Monthly Archives: April 2022

Williams writes that a reader must “complete” what the poet has begun. To me, that means as if a poem is an open-ended question asked of the reader, that a reader must answer with their interpretation of the poem. I choose to interpret “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by W. B. Yeats due to its beautiful imagery and the sense of longing it paints. For the narrator is longing for the beautiful sounds and peace of Innisfree, and fantasize about the life that they could have there. They have it all planned out: from the material of which the cabin would be made of (“clay and wattles,” how many bean-rows they would plant (nine), and the hive for which they would care for. It is a poem of longing for the slow, self-sufficient lifestyle where one could look and listen at time passing, instead of rushing through life and missing the sights and sounds. Rather than just a passing fancy, the sound of the “lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore” is something they hear in the “deep heart’s core,” a stark contrast from the static, lifeless grey of the pavement.

In the article “How to Read a Poem” William Carlos says, “a reader must “complete” what the poet has begun”. This means that William wants us to understand the poem. The poem I have choose is “The Mother” written by Gwendolyn Brooks. In the first sentence I could understand what the poem is about. In the first stanza states, “Abortions will not let you forget. The poem speaks about a mother who had abortions and the author talk to her unborn children. While I been reading it too many times, I could see that the poem has rhyme and visually imagery. In the second stanza, you can see that there’s repetition with the “I”. And also, in the last stanza “I loved you”. Imagery, Brooks shows what her unborn children could have in lines 4-10 and she show emotions about the grief of her unborn children. Again, finishing to “a reader must “complete” what the poet has begun”. The summary of the poem was about a mother describing what her children could have when growing up and do. A mother expressing her emotions about her unborn children.

In my mind what it means to “complete” what the poet had begun is just another way of saying that you fully understand what was just read, or maybe finish the stanza of what was just said. Some stanzas end abruptly and it’s our job as the readers to finish what was going to be said or what would make sense. The poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is a straightforward poem so it’s not too hard to put the pieces together. “We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon.” I know that based on what was said and what was said earlier in the poem that it’s about teenagers who don’t care about anything and skip school. Based on the year the poem was published, they may be black.

With specific reference to one of this week’s poems, explain how you “completed” what the poet set in motion. In your answer, be sure to refer specifically to the article and to quote from your chosen poem to illustrate your response. According to the article “How to Read a Poem” written by the poet William Carlos Williams, one of the challenges of reading a poem is the ability of entering the imaginative play of a poem, therefore bringing our own perspective and point of view into the meaning of the poem. And that, successful poems are a matter of how the readers will perceive the reading, “completing” ideas that may not have been in the writer’s mind while the creation of the poem. Based on that, I’ve decided to analyze the poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”, by William Butler Yeats. The reason why I’ve picked this poem, comes from a personal discontent towards living in the city on my mid 20’s, and the challenges to overcome as a lower class immigrant on a highly capitalist country as United States. My perspective towards this poem is the necessity of living a carefree, peaceful life away from the city. Where ideally, one would produce everything they need in order to survive, lay down and wake up to the nature and their surroundings. The poem states “I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, / And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made: / Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee; / And live alone in the bee-loud glade” (Yeats, lines 1-4). Where “Innisfree” is perceived as an ideal state of mind, or place. And within this state of mind, or place, the poet finds himself to be self sufficient in all forms, […]

The article “How to Read a Poem” says that a reader must “complete” what the poem has begun. This could mean that the reader has to find the meaning of a poem through certain reading strategies. Reading the poem aloud multiple times helped me get a better understanding of it. The poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”, by William Butler Yeats, discusses how the speaker longs to build a life on Innisfree, where he would be able to find peace in nature. Innisfree can symbolize the ideal image of nature and offers a deep spiritual fulfillment that an urban city can’t. Innisfree offers the speaker an escape from reality, like a daydream. The poem states“And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow”. What Yeats mean when peace comes like a “slow drop” is that achieving a peaceful life is a long and slow but calming process that requires patience. However, the urban life is preventing the speaker from creating a peaceful life. The poem states. “While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey I hear it in the deep heart’s core”, the “roadway” and “pavements” symbolize the boredom that comes with urban life. The gray color of the pavement shows how dull the city can be. The speaker demonstrates how the ugliness of urban life is unlike the beauty of nature by how he describes them.

In “White Lies”, Natasha Trethewey writes about how she would “pass” for white when she was a child. The title itself has a double meaning. The term “white lie” generally refers to a harmless lie, however in this poem she is literally lying about being white. I had to “complete” what Trethewey has begun here in understanding that her “white lies” were not actually harmless. In the article “How to Read a Poem”, the author explains “this act of completion begins when you enter the imaginative play of a poem” (Hirsch). When I read Trethewey describing herself as a child lying about living in the better part of town and wearing store-bought dresses as opposed to handmade ones, my first reaction was sympathy. It is understandable for a child to pretend she has nicer things and at this point in the poem, the lies still seem innocent. It is when she writes “like the time a white girl said (squeezing my hand), Now we have three of us in this class” that is becomes apparent these lies are wrong. This line shows that there is a clear racial divide and Trethewey is not just playing pretend, she is denying her identity.

The poem that I have selected for this weeks discussion is “White Lies” by Natasha Trethewey.  This poem highlights the struggles of adversity that a little african american girl is dealing with while growing up.  I have identified this from when the author states, “I could easily tell the white folks that we lived uptown, not in that pink and green shanty-fled shotgun section along the tracks. I could act like my homemade dresses came straight out the window of Maison Blanche” (7-15). The author clearly feels ashamed of her families “status” in the world being that she attends school in a melting pot of socio-economic statuses and demographics.  Therefore, she feels the need to tell “white lies”.   You can also draw this point from, “She laid her hands on me, then washed out my mouth with Ivory soap. This is to purify, she said, and cleanse your lying tongue. Believing her, I swallowed suds thinking they’d work from the inside out.” (22-29), where the author uses dramatic irony to show how the girl feels not only ashamed of her status in school, but also her race.  This poem is very saddening to me but is put together in an extremely clever and thoughtful manner. Therefore, I have completed the poem by starting with what imagery it presents and bringing it into my point of view.

Poet William Carlos Williams stated that a reader must be able to “complete” what the poet has begun. I think this refers to uncovering the meaning behind a poem that isn’t so easily mentioned. For example, in the poem “white lies” by Natasha Tretheway, she states “I could even keep quiet, quiet as kept, like the time a white girl said, Now we have three of us in this class.” In this poem we can imply that the narrator is of mixed race and she struggles with her identity. She has skin light enough to be considered white, so she chooses to pretend she is white. I think that she lies because she is ashamed of her background and I feel like she just wants to be able to fit in with the other girls, or her society in general. By uncovering the real meaning behind “white lies” is how I am able to “complete” what the poet has begun.  

