Response to number 2 for A Streetcar Named Desire

Blanche keeps herself very clean and she sets herself very high compared to other people. She tries to be very proper with herself and what she says. Blanche is nice to people unless they are rude to her. Stanley is a very stubborn, and has a very strong personality. Stanley thinks of no one being above him and that he is the one who has all control because with Stella he does control her. Stanley and Blanche are opposites of each other and that's why they get into a lot of arguments and conflicts with one another. In this play I don't think neither Blanche nor Stanley is a "hero" or a "villain" in traditional senses, because one isn't after the other and trying to make it better and stop them. But i guess in a way Blanche is a "hero" because she is trying to save her sister from a mess of life with her husband, but she is not a "hero" because she didn't succeed. Stanley isn't a traditional "villain," he is just a really bad, disgusting guy. He does take away from Stella and her sister and break them down to their weakest times in their lives but he's not taking from the whole world. I sympathize Blanche the most because she is trying to help her sister and she's trying to have a better life with her sister but it's actually worse than what it was before. I can also admire her for standing up to herself when she tells Mitch to leave, because to me she is trying to be strong and stop the cycles of men in her life. I also sympathize Stanley because I think he has been through traumatic experiences so that's why he is the way he is. I know people get traumatized but they can get help for it. Stanley's past effects Blanche's future and it sucks. When Blanche tells Mitch the truth and he tells Stanley and he uses against Blanche to his advantage shows their faults in this play.

Much Ado E-text

http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=muchado&Scope=entire&pleasewait=1&msg=pl

This link will set you up with the online version of Much Ado about nothing.

Essay Scholarship Opportunity

http://www.us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/forms/yr/out_of_the_easy/index.html?CMP=NLC-TLNL-201302

Out of the Easy College Scholarship Essay Contest

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Out of the Easy references the following quote from Charles Dickens' David Copperfield. How does this quote relate to the journey of the characters in "Out of the Easy" and also to your personal journey as you prepare for college?

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.— Charles Dickens

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Piggy Act 3

I find this drama, somewhat as common people would say “snooze Vill!” for the very fact when there is a comical relief part in the play I hate it and think it’s awful comedy. Like when Higgins is in his mother's kitchen, then people he wasn’t expecting to be there start to pile in through the front door one after another. Which I took as a comical part of the third act, but I found it too faults. What is the chance that these people suddenly come in when he has finally planed to show Eliza to his mother and surprisingly they were the same people from the other day in the rain, (Not that big of a shocker!! Saw it coming) I really don’t enjoy this play, I would like to keep reading tho, just to see what else I can hate about this play and then write my paper on Drama, about why I hate this play so much and pin point places in it that I hate the most! I’m all about being impendent and at this time in the 1960’s women act, talk and be perfect because they are expected to, (obviously that wouldn’t go very far with me.) One of the Characters Clara, she comes off to you as a snob, spoiled brat who always gets her way. You saw that in Act one where she made Freddy go looking for a cab several miles down the street in the pouring rain. But her mother tries to defend her by saying she’s just mean little brat because she doesn’t have any money and can’t go to parties. (Nether do I but I’m still nice to everyone!!) I like this play so much because I hate it so much, while reading it I want to dig my eyes out with a rustie spoon.

Thanks for listening Danielle Mobley,

                            And I’m out.  :P

Piggie pig Act Uno

       So we had an intresting little talk about piggie pig in class today, no Mrs. Arnold but an older man by the name of Mr. Evanson, I think he was enjoyable.
       So we join the world of the little slice of the world by the title of London, written in 1916ish era but the settin is more of the early early 1900's. We join a man by the name of Note taker nothing more nothing less. We are told by both his name and his actions he is simply taking notes of the people's converstions. One woman by the simple name of Flower Girl has taken quite the offense to his note taking. Accusing the NoteTaker of being a lil copper, could this be a poorer part of town? The people not taking a liking to the PO-PO in there hood? This one thinks so. But after a little rant from both Flower and Notes(sounds like a cheesy sitcom) Notes releases the real reasoning behind is taking. He is a Master of the wonderful study of dialect studying. Mr. Notes who is actually Mistah Higgins, feels bad for offending poor Flower, who turns into Eliza, he gives her some money for her troubles, half-crown, some florins, and a half-sovereign, which is quite a bit of money, so little Eliza rides in a Taxi for the first time and so end Act numero Uno

