The Answer

Robinson Jeffers

Then what is the answer?- Not to be deluded by dreams.

To know that great civilizations have broken down into violence,

and their tyrants come, many times before.

When open violence appears, to avoid it with honor or choose

the least ugly faction; these evils are essential.

To keep one's own integrity, be merciful and uncorrupted

and not wish for evil; and not be duped

By dreams of universal justice or happiness. These dreams will

not be fulfilled.

To know this, and know that however ugly the parts appear

the whole remains beautiful. A severed hand

Is an ugly thing and man dissevered from the earth and stars

and his history... for contemplation or in fact...

Often appears atrociously ugly. Integrity is wholeness,

the greatest beauty is

Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty

of the universe. Love that, not man

Apart from that, or else you will share man's pitiful confusions,

or drown in despair when his days darken.

About the author

Jeffers, Robinson (1887-1962) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jeffers is an American poet and play writer, whose works combined themes from ancient tragedies, Old Testament, and the legend of Christ with dark views and absurdities of modern life. Jeffers called for a poetry of 'dangerous images' which would 'reclaim substance and sense, and psychological reality.' He believed that 'poetry is bound to concern itself chiefly with permanent aspects of life.'

Thesis: Jeffers uses symbolism, imagery, and different situations and looks at what is going on to attempt to provide answers.

Questions:

1. What answer do you think Jeffers is looking for?

2. What do you feel the overall theme of the poem is?

3. Do you feel that there is an answer to everything?

4. Looking at a part in the first line “Not to be deluded by dreams”, do you feel that after thinking about your dreams, your answer to a question might change? Why?

5. What kind of image does this poem create?

6. “Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty of the universe. Love that, not man.” Why do you feel the author’s answer to this is to love that, not man?

Easier to read... my bad

A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

                                                                            

By: Edgar Allan Poe

Thesis:

Poe uses imagery, symbolism, metaphors, personification and an allusion to himself, to question whether what is perceived and experienced is actually real.

Questions:

1.       In the first stanza who is being spoken to?

2.       Why does Poe make an allusion to himself?

3.       How would you describe “A Dream Within A Dream” (Not the poem, literally).

4.       What images, if any come to mind when reading this poem?

5.       What do you think “grains of golden sand” symbolize?

6.       After reading this poem what do you think Poe is trying to say about life?

Keenan's Poetry Presentation

A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

                                                                            

By: Edgar Allan Poe

Thesis:

Poe uses imagery, symbolism, metaphors, personification and an allusion to himself, to question whether what is perceived and experienced is actually real.

Questions:

1.      1.   In the first stanza who is being spoken to?

2.      2.    Why does Poe make an allusion to himself?

3.      3.   How would you describe “A Dream Within A Dream” (Not the poem, literally).

4.       4.  What images, if any come to mind when reading this poem?

5.      5.   What do you think “grains of golden sand” symbolize?

6.     6.    After reading this poem what do you think Poe is trying to say about life?

My Cumulative Activity

I'm currently reading "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, and I came across a simple, yet interesting quote.

"Children aren't colouring books. You don't get to fill them in with your favourite colours." - Rahim Khan (character).

Any thoughts?

David's Poetry

Our Deepest Fear
By: Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

 Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us;
It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

 Biography:

Marianne Williamson (born July 8, 1952) is a spiritual activist, author and lecturer. She attended (but did not graduate from) Pomona College in Claremont, California.
Williamson’s philosophy adopts a new thought  approach to spirituality. She incorporates both established Christianity and Judaism .She also promotes the views of Zen Buddhism such as the belief that one must empty their mind through enlightenment to truly find God.

Thesis:
Marianne Williamson's inspires her audience to strive for spirituality and self-fulfillment using many metaphors, imagery and insightful themes.

1) Why might someone be afraid to be great?

2) Do you need failure to succeed? Explain?

3) This poem employs many metaphors, how are they used?

4) Marianne Williamson says in the third stanza “We are all meant to shine,
As children do.” What do you think she means by this?

5) How does the poem use imagery?

6) What do you think the overall theme is?

Linda's Poetry :)

The Broken Heart
By: John Donne

He is stark mad, whoever says,
That he hath been in love an hour,
Yet not that love so soon decays,
But that it can ten in less space devour ;
Who will believe me, if I swear
That I have had the plague a year?
Who would not laugh at me, if I should say
I saw a flash of powder burn a day?