In his poem called the Lake Isle of Innisfree, Willian Butler Yeats emphasizes the undeniable connection between the spiritual world of the human being and nature. The author describes the mystical world of the human phantasies where one can be saved from the vanity of the real world. The comparison of the bright colors of the Innisfree and the grey tones of the payment shows that the Isle is beckoning for people (Yeats). Only there can a person feel freedom and calmness. Harmony with nature is a critical condition of freedom of the human mind. The author ends the poem with a statement that the peace and freedom of the soul are kept deep in the heart of every person. People go to the inner salvation place such as Innisfree when it becomes difficult to face the “grey roadways” and “payments” (Yeats). In other words, people can find inner freedom in themselves at any moment. The author claims that people should “arise and go, and go to Innisfree” (Yeats). The first phrase of the poem allows the reader to complete the poem’s main idea. The name of the Isle is symbolic. “Inn” in Old English can be translated as “home” or “soul.” The implicit idea covered by the author is implemented through the name of the Island. The desirable freedom is hidden deep inside every person’s heart. Even though the grey, crowded city limits people’s freedom, this Island will always be a safe place where peace and harmony can be found. Being located in people’s cognition, this place is free of any destructing emotions or problems. Thus, the ultimate freedom of people’s souls is inside their imagination.

I chose “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks to complete the steps of poetry appreciation. By reading it several times first, I noticed this poem mostly has isometric stanzas that consist of the same length lines, except the first stanzas. Also, each two ending words of the sentences rhyme, which I thought the pauses should be there but it in fact stops at the end of the line, “we”. Nonetheless, the poem gives me an impression that is easily memorized from the rhyme and simple words. Next step is starting the conversation, and obviously the conversation can’t begin as long as I don’t post my thread. However, one question I want to discuss here is what the speaker is suggesting in the poem. At first, I thought the speaker is a host in a game because from the first stanza “THE POOL PLAYERS”, the speaker is like reading this poem particularly to them. But the consistent word “we” made me realize the speaker is the peer of the audience. Based on the behaviors in the rest stanzas, the audience is seven rebellious teenagers including the speaker herself. “THE GOLDEN SHOVEL” seems they have the best equipment to dig their potentials up, but what they have been doing is the opposite, messing up their lives. The poem ends with “We Die soon”, returning to the title “We Real Cool” with a karma that all they have is only cool. 

In William Butler Yeat’s poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.” I completed the poem by imagining what Yeat describes in the poem. “I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made: Nine Bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee; And live alone in the bee-loud glade.” (Yeat, lines 1-4) He goes off to the Lake Isle of Innisfree to live a simple life, growing vegetables, and farming honey in a small cabin. “And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, And evening full of the linnet’s wings.” (Yeat) He seeks a peaceful life away from his troubles and beautifully describes how it is to live in Innisfree. This poem brings memories of long trips into nature, going on day hikes, and climbing mountains. I have often taken trips out of the city to find peace outdoors, and I can understand the desire to get away from it all, as city life can be overwhelming. While it is not the same as living in a cabin in Innisfree, the reasons why people want a peaceful retreat are universal. I have completed the poem by starting with what imagery it presents and bringing it into my point of view.

Hirsch (2007) emphasizes that reading a poem is a difficult task that requires developing skills and practice over time. Thus, why for success poem, the reader may acquire additional ideas that were not present in the writer’s mind at the time of composition, and thus the poem may occasionally suggest some experience that comes close to depicting some of the ideas to the audience. Regardless, it is the reader’s responsibility to complete the task begun by the poet in their poems. One of the poems we discussed this week was W.B. Yeats’s 1865–1939 poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree. Generally, I’ve used a variety of strategies to carry out the poet’s intentions in this poem. To begin, one can glean ideas from the poem’s title and shape by reading it aloud. The title of the poem, which includes a keyword such as “Lake,” indicates that its content is about the poet’s interaction with nature, while the poem’s shape indicates that it is a brief poem. More specifically, in terms of punctuation and grammar, the poem contains an end-stopped line. For instance, “I will arise and proceed immediately to Innisfree” is a line that ends in a comma. The poem’s remaining lines all end in a comma, full stop, or semicolon. The sound and rhythm of the line also dictate where it terminates. The poem is rhymed in a four-line grouping. In the first four lines, for example, the rhyming words are “Innisfree/honey-bee” and “made/glade.” Additionally, I completed my education about the poem through a shared inquiry discussion that conveyed its messages about the harmony that exists between humans and nature. By analyzing lines such as “Nine beans-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee” in a group discussion, one can gain a better understanding of the lines, which […]

When Carlos Williams writes that a reader must “complete what the poet has began” means to feel and understand from the poet point of view. When reading “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by W.B yeats I try to imagine going to a idyllic lake isle of innisfree by envisioning what he envision as he day dreams. W.B describes his happy place where he wants to escape in detail “Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee;” he wants readers to understand where he wants to live and what it would be like.

My idea of poetry is the same I’m more in the middle depending on the poem. Some has broadened my ideas by triggering emotions while others made it more difficult to interpret because of the word choices used. Some poems are more cryptic instead of blunt because the use of literary device such as metaphor and symbols. When reading Emily Dickson metaphorical poem “The Wife” it made me feel different kinds of emotions when she expressed how married women were repressed and unhappy.

  My ideas of poetry have broadened based on the different sonnets I’ve read. Poetry is shown to be an individual’s creative written response to a type of experience they had, whether its physical, emotional intellectual or just simply about something they like or enjoy such as sunflowers or sunsets.  I also now understand there are different types of poems based on the number of lines. Shakespeare, however, has a unique writing and language sometimes I can understand clear and sometimes I may have to re-read, but overall, it has so much meaning and can make you see the world differently. In Sonnet 130, “My mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun” by William Shakespeare is one I enjoyed reading. It is filled with sarcasm and his comparison is one of a kind. He compares parts of his lover’s body to beautiful objects, but her body was less beautiful than to the things he compared it to. For example, her breath isn’t at all like perfume, or her eyes aren’t as bright as the sun.  This poem describes female beauty and our expectations about the way a women should look in like the women in magazines.

As far as what I have learned from poetry, I will have to admit first and foremost that I’m am one of those poeple making the assumption that all poetry rhymes. That was an interesting turn up events that I learned from the poetry lession presentation video. After reading William Shakespeare’s sonnet 130 “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun”, I came to learn that you can do more than just talk about how much you love something. That you can in intricate ways speak on what is bothering you such as when Shakespeare said, “her breath reeks” or “black wires grow on her head”. Not only speaking on what he doesn’t like but also in a round about way saying that dispite all of thing listed in that poem about even though the author’s mistress dull and dim, he still love her so much. Like having an ugly item but you’re happy because it is yours, not because of how pretty it is.

I always think as if all poems are cryptic. The reasoning is due to different styles of expression writing. Some poetry can have a vague or complex perspective to the audience yet have a clear theme of choice that a poet wants to reveal. It is usually up to the readers to decipher what the poet truly wants to convey in their thought of view. William Shakespeare for example for those that can understand early modern English and translate Shakespeare’s usage of words into late modern English. Not only that, the context that is given by the poet would also depend on the reader that is studying Shakespeare’s language usage in poetry. There is a variety of examples of poetry being known as cryptic when there are languages that are being used in writing that are not familiar to the audience. Yet give interest to those who enjoy studying poetry.

Growing up I didn’t like poems and still don’t because of how the wordings on some poems. They get me confused and I just don’t prefer reading like crazy, so that adds to that. But when reading these articles in the week 11 post I seem to have a better understanding and respect the people that write them a little bit more. I liked the poems that had a nice rhythmic to it instead of a broken rhythm where you can’t really understand what’s going on. The week 11 posts showes the different types of poems there are. In the article how to read a poem I found it helpful that it saved the questions you should ask yourself when reading a poem to get a better understanding of it Who is the speaker? What circumstances gave rise to the poem? What situation is presented? Who or what is the audience? What is the tone? What form, if any, does the poem take? Is sound an important, active element of the poem? Does the poem spring from an identifiable historical moment? Does the poem speak from a specific culture? Does the poem use imagery to achieve a particular effect? What kind of figurative language, if any, does the poem use? If the poem is a question, what is the answer? If the poem is an answer, what is the question? What does the title suggest? I find these the most benificial questions that you should ask yourself before or when reading a poem.

