Pantoum: The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB in which the second and fourth lines of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain; each quatrain introduces a new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD. The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing quatrain, and third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming ZAZA.
The punk era was all about fierce individuals that wanted to rebel or be separate from the profit-driven world. It was full of great music, crazy hairstyles, tattoos, and people with a fuck-it attitude. Punk, as a connotation, people were thought to be freaks, devilish, and even Goth. In the poem, The Punk Pantoum, a man asks his significant other to commit suicide with him. He believes that death would be a new song, a new life.
The couple in the poem isn’t really involved in the 'society', or at least they seem like they don't want to be connected to it. "Let's be proud to live at Eutaw Place - with rats, a severed fetlock, muscle, bone, and hooves." It's insinuated that they should be proud because they live unlike others. Ironically, they want to leave the world they believe to be unworthy enough to escape - they give the world a dark tone, when even their house has the same gloom feel. Eutaw Street in downtown Baltimore is known to be a wealthier neighborhood, but the speaker in the poem thought the opposite of elegance and the importance of money, and made it sound depressing. Both the society and his home were in despair, and even though they lived in a society that was all about drugs, sex, and money, people who were considered as 'punks' weren't always accepted - especially in a neighborhood like that.
The speaker of the poem talks about wearing "blood jewels and last weeks final bruise." They prefer to be able to hurt themselves because they're in control of the pain. Her 'final' bruise is like their final straw - if they were to kill themselves, they wouldn't have to inflict any more pain or bruise ever again. To escape from his home and society, he asks his significant other to commit suicide with him. They're 'new life' will be their 'new song' that's full of hope and no one to not accept them. He assures her that no matter what he'll "always love her and her face." Together, they'll make new tracks as they drag the white-hot razor across their throats.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
God’s Grandeur
1.
The theme of God’s Grandeur is the relation between God and Nature. In the first stanza, we are made to believe that even though the world is full of God’s spirit, it’s only temporary. “Why do men then now not reck his rod?” A question that seems to ask why people don’t take better care of the natural world. The Speaker, the poet, doesn’t seem to be impressed with people as he says that the world smells like people and the bad things they do like being careless of the world around them. “the soil is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod,” the poet indicates that our planet’s ground is bare, without trees, grass, or flowers. The word ‘shod’ an old term for shoes, allows us to fully realize that we have lost the connection to world around us because we can no longer feel it with our bare feet.
However, the next stanza has a different tone – a more reassuring tone that tries to allow us to believe that ‘nature is never spent’ because it lives underground too. The relationship between the West and East is very important. The connotations of black and brown are different. Black is dark where there is absolutely no light visible and can give off the feeling of death and hopelessness. People can perceive brown to be an earthy, vitality color because it’s lighter than black and is seen a lot in nature. The significance of using West and East is the idea that even though the sun always sets in the west bringing darkness and night, it always rises again in the east, bringing light and morning. The last few lines, the ‘Holy Ghost’ is connected to a bird – “Broods”: a family of young animals especially of a bird. “Breast”: mother bird’s keeps their chicks warm by using their chest. “Bright wings”: an appendage of a bird. So the ‘Holy Ghost’ watches over the ‘bent’ world just like a bird would with its children, in a comforting way.
The theme of the poem is that even though the world may be temporary, it’s believed that God will be watching over it for security no matter what people do to corrupt it. And even if people destroy the natural beauty and natures of the world, it will always still be there – because God is too.
2. Explain:
Simile: “It will flame out, like shining from shook foil.” The simile represents the idea that the fire will leave the earth one day because it’s only temporary. The irony with using foil is that it has a shiny side and then a dull side. If you were to shake foil, or crumple it, it would really only be damaging to one side – the bright shiny side. The earth, like just about anything else, has a good and bad side. The earth will flame out, the shining or the good of it, and then turn into something dull that could have crinkles that could represent problems or difficulties.
Symbols: Line 7-8: “And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil - Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod” The speaker believes the people stunk up or ruined the earth by their doings because of their ‘smudge’ or ‘soil’. Smudge is like a stain and soil can mean to make something dirty. The earth’s floor is bare without flowers or any living natural thing – and because of that people can’t walk on it, which disconnects them from the natural world. Shod is an old term for shoes – people have to wear their shoes to be able to walk around. It’s a solution for nothing because it doesn’t cure the world’s problems, it just helps ignore them.
Symbols: Line 11-12: “And though the last lights off the black West went - oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs” The connotations of black and brown are different. Black is dark where there is absolutely no light visible and can give off the feeling of death and hopelessness. People can perceive brown to be an earthy, vitality color because it’s lighter than black and is seen a lot in nature. The significance of using West and East is the idea that even though the sun always sets in the west bringing darkness and night, it always rises again in the east, bringing light and morning.
