Last Blog Post!

A Good Man is Hard to Find

In this blog post I looked closely at A Good Man is Hard to Find and wrote a lot specifically about the symbolism I thought I saw.

A Song in the Front Yard  

In this blog post I did a close reading of "A Song in the Front Yard" by about the tension and the speaker among other things.  

McKay's America

This was the blog in which I used the close reading a poem hand out to look at McKay’s poem "America'.  In it I examined everything from tension to form to the sounds of the poem.

I selected these all these poems for the same reason.  To be completely honest, I wasn’t very impressed with myself this semester, but at least in these posts I was able to close read the text.  I think I could have taken them a step further than just a formalist style analysis.  However, it is what it is.

Ideas about Literature 

I don’t think my ideas about literature as a whole have changed over this semester.  I would say that I now understand different periods (post- modernism, modernism ext.) of literature a lot clearer.

What have I learned. . . .

Well, as I stated earlier I have learned a lost about modernism and post-modernism.  I have to add that I also learned a lot about Mckay and the Harlem Renaissance (for my essay).  I think I have also decided (after much deliberation) that appreciating a piece of writing makes it almost as enjoyable as loving it.  I would go as far as to say that it is its own type of less passionate, less demanding love.

Performance this Semester 

I did not perform as well this semester as I would have liked.  I could list excuses, but they would just be excuses.  I worked hard on the essay, but could have worked harder.  I did not try my best on the blogs. I kept too quiet for a lot of the group discussions.

Strengths as a Writer and Thinker

Let us start with the positive.

I have a brain that is pretty darn functional when fed caffeine and vitamins.

I try to remain open to new/different styles and ideas about writing.  I am not always good at doing this, but I think the effort helps me to appreciate a decent variety of different styles.

I want to/ but do not need to understand a text.  Both parts of that statement are important. First, I want to understand what I read.  I have seen a lot of people give up quickly if they don’t understand something they have read and I think this is a weakness because if one does this one will never learn.  The fact that I can do this means I am open to learning right?

The fact that I do not have to understand a text is a strength as well.  It means that I can live of the rhythm and other aspects of text without feeling completely frustrated.

I am not sure what my strengths as a writer are anymore.  I am in one of those frustrated states where I feel completely talentless right now.  I have always gotten back out of them, but it is very discouraging to feel like giving up (just writing of course). I got rhythm and a decent vocabulary at least. J

Weaknesses

I am currently in an interesting state (as described above). So, I feel like I have a lot of weaknesses but, I will just list a few.

Whenever I read something I have written it feels forced.  It feels like I have pulled out my poetic and essay-ic teeth in order to get something on the page. Maybe it just sounds that way to me but it feels so stale.  I do not feel that way when writing just when reading back over everything.

Grammar- it is  still quite horrible.  

I often stop myself from even trying to write because I feel like I have no skill or don’t know what to say.  This is very counterproductive.  

I am too hard on myself sometimes and not hard enough on myself at other times.

Grading Myself

I would give myself a “C” because I don’t think I tried hard enough in class or on the blogs.  I did okay on the essay, but I could have done better with more effort.  I am glad this class is not graded by some scale of effort measured in some magic way.  I would like an “A” but, I guess we shall see.   

Small Group Discussion

How I Prepared and How it was Different

I read the story several times.  Normally, I will only read something once before coming to class.  Poems are exceptions as they tend to be shorter and more confusing.  As I read, I mark up my book.  This I normally do, but I did make more annotations with this story than I do most of the time.

Even after I read the story a few times I felt really overwhelmed by the story.  It was not as extreme as an “I just read The Waste Land for the first time”, but I was still pretty overwhelmed by my lack of understanding.   

So I did what any “halfway decent student” would do when facing mild confusion.  I drank too much coffee, warmed up my brain and did some research.  I normally do not do research before class on a piece of text.  At that point I added more annotations to my book.

I marked my annotations with tabs to help me find places in the text better.  Unfortunately, I still could not find things on discussion day.

