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About
Ian Clark is a PhD candidate in English and American Literature at Washington University in St. Louis.
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Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall Street
The unnamed narrator is in many ways the opposite of Bartleby: an optimistic and stable man, the lawyer seems to be a completely devoted contributor to both society and the economy in general.... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
When he faces the dragon as an old and wise king, Beowulf knows that his death is very likely imminent. Take, for instance, the following quote from Seamus Heaney's translation of the poem: ... -
Answered a Question in Pride and Prejudice
Before answering this question, it helps to make sure we know what free indirect discourse is. Free indirect discourse is a special kind of third person narration that combines elements of third... -
Answered a Question in To Autumn
One of Keats's greatest poems, "To Autumn," is at first glance a seemingly simple description of a season. Keats describes classic autumn scenes in the first and third stanzas, and in the second he... -
Answered a Question in I, Too
In addition to a tone of pride, this poem at times exhibits a surprisingly joyful tone. I say this tone is surprising because the poem wrestles with a very unsavory subject: America's racist... -
Answered a Question in The Fall of the House of Usher
As the other answer to this question points out, the narrator of the tale realizes that Madeline and Roderick are twins when he sees her in her coffin. This realization heightens the connection... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
Despite its slim size, The Great Gatsby encompasses a diverse array of important themes, commenting on everything from the state of capitalism to gender relations. As such, it's very difficult to... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
One of the descriptions of Grendel that most closely identifies him with death and darkness is the description that notes the monster's aversion to the light and happiness of Heorot. The poet very... -
Answered a Question in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the river is a symbol for many different things. One thing the river symbolizes is a sense of peace separate from the unnecessary... -
Answered a Question in To Autumn
In "To Autumn," John Keats utilizes many literary devices. However, my personal favorite is his use of personification in relation to the season of autumn. As an example of this device, take a look... -
Answered a Question in King Lear
Blindness is a pervasive theme and device in Shakespeare's King Lear. Both Lear and Gloucester, for instance, are blind to the truth when it comes to their children (Gloucester wrongly... -
Answered a Question in A Narrow Fellow in the Grass
Emily Dickinson was a master at utilizing punctuation to increase the ambiguity of her poems. "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass" is a perfect example of this rule, as Dickinson employs her trademark... -
Answered a Question in Othello
You absolutely can compare Julius Caesar with Othello. The two plays are both tragedies, so they share many similarities. Both focus on tragic heroes (Brutus in Julius... -
Answered a Question in Heart of Darkness
Marlow admits that he has always been fascinated by maps, especially "blank" unexplored areas of maps, and that the one "blank" space on the map that most intrigued him was Africa, especially the... -
Answered a Question in Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver actually escapes from Lilliput fairly easily: after falling out of favor with the Emperor of Lilliput, Gulliver walks across the channel separating Lilliput from Blefuscu, and then from... -
Answered a Question in To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird deals with a variety of themes and ideas. At its most basic level, we can say that the book's main purpose is to explore race relations in the American... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
The other answer to this question does an excellent job of noting the varied ways the dragon is described and discussing these descriptions' significance. To build on these ideas, I'd like to focus... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
The details mentioned in the other answer to this question are insightful, and they point to important examples of warrior values in the text. To add onto these ideas, I'd like to focus on the... -
Answered a Question in William Blake
William Blake's poetry spans a wide variety of ideas and themes, so it's hard to say objectively how he shows all of these (doing so would require many volumes of print). I can, however,... -
Answered a Question in A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is about love, dreams, and perceptions of reality (and, by extension, perceptions of the fantastical). These ideas manifest themselves in a variety of... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
There are two people who want to fight in Act III, Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet: Tybalt and Mercutio. Tybalt wants to fight Romeo, but Romeo refuses, prompting the hotheaded Mercutio to... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
The witches predict a few things in Act 1, Scene 3. First, they predict that Macbeth will be both the Thane of Cawdor and the king (they also tell him he'll be the Thane of Glamis, but Macbeth... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
Grendel is not only annoyed by the noise at Heorot; he's also bothered by the merriment and joy that occurs in the famous mead hall. Grendel is a descendent of Cain, the famed Biblical outcast who... -
Answered a Question in Julius Caesar
In Act 2 of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, we're introduced to some truly fantastical happenings that, according to Calphurnia, spell doom for Caesar. In Act 2, Scene 2, Calphurnia describes... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is a Modernist novel in that it searches for meaning during the breakdown of traditional values in the era following WW I. Gatsby refutes... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
