Victorian thanksgiving poem

1. Thesis: The Power of Epistrophe in Shakespearean Tragedy

• Example: Explore how William Shakespeare utilizes epistrophe for emotional impact in Hamlet's soliloquies, emphasizing the protagonist's internal conflicts and contributing to the overall tragic tone.

1. Thesis: Anadiplosis as a Tool for Moral Reflection in Victorian Literature

• Example: Analyze Charles Dickens' use of anadiplosis in "Great Expectations" to underscore moral lessons and societal critique, examining its role in shaping the narrative's ethical framework.

1. Thesis: Aposiopesis in Gothic Fiction: Unveiling the Unspeakable

• Example: Investigate the presence of aposiopesis in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," exploring how the device enhances the suspense and horror elements by leaving critical details unsaid.

1. Thesis: The Rhetorical Force of Epizeuxis in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

• Example: Examine Abraham Lincoln's use of epizeuxis in the Gettysburg Address, dissecting how repetitive emphasis contributes to the speech's enduring impact on the American psyche.

1. Thesis: Chiasmus in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby": Symmetry and Disillusionment

• Example: Investigate the thematic significance of chiasmus in key passages of "The Great Gatsby," unraveling how Fitzgerald employs symmetrical language structures to convey the novel's themes of illusion and disillusionment.

1. Thesis: Enjambment and Modernist Experimentation in T.S. Eliot's Poetry

• Example: Analyze T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" to understand the role of enjambment in his modernist exploration of fragmented consciousness, societal collapse, and spiritual desolation.

1. Thesis: Paraprosdokian in Oscar Wilde's Satirical Wit

• Example: Explore how Oscar Wilde uses paraprosdokian in "The Importance of Being Earnest" to satirize societal norms and conventions, adding a layer of unexpected humor to his comedic masterpiece.

1. Thesis: Anaphora in Langston Hughes' Poetry: Giving Voice to the Harlem Renaissance

• Example: Examine the use of anaphora in Langston Hughes' poems, such as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," to analyze how repetition becomes a powerful tool for expressing the collective voice and identity of the Harlem Renaissance.

1. Thesis: Hendiadys in Jane Austen's Social Commentary

• Example: Investigate Jane Austen's use of hendiadys in "Pride and Prejudice," exploring how this device adds nuanced layers to character relationships and societal critique in her Regency-era novels.

1. Thesis: Litotes in George Orwell's "1984": The Art of Understatement in Dystopian Discourse

• Example: Analyze George Orwell's use of litotes in "1984," considering how the device contributes to the bleak atmosphere of the novel and emphasizes the oppressive nature of the dystopian regime.

Note: These examples are for illustrative purposes and provide a starting point for further exploration in literary analysis. It's essential to consult the actual texts and relevant scholarly articles for in-depth research.

For what it's worth I got 44/55 on the MCQ on the same practice test, or 80% Original is here https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-european-history-ced-practice-exam.pdf
You can also just do some or skim them if you don't have the time, which is understandable, 100% fine by me. Just be honest, that's all
FIRST SAQ
a. Napoleon's imposition of republican systems on various puppet states. During his wars of conquest, Napoleon would occupy various territories, and set up republics in them, for instance, the Batavian Republic. These were nepotistic in many ways, yet even so, they still partially preserved many of the ideals held by the Jacobins and other related parties. This ultimately shows a specific conflict: that of contemporary republicanism vs. traditional monarchism, which would go on to be a defining ideological issue later on in the century.
b. Napoleon's authoritarian policies. Consolidating his territories, he would institute various laws, such as the Napoleonic Code, building an efficient bureaucracy to maintain them. However, these laws not only reflected traditional treatment of groups such as women, but also were backed up by actions such as the repression of the press, and Napoleon's later coronation as emperor. These actions reeked of tradition, calling back to the older monarchies of Europe, rather than the modern parliamentary states.
c. The Nazi occupation of large portions of Europe. In 1939, having previously annexed Czechoslovakia and Austria, Germany would declare war on Poland, thus setting World War II into motion. They occupied large swathes of territory, and would force their own ideological ideals of national and racial superiority onto others. They attempted to create a new Europe, essentially, dominated by "superior" peoples, but they found great resistance from the masses, who resented these policies, wanting to maintain their old conceptions of nationality. This shows how the struggle between the Nazis and other groups was focused on imposing something new on others who had preferred traditional methods, similar to how Napoleon's newer ideas were not well received by some of the territories he conquered, who preferred older ways.
SECOND SAQ
a. The increase in population brought about by the Industrial Revolution. The discovery of new technology such as the steam engine and of agricultural implements such as the seed drill (from the Agricultural Revolution, closely linked to the Industrial Revolution) allowed for more food, which naturally meant more people could fed, which led to a higher populaton. Cities like Vienna would want to accomodate the growing masses of people who were to live in their realms, and would act accordingly, embarking on infrastructural projects such as the one shown in the map to do so.
b. An attempt to encourage centralization. Austria at this time was composed of many different ethnic groups, including but not limited to Germans, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Croats, and others. They had little in common, and this caused issues, especially in Bohemia and Hungary. To help combat this, Austria may have wanted to make their capital seem grander and more luxurious in a way, which would encourage nationalism (a rising trend around this time) and to hopefully keep the country together. This shows a trend in which countries would increasingly focus on centralization, as seen even in areas such as Germany, which would later unite in 1871.
c. The de-emphasis of luxury in narrow areas, as opposed to "specialized" areas instead. Vienna, like many other cities in Europe is very old, and most of the streets are narrow and organically made. People seemed to have been comfortable with this previously, yet as the 19th century developed, new ideas on architecture began to grow in popularity, as people advocated for the creation of areas specifically designed for leisure and similar purposes. This is indicative of the fact that people saw cities less as natural phenomenons, but more like artificial constructs which could be efficiently managed and built, similar to, say, Hausmann's architectural rennovations in Paris.
THIRD SAQ
a. Parliament went from supporting intersections between church and state to outright despising it. Around 1517, when Martin Lutther released his Ninety-Five Theses, England was still Catholic, and Henry VIII even published a pamphlet defending the Catholic faith. However, around 1533, when the Church refused to annull his marriage, he established the Anglican Church, becoming Protestant and breaking from Catholicism. However, the English government still had a close relationship with the church. This would change with the rise of movements such as Puritanism, a vaguely Calvinist movement. The Puritans believed the Anglican Church was corrupt in many ways, and some, namely the Pilgrims, even advocated total separation. Puritans were well represented in Parliament, which allowed them to attack the church from the state, which ultimately culminated in the English Civil War, and the beheading of Charles I. This demonstrates that overtime, Parliament (the state) turned against Anglicanism (the church), showing a marked separation of church and state.
b. The English Civil War did not really end religious laws in the country. As was typical of every country at the time, 16th century England possessed numerous religious laws, including some based around heresy. This did not change with the rise of the Puritans, who established strict religious laws of their own, for example, restricting the rights of Roman Catholics. The continuity here is that religious ideas still held massive sway when it came to English law.
c. A disillusionment with religious rule. Both the Reformation and the English Civil War had religious undercurrents, with the Reformation promising a return to a purer form of Christianity, and the English Civil War partially centered around the idea that the king was leading a "popish" (pro-Catholic) plot to restore the religion in the country. Later philosophers including Thomas Hobbes and John Locke would have seen these conflicts, with the hindsight to judge them, and would begin proposing newer ideas of governing which were not based on religion. This shows that the damage caused by tension between these two groups came to such a severe extent that some began seeing secularism as a possible solution, which would be adopted later on in England.
DBQ
Even though old attitudes towards women continued to persist, overall, World War I greatly changed the lives of European women, as shown by the increased involvement of women in manufacturing, and their heightened participation in conflict.
Traditionally, women in Europe had restricted rights. They could neither properly represent themselves legally, nor vote. Wives were thought to be subservient to their husbands, and only suitable for domestic duties. The Victorian ideal of a perfect wife was one who would constantly occupy herself with housework and maintaining order in the family. Women who tried other roles were considered rough, tomboyish, or rustic, which were all seen as negative qualities. In a nutshell, they were second class citizens. Some, especially wealthier women, would gain respect as cultured authors, examples include Jane Austen and George Sand (who had to use a male pseudonym). However, overall, women were simply seen as inferior to men, who controlled the bureaucratic structures of Europe. Yet, less than a decade after WWI, many European countries granted women the right to vote.
The magazine Votes for Women published an article on November 26, 1915, which shows a woman personifying the concept of chivalry presenting the idea of women's equality to a man, who is advocating for more political representation for soldiers (Document 1). Now this is a political cartoon in a newspaper, and so it was meant to reach a broader audience of politically informed citizens. It is worth pointing out that this was published shortly after the sinking of the Anglia, in which female nurses died prioritizing wounded servicemen. The idea was that women were simply dignified enough to obtain legal equality, and that changes in legislation were overdue because of this, an idea the newspaper would've been effective enough at promoting. In addition, a memoir written by Maria Botchkareva in 1919 explains her life as a peasant and an officer (Document 6). This is as close to a direct perspective as you can get, it quite literally comes from a woman who experienced the war first-hand. Botchkareva explains that although man of the men in her unit were hesitant to advance, the women were brave enough to do so, showing that women were just as capable in military matters as men were, thus providing a justification for women to vote. Seeing as all the men had left for war, women had taken up manufacturing roles, being 40.4% of the industrial workforce in France in 1917 (Document 7). This reflects the increased involvement of women in manufacturing jobs. Countess de Courson's book The French Woman during the War, published in 1916, shows how difficult maintaining the war effort was for many peasant women, and their resolve to continue to do so anyways (Document 3). Again, this is evidence of the fact that women were seen as capable contributors to their homelands, another justification for giving them the right to vote. Madeline Ida Bedford wrote a poem in 1917 showing the upwards economic mobility of women during the war (Document 4). This helps support the idea that women had a greater and more significant role in economic affairs, related to manufacturing. Finally, it is worth pointing out that the war left many wives alone from their husbands. This undoubtedly gave them a large amount of time to reflect over societal conditions, and aided the rise of the suffragette movement as they had more time to think independently.
The counter-argument to be held, supported by two pieces of evidence, argues that the war was ultimately insignificant in transforming the role of women. The first comes from Paul von Hindenburg's letter to German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg in 1916, arguing that women shouldn't be encouraged to pursue various occupations, and that they were only really suited for specific ones (Document 2). However, Hindenburg, though an important general, was extremely conservative (and old). Therefore, his views are not sufficiently representative of contemporary European trends. As a matter of fact, by arguing against the trend of women's involvement in manufacturing and war, he implicitly confirms his existence, only further advancing the pro-change argument. There is also a letter from G. F. Wilby to his fiancée Ethel Baxter in 1918, arguing that she should continue with her feminine occupations, and not meddle in what he considered masculine affairs (Document 5). Wilby, however, was just a private, and although any source of historical information can be valuable, again, one private is not totally representative of the ideas of the general population. Even then, in the same manner as Hindenburg, Wilby supports the idea that the condition of women changed significantly during the war, as by arguing against it, again, he implicitly supports it.
LEQ
The Italian Renaissance focused on human beings as ends to themselves, whereas the Northern Renaissance focused more on people's connection to God and religion, as seen by the advocacy of thinkers such as Petrarch of a better understanding of the human condition, and the advocacy of thinkers like Erasmus of "purification" and a closer connection to God.
Italy before the Renaissance was dominated by city states which had grown into greater powers. Examples include Florence, Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, and others. These states were representative republics (although sometimes despotates) in theory, but oligarchies in practice. Furthermore, even if it hadn't existed in almost a millennium, the shadow of the Roman Empire lurked on the states and their culture. This emphasized both indivdualism and an obsession with classical Rome/Greece. Meanwhile, northern Europe was largely composed of monarchies with close ties to the Catholic Church. Controversies over issues such as indulgences and tithes may well have resulted in increased religious dialogue, various criticisms, and the exploration of newer paths in regards to Christianity.
When Petrarch discovered Cicero's letters to Athens, it helped spark a revolution in Italian thought. People began to abandon the old scholastic trifecta of law, medicine, and theology, for example, but instead adopted the study logic, rhetoric, and grammar. This, combined with the neo-Platonist idea that various concepts such as beauty transcended life, and that humans could understand these concepts, gave birth to humanism, which in turn sparked the Italian Renaissance. This put special emphasis on human beings, who were now seen as special and worthy of study. This is in contrast to the Northern Renaissance. As the power of the Italian city states began to decline in the late 15th century, many of the ideas spread beyond the Alps to areas such as the Holy Roman Empire, which helped create the Northern Renaissance. However, unlike the Italian Renaissance, the Northern Renaissance focused more on religious subjects. Erasmus, a Catholic nonetheless, frequently criticized the actions of the pope, and wrote In Praise of Folly as a criticism of Christianity in his era.
Now although religion was an element of the Italian Renaissance, as the peninsula remained devoutly Catholic and ancient works were even interpreted under religious lenses, it was in a humanistic framework. The fact that people were so willing to emulate pagans shows that religious scruples were not really that significant, and the main focus of humanism, and by extension the Italian Renaissance, was still, by the end of the day, the human being. This is also seen in Italian depictions of God, which portrayed him in a similar manner to Zeus, with a prominent white beard. The thinkers of the Northern Renaissance were also not entirely opposed to humanism, however, they did not view the human as important of an end goal as God and the Christian faith.

