While death is a very common occurrence in reality, most people do not like to think about it. Some cultures throughout history have embraced it and recognized its spiritual significance. While I typed those few short sentences, hundreds, if not thousands, of people died all across the Earth. With all of the feelings and emotions that come with death, at least for the ones left behind, tend to cause people to not want to dwell on the subject; to just “cross that bridge once we get there.” Even though death can be a bad thing in many, many ways, it is also the main force that drives us to achieve great things. The feeling that we have a relatively short time to accomplish all that we want to do helps keep us focused on doing the most that we can.
Living next to a cemetery, Emily defiantly had enough time to ponder the different aspects on death and how it affects people and how people see it. I think that Emily was not afraid of death; it seems that she understood that it will happen to everybody, so there is no need to fear it or give it a mystical premise. In this poem, a person is on their deathbed with their relatives gathered around in solemn anticipation of the person’s final breath. Each breath is compared to the “heaves of a storm” in between which the people waiting grow tense, for it could be the person’s last. Then, when everything seems to be ready, a fly buzzes into the speakers view, tearing asunder the veil of peace that pervaded the scene and while the person was distracted, they died. Even though this was a scene of death, Dickinson showed little emotion towards the situation, more of a somber narration of a true story. This poem is more about the psychological aspect of death and how a simple thing like a buzzing fly could ruin the “perfect” moment right before one passes on.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Daily Journal #27
Though I would much rather write about how Emily Dickinson’s poems often seem to go along to the tune in the theme song of “Gilligan’s Island,” it would be rather hard to reason why this was because of the fact that the television show came on much, much later than when Dickinson’s poems were published. Instead, I shall write about how many of her poems could be read to “Amazing Grace” which is much easier to relate to Dickinson because it was most defiantly around when Dickinson was writing her poems.
I do not find it all that surprising that a common tune in her poems was a hymnal because of her family background. She was raised in New England by wealthy Calvinists. It is no stretch to say that since her father was a Calvinist, she was also one, due to the fact that women had little freedom, even in the choice of their religion. Given the fact that she grew up hearing this hymnal, it comes as no surprise that she uses it to base some of her poems off of in terms of rhythm. It was something that she was very familiar with and one that many people would also be familiar with. This allowed for more people to enjoy her poetry because they would be able to read it to a tune that they heard all of the time when they went to church.
The ability to read literature to a beat or rhythm also allows the writer to impart more meaning and feeling without adding any more words. I can see how this would appeal to Emily Dickinson because she was a writer that was very concerned and careful how she worded things so that all of the feeling she was trying to express would come out in a meaningful and eloquent way. By choosing “Amazing Grace,” she gives the poem more of a smooth and mellow feeling while different tunes could help her express everything that she is trying to get across to the reader.
I do not find it all that surprising that a common tune in her poems was a hymnal because of her family background. She was raised in New England by wealthy Calvinists. It is no stretch to say that since her father was a Calvinist, she was also one, due to the fact that women had little freedom, even in the choice of their religion. Given the fact that she grew up hearing this hymnal, it comes as no surprise that she uses it to base some of her poems off of in terms of rhythm. It was something that she was very familiar with and one that many people would also be familiar with. This allowed for more people to enjoy her poetry because they would be able to read it to a tune that they heard all of the time when they went to church.
The ability to read literature to a beat or rhythm also allows the writer to impart more meaning and feeling without adding any more words. I can see how this would appeal to Emily Dickinson because she was a writer that was very concerned and careful how she worded things so that all of the feeling she was trying to express would come out in a meaningful and eloquent way. By choosing “Amazing Grace,” she gives the poem more of a smooth and mellow feeling while different tunes could help her express everything that she is trying to get across to the reader.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Reflection: The Writing Style of Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson is hailed to be one of the greatest and most popular poets even up into the modern day where many people still read her works for inspiration. It is quite sad, looking back, that she did not know how well she was liked due to the fact that she actually only published a fraction of what she wrote during her lifetime, so she could not hear the enormous praise of her writings by many people.
