Wright: Although Wright's poems are beautiful, I could sense a lot of mental sadness within. He sounded depressed as though he was looking at things that would try to bring back happiness back to him. I don't know; I may be over exaggerating. From "To the Evening Star: Central Minnesota" and "A Blessing," I sense some moodiness. I can imagine Wright sitting in some kind of open environment and looking out into the "twilight" or the "grass fields." I also found it interesting that in "A Blessing" Wright chose two Indian ponies to write about.
Carver: I...just...didn't...get it. I really do enjoy reading short stories and love that their endings never really end...well. But this one was really...different. I though it odd, at first, that the woman was friends with a blind man for all these years. In addition, she seemed to give so much attention to Robert than her own husband. I mean, I know he's a guest, but the whole atmosphere was awkward until the end when I was taken completely by surprise. Maybe, in the end, the narrator realized how powerful it was to "see" with his eyes closed. It was as if he could see more with his eyes closed than if they were open. As a result, I guess I did like the story just because it ended differently than what I expected.
Collins: I was very much impressed by Collins' poems. I truly felt what Norton describes as, "The voice in a Billy Collins poem is so intimate and immediate that we feel we are in the same room with the poet" (1516), especially in "Forgetfulness." His poems tend to be a face-to-face conversation between the writer and his audience. In fact, I like this kind of style because that is how I write my creative pieces as well. I feel like his questioning--"I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey's Version of 'Three Blind Mice'"--assisted his poems to be more personal: he is sharing confusion like a person would have if reading a poem. And his metaphors are very creative, for example, in "The Night House."
Lee: It's always interesting--and I always appreciate--to see writers from different backgrounds such as race and culture. Just comparing them to other races and cultures, one can tell the difference between them. I also find it interesting that in "Persimmons," Lee kept going off topic to come back to the main theme of the poem: persimmons. In addition, Lee's father is mentioned in all of the poems in the Norton. I can never quite understand his father's role in the poem, but there seems to be some distance between the both of them. Lastly, I loved the theme of memory in "This Room and Everything in It." Again, his father is mentioned in the poem, but I think the format and the choice of words make the poem beautiful.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
O'Connor, Rich, Plath, & Roth
O'Connor: Talk about looks being deceiving and the stupidity of mankind. I was disappointed in the way Mrs. Hopewell saw her daughter, Hulga, and seemed to despise her daughter's intelligence. On the other hand, I felt that Hulga mocked her mother's and Mrs. Freeman's knowledge of the world. Hulga seemed to see the world far more intellectually then the people around her. Now, when the character of Manley Pointer first comes into the scene, I could picture an innocent kid, slightly stupid but very persistent. So, to my surprise, I was completely caught off guard when in the end, he turns into a swindling jerk. Now I could see, that all this time, this kid was smart. Of course both Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman fell into his innocence. At first, I was a bit cautious with the idea of Hulga and Pointer being together. She seemed smart enough to keep things under control thinking that she was seducing him. But no! He was seducing her the whole time! I mean, Pointer new what he was doing and he was doing it very well. The only difference between the two is that Hulga is very smart academically, philosophically, etc. while as Pointer is street smart and is an expert in conning people. In the end, as I read all this, I was thinking: is it better to be Hulga-smart or Pointer-smart? Which would be more beneficial in the real world?
Rich: I found Rich's "Diving into the Wreck" really mysterious in that I know she is diving, but, analytically, what is the "wreck" she is referring to. In other words, what does she mean? This poem was beautiful in its descriptions and organization. I can picture myself diving along side the narrator. But the question is what exactly are we looking for? Is this wreck literally meaning a wreck deep in the ocean? Maybe a shipwreck? Maybe something else? Or is this wreck our lives, a horrific event, or a person? Maybe I am over analyzing the poem, but it was enjoyable to read anyways along with Rich's other poem "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning."
