Film in Literature Blog #3

This wasn't my first time seeing "To Kill a Mockingbird" either. I like the films that we've been watching in this class because they are very cultural. Back in sixth grade, I read the book as well. In that time, I was learning a lot about racism and the way it worked during the times of my ancestors. Although, in that time the book and the movie were more for educational purposes than what it means to me now. Now, I watch the movie, and it appeals to my emotions as well as my knowledge. There were many things I picked up in the film that I wasn't completely able to understand back then. One of the more interesting topics that Ms. Bavaro introduced to the class was the fact that the book has been banned from schools because of the use of the "N" word. Although, it suddenly became notable to me that the movie is a good way to take pity on racism. Atticus explains to his daughter Scout why she shouldn't use the word. I also was taken back by the way Tom Robinson was put to blame. Every time this topic is brought up, it always takes me back because interracial relationships are so common and accepted today. And the fact that this entire trial took place just because Mayella's father caught her kissing a black man completely blows my mind. thought this film was a really good way to discuss societal issues that existed in the past. It also was a nice form of education and entertainment. 10/10 would recommend the book and the movie!!!

Film in Literature Blog #2

- This wasn't my first time seeing Precious. Although, it was my first time really understanding it. When I watched it the first time, I was between the ages of 11-12. I didn't really understand the whole concept of poverty, child abuse, and rape. Therefore, I only saw the humor in the movie. The funny parts were the only parts I really paid any attention to. It was interesting to feel the contrast in reaction this time. This time, my eyes were opened. I realized that there are a lot of things that go on in this world that we don't pay much attention to unless it has anything to do with us. It also made me realize that sometimes, I can be extremely ungrateful and unappreciative towards my mother. I'm really rude to her sometimes, not realizing that I could have it much worse. The movie truly does make you appreciate the better things in life. Not only family wise, but school and wealth wise as well. The way our school system is set up is way more organized and accepting than the school system in the movie. Although I don't have money to buy everything in the world that I want, I still have money to live better than most. Like I said, this movie was very eye opening and helped me to realize that I need to stop taking advantage of all the better things in life. 

Film in Literature blog #1

        I'm writing about Anthony Beltran's movie "Rebel" and also "The Holy Grail". I thought it was interesting to see the sort of contrast between the two movies. "Rebel" was a serious movie about the struggles of high school. Although there were some funny parts, Anthony really explored all the different things we go through in high school. As for "The Holy Grail", Python was more satirical and funny, not really exploring any sort of serious topics. "Rebel" explored many different issues such as bullying, relationships, and friendship. The main character was played by a student at Rush named Mark Mariano. His character struggled the most with being bullied and being made fun of. He was sort of isolated and never really accepted by anyone. Except for one girl, played by another student here at Rush of whom I do not know the name. This is where the relationship conflict came into play. The girl struggled in an abusive relationship with a guy played by Shawn Cleary, another student here at Rush. On the down low, this girl and Mark smiled at each other, made each other happy and feel accepted. "The Holy Grail", on the other hand, was a satire mimicking the typical renaissance flick. The author found the irony in the battles, the journey's, and everything that can be found in your regular renaissance film. Both of these films were interesting to watch, and kept me engaged the entire time. I thought it was really cool to see two totally different films in the same week and make the comparison. 10/10 would recommend. 

Anne Bradstreet, “To My Dear and Loving Husband”

This poem was really good, although I found it extremely cliché. Poems like these are the reason why I don't enjoy poetry too much. Not that I don't appreciate the art of writing, I just don't like reading the same thing over and over just reworded. The poem is basically about a woman who wants to brag about how great her marriage is. How she still loves her husband the same even after many years of marriage. In my mind, I'm like "okay, great your marriage is great.". What's the point of the poem? Don't get me wrong, I understand why people write. I also appreciate writing and peoples spontaneity. But in my opinion, writing should be unique. Not just a repeat of many other poems. 