3. Explain:
“Reck his rod” (Line 4): ‘Reck’, or rec can be seen as the root word for RECognize. The term ‘rod’ is a symbol of authority or power so the speaker wants to know why people don’t acknowledge and respect the power that God has in the world and the environment.
“Spent” (Line 9): Spent is used when the poem shifts tones. It’s one of the first encouraging terms used in the poem to assure that nature will be around forever – it is ‘never spent’. Even though it could seem like it’s gone, it’s still hiding beneath us.
“Bent” (Line 13): Bent, meaning dishonest or corrupt is a different meaning than the connotation it has like a curved angle. However, both connotations can be used when describing the world that the speaker is describing. He made it obvious that the world was corrupt, but it could also be seen as curved. Being ‘curved or bent’ could mean something wrong or unusual, whereas straight could mean obedient or ordinary. God was watching over the ‘bent’, chaotic world.
4.
Alliterations:
However, the next stanza has a different tone – a more reassuring tone that tries to allow us to believe that ‘nature is never spent’ because it lives underground too. The relationship between the West and East is very important. The connotations of black and brown are different. Black is dark where there is absolutely no light visible and can give off the feeling of death and hopelessness. People can perceive brown to be an earthy, vitality color because it’s lighter than black and is seen a lot in nature. The significance of using West and East is the idea that even though the sun always sets in the west bringing darkness and night, it always rises again in the east, bringing light and morning. The last few lines, the ‘Holy Ghost’ is connected to a bird – “Broods”: a family of young animals especially of a bird. “Breast”: mother bird’s keeps their chicks warm by using their chest. “Bright wings”: an appendage of a bird. So the ‘Holy Ghost’ watches over the ‘bent’ world just like a bird would with its children, in a comforting way.
The theme of the poem is that even though the world may be temporary, it’s believed that God will be watching over it for security no matter what people do to corrupt it. And even if people destroy the natural beauty and natures of the world, it will always still be there – because God is too.
2. Explain:
Simile: “It will flame out, like shining from shook foil.” The simile represents the idea that the fire will leave the earth one day because it’s only temporary. The irony with using foil is that it has a shiny side and then a dull side. If you were to shake foil, or crumple it, it would really only be damaging to one side – the bright shiny side. The earth, like just about anything else, has a good and bad side. The earth will flame out, the shining or the good of it, and then turn into something dull that could have crinkles that could represent problems or difficulties.
Symbols: Line 7-8: “And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil - Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod” The speaker believes the people stunk up or ruined the earth by their doings because of their ‘smudge’ or ‘soil’. Smudge is like a stain and soil can mean to make something dirty. The earth’s floor is bare without flowers or any living natural thing – and because of that people can’t walk on it, which disconnects them from the natural world. Shod is an old term for shoes – people have to wear their shoes to be able to walk around. It’s a solution for nothing because it doesn’t cure the world’s problems, it just helps ignore them.
Symbols: Line 11-12: “And though the last lights off the black West went - oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs” The connotations of black and brown are different. Black is dark where there is absolutely no light visible and can give off the feeling of death and hopelessness. People can perceive brown to be an earthy, vitality color because it’s lighter than black and is seen a lot in nature. The significance of using West and East is the idea that even though the sun always sets in the west bringing darkness and night, it always rises again in the east, bringing light and morning.
3. Explain:
“Reck his rod” (Line 4): ‘Reck’, or rec can be seen as the root word for RECognize. The term ‘rod’ is a symbol of authority or power so the speaker wants to know why people don’t acknowledge and respect the power that God has in the world and the environment.
“Spent” (Line 9): Spent is used when the poem shifts tones. It’s one of the first encouraging terms used in the poem to assure that nature will be around forever – it is ‘never spent’. Even though it could seem like it’s gone, it’s still hiding beneath us.
“Bent” (Line 13): Bent, meaning dishonest or corrupt is a different meaning than the connotation it has like a curved angle. However, both connotations can be used when describing the world that the speaker is describing. He made it obvious that the world was corrupt, but it could also be seen as curved. Being ‘curved or bent’ could mean something wrong or unusual, whereas straight could mean obedient or ordinary. God was watching over the ‘bent’, chaotic world.
4.
