Blog Post #18: Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay, Final Draft

Blog Post #17: Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay, Draft 1

Blog Post #16: Their Eyes Were Watching God Fishbowl Discussion Preparation

Quotations:  
Poetry Analyses: To view my annotations regarding linguistic, semantic, structural, and cultural/pragmatic nuances of the poems I read, please open the document in a separate window.  
Prose Close Reading Chart:
Literary Criticism Close Reading Chart: To view the handout I passed out in class, please click here. To view my preparation notes as one continuous document, please click here.

Blog Post #15: Linguistics and "Terence, This is Stupid Stuff"

2009B Poem: “Terence, This is Stupid Stuff”
Prompt: The following poem makes use of the story of Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, who developed an immunity to poison. Read the poem carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how Housman employs literary devices in adapting the story to address concerns of the late Victorian period.

                In “Terence, This is Stupid Stuff,” A.E. Houseman asserts that the pleasurable escapes men seek ultimately make them more sinful, revealing the vicious cycle of such vices that lurk under the Victorian façade of purity and properness. Houseman reinforces this idea through the use of liquor to represent not only human vice but also the tainted undercurrent in Victorian life, conversational diction, alliteration, and repetition to add a satirical voice to his criticism, and an allusion to the myth of King Mithridates to underscore the corruption of those who develop an immunity to poison.

                Houseman’s dramatic monologue begins with a deceptively simple, mocking voice. He ridicules Terence for the rate at which he drinks. This comment is the root of a larger criticism of Victorian vices throughout the poem. It was the vices of this new time period that “killed the cow” (1.10). The growth of industrialization in the late Victorian era, Houseman argues, is what destroyed the old ways. Yet the drunken men do not seem to grasp this. The liquor is portrayed as a means of viewing a rapidly changing world through distorted yet pleasant lenses. Beyond this, drink is a terrible cycle that ensnares those who turn to it. Once you join this “game” (1.42), you are in for good. The only option is to “begin the game anew” (1.42). After this important turning point in the very succinct third stanza, Houseman explicitly critiques the state of his world as he sees it. It is perceived as having “much good” (4.44), which offers a corollary to the fact that people of the Victorian age put up masks of innocence and wholeness. Restraint was praised in both men and women. Men were to be gentlemanly and brave. Women were to be docile and submissive. However, there is sin lurking beneath the surface that many refuse to acknowledge, and it does overwhelm the good. There is “much less good than ill,” (4.44) Houseman adds, commenting that this imbalance of supposed good and perpetuated evil will only hail trouble.

                Houseman strengthens his negative commentary of the hypocrisy in Victorian values and the actual actions of Victorian era people by comparing the flawed liquor addicts to King Mithridates, a figure of Greek mythology. Mithridates is characterized as self-serving  “[getting his] fill before [he] think[s]” (5.61) – emphasizing his inherent selfishness. Just as many of Houseman’s contemporaries selfishly turned to drink as a means of escape, King Mithridates indulged in his “poisoned meat and poisoned drink” (5.62) for his own pleasure. Those who knew of Mithridates’ immunity were appalled by it, but Mithridates did not find it unusual at all. This creates another parallel between Mithridates and the drunk men. Both sought out potentially destructive things for their own pleasure. Even though Mithridates and the drunk men themselves were not aware of the repercussions, those around them were. Mithridates and the drunk men’s affinities for dangerous items only hurt those near them.

                Houseman’s bleak commentary of the late Victorian era is tempered with his use of casual diction, repetition, and alliteration to give his poem a jaunty flow. He describes Terence’s poetry as “stupid” (1.1) and the lads as “poor” (1.9) to add a teasing tone. Houseman uses repetition to lament the old ways in a humorous manner. He uses the cow to symbolize the long gone simpler life and cries, “The cow, the old cow, she is dead” (1.7). Later, he repeats, “Ale, man, ale’s the stuff to drink” (2.23). Repetition of simple words like cow and ale give Houseman’s poem a dark humor. The dark humor is furthered by his use of alliteration, which gives the poem a faster rhythm that would reflect well in the oral sharing of this work. For instance, near the end of the poem, Houseman uses many words starting with the letter s to quicken the pace.

Score: 6 (B)

1.    Structuralism

Structuralism, in a literary context, is the study of smaller parts of a text and how these smaller parts contribute to the meaning of the text as a whole. It focuses on the opposites in a literary work that further its significance.  Structuralism can be broken down into form, content, and use, with phronology, morphology, and syntax important in form, semantics important in content, and pragmatics important in use. A sign is constituted of the signified and the signifier. The signified is the denotation of the word; the signifier the connotations associated with the word.

2.       Binary Opposites in “Terence” 

Sun vs moon

Good vs ill

Luck vs trouble

Heart vs head

World vs world’s not

Faith vs mischief

Drunk vs sober

Stupid vs smart

3.       Binary Opposites Thesis

In “Terence, This is Stupid Stuff,” A.E. Houseman asserts that sad poetry, in the long run, is a better outlet to express tragedy than the immediate pleasures of beer through the use of binary opposites to juxtapose Terence’s intelligence and logic with his friends’ vulgarity and stupidity.

