I have chosen to be in a group for our second literature slam that consists of the following people: Nabila Uddin, Katie Aikins, Linda Fondrk, and Se-Ann Williams. We have met several times and have finally decided after long deliberations that we would like to do what is called The Spoon River Anthropology by Edgar Lee Masters. The poems that we have all chose were published in the year 1916. The group chose five individual poems and one group poem to present to the entire class. The following short poems will be presented by my group members.
1. The Hill (This poem will be done by the entire group. It is a longer poem and we decided that it would be something different to use all of our abilities to present the poem in five different ways. We are just hoping that it all goes well!!)
2. Sarah Brown (Linda Fondrk)
3. Ollie McGee (Se-Ann Williams)
4. Fletcher McGee (Melissa Hagg)
Written By: Edgar Lee Masters (1868-1950)
First Published: Spoon River Anthropology, 1916. The MacMillan Company: New York.
5. Robert Fulton Tanner (Katie Aikins)
6. Cassius Hueffer (Nabila Uddin)
We had the hardest time as a group deciding which poem we would like to present together. I wondered exactly why this was but after evaluating the individuals in my group I decided that we all had a personal type of poem that we all favored more than others. After discovering this, we all decided that the poem “The Hill” was the most appropriate because it allowed for different interpretations as well as various areas for personal creativity. I really believe that it is a poem that will definitely catch the audience’s attention but at the same time satisfy the group as a whole.
I chose this poem, Fletcher McGee, because I really believe that this is one of the best works that Edgar Lee Masters had in the Spoon River Anthropology. The poem really captured my attention with the descriptions of how the lady captured his love and then with the climax, which to me was when he begins to show the twist that love can have on an individual. I like how Edgar Lee Masters in my opinion used this poem to show the different levels of love. I also favor this poem because Edgar Lee Masters showed that love is not always so picturesque.
When preparing both my personal poem as well as my part of the group poem, I genuinely wanted to make my last performance very memorable. I mean this both by the way I present as well as the interpretation. For my individual poem, I decided to look up two words that I was unfamiliar with and did not allow me to fully comprehend the poem. The two words were pensive and saps. I took it upon myself to look up these two words and then I feel I was able to put the puzzle together into the interpretation that I have mentioned above. From an online dictionary, I found that pensive actually can be interpreted into thinking in a quiet way, often with a serious expression on your face. I found this allowed me to show the change in the poem from that of a love that was not necessarily so perfect as the beginning of the poem explains. The other word that I had difficulty with was saps and I learned that this word means to weaken someone or take away strength or an important quality from someone, especially over a long period of time. I also found that in practicing this poem that it seemed to be more beneficial to vary my voice to show exactly where I feel the author wanted it to take upon a new meaning in terms of context.
For the group poem, I have around seven stanzas to present. In my part of the poem, the author is explaining the fate of several individuals mentioned in the previous stanzas. I was surprised at how the different individuals are actually at such drastic levels in their life. I decided to portray this through different vocal tones as well as body movements. The one word in my part of the poem that I researched and found to be crucial in terms of evaluating the meaning was brothel. I found that brothel is actually in reference to a place where men go and pay to have sex with prostitutes.
My goal in both of these poems is to have my audience really enjoy these poems like I have as well as my group. I would love to have comments on what you feel after reading my blog entry and I hope if you are my classmate that you truly enjoy our part of the literature slam!!
Portfolio #2—Cover Entry/Table of Contents
I have comprised what I call a “Blogging Portfolio.” This portfolio shows my best work in terms of literary works that I have read thus far. My entries span far beyond just my simple opinions. With each link, I have showed my ability to cover every piece of work, researched fully in terms of topics, interacted with other fellow blog members, and simply just portrayed my ability to use this technological supplement to its fullest potential. I will under every link introduce you to the topic as well as its ultimate significance. I hope that each and every individual that views this portfolio can see my growth as well as the potential that I hold in the future for continuing these types of serious examinations.
