Lovely Literature

Plot

You're Ugly Too has a plot but the story focuses more on the characters than it does on what is happening to them. In the movie of You're Ugly Too, I would add more of a story of Zoe's childhood and her past that makes her who she is in the short story. The earlier information would show why she is the way she is with men because it would show flashbacks to her dating life in highschool and college and it would show how she has grown up to be so quirky. There would also be flashbacks to her job like it says in the text. The students who she teaches do not understand her and if there was more emphasis on her classroom setting, it would affect the overall meaning of how Zoe is lonely and not always confident and she tries to hide that with her humor. Adding more detail from her past overall would give a better sense of who Zoe is and why she is the eccentric woman presented in the story.


Point of View

The point of view of You're Ugly Too is 3rd person limited to Zoe which is very effective for the story because it focuses on her quirks and eccentricities. In the movie, I would add many thought voice-overs so that it would delve more into the complexity of Zoe's mind. Any other general point of view would completely change the story. Actually, adding a dual point of view would also be effective when it comes to Earl and her relationship. If it went from Zoe's thought process to Earl's thought process, it would show how they are similar they are and how they are both looking for someone to fulfill their lives. Having the thought processes as voice overs would add to the theme of loneliness because her thoughts would emulate how she felt throughout her life. Zoe's point of view is the most important thought because it adds depth to the fact that while she is somewhat self conscious, for the most part she is not afraid to be herself and that is just how she is.


Characterization

The characterization in this story is based mostly around Zoe, her sister, and Earl. Adding more minor characters like ex-boyfriends and students would emphasize Zoe's eccentricities and how she is different in other people's eyes. Zoe is the most complex character portrayed so she does not need much added to her characterization. I would like for there to be more added to Evan's character and her background and why she is not quite like Zoe. Zoe is definitely different, and it would also be good to have their parents cast in the movie. Having the parents in the movie would show who was more paid attention to in the family (Zoe or Evan), and if their parents were the cause of Zoe's eccentricities. Earl would also require a bit more detail and personality as a character. The most important part for all of the characters in the movie would be the Halloween party because of the significance of the costumes.


Setting

The first main setting is in Illinois where Zoe teaches history at a small midwest college. The second setting is in New York when Zoe visits her sister Evan who is going to get married. I think there should be another setting at the very beginning showing her home life and how it was to grow up in Maryland. That would shape her thoughts on the midwest and how they are very ignorant of ethnic variety and cultural changes. The next main setting would be the one where she is visiting her sister. This should have a large emphasis because it shows how she interacts with Earl and with her sister in this new environment since "Illinois makes her sarcastic." The setting in Illinois with her teaching career could be in much smaller segments because it could be the flashbacks. While Illinois is important, it is better to have as a smaller setting because it would not show her growing as a character but more staying stagnant in the similarly stagnant Midwest atmosphere.


Theme

The theme of this story revolves around loneliness and finding someone to love you for who you are despite all of your eccentricities. Zoe is the epitome of eccentric and it could be said that it is difficult to love her because of her differences. It would be important to focus on the fact that while she does random little things, like pinning "Zoe's tree" on the tree outside her first house, she is still a self-conscious woman in many ways as are other women in society. This story could turn into a coming-of-age film in which a not-quite-forty-year old woman realizes who she is and why she is the way she is. Also another theme could go along with finding love and holding on to love because Zoe has had such a problem with finding love in her years and actually holding on to it since she lost her original love from high school. All of these aspects could be tied together to make a really entertaining movie, and it would definitely remind me of Juno or an Indie film of sorts!

It's not the typical sci-fi movie, and yet it involves a random baseball field in the middle of a farm, ghosts of the baseball players from the Black Sox scandal, and a bit of time travel. Field of Dreams is based on the short story "Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa" by W.P. Kinsella. The first major difference I noticed was the characters' names. In the short story the narrator or protagonist is not given a name. In the movie he is named as Ray Kinsella (notice: same last name as the author of the short story! What a coincidence :]). I assumed that the characters in the book all had the last name Ullin because the only full name that was given in the book was Glen Ullin, the narrator's father. In Field of Dreams though the father's name is John Kinsella.

Plot

• In the movie it takes much longer for Ray Kinsella to build the field than it seems to take in the story. While the story says it took him "Three seasons [for] seeding, watering, fussing, praying, coddling that field," (page 4), it seems as if he is buiding the field for half of the movie. The other half of the movie he is traveling to meet with some others that he believes is involved in his destiny.
• Ray Kinsella helps many people along his journey to figure out why he is building this baseball field. He helps Terrence Mann and Dr. Graham to fulfill each of their dreams. Mann gets to see his baseball heroes all play together again on this dreamlike-field and Graham gets to go back to his old self, play a little bit more baseball in the major leagues, and then realize that he really wasn't meant to play baseball. He was meant to be a doctor and save lives.
• "The Voice" speaks much more in the movie than in the story. "The Voice" tells Ray three key phrases that drive him to build this field and come to terms with his father: "If you build it he will come. Ease his pain. Go the distance."
• The Kinsella family all gets to meet Shoeless Joe Jackson in the movie rather than just the narrator in the story.
• The story only speaks of how Shoeless Joe plays on the field and not of when the rest of the Black Sox players play as well.

Point of View

• The point of view remains the same in both the movie and the short story. Ray Kinsella tells the story in the movie and the narrator tells the story in the short story. In the movie, however, the narrator is more omniscient and general because Ray Kinsella does not have a voice over in the entire movie.
• Annie has more personality and dialogue in the movie rather than the book. Her character adds more flavor to the point of view because she better embodies the crazy, loving girl her husband describes her as in the story. She affects his point of view on the baseball field because she does not condemn the idea and call it crazy.
• There is not as much detail in this point of view in the movie as there is in the story. The protagonist in the story provides so much detail about Shoeless Joe and baseball in general. Also, in Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella seems much less fond of his father than he does in the short story. The movie point of view is more focused on building the field than the detail of his father's relationship as it is in the story.

Characterization

Ray Kinsella

• "I'm 36 years old, I love my family, I love baseball, and I'm about to become a farmer. But until I heard the voice, I'd never done a crazy thing in my whole life." This quote from the movie embodies Ray's character in the movie and how he views his life. First, he loves his family, then he loves baseball, then he loves his farming. He is different in the movie because he does not seem to be as into farming or Iowa as he claims in the story.
• In Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella still has the same drive and determination that his character does in the short story, but he seems to resent his father more in the movie. In a way, he exalts his father in the book because he recounts many stories his father used to tell him. He also looks up his father's statistics and quickly accepts him back into his life when he figures out that he had been searching for his father the whole time.

Annie Kinsella

• Annie is given much more dialogue in the movie ethan in the story, but she is still portrayed as a young, free spirited wife who loves her husband very much. She loves him so much that she does not think he is insane or crazy for cutting their livelihood in half. She knows how much he sacrificed to have this farm with her, and she is willing to help him reach his dreams like he has helped her reach hers.
• "Hey, what if the voice calls while you're gone?"
  "Take a message."
  This quote from the movie, said by Annie and Ray respectively, emulates their relationship. They are not afraid to be sarcastic to one another, but they still respect each other. I really like their relationship because they seem to still love each other as they did when they first met. Their love has not fizzled out even in their difficult economic times or even just through the hardships of marriage and life. Annie is a playful character who shows her love through her humor.

Karin Kinsella

• While Karin doesn't have a huge part in either the book or film, she is more prominent in the film. In the book, Annie is the first person to see Shoeless Joe Jackson out on the field. In the movie, Karin says "Daddy, there is a man on your lawn."
• Karin is still the innocent child who experiences and embraces magic. At the end of the story, Mark (Ray's brother-in-law), knocks Karin off the bleachers and she causes him to be able to see the magic of the field. She is the character that has a somewhat minor role but she causes everyone else to believe because she is an innocent child who still believes.