Ah, what a trifle is a heart,
If once into love's hands it come !
All other griefs allow a part
To other griefs, and ask themselves but some ;
They come to us, but us love draws ;
He swallows us and never chaws ;
By him, as by chain'd shot, whole ranks do die ;
He is the tyrant pike, our hearts the fry.

If 'twere not so, what did become
Of my heart when I first saw thee?
I brought a heart into the room,
But from the room I carried none with me.
If it had gone to thee, I know
Mine would have taught thine heart to show
More pity unto me ; but Love, alas !
At one first blow did shiver it as glass.

Yet nothing can to nothing fall,
Nor any place be empty quite ;
Therefore I think my breast hath all
Those pieces still, though they be not unite ;
And now, as broken glasses show
A hundred lesser faces, so
My rags of heart can like, wish, and adore,
But after one such love, can love no more.

Thesis: Donne uses imagery, metaphor, personification and tone to reveal the speaker's belief that the nature of love is fleeting and ephemeral*.

***Ephemeral: short-lived; tansient, momentary or brief.

1. Based on the contents of the poem, what do you believe is the speaker's attitude towards love? Are there specific lines that lead to this conclusion?

2. How does the tone change between the first two stanzas and the last two stanzas? Does the speaker's attitude towards love change over time?

3. At the end of the first stanza, Donne uses analogies to explain the speaker's view of love. How are these analogies relevant?

4. John Donne is known for the striking imagery within his poems. What examples of imagery in this particular poem stand out and have the most effect?

5. Throughout the poem (mainly in stanza two), John Donne uses personification to describe love's effects. How does giving 'love' human characteristics help readers further understand Donne's feelings?

6. There is no solid proof of when this poem was written but people believe it was written somewhere between 1612 and 1623. Based on the information given about John Donne's life, is it possible that he wrote the poem for his wife after she passed away? Or do you believe it was just another poem he wrote with no particular meaning behind it?

John Donne (January 1572- March 1631):

Donne was born in London to a prominent Roman Catholic family but converted to Anglicanism during the 1590s. He was an English poet, preacher and a major representative of the metaphysical poets* of the period. His works are notable for their realistic and sensual style and include a variety of sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations and sermons.

His early career was marked by poetry that bore immense knowledge of British society and he met that knowledge with sharp criticism. Despite his great education and poetic talents, he lived in poverty for several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. He spent much of the money he inherited during and after his education on womanizing, literature and travel.

In 1601 Donne secretly married Anne Moore with whom he had 12 children. His wife died on 15 August 1617, five days after giving birth to their twelfth child, a still-born baby. However, after the death of his wife, he did not remarry, which was quite unusual for the time, especially as he had a large family to bring up. In March of 1631, John Donne passed away.

***The metaphysical poets were a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17th century, who shared an interest in metaphysical* concerns and a common way of investigating them, and whose work was characterised by inventiveness of metaphor.

***Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world.

Brandon's Poetry

A Ballade of Evolution
By:Grant Allen

In the mud of the Cambrian main
Did our earliest ancestor dive:
From a shapeless albuminous grain
We mortals our being derive.
He could split himself up into five,
Or roll himself round like a ball;
For the fittest will always survive,
While the weakliest go to the wall.

As an active ascidian again
Fresh forms he began to contrive,
Till he grew to a fish with a brain
And brought forth a mammal alive.
With his rivals he next had to strive
To woo him a mate and a thrall;
So the handsomest managed to wive,
While the ugliest went to the wall.

At length as an ape he was fain
The nuts of the forest to rive,
Till he took to the low-lying plain,
And proceeded his fellows to knive.
Thus did cannibal man first arrive
One another to swallow and maul:
And the strongest continued to thrive,
While the weakliest went to the wall.

Some facts about Allen’s Life:

-educated at home until he was 13.
-In his mid-twenties he became a professor a Queen’s College.
-His father was very religious (a protestant minister), Allen was a agnostic.
-He left his professorship, in 1876 he returned to the UK, where he turned his talents to writing, gaining a reputation for his essays on science and for literary works.
-He died at his home on Hindhead, Haslemere, Surrey, England on October 25, 1899.

Thesis: Allen uses a metaphors, similes, and imagery within’ this poem greatly to describe a lot about  evolution supporting Darwin’s theory of evolution.