I'm from a small town in New mexico , I've recently jumped into music. I have 14 songs on soundcloud by the username jvsucio. Raw rap,from my miscarriage , to drug addiction and the heart break of love. I started music back late January. I was in a dark place telling myself I was gonna kill myself in March away from holidays and my sons birthday in February. I lost my family and friends spending thanksgiving night alone with a gun to my head. I decided to make a poem one day and it took a weight off my shoulders. I don't make music thinking of fame and money. Music literally saved my life. Took me away from the darkest point I ever lived in my life. Music is therapeutic and is something I plan to continue until my last breath even if its still in my bedroom studio
Jvsucio is my username on soundcloud
Jvsucio@gmail.com is my email.

1. Thesis: The Power of Epistrophe in Shakespearean Tragedy

• Example: Explore how William Shakespeare utilizes epistrophe for emotional impact in Hamlet's soliloquies, emphasizing the protagonist's internal conflicts and contributing to the overall tragic tone.

1. Thesis: Anadiplosis as a Tool for Moral Reflection in Victorian Literature

• Example: Analyze Charles Dickens' use of anadiplosis in "Great Expectations" to underscore moral lessons and societal critique, examining its role in shaping the narrative's ethical framework.

1. Thesis: Aposiopesis in Gothic Fiction: Unveiling the Unspeakable

• Example: Investigate the presence of aposiopesis in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," exploring how the device enhances the suspense and horror elements by leaving critical details unsaid.

1. Thesis: The Rhetorical Force of Epizeuxis in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

• Example: Examine Abraham Lincoln's use of epizeuxis in the Gettysburg Address, dissecting how repetitive emphasis contributes to the speech's enduring impact on the American psyche.

1. Thesis: Chiasmus in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby": Symmetry and Disillusionment

• Example: Investigate the thematic significance of chiasmus in key passages of "The Great Gatsby," unraveling how Fitzgerald employs symmetrical language structures to convey the novel's themes of illusion and disillusionment.

1. Thesis: Enjambment and Modernist Experimentation in T.S. Eliot's Poetry

• Example: Analyze T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" to understand the role of enjambment in his modernist exploration of fragmented consciousness, societal collapse, and spiritual desolation.

1. Thesis: Paraprosdokian in Oscar Wilde's Satirical Wit

• Example: Explore how Oscar Wilde uses paraprosdokian in "The Importance of Being Earnest" to satirize societal norms and conventions, adding a layer of unexpected humor to his comedic masterpiece.

1. Thesis: Anaphora in Langston Hughes' Poetry: Giving Voice to the Harlem Renaissance

• Example: Examine the use of anaphora in Langston Hughes' poems, such as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," to analyze how repetition becomes a powerful tool for expressing the collective voice and identity of the Harlem Renaissance.

1. Thesis: Hendiadys in Jane Austen's Social Commentary

• Example: Investigate Jane Austen's use of hendiadys in "Pride and Prejudice," exploring how this device adds nuanced layers to character relationships and societal critique in her Regency-era novels.

1. Thesis: Litotes in George Orwell's "1984": The Art of Understatement in Dystopian Discourse

• Example: Analyze George Orwell's use of litotes in "1984," considering how the device contributes to the bleak atmosphere of the novel and emphasizes the oppressive nature of the dystopian regime.

Note: These examples are for illustrative purposes and provide a starting point for further exploration in literary analysis. It's essential to consult the actual texts and relevant scholarly articles for in-depth research.

The Nobleman’s Drink
White Monster Energy Drink.

My muse. my flame. my beautiful addiction.
A tonic for the weary, behold its glow.
Ultra white, a siren in disguise,
In cans of silver, where whispers lie,
Its essence whispers of citrus dreams,
Oh, ultra white, in thee I find my muse.
In thee, my strength, vigor.
Though doctors scoff, a tale of discourse,
Thine modern magic doth in me abide today.
So, raise thine cans, with unity of purpose,
For within this nod to citrus of a tonic,
Such a delight and renewed purpose for us all,
Lays our united magic.

1. Thesis: The Power of Epistrophe in Shakespearean Tragedy

• Example: Explore how William Shakespeare utilizes epistrophe for emotional impact in Hamlet's soliloquies, emphasizing the protagonist's internal conflicts and contributing to the overall tragic tone.

1. Thesis: Anadiplosis as a Tool for Moral Reflection in Victorian Literature

• Example: Analyze Charles Dickens' use of anadiplosis in "Great Expectations" to underscore moral lessons and societal critique, examining its role in shaping the narrative's ethical framework.

1. Thesis: Aposiopesis in Gothic Fiction: Unveiling the Unspeakable

• Example: Investigate the presence of aposiopesis in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," exploring how the device enhances the suspense and horror elements by leaving critical details unsaid.

1. Thesis: The Rhetorical Force of Epizeuxis in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

• Example: Examine Abraham Lincoln's use of epizeuxis in the Gettysburg Address, dissecting how repetitive emphasis contributes to the speech's enduring impact on the American psyche.

1. Thesis: Chiasmus in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby": Symmetry and Disillusionment

• Example: Investigate the thematic significance of chiasmus in key passages of "The Great Gatsby," unraveling how Fitzgerald employs symmetrical language structures to convey the novel's themes of illusion and disillusionment.

1. Thesis: Enjambment and Modernist Experimentation in T.S. Eliot's Poetry

• Example: Analyze T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" to understand the role of enjambment in his modernist exploration of fragmented consciousness, societal collapse, and spiritual desolation.

1. Thesis: Paraprosdokian in Oscar Wilde's Satirical Wit

• Example: Explore how Oscar Wilde uses paraprosdokian in "The Importance of Being Earnest" to satirize societal norms and conventions, adding a layer of unexpected humor to his comedic masterpiece.

1. Thesis: Anaphora in Langston Hughes' Poetry: Giving Voice to the Harlem Renaissance

• Example: Examine the use of anaphora in Langston Hughes' poems, such as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," to analyze how repetition becomes a powerful tool for expressing the collective voice and identity of the Harlem Renaissance.

1. Thesis: Hendiadys in Jane Austen's Social Commentary

• Example: Investigate Jane Austen's use of hendiadys in "Pride and Prejudice," exploring how this device adds nuanced layers to character relationships and societal critique in her Regency-era novels.

1. Thesis: Litotes in George Orwell's "1984": The Art of Understatement in Dystopian Discourse

• Example: Analyze George Orwell's use of litotes in "1984," considering how the device contributes to the bleak atmosphere of the novel and emphasizes the oppressive nature of the dystopian regime.

Note: These examples are for illustrative purposes and provide a starting point for further exploration in literary analysis. It's essential to consult the actual texts and relevant scholarly articles for in-depth research.