Plath: The Norton's intro of Sylvia Plath described her as a "remarkably controlled writer" (1417), and she is. I was very impressed with her style of writing. She's very organized even to the number of lines in each stanza. Being a controlled writer, I didn't expect her to be suicidal in any way, however, in "Lady Lazarus," I got the impression that this was like her resurrection of a suicidal attempt. Of course her childhood had a large effect on her as well such as the death of her father when she was only a child. This experience was portrayed in her poem "Daddy." "I was ten when they buried you. At twenty I tried to die and get back, back, back to you. I thought even the bones would do." (1422) The death of her father may not have been the reason or the only reason to why she wanted to kill herself, however, she greatly desired the need for her father.
Roth: I love short stories. I just wish they didn't end so quickly. That is what was frustrating with Roth's "Defender of the Faith." In some ways, the story needs to go on. What happened to Grossbart? Did he ever go to the Pacific with the other boys? On the other hand, the story might get boring or plainly too long if it kept going. However, what was most interesting about this story is that it portrayed the Jewish tradition in the army. I never thought about it, but what was it like for soldiers to accommodate into a new life? Do they have to break religious and traditional beliefs? This Grossbart character also reminded me of Pointer in the first short story. They are both nineteen, young and stupid, but smart and cunning. Grossbart tricks Marx into signing the pass for he and his friends. However, I see Grossbart a lot more innocent. All he wanted was to be close to his family. I think that because of his youth and inexperience, he was not very considerate or aware of following orders. It was like he wasn't taking the situation seriously.
Rich: I found Rich's "Diving into the Wreck" really mysterious in that I know she is diving, but, analytically, what is the "wreck" she is referring to. In other words, what does she mean? This poem was beautiful in its descriptions and organization. I can picture myself diving along side the narrator. But the question is what exactly are we looking for? Is this wreck literally meaning a wreck deep in the ocean? Maybe a shipwreck? Maybe something else? Or is this wreck our lives, a horrific event, or a person? Maybe I am over analyzing the poem, but it was enjoyable to read anyways along with Rich's other poem "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning."
Plath: The Norton's intro of Sylvia Plath described her as a "remarkably controlled writer" (1417), and she is. I was very impressed with her style of writing. She's very organized even to the number of lines in each stanza. Being a controlled writer, I didn't expect her to be suicidal in any way, however, in "Lady Lazarus," I got the impression that this was like her resurrection of a suicidal attempt. Of course her childhood had a large effect on her as well such as the death of her father when she was only a child. This experience was portrayed in her poem "Daddy." "I was ten when they buried you. At twenty I tried to die and get back, back, back to you. I thought even the bones would do." (1422) The death of her father may not have been the reason or the only reason to why she wanted to kill herself, however, she greatly desired the need for her father.
Roth: I love short stories. I just wish they didn't end so quickly. That is what was frustrating with Roth's "Defender of the Faith." In some ways, the story needs to go on. What happened to Grossbart? Did he ever go to the Pacific with the other boys? On the other hand, the story might get boring or plainly too long if it kept going. However, what was most interesting about this story is that it portrayed the Jewish tradition in the army. I never thought about it, but what was it like for soldiers to accommodate into a new life? Do they have to break religious and traditional beliefs? This Grossbart character also reminded me of Pointer in the first short story. They are both nineteen, young and stupid, but smart and cunning. Grossbart tricks Marx into signing the pass for he and his friends. However, I see Grossbart a lot more innocent. All he wanted was to be close to his family. I think that because of his youth and inexperience, he was not very considerate or aware of following orders. It was like he wasn't taking the situation seriously.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Kerouac, Ginsberg, & Snyder
It's not that I don't like Ginsberg and Snyder; I like their works very much actually. Ginsberg's "Howl" was a familiar piece that I read in LAR. I also watched a YouTube video of some guy--not by Ginsberg--reading the piece out loud. Because there is so much alliteration and strong consonant-driven words, it's difficult to read. But when read, it sounds like musical poetry where the rhythm stands out. I can imagine someone reading it and people snapping along. Snyder's poems were good too, although I was a little disturbed by "Beneath My Hand and Eye the Distant Hills. Your Body." In my opinion, both writers cannot compare to Kerouac. And why? Because I have been a Jack Kerouac fan ever since I was introduced to the Beat Movement.
