ESSAY CEMETERY

Not an Ode: On the Reader-Writer Relationship in Kincaid's A Small Place Jamaica Kincaid's personal essay A Small Place is a highly polemical text. Written by the Antiguan native in 1988, A Small Place encompasses two voices: that of the impoverished, post-colonial Antiguan native and that of the luxuriating, capitalist Westerner. In the text's very syntax resides a meeting between these two very different types: its narrator is an Antiguan native who utilizes the second person throughout the entire text, a style generally associated with poetry, advertisements and open letters. The narrator accuses its presumably Western reader of being a personal contributor towards the suffering of the natives. With its inflammatory language, its breathless-angry style, and unapologetic imagery the text binds its readers to the natives of Antigua through discomfort and guilt. Kincaid creates a debate between the natives of Antigua and the Western tourist, in which the tourist has ...

At times it seems that art cannot help but be self-reflexive. In the poetry of both Shakespeare and Keats, literature and the creative process are themes that surface and dominate their work, even when the presumed subject of their work is entirely unrelated. Shakespeare's Sonnet "66" and "76", despite being written in a form that traditionally celebrates love, explore the difficulties of the artistic process. "Sonnet 66" addresses the issue of external hardships imposed upon the artist, whereas "Sonnet 76" concentrates on difficulties that originate within. John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" seems to be more of an ode to imagination and the creative process, defying its self-proclaimed subject, the urn. External examination of the vessel inspires questions as to the events depicted on it, resulting in speculation that goes beyond the urn and creates vivid, colorful poetry. Through the form of their poetry and the various sound...