Shoeless Joe Jackson

• In both the story and the movie, Shoeless Joe comments about how there are lights on the field.
  SJ: "What's with the lights?"
  RK: "Oh, all the stadiums have them now. Even Wrigley Field."
  SJ: Makes it harder to see the ball."
  
  He also says the same dialogue from the story in the movie about his passion and love for baseball. He felt as if he had a part of him "amputated" when he was no longer allowed to play baseball.
• Shoeless Joe is sort of the guardian angel figure in the movie. Ray Kinsella believes that he is looking for Shoeless Joe the whole time, but in reality he is looking for a better relationship and a sort of do-over with his father. At the end of the movie, Shoeless Joe says one more time "Build it and HE will come," and points to Ray's father John as a young baseball player. In the movie, Shoeless Joe brings him to his father again and helps to rekindle their relationship.

John Kinsella

• In the book he is named Glen Ullin and has been given many details. His son Ray seems to like him more in the book rather than the movie. John became burnt out after he didn't make it any farther in the minor/major leagues and he settled down and had a family. He just doesn't seem like he was happy with his life, and Ray is most afraid that he will end up like his father was.
• In the end, John has a deeper connection with his son when he is a ghost than the whole time he was alive.
  RK: "Hey...Dad? You wanna have a catch?"
  JK: "I'd like that."
  This simple conversation shows a significant resolution in the story. Ray realizes there was more to his father than just baseball and a crushed dream. He realizes how his dad may have been unhappy, but without him, he wouldn't have the drive or passion for his own life.

Mark

• Mark is a new character in the movie who has a small yet significant role. He is the doubting Thomas who cannot see why his brother-in-law Ray is building this baseball field. He wants to take control of the farm so that he can get it back on its feet since his brother-in-law had some kind of crazy fit and decided to turn it into a baseball field.
• He is very involved in his sister and brother-in-law's financial situation and pushes to take the farm into his own control. He thinks that Ray is crazy for cutting their livelihood in half for something that seems like such a liability.
• In the end, Mark knocks Karin off the bleachers which causes Dr. Graham to run over to help her. She is choking on a hot dog and he is able to save her life. From there, Dr. Graham cannot go back on the field as he previously was in his youth. He realizes though that his call was to be a doctor and definitely not baseball even though it is a great past time. Mark is finally able to see this amazing baseball game, which shows how even the most doubting of people are able to open their imagination to magic.

Setting

• The setting is still in rural Iowa on a family's farm. It is a small town that is very concerned with how much their children should be exposed to certain "evils" such as books that some of the PTA deem inappropriate.
• The baseball field that Ray Kinsella constructs is completely finished whereas in the story he only finishes the left field. He looks after the field for quite a long time and takes a long time to build it. In the story he was only concerned with making the left field look nice so that Shoeless Joe would be comfortable and happy playing there. In the movie he looks to finish the entire field which would take even more money.
• The movie is also set in places such as Boston, Fenway Park, and Minnesota as Kinsella journeys to figure out what "The Voice" is saying to him. In Boston he finds Terrence Mann and then he takes him to a baseball game at Fenway Park. In Minnesota he finds Dr. Graham and speaks to his ghost form. Then on their way back to Iowa, Mann and Kinsella pick up Archie Graham, Dr. Graham's youth that played baseball for less than a season.

Theme

• The themes from the story still carry over into the movie. Hardwork, passion, and love all are shown in the same ways in both the story and the movie. The more prominent theme in the movie though focuses on the relationship between parent and child.
• "The Voice" says three things in the movie:
  "Build it and he will come."
  "Ease his pain."
  "Go the distance."
  -All three are advice on mending a relationship with a parent and/or child. All along, Ray doesn't really know why he is building this field until he believes that it is so he can meet Shoeless Joe Jackson. He builds this field as a shrine to Jackson when in reality it turns out to be for his father. In order for him to see his father again, he must build the field. In the end, he comes.
  -Ray believes he must ease Terrence Mann's pain in order to see Shoeless Joe on his field. While he travels to see Terrrence, he ends up easing his pain and giving him the greatest joy of his life to see the infamous baseball players. In the end, he was supposed to ease his father's pain who was connected to this author in a way because the author happened to use John Kinsella as a name of a character in a book. Ray's father was in much pain because of his unfinished dream with baseball and his unhappiness in his life. Ray was able to ease his pain by playing catch with him at the end of the movie.
  -Ray literally goes the distance to find Dr. Graham and in the end his father. He travels across the country and constructs this baseball field in hopes to have "him" come to the field. He figures out in the end that he had to go the distance to reach his father because his father was at a distant place and he struggled with their relationship.
• These three statements by the voice say how a relationship can be mended. They can easily carry over into the real world where a person doesn't have to build a baseball field because they are hearing voices. In the real world, that would be considered insane. The details might be different from story to movie, but the moral or idea remains: relationships are not around forever, and most difficult are sometimes worth the extra effort. Build it and he will come. Ease his pain. Go the distance.

4. Why is the couple splitting up? Do we know? Does it matter? Explain your response.

It honestly isn't important whether or not we know why the couple is splitting up. It is not told why they are splitting up, but I got the impression that one or the other cheated on his or her spouse because the wife says "I'm so glad you're leaving...You can't even look me in the face can you?" This gives me the impression that he did something wrong (ie cheated) and is too guilty to even look at her. It honestly doesn't matter why they are splitting up but it matters that they are both very selfish in their split. They are both so concerned with their own pride and selfishness that they do not pay any attention to the baby's needs. I blame the mom for bringing the baby into the situation because it never said that the baby was crying or in need of care. It says that she saw a picture of the baby and then went to hold the baby as if rubbing it in her husband's face that she still has the baby and he has nothing since he is leaving. I believe that the husband wouldn't have started fighting for the baby if she had not brought the baby into the room. They are so selfish that they end up hurting the baby in some way, most likely killing the baby, because of the last line that says "In this manner, the issue was decided." It was decided who wouuld have the baby: neither. They allowed the baby to become something material instead of a human being they should be nurturing and caring for above themselves. These people are the not the kind of people you want to be having kids since they obviously can't take care of their own personal problems in a mature way.

1. What is the significance of Zoe's many eccentricities--for instance, her keeping all her pocketbook items in Baggies, and her unusual way of interacting with her students? Does her eccentricity make her more or less sympathetic as a character?

This story seems much more contemporary than other stories we have read. Zoe is an intriguingly complex character who has so many different layers that the reader cannot even uncover because she is somewhat mysterious. The significance of her eccentricities involves the fact that she is a free spirit but at the same time a sort of OCD neat freak. She seems bored with the normal practices of life, especially since she couldn't really be a rebel in the small town that she still lives in. I think she interacts with her students in such a different way because she wants them to enjoy her class and she also wants to show them how passionate she is about her teaching career because she likes to make things interesting. Her eccentricity makes her somewhat more sympathetic because people respond to those who are different from the norm. She is a relateable character because everyone has little quirks that differentiate them from others. In general, I think Zoe is just a person who is more willing to show her true self in a world where people are still very superficial.

1. What are the sources of humor in this story? Does the humor arise from observation of life or from distortion of life? What elements of the story seem to you funniest?

