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Part 1: Reflection

Aside from the obvious winged connection, why is “Icarus” infested with bird imagery?

The poem "Icarus" by Don Mackay is infested with bird imagery, we especially see the bird imagery in lines 21-26 "hover for maybe fifty hummingbird heartbeats and then lose it, tumbling into freefall, shedding feathers like a lover shedding clothes. He may glide in the long arc of a Tundra swan or pull up sharp to Kingfisher into the sea which bears his name," The poem its self is about the greek myth of Icarus and Daedaius, in which these two escape using homemade wings, to fly away. The poet Don Mackay, upon doing some research is an avid bird watcher and it seems alot of his works contain bird imagery. Bird Imagery in this poem are not only a metaphor for the form of escape Icarus and Daedaius planned on in the myth, but a personal touch from Don Mackay.

Part 2: Looking ahead

Look up the term dystopia in Wikipedia. Please explain how you would define a dystopian work of literature. What might we learn from studying a dystopian novel? Have you seen any of the movies referred to in the article? Can you add any alternate suggestions of dystopian books or movies?

My undertanding of the term Dystopia refers to a story in which the complete opposite of an ideal world is the scene, in a dystopian society theres usually poverty, dirty and disgusting living condition for the characters, or oppression. Most authors of dystopian fiction explore at least one reason why things are that way. I think we might learn successful and unsuccessful ways of governing a society by studying these types of literature. The list on wikapedia is pretty thoughrough, I have seen a few, read a few, and i dont have any other suggestions.

Part 1:

In my opinion "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock," written by T.S. Eliot, recieved its title because, it is a poem which is written about the feelings of the character in the title. It also contains the characteristics of most love songs. For example repetition, rhyme, and rhythm. The poem is also about women and the narrators search for love. Hence the "Love Song" part. I think the title is ironic, because he speaks of woman and finding love. In line 12 he suggests making a visit, perhaps an afternoon tea at which various women drop in and engage in polite chitchat about Michelangelo, who was a creative, interesting and intellegent man, unlike Prufrock. But, having already socialized with these woman before and not yet having found love, convinces himself that there will be more time. The phrase "There will be time," repeated five times between lines 23 and 36, represents his unwillingness, and ultimatly his fear of getting shot down by these woman for lack of better words on my part. The irony is that throughout the entire poem he talks, and dreams even practices talking to a woman, but he never takes that chance to go out and talk to someone and therefore find the love that he so desparatly is seeking, and that is because he just gave up and wont make any effort to take the chance because of his own insecurities. The narrator describes himself in his poem as a shy, boring, middle aged man, who cant get the courage to speak to women, because he is too afraid of making a fool of himself. The setting is described as a dingy section of a smoky city, it also sounds like its evenning time as he is talking to someone while they are walking through it. The women in this poem are described as being interested in creative men with intelligent things to say, women who will look down upon the narrator if he tries to strike up a conversation with him as his self esteem has left him thinking they will never accept him. He speaks of women in the highest regard, but then has no faith that they will give him any attention if he tries to talk to them. He also says that "he already knows them all" and knows they will reject him. Why bother if you know whats going to happen already, is the attitude I get from him towards conversing with the women.

Part 2:

Demeter and Persephone, are godesses in greek myth. Demeter is Persephone's Mother and also Zuess's sister. In this particular myth, Hades, the god of the underworld, discovers Persephone and falls in love with her. Hades kidnaps Persephone, and later strikes up a deal with his nephew allowing Persphone to return to earth in the spring for 6 months of the year, to tend to the crops, so the people of earth wouldnt die of starvation, for if that happened Zuess would no longer have anyone to worship him. Then she would return to him in the underworld to be his queen for the other 6 months of the year, thus creating the seasons. In Greek Mythology, Gods represent aspects of the natural world, in this one, Demeter and Persephone represent the spring and summer seasons. Other universal themes of Greek mythology represented in this story include suffering, by separating mother and child, both Persephone, and Demeter suffer over thier separation each fall until the next spring, which is also another theme, life cycles. Temptation is also apparent in the part of the story where Persephone eats the 6 pomegranite seeds after a week of starvation due to the belief that if you ate something in the underworld you would have to stay there forever. Loss and Love can also be seen as universal themes throught greek mythology and certainly in this story.

Part 1

In the poem "Digging" by Seamus Heaney, the extended metaphor in the poem is infact digging. As the poet thinks about his father actually digging in his garden and his grandfather before him. This metaphor symbolizes how the writers work as a writer, can be symbolized as digging with his pen and his father and grandfathers work in their garden literally digging with their spades can be compared. "Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests. I'll dig with it. (lines 29-31) The poet digs with his pen , through his writings to explore and discover his memories of his father to dig deeper into the meannings of this work.