Alliterations:
Grandeur of God; Flame, Foil; Shining, Shook; Gathers, Greatness; Ooze, Oil; Not, Now; Reck, Rod; Smudge, Shares, Smell, (Soil?); Last, Lights; Brown, Brink
Assonance:
Seared, Bleared, Smeared
Consonance:
Seared, Bleared, Smeared
Internal Rhyme:
Seared, Bleared, Smeared
Assonance:
Seared, Bleared, Smeared
Consonance:
Seared, Bleared, Smeared
Internal Rhyme:
Seared, Bleared, Smeared
The examples of these different things help to carry out the meaning of the poem, especially when factoring in the stressed and unstressed syllables. Hopkins tries to express each of his Speaker’s opinions in the way he uses alliterations and different rhyme schemes to get the full idea of the poem’s theme.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Traveling Through The Dark
(1/2)
The speaker’s dilemma is the decision he has to make as to whether or not to push the deer off the side of the road and into the river. His options are as narrow as the road he travels. In the first stanza, he already knows that he needs to clear the road “to swerve might make more dead.” However, in the final lines of the poem he says that he “thought hard for us all – my only swerving.” He still contemplates what he wants to do because the deer’s baby was still alive inside its womb. The fact the speaker used ‘us all’ can be questioned because we’re not sure whom he’s directing it to. He could be making it seem like he was making a decision for everyone, not just the animals, the wilderness ‘listening’, or the person reading the poem. In the end he actually ends up pushing the dead pregnant doe into the river, which a deeper meaning of river ironically enough, means the fluidity of life.
The speaker of the poem is obviously emotional and in-touch with his feelings. When he finds the deer on the side of the road, he makes the mature choice of pushing it off the road because it had the possibility of hurting and killing others. The fact that he at least contemplated not pushing the deer off into the river says a lot. The deer was dead, but the baby was still alive. He didn’t know what the right decision was so he made the adult one to save the lives he knew he could. The right choice.
Stafford, in the poem, uses syntax and different connotations when he creates imagery. For instance, when he writes, “I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red,” the syntax could mean that not only was the exhaust turning red, but so was he. Connotations linked to red could be like embarrassment, anger, blood, violence, and danger… So maybe he was in a state of anger because he was the one who found the deer so he had to make the decision on what to do with it. Another use of imagery is when he said, “By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car.” Before death it’s said that you see a light. This could figuratively be the deer’s child’s light. The mother, hit by a previous car, had seen her light – and now that the man shows up and pushes her (with the child inside) off the road, it’ll probably die soon too.
3. Stafford uses near rhymes, half rhymes, and off rhymes that rely much on assonance or consonance.
?????
The speaker’s dilemma is the decision he has to make as to whether or not to push the deer off the side of the road and into the river. His options are as narrow as the road he travels. In the first stanza, he already knows that he needs to clear the road “to swerve might make more dead.” However, in the final lines of the poem he says that he “thought hard for us all – my only swerving.” He still contemplates what he wants to do because the deer’s baby was still alive inside its womb. The fact the speaker used ‘us all’ can be questioned because we’re not sure whom he’s directing it to. He could be making it seem like he was making a decision for everyone, not just the animals, the wilderness ‘listening’, or the person reading the poem. In the end he actually ends up pushing the dead pregnant doe into the river, which a deeper meaning of river ironically enough, means the fluidity of life.
The speaker of the poem is obviously emotional and in-touch with his feelings. When he finds the deer on the side of the road, he makes the mature choice of pushing it off the road because it had the possibility of hurting and killing others. The fact that he at least contemplated not pushing the deer off into the river says a lot. The deer was dead, but the baby was still alive. He didn’t know what the right decision was so he made the adult one to save the lives he knew he could. The right choice.
Stafford, in the poem, uses syntax and different connotations when he creates imagery. For instance, when he writes, “I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red,” the syntax could mean that not only was the exhaust turning red, but so was he. Connotations linked to red could be like embarrassment, anger, blood, violence, and danger… So maybe he was in a state of anger because he was the one who found the deer so he had to make the decision on what to do with it. Another use of imagery is when he said, “By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car.” Before death it’s said that you see a light. This could figuratively be the deer’s child’s light. The mother, hit by a previous car, had seen her light – and now that the man shows up and pushes her (with the child inside) off the road, it’ll probably die soon too.
3. Stafford uses near rhymes, half rhymes, and off rhymes that rely much on assonance or consonance.
?????
Monday, October 24, 2011
The Man He Killed
1. Vocabulary
(20) Half-a-crown: The half crown was a denomination of British money worth half of a crown, equivalent to two and a half shillings (30 pennies), or one-eighth of a pound.
2. The repetition of because in the poem serves as a reassurance that the man has to make for himself. It seems as if he can’t really justify why he did it, and feels regret for doing so. His ‘clear’ reason is the most apparent way to explain why he killed someone – if someone’s your enemy, it makes it okay? Using ‘although’ shows the dispute he is having with himself. He can’t justify that killing the man was okay. Old ancient can be poetically justified in that the man believed that if he had maybe met the other before he wouldn’t have killed him.
