The poem 'anyone lived in a pretty how town' by Cummings is about the loss and lack of identity of people in the modern world. The ‘any’ one of the titles is an anonymous man living in a pretty ‘how’ town. The syntax of the title is suggestive of unusual meanings in this poem too. The title could be read in many ways such as: “a very common and nothing special sort of guy lived in a pretty town.
The poem 'i sing of Olaf glad and big' by Cummings is a typical poem based on Cummings's experience in the army. It is an ironic retelling of the torture and death of a conscientious objector during World War I. The character Olaf in the poem was a soldier in another barrack when Cummings was also a soldier in France. One day two had met for some time and while talking, the other soldier had talked very bitterly against the vulgarity and immorality of wars in general.
Edmund Spenser's prime motive in writing The Fairie Queene was to demonstrate virtues of a gentleman or a noble person. The virtues were to be illustrated by a series of adventures of the twelve knights who represented one virtue each among the twelve gentlemanly virtues of King Arthur before he was king. For instance, Red Cross Knight in the first book represents holiness and the rest of the five knights which Spenser completed only in six books represented temperance, friendship, chastity, justice and courtesy.
Girl Powdering her Neck by Cathy Song is written with a painting perspective with reference to Ukiyo-e by Utamaro. The present poem is based on a picture, a special kind of Japanese woodprint by famous printer Utamaro; she meditates on the art intently until she gains a vision for the life of the courtesan (rich prostitute) depicted on it, and on the nature of human beauty and appearance.
The Little Girl Saw Her First Troop Parade is a short prose poem shows the bitter reality of war through the innocent perspective of a young girl. When the little girl saw the troop marching, she asked the speaker what they were. He replied that they were soldiers. Then she asked what soldiers are for.
The tusks of mastodons fought powerful fights in the past have become the playthings. The sword of Charlemagne the Just, the warring emperor, won him many countries, but now it has rusted. Everyone was afraid of the powerful embrace of the grizzly bear, but now people sit comfortable on its fur. The Great Caesar was the powerful general, but now his armless statue makes the people’s drawing room beautiful.
The Truth the Dead Know is a confessional elegy on the death of the poet's parents in 1959. Sexton's mother died in March, due to cancer and father died in June, mainly due to alcoholism. Her grief was, of course, too much to bear, but she also had a kind of strong resentment towards the dead; the burden of grief or any strong emotion is fact riddled with conflicting emotions as Keats says in his poems.
If human life were not limited by space and time, the beloved’s coyness would not harm the lover and the beloved. They would sit and plan how to pass their long time. The beloved would be by the side of the Indian Ganges and the lover by the side of the Humber in England. She could refuse him as long as she pleased. His love would grow larger slowly.
The poem ironically portrays a picture of an American city in the evening. The city looks radically different in the evening than it looks during the day. The so-called civilization, sophistication and decency vanish and they are replaced by poverty, tricky, chaos and barbarism.
When the athlete won the race for the townspeople, they carried him on their shoulders through the town and brought him home. At that time other people were standing by the street clapping their hands to show their happiness. Today also all the runners bring him home on their shoulders and put him at his door, but the entire town is more silent.