Saturday, June 7, 2008
MIdsummer Nights Dream Opinion
This play was pretty funny, though I don't think it was quite as humorous as Taming of the Shrew. Bottom was very funny though in his extremely foolish antics. We saw an early version of slapstick which holds strong as an important part of comedy to this day. Again, this play remained funny and relevant to the humor of humans for over 300 years which was amazing to me and makes my opinion of Shakespeare as a genius even stronger. This was interesting to think about because it shows how humans have not changed deep down over centuries and the same things make us laugh and even cry.
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended:
That you have but slumbered here,
While these visions did appear;
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend.
If you pardon, we will mend.
Puck speaks this towards the end of the play as a monologue to the audience, and it speaks almost the entire theme of the play which is its dreamlike state. He his explaining that if anything bad did happen then you can just forget about it because it was nothing more then a dream. Shakespeare wanted his play to seem this way, very light hearted and care-free. "And this weak and idle theme," obviously Shakespeare knew this would not be his most ground breaking play due to its nature, but he achieved what he wanted to write, something that would not offend or make his audience question, and escape from their probably troublesome lives.
Think but this, and all is mended:
That you have but slumbered here,
While these visions did appear;
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend.
If you pardon, we will mend.
Puck speaks this towards the end of the play as a monologue to the audience, and it speaks almost the entire theme of the play which is its dreamlike state. He his explaining that if anything bad did happen then you can just forget about it because it was nothing more then a dream. Shakespeare wanted his play to seem this way, very light hearted and care-free. "And this weak and idle theme," obviously Shakespeare knew this would not be his most ground breaking play due to its nature, but he achieved what he wanted to write, something that would not offend or make his audience question, and escape from their probably troublesome lives.
A Midsummer Nights Dream Analysis
This play by Shakespeare amazed me because it was a comedy that was written so long ago, but remains very funny even to this day. We see Shakespeare use literary techniques that enter the audience and reader into a dream like state where it is hard to distinguish the truth from what is just a fairy tale. We see a wedding being confused and mixed up due to a fairy's mix up with magic spells. The characters are comical and some try to put on a play for the people getting married, this is pretty much the biggest conflict in the play making it an altogether feel good production. I think that is what shakespeare was going for when he wrote this play, he needed something that would make the audience forget about their troubles and enter a world that was care free and even the biggest mistakes came out as comical.
Macbeth Opinion
Macbeth was pretty decent though not my favorite because it felt more serious then Richard the third and was not as fun to read and learn about Macbeth's struggles. The project that we did on this was fun though and showed how Shakespeare's plots can relate to things that could happen in today's society. My favorite part about Macbeth was the fact that Shakespeare created the conflict inside Macbeth's head, the concious that an average, decent human being would have.
Macbeth Quotation
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood,
Stop up th’access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry ‘Hold, hold!’
In this stanza we see the position of Lady Macbeth who plays a key role in turning Macbeth into a killer. Her transformation is also and interesting one in the book as she abandons her women like role and takes on that of a blood thirsty man. She is merciless and wants nothing but to succeed no matter what the costs. She says "come to my women's breasts, and take my milk for gall" this quote shows her transforming herself into something terrible as women are portrayed as nurturing through the symbol of breasts she changes that to gall, something far from nurturing and harsh.
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood,
Stop up th’access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry ‘Hold, hold!’
In this stanza we see the position of Lady Macbeth who plays a key role in turning Macbeth into a killer. Her transformation is also and interesting one in the book as she abandons her women like role and takes on that of a blood thirsty man. She is merciless and wants nothing but to succeed no matter what the costs. She says "come to my women's breasts, and take my milk for gall" this quote shows her transforming herself into something terrible as women are portrayed as nurturing through the symbol of breasts she changes that to gall, something far from nurturing and harsh.
Macbeth Analysis
Much like Richard the Third, Shakespeare shows us the downfall of the human mind and the conflicts that arise inside it. Macbeth is a noble man in the beginning of the novel but due to temptation and the coaxing words of those around him, he falls into the path of evil and eventually pays for his deeds by the hand of McDuff. In this play, unlike Richard the Third which displays a completely evil man, Shakespeare shows us the descent of a noble man into the place of an evil man. We are able to feel the struggle in which Macbeth goes through, trying to keep his dignity and also trying to advance in his life and become more wealthy.
