Death has forever boggled the human mind. Poets for centuries have taken on this ideological challenge, including the poets John Kreats and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. These two poets took on the issue very similarly in there use of imagery of the sky, and first-person stream of conscientiousness approach to writing their own thoughts on the subject. Their relation of death to words took on two very different forms however. Kreats viewed death as sweet nothingness to embrace, and Longfellow saw it simply as a loud blast to take you away from that of which you once knew. The two authors analyzed deaths very similarly in their approach and form of their poems, but differed drastically in the theme of which they emitted when dealing with death.
At a very fundamental level, the two authors wrote in very similar style. Both referenced themselves directly, and followed the emotions of which they felt as they wrote. Fear was the first emotion to come to each of their minds, and each looked back to their pasts for answers. The key to these similarities is the use of first-person pronoun references, such as the word "I" which is used in each. This technique helps share their personal thoughts via "Montaigne" self-reflection style, which helps make it more relatable for the reader.
The authors are also very similar in the imagery that they relate the sense of death with. Their use of the sky is very similar, both with clouds in the sky, and the setting being dark. This represents the unknown for both authors, as neither knows what is to come. It is a distant setting which had not been explored to extent during this time period, and allowed for very open ended imagery. This wide open space helped convey a sense of vastness of death, and how it puzzles the mind.
Although the style and imagery of the two authors is very similar, the message of each of them varies quite a bit. While both focus on fear early in their poems, Keat's ends up accepting death, while Longfellow simply fears its embrace. These two feelings are conveyed through a similar sense- sound. Acceptance comes through sweet silence, and the worries of the natural phenomenon come through harsh, thundering sounds. These two messages, while conveyed in similar ways, show very different feelings on what death means to the individual author.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Essay #8
Scanner didn't do so well on this one for some reason, but if anyone wants to fill in the blanks for research comment here and I can try and send a message of all the parts that got messed up.
Essay #8 Attempt 2
Essay #8 Attempt 2
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Poetry Essay #4
Fourth and last essay of the weekend.
Analyze two conflicting sides of a character and explain how this conflict illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole.
Book chosen: Hamlet
Forks in the road offer up unique opportunities to show values held by individuals. These decisions help reveal themes within a story, and paint a picture of the author's intended message. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the protagonist goes mental agony throughout the book. His decision on life or death drives the story, and is summarized in his famous soliloquy To Be or Not to Be. This inner conflict of whether to live or die allows Shakespeare to share his message of internal struggle and revenge's folly to his audiences and readers.
The choice that Hamlet must make is one based on internal conflict. He struggles with the pain related to the death of his father, and the cruelty of life, and faces the decision of whether to face his trouble, or to end it in one fatal sweep of a knife. Shakespeare explicitly magnifies this conflict in Hamlet's self reflection. On one hand, Hamlet wonders if he should face his troubles and deal with his inner emotions. On the other he wonders whether he should just end them and his life. This shows that Hamlet doesn't have a handle on his inner emotions, and his passion driven actions are clouded in misdirection, and this leads to tragic revenge.
One choice Hamlet ponders is that of ending his life. To make his own suffering end in an instant. This particular choice reveals the struggle that he faces. The harshness of life and the desire to just make your challenges go away in a blink of an eye. This highlights internal struggle, and Hamlet's inability to think straight. His other option is that of facing his issues. He takes this route, but due to his struggle, he follows the path of revenge, and ends up paying the price for his actions.
Analyze two conflicting sides of a character and explain how this conflict illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole.
Book chosen: Hamlet
Forks in the road offer up unique opportunities to show values held by individuals. These decisions help reveal themes within a story, and paint a picture of the author's intended message. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the protagonist goes mental agony throughout the book. His decision on life or death drives the story, and is summarized in his famous soliloquy To Be or Not to Be. This inner conflict of whether to live or die allows Shakespeare to share his message of internal struggle and revenge's folly to his audiences and readers.
The choice that Hamlet must make is one based on internal conflict. He struggles with the pain related to the death of his father, and the cruelty of life, and faces the decision of whether to face his trouble, or to end it in one fatal sweep of a knife. Shakespeare explicitly magnifies this conflict in Hamlet's self reflection. On one hand, Hamlet wonders if he should face his troubles and deal with his inner emotions. On the other he wonders whether he should just end them and his life. This shows that Hamlet doesn't have a handle on his inner emotions, and his passion driven actions are clouded in misdirection, and this leads to tragic revenge.