Bierce and “The Devil’s Dictionary”
This entry is written in regards to Ambrose Bierce’s, “The Devil’s Dictionary.” I used my own personal interpretation and ideas to formulate exactly what the author was trying to imply when writing such a controversial piece. I also found several online resources that actually supported my opinions in terms of Ambrose Bierce as an individual and the possible reasoning from these personal experiences that may have led to the composition of the work. This investigation that I did on “The Devil’s Dictionary” was so significant because I not only used it as a research area but there are also several links to other blog users that essentially portrays deep interaction and discussion. I encourage you to enter because you too may also become involved in this topic and wish to join in on the interaction and discussion.
Choosing to be an Individual in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
I personally wrote this particular response to the novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” I wrote in response to how I felt the main character was trying to grow as an individual and go against the societal norms that he encounters. This entry is also significant because of its ability in my opinion to highly research as well as interact with other individuals. I join you to actually see my point of view, which may actually be different than what you have first intended.
My Thoughts on the Native American stories
This blog entry explains my viewpoints and research that I found when reading several different Native America stories. I found that these stories were exaggerated but at the same time were similar to the traditions that we see in families today. I suggest you enter this link not only to uncover the writing that uses research and interaction but also to find out exactly what the connection was that I have found with Native American stories to stories of our families today.
This blog entry explains my interpretation of the several African American and folk lore that we read as a class. I found that in beginning my writing as well as reading I was able to make sense of this very difficult text. If you are a fan of folk lore, I strongly urge you to join in on the very stimulating conversation!
Further Investigating Psychology...Taking it a Step Further
I wrote this particular entry to show and tie together a fascination of mine. This fascination is ultimately that of psychology. This work is also significant because I have researched and discussed with other members of the blog world in terms of all the types of psychological terminology that can be found in this story. I hope you follow the link above to see what type of terminology I have discovered through personal perspective as well as through research.
Wanting nothing but more, more, more!!
This blog was a way for me to communicate to my audience that I had read a majority of Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poems, but it also showed that I analyzed one in particular in terms of my own meaning as well as interpretation of the areas that I thought Robinson was trying to portray. This reflection covered two areas that I believe constitutes a well-thought entry. I used both research, quotes from the text, and personal reflection to show deeper meaning of the poems. This means that this blog entry is more than just one area but a combination of several areas of intellectual thought.
This actual entry is very different from the rest of my other types of work. The blog entry is significant because it actually is in response to the author of “Girl of the Golden West.” I found several topics to arise after reading the literary piece but the most influential was not necessarily just the play but the significance of the individual that wrote it. If you are familiar with this play or not, I believe it will help you in understanding the reasoning for the play either reading this before or after your familiarity with the play.
Examining the River in terms of Symbolism in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
This blog entry is in my opinion one of the most crucial areas of my development. This actual entry gave several individuals the opportunity to comment on my blog, which in turn made me realize that a further investigation was needed. From the comments that were brought up by these individuals, I found myself further investigating the text by adding my thoughts in different comments that really got a conversation going even farther.
Examining Psychology…My Favorite!!
I found this entry in regards to “The Yellow Wall-Paper” was very essential in terms of measuring my growth in evaluating a literary work. This entry was written without conducting hardly any research and in turn I received comments from fellow bloggers that really made me wonder exactly what all was in this story that I could explore. This particular blog entry made me passionate to explore the psychological terminology and implications that were found in “The Yellow Wall-Paper.” After several hours of research, I was able to put together “Further Examining Psychology..Taking It a Step Further” that better reflected my abilities to deeply and passionately explore a novel. This is a very important stepping stone for me in terms of my blogging abilities, and I encourage everybody to view the progress that has been made as a whole!!
Nabila Uddin
Adventures of Huck Finn (Chapter 16-31)
I found Nabila Uddin’s blog entry to be very intriguing as well as raise several questions for me in particular. I found her insights were great on this piece of work, but I also state where I could help her improve on her reasoning by being the first individual to comment on her blog, give feedback, and asking questions. I contributed to Nabila’s blog and returned several times to continue it throughout a long process.
