Howl

The title "Howl" already tells us that he is arguing his discontent of the society, especially the problem with race discrimination. He lets his words flow in stream of consciousness and the interesting part is the poem all based on the word of "who." When I read this poem, I really can see the big picture that Ginsberg trying to tell us of how the reality is in that era.

Ginsberg is associated with the Beat Generation which is the era that people reject materialism and "experimentation with drugs and alternate form of sexuality." In the sentence,"who distributed Supercommunist pamphlets in Union Square weeping and undressing while the sirens of Los Alamos wailed them down, and wailed down Wall, and the Staten Island ferry also wailed". He shows the insane members of his community and how they destroy their own life. It seems like many demons are surrounded by them, and they only can find peace through drugs or sex. In his poem, I cannot find one happiness in there.

Petrified Man

On Wednesday, we read a short story called Petrified Man. I love the way that you assign people to a certain character and especially let a guy to read a woman's line. The story is about two gossip women talking in the beauty salon, Leota (the hairdresser) and Ms. Fletcher(Leota's best customer). They are talking about the new-coming family. Leota have a good impression and positive evaluation toward Mrs. Pike, and they begin to have a strong relationship with each other. Also, they have different personality. But, on the other side, Ms. Fletcher doesn't like Mrs. Pikes because she talks about her pregnancy. This story tells us that don't use the first impression to judge the other because later on Leota and Mrs. Pikes had a fight. Mrs. Pikes uses Leota to watch her child, Billy.

I kind of don't understand why the story called Petrified Man. But I think the main point of this story is to use different point of view to watch people, not just your own point of view because this will make you a foolishness.

Bernice bobs her hair

Bernice bobs her hair!!!Today, we just watch this movie and the story was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.At first i thought it's just Bernice chopped her hair off, and that is it. But it means more because of the society in that time. Bernice changes a lot from the first scene we saw. She turns into a society-girl from a quiet, conservative girl because of her cousin, Marjorie. She begins to teach her how to hang out with boys. One day, she decides to bob her hair( I think she's just joking). Marjorie becomes jealous because Bernice captures all the guy's heart from her. She tell Bernice to bob her hair and let everyone watch it. Before she bobs her hair, the guys are so intense about it, but after that, they just walk away and show not interest to her. Marjorie's plan succeed, but Bernice takes the revenge and cut her hair in the midnight and leave happily. I wonder what Bernice's mother will react when she see her daughter bobs her hair.

Bernice was so quiet before and become so socialize, but I think Bernice just pretend it. One cannot fully changes his or her personality or the way to act. The guy just see the girl's out-appearance to hang out with. Maybe Bernice will change to the real Bernice after she goes back to her hometown.

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes is an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance and African American literature. He expresses his pride of being an African American. In his poems, he promotes the African American culture and the racial pride in the black community. He points out the social and racial problems and also inspires some blacks to recognize their beauty and dignity of blackness.

We can see these from one of his famous poems"I, too" when he says:"Besides,/They'll see me beautiful I am/And be ashamed".He yearns for freedom and equality. In some day, whites will see beauty in black and feel ashamed of their ignorance.

Birches by Robert Frost

It is interesting to read this poem. One single item, birches, can make him think about it so much. From the point the birches is bending down, he imagines what makes it bent. In the beginning of the poem, he tells the truth that is the ice storm makes it bent. Then, he imagines that the lonely boy who is playing with a tree that make most of the trees bent down. He even gives the solution to solve the problem and compares to "fill a cup." In the last stanza, he expresses that he wants to be young again, so he can swing the birches. Maybe seeing the bending birches makes Robert Frost thinks about his youth memory.

William Carlos Williams

Spring and All by William Carlos Williams

By the road to the contagious hospital
under the surge of the blue
mottled clouds driven from the
northeast-a cold wind. Beyond, the
waste of broad, muddy fields
brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen
patches of standing water
the scattering of tall trees
All along the road the reddish
purplish, forked, upstanding, twiggy
stuff of bushes and small trees
with dead, brown leaves under them
leafless vines-
Lifeless in appearance, sluggish
dazed spring approaches-
They enter the new world naked,
cold, uncertain of all
save that they enter. All about them
the cold, familiar wind-
Now the grass, tomorrow
the stiff curl of wildcarrot leaf
One by one objects are defined-
It quickens: clarity, outline of leaf
But now the stark dignity of
entrance-Still, the profound change
has come upon them: rooted, they
grip down and begin to awaken

The narrator described the scene in the end of winter on his way to the hospital. In the first three stanzas, the narrator gave the reader a dreary mood like "contagious hospital," " brown with dried weeds." In the third stanza, the narrator began to use more birght colors like purplis and reddish, but still gave us a disconsolate feeling. From the fourth stanza, the narrator shifted to embrace the coming spring. He portrayed how new life will emerge from this landscape as it begins to wake up. He used the word "quickens" in the last two stanza instead of "sluggish" which he used it previously.

The Yellow wall paper

The narrator has a nervous depression. She seems like everything is uncomfortable to her. John is her husband and also her doctor. He doesn't agree with her thoughts and her illness. The narrator has an extraordinary imaginations. Her husband wants to cure her even stop her to do any active things, especially writing. She doesn't like the yellow wallpaper in her room, and argues with John to repaper it again.