While going through the readings In week 11 about poetry I believe that my ideas still do remain the same about poetry because to me poetry was always something that was very interesting to read and also write about, I always thought poetry gave me ideas with the type words being used by some poets and also let me be able to expand my vocabulary a little by also using these words along the line. While reading “How To Read A Poem” by Edward Hirsch a few ideas stood out to me and it came in the second paragraph as Edward stated “The goal of careful reading is often to take up a question of meaning, an interpretive question that has more than one answer. ” which I agree with very much because when you read something or such as poetry you are trying to get your answers solved to the questions you may have in the beginning of the reading or poetry and those answers do not come until you keep reading through out the lines.

Due to our week 11 activities, I have gained a new respect for poets and their abilities to portray many emotions in a few number of words. This allows the reader of said poem to feel the individual emotions of the author. I first recognized this in Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth  Barrett Browning. Specifically in the line, “I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use” (Browning). This line shows the speaker’s infinite love for their significant other and the various was they can describe their love. Another line this is relevant in is, “Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death” (Browning). This line further goes into how the speaker’s love extends even to the end of their natural lives and into the mystery of death.

After reading those poems, the ideas in my mind about poems haven’t changed because it still hard to understand and force to think. In the poem “How Do I Love Thee” the word thee was shown in almost every single line, which I really hate about that, I have never used the word thee(means you) in the modern convention. In other words poem sucks, you have to use your brain to process the meaning, also it might be different meanings, everyone views the story differently, you might see it as romantic, and others might see it as ridiculous. Personally, I don’t like to read poems, it likes reading an ancient English book like Romeo and Juliet, it almost killed me once and made my brain stop processing because of a word like thou and more it is just hard to understand, just like reading ancient Chinese words. Also in the modern world, we tend to make things simpler because of the internet, and I don’t think people going to write a love poem from those words, it just makes things complicated.  

When I think of poetry, I think about the calming and rhythmic feel that it gives off. Although not all poetry can give a “relaxing” sensation to it, most of it is very storytelling in the few words and lines it is described in. Growing up, I loved writing poems whenever I had literature assignments. Sometimes making personal ones storytelling, replacing me with a different character or object or just having fun with rhyming and haikus. Once high school hit, however, poetry wasn’t such a main focus so my excitement towards poetry died out. The activities in Week 11 helped me realize how interesting and intriguing each piece of poetry actually is. The Italian Sonnet, “How Do I Love Thee” showed me that English can be imperfect yet still beautiful. Words can be bent to the ways of people’s thoughts and emotions, creating a doorway to how someone thinks, feels, and reacts.

I have always loved poetry. I enjoy its versatility, the beauty and brutishness it may carry, the rawest emotions it expresses. Having English as my second language, however, I always believed that my love and understanding for poetry in a deeper sense would forever be limited to Hungarian poems. They are the ones I grew up reading and analyzing, my vocabulary is much wider in that language, too, therefore it only made sense to me. Thankfully, that changed with Activity 8. I only know that summer sang in me A little while, that in me sings no more. The way the last two lines are worded makes me feel touched and awed in a way I believed only poems in my own language could. It is a relief to realize, I can truly appreciate a poem and its imagery even if it was written in my second language.

Growing up poetry was never my thing I sometimes enjoyed some poetry, but I really wasn’t a fan of poetry. After watching the video on poetry and reading activity 2 I still feel the same way about poetry in a way. Although both is explaining how poetry is and what is in poetry it still doesn’t change the way I feel about poetry; however, It can be very interesting the two activity shows how poetry can be done and it gives a better understanding of poetry. Activity 2 actually breaks it down into pieces to make you understand the reading more which is helpful to people like me who really don’t like poetry or understands it. After fully reading activity 2 it made me kind of understand poetry more reading it out loud and asking yourself questions can make you understand the readings a lot.

Week 11 reading and activities expanded my knowledge of the differences between sonnets and poems. Before my exposure to week 11 activities, I could differentiate a poem from a sonnet. I was familiar with the term sonnet. Activity 5 was the most compelling because it expounded on my sonnet knowledge. Sonnets differ from poems in that sonnets contain fourteen lines and employ any form of formal rhyme scheme. On the contrary, poems express feelings and ideas in a given intensity using specific diction, rhyme, rhythm, and imagery. In addition to expounding my knowledge of sonnets, activity five also enhanced my understanding of reading a poem. Reading a poem requires students to read the poem loudly, read the poem silently line by line, and talk back to the poem. The last step talking to the poem is vital in understanding a poem since it prompts a reader to formulate specific questions regarding the poem. By answering the proposed questions, students can depict the major themes in a poem.

Poetry has always been hard for me to understand, especially Shakespeare. But the common lit reading of “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” was really helpful because of the structure with the questions. I surprised myself with answering all the questions right because I usually can’t focus when it comes to the language Shakespeare uses in his poetry or plays. The Common lit structure also helped with Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee ” and I actually really enjoyed that poem, which is great because normally I would consider myself anti-poetry, just based on the fact that I don’t usually understand it. I also was gifted an Elizabeth Barrett Browning poetry book like six years ago and I actually feel compelled to finally give it a read.  But these exercises helped me a lot because with “What My Lips Have Kissed and Why and When” I read it, understood it, and loved it without any help.

After this week my outlook on poetry has most definitely broadened in a positive way.  I’ve always had much of an appreciation for poets and how they portray their vision and ideas, emotions and thoughts, in a way that often is beneath the surface. That being so, I often can become frustrated when I cannot grasp the main idea of a poem, and lose appreciation in that emotion.  After this week, I have a much better understanding of how to analyze and read poems in a way that will help me to avoid this frustration.  For example, in activity 2 they give examples of questions you can ask while reading to keep your understanding in check, such as, “who is the speaker in this poem?”, and “what does the title suggest about the poem?”, and others along with those.  Asking simple questions can help break down information and better your understanding of harder concepts.  “The second is assuming that the poem is a kind of code, that each detail corresponds to one, and only one, thing, and unless they can crack this code, they’ve missed the point,” (Hirsch).  I love this quote as well from activity 2 as it enhances the idea that poetry can be deemed as boring and frustrating because of a lack of “skills” used to understand the main idea of each line, every word and every punctuation has an intentional placement in poetry, and these activities helped to guide me on ways to grasp the bigger picture.

