Blog Assignment #9 - Oedipus the King

Oedipus is an amazing piece of literature that really catches the readers eye. I personally have never found this type of writing interesting. Although I have my doubts about Oedipus, it is still a well written piece. It seems as though throughout the story Oedipus is constantly struggling and also stressed about something going on in his life. Oedipus I believe shows signs of grief and also disappointment towards himself for unintentionally killing his father. Due to Oedipus's suffering, I believed  that he learned that life simply isn't fair and that things are going to happen at different times and its how you react at the moment is what separates the weak from the strong. Oedipus showed signs of weakness by basically giving up everything he had due to his accidental mistake. People make mistakes all the time and in Oedipus's case it was a big mistake, but ruining your life due to that mistake doesn't solve your problem, if anything it made Oedipus's problems and emotions worse. From my own experiences with dealing with suffering and other emotions Ive learned to be a stronger person and to also take everything one step at a time. What many people tend to do now is rush threw life and try to make everything happen the way they want it to but in reality life is planned out for you already, you just need to be patient and wait for your shinning moment.





http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/GreekMyths/Oedipus/

Blog Assignment #8 - Reading or Watching a Play

I am not one to be a television fanatic but what did interest me while watching the television was the movie "Fast Five." This movie was released on April 29, 2010 adding a explosive attitude to the movie theatres. The movie was filmed in Puerto Rico where both characters Dominic and Brian move to after being on the top of the most wanted list in the United States. This movie brought action and excitement as the whole point of the movie was both the main characters stealing 100 million dollars from the biggest drug trafficing person in Rico. In this movie however its not only characters Dominic and Brian that are friends in the movie but everyone from the past movies are brought back into this movie to finish the job almost. All characters are friends accept Mia and Dominic who are brother and sister. Brian and Mia also have a relationship and were expecting a baby on the way out of all of the crazyness going on. The way this movie turns is when their way of stealing the money turns around and they lose their good friend Vince. Dominic then snaps and stops at nothing to steal the money and get out of Rico. The ending to the movie is when they do succeed at stealing the money by dragging a huge safe with their car threw the streets of Rio to get away. That obviously cant happen in real life but the ending really gave this movie an over the top rating. This movie for me is one of my favorite movies and showed alot of different scene changes along with surprising twists.



http://www.boomtron.com/2011/04/fast-five-movie-review/

Blog Assignment #7 - Langston Hughes

My Own Theme

I don't really understand,

how hard could something like this be?

I wake up everyday,

simply not knowing whats in store for me.

I take pride in what I put my mind to,

even though it might seem that I don't.

But even though I may seem happy,

the real me just cant seem to pull through.

We are all faced with problems everyday,

as we expect everything to simply just go our way.

But for me it doesn't come that simple,

for I am honestly fighting everyday.

I keep my head on my shoulders,

and always with my head held high.

But what you don't see is my constant struggle inside.

Yes, I may seem perfect but I can prove you wrong,

for within this life I live, it could be a total fraud.

What people don't know about me remains a secret,

for I am a closed book with ripped up pages.

I wait for the day where I can finally see you,

but until that day I will never really see this through.

I go to sleep tonight and still wonder why,

I cant seem to just let things go by.

But with the spirit of you in me,
 I am never alone as long as your with me.

Blog Assignment #6 - Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" I believe is such a well written poem that everyone over looks. Emily was a very depressing person and due to her depression her poems expressed her true feelings of lonelyness and sadness. In this particular poem Emily really put the the word death and herself and made them similar. An example such as "And I had put away/My labor and my leisure too,/For his civility" (6-8) really shows Emily's true depression towards life and herself. The quote from her poem really interpreted that she put her life on hold and stopped her own life meaning her labor and leisure for death itself. Emily used personification in order to to give death a different meaning, a meaning almost of a friendship between death and Emily herself. The very first lines of the poem also showed a prime example of Emily's life put into her own work. The lines "Because I could not stop for Death/He kindly stopped for me" (1-2) really put in sense that Emily had a relationship with death. Almost as if Emily was expecting death to come before her. The meaning of this quote really interpreted how death and depression was a part of Emily's life and that even though the time wasnt right for her, death had no problem giving her some time, almost like giving her time to say goodbye. Another quote "We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain/We passed the Setting Sun/Or rather-He passed Us" (11-13) really brought a sense of imagery and Emily's own life being told. This quote really meant that as Emily lived her life as a child where she used to play and have fun that death was always right next to her, watching her. A final example of Emily using her works of poetry to express her own life troubles is "Since then-'tis Centuries-and yet/Feels shorter than the Day" (21-22) that really represented that Emily's days seemed shorter then they used to be. She used that quote as an example to express that her years turned to months, months to weeks, and weeks to days. Emily used a metaphor to express immortality and death similar to each other. Emily's work was and still is amazing pieces of literature and her saddness and depression actually helped her create such amazing pieces of poetry.



http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/stop.html

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