Questions:

1) What do you think this poem is about? Explain?
2) How are similes and metaphors used throughout the poem? What do they describe?
3) With the knowledge Allen’s father was religious why do you think Allen wrote this poem?
4) What do you think is meant by In the mud of the Cambrian main(1st line 1st stanza)?
5) Why do you think Allen believed and supported Darwin’s theory of evolution even though very little people did during that period of time did?

Jason's Poetry seminar

Jason's Poetry seminar

Life by Charlotte Bronte

LIFE, believe, is not a dream
So dark as sages say;
Oft a little morning rain
Foretells a pleasant day.
Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,
But these are transient all;
If the shower will make the roses bloom,
O why lament its fall ?

Rapidly, merrily,
Life's sunny hours flit by,
Gratefully, cheerily,
Enjoy them as they fly !

What though Death at times steps in
And calls our Best away ?
What though sorrow seems to win,
O'er hope, a heavy sway ?
Yet hope again elastic springs,
Unconquered, though she fell;
Still buoyant are her golden wings,
Still strong to bear us well.
Manfully, fearlessly,
The day of trial bear,
For gloriously, victoriously,
Can courage quell despair !

Thesis: Charlotte Bronte uses personification, metaphor, and tone which work together in order to demonstrate the relationship between life and death.

1. How does Charlotte Bronte use metaphors in this poem?
2. How do the lines that use metaphors describe life?
3. How does the author use personification?
4. How does the tone change in line 21 and 22?
5. What is the overall message of this poem?


some facts about the author
- her most famous work, Jane Eyre(1847).
- When she was removed from school, Charlotte and her sister spent five years at home and wrote stories about imaginary worlds.
- Her mother died when she was young
- In 1848 to 1849 her brother, Branwell died, then Emily and Anne

Mark's Poetry Presentation

Love's Philosophy

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine? -

See the mountains kiss high Heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Bio: Shelley was born August 4th 1792 in Sussex England. He was an influential romantic poet of the 19th century. Many of his poems advocated social reform, mainly from the ideals and beliefs of Christianity. Shelley was a devout atheist. Shelley died at sea in 1822 while sailing off the coast of Italy.

Thesis: Shelley uses aspects of nature to describe love and compare it with love in the human sense.

1.) Do you think the title is appropriate to the content of the poem ? If no why not ?
2.) To what extent does Shelley use aspects of nature to describe love ? Provide a specific example if you choose.
3.) What do you think the "spirit" symbolizes in line seven stanza one ? Is the spirit the esscence of love ?
4.) What do you think Shelley means by the lines "What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?" Is this a proclamation of Shelley's own troubled love life ?
5.) Knowing that Shelley is an atheist from the "Bio" section of this seminar why do you think he used such words as "Spirit" and "Heaven" in this poem ?
6.) How does the poem make you feel after reading it ?

Will's Poetry Presentation

"Eldorado"
by Edger Allen Poe

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old-
This knight so bold-
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow-
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be-
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied-
"If you seek for Eldorado!"


Definitions: Bedight : to array or adorn
Eldorado : an imaginary city of gold; sought by 16th century explorers in South America


THESIS: POE USES IMAGERY, REPETITION AND ALLEGORY TO TELL STATE HIS VIEWS ON TRIAL, TRIBULATION AND THE CONQUEST OVER THE JOURNEY OF LIFE.

1. HOW DOES THE POEM'S RHYTHM AFFECT ITS OVER ALL MOOD? DOES IT SEEM SAD AND TRAGIC?
2. DO YOU THINK THE KNIGHT CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT ELDORADO ISN'T A PHYSICAL PLACE BY HIMSELF AND IMAGINES THE SHADOW, OR DOES POE MEAN IT TO BE AN ACTUAL PERSON?
3. WHAT DO YOU THINK POE MEANS WHEN HE SAYS "A PILGRIM SHADOW?"
4. WHAT DO YOU THINK ELDORADO AND THE KNIGHT'S SEARCH SYMBOLIZE?
5. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE SHADOW MEANS WHEN IT SAYS TO RIDE BOLDLY TO ELDORADO AFTER IT SAYS IT IS ON THE MOON? HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO QUESTION 4?

