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.

Life in the Iron-Mills

In the beginning of the story, the narrator stares out the windows and always see the cloudy day that besiege the gloomy and dark iron mills. Deborah,a hutch-back, is in love with her cousin Hugh. She even brings him dinner to iron-mill in a cold and rainy day, even though she hasn't finished her dinner. One day, a group of men visit the iron mill notice Hugh's statue which is made from korl. The men tried to help him out, but it needs money. Deborah hears the conversation, so she steals money from one of the men, Mitchell. Hugh decides to give it back to Mitchell, but he contemplates the money because this money can changes his life!People catch him and he receives fifteen-year sentence. Deborah also sends to the jail, but she receives three-year sentence. Hugh is desperate and leads him to suicide. A Quaker woman comes to the jail and plans Hugh's burial place. She assures Deborah that he will be buried on a hillside.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

The film begins with a man who standing on a railroad bridge, and he is sentenced to death. It is a surprise of Farquhar's death. His desire for escape makes him think he gets released accidentally. His fantasy is similar to the real world. In the video, it straight to the fantasy world that makes me think he really gets escaped. He unbinds the ropes of his necks and legs, and sees around him the nature and the soldiers who are ready to fire at him. In his fantasy, he is able to avoid all the attacks and makes it back to his family. But, he's still cannot escape the reality. In the film, it doesn't say why he gets hanged. When Farquhar touches his wife, the real execution forces him back to the reality.

1. I learned that Emily Dickinson was an interesting person. She kept aloof from most people, but I was impressed by her love of nature. During this research project, I read a lot of books about her, as well as some of her work. Although these were easy to read, it was difficult for me to gather all the information that I needed. Slowly, I started to discover interesting facts about her life. This is when I discovered her love of nature. The reason she wanted to segregate from people was because she wanted to be closer to nature. I dug up more research about her love of nature. I learned about her background and the people that surrounded her. The area that Emily Dickinson lived in was right in the middle of nature. Hutchinson, Newton, and Emerson were the three people who most influenced her in her study of nature.

2. My research topic was related to some of the works about nature that we have discussed in class. I compared the works of Emerson and Dickinson discovered some contrasting opinions between them. I furthered my studies by reading Nature by Emerson, and by studying Transcendentalism. Both Emerson and Dickinson were considered Transcendentalists. Dickinson kept secluded from society and bonded with nature. However, from her poems, I discovered some evidence that leads me to believe that she began to have some fears of nature. The most important difference in opinion between Emerson and Dickinson was that Emerson believed that human and nature are actually one.

Emily’s earliest friend Ben Newton was the one who guided her to explore the intellectual and spiritual world of Transcendentalism.

In The Letters of Emily, she wrote, “Mr. Newton was with my Father two years, before going to Worcester, in pursuing his studies, and was much in our family. I was then but a child, yet, I was old enough to admire the strength and grace, of an intellect far surpassing my own, and it taught me many lessons, for which I thank it humbly, now that it is gone. Mr. Newton became to me a gentle, yet grave Preceptor, teaching me what to read, what authors to admire, what was most grand or beautiful in nature, and that sublime lesson, a faith in things unseen, and in a life again, nobler and much more blessed. Of all these things he spoke-he taught me of them all, earnestly, tenderly; and when he went from us, it was as an elder brother, loved indeed very much, and mourned and remembered…..”

Ben Newton played an important role in the shaping of her poetic thought. Newton not only exposed Dickinson’s intellectual thoughts but also inspired her to be a devotee of nature. In her memory of Newton, Emily acknowledged her great debt to him. The most significance influence of Newton upon Dickinson lay in putting her in touch with the advanced thinking of that time, and in particular the writing of Emerson. Emerson also was a major influence upon Dickinson with his poems and essays. Dickinson was familiar with Emerson’s Transcendentalism. The appeal that Transcendentalism holds for Dickinson lies in the mystical harmonies of man and nature, the organic and ongoing processes of human life as well as nature.

Emily Dickinson's father, Edward Dickinson is stress on the education. He even sets up the library for his children, so they can self-educated. Moreover, he also builds a garden for Emily. The garden gives Emily more privacy and also keeps her in touch with nature. She cultivates her interest in nature in her secret place in her garden. Dickinson's inspiration of poems from her observation of creatures like bees and the view of landscape.

Household chore also inspire her to write poetry. She sometimes write at the back of the shopping list or recipes.

Emily Dickinson prefers to stay home and have an isolated life. New England means a lot to her, and the small living space that she has makes her more interest in searching for the meaning of nature.

Emily Dickinson has a special way of living. She associated with nature, and living animals. The landscape of New England, the changing of weather, flowers and birds are all the topics that she portrays in her nature poems. She has a great passion toward nature. She loves to embrace nature because it can mollify her soul and obtain peace. The love that she gives human and the society is all move to nature.

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"Nature" is what we see—

The Hill—the Afternoon—

Squirrel—Eclipse—the Bumble bee—

Nay—Nature is Heaven—

Nature is what we hear—

The Bobolink—the Sea—

Thunder—the Cricket—

Nay—Nature is Harmony—

Nature is what we know—

Yet have no art to say—

So impotent Our Wisdom is

To her Simplicity.

