I) Thesis- In Adolescence- II by Rita Dove she uses extensive imagery to create a curious tone. This is evident because she uses questions and similes in her poetry to dominate her structure.
II) ‘Body I
There is great word choice and distinct diction in Adolescence II to depict a story of a girl.
The girl seems to be doing bodily harm
This is evident by words such as slice, sharpened tines and pool of ink
III) Body III
Besides the diction it’s also apparent that this girl is in the adolescence stages of life and is enduring all of the problems that come along with it.
She is going through emotions and feelings through this process which cause bodily harm to herself through the use of imagery.
Examples-“Can you feel it”
Clutch at the ragged holes (Cuts in her body) some type of injury.
Ball of fur on my tongue
IV) Conclusion
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Vernon Tull Character Analysis
In Faulkner’s “ As I Lay Dying” the character Vernon Tull is “both a critic of and an unappreciated help to the Bundrens.” This sometimes can be seen as ironic because he actually hires some of the family members for work to help them out yet it is seen “unappreciated help”. In section 8 Tulll tries to calm Anse’s concerns, assuring him that Jewel and Darl will be back from work in time and that he’s worrying for nothing. This shows his compassion for Addie dying moments and the Burden’s family final moments with Addie. This statement is also a contradicting one because it makes you think why is Tull trying to hire the Burdens for work when their mother is dying? But he tries to lighten the situation by joking that women are different, and that their lives are difficult. He then reflects back on his own mother’s death as a weary decision to finally rest after a lifetime of hard work. So here Tull is trying to be the sympathizer. Tull can also be seen as considerate because he helps the family cross the river in spite of its obvious hostility toward him. In section 31 Vernon holds tightly to Vardaman’s hand as they walk acting as a father figure for the young one. He feels a confidence and comfort in doing so; it’s as though he has a special attraction for the young boy. This just goes to show that Vernon character is very mysterious because it seems to be always changing.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Siren Song
Siren Song
This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:
the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see the beached skulls
the song nobody knows
because anyone who has heard it
is dead, and the others can't remember
Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?
I don't enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical
with these two feathery maniacs,
I don't enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.
I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song
is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique
At last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.
In Margaret Atwood's poem, "Siren Sing" she uses a sarcastic tone to convey her her sinister and tempting message. Her poem is filled with a heavy feminist subtext, in which Atwood uses to exploits theses manipulative characteristics to seduce men. This poem is unique in its own nature because the speaker is talking on stereotypes that are represented by the myth of Sirens.
Typically, women are usually seen as passive, weak, helpless and yet dangerous to men trapping them in their kiddish seductive ways. This in terms is seen as ironic because its men compulsion to automatically act to be the hero and save, the women, which actually causes their own demises. The poem extends farther than its literal context. In a sense what the sirens represent is the poets and the sailors are the readers who are seduced by their message. In lines 4-5 it states," the song that forces men to leap overboard". Here the song is presented as a symbol of power which is used for the destruction of men.
Another ironic message in "Siren Song" is that she doesn't enjoy her song, which is evident when she says, "I don't enjoy singing this trio, fatal and valuable." All she like is the power behind it all which outweighs the boredom that she get from the song. The last two lines show how she feels about the song," by it being a boring song" " but it working every time" because of men temptations.
This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:
the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see the beached skulls
the song nobody knows
because anyone who has heard it
is dead, and the others can't remember
Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?
I don't enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical
with these two feathery maniacs,
I don't enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.
I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song
is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique
At last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.
In Margaret Atwood's poem, "Siren Sing" she uses a sarcastic tone to convey her her sinister and tempting message. Her poem is filled with a heavy feminist subtext, in which Atwood uses to exploits theses manipulative characteristics to seduce men. This poem is unique in its own nature because the speaker is talking on stereotypes that are represented by the myth of Sirens.
Typically, women are usually seen as passive, weak, helpless and yet dangerous to men trapping them in their kiddish seductive ways. This in terms is seen as ironic because its men compulsion to automatically act to be the hero and save, the women, which actually causes their own demises. The poem extends farther than its literal context. In a sense what the sirens represent is the poets and the sailors are the readers who are seduced by their message. In lines 4-5 it states," the song that forces men to leap overboard". Here the song is presented as a symbol of power which is used for the destruction of men.