This is one of the paintings I was talking
about having violets with the Virgin Mary
Madonna benois by Leonardo da Vinci

Three Things I Learned

1. A writer can cram a hell of a lot of symbolism into a text without it sounding forced.  There was a lot, and I really mean a lot of symbolism in A Good Man is Hard to Find, but I did not feel like anything was stretched. 

 It all just flowed into the story.  Furthermore, one can write a piece that is heavily religious in nature but feels earthy (maybe that is not the word I am looking for) --- natural and worldly (as in of the world).

Side note – I have a new found interest in symbolism.

2. Unless forced, I will not prepare as much as I am supposed to prepare.  I kind of already knew this, but this discussion reinforces how understanding about my personality.  

3. Every class is dramatically different.  I had to do a discussion like this one last semester, and I assumed this one would be similar.  Yes, I was just as nervous.  Yes, I consumed just as much coffee.  Yes, I still felt unprepared but turned out to be prepared. 

However, this discussion felt completely different.  Different minds and a different text changed the whole thing for me. I had kind of expected it to be the same or similar, but for me it was not.

For my personal knowledge of the text I think it was a little more useful.  This is because it forced me to take time to think about the text.  This time allowed me to come to new understandings about the text.      

A Good Man is Hard to Find

This Blog is a day late, so I shall use it to say what I refrained from saying in the class discussion. (I really need to stop turning in these late and missing blogs huh?)

Color and Symbolism

The question asking if there was a pattern to the color really struck me.  On the second page of the story the family is driving and the scenery is described.

Ultisol-- A type of red clay
common in the American South

They pass “blue granite”, “red clay banks slightly streaked in purple” and “crops” that are “green”.

This is the image of nature at the start of the story. Flash forward to the family driving down the dirt road to their ultimate doom. This is the image of nature we see.

“blue tops of trees” and “red depression with the dust coated trees”

I am going to get all theological symbolism on this for a minute.

Humanity was (According to the Bible) born of the dust of the earth and then after leaving the Garden of Eden, man must till the earth (the rocks, the clay and the crops).  As the family leaves for their journey they pass these images of the creation of humanity.  There is both grace represented by blue and evil—though pride or sin seems more accurate-- in this creation.   

Then toward the end of their journey they see trees. When seeing trees one can think of Christ’s Crucifixion as he was nailed to wood which comes from. . . . that is right you guessed it. . . trees! In the death of Christ there is evil and sin (Red!). This is both in the act of the people crucifying Christ and the sins that the innocent Christ bears for believers.  There is also grace (Blue!) in that those who follow Christ will no longer face the Judgment and wrath of a just God.  

I must mention that The Pilgrim's Progress
 is not a Catholic work. Apparently
O' Connor had a thing for "prophets"
I would blog about this but there just is not time. 

This all leads me to think that this story is the “Southern Gothic” version of a Pilgrimage.  While this seems to look nothing like Pilgrims Progress, maybe it kind of does.  Furthermore, I believe I think I could prove that it does!

 Even the title helps me with this. . . .

A Good Man is Hard to Find

“And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.”

Mark 10:18  

Hint. Jesus is God and therefor good. One needs to read this quote in context.

Other possible Spiritual Symbolism.  

The Misfit keeps on talking about these papers that he has never seen and prove somehow he is guilty.  My first though it that he is talking about the Book of Life.  In order for his guilt to be sure in this symbolism his name would have to be removed from it I think.  But I don’t think The Misfit says how the papers prove his is guilty, so this could good work.

This could be commentary on the Calvinist/ reformed (you can prove this to a level with the Bible too) idea of predestination. I am not sure what Catholics think on this topic though.

A Question

Resident Dante’s Inferno expert (you know who you are! Though, you might not call yourself an expert, just compare your knowledge to mine, then you will)

I read somewhere online that there are allusions to the Inferno in A Good Man is Hard to Find.  Apparently these allusions, like a good man, are hard to find.  It does not help that I cannot find where I read that this was the case.  Anyways, I was wondering if you knew of any of these or if they even exist.

