One Last Poem

As the semester draws to a close, I feel as if nothing is more appropriate than a poem in response to this class.


What I Learned in Lit 240

Lit 240 was a good class.
It wasn't as easy as I'd thought it would be.
I actually had to work off my ass.
All I know is I better make better than a C!

Reading short stories, poems, plays,
My favorite part of the class was discussing!
Writing essays, writing essays, writing essays
My least-favorite part of the class was re-fluffing.

My writing is better now.
I definitely learned a lot and grew.
I never blogged before, but now I know how.
Class ends, summer starts, woohoo!


Best poem I've ever written? No. But not too shabby.

Thank you all for a great class. Best of luck throughout the rest of your college career!

"The Sunset Limited" Article "Beyond the Border: Cormac McCarthy in the New Millennium"

The Cormac McCarthy Society has popped up again! That's so funny because I swear when I put that link to their homepage in my last blog post I didn't know one of the articles we'd be reading was from them. Furthermore, I am so interested in the fact that Cormac McCarthy has a society dedicated to him. Before this class I had never heard of him before. I'd heard of No Country for Old Men, but never Cormac McCarthy specifically.
Also on that note, I think this article ("Beyond the Border: Cormac McCarthy in the New Millennium") has to be taken with a grain of salt because it is very clearly biased. It has nothing but great things to say about Cormac McCarthy and his works, and I guess what else can you really expect from the cult - er, society - dedicated to him?
What I found most interesting about from this article is that the play was very successful in the theatre community, but had little recognition from the press (pg 9). I speculate that this is due to the play's touchy subjects. I don't think the press would have minded the suicidal aspect of the play, but I think maybe they minded the religious debate aspect of the play. Or maybe it simply was just that the press had bigger and better things to worry about at the time. I personally am very impressed that "The Sunset Limited" made it all the way to Ireland! I love Ireland.
Oh shit you guys! In looking for a video of somebody performing the play on Youtube, I found this: the Sunset Limited crashed! Ironic? I think so. (Sorry the video is so long.)
Anyway, this article was interesting, but I think the other two are way more helpful.

About "The Sunset Limited"

What a depressing play. It makes me wonder what sort of things Cormac McCarthy was grappling with himself when he wrote it. Maybe we can find out.
Here's the official website of the Cormac McCarthy Society: http://www.cormacmccarthy.com/. Interesting. I'm a little concerned for the society. I just don't know if there should be a society based on such a disturbed guy. Kinda sounds like a dangerous cult. The Wikipedia on him is much more informative. Still, it doesn't say much about McCarthy's mental health. Maybe it's none of our  business. And maybe I shouldn't judge him so harshly. Supposedly you're supposed to write about what you know, though.
Anyway, I am very interested in the theme of education in this play. I think I would like to write my paper on this theme. Something showing the other side of "Ignorance is bliss" which must be "knowledge is hell".
Another thing I thought about writing on is the motives of Black. Why is he so determined to "save" everybody. Just calm down and leave people alone. Damn. Moreover, I found it very comical when Black was trying to persuade the professor to Christianity with "everlasting life". Why would you offer a man who just attempted suicide everlasting life? Clearly the last thing he wants is everlasting life! He doesn't even want to finishing living out the life he's got! Stupid. I also thought it was interesting that Black thought attempting suicide was the worst thing the professor had ever done. I never understand why Christians think that suicide is the greatest sin. Obviously there was something wrong with whoever committed suicide. They were suffering and unhappy and obviously thought that God's gift of life was actually a curse.
McCarthy's play is soething easy to get heated up over.

Belated Bathanti Blog

For more information on Joseph Bathanti check out Wikipedia.

I really enjoyed hearing Bathanti speak. I like the way he reads his poems, and what he writes his poems about. I was impressed with him overall, mainly because he was the opposite of what I expected. For whatever reason I assumed he would be a snotty, stuck-up, entitled person. He did not come off that way at all though. (He did come off maybe a little sexist, though, talking about how awful it is that children can't see their imprisoned moms. Where's the program for children to visit their imprisoned fathers?)
His reading inspired me to write this poem:

Poet Laureate

Poet laureate, poet laureate, nice fantacy,
But let's be honest: something I could never be.

I don't have some awe-inspiring story.
I'm not living the American dream.
Not a big fan of North Carolina,
and I really, don't like, baseball.

My father's from New York,
got some Italian in him.
Must be some immigrants in
our family history somewhere.

My mother's a lesbian,
does that count?
Both are hard workers, as am I,
but really, none of us, like baseball.