Pyg: Act 2

Annoying, inarticulate, mostly stupid Eliza shows up at Higgins' place, hoping to buy lessons on how to speak properly. It is her dream to work in a flower shop, and she needs a clear accent in order to do so. Higgins, intrigued, makes a bet with fellow dialectologist Colonel  Pickering that he can have Eliza speaking like a lady within six months. After much confused altercation between Higgins, Pickering, Eliza, and Mrs. Pearce (Higgins' housekeeper), it is decided that Eliza will take lessons from Higgins and live in his household for the six months, learning to be a lady. Pickering will fund the experiment and also reside with Higgins during that time. As Eliza is being cleaned by Mrs. Pearce, Eliza's father shows up on the pretext of defending his daughter's honor. However, all he really wants is a little spending money to go get drunk on, and bargains his daughter away for the sum of five pounds. 

Help with Literary Terms

Here are a couple links to help you find the definitions for those hard to define words.We will be discussing these words later so define define define.  :)

The World of Norton:
            http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nawol3/literaryterms.aspx

Dr. Wheeler's Literary Terms and Definitions:
             http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_C.html

Arnold Dino

So this was from last week but I promised I make a picture of it, since being the smart-ass has become my job. Sorry Krys ;)

AAAAAARRRRHHHHH!

Oh my god guys! I made the most amazing discovery! Well, not really, but the coolest one in a long time. Wait for it: THERE IS A FREE ONLINE BOOKSTORE CALLED BARTLEBY.COM!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.bartleby.com/sv/welcome.html

The Learned

In Dante's Inferno, the first circle of Hell is an uneasy state of Limbo, for the "Virtuous Pagans" (Ciardi 25). The sinners there are not so much punished as they are continuing. They remain in the same state of uncertainty and incompleteness as when they were living: forever longing for the truth and never able to experience it. This absence of punishment suits their crime: absence of faith. They lived well and did not blaspheme against God (they are not called "virtuous" for no reason), but nor did they have faith, so they are unfulfilled. Dante writes, and Ciardi translates:

"and so they did not worship God's Trinity/in fullest duty. I am one of these./For such defects are we lost, though spared the fire/and suffering Hell in one affliction only:/ that without hope we live on in desire" (Ciardi, 28).

Basically, it is the circle of the philosophers and ancient Greek poets. Homer is there, and Virgil (who is the speaker of the above passage), and last but not least, the subject of Dante's man-crush, Aristotle. All of those wise men who spent their lives in thought and never believed in anything greater than what they could prove.

Eden Phillpotts makes a similar point in his (much smaller) poem, "The Learned." His succinct poem of eight lines draws for us the picture of wise, old men-- "grey beards wag, the bald heads nod" (Phillpotts 1058)-- lounging about discussing science and philosophy-- "To talk electrons, gases, God." These men obviously think much of themselves (note how they "nod" so reassuringly at their own talk). However, the turn that comes in the last two lines of the poem dismantles their image as oh-so-wise and learned, and draws them into the world of Dante's: specifically, into the first circle. Each 'learned' man:

" Holds up his little crumb of crust/ And cries, 'Behold the loaf!'"

Each man sees his bit of knowledge and thinks that what he holds is the answer, but man's knowledge can only take him so far. The rest of the loaf is out there, unknowable, and when we limit ourselves to our own understanding and refuse to acknowledge what is unknowable, we will reside in a state of eternal longing for what our crumb came from.
      