Somehow my ideas haven’t changed so much. I’m still getting difficult to understand a poem because poems are difficult to understand and try to know what kind of tone the poem is.The videos and the readings been so helpful it helps us to know how poetry works and what a poem. Activity 1: Poetry lesson presentation shows different ways to define poetry and what is not a poetry. What is a Poetry? Well, a poetry has to shows any of these following: Rhyme, Rhythm, Repetition, Sound, Imagery, or Form. From the video I learned that a poetry is a concise, shorter, and shorter in length. As I have seen the video, I feel like my thoughts hasn’t changed because in High School I have been go over the meanings of rhyme, rhythm, repetition, sound, Imagery, and form. And how to annotate each stanza from the poem. Activity 2: How to read a poem. While reading, I did know that we should ask ourselves questions when we read a poem. We should ask questions because that way, we could find the meaning of what the poem is trying to say and try to understand the poem. One idea about poetry has changed me: I didn’t know while reading a poem could lead us to mistakes. That the poems are difficult to understand. • Questions we should when we first read a poem: Who is the speaker? • What circumstances gave rise to the poem? • What situation is presented? • Who or what is the audience? And what is the tone? I like this one because we should know what tone the poem is.

By reading all these poems, my opinion of poetry has not changed.I think that the poems have all dramatism and romanticism. There are many different kinds of poems, some may be good, some bad, some that rhyme, some that don’t.I have also learned that poems have repeated lines and this is to draw more attention from the reader and is a collection of spoken or written words that expresses ideas or emotions and imaginative style.

Somehow when I think about poetry the first things that come to mind are love, ocean waves, and animals. When I was in middle school, we used to write a lot of poems. At first it was very difficult for me to write one because I always thought a poem had to rhyme. Then I learned that there are different types of poems and poems don’t always have to rhyme. My favorite type of poem is a Haiku. Haiku is my favorite type of poem because it is very creative, fun, and short. A Haiku consists of just three lines with 17 syllables in total. For example, the first line is 5 syllables, the second line is 7 syllables, and the third line is 5 syllables. The activities and readings from week 11 really made me realize how relief it was either when I used to write poems on my own or in school. After watching the short videos and participating in the activities, I learned that Italian Sonnets are interesting because it keeps the reader guessing and thought provoking. I now have a better understanding of the technical components of composing poetry, as well as how to distinguish between poetry and prose. I also discovered that understanding poetry is a journey rather than a destination.  

This weeks readings bring me back to 12th grade AP Literature, in which we dissected sonnets. The familiar terms of rhyme, rhythm, and meter really are a throwback. It was definitely a good refresher to keep in mind during the readings. Something new learned was the difference between Elizabethan and Italian sonnets, and learning all the technicalities was interesting. Poetry has always been fascinating in that it can be both structured or free-flowing, but it retains the same sense of freedom. It was also interesting learning the difference between poetry and prose; I had always associated the two with each other almost synonymously. I never really enjoyed reading poetry with which one had to puzzle out the meaning through several readings; call it impatience, but I prefer things more straightforward and clear-cut. However, there are certain things that are created for a more thorough reading, meant to be combed through several times, and there is a beauty in that too.

After this week’s readings and activities, I now know more about the technical aspects of writing poetry and how to identify what constitutes poetry versus prose. Poetry has rhyme, rhythm, repetition, sound, imagery, or form. (Tom Chester 0:31-0:35) I know the difference between an Italian and a Shakespearean sonnet. An Italian sonnet is 14 lines in length, has an octave consisting of 8 rhyming lines, and a sestet composed of 6 rhyming lines. The octave also poses a problem, and the sestet is the answer to that problem. A Shakespearean sonnet contains three quatrains comprised of four rhyming lines each and a two-line rhyming couplet. Shakespearean sonnets are also mainly written about human nature and love. I also learned that analyzing poetry is a journey, not something with a definite end. In well-written poetry, it is possible to learn something new with each new reading of the poem. Citations: Tom Chester. “Poetry Lesson” Youtube, uploaded by thisheather, Dec. 5, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLKengChb-E

The activities and readings from Week 11 have renewed my interest in poetry. I found the article “How to Read a Poem” in Activity 2 particularly interesting. I was not aware that there were so many techniques that can be applied to reading a poem. I, personally, have been guilty of dismissing a poem if I was not immediately able to decipher its meaning after reading it once. It never occurred to me that it may have been the writer’s intention to cause the reader to make an effort to understand and appreciate the poem. I have also never considered reading a poem aloud to hear the rhythms and sounds of the words. I almost feel a little guilty not having put in the effort while reading poetry in the past and I wonder how many great poems I may have overlooked. I am now eager to read more poetry with the new skills I have acquired through the readings this week.

When listening and reading the different ways and specifics of poetry I have learned there is an actual science and system behind it. I’ve never been one to properly grasp the logistics of poetry, I always thought they were just words from the heart that very talented people were able to throw together in a fashionable manner. In the video Italian and Elizabethan Sonnets: Poetry Analysis they show a breakdown of a poem that rhymes and show how the numbered lines and how the one after rhymes with the first. I never knew there was almost a mathematical way of going about it. I also learned that Shakespeare happened at the same time as Queen Elizabeth and that the two can be called the same, a term I would’ve always over looked. My favorite thing about poetry and the era is was mostly popular is the lack of shame to express love and passion for something or someone.

As a Brazillian person, poetry and prose has always been a huge part of our national literature. However, I was not aware of the differences between poetry and prose, until I’ve watched the first video on the activities this week, “Poetry Lesson” by Tom Chester. Furthermore, I’ve found it quite amazing that instead of starting the video explaining what is poetry and comparing it to prose, he decided to start by saying what is “not” considered as poetry and prose. I have always thought that by starting the lesson knowing what we should not do, it becomes easier to understand the right concept and how to do it or identify it properly. The second activity that I’ve found highly informative to help me understanding more about poetry, poems and prose was the reading “How to Read a Poem” by Edward Hirsch. The author defends that there are three false assumptions when it comes to reading poems. As one of them, he mentions “The second is assuming that the poem is a kind of code, that each detail corresponds to one, and only one, thing, and unless they can crack this code, they’ve missed the point” (Par 3). Particularly, I have always read every poem looking for a clue, a word or a saying that identifies the true meaning of the poetry, and it can become extremely frustrating at times. This week’s readings and activities was incredibly informative, and assisted me on understanding better how to identify, read and look for clues in poetry.

My ideas of poetry have changed and broadened after the week 11 readings and activities. I’ve never liked poetry because I felt like sometimes it didn’t make sense to me. In activity two’s reading, it elaborates on the idea that poetry can be difficult to understand at times but it is up to the reader to try and figure it out. The reading also mentions how a poem can be seen as a game, it makes you work a little and it can be challenging. But like most things, you need to practice in order to gain skills and succeed in understanding and completing its task. Poems are meant to be read several times and aloud, in order to get a better understanding of them. I think what makes poems difficult is that the meaning behind them aren’t always so clear and they can be interpreted in many ways. Which is why reading and understanding poetry takes practice.

My ideas of poetry have changed a lot as I got a better broader understanding to what is poetry and how people write poetry and what’s the true meaning behind it is from the video I watch about poetry I know poems should and have a lot of rhythmic and frequently metaphorical lines and each different types of poetry from what ever genres use some sort of rhyme rhythm repetition sound imagery and form. I learned poetry is a short form of art writing work of literature that doesn’t have any type of rule or writing but a way a type of person express there feelings or mood or what they want to say weather its a poetry or line that has lot of  repetition or words and rhythm. The main point from the video I learned and better understand about poetry is that each type of poetry has a mood or tone that attracts the reader and gets there attention in ways they can relate to or even be inspired by.

