Tone, Mood

Tone in poetry is an important for any aspect of a poem. If the tone and mood of the poem are not in synch with one another it can create an negative look for the poem. For example, in the BBC version of Hamlet, the actors did not really corrilate to what we as a class had agreed was to be the way Hamlet was to be acted out. Because of this, the BBC version seemed awkward and did not come across smoothly.

Diction

Diction can affect a poem, or play, in various ways. In Hamlet for example, certain lines can be read, and depending on how there read, an audience can perceive it differently. Many of Hamlet's lines can be read with anger, but those same lines can be read with sarcasm, depending on who the director and actor are, and how they want to portray Hamlet's attitude at that specific time. Certain words in a sentence can be harshened or softened to reveal a characters tone and diction can ultimately alter the way a poem or play is understood.

Poetry Sounds

Sound in poetry can have major effects on how a poem is perceived. In Yeats' The Second Coming, the sound of the poem can be read almost as though it is being preached in a church by a priest or pastor and he is trying to instill fear into his congregation. It can also be read like sign of warning, like a homeless man talking to himself about what is about to be entailed in the near future for all evil doers and worshipers alike. "Traveling through the Dark" seemed to be more of a narrative type poem, explaining to the reader, a situation the poet came upon. The poem is completely free verse, and makes feels more story like, however a poem can be expressed in various ways.

Symbol/Theme #4

Time as a symbol in "Second Coming" and "As I walked out one evening" is viewed in two vasty different ways. When Time is spoken of in Second Coming, it is not directly named, yet it is referenced to when Yeats tells of how many years it has been since the first coming of Christ. Yeats may also be trying to say that when given to much time, one can become tainted as seen in the apocalyptic Second Coming. "As I walked out one evening" starts off with time being a great friend but as the poem progresses, Time becomes an enemy slowing breaking the two lovers apart until they are no more. Time is directly quoted in this poem and even is personified in some instances. Time as a symbol/theme is apparent in both poems whether it is directly or indirectly quoted.

Plot Blog #1

In Hamlet and Pride and prejudice, one would think there would be no similarities between the two, however, that would be incorrect. They do in fact hold few of the same instances when compared to one another. Hamlet and Elizabeth alike have difficulty making decisions and acting on their decisions in a timely manner. It seems as though whenever they have a chance in taking a step forward, there is always something holding them back. Both characters do end up acting on there feelings, however, Elizabeth's ending is a little more heartwarming that Hamlet's. Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice also have the common grounds of one character who is commonly seen as rather dim witted, in Hamlet it is Polonius and in Pride and Prejudice it is Ms. Bennet. Polonius and Ms. Bennet each have one character that mocks them in some way, both being oblivious to its occurrence. Hamlet constantly uses word play to subtlety tease Polonius, while Polonius continues to converse with Hamlet as though it is a legitimate conversation. Mr. Bennet has the tendency to belittle his wife many times throughout the novel, and finds it in his own enjoyment to laugh at the expense of Ms. Bennet. Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice hold similarities is the main characters in each have difficulty in making decisions, and each has a character to be viewed as dim witted.

Comments on the essay

The main concern for me about my essay and essays in the past are the length of each one. This past essay has been the shortest one i've written in this class, even though I believed my topic had a good basis behind it. I had great ideas for things to elaborate on in the essay but when it came down to the actual formation of the ideas and incorporating those ideas into the essay, it didn't work to well. The other problem could have been that I was focusing on one character, Claudius, and at times it seemed as if it would have been easier to compare or contrast him to another character in the play to help create more length, but I think that would have taken away from the central points of my essay.

Ponder, The Second Coming

"Ponder" begins with the idea of time eating at the remains of "busted statues" and "the stone cringes clinging to the stone", his reason for expressing all of this is he believes time is against him and is slowly running out for all mankind and in this realization of his, Cummings finds that the most important thing to do with time running out is "horizontal business... let us make haste". Obviously, Cummings has no desire for love, just the pleasures it brings.

"The Second Coming" has nothing to do with horizontal business, but a much more sacred arrival of Christ, again. The only downside is this second coming is it is not what the world had been expecting, but they knew it was bound to happen at some point. It seems as though the second coming has brought along armageddon, with God cleansing the world of sin and restarting life again. "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last". Yeats in essence embraces the idea of the second coming, but in addition, instills fear in what it may actually have to offer.