4.       Sound Devices

“Terence, this is stupid stuff: You eat your victuals fast enough” (1.1-2)

“The cow, the old cow” (1.7)

“’Tis our turn now” (1.9)

“Moping melancholy mad” (1.13)

“Livelier liquor” (2.5)

“Malt does more than Milton can” (2.6)

“Heigho, the tale was all a lie” (2.23)

“If the smack is sour” (3.10)

“The better for the embittered hour” (3.11)

5.       Sound Devices Thesis

In "Terence, This is Stupid Stuff," A.E. Houseman asserts that immunity to life's hardships comes through experience by gradually shifting the diction from smooth, euphonious sounds to harsher cacophonous sounds. This parallels Terence's growing immunity to tragedy as he continues to use sad poetry as an outlet to expose himself to all facets of strife.

6.       Complete Thought

“Terence, this is stupid stuff: You eat your victuals fast enough” (1.1-2)

This line immediately portrays Terence’s friends as intellectually limited and unaccepting of Terence’s desire to write sad poetry. His friends’ poorly made assertion further juxtaposes Terence’s intelligence against his friends’ stupidity.

7.       Word from Complete Thought

Victuals: food or provisions, typically as prepared for consumption

Comes from the Latin word victus, meaning nourishment, way of living

Also related to vivere, to live

8.       Rhyme scheme: end rhyme, rhyming couplets

Rhythm: iambic

Rhyme Scheme and Meter Thesis:   In “Terence, This is Stupid Stuff,” A.E. Houseman utilizes a traditional yet powerful iambic tetrameter to reflect the simple-minded hedonism of the pub and rhyming couplets to create oxymorons which juxtapose Terence’s intelligence with his friends’ stupidity. This binary opposition ultimately asserts that the immediate pleasure of beer is short-sighted while the slow revelations of pain through sad poetry are intellectual and more rewarding over time.

9.       Schema

Anastrophe

Definition: inverted word order from what one expects

Effect: “Help writer achieve stylistic effects like laying an emphasis on a particular point…in poetry, regularly used to create rhythm”

Example from “Terence”: “And down in the lovely muck I’ve lain” (3.20)

Effect on the meaning of “Terence”: The inversion of this phrase emphasizes the muck rather than the person lying in it. The muck is a literal representation of the endless cycle of, to put it bluntly, crap that Terence’s friends have entered from turning to drink so often.

Antithesis

Definition: contrary ideas expressed in a balanced sentence

Effect: to convey ideas more vividly, to convey ideas in different ways from the common words and expressions of daily life

Examples from “Terence”:

“Therefore, since the world has still / Much good, but much less good than ill” (4.1-2)

“Luck’s a chance, but trouble’s sure” (4.4)

Effect on the meaning of “Terence”: The antitheses used present binary opposites that further juxtapose Terence against his friends in terms of intelligence. The antitheses also paint a negative outlook on the world to justify Terence’s decision to turn to writing sad poetry.

Chiasmus

Definition: taking parallelism and deliberately turning it inside out, creating a criss-cross pattern

Effect: create a special artistic effect in order to lay emphasis on what writers want to communicate

Example from “Terence”: “But much less good than ill…And train for ill and not for good.” (4.2, 4.6)

Effect on the meaning of “Terence”: Presenting the “darker” of the binary opposites first emphasizes the futility in believing that goodness will always prevail and the wisdom in the decision to find an outlet to express through.

Consonance

Definition: repetition of consonant sounds

Effect: creates a rhyming effect, reiterates the significance of an idea or theme

Examples from “Terence”:

“Terence, this is stupid stuff: You eat your victuals fast enough” (1.1-2)

“Moping melancholy mad” (1.13)

“Livelier liquor than the Muse” (2.5)

“And easy, smiling, seasoned sound” (5.9)

Effect on the meaning of “Terence”: The softer consonances in Terence’s “dialogue,” juxtaposed with the harsher consonances of Terence’s friend’s words, further polarize Terence’s intelligence and his friends’ stupidity. Terence speaks smoothly and eloquently, like a poet should, and his friends are rowdy and rough.

Parallelism

Definition: similar patterns of grammatical structure and length

Effect: adds balance and rhythm, gives ideas a smoother flow, persuasive

Example from “Terence”:

“And left my necktie God knows where, And carried halfway home, or near” (2.15-16)

“And I myself a sterling lad; And down in lovely muck I’ve lain” (2.19-20)

Effect on the meaning of “Terence”:  The parallelism quickens the pace of this section and lends a tone of passion and urgency to Terence’s response.

10.   Literary Devices Thesis

In “Terence, This is Stupid Stuff,” A.E. Houseman argues that writing sad poetry is the best outlet to express inner strife through an eloquent argument from Terence that utilizes anaphora, chiasmus, consonance and parallelism. The gracefulness of these syntax structures lend a melodic quality to Terence’s argument that is conspicuously absent in that of his friends’.

11.   Semantics vs Pragmatics

“And down in lovely muck I’ve lain” (2.20)

The semantic meaning of this phrase would be that Terence, the speaker here, literally laid down in the muck. The pragmatic meaning of the phrase would better illuminate Terence’s argument as a whole. A pragmatist would argue that this line emphasizes that everyone, Terence included, has experienced tragedy (the lovely muck) at some point, but different people deal with tragedy in different ways.

