurance to discover it.

12.During one of her long nights with uneasy pain and discomfort, she calls her nurse Susie in to aid her. Susie, the kind-hearted humble nurse, addresses her as “sweatheart” many times. Vivian put aside all of her pain and questioned the address-“sweatheart”. She wondered why someone would ever talk to her with that sort of kindness. The reason she reacts this way to kindness is because her life has been centered around logic, challenge, and the trek of complexity. She has never had to confront kindness and personal feelings nor treat the same way she does the meaning behind challenges.

13. Jason has created a very small relationship with Vivian, praising her knowledge and teaching abilities, however in the end he views her as research and wants to use her body and medical history to further his career and research on cancer. Jason does display a genuine respect for when he talks to the other doctors and nurses about how intelligent Vivian is and how he has grown from her classes and incorporated what she has taught him into his current life. He also engages in conversations with, discussing poems, philosophies, and the puzzle of life.

15. Vivian would complete this sentence by saying that she feels ruthless and maybe even emotionally reserved. At the time she was trying to be so tough and rigid to her students so they would recognize the intensity of her course and the lack of room to fall behind. However, now that she has been faced with cancer and her emotions have been revived, she looks back at her life and wishes she would have been more compassionate and even kinder in the past.

16. The nurse Susie seems to be very helpful and committed to her job. She is one of the few people who interact with Vivian that express emotions to her and show true kindness, something that Vivian is not familiar with. As the play progresses her personality becomes more clear and it is easier to asses her as a kind and honest person who truly values the feelings of others. Because she is so humble, she recognizes that the doctors are “smarter” than she is because they use the big words and make the major medical decisions. However, I think that Susie is just as adequate as a professional because she can incorporate peoples’ personal feelings and the challenge of her career into her daily work. She shows us that intelligence does not lie solely in academics, but in the entire mind in correlation with the heart.

17. Susie approaches medical care with more compassion, kindness, and awareness of the patients’ feelings. The doctors, however, treat each patient as another project and isolate the challenge and logical aspects of treating a patient. Susie shows Vivian how to express her feelings and that it is possible to be both intelligent and have the ability to handle emotions. As Susie and Vivian talk more and get to know each other better, Vivian gains more respect for Susie and learns from her rather than being the teacher again.

19. I think doctors need to put aside hopeful thoughts and tell the patient what they really feel about the results and chances of their disease and prospective treatment. Although it is comforting to know that things may work and their life may last a little longer, in the long run it is better the mind and heart of the patient to know their true and honest chances of living. Hopeful thoughts mean nothing in the end, it is the facts of their medical state. Although the doctor’s intentions are well and they only mean to boost the patient’s confidence in them and their plan for recovery, it is not excused to tell a patient that they should believe in something that they themselves do not even believe in. Vivian seems to accept that cancer has taken over her body and no one treatment is going to fix the problem while not being uncomfortable. She knew from the beginning that cancer was bigger than anything that the doctor would propose, so the treatment for her was coping with the pain and the complexity of dying simply.

21. Vivian has just been hooked up to another IV and experiencing the climatic effects of the cancer, and she recites the poem here after because she is now contemplating the bigger ideas of humanity like life, death, and God. In the poem, Donne uses the word mercy to express the forgiveness of God. And Vivian, like the speaker in the play, takes note to the forgiveness that comes so easy to God. For after all of her sins and mistakes in life, God will forgive and give mercy until her faults. This forgiveness, like no other thing in her life, is so suspiciously simple.

23. I think the student’s assessment of Donne is more accurate than Vivian makes it out to be. His poems does not seem to explore this complex issues he brings about but rather presents that these issues are complex and goes no further. This statement reminds me very much of the behavior and mannerism of Vivian herself. As a teacher, she challenges people with complex matters and creates this timidness among those who try to resolve the the puzzle of life, however she resorts to the mere fact that there is a challenge and intricate element of life and hides behind this huge puzzle instead of expressing her emotions. I think Vivian is most afraid of not knowing everything, and therefore she doesn’t explore what she doesn’t know or can not figure out. Her running away is in the form of her resistance to share her true personal feelings and admitting that she does not always “know”.

24. I think the play is called “Wit” because it is the word, the state, and the persona that Vivian has taken on throughout her life to confront the issues she is presented with. She refers to intelligent people that she looks up to as people of wit and she also acts with wit when she has to accept that she is dying-just another intricate piece of the puzzle. To me wit means showing no personality and replacing one’s true reaction to something with a front that is strong, confident, and all-knowing. This play might also be called “A state of feeling”, because Vivian transforms her emotional state and she goes through cancer.