Nabila Uddin
Huckleberry Finn (Chapters 1-15)
In reading over Nabila Uddin’s blog entry, I was able to see more fully the topics that evolved in the novel but was also able to see how she could analyze this in terms of real-life examples. I also questioned Nabila on what she saw come from the reading in terms of a general theme as I had done in my blog entry. I was very excited to see that Nabila and I were able to continue this conversation in depth and quantity.
Katie Aikins
John Henry/ Remus /TarBaby/ Why the Negro is Black
I really like how Katie Aikins was able to take her knowledge from the reading and incorporate several various areas of research as well. I began a conversation with Katie to see which of these three stories were essentially her favorite. Katie and I were able to get a very intellectual conversation going and were joined by several classmates. I hope that you take a look to see what choice you would make if given the opportunity to choose from the three stories.
This entry had nothing really to do with any assigned literary works but was a novel that I read in my free time. I found this novel to have so much meaning to me in regards to my academic life as well as personal that I felt blogging about it would really help me in regards to getting everything said that I had on my mind. My goal was to be successful at accomplishing this task and I hope that you find that I did indeed accomplish this goal.
In reading over David Belasco’s “Girl of the Golden West,” I found several topics to arise based mainly on the play. However, the most important aspect was regarding its creator. I found this play to be so interesting with its use of melodrama and characterization that I felt it only necessary to examine the man behind the scenes. In the next paragraphs, I will explain the entire life of David Belasco and how I felt his play “Girl of the Golden West” was created from experiences that he encountered.
David Belasco was a son of a Jewish clown who emigrated from London. He was born and in San Francisco at a time when that city had a growing theatre community following the gold rush of 1849. Facing hard times as the Gold Fever subsided, the family moved to Victoria, British Columbia where David's mother, a devout Roman Catholic, placed him in a monastery school. He received an excellent education at the monastery under the guidance of one Father Maguire, but young David literally ran away to join a traveling circus where he learned bareback riding and clowning. He wrote his first plays by the time he was twelve: Jim Black, or The Regulator's Revenge, and The Roll of the Drum. He wrote this latter shortly after Lincon's assassination, and it was acted a number of times outside San Francisco. William Winter reports that even as a boy, Belasco kept writing materials by his bed so he could write down ideas that might be useful to him in the theatre that would occur to him at night. He goes on, "I have not encountered a person more downright daft, more completely saturated in every fibre of his being, with passion for the Stage and things dramatical than was young David Belasco."
As David grew into manhood, he took on more and more responsibilities for various productions in and around San Francisco. He acted, rewrote plays, wrote plays, and worked as "stage manager," which we would now call a producing director. He took roles of all sizes from Uncle Tom and Fagin to Armand Duval; Mercutio to Hamlet. He acted in support of a whole laundry list of traveling stars including John McCullough, Edwin Booth, E. A. Sothern, Laura Keene, Mme. Modjeska, James O'Neill and many others.
I found it so ironic that David Belasco was a child that actually ran away to join the circus. I can remember being very young and several of my friends and I would threaten to do the same thing. The difference was we were never serious in our statements or even attempts. It was just an adventure that we wanted to seek out. This shows that David Belasco was serious about his work whether it is at the circus as a child or as a creator of a melodramatic play. His strength at an early age just proves his ongoing success as an individual in society.
