Weekly Poem Blog - Sun 12/11/11

"The Secret"
I love the tone in this poem. :) it is very straightforward and easy to understand, yet so profound at the same time. The author realizes the beauty in poetry and the differences in how it may be interpreted. She loves that her poetry has inspired others, and will continue to inspire them as long as they live. They may forget the "secret of life" within a week, but that is the beauty of the whole thing. For this allows them to discover it again, and again, and again. I believe the idea of discovering and rediscovering a secret within a poem is symbolic of the truths in this world that we so often discover and so quickly forget. What would be the fun in always knowing everything though? Life is a journey, and discovering is what makes it so enjoyable. The last line of this poem is so powerful for it suggests that the secret in her poem may not be discovered if the reader doesn't believe or assume that it's there in the first place. The author loves the girls who discovered this secret for their faith and perseverance. I believe that part of her wishes she had these qualities; there is definitely a strong tone of admiration for these two girls. The antecedent scenario could have involved a letter which the author received from a third party (as she references in the third stanza of the poem) notifying her of the discovery which these two girls had made in the line of one of her poems. Apparently the letter was somewhat vague, as the author does not even know what the secret was or even what line it was from. But such a letter could have absolutely motivated her to write a poem about this discovery, especially since she seems to admire and love these girls so much for what they found.

Weekly Poem Blog - Sun 12/4/11

"The Coming of Wisdom with Time"
This poem is strikingly short- only four lines long. The theme may be a bit obscure from reading just the poem, but the title makes it pretty clear. The author believes that wisdom is gained with time and experience, and this, I believe, is the theme of this poem. The author conveys the message that in his youth, he was focused on the leaves and flowers of a tree or plant, rather than the root. I see this as symbolism for the fancy, luxuries in life which we are so often distracted by. These are not the important things and do not deserve our attention. Rather, the root, which grounds us in our beliefs, symbolizes knowledge and wisdom and truth. The author states at the end of the poem that "now I may wither into the truth." I believe the author's diction here is symbolizing the withering of the leaves of a tree, as in fall, because they not longer matter. They are not what is important, because the truth is in the root.

Thanksgiving Pie Poem 11/27/11

Small in scale,
Next to a perfectly browned bird,
You sit humbly,
Waiting in place,
With all the family gatherings
you have seen and heard,
Until you are topped with whipped cream
For a sweet
On top of savory taste.

Weekly Poem Blog - Sun 11/20/11

The Possibility"
This poem was definitely one that needed to be read through multiple times before i truly started to see some meaning in it. i really enjoyed how the lines at the end tied everything together. i think this poem refers to all the things in life that we have been told are beautiful but we haven't discover for ourselves that they are beautiful. we haven't seen their potential for ourselves, we were just told it was there and believed. James Fenton didn't just believe though. the beautiful flower wasn't beautiful to him, working was just squandering his solitude, and solitude suddenly was no longer helping him to grow. and all at once, the possibility of these things was gone. all too often in life, we second guess things, and in a moments time, it's too late. the opportunity has been missed. Fenton's diction in this poem is very interesting. why does he choose to use the word "boon" in the second stanza? this is a word i was unfamiliar with. it is used to describe a benefit bestowed on someone, especially in response to a request. it is a timely blessing that is helpful or beneficial. this word is very pointed and specific and fits perfectly the definition of work that we have been taught to believe all our lives. you can't survive in this world without having a job and working to provide for yourself. when you invest time in working, it proves to be a "boon" in your life. i believe the antecedent scenario for this poem was a missed opportunity in Fenton's life which caused him to begin thinking about all the other possibilities that this world presents to us and how often they are so easily brushed aside. Fenton doesn't want us to simply believe the possibilities in this world are beautiful because we have been told they are. he wants us to discover for ourselves the true beauty behind things so that we may then use them to their full potential.

Weekly Poem Blog - Sun 11/13/11

"Disillusionment at Ten O'Clock"
This poem seemed very very strange to me.... but there is some insight to be seen in it. I think that this poem is trying to say that people in America are too common place. nobody is living their dreams or breaking away from the conformity of everyday life. all of the night gowns are white. "not purple with green rings, or green with yellow rings, or yellow with blue rings." there is no individualism in our culture. everyone is just a blank white slate, waiting to be discovered. the drunken sailor refers to the sense of lost hope in our country and the red weather seems to be referring to the threat of communism. the antecedent scenario for this poem could have been the oppression of communism in other parts of the world which frightened Wallace Stevens because he saw the conformity in our society and feared how we would react to the threat of a new form of government.

