English 2600 Introduction to Literature
Formal Poetry Paper
Why Poetry is Read and Written
Poetry. Say the word, and most people conjure up an image of a loner, a person sitting alone in a room, a romantic who is hopelessly in love with either their own internal selves or another person. People have been writing poetry for centuries now. It has changed over the years as well. From Shakespeare's musings to Robert Frost's outdoorsy descriptions, from beatniks to Bob Dylan to Eminem's raps, poetry has been part of the human experience.
So why is poetry read and written? Gillie Bolton, who wrote about poetry as a form of therapy, had an excellent explanation for both questions:
The writing of poetry profoundly alters the writer because the process faces one with oneself. Poetry is an exploration of the deepest and most intimate experiences, thoughts, feelings, ideas.....made music to the ear by lyricism (Bolton, 118).
Of course, Sylvia Plath had a much simpler, shorter explanation for poetry: “The blood jet is poetry.” (Bolton, 118).
Poetry can also be psychologically helpful for people. Three researchers from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, actually tackled the psychological aspect of poetry writing, and concluded that poetry can make people more creative. In fact, poetry can be credited with developing these talents: “....enhancing writing skills, promoting learning, and fostering analytic and creative thinking and problem solving” . They propose that, “Writing a poem poses a challenging cognitive task” (Murdoch, et.al, 215).
I remember my first few experiences with poetry. I was probably about ten years old when I spotted a book at the local Wal-Mart store: it was a collection of Robert Frost poems, and it was titled, You Come, Too. I read that book over and over. Frost's poem, The Road Not Taken inspired me to blaze my own path in life, and not do what everyone else did. A favorite poem of his was Fire and Ice, as it had wonderful imagery and rhyme:
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire,
I hold with those who favor fire...(Charters, 963)
The typical, common expectation of most poetry readers is that a poem has to rhyme. That is not always the case. For example, Japanese poets that write Haikus keep their poems very short, almost like a snapshot of an object, and don't bother to rhyme anything. For the readers and poets that do enjoy rhyme, though, ( like I do, I read The Highwayman over and over when I was a child) it becomes an essential part of the poem. Another layer of enjoyment for the reader is when a poet uses onomatopoeia, as in Alfred Noyes' poem The Highwayman:
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding-
Riding-riding-
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door (Poetry Foundation)
Poetry doesn't always make a reader enjoy what is written, though. Some poems can cause pain and mental anguish, such as when poems have sad, angry, or violent themes. Sylvia Plath's Daddy poem evokes such a response. Even though Plath didn't actually have a Nazi for a father, they still had a strained relationship. My favorite line of the entire poem is the last: “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through” (Charters, pg 1000).
There have also been many poets who have suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts, such as Plath and Edgar Allan Poe. Through their poetry, these and other afflicted poets were able to let
some of their pain out, whether as a cry for help or to self -medicate themselves.Even today, as
evidenced by the Clemson studies, (even though people now have more access to mental health care than ever before) ,they are still turning to poetry.
Poetry seems to affect people more than other forms of literary work because poetry is typically more powerful. Poems are shorter and more to the point than other literary forms. Whereas an author has to provide background, settings, and detailed characters, a poem has less of a need to do that. A poem can tell a brief story, prove a point, or highlight a condition that is part of the human collective experience.
Poets themselves are also constantly changing in response to the times. They come in all shapes, sizes, sexes, colors, and cultures. There are online poetry groups, college poetry clubs, public poetry readings, almost whatever type a person can think of, it is probably out there. Whether speaking a poem orally or writing it down for future generations to enjoy, poets provide a unique voice for people everywhere.
Works Cited
Bolton, Gillie. " Every Poem Breaks a Silence That Had to Be Overcome': The Therapeutic Power of Poetry Writing." Contemporary Women Poets No. 62. (1999): 118-133. Jstor. Web. 7 Mar 2012.
Charters, Ann, and Samuel Charters. Daddy by Sylvia Plath. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin's, 2010. 998. Print.