This week’s activities and reading helped me understand the structure of sonnets. Shakespearean sonnets, or Elizabethan sonnets, are typically 14 lines in length and follow a specific structure. They are divided into 3 quatrains and end in a couplet. Quatrain 1 would rhyme in abab, quatrain 2 in cdcd, quatrain 3 in efef and the couplet would rhyme in gg. The first 3 quatrains establish a theme or problem and then resolve it in the last 2 lines, the couplet. For example, in the first 3 quatrains of Sonnet 130, “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun” by William Shakespeare, the speaker discusses the qualities of the woman he is in love with. The speaker compares her to the things of nature. However, the woman is unlike the beautiful things of nature, she doesn’t have any heavenly attributes. In a way, the speaker describes her in an unattractive manner. In the last 2 lines of the poem, the speakers reveal that he still loves her for who she is, not because he can compare her to beautiful things. Overall, knowing the format of a poem makes it easier to understand them. 

When I thought of poetry about love, several words that came to mind immediately were romantic, admiring and divine. Indeed, in this week’s activities, Browning used these emotions in her poem “How Do I Love Thee” to show us how love can be enormous. Although the extent of love can’t be measured by certain things, she still managed to express her overwhelming feelings to her lover. At least I feel amazed by her description of words as if her love is the strongest and purest in the world. Nonetheless, after I read “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun” Shakespeare showed me a new world of love poetry that doesn’t have to be so enthusiastic. In comparison, Shakespeare applied a different style which is realism into love poems, which I think most of the poets back in those days wouldn’t use. He illustrates a vivid, though ordinary, mistress through a lot of metaphors and similes in somehow degraded words. In this way, love can be more understandable and practical by the readers. These two poems make me realize that love can be various depending on which kind of love we prefer. 

My ideas on poetry mainly have not changed, I’m fascinated by romance and tradies in a poem. I did learn how to write a poem like an Italian sonnet and through the video that I watched on “Italian and Elizabethan Sonnets: Poetry Analysis,” I got a good understanding of the elements like an octave used in the lines of a poem and the poem should also be rhythmic and frequently metaphorical. The poem like “sonnet 18” by William Shakespeare, this one for me was personally a little difficult but I then understood that the beauty of someone he loved was compared to a summer day. Poems like the mood and tone set the attention to the reader’s eye like mine (when romance is involved). The video poetry lessons were it was helpful, I don’t know much about how to write a poem I have an understanding of what a poem is or isn’t when writing a poem.   

Poetic Review of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed and Where, and Why” This week, Edna St. Vincent Millay’s sonnet “what lips my lips have kissed and where, and why” attracted my attention. The speaker addresses their state of unhappiness and despair, which represents an intangible outcome yet plagues them with their memorial happiness as a result of innumerable unsuccessful minor affairs. The poem is structured in sonnet form, with the initial lines illustrating the abba rhyme scheme (Mannion, 2020). Nonetheless, the poet’s author maximizes sonnet usage by incorporating mood change in the poem’s ninth line, so inserting another rhyme scheme of CDE CDE, which may aid in memory formation. By combining the latter rhyme pattern with the change in mood, the speakers address their current state of romance, or more precisely, their romantic position. He confesses that males have demonstrated no major feelings worthy of securing memories in the speaker’s mind by enquiring as to which lips are being referred to, and the location of their kiss has been forgotten. Additionally, the speaker of the poem acknowledges the profound anguish of unremarkable lads who will not turn against them with a midnight cry. While the speaker conveys much anguish in their laments over their past lover birds, the speaker deduces that the love encounters between them and their lovers involved a large number of unmemorable males, as indicated by their inability to satisfy the speaker’s romantic demands (Mannion, 2020). Despite each romantic partner’s insignificance, the poem’s character references to pleasant summers and the lights that projected them. As a result, the persona experiences the universal affection and camaraderie that every being requires. Additionally, the persona accepts that they are ultimately unmemorable and unremarkable despite their former love experiences, with sufficiently lost feelings to displace an […]

This week’s module was very helpful because it helps me to gain some understanding more about different types of literature and poetry that I didn’t know before. To illustrate, I think writing a poem is just looking for words to do the verification, but after reading and trying to understand what poetry is, I understand and realize that poetry is an amazing art. So, I realized to write poetry, you must prepare and put yourself in a good condition to know the basics part of poetry, and the nature of poetry, the poem is often rhythmical, routinely metaphorical, and rime. Now I understand to write a good poem you should touch the soul of the reader and to engage the reader in your poetry you should have the skills, and a good vocabulary by choosing the ideal words. Also, I have learned two different types of sonnets English and Italian.

In reading all these poems, my view on poetry has not changed that drastically. I still think poems are drastically overdramatic and annoying, but I have learned that not all poems are as bad. There are basic poems with little lines that can evoke many feelings, while others do not. I have learned that poems drastically differ from one another depending what type of poem you are writing. There are ones that rhyme and ones that do not. Most are written to evoke a feeling that most people will understand and connect with in some way. That is the whole point of poetry to evoke some kind of feeling in someone and understand it in their own point of view. Also, I have learned that repeated lines are meant to draw attention, I always tended to ignore the repeated lines and get annoyed at them and stop reading the poem like in Sonnet 43 how the author repeats “how they love thee” in different ways.

After seeing the activities of week 11, I can say that my point of view towards poetry has changed drastically, at the beginning or even when I was a freshman in high school I thought that a poem or poetry, in general, was just a bunch of words and already. However, I realized that poetry has the power to connect, that is, when reading a poem, thousands of stories can be linked to it. A clear example is in the poem “The wife” by Emily Dickinson and “The Story of an Hour”, a short story by Kate Chopin. With just a stanza or even a verse, you can see the connection or even relate to a previously read story. Another way in which poetry can connect is with people, that is, their personal life or it can even help that person to reflect and realize something that they had not previously grasped.

I understand poetry a little better and am able to read it while trying to figure out what it means, my understanding of poetry has altered and extended in response to the reading and activities of week 11 because I am able to read it while attempting to figure out what it means. The video in activity 1 teaches the meaning of poetry and the various genres of poetry. When I was composing poetry, I also learned the difference between poetry and prose, which I had no idea existed. The video in exercise 2 shows how to read an accurate poem of poetry. It claims that when reading an unknown poetry, novice poem readers make assumptions. When I first start reading a poem, I make assumptions about what the poem is about, and by the end of the poem, I have a better idea of what the poetry is about. I develop assumptions about the poem’s subject matter, which, in turn, makes me more interested in reading poetry. I’ve read poetry without truly considering what it means; I had no idea that poetry could be more than rhyme and short lines. Poetry has a new meaning for me now, and it’s something I’m quite interested in.

My ideas about poetry have changed and broadened in response to week 11’s readings and activities because it gave me a better understanding of poetry and how to read it correctly. In activity 1 the video explains what poetry is and what poetry is not. We also learned about poetry vs prose and how they are different. In activity 2 it has an article on how to properly read a poem, towards the bottom of the article it states some helpful questions some may ask when approaching a poem for the first time such as: Who is the speaker?, What does the title suggest? Does the poem use unusual words or use words in an unusual way?, etc. Overall I used to read poems without really thinking about them and trying to figure out the true meaning of it, you really have to dig deep to find the true meaning of each stanza and why certain words were used.