Weekly Poem Blog - Sun 11/6/11

"The Gift"
I love this poem :) i think this is what life is all about: learning little "gifts" as a child that will stick with you forever and benefit you again in your future. this boy learned from his father how to carefully remove a splinter while distracting the patient just enough so they wouldn't fell any pain. later on in life, when he was married and his wife got a splinter, he remember this "gift" he had learned when he was a child and he pulled it back out again. the antecedent scenario for this poem definitely could have been simply that his wife got a splinter, and it reminded him of his childhood. in the last stanza, Lee refers to a "Little Assassin." at first i was not sure what he was talking about, not now believe the little assassin is his father, carefully trying to "take out" the splinter, as stealthily as possible. he then has some words in italics: "Metal that will bury me." and "Death visited here!"  this use of italics gives emphasis to the boys thoughts and the fact that they were not scared or dramatic. the father had successfully soothed his son's fears of the splinter, and now the son remembered his father's gentle touch. the last line state that the boy "did what a child does when he's given something to keep." he kissed his father. and i bet his wife kissed him :)

Weekly Poem Blog - Sun 10/30/11

"Curiosity" by Alastair Reid
I love this poem!!! =D I thought it was fantastic and presented some great advice about life! In this poem, I saw the "cat and dog" idea as a symbol of two different kinds of people in the world. There are those who take life very seriously, always thinking of the consequences of their actions, and generally not taking any chances, playing life very safe. These are the dogs.Then there are the cats. These are the people who want to get the absolute most out of life. They take risks, go on spontaneous adventures, and don't generally think or care about the consequences of their actions because it's worth it! This type of opposition is seen between cats and dogs throughout the poem. I believe the theme of this poem was very plainly stated in a couple different lines throughout the poem. "Face it. Curiosity/ will not cause us to die --/ only lack of it will." The dash in this statement after "die" brings emphasis to the statement, causing it to come across very strongly. The theme was also state when Reid said, "Only the curious/ have, if they live, a tale worth telling at all." So take some risks! Have some fun! That is the point of this poem. What do you have to tell at the end of life when you're lying on your death bed if you've played it safe all your life?? NOTHING. I absolutely believe Alastair Reid was a cat. I think he received endless amounts of criticism and correction for his carefree attitude all his life and he's sick of it - therefore giving him an antecedent scenario to write this poem. I found it interesting that the first word if this poem began with a lower case letter, and the title served also as the first word to his poem. It was different and brought attention and emphasis to the word "curiosity;" after all, that is what this poem is all about isn't it? =P

Sunday Oct. 23 Poem Blog

Those winter Sundays

The first thing i noticed in this poem that struck me was the lower case "w" in the title! Now maybe this was Mrs. White's typo ;P but maybe it wasn't! interesting...
The first stanza of this poem sets up the position of the father in the family. The first line suggests he gets up early every morning, before everyone else, while the house is still cold. His hands are rough and represent the hard work he does all week long. He builds a fire and warms the house, but no one thanks him.. Everything seems normal and you begin to feel sympathy for the father until you read the second stanza... "fearing the chronic angers of that house." where were these "angers" coming from? Father? maybe... Why does the next stanza tell us the child speaks indifferently to the father? he's not concerned with him or how he's doing? What has made him so indifferent towards his own father? Maybe he is the source of anger in that house. In the last stanza, there was an unfamiliar word - austere. i looked it up and it means severe or stern in disposition or appearance, somber and grave. This stanza asks, "What did i know, what did I know/ Of love's austere and lonely offices?" this line now reminds me of "tough love." She knows her father lover her; he drove the cold out of the house and polished her good shoes. But maybe he wasn't always a nice man, and he didn't understand why. one possible antecedent scenario that i considered was a possible death of the father. This is the son remembering all those mornings his dad got up to warm the house and no one ever thanked him - and now it's too late.

Inoculation

This poem begins a story about Cotton Mather. I looked him and found he was a very influential New England Puritan minister. He was also a writer and was known for his neutral, unbiased perspective. In this poem, he is speaking to his slave, Onesimus, which means profitable and helpful. When asked by Cotton Mather if he has ever had the smallpox, he replies, "Yes and No." Cotton Mather ponders how "a man can take inside all manner of disease and still survive." Seeing as Mather was a minister, this is also an allusion to sin in the world and it references how corrupt we can be, but still go to heaven. The third quotation in this blog is interesting. Rather than putting it in quotes as she did the first two, Susan Donnelly chooses to italicize it. Onesimus replies to Mather saying, "My mother bore me in southern wild. She scratched my skin and I got sick, but lived to come here, free of smallpox, as your slave." This quote is filled with irony. Onesimus had escaped one bondage only to be enslaved another. The sarcasm you can hear is this quote is very clear, and Susan Donnelly did a good job making it stand apart from the rest of the poem by italicizing it. This shows a slight amount of hypocrisy in Cotton Mathers. Here he is, a Puritan minister, teacher citizens to cleanse themselves of sin and disease, yet he believes it's ok to keep a slave and rob him of his God-given freedom. hmmm....

