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Compare and Contrast Essay Assignment Within the scope of this research, we will compare and contrast two literary works the poem "Variations on the word Sleep by Margaret Atwood and the short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce. Longing as a concept and as a theme is present in both of those works. After analyzing the poem and the story, it is evident that longing plays crucial role to the main characters developed in both works it is something that is necessary in ones life. Atwood's poetry is not just about feminist themes; it is also an exploration into the depths of human consciousness and loneliness. This consciousness, paired with her curiosities about the power of language, is seen in many of her poetic themes.
Atwood focuses on different literary and artistic genres in her poetry, ranging from postcards to photographs to magazine depictions of love, in order to explore human connections. Although much of her work may seem fearlessly feminist, in the sense that it brings explores female condition without reserve or embarrassment, Atwood's poetry probes into a genderless consciousness to explore feelings of human connectionedness and painful separations. The poem that will be examined in this paper is Variations on the Word Sleep. The narrator of the poem immediately addresses their conscience need to connect with the other person, and they also recognize the hopelessness of this goal: I would like to watch you sleeping, / which may not happen. (Atwood 46) The opening to the poem, as we see here, could be considered typical of Atwood's writing in the sense that one person longs to bond with another, and recognizes the difficulty. It is this type of vulnerability that we have come to expect in Margaret Atwood's writings, because as with many feminist writings, we are aware of the power struggle between men and women, and even between women. But this poem refrains from identifying sexes; it only discusses a deeply internal need of one person for another, who is on a journey through the dark maze of their consciousness.
The first stanza evolves from a simple plea from the genderless speaker to watch their lover sleep, to a deeper, spiritual need. Atwood chooses to remain ambiguous in this respect, which helps a wider audience identify with the work. The poem also has merit because within seven short, simplistic lines we glide from a gentle longing to a love complex and intense, with two minds merging together in a dream: I would like to watch you, / sleeping. I would like to sleep/ with you, to enter/ your sleep as its smooth dark wave/ slides over my head. (Atwood 46) The action of the poem continues to evolve as Atwood carries the reader through what appears to be a lovers dream or fantasy.
The narrator at first wishes only to watch their lover sleep, then they desire to enter the same sleep with them, then they envision themselves descending through the layers of consciousness. As the reader follows along with the admiring narrator and his or her companion, they become increasingly aware of the narrators need for transcendence. Atwood uses words that help guide us along the action, such as watch, enter, over, descend, follow, and become. All of these words are effective in making the reader feel as if they too are stumbling along side of the narrator, desperately trying to enter the depths of their lover. Moreover, the narrator is so anxious and passionate, that they are willing to follow their lover towards their worst fear in order to protect them from the grief at the center. (Atwood 46) This is especially interesting in the aspect of feminism because Atwood's female characters, especially in his novels, are usually exemplary of achievement and empowerment.
If one is to assume the narrator in this poem is female, than Atwood is describing a woman chasing her man in a desperate attempt to become his center, and even to be the air/ that inhabits you for a moment/ only. I would like to be that unnoticed/ that necessary. () The word unnoticed here could be seen in a couple different lights, as could the entire theme of the poem. On one hand, the narrator is reducing him or herself to being virtually invisible, by becoming the air of their lover. Given Atwood's aptitude for dismantling the power structures between males and females in her novels, this type of clinging and desperation seems out of character with her writing. Yet on the other hand, she has abstained from identifying sexes, and the poetry itself is painfully honest and romantic in its portrayal of sacrifice. The narrator is recognizing that the object of their affection, whether they be male or female, has a consciousness worth exploring, and they are willing to carry this person way from darkness.
The other reason that this poem should be valued is because of Atwood's use of the elements. The imagery of the poem moves from water (smooth dark wave) to earth (forest, cave) to water again (become the boat that would row you) to fire (a flame in two cupped hands) then finally, air (I would like to be the air that inhabits you). The poem Variations of the Word Sleep is an excellent example of Atwood's talent for revealing feelings of separations and also for showing the romance in giving up ones own identity for the sake of love. This theme is not typical to what the public would consider ruthlessly feminist, but Atwood's writings redefine the realms of what women desire and deserve in love. The short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce, has many profound implications for the reader.
During the main character's hallucination before he is hung, he, as well as the reader, receive a confirmation of the beauty and value of life and a balance to the emotional and disturbed nature of the real time of the story, which presents the world, that of the civil war south, as unpleasant and full of manipulation. We notice immediately the strange amount of natural description, once Peyton is free from the noose and floating down stream, while being shot at by military men. Instead of panic the recent escapee saw the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf-the very insects upon them, the locusts, the brilliant-bodied flies, the gray spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig (Bierce 14). He was noticing the beauty of life around him. Things that he had never stopped to take notice of before were all of a sudden a vital experience, of immediate importance to him.
Before the moment that he supposedly escaped death's throes, he had never seen such beauty or such loveliness, or perhaps, more accurately, he has never truly appreciated them. Peyton also at this time became very pointedly focused on the people closest to him, a no longer on the war and the affairs of the greater world. While in the water Peyton's goal was to get away from the military men that were shooting at him, to get to his beloved wife and children. By diving I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods, and get away home (Bierce 22).
This is what keeps him going once he reaches the forest and is making his way to his home. By nightfall he was fatigued, footsore, famishing. The thought of his wife and children urged him on (Bierce 25). His devotion is now to them and not the same as it was at the beginning of the story when he was conned into blowing up the bridge. All of this, of course, was happening during the split moment of Peyton's hanging. He is trying to think about his family but his mind is drawn towards the beauty that surrounds him.
However, in the present time of outside his brain, there has been war and deception driven upon him. While talking with the Federal scout that stopped by his plantation for some water, Peyton started a conversation with the scout about Owl Creek bridge, and the scout replied: I observed that the flood of last winter had lodged a great quantity of driftwood against the wooden pier. It is now dry and would burn like tow (Bierce 21). This is a set up by the Federal scouts. A lure for the eager Peyton. They needed something done to the Yanks but didn't want to sacrifice their own men doing so.
Therefore, they enlisted Peyton without his knowledge. He gets caught and is now being hung, chased and hunted. Ambrose Bierce is telling an age-old story of redemption. Once life is at risk of being taken away, the main character starts to look at what is truly important in existence. He doesn't see the Federal scouts shooting at him and trying to kill him. Instead, he sees the humming of the gnats that danced above the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies' wings, the strokes of the water spiders' legs.
He is noticing the splendor of the natural world around him. Even in the finale of the story, of the vision, we find that Peyton is not angry that he was set up into destroying Owl Creek Bridge. The thought does not to even cross his mind. The events of his death-vision have lead to what we might see as transcendent state. He moved from the worries of the physical world, disregarding the importance of his physical safety even, concentrating on the love and longing he felt for his wife and family. In this way, we can see that the author is showing us the spiritual redemption of Peyton.
Words Count: 1, 622. Bibliography: Atwood, M. Selected Poems. London: Virago, 1998. Bierce, A. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.
New York: Random House, 1995.
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Research essay sample on Owl Creek Bridge Occurrence At Owl Creek
