Music is Poetry
Is yes greater than no?
Why does the word “yes” normally make us feel better than the word “no“. This is something I have never really thought deeply about until the mini lecture about verification. Verification is motivation for humans. Something as simple as the professor nodding their head up and down is enough verification to us students to make us feel what we said was right. If our actions or words are not being verified in some way then we feel as if we have done nothing. Think about it. A simple “Thank You” for holding the door open for a person is verification that you did the right thing.
It is going to last forever
Love is Fixed
Trying to describe love is tough. There is not a text book definition of love. Therefore, people often can not describe it. Love is a strong and passionate feeling. The greatest part about love it is what connects us all as humans. Everyone can feel love even babies. In William Shakespeare’s, Let me not to the marriage of true minds and Anne Bradstreet’s To My Dear and Loving Husband, both writers define love by showing the audience how it makes them feel. Love is not just seen in poetry. It is seen music; Sometimes disguises but often not. In Chris Brown’s popular single, With You, he is expressing his love for this girl. The jist of the song is he loves the girl makes him feel and he does not want anything else. Poetry and music relate through their theme and tones. Love is fixed meaning it is permanent. There is no such thing as falling out of love. Falling out of love means that there was no love to begin with. Shakespeare’s poem, Let me not to the marriage of true minds, is extremely passionate piece of art that expresses how Shakespeare feels about love. The theme of the poem is love and he uses a profounded serious tone. The title is misleading because the word marriage pops out. Once the reader sees the word marriage it is easy to assume the poem is about marriage. “Which alters when alteration finds or bends with the remover to remove”. (Shakespeare 4-5). The speaker is saying stop trying to change or take away things in the relationship to make the relationship better because that is not love. If love can not be changed or removed then why so often do people try to change to make love work. Shakespeare is asking a question to the reader. He is saying why do people try to change and remove things for love. If love is not there then it simply is not there. “Oh, no! it is an ever fixed mark, That looks on tempests and is never shaken”. (Shakespeare 6-7) In this line, Shakespeare is playing the role of another person who just realized love is permanent. He expresses surprise by saying “Oh, no!”. Love is forever fixed; nothing can change that. He then goes on to show how strong love is. He says not even the strongest of storms could move love even the slightest. If love were a building it would be thee strongest one on the planet. Shakespeare is creative in the way he is expresses the way love makes him feel. He tells the audience all the characters of love. Love can not be altered, love is too strong to be shaken and equally as important love does not change over time. “Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks” ( Shakespeare 8-9). What Shakespeare is saying in this line is love’s worth is unknown. There is no value for love. You can not trade love for milk at the grocery store. Saying love has no value is ironic because everyone wants love. He then goes on to say love can also not be measured. There is no scale to see how tall love is or how much love weighs but yet people do it all the time. For example, the other day in the mall I heard this girl say “I love him probably a 9 out of 10 on the scale”. Shakespeare said it first, love is intangible and can not be weighed or measured; whether we like it or not love will remain the same forever. Nothing is forever except love. Shakespeare’s sonnet was the truth about love. He does not express his love towards an individual as does Anne Bradstreet in her poem.
In To My Dear and Loving Husband, Anne Bradstreet expresses her love for her husband. The theme is love and the tone is passionate. The title of the poem tells the reader that the poem is definitely about her love for her husband, dead or alive. She is the speaker but the speaker could also be wives in general. “I prize they love more than whole mines of gold, Or all the riches that the East hold” (Bradstreet 5-6). She is saying her love for her husband is more valuable than all the gold in the world. Like Shakespeare said love does not have any value but for some reason people are always expressing how valuable love is. Bradstreet is saying exactly what Shakespeare said but expressing towards her husband. The ending lines show the reader how much Bradstreet really does love her husband. “Then while we live, in love let’s so persevere, That when we live no more we may live ever”(Bradstreet 11-12). This line is deep. She is saying that while we live in love now, nothing will change when they die. She says when they physically die that her husband and her will live immortally through love. Poetry is not the only way to express passion. Singer, Chris Brown expresses love in his song With You.Chris Brown is a pop culture phenomenon. In his song With You, he is telling the audience that life is not the same without his love. The theme of the song is love and the tone is somber. Even though, he is not singing in a depressed voice. He is yelling to the world that he is only happy with this girl. The title of the song tells the audience that the song is about someone close to him. He starts out the song by saying “I need you, boo, I gotta see you, boo” From the very beginning, he is telling everyone that he needs this girl. He has lost something that he truly needs. That something being love. “And you mean to me what I mean to you, And together, baby, there is nothing we won't do, Cause if I got you I don't need money, I don't need cars, girl, you're my all” This verse is much like Bradstreet’s when she said not even all the gold mines or treasure in the East would be enough to trade for her love. Chris Brown is using a more modern comparison since people treasure cars and money in today’s society. Love is why the Earth functions.