Richard the third opinion
I liked Richard the Third, Richard was so immensely evil that he was almost comical in times due to his relentless wickedness. It was probably my favorite of the Shakespeare that we read, it was also interesting since it was a history and to some extent true. Probably not to the dramatic effect that Shakespeare went to but we can assume that Richard the third was an evil king in the English monarchy.
Richard the third quote
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York;
And all the clouds that loured upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front,
. . .
He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
. . .
Why, I in this weak piping time of peace
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity.
And therefore since I cannot prove a lover
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
(I.i.1–40)
This passage is truly genius, I smiled reading it. You can picture Richard looking out of a window in the castle seeing lovers and children all happy with life. There is no war, no famine, everything is fine. Except for Richard, he is deformed and loathes to see these peoples happy faces. So he takes it upon himself since he is not meant for sports or the looking-glass to ruin everyone else's lives. For what reason? None other than his own pleasure. Essentially that is what these three stanzas mean and they, even so early in the play, show us what kind of a character Richard is going to be.
Made glorious summer by this son of York;
And all the clouds that loured upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front,
. . .
He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
. . .
Why, I in this weak piping time of peace
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity.
And therefore since I cannot prove a lover
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
(I.i.1–40)
This passage is truly genius, I smiled reading it. You can picture Richard looking out of a window in the castle seeing lovers and children all happy with life. There is no war, no famine, everything is fine. Except for Richard, he is deformed and loathes to see these peoples happy faces. So he takes it upon himself since he is not meant for sports or the looking-glass to ruin everyone else's lives. For what reason? None other than his own pleasure. Essentially that is what these three stanzas mean and they, even so early in the play, show us what kind of a character Richard is going to be.
Richard the third analysis
In Richard the third we see the incredible greed and evil that human beings are capable of possessing. Richard betrays him family and his friends for his personal benefit. He commits unspeakable crimes that would be on par with that of a serial killer in todays society. Among Richard's most heinous crimes is the killing of a husband and then marring the deseaced's wife and then killing her. Also under his command was the killing of small children. Shakespeare encompassed in this history the evil that is capable from a single human being. In his writing he was able to make the audience hate a character passionately.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth
This poem had a pretty normal and identifiable rhyme scheme, it went A B A B C C. This kept it at a pleasant pace floating and flying over and through clouds and mountains and whatnot. This fits the poem very well as the sound ended up being very lofty and the poem itself is using symbols like waves and mountains and stars, all things that are large and high in the air. This poem is about being a poet and the stanzas stay true to a traditional format, there are no surprises on the way this poem is setup and this reflects an original and standard meaning of poetry.
The theme of this poem is natures elements and wonders, clouds and stars, waves and flowers, all things that make us stand back and admire the power and beauty of nature. Clouds move on their own over many things that live together like fields of flowers and the incredible amount of stars that make up the milky way, the poet is this lonely could and he is looking at all these large groups of people and trying to decide if he fits in with them or if he belongs, but he concludes that these crowds are no place for a poet, he needs his solitude to look inside himself and write, not at the outward world.
This poem was pretty traditional but for its time it is incredibly easy to understand and has a good message. It really has a morale that any of us can relate too, because we have all had times when we feel we need to get out and see people or we think we are lonely, but this tells us to sit back and think about it. Sometimes we can accomplish more on our own then with other, it gives us the time to look at ourselves and maybe find things out about ourselves that we never even knew.
This poem had a pretty normal and identifiable rhyme scheme, it went A B A B C C. This kept it at a pleasant pace floating and flying over and through clouds and mountains and whatnot. This fits the poem very well as the sound ended up being very lofty and the poem itself is using symbols like waves and mountains and stars, all things that are large and high in the air. This poem is about being a poet and the stanzas stay true to a traditional format, there are no surprises on the way this poem is setup and this reflects an original and standard meaning of poetry.
The theme of this poem is natures elements and wonders, clouds and stars, waves and flowers, all things that make us stand back and admire the power and beauty of nature. Clouds move on their own over many things that live together like fields of flowers and the incredible amount of stars that make up the milky way, the poet is this lonely could and he is looking at all these large groups of people and trying to decide if he fits in with them or if he belongs, but he concludes that these crowds are no place for a poet, he needs his solitude to look inside himself and write, not at the outward world.