Casabianca (Both of them)

            May I just say that I am very glad that no one has written a blog on either of these poems because I believe there is a perfect comparison that needs to be made. The first poem with the title of Casabianca by Felicia Dorothea Hemans is a beautiful retelling of how a young boy’s life came to a tragic end on the Orient as it was consumed with flames. I did a little research about the ship and the incident. It turns out that the Orient was French navel fleets flagship, responsible for leading the navy into Egypt. Quickly it become obvious that the Orient was the British army’s main target and was promptly attacked as soon as it hit the Nile. Most of the men aboard abandoned ship “The boy stood on the burning deck whence all but he had fled” (line 1-2); but the boy stayed on the deck with his father, Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca, the captain. The poem potrays the boy asking if he can leave but is unaware that his father is unconscious or possible dead, we of course have no way of knowing this. In the end, all hope is lost as are the two saliors. My favorite lines from this poem would have to be “They wrapt the ship in splendor wild, They caught the flag on high, And stream’d about the gallant child, Like banners in the sky” (lines 29-32). The imagery is beautiful as is the use of simalies and metaphors.

            Now let’s move on to the next Casabianca poem by Elisabeth Bishop written more than a hundred years later. I loved this poem; for me it came across as more of a peom. Unlike Hemans’ poem, this one had more of a creative license and flowed more smoothly. It wasn’t a retelling of a story as much but a piece about love and loyalty. In this poem, the boy does not leave the ship because of respect for the ship or his father (though his father is not mentioned in this one, on historical context, I’m going with it) instead of simply being unsure of what to do. I enjoyed this poem more than the first one, but both were great. My favorite lines from this piece would have to be “Love’s the obstinate boy, the ship, even the swimming sailors, who would like a schoolroom platform, too, or an excuse to say on deck. And love’s the burning boy” (lines 6-10). I liked that there were two poems on the same topic... it made for a good read. Oh and here's a link to a picture of the incident: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aboukir.jpg

Oh look, another blog.

I stumbled upon another poetry blog earlier, though I'm not sure if it was the one we were talking about a few weeks ago. It fits the description though. Kinda. It's really unorganized and confusing.

http://papadopuluapenglish.blogspot.com/

Ours is so much better. :I

*slinks back to doing homework*

Epitaph on Elizabeth, L.H. Ben Johnson

I liked this poem even though it was a little depressing. What I got out of this poem was that someone (the poet?) is asking the reader to stay and hear this sad story in mind. A story of a woman named Elizabeth who had died. There isn't any indication as to how she died, but it should be an obvious assumption after the line, " Underneath this stone doth lie..." because the poet or some man or even woman is simply saying here lies so and so pretty much. So basically, here lies a beautiful woman named Elizabeth who i'm assuming didn't have any faults? That maybe she was a very respected woman who was kind? Then again I wasn't too sure because it says, " If at all she had a fault, leave it buried in this vault." Which also brings me to the conclusion that maybe she had herself a  good share of mistakes and that all was forgiven and buried in her coffin along with her. I really wish I knew exactly who this Elizabeth was because at first I thought this poem was about the death of someone important like Elizabeth Taylor. Then I looked at the date that this poem was written and realized it that that would be impossible. After that I thought maybe Queen Elizabeth was who he was talking about. I was curious so I looked up what year Queen Elizabeth died and it said she died in the year of 1603. So maybe this was a farewell to the queen? I was never truly sure. I liked the language of this poem, and as I read on I pictured this person standing beside a grave that was fantastic (assuming dead important person) with intricate carvings and detail; saying a heart felt goodbye maybe at a funeral, maybe not. That is what it seemed like, though. I've got a little bit of a knack for enjoying sad poetry, so that's probably why I like this one so much. But it wasn't just the sadness that made me like it, but the imagery and overall language, too. I thought it went together nicely even though there was rhyming involved.                

On being brought from Africa to America

                This is an entirely new perspective. This view, of being brought to America as being merciful and good, had never crossed my mind. Not that I thought everyone that was brought to America didn’t want to come, but I never thought they would have viewed it as good in any way. The poem was written in 1773 and the slave trade, which was a horrible thing, wasn’t over and slavery wasn’t over either. So it just surprised me that it wasn’t written about how it was horrible or how they would have to fight to survive and gain rights or the grotesque images of the times. It was just very calm, and almost even concerned for themselves in a way. The way Phillis puts it as, “Remember, Christians, Negroes,” and it came off as if a mother were reminding their child. It was odd. It’s not even angry when it briefly mentions the insults and abuse, “Their colour is a diabolic die.” Then, the poem almost agrees with that statement when it says “black as Cain, May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.” I don’t think that Phillis agrees that they are of a diabolic die, but that they are really ignorant about God. Spirituallity was one of the most important things back then. It is so weird to think that something that was so wrong could have a good outcome to someone else. Whenever I think of like American ministers that would try to civilize those from other countries, I always just assumed it was annoying to those they tried to civilize because it was like they were taking away the only thing they had left, their culture. I would have never thought that some were glad they came to America. Overall, it was just a completely new thought and took me by surprise.

