"I taste a liquor never brewed"-Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson employs a strong sense of natural imagery throughout this poem.  She discusses the clouds, the air, the dew, the sky, the bees, the butterflies, the snow, and the sun.  As the poem progresses, I noticed a subtle change in the seasons.  At first when the speaker refers to the butterflies and bees and the halting of their drinking/nectar intake, I thought she was referring to the fact that the season were switching and the plants off of which they survive would soon die.  With this, I became confused as to whether the speaker was professing her love for nature throughout the entirety of the year or just during summer months when nature seems to be in full bloom.  The argument support that the speaker only appreciates nature during the summer is found when the speaker says,

"Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats." (Dickinson, 797)

 However, the argument supporting the speaker's love of nature at all times is backed by the phrase,--

"I shall but drink the more!" (Dickinson, 797)

--even though the seasons are changing.  Despite these arguments, Dickinson makes the speaker's attitude toward nature crystal clear.  

"The Convergence of the Twain"-Thomas Hardy

In the first sections of the poem, the speaker highlights what a waste the Titanic was.  The boat consisted primarily of members of the American and British high-class.  Much intelligence and wealth was lost at its sinking.

"Jewels in joy designed 

To ravish the sensuous mind

Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind." (Hardy, 778)

Surprisingly, the speaker never references the loss of life.  However, he does seem to take a swing at them in the first section when contrasts the solitude of the sea to human vanity and how the two would never had naturally mixed.  He furthers this point as the poem shifts from the boat's current state to when the boat converged with the iceberg.  He references a force one may perceive to be fate as "the Imminent Will" and the "Spinner of the Years."  With this specific diction, the speaker indicates, the collision, while unnatural, was unavoidable.  However, rather than focus on how nature destroyed the ship and all the lives upon it.  Earlier in the poem, the speaker discusses how the ship has disrupted the peacefulness of the sea.  According to him, human conceit is a blemish, not something to take pride in.  

"My Mistress' Eyes"-William Shakespeare

"And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare 
As any she belied with false compare" (Shakespeare, 885).

Here, the speaker in Shakespeare appears to be claiming that the poets who describe their lover as perfect are liars.  Shakespeare presents the speaker as a realist.  The first twelve lines would be offensive to any woman who was the recipient of the poem.  Yet, the idea the speaker presents is not hard to accept; it is common sense that no one is perfect.  The speaker chooses to say this through accuses other men of lying.  The speaker switches the tone in line thirteen.  He declares even though his mistress is not perfect, she is just as rare as any other woman who was compared to perfection.  The speaker furthers this argument by referring to such comparisons as "false."  He points out the realistic idea that women cannot be perfect and presenting them as so is deceptive to the woman and to other women of society who now feel they must be the same.  In the simplest terms, the speaker is saying even though his mistress is not perfect, their love is just as good as anyone else's, and he is not lying like many others are.  

"Barbie Doll"-Marge Piercy

"To every woman a happy ending" (Piercy, 836).

The irony of the last line of the poem conveys the speaker's attitude about a woman's role in society.  Her criticisms of society's demands of women are strong.  She presents these through the use of a "girl child" who is growing up.  As she grows, she is healthy, smart, and kind.  Yet, all society and the people around her can see are "a fat nose on thick legs."  Society forced her to conform to the image of an ideal woman which eventually strips away at her mentality.  The speaker of the poem shows that she had more positive qualities than the two negative.  Still, her negative aspects were all people could see which therefore became all the girl could see.  In the end, the girl offers up her good qualities ("good nature") in order to rid of her bad qualities.  Though the speaker suggests a happy ending for all, the irony is that no one is technically happier.  The girl has diminished her sense of self, and the world is worse off not having the kind, smart girl that was originally described. 

"A Jury of Her Peers"-Susan Glaspell

Glaspell creates suspense mostly through her highlighting of the differences between men and women.  While she never explicitly discusses this topic, she approaches it through the women's thought processes and the men's actions.  The men are looking for the concrete evidence to prove Minnie's guiltiness.  On the other side, Mrs. Hale and the sheriff's wife try to get into Minnie's mind.  They deduct that she was most likely unhappy with her husband.  Mrs. Hale knew her before she got married  and talks of her lively spirit.  She then goes on to point out that Mr. Wright had a rather heavy personality and accuses him of killing Minnie's light spirit.  "'She used to sing.  He killed that too'" (Glaspell, 423).  Though the women are not even looking for evidence, they discover the proof with the bird.  However, Mrs. Hales depiction of Minnie's life and how drab it had gotten to be evokes so much sympathy for her that the women would feel guilty proving her crime.  Therefore, they hide the information from the men and offer to bring Minnie whatever she needs.

"Hunters In the Snow"-Tobias Wolff

It could be argued that Tub, on the surface, is a stock character: a cartoon-like obese man who is the butt of other people's jokes.  What characterizing details help to make Tub into a fully realized individual? 

As the story opens, the fact that Tub is ostracized by Frank and Kenny is evident.  They make constant jokes about his weight and downplay his intelligence.  The first detail that fills in his character is his getting lost in the woods.  His reaction to the separation between the other two and himself is fear.  "He quickened his pace, breasting hard into the drifts, fighting away the snow with his knees and elbows.  He heard his heart and felt the flush on his face but he never once stopped" (Wolff, 190).  This shows that he was not dumbly oblivious to the world around him.  Later in the story, he admits his lie to Frank and reveals the secret of his binge-eating.  This presents Tub as a more rounded character in that he recognized his problem and feels extremely ashamed of it.  Through this, Wolff evokes sympathy for Tub.  At the end of the story, the culprit is more Frank than it is Tub.  This is due to the sympathy that Wolff created for him earlier on.

"Othello, the Moor of Venice" Part 2

    This Shakespearean play is unique from others in that all but one single character is innocent.  Shakespeare characterizes all characters aside from Iago as being taking advantage of.  Othello has been made to believe his wife is having an affair with his dear friend causing him to feel great anger and hatred toward them both.  Through her own knowledge, Bianca concludes that Cassio is having an affair with another woman.  Though she does not necessarily like him all the time, Emilia still has a regard for her husband and is surprised to hear the rumors he has created.  She repeats the line "My husband!" (Shakespeare, 1454, Vii145) over and over again when Othello says Iago told him about Desdemona and Cassio.  Roderigo is led to believe that Iago is working diligently to get him in Desdemona's favor when, in reality, Iago has done nothing.  All of this makes Iago all the more deserving of his fate.