Desires

Stanley has his own desires in which he tries to fulfill by using other characters. He desires power and dominance, and by raping Blanche, he tries to regain that sense or power and attention that he had lost after Blanche arrived. Stella began to pay more attention to Blanche and tending to her needs by going out and buying her Coke and letting her take the constant hot baths, and her attitude towards Stanley began to change. Stanley's desire for attention forces him to get rid of the "problem"- he bought Blanche a bus ticket back to Laurel for her birthday. Stanley begins to feel his victory of regaining his dominance when he decided to expose Blanche's past, lies and reality to Stella and Mitch, and stopping the relationship between Mitch and Blanche. When Blanche was sent away to the asylum, Stanley was standing there with Stella and the new baby, comforting her, portraying the image of the idea husband; however, this wrongful representation is yet another thing Blanche cannot accept because she told the truth and is being sent away, while Stanley is not what he seems and is still accepted by Stella. Ironically, this is not how things should be, but how they ought to be, from Stella and Stanley's point of view.

Blanche's desires come from her past experiences. She had married at a young age to a young boy named Allan Grey with poetic aspirations who she was very fond of; however, she catches Allan with another male and could not accept the fact that he was homosexual. Blanche then tells him later that night that he "disgusts" her, which shows her harshness and cruelty. In a way, this also shows her impact on Allan, and the way he died- he shot himself in the head, which is a harsh and cruel way to die. Furthermore, this can also lead to the consequences she has to face for her actions, referring to the way she is treated throughout the play simply because she still can't accept reality. Blanche's desire of finding a companion, finding a lover causes her to constantly make up stories of how things should be. When she arrives at New Orleans, she uses this chance as a way to start new- ironically, she doesn't. She creates an image of herself of how she wants others to see her. She desires attention, but avoids the light because she doesn't want to show her true self. Usually, the light symbolizes something good, that it's leading one out of darkness, but Blanches inability to grasp reality forces her to remain in the darkness, in the world she has created for herself. Blanche’s sexual desires has led to her loss of Belle Reeve, her position in Laurel, and at the end of the play, her expulsion from society at large. Blanche created this "perfect world" of how things "ought" to be, and dug a hole so deep for herself that even when she told the truth about Stanley raping her to Stella- her own sister,- she doesn't believe her and ultimately is the one who sends her away to an asylum. In the end, Blanche is sent away to an asylum, which can be seen as a harsh and cruel place/thing to put a person through. The harshness and cruelty continues throughout the play to the end because it is reminding Blanche of the way she treated Allan Grey and what she has put others through. Shep Huntleigh is just another figment of her imagination, he does not exist. He never appears on stage, and never says a word. She created this figure to make herself feel better about herself and make her feel like she is not alone in this world she has created. He is suppose to be her savior, her escape from reality. Since he never existed, she ends up alone still.

Two Sides to Everyone

In Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley is a character that has been portrayed as a brute beast in the first few scenes. He has a hard time getting along with Blanche- who is his wife's (Stella's) sister- and many conflicts occur as the play progresses. In the first three scenes, Stanley is portrayed as a man who seems to be dominant, aggressive, and sexual in the play. Stanley sees himself as the provider and the head of the household and sees Stella as only someone who is suppose to cook and clean for him, and take care of him but also, she is expected to respect him. For Stanley, he is a man who enjoys spending time with his male friends playing poker and going bowling, playing his part as a man and maintaining power.

When Blanche arrived, the relationship between Stanley and Stella changes. Stella starts to focus on Blanche more and do not listen to what Stanley has to say about Blanche. Later on in scene 8, Stella changes the role and tells Stanley to clean up his own dishes and orders him around. Stanley feels this change in his relationship with Stella when Stanley tries to tell her about her sister and how all that Blanche is saying are all lies.

Now do we see Stanley as something else rather than a brute beast? We can say there is another way to look at Stanley because in scenes 4-8, Stanley finds out the truth about Blanche and he is only looking out for Stella and Mitch. He can be seen as a good guy because he is warning the others, yet no one is listening to him. He bought Blanche a bus ticket to Laurel when he could have just kicked her out in the first place. He's not all beast and hard but he has a soft side that was shown when Stella left to Eunice's room because he had beaten her when he was drunk. He cried for her throughout the night until she came back to him. Blanche also treats Stanley like an ape and views him in a negative way. She mentions in scene 4 that he is like an animal and has animal habits. Blanche does not really have enough experience as to who Stanley is to judge him in the way that she does. She does not like him because they both treat each other with no respect. Stanley does not respect Blanche because of the way she talks about him and because he is suspicious about her. Blanche does not respect Stanley simply because she "worries" about her sister and the condition she is in, but also because she has an idea that Stanley is figuring her out.