12.   Structure of Argument

Terence’s friends structure their argument deductively because they reach the specific conclusion that Terence’s poetry is stupid through general observations of tragedy. On the contrary, Terence uses logos, ethos, and pathos to structure his argument. He effectively uses logos by speaking in a way that is scholarly and eloquent. Ethos is used when Terence admits that he, too, has lain in the lovely muck, and knew that nothing remained to do but to “begin the game anew” (3.3). Pathos is used when Terence reflects more nostalgically and darkly on the perpetual evil lurking in the world, and how there are better ways than others to deal with the evil and sadness.

Blog Post #14: Gothic Poem

Alone in Darkness

the night falls as if slain by the sun, cold and alone are we.

the light for which you lust

flares once, then dies,

smothered by the all-encompassing dark.

all hope must surely perish.

your love is no more.

how could you abandon me?

lost souls surround us, crying,

we have lost our light.

1. What is the significance of one word over another in your poem?

I chose words associated with light and darkness to create a very obvious polarization in my poem, with "dark" words winning over "light" words. For example, the lines "light for which you lust...[is] smothered by the all-encompassing dark" (2-4) reveal light as weak and overwhelmed by darkness.

2. What are some tone words you could use to describe your intention?

Hopeless, isolated, alone

3. What kind of mood are you trying to evoke?

(Obviously not a hopeful one). I was going for a despondent, weary, isolated mood, probably evident by my gloomy word choice throughout.

4. Identify any binary opposites.

Light vs darkness

Love vs love lost

Love vs abandonment

Hope vs hopelessness

Gothic poem created using The Goth-O-Matic Poetry Generator 

Blog Post #13: Fairy Tale Presentation

To view our annotations for Bluebeard by Charles Perrault and "Blackberry-Picking" by Seamus Heaney, please open the second document in a separate window.

Blog Post #12: Mythology Presentation

To view our annotations for "Siren Song," please open the document in a separate window.

Blog Post #11: Bible Story Presentation

To view our annotations for "Batter my heart, three-person'd God," please open the document in a separate window.

Blog Post #10: Literary Periods Presentation

To view our presentation in Google Slides with the intended font selections, click here.  To view our annotations for Bonny Barbara Allan, open the document in a separate window.

Blog Post #9: Literary Criticism Presentation

To view our presentation in Google Slides with the intended font selections, click here. 

Blog Post #8: Creative Project

Blog Post #7: Summer Reading Compare/Contrast Paper

Blog Post #6: The Open Question Essay & Reflection

Essay:

Throughout the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, Gogol Ganguli is an unwilling Indian. Despite being the child of two traditional Indian immigrants, Gogol wants nothing more to wrap himself in the conformity of American culture. Gogol is shaped by the American culture he venerates and the Indian culture he so resists; but in the end, his rejection of his Indian culture is what eventually pulls him back to it.

Gogol's parents, Ashoke and Ashima, perfectly embody the Indian values of perseverance, dedication, and the pursuit of knowledge. The two are immigrants, but their views of America are starkly different: Ashoke adores America and views it as a place for growth and learning, while Ashima thinks of America as a temporary bridge and longs to return to India. Throughout Gogol's childhood, he is primarily molded by his parents, the Indian culture. They imprint their values on him, begin shaping him to be a good Indian son. These values press into Gogol's subconscious and form the core of his "deeper" characteristics, his morals especially. Gogol is young and naive and unaware of the embarrassment he will self-inflict later because of his unique name. It is only when he grows that he becomes more perceptive of the strangeness of his name, the way it awkwardly rolls off the tongue of Americans. This is the first crack that will lead to a gaping chasm between Gogol and his parents: his embarrassment of the name they gave him. 

Gogol becomes a rebellious young teenager, choosing to immerse himself in wild, free-spirited American culture and turning his back on his Indian self. This distancing from his parents' culture reaches a peak when Gogol decides to change his name to Nikhil simply because it is more Americanized. The rebellions continue: Gogol decides to major in architecture rather than follow his father's engineering footsteps. He fools around and dates American girls. He does not even try to contact his parents after he matures into adulthood. Gogol essentially tries to rewrite his own story, starting with the seemingly insignificant act of changing his name. Those who knew him, the old him, will forever know him as Gogol; yet those who do not meet him until he goes to college will know him as the (supposedly new and improved) Nikhil. His immersion in American culture influences the development of his "surface" characteristics: The way he laughs. The way he talks. The way he dresses. He represses his Indian influences to the best of his ability, yet some are still evident, especially childhood residues. Gogol still carries a insecurity and belief that he isn't good enough for his white lovers that stems from the insecurity he felt from his former name. Gogol still throws himself into his work with vigor, reflecting the hardworking spirit of immigrant cultures. 

The death of Gogol's father is the turning point that returns lucidity to Gogol's clouded vision. Gogol, so enveloped in his Americanness prior, finally frees himself from this cocoon and goes over the chasm between his aching mother and he after Ashoke's sudden death. Many of the shallow traits Gogol picked up during his years under American influence are shed as he returns to Ashima and takes responsibility for his actions, his family. He realizes that he cannot repress his Indian self forever; it is a part of him. Gogol stops trying to change his story and brings his rebellion full circle. 