The sources of humor are somewhat dry but at the same time give off great mental images. Alcohol seems to be the father's downfall when in reality it is his pride that gets him. He is proud to have information others do not and he is proud to be especially good at something. The bad thing about is pride is that when he is particularly happy about something he decides to celebrate with alcohol. Then he is mad at himself for giving in to that temptation, so he drinks to "reprimand" himself in a way. Then he drinks to forget about his previous drinking. That part is pretty amusing as well. The humor arises from the observation of life because he observes how great he is then he is upset that he gave into such temptation. The funniest part of the story is when the young boy is walking home with his dad and there is a sort of role reversal. Larry is being loud and obnoxious to everyone on the way home and his father is being whiny and embarrassed like his son usually is. It seems that when the kid becomes the adult, the adult reverts to a childlike state. Then another part that is humorous is when the mom praises Larry for being drunk because he was her "brave little man" and he was his dad's "guardian angel" (page 352) because he prevented his father from getting drunk which allowed him to go to work the next day.

This story is very deceiving because the title makes it seem like it is going to be something happy or prosperous for someone, but it is just the opposite. The Lottery is an annual event that includes stoning a person chosen at random for good luck in growing crops. There are many foreshadowing events that happen early on in the story though before it is actually announced what the lottery is. The people are acting nervously with their smiles rather than laughter at jokes (page 364) which only happens when someone's mind is not in the conversation or the present. It is required that everyone must attend this lottery, which would not be the case with a lottery as I think of it, winning money. When the women are speaking about the lottery they say how it seems as if it was only last week, implying that they do no look forward to what is going to happen. Then when the reader finds out that someone dies in this process, the primitive nature of the community is revealed.

I think there is some sort of conspiracy with Mr. Summers because he is the person who is instigating the practice in that he wants a new box, meaning he wants to continue on with the barbaric tradition. He seems to have ulterior motives because he does not stay completely with the tradition that it used to be, but he changes it ever so slightly. Since Mrs. Hutchinson is late to the ceremony, It seems like there is some way that Mr. Summers chooses who is going to die. He is very unsentimental toward Mrs. Hutchinson and her family when she has been chosen. I also think that it is odd when she arrives that the narrator says "...and Mr. Summers, who had been waiting, said cheerfully, 'Thought we were going to have to get on without you, Tessie." (page 266). That really gave me the feeling that Summers knew she was going to die or someone in her family was going to die because there was no way the practice could have gone on without her. This barbaric practice of the community really freaks me out and I hope this doesn't actually happen around the world...

The first thing that came to my mind when I read this story was "Do You Believe in Magic" by the Lovin' Spoonful. I just couldn't get this song out of my head, and now it's back in. Thanks Shoeless Joe. :]



Plot

The story begins with the line "If you build it, he will come," (page 1) in the third paragraph which is the catalyst for the rest of the story. At a first glance or a first read, "He" is thought to be simply Shoeless Joe Jackson, who is the narrator's baseball hero. In the end, the audience realizes that the person who the narrator was actually building this baseball field for was his father. The narrator didn't have the best relationship with his father, but they definitely agreed on their love of baseball. The narrator grew up "...on the story of the Black Sox scandal, and instead of Tom Thumb or Rumpelstiltskin, [he] grew up hearing of the eight disgraced ballplayers..." (page 4). His father influenced him to fall in love with the game of baseball, even though he was not particularly the most coordinated baseball player. When the narrator hears the voice that tells him to build "it" [the baseball field" and he will come, the narrator also believes that this is in reference to Shoeless Joe. The narrator, with his supportive family behind him, does build this field because he and his wife see a kind of magic at work. The point of the plot is to illustrate the themes of love, passion, hardwork, and the relationship between a parent and child.



Point of View
This story is told in first person point of view by the narrator whose first name is not given. We can figure out his last name because he says his father's full name, Glen Ullin. This vantage point is very effective because the passion he feels for baseball and for building this baseball diamond shines through his strong, dedicated diction. He makes excuses, similar to his dad, about how there's no way that Shoeless Joe threw the World Series because "He hit .375 against the Reds in the 1919 World Series and played errorless ball," and there was just no way that would be possible if he were trying to lose (page 4). The point of view adds to the theme of the passion the narrator has for his family first and baseball second. He always makes sure it's okay with his wife before he does something and he pays just as much attention to her as to his baseball project.


Characterization

There are five main characters in this piece: Narrator (Ullin), Annie, Karin, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and the narrator's father (Glen Ullin).

Narrator

• He is hardworking, dedicated, and passionate.
• He is a family man and would do anything for his wife and daughter. The fact that his wife is behind him in whatever he decides shows their love and devotion to one another.
• When he loves something, he puts his everything into it. He "laid out a whole field, but itwas there in spirit only. It was really only left field that concerned [him]." (page 4).
• He is proof that one does not have to be a great athlete to love a sport. "[He] tried to play, but ground balls bounced off [his] chest and fly balls dropped between [his] hands." (page 5)

Annie

• Annie is the Narrator's wife who is decribed as "soft as a butterfly...with an evil grin and a tongue that travels at the speed of light," (page 6).
• She very much loves her husband and trusts him even if she doesn't necessarily believe what he is doing is completely sane. She not only accepts his dreams but she encourages them; "Oh love, if it makes you happy you should do it," (page 2).
• Annie follows her dreams, knows what she wants, and goes for it. When she was only ten years old, the narrator overheard her talking to her friends saying that she was going to marry him (page 2).
• She is a calm woman who doesn't freak out when something bad happens or doesn't go the way it is planned. "Staying calm makes her able to live with me," (page 7).

Karin

• Karin is a great love of the narrator's life. She is his young daughter who seems to accept and love the sense of magic that surrounds her dad. "The play goes on; her innocence has not disturbed the balance. What is it? she says shyly, her eyes indicating that she means all that she sees," (page 11).
• She is a very innocent girl who, as young children usually do, accepts magic that comes her way.
• She loves her parents very much and they are crazy for their daughter.

Shoeless Joe

• He is known for the stunt he pulled when he was in the minors and took off his uncomfortable shoes and "played the outfield in just his socks," (page 6).
• He is very passionate about baseball. He would have "played for food money. [He would] have played for free and worked for food," (page 9)
• There is an air of mystery about him because there is never a direct answer given about whether or not he actually was involved in throwing the World Series baseball game.

Narrator's Father

• He played in minor league baseball and never really hit it big even though he was a "better-than-average catcher." (page 5).
• The relationship between the father and narrator is not much more than baseball because that is what the narrator was raised on. The father was trying to bring back his glory days while the son fell in love with the sport.
• In the end of the story, in order for the narrator to see his father again, he had to build the field and "he will come," (page 1). In the end, his father would be playing in a dream game with the major league "Black Sox" players.

Setting
This story is set in rural Iowa with "massive old farm homes" (page 2),where "thirty thousand people go to see the University of Iowa Hawkeyes football team while thirty regulars...watch the baseball team perform." (page 3). Most people in Iowa at this time work or live on farms and tend to them. The narrator and his family have a passion for the land, even though the narrator isn't the most seasoned farmer. When he dug a garden for his wife, he claims he "[kept his] hands buried [as he] stirred the earth with [his] fingers and [he] knew [he] loved Iowa as much as a man could love a piece of earth," (page 9). This story is also set around the construction of a baseball field to draw the attention of famous baseball players who are no longer alive. This kind of magic ends up bringing the narrator to his father again and allows his father to play baseball with his heroes.