Another ironic message in "Siren Song" is that she doesn't enjoy her song, which is evident when she says, "I don't enjoy singing this trio, fatal and valuable." All she like is the power behind it all which outweighs the boredom that she get from the song. The last two lines show how she feels about the song," by it being a boring song" " but it working every time" because of men temptations.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Follower Commentary
Follower
My father worked with a horse plough,
His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
Between the shafts and the furrow.
The horses strained at his clicking tongue.
An expert. He would set the wing
And fit the bright-pointed sock.
The sod rolled over without breaking.
At the headrig, with a single pluck
Of reins, the sweating team turned round
And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground,
Mapping the furrow exactly.
I stumbled in his hobnailed wake,
Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
Sometimes he rode me on his back
Dipping and rising to his plod.
I wanted to grow up and plough,
To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
All I ever did was follow
In his broad shadow around the farm.
I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,
Yapping always. But today
It is my father who keeps stumbling
Behind me, and will not go away.
Seamus Heaney
In the poem "Follower" by Seamus Heaney, the poet uses detailed description of hard work and labor to exhibit a fine tuned connection that him and his father had when he was young. Its obvious that the relationship between the father and son seems to be very strong and loving. To break down the poem, in the follower the son of the father in follows in his fathers footsteps and becomes a farmer similar to his dad but ironically, in the end the roles are switched so it's the father who is now following the son like he did when he was young.
In the first couple of stanzas the poet describes the line of work that his father does and set the scenery where he followed his father around. He is described as being an expert of his work to an extent where his horses follow his exact commands. The line "strained at his clicking tongue" shows the difficult job of the horses, and, it shows us how skilled Heaney's father really is. His father's strength and power are also brouhgt out through the simile of "His shoulders globed like a full sail strung Between the shafts and the furrow." This just add to hard working nature of his father.
The structure of this poem is very unique in its own ways because it is written in six stanzas of four lines each. The first four stanzas describe Heaney's respect for his father and his abilities to do hard work. The next five and a half lines shows how the poet wanted to grow up to be like his father and follow in his footstep. But in the end the poet feel as if he gets in the way of his father's work. Then there is an ironic twist in the last two lines where his father seemingly switched rolls with him nad now he is the hard working farmer and his dad is now the "follower."
My father worked with a horse plough,
His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
Between the shafts and the furrow.
The horses strained at his clicking tongue.
An expert. He would set the wing
And fit the bright-pointed sock.
The sod rolled over without breaking.
At the headrig, with a single pluck
Of reins, the sweating team turned round
And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground,
Mapping the furrow exactly.
I stumbled in his hobnailed wake,
Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
Sometimes he rode me on his back
Dipping and rising to his plod.
I wanted to grow up and plough,
To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
All I ever did was follow
In his broad shadow around the farm.
I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,
Yapping always. But today
It is my father who keeps stumbling
Behind me, and will not go away.
Seamus Heaney
In the poem "Follower" by Seamus Heaney, the poet uses detailed description of hard work and labor to exhibit a fine tuned connection that him and his father had when he was young. Its obvious that the relationship between the father and son seems to be very strong and loving. To break down the poem, in the follower the son of the father in follows in his fathers footsteps and becomes a farmer similar to his dad but ironically, in the end the roles are switched so it's the father who is now following the son like he did when he was young.
In the first couple of stanzas the poet describes the line of work that his father does and set the scenery where he followed his father around. He is described as being an expert of his work to an extent where his horses follow his exact commands. The line "strained at his clicking tongue" shows the difficult job of the horses, and, it shows us how skilled Heaney's father really is. His father's strength and power are also brouhgt out through the simile of "His shoulders globed like a full sail strung Between the shafts and the furrow." This just add to hard working nature of his father.
The structure of this poem is very unique in its own ways because it is written in six stanzas of four lines each. The first four stanzas describe Heaney's respect for his father and his abilities to do hard work. The next five and a half lines shows how the poet wanted to grow up to be like his father and follow in his footstep. But in the end the poet feel as if he gets in the way of his father's work. Then there is an ironic twist in the last two lines where his father seemingly switched rolls with him nad now he is the hard working farmer and his dad is now the "follower."