I really love A Good Man is Hard to Find and really love Dante’s Inferno so if these exist I would be pretty excited.  

I was thinking maybe in the way the forest is described, but I don't know. 

Side Note

I am seriously adding some O' Connor to my Amazon wish list. 

Villanelle Poem

"Mama Naughty"

I have become the type of mom I hate

This is not the mom I thought I would be

Damn it, so load I can’t concentrate  

They aren’t eating veggies, staying up late

Throwing their fits, God Damn it- he bit me

I have become the type of mom I hate

“can’t” go to the park, you’ll just have to wait”

“Yes, Mama Naughty- forgive me baby?”

Damn it, so loud, I can’t concentrate

Guilt so heavy, Mama isn’t a Saint

“First mama has to finish her coffee”

I have become the type of mom I hate

When is babysitting? Must check the date

This is the definition of Lunacy

Lord God, Make them quiet, must concentrate

Lord, they are so good, don’t deserve this fate

But I am all grey, “Mama crying” you see

I have become the type of mom I hate

Oh God, something is wrong, can’t concentrate   

Its really late but here it is. 

Rabbit Trail— Lady Gaga Video

Every night before bed I read my kids a stack of books.  They each pick two or three or four books and I pick a few.  Eight to sixteen books later, I pray that they are ready for bed and all the reading actually grows their baby brains.

We read many books but I never ready found myself thinking before now “Am I reading them post-modern children’s books or modernist or what?”

“One Fish—    two fish—    red fish—    blue fish”

“Look what we found

 in the park

in the dark.

We will take him home.

We will call him Clark.

                                He will live at our house.

                                He will grow and grow.

                                Will our mother like this?

                                We don’t know” (Seuss)

How does this relate to the Gaga video?  “Don’t ask us why. — Go ask your mother”.  (Seuss)

ぜんぜんわかりません。

ぜんぜんわかりません。

ぜんぜんわかりません。

가가               가가             가가

The Lady GaGa video is postmodern in a few ways.  In the video the “medium is the message”.  The way in which the video is constructed is what the video is trying to say.  But since there is no absolute truth in post modernism, the video could have a very specific message (when looking from a post-modernist perspective it could mean anything). 

Dr. Seuss

Which brings us too Dr. Seuss.   I have found a few books on Dr. Seuss and post modernism.  One of them I read in part online and added to my amazon wish list because I am a nerd (links on the bottom).  One of them talks about how these books were part of the transition to postmodernism. 

So reread “The Thinks You Can Think” and “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” from an understanding of post-modernism.  Generations of Americans are being raised on these types of book.  I wonder how it affects the way we think.  

Back to Gaga now.

The pop culture and advertisement references are also postmodernist and in the video.

But this is not the way I want to respond to this video.

So here you go. . .

I realize that posting this video means I am comparing SuG (Japanese Band) to Lady Gaga, but I would like to point out that I prefer one to the other.  And I do not find the comparison valid except that they are both post-modern and stuff like that. (I must point out that J-rock was J-rock before Gaga was Gaga)

Anyways, our culture is not the only one doing reality bending.  And because we are in such a global world could there even be a definition of “our culture” that actually applies?

More SuG and there are many American Culture references in  this last one.  The most obviously being to The Rocky Horror Picture Show which started off as a British play.  And this is video is. . . . the other (the Japanese rock group) commenting on an other (the movie) which comments on different others. 

If this blog post did not make sense, I blame postmodernism. I did toss in some random Japanese and Korean. But the Gaga video had some random Japanese so I figure it is fine. 

Some Relevant Quotes

“I threw the bottle rack and the urinal in their faces as a challenge, and now they admire them for their aesthetic beauty.”  - Marcel Duchamp

"Postmodernism entices us with the siren call of liberation and creativity, but it may be an invitation to intellectual and moral suicide."  - Gertrude Himmelfarb

Notes

 Seuss, D. One fish two fish red fish blue fish. Random House Books for Young Readers, 1960.

