In his 2013 animated film The Garden of Words, Japanese director Makoto Shinkai explores the complex interpersonal relationship between Takao Akizuki, a fifteen-year-old high school student, and Yukari Yukino, a twenty-seven-year-old schoolteacher, in modern day Tokyo, Japan. Early in the film, Takao and Yukino are shown to be socially isolated from their peers and unsatisfied... Continue Reading →
The Politicization of W.B. Yeats
As seen in his poems “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” and “The Second Coming,” Irish poet William Butler Yeats’ poetry became increasingly political as he grew older. Yeats’ early poetry, such as “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” published in 1890 when he was twenty-five, is reminiscent of the Romantic poets who preceded him, while his... Continue Reading →
Humanity vs. Divinity: The Role of Religious Perspective in The Epic of Gilgamesh and Beowulf
Throughout history, civilizations have been largely defined by their practiced religions; religion often influences both the societal structure of a civilization and how it chooses to record its own history. By examining how the ancient poems The Epic of Gilgamesh and Beowulf reflect the religious ideologies of Sumerian and Anglo-Saxon civilizations, where the poems respectively... Continue Reading →
Sophocles’ Advocacy for Consensual Power in Oedipus the King
Oedipus the King, written by Greek philosopher and playwright Sophocles, remains one of the most extensively studied and performed plays in the western literary canon. Its story focuses on the plight of Oedipus, King of Thebes, whose cursed life afflicts him with many tribulations. Rather than acting solely as a source of entertainment for its... Continue Reading →
“There were greenhouses, too, but they are all broken now”: Gilman’s Advocacy for Acknowledging Postpartum Depression in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
In her 1892 short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” feminist activist and author Charlotte Perkins Gilman addresses the isolating effects of postpartum depression among new mothers during a time when their mental health went largely unconsidered in society. Gilman accomplishes this through selective descriptions of the story’s setting, a secluded country home, and the details surrounding... Continue Reading →
Valperga Literature Review 