Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Comedy- The Taming of the Shrew FINISHED

I care not what, so it be wholesome food.

GRUMIO
What say you to a neat's foot?

KATHARINA
'Tis passing good: I prithee let me have it.

GRUMIO
I fear it is too choleric a meat. How say you to a fat tripe finely broil'd?

KATHARINA
I like it well: good Grumio, fetch it me.

GRUMIO
I cannot tell; I fear 'tis choleric.What say you to a piece of beef and mustard?

KATHARINA
A dish that I do love to feed upon.

GRUMIO
Ay, but the mustard is too hot a little.

KATHARINA
Why then, the beef, and let the mustard rest.

GRUMIO
Nay then, I will not: you shall have the mustard,
Or else you get no beef of Grumio.

KATHARINA
Then both, or one, or any thing thou wilt.

GRUMIO
Why then, the mustard without the beef.

KATHARINA
Go, get thee gone, thou false deluding slave,
Beats him
That feed'st me with the very name of meat:
Sorrow on thee and all the pack of you,
That triumph thus upon my misery!
Go, get thee gone, I say.

Enter PETRUCHIO and HORTENSIO with meat

PETRUCHIO
How fares my Kate? What, sweeting, all amort?

HORTENSIO
Mistress, what cheer?

KATHARINA
Faith, as cold as can be.

PETRUCHIO
Pluck up thy spirits; look cheerfully upon me.
Here love; thou see'st how diligent I am
To dress thy meat myself and bring it thee:
I am sure, sweet Kate, this kindness merits thanks.
What, not a word?
Nay, then thou lovest it not;
And all my pains is sorted to no proof.
Here, take away this dish.

KATHARINA
I pray you, let it stand.

PETRUCHIO
The poorest service is repaid with thanks;
And so shall mine, before you touch the meat.

KATHARINA
I thank you, sir.

HORTENSIO
Signior Petruchio, fie! you are to blame.
Come, mistress Kate, I'll bear you company.
This interaction between Grumio (the servant) and Kate illustrates the comedic nature of the play by presenting Grumio as a character who likes to provoke ridiculous arguments and Kate as a very atypical woman of this time period (a "shrew") who also displays some ridiculous behavior herself. The argument at hand here begins with Kate, never living a day of her life in poverty between growing up in the home of her wealthy father to now being courted the wealthy Petruchio, complaining how she was taken away from her wealthy home and married only to be starved by her new husband. In relation to the length of the act and the play itself, this back-and-forth argument (where the two reach no significant consensus) between Grumio and Kate over something as trivial as beef is very lengthy and gives the play a comic tone by showing the ludicrous behavior that is hardly ever displayed in this society by a rich woman such as Kate.
Commentary on the Genre of Comedy
Shakespearean comedies, while they are obviously of a totally different nature from tragedies and histories in which the entire play is presented on such a dark and depressing note, do not really fit the typical definition of "comedy" that we know today, which usually involves stories that provoke actual laughter and are often of a more outward, obviously funny nature than those written by Shakespeare. The element of Shakespearean comedy that definitely sets it apart most from the other genres is the far lighter mood and ending that does not involve the murder or suicide of every major character. Often the subject of comedy in these plays involves courtship, so the focus is on love rather than death. The plays also come with a lighthearted nature that is brought to the audience through ludicrous scenarios that simply offer an enjoyable story that does not provoke any extreme emotion or require any deep, serious thought.
Personal Reflection
I would absolutely consider the genre of comedy to be my favorite Shakespearean genre, with The Taming of the Shrew being my favorite play that we have read this year. When I found out that we were being assigned something written by Shakespeare that did not involve hundreds of pages of death, destruction, murder, suicide, bloody violence, and suicide, it brought me a huge sense of relief. The reason why I had a negative predisposition to Shakespeare when we first started reading the plays in class is because I had formerly only known the story lines of Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, both of which I found to be annoyingly and unnecessarily repetitive in their horrific events that take place throughout the entire play, and both of them I found to have extremely disappointing endings. The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night's Dream, gave me a much-needed break from the tragedy I had known as Shakespeare and actually gave me something enjoyable to read. As for the story itself, I knew right away that I would enjoy the story because the first scene starts out with cross-dressing. Typically, I don't find cross-dressing to be particularly funny, but the fact that it was found in a play that was written in the 1500's I found hilarious. In addition, while I didn't find the actual concept of the "shrew" of a woman to be funny compared to the things in today's world that are funny, the fact that these sorts of things WERE a subject of comedy in Shakespeare's time made me approach it with the attitude that it would be a comedic and enjoyable story, and it helped me to appreciate the play much more.

History- Richard III FINISHED

I love the little chart for this book with the little cartoon people on it.

Passage- Act 1, Scene 4:

BRAKENBURY
Why looks your grace so heavily today?