This poem was pretty traditional but for its time it is incredibly easy to understand and has a good message. It really has a morale that any of us can relate too, because we have all had times when we feel we need to get out and see people or we think we are lonely, but this tells us to sit back and think about it. Sometimes we can accomplish more on our own then with other, it gives us the time to look at ourselves and maybe find things out about ourselves that we never even knew.
On Reading Poems to a Senior Class at South High by D.C. Berry
The rhyme and meter in this poem follows no particular order but rather is like a story being told. It builds up and then diminishes at the final line at the end. This is relevant to the meaning of the poem because that is what happens, the water builds up and the students become engrossed in the poems and feel the meaning of them. The stanzas are broken up into small short sections which I feel is done to keep the simplicity of the poem and show the ease of being drawn into a poem.
The poet uses a lot of imagery, symbolism, and theme in the writing of this poem. He uses images of fish and aquariums and water to show the inspiration of the children. How by the water flowing in they are no longer these frozen fish that can only sit and not feel, the water thaws them out and brings them to life. He symbolizes the inspiration as water flowing into the classroom and having it fill up until the bell rings and then they have to leave and the door opens and the inspiration fades and flows away. The water and marine things is the theme that is the poem entirely, it is effective and has many attributes that what he is symbolizing does.
This poem is about an English teacher who while teaching kids who seem not to be interested inspires them without knowing or really meaning to. While many times a teachers job is to settle kids down and make them calm sometimes teachers can bring them to life in what they are discussing and what they are reading. This is the case in this poem, the teacher brings his kids into another world without even knowing it. He himself becomes part of this world and when the water and inspiration flows away from the kids he still has it when he gets home and must relax back into his real life to finally leave the place that the poems brought him.
The rhyme and meter in this poem follows no particular order but rather is like a story being told. It builds up and then diminishes at the final line at the end. This is relevant to the meaning of the poem because that is what happens, the water builds up and the students become engrossed in the poems and feel the meaning of them. The stanzas are broken up into small short sections which I feel is done to keep the simplicity of the poem and show the ease of being drawn into a poem.
The poet uses a lot of imagery, symbolism, and theme in the writing of this poem. He uses images of fish and aquariums and water to show the inspiration of the children. How by the water flowing in they are no longer these frozen fish that can only sit and not feel, the water thaws them out and brings them to life. He symbolizes the inspiration as water flowing into the classroom and having it fill up until the bell rings and then they have to leave and the door opens and the inspiration fades and flows away. The water and marine things is the theme that is the poem entirely, it is effective and has many attributes that what he is symbolizing does.
This poem is about an English teacher who while teaching kids who seem not to be interested inspires them without knowing or really meaning to. While many times a teachers job is to settle kids down and make them calm sometimes teachers can bring them to life in what they are discussing and what they are reading. This is the case in this poem, the teacher brings his kids into another world without even knowing it. He himself becomes part of this world and when the water and inspiration flows away from the kids he still has it when he gets home and must relax back into his real life to finally leave the place that the poems brought him.
Vergissmeinnicht
Three weeks gone and the combatants gone
returning over the nightmare ground
we found the place again, and found
the soldier sprawling in the sun.
The frowning barrel of his gun
overshadowing. As we came on
that day, he hit my tank with one
like the entry of a demon.
Look. Here in the gunpit spoil
the dishonoured picture of his girl
who has put: Steffi. Vergissmeinnicht.
in a copybook gothic script.
We see him almost with content,
abased, and seeming to have paid
and mocked at by his own equipment
that's hard and good when he's decayed.
But she would weep to see today
how on his skin the swart flies move;
the dust upon the paper eye
and the burst stomach like a cave.
For here the lover and killer are mingled
who had one body and one heart.
And death who had the soldier singled
has done the lover mortal hurt.
-- Keith Douglas
The rhyme and meter in this poem is very effective to the meaning of the poem. The rhyme scheme flows well and in a sort of weepy tearful way. Some of it also seems to sound very soldier like. You can imagine much of this being read from a soldiers journal or diary entry which could be what it is meant to sound like. The rhyme scheme is also somewhat romantic, especially at the end of the poem when he is talking about mortal hurt and the soldiers lover. This adds a romantic feel to the poem and the drama of it.
There is some vivid imagery in this poem, the poet describes a gun or bullet as a demon which is an accurate description of a battlefield and what the soldiers body went through. "How on his skin the swart of flies move; the dust upon the paper eye and the burst stomach like a cave." A dead body being made of paper is a good description because paper is nothing and now the body has become as dead as paper. You can also see the flies swarming above a trench with this dead body.