Theme

• All of these elements add up to the themes of love, passion, hardwork, and the relationship between parent and child. The narrator's love is demonstrated through all of his relationships-- with his wife and daughter, with his love of baseball, and with his farm.
• Passion is demonstrated when the narrator speaks about his wife and when he constructs his baseball field. He stands outside all night so that his grass doesn't freeze over as the water turns "the ice to eye-dazzling droplets, each a prism, making the field an orgy of rainbows," (page 5) and keeps his grass looking perfect. He has a passion to keep this field in tip-top shape in any way possible. He has a great passion for his wife in the loving way he speaks about her and how he calls her beautiful for loving him.
• The narrator is a very hard worker which is shown through his love for his farm and the love for his baseball field. He works for seasons to perfect his baseball field which he is not even sure if it will attract the attention of Shoeless Joe or his father. He realizes that hard work does pay off and he benefits from it by getting to witness this amazing magic.
• The narrator has good relationships with his wife Annie and his daughter Karin. Karin doesn't quite understand what is going on with her father's field, but she is comforted by him and the magic that surrounds them. His relationship with his father is predominantly focused on baseball, which is good and bad. This relationship gave him his love for baseball and allows him to meet Shoeless Joe and build this baseball field. They may not have really connected on a father son level though besides baseball. This field allows the narrator to perfect his relationship with his father by giving him the chance to play with all of these ex-major league players.

Miss Brill is a high maintenance woman who is enthralled in that her life is like a play. She believes all the people are merely actors on a stage of life. She is intriguing because she is somewhat self involved and she appreciate things such as her fur that apparently still has the head on it. There is not much physical description of Miss Brill because she is very involved in knowing what is going on with other people and their lives. She is very concerned with her luxuries but she does not continue on about them with the exception of her prized possession, her fur. Her first name is omitted because it is not something that the town she lives in worries about. The people in her town think she is old, nosy, and odd because of her listening to other people's conversations and her affinity for her fur. They also take her for granted, especially the young people who were making fun of her at the end of the story. There is little to no dialogue between her and an actual person. It is more like a stream of consciousness that continues through the story until the end where she goes home and puts her fur away, hearing it "cry."

Question 2: What stylistic devices create the atmosphere of children's stories? How is this atmosphere related to the story's theme?

Stylistic devices used to make this story sound like a children's story include many phrases that are common in fairy tales or children's books. The title "Once Upon A Time" starts out many fairy tales and children's stories. This story is a pun on that title because it is more like a scary story than it is a happy go lucky child's story. Happily ever after is also an often repeated phrase. It's almost like this story is the story after the man and his wife meet each other and have a child and live "happily ever after"...but this happily ever after isn't exactly as everyone likes to believe. We are all trained to believe that happily ever after means just that, but in some people's cases it goes terribly awry. The story is told without direct dialogue or quotes to show the dialogue. Instead, it is told as if a narrator is omniscient and speaking for all of the characters, like a typical fairy tale or children's story. This atmosphere relates to the sardonic theme of fairy tales and children's stories that the writer is saying she is terrible at writing.

The first thing I thought of when I read this story was this woman is a charity case. Phoenix, just by her name and her independent nature seems to be quite a free spirit. Throughout 75% of this story she is walking through the woods, talking to herself, on the way to town. The walk to town is apparently crazy long because the hunter she meets along the way tells her how she needs to turn back and go home. She also is a mooch because she takes the money from the hunter that he drops and she is somewhat proud of herself for that. Then her shoe is untied, so she has a lady tie it for her when she gets closer to the city. Finally, she receives money from the people at the doctor's office because it's Christmas time and she needs to get something for her grandson. I don't think she actually has a grandson. I think her dillusional sense makes her think she has a grandson so she "gets money" for him and "gets drugs" for his ailment. Phoenix is the grandmother who lives home all by herself and talks to hallucinations. Weird, weird story, but very difficult to dig deeper into.

Question 3: "It was hard word--a hard life--but now that she was about to leave it she did not find it a wholly undesirable life." What about it makes it attractive to her?

The cliche that we don't know what we have until it's gone comes into play with this question. Eveline Hill, at the start of the story, is sitting at her window thinking of "better days" in her childhood that may not have actually been much better than her current situation besides the fact that she didn't have to hold down so many jobs to support her family. Her father is an abusive figure in her life that she now has to take care of because her mother is gone and she feels the obligation to stay with him. She is the homemaker, a shop worker, and a nanny in order to provide for her abusive father and herself. She hates her life, but at the same time she feels as if if she changes it then she will hate it even more.

Eveline's major conflict in the story is whether or not to leave her father to marry a sailor named Frank whom her father says she shouldn't marry because sailors are flighty. She is afraid of the unknown with Frank, and that ends up holding her back at the end of the story when she has the chance to leave her old life behind. Even though her father is crazy and abusive, she has a connection with him because she is still his daughter and will always love him. It seems so much more attractive to stay with the comfortable and the known parts of her life rather than enter into the unknown. She's a very relateable character because she has dilemmas that humans battle constantly.

I'm just as compelled with Bartleby as the lawyer is!! By the way, it really bothers me when they don't give us the name of the narrator when it is in first person. That's TWO stories in this section! Oh well...

Bartleby had a huge impact on the lawyer because he chose to tell the story about him and not about all the other scriveners he has employed in the past. The other three employees were important to show foil characterization and comic relief, but Bartleby was THE story. Heck, it was even named after him! The lawyer says he is not used to people ignoring his instruction or denying his instruction. This intrigues him when Bartleby uses his passive aggresive attitude and skirts his way around saying he doesn't actually want to do anymore work than is required of him. The lawyer is so impacted by him that he moves his own office rather than ban Bartleby or call the police on him. It would have been easy for him to call the police on him, but he was much too interested in Bartleby to let him go away. Even in prison he was connected with him and wanted to know more about him even though Bartleby just ignored him. Bartleby has a past that he will not speak of and that is what keeps the lawyer and the reader so intrigued.

I think there must be more to Bartleby than meets the eye. He is a peculiar character and he is static throughout the entire story. His behavior is motivated by the fact that he was fired from his previous job at the Dead Letter Office. Apparently something huge must have happened that put the thought into his head that he was to copy down and copy down only because he never "preferred" to do anything else. He must have been either coddled at his old job or the other extreme, terribly put down so that he was not confident in what he could do. Then again, he could just simply be lazy and literal, like those Amelia Bedelia books I used to read when I was younger.

I believe the information about the Dead Letter Office is withheld until the end so that the reader can identify whatever they believe with Bartleby. It would kill the story and give the reader a preconceived notion about Bartleby if he added that fact in earlier in the story. This background though is not near enough to describe Bartleby. He had to have gone through some kind of traumatic time to make him so passive aggressive and complacent. It's weird how a character can be so interesting and compelling even though he does not change throughout the entire story and he seems to be very flat.

The purpose of the scene in which Frank and Tub stop at a tavern for food and coffee shows how unsympathetic they are to their "friend" who is dying because Tub just shot him. Kenny is a hard character to figure out because he randomly shoots this dog and then points his gun to Tub, which in turn freaks Tub out so he shoots Kenny before he himself gets shot. Pretty valid thought to me, but at the same time it was a pretty rash decision.

The friendship these three share is very superficial yet realistic. The two guys who are better friends pick on the third one because he is fat and they don't like him as much. They even keep secrets that they don't share with the third one, such as Frank's relationship with the young babysitter that he does not inform Tub of until after Kenny was shot. It is important for Tub and Frank to have the heart to heart they share in the tavern because it is their catharsis in which they express their problems that have been hindering them. On the other hand, they could have gotten Kenny to the hospital first and had their heart to heart just as easily in the waiting room while Kenny received medical care.

This scene shows that Tub and Frank care more about themselves and their problems than their best friend dying. I'm pretty sure I would be freaking out and rushing to the hospital as fast as my car could drive to get my dying friend the medical help he or she needed. I think this scene shows how fragile their relationship was as friends. They were very willing to make fun of one another and ignore one another's feelings to the point of taking a wrong turn and letting someone die. I sure am glad they're not my friends...