Being born into a New England family, even she admitted that she had a “New Englandly” (McChesney 1). The ideals that she was raised around affected the way that she interpreted information, so it defiantly shows in her writing. It was obvious from very early on that Emily Dickinson was going to be some kind of poet, maybe even a famous one. In one of her letters to her friends, she contemplates why people, including herself, always take the fast fleeting days of summer for granted and only realize that they are gone once summer is almost at an end, yet next summer people do the same thing (McChesney 3). At the time, she was only fifteen years old, and instead of being “concerned with clothes and hair and social activities, Dickinson was already measuring her days with the weights and balances of a philosopher” (McChesney 3). Like other women of her time period, she was forced to do all of the housework, and subsequently, had very little time to actually write down all of the poet genius in her head. Her family, for the longest time, had no idea that she was writing poetry (McChesney 3).
One aspect of her writing style that she developed very early one in her writing life was when she was writing a letter to her cousin and she put a “blank” line instead of a salutation, to which she claimed that “’That isn’t an empty blank where I began—it is so full of affection that you can’t see any—that’s all’” (McChesney 3). These empty blanks that only she knew what went in them were continued to be used and perfected over her writing career (McChesney 3). One good example is when she says that “’I found the words to every thought I ever had – but One – ‘”which gives the impression that the word which is not there is unutterable word (Fagan 1). These dashes are “the physical manifestations of thought” which can be interpreted differently, depending on the reader (Fagan 2).
Another characteristic of her writing style is her love of nature that she shared with the rest of her family. Her focus in most of her works about nature was about the “miniature world of a leaf, a blade of grass, or an insect” (McChesney 3). By doing this she started to compare the relationships between the “tiny and the infinite” which led her to compare “the relationships of the natural world at hand with the boundless world of the universe” (McChesney 1). Even before Emily was fully grown and old, she seemed to poses the wisdom of an ancient thinker who spent the last several centuries just thinking.
McChesney, Sandra. "A View from the Window: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson." In Harold Bloom, ed. Emily Dickinson, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.
Fagan, Deirdre. "Emily Dickinson's Unutterable Word." Emily Dickinson Journal 14, no. 2 (Fall 2005): 70–75. Quoted as "Emily Dickinson's Unutterable Word" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Emily Dickinson, New Edition, Bloom's Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2008.Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.
Being born into a New England family, even she admitted that she had a “New Englandly” (McChesney 1). The ideals that she was raised around affected the way that she interpreted information, so it defiantly shows in her writing. It was obvious from very early on that Emily Dickinson was going to be some kind of poet, maybe even a famous one. In one of her letters to her friends, she contemplates why people, including herself, always take the fast fleeting days of summer for granted and only realize that they are gone once summer is almost at an end, yet next summer people do the same thing (McChesney 3). At the time, she was only fifteen years old, and instead of being “concerned with clothes and hair and social activities, Dickinson was already measuring her days with the weights and balances of a philosopher” (McChesney 3). Like other women of her time period, she was forced to do all of the housework, and subsequently, had very little time to actually write down all of the poet genius in her head. Her family, for the longest time, had no idea that she was writing poetry (McChesney 3).
One aspect of her writing style that she developed very early one in her writing life was when she was writing a letter to her cousin and she put a “blank” line instead of a salutation, to which she claimed that “’That isn’t an empty blank where I began—it is so full of affection that you can’t see any—that’s all’” (McChesney 3). These empty blanks that only she knew what went in them were continued to be used and perfected over her writing career (McChesney 3). One good example is when she says that “’I found the words to every thought I ever had – but One – ‘”which gives the impression that the word which is not there is unutterable word (Fagan 1). These dashes are “the physical manifestations of thought” which can be interpreted differently, depending on the reader (Fagan 2).
Another characteristic of her writing style is her love of nature that she shared with the rest of her family. Her focus in most of her works about nature was about the “miniature world of a leaf, a blade of grass, or an insect” (McChesney 3). By doing this she started to compare the relationships between the “tiny and the infinite” which led her to compare “the relationships of the natural world at hand with the boundless world of the universe” (McChesney 1). Even before Emily was fully grown and old, she seemed to poses the wisdom of an ancient thinker who spent the last several centuries just thinking.
