This is a general "bulletin board" for Bob's ACE Writing class. Please "subscribe" to this blog and check it for class updates, useful links, and important information.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Today's In-Class Exercise
Please post your first paragraph here by 9 pm today!
Emily Dickinson’s portrayal of death varies throughout her numerous poetic pieces. In “Because I could not stop for death,” she personifies death as a gentleman who takes the protagonist on a romantic date. This approach is different in comparison to “I felt a funeral in my brain,” where mortality is represented as an intense procession into a new dimension. The manipulation of language through imagery, form and repetition help to evoke the desired message and depiction of death.
Many people find death as a morbid preoccupation. They see death as something to dread or an experience one has to suffer through. The subject of death is evident in Emily Dickinson’s poems. However, she illustrates the positive and negative perspectives of death. Dickinson’s poems, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Heard a Fly Buzz”, demonstrate her different views of death with the use of images, symbols, and setting.
Equality exists as the resonating message in the works of Langston Hughes. His poems are short and concise, with every word amounting to some significance. He labels himself as an American, an American who functions in the same respect to every other individual, regardless of race or color. Langston Hughes, in his poems “I, Too, Sing America” and “Theme for English B,” addresses the common themes of ethnic diversity, racial equality, and self-expression by effectively presenting pieces that are compelling in both structure and content.
Death is the one inescapable fact of life. Emily Dickinson portrays her views of death through her use of images, symbols, tone and form in her poems, “ Because I could not stop for death, Color, Caste, Denomination and I heard a Fly Buzz when I died.“ Death is not seen as a frightening experience but rather as unsetting. Dickinson’s describes death as a natural process of life through her use of symbols and formal pattern to build tension in her poems to describe death.
Through poetry, imagery and metaphors Emily Dickinson writes her poem, Because I could not stop for death, to show the acceptance of death and mortality. Many people are scared of death and are repealed to even think about it. However, in the poem, death is portrayed as a gentleman that takes the narrator through a ride in a chariot. In the ride, we learn how Dickinson might view death as being calm, kind, and acceptable. Dickinson also writes her poem, I heard a fly buzz when I died, to show a different side of death. Both poems, talk about mortality and death but disagree in certain aspects. Emily writes both poems, using symbols, metaphors, imagery and a formal pattern to explain the cycle of life and death one must unavoidably overcome.
Through her various pieces Flannary O’Conner depicts society and its interaction with religion. In the short story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” a simple family vacation turns deathly when they run into the most notorious killer “The Misfit”. Although a simple story is conveyed an underlying message is being illustrated throughout the piece. O’Conner presents the idea that through society each person carries a particular amount of corruption. To convey this theme O’Conner utilizes the usage of character interaction, irony, and the characters interaction with religion.
Ignorance is created through inexperience. People tend to make negative judgements when they do not know anything about a certain situation or person. In the essay "The Cathedral," Raymond portrays a bitter man who is indifferent about his wife's blind friend. However, as he spends more time with the blind man, he realizes how similar they are to each other. Once they get to know each other, the main character Bub, changes his perspective about Robert. Through symbolism and direct quotations, Carver is able to show the alteration of a person's judgement as they get to know another person.
The attribute of being a good person is labeled in many different ways based upon ones actions and attitudes toward others. In Flannary O' Conner's piece titled, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," she provides different interpretations of a good person through the voice of the grandmother. The grandmother considers herself to be a good person and morally superior to the other characters in the story. Throughout the story, however, the grandmother's flaws and inconsistancies are exposed and the definition of a good person is altered. The theme introduced in "A Good Man is Hard to Find," is the ambiguous definition of being good vs. evil by using the grandmother and the "misfit" as examples and how their morals changed or did not change.
Death is an inevitable part of life and the experience can be interpreted differently. Emily Dickenson is a revolutionary writer because of her reoccurring theme of death and immortality in her poems. Emily Dickenson explores the different views of death as seen in her poems "Because I could Not Stop for Death" and "I Heard a Fly Buzz."
Through history society has viewed death as one of the darkest and saddest stages humans must go through. This negative view on death has led everyone to see death as a dark figure, with a hood over their head that carries a scythe where ever it goes. However, Emily Dickenson portrays death as a courteous gentleman in, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” and she uses a repulsive fly to depict the horrors and sadness death brings to everyone in the poem, “I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died.” -Isidoro Medrano
The feeling of loneliness, depression, self-pity in a person’s mind, is what author John Clare depicts in his poem, “I Am.” By using specific word choice and by showing his readers what is truly lurking in his mind, he shows that this world is incompatible with him and that he needs to find peace. The author goes into religious aspects in this poem by telling his readers that he wishes to go to a better place “with my creator, God.” The author depicts his message by showing to his readers that this world is hectic and that no one cares for him. John Clare tries to portray to his readers that no one truly understands who he truly is no matter how close they are to him. The only who could set him free from his sorrowful mindset and truly understands him is his true creator, God.