CLARENCE
O, I have pass'd a miserable night,
So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams,
That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
I would not spend another such a night,
Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days,
So full of dismal terror was the time!

BRAKENBURY
What was your dream? I long to hear you tell it.

CLARENCE
Methoughts that I had broken from the Tower,
And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy;
And, in my company, my brother Gloucester;
Who from my cabin tempted me to walk
Upon the hatches: thence we looked toward England,
And cited up a thousand fearful times,
During the wars of York and Lancaster
That had befall'n us.
As we paced along
Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,
Methought that Gloucester stumbled; and, in falling,
Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard,
Into the tumbling billows of the main.
Lord, Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears!
What ugly sights of death within mine eyes!
Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks;
Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon;
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea:
Some lay in dead men's skulls; and, in those holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept,
As 'twere in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems,
Which woo'd the slimy bottom of the
deep,
And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by.


This passage foreshadows one of the most important events that takes place in the play: the drowning of Clarence after his brother Richard III (Gloucester) orders him killed. In the Tower of London, the same place where he is later murdered by order of his brother Richard III, Clarence (Richard's brother) describes a nightmare he had to the keeper of the tower. In this nightmare, Clarence dreams of escaping the tower and fleeing by ship with Richard, only to be betrayed by his own brother on the journey to France and thrown overboard to die. His conversation with the keeper of the tower shows the trust he has for his brother and the denial that Richard in fact wants him dead. He is refusing to listen to his subconscious that is warning him that he will soon be betrayed. Because of this denial of Richard's evil capabilities (since they seem far too horrible for anyone to believe), this passage contributes to the evil and horror that the audience sees in the character of Richard.


Commentary on the History Genre:
Unlike the fiction-based genres of tragedy and comedy in Shakespearean plays, histories are based on true events, which makes for a unique approach to reading them. Although there are many similarities between tragedies and comedies written by Shakespeare (the main characters almost always die, there is usually a "tragic hero" and clear sides of "good" and "evil," many characters are betrayed and brutally murdered, etc.), the major difference between the two is the way the plays end. With tragedies, the story often ends on a hopeless note, not leaving any room for closure or uplifting events since all the characters, heros included, have inevitably all met their untimely deaths by the end and leave nothing else to be said or done. Histories, contrarily, are based on real events, so the ending of the plays such as Richard III, although the main characters die in this play as well, still leave room to continue the story, as true history never has an "end."
Personal Reflection:
When comparing the Shakespearean plays in the tragedy genre to those in the history genre (namely Macbeth to Richard III), I strongly favored Richard III to Macbeth. While Macbeth to me seemed like nothing more than a predictable plot filled with certain death for every character involved, Richard III, because of its basis on actual English historical events, left a lot more at the end to consider. Even though I don't have a very broad knowledge of English history, knowing that the events that occurred in Richard III led to so many more stories to be told of different rulers, struggles for power, wars, etc. made it much easier for me to enjoy the play and stay focused on reading it. When reading Macbeth, I found it so difficult to pay attention to the play while reading it because, knowing the events were fictional, it seemed like it was extremely exaggerated and just overdone with the murder and death. Richard III on the other hand, was far more interesting to me since I knew it was based on actual events, giving me more to think about (fathoming how a real historical figure could have been as evil and corrupt as King Richard III).

Tragedy- Macbeth FINISHED



This soliloquy by Lady Macbeth is perhaps one of the most recognized and important passages in the entire play. In this quote, she is calling upon the evil spirits to inhabit her body, to take away her nurturing and compassionate feminine features and transform her into a strong, powerful, ruthless character with the power to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan. It is central to the play's theme of gender role reversal. Because Macbeth is too compassionate and weak-willed to kill King Duncan, even if his own future as king depends on it, so Lady Macbeth must assume the responsibility of plotting and carrying out the plan to kill Duncan to ensure that the prophecy of the Three Witches will become reality and Macbeth will become king. Because Lady Macbeth comes up with this secret plan to have Duncan murdered, she and Macbeth eventually becomes obsessed with it and begin envisioning permanent blood on their hands and seeing ghosts. The significance of this quote is that it shows that the power of Lady Macbeth over the male characters in this novel ultimately contributes to the deaths of everyone involved, includingherself.

Commentary on the tragedy genre:

This Shakespearean genre is characterized by its plots that always involve every major character dying a horrible death by the end of the play. All Shakespeare's tragedies convey a central message that a character's actions cannot be changed or forgotten about; even if all the characters are dead by the end, the events leading up to their deaths will never change. Essentially, tragedies simply dramatize the inevitable reality of every human existence: no matter how rich, powerful, or heroic a person is, no one can escape the defeat of death. While certainly not all deaths in real life occur as they do in Shakespearean plays, through bloody battles, poisoning, or anything else of that horrific nature, the graphic and extreme presentation of the deaths of both heroes and villains definitely emphasize this central message of tragedies.