At the end of the novel, Gogol, while at his mother's going away party, wanders off to his old room. It is here where he stumbles upon a book his father had gifted him on his fourteenth birthday, The Short Stories of Nikolai Gogol. "To Gogol Ganguli: The man who gave you his name, from the man who gave you your name." Ashoke had written as the inscription. Filled with nostalgia, it is at the very end of the book where Gogol opens himself fully to the Indian culture he has ran from throughout his life by opening the book and beginning to read it.

Gogol is the product of the amalgamation of two very different cultures. His personality and quirks are the result of his exposure to American culture; his morals align with those of his immigrant parents.  Ironically, while Gogol despises the Indian part of him, it is this rejection that eventually gives him a deeper appreciation of it, culminating in the final action of Gogol beginning to read a book his father gave him so many years ago.

Reflection:

To be honest, I'm not exactly sure how to feel about my open question essay. I guess I'm a little bit confused as to what I wrote (never a good sign). Flowery, lush summary or semi-decent analysis? I suppose there are bits of both in my essay, so I would give it a 5, though I think it could fall between the 4-6 range.

Good things first, because now I'm starting to feel appalled by just how much summarized. Like with previous essays, I tried a different approach on my thesis, straying from the typical three-part format. This approach allowed me to set my essay up differently (chronologically rather in three stratified paragraphs). I made an effort at centering my essay on the rift between Gogol and his Indian culture, mended only by Ashoke’s tragic death.

Despite these positive qualities, I simply don't think my essay was substantial enough to merit a higher score. This might because I'm still not confident as to what the takeaway message from The Namesake is. I’ve reached my own conclusions about what I think it’s about – family, identity, finding yourself. Yet I have no clue if that’s correct. I feel like my thoughts in this essay were more scattered than my other ones as well. Perhaps this is simply due to the broadness of the question – I haven’t answered such wide prompts since my middle school competition days. It’s a bit disheartening to see that I’ve regressed in that aspect. I fell back on my panic-mode strategy of writing as much as possible and seeing if that would make my quality of writing better (obviously, that didn’t work). I struggled with not summarizing in my essay, since I worried that I wouldn’t provide enough of a context for the reader.

I hope to improve my future open question essays by reading all (quality) literary works more insightfully. I will actively search for symbols and motifs and literary devices that enhance and shape a story and annotate them directly into my books. If I adhere to this, hopefully it will reflect in future open question essays, because I will have a deeper understanding of whatever text I choose to write about.

Beyond just reading, I hope to be able to write a more focused essay by clearly outlining the main points of my essay and thinking of applicable quotes that will contribute to the clarity of my argument. I can easily measure my improvement in this by seeing if my future essays are more cohesive and if I can actually smoothly incorporate quotes.

Lastly, I will focus on writing a stronger analysis rather than making my essay as long and convoluted as possible. I really need to change my mindset and remind myself that quantity does not necessarily imply quality. I will measure my achievements with this goal by gauging if I can score higher on future essays with shorter, more concise arguments.

Hoping for a peer evaluation soon so I can see how my classmates grade my writing – I’m really not confident with grading my own work.

Blog Post #5: "Thou Blind Man's Mark" Poetry Essay & Reflection

Essay:

It is not uncommon for people to love something that could destroy them. Many people harbor dangerous vices. These vices are always double-edged swords, for they deceive people into feeling comfortable and euphoric, yet in reality, they corrupt. In the poem "Thou Blind Man's Mark," Sir Philip Sidney characterizes desire as the double-edged sword: it is something people seek, yet a vice that destroys those who seek it.

Sidney starts by comparing desire, an intangible feeling, to something tangible, such as a "blind man's mark" (1), "snare" (1), and "scum" (2). These objects, which convey feelings of fear, dislike, and banality, make desire seem more substantial, like any object that people might desire. He builds upon this metaphor by describing it starkly, claiming that desire has a price of a "mangled mind" (6). This image makes desire seem as something that twists and kills reason. Perhaps that is why many people desire desire - their sense of logic is diminished, and their wanting has driven then to sleep (7). Sidney reuses the imagery of death, seeded by the use of the word 'mangled,' by ending the poem with a confession that he "[desires] naught but how to kill desire" (14). Similarly, Sidney links the image of sleep to the bigger picture: the title of the poem. Those who are asleep cannot see, just like a blind man cannot see. Desire, he complains, makes us all blind. It forces the mind to prepare for "higher things" (8). Sleep and death are two symbols Sidney uses to describe desire's effects.

On a broader scale, his word choice throughout is purposefully chosen, powerful. Sidney describes his pursuit of desire as "vain," as his "ruin" (9), bringing forward archetypal images of downfall. He strengthens this subtle allusion by bringing up virtue as his savior. Virtue taught him his lesson. The biblical allusions here are strong and give the poem a nearly uncomfortable intensity that matches the intensity of Sidney's feelings. The equally strong image of killing serves to augment this emotion.

Beyond the imagery and feel of the poem, Sidney keeps a fast-paced rhythm to the poem by utilizing a alternating rhyme scheme and keeping the entire poem one compact stanza. The end of each phrase lead into the next, keeping the pace urgent and flowing to parallel the frustrations Sidney feels towards desire. Coupled with frequent alliteration at the beginning, the poem moves quickly and angrily. Within the brevity of the poem, Sidney incorporates repetition for significant words and inverts his phrases to make every statement he makes more heartfelt. Only two words are repeated back-to-back for emphasis: one is "desire" (5), the exact feeling Sidney is lamenting about; the other is "too long" (7), to indicate that desire has ensnared Sidney himself for a period of time.