Shelby's Poetry Seminar

Shelby’s Poetry Seminar

Mirror
By: Sylvia Plath

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful --
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

POET’S BACKGROUND:
Sylvia Plath, an American poet, novelist and short story writer, is recognized for advancing the genre of confessional poetry, which emphasizes intimate and sometimes unflattering information about details of a poet's personal life. In regards to Plath’s personal life, her father died when she was eight years old and this subject appears in her poetry. Five months after Plath and her husband (Ted Hughes) separated, Plath committed suicide at the age of thirty by putting her head in an oven and inhaling carbon monoxide. She sealed the kitchen with wet towels to protect her two sleeping children in another room.

THESIS:
Plath’s use of characterization, imagery and lyric quality express her life through an objective perspective.

QUESTIONS:
1. Why do you think Plath described the opposite wall to the mirror as pink and speckled?
2. Who could the woman be that is mentioned in the second stanza of the poem?
3. In the very last line of Plath’s poem when she talks about a "terrible fish", what does the fish represent?
4. How does Plath’s poem relate to occurrences in her life? Comment on how most people aside from the poet can relate to the meaning of the poem.
5. Why do you think that the poem refers to candles and the moon as "liars"?
6. What do you think the greater meaning of the poem is, beyond a mirror’s simple purpose of reflection?

Shakespeare

I personally think that in Shakespeare's plays any given character can be argued as to wether they are a bad or good character. The characters are not gone into to much detail because it is all dialogue. Any character can be argued to be evil or good, even the insignificant characters.
any thoughts?

Spell Check !

I just learned there was a spell check button for blog posts, I wish I knew this before !!

Act III Scene i

A little less late... but late nonetheless:

This scene begins with Claudius and Gertrude discussing Hamlet’s change in behaviour with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern say that they were unable to figure out why Hamlet has changed so to speak.  With all the negativity around Hamlet’s behaviour they do mention that Hamlet was looking forward to the watching the players.  With that being something positive Claudius and Gertrude seemed encouraged that Hamlet was exiting his mood swing and they said they would go see the play in the evening.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern leave and Claudius also tells Gertrude to leave saying that he along with Polonius planned on spying on Hamlet’s staged encounter with Ophelia. 

Polonius tells Ophelia to wander in the lobby and wait for Hamlet but he goes back on that idea when he hears Hamlet approaching and Polonius and the king then hide.

Hamlet then enters and says his soliloquy but in that first line of “To be, or not to be: that is the question:” which is Hamlet contemplating suicide (III, i, 64).  But with his contemplation of suicide he also says “But that the dread of something after death,” and with that he’s right because no one know what happens in the afterlife, if there’s an afterlife depending on how you look at things (III, i, 86).  Hamlet also says that not knowing what may or may not come after death “makes us rather bear those ills we have” (III, i, 89).  But in the middle of his philosopher like thought Hamlet notices Ophelia.

Ophelia being told by her father says that she wants to return all of the tokens of love that Hamlet that had given to her.  Hamlet with some hostility it seemed like denies that he had given her any of the gifts.  Hamlet proceeds to complain about the dishonesty of beauty (I’ll get back to this) and then says he loved Ophelia once and then saying he didn’t.  

Hamlet then tells Ophelia to go to a nunnery because women make men behave differently because of their “paintings” which is their physical appearance which is dishonest.  And in the end Hamlet being infuriated he kind of denounces her and other women as well as marriage itself saying he wanted them all to end.

Hamlet leaves and Claudius and Polonius emerge and Claudius says that Hamlet’s strange behaviour didn’t seem like it was madness because his speech wasn’t that of a mad man.  Instead he fears that it’s something else and that something maybe dangerous.  So Claudius wants to send Hamlet to England in the hopes that a change of scenery would change Hamlet.  Polonius agrees to the notion and asks if he can hide in Gertrude’s room after the play so he can spy on another encounter in the hopes that Hamlet would confide to his mother about his love for Ophelia.  Claudius agrees and says that “Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go” (III, i, 202).

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet_3_1.html

150!

Act II Scene i

Fashionably late for this but....

The scene begins with Polonius and his servant Reynaldo.  Polonius is sending Reynaldo away to France with money and written notes that are for Laertes.  Along with the notes and money Polonius asked for Reynaldo to inquire and spy on Laertes’s personal life.  Polonius wanted to know if Laertes was actually going to school.  The means of Reynaldo’s inquiry into Laertes’s personal life would come from him asking around and saying that he knew Laertes was prone to do bad things and from that he’d gauge a person’s reaction, in order to see if Laertes has been behaving himself in France.