3. The elevated thought in The Man He Killed is that when people are at war their duty is to fight for their countries by killing others. People kill people whom they know nothing about. The idea of this poem being that if it wasn’t for war; people could have companions outside the war of their nations. Hardy’s poem is an example of how a man who killed another feels remorse about it. The man thought that if the two had met in a bar earlier in time they could have actually been friends.
(20) Half-a-crown: The half crown was a denomination of British money worth half of a crown, equivalent to two and a half shillings (30 pennies), or one-eighth of a pound.
2. The repetition of because in the poem serves as a reassurance that the man has to make for himself. It seems as if he can’t really justify why he did it, and feels regret for doing so. His ‘clear’ reason is the most apparent way to explain why he killed someone – if someone’s your enemy, it makes it okay? Using ‘although’ shows the dispute he is having with himself. He can’t justify that killing the man was okay. Old ancient can be poetically justified in that the man believed that if he had maybe met the other before he wouldn’t have killed him.
3. The elevated thought in The Man He Killed is that when people are at war their duty is to fight for their countries by killing others. People kill people whom they know nothing about. The idea of this poem being that if it wasn’t for war; people could have companions outside the war of their nations. Hardy’s poem is an example of how a man who killed another feels remorse about it. The man thought that if the two had met in a bar earlier in time they could have actually been friends.
LitTerms
Elegy: Noun: a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.
Example: There are many elegies in Beowulf. For example, in the beginning of the poem people mourn the death of Shield Sheafson, and in the end the Geats mourn Beowulf.
Elegies are important because it’s a different way to classify a genre of a story or poem. Knowing the meaning of it can be made into a useful vocabulary word.
Epigram: Noun: a pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way or a short poem especially a satirical poem that has a witty or ingenious ending.
Example: "I am not young enough to know everything." - Oscar Wilde
Epigrams are just fun and different ways to communicate, and using one could be a more amusing way to end a poem.
Example: There are many elegies in Beowulf. For example, in the beginning of the poem people mourn the death of Shield Sheafson, and in the end the Geats mourn Beowulf.
Elegies are important because it’s a different way to classify a genre of a story or poem. Knowing the meaning of it can be made into a useful vocabulary word.
Epigram: Noun: a pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way or a short poem especially a satirical poem that has a witty or ingenious ending.
Example: "I am not young enough to know everything." - Oscar Wilde
Epigrams are just fun and different ways to communicate, and using one could be a more amusing way to end a poem.
Love In Brooklyn
1. The setting of the poem takes place in a bar in Brooklyn probably a year ago in late July. Both the characters in the poem aren’t quite sober so their interactions aren’t ideal. The relationship between the two people at first is just two people from the same job having drinks. Their job, that probably doesn’t pay well and is lower class is one of the things they have in common. By the end of the poem, they reach an understanding and start to give tenderness towards one another.
2. The first speaker, a man who isn’t probably too attractive and doesn’t have the best luck with ladies is shy around the woman at the bar. As he tells her he loves her, he blows his nose. He tries to prove his sincerity for her by saying he watched her go up in her job, and also by comparing her to a tank that he saw in WWII. “I saw a tank slide though some trees at dawn like it was God. That’s how you make me feel.” It’s an interesting simile that has to do with destruction, and links life, love, and death together. In the end we learn that he is in fact a bigger man that’s subconscious about himself. We’re able to continue to question whether or not his love for this girl is actual love or just an infatuation.
3. The beautiful young woman, who has probably been hit on many times, doesn’t want an insincere guy. She doesn’t believe the man when he says he loves her, and instead throws a drink at him. After he convinces her that he’s different, the poem’s tone changes along with her feelings towards the man. Like once before, she jokes with the man, but this time in a more jokingly manner. When they were able to come to an understanding that he wasn’t just any guy, they grew a fondness towards each other.
4. Love in Brooklyn, unlike the Telephone, changes tone throughout the poem. Love in Brooklyn goes from the shyness of the man trying to impress an irritated woman to an impressed view of a man who had just wooed her. The Telephone’s tone (the mood not sound) is different than Love in Brooklyn because The Telephone had an overly confident man trying to impress a shier woman. The tone for The Telephone as a whole has a relaxed mood.
The Telephone:
1. The setting the dialogue takes place is inside a woman’s home in a later time where telephones weren't as high-tech as they are now. The relationship between the people in the poem is very subtle. The man is very sure of himself thinking he knows exactly what the woman wants. The woman on the other hand, is very shy, and didn’t want to admit her feelings.
2. The telephone is a form of communication used by different people in different places. The telephone, which is compared to a flower, may suggest it’s what the woman’s voice sounds like on the other side. The name telephone isn’t used much any more, indicating the age of the setting of the poem. When the man, ‘finds the flower (her voice), and drives the bee away (the buzzing sound made by an old phone), he listens and guesses what he thinks she said because the old phone made it too hard to understand what she really did say.