Part 2

Sylvia plath's father died when she was 10, it was discovered that he had diabetes and not the cancer he had diagnosed himself as having. She was depressessed had a troubled marriage and ended up committing suicide. In her poem "Daddy" there is a passage that talks about her dads death, and that he died before she had time to kill him. This leads me to wonder what would have happened between them in their following years. The entire poem symbolizes her feelings towards her father and then turns to her husband around line 67. When she writes the words "I do I do." I believe that this autobiographical writing by sylvia plath on her memories of her feelings towards her father, which overlap the feelings of the memories she has towards her husband while what she writes iisnt always acrurate the symbolisms and meannings behind what she writes are meaningful in truth to her minds workings. Sylvia Plath could have written her autobiography in a different way perhaps, but she is truley a poet and expresses herself best through poetic symbolism and meanning. I do not believe that Sylvia Plath and Jeanette Winterson who wrote, "There is no autobiography; there is only art and lies." would agree with eachother on that one. Sylvia Plath I think was writing in all honesty when she wrote he poem "Daddy"

Part 1. Reflection

Both Creon and Antigone share traits of a tragic hero, in this tragedy. Creon's tragic flaw is overconfidence and headstrong stubbornness. He is also hungry for power. Creon believes that Polyneices should not be allowed a proper burial since he fought his own brother for the throne and caused a battle. Anitgone is the sister of Polyneices. She is sentenced to death because she gave her brother a proper burial anyways. She believes in what is morally right and what always has been, Creon's ruling is totally unreasonable and everything that happened could have been prevented if Creon learned to put aside his pride and listen to reason. If he did so, Creon would have found that Antigone didn't deserve a death sentence for burying her own brother. Creon was blinded by his pride. Arrogance has brought Creon nothing but pain and suffering by damageing his whole family. He was truly a tragic hero with a tragic end all due to his pride. Antigone also a tragic hero, dies behind a belief she holds to her heart. I feel horror pity and and sympathy, for poor Antigone, as she did nothing to deserve death on a moral level, it harder to feel those things for creaon. Pity I do very much pity him for his flaws and his stubborness which ends up making him lose a lot of people in his family and life. This play could have been called Creon, altho it would have had a more, intence feeling of negative power rather then the sad tragedy it intended us to feel.

Part 2. looking ahead

An extended Metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem.

Timothy Findley uses the extended metaphor Dieppe in his short story “Stones” over and over again to describe illness and evil. Dieppe is a town, not an illlness or evil, a human quality. Ben's father returned from World War II a broken man although Ben did not understand why. Ben questions his brother Cy about the change in his father's personality "That's happened to Dad..." and his brother answers "Dieppe." (Findley 74) Dieppe is a town, not a cause for illness but the word is used to describe a disease. Later Dieppe is compared to a person "I have seen its face in photographs..." (Findley 77) this brings up images of evil only this time of an evil person or people. And finally, Ben says "... the beaches at Dieppe can throw you off balance ..." (Findley 81) again giving Dieppe a living, evilness associated with a person doing actions on another.

Part 1 Reflection

The most helpful and useful things that I have learned in this class have been the tips on essay writing from the other students in the class when we were preparing for the midterm. I have enjoyed learning about binaries and imagery, and really enjoyed the story we read to write about in the midterm. I'm not sure if I interpreted what we were supposed to write about right, I didnt feel terribly confident with what I came up with, even tho I enjoyed really diving into that story. I really don't know what I want to learn about. Although I do want to be-able to understand more complicated fiction better, plays, poetry and great works. English classes have always been pretty difficult for me, I would love for them not to be. I am worried about the final, but i'd like to see how i did on the midterm, then i'll know better about how it will go, and if i should invest in worrying too much.

Part 2 Looking Ahead

Hamartia is a concept used by Aristotle to describe tragedy. Hamartia leads to the fall of a noble man caused by some excess or mistake in behavior, not because of a willful violation of the gods' laws. An example of hamartia in Antigone, rests on Creon. It occurs when he orders his men to properly bury Polynices before releasing Antigone which can be identified as the mistake or error that led to her death. Creon’s own ignorance causes the hamartia that results in Antigone’s death.

Hubris means extreme haughtiness, pride or arrogance. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power. This occurs in Antigone when Creon refuses to bury Polynices.

