Friday, February 29, 2008

The Snow Man
One must have a mind of winter 
To regard the frost and the boughs 
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
(Wallace Stevens) 

I am reading this poem while reading the assigned readings of "symbolism". I have read a few other poems in the Norton as well that all deal with heavy symbolism. The Norton book spoke about most poetry dealing with symbolism. As i read the initial stanza of the poem i begin to scan for alliteration and other virtues of poetry. The things started to come together when i thought of the imagery that the poem has within its text. I would say that the Stevens poem does indirectly deal with symbolism in the way that it describes the landscape. Using such words as bare, nothing and full, automatically give of the impression we are speaking about a somewhat desolate location. the symbolism is that of the peace offered by solitude. In solitude the reader can perhaps begin to notice the intangibles that are, there and the nothing that is.

Phenomenal Woman

Finally updating! Anyway, here's the poem I'm doing; I think we really need some more Maya Angelou on this page.



Phenomenal Woman (full text)



1. Angelou, Maya. "Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou." Poem Hunter.Com. 2008. 29 Feb. 2008 .



2. The poem is pretty self-explanatory. It's very 'I am woman- hear me roar!' The persona, which could be either Angelou or the every-woman, firts announced the fact she's "not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size," but throughout the rest of the poem the reader is left with a sense that she's young, gorgeous, and full of energy. The structure of the poem further emphasizes that point, because although it doesn't have a definate meter, the punctuation and sparatic rhyming really strongly suggest how the poem should be read--with grace and energy.



3. I ended up googling Maya Angelou because although it's been a couple of years since I've ready anything by her, I vaguely remember liking what I did read. Now, reapproching the poems with some basic literary knowledge, I absolutely adored this poem. I think a lot of it has to do with how strong her word choice and punctuation is, and how it adds to the poem's topic.



4. Now, with how much I love this poem, I feel the need to also confess my undying love for everything Plath. I did my first paper on Morning Song, which we read in class, and I think when you put the two poems next to eachother it makes them stand out even more. Both poems use punctuation to try to convey a mood; Plath's despaiir and cornacopia of periods, verses Angelou's strong meter and womanly pride. Content wise, Plath spends Morning Song commenting on how badly motherhood is draining here, while Angelou watches men fall at her feet. Both are uncommon thoughts among women, but the poets have really done a great job of making their themes these great, monumental things, and I think that's really important.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Foolproof Loofah by Lee Ann Brown
Norton page 217

"Lo! I fill prol pills
Poof! I rail pro lolls
Fool! I ill for lips
O Pale! I foil frail profs
Fop! I frill pale roils-
So! I proof oil spills

April Fool's!"

This poem is extremely interesting. There does not seem to be a consistent rhyme scheme, although there are definitely rhymes in it. As for the meter it seems to be in iambic pentameter but other than that this poem goes everywhere. This is the complete work and I am not sure what to make of it. I find it extremely interesting because it almost seems that by writing a poem that is this crazy and unusual the author wishes to play an April Fools day joke on all of her reader's, which would account for the spastic vocabulary, lack or rhyme scheme, and strange sentences.

Rebecca Z.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Wallace Stevens, "The Snow Man"

Here's the link to the Stevens' poem:

http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/stevens-snowman.html

Right ... since I've asked you to bring all the texts to class you need to print out a copy, which obviously kills my high-minded notion of saving paper. So goes so much environmentalism: admirable in purpose, but when you come right down to it not making much difference!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Apropos of Snow

Patrick's post below is delightfully apropos our snowday on Friday, and a reminder to beware the dangers of darkly off-the-cuff responses: they can raise tough questions.

As for Monday, we'll continue the work scheduled for Friday (originally slated for last Wednesday!). I've already scrapped the revised schedule I was going to give you Friday. Tomorrow I'll hand back the drafts and say a few words about them, we'll exchange the critical questions you wrote for last Wednesday, and we'll try to use aspects of rhythm and meter to answer them. If there's time we'll look at the reading. Quiz is now Wednesday.

A reminder: bring in your 15 bucks!

Friday, February 22, 2008

"Snow" by David Berman

1. Berman, David. "Snow," Actual Air. New York: Open City Books. 1999. 5.
This poem can be found here http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/039.html

2. This is a contemporary poem that I like very much. The meaning is pretty self evident. It's about two brothers walking in the snow. The older of the two is trying to answer his younger brother's questions about the origins of snow angels and gives a somewhat fantastical explanation. The poem also describes the outdoors during a snowstorm and seems to effectively capture the all around feel one experiences when they are young and have a snowday off from school.

