Blog Assignment #5 - Symbolism in Poetry

In different works of poems, poets use their own type of symbolism to draw you into their stories. The poem "The Silken Tent" by Robert Frost I believe used symbolism in order to explain the true meaning of his poem but seems to use it secretly. The first time reading this poem, myself as well as others didn't really see what the true meaning of the poem was but analysing and really trying to bring yourself into the poem helps understand the meaning of the poem. In Frost's poem he uses personification as a symbol of love and respect towards a mother type figure, maybe even his own mother. His choice of vocabulary really brings at first a sense of confusion but then the true meaning of what he is trying to explain. "And its supporting central cedar pole,/That is its pinnacle to heavenward/And signifies the sureness of the soul." (5-7) These lines in his poem really help express the personification in his work. He uses his words such as "central cedar pole" as a strong and tight bound between his mother and also "pinnacle to heavenward" is used to express that no matter where he would be in the world she would be there to protect and comfort him. Also the line "Is of the slightest bondage made aware" (14) seems to represent the strong and unbreakable bond that both his mother and Frost share between one another. Frost's use of the tent imagery also shows the readers his bondage towards his mother in the sense that the tent standing is the bond and hold between them that cant be broken, that can never fall no matter what obstacles the two of them may face. Being the person that Frost was, this poem seems to show the readers of Frost's soft side as a man and how his weakness towards his mother or maybe even some woman he really cares for seems to cripple him and draw him towards that person.


 http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-silken-tent/

Extra Credit Assignment #1

Poets use their own imagination and creativity in the poems. However, poems are sometimes re-written such as "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day" by William Shakespeare which was again written by Howard Moss. Although both of these poems written by two completely different poets are telling the same story, the way the poets use their own creativity really brings forth a different meaning in their poems. In Shakespeare's original poem, he uses his creativity more on the nature of the summer's day, "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May." (3) Moving forward to Moss's creativity in his poem, I believe that Moss used his imagination and creativity in his poem but focuses more on the reader and talks to his reader in his poem, "After you're dead and gone,/In this poem you'll live on!" (12-13) Both of these poems have the same meaning towards a summer day but due to the different style of poets writing the same poem, their creativity and imagination brings forth two completely different poems.

Blog Assignment #4 - Romanticism

Poems come in all different styles, but what we don't always notice is our everyday music and painting that we hear and see today by the writers of those pieces are romantic poets as well. I believe that there is a creative mind in everyone. During the romantic era, people used paintings and music as long as poems in order to interpret quality stories. Music was a big thing in the romantic era where they used piano's and soft playing instruments in order to sooth the people listening to their music and giving them a good feel on what story the song told. A song that I believe describes how musicians of today use their own lyrics in order to cite poems within their work would be "I Wanna Grow Old With You" by Westlife. This specific song builds a story within its lyrics of a romantic time between a man and a woman who seem to be miles and miles apart and their love keeps them strong no matter what. This type of song and meaning reminds me of "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare used different types of love and emotions in his work in order to catch the readers eyes and take them into the stories. "Romeo and Juliet" was a story about two young lovers who were separated due to their families hatred towards each other and were forced to keep their love a secret. Even though this story ends in the tragic suicides of both Romeo and Juliet, the story still brings forth a romantic era in time where love concord all. In the song however I feel that it interprets the same meaning of distance and all other different types of emotions that brings out the romantic era. In this specific part, "The time we spent apart will make our love grow stronger /But it hurt so bad I can't take it any longer/I wanna grow old with you"(8-10) I believe it really brings out the imagery in the song and gives the listener a good picture of the distance between two lovers and how their love will never die. This song and story that I used as my examples towards the romantic era I believe really brought forth the true meaning of the romantic era which was a time of love and peace where people believed that as long as love was there nothing could break it. People during the romantic era used poems, stories, paintings and music in order to express different feelings and emotions not just because it was their jobs but also to bring forth a point of romantic emotions and how love was something that couldn't be explained or drawn out, it needed to be expressed in your own way. 


http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/westlife/iwannagrowoldwithyou.html