3. The first speaker is a man very full of himself. He interrupts the speaker to because he really believes that he can read the thoughts of the woman. He doesn’t want her to try to deny it so instead he eliminates any room for her to try. He doesn’t tell her what he heard her say because he wants her to admit what she had actually said. The poem shifts to ‘someone’ because he’s trying to play with her. He’s basically stating that obviously someone had to have said it.
4. The second speaker seems to be a shy woman. When asked what she had said, she asked what he thought he had heard because she didn’t want to have to admit her feelings for the man. As the poem continued, he proceeded to try to get her to admit her love. In the end, she admits that she had in fact wanted him to come see her, but made it obvious it had been just a thought.
5. The poem, The Telephone, is about communication as a whole and how defective and sometimes inconvenient it was when it didn’t work. The communication between the two people is ironically not the best. He does most of the talking when she tries to not concede her feelings for the man. The tone of the poem has a kind of playful side from the first speaker’s part, and a shy calm side from the woman’s. In all, the tone brings out a relaxed easy feel to the poem.
My Last Duchess - Explication
“That’s my last duchess painted on the wall, looking as if she were alive.” The poem, My Last Duchess by Robert Browning, is composed of 10 syllable, rhymed, iambic pentameter couplets.
The Duke is a crazy mad man, who is rich, self-centered, and needs and craves respect. The power that he has as a Duke is his main obstacle in life because it causes him to be very arrogant. He doesn’t want to lose his dominance by confronting people about what upsets him. His last wife, the duchess, was an outgoing and an optimistic character that smiled at anyone. She’d give her attention to anyone that wanted it, and when people gave her compliments she’d innocently blush. The Duke didn’t like this about his wife because he didn’t feel superior to others in his wife’s eyes.
In the poem, the Duke is speaking towards the Duke's fiancé’s father's workers. These people aren't necessarily servants but are people of the court who do official business like run information to others. The Court’s courts are there to set up the wedding of their Court's daughter. The Duke before getting to the task at hand, shows them around his palace, and tells them the story of his last wife who he killed. You have to be able to look at the why to his story as to whether or not he told it as a warning or for reassurance to the Count’s court. He could either be telling them this story to make sure he never gets another duchess like he had before, or to comfort them by hinting that killing someone won’t happen again. Either way, he still expects the dowry.
The Duke's love for art can be questioned by the different pieces he shows to some of the Count's court. Is it that he loves the art itself or the history behind the art that he's actually attached to? The painting of the lady, his previous wife, was a story that he doesn't seem to be afraid to tell. His arrogance wouldn’t allow him to worry about telling his future family that he killed his last wife. Another important piece of art is the statue of Neptune, the God of the sea, who controls the sea and who symbolically connects to the Duke. With the idea of conquering the sea, Neptune, like the Duke, wants to conquer and control people's passions or lives. The Duke interferes with his wife’s life by killing her because of his lack of control over her.
The dramatic irony of this poem is that Browning considers the Duke to be crazy mad. He's not expected to kill his wife for such a silly reason like her being nice and smiling at others. Instead of talking to her, or just accepting the fact that he had actually married a sweet girl, he just gets rid of her. The fact that the Duke tells the Count's court that he had killed his last wife is the big situational irony in the poem because you wouldn't think that someone would reveal something like that to people that could tell his soon to be wife or her father.
The Duke doesn’t have much concern for other people or how they feel so he doesn’t take things like that into perspective. The syntax of the poem proves just that that he thinks highly of himself and is able to say what he pleases. If anything, hopefully the Count’s court would take what he said back to their people as a warning - he's crazy.
The Duke is a crazy mad man, who is rich, self-centered, and needs and craves respect. The power that he has as a Duke is his main obstacle in life because it causes him to be very arrogant. He doesn’t want to lose his dominance by confronting people about what upsets him. His last wife, the duchess, was an outgoing and an optimistic character that smiled at anyone. She’d give her attention to anyone that wanted it, and when people gave her compliments she’d innocently blush. The Duke didn’t like this about his wife because he didn’t feel superior to others in his wife’s eyes.
In the poem, the Duke is speaking towards the Duke's fiancé’s father's workers. These people aren't necessarily servants but are people of the court who do official business like run information to others. The Court’s courts are there to set up the wedding of their Court's daughter. The Duke before getting to the task at hand, shows them around his palace, and tells them the story of his last wife who he killed. You have to be able to look at the why to his story as to whether or not he told it as a warning or for reassurance to the Count’s court. He could either be telling them this story to make sure he never gets another duchess like he had before, or to comfort them by hinting that killing someone won’t happen again. Either way, he still expects the dowry.