I like this poem because it really comes together at the end and shows the connection between a soldier and someone he loves back home. It goes on to say that if love is true then the heart is one and then in one of their deaths the other dies as well. It is a sad poem of young men who lose their lives at war and their bodies become useless on the battlefield, all that is useful to other soldiers is the hard equipment that they leave behind.
Three weeks gone and the combatants gone
returning over the nightmare ground
we found the place again, and found
the soldier sprawling in the sun.
The frowning barrel of his gun
overshadowing. As we came on
that day, he hit my tank with one
like the entry of a demon.
Look. Here in the gunpit spoil
the dishonoured picture of his girl
who has put: Steffi. Vergissmeinnicht.
in a copybook gothic script.
We see him almost with content,
abased, and seeming to have paid
and mocked at by his own equipment
that's hard and good when he's decayed.
But she would weep to see today
how on his skin the swart flies move;
the dust upon the paper eye
and the burst stomach like a cave.
For here the lover and killer are mingled
who had one body and one heart.
And death who had the soldier singled
has done the lover mortal hurt.
-- Keith Douglas
The rhyme and meter in this poem is very effective to the meaning of the poem. The rhyme scheme flows well and in a sort of weepy tearful way. Some of it also seems to sound very soldier like. You can imagine much of this being read from a soldiers journal or diary entry which could be what it is meant to sound like. The rhyme scheme is also somewhat romantic, especially at the end of the poem when he is talking about mortal hurt and the soldiers lover. This adds a romantic feel to the poem and the drama of it.
There is some vivid imagery in this poem, the poet describes a gun or bullet as a demon which is an accurate description of a battlefield and what the soldiers body went through. "How on his skin the swart of flies move; the dust upon the paper eye and the burst stomach like a cave." A dead body being made of paper is a good description because paper is nothing and now the body has become as dead as paper. You can also see the flies swarming above a trench with this dead body.
I like this poem because it really comes together at the end and shows the connection between a soldier and someone he loves back home. It goes on to say that if love is true then the heart is one and then in one of their deaths the other dies as well. It is a sad poem of young men who lose their lives at war and their bodies become useless on the battlefield, all that is useful to other soldiers is the hard equipment that they leave behind.
212. Money
At first it will seem tame,
willing to be domesticated.
It will nest
in your pocket
or curl up in a corner
reciting softly to itself
the names of the presidents.
It will delight your friends,
shake hands with men
like a dog and lick
the legs of women.
But like an amoeba
it makes love
in secret
only to itself.
Fold it frequently;
it needs exercise.
Water it every three days
and it will repay you
with displays of affection.
Then one day when you think
you are its master
it will turn its head
as if for a kiss
and bite you gently
on the hand.
There will be no pain
but in thirty seconds
the poison will reach your heart.
Victor Contoski
The rhyme and meter of this poem is interesting. It starts off flowing very nicely and rolls along like a child singing carelessly. This is also the part of the poem when the meaning is happy and nice, it is showing all these nice things money can do. It well get you friends and women and they will all like you. This shows the good side of money the part that seems tame and domesticated. The scheme after it makes love in secret only to itself is more broken up, and if you read it out loud it is blunt and angry. This is also when money takes its evil turn and greed enters a persons heart. They become blunt and careless, and the poison that is in the money will reach just your heart because that is where people show compassion and love from.
The symbolism in the poem is the most interesting literary element to me. It personifies money as a pet. A nice little puppy that can curl up, but also speak, and also grow if you water it. So money really takes on all these things that we love, like a small child or a flower or a pet. But it grows and it grows out of our control, we can no longer keep the beast tame for it has gotten too big. Money also is poisonous, from a snake perhaps, which could be a biblical illusion to how tempting money is.
This poem is pretty straightforward, it is clearly about daniel plainview and his greed. It shows the transformation from someone who first gets their taste of money and what it can do for someone and how they fall into its traps that force them to live cold loveless lives. This poem is broad in the fact that it shows that greed can take over anyone, not just an oil tycoon. Money is something that everyone wants and every one is a potential victim to its power.
At first it will seem tame,
willing to be domesticated.
It will nest
in your pocket
or curl up in a corner
reciting softly to itself
the names of the presidents.
It will delight your friends,
shake hands with men
like a dog and lick
the legs of women.
