Much Madness is divinest Sense by Emily Dickinson
PARADOX: a statement that appears self-contradictory, but that in fact reveals some truth.
Okay, this poem is difficult. Emily Dickinson is a deep, deep person. The critical reading questions definitely helped me out on this one. They say that this poem is telling about a paradox--that insanity is good sense, but having good sense is insane. I suppose this makes sense. "To a discerning Eye--" (Dickinson 830), or someone who thinks a lot about things, they may say that insanity is good because insane people seem so realistic to me. They see things for what they are. Most of our greatest mathematicians, astronomers, historians, writers, thinkers, scientists, etc. were thought of as insane at the time. This insanity is what brought about the light bulb, gravity, and some of the best works ever written. These people were insane but it was good sense that came out of it. On the other hand, there are people who say that having good sense is insane. I guess this means that people who think too much are seen as insane...but they would only be seen as insane to those of us who don't think as much as they do. The speaker says this is the majority, but I don't think that they think it is actually true. The speaker says that agreeing with something make someone sane, but it is when they disagree that makes things difficult for them. I think this is true because, for example, Galileo was thrown in jail and ostracized because of his beliefs. Turns out he was right. So, he disagreed with the thinking of that time, which made his path difficult, but his insanity is what brought about good sense.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Alienation Blog Post #3
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain by Emily Dickinson
IMAGERY: the use of sensory language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience
There are many senses that are evoked through the imagery in this poem. I think the most noticeable ones are feeling of the feet on the floor treading back and forth and the hearing of the drums beating during the service. It was difficult to find taste or smell. The lack of sight could be seen (no pun intended) through the fact that I believe the speaker is imaginatively located inside the coffin. First, there is the showing and then the actual service and procession and finally the coffin is placed in the ground. I think the speaker is slowly being separated from people he or she knows and loves. Going along with the theme of alienation, it seems that this person could not be further from these people than at the very end of the poem when he or she is "dropped down, and down..." (Dickinson 776).
IMAGERY: the use of sensory language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience
There are many senses that are evoked through the imagery in this poem. I think the most noticeable ones are feeling of the feet on the floor treading back and forth and the hearing of the drums beating during the service. It was difficult to find taste or smell. The lack of sight could be seen (no pun intended) through the fact that I believe the speaker is imaginatively located inside the coffin. First, there is the showing and then the actual service and procession and finally the coffin is placed in the ground. I think the speaker is slowly being separated from people he or she knows and loves. Going along with the theme of alienation, it seems that this person could not be further from these people than at the very end of the poem when he or she is "dropped down, and down..." (Dickinson 776).
Alienation Blog Post #2
Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield
I do not understand this short story at all. I think it is kind of depressing though and since we are studying an alienation unit I am leaning towards the idea that Miss Brill is a very lonely old woman. I think she listens in on other people's conversations because she has no one else to talk to. I think she lives alone and reads the newspaper to a dead guy four days a week. She looks forward to Sundays as the day when she can get out and pretend that she is in a performance and is important to others. I got the feeling that she was looking down at the woman in the ermine toque (which I also had to look up) because she says, "...her hair, her face, even her eyes, was the same color as the shabby ermine..." (Mansfield 184). Come to find out that the younger couple finds Miss Brill's fur just as ugly and compare it to a fried whiting. Miss Brill seemed to cherish her fur though and think very highly of it. In the beginning of the story she seemed so happy and excited and at the end, she didn't even go to the bakery she just went home by herself. She could have seem excited at the beginning because she was trying so hard to pretend and suppress something that was bothering her. The last line is very depressing and makes me think that she was the one crying because I don't know what else could be crying--it couldn't possibly be the fur. I think she comes to the realization that she is old and alone and no one likes her. This is very sad to me and I hope I never become like this ever.