25. By Salvation Anxiety, Jason means that one knows that there is the whole religious salvation promised by God, however they can not make sense of the matter or deal with the whole idea of being saved under a religion guidelines and then having a final destination after life. Vivian too suffers from salvation anxiety because she can not rap her head around the idea either. She makes life and knowledge this huge puzzle and presents it only as a complicated matter. She seems to timid to explore the elements of life and death and thus has gone about her entire life with this strong and intelligent stature that can not be overcome by anything. Vivian has never allowed her mind to go beyond the puzzle of life and use her emotions to explore deeper and intractable feelings. God and heaven are one of those issues that she has never quite figured out yet, and no one would ever even know that because she does not let people think she is unknowing of something. Vivian is also guilty of overwrought dramatics because she often uses language as a form a theatrics to look more intellectual and overly confident that she actually is, a barrier to hide her fears.

26. The play portrays the body and soul as two different things. When Vivian was well and still viewed the world as a puzzle that she was living in, she lived her life as if she was one with her body and soul. With this is mindset, no physical limitations could effect the state of her soul because she was entirely consumed in knowledge. However, once she is treated for cancer and the doctors work on her health and on her body, she begins to view her life as two separate pieces, one of the body and one of the soul. They treat her like a project and a science experiment, that enable her to analyze exactly how unified she is.

27. The poetry of Donne is presented as complicated and intricate, Vivian and her students try aimlessly over and over again to try to unravel the meaning, solve the puzzle. When Vivian is treated for cancer and Jason and the other doctors work on her deadly disease, they are presented with some puzzle of nature and science, however after many attempts and the same cycle that each patient experiences, they begin to relize that cancer, like poetry, has just become something that can not be solved. The students are trained to deal with cancer patients, they are in the same position as those who try to depict poetry. The language of science and literature come together to prove that some tasks are merely tasks that can not be completed.

29. During this state of weakness of utter hopelessness, she reverts back to the poetry she was once taught by her intelligent professors. Her professor taught her to make note that she has to truly and completely analyze poetry and use her emotion to read the poem. Here, Vivian tries to implement her emotions as she feels as though she is dying. And the reason that she says sorry is because she has forgotten to use her emotions and feelings throughout her entire life, she has not taken notice to how the poem is to be read, how the puzzle of life is supposed to be solved.

30. The Professor calls this poem “a little allegory of the soul” because the short story of the bunny conveys the meaning of salvation-that no matter where one goes and no matter the mistakes they have made in life, salvation and God will find them, save them. This should give both Donne and Vivian the reassurance they need, to know that in the end despite the ways the handles life they will be found and  forgiven. I think the Professor attempts and successfully does say something inspirational and comforting to Vivian-for although she passed out and dying she may no that her departure from the world will be calm and pleasant. It is clear that the point of the short story read by the professor is read to Vivian so that she will know that she lived a complete life and in the end, despite her fears and hesitations, she will find forgiveness and the puzzle will be solved.

The female poet clearly recognizes the gender spilt among poets and their presumed capabilities. Bradstreet’s reference to Greek figures and mythical creatures illustrates her true feelings about women writing poetry among other men. She feels as though her work, like many other female poets, is “undervalued and scorned” by most men- she “could prove well, it won’t advance”. The first five stanzas have a feel and tone of pity and hostility that Bradstreet asserts women poets feel. The author claims that all of her good writings and thoughtful pieces of writing will not even been “read over” by Great Bartas, a poet she admired; for “Bartas can do what Bartas will” but she can only do what her skill proves acknowledgeable and praise-worthy by men. Bradstreet also elaborates on the fact that the society of hard working poet would never accept any piece of writing that wasn’t perfect-not “perfect beauty where [there is] a main defect”. However even when women “mend” all their mistakes, they still have no chance of creating art because “nature made it so irreparable”. Here the author hints at the idea of the role sexism plays in her society and the restraints it creates among women.

            Thus, after all of the complains and unsettling feelings about women not being equal with men, Bradstreet completely adverts the tone in the final three stanzas to one that empowers women and makes them out to be stronger against the suppression of men onto them. In these lines she accepts that “men have precedency and still excel”, almost as to give the men their credit so they know that women could care less about their status. In these final stanzas she conveys women as leaders and warriors, because despite the fact that men are always putting them sown they will stand strong and act more mature and responsible about the situation by simply asking for some “acknowledgement” but no reward.