The overall structure of the poem juxtaposes the two contradictory feelings Sidney has toward desire. Yes, the poem is sufficiently punctuated, using commas and semicolons rather than enjambment. Perhaps this is to make Sidney's thought process seem more logical and smooth to balance out the passion of his statements. Yet he only uses two periods. The poem consists only of two complete thoughts. Sidney presents his frustration and dislike of desire in the first eight lines, ending this outpouring by stating, "[A]sleep though hast me brought, / Who should my mind to higher things prepare" (7-8). He then very quickly transitions to a deceptively hopeful tone, using a quick "but" to switch the direction of the poem. In the very last line, Sidney declares his vengeance toward desire. He wants nothing more but to end it.

"Thou Blind Man's Mark" is a multi-faceted poem that elaborates on the irony of Sidney's feelings on every level. The overall structure of the poem builds on the comparison of the two feelings, and more intimately, to show the passion of Sidney's overall attitude. The complexity is completed by using overarching motifs such as death and blindness that span the entire poem.

Reflection:

My poetry essay is far from perfect, but I honestly think I did a much better job with it than my prose essays. Perhaps this is because poems are generally shorter than prose passages, yet I had about the same amount of time to analyze and repeatedly comb through the poem before I began reading. Perhaps this is because poetry reads more like music to me, and music is familiar, an old friend. (I was rereading my biography and realized that I wrote that I'm "always open to discussing the intricacies of compositions." I suppose this holds true for poetry too!) My thesis was complex enough and strayed from the typical "Author ____ shows ___ through ___, ___, and ___." I had a good understanding of the complexity of Sir Philip Sidney's own feelings towards desire. He is vitriolic at first. The name-calling shifts into a personal concession: he has been the victim of desire himself. The poem ends with the ironic statement that he desires nothing except to kill desire. I recognized all of these aspects of the poem and mentioned them in my essay. I analyzed the structure of the poem thoroughly, even though I didn’t drop any good poetic terms. My analysis of Sidney’s word choice and symbolism was lengthy and detailed as well, and I took the time to make sure I noted and elaborated on Sidney’s reasons for using particular symbols. However, despite my seemingly better grasp on writing poetry essays, I know there is still a lot of room for improvement. 

Obviously, I don't know poetic forms well. I never recognized that the poem was a sonnet, which in retrospect is quite embarrassing, since 1) look at the time period 2) and then at the poet himself (Sir Philip Sydney certainly wasn't a 20th century modernist) and 3) and then the fact that I basically listed structural characteristics of a sonnet but never went and said it. That's something I need to improve on if I want to demonstrate my technical competency. My first goal, then, will be to familiarize myself with poetic forms and technical terms over the next month. The glossary of the 5 Steps book has every type of form that could be encountered on the AP exam. As long as I memorize how each form is structured and can identify poems in this way soon, I will be available to show a deeper understanding of future poems in the technical parts of my analysis. I will work on this goal by memorizing the definitions of each poetic form through Quizlet and actively searching out examples of each form. Hopefully I will be able to read a poem and immediately think, “Oh, this is a ____!” soon.

Another part of my essay that bothered me upon rereading were my weak transitions. When I was writing, I had this grand idea what I would start by analyzing the poem on a small-scale (individual words and phrases and the importance of specific words and phrases) and back further away from the text until I was analyzing at a broad, overall, structural level, a gradually zooming-out of sorts. Naturally, I decided that using quick turnabout phrases such as “on a broader scale” and “beyond” would be sufficient, since the structure of analysis would glide my essay forward. In retrospect, my transitions are still a bit hurried and the way I wrote my essay contributed to the overall cohesiveness, but left some parts bumpy and awkward. My second goal will be to be more thoughtful with transitions so my future essays are more fluid. This is more difficult to concretely measure. I think I will have to rely on my own intuition that yes, this flows much more smoothly, as well as the critiques of my teachers and peers on future essays.

Lastly, I want to incorporate direct quotes from the selected text more efficiently. In my prose essays, I lacked in direct quotations, mostly because I didn’t want to copy a whole sentence from the passage and waste space. However, I quoted much more from the poem to support my analysis. I feel like some of my citations were unnecessary – I should probably start by clarifying if I need to cite after every word I take directly from the text or if I can simplify it by doing something like “___,” “___,” “___” (1-2). Every textual reference I make needs to be "apt and specific." I don’t think this can be accurately measured by setting a number of direct quotes to incorporate and sticking to that to the best of my ability. Like my second goal, this is also more subjective. I will have to measure my improvement with intuition and peer and teacher feedback as well. 

Blog Post #4: "The Known World" Prose Passage Essay & Reflection

Essay:

"The eating of [dirt] tied him to the only thing in his small world that meant almost as much as his own life," author Edward Jones writes of character Moses. Moses is a respectful, appreciative person: he feels a strong bond with the earth he has worked for so long. Yet his view of the world is so narrow. He knows only his master's land. Through incorporating selective details for specific imagery, writing with sharp, deliberate syntax and a subtle irony, and utilizing symbolism, Jones reveals Moses as a man who understands, loves, and seeks comfort through the land he works, but knows little beyond that world.