EPIPHANIES

The story Araby by James Joyce opens with a description of North Richmond Street as a "blind...quiet street" with a sense of everything being the same and lifeless, sort of decaying in a way, because a priest had died and he took a sense of hope with him. "The former tenant of our house, a priest, had died in the back drawing-room..." There were a few paper-covered books, legacies that the priest had left behind. The narrator of this story is the young boy, who spends every morning laying on the floor in the front parlour watching Mangan's sister, not once speaking to her except for some casual exchange of words. At the slightest mentions of her name, Joyce uses descriptive words to allow the readers to get a feel of the impact the girl had on the boy. She had become a goddess like figure to him that he desired. When he went with his aunt marketing, he had imagined walking with Mangan's sister and protecting her. "These noises converged in a single sensation of life for me: I imagined ... My eyes were often full of tears and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom." Joyce hints the epiphany in the story, that is, the boy is unable to talk to her dealing with the pain of love, but when he is alone, he has fantasies of what it would be like to be with her and he murmurs to himself: "O love! O love!"

When the girl finally spoke to him, she asks him if he was going to Araby. She sort of hints to him that from this conversation, she's trying to get something out of it, but he is caught up in his "love" for her that he does not realize it. She says she would love to go but can't, and he wanted to buy her something from there if he went. The boy thought that if he buys her a gift from the bazaar, she would see how much he cares for her and it will prove his love for her. When the boy gets to the bazaar, he arrives late and notices that nearly all the stalls were closed and the hall was in darkness. This image of a place that was suppose to be spectacular, possibly a place that could help express love for some people, turned into a place that was half closed, disappointing, and dirty. The place foreshadowed a sense of death, with the darkness taking over.

The epiphany is now further supported when the boy says "Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger." His dream, his quest, his hope to capture this girl's heart and crushes and comes to an end when he realized that doing all of this for the girl won't make her love him. He is faced with reality and realizes that the whole time, he just created false hope in a world he wished came true. The boy's spiritual paralysis made him become blinded by what he perceived as a romantic first love and filled himself with false hope.

In Eveline by James Joyce, he introduces a female character named Eveline who is faced with the decision of living at home with her father, or leaving to start a new life. Eveline's mother had passed away and her father does not trust her with anything and will not allow her to live on her own. Eveline's paralysis is the fact that she cannot let go of the past, of her connection with her home and her father, and she can't stand up for herself. She proves her father's point of her inability to live on her own. Eveline resulted in leaving her lover and staying in her hometown continuing to live with her father. When Eveline's mother had passed away, the words "Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!" constantly replayed in her head causing her to stand up in a sudden impulse of terror and wanting to escape. The use of such terms like "save her" and "happiness" crates a sense religious moments which can lead to spiritual/religious epiphanies. Eveline's inability to escape caused her to realize that she does not truly want to escape her hometown either because it was where all the good and bad moments in her life happened and where her family and life truly was.

FROM ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE

During the car ride home, Lucy couldn't help but feel so aggravated. David would never understand, and can never understand what she is possibly going through. How could he when he never even realized the impact he had made on Melanie's life? "Lucy, it could be so simple. Close down the kennels. Do it at once. Lock up the house, pay Petrus to guard it. Take a break for six months or a year, until things have improved in this country. Go overseas. Go to Holland. I'll pay. When you come back you can take stock, make a fresh start." Lucy does not understand how those words were coming out of his mouth. How can he say it's so simple? Was that not where he was at fault in the beginning? Had he not learn that he can not just pick up and leave as if nothing had happened? Did it never occur to him how what he had done might have impacted Melanie's life?

"If I leave now, David, I won't come back. Thank you for the offer, but it won't work. There is nothing you can suggest that I haven't been through a hundred times myself."

"Then what do you propose to do?"

"I don't know. But whatever I decide I want to decide by myself without being pushed. There are things you just don't understand.

"What don't I understand?" Lucy sat dumbfounded. What does he know about women?

"To begin with, you don't understand what happened to me on that day. You are concerned for my sake, which I appreciate, you think you understand, but finally you don't. Because you can't."