But like an amoeba
it makes love
in secret
only to itself.
Fold it frequently;
it needs exercise.
Water it every three days
and it will repay you
with displays of affection.
Then one day when you think
you are its master
it will turn its head
as if for a kiss
and bite you gently
on the hand.
There will be no pain
but in thirty seconds
the poison will reach your heart.
Victor Contoski
The rhyme and meter of this poem is interesting. It starts off flowing very nicely and rolls along like a child singing carelessly. This is also the part of the poem when the meaning is happy and nice, it is showing all these nice things money can do. It well get you friends and women and they will all like you. This shows the good side of money the part that seems tame and domesticated. The scheme after it makes love in secret only to itself is more broken up, and if you read it out loud it is blunt and angry. This is also when money takes its evil turn and greed enters a persons heart. They become blunt and careless, and the poison that is in the money will reach just your heart because that is where people show compassion and love from.
The symbolism in the poem is the most interesting literary element to me. It personifies money as a pet. A nice little puppy that can curl up, but also speak, and also grow if you water it. So money really takes on all these things that we love, like a small child or a flower or a pet. But it grows and it grows out of our control, we can no longer keep the beast tame for it has gotten too big. Money also is poisonous, from a snake perhaps, which could be a biblical illusion to how tempting money is.
This poem is pretty straightforward, it is clearly about daniel plainview and his greed. It shows the transformation from someone who first gets their taste of money and what it can do for someone and how they fall into its traps that force them to live cold loveless lives. This poem is broad in the fact that it shows that greed can take over anyone, not just an oil tycoon. Money is something that everyone wants and every one is a potential victim to its power.
Portrait Opinion
I enjoyed discussing this novel in class rather then reading it on my own. The best part of this was trying to figure things out, the confusions that Joyce puts into the work and the fun is working it all out. I think if I read this book again on my own I would appreciate it much more and enjoy it much more.
There were many themes within the novel thought that I really liked reading and talking about. For one, when Stephen is in the midst of inspiration and is working on a poem, I could relate to that whether it be in creative writing or if Im working on a song at home. You get in a frenzy of inspiration but then you could possibly lose it, and it is something that comes and goes without warning or cause and Joyce got this feeling across very well.
The guilt was also something that was intense and interesting to read about. Im sure most people have done something that they have been guilty for, probably not as drastic at the age of what Stephen did, but they still felt guilt. Joyce went into incredible detail in describing this feeling and putting guilt into words.
This novel reminded me a lot of Demian by Hermann Hesse, that book goes through a boys life but rather the guilt and emotions and idols that lead up to his finding of a God. He has the image of a pure women and the terrible guilt as well. Also nothing extremely exciting happens, it is mostly just him thinking to himself.
There were many themes within the novel thought that I really liked reading and talking about. For one, when Stephen is in the midst of inspiration and is working on a poem, I could relate to that whether it be in creative writing or if Im working on a song at home. You get in a frenzy of inspiration but then you could possibly lose it, and it is something that comes and goes without warning or cause and Joyce got this feeling across very well.
The guilt was also something that was intense and interesting to read about. Im sure most people have done something that they have been guilty for, probably not as drastic at the age of what Stephen did, but they still felt guilt. Joyce went into incredible detail in describing this feeling and putting guilt into words.
This novel reminded me a lot of Demian by Hermann Hesse, that book goes through a boys life but rather the guilt and emotions and idols that lead up to his finding of a God. He has the image of a pure women and the terrible guilt as well. Also nothing extremely exciting happens, it is mostly just him thinking to himself.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Portrait Themes and Symbols
Religion throughout Stephens life has been a means of imprisonment. It kept him from experience and tied him down from expressing his true beliefs. Many times and escpecially towards the end of the novel Stephen chooses to use quotes about birds to represent himself and how he needs to flee Ireland because there is nothing inspiring for him there.
Religion symbolizes a part of the bars the were keeping Stephen back. The Church filled Stephen with obligation and with guilt, all things that held him back from becoming the artist that he at heart was. Because of religion Stephen is filled with a terrible guilt for what he later realizes where just experiences that would be important cornerstones within his life. The religious life also obligates Stephen in a way to lead a life as a priest. He struggles with this because he does feel drawn to that life at first but realizes that there is nothing in it for him. That his true passion is words, not being this false image of purity that he has in his mind. Stephen's parents also make a barrier keeping him back from his calling. They alienate him because of his detachment from his religion, just set up another barricade against Stephen.
