An Introduction to Critical and Lyrical Essays by Albert Camus

Albert Camus was a famous French thinker, author, essayist, poet and critic. A key component of his writing is the usage of poetry. He wrote many poems, most notably The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which remains a favorite of readers today, as it is a meditation on life, love, war and philosophy. Lyrical and critical thinking pieces have also been written by him. Essays such as The Reflection of Childhood, Paradise Lost and The Myth of Sisyphusa are among his more popular works.

In his critical essay Lyrical and Critical Essay, Camus presents his version of the "parable of the elves". why euthanasia should be legal essay is in turn, a response to the writings of J.M. Amer. In The Myth of Sisyphusa, Camus attempts to demonstrate that the story of the nymph is an allegory, regarding Greece's own participation in the Peloponnesian War. In The Reflection of Childhood, he casts doubt on the accuracy of Pliny's description of ancient childhood. The Myth of Sisyphusa contains a number of allusions to Greek mythology as well as to Roman and Medieval history.

In the highly regarded poetic works such as The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The Myth of Sisyphusa, and Theban, Camus deploys a number of devices to bring these works to life. In lyrical pieces like The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, he includes a number of dream-like images, associated with sailing boats on the sea. He uses a form of rime, through which he can describe the character's emotion and physical description. In many of his essays, particularly those in The Myth of Sisyphusa, he seems to connect the nymphs of Greek mythology with the maidens of medieval European literature, and to suggest that the concept of beauty was far from foreign to ancient societies.

Camus' most famous work, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, introduces the reader to the world of Neptune, where the ocean god has been identified as a lover of a beautiful woman named Sisyphoe. When Neptune sees the helplessness of the girl, he decides to send her a son, Oceanus. However, Oceanus is defeated by the goddess Diana, and sent back to earth, to die a painful death. With the help of his friend Messala, Neptune finds and rescues the soul of his beloved Sisyphoe. While Neptune celebrates Sisyphoe's freedom from earthly servitude, a thunderstorm causes the sea to rise, flooding the streets with water.

All of the aforementioned themes and ideas are gathered into this single essay, which was later to be called The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In this lyrical essay, Camus provides several different perspectives on the story, all of which cast his views in a new light. Each of these different perspectives is presented within the essay in separate worksheets. Many of the worksheets deal with the critical essay theme, and there are worksheets that also contain a topical statement, and even a poem or a song. However, much of the essay is devoted to discussing various incidents from the novel.

In his critical essay writings, Camus often utilizes an abundance of figurative imagery. argumentative essay for romeo and juliet has many uses for flags and stars, and often utilizes common images from elsewhere in his work, such as those found in works by Rabelais. In this manner, some of the worksheets do not have anything to do with the main theme, while others actually relate aspects of the novel directly to their uses. There are no fewer than fourteen worksheets that deal exclusively with the flag in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, including a list of the sixteen countries that comprise the novel.

The second set of worksheets that feature in the Critical and Lyrical Review, and that provide additional insight into the novel, deal largely with how Camus influenced his later work. These worksheets, called the Post-Rabelais Worksheets, include such works as a poem about the Rabelais family in which the poet compares the members to the gods of Greek Mythology. An essay is also related to the poem, which analyzes how the two worked together to create their masterpiece. Finally, a short note about how Rabelais died and the manner in which his work ended up after his death is provided.

The final set of worksheets is the Lyrical and Critical Review, which is the most comprehensive overall view of the essay itself. Most of the worksheets deal primarily with the critical aspect of the essay, while some essay simply express a personal opinion. A couple of the worksheets, however, deal with the poem as a whole. Finally, a note about Camus' life, his works, and where he received his criticism, as well as some poems that are related to the critical aspects of the essay, are provided.