How can a man, her father, who committed almost the same crime as these three men, even have the slightest connection to how a woman would feel? How can he possibly understand how difficult it must be for a woman and all the complications that arises due to their actions? The many questions that run through Lucy's mind causes her so much anger and frustration, yet David continues to voice his opinions and things from his perspectives.

Analysis:

The novel is told centering around David Lurie and helps readers see things from his perspective. His relationship with Lucy is a test and also a mirror reflection trying to hint and remind him of his own life. From this short passage on page 157, one can see that David Lurie is persistent and pushy, and assumes he knows what's best for Lucy and how to handle the situation. On the other hand, Lucy is trying to remind him of his position in society and what he has done, who he has become. Her situation becomes a mirror reflection of David's incident with Melanie. She tries to remind him about how he picked up and left to the country, and what good that has done- what has it solved? How can he know what's best for Lucy if he didn't realize how hard it must have been for Melanie?

"Hatred...When it comes to men and sex, David, nothing surprises me any more. Maybe, for men, hating the woman makes sex more exciting. You are a man, you ought to know.(158)" Lucy wants to remind David that he's a man, and she's a woman, he can't personally know what is good for a woman and how to deal with things. He only has a opinion and his own perspective of how a woman's life is. He can't physically experience what she had to experience, he can't live her life for a day, so he has no right to say it's simple.

"And I did nothing. I did not save you." That is his own confession (157).

When it came to Lucy, David becomes a parent again, he worries, he cares, he even admit his own wrong. As we can see later on, his relationship with Lucy reflected how he must have misunderstood and mistreated Melanie, and how he has to own up to his own mistake- and admit he was wrong. He also comes to realize he has no right to try and control the lives of women and has to learn to let them do as they please, but only worry and try to help. He had learned to let go of Lucy, just as he had learned to let go of his favorite dog. Keeping the dog for another week would not have done any good to the dog except let the pain linger and create false hope for survival. Pushing Lucy and holding onto her as if she was a child would only cause him to misunderstand her more and holding onto her would only cause him false hope of trying to control her life and grasping that power that he began to lose.

David Lurie

In Coetzee's novel Disgrace, David Lurie is a fifty-two year old man who has been divorced twice, a communications professor, and teaches Romantics. He was content with his life when he had Soroya as a part of it- until she left. He met a girl named Melanie Issacs- who is in his class- one day and tries to lure her into his home and this is where everything changed. Soroya and Melanie were the two girls who have grown on David Lurie and who he "cared" about. When Soroya left, Lurie called for her and wanted to see her. When Melanie no longer showed up for class or talked to him, he would call her. He believed that a woman's beauty does not belong to her alone and should be shared, and his character shifts from being a womanizer to someone who begins to worry and "care" about others, thought it is not straightforward.

David Lurie's affair with Melanie was discovered and Lurie was faced with the option of admitting he was wrong and take on counseling; however, he chose to resign on his own and plead guilty. When Melanie was not in his class for the test, he gave her a 70%, neither good nor bad. When Melanie did not show up for the hearing, the first thing that he asked was whether or not she was attending. He shows he cares about Melanie because whenever she was not present in class, he would wonder what had happen to her, and he also allowed her to stay with him- which was a big shift from the beginning of the novel because he mentioned that he would love to spend a night with a lady but spend the morning after with her.

David leaves to the countryside to stay with his lesbian daughter. He does not approve of his daughter's relationship with another woman but looks past it as long as she's happy. He also come across Bev Shaw who is another woman he immediately dislikes and finds unappealing; however, he learns to look past it and helps her out with the dogs. His stay has made himself and Lucy kind of learn to accept one another. David develops even more after the incident of the rape, realizing that a woman should not be treated that way and does not understand why Lucy will not just tell the truth. This incident also made David realize what he had done to Melanie was wrong and felt the need to apologize.

David Lurie was once a womanizer, a man who did not care about what others say or think or feel, and tries to take the easy way out. Now, David Lurie, a man who had to live through life with shame and guilt- disgrace- to come to a realization of all that he has done, became a man who has a heart, who cared about others and who learns to do the right thing. He apologizes to Melanie's family and after putting his favorite dog to sleep, burst into tears.

All I Have To Say

All I Have to Say

-parody to "This is Just to Say"

I'll buy you

plums if

you wanted

some

Does the plum

taste good

in that

sarcastic mouth

why waste your

days here's some seeds

now you have

all you can eat.