I just love sleep deprived weeks :] My sincerest thanks to you, Theater.

"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker is a short story that takes a look at African American heritage and the changes that go along with it. The four major characters are the mother,the narrator speaking in first person, her daughter Dee, the rebellious child always causing problems or complaing, Maggie, the slower child who was the main burn victim in a tragic fire, and Hakim, Dee's crazy husband who has converted her to different beliefs.

Taking a look at their past, the mother speaks about Maggie being "ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs" and of the tragic fire that destroyed their original home. Maggie is the "not very bright" daughter who does not speak much and seems to have a mental handicap. She foils her older sister Dee who is outgoing, wild, confident, and demanding of what she wants. Dee's character is always moving with the times, whether it is with fashion changes or with popular religion changes. She becomes very involved in her "new love of her heritage" and renounces her original name to become Wangero with some other nonsense attached to the name. Her new husband is right on board with this culture crazy fad as well.

Dee also foils her mother who is very reserved and does not speak out against her daughter. Dee seems to have been the child that would sort of be the death of her mother. The mother never disciplines her daughter nor does she praise her. More or less, she sits back and lets Dee take her course of action, despite how crazy it is. The mother is not a character who does not know how to get things done. There is no mention of a husband which implies that she had to raise her daughters mostly by herself. She has that capability though because of her independent nature and her "big-boned [structure and] rough man-working hands." The characters of Dee, the mother, and Maggie are contrasting so they better bring out the true nature of one another.

Chris Watters is a symbol for all the boys in the world that every girl wishes she could have but knows she couldn't. He is that bad boy who would never tie himself down to one relationship. He seems to have a girl in every state who is might be engaged to, and they are all chasing him across America. Not only that, but he's a tortured soul because he had to go through the war and trauma that ordinary people may not have had to go through. Edie of course falls in love with him, but her love is more puppy love than true love. She is more infatuated with him than anything else. He is the first boy who ever spoke to her like she was a woman, even though that was just after he saw her dressed up and in makeup. If Edie would have met him while he was flying his plane by where she worked and she wasn't all dressed up, he would not have given her a second look. The fact that he didn't mention that he was engaged was also very fishy because what guy who wants to be engaged doesn't shout it to the world? He is the kind of guy that Edie was able to look back and wonder what her life would have been like if they ended up together, but she knows that the safe, secure bet was to marry her husband, the Carmichael.

This story is told so that it is centered around Watters instead of Carmichael. Watters is the man who made her meet Carmichael because she waited for his letters for so long. I was very happy that Edie was able to admit to herself at some point that Watters was never going to write to her. Many girls spend their lives pining for their lost "love." Edie, on the other hand, found the good in her bad situation with Watters through her husband Carmichael.

Creepy. Creepy. Creepy.

First of all, I wonder where authors get ideas like these to write stories about old women who sleep with corpses. Nonetheless...that freaks me out. Second of all, I do not enjoy stories or movies that contain my name. Especially two-thirds of my name, such as this one and the Exorcism of Emily Rose. Thanks a lot William Faulkner.

Miss Emily is a very peculiar character. She goes in and out of society basically doing whatever she wants. Her father must be of some importance in the town because she is not required to pay taxes because of him. She will go for months shut up in her house with just the servant Tobe, and then all the sudden she decides to give china painting lessons. Miss Emily seems to have some sort of mental handicap that leads her into seclusion away from common societial practices.

Then comes Homer Barron who "wasn't a marrying man because he liked to drink with boys." I didn't actually catch that for a while, but I found it to be incredibly interesting. Miss Emily fell in love with him in some crazy way of hers and kept him in seclusion in her house. When she went to the druggist, she acquired arsenic. This and the fact that there was a rotten smell from her house for weeks leads the reader to believe she poisoned Homer and she has a thing for dead people [she kept her father in her house after he passed for quite a while too]. My guess is that Homer told Emily he would not marry her, so in her derranged way, she killed him so that he would be with her forever, in the physical sense at least. All I hope is that she literally only slept with him and not much more...

This story, while longer than the others, definitely caught my attention possibly the most. The storyline was very interesting because it speaks of how at least two of the characters are unhappy with their lives but not unhappy enough to change them. Yet again, the theme of settling persists.

"Interpreter of Maladies" speaks of the commonness of the broken family throughout cultures. This seems to be a part of the central conflict in which Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Das are upset with their lives and they both live through a short fantasy until they snap back into reality. It seems to be fate playing games with the two, bringing them together to meet and realize that they are not exactly happy with their lives. Mrs. Das, 28, has been married for years with the exact same husband as she dated in highschool and college. She had children at a very young age, one not even by her husband, and she never had the chance to travel or even live her life. The same thing happened for Mr. Das, but since he is a more minor character, we are unaware of how he exactly feels about his relationship and his family outside of the fact that he is aloof and unaware of what is going on.

Mr. Kapasi on the other hand is very happy with learning new langauges. He is not as happy with his job though because he does not feel it has the meaning that he wants to have in his life. He has also been with his wife for quite some time and he is not happy with his marriage. When Mrs. Das comes along, he sees how unhappy he actually is, and she gives more meaning to his job than what he believes. She gives him a sort of false hope though because she leads him on until she sees that her son is in harm and then snaps back into reality. The significance of Mr. Kapasi's address flying away is that she never really had the intention of carrying anything on with him even though they both had the fleeting thought of "What if my life was different..."

Along with the other two stories in this unit, I believe this short story has a lot to do with settling. The main theme seems to go along the lines of a person settling for something they eventually love whether or not it is the best thing for them. The plot of the story is about a worker girl at a "farm" who is there to help the family along and be a nanny to the two children. The irony about the farm is that the meaning has changed from a working place to a place that is there merely for the name. The family does not own animals or grow crops in any way, so the farm is not a working farm. Mr. and Mrs. Peebles do not even cook food well enough to Edie's disappointment because they are very concerned with being thin. This marks the cultural shift in which Americans began to look for the glamourous, easy route in life rather than the hard working way. Edie, on the other hand, is from a true working farm family who does not know riches like the people she is working for.

The minor characters, such as Mrs. Peebles and Loretta Bird, help to advance the story along by adding tone and personality to the story. Mrs. Peebles shows how fickle society was becoming during this time period because when she found out that Edie had kissed Chris Watters, she was very cold toward her and would not speak of the "mistake." She seems to not be a very caring woman because she does not show much compassion toward her children as most mothers should, and she treats Edie less than she should be treated after a simple misjudgement. Loretta Bird is a comic relief character who comes off to be the town gossip. She seems to want everyone to wallow in her "pain and suffering" that she goes through with her seven children even though she is not even close to hardworking like Edie knows.

The repetition of the names in Edward and the beginning of consecutive lines give the poem a more of a story-like feel to it. Edward seems to be selfish because he speaks of how he has "killed" a hawk and a red-roan steed when he really killed his father. The selfish part comes in when he says he will leave his home and run away. The mother knows that he killed his father and she knew it was going to happen because she asks so many questions as if they were getting their story straight. I am not sure when this poem was written, but I am under the impression that Edward is of high authority, a prince maybe, and he is leaving his kingdom and his people behind. He is also very selfish because he says he will leave his wife and children to beg and starve. At the same time, the poem is very ambiguous because the only time the speaker comes out and actually says what Edward did was when he says he killed his father. There is no reasoning as to why he killed his father or even why he was lying before he said he killed his father. I know that the mother was in on the situation, but I don't understand why he leaves his mother the "curse of hell" then besides the fact that since she knew about it she is cursed. Edward seems like a spoiled brat rich prince who grew up to hate his father and try to overthrow him.

