Poetry Remix

She Walks in Beauty byGeorge Gordon, Lord Byron
Dramatic Situation: Seeing a beautiful woman from a distance.
Speaker: a distant obserber.
Context/Setting: A place where an onlooker can look, with no inturruption.
Structure:ABABAB, CDCDCD, EFEFEF- (with 8 syllable lines)
Three paragraphs: Paragraph 1 describes beauty, states a fact. Paragraph 2 tells how she is beautiful. Paragraph 3 tells why she is beautiful.
Theme: She is beautiful because of everything about here. Not only a physical appearence.
Diction: mends words to fit the 8 syllable lines. Innocent, beauty, eloquent. adjectives used to describe beauty.
Grammar and Meaning: colons and semi-colons are used to separate ideas withing the poem.
Images and Figures of Speech: Similes: "she walks in beauty, like the night"
Tone: In awe of the woman and her beauty.
Lit Devices: Personification- gives traits to the woman's beauty, rather than the woman.

She Walks in Beauty

By Lord Byron (George Gordon) 1788–1824 Lord Byron (George Gordon)

She walks in beauty, like the night

   Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

   Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

   Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

   Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

   Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

   How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

   So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

   But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

   A heart whose love is innocent!



A week in Rewind

A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities is exactly that. It follows parallel stories that take place in two cities (London and Paris) before and during the French Revolution.

     I first read this poem in Miss Reineke's English class my freshman year. This was my introduction to poetry. It caused me to think. What do I want, sitting in my small classroom without windows, reading poetry about people who have influenced people in amazing ways. What do I matter? How do I compare to Langston Hughes writing for his English teacher. This poem still echoes in everything that I do. "Let it come out of you, and then it will be true."
   I'm very glad this was my introduction to poetry, and that now I have the opportunity to share it with others. I learned an awful lot about myself from a poem written for someone else's class.

THEME FOR ENGLISH B

By Langston Hughes

The instructor said,

Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you---
Then, it will be true.

I wonder if it's that simple? 
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem. 
I went to school there, then Durham, then here 
to this college on the hill above Harlem. 
I am the only colored student in my class. 
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem 
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas, 
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y, 
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator 
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me---we two---you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York too.) Me---who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records---Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me NOT like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white---
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me---
although you're older---and white---
and somewhat more free.

This is my page for English B.

1951

Big Question: Abstract

The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether fictional stories that focus on love and interpersonal relationships create a skewed view of the realistic expectations for long- term happiness.  Literature defines the stories to which I refer as romance novels and in television, romantic comedies, and even some dramas, fairy tales too fall into the category to which I refer. In these novels, or narratives that have been passed through generations, good characters after some trouble, come to good ends. Meanwhile, their “evil” counterparts are defeated and become miserable.   I intend to investigate the impact that “romance” novels have on the relationships, and the expectations that occur due to the avid belief in the ideas portrayed in the novels.  I intend to focus especially on the expectations that occur in the current generation. I hope to see a coloration in changes in the psychological and anthropological trends, due to the relevance of romance stories in the media.

"By their deeds shall ye know them." We often judge people by what they do; therefore, we consider people who commit cruel or reprehensible acts corrupt, base or amoral. In literature, however, authors often introduce us to characters whom we learn to like or even respect, despite their deeds.

Write an essay about one such character for whom you developed admiration or compassion. Briefly explain why you felt his or her behavior to be condemnable or contemptible, and how the author's techniques influenced you to admire that person. Do not summarize the plot. (40 minutes)"

In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, we find ourselves in the middle of a story in Puritan Massachusetts. A married woman was found to be pregnant, with a child that was not her husband’s, as he had not been seen in years. Hester Prynne was branded with a scarlet A, and forced to live outside the small community.  The community watched and judged as the woman raised her daughter without her unknown lover. The authorities condemned her, and called all others to see her as an example.  The ailing Reverend Dimmsdale was among the judges who watched as Hester and her unborn child were sentenced. We come to find out that Dimmsdale was the unnamed partner, and had been suffering inwardly as he watched the events unfold.

                Dimmsdale allows the guilt of his actions to consume him. He creates a hell for himself because of his great sins. As a devoted minister, he taught the value of living a chaste and moral life, while he himself had committed a sin of the highest degree. In the Puritan community, Dimmsdale was revered for his morality, and his ability to preach the correct principles for the dogmatic congregation. Despite his age, he was seen as an authority on maintaining the laws and statues expected of those in the settlement. He was ailing, all around him could see. He had a mystery illness, and looked to be much older than his actual age. Reverend Dimmsdale had created a personal punishment for himself, because his actions were not known to those around him. He did not confess to being a party in the adultery, but he suffered more because of the inward guilt he felt for Hester’s public suffering.  

                The Reverend’s health continued to suffer. He became friends with a mysterious doctor who moved into the small community. The doctor was Hester Prynne’s husband, Roger Chilingsworth. He suspected that the Reverend had been the man with which his wife had an affair. He made it his mission to cause more suffering to the worsening condition of Dimmsdale.  As his suspicions were confirmed, Chilingsworth did his best to ruin the life of the already guilt ridden man with whom he lived.  Dimmsdale’s life became consumed with the guilt he felt for abandoning his child, and leaving his lover to suffer alone in silence.

Dimmsdale’s actions in the public were self-preserving, and cowardly.  Nathaniel Hawthore, however allowed the reader to see the suffering that was actually felt by a man who to others seemed to be pure. The suffering caused by the guilt, and by the infliction of a scorned husband, allows compassion to be felt. It is felt even more strongly when, at the conclusion of the novel, we see the scarlet “A” branded into the flesh of the dead Reverend in the center of the town, for everyone to see.  We see, through his death by self-inflicted guilt, that the child, and the lover were never far from his mind, and that the unnamed man suffered more than the publicly condemned woman.  

Thinking Outside the Box....

Create a post for your blog entitled "Thinking Outside the Box" in which you compare how Plato & Sartre describe the limitations of our thinking and imply solutions to the problem.

Plato saw people being restrained by other people. He saw the limitations of people, and the existence of a higher authority among the people through his discussion of government. Plato understood that people place limits on others and their quest for truth and knowledge. He saw that actions taken by the leadership affected those they ruled. Those kept in the cave were affected my the decisions of their captors to let only some be exposed to the truth and light that existed outside the cave. We too are kept from things, whether in childhood, or later in life, not everyone is exposed to the full degree of truth. Some may be allowed to see beyond the walls, but then comes the question, do we believe them? Are they our leaders?  Or do we think they're crazy for one reason or another?

Sartre wrote about the limitations that people inflicted on thermselves. Everyone in Sartre's story of "No Exit" was in the same condition as the people they were surrounded by. None could use a mirror, none could sleep, eat, brush their teeth, or even blink. The three people knew the truth of their situations, and of the actions that had landed them in their locations, but still refused to believe the truth that was proven to them. They could not leave the room. They could not ring the bell. They were stuck in their state. Living in Hell with other people and miserable because of their own selfishness, and mistakes. The Hell was not created for them , there was no one sent to make the residents more miserable than they already were. Through this, Sartre seems to be suggesting that Hell is a creation of those who can't possibly learn to deal with their surroundings, and for those who refuse to be content with what they are given in life, or death. The prisoners in Sartre's story were only put in a room. They may have been put there with other people, but their own worst nightmares became a reality only after they decided they were in Hell. In this, it seems to show that happiness is a choice. Little do we think that so too is Hell.

Both show captivity of people, and both have truthes for their players to realize. They both offer a commentary on life, while offering completely different ideas as to why those held prisoner remain there.