The Duke's love for art can be questioned by the different pieces he shows to some of the Count's court. Is it that he loves the art itself or the history behind the art that he's actually attached to? The painting of the lady, his previous wife, was a story that he doesn't seem to be afraid to tell. His arrogance wouldn’t allow him to worry about telling his future family that he killed his last wife. Another important piece of art is the statue of Neptune, the God of the sea, who controls the sea and who symbolically connects to the Duke. With the idea of conquering the sea, Neptune, like the Duke, wants to conquer and control people's passions or lives. The Duke interferes with his wife’s life by killing her because of his lack of control over her.
The dramatic irony of this poem is that Browning considers the Duke to be crazy mad. He's not expected to kill his wife for such a silly reason like her being nice and smiling at others. Instead of talking to her, or just accepting the fact that he had actually married a sweet girl, he just gets rid of her. The fact that the Duke tells the Count's court that he had killed his last wife is the big situational irony in the poem because you wouldn't think that someone would reveal something like that to people that could tell his soon to be wife or her father.
The Duke doesn’t have much concern for other people or how they feel so he doesn’t take things like that into perspective. The syntax of the poem proves just that that he thinks highly of himself and is able to say what he pleases. If anything, hopefully the Count’s court would take what he said back to their people as a warning - he's crazy.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
My Last Duchess
1. Vocabulary
(25) Favor: overgenerous preferential treatment.
(27) Officious: assertive of authority in an annoyingly domineering way.
(49) Munificence: larger or more generous than is usual or necessary.
2. The Duke is speaking towards the Duke's fiance's father's workers. These people aren't necessarily servants but are people of the court who do official business like running information to others. These people are there to set up the wedding of their Court's daughter. The Duke before getting to the task at hand, shows them around his palace, and tells them the story of his last wife who he killed. Whether or not this has any importance towards these people can be debated because it could be that he wants them to know that it won't happen again or that it's a possibility that it could. He doesn't want a wife like he had had before, he wants someone that will give him their full attention - he could be saying he won't put up with it again, and if it does, with or without the lady, he will still have her father's dowry.
3. The Duke is a rich, selfcentered man who needs and craves respect. He wants a wife whose only interest is in him, no exceptions. The man doesn't express why his wife upsets him, so she continues to live as she did, until he couldn't take it any longer and decided to the best option was to kill her. From this we see dramatic irony, in a way that we know what the Duke wants, but no one else really does.
4. His last Duchess was outgoing and an optimistic character who smiled at anyone. The Duke, an opposite character who liked to keep to himself, wanted to do the same with his wife - not share her. He's jealous that she flirts with everyone she comes across, which he seems to consider inappropriate. The Duke doesn't like that she gives her attention to anyone, and blushes when people compliment her - even if it's innocent. The Duke must have some sexual jealously because he feels that he's as ordinary as anyone else in her eyes - as her husband he doesn't feel special.
5. The Duke's love for art can be questioned by the different pieces he shows to some of the Count's court. Is it that he loves the art itself or the history behind the art that he's actually attached to? The painting of the lady, his previous wife, was a story that he doesn't seem to be afraid to tell. His self-importance is way too high to worry about telling his future family that he killed his last wife. Another important piece of art is the statue of Neptune, the God of the sea, who controls the sea and who symbolically connects to the Duke. With the idea of conquering the sea, Neptune, like the Duke, wants to conquer and control people's passions or lives. The Duke interferes with his wifes life by killing her because of his lack of control over her.
6. How the duchess dies is completely irrelevant towards the poem. However, what is relevant is the fact that the Duke tells the Count's court that he had killed his last wife. The big situational irony is that you wouldn't think that someone would reveal something like that to people that could tell his soon to be wife or her father.
The dramatic irony of this poem is that Browning considers the Duke to be crazy mad. He's not expected to kill his wife for such a silly reason like her being nice and smiling at others. Instead of talking to her, or just accepting the fact that he had actually married a sweet girl, he just gets rid of her.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
The Road Not Taken
1. The speaker is upset that he wasn’t able to take two paths – he regrets the fact he had to make the decision to choose. However, when it comes to the actual decision he made, he doesn’t regret the fact that he chose the one less traveled. He chose the one that was grassy and wanted wear, and made his own path. He allowed himself to be curious to see where that would take him, making him independent enough to make his own choices.
2. “If you want something you've never had, you must do something you have never done”. This quote can backup the idea of taking the road less traveled. By making this decision, he probably had to make different decisions than others would have on the other path. The path he took allowed him to stand out from others and say he had done something different to get to where he ended up. He was able to grow as a person by being able to make his own decisions and not following the paths of others.