Fagan, Deirdre. "Emily Dickinson's Unutterable Word." Emily Dickinson Journal 14, no. 2 (Fall 2005): 70–75. Quoted as "Emily Dickinson's Unutterable Word" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Emily Dickinson, New Edition, Bloom's Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2008.Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.
Reflection: The Writing Style of Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman is a very interesting writer, to say the least. With such popularity in today’s world, it is hard to imagine that at one time, he was virtually cast aside by his fellow writers. That is what happened, though; his writing style made him an outcast of sorts in the writing community. Some even despised his book because of his writing style. It was only until years after his death that people realized how good of a poet he actually was.
Instead of just following the writing styles of the other poets of his time period when he wrote his poems, he decided to try and create a new style; one unique to him. His main goal with this new writing style was to reach a wider audience in America so that more people would be able to read and understand poetry (Connors 1). He also wanted to revitalize the poetry scene during his time which had become mundane and seldom contained the “vigor and creativity Whitman knew existed” in America at the time (Connors 1).
The solution that he saw to the problem of poetry not being widely read by many Americans was fairly simple, he decided to make his writings easier to understand than the other writings out at the time. The way that he put this into practice was by writing in free verse, which means that there would be no meter or rhyme in his poetry. I believe this is because someone is restricted to meter and rhyme while writing a poem, they are forced to use a specific set of vocabulary that would satisfy the limits of their style. This in turn creates many cases where writers are forced to use unnecessary complexity simply to make sure that their writing style is “correct.” Now free from these restrictions, Whitman was free to express his feelings exactly like he wanted to without heed for whether or not he had enough syllables or if he rhyme scheme was correct. With less excessive figurative language, more readers would be able to read and understand Whitman’s poetry, which is what he wanted to accomplish. Another aspect of Whitman’s writing style was that he thought of all Americans, including himself, as one whole.
This extremely different writing style, which I assume would come across as an insult to the other writers of the time, angered many of his peers. One even got so mad at the near blasphemy that Whitman’s portfolio seemed to poetry that he through his copy of Leaves of Grass into his fireplace (Connors 1). As even more insult to Whitman, he was not invited to a meeting of prominent writers of his time period, either out of forgetfulness or on purpose (Connors 1). Whitman caught a break, though, when Emerson wrote a letter praising him, hailing him as a great poet who had a long and successful career ahead of him. This not only increased to popularity and legitimacy of Whitman’s writings but it also inflated his ego making it even bigger.
Connors, Judith. "Whitman, Walt." In Bloom, Harold, ed. Walt Whitman, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.
Instead of just following the writing styles of the other poets of his time period when he wrote his poems, he decided to try and create a new style; one unique to him. His main goal with this new writing style was to reach a wider audience in America so that more people would be able to read and understand poetry (Connors 1). He also wanted to revitalize the poetry scene during his time which had become mundane and seldom contained the “vigor and creativity Whitman knew existed” in America at the time (Connors 1).
The solution that he saw to the problem of poetry not being widely read by many Americans was fairly simple, he decided to make his writings easier to understand than the other writings out at the time. The way that he put this into practice was by writing in free verse, which means that there would be no meter or rhyme in his poetry. I believe this is because someone is restricted to meter and rhyme while writing a poem, they are forced to use a specific set of vocabulary that would satisfy the limits of their style. This in turn creates many cases where writers are forced to use unnecessary complexity simply to make sure that their writing style is “correct.” Now free from these restrictions, Whitman was free to express his feelings exactly like he wanted to without heed for whether or not he had enough syllables or if he rhyme scheme was correct. With less excessive figurative language, more readers would be able to read and understand Whitman’s poetry, which is what he wanted to accomplish. Another aspect of Whitman’s writing style was that he thought of all Americans, including himself, as one whole.