3. What I like about this poem is how the speaker goes back and forth between his explanation of the untimely demise of the snow angels and his own descriptions on the effect snow has on nature. It's almost as if the speaker's own thoughts keep getting interrupted by his little brother's ever present curiosity. This poem also demonstrates what David Berman does best, which in my opinion is being able to present the idiosyncratic absurdity of every small moment in life.

4. In terms of form, "Snow" doesn't really remind me of anything we've read so far in class. It obviously doesn't really adhere to any of the rigorous poetic rules exemplified by the much older poetry we've read in class. Although they're about completely different things, "Snow" reminds me a little bit of "Morning" by Billy Collins. This is because both poems present unique points of view towards some of the more minute aspects of life.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Literary Event

If you're looking for a literary event to attend and write up, how about a poetry reading? Margaret Gibson will read Monday, Feb. 25th, at 4:00 p.m. in the Marcus White Living Room. She's written a whole shelf of volumes of verse, plus a memoir entitled "The Prodigal Daughter."

I can't think of a better way to spend a Monday afternoon in dreary February (except perhaps to teach my afternoon course on Milton, which is where I'll be). Bring a friend and enjoy.

Monday, February 18, 2008

John Donne "The Flea"

1.) Donne, John The Norton Introduction to Poetry. J. Paul Hunter, Alison Booth, and Kelly J. Mays. 9th edition. New York: Norton, 2007. 97-98.
You can find this poem at this website: http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/flea.php


2.) I feel that this poem is talking about a man spending time with his lover trying to get her to sleep with him. He may even be trying to seduce her into giving him her virginity. The speaker notices that a flea has bitten them both and feels that this brings them closer together. He feels that their blood is now mixed together, and that there should be no reason for them not to go further with their relationship. But, the girl kills the flea in an attempt to kill the speakers reasons for sleeping together. But, the man is clever and says that she lost nothing by killing the flea which mingled their blood, so therefore she would lose nothing by sleeping with him.


3.) I thought it was interesting that the speaker was so desperate to seduce this girl that he could see a flea as a symbol of their intimacy. I liked how he told her that because the flea has tasted both their blood, that it was as if they were now married. I thought that the whole poem was humorous. It was a good example of the stereotypical male trying desperately to win a woman over.


4.) This poem reminded me of "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell which we read a few classes back. The speaker was also trying to persuade a woman to sleep with him. He also sounded very desperate in his approach.
Marvell,Andrew The Norton Introduction to Poetry. J. Paul Hunter, Alison Booth, and Kelly J. Mays. 9th edition. New York: Norton, 2007.106.
First blog entry which is probably a problem at this point. Nevertheless I am glad that I have finally been able to add something. Last week we were asked to come up with a thesis statement and then a rough draft. I agree with melissa who said the a thesis statement is  so much easier to come up with as oppose to an actual draft. When I sat down to formulate a draft I was totally confused. My confusion was displayed organizationally in my opinion. It was hard to figure out what exactly goes where and how I wanted to structure things. The thesis was easier to manipulate once I had a workable thought. I used the simple, "if then that" concept. I am working on my writing, but if anyone has any ideas for better thesis or body structure. Please do not be afraid to comment.

Shakespeare Sonnet 130 Summary

1.) Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 can be found at the following link :http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/130.html.

2.) Sonnet 130 can be sumed up as a sonnet about the speaker admitting all his lover's flaws in the most honest way possible. Although he admits her flaws by the end of the poem the speaker realizes that his lover's flaws are rare and special and that he loves through the flaws. The poem's focus is on a "real girl" rather then glorifying a woman as a goddess that is perfect and utopian. Sonnet 130 is realistic rather than glorified which is not normal for a shakespearean sonnet which usually expresses love in a more "perfect and peachy" light.

3.) What drew me to the poem is that it starts out with an insult as the speaker expresses that "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;"(1) That first line enraged me and drew me in to keep on reading the rest of the sonnet. All the way up until the ryhming couplet at the end the poem's speaker insults his lover explaining everything that his lover is NOT. In the last two lines the speaker admits that those flaws are what make the love extrodinary as he explains, "...I think my love as rare."(13) and that quickly made the angry feminist in me calm down and realize the poem is actually sweet and honest to the core.

