Blog 8 My Interpretation

The poem that I was drawn to is Schoolsville by Billy Collins. The subject matter of the poem is a teacher and his past students. There is a lack of rhyme scheme in the poem. It is easy to understand, and I enjoyed that it was easy to comprehend. Personally I interpreted the poem as, a retired teacher reflecting on his career and past students that he has had. Throughout the poem he makes comparisons of high school to the aftermath. For example, the jocks are still hanging out with the jocks, and the nerds are still hanging out with the nerds. This is evident in the following text:

“I forgot all their last names first and their

first names last in alphabetical order.

 But the boy who always had his hand up

is an alderman and owns the haberdashery.

 The girl who signed her papers in lipstick

leans against the drugstore, smoking,

 brushing her hair like a machine “(13-19).

The boy who paid attention to class is now a business man, and the girl who was so concerned with her looks is still stuck in the same place. I enjoyed reading this poem, because it was easy to read and I did not struggle as much as I did with the other poem I chose. In the poem Hope by Lisel Mueller, I struggled with this text more than with the previous poem The subject matter of the poem is hope. In the following text:

“It hovers in dark corners

Before the lights are turned on,

It shakes sleep from its eyes

And drops from mushroom gills,

It explodes in the starry heads

Of dandelions turned sages,

It sticks to the wings of green angels

that sail from the top of maples” (1-8).

the poet reveals her attitude towards hope- she believes in hope and believes that it exists. When she describes that hope hovers in dark corners, she is presumably stating that there is always hope for light. When hope is asleep it will soon awake. Mueller also makes a great example in the following text:

“It sprouts in each occluded eye

Of the many-eyed potato,

It lives in each earthworm segment

surviving cruelty. (9-12)”

Mueller is making the statement that hope lives in everyone. That even through hard times, one must always look for hope. Even those who do not believe in hope, will eventually come to believe in it. After reading both of these poems, I realized that there is no right or wrong interpretation to poetry. Several people have read these poems, and there are countless interpretations of both.

Blog Seven "Fences"

The title of the play Fences by August Wilson has several meanings. It has a literal meaning because throughout the play Troy and Cory spend a majority of their time together building a fence. The fence can have a symbolic meaning because Troy struggles to keep himself away from everyone else; he wants to separate himself from things. This is evident in the text that follows:

Cory: “Tell mama I’ll be back fir my tings.”

Troy: They’ll be on the other side of that fence.” (2.4.110-2.4.111)

In this texts Troy uses the fence as an actual physical barrier between him and his son.

Troy also uses the fence as a way to guard himself from death. When troy learns that Alberta has died in childbirth, he cries out:

“All right…Mr. Death…see now…I’m gonna tell you what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna take and build me a fence around this yard see? I’m gonna build me a fence around what belongs to me. And then I want you to stay on the other side.” (2.2.55)

The fence symbolizes that Troy will fight and resist death.

Throughout the play Troy uses the fence to keep people out, but his wife Rose uses the fence to keep things in. This is evident in the text that follows:

Cory: “I don’t see why Mama want a fence around the yard nowadays.”

Troy: “Damn if I knew wither. What the hell she keeping out with it. She ain’t got nothing nobody want.”

Bono: “Some people build fences to keep people out…and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you all. She loves you.” (2.1.30-2.1.32)

Bono helps Troy to see that the fence can also be used to keep people in. Rose sees that Troy and Cory are growing apart, and she uses the fence as a way for them to bond. She is afraid of losing her family. It is evident to her that Troy has different motives for building the fence. In the end the fence that Troy builds does him more ham than good.

Blog Six A Man of Pure Evil

Claudius comes off as an evil person in the story. He has an inner struggle between good and evil, and it seems that evil always wins. Claudius is in constant need to gain more power and doesn’t care about what morals he loses along the way. Claudius attempts to portray himself as a good man, yet he constantly contradicts himself. When his brother The King dies, Claudius delivers a speech in which he describes the pain and sadness he feels over the death of his brother. His need for power overrides any loyalty to his brother. Not even a month has passed since his brother’s death, and he has already remarried his wife. He attempts to portray himself as a man who fears confrontation, but in fact his actions are one of a coward. In the beginning of the story Claudius has such a great fear about going to battle with his brother The King, and instead takes action by poisoning him in his sleep. He attempts to show empathy towards Hamlet by comforting him, but instead his actions come off as ignorant and controlling. Hamlet is distraught by the death of his father and by his mother’s incestuous marriage to his uncle. Claudius shows no restraint when showing affection towards Gertrude. He rubs it in Hamlet’s face and doesn’t care about the negative feelings Hamlet has towards their marriage. He speaks to Hamlet as though he were a child. He tells Hamlet that he needs to get over his father’s death, that it is a part of life. In short, Claudius tells Hamlet to stop being a child and grow up. Claudius lacks the capability to show any empathy for Hamlet and the tragedy that he feels over losing his father. Claudius also used the people around him to get what he wants. He will stop at nothing and will sacrifice everything to gain more power. Claudius uses Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet.  He once again uses Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to accompany Hamlet to England, where he has already planned to have him murdered. Lastly Claudius is also at fault for the death of his wife Gertrude. In Act 5Scene II Line 273 “The Queen carouses to thy fortune.”  The Queen accidentally drinks the poison that was actually intended for Hamlet. Not even at this moment does Claudius make any effort to save the life of his wife. Throughout the story Claudius shows his true colors, he is a conniving and deceitful man who will stop at nothing to be powerful.