I do not understand this short story at all. I think it is kind of depressing though and since we are studying an alienation unit I am leaning towards the idea that Miss Brill is a very lonely old woman. I think she listens in on other people's conversations because she has no one else to talk to. I think she lives alone and reads the newspaper to a dead guy four days a week. She looks forward to Sundays as the day when she can get out and pretend that she is in a performance and is important to others. I got the feeling that she was looking down at the woman in the ermine toque (which I also had to look up) because she says, "...her hair, her face, even her eyes, was the same color as the shabby ermine..." (Mansfield 184). Come to find out that the younger couple finds Miss Brill's fur just as ugly and compare it to a fried whiting. Miss Brill seemed to cherish her fur though and think very highly of it. In the beginning of the story she seemed so happy and excited and at the end, she didn't even go to the bakery she just went home by herself. She could have seem excited at the beginning because she was trying so hard to pretend and suppress something that was bothering her. The last line is very depressing and makes me think that she was the one crying because I don't know what else could be crying--it couldn't possibly be the fur. I think she comes to the realization that she is old and alone and no one likes her. This is very sad to me and I hope I never become like this ever.
Alienation Blog Post #1
Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville
4. How does Bartleby's "I would prefer not to" affect the routine of the lawyer and his employees?
This short story was long and took time to get through. I liked it though. I felt like it was easier than others and was kept interesting without a complicated plot line. Bartleby is an odd character to say the least. His "I would prefer not to" statements affected everyone around him. If it was before noon, Nipper would want to kill him and Turkey would say it was strange, but let the lawyer deal with him. If it was after noon, the roles would switch and Turkey would want to "...step behind his screen and black his eyes for him" (Melville 653). It made the other two scriveners do extra work and drove the lawyer almost crazy. I know it would drive me crazy. His constant passiveness and unwillingness to do anything that his boss asked of him would make me go insane if I were the lawyer. It all kind of made sense at the end though. It was also all very depressing. The man used to deal with all the letters at the Dead Letter's Office in Washington. I had to look up what this meant and it has to do with the letters that the destination of them cannot be determined. It would depress me knowing that those letters never made it to the rightful owners. This made me think that his constant "preferring not to" was a way of him sort of saying that he would prefer not to burn these letters even though he knows he has to. I think it was a way of stating his wanting to find the owners of the letters.
4. How does Bartleby's "I would prefer not to" affect the routine of the lawyer and his employees?
This short story was long and took time to get through. I liked it though. I felt like it was easier than others and was kept interesting without a complicated plot line. Bartleby is an odd character to say the least. His "I would prefer not to" statements affected everyone around him. If it was before noon, Nipper would want to kill him and Turkey would say it was strange, but let the lawyer deal with him. If it was after noon, the roles would switch and Turkey would want to "...step behind his screen and black his eyes for him" (Melville 653). It made the other two scriveners do extra work and drove the lawyer almost crazy. I know it would drive me crazy. His constant passiveness and unwillingness to do anything that his boss asked of him would make me go insane if I were the lawyer. It all kind of made sense at the end though. It was also all very depressing. The man used to deal with all the letters at the Dead Letter's Office in Washington. I had to look up what this meant and it has to do with the letters that the destination of them cannot be determined. It would depress me knowing that those letters never made it to the rightful owners. This made me think that his constant "preferring not to" was a way of him sort of saying that he would prefer not to burn these letters even though he knows he has to. I think it was a way of stating his wanting to find the owners of the letters.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Death Blog Post #5
"Death, be not Proud" by John Donne
PERSONIFICATION: attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object
#3 Discuss the tone of the poem. Is the speaker (a) a man of assured faith with a firm conviction that death is not to be feared or (b) a man desperately trying to convince himself that there is nothing to fear in death.
First off, the poem constantly refers to death as "thou" and talking about death as if it were a person and had human qualities. It says, "Die not, poor death, nor yet cans though kill me" (Donne 971). The author is talking to death directly saying that it cannot die, nor can it kill him. He also refers to death as being poor. I think the author has assured faith and a firm conviction that death is not to be feared. He seems almost kind of mean to death saying that people say that he is mighty and dreadful, but in reality he is not because only those who think that are those who he can defeat. The author calls death a "slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men" (Donne 971). He is saying that death has no control over what happens, it all depends on the men and chance which means that death really has no power at all. Death may come, but we will always wake eternally, so the author has faith that death is not to be feared. He says that when we awake eternally, death is no longer and will die itself.