Gertrude Himmelfarb (b. 1922), U.S. historian. On Looking Into the Abyss, ch. 7 (1994).  

Info on one of the books

The book I have on my Wish List

(\__/)

(='.'=) – “Vamp Vamp Vamp!”

(")_(")

                  

(The bunny is making a SuG song reference) 

“a song in the front yard”

One of the many "weeds" my son calls "flowers".
Attribution: Angel caboodle at Wiki Commons

I had read Gwedolyn Brooks’ poem “a song in the front yard” a few months ago for another class  so I have read it like 20 times.  So here is my close reading of the poem.

Structure

This poem is in quatrains with the last two lines rhyming.  This rhyme is actually quite important in helping to develop the speaker’s child- like voice. 

Speaker

The speaker seems to be a young girl. The lines “a girl gets sick of a rose” and the desire to “be a bad woman, too” tell the reader that the speaker I probably a female.  The fact that she is in the “yard”, the way she talks about her mother and the ignorant childlike tone tell us the speaker is young.   And, of course, the fact that the child talks about when she “will grow up” proves this as well. The end rhyme adds to this feeling.

No Caps in Title

I never noticed before, but for some reason the title is in all lower case letters.  From looking at “the mother” and “kitchenette building” one could think was just a style choice by the author.   However, not all her poems have this type of title.  I wonder why some do and others do not at first I thought it was just all lower case when she was writing from a single perspective that represents a group or a group.

But I am not sure because “We Real Cool” has capitals.  Then again that feels like a different “we”. 

Perhaps I am over thinking, but then again can one over think?  And isn’t thinking oneself is overthinking in itself over thinking.

A rose-- A flower everyone agrees is a flower
Attribution: Georges Seguin

Tone

The repetition creates the child-like feel as well.  The “And” starts in the last stanza, the two “wonderful”s in the third stanza.  The multiple “it’s fine”.  The urgency adds to this as well.  This is seen in the “now” and “today” and the overall pace of the poem.  The poem goes point, point, point and keeps moving kind of like a child’s mind (or mine but that’s a whole other story).

Tension

I think the main tension in this poem comes from the young-girl like speaker discussing the serious issues of poverty, starvation, jail and prostitution in this child like ignorant tone.   The “back yard” is described as a “good time”, the “charity children” are said to do “wonderful things” and have “wonderful fun”.

The tension is added to by the mother who clearly has a different perspective and one could argue a less ignorant one.  The fact that the poem is written from a child’s perspective makes one want to doubt the speaker’s judgment.  And of course we readers are reading from an adult perspective like the mother’s right?

Maybe not.

I don’t think this poem would hold the same weight if adults did not often think same way as the child in this poem.  I meet them all the time (make me extremely frustrated), but then again I am totally in mom zone.

Maybe this is commentary about the need to rebel against society/tradition and how that can be a childlike ignorant thing to do.  Maybe it is proclaiming sort of the opposite.  That one must be childlike so that one can rebel against society. 

The Other

Lastly, I would like to point out that this poem uses an “other” (the child) to discuss more others in society (poor kids and prostitutes).  

Dream Songs

Dream Songs

Dream Songs felt a little like dreaming. The awkward kind of dream you hope not to have and when you do have them, you don’t tell people about it.

Berryman talks about how he wanted it to be “hostile to every visible tendency in both American and English poetry.”

To which I say Really? The very idea of rebelling against convention seems a bit of a “visible tendency in” in American poetry.   

If one wants to rebel against the normal American poetry ones best bet might be to write traditional Shakespearian sonnets.  But, like I said, the very act of rebelling against the norm prevents you from being able to rebel against the norm. Because rebelling is the norm.

Yes. That’s right. You “rebels” are all only another kind of sheep. Or the same kind of sheep.  