4.) The sonnet relates to other sonnets we have read in class in that it follows the Shakespearean sonnet form perfectly considering that the author is Shakespeare himself. An example of a poem that follows the same sonnet form is one of the poems by Shakespeare that we read in class, "Full many a glorious morning i have seen." Both poems summarize the speaker's point in the first three quatrains and then are concluded in the last two lines which are the rhyming couplet. Sonnet 130 also shows a great deal of consonance in that everyline ends with a hard consenent sound.

Kelly Gore Eng 298 12:00 class

Thesis to Draft

I agree that formulating a thesis statement was much easier than creating the first draft. I think part of the problems I had came from picking such a short poem. I got a lot out of it, but just nearly enough to fill 3 pages in my draft. Maybe I was missing something else the speaker was trying to say. It is Roo Borson's "After a Death". If anyone else has read it let me know what you think.

Mark Strand's "Keeping Things Whole"

1. Strand, Mark. "Keeping Things Whole." The Norton Introduction to Poetry. Ed. J. Paul Hunter, Allison Booth and Kelly J. Mayes. 9th ed. New York: Norton, 2007. 252.
http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poems/poem.html?id=177001

2. A strong sense of spatial awareness is established in the first lines of this lyric poem and carried throughout. In the first couple of stanzas, the speaker is at extreme odds with his or her environment. However, in the final stanza the speaker realizes that he or she is an integral part of the life cycle.

3. Having read multiple poems by Mark Strand, I was drawn to this poem. Like Mark Strand's other poems, "Keeping Things Whole" provides an ambiguous take on the general process and purpose of life and concordantly death. Simple in verse, it was easy to comprehend the surface of the work. However, it is Strand's close attention to the importance of image, line break, and tone that intrigued me to take a deeper look into the meaning.

4. Strand's "Keeping Things Whole" resembles Shakespeare's "[Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore]." While Shakespeare's poem adheres to a more formal sonnet form in comparision to Strand's free versed poem, they both visit the same theme, the role nature plays in the individual life. In Shakespeare's sonnet, nature serves to bring the speaker to the realization that "like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore" so he or she moves towards impending death. In contrast, Strand's nature serves to show the speaker that his or her actions bring life and "keeps things whole." In both cases, the speaker exists in contrast to his or her environment. Both speakers attempt to gain control over time and place, as explified in the metrical variations. Shakespeare takes a slight variation on the sonnet form stringing lines together by stressed lines, emphasizing the rising and falling of the speaker's accomplishments. This suggests that despite his or her efforts, nature is still prevailing. In Strand's poem, the speaker strings together the concrete ideas of field and air, negating his personal attachment for a more physical insertion. There is a sense of push and pull between the speaker and the environment created by the repetition of I and the repetition of place. In the end, however, Strand's speaker is able to become balanced with nature and coincide harmoniously.

Shakespeare, William. "[Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore]." The Norton Introduction to Poetry. Ed. J. Paul Hunter, Allison Booth and Kelly J. Mayes. 9th ed. New York: Norton, 2007. 215.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Going From Thesis To Draft

I have read of the difficulties that my fellow classmates have faced in creating the thesis statements. In my opinion, initially formulating the thesis statement was the easy part. It was much more difficult to take the original thesis and create a concrete topic sentence driven draft. It required some minor changes, but overall I think my ideas were successful. I was just wondering if anyone chose to write on Mark Strand's "Keeping Things Whole?" It would be interesting to know your take on the poem. If not, it is a great poem- simple in form, but full of intense meaning.

"Introduction" to a short literary text

1.)Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Raven." The Norton Introduction to Poetry. J. Paul Hunter, Alison Booth, and Kelly J. Mays. 9th edition. New York: Norton, 2007. 212-214. The poem can be viewed at the following website: http://www.heise.de/ix/raven/Literature/Lore/TheRaven.html

2.) I feel this poem is a reflection of the speakers feelings after losing a loved one. The poem is set in the dead of night, and the speaker is alone; many times, this is when one's mind tends to wander and start thinking quite a lot. The speaker then hears noises, only to find out that the noises are not caused by a person, but a raven. I feel the raven is used as a symbol to express the speakers feelings of guilt. The setting and constant agitation from the bird illuminate the aspect of the speakers feelings. This poem was written in 1844, and I feel the genre is a dramatic sonnet.