Personal Reflection:
Tragedies are by far my least favorite genre of Shakespeare plays. The major reason for this is that it is always known before the play even begins that somehow, every single character is going to die some horrible death, and no one will be left at the end to give the play any closure. The two tragic Shakespeare plays that I have read are Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth, and I found both (particularly Macbeth, since I had no knowledge of the plot prior to reading it) to be some of the hardest works of literature to get through reading, not because of the language or the complexity of the plot itself, but because I just found the events to be so ridiculous and repetitively terrible. In Macbeth, Macbeth is portayed as an evil murderer even though he really should have been considered a hero. Macduff should really be the character who leaves his legacy as the villain because he kills the "tragic hero." I found that the play, like most other tragedies, did not give any of the characters justice based on their roles throughout the course of the play, whether they were portrayed as good or evil.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Analysis of Quote:
(I am far too AP-literature-exhausted at this point to search through this entire book for a quote to analyze, so here's an analysis of the first paragraph of the book. Hey, I'm still making a good effort, right?)
"Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo... His father told him that story: his father looked at him through a glass: he had a hairy face. He was baby tuckoo. The moocow came down the road where Betty Byrne lived: she sold lemon platt" (Joyce 3).
This quote, not because it's the first one in the book, is actually one of my favorites in the novel. It's not often that you read a college-level novel with childish language and imagery in it, and I really enjoy this unconventional use of juvenile language. Despite the belief of many that children are difficult to understand, I believe this actually helps the reader to understand the book better. When Stephen was a young child, as most children at this age do, he used very literal and matter-of-fact terms to describe what he was seeing, without any figurative language or sophisticated vocabulary like a person such as Stephen with a passion for language would use. He repeats the exact same phrase more than once, for example he says "the moocow coming down the road" three times in just two paragraphs. Although this coming from a young child would typically be viewed as a juvenile attempt to express ideas through speech without the necessary experience with words to make a sentence sound intelligent and clear, I actually viewed this as a foreshadowing to the development of his passion for words and writing poetry. A very common and effective literary device in sophisticated and respected poetry, after all, is repetition. (*Sidenote- you can tell I just spent four hours analyzing the literary devices used in poetry)
Analysis of Symbol/Theme:
Birds and flight
There are many religious allusions throughout the entire novel such as the Bible, Latin phrases used in the Catholic faith, Greek mythology, etc. Stephen Dedalus' name itself is an allusion to the Greek god Daedalus, who designed a Labryinth for King Minos and is imprisoned by the king on the island of Crete, but he is able to craft a set of wings and use them to escape by way of flight. This desire of Daedalus to escape from imprisonment in Crete parallels the desire of Stephen to escape from his artistic and expressive imprisonment in Ireland, the home of his family and the Catholic church. At the end of the novel, Stephen sees birds flying freely in the sky, and this symbolizes his finally successful attempt at breaking away from the constraints of the church, the state, and his family to pursue his lifelong passion for art, despite the difficulty of the decision to leave everything he had ever known in life, especially his own family.
Reflection:
This novel was not the easiest one to get through, as we were all warned about before we started reading it in class, but I found that I was actually able to understand it fairly well after discussing it, but not just from reading it. Ultimately, I would say that I enjoyed the book mostly because I liked the uncommon structure used by Joyce (beginning it with Stephen as a young child and changing the style and language throughout the novel to reflect Stephen's changing personality as he ages and develops as an artist and a person). It was definitely no Heart of Darkness, as even though I didn't completely understand it and it was often frustrating to read on my own, I ended up coming to enjoy it the more I thought about it and listened to other people's reflections and interpretations.

Since I haven't done one since the last blog assignment, here's a rant

It's amazing how easy things are to get done once you're under enough pressure to finally start them and finish them in a limited amount of time. These five blogs are due today, and I started them about four hours ago with a few breaks here and there including a drive to Franklin just to get a $2 bagel, a fifteen minute "nap," some time on Webkinz, and of course, some time to write one of these rants that keep me going. I'm doing far better than I thought in my analysis of these poems. Instead of looking at them and going "Huh?" I've been able to look at every single one and write an intelligent analysis of it without struggle. Now that I've had the chance to point out to myself that I'm doing really well with completing this assignment, I'm going to go do my Portrait blog, and then I will be done =)

#238- "Riddle"

