Poetry Reading

Earlier in the semester I attended a poetry reading at Reese Museum on the ETSU campus. The option to go was brought up in class. I have always been interested in poetry and loved hearing it. In high school we had a similar poetry reading and I loved it. Despite my love for poetry I did not have a positive attitude about going to this event. I thought that it was going to be super boring. I went into the poetry reading with a negative attitude but left feeling incredible. The event was very short, it seemed almost too short, but I was touched by so many different readings in such a short amount of time. One thing that stood out to me the most about their poetry was how real it was. This semester I have been reading poems that have been very difficult to understand and interpret. Their poems were flowing and alive. They had so much detail and emotion. I caught myself even tearing up at one of the poems which were about religion. Each of them was short stories and you could tell that the words meant so much to the poet that was reading them aloud. The audience did not understand every detail about each poem, of course, because they were personal events. Also, their poems did not have a certain structure or form. They were just free flowing. I am very glad that I went and experienced poetry from current writers.

Heard no more

"The Voice", by Hardy I thought was a great poem that showed hope but then an understating of the truth and realization. The poem is in the first person, with the speaker being Hardy. Hardy hears a voice calling to him that he believes is his wife that died. She tells him she has changed and she not who she use to be. He is hopeful in the beginning of the poem that the voice is his wife, but then realizes it is just the breeze and his imagination. towards the end of the poem he realizes that he will never hear her voice again an that she is truly gone and will never be heard again. I think this is something that most people that have lost someone close to them can relate to. He is sad that she is gone and does not want to believe it at first. When he remembers her he pictures her at her best when they got married. When people die you like to remember the good things about them and in this poem this is what Hardy does. He wants so try and keep a connection with his wife but then realizes he has to move on because she will be heard no more.

The Duty of a Soldier

One poem that I was hoping we would read but never touched on was Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade." This poem is one of Tennyson's most famous pieces and is alluded to in countless pieces of writing, film and other entertainment mediums. In it Tennyson praises the bravery of the British Dragoons who made a suicide charge against Russian cannons during the Crimean War. Tennyson narrates in a lyrical ballad the story of the Light Brigade as they rode into "the jaws of death." It is written to sound swift like a cavalry charge with the words making sounds like the thunder of hoofs on a plain. The second stanza contains what many modern military historians consider to be the best summary of the duty of a soldier; "Theirs not to make reply,/ Theirs not to reason why,/ Theirs but to do and die." Soldiers are never to question orders and just do them without hesitation. Tennyson seems to believe that this shows the utmost bravery as one must march unquestioningly to their death without remorse or fear. Willingly sacrificing themselves for an officer's say so, even if it is a mistake as the real Charge of the Light Brigade was.

World War One Poetry

I wouldn't say that I had one specific piece that was my favorite as all of the World War One poets struck me as profound and interesting. The way that some of them found beauty in one of the most horrid wars was something that always struck me with awe. Living in such horrid conditions as they did how could they see such beauty in the world, the poppies in the fields of Flanders, or see the beauty in what they were doing for their homeland. Yet in sharp contrast there is also the horror that they write about like the lost generation of young men who went off to war and never returned to be fathers, friends or sons to their mothers, or the treachery of nationalism that sent them off to die trying to find some glorification for it. It was interesting to read all the different perspectives of the war and how people learned form it and tried to teach those lessons to the future generations.

Anti-Patriot

The poem "Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries" by A.E. Housman is a poem that criticizes the use of hired guns with no loyalty to the nation rather than regular foot soldiers who would have a sense of patriotism and love of the homeland. Specifically talking about the First Battle of Ypres where territorial soldiers broke and fled from the German advance while the professional soldiers of the British standing army held ranks and took on the brunt of the German forces, Housman called mercenary soldiers unpatriotic claiming that all they do is take their wages and run. Comparing the British regulars to Atlas, he praises them for holding up the sky while the mercenaries run as it falls. By standing they keep the Earth from parting and defend what the mercenaries think God abandons. By staying and fighting they save their payment, not money but life and the ability to go home to their families and loved ones.

Embracing the Dark Savageness

I would have to say that Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has been my favorite read this semester. The author takes the reader on a journey of truth and illustrates the inane ways in which we humans can resolve doing wrong to someone for the good of self or others. Also the reader is given a glimpse of the darkness that is within and how some characters deal with that darkness. As we are shown with Company’s chief accountant, “I met a white man, in such in such an unexpected elegance….(pg 1902 of text),” this man who had been there for three years in the jungle surrounded by dirt, dust, and decay still held onto proper English attire with a defiant air. As the story moves we are introduced to other characters that are slipping over the edge. Until we meet Kurtz and man of legendary stature. Surely one who will go far in the company but one who has lost all English sensibilities and embraced the dark savageness of his nature. And it all started because he wanted to earn his fortune so as to be worthy enough to marry his “Intended.” But I ask you. Who is the real savage? The Kurtz full of English propriety or the Africanized Kurtz, which one are you? I think that Conrad wanted readers to take that journey of self examination and question what their motives are and how the motivations can affect the others around. And also what gives us the right to do such a thing?

Mystery in Words

1. One of my favorite poems that we have read this semester is When We Two Parted by Lord Byron. I really enjoyed reading the love poems this semester, but this one stood out to me the most. It is full of emotions that are just brought to the surface by reading his words. The speaker of this poem lost a loved one and is expressing how they feel about the situation. The third line that says “Half broken-hearted” could mean a lot of different things. I think it could mean that he knew that their love was coming to an end which left him half broken-hearted. It could also mean that the break was one sided, leaving him broken-hearted. The fifth line says, “Pale grew thy cheek and cold,” this line suggests that his lover has passed away, although it is never stated. Maybe he is saying that her cheek has grown cold because she is no longer there or because she does not love him anymore. In the forth stanza the first line says, “In secret we met” which to me suggests that his lover was a secret lover that no one knew he had. Maybe this is why he was left half-broken hearted because he knew in the end that it would not work out. The end of the poem goes on to talk about what he would do if they ever met again. The speaker says that he would greet their lover “With silence and tears.” To me this is saying that the situation is too hard for him to handle and he cannot face seeing his lover again. This poem is very easy for me to relate to because I know how it feels to lose someone close to me and have a broken heart. I love the words that he uses in this poem because it brings out so much emotion. I also love the mystery in the poem. He never comes out to say what really happened or who his lover was that he lost, but by not knowing any of that it is much easier to relate to.

I already wrote this so why not post it.

2. Ted Hughes’ account of what happened in the Garden of Eden, Theology, is nothing like what happened in Genesis. In the biblical version, Eve ate the apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil because the serpent convinced her to do so by promising her that she would become more like God. Eve listens to the serpent and eats the apple then shares it with Adam. In Hughes’ poem he tells the story completely different. He says that the serpent did not seduce Eve to eat the apple. In fact, Adam is the one who ate the apple. Then, Eve ate Adam. Lastly, the serpent ate Eve. After doing so the serpent goes back to sleep in the garden; also known as Paradise. This is the “dark intestine.” I think that Hughes uses that term to say that the truth is the people would have eaten the apple even if the serpent would not have seduced them to do so because that is just how humans are made. I think he created the poem so drastically different than the biblical story to make that point. Also, to show that the serpent will take advantage of any situation like that, thinking that he has tricked God in some way and that God does not know what is really going on. The end of the poem is a lot like the end of the story in Genesis. God is calling out for Adam and Eve to ask them what they had done and the serpent is laughing to himself.

We can feed this mind of ours

My favorite poem from this semester is "Expostulation and Reply." I love how it expresses the importance of nature. The poem emphasizes the importance of nature to an individual's intellectual and spiritual development. Which i completely agree with! I believe that many individuals can learn some stuff just as much sitting outside and taking everything in than they can reading a book all day. I like how Wordsworth believes that nature provides the ultimate good for the human mind. I love the line ,"The eye- it cannot choose but see; we cannot bid the ear be still; our bodies feel, where'er they be, against or with our will." This is expressing that our ears and eyes have no choice but to see all the many wonderful creations, and we can learn a great amount for them. I like this poem because it doesnt short cut all of God's beautiful creations we are so blessed to have all of this amazing creations and we should take it all in as much as possible.