Charters, Ann, and Samuel Charters. Fire and Ice by Robert Frost. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin's, 2010. 963. Print.
Murdoch, Janice W., , et al. "Poetry: It's Not Just For English Class Anymore."." Teaching Of Psychology 32.4. (2005): 215-221. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Mar 2012.
Noyes, Alfred. "Poem: The Highwayman." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, 2011. Web. 7 Mar 2012. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171940>.
Poetry. Say the word, and most people conjure up an image of a loner, a person sitting alone in a room, a romantic who is hopelessly in love with either their own internal selves or another person. People have been writing poetry for centuries now. It has changed over the years as well. From Shakespeare's musings to Robert Frost's outdoorsy descriptions, from beatniks to Bob Dylan to Eminem's raps, poetry has been part of the human experience.
So why is poetry read and written? Gillie Bolton, who wrote about poetry as a form of therapy, had an excellent explanation for both questions:
The writing of poetry profoundly alters the writer because the process faces one with oneself. Poetry is an exploration of the deepest and most intimate experiences, thoughts, feelings, ideas.....made music to the ear by lyricism (Bolton, 118).
Of course, Sylvia Plath had a much simpler, shorter explanation for poetry: “The blood jet is poetry.” (Bolton, 118).
Poetry can also be psychologically helpful for people. Three researchers from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, actually tackled the psychological aspect of poetry writing, and concluded that poetry can make people more creative. In fact, poetry can be credited with developing these talents: “....enhancing writing skills, promoting learning, and fostering analytic and creative thinking and problem solving” . They propose that, “Writing a poem poses a challenging cognitive task” (Murdoch, et.al, 215).
I remember my first few experiences with poetry. I was probably about ten years old when I spotted a book at the local Wal-Mart store: it was a collection of Robert Frost poems, and it was titled, You Come, Too. I read that book over and over. Frost's poem, The Road Not Taken inspired me to blaze my own path in life, and not do what everyone else did. A favorite poem of his was Fire and Ice, as it had wonderful imagery and rhyme:
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire,
I hold with those who favor fire...(Charters, 963)
The typical, common expectation of most poetry readers is that a poem has to rhyme. That is not always the case. For example, Japanese poets that write Haikus keep their poems very short, almost like a snapshot of an object, and don't bother to rhyme anything. For the readers and poets that do enjoy rhyme, though, ( like I do, I read The Highwayman over and over when I was a child) it becomes an essential part of the poem. Another layer of enjoyment for the reader is when a poet uses onomatopoeia, as in Alfred Noyes' poem The Highwayman:
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding-
Riding-riding-
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door (Poetry Foundation)
Poetry doesn't always make a reader enjoy what is written, though. Some poems can cause pain and mental anguish, such as when poems have sad, angry, or violent themes. Sylvia Plath's Daddy poem evokes such a response. Even though Plath didn't actually have a Nazi for a father, they still had a strained relationship. My favorite line of the entire poem is the last: “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through” (Charters, pg 1000).
There have also been many poets who have suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts, such as Plath and Edgar Allan Poe. Through their poetry, these and other afflicted poets were able to let
some of their pain out, whether as a cry for help or to self -medicate themselves.Even today, as
evidenced by the Clemson studies, (even though people now have more access to mental health care than ever before) ,they are still turning to poetry.
Poetry seems to affect people more than other forms of literary work because poetry is typically more powerful. Poems are shorter and more to the point than other literary forms. Whereas an author has to provide background, settings, and detailed characters, a poem has less of a need to do that. A poem can tell a brief story, prove a point, or highlight a condition that is part of the human collective experience.
Poets themselves are also constantly changing in response to the times. They come in all shapes, sizes, sexes, colors, and cultures. There are online poetry groups, college poetry clubs, public poetry readings, almost whatever type a person can think of, it is probably out there. Whether speaking a poem orally or writing it down for future generations to enjoy, poets provide a unique voice for people everywhere.
