Carlos S.

Martinez
Ms. Aponte
English/ Communications 11
14 November, 2013

Literary Analysis Essay
Mark Twain once said, The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man
who lives filly is prepared to die at any time. In other words, a person that lives to the fullest is
happy and they will be ready to die. This statement is true. There is evidence of this quote in
Tuesdays with Morrie a novel written by Mitch, and in Crossing the bar a poem written by
Alfreds Lord Tennyson. Both authors use literary elements and techniques to convey their ideas.
In Tuesdays with Morrie there are many literary elements and techniques to get certain
points across and help us understand. One of the following elements that were used in Tuesdays
with Morrie was setting, Mitch described that he was at Morries the whole time in West Newton
Massachusetts during the 1990s. The theme of Tuesdays with Morrie is to not let life drag
anyone down, live every day to the fullest. When the time of death comes there will be no regret
but the feeling of fulfillment. The way that Mitch characterized Morrie is an outgoing mellow
person that was gentle yet firm. The conflict that is going on in the novel is that Morrie is slowly
dying and Mitch wants to spend as much time as he can with his old professor/ formal friend.
Mitch is slowly learning how to become a better person through the stories and advice that
Morrie is giving to him. There are many forms of literary elements and one of the most important
ones was Imagery, some examples of that is the progression of ALS the disease that Morrie has.
Morrie used to be able to walk around the house and do what he needed to do, but as the disease
progressed he couldnt even wipe his own backside as he said. Another example of Imagery is
at the end of the novel when Mitch was walking up to Morries home, he noticed the little things
such as the change of the leaves he explained that they were now turning red with yellow tips.

In the poem crossing the bar written by Alfred Lord Tennyson there also are many
literary elements. The setting of the poem is in a sea with a bar also known as a bank of sand or
gravel in the middle of the water. The theme is death, the crossing over between life and death.
The author Alfred characterized this poem in a very dark but mellow setting to signify death. The
conflict of the poem is the bar the bank of gravel or sand he needs to get over in order to get to
where he has to go. Alfred also used imagery throughout the whole poem, he used the imagery of
sunset and evening star to represent the ending the darkness that comes afterwards. He also used
the examples of imagery by saying such a tide as moving seems asleep it shows that the water
is calm not strong.
Through the use of the literary elements setting, theme, characterization, conflict and
imagery both authors proved their points. In their words they expressed that living life to fullest
will have a person ready for death. In the Novel Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch illustrated to us that
Morrie is ready for death because he died without any regrets, he passed away doing what he
likes doing and it is helping other people and expressing himself. In the poem Crossing the Bar
the author Alfred Lord Tennyson expressed his point by showing that he is ready to get across
the bar and go sail the sea to meet his pilot once again. Both authors used key details to get their
points across and help us understand the meaning of each piece of literature.