What I think it means:
The meaning of this poem means to be independent and make your own decisions because you never know where you’ll end up. You never know if the person you decide to follow is on the right path, so you may as well make your own choices. Make sure that if you’re to regret something, it’s not that you ended up being a follower, but it was because you as an individual chose the wrong path. If you end up having to pick from two-decisions, stick with your guy, and travel the road you want, even if it means the road less traveled.
2. “If you want something you've never had, you must do something you have never done”. This quote can backup the idea of taking the road less traveled. By making this decision, he probably had to make different decisions than others would have on the other path. The path he took allowed him to stand out from others and say he had done something different to get to where he ended up. He was able to grow as a person by being able to make his own decisions and not following the paths of others.
What I think it means:
The meaning of this poem means to be independent and make your own decisions because you never know where you’ll end up. You never know if the person you decide to follow is on the right path, so you may as well make your own choices. Make sure that if you’re to regret something, it’s not that you ended up being a follower, but it was because you as an individual chose the wrong path. If you end up having to pick from two-decisions, stick with your guy, and travel the road you want, even if it means the road less traveled.
LitTerms
Cosmic Irony: Noun: the idea that fate, destiny, or a god controls and toys with human hopes and expectations; also, the belief that the universe is so large and man is so small that the universe is indifferent to the plight of man; also called irony of fate.
Example: In Romeo and Juliet, all they wanted was to be together. They desired each other so much that they didn’t want to live apart. However, being a part of two different families that were in a feud would not allow them to be together. Their human hopes were toyed with – and their so-thought fate to be together was controlled.
It’s important to know the use of cosmic irony because it’s used all the time. It’s a common thing to see in books and poems that people’s hopes and expectations are toyed with.
Denotation: Noun: the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.
Example: The words home, house, residence and dwelling all have the same denotation – where a person lives.
It’s important to know what denotation is because it’s needed to know the difference between denotation and connotation. Like in the example above, the words home, house, residence and dwelling all have the same denotation, but the connotation of each word could be very different.
Example: In Romeo and Juliet, all they wanted was to be together. They desired each other so much that they didn’t want to live apart. However, being a part of two different families that were in a feud would not allow them to be together. Their human hopes were toyed with – and their so-thought fate to be together was controlled.
It’s important to know the use of cosmic irony because it’s used all the time. It’s a common thing to see in books and poems that people’s hopes and expectations are toyed with.
Denotation: Noun: the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.
Example: The words home, house, residence and dwelling all have the same denotation – where a person lives.
It’s important to know what denotation is because it’s needed to know the difference between denotation and connotation. Like in the example above, the words home, house, residence and dwelling all have the same denotation, but the connotation of each word could be very different.
After Apple Picking!!...I made apple pie! =D
Imagery is the representation of sense experience it evokes the seven senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, organic imagery (an internal sensation such as hunger thirst, fatigue, nausea; and, kinesthetic imagery (movement or tension in the muscles or joints).
After Apple Picking:
1. The imagery in this poem allows us to live apple picking like the speaker does. The imagery of sight allows us to picture a barrel he didn’t fill, apples he may not have picked off a branch, a frosty sight through the window, and a ladder that seems to have a specific importance. We can hear wind blowing, the rumbling sound from the cellar bin, and his frustration of not being able to sleep. Robert Frost evokes the smell of apples in his poem as he says its what the speaker smells as he’s drowsing off.
2. The speaker seems to not be satisfied with his job of picking apples. He doesn’t do the best job he can, “and there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill, and beside it, there may be two or three apples I didn’t pick upon some bough’. He finds apple picking to be tedious and tiring – walking up and down a ladder isn’t ideal. The speaker doesn’t seem to be dissatisfied with his results, but more like he just accepts them because he wants to be done.
3. It seems that he knows that he’ll be dreaming of apple picking. Knowing he’s tired, it’s exhausting and frustrating that he can’t take a break even when he’s not working. The tense of the poem shits maybe because the speaker wants to show how much his job dominates his life. His real and dream experiences don’t seem to be very different.
4/5. I think the signification of the ladder comes into use when referring to the word ‘sleep’. The ladder, pointing towards heaven, could signify something much greater than just the ladder itself. Winter, which can sometimes allude to death, can clue into the idea that maybe the speaker is old. The word essence, which can also mean soul, spirit, and nature, could mean the spirit of winter, or death, is expected that night. Maybe the season of apple picking is in correlation to his life, and the off-season of apple picking is when it’s time for him to die. Looking through the pane of glass could mean that he’s trying to look to his next life, and by him making it obvious that he’s tired, he’s okay with this idea. The dream would then have greater importance also because then it could be more hinting at afterlife. He would then seem to expect to live as an apple picker in that life too.