A Catharsis is an emotional release. According to psychoanalytic theory, this emotional release is linked to a need to release unconscious conflicts. For example, experiencing stress over a work-related situation may cause feelings of frustration and tension. Rather than vent these feelings inappropriately, the individual may instead release these feelings in another way, such as through physical activity or another stress relieving activity. The catharsis in Antigone is when Creon sticks the sword up butt, in order to help purge the inner demons that the gods have place their to torture him.

Peripeteia is a reversal of circumstances, or turning point. The term is primarily used with reference to works of literature. In Antegon, in Creon's case, the peripeteia is when he decides to change his decrees against Polyneices and Antigone, all though its too late.

Anagnorisis is a moment in a play or other work when a character makes a critical discovery. Anagnorisis originally meant recognition in its Greek context, not only of a person but also of what that person stood for. It was the hero's sudden awareness of a real situation, the realisation of things as they stood, and finally, the hero's insight into a relationship with an often antagonistic character in Aristotelian tragedy. Antigone makes the realization that she is sentenced to death precisely because she does what she is supposed to: obey divine law and respect the gods. Shortly thereafter, her uncle Creon makes the realization that he is the cause of the pestilence and three suicides in Thebes.

The internment of the Japanese during World War II is part of the historical context of the short story "Obasan." I believe that this is significant to understanding the point of view of the narrator or the family dynamics in the story. There are several documents in a shoe box brought to our attention by the narrator, one from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which "authorizes Uncle as the holder of a numbered registration card to leave a registered area by truck for Vernon where he is required to report to the local Registrar of Enemy Aliens..." (Kogawa 6)and then another letter written in response "from the Department of the Secretary of State. Office of the Custodian. Japanese Evacuation Section" (Kogawa 7) Earlier on in the story a passage struck me, "But many things happen. There is the voice of the RCMP officer saying I'll keep that one, and laughing as he cuts through the water" (Kagawa 4) The documents mentioned above, the fact that there was a shoe box full of them, and the passage in which the RCMP officer, takes the boat, laughing as he takes it away, all particiapate in the way this family has experienced and what they have brought away from their experiences during the internment of the Japanese during world war II. Obasan wants to preserve everything, just as it was. The cousin wants to forget, burn it all down. I believe in studying a bit more about world war II and then reading this story again, i might see a lot deeper into the imagery, and the significance of it as it pertains to the war. I believe that there is something more there about all the reminders of the war being placed in the attic, out of sight out of mind perhaps?

A few useful tips for writing an essay is to first make a Plan. A plan can help to gather your thoughts, and make sure you do not forget to mention key arguments. It's an oppertunity to brainstorm what you know about the topic. Write a list in point form of all the ideas you want to include. Include a really good introduction, you should offer a short, concise summary of the main points of your argument. Make sure you dont go into too much detail, and then repeat your arguments in the rest of the essay. Start early and budget your time. Starting early will also help you deal with unforeseen problems like difficulty obtaining the required research materials or coming down with the flu just before the paper is due. Starting early helps not only to get through the work, but also to let the ideas really sink into your brain. As its been a really long time since taking any English classes at the college level, I would really like to review and lean more about the format an essay should be in, and how it should be presented, all the little technical stuff.

David Copperfield's character Ham Peggoty, the sea adventure story, "Moby Dick," and Thomas Hardy's character of Eustacia Vye, are all used inter-textually in the short story "The Boat." These references are used by the narrator in the story, in describing events leading up to his fathers death. As the narrator describes his mother "in later years, she reminded me of the women of Thomas Hardy, particularly Eustacia Vye in a physical way." This description of his mother is the first suggestion to me that he has been reading books from his fathers room, and has an interest in literature and things beyond the boat and the sea. He and his father later discuss David Copperfield, another author of great literature, and they spoke about the Peggoty family and their love of the sea. The Peggoty family truly loves the sea, we learn later in the story the "Boat" that this love of the sea may not actually have been shared by the family of the narrator, but only by his mother and her sense of belonging and love the sea. She also rejects and losses her daughters who choose to marry and move away from the sea. The Narrator describes his uncle as a character out of moby dick "like a latter day Tashteggo," and that his father reminded him of the same. At the end of the story the father dies, he drowns, I believe selflessly as he sacrifices his own life much in the way Ham Peggoty did in David Copperfields story, for the life of another. He wanted to set his son free to live the life he wanted for himself, a life of education, writing and literature, a dream for himself, a reality he could give to his son, only by ending his life so that he could still fulfill the promise of staying by his side in the boat til the day he died.