Maybe if I understood why he wrote in this way I could appreciate it more. 

 “Filling her compact & delicious body—  with chicken paprika” (1130)

Hmmmm. . . . what the heck? Seriously. He’s not even comparing women to sexy food.  It’s more like a turducken. In this way it is different than other poetry, but I don’t know if I would call this an improvement.  If one is going to objectify women (which I do not agree with) than at the very least do it in a sort of complementary way.  

Response Post

Meagan wrote in her blog about “Picasso” which was a piece that I really did not want to write about.  This was mostly because I did not understand it.  I got a bit of the ideas that Meagan did a great job talking about in her post.  But I did not understand why it was written in the style it was and further how this was cubist.

When I thought about cubist writing, I thought about works William Carlos Williams’ “The Red Wheelbarrow”.  Cubism is looking at things from different perspectives to form a whole.  So I saw how combining singular images to form a poem and a bigger idea or image was cubist.

I think Stein went at it in a different way.  It is almost like she uses different syntax to form different perspectives.  It is like she uses words and order to create this viewpoints without forcing them into images. 


I found the fact that there are no images in "Picasso" interesting and that there are no difficult or complex words.  She uses more generic words like "thing". The reader has to do a lot of work as does the structure of the sentence and all those simple words.    

Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

Rabbit Trail— The Word Reading

I went to The Word Reading and since I cannot seem to remember if I have to write a post about it in order to get extra credit, I am going to tell you all a little bit about my experience.

I went last semester as well, and this semester was much different.

First of all, I went with a friend.  This made the few moments before the reading actually starts dramatically more comfortable.  I used to be able to go places alone, but ever since I became a mother it makes me feel awkward to go to things alone.  

Free Pizza and Water Bottles!

The water was a life saver because I was super nervous (more about that later).  But in my usual style I spilt it on the table.

The pizza? Well, cheap is good but free is better.  In my poverty stricken state I don’t pass up free food, so I ate after the reading was over.  And I took and extra water bottle when I left (judge if you want).   

Listening

This reading was a lot cleaner than the last reading.  I’m not saying I would take my kids (of course they are 2 ½ and 1 ½ so I wouldn’t regardless), but this reading never sounded pornographic.  Yay! 

The readings seemed a lot shorter as well.  This is really nice because my attention span is not that long.  I have to refocus my brain continually for anything longer than 5 minutes if I am not in nerd mode.  

Reading                       

Now for the main reason I went and the cause of my nervousness.

I was signed up to read poetry.  My poetry.  The same poetry that causes me to cringe when I read it because I think it is just that bad.  Don’t get me wrong.  I have read far worse poetry than my own, but I have also read amazing poetry.  So of course I compare myself to the amazing poetry and not the crap. 

If one compares their work to bad stuff than one cannot see accurately what their skills and weaknesses really are.  Long story short.  I am not that confident, so I was really nervous.

I ended up reading two slightly longer but still short poems and a few epigrams.

And (drum roll please. . . brrum . . . brrum. . . brrump )

 I did fine.  I did not have a heart attack, panic attack, throw up, stumble unforgivably over my words, or anything else tragic.  A few people even said they liked my poems, so it all worked out.

Do I have a new sense of confidence?

No.  I still feel really inadequate.  

Will I read again?

Maybe.  Perhaps reading more I will find some confidence or at least an “I don’t care what anyone thinks anyways” attitude.

  

(\__/)

(='.'=) – “Is it that big of a deal? you just read a few poems”

(")_(")

                  

                                (The bunny is not supportive or understanding) 

 “Just saying what everyone is thinking ”

                                (Bunny! Hush!) 

"Sorry, Sorry Sorry Sorry"

                                (The Bunny is a making a K-pop reference) 

Eliot's The Waste Land

Better Late Than Never. . . . Right? 

I had a hard time deciding what to write about The Waste Land. 

I feel as though I would need to read it more and read other people’s opinions about it to understand it better. 