Analysis of Speaker/Rhyme/Meter:
Speaker: The speaker of this poem is a victim of the atrocities of the Holocaust. This is made apparent in the third stanza of the poem "My friend Fritz Nova lost his father-" (9), "My friend Lou Abrahms lost his brother" (11). By referring to these victims as his friends, the speaker is able to give the poem a better sense of reality. Like all Holocaust stories, those told by people who actually experienced it are more real, more memorable, and have a much greater impact on their listeners than the accounts found in textbooks and factual information sources. For this reason, the first-person perspective of this poem, although not obvious throughout the entire poem, makes it much more effective in making an impact on the reader.
Rhyme: There is an ABCB rhyme scheme in all but the fifth and sixth stanzas of the poem, the eight lines of which all begin with the same two words "and some" (17-24). In four of the remaining six stanzas that rhyme, one of the words in the pair of rhyming words is "Jews." Each of the lines containing this word is "Who killed the Jews?" The title of the poem is "Riddle," suggesting a mystery, or something that is questionable or unknown. One of the other rhymes in the poem is "engineer" (6) with "Albert Speer" (7). The riddle of the poem is obviously the riddle of who was responsible for the killing of the Jews during the Holocaust, but the other riddle contained in this is who specifically, meaning which of Adolf Hitler's Nazi officials, facilitated this mass genocide? By rhyming one of the names of a Nazi official, and beginning all the lines of the stanza with "not I," the poem expresses how denial of responsibility for murderous and permissive actions was an enormous part of the Holocaust that enabled it to continue for so many years without persecution. By not rhyming the lines of the fourth and fifth stanzas, the stanzas that list the various duties of Nazi officers at the concentration camps, duties that involved doing their part in the extermination of Jews, the poem portrays these jobs as silent, trying to make them as little known by outsiders as possible in order to prevent persecution of the officers for their actions. It places further emphasis on the denial aspect of the question of responsibility "Who killed the Jews?"
Meter: Although each of the eight stanzas has four lines of relatively even length, they are not all the same structurally and rhythmically. The first, third, fourth, seventh, and eighth lines have a similar meter pattern and a common idea of the losses and horrific experiences that the Jews endured during the Holocaust, such as "[...] a crate of gold teeth" (1), "[...] Fritz Nova lost his father-" (9), "David Nova swallowed gas" (13), "Some smelled the smoke" (24), and "[...] gold, [...] shoes, [...] skin" (29-31). The remaining stanzas, the second, fifth, and sixth, have similar rhythm and meter amongst themselves, unlike the previously mentioned stanzas with their own different meter pattern. These three stanzas have the rhythm of stress being placed on the first two words of the line, "not I" in the second stanza and "and some" in the fifth and sixth stanzas. While the previously mentioned stanzas focus more on the victims of the Holocaust, the latter mentioned stanzas focus more on the Nazi officials who caused them to become victims of genocide. By giving these stanzas a more pronounced rhythm than the stanzas focused on the victims, it makes it obvious that those who participated in the Holocaust were most concerned with covering their own tracks and denying all faults than they were concerned with their victims having a voice and an identity.
Analysis of 2 Literary Devices:
Personification: Personification is not used until the last stanza of the poem, but in just these four lines, this device contributes significantly to the overall meaning of the poem. The three things that are personified as having memories, the stars, the sun, and the moon, are elements of nature that are always present in the sky, no matter what the conditions are on Earth. These three celestial objects are present in the most beautiful and the most horrific situations on Earth, and they oversee both situations alike. By personifying them as being the only ones that can always remember the atrocities and evils of the Holocaust, it contributes to the meaning of the title of the poem, "Riddle." The stars, the sun, and the moon may be able to remember the events that happened in the concentration camps, but the last line, the final question "But who killed the Jews?" still remains a riddle, a mystery to humans on Earth who were not there to witness it. One thing the stars, the sun, and the moon cannot do as humans is answer this ultimate question.
Repetition: The three phrases in this poem that are significantly repeated are "not I" (4-7), "and some" (15-24), and "Who killed the Jews?" (4, 12, 28, 32). The first two repeated elements emphasize the secrecy and denial of the aggressors of the Holocaust as well as the enormity of their actions involved in creating the machine that killed so many millions of Jews. "Not I" (4-7) obviously stresses the fact that the Nazi officials want the world to believe that the genocide was not their fault, and they refuse to admit to being the answer to the question "Who killed the Jews?" "And some" (15-24) refers also to the actions of the Nazi officials during the Holocaust, stressing the reality that so much was done to allow this mass murder of Jews to happen, despite the fact that none took the responsibility for this long list of actions such as standing guard (15), dropping the pellets (18), and clearing the rails (24). "Who killed the Jews?" gives meaning to the title of the poem. Despite how many times the answer to the question is repeated with the names of those who committed the crimes "[...] Adolf Eichmann,/[...] Albert Speer" (7-8) and their multitude of duties they fulfilled in taking part in the genocide, the repetition of this question expresses how we still aren't, and perhaps will never be, able to make the perpetrators take responsibility for the murder of the Jews.
Reflection:
After visiting the barracks of the Nazi concentration camp Dachau back in December when I went to Germany, the images in this poem as well as numerous other literary works I have read about the Holocaust, have much more of an impact on me. The mention of specific names of Nazis in the poem, Adolf Eichmann and Albert Speer, and the recollection of seeing their pictures on the walls in the museum at the camp, made the poem so much more effective in the poet's use of specific allusions to historical figures and places. Out of the four poems I chose to analyze, I enjoyed analyzing this one the most because I was most able to see the underlying meanings of the more subtle literary elements such as the rhyme scheme and personification used by the poet.