Ozymandias

In December 1817, Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote Ozymandias, one of the greatest poems in the English language. His poem was inspired by seeing a guest of his, Horace Smith, write a poem on a similar topic. The central theme of "Ozymandias" is the inevitable decline of all people, and of the empires they build, however mighty in their own time.

Ozymandias (also spelled Osymandias) is another name for one of Egypt's most famous rulers, Ramses II (or Ramses the Great). He was born in 1314 B.C. and ruled Egypt for 66 years as the third king of the 19th Dynasty. His exact age at death is uncertain, but it was between 90 and 99. Ramses was a warrior king and a builder of temples, statues and other monuments. He was pharaoh at the time Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, as recounted in the second book of the Bible, Exodus(derived from the Greek word for departure).

"Ozymandias" has two settings. The first is the place where the narrator meets the traveler (Line 1); the second is the setting in the traveler's tale about a crumbling statue of an Egyptian king (pharaoh). The statue is at the site of the ancient Egyptian capital, Thebes (about 420 miles south of Cairo), which was divided by the Nile River. On the eastern side of the river was the city proper. On the western side was a vast cemetery, or city of the dead, where statues, temples, and tombs memorialized the pharaohs. Living at the site were priests who conducted religious services and artisans and laborers who designed, built, and maintained the monuments.

The reign of Ramses II marks the last peak of Egypt's imperial power. After his death Egypt was forced on the defensive but managed to maintain its suzerainty over Palestine and the adjacent territories until the later part of the 20th dynasty, when, under the weak kings who followed Ramses III, internal decay ended its power beyond its borders.

Dream It, Accomplish It.

Langston Hughes' "Harlem," there are a series of questions being asked about dreams. Knowing the significance and history of Harlem itself, one can realize that this poem is dealing with African Americans. These questions being asked are not looking for an answer, but simply trying to make readers reflect on the history and lives of African Americans. The tone of this poem is a mixture of a few. The poet shows a sense of anger because the American Dream was not for everyone, especially not for the African Americans. America denied freedom to African Americans and throughout this poem, one can sense the frustration along with hatred.

Six out of seven sentences in this poem are questions. By formatting his poem this way, Hughes is able to depict the many questions African Americans had about their lives, and the one line that is not a question in this poem, shows not a definite answer to the questions- resembling how African Americans never received a solid answer as to why they were forced to endure the worst. Each question allows the reader to see and smell the frustration of African Americans. The second question asked whether or not dreams fester like sores and then run; in other words, referring to African Americans trying to escape no matter what condition they're in, thus leading to "Does it stink like rotten meat." This question can create an image of the many dead bodies of African Americans and the infections or diseases they encountered, and the poor health that they were in which lead to some deaths. Following this question comes the very powerful question that directly impacts the others. "Or crust and sugar over- like a syrupy sweet" can be directly related to how White Americans tried to cover up the racism against African Americans, the pain and sufferings, the dead bodies and how America herself was involved in the cover-up.

Hughes' continuous questions creates a sense of tension along with the anger and frustration that develops with the different stressed syllables in each line. The use of such similes and strong choices of diction creates disturbing images and images where you can clearly see what is going on. "Maybe it just sags like a heavy load" showed the burden that African Americans had to carry and in order for a dream to come true, does one have to explode in an outburst of violence? Or is it that when one finally realizes that a dream does come true, explode in tears of joy?

Seek the Truth - Thesis

The History Teacher - Billy Collins

Trying to protect his students' innocence
he told them the Ice Age was really just
the Chilly Age, a period of a million years
when everyone had to wear sweaters.

And the Stone Age became the Gravel Age,
named after the long driveways of the time.

The Spanish Inquisition was nothing more
than an outbreak of questions such as
"How far is it from here to Madrid?"
"What do you call the matador's hat?"

The War of the Roses took place in a garden,
and the Enola Gay dropped one tiny atom on Japan.

The children would leave his classroom
for the playground to torment the weak
and the smart,
mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses,

while he gathered up his notes and walked home
past flower beds and white picket fences,
wondering if they would believe that soldiers
in the Boer War told long, rambling stories
designed to make the enemy nod off.

In "The History Teacher" by Billy Collins, history repeats itself. The constant lies and deceptions, hiding what is really going on in the world, allows similar events to reoccur. Each stanza consists of a period or event in history where the truth is being kept from the students for their "own good." Collins uses clever ways to try and prove a point- each important part in history is mentioned, and then he tries to cover it up with something "silly" or irrelevant. Collins points out that by hiding the truth, the history teacher will be able to protect his students' innocence; however, from this poem, one can argue that the history teacher is simply trying to "hide" the truth and teach his students to "seek" the truth on their own and not live by what others tell them.