3.) I have always been a fan of foreboding and creepy poetry. I love the way an author is able to cause the sensation of the hairs standing up on the back of ones neck simply through the use of words. This poem is so descriptive that the reader can really invision the events as they unfold. I love how visual Poe has written. The subject matter is gripping as well. I feel that guilt is a very difficult emotion to express. The way Poe was able to give this emotion such truth and a sense of being alive is fascinating to me.

4.) This poem is comparable to "A Certian Lady" by Dorothy Parker. In both poems, the speaker is trying to conseal a part of their past, hiding it from the present. In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", the speaker is trying to hid emotion from themselves. "A Certian Lady" by Parker deals with trying to conseal the speakers past from the people currently involved in her life. Deceit is a common theme. These two poem resolve their issues in a very different way. The speaker in Poe's poem gives in to the emotion, not being able to handle it. Some might say it shows weakness. The emtions come out in the open for all to know. In Parkers poem, however, the speaker remains strong and has no trouble consealing her past. The speaker does not crack under pressure and keeps her past secretive. These poems both deal with past events and a guilt or remorseful type feeling, but both speakers handle the situation in a dufferent way.
*Parker, Dorothy. "A Certian Lady." The Norton Introduction to Poetry. J. Paul Hunter, Alison Booth, and Kelly J. Mays. 9th edition. New York: Norton, 2007. 76-77.*

Thursday, February 14, 2008

1. Pockie. ""The Burning of Literature" by~pockie." deviantART. 2005. 14 Feb 2008 .

2. The speaker of this poem is a girl who writes poetry and her grief when she discovers someone burning everything that she has written. I have no clue what genre it is, but it is a very depressing poem that was written about three years ago.

3. I do not really like this poem, but there is something about it that draws my attention. It is very depressing, but the emotional pain that the girl is going through interests me and makes me want to help her. In my opinion the description of her pain is very realistic.

4. This poem reminds me of Poetry by Marianne Moore in our Norton books. It makes me think that the speaker was the lover of poetry and that the person burning her work is someone who cannot understand poetry. I do not see anything similar in the structures of these two poems and there is nothing similar in the text of the poems either, so all that they really have in common is the idea that there is something to understand about poetry and that not everyone understands it.

Rebecca Zinsser- 12:00 class

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Reading Recommendation?

If you have some time on your hands over our weeklong period of reverence for our presidents, read a book! Need a recommendation? Take a look at our own "The Book I Wish I had Time to Read Page," where your classmates have been putting up a big range of great looking stuff. Makes me wish I didn't have two stacks of paper drafts to read!

http://leonidas.pbwiki.com/The-Book-I-Wish-I-Had-Time-to-Read-Page

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

"By Night When Others Soundly Slept"

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Bradstreet, Ann. “By Night When Others Soundly Slept.”
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/Bradstreet/bradstreet.html#dialogue

Ann Bradstreet (1612-1672) is one of America’s premiere Puritan writers.

Ann Bradstreet brings a warm, personal, and down to earth feel to faith in many of her works. In “By Night When Others Soundly Slept,” Bradstreet again reveals a refreshing approach to a healthy relationship with God. As with all her poems the structure is as well developed as the thought.

I was first introduced to Ann Bradstreet in 2007. Her works continue to inspire me with their clarity of thought and beautiful honesty.

Ann Bradstreet’s “By Night When Others Slept,” and Mark Strand’s “Black Sea,” are similar in their speaker’s desire for the comfort of another. In Strand’s poem the speaker is addressing a woman who might as well be on another planet. He wishes his loneliness would be alleviated by his love miraculously appearing on the horizon of the sea at night. Bradstreet however, is in search of a closeness that can be found regardless of location. In prayer Bradstreet is rid of her worry through faith.

Thesis Statement...

So far, I have had somewhat of a difficult time structuring my thesis paper. I plan on writing my paper on, Sharon Old's poem, Sex without Love. This poem caught my eye at first glance simply because of the title. After reading the poem several times, I have managed to develop a core thesis; however, I do not think my thesis is strong enough. If you were to read the poem and paraphrase it, one could say that Old's believes casual sex is misunderstood; hence the title of the poem. Old's does a spectacular job at using comparative similes to express sexual actions. I love the poem but I really feel like I have not gotten down to its true meaning...this may take some time. Any suggestions on developing a stronger thesis?