Works Cited
Bolton, Gillie. " Every Poem Breaks a Silence That Had to Be Overcome': The Therapeutic Power of Poetry Writing." Contemporary Women Poets No. 62. (1999): 118-133. Jstor. Web. 7 Mar 2012.
Charters, Ann, and Samuel Charters. Daddy by Sylvia Plath. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin's, 2010. 998. Print.
Charters, Ann, and Samuel Charters. Fire and Ice by Robert Frost. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin's, 2010. 963. Print.
Murdoch, Janice W., , et al. "Poetry: It's Not Just For English Class Anymore."." Teaching Of Psychology 32.4. (2005): 215-221. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Mar 2012.
Noyes, Alfred. "Poem: The Highwayman." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, 2011. Web. 7 Mar 2012. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171940>.
Formal Fiction Paper
Formal Fiction Paper
Appearances can be deceiving. Such is the warning in three of the stories we read this semester:
A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Connor, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?, by Joyce Carol Oates, and Some Are Born to Sweet Delight by Nadine Gordimer. In all three stories, there is a man who, by all outward appearances, is normal. But as the reader goes along, it is realized, (quickest in A Good Man, farther along in the other two stories), that the men are not what they seem, that they, in fact, harbor dark secrets.
Another message that seems to be an overall theme is to be wary of strangers. All three stories have a virtual stranger that the protagonist meets and interacts with, only to discover that they are in harm's way. By ignoring their own internal warning signals that something is off, the heroes plunge ahead anyway, only to meet Death at the end.
In A Good Man, a self righteous grandma meets her death by speaking to the Misfit, a man who feels that his God has turned his back on him, so the only way the Misfit can cope is by being violent with others:
….it's nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best you can by killing
somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meaness to him. No pleasure but meaness (Charters, 458).
While it is never elaborated on what, exactly, that the Misfit did to make his God turn his back on him, other than that he was in prison for a crime he may or may not have committed, O'Connor is very clear that this man has evil intentions. By confronting a grandma, who is usually seen as nice and friendly, it makes the reader wonder who is truly evil in this tale: a Misfit who feels he is cast out by God, or a grandma who thinks she is holier-than thou and can save the Misfit?
In Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?, evil arrives in a cool car to take a vain teenage girl to her Death. Here again is a flawed character who believes herself to be above all others and is blind to what lies before her. Here is another Misfit of sorts, this one named Arnold Friend, a kid that always seems to be hanging around on the periphery of high school life. He doesn't quite fit in with anyone either.
Unbeknownst to the protagonist, Arnold is much older than he looks. While everyone assumes he is just a high-school drop-out, Arnold, in reality, is much older than he has made himself up to look, and is probably in his 30's, at least. Everything about him is fake, except the danger that resides within him. Rather than confronting an old grandma, here we see a confrontation between an evil man and a somewhat innocent teen. Connie is at a significantly greater disadvantage than the grandma, as she has many, many less years of experience, and has yet to fully realize all of the evil that is in the world.
This is similar to Some Are Born to Sweet Delight, in that, in the Delight story, we see yet another inexperienced girl crushing on an older man. Both girls find themselves charmed and excited by the possibilities of being with an older man. In Where Are You...Connie is particularly vulnerable, as when she is confronted with Arnold, she is totally alone:
She put her hand against the screen. She watched herself push the door slowly open as if she were safe back somewhere in the other doorway, watching this body and this head of long hair moving out into the sunlight where Arnold Friend waited....so much land that Connie had never seen before and did not recognize except to know that she was going to it (Charters, 418).
In Some Are Born to Sweet Delight, it is not known of the antagonist's intentions until the final paragraph of the final page:
Over the sea, the airliner blew up in midair. Everyone on board died... A member of the group, a young man known as Rad among many other aliases, had placed in the baggage of the daughter....and who was pregnant by him, an explosive device (Charters, 212).