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Throughout the short story the narrator gradually becomes more aware of who the mysterious Bartleby really is. One Sunday morning the narrator visits his office and notices that Bartleby is there. He is surprised to find his employee at the office on the weekend and very curious as to why he would be there in the first place-his speculations rise as he walks the block a couple of times, as he is ordered to do so by Bartleby. The “wonderful mildness” of Bartleby “unmanned” him as he allowed his hired clerk to dictate him on his own property. The narrator, himself, examines Bartleby and what he is capable of. He knows nothing “amiss” is going on because he Bartleby is not an immoral person. He also knew that he was definitely not copying, a matter he prefers not to do, but rather something eccentric, something pertaining to his “decorous manner”.

As the narrator reentered the office he noticed not only was Bartleby gone but also he had left all of his possessions to narrator’s curiosity. He found all of his sleeping supplies that led him to believe that Bartleby slept, ate, and dwelled in his office. The narrator pitied the man so much as he felt that his “poverty was great, but his solitude, how horrible!” The narrator felt overwhelmed with melancholy and “unpleasing sadness”. He then concludes within himself that misery does hide among us, however we think that it does not exist.

The narrator then proceeds to fine Bartleby’s bandanna-wrapped savings. He then recalls how quiet and private the man really is-never telling him anything about his past, his interests, or present life. He describes him as a man with “an austere reserve”. The narrator thinks to himself and pities the man so much and his melancholy soon “merges into fear” because he feels as though there is no way to console or help such a private, personal, and mysterious man.

Throughout the review of the Tragedy of Macbeth, Bradley often compares this Shakespearian tale to other stories such as Hamlet. As he picks apart Macbeth and describes the effects of imagery and character perception, Bradley simultaneously explains how evil is the underlying force of the entire tragedy. Darkness and blackness “broods” over the entire play. This adds to the atmosphere that most find difficult to describe. The sun itself is described as showing only twice, implying a sense of evil and eerie moods throughout the play. The one color that occurs is blood- most clearly defined by the actions of Macbeth. Bradley describes the imagery of color, mood, and movement as “ the vividness, magnitude, and violence” that creates such an atmosphere.

The appearance of the witches is all due to the combined images of the storms, darkness, and supernatural dread. Overall Bradley uses textual support and well thought our analysis to explain the evil in the atmosphere and the way in which the scene of the play work with the actions of the characters.

 

Throughout the remainder of the review, Bradley focuses on the images of the main characters and a deeper analytical approach to understanding their thoughts and actions. Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth are described as “sublime and inspire the feeling of awe” (243). Both share the same ambition-to rule-however each one passionately fierce at different times in the play. Bradley deems Macbeth, although very similar to his wife, the far more complex character. Macbeth shifts from an honest and cautious man in the beginning of the play and through his conversations with Lady Macbeth and the murder of Banquo he later appears to be more of a warrior, “a man to inspire some fear” (244). Macbeth’s imagination is said to reveal Shakespeare’s own conception. Macbeth’s imagination about his actions and his ambition often are deeper and higher than his conscious thoughts. The limits of his imagination force the reader to not pity Macbeth or even love him but look at him in awe because of the lack of sensitiveness he has for the world. Bradley explains the thoughts of his own actions-the image of his own guilty heart”-appall Macbeth (246). Bradley also uses specific passages from the play to further explain his reasoning of how Macbeth regrets his past decisions by analyzing the consequences but becomes so caught up in power that he becomes a completely different person than he was before he heard the prophecy of the witches.

Reginalid Scot discussed witchcraft as a fable that held “deep root in the heart of man” (131). He explains how man blames witches and their evils for the cause of all their “calamities (131). Witchcraft is existent only because man refuses to believe that God, all loving and good, could create any form of evil or uncomforting matter. Scot affirms that everything, good or evil, occurs because of God and his power, not the doing of witches. Also he states that God in fact does not permit witches and that through the context of the Bible God does mention anything about witches. Scot claims that humans have averted from trusting in God to trusting in the evil powers of witches. 120

 

King James account of withes and witchcraft is centered around his telling of specific people and their stories of assumption and conviction based on association with witchcraft. The passage discusses particular people throughout Scotland that were accused of being witches and therefore searched and questioned. The authorities would look on the accused person’s body for the sign of the devil, the marking that affirmed their association with evil. King James clearly hates witches and therefore the evil that works through them, called the “enemy” (139). Through the story about Agnes and her confession to witchcraft and devising a plan to harm the King, reveals the traditional view and hate towards “witches”; the devil’s intervention.  114