A possible antecedent scenario could be that Susan just finished reading about or watching a documentary on Cotton Mathers and decided she felt he was a little hypocritical in his teachers. this poem definitely could have been a reflection of her own opinions of Mathers.

Weekly Poem Blog - Sun. 10-2-11

Identity Poem:

I am who I am;
My childhood has formed me.
Don't change who I am.

Heart of darkness alternate ending!!!!

At the end of the heart of darkness, Marlow is face to face with Kurtz's Intended. She wants to know what Kurtz's last words were before he died.... Marlow decides to protect her memory of Kurtz and tell her his last words were her name. Had he told her the truth, I think it would have gone something liked this:

"'To the very end,' I said, shakily. 'I heard his very last words...' I stopped in a fright.
"'Repeat them,' she murmured in a heart-broken tone. 'I want - I want - something - something - to - to live with.'
"I pulled myself together and spoke slowly.
"'I know he loved you very much, but there's something you need to understand. Being out in that country for so long, living with all those savages, it can change who you are. You must understand he wasn't the man you knew before he left. His illness had taken over his body and mind, and his soul dissipated before our eyes. In his dying hour, his last words reflected what his journey had shaped him to be. 'The horror! The horr!' Those were his last words.'"
"With that, I turned and left her to face the truth of the darkness that had overtaken her one true love."

"Lost Brother"

            I originally read this poem from the perspective of the author and about half way through realized it made more sense coming from the perspective of a tree. So I began the poem over again thinking of it this way instead. I believe that was how it was intended to be read. 4,862 years old and in a matter of minutes, cut down, completely destroyed. The beauty of nature is so magnificent and to throw it away like that can be so angering! Yes, some argue we have to get our paper from somewhere. But I argue that the world we’re living in, the only planet equipped to sustain life, is not going to support us forever. And we’re only shorting that time period by abusing and wasting its precious resources. The colon in the middle of this poem was placed there to help the reader visualize the surroundings this tree had lived its life in for so many years. Then came a set of dashes, separating the wildlife from the rest of the surroundings. The habit of these creatures was being cut down, utterly destroyed. Where were they to live now? Some species described in this section were unfamiliar to me. The pink mountain pennyroyal is a flower used to create a remedy that gives clarity of mind and blocks negative energies. Ironic? Quite possibly. The white angelica is another plant described in the surrounding of this tree that can be used to create oil which calms, sooths and encourages feelings of protection and security. Hmmmm, this was not just a coincidence. The author specifically chose these plants to communicate the exact opposite feelings present in a situation like this one. Overall, I really liked this poem and enjoyed how the author communicated his point of view.

Wallflowers

This poem reminded me so much of mr Moore!!! He always got so excited about new words!!!!! Although I get really frustrated when I'm reading and come across a word I don't know and i have to look it up, I really do agree it's a great thing! I'm just lazy ;) as heather and Julia told us in class during their poem presentation, zoanthropy is the delusional idea that a human has transformed into an animal. Now, I'm not really sure when I would use this word... I don't generally talk about being an animal and I don't know anyone who thinks they are an animal..... Soooo maybe I don't have much use for this word?? But regardless, it's an interesting little fact to know! I think the theme of this poem is to take initiative to educate yourself and learn new things about the world around you! The tone was cheerful and reverent of the importance of words. Personification was also used in this poem to create emotions and characteristics in words!

Ps.. I typed this on your iPad in class, sorry for any typos ;)

Poem Analysis -Week 2

“Mr. Fear” by Lawrence Raab was a very well written poem describing the presence of “fear” in our lives. This poem reminded me immediately of my childhood. I think I lived a fairly paranoid childhood looking back at it now. My parents divorced when I was 8 years old and I remember feeling so vulnerable and unprotected after my dad moved out. I would lie in bed at night and visualize someone breaking into my house and killing my mom, then proceeding upstairs to kidnap my brother and me. I would try to anticipate exactly what the murderer would do in this situation, and I would plan out exactly how I would out-smart him. Sometimes I would plan how I could sneak into my brother’s room to warn him, and where we could hide together to save ourselves. I was quite the troubled child! These memories flooded my mind as I read, “Mr. Fear, we say in our dreams, / what do you have for me tonight? / And he looks through his sack, / his black sack of troubles. … Tell me, Mr. Fear, / what must I carry away from your dream. / Make it small, please.” This reminds me so vividly of my pleas to God every night to protect my mom and my brother and me. Please, make my fears small, God. Please, protect us.