#232- "Snow White and the Seven Deadly Sins"

Analysis of Speaker/Rhyme/Meter:
Speaker: The speaker of this poem is omniscient. The lack of a first-person viewpoint helps the poem to be more thorough in its expression of the various allusions it contains. It allows the poem to encompass the meanings of all the biblical references, especially the Seven Deadly Sins. Also, the omniscient speaker connects to the idea of a fairy tale in the poem, as these types of fantasy stories are almost always told in third-person perspective.
Rhyme: The rhyme scheme of this poem, ABAB, is perhaps the most familiarly traditional pattern to readers of poetry and is consistent throughout the entire poem. The familiarity of this rhyme scheme and the fact that poetry is traditionally and stereotypically viewed as rhyming in this way, it emphasizes the idea that the poem is deeply involved with biblical and fairy tale references, perhaps the only two types of stories that can remain this solid and memorable and can withstand the test of time. Biblical stories and fairy tales are familiar to people of every generation, every age, and every historical period, and they never seem to become less effective or valuable as they are passed down through generations.
Meter: The meter of this poem (four lines of relatively similar length in each stanza), like the rhyme scheme of the poem, possesses perhaps the most traditional structure that a poem can have. Both the rhyme scheme and meter give the poem its classic and universally familiar tone, a tone of a fairy tale such as Snow White or a Bible story such as that of Peter, one of Jesus' twelve apostles.
Analysis of 2 Literary Devices:
Allusion: Allusion is the most obvious and effective literary device used in this poem. The two allusions in the poem are to the Bible (the Seven Deadly Sins in particular) and to the familiar fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The connection between these two allusions are the significance of the number seven in both stories, and the concepts and corruptions of each of the Seven Deadly Sins and of the tale of Snow White, and especially how they relate to each other. The first stanza of the poem compares Snow White the princess to a "Good little Catholic girl,/ she didn't mind the cleaning" (1-2). Throughout the poem with the brief yet effective descriptions of the Seven Deadly Sins (emphasized with the use of italicization of the name of each sin), each of the sins are applied to Snow White's life and her work, for example "Pride's wall of looking glasses" (13) references the evil queen's Magic Mirror in the story of Snow White, "Gluttony's empties covered half the table" references the dinner that Snow White prepared for the seven dwarves upon their return from a hard day's work in the mines, and "Retrieving several pairs of Sloth's soiled drawers,/ A sweat-sock and a cake of hairy soap" (23-24) references the dwarves' lack of regard for personal hygiene and cleanliness prior to the arrival of Snow White to teach them better ways of living and to clean up after them. The last two stanzas point out perhaps the presence of lust and greed in the seemingly charming, fantastic, and happy ending of the tale when after she awakens, the handsome [lust] prince beckons Snow White to come with him on his beautiful, [and expensive] white horse [greed] and live happily ever after with him, the finest prince in the land, believed to be so because of his looks and his royal possessions. "In time to see a Handsome Prince, of course," (34). "So debonair! So charming! And so Male" (38).
Personification: The Seven Deadly Sins in the poem are described as having human possessions: "Pride's wall of looking glasses" (13), "Lust's magazines lay strewn" (15), "Gluttony's empties covered half the table" (17), "[...]Avarice's cards and chips" (18), and "[...] sloth's soiled drawers" (23). This personification allows the sins to be viewed on the same level with the same importance as the human characters in the loved and respected fairy tale of Snow White, despite the underlying immoralities and corruptions that are present in the people of this seemingly innocent and charming story. It compares the impulsive marriage of Snow White to the rich and handsome prince, "And she was out the window in a second,/In time to see a Handsome Prince, of course" (33-34), to the things defined as the most immoral by the Catholic church, the Seven Deadly Sins. Essentially, the personification of these sins also shows that Snow White the princess and her Handsome Prince are the human representations of these moral crimes.
Reflection:
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves has always been one of my favorite fairy tales, and I have always had an interest in the Seven Deadly Sins and the various different stories and metaphors written about them, but until reading this poem, I never made the connection between the two. I like how the poem is able to effectively compare two very unlike things, one of which is a childhood fantasy story and the other is a collection of the seven worst moral evils of the Christian faith. I really enjoyed the complexity of language and the parallels between these two familiar allusions. My favorite line of the poem was "No poisoned apple needed for this Princess" (29), showing how because there are already so many sins hidden beneath the innocence of the fairy tale, Snow White doesn't need an apple to be poisoned with evil.