So I am going to focus on something easy.  I am going to pick apart one of my favorite sections.

And bats with baby faces in the violet light

Whistled, and beat their wings

And crawled head downward down a blackened wall

And upside down in the air were towers

Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours

And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells

                                                                                          (694)

Bats!!

Full Disclosure (well, partial because why would I give full disclosure?)

I have a slight obsession with bats, especially those with “baby faces”.  Seriously, I have a Bat Ecology books (textbooks) on my Amazon wish list.  I would have them on my bookshelf if I wasn’t poor.  

But that is not the only reason I love this passage.

“violet light”

Is it only me who gets this eerie feeling along with “violet light”.  It reminds me of black lights. That kind of creepy neon-purple glow that feels almost toxic like neon green does.  Furthermore, it reminds me of ultraviolet light both in name and because violet light is the step above/before UV light. 

It has a short wave-length and I think humans have a hard time seeing those wave lengths.

But since this passage is right before a massively Hindu inspired section I think it is important to consider Hindu as a guiding point as well.  I Google searched it, though I shouldn’t admit it (I need to get better at pretending I am a genius).

Seventh Chakra

Crown Chakra

So violet is used to represent the seventh or Crown Chakra (Sahasrara).  And I read (on Wiki, though it was sourced) that the Crown Chakra represents “pure consciousness”.

Random Thought

 It reminds me of how Marie Curie would comment about the pretty blue-green light that would glow from her test tubes (actually radioactive isotopes).  

I know that is a lot to say just about one word, but I saw enough color in T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land that it needed at least a little exploring.  Colors have such strong connotations (varying across cultures) that I think they do a lot of work in a poem or other text. 

For example: Purple, because it has such different connotations, would give a completely different feel to the passage.  Purple can make one think of royalty, nobility and wealth.  It does not have the same feel and evokes completely different images then "violet" even though they are similar colors.  

Sounds

I love the repeated “b” sounds as in “bats”  “baby” “beat” “blackened” “bells” ,

And the repeated “w” sounds and the repeated  “ow” sounds. 

"Whistled" "wings" "wells" "wall" "were"

"downward" "down"  "down  "towers" "hours" "out"  

It really adds to the eeriness. 

Faulkner's "Barn Burning"

Problems Reading Faulkner

First, I would like to say that I had a little difficult time reading “Barn Burning” and still follow the plot fully.  I feel as though Faulkner’s syntax is (hmmm . . . . .how do I say this?) cluttered? Or at least it feels cluttered.  And there is something about his diction that makes it hard for me to focus and keep the plot in mind at the same time.

Maybe it is the way he uses pronouns?

I think this could have been intentional.  Faulkner is writing with the perspective of a ten year old in mind.  There are points when then text is obviously fragmented to only show the reader what the boy sees.

An example of this is when the young boy is chopping wood- the reader sees several brief scenes and then the boy chops more wood.

Solution

I read “Barn Burning” twice, wrote on the side of the book (I always do though) and focused on specific elements of the story.  

Point of View

One of the elements I focused on was point of view.  Faulkner writes this short story from the limited omniscience perspective.  But he adds inner monologues that offer hints into the father and events that that happed before the story starts.  He also gives the perspective of the boy’s future self which allows him to explore/ explain the father character better.  

What’s with the “groves”?

In “Barn Burning” the scenes are frequently set using “groves” of two types of trees.  I thought at first that they might show a shift in the story or have some sort of other purpose.  But I have had a hard time proving anything yet with the text.

I definitely feel like Faulkner uses nature in an interesting way.  It is almost like he interrupts his own style with these images of birds and trees.  It fits with the story still but it feels like it is so obviously deliberate that it must serve a certain purpose. 

Mid-Term Essay

I finally know what I would like to do for my midterm essay!

It is a rough idea and a work in progress (that required a lot of help- thank you) but here it is.

