Due by 2pm on March 3:
Read the following pieces and answer the discussion questions. Some people have been doing too much work, so I've given a guideline for how much I expect you to write to answer each question below. If you're confused, send me an email.
Nathaniel Hawthorne “Young Goodman Brown” SAW p.528 (Kristina)
How is this story still relevant to readers in 2011? (1-2 sentences) Re-write a paragraph of your choice in casual, 21st century American English. (1 paragraph)
Anne Sexton CAP p.431-437 (Kaitlyn)
Choose one poem from the selection and describe that poem in terms of the poetic devices she uses. (2-3 sentences)
Sylvia Plath CAP p. 405-409 (Nathan)
Choose one of the poems that struck an emotional chord for you. Google/Research the poem and see what kind of reception the poem received upon publication. Are you surprised? Disappointed? (1-2 sentences)
Cal Garbe
ReplyDeleteSylvia Plath – Stillborn
- This poem was very powerful. When I researched it I was surprised that many people found it with the deeper meaning that Plath was describing her own works as a poet. I suppose the images were so powerful I could not look past that.
Anne Sexton – The Room of My Life
- This poem uses metaphor as well as personification to describe all the random objects throughout her room. It also has great imagery when describing the certain things. It helps bring everything to life.
Nathanial Hawthorne
- This story is still relevant as it is a story of self-exploration and struggling with faith. Those themes will always be universal as many people still commonly struggle with the trials and tribulations of faith.
- He didn’t know whether Faith obeyed or not. He hardly spoke during a calm night while listening to a roar of the wind which died heavily away through the forest. He staggered against a chill and damp rock; while a twig that had been on fire sprinkled his face with cold dew.
-->"Young Goodman Brown" is still relevant on several levels. First, it’s about finding faith (or being amidst its lack thereof), and religion/faith is always a hot topic. Ironically, it’s also about losing faith in the people around you which is still relevant because I hear the words “losing faith in humanity” more often than I’d like. The story even mentions that we are all evil by nature, which is not an era-specific theme.
ReplyDeleteRe-Written Example:
The sound of the pitter-pattering horse hooves continued, accompanied by strange voices. Nobody usually came this deep into the forest, not for Christianly business anyway. So where, then, are these righteous men heading at this time of night so deep into the dark forest? Young Goodman Brown got an ill feeling in his stomach and leaned on a tree for support so as not to fall over. Doubt about the heaven above started to fill him as he looked skyward. Above, shining through an opening, were twinkling stars.
-->”The Abortion” by Anne Sexton is visually pleasing to me because it is separated with a theme of three: three lines in each stanza and three stanzas between the repeating line (“Somebody who should have been born / is gone”). The rhyming scheme is a/b/a, c/d/c, e/f/e, etc. I’m kind of a sucker for rhyming, so I enjoy the way she write this poem – it catches my attention because of its neatness and order.
-->“Cut” was apparently written after her marriage dissolved and could potentially be a metaphor for more than just the description of a cut finger. However, it is dedicated to her nanny at the time, so perhaps it was just out of inspiration from an ordinary occurrence. I couldn’t really find many reactions post-publication which surprised me because of the references made in it (KKK, etc).
Nathaniel Hawthorne
ReplyDeleteThis story is still relevant because it addresses human nature and religion. This story discusses the true nature of humans and the true faith of religious people.
Anne Sexton
With Mercy For The Greedy
I enjoyed this poem because it had a more literal feel to it than her other poems despite its deeper meaning. I also liked how she compared writing poetry to confessing sins to a priest.
Sylvia Plath
Cut
This poem struck a chord with me mainly because of the visual nature of her language. After reading some interpretations of the poem i was somewhat disappointed because i had a different perception of the meaning of the poem.
Ashley Dean
ReplyDeleteHawthorne
This story is still relevant to readers today I think because of the message the Devil sends through Goodman Brown's dream, as well as the message Hawthorne sends. The message Hawthorne sends, I think, is that it is up to us how we react to the idea that sin is human nature.
"There you are, my children," the figure said gravely, as if he mourned for us in the state he put us in. "You believed that man could be good. But you now know the truth. Evil is human nature, and you cannot escape it."
Sexton
"The Abortion" is interesting in the fact that she uses the phrase "Somebody who should have been born is gone." Using the phrase three times depicts, to me, how each set of stanzas should be treated (beginning, turning point, end).