Love is permanent. There is no other way to put it. Love is what humans live for. Being mortal we all want love because love is the key to immortality. Bradstreet, Shakespeare and Chris Brown all have experienced love and that is why they are capable of writing about love. It is impossible to write love if you have never experienced. Once love is experience, happiness is forever. Love is forever fixed.
What Happend?
Rap nowadays is not what it use to be. There use to be emotion and a story attached with the music. Modern rap is boring. How many times can you make a song about all the drugs you do? Old school music has passion behind it because those guys were fighting everyday for their lives while following their dreams. That passion is a lost art. Rap battles are no longer. The battle between the East and West coast has ended. It is a shame because that is when rap music was at it's peak. The studio artists need to leave and the real artists need to come back.
A&P
Odd Behavior
Sammy’s behavior through out John Updike’s A&P could be perceived as odd. Sammy’s actions could be viewed as odd but his intentions are not. Updike does a great job leaving the end of the story up for interpretation. There is never a definitive answer in literature. Not having a definitive answer it what divides literature from math and science. If novels had one clear cut dry definitive answer to everything they would be called textbooks. This is the climax of the story and where the interpretation begins. One common interpretation of Sammy’s behavior could be looked at as heroic, rebellious and profound. An equally common view is his actions are admirable and kind for standing up for the girls. The common perception is not my perception. The way I perceive his actions were selfish. He quit his job for himself contrary to the way he even obtained the job. Updike creates this scenario where he quits his job. That is too simple. Sammy quit his job for himself. In the beginning of the story, Updike says his parents are friends with the owner of A&P and got him the job. Sammy was just working there as a favor and to respect his parents not for himself. “Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your Mom and Dad”. Lengel says you do not want to do this to your parents because Sammy was only working their for his parents. Sammy was not working at A&P for himself. Sammy has been looking for a way out but never had the heart to quit.
Towards the middle of the story, Sammy is ringing up one of the more elderly shoppers when he makes a mistake and rings her item up twice. The lady quickly jumps on his mistake and he apologizes. That could be characterized as a minor and common mistake. Yes, maybe the manner the lady corrected him could be rude and annoyed Sammy but not enough for him to pack his bags. Updike creates the most unseen and unimaginable scenario in the 1960’s. Updike mentions the scene with the old lady because that scene is so minor and common compared to the major and bizarre scene. “In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits”. Updike shows that Sammy is aware and observant of the people that come into the store. Sammy had never seen girls dressed like nor has anyone else. “ …but remembering how he made that pretty girl blush makes me so scrunchy inside”. Sammy had a natural attraction to the pretty girl and wanted to get to know her. Sammy sees the same folks all the time because he works at the local food store. He never sees girls his own age shopping at the grocery store. Sammy defends the girls because he wants to get to know them. The girls gave Sammy a reason to quit and Sammy’s disagreement with his boss finalized his escape.