I’ve been wanting to share my story, but I didn’t want to put it out there right away.
It begins back in 2020 at 32 yrs old. In the height of the pandemic I found out I was precancerous for ovarian cancer when I went in for a well woman’s check and told my OBGYN about my swelling abdomen. After lots of imaging, it came back that my ovaries were 16 cm large.
I followed up with an oncologist and my left ovary was removed as it looked the worst of the two, and 3/4 of my right, both sent for biopsy. My oncologist said it was a 4% chance I actually have cancer since it’s normal for women to get cysts. However a phone call 2 weeks later and she told me I needed to remove my right ovary since it’s precancerous and I have a week to decide if I want children or not. I wasn’t even engaged or married, but in a long distance relationship. I made the decision to not have children, argued with my father about it, and went in for surgery a month later.
I struggled a lot mentally then. I never gave myself the proper time to grieve and jumped right back to work a week after surgery. It wasn’t right in retrospect, but at the time I worked in the medical field and COVID was very demanding of us medical workers. My boss demanded and begged I come back (I no longer work there). I had an identity crisis as I struggled to accept if it was ok to see myself as a woman since a good part of my female genitalia was gone. Even though I’m biologically female, look female, I struggled to accept it since I “failed” as a female and grieved at the blessing all females are born with—the gift to birth life. I made peace with it all when I came to accept that I cannot mold myself any longer to the social norm—the rat race—as I am no longer on that track, but rather I’m in the race at my own pace. Robert Frost said it best in his poem “The Road Not Taken”. I am taking the road less traveled, and it’s ok, this is my life.
Fast forward to 2023. I’ve got a local boyfriend, a new job, and starting to feel like I’ve got my life back. Everything is great!
However, there was this nagging voice in my head that something is wrong. I ignored it for a good part of the year until it formed anxiety and quickly found myself at my doctor’s office because of stomach pains in March. He told me it’s no big deal and that he can give me anxiety meds to relax as well as a referral to see a cardiologist and a gastroenterologist. I refused the medication, and followed up with the specialists. With the cardiologist I did a number of tests, all of which returned normal. And at the gastroenterologist, the doctor summed it up to GERD, which I’d never had before, but it does run in my family. For a while, I stuck to pantoprazole thinking that was the issue—everything is ok.
That is until one night I had really bad back pain and spent 6 hrs at the ER to get a CT of my abdomen which returned “normal”. I told the doctor of my history, and he assured me nothing is there. But it wouldn’t end there, from May to September, I went to the ER twice a month because of pain. They couldn’t find anything and recommended I follow up with my primary care doctor (PCP) and OBGYN. I had an appointment first with my OBGYN, but I got one of her colleagues instead since my doctor was out that day. She reviewed my ER documents and was mad they gave me antibiotics for a UTI because they found blood in my urine, but that isn’t possible since I don’t have ovaries. Instead, she took me into their ultrasound room and decided to scope out my lower abdomen. She saw nothing, but for some reason, she decided to go further up, and when she did, she found a 4cm mass on my upper abdomen. She quickly left me alone in the room and came back with my CT from May and cussed out loud. There in writing it said something was found on my upper abdomen. Immediately she questioned me with why I didn’t come in sooner and how come they never told me. I didn’t have an intelligent answer to give since as far as I knew, they said everything was normal. She then told me she can’t do anything about it since it look looks like it’s beyond the scope of her practice and I should follow up with my GI and a urologist. Which I did. The urologist couldn’t do much since he said he couldn’t help me with it and with my GI, we did both and EGD and colonoscopy which didn’t show this mass. Instead went back to my PCP and he said he believes this is all in my head and I should see a psychiatrist.
At this point I’m feeling pretty damn insane and bawling. I’m unstable at work and can’t focus. I bargain with myself—see my OBGYN one more time to see what she thinks, and if she says the same thing, then I’ll check myself into a psyche hospital.
I call my OBGYN doctor one more time and get an appointment with my actual OBGYN doctor. I tell her everything and she empathizes and says let’s do a trans vaginal ultrasound instead. I agree to it not knowing how damn invasive and uncomfortable it is, but I’m desperate and want answers. We do it, and she sees not just one mass, but two and grabs my hand to tell me I have to go back to the oncologist. I’m in tears, but out of joy and fear, because while I’m down that familiar path, I’m relieved to have an answer and I’m not crazy. She orders an MRI and another CT and trans vaginal ultrasound at the hospital to get more thorough answers.
I see my new oncologist (old one left) and she reviews all my imaging. She confirms I definitely need to have these masses removed and to also get a hysterectomy. We set the appointment for surgery and I go in. What didn’t happen was surgery. When I wake up , she tells me and my fiancé that she found cancer spread throughout my abdominal cavity touching my diaphragm, colon, and a few organs. So instead of removing anything then, she recommends we wait a week so she can discuss this with her peers and we will follow up with her in 2 weeks. My appointment comes up and she tells me we need to have surgery now since my wedding is December 1st, and she will be out most of December on vacation. We agree and set everything up for surgery a week before Thanksgiving. I have my debulking surgery and spend 5 days in the hospital recovering. My oncologist followed up with me and said everything went well, I don’t need chemo and we can just go straight to estrogen blockers. I felt like my nightmare was over.
I felt free.
I have one last visit with my oncologist the day before my wedding to follow up on my recovery and incisions. I’m feeling great and nervous because tomorrow is the big day and I’m ready to put all this behind me. My oncologist tells me everything looks to be in order and healing well. However, there is something else. She tells me I need to do chemo and that I actually have stage 3 low grade ovarian cancer.
I’m stunned. I’m crying before I know it. I’m getting married tomorrow.
And I have my rehearsal dinner in 2 hrs with my wedding party and families. How will I face them and not cry.
I did cry. I broke the news to them, but did my best and held it in till the end to tell them. What will you do? Is what I was asked—and honestly, I wanted to disappear.
I go home with my sister and wake up the next day numb for my wedding.
I see my oncologist again right after the wedding and sign the paperwork to have chemo done Dec. 28th.
I go on my honeymoon, return before Christmas, take a chemo class on the 26th and shave my head on the 27th.
You can take all the mandatory chemo classes you want—it’s shit at preparing you for the reality of chemo.
Chemo fucking sucks.
I had 6 rounds of carboplatin and taxol, with premeds or steroids, Pepcid, and Benadryl. And I will stand by this—the worst part is the premeds.
My first IV infusion was awful. My RN didn’t listen to me when I voiced my discomfort after he blew my vein and straight pushed the Benadryl into my IV line. The Benadryl burns going in. I was having a panic attack, I couldn’t speak because my tongue was numb, I had crazy rapid eye movement, my head was hurting, I couldn’t see properly, and twitching like crazy. The drowsiness didn’t hit until a whole hour later. The taxol burns going in, but the carbo beats the shiet out of you. Needless to say, I refused to return to that center and went to one closer to my home for the rest.
Recovery also sucked. Day 1 after my infusion I felt fine, but day 2 was awful with a ton of pain all over, mostly in my chest and back, no sleep, body sweats, and mild delusions. Day 3 was more of the same with the addition of flushing and body pain all over, to the point of you touched me it was so painful. Day 4 the exact same, however my smart watch went off that my resting heart rate is at 134. Of course this freaked me out and I immediately call the hotline patients are given for emergencies and was told to come in and get checked out. Which I do and everything came back normal. I was told this happens often and to try my best to navigate it. Needless to say, the drive home was beautiful as it was New Year’s Eve and fireworks were going off all around. At this point I’m here on reddit looking for answers and see someone recommended a chemo journal to document each day.
Do it. It’ll save you sanity with each infusion and something to bring up to your care team.
After that visit I was recommended for therapy because another thing you learn is that chemo makes you develop depression and anxiety. This isn’t a statement, it’s a fact and some people are better at navigating this than others.
Makes sure to be fully hydrated up to 2 days before chemo and during, it’ll make the process easier on your body as well as having a meal before and snacks during if you can handle it.
My infusions here on out are the same as before. Except I tell my care team about the Benadryl issue and they tell me it’s not good to do Benadryl first because the steroids and benadryl do not mix well and instead do the steroid first. The Benadryl after the Pepcid, and have the Benadryl mixed with iv fluids to be in a bag and drip in.
Please—if you have a similar reaction to Benadryl like I did, I implore you to request this. And if by your 3rd chemo you have no reaction to the taxol , request for half the Benadryl dose. DO NOT TORTURE YOURSELF.
Chemotherapy is cumulative and each time I’m weaker, but my spirit is strong and I make daily goals for myself, review my journal often, and on my good days I get out and do things with friends or family.
Yesterday, April 23, 2024 is my final chemo infusion and I’m over the moon. I have my usual anxiety before the visit and cry fest in the parking lot wishing to not do it, but I wipe my tears and go in. I have my usual premed routine and make plans the ring the bell when I’m done. I make it all the way to carbo, about half way through when my body starts to react. The IV site is tingling and burning, my hands are sweating, and I’m suddenly having chest pains and palpitations, I check my watch and my heart rate is at 161 bpm. I asked my friend to pull the emergency cord and the team runs in to stop the carbo and start administering a steroid, IV, and get the oxygen tank ready for me just in case. A cardiac team rolls in hooking me up and the RN assigned to me is on the phone with my oncologist. He orders to cease treatment and let it end there. It takes about 45 min for me to stabilize and I’m between shaking, crying, and wanting to puke. They told me everything will be ok and that at round 6 this is expected, except not everyone who experiences what I did reacts to pulling the cord fast enough and most times are having to push to stabilize a patient hooking them up to all sorts of things. As they said “your body knows when enough is enough.”
After I calm down and feel safe enough to leave I ring the bell and cry that it’s finally over. Obviously my journey is far from complete, but this big boss battle is and I’m happy for it to be done. I still have my CT to do in 3 weeks, and I will face it when the time comes, for now this is my story and I won’t give up on my life.