6. Woodchucks would hibernate meaning that’d they’d sleep during the winter, and reawaken when spring came back around. Humans, however, don’t do this. They sleep during the night, and wake up every day. Unless of course, sleep has a deeper meaning of death, in which case, they do not reawaken.
What I believe the poem to be about:
Absolutely nothing.
Just kidding.
Maybe.
Probably not.
Anyways.
The poem, about an old and tired apple-picker, is about the speaker coming to terms with death. The essence of winter is upon him as he looks out the window at his old life. He feels like he has fulfulled his life's work as an apple picker because that's what he desired to do. However, living his life as an apple picker, didn't really seem to completely satisfy his life as a whole. It doesn't seem as if he had a family or anyone to care about. As he thinks about his past, he also tries to imagine what his afterlife will be like. The apple picking season is over just like the fruits of his life.
After Apple Picking:
1. The imagery in this poem allows us to live apple picking like the speaker does. The imagery of sight allows us to picture a barrel he didn’t fill, apples he may not have picked off a branch, a frosty sight through the window, and a ladder that seems to have a specific importance. We can hear wind blowing, the rumbling sound from the cellar bin, and his frustration of not being able to sleep. Robert Frost evokes the smell of apples in his poem as he says its what the speaker smells as he’s drowsing off.
2. The speaker seems to not be satisfied with his job of picking apples. He doesn’t do the best job he can, “and there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill, and beside it, there may be two or three apples I didn’t pick upon some bough’. He finds apple picking to be tedious and tiring – walking up and down a ladder isn’t ideal. The speaker doesn’t seem to be dissatisfied with his results, but more like he just accepts them because he wants to be done.
3. It seems that he knows that he’ll be dreaming of apple picking. Knowing he’s tired, it’s exhausting and frustrating that he can’t take a break even when he’s not working. The tense of the poem shits maybe because the speaker wants to show how much his job dominates his life. His real and dream experiences don’t seem to be very different.
4/5. I think the signification of the ladder comes into use when referring to the word ‘sleep’. The ladder, pointing towards heaven, could signify something much greater than just the ladder itself. Winter, which can sometimes allude to death, can clue into the idea that maybe the speaker is old. The word essence, which can also mean soul, spirit, and nature, could mean the spirit of winter, or death, is expected that night. Maybe the season of apple picking is in correlation to his life, and the off-season of apple picking is when it’s time for him to die. Looking through the pane of glass could mean that he’s trying to look to his next life, and by him making it obvious that he’s tired, he’s okay with this idea. The dream would then have greater importance also because then it could be more hinting at afterlife. He would then seem to expect to live as an apple picker in that life too.
6. Woodchucks would hibernate meaning that’d they’d sleep during the winter, and reawaken when spring came back around. Humans, however, don’t do this. They sleep during the night, and wake up every day. Unless of course, sleep has a deeper meaning of death, in which case, they do not reawaken.
What I believe the poem to be about:
Absolutely nothing.
Just kidding.
Maybe.
Probably not.
Anyways.
The poem, about an old and tired apple-picker, is about the speaker coming to terms with death. The essence of winter is upon him as he looks out the window at his old life. He feels like he has fulfulled his life's work as an apple picker because that's what he desired to do. However, living his life as an apple picker, didn't really seem to completely satisfy his life as a whole. It doesn't seem as if he had a family or anyone to care about. As he thinks about his past, he also tries to imagine what his afterlife will be like. The apple picking season is over just like the fruits of his life.
Monday, October 10, 2011
LitTerms
Catharsis: Noun: the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.
Example: When Oedipus finds out that he has killed his father and married his own mother, he gouges out his eyes with his dead mother's adornments. …He’s relieving himself from his mistakes.
Catharsis is used for emotions to be reduced to a healthy and balanced proportion from unwanted feelings like terror or pity.
Connotation: Noun: an idea or feeling that a word invokes person in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
Example: The difference between thin and scrawny. Thin has the more positive connotation because it sounds more attractive and positive. Scrawny, on the other hand, sounds more malnourished and gaunt.
It’s important to know some of the feeling that specific words can invoke. Proper words are important when trying to describe something, especially if you’re trying to use a positive word but using one with a more negative connotation.
Example: When Oedipus finds out that he has killed his father and married his own mother, he gouges out his eyes with his dead mother's adornments. …He’s relieving himself from his mistakes.
Catharsis is used for emotions to be reduced to a healthy and balanced proportion from unwanted feelings like terror or pity.
Connotation: Noun: an idea or feeling that a word invokes person in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
Example: The difference between thin and scrawny. Thin has the more positive connotation because it sounds more attractive and positive. Scrawny, on the other hand, sounds more malnourished and gaunt.
It’s important to know some of the feeling that specific words can invoke. Proper words are important when trying to describe something, especially if you’re trying to use a positive word but using one with a more negative connotation.
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