Among the sonnets that we read this week, William Shakespeare’s Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day was my favorite. First, I enjoyed the poem due to my devotion in reading Shakespeare’s works. Second and most importantly is the poem’s artistic element and theme that represents the stability of love, the immortal beauty, and the human being versus nature. When reading the poem, I can see that the speaker is comparing himself with the person to whom the poem is addressed with the specific element of the day (Spacey par.7). I admire the way Shakespeare makes efforts to ensure that we, the audience, have fun with his poetic piece. Specifically, he has ensured that the audience has a reflection on the human perspective in the poem. Through the poem, I get a critical analysis of the changes that are happening in the setting that the author is in. The summer season is described as one which has a rich and colorful perspective hence showing a beauty that is temporary and charming. Therefore, through the poem, I am able to understand contemporary issues that are caused by people’s perception of the life they live, more so that which determines their happiness. In the poem, there are specific lines that capture my attention hence, making me read it often. For example, Shakespeare says that “Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, and summer’s lease hath all too short a date …” (Spacey par.5). In this segment of his work, he means that people have different lives and stages determined by their age and status. The speaker gives changes that happen when ones is a youth and a noble individual. Through the poem, I can understand there is a compliment of a lover […]

Before week 11 readings, I didn’t know much about poetry. I knew that they rhymed and thought they always had a special code you had to crack throughout the poem. After reading activity two, I have seen that this is a common assumption made and there is more to poetry. “The second is assuming that the poem is a kind of code, that each detail corresponds to one, and only one, thing, and unless they can crack this code, they’ve missed the point”(Hirsch). This one really stood out to me because referring back to high school, this is what I was told by my English teachers and I had carried that way of thinking about poetry ever since. Another thing that changed the way I see poetry is from activity three, sonnets. These were usually written about love from suitors to woman that they liked. Other topics were about nature and man’s roles in the world. These are always written in 14 lines and only about one subject. This is something very new to me because I did not know poetry has more meaning to it than just rhyming and short lines. I definitely see poetry differently and as something very exciting now.

I found this weeks curriculum very exciting because I was able to get the chance to learn more about a type of literature that was otherwise basically foreign to me. In Activity 1, we learned about the different types of poetry as well as the literary terms that come with it. In Activity 3, I learned that sonnets are always composed of fourteen lines.  There are also two different types of sonnets: English and Italian.  An Italian sonnet has an octet, which consists of eight lines, and a sestet, which consists of six lines whereas the English sonnet has three quatrains, consisting of four lines each, followed by a couplet which is two lines.  A sonnet is the most common type of poetry and they are usually written about love. In Activities 4 & 5, I was able to read and learn more about the most famous William Shakespeare.  William Shakespeare most often writes his sonnets about women, comparing them to seasons, objects, emotions, etc.  I have learned this by reading “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day.”.  It is also shown in a short lecture on Sonnet 130, “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun.”, where Professor Conway states that Shakespeare uses “elaborate metaphors and even mythical allusions are employed to describe adored female subjects.”. (2)    

My research paper will be the focus on James Joyce’s work “Araby”.  How this you man relates back to his wanting to be in love with his buddy’s sister.  Then his realizing that his love for her will never be.

My research paper focuses on the story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The short story narrates events that follow a dead stranger swept by sea currents to a small remote town. Even though the villagers knew little about the stranger, they gave him a unique respectable burial because of his beauty. The thesis of my essay is that inspiration arises from the least expected sources because, at the end of the story, the stranger`s presence influenced the villagers to make their town and lives better beyond their imagination. The essay will use Runyon et al. (2008) article “The Most Wonderful Thing I Have Ever Seen’: Indiana’s Contribution to Petrified Man Hoaxes. The latter article explores Gabriel`s short story. I will use the JASTOR database.   Applicability of JSTOR arises from the fact that it presents researchers with a wide range of study materials, including academic content and primary source content. Moreover, the database allows students to filter their search using varying criteria.

The theme of the Emily Dickinson’s poem “The Wife” relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state in “The Story of an hour,” because they both long for freedom. In the poem “The Wife,” She rose to his requirement, dropped The playthings of her life To take the honorable work Of woman and of wife. In this stanza, the poet shares that the woman is getting married and entering her new life to be a wife She made changes, sacrifices, and dropped all her own dreams as a lady/girl to become a wife. Being a man’s wife was an honorable stand for women during the Victorian Era. If aught she missed in her new day Of amplitude, or awe, Or first prospective, or the gold In using wore away, In this stanza, it is a reflection of thoughts and opinions that cannot be shared. She doesn’t share the things she misses in this new life. The word “amplitude” refers to the drastic changes that the woman has experienced from being a young woman with a carefree life to a wife filled with a lot more responsibilities. She does not discuss what she is awed by, and she doesn’t mention her future expectations from her new life because it has slowly faded away with time. It lay unmentioned, as the sea Develops pearl and weed, But only to himself is known The fathoms they abide. In this last stanza, the married woman keeps her happiness and sadness within herself and only she is aware of her own thoughts, feelings, and memories. Within the sea lies depth and only the married woman know how she feels.   As in “The Story of an hour,” Mrs. Mallard felt grief for her husband when she heard he was hit by a train, she transitioned into accepting […]

My research paper is about brief tale “The handsomest Drowned Man” composed by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. A Latin author, who composed the brief tale “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World,” A Tale for Children, Creative Education, was distributed in the 1993. this sort of narrating into a domain of the incredible that appears to have no association with a specific time or spot. By the by, Garcia Marquez has been affected by his childhood in a waterfront Colombian town during the fierce 1930s. This article upholds my proposal proclamation since it makes sense of how one individual can help someone else create and look thing at things distinctively throughout everyday life.

I have chosen “Salvation” by Langston Hughes for my research essay. My thesis statement is “the author shows how the narrator’s mood changes throughout the story. Langston is seen as an excited, curious young boy at first, but it changes at the end which is very obvious “. As you can see, the literary work I focused on was the character’s mood. I believe a secondary source that would support my thesis is a biography of Langston to see how this real-life experience shaped him into a person in the future. After reading some readings, I have read that Langston was not religious growing up and this may be from the experience he had as a child and the church,

My essay will be talking about The most handsome dead man” By “Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I will be focusing on trying to prove more on how the story she made is very imaginative and has lots of magical realism. the reason why I chose this as my thesis and what to talk about was because I like the imagination it put in my mind when the women said he was the size of a sperm whale. this shows that this has an imagination side and a magical realism to it because a man being the size of a sperm whale isn’t normal. I will be using the news paper Beyond magical realism: Teaching Creative Thinking Using Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” as my secondary source due to it being a newspaper. I chose this news paper because it stood out of the crowd and looked like it had good information. Im still looking for a primary source and thinking. In the news article it talked about Marquez used magical realism which falls right under my thesis topic number 2.

I will write about “Salvation” by Langston Hughes for my research essay. “Salvation” by Langston Hughes published in 1940, is a short story from “The Big Sea”. “Salvation” is a short story about a 12 years old kid, who questions Jesus existence after church services, and also reached out to adults after that visit. In this short story, there are a lot of ironies popping out. But the main point which was a lie changed him because Langston realized if he didn’t lie about being saved, his aunt will be disappointed in him. He cried at the end and realized something about Jesus. In BMCC databases I didn’t find any resources yet because of reasons. I will try to find mostly about, how a can lie affects someone, or how can a lie changes a child’s mind. Since we as the reader saw what happened to Langston at the end. My thesis statement would be “A simple lie can affect a kid(person) mentally”.  