Gordimer only drops one little hint, that of Rad ignoring Vera when he is hanging out with his friends. But, this is not enough to make the reader overly suspicious of him. Even though Vera does not have a direct confrontation with Rad, it is still a confrontation. In this case, she is confronting her own death in the form of a fiery explosion in midair. Here again, is the warning to avoid strangers.
While not all three tales have physical confrontations, there are mental and emotional confrontations. Every character had to face something evil, every character was tested, and all were found to be lacking in one way or another, with the penalty being death. Oates and O'Connor used religion as the underlying current of the work, while Gordimer used cultural bigotry as the theme for hers. All three writers appear to have their own feminist ways when trying to tell their stories, as well.
They are using feminist views, because in every story, we find that the woman is the victim, while the male is the aggressor, although with the grandma in A Good Man, she can be either the victim or aggressor, but she ultimately becomes a victim as well. These are not strong, independent women in these tales. These are women who, through manipulation and self-delusion, fall prey to the whims of the men who are pursuing them. The women are portrayed in all three stories to have deep flaws in their characters that lead them to death. Now whether this is by predestination or fate, it is not made very clear, however, what is clear is that making the wrong choice can not only cost you mentally and emotionally, it can also cost you physically, with having to give up your life literally.
In the end, all of the authors leave it up to their audience to make up their own minds. The warnings are there, set in type for anyone to read. It all boils down to whether the reader will heed the advice given, or not. But, the reader should be aware that failure to take the authors' advice to heart could result in meeting their own Arnold, Rad, or Misfit.
Works Cited
Charters, Ann, and Samuel Charters, comp. Literature and Its Writers. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010. pp.214, 418, 458. Print.
-Gordimer, Natalie. Some Are Born to Sweet Delight.
-Oates, Joyce Carol. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?.
-O'Connor, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find.
Reflection on Course
This was a fun class to take. Much of the literature I had read before, so it was good to revisit some stories. It was yet another opportunity to further work on my writing skills, as I had to do two formal papers and roughly 14 journal entries. As I become more proficient with the college requirement of MLA-formatted papers, I find it becoming easier and easier to write in that style. Most class work was done in class via a discussion format, which I found to be very useful as the instructor asked detailed, revealing questions that were meant to provoke more critical thinking and engage me in a more diverse way. The text I was required to read, Literature and Its Writers, by Ann and Samuel Charters, was so thorough and entertaining, I plan on keeping it as a handy reference guide for future use.
Appearances can be deceiving. Such is the warning in three of the stories we read this semester:
A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Connor, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?, by Joyce Carol Oates, and Some Are Born to Sweet Delight by Nadine Gordimer. In all three stories, there is a man who, by all outward appearances, is normal. But as the reader goes along, it is realized, (quickest in A Good Man, farther along in the other two stories), that the men are not what they seem, that they, in fact, harbor dark secrets.
Another message that seems to be an overall theme is to be wary of strangers. All three stories have a virtual stranger that the protagonist meets and interacts with, only to discover that they are in harm's way. By ignoring their own internal warning signals that something is off, the heroes plunge ahead anyway, only to meet Death at the end.
In A Good Man, a self righteous grandma meets her death by speaking to the Misfit, a man who feels that his God has turned his back on him, so the only way the Misfit can cope is by being violent with others:
….it's nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best you can by killing
somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meaness to him. No pleasure but meaness (Charters, 458).
While it is never elaborated on what, exactly, that the Misfit did to make his God turn his back on him, other than that he was in prison for a crime he may or may not have committed, O'Connor is very clear that this man has evil intentions. By confronting a grandma, who is usually seen as nice and friendly, it makes the reader wonder who is truly evil in this tale: a Misfit who feels he is cast out by God, or a grandma who thinks she is holier-than thou and can save the Misfit?
In Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?, evil arrives in a cool car to take a vain teenage girl to her Death. Here again is a flawed character who believes herself to be above all others and is blind to what lies before her. Here is another Misfit of sorts, this one named Arnold Friend, a kid that always seems to be hanging around on the periphery of high school life. He doesn't quite fit in with anyone either.