Full lyrics at the bottom, for your convenience.
I postulate that the song is about Taylor comparing herself to Emily Dickinson & envying her life.
In the first verse she says she wants to forget she’s living in the present and yearns for poetry or “something awful” instead. She seeks something real, unfiltered by polite society. This could be a reference to Seven (Before I learned civility/I used to scream ferociously/Any time I wanted”. She wants the person in front of her to turn into a “poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy”. She wants that person to have substance, to have meaning, but is bound to be disappointed because, as the title of the song indicates, she hates it here, and will therefore likely hate him.
She goes on to say: “You see, I was a debutante in another life, but now I seem to be scared to go outside”. Emily Dickinson was a known recluse who would sometimes not leave her house for years on end. The term debutante also evokes the Victorian era in which Dickinson lived.
In the chorus, the says she hates it “here”, I believe that “here” is the present and that she feels stuck in the modern world, which is devoid of poetry and of love and privacy. So, she escapes to “secret gardens” in her mind where she is free to be herself and dream. It could also be a Betty reference; she dreams of being kissed in the garden. There is also a (glorious) kiss scene in the TV show Dickinson, between Emily & Sue. She then mentions a book she read as a “precocious child”, and I wonder if it isn’t “Hope Is The Thing With Feathers” the collection of poems by Emily Dickinson. Dickinson was particularly fond of nature and thus wrote a lot about it.
Taylor says that she spends “most of the year” in her secret garden, because she cannot bear to think about “mid-sized city hopes and small-town fears”. The hopes and fears here, I believe, represent the societal expectations (aka get married to a man & the fear is homophobia) she’s desperate to escape.
In the (now infamous, TikTok is ablaze the masses of people hating on it) second verse, she mentions her youth/the past and the vision she has of the past. “My friends used to play a game where/ We would pick a decade/ We wished we could live in instead of this/ I'd say the 1830s but without all the racists/ And getting married off for the highest bid”. In an ideal world she would want to live in the decade of Emily Dickinson’s birth; but she is conscious of the hurdles this would present. She knows the past is just as flawed as the present. “If I'd been there, I'd hate it/ It was freezing in the palace”. I think it’s interesting she brings out that marriage was tied to a “bid” then, and that this is one of the reasons she would hate it, too. Since bearding contracts include financial compensation, too. (“One for the money, two for the show”, as per Champagne Problems states.)
Emily Dickinson’s love affair with her sister-in-law lasted well into Sue’s marriage with Emily’s brother, Austin (I just know Taylor loves the fact that their brothers have the same name). I’d say that it’s because Susan was married that their relationship could last so long without any public repercussions. In a sense, marriage was a form of liberation as much as it was a form of imprisonment for queer women. In the same way that a bearding contract now allows Taylor to have privacy and freedom whilst restricting her public persona to a hetero-centric viewpoint. But unlike Emily, Taylor does not have a Sue at her side.
Taylor might therefore envy Emily, because she got to have a relationship that lasted for decades, whereas Taylor, who lives in the modern world where she could technically get married to a woman, cannot even have a relationship with one.
Let’s go back to the song. In the second version of the chorus, she dreams of leaving the planet entirely because she wants to escape ours. She dreams of a place where “only the gentle survived”. I interpret this as her wanting a safe, queer-friendly place where she can be free to be herself. This place is so important to her that she says she dreamt of it on “the night I felt like I might die”, which is possibly a reference to her failed 2019 coming-out and the Scooter Braun drama.
In the bridge she admits she’s lonely and bitter, but swears she’s “fine”, even though the entire song is littered with negative connotations. She’s either lying to herself or to us. I think it’s both. The line “I'll save all my romanticism for my inner life” tells us that she has no plans to come out anymore, she’ll save her queerness for herself, to protect it. “This place made me feel worthless”. She feels she lost value because she is queea poet.
In the lines “And in my fantasies, I rise above it/And way up there, I actually love it”, she tells us that what she dreams of whilst she’s in her secret garden is that she rises above the noise/homophobia and gets to live her life to its fullest.
Anyway, this is a pretty quick analysis of the song, so if you have any other thoughts or comments you’d like to add, feel free!
[Verse 1]
Quick, quick, tell me something awful
Like you are a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy
Tell me all your secrets, all you'll ever be is
My eternal consolation prize
You see, I was a debutante in another life, but
Now I seem to be scared to go outside
If comfort is a construct, I don't believe in good luck
Now that I know what's what
[Chorus]
I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind
People need a key to get to, the only one is mine
I read about it in a book when I was a precocious child
No mid-sized city hopes and small-town fears
I'm there most of the year 'cause I hate it here
I hate it here
[Verse 2]
My friends used to play a game where
We would pick a decade
We wished we could live in instead of this
I'd say the 1830s but without all the racists
And getting married off for the highest bid
Everyone would look down 'cause it wasn't fun now
Seems like it was never even fun back then
Nostalgia is a mind's trick
If I'd been there, I'd hate it
It was freezing in the palace
[Chorus]
I hate it here so I will go to lunar valleys in my mind
When they found a better planet, only the gentle survived
I dreamed about it in the dark, the night I felt like I might die
No mid-sized city hopes and small-town fears
I'm there most of the year 'cause I hate it here
I hate it here
[Bridge]
I'm lonely, but I'm good
I'm bitter, but I swear I'm fine
I'll save all my romanticism for my inner life and I'll get lost on purpose
This place made me feel worthless
Lucid dreams like electricity, the current flies through me
And in my fantasies, I rise above it
And way up there, I actually love it
[Chorus]
I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind
People need a key to get to, the only one is mine
I read about it in a book when I was a precocious child
No mid-sized city hopes and small-town fears
I'm there most of the year 'cause I hate it here
I hate it here
[Outro]
Quick, quick, tell me something awful
Like you are a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy

I know there was an old Victorian poet named Lionel Johnson who wrote “the dark angel”, a poem about his homosexuality. The 40k dark angels and their primarch are based off of this.
Outside of this, is there anything lgbt related in the faction? I myself am lgbt and would love to play a faction that is my representation in the game.

1. Thesis: The Power of Epistrophe in Shakespearean Tragedy

• Example: Explore how William Shakespeare utilizes epistrophe for emotional impact in Hamlet's soliloquies, emphasizing the protagonist's internal conflicts and contributing to the overall tragic tone.

1. Thesis: Anadiplosis as a Tool for Moral Reflection in Victorian Literature

• Example: Analyze Charles Dickens' use of anadiplosis in "Great Expectations" to underscore moral lessons and societal critique, examining its role in shaping the narrative's ethical framework.

1. Thesis: Aposiopesis in Gothic Fiction: Unveiling the Unspeakable

• Example: Investigate the presence of aposiopesis in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," exploring how the device enhances the suspense and horror elements by leaving critical details unsaid.

1. Thesis: The Rhetorical Force of Epizeuxis in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

• Example: Examine Abraham Lincoln's use of epizeuxis in the Gettysburg Address, dissecting how repetitive emphasis contributes to the speech's enduring impact on the American psyche.

1. Thesis: Chiasmus in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby": Symmetry and Disillusionment

• Example: Investigate the thematic significance of chiasmus in key passages of "The Great Gatsby," unraveling how Fitzgerald employs symmetrical language structures to convey the novel's themes of illusion and disillusionment.

1. Thesis: Enjambment and Modernist Experimentation in T.S. Eliot's Poetry

• Example: Analyze T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" to understand the role of enjambment in his modernist exploration of fragmented consciousness, societal collapse, and spiritual desolation.

1. Thesis: Paraprosdokian in Oscar Wilde's Satirical Wit

• Example: Explore how Oscar Wilde uses paraprosdokian in "The Importance of Being Earnest" to satirize societal norms and conventions, adding a layer of unexpected humor to his comedic masterpiece.

1. Thesis: Anaphora in Langston Hughes' Poetry: Giving Voice to the Harlem Renaissance

• Example: Examine the use of anaphora in Langston Hughes' poems, such as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," to analyze how repetition becomes a powerful tool for expressing the collective voice and identity of the Harlem Renaissance.

1. Thesis: Hendiadys in Jane Austen's Social Commentary

• Example: Investigate Jane Austen's use of hendiadys in "Pride and Prejudice," exploring how this device adds nuanced layers to character relationships and societal critique in her Regency-era novels.

1. Thesis: Litotes in George Orwell's "1984": The Art of Understatement in Dystopian Discourse

• Example: Analyze George Orwell's use of litotes in "1984," considering how the device contributes to the bleak atmosphere of the novel and emphasizes the oppressive nature of the dystopian regime.

Note: These examples are for illustrative purposes and provide a starting point for further exploration in literary analysis. It's essential to consult the actual texts and relevant scholarly articles for in-depth research.

I HAVE THE ANSWER I SWEAR. This is a wild ride. This clip channels the life of Mary Shelley, the tragic, trail-blazing author of Frankenstein. In this video, I feel like Swift is a mix of Shelley and Frankenstein’s monster. If you don’t know the novel, please read a summary, or this won’t make sense. This has nothing to do with the movies. This might jump around between the clip and reality but I don’t have the words to articulate clearly:
Real life Mary Shelley story, abridged: Around 1825/30 - Young Mary has an affair with a man named Percy. They marry. He is a famous poet. Percy Shelley becomes friends with Lord Byron, also a famous poet. Byron’s comment about ghost stories. This leads to Mary writing Frankenstein. So now Mary and Percy are both writers. Mary and her husband lost three children - one named CLARA. There is a bunch of cheating. Jump forward a whole lot to when Mary was 27, when Percy dies by drowning. After his death, she was responsible for collecting his many unpublished poems to create his (wait for it…) ANTHOLOGY. Bonus theory - Taylor was going to name her child Clara.
Now to the video/Mary Shelly/Frankenstein’s monster brainsplosian: 1830 is Victorian era. This is highlighted by the styling. Note the wedding dress Taylor wears at first, with Victorian choker, and then the change to the Victorian mourning dress (which were traditionally worn by wives when they lost their husbands). At 1:55 the papers they lay on form a cameo (traditionally a profile of a woman’s face on a brooch). This is a woman who has lost the love of her life.
The world between Post Malone (Percy) and Swift (Mary) has them both as writers who create a world through their writing.
Malone as part of the experiment room casts him somewhat as the Victor Frankenstein (who created the monster), making him the architect of her fall.
The mountain/phonebooth scene seems to reference particularly specific (and famous) imagery of “the perpendicularity of the mountain… a scene terrifically desolate… while rain poured from the dark sky”. At 3:24, Malone’s distorted face mimics the grotesque and disjointed nature of the monster, which Shelley described as ‘contorted’. He is dark and she (the dress) is light - themes which take a primary role in the book. She is, however, also the ‘monster on the hill’ (Antihero). In this same section of the book, the monster reflects on how his existence itself drives everyone away - even those who made him how he is: “all men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated… you, my creator, detest and spurn me”.
Phew! But wait, there’s more.
Fire-motif-a-palooza time! A primary theme in Frankenstein is fire. At 3:39, Taylor is Mary, having lost her husband, alone with their words - his words - swirling around her and burning. So their life is going up in flames, she is being surrounded by his poetry, and to top it off, in the book, the monster uses fire to destroy himself. In another scene, when the monster is freezing, he finds a fire: ‘In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain. How strange, I thought, that the same cause should produce such opposite effects!’ If you look at the opening closing ‘The end’ slides, the corners of the framing look like flames.
Finally, the mirror. When Swift leaves the bed in the opening, she studies herself in the mirror, as if she has to look to check what she is. The mirror comes back up at the end and Taylor is here to FUCK THAT THING UP. Can we just appreciate her physical strength in this shot? In the book, the monster’s ‘moment of truth’, where he comprehends himself as the cause of his own isolation, is when he sees a reflection: “At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror: and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification.”
Honestly I can’t think about this anymore because it has been rattling around for HOURS now. NOTE - this whole theory could just get wild because there is just SO much in the story around the Shelleys. There NEEDS to be an examination of her sister et al in here. Honestly I need a literature and history grad Swiftie to say what I am trying to say because I can’t articulate this fully. And then we have Greek god myths and more fire and oh my god my brain might explode someone help me.
Bonus round: In Frankenstein there are allusions of God creating Adam, so put that in your bag of religious references.