I must be too young, maybe too wild.
It doesn't help I'm not a man.
But I do have one saving grace.
I've got one shining hope:

I really, do love, Chevies

Plays (namely "Trifles")

I love plays! I like the way they are written, all in dialouge with some notes on action and setting. Plays are like more straight-forward short stories. Reading plays is interesting and enjoyable because the way they are written keeps the reader involved and in the moment. The reader can either put herself in the play or in the audiance of the play. Either way, the action of the plot is happening first-hand to the reader, keeping her interested the whole way through.
On the other hand, plays can be hard to understand if they are set in unfamiliar times or places. "Trifles" by Susan Glaspell is a short play set in the ealy 1900s in some small rural town. There is a very interesting article about the play here. The play is very clever. As the article says, the theme of the play is that men do not appreciate women. This is can be seen in the way Mr. Wright was unkind to his wife as well as in the way the men ignore and make fun of the women while they investigate the house. I appreciate this play for its theme as well as its ability to prove a point so briefly. My mother always told me that the best way to communicate anything is short, sweet, simple, and to the point. She would like this play.
Turns out, though, that this play is more than just a short little play. This is another very informative article about Susan Glaspell and about the play. Turns out she rewrote the play into a short story titled "A Jury of Her Peers." You can read this short story here. I am very glad to know, actually, that there is a short story that elaborates on this plot because the play, while short and simple and to the point, leaves much to be desired! I want to know more about Minnie Foster and her story. I definitely want to know if she is found guilty or innocent. I am looking forward to reaing "A Jury of Her Peers."
Finally, here is a picture of the author:

Adultery, but by Who?

Spring

When daisies pied, and violets blue,
And lady-smocks all silver-white,
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he:
'Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo!' O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.
When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he:
'Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo!' O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.

William Shakespeare

I don't ofter find Shakespeare humorous, but this poem made me smile.

Here is the poem read by a man with a wonderful accent.

Originally, this poem humored me because I thought it was a commentary on marriage. I thought what Shakespeare meant by "The cuckoo ... mocks married men; for thus sings he/ Cuckoo;/ Cuckoo, cuckoo: Oh word of fear,/ unpleasing to a married ear!" was that the men felt stupid for getting married because in the spring, when everything is new and fresh and the natural thing to do is to procreate, the men want new, fresh, young women, not their old wives. Thus the cuckoo was mocking them, calling them cuckoo (coo-coo, crazy) for getting married in the first place. Upon further research, though, I learned it is actually the opposite. Apparently a cuckold is a man whose wife has cheated on him. In fact, Shakespeare isn't implying that the men are getting restless, but that the women are!

The way the man in the link above stresses the words "cuckoo" does make it seem more like a warning. In this reading, on the other hand, the words "cuckoo" do sound taunting, as if they are making fun of the married men for being married, like I thought. Maybe they're just making fun of them for being married to an adulterer. That is the thing about poetry. It's all about how you read it and how you interpret it. Every poem could have a million meanings.

On "Marks" by Linda Pastan

Marks
by
Linda Pastan

My husband gives me an A for last night’s supper, an incomplete for my ironing, a B plus in bed. My son says I am average, an average mother, but if I put my mind to it I could improve. My daughter believes in Pass/Fail and tells me I pass. Wait ‘til they learn I’m dropping out.

That's Linda Pastan. I love her! Well, I love her poetry.

Her poem Marks really speaks to me, and for me. I relate to how the speaker feels. Everyone is grading my life, and they take my hard work for granted. It gets old. I can only imagine how difficult being a wife and mother is, but being a daughter, friend, lover, student, employee, and general good person is already difficult. There is not enough gratitude in the world. People need to appreciate other people more.

While reading this poem, I understood the tone almost immediately when it started out by telling us that her husband graded her dinner. The tone is resentful, annoyed. By the fourth line, I was outraged. I don't care how good the speaker is in bed, her husband better give her an A+ simply for effort is nothing else.

The son sounds like a typical self-centered, angsty teenager who doesn't understand empathy. He represents the kind of people we have to just ignore. At least the daughter gives the speaker a pass instead of a fail. That's something. You can't please all the people all the time.

The last phrase really resonates with me. "Wait 'til they learn // I'm dropping out." I have felt that way countless times in my life. I want to be happy for the speaker, but at the same time, I am sad for the family. Being the kind of person that I am, while I understand and empathize with the speaker, I also just want to fix this family.

Response to "To a Daughter Leaving Home"

To A Daughter Leaving Home

 

When I taught you
at eight to ride
a bicycle, loping along
beside you
as you wobbled away
on two round wheels,
my own mouth rounding
in surprise when you pulled
ahead down the curved
path of the park,
I kept waiting
for the thud
of your crash as I
sprinted to catch up,
while you grew
smaller, more breakable
with distance,
pumping, pumping
for your life, screaming
with laughter,
the hair flapping
behind you like a
handkerchief waving
goodbye.

Linda Pastan

 

My response poem:

I love my mother
Just wanna be her lil girl
Distance, pain, changing

Emily Dickinson

Upon the first reading of Dickinson's poem, I picked up on themes of wandering: "Uncertain step" "newness of the nights" "meet the road" "grope a little" "learn... alters... adjusts" and finally "steps almost straight."