Another continuing symbol I saw throughout the book was the flame on the cheek. I don't know if this is just an expression or something unique to Joyce's writing. It seems like when something good happened that brought Stephen a step further towards his "enlightenment" as an artist the flame on his cheek appeared or it glowed brighter. But if something happened that discouraged him the flame would have dissipeared.
Joyce also continuously brings in an image of female purity which contributes to Stephen's poetic thinking and gives him something to throw his passion at. There is the girl in the beginning when Stephen is feeling guilty and then the one he sees across the river towards the end. They are also crucial points in showing Stephen's growth and in his descriptions of female beauty.
Religion throughout Stephens life has been a means of imprisonment. It kept him from experience and tied him down from expressing his true beliefs. Many times and escpecially towards the end of the novel Stephen chooses to use quotes about birds to represent himself and how he needs to flee Ireland because there is nothing inspiring for him there.
Religion symbolizes a part of the bars the were keeping Stephen back. The Church filled Stephen with obligation and with guilt, all things that held him back from becoming the artist that he at heart was. Because of religion Stephen is filled with a terrible guilt for what he later realizes where just experiences that would be important cornerstones within his life. The religious life also obligates Stephen in a way to lead a life as a priest. He struggles with this because he does feel drawn to that life at first but realizes that there is nothing in it for him. That his true passion is words, not being this false image of purity that he has in his mind. Stephen's parents also make a barrier keeping him back from his calling. They alienate him because of his detachment from his religion, just set up another barricade against Stephen.
Another continuing symbol I saw throughout the book was the flame on the cheek. I don't know if this is just an expression or something unique to Joyce's writing. It seems like when something good happened that brought Stephen a step further towards his "enlightenment" as an artist the flame on his cheek appeared or it glowed brighter. But if something happened that discouraged him the flame would have dissipeared.
Joyce also continuously brings in an image of female purity which contributes to Stephen's poetic thinking and gives him something to throw his passion at. There is the girl in the beginning when Stephen is feeling guilty and then the one he sees across the river towards the end. They are also crucial points in showing Stephen's growth and in his descriptions of female beauty.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Quote analysis.
"Is a chair finely made tragic or comic? Is the portrait of Mona Lisa good if I desire to see it? Is the bust of Sir Philip Crampton lyrical, epical, or dramatic? Can excrement or a child or a louse be a work of art? If not,why not?" Page 232
This to me is the point in the novel where Stephen is really reaching his enlightenment as an artist. He had a mentally challenging childhood in which he questioned many things that most people would just accept without second thought. He was challenged with accepting his loss of innocence and his alienation from his country, family, and church. He questioned did any of this really matter, and now he is looking at the aesthetics of things. If a chair can be categorized as art much like a painting or a play. He pulls out the question of what the maker may have gone through to create the chair, if it was just quickly done without a thought or if passion was put into it, does that determine it comic or tragic? Is art something that makes you feel, something you want to see, something that maybe you don't want to see. Is excrement or a child or a louse a work of art? We do not usually say these things are but why? An image of a child may be beautiful or a louse may be tragic and show squalor and poverty. This quote embodies the issue that Joyce works up to address, the true meaning of art and the thought process that goes with.
"Is a chair finely made tragic or comic? Is the portrait of Mona Lisa good if I desire to see it? Is the bust of Sir Philip Crampton lyrical, epical, or dramatic? Can excrement or a child or a louse be a work of art? If not,why not?" Page 232
This to me is the point in the novel where Stephen is really reaching his enlightenment as an artist. He had a mentally challenging childhood in which he questioned many things that most people would just accept without second thought. He was challenged with accepting his loss of innocence and his alienation from his country, family, and church. He questioned did any of this really matter, and now he is looking at the aesthetics of things. If a chair can be categorized as art much like a painting or a play. He pulls out the question of what the maker may have gone through to create the chair, if it was just quickly done without a thought or if passion was put into it, does that determine it comic or tragic? Is art something that makes you feel, something you want to see, something that maybe you don't want to see. Is excrement or a child or a louse a work of art? We do not usually say these things are but why? An image of a child may be beautiful or a louse may be tragic and show squalor and poverty. This quote embodies the issue that Joyce works up to address, the true meaning of art and the thought process that goes with.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Heart Of Darkness Response
I really liked this book, the reading was kind of difficult and it wasn't the easiest book to pick out all of the symbols, but talking about it in class really brought a lot of questions to mind about almost every aspect of the novel. I continue to ask myself if Kurtz was ever really meant to be a real character, or was he an emotion, was he only the evil that emerged from the jungle. For some reason I am very drawn to books that take place in a mysterious jungle setting. Lord of the Flies was the same way, I'm not sure if I really loved the book and the writing itself but I loved what Golding was going for. This suspicion of primitive evil and violence. It is all very intriguing.