As you may be aware, the early 14th century Arthurian romance Perceforest is often credited as including the earliest written version of the Sleeping Beauty legend. I've been reading through the Nigel Bryant translation recently, and what struck me about this sequence that I haven't seen commented on is how much of it seems inspired by/derived from Chretien's Perceval. Which shouldn't be surprising in the overall context of Perceforest, since it's filled with reimaginings of an extraordinarily wide range of Arthurian-adjacent plot points from the Twrch Trwyth to Breuce sans Pitie, but I'm surprised not to see it brought up in the context of the evolution of Sleeping Beauty.
The two main points of commonality I noticed:
-On his way to court his love Zelladine (now-comatose, but he doesn't know it yet), our knightly hero Troylus gets bewitched, robbed of his arms and horse, and transformed into a simpleton. He stumbles on and reaches the castle anyway, where he's dismissed as an idiot by all except the king's fool, who rightly predicts to his lord (Zelladine's father) that Troylus will be the one to cure the princess-- much like Arthur's fool telling Kay and the rest of his court that the buffoonish yokel Perceval will prove an outstanding knight.
-After Troylus has managed to regain his sanity, make it into the tower where Zelladine's slumbering, and has proceeded to cure her by, uh, "plucking the fruit from the slit" as the kids called it back then (the story was a lot more ribald before the Victorians cleaned it up), he exchanges rings with her before getting magically whisked away, which is how Zelladine is later able to identify him once she wakes up. This scene in particular feels heavily inspired by Perceval's encounter with the slumbering damsel early in Chretien's poem.
I can't imagine I'm the first person to make this connection, and maybe this says more for the state of search engines in 2024 than anything else but browsing for "Perceval sleeping beauty" hasn't yielded any relevant observations. Anyone else seen discourse relating to this topic?

1. Thesis: The Power of Epistrophe in Shakespearean Tragedy

• Example: Explore how William Shakespeare utilizes epistrophe for emotional impact in Hamlet's soliloquies, emphasizing the protagonist's internal conflicts and contributing to the overall tragic tone.

1. Thesis: Anadiplosis as a Tool for Moral Reflection in Victorian Literature

• Example: Analyze Charles Dickens' use of anadiplosis in "Great Expectations" to underscore moral lessons and societal critique, examining its role in shaping the narrative's ethical framework.

1. Thesis: Aposiopesis in Gothic Fiction: Unveiling the Unspeakable

• Example: Investigate the presence of aposiopesis in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," exploring how the device enhances the suspense and horror elements by leaving critical details unsaid.

1. Thesis: The Rhetorical Force of Epizeuxis in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

• Example: Examine Abraham Lincoln's use of epizeuxis in the Gettysburg Address, dissecting how repetitive emphasis contributes to the speech's enduring impact on the American psyche.

1. Thesis: Chiasmus in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby": Symmetry and Disillusionment

• Example: Investigate the thematic significance of chiasmus in key passages of "The Great Gatsby," unraveling how Fitzgerald employs symmetrical language structures to convey the novel's themes of illusion and disillusionment.

1. Thesis: Enjambment and Modernist Experimentation in T.S. Eliot's Poetry

• Example: Analyze T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" to understand the role of enjambment in his modernist exploration of fragmented consciousness, societal collapse, and spiritual desolation.

1. Thesis: Paraprosdokian in Oscar Wilde's Satirical Wit

• Example: Explore how Oscar Wilde uses paraprosdokian in "The Importance of Being Earnest" to satirize societal norms and conventions, adding a layer of unexpected humor to his comedic masterpiece.

1. Thesis: Anaphora in Langston Hughes' Poetry: Giving Voice to the Harlem Renaissance

• Example: Examine the use of anaphora in Langston Hughes' poems, such as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," to analyze how repetition becomes a powerful tool for expressing the collective voice and identity of the Harlem Renaissance.

1. Thesis: Hendiadys in Jane Austen's Social Commentary

• Example: Investigate Jane Austen's use of hendiadys in "Pride and Prejudice," exploring how this device adds nuanced layers to character relationships and societal critique in her Regency-era novels.

1. Thesis: Litotes in George Orwell's "1984": The Art of Understatement in Dystopian Discourse

• Example: Analyze George Orwell's use of litotes in "1984," considering how the device contributes to the bleak atmosphere of the novel and emphasizes the oppressive nature of the dystopian regime.

Note: These examples are for illustrative purposes and provide a starting point for further exploration in literary analysis. It's essential to consult the actual texts and relevant scholarly articles for in-depth research.

As I find out, besides that Galahad end up there, 1 - Joseph of Arimathea and his followers visit the island on their way to Britain; while there Joseph's son Josephus is invested as a bishop and shown the mysteries of the Grail by Christ himself. 2 - According to the Victorian poem "The Romaunt of Sir Floris" (1870) by John Payne, Sarras was located within the gates of Paradise before Adam and Eve fell. 3 - Sarras is a city near Egypt mostly mentioned in the Vulgate Quest and in the Estoire del Saint Graal. According to both Sarras was the city from which the Saracens were named, which makes it identical to the unlocated Saraka from which the historical Saracens were said to be named. 4 - Assuming that Babylon refers to Cairo as is normal in medieval texts, this confirms previous indications that Sarras is near Egypt …set out on their way, traveling until they arrived at a city called Sarras, between Babylon and Salamandre. He also by Babylon probably means Cairo, but Salamandre is unknown. Any clues about Salamandre, where it might be?
https://preview.redd.it/kw5dl5qvsftc1.png?width=1059&format=png&auto=webp&s=7adb8dfca2b620aea9aa526d40cf68b1e1eedd8b

1. Thesis: The Power of Epistrophe in Shakespearean Tragedy

• Example: Explore how William Shakespeare utilizes epistrophe for emotional impact in Hamlet's soliloquies, emphasizing the protagonist's internal conflicts and contributing to the overall tragic tone.

1. Thesis: Anadiplosis as a Tool for Moral Reflection in Victorian Literature

• Example: Analyze Charles Dickens' use of anadiplosis in "Great Expectations" to underscore moral lessons and societal critique, examining its role in shaping the narrative's ethical framework.

1. Thesis: Aposiopesis in Gothic Fiction: Unveiling the Unspeakable

• Example: Investigate the presence of aposiopesis in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," exploring how the device enhances the suspense and horror elements by leaving critical details unsaid.

1. Thesis: The Rhetorical Force of Epizeuxis in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

• Example: Examine Abraham Lincoln's use of epizeuxis in the Gettysburg Address, dissecting how repetitive emphasis contributes to the speech's enduring impact on the American psyche.

1. Thesis: Chiasmus in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby": Symmetry and Disillusionment

• Example: Investigate the thematic significance of chiasmus in key passages of "The Great Gatsby," unraveling how Fitzgerald employs symmetrical language structures to convey the novel's themes of illusion and disillusionment.

1. Thesis: Enjambment and Modernist Experimentation in T.S. Eliot's Poetry

• Example: Analyze T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" to understand the role of enjambment in his modernist exploration of fragmented consciousness, societal collapse, and spiritual desolation.

1. Thesis: Paraprosdokian in Oscar Wilde's Satirical Wit

• Example: Explore how Oscar Wilde uses paraprosdokian in "The Importance of Being Earnest" to satirize societal norms and conventions, adding a layer of unexpected humor to his comedic masterpiece.

1. Thesis: Anaphora in Langston Hughes' Poetry: Giving Voice to the Harlem Renaissance

• Example: Examine the use of anaphora in Langston Hughes' poems, such as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," to analyze how repetition becomes a powerful tool for expressing the collective voice and identity of the Harlem Renaissance.

1. Thesis: Hendiadys in Jane Austen's Social Commentary

• Example: Investigate Jane Austen's use of hendiadys in "Pride and Prejudice," exploring how this device adds nuanced layers to character relationships and societal critique in her Regency-era novels.

1. Thesis: Litotes in George Orwell's "1984": The Art of Understatement in Dystopian Discourse

• Example: Analyze George Orwell's use of litotes in "1984," considering how the device contributes to the bleak atmosphere of the novel and emphasizes the oppressive nature of the dystopian regime.

Note: These examples are for illustrative purposes and provide a starting point for further exploration in literary analysis. It's essential to consult the actual texts and relevant scholarly articles for in-depth research.

I wrote a poem but i don’t know how to feel about it, it feels off and i don’t like the fifth verse it sounds stupid. i like the base idea for the poem, it’s very personally important but i feel like i’m missing something, would appreciate feedback.
Wilted Lemon Trees
A young man, Bathing in filth. Laying upon their lies.
He hides the right of his face. Obscures his petite lips, Violated by a strawberry demon.
Paper thin skin (I wish). Fragile as a hollow egg (I wish).
His trophy wife. neglected on the mantle, A beauty obscured by a thick layer of dust.
Thanksgiving at her parents’ Just to sit beside her brother. His deep dark eyes Bore into him, Deep.
He waters that lemon tree, Pretending to not hear their screams for release. He could cut them down, To find no rings.
One day He’ll carve “I don’t want to hurt anymore” Into both of our wrists.