Although I didn't exactly enjoy the poem, I was able to identify the themes of love and death. "Till death do us part" is a famous line concerning marriage. That's what this poem is basically about. Although, the speakers view of death in relation to love is very different than most. She speaks about how their love might allow them to live forever, therefore allowing love to conquer death. Scientifically this is obviously impossible, but I just find it interesting the way she worded it. She doesn't plan on staying with her husband "until death", she plans on staying with him instead of death. 

Again, not to say I don't appreciate poetry, but I don't read it often because I feel like I read the same things over and over again. I think it's completely normal for people to spill out their feelings into paper, although it should have a bit of a twist to it. Something that is going to make a reader like myself want to read it many times and even recommend it to others. 

Cathy Song, “The Youngest Daughter” 

TP-CASTT Analysis

Blog #11 Poem #7

Title:

The title of this poem, "The Youngest Daughter", shows evidence that the story is going to be either from the point of view of a young daughter, the point of view of a mother towards her youngest daughter, or a narrator speaking of the youngest daughter. I predict that this poem is going to be about the struggles of the youngest sibling and what she has to go through vs what the other daughters have to go through. 

Paraphrase:

The sky has been dark for many years 

My skin is damp and pale, like mothers used to be before her sickness took over

Lately, when I touch my eyelids, they burn because of the horrible migraines.

This morning, I gave her her bath and she was in a good humor. As I washed her, I thought of all the people that have touched this body before me. 

I was extremely gentle when washing her insulin bruises. It seems like it has always been this way, us two alone in this bathroom.

In the afternoons, we eat in a familiar silence. I plan my escape as I drink my tea and she knows it. She knows not to trust me. As I toast to her health, the cranes in the window fly up at once. 

Connotation:

The meaning of this poem is that the youngest daughter has to stay at home and take care of her sick mother. The reader can infer that there are other daughters who are free from the term "youngest", if there wasn't other sisters, the title could have suggested something like "the only daughter". From the last stanza of the poem, the speaker makes it obvious that she longs to get away from her mother and find freedom/independence. We can tell this by the way she envies the birds flying away.

Attitude:

The speakers attitude in this poem varies. It's both sincere and honest. She shows sincerity towards her mothers illness when she speaks of the way she helps her. The way she bathes her and makes sure she's okay. Yet, she's honest about wanting to get away from her mother and be free. She talks about how her mother knows not to trust her because she is planning to escape. This just leaves us to wonder, what does she mean by "escape"? Waiting for her mother to die, waiting for her to get healthy, or just leaving her altogether?

Title:

I now know what the title means in relation to the poem as a whole. The youngest daughter is left to take care of her mother while the other daughters have explored their freedom. 

Theme:

One of the most prominent themes I was able to identify in this poem was the role reversal between a mother and daughter. In their relationship, the daughter acts as the mother by taking care of the mother. I had trouble identifying it at first because I thought that the major theme was freedom. Freedom is a theme in the poem, but I feel that the role reversal theme is more dominant. 

Blog #10, Poem #6
The Negro Speaks of Rivers

For this analysis, I'd like to speak about the title of the poem in relation to the poem itself. I just want to first point out the fact that it was obviously written in a time period before now when it was still okay to use the word "negro". At first, while reading this, I was trying to figure out why "negro" was only used in the title and not throughout the poem. It didn't seem like there was any sort of connection in the poem until I read over it again. The line "I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep" really helped me out. From previous knowledge, I knew that the Congo was an African American occupied land. This is where I made my first connection with what the connection was. 

The poet is basically talking about his childhood and the struggles during it. That he grew up in an ancient land, had to learn everything on his own, etc. Then he ends the poem by saying "my soul has grown deep like the rivers". This shows that through all that he's learned in life, his soul has grown deep as well. He also talks about slavery, which is a huge learning opportunity for a person. It shows a person how to be strong and independent and get through any struggle that life throws at you. I liked this poem a lot although it might have been hard to understand. I feel like that's a common struggle I have with reading poems though. Trying to understand them. This poem actually does make a lot of connections to history and the world.

