Intro to English Major

In Dylan Thomas' poem, the narrators main theme he discusses is about death. The "good night" or final sleep that all people must face should be a struggle; there should be one last fight against death to bring the memory of life into "light" before exiting existence. Thomas of course is not saying that we should not fear death or fight for more days in our last day, but to struggle as death is approaching. He writes "Old age should burn and rave at close of day  /  Rage, rage against the dying of the light." In these lines the narrator means that your old age, assuming this person has had a long full life, should burn which brings light into the "close of day" meaning death and that we should rage, or fight, until the last breath of life. I believe that Thomas wrote this poem about his father when he was in his last days and this was an experience that he had told his father; that his life should be celebrated and remembered and to not let d

In William Shakespeare's sonnet "[My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun]" there is a strange comparison used between what is truly beautiful in his eyes. This poem seems to emulate that the beauty he finds in this particular person is all very natural and that the comparisons of beauty should not be so dramatic. He seems to disagree that someone should compare blushed cheeks with roses and eyes like the golden sun. However, in this poem, Shakespeare states that the comparisons are just not enough and that "I think my love as rare  /  As any she belied with false compare." He says throughout the poem that his mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun, her cheeks and lips are not red like coral, and that she does not smell of "more delight." This seems sweet to think that he does not want to compare this persons beauty to another object; that their beauty is its own breed, yet I don't think that this comes across the reader at first. Shake

In the poem "Last Night" by Sharon Olds, she tells a story of a woman's sexual encounter the night before. She uses great symbolism and sexual innuendo throughout this work to describe her reflection of the experience. I believe that the woman in this poem is having a Love VS. Lust conflict within, and cannot decide whether it was a good experience or not. Olds writes "Love?"- questioning what love is and how "love" should be understood. She also writes a few times "I close my eyes when I remember" which could come across are being embarrassed or uncomfortable with the experience that had occurred the evening prior. However, there are moments in the poem that I believe that there is a conflict with the man she is with. Is it a one night stand? Someone she has been recently dating? or someone that she is in love with, but something has changed within their relationship. Olds writes, "Did I know you?" which could be a question of if s