#212- "Money"

Analysis of Speaker/Rhyme/Meter:
Speaker: This poem has an omniscient speaker. By not giving a first-person point of view in the poem, it makes the idea of the poem more effective by giving money (the main focus of which is to describe the ultimate control it has over people), sole control of the poem in the way that it conveys its meaning to the audience.
Rhyme: By having no pattern of a rhyme scheme, the poem expresses a more matter-of-fact tone to the audience. By the use of this tone, the poet is able to express his main idea: the idea that money is unavoidably a controlling, dangerous thing in one's life.
Meter: By using a variety of line lengths and no pattern in the number of lines per stanza, the poet is able to express the ultimate powerlessness of a person over money. The two shortest stanzas in the poem, two lines each, are the only two stanzas that suggest the possibility of one having control over money, and money having no control over the person. "At first it will seem tame/willing to be domesticated" (1-2), "Fold it frequently; it needs exercise" (16-17). The short length of these two stanzas suggests that they may be the least significant, the false ideas, despite the fact that they are nonetheless present in the poem. These two short stanzas describe money as if it is a dog, which is an important element of the poem in itself (which I will analyze below as a literary device).
Analysis of 2 Literary Devices:
Simile: This poem compares money to four things: a dog "It will delight your friends,/shake hands with men/like a dog and lick/the legs of women" (7-10), an amoeba "But like an amoeba/it makes love/in secret/only to itself" (12-15), a human "reciting softly to itself/ the names of the presidents" (6-7), and a plant "Water it every three days" (18). The most prevalent simile in this poem is that comparing money to a dog. Dogs are typically viewed, perhaps as money is, as "man's best friend." There are very few people in this world that don't like money, depsite those who may claim otherwise. By comparing money to a dog, the poet expresses the idea that money misleadingly appears as innocent and friendly as a loyal dog, not one to turn against you or do you wrong. But by the last two stanzas, this innocent image is proven to be a false one and money is revealed to be a dangerous and evil thing "There will be no pain/ but in thirty seconds/ the poison will reach your heart" (27-29). By comparing money to not only an animal, but also a human, a plant, and even a one-celled organism, this gives the reader the idea that money is in fact ubiquitous, just as living organisms, especially the mircroscopic ones, are ubiquitous on Earth.
Personification: Although money is only compared to a human in two subtle lines "reciting softly to itself/ the names of the presidents" (6-7), this is a crucial factor in the idea of the poem. Human qualities are generally given to inanimate objects in literature as a way to portray them as intelligent, powerful beings. Subtlety is in fact the most important aspect of this poem; money is not an obvious danger, in fact it is ostensibly the opposite. By giving money the qualities of an intelligent, powerful being, but being very discreet about it, these two lines themselves contribute the most to the overall meaning of the poem.
Reflection:
I found the similes of this poem to be extremely effective in conveying the meaning of the poem. Having a fairly sufficient knowledge of and interest in biology, I really enjoyed the poet's concept of comparing money to four different types of living organisms. I also liked the fact that the word "money" is used only in the title of the poem and not mentioned once in the poem itself, but I believe that even without the title, just by the poet's use of language (especially "reciting softly to itself/ the names of the presidents" (6-7), subtley describing a physical characteristic of money without using the obvious qualities of its green color), one would be able to make the connection that the poem is about money.

#200 "Woman Work"

Analysis of Speaker/Rhyme/Meter:

Speaker: The speaker of this poem is a housewife/mother with a long list of responsibilities that she must tend to "I've got the children to tend/ The clothes to mend/ The floor to mop/ The food to shop..." (lines 1-4). She is becoming exhausted with all the work she must do, and wishes she could get a break from it all. "'Til I can rest again" (22) and "Let me rest tonight" (26).
Rhyme: The first stanza of the poem is fourteen lines long and unlike the four stanzas following it, it has a rhyme scheme of AABBCCDD, etc. By rhyming the stanza that lists the speaker's duties as a mother and housewife in this pattern and using a different pattern for the last four stanzas, which talk about her desire to escape from it all and rest, the poem suggests very obvious, predictable structure and order in the speaker's everyday life, contrary to the resting period that she wishes to have. The second, fourth, and fifth stanzas of the poem follow the rhyme scheme of ABCB, while the third stanza has no rhyming pattern. The common element of the second fourth and fifth stanzas is that they describe the gentle qualities of nature, "Fall softly, dewdrops" (17), "Fall gently, snowflakes" (23), "Sun, rain, curving sky" (27), a large contrast to the harsh and fast-paced nature of her daily life at home. The third stanza however, describes nature in a much harsher way than these other stanzas "Storm, blow me from here/With your fiercest wind" (19-20). This stanza, although it describes a harshness and a state of unrest, expresses the speaker's desire to escape from her daily routine in any way she can, even if it means "being taken away by storm."
Meter: The meter of this poem goes along with the rhyme scheme. The number of lines in each stanza reflects the speaker's different attitudes throughout the poem. In the first and longest stanza of the poem, there are seven pairs of rhyming lines, fourteen lines total. The length of this stanza suggests a very tiring, long work day as a housewife and mother for the speaker. The last four stanzas, on the contrary, are only four lines long each. These four stanzas all describe the poet's desire to get away from her busy routine, and this is expressed by making them much shorter and more manageable in contrast to the first stanza. Even the third stanza, which talks about fierceness of a storm, is shorter and easier than her daily life as one can visualize from the first stanza.
Analysis of 2 Literary Devices:
Personification- The speaker of this poem personifies the elements of nature such as a storm "Storm, blow me from here/ With your fiercest wind" (19-20), "Fall softly, dewdrops/ And cool my brow again" (17-18), "Cover me with white/ Cold icy kisses and/Let me rest tonight" (24-26). By giving these elements of nature the importance of being as humans, the speaker emphasizes her desire to be "rescued" by them from her daily life of work and exhaustion. "Star shine, moon glow/ You're all that I can call my own" (29-30). By speaking to the stars and the moon as if they are human, she expresses her gratitude that they are there for her unconditionally, that they are "all she can call her own."
Repetition- The two key words that are repeated in this poem are "Again" (18 and 22) and "Rest" (22 and 26). By repeating the word "again," both times using it to describe relief from the speaker's strenuous daily life, this implies that at one time in her life, she was not faced with this long list of responsibilities, and she longs to return to these days when life was less stressful and she could have the time to rest. The repetition of "rest," in the poem obviously implies the overall meaning of the poem, which is the speaker's desire to break away from her routine.
Reflection:
I found the most effective element of the poem to be the transition from literal, tangible ideas when the speaker is plainly describing her everyday busy life, to the descriptions of nature as figures to express her desires of escape and rest. I liked how the poet didn't make the poem more complex and difficult to interpret than it needed to be, and this factor itself contributed to the overall meaning of the poem, which is the speaker's longing to rest from her difficult tasks as a mother and housewife. The imagery of nature also gave the poem an effective, relaxing mood to it in the last four stanzas, and I found this to make the poem more enjoyable to read.

Friday, January 18, 2008

I'm going to finish and start all of these blogs tomorrow

I originally wrote this blog entry on Jaunary 8th, and it's now January 25th. Even though I started them 2 1/2 weeks after I said I would, that doesn't matter now, because they're done.

Done with exams, done with blogs. AP Lit exam on Monday and then I am completely worry-free... until teachers start assigning homework again. Hooray.

Heart of Darkness- FINISHED

I have the idea in my head that since I put little to no effort into doing the questions for this book that were assigned as homework, it's acceptable for me to use the symbols and quotes from the assignment papers since I didn't do much (or anything) with them anyway. I'll try harder this time, I promise.

Analysis of Quote:
"You don't talk with that man-- you listen to him" (insert page # here).
This quote is representative of the "inner voice" that everyone possesses that only they can hear and understand. Kurtz is a human symbol of the inner evil of Marlow, so Kurtz's voice represents Marlow's inner voice. By saying "you listen to him," the narrator is explaining how one cannot speak aloud with their inner voice but can only listen to it for themselves. Because of this, Marlow can only to listen to Kurtz, the personification of his own "inner voice," but he cannot use his own voice to communicate. By saying "You don't talk with that man" (meaning, you don't talk with your inner voice) the narrator could also be explaining how one cannot talk to or reason with their inner voice since it "says what it wants to say" and there is nothing a person can do to control their thoughts.
Analysis of Symbol:
Evil spirit in the boiler
The evil spirit in this scene is a symbolic representation of tribal African culture. It is referring to the rituals done by different tribes regarding faith, good and evil, morality, etc. By other cultures, European colonists in this book, these rituals are viewed as strange and foreign, and they are not understood for what they are. The boiler containing the evil spirit symbolizes the destruction of the culture of the native people by the European colonists whose main goal is profit through the sale of ivory. It represents the evil selfishness of the colonists, Mr. Kurtz in particular, that he has the capacity to destroy a culture with complete lack of regard for his own personal gain.
Reflection:
I think I actually like this blog assignment because it gives me a place to talk about the extreme amount of dislike I have for this book and get credit for writing it. First of all, I read the book legitimately from beginning to end twice, and I still am basically clueless about it. It took me an entire day to read it through the first time, and I had to set my alarm every 20 minutes so I would wake up since I fell asleep about after every two pages. I just could not grasp the story at all and I spent most of my "reading" time just staring at the words on the pages. The word choice, the plot itself, and the tiny ancient-looking font all made it incredibly painful to read. I don't know if it was vague or just worded in a way that didn't make sense to me, but I just could not seem to see a point to the story at all. The only reason why I'm able to write this blog is that I remember some of the things we discussed in class. The best thing that I found about this book is that after reading it, I will never complain about another book we read in class. It gave me a much greater appreciation for the other books that I didn't necessarily enjoy reading.