Plath
"Stillborn", as a part of The Colossus and Other Poems", received positive reviews from those in England, but was not as well received in America, probably because of the fact that she wrote a lot of imitation exercises. I'm a bit disappointed that not as much attention was brought to "Stillborn", which I think is one of her best poems.
Nathaniel Hawthorne “Young Goodman Brown” SAW p.528 (Kristina)
ReplyDeleteHow is this story still relevant to readers in 2011? (1-2 sentences) Re-write a paragraph of your choice in casual, 21st century American English. (1 paragraph)
This story is still relevant to readers today because evil is still in the world. Human nature tends to go towards evil and sometimes our faith can be shaken or even broken.
They were the only ones hesitating to go towards the evil that was in front of them. The rock was naturally hollowed out to make a basin. Was there water in it? Was it reddened by the light? Or is it blood? Or a flame resting on liquid? The evil man dipped his hand and prepared to make the mark of baptism on their foreheads. Hoping they might partake in the sinning that was going on in thought and actions. Goodman Brown looked at his wife, who was pale. Those sinful people took the next glance at them and saw what they be held.
Anne Sexton CAP p.431-437 (Kaitlyn)
Choose one poem from the selection and describe that poem in terms of the poetic devices she uses. (2-3 sentences)
I chose the abortion. She uses similes to describe things like the blue mountains (crayoned cat). She also uses repition. She repeats the line “Somebody who should have been born is gone.”
Sylvia Plath CAP p. 405-409 (Nathan)
Choose one of the poems that struck an emotional chord for you. Google/Research the poem and see what kind of reception the poem received upon publication. Are you surprised? Disappointed? (1-2 sentences)
I chose the poem Stillborn. It sounds so sad when you read it. When I looked it up it said that she was describing her poems as dead, stillborn. Its sad when you think of your poems as stillborn.
Nathaniel Hawthorne “Young Goodman Brown” SAW p.528 (Kristina)
ReplyDeleteThis story is still relevant to readers because it suggests religion, human nature specifically.
And this story offers us about correct human nature and correct religious human being, I think.
Anne Sexton
Her kind
It is intesting for me because she uses the phrase "I have been her kind". She use this phrase three times, so I can feel her thought. I liked her style using the word of kind.
Plath
Cut
this poem make me feel good bacause of her wonderful language. I dissapointed this poem because i cannot sympasize the meaning of the poem.
SOSUKE NAKANO
Nathaniel Hawthorne- Young Goodman Brown
ReplyDeleteThis story is still relevant because it deals with faith and sin, which is still a large part of everyday life. The tendency for humans to have a sinful nature is always a relevant topic.
- Within the pocket of silence he treaded forward until the light beamed on him. At one open area enclosed by the darkness of the forest, protruded a rock, bearing a keen natural resemblance either to an altar or a pulpit, and surrounded by four enlivened pines, their tops ablaze, looking like magnificent candles.
Anne Sexton
-the abortion
I liked the use of language in this poem. It had a nice rhyme scheme and was visually pleasing. I am not sure exactly what it means, but i like it.
Sylvia Plath- CUT
This poem struck and emotional chord with me because of the many suprising things it mentions. The Indian's axed you r scalp. the stain on your Gauze Ku Klux Klan. This poem is simply about cutting her thumb. I thought it would have a deeper meaning.
Sylvia Plath - “Daddy”
ReplyDeletePlath’s comparison to her issues stemming from her lack of fatherly love to the persecution of the Jews during World War II offended some who thought it to be a bit pretentious and over the top. I can see that, but I think that she only offered it as a universal allusion to her own thoughts of persecution by her German-born, stubborn father.
Anna Sexton – “Her Kind”
It has end rhymes! So ‘serious’ poets do use them! Each stanza has an a/b/a/b/c/b/c scheme, a repetition that does not give it the annoying greeting card sing-song but a kind of smoothness when read. She also uses enjambment, a clever way I think to produce end-rhymes.
Nathaniel Hawthorne – “Young Goodman Brown”
This story remains me of “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones, and given that I think it still has meaning, if not more, in this era. The theme is timeless; the hidden evil in ‘good’ deeds, the individualized ideal of holiness in unholy acts, and how man’s duality makes all this possible.
“I was there when your grandfather served the interests of his family and county by dropping the bomb on that Rising Sun. There when your father stuck that needle up the squaw to ensure civilization for his children to come. Such patriotic family-men! We have had many strolls through these darken woods, and now I would like to walk with you.”