Conrad had the same idea, but to me this is far more sinister, It is displaying natives as animals but it goes beyond that. It goes back to the beginning of time and shows man's connection to something we really are so detached from. This may be may favorite book we read this year, the character Kurtz is incredible. I don't understand how Conrad did such an amazing job displaying him as both a human and something very different.
I also think that this was the most serious book we read so far. Of course Invisible Man was very serious, but it was not as powerful to me as Heart Of Darkness. This book was extremely interesting and I found it to have incredible insight into how connected we are to primitive human behavior.
I really liked this book, the reading was kind of difficult and it wasn't the easiest book to pick out all of the symbols, but talking about it in class really brought a lot of questions to mind about almost every aspect of the novel. I continue to ask myself if Kurtz was ever really meant to be a real character, or was he an emotion, was he only the evil that emerged from the jungle. For some reason I am very drawn to books that take place in a mysterious jungle setting. Lord of the Flies was the same way, I'm not sure if I really loved the book and the writing itself but I loved what Golding was going for. This suspicion of primitive evil and violence. It is all very intriguing.
Conrad had the same idea, but to me this is far more sinister, It is displaying natives as animals but it goes beyond that. It goes back to the beginning of time and shows man's connection to something we really are so detached from. This may be may favorite book we read this year, the character Kurtz is incredible. I don't understand how Conrad did such an amazing job displaying him as both a human and something very different.
I also think that this was the most serious book we read so far. Of course Invisible Man was very serious, but it was not as powerful to me as Heart Of Darkness. This book was extremely interesting and I found it to have incredible insight into how connected we are to primitive human behavior.
Heart Of Darkness Quote
“It was unearthly, and the men were—No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it—the suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise,
This quote shows the connection Marlow feels to the animals around him. This uses the words howled, leap, horrid, uproar, wild, and passionate. All of these words are words that could be used to describe some of the most savage animals. But Marlow feels kinship to them, and that excites him. That fact that these humans are being so incredibly inhuman excites the animal within him. He knows that he shares flesh and blood with these natives. That deep down they are the same, they are just the clay that their lives have molded them into. These natives only have a different sculptor than Marlow but all in all they come from the same material. It is this native scream that Marlow feels deep inside of himself that amazes him. The fact that he feels very close to this savagery. You must ask yourself though what would you feel in his shoes. We have no idea, and we can only make false assumptions based on what we feel right now.
Personally I love the end of this quote, "a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first ages—could comprehend. And why not?" This to me shows the connection of todays human race to the very first human beings. That despite all of the incredible differences that have happened over these thousands and thousands of years, there is still that connection to between human beings from every time period.
“It was unearthly, and the men were—No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it—the suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise,
This quote shows the connection Marlow feels to the animals around him. This uses the words howled, leap, horrid, uproar, wild, and passionate. All of these words are words that could be used to describe some of the most savage animals. But Marlow feels kinship to them, and that excites him. That fact that these humans are being so incredibly inhuman excites the animal within him. He knows that he shares flesh and blood with these natives. That deep down they are the same, they are just the clay that their lives have molded them into. These natives only have a different sculptor than Marlow but all in all they come from the same material. It is this native scream that Marlow feels deep inside of himself that amazes him. The fact that he feels very close to this savagery. You must ask yourself though what would you feel in his shoes. We have no idea, and we can only make false assumptions based on what we feel right now.
Personally I love the end of this quote, "a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first ages—could comprehend. And why not?" This to me shows the connection of todays human race to the very first human beings. That despite all of the incredible differences that have happened over these thousands and thousands of years, there is still that connection to between human beings from every time period.
Heart Of Darkness Analysis
Heart of Darkness is essentially about what the name is. It can be taken in two different ways, that the heart of darkness is the heart of Africa, deep into the depths of the congo on a steamboat. But it can also be looked at in a more figurative way, about the journey to the heart of darkness that I believe is in every human being.