"The Mortal Immortal"

When I first read "The Mortal Immortal" I did not want the short story to end. I really enjoyed it because the theme is very eye opening. I believe everyone has thought about being able to live forever and not have to worry about death. In the short novel Marry Shelly showed her audience that it would not be so appealing to live forever. She showed that it can be a curse instead of a blessing. Your loved ones will soon pass away and leave you living a lonely life. This novel showed that to live forever would mean to be able to cope with the loss of loved ones, which in a away the immortal is experiencing death. They may feel like they have lost a part of their life through their loved one's death, leaving the idea of being immortal a curse.

It made me realize how hard it would be to live life if I was immortal. I don't think I would be able to handle seeing all my family and friends pass away. I did not view the possibility of being immortal as a curse until I read this short novel. I always though that avoiding death and living young would be a dream (if it was possible)!

Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey"

When reading this prompt, I immediately thought back to the poetry written by William Wordsworth. His passion for nature and the importance of appreciating its beauty completely drew me in. Out of all the poems we read by Wordsworth, "Tintern Abbey" stood out to me the most. The way he described the surroundings of Tintern Abbey during the beginning of the poem immediately caught my attention. Using phrases such as “impress thoughts of more deep seclusion” clearly shows he felt passionate about this location and felt sincerely at peace.

One idea, in particular, that I found relatable was the realization that, while he loved this place as a child, he did not show it the appreciation that it deserved. This, I feel, is something that has happened to many people. I have, unfortunately, experienced this feeling upon leaving home. I possessed negative feelings when living at home and now, I find myself wanting more and more time there. These feelings make me realize, much like Wordsworth, that I did not appreciate the time spent there when it was abundant.

Blogging for Thursday

If you didn't blog for Tuesday and need to blog for tomorrow, you can respond to this prompt:

What was your favorite piece we read this semester, and why? Please don't just write a bunch of empty statements like "I really enjoyed this poem" or "It's a really great story." Explain what it is that you connected with and why it stands out. Please write something thoughtful.

If you need to make up missed blogs, you can write responses to other works in our anthology ("other" meaning works we have not read and discussed as a class). You can do up to three of these. They should be as involved, specific, and insightful as any other post.

Thanks.

Who Ate The Apple?

In Hughes' poem, Theology, he tells of the biblical story of Adam and Eve. In his depiction, the serpent did not seduce Eve into taking part of the apple, but instead Adam ate the apple. After this Eve and Adam and the serpent ate Eve. I find this very comical because the story of Adam and Eve in the bible was the total opposite of what Hughes states here. "The dark intestine" to me is a way of revealing the so-called "dark" but "hidden" truth. It seems as if he is either making fun of the biblical story of Adam and Eve or he simply knows the real truth behind the story. He states, "the serpent sleeps his meal off in paradise/smiling to hear God's querulous calling," which I find to be very funny in a way because it seems as if the evil doing of the serpent comes without a consequence from God which we all know is an "all knowing" and "all powerful" God. God always knows what is going to happen before it happens and he is always strong no matter what from what the bible says, but what happens if God suddenly does not know what happens in the future or does not have the power to stop evil? It seems that God is being seen as a coward by his "querulous calling" and that evil is overcoming good, which seems surreal to me. God always stomps over the devil, but in this case maybe Hughes is trying to say that the truth might not always be revealed as a pretty picture at first, but once depicted the truth will always come to light.

A Sea of Poor Fish

The jawbone represents the end of a period of suffering. With the death of the the sea creature who the jawbone belonged to symbolizes the end of a depression. Seeing the jawbone reminds the narratiator of the cold truths that come along with the jawbone. The crabs and dogfish represent the poor who can never manage to get ahead. The waves of water wash the fish ashore leaving them in the sand unable to breath as the waves of taxes and prices leave people barley able to afford food to eat and clothes to wear. Hughes says that these fish turn to crust and then continue at the beginning. This means that this is a cycle that will continue for the children born of these people and probably their grandchildren and so on. The "jaws" or the government takes everything from its people and causes them to suffer. "Time in the sea eats its tail, thrives, casts these Indigestibles, the spars of purposes That failed far from the surface." I interpreted this to mean that the people who cannot support themselves are cast out of society or left for dead. These people have no purpose and are not considered to be a functioning part of society. They are considered disposable. When Hughes says that they failed far from the surface hes saying that these people failed far before they were born because they born into poverty, in other words they didn't have a chance from the start. "None grow rich In sea." In most societies it is almost impossible to move out of the class one was born in. The 1930's was a time of depression and unemployment I feel that this poem is comparing The jaws of a creature to the jaws of the government. The gripping in the end of the poem leads me to believe that the ways of this creature still effect the sea even in death. So maybe if the poem represents a depression Hughes is saying here that even though the depression is over its effects on the people are still present.

The dark intestine means that over time the story or Adam and Eve has been retold and re-written millions of different times. Each person adding to or subtracting from parts of the story that he or she didn't like or thought might make the tale more interesting. The truth is swallowed in the dark intestine. The way Hughes tells the story is completely different from the tale in Genesis. Originally Eve was supposed to be the one who ate from the tree of life and she convinced Adam to do the same. In Theology, Adam ate the apple and Eve ate Adam and the serpent ate Eve. Hughes is saying that the truths of the words were probably lost over time because of all the re-telling and how things tend to change in meaning from the translation into other languages. The serpent laughs because of the confusion. The dark intestine is where the truth is but no one knows where to find it. Each generation and each denomination has probabley had some influence on the bible and the stories that they choose to accept as the truth.

The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower & Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

1.) In Thomas' poem "The Force that Through the Green Fuse" he gives a description of the cycle of life. He uses nature to compare that particular part of the cycle of life to his area of growth. In the first stanza he uses fuse and blast to show how powerful and forceful the cycle of life and the process of growing is. I believe the words he uses help to show the effectuality of life. He also states that the same force that is bringing life is the same that is destroying it.

2.) The first line of the first stanza on "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" is that of the title. My interpretation of this is that he does not want you to give up in life or leave this world with nothing less than doing your best. His second line "Old age should burn and rave at close of day" is saying that even at an old age one should stay youthful and continue to live their life in a cheerful way until death. The final line of the first stanza "Rage, rage against the dying light" is simply saying that one should battle and combat against the oncoming of death.

"You can't have a light without a dark to stick it in." -Arlo Guthrie

Dylan Thomas was an amazing poet with a precise ear for the nuances of our language. In the poem "The Force that Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower" he examines the dichotomies that make up life. Like the paradox inherent in the idea that pastoral beauty is made possible by the big bang that created the universe, or the possibility that human life on this planet was made possible by a meteor strike that wiped out most previously known forms of plant and animal life, Thomas is using language to pay homage to these conflicts.
In reading tarot cards, the card "death" is not indicative of a literal, physical death. It is rather a herald of great and transformative change. This is also true of the violence in the Thomas poem. Without the destructive freezing of winter, it would not be possible for the spring tulip to bloom. Birth is one of the most violent processes known to living beings, often far more violent than death, yet for all of its ferocity it is undeniably a creative force.
This is the spirit in which Thomas uses words like "force," "fuse," blasts," and "destroyer." Thomas is a poet who is deeply cognizant of the cyclical nature of life, and of the destruction inevitable within that cycle. His use of these forceful words leads the reader to consider the yin/yang conflicts of birth and death, and the way that looking forward to the joys of each new day in the best, most carefree times of our lives is still effectively rushing ourselves headlong toward the end of life.

On top of the food chain

In the sea anything can happen and any fish is on the menu for other fish, if a whale is injured everyone gets a bite and that carcass, vertebrae, skull will then be washed up on a beach, no fish is spared from being eaten. From plankton to a whale everyone is on the menu. I have never scuba dived, but I use to surf. Being older and wiser I will not go in the ocean any more, simply because then I'm on the low end of the food chain. I would not walk on a feeding path in Africa either I am uncomfortable being put on the food chain.
In the Relic it is not so complicated to understand, he finds a jawbone on the shore, at the sea's edge and then he thinks that the sea is a rough place to live, these jaws use to eat and now here is that jawbone. A jawbone that was not smiling when it was being eaten. In the ocean its kill or be killed although the life cycle is barbaric, we all need to eat to survive. Humans just go to the store. We know how it got there in the cooler but we just do not think of the entire process, how meat got to this store. At least I don't.
Oceans are deep, cold and dark, no one is friends when it comes to being eaten. The sea eats its tail and then spits out the junk that washes up on it's edges.