I am choosing to explore the literary term Metafiction. From my understanding, of researching this term it refers to a works in which a story is being told within a story. "A Little Princess" is a book/movie that comes to mind, I watched the movie recently with my seven year old. The story is about a little girl who has been living in India with her military father, quite lavishly too. She is sent to a boarding school in England while her father's a way and ends up becoming one of the servant girls, when it is believed her fathers been killed over seas and there's no money left to her. Sarah, the little princess, makes up beautiful stories from back in India to at first ease her pain in missing her father. She tells them to the other girls in the school, and later they turn into a wonderfully almost real game of pretend, using her imagination to pretend her life is wonderful, the way it once was with her new servant friend Becky. In this particular story, the author paints wonderful vibrant colors and pictures, to further the imagination of the reader/watcher. Other Authors will use it for the same reasons, we get to know the characters telling the stories within the stories on a much deeper level as well.

Alice Munro's narrator, describes her bedroom as being dark, and a place for discarded things, she imagined escaped prisoners hiding up there and had invented rules to keep her and her little brother safe. The mother works in the kitchen, inside and dark, hot and stuffy. Her father works outside, where it is light out, or in his workshop illuminated by a 100 watt light bulb. The narrator enjoys places with open space, and illuminated, she enjoys freedom, she hated to be inside, dark and closed in. Maybe the way she feels about being a girl. I can tell she feels this way by her actions, her descriptions her thoughts, and her dreams. The binaries i picked out in the descriptions of these three places, are the dark and light comparisons of the work spaces. I also thought about the bedroom being a space for discarded things, and how the children share that space with it as their bedroom and how as a parent you are taught that a child's bedroom should be their space to feel comfortable warm and safe, and this is not at all how this bedroom feels to the narrator. However later in the story as she becomes older she is able to "make" her bedroom just that on her own. I'm sure there are more binaries, in the descriptions of these three places, this proved to be a very difficult task for me.

Eustacia Vye is described as a raven-haired young beauty who longs to escape her current life in order to lead the more adventure-filled life of the world. Some people think she is a witch. She ultimately ends her one life by drowning herself, thereby proving she was not a witch as a witch would have floated. In Moby Dick the narrator is an observant young man setting out from Manhattan on a whaling ship. The captain reveals that they are set out to kill Moby Dick, a very large very old sperm whale that crippled him on his last whaling voyage. The story is filled with meetings with other ships in attempt to hunt him down. The story ends with Moby Dick killing all but one. Revealing that it was not Moby that wanted to kill the people just that the people wanted to kill him for revenge suggesting the old theory, good concurs evil. Ham Peggotty is the good natured nephew of Mr. Peggotty and the fiancé of Emily before she leaves him for Steerforth. He later drowns while attempting to rescue Steerforth from a shipwreck, showing his good nature.

Does Larkin's poem "This Be The Verse" fit some criteria for "great" Literature? Well, aside from the obvious reason why it does, being that its an assigned reading for a college class, this also isnt the first time I've seen or heard this poem. Other reasons why I believe this poem fits the criteria for being great literature, is in its use of language. It uses strong words, and it uses gentle words. These words are intended to draw strong emotions from the reader, for me, it had me thinking in depth about both sides of the fence when it comes to parenting. In one sense it had me totally sympathizing with what he was trying to portray, and agreeing that yes my parents did mess up, but then I felt much the opposite, and literally wanted sit him down in front of me and tell him "no, your wrong, we certainly must have kids ourselves, we must do everything we can not to "Fuck" them up and learn from the mistakes our parents made with us and theirs before them." It also had me wondering about Philip Larkin himself, the character behind those words, and think about who was that person who felt so strongly about how his parents, and so then universaly those of the readers and then later the reader themselves would inevitably, mess up the most important job of ones life. That of raising, nuturing and teaching another human being.

James Joyce's "Evaline" furthers our thoughts on the relationships we have with our parents, both personally and universaly. It has the reader thinking about Evaline, who she was, her attributes and characteristics. It has the reader thinking more deeply into their own relationships with their parents, and those they have now or will have in the future with their own children. Evaline, discusses how she does not want to be treated by a man in the way her father treated her mother, or herself for that matter. She talks about a far off land full of visions of a better life with a kind man. She's almost free of the past and the man who treats her terribly for the man she hopes will rescue her from a life of unhappiness, yet she doesnt go. There is nothing physical stopping her from going, but it seems there is a deep connection she has to home, the familiar, her father, and her promise to her mother. Which brings us back to Philip Larkin's "This be the Verse." The theme of parent child relationships, the inevitable fact that each will have its turn to screw up the next generation. The next generation turning to whats familiar, and seeking comfort in that.

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