I knew this poem was familiar to me for a reason. Apparently it's the go-to poem for an a example of a villanelle.
This poem sounds as if the speaker is advocating fighting death by "not going gentle into that good night," with the night representing death. There is a lot of diction in this poem that represents rebelling or "raging" against death. Do not let death win--do not let death get the best of you! What an odd concept. I wonder if the speaker realizes that it is impossible for us to stop the process of death.
Then again, it is possible for us to live our lives to the fullest. I see this poem as saying seize the day because it will not always be here for us to seize. There is a lot of regret in this poem by people who did not live their lives to the fullest.
"Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
The "rage, rage.." lines are symbolic for not allowing the darkness to envelop us before we are ready. We cannot control when we die, but we can control what happens to us in the light before we do go into the eternal darkness. Carpe Diem.

This poem is rather intriguing to me. Why would someone write an elegy for someone who is not actually dead...? Unless that death would be metaphorical in that the person has shut them out of their life, but the speaker has not shut out his father in his life. His father seems to have the mentality that he is ready to go when he is ready to go, but the speaker is not ready to think about death. Even though he is not ready to go, the speaker is speaking about his father as if he is dead...kind of seems like a juxtaposition to me there.

"I think he wants to go,
a little bit-- an new desire
to travel building up, an itch"

Death is not presented in a bad way in this poem. Instead, it is the end of an old journey and the beginning of a new journey. The speaker is not ready to end the current journey he is on and he wants to experience more while his father is over his current journey and is ready to move on to another place. The speaker feels as if his father is so ready for this new journey that it is almost like he is dead. He is not living to live anymore but living to die. Then again...aren't we all living to die?

If you're interested for your musical entertainment, these songs Classifieds by The Academy Is... and Single White Female by Chely Wright immediately came to my mind while I was reading this poem.

This poem doesn't really seem to have much depth. It obviously comes from the personals and/or dating ads in the newspaper. Personally, I think the personals section always sounds somewhat desperate. I guess I just don't understand why people advertise to try and find someone to date...? Maybe since I've never been presented with the situation. Which I'm hoping it never has to come down to that...

The first line of the poem is repeated in the second, fourth, and final stanza at the end "Can someone make my simple wish come true?" and the final line of the first stanza "Do you live in North London? Is it you?" is repeated at the end of the third, fifth, and final stanzas, suggesting that the settting is in North London. The villanelle is appropriate for this subject because the set up is similar to what the classified/personal ads seem to look like. I don't understand the whole gay vegetarian and bisexual woman bit though. Maybe I am having an analysis road block...but I don't see much in this poem.

The first time I read this poem I instantly thought of Jesus' birth and Christmas time for the obvious reasons that it mentions Christmas Eve quite often. When it speaks of the oxen kneeling, that brings to mind the manger scene with all of the sheperds and animals that surrounded Jesus on his birthday. The tone of this poem seems somewhat forlorn and gloomy even though Christmas is usually a happy and exciting time.

When the speaker refers to what "our childhood used to know," it makes me think that maybe he was there during Jesus' birth and he is remembering what it was like on that Christmas Eve. Then again, it wouldn't be called Christmas Eve yet because it would have been the first time Jesus had ever walked the earth.

This version of hope at the end of the poem is not exactly a looking forward hope. Instead, he seems to be reluctant to what might come next. "I should go with him in the gloom" sounds like he has to go and not that he necessarily wants to go. This seems more like a burden than anything else for the speaker.

This poem has some awesome imagery in it and it's very easy to make a mental movie in your head while reading it. Plus, the fact that it is a more recent poem [at least after 1947] makes it more relatable at times too. The woman in this poem is somewhat pining but more reminiscing on the old days with her ex-husband. They were "...waking like inmates/who beat the walls. Every night," that they were together the last year before their divorce. They sound like the kind of couple that gets on each others' nerves so often but it's worse when they are apart. "Bad when we're together, worse when we're apart" type situation that I'm seeing here. The fact that they still keep in touch means there are feelings of some sort that still linger. I know that if I ever got a divorce, I feel as if I would keep my distance as much as possible unless there were still lingering feelings.

The "unshredded pictures" that are spoken of give off the image that once they divorced the woman went kind of crazy and threw her ex's stuff away and damaged it. Typical girl response...not gonna lie...burning all the pictures and giving everything away. Hey, sometimes you just have to do away with the painful things. BUT she still kept some of the pictures unharmed. I don't think it's healthy to completely forget things that happen in your life, especially the bad because they tend to make you a better person and you learn more lessons from them. This is another of my favorite poems this quarter.

This poem freaks me out but it might be my favorite poem that we've read all semester so far. The speaker seems to have had a breakup with his lover and he is still pining for her. She has found another man and portrays herself as perfectly happy with him rather than her ex. The tone of this poem is rather bitter with many hints of vengeance in it.

The speaker is still alive, but he speaks as if he were dead. He says that one night when his ex believes that she has nothing to worry about because she is safe with her new man, he is going to come into her room in his ghostly form and haunt her. Her man of course won't do anything because he is asleep and thinks she is being crazy. The ghost man just wants her to feel pain. While this probably isn't the nicest or most mature way to end a relationship...many people tend to feel like this after being rejected for at least a little while. I feel like he is just threatening her the whole time saying that he will haunt her forever once she thinks she is rid of him. She must have done a number on this guy.

My favorite lines are "And then, poor aspen wretch, neglected, thou,//Bathed in a cold quicksilver sweat, wilt lie/A verier ghost than I." This reminds me of when you wake up after a really bad dream and you're freezing but you have this crazy cold sweat going on that you can't control. Whew he sounds like some kind of nightmare. I'm glad he's not my ex...

Okay, personally, I love Shakespeare. I think he has a great relationship with words :]

The central purpose of this poem centers around the speaker telling his lover what he thinks of her and Shakespeare is satirizing other poets' works. Most love poems compare "her hair to the golden sun" and "her skin as white as snow," but this poem says...yeah...you're not really all of that because you're a real person. There isn't a mortal woman alive who is absolutely perfect physically or mentally. I like that the speaker is able to tell his lover that he likes her just the way she is and he likes her imperfections. I don't think I would want to hear that I am perfect...it's sweet and all, but perfect is a lot to live up to.

Shakespeare is kind of playing his own satirical game in this poem because instead of the normal cliches that poets use to speak about their loves, his speaker seems to be dissing on his woman. First read through I thought he was just putting her down the whole time, but the upon reading it again, it's easy to see that he is simply being realistic. He loves her just the way she is from the inside out. Like we said in class today...it's a wonderful reverse backhanded compliment...or a forehanded compliment--depends on how you look at it. :]

Another crazy Emily Dickinson poem. Seriously...you'd think we had read half of her anthology by now! :]

I like her though. I know I've said something similar to this in my earlier blogs, but her craziness is intriguing. At the same time, she drives me insane when I can't figure out what she is talking about. I'm just going to post the entire poem on here because it's not terribly long.

"Much madness is divinest sense
To such a discerning eye;
Much sense the starkest madness
'T is the majority
In this, as all, prevails.
Assent-- and you are sane.
Demur-- you're straightaway dangerous,
And handled with a Chain. "

Everything she writes has so much meaning but it really takes a lot of concentration to delve into it. The central theme in this poem is conformity is sane which is actually mad, so madness constitutes true sanity. Yeah, that doesn't exactly make sense when I read that back to myself, but after I keep reading it I can make sense of it. Talk about the ultimate paradox! This poem basically turns the meaning of the words sane and madness around from what we have always known. According to Dickinson, madness is best because nonconformity and madness go hand in hand. Dickinson was obviously a nonconformist and she seems to believe that conforming is completely insane, so the majority is wrong. I like her individualism and how she believes in the power to the minority. Maybe some poeple see her as crazy and depressed or something, but she gives us a great stance on thinking about life.