Blog #8 Poem #4
Ozymandias

       From the title of this poem, I automatically knew that it was going to be a name of someone. I just thought originally that it was the name of the speaker, not the sculpture. The poem itself is easy to understand, although to meaning of the poem does not really click for me. I took a guess and came to the conclusion that this poem has a lot to do with history and culture. 
       The speaker mentions that the traveler was from an "antique land" which was my first clue that this poem has to do with history. I knew from previous knowledge that "antique" is usually something that is old and meaningful. I knew that the sculpture was had a lot of meaning when the speaker says that you can tell that the sculptor was passionate about it. My next clue was that the sculpture was of a king. Today, we don't have kings. Kings were very popular in history especially the kinds that were worshiped. Finally, I knew that this poem had to be historical when the traveler read out the message written on the pedestal. The language is extremely different from modern day English. I don't want to call it Old English, because I'm not exactly sure if it's true. All I know is it is in no way modern. 
       My confusion came in when I figured out that the sculpture was in a desert, in sand land. Usually, when people make a famous sculpture, it's put some place for the world to see. This one in particular is basically just sitting in the middle of no where. Also, I was confused when I tried to put together a theme for this poem. I was unable to because I couldn't find a central message or question. When I looked for a moral or lesson, I couldn't find that either. I guess I'm just having trouble putting together the plot. 

Blog #8 Poem #4
Death, Be Not Proud

"And soonest our best men with thee do go"

Essentially, the speaker is saying "Only the good die young". This is a quote that I've heard over and over throughout my short life whenever I lost a family member or close friend. I've always tried to figure out what it meant but I was never able to understand it completely. I was taught that all people are good even if they do bad things. And that is something I truly do believe. I believe every person has at least an ounce, if not more, of good moral in them. And also, it totally sucks when people die young! We make these life plans and try to follow through with them so that we can die with dignity, having accomplished something great. 
I guess what the speaker is trying to say is that only the good people aren't scared of death because they know that it's peaceful, not painful. I understand where the speaker is coming from, although I don't understand how we aren't supposed to fear death. The thought of death, to me, is the #1 scariest thing on my list of scary things. I mean, we make this plan for ourselves, right? We go to school, we get an education, get a job, make a family, etc, FOR WHAT?! To die and have everyone forget about you?! I mean, the concept of life totally makes sense to me, but death doesn't. Why do we die? Other than science, why does it happen? If religion is true and people believe that after death you live on eternally in a place called "heaven", why can't we just live eternally here with our loved ones?
The poem has brought me to the point where I don't even know what to think right now. This poem makes sense to me in the sense that the speaker is trying to make death seem like no big deal, although I don't quite understand the whole concept of "only the good die young" when we are taught to map out a perfect life for ourselves and then slowly die with it. So many things in this poem make sense to me, but even more things in this poem boggle my mind. 

We Real Cool

The poem was hard to understand because it's so short. I had to analyze it a few times until I was able to get the gist of what is going on. Short poem's are always a problem for me because there's never ever enough detail to explain what it's trying to say. Honestly, what really helped me understand the poem was the opening title that says "The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel.". When I first read the poem, I never noticed it. I didn't even notice it the second time around. I saw it, and that was my "aha!" moment. I understood finally that the poem was about a few friends who cut school to come to this pool hall and are enjoying their lives. The final sentence, "We die soon", refers to the fact that life is short. Essentially, that's what the poem is about. A short life that we must enjoy while we can. The writer is setting up images for the reader of what a "fun life" is supposed to look like. Hanging out with your friends, listening to jazz, drinking some jin, all the above. This poem is an accurate representation of the simple fact that people need to lighten up. I mean, you only get one life, right? 