"Frederick Douglass" by Robert hayden

What got my attention about this poem the most is it was published in 1966, and in that time black people were no slaves anymore and in fact have all the same rights as a white person did. But this poem is about Frederick Douglass, (line 7 pg 1069) “this man, Douglass, this former slave, this Negro” now how can a former slave be in 1966, but down at the bottom of my page it reads, “Frederick Douglass (1817-1895), an escaped slave, was involved in the Underground Railroad and became publisher of the famous abolitionist newspaper the North Star, in Rochester, New York.” After I read that I wasn’t so confused about the time line differences. But it made me think, why the North Star would want to publish a very old poem about a slave, who took up the courage and do what, was right for his people. Is it because he did what others wouldn’t have dreamed of back then, to escape, then to help the others who had escaped just like him, to assist their aid to the North. Possibly knowing that there was a great chance of being caught and whipped or worse hanged for it? You also must think about what it means to be free. Today in 2012, I think we have too much freedom growing up in America, we don’t know what it is like to have to fight for that what is right. To know how many lives would be lost for this one thing. The one thing that lets you have opportunities and dreams. Freedom. This man to me Frederick, he was a hero and inspired many that your dreams can happen, you just got to make them happen. You can’t sit and wait for someone else to free you from your chains. Sometimes you got to do it yourself.

[Because I could not stop for death] - Emily Dickinson

I don't usually like Dickinson. I'm a little ashamed to say that there isn't really much of a logical reason, save for the fact that something about the way she writes bothers me. Like how most of the time her poems always have really long names that are taken from the first stanza, or how a lot that I've read are broken up awkwardly, or the fact that they rhyme and it's blatantly obvious that it does. However, this one caught my eye. 

It's--quite obviously--about death, and if you couldn't have figured that out then you probably shouldn't be in this class. Or should at least be fully awake and coherent while reading it. The fact that it's about death is the reason why I chose this, because poems about death fascinate me. There's always so much emotion in them; always a story to be told. 

In this particular poem, the narrator--whom I assume is female--is describing her journey to the afterlife with Death. In the first stanza, she states that she "could not stop for Death/He kindly stopped for me". That bit should be self explanatory, with Death taking her life and what not. However, Dickinson uses the word 'kindly', which leads me to think that Death in this poem isn't horrifying or intimidating, but rather something more gentle and welcoming. 

The next stanza goes on to say that as the narrator's journey continues, she's come to terms with what she's leaving behind: "And I had to put away/My labor and my leisure too". Death doesn't rush the journey either: "We slowly drove--He knew no haste". 

The next two stanzas are what's happening outside the "carriage", basically. They pass children playing in a field and "passed the setting sun/Or rather--He passed Us". In other words, the narrator has no place in the living world, and things are still moving on around her. 

Then she gets a glimpse of her new "home". Or rather a grave-site. "We paused before a House that seemed/A Swelling of the Ground/The Roof was scarecly visible/The Cornice--in the Ground". And then at the very end we get a glimpse immortality, "'tis Centuries-- and yet/Feels shorter than the Day", and this ties everything back to the beginning of the poem, where Immortality was mentioned to be riding in the carriage with them.

So in the end, the dead are immortal. Time is nothing to them--a few hundred years passes by like a day does for us. And Death is depicted as a kinder being than what most of us believe. It's a slightly depressing poem on the outside, but the way it's written and how the narrator tells the story makes everything a little lighter. Besides, death is a natural part of life, so it's our choice whether or not we view it as something beautiful or something upsetting. 

