In Class Essay

Here it is, I decided not to polish it because I want to see how well I did within the twenty minutes or so I had.

POETRY ESSAY PROMPT #2

POETRY ESSAY PROMPT #1

PRE-WRITE:

Body Paragraph #1: Tone
-Poe is more loving.
-H.D. is furious with Helen for being too perfect and ruining society
-Poe loses himself in her beauty
-H.D. uses words such as hate and reviles

Body Paragraph #2: Imagery
-Poe describes her complexion to that of a flower
-H.D. gives her still eyes
-Poe is says she is a statue in a beautiful way
-H.D. gives her white "blank" descriptions towards her beauty as if soul-less.

Body Paragraph #3: Diction
-Poe's word choice is loving and flows in a charming way
-H.D.'s word choice is hateful and angered

     Beauty is interpreted through the poems To Helen by Edgar Allen Poe and Helen by H.D. as enchanting, hated, captivating, and destructive. Edgar Allen Poe's perception of Helen is that she is the most beautiful of women and he is enticed by her beauty while H.D.'s views are different in the sense that  he sees Helen's beauty as destructive. Throughout the poem's both authors utilize tone, imagery, and diction in order to display their views of her beauty and how it affects them.

     Through Poe's version of Helen's story, she is displayed as an idol beauty to Poe by his tone. In Poe's poem he uses syntax in order to develop his tone by using descriptive words like that of a flower. Overall Poe's tone is romantic and loving. On the other hand, H.D's tone is malicious due to the fact that he despises Helen. Throughout H.D.'s interpretation of Helen's story, he utilizes syntax with descriptive words such as wan and unmoved which establishes the author's tone of being so hateful.

     Being compared to the beauty of a flower and perfumed seas obviously states that Poe is infatuated with the woman he is writing about in his poem. Through his use of imagery he creates an understanding of his love for her beauty by observing it in contrast to hyacinths. H.D. utilizes imagery in order to show his hate for her and that stating her beauty is ruining what Greece once was by comparing her to this gloomy statue that is hated by all of Greece. 

     As one reads Poe's understanding of Helen, their is an obvious flow in his writing that portrays his, almost, obsession for Helen. All through Poe's explanation of Helen's story, his diction is rather charmed and has a certain light flow to it that is consistent. In H.D.'s grasp of who Helen is, his word choice of hate and wan show how his diction tends to be more angered.

     Helen's beauty has been evaluated both by Edgar Allen Poe and H.D. and has been interpreted into their poems in very contrasting ways. Poe is more loving while H.D. seems to despise Helen, even though both have their own understandings, they establish their points through their use of tone, imagery, and diction. They may disagree on how her beauty affects them, but they are both captivated by her either in an obsessive or hateful way. 

GROUPTHINK

Will and I discussed the main topics of the poem and how we would interpret them in an essay format. We had similar ideas and said how Howl was about society and people changing into something else, Cat was a quirky poem, and Hope was something to feel lively about and interesting. We both decided that there should be a basic foundation for writing the essays and that if we understood that we really should NOT emphasize merely summarizing the plot.

GRIDLOCK Hope by Emily Dickinson

Meaning	The meaning of this poem is that hope can be found anywhere, and even though it is something delicate, it can keep many people warm and full of life.
Antecedent Scenario	Dickinson was a religious poet and this particular poem had a reference to her struggle with religion.
Structural Parts	Through the author's use of symbolism she has a light take on the happiness of hope rather than the why-bother-to-hope attitude. She is able to create an insightful poem through a very few words. The bird is the most symbolic because something so delicate has such huge meaning for everyone such as peace.
Climax	The climax is in the second stanza.
Other Parts	The first stanza shows describes what hope is through the use of metaphors. In the second stanza the author shows the effect of hope. Finally, the last stanza shows creativity due to the proposed question of hope.

Skeleton	The first stanza is light an happy, the second stanza becomes more serious, and the third stanza is interesting because it proposes the topic of hope never asking for anything in return.
Content Genre- games	The hopeful poem. I understand this is a bit literal, but the author clearly explains what hope is through metaphors such as comparing hope to birds. Therefore the author is following the rules.
Tone	Happy, insightful, curious
Agency	The bird is the main subject.
Roads Not Taken	I think this poem is fine the way it is and I could not see it taking on another form because its classic and doesn't really need to be changed in order to make it applicable to a different era of people.
Speech Acts	There is a lingering question in the back of the mind at the end of the poem when the author discusses hope of being selfless by not asking for anything in return even though being hope is a very demanding job.
Outer and Inner Structural Forms	The outer structure form is ABCB and has alterations in iambic pentameter. The inner structural form is based off of her feeling with God and has strength through her personal struggle.
Imagination	I think the author believed that hope was like bird and she received her imagination from God.

GRIDLOCK Howl by Allen Ginsberg (vendler model)

Meaning	In the poem there is a lot of references to personal experiences, and throughout the poem you realize little pieces of his life and the meanings that it takes on for Ginsberg.
Antecedent Scenario	This poem wasn't written for any particular reason, but it was just an artistic way of Ginsberg portraying his life through poetry.
Structural Parts	In almost every phrase in Howl, there is a personal reference to Ginsberg's life saying what he went through. Through his constant referencing you have an inside look to his personal life and the struggles he had through being gay and as an artist that made him struggle. "...ah, Carl, while you are not safe I am not safe, and now you're really in the total animal soup of time..."
Climax	There's no real climax in Howl because its this ongoing list of how people have been destroyed by society.
Other Parts	I feel as if when reading this that the momentum continues to build and build whilst bagging on society.

Skeleton	The curve of emotion is probably love because this poem was written about Ginsberg's life and he dedicated it to his first "true" love.
Content Genre- games	The destroyed poem. Meaning that how society has influenced people to become something they aren't. I think Ginsberg is completely original and therefore could not have changed any rules because he created them, thus being perfect.
Tone	Depressed, emotional, and insightful.
Agency	Allen Ginsberg, himself.
Roads Not Taken	I think that if this was re-written in the 90's it would become some sort of edgy poem about how society doesn't understand the teenage world of Nirvana lovers and that it could have taken on a new meaning there.
Speech Acts	There is a constant repetition of the word who that starts of phrases and I can connect this to the fact that Ginsberg is blaming someone indeed and referencing them indirectly so that the reader can also take on a personal meaning for someone they know who has shared the same fate.
Outer and Inner Structural Forms	The poem's outer form is structured through constant repetition, while the inner form is based off of personal feeling that has been felt by the author and has referenced personal memories that he is putting in an artistic way.
Imagination	The rhythm/pace of the poem kept me reading more because there was just this list of problems wrong and right in Ginsberg's life that made it interesting.

Seventh Reading

Step 1: Group- Will Boerger and Myself
Step 2: Hope by Emily Dickenson
           Cat by J.R.R. Tolkien
           Howl by Allen Ginsberg

Multiple Choice Answers

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Literature Circle Prose Essay Questions: Fahrenheit 451

A little late, but here they are...


1. Through Ray Bradbury's use of indirect characterization of society, how is the theme of censorship created throughout the course of the novel?

2. Characterize briefly the world and the way of life described in the novel, discuss the effect of the theme as a whole, and analyze those elements that achieve this effect.

3. Analyze Bradbury's use of symbolism throughout the course of the novel and how it predetermined ideas and themes throughout the story.