blog 4

As I am writing this blog, I am hanging out at Randy's house. I had some trouble figuring out which poem I should discuss in my final blog for the third quarter. Randy told me to take a look at one of them he chose, "Let America Be America Again," and I decided that was way cooler than any other poem I would have found. So, I decided to take a look. I obviously read the whole poem, but the first stanza was what most stood out to me. The anaphora repeating the word "Let" is very powerful. I can almost picture a politician giving a moving speech with this  Langston Hughes really does not hold anything back here. He basically comes right out and says that the American Dream is dying. Hughes obviously still had some lasting feelings regarding slavery. Can we blame him though? He is proud of his culture and will do what he has to do in order to defend it. What Hughes really wanted was a fresh start and a new opportunity for people to achieve the American Dream for what was intended to be going back to the ideals and values of the pioneers and Founding Fathers. As a black man in the 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance, I can imagine Hughes felt very strongly about what he was writing. The oppression that black people endured just sixty years before then is disturbing to think about. This quote is still applicable today I believe. Sometimes I feel the American Dream is sorely misconstrued. Perhaps we could use that fresh start that Langston Hughes suggested in that poem in today's America. When he ends the stanza with, "Seeking a home where he himself is free," it makes me feel sympathetic for the narrator. It seems like the narrator does not feel the same sense of freedom that every American is entitled to by nature of being an American citizen.

blog 3

We have been studying poetry in class for quite a while now. I have also begun to have interest in politics and what is really going on in the United States. Sometimes, I feel like I was better off being ignorant to world news and US news due to how messed up this world can be sometimes and what kind of people live in the same country I love so much. I started looking up poems that had to do with more political ideas after reading so much of Yeats. Perhaps my favorite poem right now is "Patriotism" by Sir Walter Scott. Basically, this poem is about a miserable unpatriotic man who only cares about his money. We see that quite a bit in the United States unfortunately. What is cool about this poem is how Scott gets his point across. The meaning of this poem is expressed through meter, rhyme, and most notably, the alliteration. The tone is important, but this is one of those poems that the tone is a result of the rhetorical devices used. For the most part, this poem is written in iambic tetrameter (also very similar to a lot of Yeats' poetry might I add). This poem is meant to be one that people can rally around and profess their appreciation for their country. I find that the shorter lines in this poem get the point across even quicker and it is easier to understand. The diction in this poem is not intended to be a difficult task to decipher. Actually, I would assume Sir Walter Scott made it more simplistic for rhetorical effect. This poem contains a lot of rhyming couplets which I find roll off the tongue easier when read aloud, and they allow the poem to flow easier. The alliteration in this poem is the most important part, however. In some lines, they are up to three instances where alliteration is used which is quite significant considering how short many of the lines are. The alliteration makes this poem more musical in terms of the rhythm it provides. It adds to the bold and in your face feeling this poem is supposed to provide the reader. My favorite line is when the narrator says, "His doubly death, he shall go down." The alliteration used here is so important to take note of because the "d" sound at the beginning of "doubly," "death," and "down" are supposed to create a more depressing tone. In this line, the narrator is discussing the dishonorable death this unpatriotic man who does not love his country is going to endure.

blog 2

After having such a difficult time making it through T.S. Eliot's work, I had decided to switch over to William Butler Yeats for my third quarter paper. I found I was able to not only get through reading his poetry, but I also found myself enjoying his work. Yes, it surprised me as much as it would surprise anyone that I enjoyed reading poetry. Ironically, the poem I enjoyed the most was the most difficult one for me to understand and fully grasp what Yeats was discussing. The values and ideas expressed in "Sailing to Byzantium" are ones that I can identify with. Essentially, what Yeats was putting down for the reader was that there is a huge gap in intelligence and wisdom between the youth of society and the aged people. The narrator discussed his distaste of him his hometown (wherever that may be) and talked about his dream to go to Byzantium, a province of the Roman Empire which is now modern day Istanbul, Turkey. Byzantium was rich in Greek culture. What the narrator mostly appreciated was the beauty of the art work constructed by the Greek people. The narrator compares the youth of his hometown to music and the wisdom of the people of Byanztium to sculptures. Pretty much what he is saying is that songs last for a few minutes maybe a little longer, but sculptures and other artwork are everlasting. I identify with these values because I believe in society that we spend too much time worry about the here and now and other superficial things that nobody should really care about in the first place. Each person should strive to make a lasting impact on the world and focus on what they want to be remembered for years down the road instead of something unimportant in high school. Yeats was not bashing music by any means in this poem nor was he comparing its importance to sculptures, but it was just a metaphor for how people should be thinking. The narrator wishes to become a sculpture. I thought that was a little weird, but I totally see where he is coming form. As a former politician in Ireland, Yeats always had an opinion about everything, but it was always interesting to say the least. And, quite frankly, I find myself agreeing with him more often that not.

Eliot Reactions..

Having read a bit of T.S. Eliot now, I have now realized just how daunting of a task it will be construct a paper about his poetry. In a literal sense, yes, I understand what is going on and can probably tell you what the poem is going to be about. But, my problem is I can't seem to go any deeper than that. This is a style I have never studied before, and it has been the source of several headaches I have had in the past week or so. No disrespect to Eliot, he is a very respectable poet, and his work is incredible. There is a reason he is considered a master poet. I am not sure whether or not I like his poetry though! By this point, I can normally tell whether or not I enjoy the literature or not, but I am torn on this. I think my main problem is that I have not yet been able to decide or pinpoint themes and purposes of his poetry. Why does he write the way he does, and why does he write about what he does? Perhaps I should do more research on his life and find out more what drove him to do the things he did, but as of now, I am left speechless about it which is actually what I was told would happen when reading (or listening) to Eliot's poetry. The reason I mentioned the listening is because this poetry is obviously meant to be read aloud or even performed. The poems start to make more sense when read out loud with that accent you could imagine T.S. Eliot would have. And like all other things in literature, there is a reason for that. I plan to use that as an aid as I study more of Eliot's poetry within these next few weeks as I write my paper