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Mid-Term Break Commentary
Mid-term Break
Séamus Heaney
I sat all morning in the college sick bay
Counting bells knelling classes to a close.
At ten o'clock our neighbours drove me home.
In the porch I met my father crying -
He had always taken funerals in his stride -
And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.
The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram
When I came in, and I was embarrased
By old men standing up to shake my hand
And tell me they were 'sorry for my trouble';
Whispers informed strangers that I was the eldest,
Away at school, as my mother held my hand
In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.
At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived
With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.
Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops
And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him
For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,
Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple.
He lay in a four foot box, as in his cot.
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.
A four foot box, a foot for every year.
Séamus Heaney's "Mid-Term Break" is among the few poems that have really moved me. The writer uses many techniques including similes, metaphors to convey the somber and depressed situation of his brother's death. "Mid-Term Break" is a very controversial poem in which Séamus Heaney reflects on the demise of his little brother Christopher and explains what was going through his mind at that time.
In the poem Heaney travels home from school to attend the funeral of his 4-year old brother who was killed in a tragic accident. During the funeral Heaney is confronted with many issues that make him feel uncomfortable while he still struggles to accept the incident the death of his little brother.
Firstly, the poet only describes others feelings but does not describe his own. His father "had always taken funerals in his stride" .The way that the poet phrase this line is that as the funerals he attended were not that of his family but of other people’s, but this time, he even gave way to "crying" which reflects that he was deeply saddened by the event. Additionally, the poet describes Big Jim Evans to feel that the car incident to be a "hard blow". From a literal perspective, it shows of the impact of car hitting the little brother whereas metaphorically, the incident could also show the emotional blow. Overall, the poet did not seem to be too concerned about the death which this highlights the theme of a distanced relationship.
Secondly, the poet referred to his brother as a "baby" when he was already 4 years old. In line 18, the poet stated that it was the "first time in six weeks" he was seeing his brother. It suggests that the poet only had the fleeting memory of his brother as a baby and hardly ever sees him, therefore contributing largely to the fact that the poet was not grieving over his death because of their distanced relationship. The setting of the poem is also essential to its imagery too. In The line “Snowdrops/and candles soothed the bedside" I felt that the poet is attempting to make the situation seem less harsh, more pleasant, and peaceful.
In conclusion the poem's title suggests a holiday but this "break" does not happen for pleasant reasons. I thought that it suggests that the poem associate the death of his brother to that of a holiday, a day when he could get away from schoolwork, a day that he can enjoy. This also contributes to the theme of distanced family relationship where he views his brother's death as a break from work, as a holiday for him to enjoy.
Séamus Heaney
I sat all morning in the college sick bay
Counting bells knelling classes to a close.
At ten o'clock our neighbours drove me home.
In the porch I met my father crying -
He had always taken funerals in his stride -
And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.
The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram
When I came in, and I was embarrased
By old men standing up to shake my hand
And tell me they were 'sorry for my trouble';
Whispers informed strangers that I was the eldest,
Away at school, as my mother held my hand
In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.
At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived
With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.
Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops
And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him
For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,
Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple.
He lay in a four foot box, as in his cot.
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.
A four foot box, a foot for every year.
Séamus Heaney's "Mid-Term Break" is among the few poems that have really moved me. The writer uses many techniques including similes, metaphors to convey the somber and depressed situation of his brother's death. "Mid-Term Break" is a very controversial poem in which Séamus Heaney reflects on the demise of his little brother Christopher and explains what was going through his mind at that time.
In the poem Heaney travels home from school to attend the funeral of his 4-year old brother who was killed in a tragic accident. During the funeral Heaney is confronted with many issues that make him feel uncomfortable while he still struggles to accept the incident the death of his little brother.