A "Corruption of the Facts"

Hughes's poem Theology obviously differs quite a bit from the story in Genesis that is is alluding to. According to the Bible, Eve was seduced by the serpent (or Satan in the form of a serpent) and convinced to eat an apple from a tree she and Adam had been forbidden to eat from. After eating it, she then convinced Adam to do the same, causing the two to be exiled from the Garden of Eden. While in Theology, the story happens a little bit differently. In this version, Adam eats the apple, Eve eats Adam, and the serpent eats Eve. Then the serpent sleeps in the Garden of Eden and laughs to himself when he hears God calling out to Adam and Eve asking where they are.

Hughes calls this "the dark intestine". While at first, this may be seen only as a play on the ingestion that has taken place, it could also mean something like the dark truth, or the underlying truth. Maybe Hughes is putting some of his personal beliefs, or disbeliefs, into this poem. Maybe "the dark intestine" or underlying truth is that this is what happened in the Garden of Eden, where Satan came out on top and God was left wondering what happened.

"This is the dark intestine."

Hughes’ account of the Garden of Eden myth is exceedingly different from the version in the biblical Genesis. First, the speaker claims that the serpent did not convince Eve to eat the apple but it was Adam that actually ate it. Next, Eve ate Adam and then the serpent ate Eve. Lastly, the poem states that afterwards the serpent slept “his meal off in Paradise.”As we all obviously know none of this happened in the Bible.

I interpreted the “Dark intestine” as the author simply stating “this is the undeniable and dark truth” since he claims what we already know is “corruption of the facts.” I also view line 8 (“This is the dark intestine”) to be especially powerful in this poem because it makes the reader stop and think considering the previous 3 lines appear humorous and silly.

Also, I’m not sure if Hughes did this on purpose but I think it is interesting how he places this line in the middle of the poem and the human intestine is also in the middle of the body. Lastly, I think Hughes exploits the word “intestine” to have two meanings. Obviously he uses this specific word because so much “eating” is taking place in this poem and secondly when I see “intestine” I think of “in testament.”

Hughes and Thomas Prompts

For Tuesday, please respond to one of the following prompts. Or, if you have missed a blog in the past, feel free to respond to two of the prompts (the second response will count as a replacement for a missed post in the past). If you respond to two prompts, please only post once. Number your responses within the same post so that I know you are responding to two. Thanks.

1. Discuss the symbolic nature of the jawbone in "Relic." Based on your reading of the poem, what does the jawbone symbolize?

2. In "Theology," What is different about Hughes's account of the Garden of Eden myth as compared to the version in the biblical Genesis? What does this have to do with the "Dark intestine"?

3. Discuss the violent imagery in "The Force that Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower." Why do you think Thomas uses diction like "force," "fuse," "blasts," and "destroyer?" How do these relate to the theme of the poem?

4. Interpret the last two lines of "Fern Hill." Please reference other parts of the poem in your response.

5. Choose one stanza in Dylan Thomas's villanelle, "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," and explicate it.

Thanks. I'm being observed on Tuesday, so I would appreciate it if you are on time. See you then.

Sacred Spaces

The speaker in Larkin's poem "Church Going" stops off at an old church while out on a bicycle ride. While there he finds himself imagining the daily life of the church, wondering if it is truly abandoned or just momentarily empty as the surrounding village is employed in its daily labors. The speaker wonders if,perhaps "...after dark, will dubious women come/ to make their children touch a particular stone;/Pick simples for a cancer; or on some/ Advised night see a walking dead one?" (lines 28-31).
All of these things, and other mentions of routine rituals that occur in churches, let the reader know that the speaker is has a background in church, and is long familiar with the scenes of major life moments that often occur in the confines of a church, such as "...marriage, and birth,/ And death, and thoughts of these- for which was built/ This special shell" (lines 50-52).
However, for all of the speaker's obvious familiarity with religious ritual and habit, it seems to be a habit the speaker has fallen away from, as do more and more of modern society. The speaker points this out poignantly in the lines "A shape less recognizable each week,/ A purpose more obscure..." (lines 37-38). These lines speak to the loss of the church's place as the center of community life, as new modes of communication, such as telephones and computers, have taken the place of face to face conversation, and the central activity of life has gone from being in the home, where one was surrounded only by family and church was a great social event, to the workplace, where one is surrounded constantly by a crush of social behaviors and home is a welcome respite and a place to escape the constant press of humanity.
However, as a tree-ceilinged clearing in a silent woods, or the Parthenon with moonbeams gleaming through, or Stonehenge at sunrise will cause most people to feel at least a momentary catch in the breath, a reverence for things larger than themselves, so do beautiful, if crumbling, old churches bring forth a feeling of awe, of respect for the sacred events and the places tied to them. This seems to be what the bicyclist in the poem is feeling, as he goes through the motions of those things one does upon entering a church with little more than mechanical attitude, not thinking of the meaning of the acts so much as absorbing the holy atmosphere of reverence and history in the place even as he acknowledges the physical decay of the building and his own, and others, spiritual decay. He looks into the superstitious past without sentimentality but does seem to regret that humanity is rushing toward a faithless future without the pomp and circumstance of historical precedence and tradition.

Lie

I believe in Auden's poem "Spetember 1,1939" he tries to convince society that the government has set up a lie for them to believe. The speaker says" All I have is a voice/To undo the folded lie" this lie is extremely big that it can be folded and has society believe everything is okay. The lie could be portraying a lie that the government has gotten society to believe about life. He also mentions "the light must never go out/ the music must always play". These lines portray that there is something that must be hidden from the people who live in their own country. The government has made them fear one another instead of to "love one another or die," which can leave society uneasy. The speaker in the poem has realized this lie and wants to show society the truth about the government.

So many people say they hate poetry; well they think they do. They hate what they think poetry is. Although, poetry from centuries and decades ago are hard to understand, comprehend, and interpret, they are not as scary as they seem. Dictionary.com defines a poem as “Composition that, though not in verse, is characterized by great beauty of language or expression” . A person, that does not necessarily think of themselves as a writer, can sit down with a pen and paper and just write down whatever comes to mind and call it a poem. Many times writers who write poems have a lot of lines and words within their poem that the reader has no idea what they are referring to. Poems can be very personal to the person writing it. In the poem Sad Steps Philip Larkin is writing a poem that starts off by talking about going back to bed after getting up to pee. By doing so he notices a lot of things in the middle of the night, such as the moon, that cause his mind to wonder leading from one topic to the next. This poem may represent something to Larkin completely different that to the reader. It may also remind the reader of a night with the same incident and they can then relate to the poem. Just because a paragraph does not have structure, rhyming words, or even make sense does not mean that it is not a poem. The ones that say that they hate poetry probably use it in everyday life a whole lot more than they realize.

Word choice in a poem or any form of writing definitely grabs the attention of the reader. Using curse words may help to emphasize a point in a way that could not have been done otherwise. Poems are expressive so adding these words are simply expressing feelings. Larkin uses ‘the f word’ a few times in his poem This Be The Verse. By using these words I feel like he is very passionate about this subject, or that the speaker of the poem (which may not be him) uses this kind of language. I personally think that in everyday language there are many words other than ‘the F word’ that suffice. Being passionate or having strong feelings towards a topic brings out curse words, though. Words are very powerful. They have the power to lift up or break down and definitely bring attention to what they are referred to.

"Never Such Innocence"

In MCMXIV, Larkin, it seems, is reminiscing about life before the war. He creates scenes that encompass the innocence of the world before the war ripped it away.

In the beginning of the poem, he describes the attitude of the men that are signing up for the war. They were "standing patiently as if they were stretched outside the Oval or Villa Park." The text says that the Oval and Villa Park are cricket and football grounds. This must mean that the attitude of the men that were signing up for the war was similar to the attitude of men entering a simple game. They viewed the war as an opportunity to win for their team and were oblivious to the horrors that war will bring. The next scene Larkin creates is that of a simple town or village. Everything here is functioning as it should be, without any cares. His last scene also depicts the idea of innocence--"the countryside not caring: the place-names all hazed over with flowering grasses.." He creates scenes of serenity and peacefulness in the final stanzas.

All of these scenes are necessary for the effectiveness of the line "never such innocence". Larkin uses the scenes to create the peaceful images in the reader's minds in order for this line to be emphasized. Never again will the people experience these happy, innocent times with the "pubs wide open all day" and the "countryside not caring". "Never such innocence again."