The disagreement between Sammy and Lengel occurred because of the girls. “ Girls this isn’t the beach. My mother asked me to pick up a jar of herring snacks. That’s okay but this isn’t the beach”. Sammy is than reminded of how Lengel, his boss, thought of A&P. “ His repeating this struck me as funny…he had been thinking all these years the A&P was a great big dune and he was the head lifeguard. He didn’t like my smiling-as I say he doesn’t miss much.”. Lengel thoughts about A&P contradict his policy. Sammy didn’t want to work at A&P and the way Lengel controlled the store helped him realize that. After Sammy quits his job, he walks outside. “ I looked around for my girls, but they’re gone, of course”. Quitting his job was more important to him than the girls. If the girls were more important, Sammy would of left with them.
Sammy is not a hero but can be compared to one. Peter Parker also known as Spiderman at a time was involved in a somewhat similar scenario. Peter Parker is a super hero. His job is to help and protect the citizens. Before Peter had super powers, he was in love with this girl Mary Jane. Peter was getting closer to Mary Jane but his job was pulling him further away. Peter was not only losing his relationship with Mary Jane but everyone else. Peter made the decision to give up his job as Spiderman so he could have more time to try and be with Mary Jane. Peter wanted to go and explore other options in the world much like Sammy but never had the time to do so. Peter Parker and Sammy made the same decision to quit their jobs so the can pursue what they want to do. Peter Parker was always busy rescuing people and stopping crimes. Sammy was always just seeing the same people all the time. Both quit their jobs and realize they had made a mistake. Peter’s mistake was he left the city of New York vunerable. Sammy’s mistake was the way he left.
Updike created that scenario and focuses on the girls to whole time. He makes the audience focus so much on the girls that when Sammy leaves his job, the first obvious reason why he left was for the girls. When really thinking about it, it is easy to tell how bored Sammy must get at work. Sammy create vivid images of what the people he saw in the store are like. Meanwhile, he would never really know what they were like unless he had the time to meet them. Sammy’s behavior is not really odd its normal for a teenage boy to want to be seen as attractive to girls. He wanted to let the girls know that he is cooler than he job might display him as.
A StreetCar named Desire
Sorry Sis
Have you ever desired something so much you would do anything for it? How far would you go to get what you desired? Desire is an extremely passionate word. With extreme passion comes extreme action. In Tennessee Williams play, A Street Car named Desire, a girl loses her job, home, parents and even her husband and is in a straight downfall looking for something to hang on too. Her only option is to move to New Orleans and live with her sister. Her sister is happy that she is moving in but maybe her husband is even happier? Williams through out his play uses symbolism, Motif and his unique technique to hide his hidden message. Blanche realizes she is not appreciated right away by Stanley, when aggressively grabs the bags out of the cab. Stanley symbolizes brutality, power, dominance and attractiveness. Blanche is instantly attracted to Stanley right from the beginning. Stanley is attracted to her too. To prove this point, Stanley says “ My clothes are stickin’ to me. Do you mind if I make myself comfortable?“ Blanche answers “ Please, please do”. Stanley then goes on to say “ Being comfortable is my motto”. Blanche then says “ It’s mine, too. It’s hard to stay looking fresh. I havent washed or even powdered my face yet”. Power is a magnet, it can sense other power when its near and can not help but be attracted to another power.
Throughout the play, Stanley strongly disapproves of Blanche wearing fancy furs and clothing. He is always questioning Blanche. Stanley asks Blanche “Where’s the papers?“ Blanche answers “Everything I own is in the trunk”. Blanche says she keeps her papers in a tin box. Stanley then spots a piece of paper and says “I’ll have a look at them first”. Blanche quickly responds “The touch of your hands will insult them”. Blanche says papers are just love letters from a boy. Blanche knows what aggravates Stanley and she purposely continues to do it. When someone is afraid of someone they normally wouldn’t do something that aggravates them. This is what Blanche does, she know how to upset Stanley but she angers him anyway because she loves attention from men especially strong, manly men.
Another equally important Motif is the Varsouviana polka music. Its not polka music she is repeatedly hearing during the play it is a specific kind, Varsouviana, This exact tune was being played at Blanche and her husband’s wedding. Not only was polka music being played at their wedding but right before her husband committed suicide. The music symbolizes her husband and her sanity. The music symbolizes that her mental stability is declining. Blanche hears the music occasionally in the beginning but as the story progresses she hears the polka music more often. The Varsouviana polka music makes Blanche think about her husband and how she misses having a man in her life. Blanche believes she can only truly be happy with a man. She wants to be happy with a man the opposite of her husband someone more like her.