Firstly, the poet only describes others feelings but does not describe his own. His father "had always taken funerals in his stride" .The way that the poet phrase this line is that as the funerals he attended were not that of his family but of other people’s, but this time, he even gave way to "crying" which reflects that he was deeply saddened by the event. Additionally, the poet describes Big Jim Evans to feel that the car incident to be a "hard blow". From a literal perspective, it shows of the impact of car hitting the little brother whereas metaphorically, the incident could also show the emotional blow. Overall, the poet did not seem to be too concerned about the death which this highlights the theme of a distanced relationship.
Secondly, the poet referred to his brother as a "baby" when he was already 4 years old. In line 18, the poet stated that it was the "first time in six weeks" he was seeing his brother. It suggests that the poet only had the fleeting memory of his brother as a baby and hardly ever sees him, therefore contributing largely to the fact that the poet was not grieving over his death because of their distanced relationship. The setting of the poem is also essential to its imagery too. In The line “Snowdrops/and candles soothed the bedside" I felt that the poet is attempting to make the situation seem less harsh, more pleasant, and peaceful.
In conclusion the poem's title suggests a holiday but this "break" does not happen for pleasant reasons. I thought that it suggests that the poem associate the death of his brother to that of a holiday, a day when he could get away from schoolwork, a day that he can enjoy. This also contributes to the theme of distanced family relationship where he views his brother's death as a break from work, as a holiday for him to enjoy.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Sun Rising Commentary
THE SUN RISING.
by John Donne
BUSY old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains, call on us ?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run ?
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
Late school-boys and sour prentices,
Go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride,
Call country ants to harvest offices ;
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.
Thy beams so reverend, and strong
Why shouldst thou think ?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long.
If her eyes have not blinded thine,
Look, and to-morrow late tell me,
Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
Be where thou left'st them, or lie here with me.
Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
And thou shalt hear, "All here in one bed lay."
She's all states, and all princes I ;
Nothing else is ;
Princes do but play us ; compared to this,
All honour's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
Thou, Sun, art half as happy as we,
In that the world's contracted thus ;
Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere ;
This bed thy center is, these walls thy sphere.
In Donne's poem "Sun Rising" he seems to ignore the conventional measures of rhyme and meter and poetic beauty. His language is direct and like a conversation instead of a typical verse, in which his verse is full of disagreement.By reading over this poem multiple times this poem cannot be read literally. Donne's placement of the outside world, in favor of the lovers' is a rhetorical technique used to argue for the strength and energy of mutual love.As the poem progresses, however, he begins to misspeak, forgetting the earlier language that he used. The poem dismantles itself through the natural contradictions of the persons rhetoric questioning, leaving the reader unconvinced that language allows love to exceed the outside world.
Throughout the poem, the speaker ridicules the sun and the authority, actually just an interruption according to the speaker; it feels it has, all the time justifying the ridicule with the greatness of love. Though in the first stanza the speaker admits that the sun does dictate some things of the earth and has certain authority, such as “chiding late school boys and sour prentices” and telling farmers and courtiers when to act, he implies that the sun has no power over love, as when he says that love is eternally the same, unaffected by time or seasons that which the sun controls.In stanza two, the speaker asks, “Thy beams, so reverend and strong / Why shouldst thou think?” . The speaker explains that he can blot out the supposed rays of the sun by winking, but he can’t because the beauty of his lover is blinding.
I personally believe that the speaker is not trying to say that love is more powerful than the sun regarding its ability to affect people; rather, he is merely pointing out that the sun has no power over love. Seemingly the mood seems to switch, He says the sun is old and so it should rest because its duty is to warm the world and since they are the world, the sun has completed its duty. Then, the poet cleverly turns the sun’s refusal to leave into a show of its generosity and by shining at them, it has centered itself upon the room of his love.
by John Donne
BUSY old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains, call on us ?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run ?
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
Late school-boys and sour prentices,
Go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride,
Call country ants to harvest offices ;
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.
Thy beams so reverend, and strong
Why shouldst thou think ?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long.
If her eyes have not blinded thine,
Look, and to-morrow late tell me,
Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
Be where thou left'st them, or lie here with me.
Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
And thou shalt hear, "All here in one bed lay."
She's all states, and all princes I ;
Nothing else is ;
Princes do but play us ; compared to this,
All honour's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
Thou, Sun, art half as happy as we,
In that the world's contracted thus ;
Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere ;
This bed thy center is, these walls thy sphere.