Beauty Lies Within

In the poem "In a Station of the Metro," Pound creates many different images and gets straight to the point with just fourteen words. When many people first read this poem, it was difficult for them to grasp a meaning from the poem with just two lines. They try to pick out certain parts of the poem to find the meaning and beauty within this poem. However, Pound was able to prove his point that beauty lies within everything and not just one thing.

With the creative use of the word "apparition," Pound describes the many different faces he sees in the crowd in a subway in Paris as a group, a crowd. Apparition alone means the sudden appearance of something, usually dealing with a ghost. Knowing this, "apparition of these faces in the crowd" becomes the shocking appearances of these blurred beautiful faces in the crowd that he had never noticed.

The choice of the word "petals" was used to show how petals resembles flowers, and how a flower is made up of many petals, and how there are a wide variety of flowers. When one buys flowers, they are usually sold as a collection of many different flowers in a bouquet. Like flowers, there are many different colors, race, shapes and sizes of humans. In order to appreciate the beauty of life and the diversity of people, one has to look at them as a collection, not individually. A "wet black bough" simply refers to the subway station; however, one can view this as when it rains or when someone is going through rough times, it is when everyone works together in a group to help out that one notices the true beauty of humans.

In the fairly short poem, there is a contrast between life and death, light and dark. The ghostly appearances of these faces can resemble death because when one walks by an individual, one would not really care to notice who it was or try to find the beauty in s/he. the person then just becomes nothing, as if s/he was dead, and along with the rest have just become the walking dead. On the other hand, if one just stops and takes the time to see the big picture, view everything as a whole, then the ghostly appearances blossom into petals, bringing life and color into the world- revealing their true beauty.

The image of the flower depicts the meaning of this poem. In the midst of the crowd, one is not noticed, but blends in. The dark spaces represents the individual people- the ghostly figures- just being space fillers, just being random everyday people at the subway station. However, when viewed collectively- like petals forming a beautiful flower- one will notice the beauty that lies within the crowd. Thus beauty stands out more when one sees the whole picture and not just an individual aspect. Everything has beauty within, regardless of their type.

Pound's choices in diction was a very effective tool in creating vivid images of what the underlying meaning of the poem is. The use of apparition and petals contrasts one another but links the two ideas together. The beauty of this poem lies within the whole poem itself, not in individual words or sentences.

Death Itself Is Not Almighty

Death is a concept that can be viewed from many different perspectives. Some might see death from a negative aspect- that is, their time in this world has come to an end. Some might see death as a powerful "thing" waiting to take over one's life, or impact many other lives. Even the thought of death lurking around every corner just waiting to take action might scare a few. But for others, "Death" itself is not scary at all. They know that Death will eventually come for everyone, so that motivates them to live their lives well, to use their time wisely. A few might even view death from a positive aspect and believe in the afterlife, believe that once people die, they no longer have to suffer, they no longer have to go through pain, and they will live happily and peacefully in a better place, or Heaven. Furthermore, death can be seen as an escape from reality-or the easy way out- and maybe one will have a second chance at life.

No matter how one views Death, Death is inevitable- there are just many different ways one can approach this, and try to convince themselves that death can keep being prolonged. In "Sonnet 73" by William Shakespeare and "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas, both poets approach death from two very different and creative views. "Sonnet 73" is yet another sonnet written in iambic pentameter. This sonnet contains five feet per line- with an unstressed, stressed pattern, three quatrains with a rhyming couplet. With this, Shakespeare is able to depict time coming to an end. He starts the first quatrain off by showing that the beginning of one thing slowly comes to an end. As he continues onto to the second quatrain, the beginning of one thing comes to an end sooner than the previous event. Last but not least, the third quatrain shows the beginning of an event coming to an end rather quickly, which is where his quatrains comes to an end, and he leaves us with a twist in the rhyming couplet.

"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" is an example of a villanelle- a poem with five three line stanzas with an ABA rhyme scheme and ending with a four line stanza with an ABAArhyme scheme. Although the rhyme scheme may seem simple, this is a very strict form of poetry; needless to say, the message itself can be quite complex. Unlike Shakespeare's "Sonnet 73," Thomas realizes that time is coming to an end, but wants to fight against it, prolong it. The complexity of this poem can also help readers feel the frustration that Thomas had to deal with in this poem, and the strong powerful words he chose to use helps create an imagine of fighting against death.

