Emily Dickinson

In my mind, Emily Dickinson’s poetry is definitely simply deceptive. If I were to write poetry that was eight lines long, there is no way it would ever be taught in an American Literature classroom years later. Emily Dickinson, however, was able to write poetry that allows each student in our class to speak for five minutes on one poem alone. There needs to be a lot packed in to each poem for that to be a possibility. Each poem has different interpretations and meanings with each line.

                Even though there are multiple meanings and interpretations, each poem is relatively easy to read. There are not many words that will trip you up. When Dickinson is assigned for a class, you can feel the entire class exhale with relief. The poems are easy and fun. If someone wants to read them simply for enjoyment, I think that it is possible. You can read Emily Dickinson without diving in to the depths of every single meaning. That is why she is simply deceptive. Her simple style and short poems and easy rhyme schemes could lead her readers to believe that her poetry is not all that deep. However, when you dive into her poems, you see how deep they really are. Dickinson includes allusions from mythology and geography. She also likes to throw in a capitol letter in places they should not be. I don’t know what her reasoning is for this, but multiple teachers and professors have been unable to answer me when I ask about it, so I would have to say she is being deceptive. I don’t think it really matters if you think Emily Dickinson is simply deceptive or deceptively simple. Either way you decide to read her poems is a way to enjoy her poetry and learn from it.

Whitman's Got Wit, Man

One of my favorite strophes from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is number fourteen. It reminded me a bit of “To a Waterfowl,” by William Cullen Bryant. I like the appeals to nature that Whitman makes in this strophe. The image of wild geese flying through a cool night struck me as refreshing, almost relaxed, which was then contrasted by the “sharp-hoof’d moose of the north” in the next stanza. I can imagine geese squawking when Whitman uses the onomatopoeia: “Ya-honk.” Whitman uses multiple comparisons in this strophe, his first coming just after the onomatopoeia: “and sounds it down to me like an invitation.”

Whitman also uses repetition of noises in this strophe. He uses alliteration like “find its purpose and place up there” and “as they tug at her teats,” as well as ending repetition in his line “What is commonest, cheapest, nearest, easiest, is Me.”

What I like most about this strophe, again, is the appeals to nature. I love how Whitman chose to listen closely to the gander to “find its purpose and place up there toward the wintry sky.” I like how chose a wide range of animals to represent the nature that he loves. From a huge moose to a tiny chickadee, Whitman observes nature and puts it into his work.

Another strophe I like is number seventeen. One reason (but not the main reason) I like this strophe is that it is pretty short. There are not many words in terms of length, but there are also not very many different words used. Whitman employs anaphora in this strophe, repeating phrases in the beginning of lines. He doesn’t just use one phrase to repeat, but he chooses three phrases and uses them at different points in the strophe. These repetitions show a sequence in the strophe and make the words more powerful.

Frederick Douglass and His Slave-Holders

It is quite obvious that most slaves are not treated well by their slaveholders. “I have seen him tie up a lame young woman, and whip her with a heavy cowskin upon her naked shoulders, causing the warm red blood to drip.” There are many accounts of these beatings in Douglass’s narrative. He also tells of rape, murder, and other horrible incidences in his experience as a slave. He recalls one of his masters, Master Andrew, “a man who, but a few days before, to give me a sample of his bloody disposition, took my little brother by the throat, threw him on the ground, and with the heel of his boot stamped upon his head till the blood gushed from his nose and ears.” Douglass does an interesting job of showing the range of slaveholders that he has by comparing them with Christianity. He shows how the slaveholders try to justify their actions by hiding behind Christianity. As a slaveholder is whipping a young woman, he quotes scripture by saying, “He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.” Douglass shows one slaveholder that named Mr. Covey. Mr. Covey is a prime example of a slaveholder’s faith being affected by slaveholding. It seems like Covey is a very devout man, and he puts up the cover that he is extremely religious. His actions, however, do not agree with the evangelic perception that he has of himself. He even was “said to have been guilty of compelling his woman slave to commit the sin of adultery.”

It seems like Douglass sees slaveholding as something that corrupts humans. When Douglass is moved to a new mistress, he says that she was “a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings.” She had never had slaves before, so she had never been corrupted by it. Douglass tells how a woman with good, Christian morals can turn into a completely different woman under the influence of slaveholding. “That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.”

            Douglass had had a good connection with the woman early in their relationship. She helped him learn to read and taught him the A, B, C’s. She even helped him learn to spell small words. It wasn’t until later in their relationship, after she got some experience as a slaveholder, that she became a mean-spirited woman. Douglass compares the different slave-owners he had by showing how their Christian morals lined up. He shows the range of how they start: sometimes as nice and sometimes as mean, and the similarities on how they end up.