My research paper focuses on the short story “The handsomest Drowned Man” written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. A Latin writer, who wrote the short story “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World,” A Tale for Children, Creative Education, was published in the 1993. I will focus to write about “Leaf Storm and Other Stories” published in 1972. Garcia Marquez, considered by many to be Colombia’s foremost writer, has gained much of his recognition by writing stories that operate on a mythical, almost allegorical, level. “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” takes this type of storytelling into a realm of the fantastic that seems to have no connection to a particular time or place. Nevertheless, Garcia Marquez has been influenced by his upbringing in a coastal Colombian village during the turbulent 1930s. “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” has always interested critics, both those who interpret the story as a comment on Colombian. The thesis of my essay is: “Esteban a truly great person has the power to change others, to inspire them to be better, to make them want to be extraordinary. The villager’s transformation originates entirely from within. The dead man is dead, after all, which means the villagers are responsible themselves and for the changes that they make. Therefore, my main goal is finding a great biography in context to connect to my primary source to connect with “The handsomest Drowned Man” to help me prepare for the next step.

In my research I will be writing about is Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson”. The reading The Lesson is about how a teacher takes a group of students from Harlem on a school trip to a toy store to try and teach them the worth of money and see how they hold them selves accountable in a store. While looking through the BMCC library I really could not find anything yet to write about but I will continue on doing more research in the library to find something good enough and more understandable and then I will include the sources information in my writing, as their are a lot of stories that can be found to relate to this story I am trying to find one that talks about representation and how the way you represent yourself shows the type of person you are and also gives people a way to judge you.

“The Lesson” is a short story by Toni Cade Bambara written in a first-person narrative told by a young black girl named Sylvia. My thesis of the story is about self-empowerment. From my knowledge of the story, Miss Moore is taking the kids to Fifth Avenue for a tour to encourage the children to walk into the stores on the fifth avenue to explore the new environments and gave a lecture about race inequality. I found the purpose of the lesson is to tell the children that they are not different from other races and how important to have self-empowerment. I haven’t found the book I needed just yet. So far the story’s I found do not have enough details to support my thesis. Still, I am looking for books about self-empowerment and race inequality and see what I can combine for a more exciting research summary and outside sources that can prove my thesis and elevate the details of my essay.

  In the essay about suspense in her story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find, by O’Connor, we know what the story is about on the surface. In its interior, I feel the story is about karma and dharma. Karma is the result based on a person’s actions throughout all of their lives, past and present. These actions are related to a person’s dharma, and whether or not they have fulfilled their duties of being a truly good human being. In this story it teaches us that nothing good comes from being selfish and if you are selfish, you or your loved ones may suffer your consequences. The grandmother manipulated her family to do what she wanted, and this was selfish of her. This led to the death of her and her family. This story describes there’s two different types of people, those who know they are bad people such as the Misfit and those who are bad people but portray to believe that they are good such like the grandmother.

My research paper will focus on the short story “Salvation” by Langston Hughes. A young boy who faces emotional pressure to be saved by his aunt and church members. The irony of this is that he wasn’t saved and lost faith in God. My thesis statement is: “Hughes uses an ironic twist between dramatic and situational irony to show a young boy’s disillusionment with faith.” After looking over the secondary sources on BMCC I have learned how to view a story from different people’s points of view of what the story means to them or the message they got from the story. When reading the secondary sources I learned Langston was a famous black American poet who expressed how he felt through his work.

My thesis statement is the following: The gravity of the narrator’s inner turmoil and confusion is expressed through the use of several types of irony throughout the short story. It is my plan, in order to further demonstrate the irony of “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, besides introducing examples of the different types of irony from the short story, to use the writer’s biography as reference, with emphasis on his relationship with religion, spirituality and the church. To gain sufficient and accurate information for this, I intend on using the Gale in Context database, as there is a quite informative biography on this site. I am still in the midst of my research for the best material for my secondary research but I trust, the Library’s databases won’t let me down.  

My essay is about Langston Hughes’ “Salvation” and how the adult narrative voice serves to highlight the youth of the narrator and the significance of his lie. Though I had not considered it before, looking at secondary sources will help to bring a new aspect into my essay: how the author’s actual life and own identities may have influenced their writings. For example, from “Salvation” one can infer that Hughes was not a religious man, due to the ending in which he professes a lack of belief in Jesus, for He had not come at a time of need. However, looking through the Gale in Context site, I was able to find a biography, and an essay on a conference about Langston Hughes and his works. Through connecting the biography of his life and the time-frame that “Salvation” was written, one can deduce more through what the author had experienced in their life to influence their works. Similarly, the conference essay has information about what historians were able to piece together from Hughes’ life, or rather, the pieces that they were able to glean, as evasive as he proved to be. 

I am doing Langston Hughes “Salvation”.  “This epiphany was a lot more than Langston just losing his faith, because his innocence left with it.”  I think both biographical sources and Literary Critiques would both be helpful secondary sources for me. Biographical because “Salvation” is a true story from his childhood, and Literary Critiques because the way he tells the story is beautiful and complex, and also full of Dramatic Irony. I have looked at JSTOR because it’s my old faithful, and found some interesting critiques of not just “Salvation” but many other of his short stories and poems, and many people exploring religion in many of his works. And I explored the Biography in Context and found a few interesting biographies as well.

My research paper will be the focus on James Joyce’s work “Araby”. The story is told from the distance of a painful childhood experience, which is being narrated by an unnamed boy. The narrative in “Araby” briefly outlines the young boy’s first love with a girl from his neighborhood at the beginning of the story. Later on, the boy’s thoughts about the girl differ as his motivation to meet up with the girl at the bazaar leads to his disappointment. The central focus that is being depicted on the theme of coming of age is the narrative emotions toward the girl and, Joyce depiction of the narrator’s wasted efforts in approaching the girl that he fantasizes about .  

I will be working on the author Toni Cade Bambara and her short story “The Lesson.” The story’s central theme is economic injustice, supported by the characters and their trip to FAO Schwartz. I will be looking for a critical essay or a biography that analyzes the story’s central theme and the characters in the story. I have searched through the JSTOR database and found four articles on the lesson, and while they were thoughtful critiques of “The Lesson,” I didn’t think they would help further my thesis. I also searched through the Gale in Context / Biography database and found several biographies, but unfortunately, the information wasn’t detailed enough to help analyze the short story I chose. I also searched through the Literature Resource Center, and I found several articles on “The Lesson,” but I didn’t think these would fit well either. Finally, I looked through the Short Story Criticism database, and I found one article that seemed pretty promising. I will be using an essay by Melanie A. Marotta called “Teaching Toni Cade Bambara Teaching: Learning with the Children in Toni Cade Bambara’s ‘The Lesson’.” for my research article.

I’m writing on the short story “Araby” by James Joyce. I concluded that the boy can’t get enough of the girl and sees her in a celestial light. As the story develops, it becomes evident that the little child has difficulty grasping the concept of Mangan’s sister’s illusion and reality. He discovers the bareness of ordinary existence towards the end of the short novella. Arbay’s disappointment causes the child to realize that his adolescent ambitions have blinded him. Finding a precise theme that ties to the story was challenging. I’ve looked through various BMCC databases but have yet to find anything that relates to my topic. In addition, I’ve been working on improving and improving my essay.  I also want to conduct my research using a secondary source rather than a biographical or informational piece.

