Thursday, May 8, 2014
Masterpiece Update
My masterpiece is going very well. My group and I are very confident with the work we have done. In class we discussed everyone's project and offered our assistance. We are just not sure how we will present our masterpiece. There are many ways to go about the project presentation.
Friday, May 2, 2014
At Least Two Poetry Essays
Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing by Margaret Atwood
Helen of Troy, a woman whose beauty ultimately caused the Trojan War, is a figure many people know of. These two poems seem to take this single woman and change her into two by the very way they describe her. One poem is full of admiration for her, and the other despises the person she is. Diction, imagery, form, and tone help create a completely different picture of Helen of Troy in the eyes of the spearers.
In the poem To Helen by Edgar Allan Poe, it begins with such a love and admiration of her beauty, comparing her to the "Nicean barks of yore." Poe goes on to use more imagery to describe her beauty, such as "hyacinth hair" and "statue-like." The tone and form of the poem also convey his sense of admiration of Helen. The poem is written in the way a love letter is written to a loved one. His tone shows how in awe Poe is of Helen's beauty, how her beauty has brought him to her. Even the title itself "To Helen" shows how he's writing this poem not only about her, but to her, as he would want her to see how he thinks of her.
The other poem is completely different when it comes to Helen. Strictly titled Helen, this author speaks in a very solemn tone, with a slight hint of disgust and hate for her. The author uses imagery to describe the way she looks, with "still eyes in the white face," "the wan face when she smiles." This changes the description of Helen of Troy as to someone with a pale, sickly unattractive look about them. The author even goes on to explicitly saw how Greece hated this woman, is reviled by her, and would only love her if "she were laid, white ash amid funereal cypresses." The tone and imagery show how strongly Helen is disliked by not only by Greece, but by the author.
These two poems are examples of how literary elements such as tone and imagery can make such a difference. Helen of Troy, one woman, went from being a most beautiful woman who a man adored, to being a woman most hated by an entire country. A single person can be drastically changed by a few words, for words are more powerful than one thinks.
Blackberrying By Sylvia Plath
The poem commences with a somewhat content and peaceful attitude as the poet ambles through the winding 'hooks' of rows upon rows of blackberries. She describes the rows of berries as 'blue-red' with 'ebon,' suggesting ripeness and perfection.
The blackberries are accommodating and 'squander' on her fingers like 'sisterhood', which gives the feeling of bonding, bringing together and fitting in. This proves to be quite ironic as the tone of the poem is one of solitude and loneliness.
The first stanza conveys to the reader a message of ambition and hope, as she talks about the sea, 'somewhere at the end of it'. This stanza could have a double meaning, either in describing the berries, as they appear to cluster together or could symbolize a finishing stage or a checkpoint in her life following her long journey. With knowledge of her suicide, which followed later after she wrote the poem, I believe that the poem could provide a harsh metaphor for her life. The three stanzas contribute to her journey of solitude and loneliness, but, when she arrives at the sea, after a seemingly endless walk, there is 'nothing but a great space.' Her journey, which appears aimless could also symbolize her attitude to life because she must have had nothing to live for, with no objectives in life, as we see her hopes of desire raised, then thwarted, as her viewing of the sea disillusions her.
The poem's somewhat harsh tone is not the only used by Plath. Firstly, natural beauty and serenity is the theme whilst a strongly contrasting third stanza strikes a definite bitterness and pathos.
The poet uses figurative language as the medium to convey her thoughts to the reader. There are a few similes used, for example 'dumb as eyes' and 'din like silversmiths'.
Helen of Troy, a woman whose beauty ultimately caused the Trojan War, is a figure many people know of. These two poems seem to take this single woman and change her into two by the very way they describe her. One poem is full of admiration for her, and the other despises the person she is. Diction, imagery, form, and tone help create a completely different picture of Helen of Troy in the eyes of the spearers.
In the poem To Helen by Edgar Allan Poe, it begins with such a love and admiration of her beauty, comparing her to the "Nicean barks of yore." Poe goes on to use more imagery to describe her beauty, such as "hyacinth hair" and "statue-like." The tone and form of the poem also convey his sense of admiration of Helen. The poem is written in the way a love letter is written to a loved one. His tone shows how in awe Poe is of Helen's beauty, how her beauty has brought him to her. Even the title itself "To Helen" shows how he's writing this poem not only about her, but to her, as he would want her to see how he thinks of her.
The other poem is completely different when it comes to Helen. Strictly titled Helen, this author speaks in a very solemn tone, with a slight hint of disgust and hate for her. The author uses imagery to describe the way she looks, with "still eyes in the white face," "the wan face when she smiles." This changes the description of Helen of Troy as to someone with a pale, sickly unattractive look about them. The author even goes on to explicitly saw how Greece hated this woman, is reviled by her, and would only love her if "she were laid, white ash amid funereal cypresses." The tone and imagery show how strongly Helen is disliked by not only by Greece, but by the author.
These two poems are examples of how literary elements such as tone and imagery can make such a difference. Helen of Troy, one woman, went from being a most beautiful woman who a man adored, to being a woman most hated by an entire country. A single person can be drastically changed by a few words, for words are more powerful than one thinks.
Blackberrying By Sylvia Plath
The poem commences with a somewhat content and peaceful attitude as the poet ambles through the winding 'hooks' of rows upon rows of blackberries. She describes the rows of berries as 'blue-red' with 'ebon,' suggesting ripeness and perfection.
The blackberries are accommodating and 'squander' on her fingers like 'sisterhood', which gives the feeling of bonding, bringing together and fitting in. This proves to be quite ironic as the tone of the poem is one of solitude and loneliness.
The first stanza conveys to the reader a message of ambition and hope, as she talks about the sea, 'somewhere at the end of it'. This stanza could have a double meaning, either in describing the berries, as they appear to cluster together or could symbolize a finishing stage or a checkpoint in her life following her long journey. With knowledge of her suicide, which followed later after she wrote the poem, I believe that the poem could provide a harsh metaphor for her life. The three stanzas contribute to her journey of solitude and loneliness, but, when she arrives at the sea, after a seemingly endless walk, there is 'nothing but a great space.' Her journey, which appears aimless could also symbolize her attitude to life because she must have had nothing to live for, with no objectives in life, as we see her hopes of desire raised, then thwarted, as her viewing of the sea disillusions her.
The poem's somewhat harsh tone is not the only used by Plath. Firstly, natural beauty and serenity is the theme whilst a strongly contrasting third stanza strikes a definite bitterness and pathos.
The poet uses figurative language as the medium to convey her thoughts to the reader. There are a few similes used, for example 'dumb as eyes' and 'din like silversmiths'.
Groupthink
As much as talking with others is supposed to help, it doesn't. I enjoy figuring the poems out on my own, and even though their grids helped explain their poems a bit better, I'm sure I didn't understand it on the same level as they did, since they spent more time reading it. But I did see some interesting types of poems, and some familiar ones as well from my group. We also agreed on how the poetry part will probably be the most difficult on the AP exam, but using the grids helped organize the poem into parts so we can understand it better.
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