In today’s society, many women, young women in particular, probably cannot remember a time when there was little or no equality between men and women, or perhaps even further back, when women were subservient to men. This idea of the inferiority of women seems to have been a widely accepted idea in the nineteenth century, which resulted in an explosion of feminist works. Aside from “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman also addresses this issue in her novel Herland, in which several men, while exploring, stumble upon a society made up entirely of women who “have no fear of men” (Gilman 132). In In the Eyes of the Law: Women, Marriage and Property in Nineteenth-Century New York, Norma Basch states that “many female reformers wanted only to modify women’s subordinate status within the domestic sphere” (Basch 163-64). It seems as though Gilman was also trying to take a stand against this “subordinate status” of women by having the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” develop an independence. In the story, the woman appears to be very dependent on her husband, John. Years later, however, Gilman makes the women in Herland quite the opposite; they are described by the narrator to be “athletic-light and powerful,” and not “timid in any sense” (22, 132). The woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” speaks in the beginning of the story of how John “takes all care of her” (Gilman 43). She goes on to say what a “comparative burden” she has become, and how difficult it has become for her to perform small tasks-“to dress and entertain, and order things” (Gilman 44). John is left to make all decisions of who will visit when, what her diet consists of, “cod liver oil and lots of tonics and things,” and how she spends her time, which is usually in the room, resting (Gilman, 46). It seems to upset her that John is away most days, in town working on his serious cases. The woman also seems to rely a great deal on John’s sister, Jennie. She mentions the Fourth of July and how she does nothing because “Jennie sees to everything now” (Gilman 46). Jennie takes care of all the household duties.
I decided to write this blog entry because of several of the comments that I received on my first entry regarding the topic of psychology. This is also one of my favorite topics in regards to psychology and that is gender equality. I found that it was only necessary to blog on this after the comments I received on the first entry. I believe the other sources that I have used will allow indivdiduals or peers that were wondering about my accusations in terms of reliability definitely more clear. This is just one area that I found interesting in regards to the many topics brought about in "The Yellow Wall-Paper."
Sources:
Basch, Norma. In the Eyes of the Law: Women, Marriage, and Property in Nineteenth Century New York. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1982.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. Herland. New York: Pantheon Books, 1915.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” New York: Penguin Books USA Inc., 1892.
We are currently in a society that can generally be characterized by commercialism. The definition of commercialism can simply be stated as an attitude that emphasizes tangible profit or success. This attitude occurs all around us in our society. As young children we are all conditioned to live this particular way. It really does not matter how successful a person is they are only looking to be as good as somebody else. These people that we are looking to as ideal seem to be so composed on the outside that we never stop to think or to see that they may actually be hurting on the inside. Edwin Arlington Robinson (a short biography and some pictures are attached if you are interested) exemplified this masterfully in condition to his poem Richard Cory.
The narrator of the poem is someone in an inferior working class, but he is verbal communicating for everyone in his neighborhood who seems to be of equivalent economic standing. They work hard away at efforts that are both filthy and demanding and at the end of the day there is very little to confirm it. They are famished for both food and reassurance. Robinson himself lived in poverty as we have learned in his biography, and was almost well-known for the feeling of jealousy that this character discloses in the poem. But we need to question whether or not the poor are in fact the bottom of the emotional ladder. Perhaps a closer and more intense look into some various lines to see if the text will show that things may not always be as they seem.
The first line of the poem shows the audience a glance into what Richard Cory is about, or at least how he is perceived to his audience. In the first two lines we are introduced to the poem’s namesake, Richard Cory, and we know that he is someone that people take notice of and are interested in as a person. The third line states that “He was a gentleman from sole to crown,” which tells us that he was a man of good nature from his personality to his physical features. Robinson uses the word crown to describe Richard Cory but as a reader we may not think of his as royalty but rather an eminent figure regarded in that fashion. In the preceding line Robinson utilizes the word “imperially” to describe his physical characteristics, which again portrays the image of royalty. Through the next various lines, we learn that Richard Cory is a clean and well-dressed individual thus he does not have the same job or economic status as the narrator of the poem.
In the second stanza we become familiar with Richard Cory’s character. He doesn’t appear to be strained, exhausted or famished. Richard is an enjoyable and commendable man in several various areas. The fifth line states that he is “quietly arrayed,” meaning that he is never dressed in outrageous manner, but it can also denote his ability to collect himself in public. “And he was always human when he talked” (6) creates for the reader a man who is real; one who could relate to the people, and didn’t speak down to those he came in contact with. Still, “he fluttered pulses” (7) when he spoke to people, and we know that both men and women alike felt privileged when he gave them notice on the street.