Invisible Man- FINISHED

Quote Analysis-



"I took the cup and sipped it, black. It was bitter. She glanced from me to the sugar bowl and back again but remained silent, then swirled her cup looking into it. 'Guess I'll have to get some better filters,' she mused. 'These I got just lets through the grounds along with the coffee, the good with the bad'" (323).


This quote, like the endless other references made to color and race in this book, symbolizes the differences and relationship between black people and white people. The black, bitter tasting coffee represents how the narrator is viewed by others as a black man. Black people are seen as a "bitter" race of people as they are stereotyped to be lazy, violent, unintelligent, unimportant, etc. The sugar in this quote is also a racial reference: the sugar is white and sweet-tasting while the coffee is black, impure because it is full of grounds, and bitter-tasting. Most people prefer their coffee with sugar in it because it makes it sweeter and better to drink, which is a reference to the white superiority in the novel. Mary's dialogue about needing to get better filters to separate the good from the bad is symbolic of racial segregation and black inferiority that is present in American society at the time in which the novel takes place.


Symbol- The Briefcase
The briefcase is a symbol of the narrator's journey from the South to the North, during which he searches for an identity and undergoes many character changes and faces many conflicts both with himself and with other people that he encounters along the way. Everything that he works for in order to establish a place in society and a life for himself, from his school in the South to the work he finds when he arrives in Harlem to his involvement with the Brotherhood, is carried in the briefcase. It contains his temporary successes as well as his struggles and disappointments. When he burns the briefcase at the end of the novel, his purpose for doing so is that he needs a light source for the hole that he is living in. The destruction of the briefcase for light represents him ridding himself of the false hope that had been present ever since he left the campus and made his way to Harlem. With this light, he is able to come out of the darkness of the hole, which is ironic since it is the false hope and lies that he carried around with him that enables him to get out of the darkness. He develops as a person as he works to overcome the struggles of false hope that he faces throughout the novel, and this gives him the ability to see the difference between truths and lies.
Reflection:
The length of this book and the, well, ridiculous, amount of symbolism and allusions made it exhausting to read, and by the time I was halfway done with it I was very ready to just hand it back in and not finish it. However, I found it to be an easy book to analyze and discuss, and it was much less stressful trying to comprehend it than it was trying to get through Heart of Darkness twice. Although I thought the book was written very well and the use of symbols were very effective, I do think it became a little excessive. I would have enjoyed reading it much more if it were half the length that it is, because I would have not lost interest in it from reading it for too long a period of time. Also, I did like the themes present in the story and I thought it conveyed a much stronger, clearer message than the majority of the other books we have read this year.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Player Piano- FINISHED

Analysis of Quote:



"Anita slept-- utterly satisfied, not so much by Paul as by the social orgasm of, after years of the system's love play, being offered Pittsburgh" (135).

This quote describes the relationship between Paul and Anita, and what Anita is truly concerned about. In a world where material objects and social status are the only important aspects of life, Anita is much more focused on Paul as a high-status business man than as her husband. The use of the words "social orgasm"and "system's love play" show that economic and social status are synonomous in Anita's mind with human interaction and affection. Paul would be nothing to her without his career. Although she and Paul say "I love you" to each other, it seems rather automatic and like it's not a genuine statement. It is as if they only say it because it's what's expected of them by societal standards as husband and wife.


Analysis of Symbol:


I think I should get extra points for having this picture of Ipecac on my phone and sending it to my email during class.

EPICAC computer system:
The EPICAC computer system is the functional basis of the entire city of Ilium. It represents the systematic society where interactions between people are not so much on an individual personal level as they are on a level concerning their place on the social and career ladder. Everyone in the career world (especially Anita, about Paul's career) is concerned with being the best and outcompeting everyone else for status. The EPICAC system is claimed to be such a high-tech system, with no other system coming close to its power and level of technological advancement. The name EPICAC alludes to a substance called Ipecac used to induce vomiting in people who have swallowed something fatally poisonous, and this reflects the nature of the impersonal, robotic society of Ilium as the people in it are allowing their lives to go to waste by having them revolve around things that are ultimately nothing but materialistic value.
Reflection:
After what I've heard about Kurt Vonnegut as an author from several people, particularly about his work Cat's Cradle, I expected to enjoy this book a lot more than I did. Although it was one of the easier ones to get through and understand, especially compared to Heart of Darkness, I found it to be rather uninteresting and uneventful, and I had a very difficult time getting into it when I picked it up to read it. There were no events in the book that really captured my interest and made me want to continue reading on. The part of the book that I found more entertaining than anything else was when the cat got shocked on the fence which made it pop and glow bright green. It was the only image in the book that I could actually get a good picture of in my head, and it made the book a little more enjoyable. Overall, I liked this book more than the other two we read this marking period, but I would have liked it to have a little more action throughout the book.