The excerpt begins with Moses lingering in the fields he has been working for the past fifteen hours. Jones writes of Moses crisply and simply, starting many sentences with a simple he: "He had been in the fields...He paused...He worked the dirt...He was the only man in the realm, slave or free, who ate dirt..." These simple sentences show very clearly that Moses is a slave who appreciates the earth, taking care to even taste the soil on the ground. Moses is also perceptive of what the soil's flavor indicates: he has learned through many years of tasting it that July dirt was sweet, with a "metallic life" that would not fade until harvest-time. Moses' reflection on the taste of dirt is longer, with a lingering, contemplative touch to his thoughts to slow the narration slightly. The detail of Moses' tendency to eat dirt gives this character another dimension that would have been lost had Jones only said that Moses was a hardworking slave who appreciated the fields. Jones elaborates on Moses' intimate knowledge of the land by saying that he could smell the coming of rain - and that this rain made him happy. The fact that Moses kneels down in a classic position of veneration just to be closer to the earth shows the extent of his relationship with the land. Jones's description of this is short and to the point as well to quickly convey just how much he appreciates the earth.

Despite his obvious bondage, Moses does not feel slighted or bitter about his situation. Jones writes that Moses' eating of dirt tied him to the land, but that the land he worked meant almost as much to him as his own life. The land Moses works is special to him, and the thought that he is a slave doesn't seem to bother him in the limited third person narration. It is ironic that the land is what keeps Moses enslaved, yet his love for it has essentially enslaved his heart. His adoration of nature is the focus of this excerpt, and Jones develops it further in the last paragraph, where he introduces water as a symbol. In the Bible, water is something that cleanses. This parallels Moses' literal and figurative cleansing as he undresses and lays in the patch of woods at the edge of his world and "[loses] himself completely" (88). In this part of the woods, which remains empty because it is has never yielded anything of value, Moses is closest to the land. It is interesting to note that when it rains and he has this opportunity, he goes to the woods rather than going home to his wife and his boy, subtly signaling that his relationship with this land runs deeper than his familial ones. The woods, an archetypal setting of chaos and darkness, is ironically a place where Moses turns to to find peace.

Jones crafts Moses as a slave who is naive, yet venerating and loving toward the earth, through his usage of symbolism, specific details and irony, and varied syntax.

Reflection:

(Updated on Wednesday, 8/27, to reflect today's class discussions.)

After reviewing the example essays provided in class today and determining which ones would have gotten higher scores, I've decided that my second essay much better than my first. I'll go for broke and say it's a higher level essay, between 5 and 7. I settled on a 6, since I believe my essay is above the "Sparknotes" essay but not A-/B+ level yet.

I did make a sincere effort to achieve some of the goals I elaborated on. I followed through with my plan to think through the structure of my essay (which I decided to write chronologically rather in clumps) before jumping into the actual writing. My essay presented a more complex analysis than the one I wrote in response to "The Flowers." I felt much more confident with the thesis I crafted and the way my writing flowed. Unfortunately, I was writing until the very end of the bell, and didn't have a chance to proofread like I would have hoped. Typing essays always seems to trick me into thinking I have more time than I really do, so I linger over my thoughts more than I should.

In an effort to keep myself from sinking into despair, I'll focus on the good qualities of my essay that led me to give it a 6 (rather than the poor parts that kept it from a 8-9 essay) in my brief justification as to why I deserve this score. My thesis definitely had some level of complexity. I wrote, "Through incorporating selective details for specific imagery, writing with sharp, deliberate syntax and a subtle irony, and utilizing symbolism, Jones reveals Moses as a man who understands, loves, and seeks comfort through the land he works, but knows little beyond that world." Yes, I could work on getting rid of the rudimentary three-groupings technique in my thesis, but I do think this was a reasonable analysis that definitely emphasized the relationship Moses had with the land.

My essay showcased a competent reading (or at least I hope it did.) I provided lines and actions from the text to support my claims, and I analyzed the significance of those actions. There were times where I did have to briefly paraphrase sections to to get to my point more clearly, but I haven't figured out how to get around that yet. I continued to highlight the intimacy of Moses's relationship with the earth, something we discussed in class.

I discussed the paradox of Moses's relationship (though I described it as ironic rather than paradoxical? Not sure if that was the right word), showing that I did analyze the text with some level of complexity. I noted the symbolism in the rain and the woods and briefly elaborated on each.

Overall, the ideas in my essay were presented clearly. I tried to be as unequivocal as possible in my writing (re: habitual flowery writer here) and I hope it came across that way. I think I have a (decent) command of writing technique, but I definitely need to work on applying this to my future analytical essays. I hope to really fine-tune my critical analysis skills and my time management so my essay scores will improve.

Blog Post #3: "The Flowers" Timed Essay & Reflection

Essay:

"It seemed...that the days had never been as beautiful as these." The story starts as innocent and unassuming - a little girl skipping about on a lazy summer day. However, Alice Walker quickly unfolds the story layer by layer to very clearly foreshadow the ending for the reader. The gradual acceleration of her narrative pace through shorter and shorter sentences gives a sense of urgency leading to Myop's discovery of the hanged man, and the darker words used to describe nature changes the mood from a lighthearted and innocent one to something more sinister.