PERSONIFICATION: attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object
#3 Discuss the tone of the poem. Is the speaker (a) a man of assured faith with a firm conviction that death is not to be feared or (b) a man desperately trying to convince himself that there is nothing to fear in death.
First off, the poem constantly refers to death as "thou" and talking about death as if it were a person and had human qualities. It says, "Die not, poor death, nor yet cans though kill me" (Donne 971). The author is talking to death directly saying that it cannot die, nor can it kill him. He also refers to death as being poor. I think the author has assured faith and a firm conviction that death is not to be feared. He seems almost kind of mean to death saying that people say that he is mighty and dreadful, but in reality he is not because only those who think that are those who he can defeat. The author calls death a "slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men" (Donne 971). He is saying that death has no control over what happens, it all depends on the men and chance which means that death really has no power at all. Death may come, but we will always wake eternally, so the author has faith that death is not to be feared. He says that when we awake eternally, death is no longer and will die itself.
Death Blog Post #4
"That Time of Year" by William Shakespeare
#1 What are the three major images introduced by the three quatrains? What do they have in common? Can you see and reason for presenting them in this particular order, or might they be arranged without loss?
There are three major images in this poem. The first one has to do with the seasons, I believe. It refers to yellow leaves and how none could be on a tree which makes me think of fall. The trees shake against the cold which also alludes to the fact that the weather is changing to cold. The next image I see is that of a sunset. It is twilight and then the sun fades away and everything is black and taken away to the night. Finally, there is the image of a fire and ashes where someone must expire. It says that the person in the ashes must expire and be "consumed with that which it was nourished by" (Shakespeare 967). This, to me, means that when we die, we may actually end up where we started, but no one really knows for sure or not. I don't see any way they could have been arranged in an order. Fall, a sunset, and a fire don't seem to have and order about them, but they do all begin and eventually end, so I think they are all about a person's life cycle.
Death Blog Post #3
"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas
#2 Apart from the fixed form, the poem creates another structural principle in stanzas two through six by describing in turn "wise me", "Good men", "Wild men", and "Grave men". How does the speaker view these various types of men in their differing stances toward both life and death?
PARADOX: a statement that appears self-contradictory, but that in fact reveals a kind of truth.
I think this poem was mainly about how death can be a good thing, but those who are near it should not go very easily in to it. They should put up a fight. The different men that the author addresses are different kinds of people in the world. The wise man is someone who is smart and has a lot of knowledge. They would be the logical thinkers who know it is time for death and are ready to embrace what would come next. They do not go into death easily because "their words had forked no lightning" (Thomas 968). They only spoke and thought about things, they never did anything good with their actions. The good men are those of us who do good in our world. They do good things and provide good deeds. These men fight against death because there is so much more good to be done from them. Then, the wild men are those people who are crazy and do harmful things to themselves and others. These people don't go into their death very well because they have learned too late that they should have been doing good with their lives instead of wasting it away. Finally, the grave men are the serious people in the world. They fight against death because they know it is a serious thing and see what needs to happen and take it seriously.
#2 Apart from the fixed form, the poem creates another structural principle in stanzas two through six by describing in turn "wise me", "Good men", "Wild men", and "Grave men". How does the speaker view these various types of men in their differing stances toward both life and death?
PARADOX: a statement that appears self-contradictory, but that in fact reveals a kind of truth.
I think this poem was mainly about how death can be a good thing, but those who are near it should not go very easily in to it. They should put up a fight. The different men that the author addresses are different kinds of people in the world. The wise man is someone who is smart and has a lot of knowledge. They would be the logical thinkers who know it is time for death and are ready to embrace what would come next. They do not go into death easily because "their words had forked no lightning" (Thomas 968). They only spoke and thought about things, they never did anything good with their actions. The good men are those of us who do good in our world. They do good things and provide good deeds. These men fight against death because there is so much more good to be done from them. Then, the wild men are those people who are crazy and do harmful things to themselves and others. These people don't go into their death very well because they have learned too late that they should have been doing good with their lives instead of wasting it away. Finally, the grave men are the serious people in the world. They fight against death because they know it is a serious thing and see what needs to happen and take it seriously.
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