While I was reading this poem, I was thinking about how poems are awesome because they can compare the craziest thing to something completely unrelated and yet it just works.

Laundry compared to love. Not exactly the expected comparison! I really like the comparison though because it's unusual and because when it is put in the terms that Ritchie put it in, love sounds comfortable and nice.

The speaker speaks about her love as if she has lost him or as if he has gone away. It's hard to tell if he is permanently gone, but he is on some sort of journey or is not with her at the present time. She mentions Kuwait, so maybe he is a soldier and fighting in far away countries. She speaks about how simple their love is by mentioning small things like "pocket surprises" such as "forgotten matches/lost screws clinking the drain." I imagine a woman doing her laundry and finding her lover's clothes mixed in with hers bringing back memories of them together and putting her into a day dreamy mood.

"All those wrinkles
To be smoothed, or else
ignored; they're in style."

This is my favorite stanza. It brings to mind the thought that even though the couple has had a few wrinkles in the past, they accept them and continue on because their love is so strong. I like that she is ignoring the wrinkles by saying they are in style, so they ignore their differences because they are in love.

It's a great love poem...possibly one of the best that I have read because it is simple and easy for most people to read since it includes a common practice like laundry.

There are very few topics that I enjoy discussing more in history than wars, and Vietnam is one that I truly appreciate. I realize I wasn't alive during this time, but sometimes I kind of wish that I could have experienced the emotions that America experienced during this war.

This entire poem is chock full of IRONY...which come on, who doesn't love a good ironic poem and/or story?

The soldier who is in the "far country" is writing letters to his parents, namely his mother, and telling them random tidbits of information like how it rains often and how beautiful the sunsets are. The mother, being as all mothers are, senses that there is something more to his superficial answers than what he is letting on. She claims to want to know the truth and for her son to not "hold back." Finally, in the 7th stanza, he does not hold back and says:

So the next time he worte, the young man said,
"Today I killed a man. Yesterday, I helped drop napalm
on women and children."

Talk about hitting his parents with some truth! When he sends this letter, his DAD writes back and tells him not to say such horrible things because it upset his mother. Well, mother of son fighting for his country, do not ask questions you do not want to know the answers to!

The poem is ironic because the whole time he is shielding his family from what he is actually experiencing even though they claim to want to know what is actually going on. When he finally opens up and tells them the horrors he is experiencing, they are afraid and scold him! People really should not ask questions unless they are prepared to know the answers, no matter how gruesome or macabre.

This definitely represents America well during the time period. Americans did not know what the war was about...heck...soldiers didn't even know what the war was about!! They were merely doing their duties. The irony helps to emphasize how America was so oblivious to what was going on, and yet when they asked questions, they were upset to find out the answers.

This poem kind of hits home for me and probably every other girl who has felt pressure to conform to what society dictates. This girl in the poem is described as "usual" in the first line of the first stanza. The first stanza shows how naive and innocent the girl was as a young child until she went to school and met her other girl classmates. Honestly, I think girls are much more vicious than boys are, so this made perfect sense to me that the girl in the poem was innocent and happy with how she looked until she went to school and people told her of her imperfections.

This is definitely a shot at society.

"She went to and fro apologizing
Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs."

Isn't it ridiculous the emphasis that society puts on being "perfect?" I mean, WHAT IS PERFECTION and who gets the right to decide that? Girls seem to have such a terrible time with the pressure of perfection in nearly every aspect, but especially outside appearance. It becomes quite ironic as the poem goes on because the last stanza states:

"Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.
Consummation at last.
To every woman a happy ending"

Personally, I don't think death necessarily equals a happy ending. It's ironic that she finally got her wish while literally laying on her deathbed: to be pretty and to have people notice her. It is difficult for me to tell though whether or not she killed herself or if she had some sort of plastic surgery that went wrong. Either way...I think this is a desparate cry to a society that values appearance rather than intelligence and inner beauty.

I have read a few of Keats' poems before and I'd have to say I'm a fan of his writing. He uses a lot of vivid imagery that must be read a couple times to understand it but it's not as confusing as Emily Dickenson.

"Bright Star" is a symbol. He is speaking directly to the star in apostrophe, but he is actually speaking about something/one else. He is speaking to the star about his love and how he wants his love to be like the star in its unchanging manner. The star can stay forever in its place [in his mind at least] and see everything. The speaker would like to lay with his love forever [No--yet still steadfast, still unchangeable/Pillowed upon my fair love's ripening breast] and never change or lose what he has with her. He claims that laying with her forever would be the best way to spend the reset of his life, and he would even "swoon to death," which doesn't sound like an awful death. The bright star is a symbol for everything he wants to be, except for the fact that the star hangs in the sky by itself. He never wants to be alone and he always wants to be with his lover.

He compares himself to the star in a way by saying all the things that stars can see. If he himself could see all of these beauties [snow upon the mountains and the moors...etc], they would not compare to his love. Keats sounds like quite the romantic poet in this poem. It always makes me wonder what poets and writers think when they write such poems. Is it about their experiences? I'd like to think so in this instance.

My fellow Emily has got to be the coolest yet oddest [is that a word..?] poet from whom I have ever read material.

She just does what she wants. I kind of admire that about her even though I think she was kind of psycho. I know we aren't supposed to focus on the way she writes, but her capitalization truly drives me insane. She capitalizes all of the nouns in the body of her poem and then decides to not capitalize the important words in the title. Talk about author's preferences.

Honestly...I don't understand this poem too well. I understand that she is using liquor as a metaphor or a symbol for something else...but it's difficult to decipher. She uses words such as brewed, Tankards, Vats, Alcohol, and Debauchee that are reminiscent of alcohol, but I'm still not positive what they are in reference to.

In group discussion I formed the idea that maybe this is about the rain. The clouds are "leaning against the sun" and they take in the unbrewed liquor [a.k.a. water] for a new rainfall that quenches the thirst of the Foxgloves and plants.

This poem really got me thinking...and then confused me :/

'Toads" is an extended metaphor that continues through the poem comparing a toad to something that is responsible for controlling the speaker's and other peoples lives. This poem uses many alliterations [Lots of folks live on their wits/lecturers, lispers/losels, loblolly men, louts] and has incredible diction. The diction along with repetition helps the speaker get his point across. He is not just going to sit down and allow the "toad," or "the man," run his life. At the same time, the speaker seems almost envious of the toads because they do not have to worry about making money.

"Their nippers have got bare feet
Their unspeakable wives
Are skinny as whippets--and yet
No one actually starves,"

This stanza makes me think that the speaker wishes he could have a wife "skinny as a whippet" just because she watches what she eats, not because she is starving. He wants to live a lush life and not stick to what the man says. He wants to be "The Man."

The final stanza makes this point yet again.

"I don't say, one bodies the other
One's spiritual truth;
But I do say it's hard to lose either,
When you have both."

The speaker is referring to the "fame and the girl and the money." He seems to think that once you have one, it's difficult to lose the other. He definitely seems to think he is stuck in his life and not moving along. His diction shows his passion and somewhat angry feelings for those who are of higher authority and salary than he.

"Pink Dog" by Elizabeth Bishop seems very political and ironic. This tells a story of a "shaved dog," which represents an individual in society who tried living his or her life by the standards of society and then decided to break away from that norm. The speaker is speaking to the dog in apostrophe and trying to "persuade" the dog in a way to conform to society standards. The Carnival represents society as a whole-- a place full of fakeness and bright colors trying to cover up normal boring discrepancies.

"They say that Carnival's degenerating
--radios, Americans, or something,
have ruined it completely. They're just talking."