Walker's prose is meandering at first, with long, complex sentences filled with beautiful imagery to prolong the story's beginning. She colors her sentences with a frivolous background on Myop as well - "She was ten, and nothing existed for her but her song...and the tat-de-ta-ta-ta of accompaniment." This sentence is slightly foreboding with the use of the words "nothing existed for her but" to convey Myop's innocence. The syntax becomes more varied after that sentence, with short, simple ones thrown in for emphasis."The air was damp, the silence close on deep," Walker writes just before Myop literally stumbles upon the hanged man - stepping "smack into his eyes." These words are sharp and crisp and grab the attention of the reader. The description of the dead man is just as crisp and to the point; perhaps conveying Myop's acute sense of observation. The short story ends with Myop's long thought process and sudden realization that this man had, in fact, been hanged. And with that, her innocence was gone, "and the summer was over."

Walker more explicitly hints at her ending by completely changing the tone with her word choice. She begins with bright and positively connotated words to describe Myop's innocent summer frolicking. Gradually, darker words are inserted to make the setting less comfortable. "The tiny white bubbles disrupt the thin black scale of soil." Walker also uses words such as "strange" and "gloomy" to make the atmosphere seem more dangerous, unwelcoming. She expertly weaves description of death and decay with the lush beauty of nature. Once Myop discovers the dead man, she tries to make sense of what has happens, and once she realizes that the man was hanged, she lays down her flowers. This action represents her loss of innocence, as a ten year old girl unlucky enough to find a dead man.

With well-controlled narration and a wide range of word choice, author Alice Walker creates a eerily realistic scene of a young girl losing her sense of naivete in a deadly world.

Reflection:

Something I've learned throughout the years is that adequacy at creative writing does not equate adequacy with analytical writing. Of course, this doesn’t hold true for all analytical writing (there have been times where I’ve scored 100%s on my papers), but I’m pretty sure my prose passage essay would not merit a 9. Not even close.

                I guess there were some things I did well. I laughed when I began reading the high ranking sample student essay because I used the same quote to start my own. Like the writer of the good student essay, I did grasp that this was a “loss of innocence” short story, and I mentioned diction and imagery as tools Walker used to hint at the ending.

                However, I failed to thoroughly explore contrasts and present unique insights into the underlying theme. My essay was straightforward, methodical, and predictable. The sad thing is, while annotating the essay, I wrote “archetypal downfall?” and “racial prejudice?” in the margins (showing that I did notice these more complex ideas in the text), but did not incorporate (or even mention!) either in my final essay. Also, in general, I found that my essay made some factual statements, but failed to analyze further. For example, I wrote, “She begins with bright and positively connotated words to describe Myop's innocent summer frolicking. Gradually, darker words are inserted to make the setting less comfortable. ‘The tiny white bubbles disrupt the thin black scale of soil.’” Then I abruptly moved on. My writing was choppy, at times too verbose, and weakly pieced together. I will definitely have to make significant changes to improve the quality of later essays.

                Here’s my game plan. First, I aim to allot time before I write to map out my essay and after I write to proofread and edit. I’ll admit – I was a bit confused in class when Ms. Wilson just let us loose. I thought we were only annotating, so I kind of fidgeted in my seat for a few minutes before realizing that we were actually supposed to write the essay too. In a moment of panic, I just put pencil to paper and let the (flowery) words flow. My rushing probably led to my talking in circles. In the future, I will follow5 Steps’ advice and spend 10 or fewer minutes to plan my essay. Also, to limit repeating myself, I will leave 2-3 minutes at the end of 40 minutes to review my writing. I hope to cut all extraneous words and make my essay more concise. I will work on this by very strictly timing myself while writing, either with my watch or the classroom clock.

                Second, I hope to focus more on the deeper meaning and subtler themes of passages (and actually mention them in my essay.) This will require more active reading during the first and second read-throughs of the passage, and a sharp mind to catch all of the hints an author may give. This may be difficult to concretely measure improvement on, but hopefully the increased quality in future essays that do mention complexities will be obvious.

                Lastly, I will make a conscious effort to do more than just state facts. Basically, I will make my essay more analytical and argumentative, so it is AP Literature (and not seventh grade Language Arts) quality. Like my second goal, this might be hard to accurately measure improvement on, but I will rely on my intuition and the critiques of my peers on future essays.

                I will implement all of these strategies starting on the next prose passage essay I write. Hopefully I’ll become a fabulous essayist by the end of first semester.

Blog Post #2: Reflections

                After taking the pretest, the only words of encouragement I have for myself are “It can only get better from here!” (At least, I seriously hope it does, because otherwise I’m going to be a very bad AP Literature student.)

A little on my performance before I list my weaknesses and plans to improve: I finished 38 questions in class and did surprisingly well on the questions regarding the first poem, The Writer, somehow not missing any. The fiction passages were a different story – I stumbled dazedly over the Bleak House and Jane Eyre questions. At home, I finished the test and missed three questions regarding The Pulley, with an overall score of 37/51. I’m not sure if this merits a pat on the back for getting a nice shiny C. In general, I’m surprised that I did much better than I expected on poetry and much worse than I expected on prose; if anything, I expected the opposite to happen.