Edwin Arlington Robinson displays a portrayal of an individual through the narrator, either a man or woman, who wants desperately to obtain the correct level of achievement and contentment. His use of symbolism and imagery allows the reader to contemplate his own relationship to this moralistic poem. But the famous question he poses is whether or not we will know happiness before our time is up on earth or will be continue to idealize that individual that supposedly has “more” than we do.
After reading Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” one might start to wonder why every woman and wife at the turn of the twentieth century did not go mad. Not only does the degradation of women in society and marriage seem appalling, but the treatment of nervous conditions seems rather unbelievable as well. The role that women were expected to play in society in the late nineteenth century proves to be somewhat debasing, with women expected to stay home and take care of the home and children, as if that is all they are good for. While many people find this absurd, they would probably be just as shocked to learn about the treatment recommended for those with nervous disorders. And what does one expect to happen when women are kept from tending to the house and children, what was probably the only thing many women knew how to do because of the role that society thrust them into, and left to wallow alone in their depression and anxiety? The protagonist of “The Yellow Wallpaper” was not lucky enough to live during a time of gender equality, psychiatric advancements, and empathetic treatment of psychological disorders. Instead of being able to go about her normal routine, she was, for the most part, confined to the yellow room, denied socialization and any sort of outlet to convey her thoughts and feelings, and all the while, expected to improve her physical and mental health on her own. What happens when a woman is deprived of the domestic life that she is forced into by society? It seems that the nineteenth century mindset of women being inferior to men, and the ignorance with which John approaches his wife’s case led her condition to become extremely more severe.
These are just simple thoughts that came to my mind and I did after reading and text that I found interesting when reading that of "The Yellow-Wall Paper." I encourage feedback and discussion that further investigates the text!!
When reading over the folklore of both John Henry and Joel Chandler Harris, I found to question myself in regards to whether what I was reading was that of a foreign language or not. The three short stories done by Joel Chandler Harris seemed to really make my head spin. However, I did find one of these particular stories to be interesting primarily because I understood its meaning but more importantly its significance in explaining the different races found in society.
The story allowed me to realize that through this folklore races were acquired by dipping their entire bodies into a pool of enchanted water, which showed that many of the already “black” individuals were unable to become white. I also found the concept of Mulattos and Chinese ethnicities to be really quite surprising only because of the explanation of how they came about in society. I guess that looking at Mulattos as being unable to dip their whole bodies into the water and the Chinese dipping their hair in the water to straighten it was a way at looking at different ethnicities than I would have ever fathomed to believe to be held accountable and reliable.
However, after examining these stories I did take into account that they are simply stories that are past down from generation to generation. I looked at my family’s stories and realized that we cherish these stories rather they are believable or even silly. I came to the conclusion after realizing these facts in my own personal life and decided to not rule out their creation and acceptability all together.
After reflecting on these stories, I really began to agree with Katie Aikins and her opinion that these stories would have had more meaning if they were actually able to be acted out by other classmates. I feel these stories were definitely a difficult read, and I probably would have also taken more from the experience if they were presented orally maybe not individually but through a group presentation.
I found in my individual research that interpreting the story is problematic for the modern reader. These definitely seemed to calm my fears about being the only individual on the planet that did not understand this work. But, as I continued on in the research I found several questions to rise in regards to Harris’ intent in documenting these tales. I know that in my own reading I wondered why he might want to begin problems and controversies with the stories. However, I found in my research that John Chandler Harris insisted that his collection was not an ethnographic or anthropological archive, but rather a collection of works from a dying tradition. This helped me to understand that these were not written in terms of controversy but rather to receive a soon dying area or literature.
When writing this blog entry, I had two specific goals in mind. I wanted to be able to understand these readings for myself as well as to help out any classmates that may have struggled as I did when first reading them. I would really enjoy feedback on your thoughts of the reading! Did you struggle reading through the stories? Were you able to comprehend their meanings? Let me know what you think!