 

"My Last Duchess" By Robert Browing :)

I enjoyed this poem, I found it very interesting because of the way the speaker felt about his last duchess. The title of "My Last Duchess” and the first few lines of the poem give  us a bit of information of what the poem is pretty much going to be about. A duchess is like a wife or a lady so given the title “My Last Duchess”, even before I read the poem I got the impression that it was going to be about a lady. The very first line of the poem “That’s my last duchess painted on the wall” (Line 1) made me think that the speaker of the poem, who I inferred is Duke Ferrara because of the side notes on the bottom, is grieving the absence of his possibly first duchess. Also with the phrase “painted on the wall” I definitely thought that the speaker was looking at a portrait of his duchess or maybe a painting that she really liked.  Although the side notes did say that it was his first duchess, given the time period that the poem was written (1842) it made me think about how in the old times many men did have more than one wife. With this theory of mine I inferred that it was possible that there were more duchesses before her, but given the title “My Last Duchess”, I thought that Duke Ferrara felt that there will never be another duchess like her. The tone of the poem overall was grieving. I got this impression because of the lines “This grew; I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together. There she stands as if alive. Will’t please you rise?” (Lines 45 to 47). He’s kind of wishing that his duchess came back; I think that he still couldn’t believe she wouldn’t come back anymore and was in denial.

Thinking about Bill, Dead of AIDS

I absolutely love this poem because I know the feeling the narrator is going through, someone so close to him/her is dying and the only way that they can react is to put on fake optimism but also being scared to come in contact with the carrier of a deadly disease. “The body rescinding all its normal orders/ to all the defenders of flesh, betraying the head, / pulling its guards back from all its borders” (lines 4-6) it’s so depressing how much truth there is in these lines, when we need our immune system the most it just lets us down. The comparison of our blood cells being the guards just breaks my heart because everyone in Bill’s family are watching him die because his body “gave up”. The last line has to be my very favorite “we didn’t know what look would hurt you least” because it acknowledges that Bill might just want the truth, he could want everyone to cry and deal with the pain now so it doesn’t accumulate later in life. Even the first three lines of the poem lets you know the true confusion you get when you’re faced with death, “We did not know the first thing about / how blood surrenders to even the smallest threat / when old allergies turn inside out”.

Those three beginning lines even go with the perception of AIDS in the late 80’s, no one knew what to expect because all you could really believe was the completely false rumors. The poem itself reminds me of a beginning of a story, I want to know so much more about the narrator and Bill’s relationship because there’s obviously so much more to them. The narrator was close enough to visit Bill on his deathbed and to me that’s such an intimate and personal experience. The narrator didn't seem like they’d be a mother or father though because of their scared smiles, I feel that if the narrator was Bill’s parent it’d be more heart wrenching. “If we had more, we would have given you more” (line 13) this line is extremely noteworthy because to me it’s the whole premise of the poem, everyone in Bill’s family wants to give him more sympathy or hope but how can you when you know in the end he is going to die?

Marriage Proposal

This is the video Mariah was talking about today. :) Thought you all might enjoy it. I think it's cute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su1YLAjty-U

[The Brain-is wider than the Sky-]

[The Brain-is wider than the Sky-]

 

This poem is a short and explicit yet enjoyable way of saying the brain is of more than the sky, it is a simple and understanding way of the two. The simplest of words yet so empowering and meaningful. The brain's limit does not even compare to the sky's. The brain is complex, and of many things and the sky is just one thing. Though the sky surrounds the earth which have people and many things, the sky is still just a sky. It may contain an Earth with many things and people but the sky is the sky. Where as the brain does many things, and can learn many things from anything that surrounds it. The brain absorbs and consumes anything and everything around it, "for-put them side by side-the one the other will contain." The brain contains of many things from the world, including the sky. The brain feeds on everything, it is knowing of many things, "the one the other will absorb-as sponges-buckets-do." The brain is the sponge and the sky is the water, anything the sky contains the brain will pick up on it and take it in. The brain has more expansion than the sky, the brain can go off of one thing to many other things and the sky just circles the globe, the world. The brain and the sky are connected, if there is a sky there is a brain, if there is a brain there is a sky. Where there is one there is the other, "as syllable from sound." A syllable has a sound just as the brain to the sky. They do not part, there can't be the sky without the brain or the brain without the sky. They are as one, even though they are two different things, they are united.