blog post 35

ah the fool, Shakespeare has a knack for whimsical characters that seem a little wise beyond their years. One such is the fool of King Lear, a maniacal little creature. In Act 1 Scene 5 is a perfect example of the fools supposed gibberish, being the hidden understanding to all of the Kings problems and the leading to his own demise. With phrases like "She will taste as like this as a crab"(Shakespeare, 18) seeming like just mere banter, to "Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise"(Shakespeare,43) peering into the weaknesses of Lear and in it comprehending the crippling qualities of the King. In this way the fool acts much like a foreshadowing tool in the play, as well as ironically being the sensible fool in a realm of mad royalty.  

Blog Post 34

Edmund from the Shakespeare play King Lear, is a dastardly character built on being the "Bastard child." In Act 1 Scene ii Edmund's  unusual behavior is seen as nothing suspicious to that of his family, but to the reader after his monologue spouting phrases like "I am rough and lecherous." (Shakespeare, 138) We know all to well of his mischievous snake-like qualities. Brought about even more so by his hatred for his family as well as humanity itself. With phrases like "we are sick in fortune" (Shakespeare, 126) and "we make guilty of our disasters" (Shakespeare 127) it's not hard to follow that Edmund is a villainous antagonist. This was a great shift in character to the Edmund we met in scene i. In the previous scene Edmund appeared as a quiet belittled second son that didn't much like the idea of open speaking let alone evil plotting. This character is a Shakespeare classic bringing a silver tongued devil to the spotlight of the stage is a great way to entice an audience.  

Blog post 33

The three daughters of King Lear represent to me a form of Cinderella. Cordelia being the youngest sweetest daughter is Cinderella herself being the only honest soul of the bunch "I cannot heave my heart into my mouth" (Shakespeare 101) this line emphasizes Cordelia's good intentions and honest heart. While her sisters, goneril and Regan are the ugly step sisters, with cold hearts and corrupted by greed they do whatever they can to get what they want no matter how swindless or gruesome. "to receive not alone the imperfections of long-engraffed condition" (Shakespeare 341) their cunning and self worth rivals any desire for love and kindness. But I foresee the step sisters getting what's coming to them 😉😉

blog post 31, poetry response 6

The Collar

By George Herbert

 poetry response 6

This poem entices the idea of enlightenment that comes with adulthood. By using a "tantrum" like poetic texture the poem is very sporadic and all over the place; such as with the inconsistent stanzas and very quick shifting ideals and points. An example is "shall i be still in suit? have i no harvest but thorn.." keeping a very basic skeleton of an idea with very bipolar emotional shifts in the writers understanding of the situation.

 As the poem goes on it is as if the writer is growing up with the progress of the poem. Realizing flaws in his actions, such as understanding that the world does not revolve around him with lines like "Before my sighs did dry it; there was corn..." and "is the year only lost to me?" this stanza is a childhood challenge that leads to a transition into adulthood.

The third stanzas is leading into a force that changes the writers perspective of his reality and is the leading force of a revelation of how a code or "law" to live his life by asking of a deity (mostly likely the God of the Bible by the 1600 catholic influences on Herbert) to "forsake thy cage" and "leave thy cold dispute" with the belief in this god pushing for the writers enlightenment. The last Stanza further proves this by making a revelation and " to suit and serve his need" means taking full belief in this God and in doing so builds a relationship of protect and serve for the betterment of the writers future. Examples to further this point are in lines 35 and 36 as the writer having God refer to him as "Child"

and The writer referencing his god as "My Lord."

This poem has a very unique and very enlightening revelation that gives great insight into how a man came about adulthood from his adolescence. It is unique in the sense that is what written almost as that of a child with the hard to follow points and the several emotional outbursts questioning reality. The enlightening portion of having a god bring about such a mass revalation of growing up is very intriguing and gives a very "father to son" feel about the poem and the necessary talks one father gives in order to do best by their children. A well constructed poem indeed!!!!   

blog post 28

The rough draft for my critical lens essay was rather difficult, it was a very different assignment that required a great amount of research and thorough analysis. Even though we had already taken a very hard look at The Great Gatsby from a multitude of perspectives. I actually believe that formalist is the easiest lens to write in, at least as research goes. But nonetheless a demanding assignment that requires a great amount of planning and thorough attention to detail. I have a few questions over the formatting of this essay, as well as what other peoples experiences were with different lenses. I personally really liked a formalist perspective of Great Gatsby as it was very similar to essays I've had to write before on the subject matter. Overall though this assignment was a very unique and helpful experience in developing my skills as a writer.  

post 27

1. Dirce is a good parallel to Antigone, with families rivaled and fighting for the crown,  it gives the story of a woman's husband who was killed and brought about war and pain. It even takes place in Thebes just as the story of Antigone does.
2.The line "Roused them with windy phrases" most likely means very loud and proud type of speech to rally a group of people.
3. A metaphor in Parados is " the blaze of morning! " and a simile found in Parados is "Rose like a dragon behind him."
4. Them and their in lines 92 to 97 are referring to the armies rivaled for the crown of Thebes.
5.examples of personification are "sun lying, Level east to west, touches with glory" and "Eye of golden day."
6. His in line 100 is referred to polyneices
7. The word bray in line 106 most likely means the whining of blathering of the "bragging tongues"
8. he and his in line 107 to 110 are referring to the god referenced in line 105 while their in line 110 refer to the first man of the army to be smited.
9.lines 119 to 122 summarize the war between the two brothers and how a bloody battle lead to both of their deaths at the edge of one anothers swords.
10.line 124 can be called personification because the city of Thebes is not a person and cannot sing for joy.

Blog post 26 (read along)

Mentor text #3

 "You can't handle the truth":a formalist perspective of Heart of Darkness

• creative title quote 

• emphasizes the merit of the book

•Mirrors true life Conrad

• diverts away from other lenses 

• brief summary of book

• points of books structure in novella analyzed 

• direct quotes used in beginning of third paragraph

• this quote is block text 

• describes a frame narrative ( a stories retelling)

• has clear focus on the character marlow

• emphasizing Marlows attention to small details

• no clear description of the formalist lens is seen

• very brief short analysis 

• no sign of formalist description yet

• description of the power of Marlows story telling

• second block text used for the description of the natives 

• describes the focus of detail to further emphasize Marlows effectiveness of story telling

• third set of block text to show Marlows admiration towards Mr. Kurtz

• leads into Marlows distaste for lies

• essay keeps a clear focus on marlow and his intentions

• Marlows hatred of lying emphasizes the furthering point of his attention to detail leading back to key points of the essay

• clear abrupt ending 

• ending with an analysis of a formalist lens

• uses only the book as citations

• clear objective and a path guided through the story to tell it

• astounding