This poem is INSANE.
SOME VERY POPULAR SONGS
for example cows beneath the moon, peaceful souls, ruminating, Buddha-guts in the high grass, hidden between small trees and
clumps of brush in the constant greenness, a practical black-and-white- spotted metaphysics, tormented by summer flies which stick to their
saliva. The space hangs inside their eyes like a gong, which beckons to the slaughterhouse. Or a blue rain barrel in the south, where
the sky is an endless continuation of blue, hallucinated spaces during the day, but real. The tricks of the Rolling Stones are over.
I listen to Leonard Cohen singing, there is a war between the men and the women, why don’t you come on back to the war, it’s just be-
ginning. Various grasses grow along the edges, enchanted green. The grass is moved, moves itself, and all the years came, like
always, one after the other: good- bye, fast cloud, goodbye blue sky in the window frames, good- bye, dried grass,
naked in the first twilight, goodbye. A wet barbed wire fence stands there, crooked posts, goodbye, suburbs, as though
no one lives there, fragments of biographies and newspapers, the senseless waving. Some lines are like the waving of children from a
train window while passing through strange cities in the afternoon, passing the rows of low-rent apartments with the single faces at the windows:
if all the confessions in the world that were ever given and written down in the courts of the world were put together and
dragged by one after the other, what an endless misery it would be to be in the world. Someone calls, dials any old
number, and I hear only their breath, and there again is the distance, the soft crackling noise of the
confusion in another place, and otherwise nothing there in the afternoon. And in the morning, when you get up and stare at the hotel
breakfast and you don’t understand why you’re in this hotel room, where you actually are, and you think about what you can do at eight in the morning
after an almost sleepless night, and nothing else comes to mind except to take the three dirty shirts to the laundry, having already
showered at seven, do you embrace the morning light at nine? Or do you say, goodbye, morning light? And then you hear the rush
of a flushing toilet while you walk along a long hallway and what do you feel then? That everything is in order? At ten someone calls and
talks about death, and you make a joke about the film projectionist with cancer who’s been with the company for 25 years, and whoever else is in the room
laughs as well. Who goes through the rooms, unfamiliar, and remembers the lines from the song: Green leaves, how are you alone? What sort of damned lonely
business letters are being written. The signatures don’t matter at all. And you sing your song, “Lady, I’m out of here!” That also belongs to the popular
songs. The peaceful Buddha-souls lie spotted black-and-white in the greenness. They chew beneath the same light the soft green grass again.

1. (for H.S.)

Where the ruble disintegrates into single kopecks, or the dollar into cents, or the D-mark into pfennigs like guilders, where the lira disintegrates
like the franc into centimes and the English pound into the cheap tobacco of Spanish coins, where the ostmark breaks into eye-wrinkles and a
tractor stands in the candlelight, where the Swedish öre disintegrates into insurance like world empires, where the sturgeon dies in the rivers and the herring
in the North Sea, where the distances between the cities grow like the disintegration among the single cities, where the yen is changed into the cruzeiro,
where too much is invested in soap, where the Bulgarian tin cans are converted into Argentinean bank drafts, disintegrating like the Finnish
currency, where forests are rafted down the rivers, where bone meal becomes plastic, where sums are copied, where the geese become zlotys
and are frozen in black aspic, where the dinar drives the camel, the corn rots in the fields, decaying like teeth which will be exchanged, where the
peso dies miserably, the black underwear rises, disintegrating like revenue stamps into whichever sort of coins the faces may disintegrate, into whatever bodily needs, piss, dirt paths, rest
rooms and bed sheets, where the army is financing the study of poetry, where the technical institutes explain the world, the twitching heart of a turtle
hanging from a thread for all to see, where the licenses set the limits, decomposing into animal-pictures, where signatures are needed, testaments, accounts, where the bank
holidays are there for a sigh of relief, to hang out the flags and decorate the day, where the carbide stank, where the bottles burst, where the rubble lay strewn and the tattoos,
the companies proliferate like the mass media, the chunks of stone and rubble have been cleared aside, the pain and the sorrow sold off, decomposed into monthly wages,
where there is still something to do, the specter of unemployment drives them together, the ghosts of the owners, the ghosts of the employees, where all of them are busy
administering this world, or what they consider to be this world, traps, driven together in the offices, but the offices disintegrate, where the rooms have many doors and glass
walls, the elevator shafts disintegrate, the arcades disintegrate, smashed store windows, mold spores, wild vegetation, in between store-window
mannequins, rats scurrying through long ruined arcades, rats in the pale empty corridors of the skyscrapers, where the last cripples are still being
driven together, everyone driven together to administrate this world, these walls, cyclone fences, entrances, the class- rooms like ruined swimming pools,
like signatures which disintegrate, where nights the children scream in the apartment towers, dismally bound to the silence, where the children throw up
their baby food again, where the bodies lie next to each other in the darkness and masturbate in order to go to sleep, finally exhausted and empty, decomposing
like the face of a television announcer in the half-insane dream, who makes new announcements in different voices like on scratched records, disintegrating
like shillings, where the twisted pain becomes jokes in a dialect, applauded by the ranks, where the ranks finally disintegrate, where a radio announcer
pulls her tampon out of the hairy hole between her legs on the toilet in the office of the National Public Radio during a pause in which poems are read, where the
Sundays are endless, decayed like sick lungs, where it is said, that is not your face, that is not your face, where the coins disintegrate into faces, old
faces, dead faces, grieved and hideous on the banknotes which disintegrate, where we go, simple daylight sparkles in the rain puddles, sparkles in the
dripping trees, pleasure, the astonishment of the eyes, when you laughed as you saw your trailer, the beautiful laughter of a total lack of understanding as you opened
the car door, where the checks corroded the surroundings, paper disintegrated into nickel, decayed like a currency made from black dream-slag, which crumbles at the
next touch, where a woman has no other chance than forward through the bushes, like Bolivar disintegrating into centimos, where maybe you’re in a dream,
it’s time that we tell each other more stories, where one doesn’t stand with their back to the wall, but rather in an open door, in the daylight, which doesn’t disintegrate like the
wavy plateau with the lethargic chicken hawks circling above, quiet black movements, clear in the air, where the sky no longer fits in the picture and together with the clouds
passes by in the window. Who’s calling through the frozen forests? Who’s wandering through the snowed-in halls? Who’s freezing and huddled together in the endless
transfer station, where the rupees disintegrate, changed into dirhams, faces upon them, theories of probability, dog bones, death a white apparition in a
white invisible tent, Jeep tracks with dust clouds trailing behind, death is a dried-up camel skeleton by the wayside, death is a
dead skunk on the highway, death is a dead cat on an empty parking lot, death is the long rows of suits on the chromed
rack in the next men’s department, death is a chopped down tree, where the shadow-shoes lie, worn out, where the houses have no
walls anymore, where the electric lights wander about in the rooms, nuclear decay, multiplication, optical lenses, behind the frost patterns on the window the book is shut
and a face cries, a brain is opened, the exhilaration of a dark, clear winter night is illuminated by constellations and does not fall, where death is a dried-
up river bed, white gravel and the plateaus fly by, you see that, we saw them spread out, the plateaus, flying by white in the headlights,
I went back into the hastily constructed apartment, the dreams continuing, the plateau white, I stared into the aluminum pot, at the rest of the broccoli under the light,
the plateau passing by, white, with the slight indication that we make, where a dirty, rickety claw is a clean hand stroking a mahogany
table, having plundered the many daydreams, now it lies rickety and crooked on the clean surface, where the Luxembourgean francs become Malian
dollars, which disintegrate into Cuban pesos, who is it who shits out money and lets a forest die so that he can appear in the comics, massaged on the beach, he with the mantraps
and self-inflicted gunshots, observed by helicopters, a marked man, who is it who drags their suitcase through the bus station, who is it who drops a coin into the TV automat, who is it who skims the
psychoanalytical journals in order to solve a case, who is it who interprets the world, who is it who interprets the next construction- site fence, who is it who interprets the apartment,
shadows of people burned into the asphalt, stones with human shadows on exhibit, aerial photographs of the landscape allowed for postcard greetings
by the Minister of War, he who allows, believes he has the rights for fencing in, where the piastres are scrap, poetry is not a waiting room where one stays overnight, tired,
behind a newspaper opened to the swarming masses of war, every word is war, scrap-words like death, driven together in herds, without differences,
should I have slept with your wife, should I have had more magazines, should I have used the dish- washer, should I have followed the movie
posters, filigree-gray hypothetical questions, tendrils, cement ornamentation, where the dreams die off like plateaus, a canister on the shark, the daily view out the
window into this side street, which you don’t know, where the dollar disintegrates into kopecks and the ruble into cents, where pesetas are wrung from the bones,
but the pleasure is greater than the sorrow, the drachma is smaller than the lust, reduced to a hundred lepta, which disappear at the next opportunity,
where the Turkish pounds are extracted from the tendons, decayed, decayed in the buildings of the 19th & 20th centuries in West Germany, extensions, bills, obligations, everything
the same, pawned off, worn out, trashed, pawned off again on television, from the serial, from the jukebox. Gentle face, in the middle of the crowd you’ve seen
the twitching body, suddenly the concert was over, did you stammer, did you cry, where the corridors are cement, where the speaker boxes boomed, where the faces
broke into dream-wrinkles, where the city maps have white spots, where the color white in no way means death, where the dog fur fails to warm, where the ways end, Ivory Coast is a
fantastic name, tattoos, scars, moving in, moving out, many thanks.