Wake Up! The Suffering Surrounds You

As I type these words there is suffering all around: children dying of hunger, people dying at the hands of some other entity, and so many more atrocities to mention; yet I continue on living my life without thought or regard of the suffering of others. Auden’s poem “Musée des Beaux Arts” illustrates the apathy of humanity toward others’ suffering. Especially when he references Brueghel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, which shows a beautiful city in the background and all the characters doing just what they are supposed to be doing; all the while Icarus falls from the sky and is drowning.

The world continues to turn and what can we do to stop the suffering? Do we acknowledge the suffering? Do we fight the suffering? I do not know. But Auden is saying that we should not ignore it. In the poem line 6, “For the miraculous birth…,” and line 10, “…the dreadful martyrdom must run its course…” reference the birth and death of Jesus and his suffering and death for our sins. Without this suffering there would be no Christianity to save us from ourselves.

To quote Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia Ph. D. (b. 1924, d. 1998), “The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.” We need to embrace suffering to become better than we are now. Without recognizing that suffering exists, we live a shell of an existence and only go through the motions or fill the void with material effects and become so completely out of touch with those around us (look at politics). Auden trying to shake the foundations and wake us and open our eyes to the suffering that surrounds us, WAKE UP!!!!!!! Can’t you smell the suffering, the suffering that surrounds you?

Can vulgarity be poetry?

I think that poems that use vulgarity are better at catching modern day people's attention. I mean take for example how many people listen to rap music and sure to older people there is a big "shock factor" that comes from it, but young people flock to it. I guess really it's a matter of opinion, but I would much rather read something from someone who is willing to speak their mind even if people are going to be shocked by what they have written, than someone who tries to be politically correct all the time. So sure these poems do have some vulgarity to them, but isn't that the way modernism is, we are taught to speak our minds and be honest about how we feel, so shouldn't we study literature that is doing the same thing?

Short Story Post....Araby

The boy in this story lives and plays on North Richmond Street. He lives with his aunt and uncle. (This is the case in a lot of Joyce's short stories because he also lived with his aunt and uncle as a child.) The boy develops a crush on one of his friends' sister. He talks of her beauty several times throughout the story, which is symbolic because most of the descriptions in this story are drab. At one point, he goes into the back room where the girl is to tell her how he feels for her, but he can't come out and say it. She then asks him if he is going to the "Araby," which is a bazaar, and told him she wanted to go, but couldn't because of her convent. She told him it would be "splendid." He replied to her that if he went, he would get her something. The rest of the story tells about how anxious and excited he is to go to the bazaar; because he thinks it will be wonderful and fun. After his uncle gives him money and he finally makes it to the Araby, he is disappointed because it is nothing he hoped it would be, it had the same dullness and drabness as the street he lives on. He became so upset and angry, he didn't even buy anything for the girl.

Why people go to church

The person in this poem is going from church to church to try to seek the true purpose of church and the real reason of why people go to church. In line 8 and 9 it says "Hatless, i take of my cylce-clips in awkward reverence." this shows that even if they don t see the true meaning of church they still show respect by taking off their hat and cycle clips because they feel like they have to. The person in this poem believes that people only come to church to attend events and not to connect with God. The person in the poem basically is more interested in the building then they are with connecting with God and trying to find the true spirit from God. The person feels like churches have lost their actual purpose for which they are built and that they waste their time whenever they go into the church. "I sign the book, donate an Irish sixpence" this shows he does do some signs of respect however he does it because of a tradition not because he really wanted to do it. He thinks people just do these gestures just because thats what they feel like thats what they are suppose to do or what their parents told them to donot because they really want to do a respectful gesture.

The F Word

To many people, poetry should be a series of rhyming lines about either love or nature. Anything else, they do not label as poetry. But really what is the difference between Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese and Philip Larkin's This Be The Verse or Sad Steps? Both are written forms of expressed emotions, while one is done in what most would consider a "tasteful" way and the other the complete opposite. Both use strong language to express ideas, one is just a bit stronger than the other. While it may be hard for some to read This Be The Verse or Sad Steps and overlook the language used to find the meaning behind the poem itself, it's not such a big deal for others. I think most students in my generation can read it without a second glance, but I would obviously never show it to my mother expecting the same reaction.

In a way, these poems are a more modern example of what Wordsworth was constantly trying to convince poets of his age, that poetry should be accessible to everyone, even the common man. In all honesty, most people today are going to better relate to the common language used in Larkin's poetry than the language used in some of the other poems we've read in this class. So while some might be shocked at the choice of language present, others welcome it.

Respecting yet criticizing the church..

After reading “Church Going” it is obvious that the speaker feels as if people, and perhaps himself included, have lost their faith and that churches have misplaced their original purpose for which they were built. I would actually go as far as to say that the speaker feels as if the church has become “useless.” This is evident is lines 17-18 which state “I sign the book, donate an Irish sixpence / Reflect the place was not worth stopping for.” The fact that the Irish sixpence has no value in England could very well be symbolic of how the speaker feels about the church; it too has lost its value. Also, the speaker points out in lines 50-51 that the only reason people even go to the church is for separation, marriage, birth, and death. They just come to be present at these rituals and not to actually connect with God. On the other hand, I am led to believe that the speaker does find some significance in the church simply because the poem states that he removed his hat and cycle clips which could be considered a sign of respect. Next, I am not entirely sure why the speaker goes to multiple churches however, in line 54 he says “It pleases me to stand in silence here.” Perhaps he visits to satisfy his curiosity of why the church still exists if it’s not doing its job? Or maybe the speaker wants to recapture his faith since line 60 explains “A hunger in himself to be more serious.” Nonetheless, he undoubtedly knows that the church was once of great importance since he claims “A serious house on serious earth it is.”

Prompts for Thursday

Today I was pretty hard on some of you for not doing the reading. If you are a student who does the reading, please know that I was not talking to you. I assure you that I am aware of who reads and who doesn't. For those of you that do read, thank you.


Here are some questions for Thursday:

1. What does Auden's "Musée des Beaux Arts" teach us about suffering? (The poem references Brueghel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, pictured to the right; click on it for a larger view.) Please use specific lines from the poem as part of your response.

2. In "September 1, 1939," Auden writes, "All I have is a voice / To undo the folded lie." Based on your reading of his poem, what is the "lie" he is trying to "undo"?

3. What is happening in Larkin's "MCMXIV," and what do the scenes have to do with the poem's last line, "Never such innocence again"?

4. How do you think the speaker of Larkin's "Church Going" feels about the church? Why does he go there? What does he gain from his visits? Again, please reference the poem specifically.

5. Do you consider "Sad Steps" and "This Be the Verse" to be poetry? Can a subject like "Groping back to bed after a piss" be poetic? Can a poem that uses the word "fuck" multiple times rise above its shock value? What do you think?

In the final scene of The Dead, Gabriel is realizing that his marriage was never really love. "He had never felt like that himself towards any woman but he knew that such a feeling must be love." His wife has been loved by another man enough for the man to die for her, and Gabriel has realized that through all his life, he has never felt that strongly for a woman and hasnt been loved like that in return. He realizes that his life hasnt been significant, and says, "His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world.."He went from a man full of desire for his wife, to a man hurt by the secrets of his wife and then questions his life.

Going Through The Motions

In the final seen Gabriel is realizing that he has changed as a person significantly and the things that he used to enjoy with his family have become nothing more than mandatory events. "One by one they were all becoming shades." He feels as though these people are just not his speed anymore, and that he is moving forward while they are stuck as actors on a stage that never changes. "Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age." Here he is realizing that the man that truly loved his wife died for her; what he did was honorable and he had done out of love. Gabriel realizes that his wife was never truly in love with him, because she had already given her heart to someone else. Gabriel also realizes that he has never truly been in love himself. He has been a shade of grey; just going through the motions of life. "His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world:" Gabriel knows now that he is just like is family, living a lifeless life, just going through the routine. Their is no color to his world. The whole story Gabriel is kind of separating himself from these people, but it seems in the end he is realizing that he is just like them. A shade of grey.