I read Kerouac's On the Road and loved the idea of a very long road trip with friends. Although Kerouac's road experience was more for a mature audience, the whole concept of being out and free on the road is thrilling. There are also similarities between the writings of Kerouac and Ginsberg, however, Ginsberg has more harsher (not sure how to put it) consonant sounds.
Because I am originally from California, anything that mentions the state or any its cities catches my attention. In Big Sur, Kerouac often mentions the cities of California, mostly involving their trip, such as San Francisco and San Jose. He also made a reference to On the Road, talking about Dean Moriarty (one of his characters) which I found interesting. In his novels, there is always him and his close friend: Cody and Dean Moriarty.
Lastly, I know alcoholism tends to be a driving force in many writers including my other personal favorite F. Scott Fitzgerald. But I have never read it the way Kerouac describes it. For example, on page 1321, Kerouac writes (and this is a long sentence/paragraph but I'm adding it to prove my point), "Any drinker knows how the process works: the first day you get drunk is okay, the morning after means a big head but so you can kill that easy with a few more drinks and a meal, but if you pass up the meal and go on to another night's drunk, and wake up to keep the toot going, and continue on to the fourth day, there'll come one day when the drinks wont take effect because you're chemically overloaded and you'll have to sleep those last five nights, so delirium sets in----Sleeplessness, sweat, trembling, a groaning feeling of weakness where your arms are numb and useless, nightmares (nightmares of death)...well, there's more of that up later." If this is what drinking is like to them, I feel like it slows them down: their youth, their freedom, and their trip. I mean, drinking is part of the life they enjoy, but it is a huge controlling element in their life that ironically was the cause for Jack Kerouac's death. (F. Scott Fitzgerald also died very young, mostly because of excessive drinking.)
I read Kerouac's On the Road and loved the idea of a very long road trip with friends. Although Kerouac's road experience was more for a mature audience, the whole concept of being out and free on the road is thrilling. There are also similarities between the writings of Kerouac and Ginsberg, however, Ginsberg has more harsher (not sure how to put it) consonant sounds.
Because I am originally from California, anything that mentions the state or any its cities catches my attention. In Big Sur, Kerouac often mentions the cities of California, mostly involving their trip, such as San Francisco and San Jose. He also made a reference to On the Road, talking about Dean Moriarty (one of his characters) which I found interesting. In his novels, there is always him and his close friend: Cody and Dean Moriarty.
Lastly, I know alcoholism tends to be a driving force in many writers including my other personal favorite F. Scott Fitzgerald. But I have never read it the way Kerouac describes it. For example, on page 1321, Kerouac writes (and this is a long sentence/paragraph but I'm adding it to prove my point), "Any drinker knows how the process works: the first day you get drunk is okay, the morning after means a big head but so you can kill that easy with a few more drinks and a meal, but if you pass up the meal and go on to another night's drunk, and wake up to keep the toot going, and continue on to the fourth day, there'll come one day when the drinks wont take effect because you're chemically overloaded and you'll have to sleep those last five nights, so delirium sets in----Sleeplessness, sweat, trembling, a groaning feeling of weakness where your arms are numb and useless, nightmares (nightmares of death)...well, there's more of that up later." If this is what drinking is like to them, I feel like it slows them down: their youth, their freedom, and their trip. I mean, drinking is part of the life they enjoy, but it is a huge controlling element in their life that ironically was the cause for Jack Kerouac's death. (F. Scott Fitzgerald also died very young, mostly because of excessive drinking.)