Grendel is frequently described as one of the descendants of Cain, and thus he is forced to wander the world in isolation, cut off from civilization and community. It's suggested that the... -
Answered a Question in The Great Gatsby
To understand why Daisy chooses Tom over Gatsby, it's important to consider that Daisy probably values her own happiness and comfort more than anything else. While she undoubtedly loves Gatsby,... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
One of the most fascinating aspects of Macbeth is that, though Macbeth's future is presented as if fate were guiding it, there's also the suggestion that Macbeth's poor decisions influence and... -
Answered a Question in The Solitary Reaper
The lines you're referring to in William Wordsworth's "The Solitary Reaper" can be found below: A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird, Breaking the... -
Answered a Question in The Canterbury Tales
The Wife of Bath is one of Chaucer's most enduring characters, especially since she functions as a remarkably early example of a feminist. Indeed, the Wife seems to reject traditional notions of... -
Answered a Question in Macbeth
On the whole, I think it's fair to say that power is generally subverted in Macbeth by two means: violence and popular rebellion. It goes without saying that Macbeth subverts King... -
Answered a Question in To His Coy Mistress
In "To His Coy Mistress," Andrew Marvell is essentially arguing that one should enjoy one's youth and vitality while one can (or, more specifically, one should enjoy a romantic/ physical... -
Answered a Question in The Awakening
Though there are a few important conflicts in Kate Chopin's The Awakening, I believe the most significant conflict is Edna Pontellier's rebellion against the misogynist structures and customs... -
Answered a Question in Araby
It's true that James Joyce's "Araby" explores the lives of people who could be considered "hollow." One of the descriptions that most exemplifies this idea comes later on in the story, when the... -
Answered a Question in Othello
I tend to agree with this statement, as the tragedy in Shakespeare's Othello relies upon deceptive appearances and exploited assumptions about these appearances. After all, Iago is able to... -
Answered a Question in Ulysses
In Tennyson's "Ulysses," the second stanza is devoted to Ulysses' description of his son, Telemachus. To get an idea of what the king thinks of his son, it helps to look at the second stanza in... -
Answered a Question in Frankenstein
I would say the primary mood/ atmosphere in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is one of foreboding or dread. Consider, for instance, that we get most of Frankenstein's story after the events of the... -
Answered a Question in The Merchant of Venice
As the other answer to this question suggests, we must construct a character sketch of Portia's father based on conjecture and inference, as he is dead before the play begins. While the other... -
Answered a Question in The Scarlet Letter
While it's much more complicated than the following summary will allow for, Feminist critical theory generally seeks to describe and illustrate the specific experiences of those who identify as... -
Answered a Question in Pride and Prejudice
In many ways, domestic life is at the center of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, as it is a novel concerned with the home and the family. In general, it could be said that domestic life in the... -
Answered a Question in Beowulf
After Beowulf vanquishes Grendel, the Danes shower him with praise. In particular, Hrothgar presents him with several gifts, such as horses, armor, and a sword. This act is particularly important,... -
Answered a Question in How to Teach Macbeth
I would say that you're correct: it is true that Disney's The Lion King more closely parallels Hamlet than Macbeth. Consider, for instance, that both The Lion... -
Answered a Question in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Ichabod Crane is considered an important person in Sleepy Hollow. This idea might seem strange, as Ichabod is undoubtedly ridiculous and comical by turns, but the fact remains that he's a school... -
Answered a Question in The Fall of the House of Usher
During the tempestuous storm in the final moments of "The Fall of the House of Usher," Roderick Usher reveals a very disturbing fact to the narrator. Early in the story, the two men buried the... -
Answered a Question in General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
There are technically two nuns mentioned in "The General Prologue" to Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. There's a main nun—more typically known as the Prioress—and another nun who travels with... -
Answered a Question in A Midsummer Night's Dream
I personally believe Hermia is right to disobey her father's commands, as doing so constitutes a rebellion against oppressive patriarchal laws. In the world of Shakespeare's A Midsummer... -
Answered a Question in A Good Man Is Hard to Find
In an attempt to convince the Misfit not to kill her, the grandmother repeatedly asserts that the Misfit is "a good man" and that he isn't "common." The irony of this statement is that the Misfit... -
Answered a Question in The Odyssey
In Homer's The Odyssey, the Sirens are women famed for using their beautiful singing to entrance sailors and cause them to sail their ships into dangerous waters and drown. However, Odysseus... -
Answered a Question in Fahrenheit 451
Overall, it could be said that power is used in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 to make the average person passive and apathetic, and that power is maintained by keeping people this way. In the... -
Answered a Question in The Solitary Reaper
The easiest way to know that the solitary reaper's song stays with the speaker of the poem is to look at the last lines of "The Solitary Reaper": I listened, motionless and still; And, as I...
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