This extremely different writing style, which I assume would come across as an insult to the other writers of the time, angered many of his peers. One even got so mad at the near blasphemy that Whitman’s portfolio seemed to poetry that he through his copy of Leaves of Grass into his fireplace (Connors 1). As even more insult to Whitman, he was not invited to a meeting of prominent writers of his time period, either out of forgetfulness or on purpose (Connors 1). Whitman caught a break, though, when Emerson wrote a letter praising him, hailing him as a great poet who had a long and successful career ahead of him. This not only increased to popularity and legitimacy of Whitman’s writings but it also inflated his ego making it even bigger.
Connors, Judith. "Whitman, Walt." In Bloom, Harold, ed. Walt Whitman, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
"O Captain! My Captain!"
Yet another author that I have heard many times spoken of in very high regard, similar to how Emily Dickenson is spoken about, Walt Whitman is a very popular author. We already had to read one of his poems, “Calvary Crossing a Ford,” and I was surprised when I heard the name Whitman to not be reading “O Captain, My Captain” because it is one of his works that is synonymous with his name, at least to me. Now that I am given the choice choose which poem by Whitman to read, I am going to have to go ahead and read “O Captain! My Captain!” so that I can see why everyone likes it so much.
As it turns out, “O Captain! My Captain!” is a fairly depressing poem. At first, I thought it was going to actually be about how these heroes come back from a dangerous trip alive. Then it is revealed to the reader that the Captain is indeed dead, and the narrator spends the rest of the poem lamenting his death and wishing and hoping that “it is some dream that on the deck, You’ve fallen cold and dead” (Whitman 15 – 16). The people of the port do not yet know that their hero is dead on the deck of the ship, for unknown reasons to the reader.
I do not think that this poem shows very much correlation or hint of effect from Emerson and Thoreau’s writings and philosophies. I say this because Emerson and Thoreau’s writing seemed to me more “boring” and more about how to live one’s life and teaching simplicity instead of the “epic story” this poem seems to resemble. It also seems to show nature as being an unfair entity, or a force, that kills a Captain who was about to arrive home after a difficult yet successful voyage. He was so close to fame and glory, but nature had to deny him the right; this characterization of nature would defiantly be different from how Emerson or Thoreau would have portrayed “her.”
Whitman, Walt. "O Captain! My Captain!, by Walt Whitman." Poetry Archive. Web. 19 Mar. 2012.
As it turns out, “O Captain! My Captain!” is a fairly depressing poem. At first, I thought it was going to actually be about how these heroes come back from a dangerous trip alive. Then it is revealed to the reader that the Captain is indeed dead, and the narrator spends the rest of the poem lamenting his death and wishing and hoping that “it is some dream that on the deck, You’ve fallen cold and dead” (Whitman 15 – 16). The people of the port do not yet know that their hero is dead on the deck of the ship, for unknown reasons to the reader.
I do not think that this poem shows very much correlation or hint of effect from Emerson and Thoreau’s writings and philosophies. I say this because Emerson and Thoreau’s writing seemed to me more “boring” and more about how to live one’s life and teaching simplicity instead of the “epic story” this poem seems to resemble. It also seems to show nature as being an unfair entity, or a force, that kills a Captain who was about to arrive home after a difficult yet successful voyage. He was so close to fame and glory, but nature had to deny him the right; this characterization of nature would defiantly be different from how Emerson or Thoreau would have portrayed “her.”
"Nature, the Gentlest Mother"
During my years of schooling and watching T.V., I have always heard people talking about how their favorite poet is the great Emily Dickinson. After reading just one of her poems, I can defiantly see why they like her so much; there is something in the way that she writes that seems to speak right to the reader. The poem that I chose to read from her was “Nature, the gentlest mother” from the Nature section in the complete collection of her poems. In all honesty, I chose one under this section and title because I figured that it would be the easiest to relate to the philosophies of Emerson and Thoreau because they both valued, nature, but I will get to that point later.
The short poem is a very simple one. It is simply about the way Emily see’s nature; as “the gentlest mother” ( Dickinson 1 ). It talks about how it is caring and full of life. It is the most loving and caring thing we know.