Seeing life through the eyes of a child is something that most adults forget as they age. As people become used to their surroundings, the magic of what is around them becomes dampened into their usual surroundings. Walt Whitman writes his poem about the beauty of life and the people in it while taking a stand to inequality of others. By examining life as if a child free from social opinions and norms, we start to see what is truly in front of our eyes and what is truly beautiful.
The poem "Theme for English B" written by Langston Hughes, is an inspirational poem that depicts the mentality of a black man living in a society where his color alienated him from being equal to others. This poem is about this black man getting a homework assignment where he must write about the feelings and thoughts that represent who he is. He talks about growing up and attending school where he was the only colored student in his class. The imagery where he describes being steps away from Harlem represents that he was the only black person in his classroom while being so close to a black community known for their activism for better living conditions.
Walt Whitman uses a unique writing style and many symbols to express his thoughts. His poems definitlely require multiple readings in order to develop a reasonable understanding and even then no one can fully understand all of his symbols. One example of such symbolism is the grass in the poem "Song of Myself" which is in Whitman's poetry collection titled Leaves of Grass. One interpretation is that the grass represents life. Whitman provides several examples using figurative language to describe the grass as such.
Emily Dickinson wrote many poems that had the same overall theme to them. The poems "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" and "I Heard A Fly Buzz" both by Dickinson talk about death. However she approaches death differently in both of these poems. In "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" Dickinson shows and explains that death was a postive thing because she describes death as being a "gentleman." In "I Heard A Fly Buzz" Dickinson approaches death as a more morose thing. She doesn't feel joyful to die, instead find herself focused on a fly. Both of Dickinson's poems approach death, but she does it in two different ways.
Hills Like White Elephants The short story called “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway takes place at a train station in Spain in the late 1920’s. An American and a woman, named Jig, are having some drinks outside the station bar as they are waiting for their train to Barcelona. The woman tells the American that the hills in the distance remind her of white elephants which sparks up an argument between them. Their conversation then begins to get a little tense and the American starts trying to convince Jig to have an abortion. The American doesn’t say this directly but he was willing to marry her instead. Then Jig begins to feel anxious and tells him to stop talking and threatens to scream. The bartender then tells them that their train should be here anytime minute. So then they leave the bar and the American asks her if she’s feeling better and she just responds by saying she never felt bad in the first place and that’s how the story ends. Hemmingway leaves his readers not knowing what the couple decided to do about their unborn child. Which brings up an important message Hemmingway is trying to get across. In the story Hemmingway uses symbolism and imagery to show the lack of communication.
Emily Dickinson’s portrayal of death varies throughout her numerous poetic pieces. In “Because I could not stop for death,” she personifies death as a gentleman who takes the protagonist on a romantic date. This approach is different in comparison to “I felt a funeral in my brain,” where mortality is represented as an intense procession into a new dimension. The manipulation of language through imagery, form and repetition help to evoke the desired message and depiction of death.
ReplyDeleteMany people find death as a morbid preoccupation. They see death as something to dread or an experience one has to suffer through. The subject of death is evident in Emily Dickinson’s poems. However, she illustrates the positive and negative perspectives of death. Dickinson’s poems, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Heard a Fly Buzz”, demonstrate her different views of death with the use of images, symbols, and setting.
ReplyDeleteEquality exists as the resonating message in the works of Langston Hughes. His poems are short and concise, with every word amounting to some significance. He labels himself as an American, an American who functions in the same respect to every other individual, regardless of race or color. Langston Hughes, in his poems “I, Too, Sing America” and “Theme for English B,” addresses the common themes of ethnic diversity, racial equality, and self-expression by effectively presenting pieces that are compelling in both structure and content.
ReplyDeleteDeath is the one inescapable fact of life. Emily Dickinson portrays her views of death through her use of images, symbols, tone and form in her poems, “ Because I could not stop for death, Color, Caste, Denomination and I heard a Fly Buzz when I died.“ Death is not seen as a frightening experience but rather as unsetting. Dickinson’s describes death as a natural process of life through her use of symbols and formal pattern to build tension in her poems to describe death.
ReplyDeleteAbigail Chaidez
Through poetry, imagery and metaphors Emily Dickinson writes her poem, Because I could not stop for death, to show the acceptance of death and mortality. Many people are scared of death and are repealed to even think about it. However, in the poem, death is portrayed as a gentleman that takes the narrator through a ride in a chariot. In the ride, we learn how Dickinson might view death as being calm, kind, and acceptable. Dickinson also writes her poem, I heard a fly buzz when I died, to show a different side of death. Both poems, talk about mortality and death but disagree in certain aspects. Emily writes both poems, using symbols, metaphors, imagery and a formal pattern to explain the cycle of life and death one must unavoidably overcome.
ReplyDeleteThrough her various pieces Flannary O’Conner depicts society and its interaction with religion. In the short story “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” a simple family vacation turns deathly when they run into the most notorious killer “The Misfit”. Although a simple story is conveyed an underlying message is being illustrated throughout the piece. O’Conner presents the idea that through society each person carries a particular amount of corruption. To convey this theme O’Conner utilizes the usage of character interaction, irony, and the characters interaction with religion.