 

Unlike Reginalid Scot, Daemonlogy is based on the belief that witchcraft and witches does exist among the presence of God. The document explains that witches have the will to either “hurt men and their goods…or to satisfy their greedy desire” (144). Women are said to be witches because their sex is inferior to men and therefore easier for evil to invade. God, by this, allows certain people to be effected by witches and their evils and he has already planned everything from the beginning. Unlike the other articles, this one most clearly states that witches and their evil crafts are existent and known by God, not merely coexisting with the good God so called only expresses. 116

In Martin Luther’s attack on free will he makes many references to scripture and biblical figures. His overall stance is that free will does not exist for we are all predestined by God and all aspects of our life have already been planned out. He claims that the fictitious idea of free will has been embedded in men’s hearts by the work of Satan. Luther states “a person’s path is what they call the natural power of doing what in him lies”. However, this path is not of “man’s choice or free will” (117). Luther disproves the “free” aspect of man’s choice by contradicting various quotes of the Bible, direct word of God. He concludes that “free will is a fiction among real tings, a name with no reality” (119). 130

 

Desiderius Erasmus takes a different approach in confronting the matter of free will. He does not believe that free will is completely fictitious, but rather correlated to the grace of God. Throughout his essay, he makes reference to Luther and contradicts many of the statements he made as he depicted the words of Biblical figures-claiming he twisted many quotes “to apply to grace and free will” (127). Erasmus states that the entirety of the Scripture-striving to improve and conversions- would be meaningless if deciding to do good or evil was a necessity. Meaning that in order to have free will and accomplish these aspects of Scripture, it must be out of our choice and not for necessity. God’s commands are not only attainable by human power, but Erasmus believes require little effort. Overall, he states that the necessity of human action to choice between good and evil does not exist and “no one is compelled to sin unless he actually wills it” (128).  163

 

Both of these ancient thinkers’ thoughts hold much prevalence to the plot of Macbeth. Throughout the beginning of the novel, within the first act, Macbeth is confronted by the three witches after he triumphed through the battle, and they tell him many prophecies. They inform him that he will not only become King but also the future of the other men and their children. As any one would be after this incident, Macbeth was dumbfounded and confused about the pleasing fortune he had just heard. Much speculation about the words of the witches dwells within Lady Macbeth as well. The reader is led into the thought process of fate and whether Macbeth has a choice about his future in this circumstance. Luther states that free will does not exist and that we are all fated from the beginning to travel a particular path and that there is nothing we can do about our fortune. Macbeth could fall into this tragedy-knowing what lies ahead of him, and although pleasing, can do nothing to overcome what the withes have prophesized. However Erasmus thinks that no choice, towards any direction, is necessary and that free will exists among man. Because of “divine grace”, he believes that many things can be accomplished with free will, thus Macbeth can surmount this “fated destiny” and use his will to make his own decisions. Both of these scenarios are possible and cause speculation within the reader about the way Macbeth’s life plays out.  246

In this section of the introduction, Macbeth is described as needing redemtion however he choses to save himself rather than being saved. This choice causes him to suffer miserably. After slaying the king and other guests he is in need of God’s blessing however he can not force himself to say “Amen”, the holy words that mean yes I believe. Whether he cannot overcome his integrity or face his wrong doings, Macbeth can not manage to say Amen, even insincerely. The introduction explains that this inability “signals the futility of his crime”. The intervention of God in the latter part of the play brings about many references to the Bible and the moral complex of Macbeth’s conscious. Macbeth becomes contempt “for the Gospel and prayer” marking his “moral deterioration”.

In the first stanza of the poem the speaker conveys his attitude towards the subjects-the Irish nationalists- as indifferent and does not evoke any other personal emotions towards these people. This attitude, of not much interest or even slight acceptance, is made clear through the speaker’s description of the people as he/she sees them around town. The speaker describes their interaction as nothing but “a nod of the head” or “polite meaningless words”. He/she does not given names to any of these “vivid faces” but describes their conversation as ” a gibe to please a companion”. The attitude the speaker has towards the subject in the first stanza evokes a message that their efforts are not as effective but have just become the talk of the town.