Monday, February 11, 2008

question about thesis

i have just realized that my first thesis is rediculous. i have read over the poem a couple of more times closely and can barely figure out how i came up with it in the first place, so i was questioning about altering my thesis to make more sense. also, there are 2 rough copies of the poem i selected in the book, i have chosen to write about the final one, but i was wondering if i could reference the other to for certian instances where the poet changed or altered lines, in order to support my thesis? the poem i picked was "ode on solitude" by alexander pope.

Thesis Statement

Since we were assigned our first thesis statement, I thumbed through our Norton book to find a poem to write about. I found a few that I liked, and was torn between two. Finally, I decided on one. The one that caught my attention but did not write about was "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" by Francis William Bourdillon. [The poem can be viewed here: http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1240.html].This poem was published in 1889. I believe the genre is somewhat of an ode. It is not long enough to be a sonnet, but it has a definate rhyme scheme. I feel this poem is about what happens to one when they have their love taken away. He makes a comparison by using night versus day; this makes it easier to make the connection.This poem really caught my attention mainly for the title. It fascinated me; what could one write about the night and the stars? I had to keep reading. Once I finished it, I was extreamly moved. I had never thought to make the connection between light and love the was Bourdillon did. I found the comparison quite beautiful.In Thom Gunn's "A Map of the City" he also uses the night to mirror his feelings, however, he does this in a much different was than Bourdillon. Gunn uses the night to symbolize the mysteriousness of his city and how unsure he feels about his city. Bourdillon uses the night to symbolize how love can disappear. Both pieces of literature use night as a symbol, but in two extreamly different way.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Irish Lit. Lecture

The West European Studies Committee will be sponsoring a lecture on Irish Literature and Culture this coming Thursday, February 14th, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm. The speaker is Dr. Bataillard, from Universite Lumiere-Lyon II, France, and the title of his lecture is: "'Tinker-ing' with Irish Tradition: Synge, Joyce, Beckett, & Co." This event will take place in Vance 105.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

deviantART. 2007. 7 Feb 2008 .

In this romance poem the speaker is in love with her best friend, and he is in love with another girl. The speaker does not understand why her best friend does not love her, however, not wanting to ruin his happiness, she keeps her pain to herself.

This poem intrigues me because the speaker is so desperately in love yet her best friend has no clue about how she feels and I do not understand how this happens. Is the speaker really in love or is just feeling lonely? At one point in the poem she says that she feels alone which made me wonder if she was just trying to make a romantic relationship out of a friendship.

This poem is similar to Shakespeare’s sonnet Time because in both selections the speaker talks about losing the one that they love. In the poem from deviantART the speaker realizes that she will never have a chance to be with her true love and she regrets this deeply. In Shakespeare’s Time the speaker has had an hour to spend with the one that he truly loved yet he misses his lover after they leave. In both pieces the speaker misses the person that they love even though they have been able to spend some time with them.

Rebecca Zinsser- 12:00 class

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Thesis Statements

Here's the kind of thing I'm looking for on Friday:

In his ode "To Autumn," John Keats offers images of overabundance, which lead to enervation, and stasis. For all its productivity, the speaker suggests, autumn points the way to death. In the final stanza, however, the speaker finds in autumn a particular music. Combining visual and auditory impressions, the poem demonstrates the energy and even life of things as they disappear from sight.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Wednesday's Quiz

A reminder: there's a quiz on Wednesday on the concept of the poetic speaker. What's on it? You'll be asked to define a couple of terms, so be sure you know all the terms that have been assigned so far. That includes not only "persona," "lyric," "author," "New Criticism," "ode," and "ambiguity," but also the terms defined inside the GLT entries, such as "tone" and "voice" inside the "persona" definition, for example.

Also, you'll be asked to read a short poem and discuss its speaker, so be sure to bring your books (though of course you're bringing your books EVERYDAY anyway).

Literary Event (11:00 Students)

Here's a link to this semester's lineup of the Central Authors Series. These are very short presentations by our faculty members about the books they have recently published. Usually, the profs. give a short narrative about what prompted them to write a particular book and what's in it. The audience has a chance to ask a few questions after.

http://tinyurl.com/2xv93u

These are great events--short, informal, informative--to find out more about what your faculty is up to, and of course they all count for your assignment "Literary Life at Central." Let me offer a particular plug for three by English faculty, Barrington on Chaucer (3/26), Dowling on slumming (4/16) and Cohen on Shakespeare (4/23).