Unbeknownst to the protagonist, Arnold is much older than he looks. While everyone assumes he is just a high-school drop-out, Arnold, in reality, is much older than he has made himself up to look, and is probably in his 30's, at least. Everything about him is fake, except the danger that resides within him. Rather than confronting an old grandma, here we see a confrontation between an evil man and a somewhat innocent teen. Connie is at a significantly greater disadvantage than the grandma, as she has many, many less years of experience, and has yet to fully realize all of the evil that is in the world.
This is similar to Some Are Born to Sweet Delight, in that, in the Delight story, we see yet another inexperienced girl crushing on an older man. Both girls find themselves charmed and excited by the possibilities of being with an older man. In Where Are You...Connie is particularly vulnerable, as when she is confronted with Arnold, she is totally alone:
She put her hand against the screen. She watched herself push the door slowly open as if she were safe back somewhere in the other doorway, watching this body and this head of long hair moving out into the sunlight where Arnold Friend waited....so much land that Connie had never seen before and did not recognize except to know that she was going to it (Charters, 418).
In Some Are Born to Sweet Delight, it is not known of the antagonist's intentions until the final paragraph of the final page:
Over the sea, the airliner blew up in midair. Everyone on board died... A member of the group, a young man known as Rad among many other aliases, had placed in the baggage of the daughter....and who was pregnant by him, an explosive device (Charters, 212).
Gordimer only drops one little hint, that of Rad ignoring Vera when he is hanging out with his friends. But, this is not enough to make the reader overly suspicious of him. Even though Vera does not have a direct confrontation with Rad, it is still a confrontation. In this case, she is confronting her own death in the form of a fiery explosion in midair. Here again, is the warning to avoid strangers.
While not all three tales have physical confrontations, there are mental and emotional confrontations. Every character had to face something evil, every character was tested, and all were found to be lacking in one way or another, with the penalty being death. Oates and O'Connor used religion as the underlying current of the work, while Gordimer used cultural bigotry as the theme for hers. All three writers appear to have their own feminist ways when trying to tell their stories, as well.
They are using feminist views, because in every story, we find that the woman is the victim, while the male is the aggressor, although with the grandma in A Good Man, she can be either the victim or aggressor, but she ultimately becomes a victim as well. These are not strong, independent women in these tales. These are women who, through manipulation and self-delusion, fall prey to the whims of the men who are pursuing them. The women are portrayed in all three stories to have deep flaws in their characters that lead them to death. Now whether this is by predestination or fate, it is not made very clear, however, what is clear is that making the wrong choice can not only cost you mentally and emotionally, it can also cost you physically, with having to give up your life literally.
In the end, all of the authors leave it up to their audience to make up their own minds. The warnings are there, set in type for anyone to read. It all boils down to whether the reader will heed the advice given, or not. But, the reader should be aware that failure to take the authors' advice to heart could result in meeting their own Arnold, Rad, or Misfit.
Works Cited
Charters, Ann, and Samuel Charters, comp. Literature and Its Writers. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010. pp.214, 418, 458. Print.
-Gordimer, Natalie. Some Are Born to Sweet Delight.
-Oates, Joyce Carol. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?.
-O'Connor, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find.
Reflection on Course
This was a fun class to take. Much of the literature I had read before, so it was good to revisit some stories. It was yet another opportunity to further work on my writing skills, as I had to do two formal papers and roughly 14 journal entries. As I become more proficient with the college requirement of MLA-formatted papers, I find it becoming easier and easier to write in that style. Most class work was done in class via a discussion format, which I found to be very useful as the instructor asked detailed, revealing questions that were meant to provoke more critical thinking and engage me in a more diverse way. The text I was required to read, Literature and Its Writers, by Ann and Samuel Charters, was so thorough and entertaining, I plan on keeping it as a handy reference guide for future use.