Reynaldo departs and Ophelia comes in “affrighted” and begins to tell Polonius about Hamlet’s.  She says that his clothing wasn’t as it should be and described what was wrong with his appearance say that “he had been loosed out of hell” (II, i, 90). 

Another thing that she mentions that Hamlet did was that he took her by the wrist, held her and then sighed without even saying a word to her.

Polonius after hearing parts of what Ophelia said Polonius wondered if Hamlet “Mad for thy love?” (II, i, 92).  And in the end he concludes that Hamlet had gone mad because Polonius forbade his daughter from associating with him.  Polonius then says that Claudius must know of Hamlet’s madness and they depart.

Keeping in mind that at this point Hamlet’s behaviour has suddenly changed after his encounter with his father’s ghost.

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet_2_1.html

150!

Hamlet: Act III, Scene IV - Jason & Shelby

We weren't sure who's turn it was, so we decided to summarize Act III, Scene IV.

*

Act III, Scene IV begins with Hamlet rudely entering Queen Gertrude's bedroom, where Gertrude is waiting with Polonius (who's hiding behind an arras so that he can listen to the conversation). She called on Hamlet so that she could tell him he offended Claudius, but Hamlet says that she offended Hamlet's dead father. Hamlet talks to his mother and tries to convince her to hear where he's coming from. Frustrated, Hamlet thrusted two pictures into Gertrude's face - one of her first husband, and one of her second. While he did this, Gertrude feared for her safety because he was being so forceful. When Gertrude calls for help and Polonius gives away his hiding spot, Hamlet kills him, and Gertrude says it's a bloody deed (Hamlet murdering Polonius). Hamlet counters that by saying that it's almost as bloody a deed as the murder of a king and marriage with his brother.

Since Hamlet's father died, there had never been a moment's rest. Claudius and Gertrude married within a month of his death, and they basically partied every night. Hamlet wanted to force Gertrude into facing what happened and what she did to his father, but she didn't seem to want to. Hamlet wanted to make it clear that Claudius is 1/100th of the man that his father was before he was murdered, and that Gertrude made a mistake.

Suddenly, the ghost of Hamlet's father appeared, possibly because Hamlet came close to harming Gertrude. Hamlet then talks about the ghost of his father that he sees, and the queen says "Alas, he's mad!" since she can't see him. Hamlet then explains what he sees to her and tells her to keep it a secret. When the ghost leaves, Hamlet tells Gertrude to stay out of Claudius' bed after she basically asks "what do you want me to do?", and Hamlet seems sort of obsessed with his mother's sexuality (using pigs as an example).

At the end of the scene it is mentioned that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern will escort Hamlet to England. Even though these gentlemen were once Hamlet's friends, he is suspicious of them now and compares them to poisonous snakes, since their loyalties most likely lie with Claudius.

Questions:
- Why can't Gertrude see the ghost as well?
- Why is the ghost still concerned about Gertrude, even though she supposedly helped with his murder?
- Why does it seem like Gertrude needs to be told (by men) what to think and how to feel?

Emily's Poetry Presentation

Facts about the author -Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda, a spanish poet, was born in 1904, with the name Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He used the pen name "Pablo Neruda" to hide his work from his father, who dissapproved of his literary work. Throughout his life, Neruda was awarded the International Peace Prize in 1950, the Stalin Peace Prize in 1953, a Doctorate in Literature from Oxford in 1965, and the Nobel Prize in 1971. He was diagnosed with cancer, and died of heart failure in 1973.

Fear
by Pablo Neruda

Everyone is after me to exercise,

get in shape, play football,

rush about, even go swimming and flying.

Fair enough.

Everyone is after me to take it easy.

They all make doctor’s appointments for me,

eyeing me in a quizzical way.

What is it?

Everyone is after me to take a trip,

to come in, to leave, not to travel,

to die and, alternatively, not to die.

It doesn't matter.

Everyone is spotting oddnesses

in my innards, suddenly shocked

by radio-awful diagrams.

I don't agree with them.

Everyone is picking at my poetry

with their relentless knives and forks,

trying, no doubt, to find a fly.

I am afraid.

I am afraid of the whole world,

afraid of cold water, afraid of death.

I am as all mortals are,

unable to be patient.

And so, in these brief, passing days,

I shall put them out of my mind.