1. (History)

Last night I was thinking about the love story of Adolf Hitler. I saw the permanent waves in the hair of Eva Braun. How many German women
today look like the smile of Eva Braun. The photos reproduce themselves. I was not, I know, born in a photograph. Snow fell in April,
as I was born, shrouded in the ornamental cloth of the baptism ritual. The war, I don’t understand what that is, which language is where? Eva Braun
smiled at Adolf Hitler, that was in Berlin. What did Adolf Hitler first say to Eva Braun? Which distances exist between the permanent waves on the
photo and the old fashioned curling iron for permanent waves which I saw later on a windowsill? As I slept in the Academy of Art in Berlin, I thought about
this curling iron for permanent waves. The photo was a memory which I looked at. Twenty years later I looked at a fat face in the daily
paper, which drank ersatz coffee in a Berlin hotel from a hotel coffee cup, the title was Professor, the title was not to be identi- fied. Eva Braun, was your neck shaved?
Eva Braun, what did you think about the Sarotti chocolates? Adolf Hitler, as you went through Munich with your Pelikan watercolors, what did you see? The Sütterlin script ruined the
handwriting. From the handwriting I was supposed to learn. Adolf Hitler skimmed over the city maps. Eva Braun looked in the crystal mirror at her cunt. Which size
did your thighs have, Eva Braun? I know girls who look exactly like the Eva Braun who looks like Eva Braun in the photo. I grew up, considered my pubic hairs, considered
nipples, considered the reeds, years later I considered the picture of Eva Braun. In the same month a breast of the wife of the American president would be
cut off, in another historical photo old men polished their assholes on brocade-lined armchairs after the conference, the southern afternoon is full of
junk, dust, crumbling constructions. What was with the intestinal worms which Adolf Hitler’s German shepherd had? What was with Eva Braun? A storybook story which one suppressed
like years later the interpretations, ended. Half of Austria arrived in a train, kissed Eva Braun’s hand, looked at her tits, sealed with permanent waves. Adolf Hitler
passed out postcards. I saw my mother in a photo in a long row sitting and laughing, I saw my father in a photo going along a tree-lined avenue,
naive in uniform like an avenue tree, what were they playing as they were photographed? I saw the creases in the pants of Adolf Hitler in a photo, I saw, four years
old, a dark train station passing by in 1944, I saw an enameled sign with blue and yellow wool and knitting needles on the red brick wall of a train station,
Eva Braun, did Adolf Hitler tenderly stroke your pussy with his tongue? Adolf Hitler, did Eva tenderly suck your cock? Or was that taboo thanks to
the state and politics? Come stains on the winter coat, a couple of generals in the toilet, they drew battle plans on the shitty wall, named names, heights, deployments,
Eva Braun, what did you feel when you got the capsule? Did you simply think you’d had your chance? Did you think, now I’ve had it? And the teeth of the German shepherd
fell out of his jaw after the strong injection. The orgasm of death is cheaper than the orgasm of life, although it’s questionable whether the orgasm of death isn’t simply pent up
life that explodes. Why isn’t life in the multitudes every day? Why permanent waves, Eva Braun? Why are you smiling, Eva Braun? Why
do you take cough syrup, Eva Braun? Didn’t Adolf Hitler know that the Austrian psychoanalysis, lying in the sentences, lies? I was never at the river Inn, also
have no desire to look at the water, also have no desire to look at the water in Cologne, dead water, full of dead fish and plants, dead water, which they fought over, borders,
coals, fires for the industry, furnaces, embers in the night, dancing figures before the open fires of the industrial complexes, no holy saint swims in these dead waters, no holy saint spits
out the apartment window, the crude passing through is better than taking pills, the patents, Eva Braun, how was it for you under the shower, German charcoal, flamingo flowers, Spanish irises
and pails? Adolf Hitler in a nightshirt, in the cement, under the earth’s surface, sparkle of nerves, dancing over the files, he dreamed madly in the cement bunker,
supposedly never hit anyone personally, he had others enough to do his hitting, there are always others who sign, hit, hang, indeed there are
always others, employees, secretaries, office boys, insanity, Eva Braun, you straw puppet, smoke, cyanide, trace elements, signatures, which suddenly become single living
persons, things, the shabby things, they’re standing in the room. Did Adolf Hitler stand before you in the room with a stiff cock, Eva Braun? Who washed your bra, Eva Braun? Did you think about
Persil laundry soap? World history in the form of industrial comics, Eva Braun, a lace dress in the large hall, among the human voices, shoulders lifted high, did you see them? What’s with
the dyed hair? What’s with that old high German? What’s with the fossilized love stories? Word-ghosts, dirty bastards of history, stumbling through the rhymes,
between the film-shadows of Berlin, shadow gestures, projection-screen-shadows, shadow-screams, collapsing shadows, later accompanied by a soundtrack, synchronised
lip movements, Eva Braun, in which magazines were you reading? I have to remember: my mother loved airplanes and ghosts, which reappeared, phantoms, she dreamed of them,
even before she cooked for the men at the airfield, in her odd French, my father borrowed a car in his school-English, the top rolled back, they
stopped in the countryside, they fucked at the edge of a warm yellow wheat field in July. My mother loved cheap paperbacks, she looked to see if the seam in her stockings was straight, she went
across the meadow in a silky shimmering dress. The father-in-law left his library to the state of Israel for a sentimental reason, and what happened before, that these forms
developed, more sentimental than the memory of house-corners and street names? More sentimental than permanent waves in a photo? I have to remember the pale suburban settlement, I
have to think about the truck that suddenly stopped in front of the house, packed with people and their belongings, billets to make the foreignness even foreigner, checked off
the lists, bedpans, briefcases, pomaded and parted, they had nothing, owned the in- sanity of never-owned imaginary goods, if they spoke, from where they came, the biographies ruined
by dead Austria, old myths, fallow fields, the opposite is not the industry, the oppo- site disappears in the old photos, in which history disintegrated all around, Eva Braun, opaque
window glass, portals, coma in a Swedish hotel room, shots in the leg above the stocking garter. Now the computers are tossing bones in the air, Stanley Kubrick, the film trick
is revealed, despite four-channel-stereo in the red-plush cinemas of Soho, where I am one rainy evening, walking through London alone, quiet, collected, in the light gray, windy
February evening, decaying London, elegiac West End streets, elegiac advertisements, elegiac theater buildings and striptease clubs, elegiac filthy book stores under aged,
murky dust, rusted leaky water pipes along the house fronts, a senselessly ringing alarm on a house wall, dismally yellowed paint, entrances with the names of bodily flesh,
which for a few moments can be bought, contact between a lonely cock and a cold cunt before the weak gas heater of the rented room, miserable and lost in the
maze of numbers, bleak and frozen in the money. Eva Braun, who wrote you postcards? Eva Braun, have you ever stood freezing in Piccadilly? Eva Braun, what did you say in the moment
when that photo was taken? After the movie I crawl shivering under the thin blanket of a cheap hotel in Bayswater, Odeon station, the monster quarter of London, crumbling courtyards, buried
bodies, the gas-fired fireplace doesn’t heat, the wallpaper is stained, I read a few more poems by Frank O’Hara and W.C. Williams, I drink the rest of some cold coffee out of
the paper cup that stands on the marble mantle over the fireplace, I’m alone in these American poems and see myself in them in the middle of this London night, yellow fog lights along the
streets, Victorian monster-columns and portals the whole street long, windows patched with cardboard, curtain-scraps, and suddenly, in the silence, completely crazy, I remember the call sign
of the BBC radio one morning during the war. I remember the after-the-war-chocolate of the English soldiers, blue plums on a cart, which was being pushed through a courtyard,
Strauss waltzes, a dark movie theater and war. A bone tossed in the air, a killer’s tool on the white screen of the memory, a flickering shadow, hidden behind ornamental flowers,
together with the shadow-noises from the stereo speakers is nothing but a shadow in the eerie, insane ballroom of Death, which is the air, Death blows bubbles in the air, it’s much better to relax
peacefully with a liverwurst sandwich during the lunch break, better to eat the plums out of the icebox without saying you’re sorry, better to drink cold coffee from a paper cup
in a hotel room at night, better than moving pictures, aerial photographs, Eva Braun, I’m thinking here in this Cologne night, stuffy and dismal, while I look at a photo, which tells of the love
story, kitschy and hand-colored, Eva Braun, little monster among the decor, smiling stupid and sad in the photo, and before the photo was taken,
really. The eyebrows are touched up, your mouth is open, lipstick on the lips, are the stocking seams straight? Are you wearing a flowered dress? Has someone
messed up your hair? What’s with the accent? Did someone give you a horny look, your slightly fat baby face? Have you forgotten your cunt? Did your cunt dry up out of fear as the war began?
Berlin sky, as I flew in with a Pan Am plane, I first saw a cemetery between the houses, the gentlemen laid their newspapers on the empty seats,
the taxi driver swore about the passers-by as the lights went on. In the subway hall someone held their bloody, dripping face between their hands and turned toward the tiled wall
as the automatic doors slammed shut. Did you mend your stockings with Güterman’s silk thread? How did you look in a swimsuit? Did you shave your armpits?
Shaved armpits always look like soap and deodorant, stubbly and slick. Fantasy has taken over the industry with its employees.
Did you eat a liverwurst sandwich? Did the liverwurst sandwich taste good? Did Adolf Hitler have sweaty feet? Did he kiss your hand? Did he talk in his sleep? What did you take
against the headaches? What did you think as you were chauffeured along the Kurfürstendamm? In the fading shadows of 5 in the morning I sit there between the folded up,
locked up patio chairs and tables, smoke kif in the shadow of the Café Kranzler awning and walk through the tear gas clouds and shards of glass from the shattered storefront windows, the whores
having hastily retreated as the street battle began a few hours ago, then I take the first subway train to the Wannsee, where a couple of swans are rocking between the garbage along the shore, a lifeless pier,
a weak dawn, light gray. What kind of fur coat did you wear? What kind of toothpaste did you use? I tremble in the first dawn in Berlin, take the socks from the radiator,
let down the shades. It’s a pity that you didn’t invent love, Eva Braun. I write this rock ‘n’ roll song about your terrible insanity, Eva Braun. Would you have
liked this song? Would you have sweated as you danced? What did you talk about as you were alone in the cement bunker? Why the color brown? What did the tongue demand? No one loved Adolf Hitler, and that was why he
had to win the war? Did you see the bodies? Did you see the hand-to-hand combat? Did you see the flame-throwers? Did you see the burned faces? Did you see the gas-cripples? Did you
see the killer-virus spores? Did you see the flower-shadows? Did you look out the window? Did you turn off the nightstand lamp? The permanent waves of
order on your head, your fat, bare shoulder, your underwear from the department store, your pierced ear lobe for the jewel, your handkerchief with the mucous, the camellia
between the legs, your ass-shapes in the garter belt, your nipples, will they remain a secret? In the middle of the historical showplaces of the war, the war is a showplace, who even
looks? Is a love story necessary that needs so many questions? Now you’ve disappeared in the historical photo. Now the disguises are going around. Now the story is broken down and over.