From this poem, we can see she gives positive way to nature.

I found that Emily Dickinosn especially like spring from four of the seasons.

I'll continue to do the research that why she loves spring so much.

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Whitman's Preface Leaves of Grass

I didn't really fully understand what he was trying to say.

Walt Whitman said that America was a “poem” and itself was essentially the greatest poem. He tried to make America more unique and unite nation. I think at that time America was in a divided nation because of the problem of race. He attempted to make America an equal nation with justice and liberty.

The Significance of Emily Dickinson

There are significance of Emily Dickinson. Her joy and pain, triump and disaster are recorded in the words. Her niece Martha Dickinson Bianchi said,"Her letters are record of her external life, her poems are the journal of her mind and soul.

From this article, I found out Emily actually was well acquainted with her quick wit and captivating humor around the neighborhood when she was a little. People say she spent her life in the seclusion of a world, but actually she was closed to her intimate friends.

Dominant in her nature poems is the friendly spirit. Her poetry was mainly on life, nature, love, time and eternity. She has no fear of death and mortality, and joy was in her life. The pathos of her love is evident in the way she treasures memories of the past.

The reader of Emily Dickinson's poems is soon aware of an uplifting effect received from them; she writes with conviction and persuasion.

The Significance of Emily Dickinson

Donald F. Connors

College English, Vol.3, No.7(Apr.,1942),pp.624-633

Published by: National Council of Teachers of English

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The title of chapter twenty-three is “The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter.” I think that Dimmesdale will expose his sin to the townspeople. Chillingworth will not give up, and will follow Hester wherever she might go.

Once Dimmesdale reveals his sin, he won’t be able to live any longer because, as we saw, when he came back from the forest, he had a mental breakdown. The scarlet letter that he carved onto his chest will appall the townspeople so much, that and his body will not be able to support its weight anymore, and he will die shamefully.

After Dimmesdale dies, Hester will no longer have a reason to stay in the town and might flee to another town with Pearl, to a place that knows nothing of the scarlet letter or its wearer. I suspect that the two of them will live happily ever after.

The townspeople saw Emily Dickinson as an eccentric woman because she never went anywhere, and refused to go to church. Dickinson even hid from the visitors to the home. Dickinson liked to read and write riddles and make metaphors.

Emily Dickinson influenced the ways she thought and acted and developed her nature talent through the time, the place and even the atmosphere which was surrounded her. Some of Dickinson’s poems reveal her to be a keen and admiring observer of nature.

The Puritan background shaped her character. Dickinson spent most of her life and wrote most of her works in the Homestead.

The editor had problem revised Dickinson’s works because of her hadwriting and her untraditional punctuation. The editor didn’t name the title, instead he numbered the poems.

Dimmesdale becomes rely on Hester because she can give him confidence, mercy and forgiveness. In chapter eighteen, Dimmesdale and Pearl finally meet. Pearl embraces the nature. In the forest, the creatures, like squirrel, fox and wolf, approach her as she is a wild human child. The flower also wants to get near to Pearl.

Pearl reminds Hester’s sins. Pearl is so angry that her mother doesn’t wear her scarlet letter and she puts her hair down. As the book says, the river separates between Hester, Dimmesdale and Pearl. After Hester crosses the river, she puts her scarlet letter back, and returns to the original mother who Pearl knows.

A narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson

A narrow fellow in the grass
Occasionally rides;
You may have met him,---did you not,
His notice sudden is.

The grass divides as with a comb
A spotted shaft is seen;
And then it closes at your feet
And opens further on.

He likes a boggy acre,
A floor too cool for corn.
Yet when a child, and barefoot,
I more than once, at morn,

Have passed, I thought, a whip-lash
Unbraiding in the sun,--
When, stooping to secure it,
It wrinkled, and was gone.

Several of nature's people
I know, and they know me;
I feel for them a transport
Of cordiality;

But never met this fellow,
Attended or alone,
Without a tighter breathing,
And zero at the bone.

This poem examines the one of nature’s creature, snake. Emily Dickinson never tell us this creature is snake. She describes snake as a human being by using the term fellow and “Nature’s People.” The snake passes swiftly, and divides the grass. Dickinson focuses on the snake’s appearance and its transient moves. In the last stanza, Dickinson describes the snake as a metaphor of great enemy of mankind.

A bird came down the walk by Emily Dickinson

A bird came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.

And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.

He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad,--
They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
He stirred his velvet head

Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home

Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, plashless, as they swim.

The bird acts naturally in front of Dickinson, and he shows his wilderness by eating a “raw” worm. This action is non-humanness. But, in stanza two, Dickinson describes the bird as human being. He drank a dew from a grass; it’s like he drank the water from glass. The bird also politely let the beetle pass through.

Emily Dickinson tries to contact with the bird by offering it food, but the bird flies away because her action.

This poem also talks about nature. Dickinson observes the bird’s appearance and behavior.