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Ellison, Baraka, Lorde, & Walker
Ellison: From reading only the first chapter, I was very disturbed by Ellison's novel. At first, I was a little confused as to why the narrator was in this kind of situation only to deliver his speech. Not to mention the crowd he was going to give the speech to. These white men, these men who have a high position in their town, come to listen to his speech in a place like that? This whole time I wondered if the narrator of the story could just leave the place, but then I realized what resulted in his speech. I didn't care whether he got the scholarship or not. I was more disturbed as to how he got it. The poor kid was electrocuted, beat up, etc. and for what? No man should go through that to get an education which frustrates me. I can now see how important an education was for a young African American of that time; they were willing to do anything to go to college.
Baraka: "An Agony. As Now" stood out to me the most because I could feel the agony flowing out of the narrator. Because this poem was written during the Civil Rights Movement, one can see just how much pain an African American was experiencing. The short sentences/fragments seem to work in order to make more of an impact of the narrator's emotions. Although I can't understand the exact situation, it is obvious that he is in pain due to the treatment and experiences he is going through which I'm assuming is the treatment from the white society around him. But this pain doesn't go away as revealed from "The Poem of Willie Best." He seems to take it a step further and--this was my impression--blame God for his hurt, or that He will do nothing about it, "no help will come" (1459).
Lorde: I can see a lot of dominant, powerful, and outspoken characteristics from Lorde. She has the voice of a bold female, an aspect that I could see greatly benefit the era she was living in. In "Coal," this presents her position in society as an African American. What does she have to deal with? Words. Words that come from hatred. I love how she describes the way she feels when those words are said to her. I also got the impression from her poem "The Woman Thing" that she has a negative view on men, just in the way she portrays the male species as hunters. And after reading "Harriet" I can understand where she comes from. In addition, Lorde is a mother, noting to the lines, "All this day I have craved food for my child's hunger" (1476).
Walker: I'm a little disgusted by Dee's treatment to her family. I guess because she is the older sister, she has the tendency to be "authoritative" in her approach towards her mother and sister. Even at the thought of Maggie having the quilts, Dee is shocked; she doesn't like the idea at all. Because of Dee's attitude, I sympathize more with Maggie and admire her for letting her sister take the quilts. Poor Maggie was scarred from a fire, therefore being just another person in Dee's life, not necessarily a sister. In this whole chaos, I wonder if Mama favors Maggie more than Dee? And why?
Baraka: "An Agony. As Now" stood out to me the most because I could feel the agony flowing out of the narrator. Because this poem was written during the Civil Rights Movement, one can see just how much pain an African American was experiencing. The short sentences/fragments seem to work in order to make more of an impact of the narrator's emotions. Although I can't understand the exact situation, it is obvious that he is in pain due to the treatment and experiences he is going through which I'm assuming is the treatment from the white society around him. But this pain doesn't go away as revealed from "The Poem of Willie Best." He seems to take it a step further and--this was my impression--blame God for his hurt, or that He will do nothing about it, "no help will come" (1459).
Lorde: I can see a lot of dominant, powerful, and outspoken characteristics from Lorde. She has the voice of a bold female, an aspect that I could see greatly benefit the era she was living in. In "Coal," this presents her position in society as an African American. What does she have to deal with? Words. Words that come from hatred. I love how she describes the way she feels when those words are said to her. I also got the impression from her poem "The Woman Thing" that she has a negative view on men, just in the way she portrays the male species as hunters. And after reading "Harriet" I can understand where she comes from. In addition, Lorde is a mother, noting to the lines, "All this day I have craved food for my child's hunger" (1476).
Walker: I'm a little disgusted by Dee's treatment to her family. I guess because she is the older sister, she has the tendency to be "authoritative" in her approach towards her mother and sister. Even at the thought of Maggie having the quilts, Dee is shocked; she doesn't like the idea at all. Because of Dee's attitude, I sympathize more with Maggie and admire her for letting her sister take the quilts. Poor Maggie was scarred from a fire, therefore being just another person in Dee's life, not necessarily a sister. In this whole chaos, I wonder if Mama favors Maggie more than Dee? And why?