Blog Five For the Love of a Father

Hamlet is very disturbed and upset when he came to know about the death of his father. He is filled with grief and is overwhelmed with feelings of anger for his mother and his uncle. His anger is felt even more when his mother remarries only a short time after the King’s death. It seems to Hamlet that his mother never mourned her late husband’s death and didn’t care about him. Hamlet’s mother remarries Claudius, and Hamlet feels that this is a sign of disrespect to his father and fills him with rage. His mother’s statement greatly troubles Hamlet, “Good Hamlet cast thy knighted colour off” (1.2.68). His mother is trying to urge Hamlet to move on from the tragic events and no longer mourn the death of his father. When Hamlet speaks with the ghost it further fuels his desire for revenge. The ghost explains to him “I am thy father’s spirit doomed for certain term to walk the night and for the day confined to fast in fires” (1.5.10). The ghost of Hamlet’s father is destined to suffer, and this fills Hamlet with rage and sadness. The ghost also urges Hamlet to “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (1.5.25) It is at this moment that it is revealed to Hamlet that his father was murdered. The ghost also reveals to Hamlet who his killer is “Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole with juice of cursed hebona in a vial, and in the porches of my ears did pour.” The ghost has revealed to Hamlet that it is his uncle Claudius who is responsible for the death of his father. Hamlet already disapproves of his mother and uncle’s incestuous marriage, and now that he realizes that his uncle is at fault for the death of his father he is determined to seek revenge.

Blog Entry Four Searching For Love

In the short stories “The Lady with the Pet Dog”, by Anton Chekhov and “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter”, by D.H. Lawrence we are sent on two separate journeys of finding love. In Chekhov’s story we are introduced to Dmitritch Gurov. Gurov is a self-proclaimed ladies man. He is married, yet finds himself no longer in love with his wife. He seems proud of the fact that he has cheated countless on times on his wife. Although he no longer loves her he feels trapped because he cannot live without women, yet he feels an inner hatred for them. “It seemed to him that he had been so schooled by bitter experience that he might call them what he liked, and yet he could not get on for two days together without ‘the lower race’ “ (Chekhov).  Gurov uses women to fill the void he has within, and toys with their emotions. He meets a young lady by the name of Anna Sergeyevena, who at first he wants solely because she will meet his sexual and emotional needs, but upon spending time with her he realizes that his feelings for her are growing stronger. Sergeyevena is a married woman who also finds herself no longer in love with her husband. At first their interactions are innocent, but overtime their encounters are becoming more intimate and eventually find themselves having an affair. When Sergeyevena leaves, Gurov begins to realize that he is in love with her, and that she is all he thinks about. “When he shut his eyes he saw her as though she was; and he imagines himself finer than he had been in Yalta”. Gurov began with the intentions of using her and then doing away with her, but he had fallen in love. I believe the message being told is to never lose hope in trying to find love. Gurov had lost all hope in his marriage, but when he met Sergeyevena he was able to find love again.

In D.H. Lawrence short story “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter”, we are introduced to Mabel and Jack. Mabel is a young woman, stricken with grief after the death of her father, and Jack is a doctor. In the beginning of the story, I was under the impression that Mabel and Jack hated each other.  As the story progresses it becomes evident that Jack has romantic feelings Mabel, “He followed her minutely as she moved direct and intent. Like something transmitted rather than stirring in voluntary activity.” (Lawrence) Jack watches her and saves her when she jumps into the pond, in an attempt to kill herself. After spending time alone, they begin to reveal their true feelings for one another, “You love me?” she said, rather faltering. (Lawrence) “Yes.” The word cost him a painful effort. Not because it wasn’t true, but because it was too newly true, the saying seemed to tear open again his newly-torn heart.” Mabel and Jack have are both lonely and in pain, and have found love and comfort in one another.

The statement both authors are attempting  to make about love is, it is never too late to find love .In Chekhov’s story the characters have fallen out of love with their partners and have managed to find love with one another. In Lawrence’s short story the characters are alone, and find comfort and love in one another. Although the approach is different, the need is the same; all four character are in search of love.

Irony Blog Three

Irony is a technique that writers use to set up expectations in the readers mind. In the short story “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, he uses both verbal and dramatic irony several times throughout the story to build suspense, and to foreshadow future events in the story for the reader. An example of irony in Poe’s short story would be the character Fortunato’s name. Fortunato’s name is Italian and the translation of his name stands for good fortune and luck. However, it is evident throughout the story that Fortunato is anything but fortunate or lucky. In reality, Fortunato is going to his death. Another example in the story where Poe used irony is when Montresor pretends to be concerned about the cough that Fortunato has. As both Montresor and Fortunato make their way deeper and deeper into the vaults, Montresor says, “We will go back. Your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, and beloved; you are happy as I once was. You are a man to be missed.” (Poe) Fortunato then replies to Montresor that he should not worry about his cough, “The cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I will not die of a cough.” (Poe). Montresor then replies to Fortunato, “True-True.” (Poe). At this point in the story it becomes evident to the reader that Montresor is plotting the death of Fortunato.

In Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour" we can also find several examples of irony. Mrs. Mallard is an older lady who is told tragic news that her husband has been killed in a train accident. Upon hearing of the death of her husband Mrs. Mallard leaves to her room by herself, and everyone believes that she is completely distraught and mourning the death of her husband, when in reality she is overjoyed upon hearing of his death, “It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” (Chopin). It seems that her husband was an overbearing man who never let his wife accomplish the things she wanted to do in her life. Another example of irony in the story is the weather, outside it is bright, warm and beautiful which is completely opposite of the situation of her husbands death and the grief that people are meant to be experiencing when faced with such a tragic event in their life. Yet another example of irony in the story is the death of Mrs. Mallard. At the beginning of the story the reader is told of her present heart problems. At the end of the story as Mrs. Mallard is coming down the stairs she is shocked to see her husband walk in through the door, and upon seeing him she dies of heart disease.

In conclusion, both Poe and Chopin used irony effectively throughout their stories.