I shall open up and imprison myself

with a most treacherous enemy,

Pablo Neruda.

Thesis

Neruda uses his point of view, theme, and irony to confront his life, surrounded by concerns and fears, and reflects upon one's state of a tranquil loneliness.


Questions
1) There is a drastic change when looking at the first stanza, then the second stanza. What is the difference between the two?


2) "Everyone is after me" is a phrase that is repeated throughout the poem. What is the purpose/meaning behind these words?


3) In the fourth stanza, Nerudas reaction to hearing that he is unhealthy is, " I don't agree with them." How does this relate to everyday life with everyday situations that people are confronted with?


4) In the sixth stanza, Neruda confesses that he is, "afraid of cold water, afraid of death." How could these be campared in relation to getting over the fear of mortality/death?

5) For a final, better understanding of this poem, we are going to look at this poem piece by piece.
We already concluded that the first two stanzas relate to (will be awnsered in question one).
The third and fourth stanza (will be awnsered in question three).
What happens in the fifth and six stanza? (What does the author do/face?)
Now that Neruda has_________________ throughout the poem, what is the purpose of the last stanza?

The Whole Business of Responding in Words.

Have you ever had the experience where you are trying to explain something, but the words all seem to come out wrong? So you give up, throwing up your hands in frustration and say "Well, I know what I mean in my head!"

I had a prof one time who suggested that unless we can put what we think into language, we're not really thinking it. Immediately, I felt that the professor must be mistaken, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised he was likely right. It's one thing to have an impression of something but I believe we can only really know something if we can put it into words and communicate it to others. A couple of students were quite perturbed when I mentioned this the last time I taught the course. After a while though, I believe, we arrived at some consensus about the necessity of being able to articulate thought in words. E.M Forster is often quoted on this issue for asking "How can I tell what I think until I see what I say?"

That's the value for me of doing poetry the way we are doing it. When we first look at a poem we tend to know very little about it (the crickets will vouch for me). However, by the time presenters have shared their theses and we've discussed the questions, we are able to say a number of things about the poems with some certainty. Even identifying aspects of the poems that seem unknowable is a way of getting to know them more intimately. This is where I would urge you to really listen to one another and to respond to each other's blog posts. In the course of doing so, you will find that you come away knowing more about English letters (the highfalutin way of saying "literature"). The cliche comes to mind: minds are like parachutes, they only work when they are open.

Bill's poetry seminar

About Lewis Carroll: Lewis Carroll was an English author who was well known for his novels which included Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There. His famous poems include Jabberwocky and The Hunting of the Snark. He has stated that he hated how people would over analyze many poems.

Jabberwocky
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Some Word Explanations:
Brillig: After the poem in Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There , Humpty Dumpty explained that "Brillig means four o'clock, the time when you begin broiling things for dinner"

Gimble: "to spin like a gimlet" A Gimlet was a small tool that made small holes like an auger, but a gimlet is much smaller.  

Wabe: A long thin field on the side of a hill. They have sundials in them. 
Mimsy: Flimsy and Miserable
Outgrabe. Humpty Duumpty says "Outgribing is something like a mix between a bellow and a groan with a whistle inbetween" 
Jabberwock: Jabberwockey, it is a ferocious beast 
Jubjub bird: A desperate bird that lives in perpetual passion: This was said in Carroll's later poem The Hunting of the Snark
Bandersnatch: Bander was an old word for leader. A monster that preys on the leader of a group.
Vorpal: Carroll never had an an explanation nor did he think he invented it
Maxome: Fearsome, Manly

Tulgey: Thick, dense and dark

Burbled: Bleat murmer and Warble 

Thesis:

Lewis Carroll shows that you can make a nonsense poem make sense using grammar, onomatopoeia and an understanding of roots. 

1.What nonsense words did you know before you read the meanings? What words made sense after you read the meanings? What words still don't make sense? What do these words have in common?

2.What purpose does the first and last stanza have? Why do you think they are repeated?

3.Do you recognize any "nonsense" words that are now used today? Are most new words created this way?

4.The character Humpty Dumpty is not in the poem, but in the novel Through the Looking Glass: and What Alice Found There He is an important character that that explains many of the words that we would not be able to understand. Do you think you would still have understood the poem without the word meanings section? What importance does where a poem is found have? 

5. What challenges do you think a translator would have translating this poem? How would you go about doing this?