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Roethke, Bishop, Lowell, & Berryman
Roethke: "My Papa's Waltz"...so heartbreaking: a father beating his child. I liked this poem a lot but not because of the situation. The situation is horrible, and I wish this kind of topic would not be put in a poem. However, Roethke's imagery and word choice makes the poem beautiful and clear. He only had to pick specific parts of the body, for example, such as an ear or head and the picture was vivid in my mind. If only Roethke could right about something more positive, who knows how beautiful the picture he presents will be.
"The Waking" was also a very good poem in that the phrases were deep. My favorites: "I learn by going where I have to go," "We think by feeling," and "Great Nature has another thing to do to you and me" (1090-1091). Although his style differs, the theme of nature reminds me of the British poet William Wordsworth.
Bishop: Out of Bishop's poems, "One Art" was probably the one I liked the most. Honestly, the idea of losing things would not a topic I would write in a poem, but Bishop made it work. In some ways, I could see this as a theory of the way the mind works, but according to Bishop, it's a skill. We are capable of losing things, but in time, we lose more than objects. We forget, such as forgetting names and places. Unfortunately, she lost me when she mentions losing cities, rivers, etc. I couldn't quite understand what she meant by that. But like Bishop says, "It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster" (1113).
Lowell: I found it interesting that Bishop's "The Armadillo" was for Lowell, and Lowell's "Skunk Hour" was for Bishop. Through "Skunk Hour" I could see a lot of modern terms and names that would not dare be mentioned in past poetry. For example, skunk and sour cream. I also see a lot of random stanzas. I'm sure they connect on some ways, but I find them all...splattered? I don't know how to put it, but basically, I see them as random. In addition, his choice of words were entertaining to read. For example, summer millionaire, L. L. Bean, orange cork, and many more random ones.
Berryman: Just reading Berryman's short bio in the anthology made me feel sad reading his poems. From "The Dream Song" they were quite dark. "29" had a murder scene, "hacks her body up and hide the pieces" (1208). "384" mentioned digging up a grave "I got right down away down under the grass and ax the casket open ha to see just how he's taking it" (1209). Ha? Is Berryman trying to be funny? I didn't quite understand the whole theme of the poem, however, I could see his dark side. His life was sad; he watched his father commit suicide. How ever the effect was, it was evident in his poems.
"The Waking" was also a very good poem in that the phrases were deep. My favorites: "I learn by going where I have to go," "We think by feeling," and "Great Nature has another thing to do to you and me" (1090-1091). Although his style differs, the theme of nature reminds me of the British poet William Wordsworth.
Bishop: Out of Bishop's poems, "One Art" was probably the one I liked the most. Honestly, the idea of losing things would not a topic I would write in a poem, but Bishop made it work. In some ways, I could see this as a theory of the way the mind works, but according to Bishop, it's a skill. We are capable of losing things, but in time, we lose more than objects. We forget, such as forgetting names and places. Unfortunately, she lost me when she mentions losing cities, rivers, etc. I couldn't quite understand what she meant by that. But like Bishop says, "It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster" (1113).
Lowell: I found it interesting that Bishop's "The Armadillo" was for Lowell, and Lowell's "Skunk Hour" was for Bishop. Through "Skunk Hour" I could see a lot of modern terms and names that would not dare be mentioned in past poetry. For example, skunk and sour cream. I also see a lot of random stanzas. I'm sure they connect on some ways, but I find them all...splattered? I don't know how to put it, but basically, I see them as random. In addition, his choice of words were entertaining to read. For example, summer millionaire, L. L. Bean, orange cork, and many more random ones.
Berryman: Just reading Berryman's short bio in the anthology made me feel sad reading his poems. From "The Dream Song" they were quite dark. "29" had a murder scene, "hacks her body up and hide the pieces" (1208). "384" mentioned digging up a grave "I got right down away down under the grass and ax the casket open ha to see just how he's taking it" (1209). Ha? Is Berryman trying to be funny? I didn't quite understand the whole theme of the poem, however, I could see his dark side. His life was sad; he watched his father commit suicide. How ever the effect was, it was evident in his poems.
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