The One Inevitability

In the final scene of James Joyce's "The Dead," Gretta has gone to sleep and Gabriel is reflecting on the events of the night. His thoughts drift to the his wife's former lover who gave up life just for her. This makes him reflect on why he did it, was she that beautiful in her youth. "He did not like to say even to himself that her face was no longer beautiful but he knew that it was no longer the face for which Michael Furey had braved death." He first reflects on lost beauty and thinks of what age leads to and then pictures himself at his aunt's funeral. This leads him to think more of his own life and mortality. How the coming of death is inevitable and how it is better to go boldly into the other world of death rather than just let it come. He then questions whether his love for his wife is as profound as that of Michael Furey's. "He had never felt like that himself towards any woman but he knew that such a feeling must be love." As he questions his own love for his wife he begins to drift into sleep seeing images of the dead Michael outside next to a dripping tree. He finally falls to sleep as snow falls outside, on Michael Furey's grave, on Ireland and on his own life, signaling the coming of death that all beings of the Universe must face.

The Realization of Death

In that moment when she, Gabriel's wife, fell asleep she dies not awakening for another moment to see her beloved. "He watched her while she slept as though he and she had never lived together as man and wife." Gabriel saw his wife lifeless but like she was in such a deep sleep that it seems that their marriage never existed. He starts to realize the beauty of his dead wife. "His curious eyes rested long upon her face and on her hair: and, as he thought of what she must have been then, in that time her first girlish beauty, a strange friendly pity for her entered his soul." He also began to realize just how much he loved her and took pity on her lifeless body knowing that she will not return to him. Gabriel seems to change by taking pity on his wife but to take pity on his aunt, "Poor Aunt Julia! She, too, would soon be a shade with the shade of Patrick Morkan and his singing Arrayed for the Bridal. Soon, perhaps, he would be sitting in that same drawing-room, dressed in black, his silk hat on his knees." He seems to think that since his wife has died the same will happen to his aunt and the rest of his family. If death has come to take his wife, death will soon come and take the rest of his family leaving him alone. Once he had gone back and seen his wife's body he lay beside her, "He thought of how she who lay beside him had locked in her heart for so many years that image of her lover's eyes when he had told her that he did not wish to love." He felt that he let her down but telling her that he did not wish to live and now that she is gone he regrets it because the image of his eyes as he said that to her was still in her heart and he had no way to retrieve it or take back what he said. He also began to change and show his true feelings to his wife. He began to cry, show emotions of love, and while still conscious he began to not comprehend his extistence in the real world and not among the dead. In this instance he became lost among the living and to himself but to him the world of the dead seemed to live and made him fall as if he were the snow falling on the window pane.

"The Dead" Prompt

Here is your prompt for Joyce's "The Dead": 

Interpret the story's final scene, everything after "She was fast asleep" (2198). What is happening to Gabriel in this moment? What is he realizing? How is he changing? Please refer to specific examples from the story as part of your response.

The Beauty of an Era

I wrote my paper on how the literature is affected by the era that it is in. Art is an expression of how the artist feels. The era that it is produced in has a great impact and can cause it to either be incorporated to portray what is going on in the world or can have its own uniqueness and express its own meaning. Aesthetics can be a response to a critical reflection on which era it is in. With the advancement of technology there also came a loss of character and uniqueness, this was expressed in Tennyson’s The Lady of Shallot, the character in this poem is subjected to a tower where the “ shadows of the world appears” (Tennyson 1115) through a mirror she is only allowed to view the world through. The environment around her could change her perspective on art she “had little other care (Tennyson 1115)” than her art but as soon as she looks at the world it will impact her art. She was not allowed to look outside because what is outside the tower will change her perspective on the world, which will in return transform her art. Her art will change because her environment will change her outlook, which is expressed in her art. The Victorian period brought many advancements, which was expressed in Tennyson’s literature both being portrayed from a positive and negative perspective.

Blogging, April 11-15

In order to allow you to focus on paper writing and keeping up with the reading, I am letting you take the week off from blogging. This will also allow me to spend more time grading your papers. However, I reserve the right to quiz you on the reading, so make sure you are getting it done! Also, I am going to provide some make-up opportunities for those who have missed a blog or two. I will discuss these in class as well.

Dr. Westover

My paper, a little jumbled as a rough draft, explores how British Literature evolved in the late 18th century and how the writers began to express their feelings of fear, faith, and doubt.

John Keats’ later poetry is a perfect example of writing during the Romantic Period. His poems were not well known for most of his lifetime. They were published only a few years prior to his death, but reading his poetry gives insight to what British Literature was like during his time. He expresses deep personal feelings in his diary entry poem “When I have fears that I may cease to be”. The poem, written in 1818, was written during a time when Keats was experiencing a lot of hardship in his life. He had become very ill and had a lot of questions and worries. The first few lines, “When I have fears that I may cease to be / Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain” (888), he expresses worry about dying young. To me, these lines mean that he is worried that he will not have enough time to write all that he needs to write and share before his time comes. The poem goes on to say, “And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, / That I shall never look upon thee more” (888). He is expressing his concern of losing his loved one and not being able to see them anymore. These are some clear examples of how his poetry was structured words that illustrated what was inside his heart. Knowing about what he was facing in his life during this time helps me understand what this poem is truly about. If I were seriously ill at a young age, I would have many of the same concerns.

The Servitude for Truth

My paper is basically about how the truth about soldiers in war should be released and that they should be honored for their accomplishments rather than just their death. In Dulce Et Decorum Est, by Wilfred Owen states,”In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” (Owen, 1974) Owens describes how a soldier fails to put on his gas mask in time to save him from drowning in his own vomit but dies from suffocating from the gas attack on his fellow men. The soldier that failed to apply his gas mask in time dies from a non-noble act of war and could have been prevented if warned in time. Even though the event of his death is not a heroic act, he should still be recognized for honoring his country and his patriotism. Owens writes,” My friend, you would not tell with such high zest to children ardent for some desperate glory, the old lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.” (Owen, 1974) This soldier's death story was told of the “old lie”, which is told about all soldiers that die in war, that it is sweet and honorable to die for one's country. His death was not honorable of his country or sweet but tragic from dying by simply suffocating. Most armies do not release death information of a soldier to the public or even the soldier's family. It should be the right of at least the family to know how he died or at least obtainable upon request. It is not fair to leave the family wondering what happened to their beloved soldier. Some armies tell family members when a soldier dies that he or she could not be found, when in reality they are alive, dead, or being held captive making the family believe that they are basically dead. This is a false truth or as the army and Owen calls it, “the old lie.”

Alienation and Loss of Meaning

Writers were seeking a way to express the loss of meaning and attachment experienced by so many in the early modern era. This was because of the loss of traditional values and experiences that they were finding difficult to deal with outside of those values. The use of the objective correlative became more important, and with it the idea that the reader needed to be brought into the speaker's experience instead of merely having it described. In this way, the nightmarish scenes of trench warfare could be transmitted to the reader without entirely losing their impact. An example of this can be seen in the Wilfred Owen poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est." In this piece the speaker never says, "it was painful, and exhausting, and frightening." Instead the poem shows the gas-torn lungs, the weary trudging on bloody feet, and the death and dismemberment of healthy youth (Stallworthy 1974). This direct transmission of experience gives the speaker, and thus the reader, hope that another may share his or her experiences.

Gender Equality

My paper is primarily on having equal rights between men and women. I think women in the Victorian Age were men's slaves, when they married the husband own the women as if they were property;therefore, the women in the relationship has to do whatever the man asks her to do without questioning him. There was not much the woman could do about how her husband treated her because she did not have any rights at that time to where she could stand up for herself. All they were expected to do is do whatever their husband told them to and keep the house up. I feel so sad for women back then because i could not imagine not being able to have freedom to where i could pursue whatever i desired. I am so thankful for all the women that stood up for women's rights and that fought until they got the Married Woman's Property Act of 1882. This was a great start to getting women rights of their own. Everything started to progress after that.

Blogging

There is no new reading for Thursday, but if you did not blog for Tuesday and still need to blog this week, you can post what you think is the most interesting and persuasive paragraph from your essay. Remember that your paragraphs should be self-contained anyway, so each of them should make sense on its own. If you need to modify it slightly to function as a stand-alone argument, that's fine.

See you on Thursday.