1. (D-Train)

: letting the newspaper flutter out the rolled down window, a child’s hand, with the
shreds of paper against it,
the misery (foreign countries), which invests in this country, sits on every furtively glanced-at
street corner, sad, tired faces, without expression, bags under the eyes, lines around the tight-lipped mouth,
a young woman cries from exhaustion in a two-and-a-half room apartment, in the unfolded architecture of geometry, it’s night and the heating pipes are ticking,
Quote: “The most dangerous animal that exists is the architect. He has destroyed more than the war.”
Hair loss following birth, fear on the street, in the middle of the day, if one stands still, surrounded by the multitudes, the absent
glances, waking up, coughing & spitting
in the sink, postponed material circumstances, the delicate bodies pushed up against the walls by the cars, the same rows of suburban streets
all the way into the inner city,
single, running bodies between the
convoys of the auto industry, blurred figures
behind the dirt-flecked security glass windows, smaller than their own bodies in the industrial shells,
the newspaper rips in the headwind,
shreds of paper drift over the narrow gardens along the tracks, kites made of stinky printer’s ink, collages of the daily gradual madness,
frozen swirls of words: brand names,
reptile brains, hate, slander, semantics, the
big families continue on. In the streets the skinny girls’ bodies, bones with a little skin over them, in colorful rags from the second-hand store,
“when the music’s over” between the rain-
faded old advertisements, (neon-light extinguished curiosity to live, calligraphy)
extinguished poetry. The dawns
are damp and impassable, masses of bent-over figures, they disappear in the offices, they go into the stores, they have to go to schools, kindergartens,
their ways of life distinctive between
rows of products and shelves, in the pestilent-light-flicker of the TV at night the faces of the politicians appear and discuss, in the pestilent-light-flicker
of the TV the strange faces appear on the wall of the room: do you remember
“until the end” the dark house entrances, in which we stood together,
do you remember your own kisses in the stairwell, do you remember kisses
at all? (Or what
you felt?) Submerged in the glowing grass along the paths, seen from the open train window, we let the newspaper shreds fly.
Yellow afternoon light reflects in the windows which we pass by, September-yellow
and what kind of country is this,
what kind of thoughts are
thought to the finish here, finally to the end,
the end “the aristocracy
of feelings,” hahahaha, that’s
not to my taste,
if anyone should have anything to do with that at all, IBM-typewriter-feelings and kisses,
I stretch out my feet, how does that one over the other, in this fit together? compartment, the white Converse All
Star basketball shoes, 12 dollars, on the red plastic seat, and once again the piece of newspaper torn for the child at the open
train window: how the words fly (masks),
the fragments, it’s one of those gentle afternoons that we rarely have, light over the pale, monotone cities, soft afternoon light
on the crumbling facades of the suburbs
and tract homes, soft September-afternoon-light
on the faces in the open windows which we pass by, gentle human-faces in September,
the hate of the newspapers rips, flutters as paper in the hand, that cheerful sound in the moving
D-Train: it brings us from the northwest regions of West Germany through the zones of industry and profit,
dead, abandoned winding-towers, black wheels in the air, slag heaps, dead roads, black, sooty steam locomotives on a dead
track, rusted railway lines
& dust-coated Scotch broom along the embankment, do you really remember your own kisses?
And when the West (“Oh to be out of here, German industry here where everything went collapses? as wished except for the new”)
“Here in this land I live!”: do you really live? (“To be far away and in a foreign No, not this country.” E.P.) sensation.
Until now this was a foreign country, wherever you look,
Memory: I hear the shaky The chestnut voice of the poet on a record tree in the in an apartment, evening, lightless sinister hallways narrow courtyard, and without voices, maybe 60 names on the nameplate in the entryway still-standing by the glass door, locked early, elevators, the stairwell light out, a red glowing light switch at the end of the hall, the calendar and then in the midst of the lifelessness picture television film sounds behind a door on a as I walk along there / the voice of the office wall, poet stuttering in on a Sunday morning, and sun now, after the hallways, in this blinds, West German apartment years later suddenly again)
Prone Venus and Coca Cola 1974, verbs in a continuous chronology, “this Coca Cola of the entire world”
why do you want to speak nicely?
“Must we be idiots and dream in the partial obscurities of a dubious mood in order to be poets?“ (W.C.W.)
Burned out in a beautiful September light, the personal economy: a total disaster,
is the economy a personal feeling? Contradictions because I speak, contradictions because I think
about it: notes in the newspaper margin, being torn to shreds. The few friends scattered about the suburbs, the new friends strewn singly across the country-
side. Different voices, different biographies,
deviations, “good so.”
Discussion: Where everything is forced to connect…
What did you feel as you touched the naked body with your lips, what did you
feel in the middle of the trashed
landscape, word-gods, side-street-sex, under the arranged machines? Let me remember, you say, let me remember, leave me
alone, you say, leave me, gentle face
in a soft September light, like now: answer softly
answer, “in the midst of the daily plundering, or?”
Like the faces in the open afternoon-windows don’t answer. There is a sheet-metal field, dented,
“valse d’autumn” or how such a feeling is called,
not the clarity of looking out a D-Train window, gentle, gentle rhythm here now,
let me, let me remember, you say. Small train stations appear and remain behind,
meaningless structures, : remain behind? meaningless stops : meaningless?
yellow-red fire in a scrap yard,
gentle, gentle woods, last remains of forests in which the thin morning fog still hangs, traces of dampness, not
bent over, small peaceful ponds, forgotten
at the edge of an estate (:“we’re coming back,” in that house, we’re coming home, home?) for the eyes a fugitive rest, from the train window
looking out, the long, slow
even view across this country. There is a hunkered-down green, fantastic green, which passes by, and a child’s hand stretched out the train
window.
Why sadness? All: you gentle
faces in the afternoon light (no faces : you gentle faces between for the coins) the billboards, you gentle
faces in the window frames,
you gentle faces in the September light, you gentle faces of West Germany, tired and sad, you gentle faces, hungry for cunt, cock, tits, hungry for an exotic everyday
life, hungry for a kiss, hungry to feel your own kiss between the walls,
hungry between the advertisements, hungry between the classified ads, hungry between the pictures,
the advertising sales department closes at nine in the evening the movie theaters are darkened, to show a
little more life, the box offices close a quarter-hour after the main feature begins,
the television station broadcasts until shortly after midnight, hungry in the narrow
gardens, hungry for a gentle embrace,
what do you give your selves? What kind of a horror is that, when one stops in the middle of the street, standing among the passers-by,
& each for everyone a passer-by.

1. Thesis: The Power of Epistrophe in Shakespearean Tragedy

• Example: Explore how William Shakespeare utilizes epistrophe for emotional impact in Hamlet's soliloquies, emphasizing the protagonist's internal conflicts and contributing to the overall tragic tone.

1. Thesis: Anadiplosis as a Tool for Moral Reflection in Victorian Literature

• Example: Analyze Charles Dickens' use of anadiplosis in "Great Expectations" to underscore moral lessons and societal critique, examining its role in shaping the narrative's ethical framework.

1. Thesis: Aposiopesis in Gothic Fiction: Unveiling the Unspeakable

• Example: Investigate the presence of aposiopesis in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," exploring how the device enhances the suspense and horror elements by leaving critical details unsaid.

1. Thesis: The Rhetorical Force of Epizeuxis in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

• Example: Examine Abraham Lincoln's use of epizeuxis in the Gettysburg Address, dissecting how repetitive emphasis contributes to the speech's enduring impact on the American psyche.

1. Thesis: Chiasmus in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby": Symmetry and Disillusionment

• Example: Investigate the thematic significance of chiasmus in key passages of "The Great Gatsby," unraveling how Fitzgerald employs symmetrical language structures to convey the novel's themes of illusion and disillusionment.

1. Thesis: Enjambment and Modernist Experimentation in T.S. Eliot's Poetry

• Example: Analyze T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" to understand the role of enjambment in his modernist exploration of fragmented consciousness, societal collapse, and spiritual desolation.

1. Thesis: Paraprosdokian in Oscar Wilde's Satirical Wit

• Example: Explore how Oscar Wilde uses paraprosdokian in "The Importance of Being Earnest" to satirize societal norms and conventions, adding a layer of unexpected humor to his comedic masterpiece.

1. Thesis: Anaphora in Langston Hughes' Poetry: Giving Voice to the Harlem Renaissance

• Example: Examine the use of anaphora in Langston Hughes' poems, such as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," to analyze how repetition becomes a powerful tool for expressing the collective voice and identity of the Harlem Renaissance.

1. Thesis: Hendiadys in Jane Austen's Social Commentary

• Example: Investigate Jane Austen's use of hendiadys in "Pride and Prejudice," exploring how this device adds nuanced layers to character relationships and societal critique in her Regency-era novels.

1. Thesis: Litotes in George Orwell's "1984": The Art of Understatement in Dystopian Discourse

• Example: Analyze George Orwell's use of litotes in "1984," considering how the device contributes to the bleak atmosphere of the novel and emphasizes the oppressive nature of the dystopian regime.

Note: These examples are for illustrative purposes and provide a starting point for further exploration in literary analysis. It's essential to consult the actual texts and relevant scholarly articles for in-depth research.

Hi! I'm not sure if this is the correct sub to look for a poem I have been meaning to find, but I'm trying
I'm looking for a poem (or a short story) that I am pretty sure was written by Edgar Allan Poe, which talks about a man, possibly a train conductor or something along those lines, who in the night discovers something (I unfortunately don't remember what) - the whole vibe of the piece of literature is gloomy, sort of horror.
If anybody can give me its name I'd be more than grateful!