One choice Hamlet ponders is that of ending his life. To make his own suffering end in an instant. This particular choice reveals the struggle that he faces. The harshness of life and the desire to just make your challenges go away in a blink of an eye. This highlights internal struggle, and Hamlet's inability to think straight. His other option is that of facing his issues. He takes this route, but due to his struggle, he follows the path of revenge, and ends up paying the price for his actions.
Poetry Essay #3
Show how McCarthy's techniques convey the impact of the experience on the main character.
Dramatic experiences must be felt, and relived by a reader. McCarthy does just this is his novel The Crossing, retelling the chilling story of a man trying to put to rest the life of a wolf in the wild. He brings the author to the scene with vivid imagery, relives the action play-by-play, and takes the reader with him. The struggle with death can also be seen allegorically through the smoldering fire, and the nature that encompasses him. Through his action-to-thought structure, symbolic imagery, and his third person writing style, McCarthy conveys the main character's psychological struggle, and their connection to nature that they gain through the experience.
This insert in the essay is structured so that the reader goes through the actions in the main character's eyes without pause, then hear his inner thoughts. This form serves a two pronged purpose. The first half of the insert allows the reader to tell real time, through indirect characterization, how the main character was impacted by the experience first hand. His very careful and delicate proceedings with the wolf show his care of the animal. In doing this, you get a raw feel of the emotional connection that the main character has with the wolf. The second half of the insert has to deal with the inner workings of the character's thoughts. His self reflection on nature shares how he feels part of it, and how even a vicious creature is an integral part of the world how we know it, as are we.
The author uses very powerful, symbolic imagery throughout to help tell the story. A smoldering fire helped represent the struggle to stay alive. A wolf running through fresh morning grass before the rise of the sun showed the fresh and innocent view on life. Blood running from the wolf showed its life was whisked away from it. This was able to share the character's inner thoughts without explicitly saying the feelings that they had. It allowed for a more free flowing, action oriented text, with still conveying the significant impact the experience had on the main character.
In writing in third person, the author is able to gain a third person perspective on the character. By doing this he was able to share the characters perceptive in a different manner. He allowed the character's actions to speak for themselves, and for his inner thoughts to paint a picture fore the reader. By objectively peering into his inner imagery and thoughts, a general view on how the character changes through the experience can be made.
Dramatic experiences must be felt, and relived by a reader. McCarthy does just this is his novel The Crossing, retelling the chilling story of a man trying to put to rest the life of a wolf in the wild. He brings the author to the scene with vivid imagery, relives the action play-by-play, and takes the reader with him. The struggle with death can also be seen allegorically through the smoldering fire, and the nature that encompasses him. Through his action-to-thought structure, symbolic imagery, and his third person writing style, McCarthy conveys the main character's psychological struggle, and their connection to nature that they gain through the experience.
This insert in the essay is structured so that the reader goes through the actions in the main character's eyes without pause, then hear his inner thoughts. This form serves a two pronged purpose. The first half of the insert allows the reader to tell real time, through indirect characterization, how the main character was impacted by the experience first hand. His very careful and delicate proceedings with the wolf show his care of the animal. In doing this, you get a raw feel of the emotional connection that the main character has with the wolf. The second half of the insert has to deal with the inner workings of the character's thoughts. His self reflection on nature shares how he feels part of it, and how even a vicious creature is an integral part of the world how we know it, as are we.
The author uses very powerful, symbolic imagery throughout to help tell the story. A smoldering fire helped represent the struggle to stay alive. A wolf running through fresh morning grass before the rise of the sun showed the fresh and innocent view on life. Blood running from the wolf showed its life was whisked away from it. This was able to share the character's inner thoughts without explicitly saying the feelings that they had. It allowed for a more free flowing, action oriented text, with still conveying the significant impact the experience had on the main character.
In writing in third person, the author is able to gain a third person perspective on the character. By doing this he was able to share the characters perceptive in a different manner. He allowed the character's actions to speak for themselves, and for his inner thoughts to paint a picture fore the reader. By objectively peering into his inner imagery and thoughts, a general view on how the character changes through the experience can be made.
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