                After reviewing the questions I missed, I’ve realized that I’m currently terrible at picking out extended metaphors and inference questions in prose texts. Almost all of the questions I missed involved “in the context of the passage…” or “all of the following can be inferred except…”  save for some questions I missed because I clearly just wasn’t thinking. I figure improving at my analytical and inferential skills in prose fiction will require one thing: practice. My three goals manifested themselves as more detailed forms of practice (since, after all, practice is a pretty vague term.)

                First, I will aim to widen my literary exposure by reading widely. The prospect of reading regularly on top of assignments sounds extremely ambitious to my own ears (First semester senior year courseload plus college apps is a deadly combination, or so I hear), but I think a reasonable goal is actively reading 1-2 prose and/or drama pieces every week. Carol Jago’s Literature and Composition textbook has a plethora of excerpts to choose from, so I will likely pick the pieces with the most interesting titles. The textbook also has handy reading questions I can skim and (hopefully) answer. I can also reread my classic favorites (Pride and Prejudice and The Beautiful and Damned) with a more scholarly mindset to draw more from the text. I adore reading – so the reading itself won’t be painful – just the inevitable sleep deprivation that may result from avoiding other homework assignments. I will measure improvements through future AP exams we take in the classroom. Hopefully I will also be able to feel myself becoming more comfortable with thinking analytically and drawing my own conclusions as I integrate the extra reading into my weekly routine.

                More than just reading and answering general questions, I hope to write my own AP-style multiple choice questions to excerpts from the prose I choose to read. This is a suggestion I stole from 5 Steps to a 5, and I think it will be very effective, since writing your own questions forces you to see from not just the eyes of the test taker but also the test maker. I hope to do this once a week throughout the entire year leading up to the AP exam, and maybe even find a fellow Lit comrade who plans on doing the same thing so we can swap questions every week.

                Even though I’m making prose analysis my primary focus, I can’t totally throw poetry to the side, because it would be pretty depressing if I did worse on later tests than this initial baseline. I already receive the Poetry Foundation’s Poem of the Day, so I figure, why not do more than just read that poem? In turn, I hope to challenge myself by reading each (applicable, quality) Poem of the Day, analyzing tone, structure, imagery, and possible extended metaphors. A necessary prerequisite of this will include becoming more familiar with different poetic structures (ex. figuring out what an iambic trimeter is), so I will get on that by this weekend as well. I will measure my understanding of poetry by self-monitoring the ease of my analysis and my performance on poetry-based multiple choice questions in class over the course of the first semester.

                Let’s see if my plans actually work. My grades are on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friends. 

Blog Post #1: On My Aesthetic Choices

I'm a bubbly person. That much will become very evident if you get to know me even in the slightest. I'm always laughing and smiling and talking and poking fun of myself. I try to stay happy, because I'm a firm believer that how you feel is one of the only things you can control. That said, I tried to convey simplicity and brightness in my blog (though I am far from a simple girl, I think I am a very bright girl. As in happy. I suppose you can be the judge regarding my intelligence.) I like blogs to be  easy on the eyes, so I chose a simple gray and white patterned background. I personally love the scalloped pattern: it's simple enough not to detract from the actual contents of my blog yet interesting enough to be noticeable. As for color, I decided to stick with ones that were less in-your-face (eg the light grays and blues), save for the pop of orange in my title. The gray background is meant to convey practicality and neutrality, while the orange, although a more subdued shade of it, adds a little energy and sparkle (Art Therapy).

"A Dependable Ally" is what I decided to name my blog, and it is written neatly in all-lowercase Sue Ellen Francisco across the top. I've always loved handwriting fonts for blog titles (see this blog I used for AP US G&P last year). I was debating between the Sue Ellen and a more scripty font, like Homemade Apple, but ultimately decided on the former because it conveys a feeling of innocence and sweetness. It complements the upbeat yet relaxed atmosphere I hope to make for my blog as well: the reminiscent-of-third-grade Sue Ellen is more appropriate for that purpose than a lush and hurried cursive. I chose Cambria, a neat serif font designed for "on-screen reading...excellent legibility, and readability," for my page text (Typedia). The letters, to me, have personality - though crisp, there are perfectly placed accents (the curve at the bottom of the y, and the detail of the g) that make them more appealing to the reader. I've always loved Cambria, and I think it is a  professional font that will allow the reader to focus on the content of my writing rather than the complexity of my font choice.

Of course, the blog wouldn't be complete with this lovely quote I stumbled upon a few months ago. After I found it (on Goodreads, of all places), I did some Googling on James Michener and discovered that he was a fabulous author who passed away only 14 days before I was born. Many of his novels are now on my admittedly long to-read list, and I hope to read them all eventually. I chose this quote to remind me that, no matter how difficult or frustrating an AP essay might be, I love writing and I always have. In moments of writer's block (which I hope will rarely happen), I will always try to channel that part of me who remains lost in a world of fantasy, the girl who was (and is) determined to become an acclaimed writer.

Works Cited

"Color Psychology: The Psychological Effects of Colors." Art Therapy. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Aug. 2014. <http://www.arttherapyblog.com/online/color-psychology-psychologica-effects-of-colors/#.U_IJ98tOXIU>.

"Cambria." Typedia, n.d. Web. 16 Aug. 2014. <http://typedia.com/explore/typeface/cambria/>.