Lindeman

This trip, unlike Thoreau’s trip to Walden, did not even cost me 28 dollars. All I had to do was walk a few yards outside my door. Perhaps this is the reason I couldn’t quite enjoy the experience like Thoreau did. I like the idea of the pond, but it is far from solitude. I could hear the cars on the road and see the parking lot and campus. It didn’t even smell like “fresh air.” As someone who grew up on a farm and has spent hours hunting and wandering in the woods, Lindeman Pond just feels like a shell of nature. It is hard for me to see it as the real thing. Even so, I tried to make the best of the opportunity. I enjoyed certain aspects of my walk around the pond. Any time I am able to get out of the confines of a dorm room or buildings on campus it is a good time. The air is fresher outside at least. I stood on my head, which was actually a really neat experience. I can see why Thoreau and Emerson wrote about it. Something so familiar, when seen from a totally different angle, is something entirely new.

It is hard for me to try and understand Thoreau’s technique. As someone who is balancing all of my classes, sports, friends, and family, it is difficult to understand just writing about my experience of living and walking in the woods. I can see how Thoreau found his solitary, simple life refreshing. I wish I would have read Thoreau back when I was a kid wandering around and exploring the woods behind my house. I think I appreciated it more back then, when I wasn’t worried about doing homework or other things.

I mentioned earlier that it was hard for me to see Lindeman Pond as a real piece of nature when I’ve spent so much time out in what I see as the real woods. Just because I feel this way doesn’t mean I think everyone feels that way. Lindeman Pond is more of a pond than my roommate, who is from Las Vegas, has ever seen. Thoreau would probably think that what I see as real is nothing. Everything is relative. I definitely think that taking a walk in any form of nature is refreshing, and can see why Thoreau wanted to live there.

Emerson Inspirational Quote Pictures

For this first inspirational poster, I was obviously going for a parody. A frozen Jack Nicholson isn't the most inspirational thing in the world. In fact, I wasn't even really thinking about inspiration with this one. I read the passage and my mind immediately went to this picture. However, I do think the quote has value, even if it isn't necessarily for inspiration. The idea that man is on the brink of our goals is illustrated by this morbid analogy. I suppose some inspiration could come from that idea. Instead of metaphorically freezing to death by giving up on goals, the idea is to push through and get home. It would be a poster not for the faint of heart.

I was going for a more traditional inspirational poster with this picture and quote. The  I saw this quote while reading an knew it was one that could stand alone.In my own experience, walks in the woods or prairie are quite inspiring. One of the things I enjoy most about hunting is getting in the tree stand while it's still dark, then seeing the sun come up in the woods, away from the touch of humans. Everything just seems to come alive. It's hard not to have emotion when you see that sunrise.

Let's Talk About Sex, Baby

Throughout his book, Alejo Carpentier uses references to sex. These references not only recapture the attention of college aged readers, but they also help to show the power structures between the French Colonists and the African Slaves. There are sexual moments in the beginning of the book between negresses and their white owners. This seems commonplace. I suppose this could be seen as a sign of oppression between the two races.

                Another sexual symbol we see in the book is Pauline Bonaparte. Pauline is a very feminine character, and is perceived as such from the moment she is introduced: “From the minute she stepped on board, Pauline had felt a little like a queen on that frigate loaded with troops bound for the Antilles) “84). She is later described as “despite her tender years, was a connoisseur of male flesh” (85). Everyone on the island, African slaves in particular, sees Pauline in a sexual manner. The interesting part about Pauline is that she knows it too. She likes to meditate out in the open and sleep naked outside. Soon after, she starts having Soliman, an African slave, massage her: “While he was bathing her, Pauline took a perverse pleasure in grazing his flanks with her body…for she knew that he was continually tortured by desire” (89). Pauline, through her sexuality with the slaves, acts as the intermediary between the French colonists and African slaves.

                In between these two sexual examples, we see another example of how sex shows the power structure.  During the revolt, we see the African slaves really go after their masters. Sexual rage comes in to play with this revolt. We see that this sexual rage has been around for awhile, even though it just comes out in the revolt: “For a long time now [Ti Noel] had dreamed of raping Mlle Floridor” (68). As the raid continues, we see that rape is a way for the slaves to show their power: “The Negroes had violated nearly all the well-born girls of the Plaine” (71). In this book, sexual power is clearly an indicator of the power shifts between the slaves and colonists.