The Second Coming

"Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;"

These few lines are very significant to the world today. I found that this poem is mainly about the war and how the world was left afterwards. It was thought that the world would be fine after the war was over because there would be no more fighting or anything like that. Little did they realize, the country was at it's weakest point. "Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world" describes terror and tragedy. The country was left in ruins and the people were left with few rations of food. It describes how although people may think everything is fine and dandy, it's not. The next line, "The blood-dimmed tide is loosed" gives the sensation of an ocean of blood surrounding us, describing all the blood spill from the war. Again, meaning that although everything seems fine and we are no longer fighting, it's not fine. People lost their husbands, brothers, children, etc. There's no fixing the pain and heartbreak you feel with loss. The next line, "The ceremony of innocence is drowned", describes the adolescents that were loss in the war. The young soldiers who were under 20 years old. Their innocence died with them. Not only that, the innocence of the children who witnessed the war is gone as well. They saw too much to ever see the world in a clear light again. I think that this applies to our world today because innocence is something children lack these days. Although we are no longer at war, the world is extremely corrupt. Children witness drug addicts, hate crime and violence every single day. These few lines apply to our society in the sense that the world will never be the same or will never be how it was pre-war. 

Those Winter Sundays

This poem is about a young boy whose father is a hard worker who makes sacrifices for him. This is shown when the speaker says that his father works hard all week long and still gets up on the weekends in winter to make sure that the house is warm. I found this poem extremely relatable to my own life. It often goes unnoticed how much work our parents do just to make sure that we are fed and dressed. It also often goes unnoticed the sacrifices they make for us. When I was five years old my father passed away. Ever since then my mother has played both roles as a single parent raising three children. I never really noticed how hard she really worked until I was old enough to understand money struggles and depression. I watched my mom work her fingers to the bone just for her kids. It was truly inspirational and made me determined to be a good parent when the time comes. This poem was simple, yet so beautiful and inspiring. It makes you realize what your parents do for you everyday and makes you appreciate them a lot more. This poem also says "no one ever thanked him". Which goes back to the point I made that nobody ever truly recognizes how great parents are. This poem was very eye opening for me. 

Spring and Fall

I'm not typically a huge lover of poetry, but I did love "Spring and Fall". At first, like many others, I assumed the play was written by a woman named Margaret about some guy named Goldengrove who wouldn't leave her alone. It wasn't until I used my usual tactic, reading over it multiple times, that I realized what the poem was really about. The poem is about a child coming to the realization that he/she won't be young forever. That one day everything will die, just like the leaves die in the fall. The poem speaks about how although we don't cry over the aging and death of the leaves, even though there are heaps of them at our feet, we will one day cry over death for sure. I found this totally relatable to me because accepting death is something I've struggled with since I was old enough to even know what death is. The thought of growing old is a terrifying thought, and nobody wants to accept that it happens. But it does! It happens around us every single day. That's what this poem is about, acceptance. Those of us who are terrified of death need to come to terms with the fact that it simply just happens. It happens to everyone. It's a part of life, a part of nature. This poem was absolutely beautiful. 

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

At first, I didn't understand this poem at all. I actually had to read it over about five times until I could completely understand it. I came to the conclusion that the poem is a poem by a man for his wife before going on a long journey. It also wasn't until I completed a TP-CASTT that I identified the theme which is identifying the strength of a bond and relationship. I found it really interesting that Donne forbids his wife from mourning. That sounds really odd because we're used to mourning when someone we love goes a way for a while because there are always risk factors and things like that. I liked it, though because it shows that their love is sacred in a way. It's special. By crying, his wife would be putting it out there to the public instead of cherishing it. My opinion totally changed after reading it over again. At first, I was thinking how annoying and confusing it was. After, I found it really deep and amazing. It really makes you appreciate and cherish those you love so deeply. It also really made me question the whole concept of mourning in general. Like I said earlier, we cry when someone we love leaves for a while because there are always risk factors and things like that. But my question is, why do we mourn when it's not a real separation? It's not forever. I mean I understand why people cry when they break up, because they will never be able to love that same person again. But mourning when someone goes on a trip sounds ridiculous because you should more be looking forward to when they come home. This poem really got to me, on a spiritual level. 10/10 would recommend to a peer.