This line really stuck out to me. It calls out America for its superficiality since this poem seems to have been written about Rio de Janeiro, a city in Brazil. It's pretty annoying to look at American media sometimes and see what superficial and unimportant issues that are in the headlines. Yet, Americans feed on the drama, the gossip, and the superficial. Wonderful place we live in, isn't it? I kind of wish we could all just step back and see how stupid the things we worry about are. But... you know... I'll probably still worry about the same stupid things. I'm glad Elizabeth Bishop could call us all out though. We need a little reality check at times.

Such an interesting woman Margaret Atwood is. I'm not going to lie, the first time I read this poem, it freaked me out a little bit. Let's just say when I heard the title "February," I wasn't expecting the theme to have anything to do with sex and cats.

In one sentence, the theme of this poem is we all have a call to action and it's time to get out of bed and do something.

Actually, I think it's kind of difficult to state just one theme from this poem because there are so many random and weird things it incorporates. Surprisingly though, they all work together. The poem goes through a stream of consciousness in the mind of the speaker who is laying down in bed in the middle of the winter, not wanting to face the day. At first she is criticizing how society is way too sexual and focused on "scoring" [line 20, "he shoots, he scores"], but then she contradicts herself by saying at the end "Get rid of death. Celebrate increase. Make it be spring." I like the outlook the speaker has at the end because it's very optimistic thinking. It reminds me of those "Just do something!" ads. Despite its oddities, the poem is quite memorable and interesting.

The diction of London by William Blake gives off more of a political vibe than a nature vibe as the rest have. It is written differently than most "American" poems with its abbreviations like thro', charter'd, black'ning, etc. The diction also makes it seem like the speaker is walking through the streets of London at night by the river during a war of some sort. He hears manacles, which are like chains, that gives off the impression of imprisonment. There is also many things that the speaker hears, such as "cry of every Man, every Infants cry of fear, Chimney-sweeper's cry." Talk about a lot of crying going on in London...

The poem also sounds dirty. Chimney-sweeper has the connotation of being a dirty and filthy job, and Harlot shares a similar dirty meaning. At the end of the poem, it says "And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse." I am thinking that the disease that is sweeping through London might be divorce or marriage problems because of all the Harlots running around and seducing people. Seems like we have the same problem in America though...

I could consider Robert Frost as one of my favorite poets because when he writes, he uses such vivid imagery that it isn't an overkill, but it more clearly explains what is going on [unlike Emily Dickenson].

When I read After Apple Picking, the first thing I thought was this entire poem is an extended metaphor. It is a metaphor for starting something with passion and excitement and watching it slowly fizzle out as the task continues on. Humans have that weakness, that temptation to quit something when they do not have their whole heart into it.

"And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have hadtoo much
Of apple-picking; I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired."

Actually, that quote reminds me of myself at times when I take on too many things at once and just get tired of doing them all. I like to be busy 24/7, but there are days that I become so worn out that I just want to quit everything I am doing and just sit down for a while. The poem goes on to talk about how "all that struck the earth, no matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble, went surely to the cider-apple heap," which gives the impression that it doesn't really matter if there are imperfections as long as it is the best it can be, it will be used. More people need to realize this in life. Even if something is not perfect or exactly as planned, it can still have the best outcome possible.

This poem might be one of my favorites in this unit because I am a big fan of the Titanic and its history. The structure of this poem is repetitive in that it has two short sentences then a long one for each stanza. I especially like the juxtaposition between the initial thought of the Titanic and what it became. The Titanic was this regal, sophisticated steamliner that was the biggest and the best of its time. Only the best of the best, or the truly lucky, could afford a ride on the cruise ship. Its beauty is juxtaposed with how its fate ended up-- in the bottom of the ocean.

"Over the mirror meant
To glass the opulent
The sea-worm crawls--grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.

Jewels in joy designed
To ravish the sensuous mind
Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind."

The way this poem says it, I feel like its fate saying, "Haha, that's what you get for being a stupid, prideful human!" What was once so beautiful and regal is now a home for decay and sea animals, thousands of feet under the ocean.

I also like that the poem relates the iceberg as a part of the ship's fate. It was fate for the two to meet, even though it was a deadly fate. The Titanic serves as a lesson to the rest of humankind to never underestimate the power of mother nature.

"Spring" by Gerard Manley Hopkins is one of those poems that is chock full of religious imagery and allusion.

Spring, in the religious world, is thought of as a time of renewal and rebirth. This poem justifies the Catholic belief in that quite plainly. The first stanza speaks more of the physical beauty of spring. As a sidenote, I like spring and all, but autumn is way better than springtime. In the second stanza, however, there is a reference to the Garden of Eden, Christ, lord, and sinning. These religious images are parallel to spring bringing forth new life from the dead of the winter time and Jesus dying and coming back to life. Although...he died and came back to life much quicker than our seasons go unfortunately.

I would have to disagree with the first line of the first stanza though. While I agree that spring is absolutely beautiful, I don't think I can say that nothing is more beautiful than spring. Of course I love it because it gets me out of winter, but there is something about fall that is just so much more appealing to me. Then again, spring is closer to the end of the school year...which tends to be pretty beautiful. :]

Everything I have read by Emily Dickenson is somewhat ambiguous and generally depressing. This poem didn't let me down!

It sounds to me like Miss Dickenson was going through an extremely rough time and really needed to express how brain dead she was feeling. The tone is depressing and funeral-esque [quite appropriate, cough cough, the title], and the diction used connects nearly everything to a slow death[ie. mourners, going numb, finished knowing, hit a world at every plunge]. She uses the senses to back up the tone by making them all seem like they are contributing to her funeral. Her thoughts are the "mourners" in her brain that just continue to fill her mind until there is no more room. Her heart serves as the beating drum, symbolizing the beginning of the event. The "boots of lead" term applies to the emotions that are weighing her down. I feel like something has just happened to her that she cannot handle in her life and she is at such a low point that she feels like she is literally becoming brain dead. Finally, she has a catharsis, letting go of everything that was plaguing her mind, and then the worst part; the poem just STOPS. How annoying is that?! I want to know what happens! Or at least have a little more to think about. That abrupt ending really makes me think that some suicidal thoughts were going on here. Maybe this was written near her death...?

Back to blogging :]

Perrine kind of sounds like he knows what he is talking about since he uses outside resources to back up what he says about poetry, like comparing a poem to "an ink blot in a Rorshach personality test," but I don't agree with everything he says. Let's just start with what I do agree with I suppose. I like how Perrine addresses the fact that a poem can be interpreted in many different ways, but it is not meant for the author to interpret his own poem. I would think the author would want to have some mysteriousness in the writing, so it seems only fair that they keep the true meaning to themself. I definitely completely interpreted the poems differently than how Perrine interpreted them, but I still like my interpretations because that is the beauty of poetry. I believe everyone should be able to read a poem and allow their imagination to wander anywhere it wants to go along the lines of the words.

On the other hand, it really irritates me how he states,"If it is contradicted by any detail it is wrong," in reference to interpreting poetry. That just sounds bad because any person with an imagination can spin something so it includes every detail, including words in a poem. He says that a poem with multiple interpretations should be narrowed down to one interpretation by choosing which ever account sounds more "real..." yeah, I'm not a big fan of that either. Poetry is an art form; therefore, imagination is required. Far-fetched interpretations turn out to the be the best ones sometimes!

I guess I will say though that for reading poetry in class, it would definitely be easier to match the details exactly with interpretations and choose the interpretation that sounds more "real," but I just do not like what that takes away from poetry as an art form. Art is supposed to be expressive and imaginative...so who are we to take away from what the author could actually want us to see in it?