Stanley and Blanche are similar. They both like to have power and drink. Their similarities attract each other. Blanche is always hiding her love for drinking. For example, Stanley says “Liquor goes fast in hot weather. Have a Shot?” Blanche replies “ No, I rarely touch it”. Stanley can not control Blanche. She just doesn’t listen to him and he likes a woman who sticks up for herself. Stella is quite the contrary of Blanche; Stella does everything Stanley says and even allows him to act like a savage. “Couldn’t you call it quits after one more hand? (Stanley gives a loud whack on her thigh.) That’s not fun, Stanley. It makes me so mad when he does that in front of people” Stella makes it clear that Stanley smacking her on the thigh only makes her mad when he does it in front of people. Saying that, Stella is intending she normally accepts it and it doesn’t make her angry. Symbols are obvious and give the reader a clear understanding of what he or she wants them to know. Williams uses Motifs to get the readers imagination jogging.
Tennessee Williams uses symbolizes to clearly show the reader what he wants them to know. Williams uses Motifs to hide messages. One important Motif is light. Light reveals the truth. When Blanche moves into Stella’s apartment, the first thing she does in her room is put a piece of paper over the light to dim the room. Blanche is afraid of aging because she is afraid she is losing her beauty. Blanche meets Stanley’s friend Mitch and is “attracted” to him. Blanche’s attraction to Mitch is deceiving. She is using Mitch to make Stanley jealous. Mitch never gets to see Blanche in the light. She will only go out with him at night time. She wont go out with him during the day because the light will reveal not only her age but her true feelings. “ Mitch: (rooting in her purse) This it? Blanche: No, honey, that’s the key to my trunk which I must soon be packing. Mitch: You mean your leaving soon? Blanche: I’ve outstayed my welcome”. Blanche lies to Mitch by saying she is leaving soon. Blanche not only lies to Mitch but the scene before she kisses the paper boy.
Bathing is another clever Motif used by Williams. People bathe to purify and clean themselves. Blanche bathes more than the average person and for a reason. Blanche is always bathing to constantly purify herself but when she bathes she has a different intention than just to physically clean herself. Blanche is cleaning her soul because she know she wants Stanley but he is married to her sister who is pregnant. Blanche has been through a lot, she probably suffered severe depression which is expected for anyone who loses everything in their life like she has. Her thought process is scrambled so what seems wrong is actually right for her. Blanche just wants a man in her life and the man she wants just happens to be her sisters’ husband. Williams uses bathing and light as a Motif to reveal who Blanche really is. The climax of the play is when Stanley gets what he has been desiring the whole time, Blanche. Stanley rapes Blanche but maybe it wasn’t really rape. Blanche didn’t report the incident to anybody which makes me believe she wanted to have intercourse with him. Stanley’s quote right before he rapes Blanche is “We’ve had this date from the very beginning”. Stanley has been wanting and planning this since he met Blanche. Stella is in the hospital with Stanley’s child and even something that serious doesn’t alter his actions. Blanche wants Stella to leave Stanley not because he abuses her but for her own happiness. Blanche clearly doesn’t care about Stella’s happiness. She would have never visited her if not for her misfortune. Stanley is Blanche’s key to happiness.
Tennessee Williams uses symbols and Motifs to screen the real message. The hidden theme and message in the play is desire. Williams portrays Blanche as living in the past because she desires live her old lifestyle but her old lifestyle had a man. Williams is trying to show how desire can make people do crazy things. Blanche’s desire for a man is making her lose her sanity. Stanley’s desire for Blanche makes him commit adultery. Williams shows through Blanche that while trying to obtain what you desire you have to lose your sanity even if she has to destroy what is left of her family.
Do you sympathize or empathize?