Both poets are well aware of death's existence, and they are both writing their poems for individuals who are dying. However, their views, approach, attitudes and feelings differ greatly. In "Sonnet 73," Shakespeare starts off with the ending of autumn/beginning of winter. This can be because during the winter, it becomes very cold which can lead to health problems for some, hardships for others. Throughout life, there is always going to be the phase where one goes through difficulties, where one has to suffer, and during this downfall, it may seem like the longest time period. But no matter how difficult the situation, once s/he overcomes the situation, that period has come to an end. With the end of one season, comes the beginning of the next season. Next, Shakespeare shifts the setting from seasons to days. With the sun rising on a brand new day, everything good that happens in life will always have some sort of darkness that follows- whether it be the consequences for certain actions or situations, or the negativity from others that tries to bring one down. Whatever the circumstances may be, one must be reminded that once day shines bright, night will soon take over, so one must use the time they have wisely. Furthermore, we have the last scene of a burning fire, fighting for it's remaining moments. Once the fire is out, that's the end of its time. Shakespeare shows how with each season changing, life is changing, with each day that passes by, one is aging, and with each night that falls, one might fall deep in sleep, thus leading to death's second self. Shakespeare not only tries to make his friend realize he's dying and his time is up soon, but he is also telling his friend that parts of his life have already died and have just become memories because he's aged to this point where his youth and everything he's done in the past can not be changed in any way. Being reminded of this, and how time waits for no one, Shakespeare quickly turns the situation around and change the focus to himself. He says that his friend is the one who is leaving him, so his friend should cherish and love him while he still can. On the other hand, Shakespeare takes this as a reminder to enjoy his own life while still can.

In "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," Thomas is writing to his father who is ill and dying. He alternates the repetition of the lines "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" to constantly remind his father to not just give up so easily and let death take over. His father knows that he will die soon, so Thomas finds this as more of a reason why his father should be fighting for everyday of his life, showing that he wants to live and he's willing to put up a good fight before he dies. Thomas' father is aging and getting closer and closer to death; therefore, he should be appreciating life more and wanting to fight for everyday. The second stanza of the poem mentions "wise men" which Thomas probably refers to old men who understands that death is inevitable; however, they have used their time wisely and did not waste a day. They "do not go gentle into that good night" because they do not let the night take over and just sleep it away. They took over the night by knowing that they have lived everyday as if it were their last and lived it well. In their minds, they have won because they used the time that was given to them, but still seek more in their life. Next, Thomas describes "good men" as those who have lived a purposeful and meaningful life, who have helped others, still do not give up on life and continue to fight for another day because they know they could do more. "Wild men"- those who do not have their priorities straight and waste their time and days- will only realize it when it's too late and live with regrets, but they too, should not give up on fighting for their lives, rage for that matter. In the fifth stanza, Thomas talks about the last type of men, which are "grave men." Those who even on the verge of dying still continue to rage, continue to fight the night because they know there could still be more to their lives. Thomas points out these type of men to say that his father is unlike any of them. His father shows no signs of wanting to live. He sheds no tear, and shows no rage. Thomas wants his father to fight for his life and not show signs of weakness and let death take over. Thomas wrote this poem to plead his father to resist death, to show that he still wants to continue to live, and with all his might, try to prolong his life.

Shakespeare and Thomas both realizes that death comes closer and closer as each day passes by; however, Shakespeare tries to make the point that time is short and soon one's life will come to an end, whereas Thomas is not willing to let death take over and tries to make the point that one must fight for his life, fight to resist death. Both poets touch on the topic of time and how it waits for no one. One should always cherish every moment s/he gets and live a strong lived life. Shakespeare briefly adds a twist at the end to make another point about how the people dying are leaving their loved ones behind, and it is their loved ones who suffer the most. Eventually, one will be forgotten and their time in this world will come to an end, but it is the things they leave behind, the people they have touched, helped, taught- those intangible things that will remain forever. It has made an impact on someone, has changed something, and that is what made their life a well-lived life. For Shakespeare, his dying friend has made him realize the importance of his life, his present moments that he has to cherish. Both poets are the ones being left, but Shakespeare is able to accept it. Thomas on the other hand is frustrated because his father is not trying to fight for his life. The only thing his father will leave behind will be the image of weakness, of surrendering to death, and of not wanting to continue living, even for his own son.