INN-IS-FREE

The Lake of Innisfree is written in a a-b-a-b-c-d-c-d-e-f-e-f rhyming pattern. There are also breaks (comma placement)in the poem so the reader can pick up on the way Yeats intended the poem to be read. The first stanza there are 4 lines and the commas are located on the second and third line. The second stanza has commas on the first and third lines, and the third stanza has it's lines located back in the middle second and third lines. This poem creates a place of tranquility for the narrator of the poem. "Innisfree" is the name but also in the name is a message to the reader "Inn-is-free," to me Yeats makes it seem that no matter where the narrator is if he can bring this memory of this amazing place to his mind he will be free from the negitive or stressfull events that occur in reality. So while the world has its dark points Yeats still can remember a time where he was at peace, and that place creates a sense of calm for him. The Second Coming, this poem seems to say the Yeats has lost his faith in people. "The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity." He sees the world as going down in flames. Their is no rhyming or lyrical type words in this poem because this poem is not meant to give the reader a feeling of light or happiness, therefore, the words he uses to describe are darker. ( darkness drops and stony sleep).

"A terrible beauty is born."

In Yeats' Easter 1916, he repeats the line "A terrible beauty is born." To me he is referring to his divided loyalty between England and Ireland. He was pronationalism and antinationalism at the time the poem was written, and clearly by my interpretation and by the names he stated in the poem, it was written for the people he had known that were executed during the revolt of the Irish. I believe he was referring to their death as the "terrible beauty," seeing as he was against what they were fighting for (the terrible part) yet he was also for what they were fighting and ultimately payed with their lives for (the beauty). In his poem Yeats refers to two men he has dreamed of which can show both sides of the terrible beauty, one he refers to as his "helper and friend", "sensitive", "daring and sweet his thought" while the other man is "a drunken vainglorious lout" who has "done most bitter wrong." The "terrible beauty" is contrasted in many ways in this poem referring to his comrads, and his own views and battles with both sides.

A heavy toll for beauty

It seems rather ironic for one to refer to something as “A terrible beauty.” Nonetheless, I can see Yeats’ point of view and his reasoning in that particular line. The “terrible beauty” Yeats’ is referring to is Ireland’s fight for independence from England. He feels as if it is beautiful that the people of Ireland plan to unite and work together to achieve something as precious as independence. However, he claims it is a “terrible beauty” because he knows that freedom is not free. In fact, Ireland must pay a heavy toll and the struggle for freedom that will result in war and ultimately death. Yeats’ is basically saying that it is beautiful that people are willing to stand up for what they believe in yet terrible that it could and did cost them their lives. Moreover, the “beauty” could be the change that Ireland is about to encounter, a particular change that Yeats’ believes should be embraced. In lines 49 and 50 he states "A shadow of cloud on the stream / Changes minute by minute" which implies that other countries have declared their independence while Ireland remains reluctant and dependent. Lastly, I think the line “A terrible beauty is born” pays a special tribute to those individuals who sacrificed their lives in the Eastern Rebellion. Not many people would be willing to put their lives on the line for something that they truly believed in, I’m not even sure that I posses that kind of courage.

The Irish uprising

Yeats,s narrator first discribes the revolutionary soldiers at first that he did not want to befriend them at first meeting. Yeats did not believe in fighting and his narrator only nodds or exchanges polite words to them, because Yeats was not on board with the revolution the narrator kept his emotional distance. At the end of the stanza it has a complete turn around, "All changed, changed utterly, A terrible beauty is born".In the second stanza he talks of a young girl he once loved but he is bashing the relationship she is in now and slamming the man she is with and expresses his anger for the life she chose and the man that abused her. He pulls no punches and devoted an entire stanza for him."He, too, has been changed in his turn, Transformed utterlly; A Terrible beauty is born" and as the result of the easter killings a terrible beauty is born. Is the first person narrator gone now? because now he is expressing what the changes are minute by minute, "Hearts with one purpose alone through summer and winter seem Enchanted to a stone". Is this a metafor of the waisted deaths and are in the stones? In stanza five The narrator seems to be back; "Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of heart". And in the end of this stanza Was it needless death after all"? The narrator is questioning why they had to die and in the last stanza he names the people in this poem... And seems to point out that what is done is done and all that seems to be important is to remember them and not to question if they overeacted and jumped on board to quickly for the revolution, and now wear your green for remembrence. A terrible beauty is born...A very complex poem not ok with a revolution, and comming to terms with it, when he sees the soldiers, loved a young girl but did not stay with her,trashes her husband for how he treated her,a narrator tells the story and he leaves and comes back and now was the killing worth it all?.... Yes, to the question. I say yes it all is sectioned in six Stanzas to describe " A terrible beauty "

Bittersweet Ripple

From out of the Easter Rising of 1916, the desire for Irish independence was reborn. As with the harsh reaction by the British and the deaths by firing squad of 15 leaders of the Irish nationalist movement, thereby making them martyrs of the cause, Yeats sees this and knows it for what it is; “A terrible beauty is born.” And like a stone tossed into a pond the ripples of discontent spread rapidly. Out of this “terrible” act by both parties the “beauty” or ideal of Irish Independence is reborn and revisited. The deaths of the nationalist leaders, who Yeats knew, intensify the drive for independence and become a rallying cry for those who become involved. Irish independence is closer at hand, but has become more bittersweet with the knowledge of those deaths and the possibility of more. Yeats who was a nationalist, but did not agree with the use of violence, sees that he, the Irish public and those that died are one and the same. With their deaths, there are changes within him and with the public at large. Once started, the ripples cannot be stopped, diverted maybe but never stopped. And the idea of the Irish Free State spreads across the pond carried by that bittersweet ripple.

Yeats Prompts

William Butler Yeats, like many Modern writers, experienced a kind of awakening. His occurred on Easter Sunday, 1916, when Irish revolutionaries staged an uprising against British rule. (Reading the introduction to Yeats is important because these events are explained in greater detail.) The revolutionaries were all executed, and Yeats recognized that Ireland was forever changed. For Tuesday, please respond to one of these prompts:

1. Compare the form and content of the early poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" with that of the later poem "The Second Coming." What do the changes in form and content suggest about the development of Yeats's world view?

2. "Easter 1916" contains the refrain line, "A terrible beauty is born." What is "terrible beauty"? Is there such a thing? I would like for you to refer to the poem specifically, but your comments can go beyond it, too.

Thanks. See you tomorrow.

"Male*" Et Decorum

Owen's viewpoint on war is glum at best. His poem Dulce et Decorum Est is a representation of his trifle with warfare. From his first dramatic description of a road march to how his comrade died horribly of a gas attack, nothing is jovially described. The man described who failed to obtain his gas mask in time is described "...like a devil's sick of sin", and how "...the blood come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs". As horrible as it seems, one can tell that what he is writing about is in fact true, albeit a definite modernistic approach. The title to me definitely spews sarcasm, and at the end of the poem even claims that the title is "The old Lie"... A young man's yearning for glory and respect back home can easily be taken away from him by a simple road march, or an accidental drop of a gas mask at the wrong time. It's not worth it to him, and writes about war in a negative tone because in one's relentless pursuit for glory, death can very easily get you first.

Pope on the other hand urges young men to enlist and fight for their country. In her poem Who's for the Game? She asks, "Who will grip and tackle the fight unafraid?...Who'll give his country a hand?" She's urging them to do so in a tonality that's almost as if she's saying, "You won't do it because you're scared", and of course an adolescent man is going to take that as a challenge. Very different viewpoint on war when compared to Owen, but then again Owen has been through hell, and eventually succumbed to the devil's game...

Desperate Glory

In Owen’s poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est”, he does not take the verb war very lightly. Reading each line of his poem paints a picture of what it would have been like to be the speaker during World War I, almost as if he is allowing us to sit on the side and see exactly what he is seeing. Every line more detailed than the last just brings emotion to the reader that they would have not otherwise felt. As for me, I would have not thought about what it would be like to watch someone die right in front of me, as he experienced in the poem. I feel like he writes it in a way so that the reader will feel these emotions and understand his point; It is not sweet and prosper to die for one’s country. Thinking so is a lie. Every solider that dies in battle of course is honored in one way or another. Their fellow soldiers will never forget them and everything they did, possibly even saved another person. However, there is nothing sweet about a soldier dying. It affects so many lives; every single person that knew the fallen soldier. It is hard for the rest of his team that is still on the battle field. It gives them a sense of lost hope because it is another man down. They do not know how much longer they will make it out there and they often wonder why it was not them instead. Once the news reaches back home, lives are destroyed emotionally. Having a loved one in battle already keeps the family on their seats, waiting by the phone, or waiting for a Chaplin to knock on the door. They never know if they are going to get a phone call that says, “Hey, hunny! I’m coming home!” or one that says, “We are sorry for your loss.” Although each of the men in battle, whether they make it back home or not, risk everything for the people back home, it is still not a sweet situation. Taking people’s lives to prove a point seems absolutely ridiculous. I do not know how someone could find satisfaction in looking an enemy in the eyes and killing them. Personally, I would not feel like I was doing the right thing whether everyone was telling me I was or not. Reading this poem by Owen fills me up with emotions, almost a hate for war. I honor the people that are overseas fighting for us, but there is nothing sweet about it. It’s a depressing unfortunate situation.