Compare and Contrasting Ozymandias and Ponder

The first obvious contraction of the two poems is their formatting. Ozymandias is more free flowing while Ponder is staggered and broken. Ozymandias is mainly about ancient society and the irony of a king declaring his might and depair and Ponder begins with describing the remains of busted statues and the remains of stone cringes. Both poems can relate in this sense that each has some description of something to do with the remains of some society in the past. Ponder excercices many sexual refrences in the poem while Ozymandias does not. In the end it is much easier to read and understand the flowing language of Ozymandias as opposed to the broken lines of the much more complex Ponder poem.

Hamlet #7 and #14

Hamlet tells his companions about his "antic disposition" both out of deliberate strategy and natural reaction. The strategy is to try to prove that Claudius is the one who killed his father but at this time he does not know how. The natural reaction comes from the fact that Hamlet feels as though he must avenge his father in some way rather than standing by doing nothing.

 He is saying that the human conscience makes one believe something is either good or bad and if one does something good or bad it may way heavily on the conscience. I do agree with Hamlet's theory because it is only natural for someone to think that every decision they have made is a good one or bad one. 

Hamlet is telling his friends that he is only slightly mad, but not mad enough not to know the difference between a hawk and a handsaw. It is difficult to distinguish whether he is mad or acting, but most of the time we can assume it is just a mixture of both.

Advising Ophelia

Both Laertes and Polonius offer their two cents about Hamlet, but none of the advise given is seen as useful to Ophelia. Laertes  believes that Hamlet is young and ignorant, not knowing the meaning of love yet professing it to Ophelia and he also suspects that all Hamlet really wants is to make love, not be in it. Ophelia respects the insight given to her by her brother, but also states that he should not be one to talk because he too has done some of the things mentioned possibly. I can honestly say I don't know in what way Polonius attempts to advise Ophelia because everything she says to him he rebuts and continues a very long wordy response that seems to go nowhere but basically he is saying, he doesn't believe Hamlet is in love with her and I think he assumes that this is just a phase for Hamlet, as any young man would have for a woman.

Claudius: King of Contradiction

Throughout Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Claudius, "King of Denmark", is constantly trying to legitimize his heir as king, knowing Hamlet is the rightful heir after the death of his father, who was killed by Claudius himself. In many of his long announcements to the clergy, he consistently contradicts himself trying to make light of the killing of the king. His speech is the obvious signal that in his subconscious he knows he is not fit as the true king, and his long passages give it away.

Prufrock analysis

"I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker"

The first thing we notice about this quote is the "Footman" is capitalized in the middle of the sentence. Obviously, Prufrock is making this particular word stand out because it is a reference to a demon of some sort demonic creature. The next thing we notice is the demon snickers at the narrator when he confronts him. The laugh can be perceived in two different ways. Either the demon is snickering because he enjoys the fear he is instilling. The second possibility is he is snickering because he finds his job of instilling fear as a joke almost, finding it very easy to "kill" people.

Catch up when you can, Chris.

Chris, I know you've been out sick. Catch up with your blog posts when you can.

Essay analysis

The most important aspect for me to improve on for the next essay is length. I know personally that it was much shorter than I would have liked; which means that next time I should spend more time researching my topic or choosing a topic I believe I have a lot to say about. The second thing is more quotations. The more the essay moves along the less quotations are actually used and by then end I haven't used a quote since the second or third paragraph.

Essays L-N

I read essays L-N and the best one to me was N. It had a catchy hook and the author presented very original thoughts in her introduction. The language in the essay was easy to read and it was not to difficult to understand and the language flowed easily. "Natasha" sounded like what she knew what she was talking about and back up her essay with clear, relatable examples.

A-Z sample Essays

I decided to read essays A,B and C and select the best one. Personally my favorite of the three is C, Cecilia, because right off the cuff she hooks the reader with her first line. As a reader it makes you want to read more about how she thinks the author gives first impressions of characters. My only criticism to this particular essay is that the introduction is slightly too revealing. She should have saved some of those points and used them later in the essay.

Characters and their contrasting personalities

Austen uses various characters as foils in order to create two clearly stated point of views on a subject, thus allowing the reader to choose a side and feel apart of the debate.

Youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY2UFaXPBKs

This video deals with race and how one might have a different interpretation on similar issues just because of ethnicity.