The Main Idea 

I want to examine McKay’s poetry and maybe some other poets' work though the very specific lens of Du Bois.  I am thinking about exploring the poems using the idea of being both black and American that Du Bois expresses (page 455 in our book).

Du Bois seem to make specific arguments about what it means to be both black and an American.  He describes it as “warring ideals” that threaten to tear apart.  He also talks about what this result in for the African American.

Why McKay with Du Bois 

I think McKay will be a good poet to use for this for a few reasons.

    1. I read that he was strongly influenced by Du Bois (at least early in life).

2.  I can see this theme and tension obvious throughout his poetry.

I want to find other poets that explore this as well and see where my research and reading takes me. 

Because. . .

I think this idea gives enough freedom for the paper to develop, but at the same time it provides enough restriction to make sure the paper grows properly. 

McKay’s America

I chose to closely look at McKay's America.

  (just in case you couldn't tell by the title)

Many of my initial responses are answers to the question in the how to closely read a poem section so I will keep this part brief.

I have read some boring sonnets, but America is interesting because it does not feel like a sonnet.  I think this because of the subject matter or maybe more the tone of the poem.  This is in a way a love poem.  However, it is more raw and honest then romantic.

Close Read

1. How is the title of the poem working?  What information is it giving?  How would the poem be different with a different title?

Yes. The title is the only indication that poem is talking about America.  The title provides the subject, without this title the subject would be left to the reader.

2. List all of words you don’t know, or think you don’t know.  Look them up in the dictionary.  Write them down.

None.

3. Read the poem out loud.  What sounds do you notice in the poem?  Is there rhyme?  Are there any repeated sounds?  Write down the sounds you hear at work in the poem.

This is how I read poetry anyways (I understand much better and skip less words when reading out loud).  The poem is a sonnet.  An English sonnet?  Because of this it has a distinct pattern of rhyme.  It has a nice flow and doesn’t sound forced as some sonnets can.  

4. What is literally happening in the poem?  Write a paragraph describing what is going on.  Where is this happening?  Who are the people in the poem?

Well, nothing is literally happening in the poem. The poem is this kind of exploration of the relationship and feelings between the speaker and America.  There are a lot of metaphors though.

5. What are the images in the poem?  List five images you see in detail.  What do you know about them?  How is the poem using imagery?

“sinks into my throat her tiger tooth”

“flows like tides into my blood”

“bitterness sweeps my being like a flood”

“granite wonders”

One thing I love about this poem is that it uses imagery to explain more abstract thoughts and emotions(Flows- blood) and actual problems (there were actual violent problems in America and so “sinks- tooth” does not describe idea that is as abstract.

6. What do you know about the speaker?  List ten facts you can infer (the If-Then game).

The speaker is well read enough to write an English sonnet. . .

                Speaker will be using language, not simply laying it down

Speaker has had trouble with America’s “hate”. . . .

                Speaker as experienced some kind of prejudice. . . .

                Most likely not white male(though I already knew this)  

7. Write a paragraph describing the tone of the poem.  Remember, tone is the speaker’s attitude toward his/her subject.  Most attitudes in poetry will be complex, i.e. more that one attitude.  List 10 words you think helps set this tone.

The tone in this poem is extremely complex.

 “Although she feeds me thee bread of bitterness”

The speaker can list many ways in which “America” harms him (at least metaphorically).  In spite of this the speaker still says “her vigor flows like tides into my blood.” But this is flowing in his veins this is what gives him the “strength” against “hate.”  Who’s hate? America’s hate.   It is an amazing path of logic because it seems to deny logic but then it doesn’t. 

                “stealing”

                “sinks”

                “hell”

                “hate”

                “rebel”

                “bitterness”

                “darkly”

                “gaze”

                “strength”

                “might”

                “priceless” 

(Look its a poem ^)

8. Does the poem have a formal structure?  If not, what effect does the lack of structure have?  If so, what effect does the structure have on the meaning of the poem?

Yes, This poem is an English sonnet.  It give this poem tension (see below).