If someone’s family dog has just died, Do you empathize or sympathize with them? I never knew there was even a difference until my professor explained the difference. This was an important lecture to understand. Not everyone can empathize but everyone can sympathize. When you can empathize with someone, your advice or words are felt. Not saying that sympathizing with someone is not effective. It is easier for a person to connect with someone who shares a similar experience. I now know I would empathize with the person because I have lost a dog and know how emotionally painful it is.
Be You
You can be what you want to be. You do not have to what society tries to form you into. I came to this conclusion after the class assignment on the poem Identity by Julio Noboa Polanco. This was one of my favorite assignments. It was one of my favorite assignments largely because the poem could be interpreted many ways. When I first read the poem, I had just thought the speaker was complaining about how he does not fit in with society. One of the interpretations that I liked was that the speaker likes being different. There is nothing wrong with being opposite of what society wants us to be. Be who you are.
http://www.dellwyn.com/thoughts/identity.html
http://www.dellwyn.com/thoughts/identity.html
Not Knowing What to Think
When I first entered this class, my impression was English is not going to be boring this semester. My first semester of English was unbearable. The teacher was not interactive with the students, no one talked to each other or participated. This class was just the opposite which made the class enjoyable to be in. The assignments I enjoyed the most were the ones that involved team work. What I enjoy about team work is it allows me to hear other peoples perspective. I believe hearing other peoples opinions is key to fully understanding anything. You can never just look at something one way and that is something I learned in this class.
I admit my previous writing skill was average. My writing was scrambled and I would often stray away from the task. Thanks to this class, I can see drastic change and improvement in my writing. I would be wrong if I did not give credit to the helpful hint to outline before writing a paper. Outlining has helped me a great deal compared to when I use to just sit down and write an essay the day before. Organizing my essays has made me feel like a completely different writer. Now that I am actually taking the time to sit down and outline. I am able to brain storm longer and develop better ideas. I now consider myself an above average writer.
I am going to take a lot away from this class. I did not just learn how to write essays in this class but I learned how to interpret writing differently. I can now look at a poem and dissect it verse for verse. I can analyze and interpret what the speaker is truly talking about. Even though, we only spent a brief period of time on poetry. The time was spent efficiently and motivationally. My professor was confident and motivated to help us as students understand poetry. I can now say I honestly do like poetry more. One of the poems I enjoyed was Identity by Julio Noboa Polanco. It was definitely one of the most creative poems I have ever read. I recommend reading to everyone.
Looking ahead into the future, I can see myself working in a bank. My dream is to one day be an established business man on Wall Street. In terms of writing and poetry, I can see myself writing periodically. Writing is a good way to creatively get away from everything. There is a lot of stress that comes with age so I am going to need some type of stress reliever and writing might be just that.
I admit my previous writing skill was average. My writing was scrambled and I would often stray away from the task. Thanks to this class, I can see drastic change and improvement in my writing. I would be wrong if I did not give credit to the helpful hint to outline before writing a paper. Outlining has helped me a great deal compared to when I use to just sit down and write an essay the day before. Organizing my essays has made me feel like a completely different writer. Now that I am actually taking the time to sit down and outline. I am able to brain storm longer and develop better ideas. I now consider myself an above average writer.
I am going to take a lot away from this class. I did not just learn how to write essays in this class but I learned how to interpret writing differently. I can now look at a poem and dissect it verse for verse. I can analyze and interpret what the speaker is truly talking about. Even though, we only spent a brief period of time on poetry. The time was spent efficiently and motivationally. My professor was confident and motivated to help us as students understand poetry. I can now say I honestly do like poetry more. One of the poems I enjoyed was Identity by Julio Noboa Polanco. It was definitely one of the most creative poems I have ever read. I recommend reading to everyone.
Looking ahead into the future, I can see myself working in a bank. My dream is to one day be an established business man on Wall Street. In terms of writing and poetry, I can see myself writing periodically. Writing is a good way to creatively get away from everything. There is a lot of stress that comes with age so I am going to need some type of stress reliever and writing might be just that.
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