Other phrases in the poem that stood out to me include "We grow accustomed to the dark when the light is put aways." This line immediately involves the reader, included her in the action of the poem. From the beginning, Dickinson has me thinking about myself in reference to the poem. Another favorite phrase of mine was "evenings of the brain." This phrase just makes you think about life in general. It is so beautifully and uniquely worded. I can picture the sun setting in my mind and the twilight of evening spreading throughout the expanses of my brain. It is a powerful combination of words.
 
Finally, my ultimate favorite phrase from the poem is "either the darkness alters, or something in the sight adjusts itself to midnight, and life steps almost straight." This phrase is where I see the most evidence for the theme of wandering.

Also, the last stanza of the poem is where I see most evidence for my opinion that the tone of the poem is uplifting. I think Dickinson is trying to offer strength and encouragement through this poem. It's like an "It gets better" message way before its time. I see the darkness as neither good nor bad, just something new and strange. Although our society commonly associates darkness with bad, it is not always so. Everything in life does not have to be so binary. Especially in this poem, darkness represents a kind of ambiguity.

Let's end with this picture of Emily Dickinson.

Sentence Fluency Paragraph

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is about human ignorance. The people in this short story are uncompassionate. Personal benefit is their only priority. Anything that can be used for gain will be—even people—and especially supernatural spectacles. This short story is a commentary on human nature. People are selfish.

"Racism" When Reading "Recitatif"

I have read this short story before, in high school. I remember the class discussion we had, and I hope our college class discussion will be nothing like it. Basically, my high school class discussion turned in to accusations of racism, which is just silly. People say that if you assume a certain girl is black and the other one is white, you're being racist. That's just ridiculous. Everybody just calm down.

In the interview with the author, Toni Morrison, at the end of the story (pg 145-146), Morrison says that she purposefully used stereotypes to guide the reader into assuming each girl's race. By doing this, Morrison does help readers to acknowledge stereotypes and presumptuous conclusions. I'll go ahead and say it: I think Twyla is the white girl and Roberta is the black girl. There are many reasons for this. The most obvious one is that I am white, so I identify the narrator as white. When I start reading anything, I immediately assume that the narrator is a white female until I am explicitly told otherwise. I am not saying I am right to do this, I am just acknowledging that this is a habit I have. Throughout the story, though, I feel there is plenty of evidence to back up my initial assumption.

The biggest textual pieces of support for my assumptions are that I think it would be more likely for the black girl to be going to see Hendrix (pg 135), and I feel like it’s more like the white woman not to care that her boy is being bussed (pg 140 – 141).

 Arguments could be made either way for which girl is white and which is black. Ultimately, it is impossible to know for sure, and it doesn’t really matter. The point of this story is just to get readers to think about their preconceived notions and assumptions.

What I Think about James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues"

This is James Baldwin:
 
 I always think it's interesting to have a picture of the author, so you can better understand where she or he is coming from.

James Baldwin captures the reader in suspense from the very beginning of the story, beginning the narrative in medias res. The very first sentence entices the reader, making her want to know what the narrator had read. Baldwin continues to draw out the plot of the story by giving various flash backs and jumping from current to past and past to current, until finally, the reader arrives at the end of the story, and is disappointed. Although I did not particularly enjoy this story, I had to keep reading it because I wanted to know what happened. However, at the end of the story, I'm not exactly sure what happened. I do not fully understand the last scene.

In the last scene, the narrator finally seems to understand his brother, and furthermore himself, as if the music his brother makes sets him free and opens his mind, heart, and soul to a whole life he had never known before. In this scene, the story seemed to be saying "The ends do justify the means. It is okay for Sonny to do drugs. That's just who Sonny is and who Sonny always will be." In the story, the narrator even observes: "...I heard what he had been through, and would continue to go through until he came to rest in earth." (pg 100, 2nd full par.). That whole paragraph, especially from that sentence on, just seems too pessimistic and apathetic. This sense of pessimism is enforced earlier in the story on page 95 in the fourth full paragraph when Sonny says: " 'Like you did something, all right, and now you're suffering for it. You know? ... why do people suffer? Maybe it's better to do something to give it a reason, any reason.' " And then in the ending scene, after reading the second to last paragraph, the whole story felt anticlimactic. There was no saving change, no life decisions, nothing got better. Just more of the same old same old. The narrator even says "...the world waited outside, as hungry as a tiger, and that trouble stretched above us, longer than the sky." (pg 100)

In the story's defense, it is refreshing to read something that is not predictable or easily understood. It is good to challenge readers to look at things in new ways and consider alternatives to the norm they expect. There are many reasons why I may not understand this story as well as I could. First off, I've never personally struggled with drugs. I am biased as loved-one who has attempted to deal with and understand the person struggling with drugs. Secondly, I am not a musician. I do write though, and I feel that it is not at all necessary for me to use drugs to become inspired as is suggested in the story (pg 94). And finally, I am not very religious, and I do not understand the ending reference to the bible, which I feel is supposed to be very meaningful, despite the footnote (pg. 101).

I am sure discussion in class will help me see this story in ways I never imagined, and it will gain new meaning for me.