Fear is unavoidable in this corrupt world we live in. All we can do is pray our fears will be small and drift quickly away from us and that the soothing sounds of the Earth at peace will return to us again. 

Poem Analysis -Week 1

"To Myself" by W.S. Merwin definitely caught my attention out of all the poems I skimmed through in the packet. This poem reminded me so much of myself and how I am often searching for who I truly am, who I have become, and who I used to be. I believe introspection is a very important aspect of one's self-discovery, and I love that this poem addresses it. I found the punctuation in this poem (or lack there of) very strange. It made the sentences hard to read because often I didn't know where one sentence ended and the next began. It was too easy to sprint right through it, just to realize that none of it made any sense. By the second or third time through it however, I was able to find the natural places to start and end thoughts and where to put pauses to help clarify the sentences. I particularly enjoyed the part of the poem which said, "... and I/ think then I can recognize/ you who are always the same/ who pretend to be time but/ you are not time and who speak/ in the words but you are not/ what they say you who are not/ lost when I do not find you" This was one of the more difficult sections to read for the first time because of the lack of punctuation, however, I found I enjoyed it the most. The author compares himself to time by saying "you...who pretend to be time but/ you are not time..." I believe he says this because time is known for passing quickly and not being cherished for its worth. Here, he is telling himself that he tries to pretend that he can sneak by, unnoticed and unappreciated but that is not so. Even when he can not find himself, he knows he is there.

The Kite Runner

This was definitely my favorite book out of the three. It was much more captivating then the other two, and I found myself reading 100 pages at a time! (which was good, considering I got a late start on it… haha) The main character was such a coward in the beginning and I did not like him at all; however, towards the end, I just wanted things to work out for him. It was a very emotional read and actually brought tears to my eyes at the end of chapter 24 when I thought Sohrab was gone… I enjoyed this book because it was so incredibly impactful and very well written. I chose to have a conversation with the story for the annotation method of this book. I drew smiley faces for things I liked and different events that brought a smile to my face, and I drew sad or crying faces for the majority of the rest of the events. This was a very sad book… In parts of the book that I agreed with, I would draw exclamation points, and when I wanted to challenge the author about something I disagreed with, I would draw question marks or angry faces. Here and there, I also wrote some random comments about the events and how I felt about them or what I thought about them. In general, this was my favorite annotation method because it connected me to the book more and made it more of a conversation instead of a lecture.

The Great Gatsby

Although I was told by many other students that The Great Gatsby was a pointless, silly book, I actually enjoyed the majority of it! I found it very interesting and captivating once I had given myself the chance to completely submerge myself in the plot of the story. However, I feel as if there is a great deal more to this book then I took away from it. There is a reason why this book is so legendary, and I’m still not quite sure what that reason is. I’m sure discussions in class will help me along these lines. =) For this book, I chose to use the annotation method which focuses on the author’s style. The very first page of the book was very hard for me to understand. I hated the style of the author’s writing in this section because it seemed so incredibly complicated and wordy. Very quickly, however, his style changed and became more “real” (for lack of a better word.) I felt as if he was talking to me face to face with complete honesty. Shortly after this Fitzgerald began narrating, and I was very glad for this transition. I liked it much better. One thing I also noticed that was a very common occurrence in Fitzgerald’s writing was the dash. He used them constantly! When I first began the book, I was highlighting each dash I found in blue. After about 5 pages, I gave up because it was soooo time consuming and tedious! Throughout the book, I continued highlighting phrases that really struck me or had a particular impact on me. Each one of these phrases represented the author’s style and how it was effective for his purpose.

The Heart of Darkness

For the majority of this book, I was wondering what the heck the point of it was. It just seemed like a random, pointless read. I did, however, really enjoy the style with which the author described things. Although the sentences got a little long and complicated at times, I always found that the faster I read, the easier it was to comprehend and the more I appreciated his thoroughness. For this book, I used the annotation method that focused on finding the meaning within the book and what it was trying to teach. I did a lot of highlighting key words and phrases, and whenever I found repeated references in the book, I would write the page number of the other references in the margin. I also did some short summarizing in the margins, and I underlined any phrases I found particularly important or interesting. Overall, I did not really enjoy this book; however, I believe that is only because I don’t understand the meaning and symbolism within it. Consequently, I am really looking forward to class discussions regarding this book! =)