Research Summary: “When It’s Time to Grow Up” My research essay focus on the short story “Araby”, one of fifteen stories from the collection“Dubliners”, written by James Joyce. My thesis statement, word-for-word, is: “ The transition between the narrator’s childhood to adulthood is described through a series of symbolic imageries, where Joyce uses the contrast between lightness and darkness to exemplify the narrator’s growth, and reveal the story’s true meaning.”  The secondary source informations used so far to support my thesis are the Biography “James Joyce.” from Authors and Artists for Young Adults, vol. 42, Gale, 2002. Gale in Context: Biography in the BMCC library. This biography contains important informations about the collection “Dubliners” and how meaningful it was for Joyce to write about Dublin after he left Ireland, consequently being an inspiration for the upcoming stories. Moreover, it gives further details about how Joyce separated the stories in a chronological order, replicating the growth of the narrator and making “Araby” even more meaningful.  So far, I still did not find a reference about the imagery and the symbolism behind light and dark in the narrative. 

I have chosen to write about Langston Hughes “Salvation”. My thesis statement being: “Throughout the story, the author uses dramatic irony to emphasize the struggles of faith and the pressure of religion.” After looking at the provided database from BMCC I have learned a few things about Mr. Hughes. Firstly, he was considered one of the most popular Black American poets in the U.S. and was strongly criticized for the way he chose to portray his view of life and those around him. That in itself supports any writings of his, having lived a culture to back up what one is writing about is undeniable. Since he was so widely known I feel the best secondary sources to use would be writings and critics directly related to his work as well as those who may have really known him as a person. Biographies and article clippings would absolutely work best.

The literary work i am focusing for my research essay is “Araby” which is a short story written by James Joyce. This short story is about a young boy in Ireland obsessed with the girl living across the street. When the young girl mentions how badly she wants to attend a certain bazaar, he sees an opportunity to win her heart by attending the bazaar himself and bringing her back a gift.The story opens with the narrator’s description of his home and neighborhood, in which we first see Joyce’s use of the close first-person narrator to convey the full sensory range of sensory detail – sights, smells, colors, textures – that comprise the setting. The author is James Joyce was an Irish novelist, short story writer, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century. I have searched for options in the BMCC databases and I still haven’t been able to find one that matches my story that I choose.

In my research paper i will be writing about Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson”. This story is about a group a students learning the racial inequality on the meaning of money. For my research i will be using the article called “The role of dialect representation in speaking from the margins: “The Lesson” of Toni Cade Bambara” by Katy M. Wright. When reading this article, the author mentions how Toni Cade Bambara uses foul language with the character named Sylvia to show stronger emotion when talking about the trip to the toy store. I am using this article as it was one of the articles that stood out the most when describing the emotions of the characters in “The Lesson” and the way Toni Cade Bambara uses them. In “The Lesson” Toni Cade Bambara likes to have their characters do most of the talking instead of the teacher named “Miss Moore” because the students are the ones learning. https://go-gale-com.bmcc.ezproxy.cuny.edu/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&u=cuny_mancc&id=GALE%7CA181406651&v=2.1&it=r

The piece of literature I will be writing about for my research essay is “Salvation” by Langston Hughes. My thesis statement is as follows: “The underlying irony of this story is in how in trying to be “saved”, he has actually become a sinner in the process.” I will be using “Critical Insights: Langston Hughes” found in the BMCC database published by Miller. (2013). Langston Hughes. Salem Press. In it, there are many points of view on Hughes and his effect on the African American people as a whole. From lynching to faith, and even his influence on music (the Blue’s specifically). With the many insights on how he influenced the people and how they influenced him. The chapters in this book will be sure to give me a better understanding of what kind of person Hughes came to be after being that 12-year-old boy in church looking to be saved.

My research essay focuses on Langston Hughes’ “Salvation”. My thesis statement is “Throughout the narrative, Hughes uses verbal, dramatic, and situational irony”. Hughes’ use of irony is evident in the sarcastic and mocking tone he uses, this is an example of verbal irony. Dramatic irony is used by letting the readers know the outcome of the situation in the first sentence of the narrative, “I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved”. And the religious revival is an example of situational irony because instead of strengthening Hughes’ connection with Christianity, he loses faith completely. I believe that a biography of Langston Hughes would be most appropriate for my essay. Using the BMCC database, I found an autobiography that discusses Hughes’ early life. The biography mentions that Carrie Hughes, Hughes’ mother, left him at a young age with his grandmother’s friend, Auntie Reed, and her husband. They were described as being devout Christians who constantly pressured Hughes to join the church, and the narrative “Salvation” explains the result of this. The incident in the religious revival event marked the beginning of his disbelief in religion.

“Araby” is a short story written by James Joyce. This short story is about a young boy in Ireland obsessed with the girl living across the street. When the young girl mentions how badly she wants to attend a certain bazaar, he sees an opportunity to win her heart by attending the bazaar himself and bringing her back a gift.The story opens with the narrator’s description of his home and neighborhood, in which we first see Joyce’s use of the close first-person narrator to convey the full sensory range of sensory detail – sights, smells, colors, textures – that comprise the setting. The author is James Joyce was an Irish novelist, short story writer, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century. I have searched for options in the BMCC databases and I still haven’t been able to find one that matches my story that I choose.

I am writing about James Joyce’s short story known as “Araby”. The narrator of the story is a young boy who is infatuated by a girl from his neighborhood. In the story, we notice that the author uses bright color to represent the girl and to demonstrate her significance in the young boy’s life. The setting of the story is dark and dull. The author uses lots of imagery throughout the story to paint a picture of the young boy’s life, which is dull and boring. And how the girl seems to be the only bright light in the young boy’s life. It was difficult to find a critique that related to the theme of my essay. I went through several BMCC databases and I didn’t specifically find results relating to the author’s use of imagery. But “Blind streets and seeing houses: Araby’s dim glass revisited” by Margot Norris is the source I will most likely use for my research essay.   

I’m writing about Gabriel Garcia Marques’s “The handsomest man drowned in the world” is a story that was written in 1968. The story has a particular flavor to it in that, it is the tale of a guy who got himself into difficulty and died in a fishing town. Because of the use of magical realism in this literature, the actual world is changed into something magical or legendary as a consequence of the author’s imagination and thereby serves as an excellent representation of what I’m trying to convey. It is difficult to find information’s about Magical Realism. I found a Article by Alfred Kazin Author: Alfred Kazin Date: Feb. 20, 1972 From: The New York Times Book Review. Beyond Magical Realism: Teaching Creative Thinking Using Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” Donna A. Gessell. My research is going to based on this article.   The link: https://go-gale-com.bmcc.ezproxy.cuny.edu/ps/i.do?p=LCO&u=cuny_mancc&id=GALE|HLABSI894039616&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-LCO&asid=ba2744bd 

My research essay focuses on “The Most Handsome Drowned Man in the World” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This story explores how myths can change people’s ways of thinking, attitudes, and ways of life. The stories give the villagers a new perspective on life. It gathers the locals and brightens their miserable life. Transformation affects the entire village. Inspire them and make them want to be extraordinary. I chose literary articles as a secondary source of support for my dissertation. I mainly searched using BMCC library. The BMCC library is very easy to use and I searched and found a lot of related articles. I have read some interesting articles that provided a useful analysis of this short story and contributed significantly to my essay. There aren’t many articles that are useful for my dissertation.