Mirror

1) My initial experience reading the poem was simply that I really enjoyed it. It was pretty simple and easy to understand. The only thing that was difficult for me at first was understanding the theme. There were a lot of things that the poem could imply and there were many meanings you could put on it. It wasn't until I read it a second time and completed a TP-CASTT analysis that I could understand the theme. I decided that the theme was accepting yourself as you grow older. The woman struggled with losing her beauty as she got older. After this analysis, my view on the poem shifted completely. The first time around I got the impression that the woman was just looking in any old mirror and watching herself grow old. But after reading it a second time, I realized that this poem is about life in general. While out on the streets, you see yourself in car windows or store windows and see what you look like daily. You literally watch yourself age as the days go by. I also found it interesting that the focus was on a woman. Women in society are usually the more prominent ones that suffer from insecurities. I just altogether really enjoyed this poem because I thought it was very relatable. 

2) When answering questions, I really had trouble analyzing what the poet was implying within certain words/phrases. The easier questions for me were those about structure. It was easy to analyze shifts and breaks than it was to analyze the meaning of certain parts of the poem. Some questions I feel like I need more help with would be those understanding the meaning of words.

Formalism & Structuralism 

3 Important Things I've Learned: Steps for Language Analysis, The Structure of Language, Reading Analytically 

Steps for Language Analysis: While being really simple, the steps for language analysis really helped me to understand how I'm supposed to read something. While reading, I usually read all the way through without really thinking about what the words or sentences mean. This video really helped me layout a simple yet really helpful technique to analyze each and every story that I read. You have to identify mood and tone and highlight any words or phrases that you think correspond to that tone or mood. While reading, you should take notes in the margins to help you remember your thoughts while reading and to help you remember how the words/phrases affect the tone and mood. 

The Structure of Language: While reading a story, I often don't pay attention to language as much as I do style and literary techniques. When asked in person what I think that "language of the story" means, or what it even is, I'm usually at a loss for words. This video really helped me learn the different parts of language in a story. The number one thing you have to remember is that all language is built upon structure. There are the words and sounds that build upon the grammar. Another thing that the video suggests is the fact that we are often unaware that structure even exists in what we are saying. That made me really pay attention to the structure in every thing I say now. 

Reading Analytically: To me, annotating has always been something that you just do while reading to respond to the text. It was a way to keep all of your thoughts on paper. In all honesty, I never really liked annotating when I first tried it. Now, it sort of comes naturally to me. It's something that I just do without thinking. I find it very helpful to keep my thoughts organized and to pinpoint things I want to remember in case I have to write an essay or something and I forget what I was going to say. I learned that annotating is more than just writing silly notes on what you're thinking while reading. It's a way to force yourself to ask questions and respond to the text on a deeper level of thinking. 

2 Questions I Still Have: Four Components of Literature, Allusion

Four Components of Literature: So, while reading I noticed that the author of this article sort of laid out the characteristics that a piece of literature is supposed to have. It sort of confused me, though, because I began thinking "Well, what exactly does make up a piece of literature?" "If I write a story, and don't include all these components, is my story not a true work of literature?". This part of the packet really got me questioning what literature truly is and what it looks like.

Allusion: Allusion is something I've always had trouble wrapping my head around. I've always confused Allusion and Illusion. I know what illusion is because I've seen many tricks involving it. Allusion, however, is something that I just can't seem to grasp. I get that author's use allusions in referencing other works in a text, I just can't seem to understand how you would identify it. I can't understand how you would create it either. 

1 Skill I Could Teach: Denotation Vs. Connotation 

Denotation Vs. Connotation: Denotation is what a word/phrase/picture literally means. Connotation is what a word/phrase/picture implies. I found this really easy for me to understand. I really liked the analogy's the author used in the video because it made it really obvious as to what denotation and connotation really mean. I do think that if I were to teach someone this concept, I would have a pretty good sense of what to say.