Is Dying Really That Sweet?

Owen's poem, Dulce Et Decorum Est, can be seen as an anti-war poem simply because of its use to show readers that fighting in a war does serve your country well, but is it "sweet and proper to die for one's country", as Owen states or is it just a "lie"? According to Owen he sees that fighting for one's own country and dying is not as sweet or patriotic as it seems. In the poem he tells of a young man that dies from simply not putting on his gas mask fast enough to make him escape from his suffocating death. This death of a soldier can be seen as an insult because of his reason for death which was simply not to put on his gas mask on within a quickness of when the attack took place. Most people that think of a soldier dying, picture them dying in battle trying to protect their country, but in reality most people die from careless mistakes such as this one. Owen thinks that it is outrageous to think that it was "sweet and proper" for this young man to die from failure to put on a gas mask. His "friend" that he speaks to at the end of the poem which was Jessie Pope would think twice about encouraging young men to enlist and fight if she knew what soldiers have to go through to fight for one's country. He wrote this poem so that she would realize that encouraging these men by telling them "lies" about the patriotism and recognition behind serving in the war are all lies and nothing about dying for one's country is "sweet and proper." If Pope knew about Owen and Rosenberg being killed in action, Brooke dying on a troopship from blood poisoning, or how Sassoon was severely wounded in battle, she would feel very opposed to the war and would not want a whole generation of young men to die in vain and then had the truth behind their deaths covered up by the "old lie" like the one told in Dulce Et Decorum Est, but would want the truth to be known. As the old saying goes, "The truth shall set you free," but will the truth if told by Pope or other anti-war poets set the real death stories of soldiers free to readers or just settle like the "old lie"?

War is not an honorable thing to die for

They try to tell the lie that it is sweet and honorable to die for your country. I do not think that war is an honorable thing to die for. What is so honorable about killing people and risking your own life just to do so, in war there can never really be a true winner. Too much is lost and not enough is gained to make up for it. I honestly can see where Owen is coming from. After a man sees his friends broken and beaten and still have to carry on and fight for a cause that is not their own it can really wear on a person. Especially watching one of your fellow soldiers die right in front of your eyes, I'm sure a person wouldn't feel very honorable after witnessing something like that. I think that "Dulce Et Decorum Est" is an anti war poem and that Owens is using a "shock factor" to show this. He wants to show the horrors of what happens in war to let the reader know it is something they should not get involved in no matter how honorable the cause may seem to begin with. He basically even comes out and says it is an anti war poem by saying "The old lie: Dulce et decorum est/Pro patria mori."

perpectives- innies and outties

It seems redundant to say that Wilfred Owen, in "Dulce Et Decorum Est," called Jessie Pope out for her idiotic war-mongering in her poem ""Who"s for the Game?". Obviously that is exactly what he did. However, in the spirit of Devil's Advocate, there are two ameliorating circumstances that must be put in the light in order to fully appreciate the context of these contrasting works. First, and most obvious, Jessie Pope has never factually seen war. She had never smelled powder burns coming from her own clothing, prayed for a small wound that would save her from a larger one, or had her dinner companion blown to bloody bits all over her plate in mid-bite. Women in WWI England rolled bandages, knitted socks, or, if they were especially patriotic (or poor) worked in munitions factories making bullets and bombs, but certainly they did not actually fight the wars. If that seems graphic, remember that WWI was the labratory wherein humanity invented trench warfare. The writers of the poetry in the texbook, like Owen, Rosenberg, and Sassoon, likely saw that and much worse. Reading about "A man's brains splattered on/A stretcher bearer's face" in Rosenberg's "Dead Man's Dump" leaves little doubt that these men did not see war as a game to be played at by boy children looking for fun. The one dissenting voice among the soldier-poets may be that of Brooke's, who had but the distant view of war, and that as an officer, when he wrote "The Soldier." His outlook on war, too, may have shifted had he survived even the initial skirmish to see up close the horrors of death and destruction. While every war in history has certainly had its share of supporters and detractors, it is unquestionably true that it is easier to argue the moral grounds of patriotism if you are not, and are relatively certain of never being, the one at the business end of a machine gun or land mine during that argument. The second important point to be made is that, while every war is arguable on many levels, these are not, by and large, pre-emptive arguments. The Hallmark-card patriotism drivel being excreted by Pope is actually part of a historical and continuing habit on the part of "civilized" governmants everywhere to further their political agendas by use of the talents of writers of poetry and prose. Much like Edmund Burke's difficult to rationalize ideas about why the French should simply carry on in the status quo, political propaganda is simply part of how humans do government. Undoubtedly, every party in this war had some poet who would, failing a war to bring them a fortunate circumstance for appealing to the public's need to believe in the epic heroism of war, have been a mediocre and instantly forgotten submitter to the local paper. What the male soldier-poets in the textbooks were writing was materially a different type of work. While it is an extremely effective deterrent to getting sucked into the idea of WWI as being some sort of ancient and heroic war of the gods, one suspects its other purpose was to help the writer work out the psychological tangles that the experience of war left inside of them. Tis stands in direct juxtaposition to Pope, who is writing feel-good nursery rhymes form a "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" perspective.

A lie

When young soldiers decide to fight for their country they are made to believe that it is a sweet and nobel thing to do. They are not told of the brutalities of war. The poet Jessie Pope was a pro- war poet, and in her poems she made men who did not fight in the war seem as if they are weak and are afraid of the war, and that they will not be respected by the people in their country. She didn't mention the severity of actually fighting in a war as did Wilfred Owen did. He showed that fighting in a war was not fun, that the type of death they were to endure was not a easy one. He mention a solider who died from a gas attack. He says, "His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin," the solider who had passed away just went through possibly one of the worst ways to die. So I believe that yes it is a lie, war is not a beautiful and sweet thing , and soldiers should have been told what they were signing up for.

They will never be the same

I think the poem 'They' is an anti-war poem. I say this because the poem states that when after the boys come back from war they are never the same. Whether they not be the same because they have had to get a leg removed or a arm blown off or its because they have seen so many people die to where they just can not get over it. In other words, troops are scarred for the rest of their life after going through war. Seeing people killed or badly wounded is not healthy for someone to see everyday without questioning God and his reasons for why all of this is happening. I think this poem is saying why should we put people through seeing all of these awful things, threathening their life everyday, and scarring people for the rest of their life. The poem expresses how troops challenge death everyday meaning that everyday they are out their fighting there is a chance that they could die or see someone else die. However, I feel like we are very blessed that there are people out their that will take that chance of death for the freedom of our country.

Sweet and Proper

"It is sweet and proper to die for one's country". In Owen's poem Dulce Et Decorum Est, this statement is referred to as "the old lie". First of all, I find it strange to refer to any manner of death as "sweet". Upon dying, not only does a person cease to exist, no longer able to pursue their dreams, but they leave behind people who love them, and whose lives will be forever changed. This in my mind is the opposite of "sweet". Next, by saying that it is "proper" to die for one's country, it is implied that it is something everyone should do, like having good manners. Proper to die? Yes, everyone dies but does it make a difference in what way? What makes dying for one's country "proper" and "sweet" compared to dying in any other way?

After reading this poem, I would be surprised if any one could agree with this statement. It seems that even the most patriotic of people could not read what these men went through for their country and call their death "sweet" or "proper". How can Owen believe that death for your country is "sweet" after watching the man die in front of him of gas?

This poem can be considered anti-war, definitely. It seems to me that it would be hard for anyone to read this poem and not feel a little anti-war themselves.

Dulce Et Decorum Est--The old lie

Dulce Et Decorum Est: It is sweet and proper to die for one's country. Is this an "old lie" as Owen so strongly suggests in his poem? My understanding of the events of war as depicted through Owen's vivid details is that yes, this is a lie and a terrible one at that. How can suffering death in these horrid ways ever be "sweet"? Owen tells of a young man that lost his life as a result of simply not putting his gas mask on quickly enough. His depiction of the horrible sight of this man's death was far from sweet. He speaks of the haunting memory of this man "drowning" in the "green sea", of "the blood gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues"--should anyone suffer such a death because it is "sweet and proper" for them to do so? Absolutely not. I find it outrageous for anyone to expect a young man to subject himself to such a thing for a silly cause and claim that it is the "proper" thing for one to do in order to show dedication to a country.