9. Where does the tension lie in the poem?  Poetic tension can come in many forms.  Is there any conflict in the plot/action of the poem?  Do images form a tension?  Does the speaker and/or tone create tension in the poem?  List three poetic tensions you see at work.

1.       There is a tension in the idea of “love”ing  something that is described as so violent by the speaker.

2.       This is a sonnet? The traditional form and content provide an interesting tension.  This could still be considered a love poem (I kind of think of it that way) but it is not your traditional or idealistic love poem.

3.       I guess the massive amounts of different metaphors can provide tension.                         

10. Are there any images, phrases, words, and sounds in the poem that you can't shake out of your head? List three that resonate with you.

The whole poem.

Specifically- - - “flows like tides into my blood”

Oh and ---- “cultured hell”

How My Understanding Expanded ( or didn't)

What if my understanding did not expand that much?  I am sure this means I am not reading closely enough.  Some of the list I just do automatically because I have been working on sharpening these skills in other classes. 

I don’t normally “infer” a lot about the speaker though and I could definitely use this in the future.  In this poem I did not get much, but this is probably because I did not do it right. 

McKay Reading "If We Must Die"

Response Post

Meagan says in her blog

“So I have to say Grandison’s technique for escape was amazing. Throughout the entire story you get this very strong feel that Grandison is devoted to his master and that he never has any intention of                                 leaving. Even though Dick has been diligently trying to get rid of him.”

This brought up a question.  How many layers can irony have?  It seems pretty endless when one considers the reader’s mind or the reader’s life.  I noticed many layers of irony in this story.  And I noticed this kind of ironic back and forth.  I wonder if one can find a lot more irony by looking at the author’s life. 

I was wondering. . .

Irony seems to be extremely culturally bound.  What I mean is that in order to have ones expectation reversed one needs expectations.  The expectations often come from culture.  I think there must also be things that are ironic in a global or human sense as well.

New Question

How does Ironic humor cross cultures?  Does it have to be dealing with fundamentally human issues?  

My genious Post on Irony

Oh the Irony of it all.

The Passing of Grandison is chock full of irony.  When I first started reading the story I thought, I need to keep an eye out for some ironic stuff.  Turns out that there is plenty of irony and I didn’t have to look.  The irony just pops up throughout the whole story.

Situational Irony

The whole plot line is ironic.  Dick, the son of a slave owner and a young master himself, attempts to take Grandison up north to free him so that Dick can convince Charity to marry him.  However, Grandison does not seem to be to enthusiastic about this freedom.  Grandison is called “abolitionist proof” by the colonel and it sure seems he is (pg. 235) It takes Dick leaving Grandison in Canada for him to stay and even then Grandison still comes back to the plantation.

Slave master trying to free slave, and slave not willing to go.  That is ironic.

What’s more ironic is that after Grandison is given a hero’s welcome home

. . . . . he and his whole family escapes to Canada.

Ha Ha. I am always paranoid about
this happening when I call my self a genius.
(see the blog title)  

It is ironic that Dick curses the “stupidity of a slave who could not be free and would not” and this same slave plans the escape of his whole family (out-smarting the slave masters ) (237).

And when Dick tells Charity about what he did she scolds him (ironic) and then marries him because he needs someone to keep him in check (more irony).

 Is there such thing as a layered irony?

There is so much more!

Ironic Names?

Charity and Dick

And is it just me or it the whole title ironic? The Passing of Grandison.

 Verbal Irony

It’s Ironic that the colonel’s slaves are “sacred to him” (pg. 234) They are obviously not “sacred” to him.

This makes it ironic.

“What cold-blooded, heartless monsters they were who would break up this blissful relationship of kindly protection . . . . “ (pg. 234)

This is a description of an abolitionist and completely ironic.  Of course this is not the case.  This can be compared to saying “nice Job!” to someone who just failed. 

Ha Ha Ha. Seriously. 

Here's hoping that all the mistakes in this post are ironic.