Blog Assignment #3 - Bartleby

I believe that "Bartleby the Scrivener"by Herman Melville is an amazing story that tells about the minds of others and also how people react to others people reactions towards different things. This story is put in the point view of Bartleby's employer and his reactions towards Bartleby's attitude and his work ethic. I believe that Melville used the employer as the point of view in the story becuase Melville wanted to show a side from another person other then Bartleby expressing both Bartleby's attitude and also the employer that throughout the story is basically being shut down by Bartleby. Bartleby is characterized in this story as a quiet and in the eyes of the reader a lazy worker that doesnt listen too well. Bartleby does the work that he wants to do but seems to be a little thick headed when it comes to his listening skills. The employer later finds that Bartleby lives in the office basically seeming homeless and here you get a good look at the soul of the employer of the story. When finding out the details of Bartleby he never insists on helping him or trying to maybe take it a little easy on his but he does nothing and seems to not care, moving on with his own life. Even when Bartleby decides to stop writting the employer hands him his paycheck and basically just tells him to get lost like he was nothing to him as a writer or as a person. Bartleby refuses to leave the building though and you finally get a sense of emotion becuase the employer states that he doesnt have the heart to tell Bartleby to leave. As time passes he becomes a distraction to people and the employer tells Bartleby to either leave the building or to be arrested. Bartleby remained stationary and he is arrested where in jail he refuses to eat and eventually ends up dieing in prision. The employee having more and more emotions towards Bartleby goes to bail him out and finds out of Bartleby's tragic death. I believe that Bartleby was suffering from a disorder of some kind and didnt recieve the proper help and attention that he needed. Bartleby's employers didnt see him as a man that needed help but as someone that was simply taking up space and needed to be removed. Thinking this while reading the story can change a readers thoughts on Bartleby from maybe being the annoying, lazy and rude employee that simply didnt want to do anything, to a man that had nothing or maybe felt like he had nothing and needed some professional attention. Barteby I believe changed the employer from himself and really made it clear that you need to look at the inside of a person and not just the outside and someone. The employer also known as the lawyer in the story seems to be shocked and a changed man when realizing that Bartleby's previous job as a clerk in a dead letter office maybe put him into this depressed and deranged state. I believe that everyone can change at any time and the employer in this story as much as in reality that people look right through the people they encounter and dont try to understand the true story behind everyone.

Blog Assignment #2 - Faulkner

In the story " A Rose For Emily " by William Faulkner he writes about a woman named Emily who went through a hard life. The story is told from the point of view of the townspeople and their reactions to the strange lifestyle to Emily lived. The story was more told from ending to beginning and had minor parts where the narrator briefly came back into the present day of the story. The whole point of view of the story I believe was a biography about Emily's life. The narrator captured every detail about Emily from her normal living lifestyle till her very last days from what it seemed to believe she was becoming insane. From my own experiences I know the feeling of losing family and having to basically start all over without that one specific person who seemed to be there for you anytime you needed them. " Already we knew that there was one room in that region above stairs which no one had seen in forty years, and which would have to be forced. They waited until Miss Emily was decently in the ground before they opened it. " (Faulkner) I believe that quote from the story really defined the townspeople as the narrators acting as just a local neighbor of Emily or the towns police department. I also believe that the quote shows the type of respect that they had for Emily waiting for her to be buried before fully investigating the house that was basically on lockdown for 40 years. I would treat this story as a horror story almost, kind of something you would watch on the television hooked on the Halloween movies with Michael Myers. This story had every reason to be known as a horror story from Emily going insane to the brutal murder of Homer and the vivid detail of his body decade in the locked upstairs room of Emily's house. William Faulkner just like many other authors of his time were suffering from either depression or other types of emotional problems and expressed his true feelings through this story. 

Blog Assignment #1 - Ernest Hemingway

Maybe the most interesting and most popular writer of his time, Ernest Hemingway was an incredible figure in history. I find Hemingway to be an amazing writer due to the way he expresses himself through his writing. In his short story, "A Clean Well-Lighted Place" Hemingway wrote about an old man basically struggling to understand the true meaning of life and what it represented. I believe that Hemingway was describing not only the old man that played the main character in his story but himself as well. Hemingway's story to me described his everyday life. To me Hemingway grew up being a negative person and always down. He never expected much and seemed to enjoy being miserable. In his story I do believe that he described and introduced his character as rude and almost selfish to express his feelings at the time. Hemingway's biggest downfall I believe was when going into the army and getting injured which sent him into a spiraling depression. He met a nice young lady at the time but she didnt want to leave everything behind for someone she just help cure and he was heart broken. I believe losing the love of his life really triggered Hemingway's depression and constant hate on the world. Alcohol was an everyday thing to him and it only seemed that in time he was going to commit suicide as he did later on."Last week he tried to commit suicide," one waiter said. "Why?"  "He was in despair." "What about?" "Nothing." "How do you know it was nothing?" "He has plenty of money." (Hemingway). This quote from his short story really made me think about his reflection towards life itself. We all experience bad times in life but we fight and battle to overcome the demons dragging us down. To me it almost seemed like Hemingway sided with the demons inside of him and channeled his anger into words. As in the quote, Hemingway wasnt in any debt or trouble that would make him come to a conclusion that suicide was the last option. Its clear that Hemingway was simply a miserable person that couldnt find the light at the end of the tunnel. His life experiences deffinatly influenced him into creating this short story. I believed he also used his life experiences to create a fictional character such like himself and express his thoughts and feelings. "Another," said the old man. "No. Finished." The waiter wiped the edge of the table with a towel and shook his head. The old man stood up, slowly counted the saucers, took a leathercoin purse from his pocket and paid for the drinks, leaving half a peseta tip. The waiter watched him go down the street, a very oldman walking unsteadily but with dignity (Hemingway). This quote I believe put Hemingway to peace in the story. He expressed his cut off to not only drinking in the story, but cut off to life. In his story the old man didnt argue or express any hatred towards the waiter basically telling him to pick up and leave. The ending of the quote spoke to me and told me Hemingway was at his end. Walking away unsteady from being drunk in the story but in Hemingway's own reality he was unsteady because he was at his final stages in life. He expressed not only in his story but in reality as well that even though he was walking away losing the battle, he still walked away with his head held high and his dignity.