I think that Emily Dickinson was heavily influenced by the writing styles and philosophies of transcendentalists like Emerson and Thoreau. I believe this because she refers to nature as a “ her “ which gives the reader the illusion and idea that she believes that nature is a living person that cares for all living things with great love and care. This is similar to Emerson and Thoreau because they often times referred to nature with a capital “N” instead of the normal lower case letter. This shows that they have much reverence for nature. The capital “N” does not only imply reverence and respect, it also gives the idea similar to the one given by Dickenson; nature is a living person. Another similarity to Emerson and Thoreau was the fact that in the fourteenth line of the poem, she uses the word “prayer” which also gives the poem an immediate religious undertone, which is similar to Emerson’s idea that God can only be observed through nature.
Dickinson, Emily. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Boston: Little, Brown, 1924; Bartleby.com, 2000.
The short poem is a very simple one. It is simply about the way Emily see’s nature; as “the gentlest mother” ( Dickinson 1 ). It talks about how it is caring and full of life. It is the most loving and caring thing we know.
I think that Emily Dickinson was heavily influenced by the writing styles and philosophies of transcendentalists like Emerson and Thoreau. I believe this because she refers to nature as a “ her “ which gives the reader the illusion and idea that she believes that nature is a living person that cares for all living things with great love and care. This is similar to Emerson and Thoreau because they often times referred to nature with a capital “N” instead of the normal lower case letter. This shows that they have much reverence for nature. The capital “N” does not only imply reverence and respect, it also gives the idea similar to the one given by Dickenson; nature is a living person. Another similarity to Emerson and Thoreau was the fact that in the fourteenth line of the poem, she uses the word “prayer” which also gives the poem an immediate religious undertone, which is similar to Emerson’s idea that God can only be observed through nature.
"To Build A Fire"
“To Build a Fire” by Jack London was a short story about a man hiking the near the Yukon Trail in modern Alaska. It started off just talking about how he was making great time on his hike and how a dog started to follow him. There was a bit of foreshadowing when the narrator mentioned that a man told him that nobody should go out when it was fifty degrees below zero without a partner; it was seventy-five degrees below zero on this day. Then, as he is following a river, he falls into a deep pool of spring water. He only gets wet up to his knees, but that is still not a good thing to have when it is cold enough to freeze a man’s spit before it hits the ground. He tries to build a fire, but when he gets a good one started, snow falls off the tree above it and puts it out. By this time, his limbs are thoroughly numb, and he is having a hard time getting another fire started. He finally panics after failing to start another fire. He finally tires out, and lays down to fall asleep and accept death.
I think that this has some similarities to the philosophies of Emerson and Thoreau. First of all, this has a great amount of descriptions of nature which is defiantly a characteristic similar to transcendentalist writings. Also, the fact that it is one man alone in nature taking care of himself is similar to Emersononian “Self-Reliance.” Another thing that stood out to me is the fact that at the beginning of the story, when the man was still relatively warm and, well, alive, he talked about the wolf dog’s instincts in a condescending way compared to the man’s knowledge that came with being with a human. Then, when the man is running to camp for his life after his failed attempt at making the second fire, he cursed the dog because “the warmth and security of the animal angered him” (London 614). This shows that London thinks knowledge found in nature, like the kind the dog has, is more important than knowledge found through reason.
Jack London. "To Build A Fire" Glencoe Literature. By Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Douglas Fisher, Beverly Ann. Chin, and Jacqueline Jones. Royster. New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2009. 603-614. Print.
I think that this has some similarities to the philosophies of Emerson and Thoreau. First of all, this has a great amount of descriptions of nature which is defiantly a characteristic similar to transcendentalist writings. Also, the fact that it is one man alone in nature taking care of himself is similar to Emersononian “Self-Reliance.” Another thing that stood out to me is the fact that at the beginning of the story, when the man was still relatively warm and, well, alive, he talked about the wolf dog’s instincts in a condescending way compared to the man’s knowledge that came with being with a human. Then, when the man is running to camp for his life after his failed attempt at making the second fire, he cursed the dog because “the warmth and security of the animal angered him” (London 614). This shows that London thinks knowledge found in nature, like the kind the dog has, is more important than knowledge found through reason.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)