ReplyDeleteIgnorance is created through inexperience. People tend to make negative judgements when they do not know anything about a certain situation or person. In the essay "The Cathedral," Raymond portrays a bitter man who is indifferent about his wife's blind friend. However, as he spends more time with the blind man, he realizes how similar they are to each other. Once they get to know each other, the main character Bub, changes his perspective about Robert. Through symbolism and direct quotations, Carver is able to show the alteration of a person's judgement as they get to know another person.
ReplyDeleteCody Bills
ReplyDeleteThe attribute of being a good person is labeled in many different ways based upon ones actions and attitudes toward others. In Flannary O' Conner's piece titled, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," she provides different interpretations of a good person through the voice of the grandmother. The grandmother considers herself to be a good person and morally superior to the other characters in the story. Throughout the story, however, the grandmother's flaws and inconsistancies are exposed and the definition of a good person is altered. The theme introduced in "A Good Man is Hard to Find," is the ambiguous definition of being good vs. evil by using the grandmother and the "misfit" as examples and how their morals changed or did not change.
Death is an inevitable part of life and the experience can be interpreted differently. Emily Dickenson is a revolutionary writer because of her reoccurring theme of death and immortality in her poems. Emily Dickenson explores the different views of death as seen in her poems "Because I could Not Stop for Death" and "I Heard a Fly Buzz."
ReplyDeleteThrough history society has viewed death as one of the darkest and saddest stages humans must go through. This negative view on death has led everyone to see death as a dark figure, with a hood over their head that carries a scythe where ever it goes. However, Emily Dickenson portrays death as a courteous gentleman in, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” and she uses a repulsive fly to depict the horrors and sadness death brings to everyone in the poem, “I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died.”
ReplyDelete-Isidoro Medrano
-Frank Machado
ReplyDeleteThe feeling of loneliness, depression, self-pity in a person’s mind, is what author John Clare depicts in his poem, “I Am.” By using specific word choice and by showing his readers what is truly lurking in his mind, he shows that this world is incompatible with him and that he needs to find peace. The author goes into religious aspects in this poem by telling his readers that he wishes to go to a better place “with my creator, God.” The author depicts his message by showing to his readers that this world is hectic and that no one cares for him. John Clare tries to portray to his readers that no one truly understands who he truly is no matter how close they are to him. The only who could set him free from his sorrowful mindset and truly understands him is his true creator, God.
Seeing life through the eyes of a child is something that most adults forget as they age. As people become used to their surroundings, the magic of what is around them becomes dampened into their usual surroundings. Walt Whitman writes his poem about the beauty of life and the people in it while taking a stand to inequality of others. By examining life as if a child free from social opinions and norms, we start to see what is truly in front of our eyes and what is truly beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThe poem "Theme for English B" written by Langston Hughes, is an inspirational poem that depicts the mentality of a black man living in a society where his color alienated him from being equal to others. This poem is about this black man getting a homework assignment where he must write about the feelings and thoughts that represent who he is. He talks about growing up and attending school where he was the only colored student in his class. The imagery where he describes being steps away from Harlem represents that he was the only black person in his classroom while being so close to a black community known for their activism for better living conditions.
ReplyDeleteCRYSTAL ARELLANO
Walt Whitman uses a unique writing style and many symbols to express his thoughts. His poems definitlely require multiple readings in order to develop a reasonable understanding and even then no one can fully understand all of his symbols. One example of such symbolism is the grass in the poem "Song of Myself" which is in Whitman's poetry collection titled Leaves of Grass. One interpretation is that the grass represents life. Whitman provides several examples using figurative language to describe the grass as such.
ReplyDelete-Randy Ou
Emily Dickinson wrote many poems that had the same overall theme to them. The poems "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" and "I Heard A Fly Buzz" both by Dickinson talk about death. However she approaches death differently in both of these poems. In "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" Dickinson shows and explains that death was a postive thing because she describes death as being a "gentleman." In "I Heard A Fly Buzz" Dickinson approaches death as a more morose thing. She doesn't feel joyful to die, instead find herself focused on a fly. Both of Dickinson's poems approach death, but she does it in two different ways.
ReplyDelete-Liliana Diaz
Kimberly Romero
ReplyDeleteMarch 9, 2011
Robert Krut
Hills Like White Elephants
The short story called “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway takes place at a train station in Spain in the late 1920’s. An American and a woman, named Jig, are having some drinks outside the station bar as they are waiting for their train to Barcelona. The woman tells the American that the hills in the distance remind her of white elephants which sparks up an argument between them. Their conversation then begins to get a little tense and the American starts trying to convince Jig to have an abortion. The American doesn’t say this directly but he was willing to marry her instead. Then Jig begins to feel anxious and tells him to stop talking and threatens to scream. The bartender then tells them that their train should be here anytime minute. So then they leave the bar and the American asks her if she’s feeling better and she just responds by saying she never felt bad in the first place and that’s how the story ends. Hemmingway leaves his readers not knowing what the couple decided to do about their unborn child. Which brings up an important message Hemmingway is trying to get across. In the story Hemmingway uses symbolism and imagery to show the lack of communication.