A major question that Heart Of Darkness brings up is the idea that civilization keeps us together, and if it is removed our civilized mind goes with it. Marlow is used to represent this mind, and how fragile it is. How we can fall into our own primitive instincts since essentially we are all animals and without the rules of government and society what would we know?
Kurtz represents the evil inside of everyone, and the potential for it to come out and really take over. Marlow slowly leaves civilization which represents reason and goodness, and he slowly reaches Kurtz which signifies his descent to evil, how he becomes closer and closer to it.
Kurtz is clearly not a normal human being because in almost every instance he is not characterized as a physical thing. He is always a shadow, moving in and out of light. Never fully seen. A phantom. This is used to show that Kurtz can really be deciphered in either way, he can be taken literally, as an ivory hunter gone mad with a lust for blood. Or you truly could read the book with a different perspective. Not even looking at Kurtz as he really exists. You could say that he really only lives inside Marlow and that this journey is into the heart of Marlow, maybe even that Marlow is Kurtz. The possibilities are endless and when Marlow is almost completely transformed into the savage beast of Kurtz, he refuses to cross the line. Kurtz dies on the trip back home, for they are returning to civilization where savagery is not nurtured like it was in the depths of the congo.
Heart of Darkness is essentially about what the name is. It can be taken in two different ways, that the heart of darkness is the heart of Africa, deep into the depths of the congo on a steamboat. But it can also be looked at in a more figurative way, about the journey to the heart of darkness that I believe is in every human being.
A major question that Heart Of Darkness brings up is the idea that civilization keeps us together, and if it is removed our civilized mind goes with it. Marlow is used to represent this mind, and how fragile it is. How we can fall into our own primitive instincts since essentially we are all animals and without the rules of government and society what would we know?
Kurtz represents the evil inside of everyone, and the potential for it to come out and really take over. Marlow slowly leaves civilization which represents reason and goodness, and he slowly reaches Kurtz which signifies his descent to evil, how he becomes closer and closer to it.
Kurtz is clearly not a normal human being because in almost every instance he is not characterized as a physical thing. He is always a shadow, moving in and out of light. Never fully seen. A phantom. This is used to show that Kurtz can really be deciphered in either way, he can be taken literally, as an ivory hunter gone mad with a lust for blood. Or you truly could read the book with a different perspective. Not even looking at Kurtz as he really exists. You could say that he really only lives inside Marlow and that this journey is into the heart of Marlow, maybe even that Marlow is Kurtz. The possibilities are endless and when Marlow is almost completely transformed into the savage beast of Kurtz, he refuses to cross the line. Kurtz dies on the trip back home, for they are returning to civilization where savagery is not nurtured like it was in the depths of the congo.
Player Piano Response
I have one major complaint in the novel Player Piano, and that is that Vonnegut seems to have complicated his issue too much. Of course I probably did not look deep enough into what he was doing, but still, the trading of Paul on sides, where he is a traitor, then a spy, it is all a blur to me now, but during the reading this seemed to detract from the power of the issue at hand.
I loved the idea of the novel, I believe the idea of it will be timeless and that is what will make it a classic. The issue of technology overtaking our lives will never die. People will always be searching for new ways to make our lives easier. I do not believe the situation will become as drastic as in the novel anytime soon. But the novel is probably more prevalent in our society today then it was when the novel was written.
I am a big fan of novels that stay focused, and Player Piano is not one of these. This does not mean I didn't enjoy the novel at all, because I did. But I think if the idea was more focused then the novel would become more powerful and get its message across with more force.
I have one major complaint in the novel Player Piano, and that is that Vonnegut seems to have complicated his issue too much. Of course I probably did not look deep enough into what he was doing, but still, the trading of Paul on sides, where he is a traitor, then a spy, it is all a blur to me now, but during the reading this seemed to detract from the power of the issue at hand.
I loved the idea of the novel, I believe the idea of it will be timeless and that is what will make it a classic. The issue of technology overtaking our lives will never die. People will always be searching for new ways to make our lives easier. I do not believe the situation will become as drastic as in the novel anytime soon. But the novel is probably more prevalent in our society today then it was when the novel was written.
I am a big fan of novels that stay focused, and Player Piano is not one of these. This does not mean I didn't enjoy the novel at all, because I did. But I think if the idea was more focused then the novel would become more powerful and get its message across with more force.
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