 

Throughout the following stanzas the speaker dramatically changes his/her tone of indifference into one of respect and reverence. In the second stanza of the poem the speaker then personalizes these people, the Irish nationalists. He describes a women who spent all her “nights in argument” fighting for something she believed in, even as a “young and beautiful” women. The speaker conveys a reverent attitude towards a man who had done him wrong but above all played a part in this national fight for independence. The following stanza implants an even stronger attitude of respect and admiration. The speaker creates a metaphor by comparing the nationalists, “hearts with one purpose”, to a stone that starts commotion in the middle of flowing river. The speaker recognizes all that their rebellion has caused and yet “they live…in the midst of it all”. In the final stanza the speaker’s attitude completely shifts from the beginning of the poem. Here he/she recognizes their sacrifice as one that was needed and later appreciated. The attitude is portrayed as one of utmost respect and recognition of such a sacrifice that affect later times “whenever green was worn”, affecting a whole nation.

The author’s distinct word choice in “Departmental” conveys that speaker pity’s the human society because of the way in which they live such a “departmental”, basic, and orderly life. When the speaker describes the moth as “many times his size” and the way in which the little ant approaches such an intriguing animal as “he showed not the least surprise” the attitude of the speaker is shock and mere pity. From just the beginning of the poem the speaker uses diction that not only describes the orderly form of the ant society but also to provide the speaker’s feeling about such order- the ants go about their daily life with the mission to take care of their job of which they are assigned and take no time to observe what else is happening in life. The speaker sees such order as a way of missing out of everything that the world has to offer those dwelling on it. 

 

“Seems not even impressed”, like many other conjunction of words throughout the poem, is a phrase that the speaker uses to further elaborate his/her attitude. The ants are described as driven and conscience of their particular job yet take no notice to engulf themselves in ANY other matter around them, not even a huge, beautiful, still moth. The diction shows just how surprised the speaker is that ants, representing human society, can go about every day doing the same thing and not exploring anything else or visiting another aspect of “everyday life”. The social order the speaker describes is blind with a sheet of normality and order that causes the people/ants to neither take advantage of life but to go about everyday with one goal- attain to their own “affair”.

1. “The hungry bear in autumn” creates the feeling of strength, malicious, and determined; like looking into the eyes of huge bear when hunger hits. This image immediately gives the reader the feel of death-definite like the sureness of a hungry bear fetching food and timid like the prey that the bear will soon consume.

“and takes all the bright coins from the purse to buy me and snaps the purse shut” creates the feeling of emptiness and theft. Looking into a purse and seeing all the bright coins gives the purse value and vibrancy, just as looking upon life and seeing the quality of everything it encompasses and the vitality of the people living within it. Life lives within the purse like life lives within the world. The reader is then continually eased into the idea of death taking life away and leaving emptiness.

“like the measle-pox” provides a familiar  pandemic that literally takes life quicker than it took to create that life. The image of measles and the unpleasant effects of the infection gives the reader the idea of how unpleasant it is to approach death and how quickly it can be taken.

“Like an iceberg between the shoulder blades” is a vivid image that conveys the pain and enormity of death. This effective image closes the speaker’s thoughts on death and the power they have over those living. Death is huge and overwhelming, causes pain and ends life-through these images the reader is able to take on the feelings the speaker has towards death and therefore better comprehend the following images about life.

 

1. “I look upon everything as a brotherhood and a sisterhood”. This image shows how the speaker will look upon life as he/she would a relationship they have with an actual person. For in order to truly take advantage of what the world and life has to offer, one needs become personally and emotionally involved with life. Just like a brotherhood or sisterhood encompasses trust, loyalty, and unity that are built from close bonds, the speaker plans to share a bond like this with life.

“I think of each life as a flower, as common as a field of  daisy…and each name a comfortable music in the mouth…and something precious to the earth.” Here the speaker creates an image of familiarity and comfortable, unlike the timid feeling of a hungry bear or the overwhelming aspect of death. The image, with a changing tone, allows for the reader to feel at ease and see life as a flower with lyrical names-life portrayed as a peaceful, welcoming, and fruitful. Instead of viewing the immensity of life and all it contains as overly-ambitious or daunting, the speaker provides an image that conveys life as simple, a matter that can be completely absorbed by those living it.

“I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.” Again the speaker confirms that he/she intends to leave this world, having approached death, with concrete and intimate bond with life, just as a bride or bridegroom has with his/her spouse. The image of unity illustrates the author’s true desires of life-to literally live life to the fullest through a special bond that he/she plans to create before they approach the end. Unlike the timid prey that the bear consumes, the speaker will be satisfied with the time he/she has had with life, not merely just a visitor on earth.