This poem can definitely be considered an anti-war poem. Through the realistic descriptions of the events of war that Owen gives the readers, it is clear that he is not in favor of the war and its killing of so many young, innocent men. He also tells his friend, Jesse Pope, that if she could experience the horrors of war as described in Dulce Et Decorum Est, she would not be encouraging the men to enlist in the war. Through the intent of the poem and the strong use of imagery, it is clear that Owen is anti-war.

War Is Hell

DULCE ET DECORUM EST I can see that this could be seen as an anti war poem, reading it and visualizing the front line, first in action first to die. People die in war and it was a true poem. War starts to protect who's ever freedom at that point in time. I tried to put myself there in that time but it is hard. Sad to visualize the person next to you is dying right in front of you "Before my helpless sight" and this is all for; " It is sweet and right to die for your country "... I see him being anti war; anti people dying; he caught the Hell in war and wrote it. No where is there hey guys wake up breakfast... or wow that bar we were at last night rocked or wow we took that hill easy they just ran away after they saw us...Nothing happy in this poem! Ultimate Multiple Sadness !! Yes I agree that these words were a Lie. He was there his friends died and marched without boots and fumbled around to get the gas masks on "Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time"... and the description of that mate dying. No way he felt that it is good to die for any reason and yet, he made it, he got killed and we got his poem... I just can not believe he felt that it was good to die for your country, he may have enlisted with that thought and feeling but this poem expresses much pain and the true side of what war is....

Misleading and a lie..

Excuse what may be my lack of patriotism but I agree that the phrase “It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country” is a lie. Obviously it is incredibly loyal to die for one’s country but I have a hard time identifying the word “sweet” with dying under any circumstance. Owen provides vivid and horrid descriptions in his poem that allow his readers to see exactly why it is not “sweet” or “proper” to die for one’s country. For example, he informs us of precisely what soldiers go through with lines such as “But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots.” Also, Owen paints a frightening picture for his audience when he describes how one soldier did not get his helmet on in time for the gas and therefore suffered a horrible death. Moreover, those words are a lie because Pope’s poems seem to be very misleading to me. For instance, in “Who’s for the Game?” she writes “Who would much rather come back with a crutch than lie low and be out of the fun? Come along, lads.” Young men who read that poem obviously got the impression that the war wasn’t that bad and they would most likely return with minor injuries when the truth is that many soldiers didn’t return home at all. I think it’s appropriate how Owen basically tells Pope, in the end of his poem, that if she really knew what went on during the war then she would not be encouraging others to enlist. Ultimately, Owen’s poem could definitely be considered an anti-war poem since he disapproves of Pope encouraging young men to enlist and he even coins the war “some desperate glory” in line 26 of “Dulce Et Decorum Est.” Next, Sassoon’s works “They” and “Glory of Women” could be considered anti-war poems. I say this not only because his opinions are evident in his work but also because his biographical sketch tells of how his views changed on war after an injury. Not to mention, he wrote a letter to his commanding officer stating “I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it.” Lastly, the final two lines in “Glory of Women” which state “While you are knitting socks to send your son his face is trodden deeper in the mud” allow me to see why this could be considered an anti-war poem.

Quiz Scores

Out of a possible 7 correct answers, here are the quiz scores from Tuesday's class: 3, 5, 2, 2, 0, 6, 2, 4, 2, 1, 0, 2, 1, 0, 2, 0, 7, 1, 0, 1.

Average score: 2.05.

Looks like I need to give more quizzes.

Prompt for Thursday: Sweet and Proper?

Based on the Heart of Darkness quiz scores, some of you need to redeem yourselves a bit. Here is your chance.


For Thursday, please discuss the title of Wilfred Owen's famous poem, "Dulce Et Decorum Est." This phrase, taken from Horace, means something like, "It is sweet and proper to die for one's country." In his poem, Owen calls this "The old lie." (The "friend" Owen is speaking to at the end of the poem is Jessie Pope, whose poetry, as you will have noticed in your reading, zealously encourages young men to enlist and fight.) 


My specific question is this: Do you agree that these words are a "lie"? If so, why/how are they a lie? If not, what is true about them?

Also consider this question about all of the poetry you are reading for Thursday: Can any of these be called anti-war poems? Why or why not?

Before answering these questions, please read the introduction to this section, "Voices from World War I," as well as the biographical sketch on each writer. Note that these are soldier poets, not bystanders. Owen and Rosenberg were killed in action, Brooke died on a troopship, and Sassoon was severely wounded in battle. Please refer specifically to one or more of their poems as part of your response.

Glancing Into The Dark

In the name of trade and the belief in commerce all actions taken are warranted. The destruction of land, flora, fauna, and community are all necessary to the constructs of profit. Dehumanizing the natives (savages) is all part of the process of conquest. They are merely animals to perform tasks that other civilized men would not undertake. Also through this belief the “savages” do not have rights to anything they are merely tools. And as long as individuals in the employ of the company hold this belief to be true, they will be able to fulfill their duties without a feeling of remorse. But in the process of being immersed in this insanity, the darkness one can also lose themselves in ways never before understood.

Those innate desires, the dark that is within us all begins to come out and take over and we begin to behave in strange ways. Folding reality into a construct that will give us permission for the actions we take. Mr. Kurtz is an example of this idea. He worked for the company and was placed in a secluded spot whereby he began to manipulate the “savages” to do his will. He built himself up to them as a god or a higher being with power over them, and eventually with himself believing in this idea. The ivory was his. The river was his. The people were his. It all belonged to him. Believing himself to be a benevolent leader over all that he saw. And therein lays the belief that “something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to."

You have to lie to soothe the hearts of the loved ones left behind

Kurtz's very last words were"The horror, The horror", but before those was a plea for death, "I am lying here in the dark waiting for death;" and yet before that Kurtz new it was his time to go, He gave Marlow a packet of papers with a photograph. In that afternoon he was lying on his back his eyes closed and said;"Live rightly die die..." Marlow thought that it was giberrish or that it was some speech he was practicing for. So one evening he came in the cabin and and heared Kurtz say I am lying here waiting for death and Marlow said "Oh Nonsence". Marlow blew out the candle and went to the mess hall and a black boy said Mistah Kurtz is dead..... Marlow took it upon himself to deliver the news and the papers that were given to him by Kurtz and at the end of the story he made it to Kurtz's fiancee. The news he brought to her gave him deep sadness and they talked and she finally wanted to know his last words, and Marlow said it was your name he said. I think he told her the lie just to soothe her heart for a little, just knowing it was her he was thinking of with his last breath of life. Although it was a lie I deemed it appropriate

Fairytale Lie

The Kurtz that the fiancée knew was not the true Kurtz. Marlow knew the true Kurtz from when he was in England. Marlow believes in truth and how hard it is to tell and get the truth at times. Marlow’s whole life is based on truth, which made it very surprising to me when he lied to the fiancée about Kurtz’s last words. Kurtz’s real last words were “The horror! The horror!” When Marlow saw Kurtz’s fiancée he wants to tell her the truth, but something in him won’t let him. When she asks Marlow what Kurtz’s final words he ends up telling her it was her name. I think he lies because for one he knows that this would be what she would like to hear that his last words were. Being that he hates lies, the fiancée believes him. The lie shows that you don’t always know what you would do until you’re in the situation. Yes, lies are bad but this lie made this woman feel better. I believe he lied because all she knew of her fiancée was a lie and that if he told the truth now that it would ruin her imaginary fairy tale life she had with him.

Heart of Darkness Prompts

For Tuesday, interpret one of the two passages below and use it as a lens through which to discuss the novella. Or, alternatively, you may take a shot at prompt #3. (Regardless of which prompt you choose, I should be able to tell from reading your response that you have indeed read Heart of Darkness.) 

1. "The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look at it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretense but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea--something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to." (1894)

2. "It was unearthly, and the men were--No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it--the suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity--like yours--the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you--you so remote from the night of first ages--could comprehend. And why not?" (1916)

3. Why does Marlow lie to Kurtz's fiancee at the end of the story? What might his motivation be, and what might it reveal about him?

Thank you. See you on Tuesday.