In Donne's poem "Sun Rising" he seems to ignore the conventional measures of rhyme and meter and poetic beauty. His language is direct and like a conversation instead of a typical verse, in which his verse is full of disagreement.By reading over this poem multiple times this poem cannot be read literally. Donne's placement of the outside world, in favor of the lovers' is a rhetorical technique used to argue for the strength and energy of mutual love.As the poem progresses, however, he begins to misspeak, forgetting the earlier language that he used. The poem dismantles itself through the natural contradictions of the persons rhetoric questioning, leaving the reader unconvinced that language allows love to exceed the outside world.
Throughout the poem, the speaker ridicules the sun and the authority, actually just an interruption according to the speaker; it feels it has, all the time justifying the ridicule with the greatness of love. Though in the first stanza the speaker admits that the sun does dictate some things of the earth and has certain authority, such as “chiding late school boys and sour prentices” and telling farmers and courtiers when to act, he implies that the sun has no power over love, as when he says that love is eternally the same, unaffected by time or seasons that which the sun controls.In stanza two, the speaker asks, “Thy beams, so reverend and strong / Why shouldst thou think?” . The speaker explains that he can blot out the supposed rays of the sun by winking, but he can’t because the beauty of his lover is blinding.
I personally believe that the speaker is not trying to say that love is more powerful than the sun regarding its ability to affect people; rather, he is merely pointing out that the sun has no power over love. Seemingly the mood seems to switch, He says the sun is old and so it should rest because its duty is to warm the world and since they are the world, the sun has completed its duty. Then, the poet cleverly turns the sun’s refusal to leave into a show of its generosity and by shining at them, it has centered itself upon the room of his love.
Friday, January 16, 2009
The Good-Morrow Commentary
The Good-Morrow is a poem filled with metaphors and internal rhyme scheme similes. The poem is basically talking about New good morning. It’s a poem that is centralized around two key images. One of these metaphors is of two people who loved, being awaken from a different past to a new beginning or life. The second metaphor is of a new world or society being formed and made around their newly found love. In this poem there is all type of literary device that are used to approach the meaning of this poem. One evident device is rhetorical questions another device is the rhyme pattern.
In the first couple of stanza, Donne writes "I wonder, by my troth, what thou, and I did till we loved?" this line to me point out that in his past he was unaware of what the true value of life was until he possessed love. He also says also he says "but suck'd on country pleasured, childishly?" which meant that as he was younger both lovers gave into the act of sexual pleasure immaturely Now knowing that the enjoyment that they once had was lifeless and once now they are wise enough to understand love and be aware of its presence in life. Just from reading this poem and other of Donne’s poem I can tell that Donne has an ability to become obsessed with pleasures.
The title “The Good-Morrow” show us Donne’s feeling toward true love and the true meaning of it. The third stanza describes the reflection of their eyes in each other’s eyes and is filled with imagery. The line “true plain hearts” are shown in each face of the lover which supports the idea they are looking at one another. The poet then describes their world using him as one hemisphere and her as the other, making one whole, perfect world of mutual love. The poem concludes that their love is “so alike “that their love cannot die.
In the first couple of stanza, Donne writes "I wonder, by my troth, what thou, and I did till we loved?" this line to me point out that in his past he was unaware of what the true value of life was until he possessed love. He also says also he says "but suck'd on country pleasured, childishly?" which meant that as he was younger both lovers gave into the act of sexual pleasure immaturely Now knowing that the enjoyment that they once had was lifeless and once now they are wise enough to understand love and be aware of its presence in life. Just from reading this poem and other of Donne’s poem I can tell that Donne has an ability to become obsessed with pleasures.
The title “The Good-Morrow” show us Donne’s feeling toward true love and the true meaning of it. The third stanza describes the reflection of their eyes in each other’s eyes and is filled with imagery. The line “true plain hearts” are shown in each face of the lover which supports the idea they are looking at one another. The poet then describes their world using him as one hemisphere and her as the other, making one whole, perfect world of mutual love. The poem concludes that their love is “so alike “that their love cannot die.
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