Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

     For my Poetry Out Loud selection, I chose, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," by Dylan Thomas. This poem compares the concept of death to "... that good night," and "...the dying of the light." Thomas, through the voice of "wise men" says that "...at their end, dark is right." This poem is similar to "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening," by Robert Frost, in that it portrays death as a welcome rest after what has been a long and tiring day. Where the themes of the two poems split is in the last stanza, where Thomas describes a father figure on his death bed, and says "...I pray, do not go gentle into that good night, rage, rage against the dying of the light." I understand this to mean that it can be easy to think of death as welcome rest when it isn't relevant to our own lives, but when death threatens someone we are close to, we pray they don't go gentle into that good night.
     When reading this poem aloud, I plan on using as much contrast as I can in my voice to convey meaning. I have been practicing using anger in my voice to convey the rage of the men on their death beds; additionally, I have been trying to incorporate a sorrowful tone of voice and facial expressions to convey the poems somber tone. I think it is important to portray the sadness and anger of those facing their inescapable demise, as well as the somber tone of the speaker as he addresses his dying father.

Extra Credit: Paragraphs

     Previously, I said that my biggest issues were embedding quotes, and using focused commentary. What did I do to fix this? Umm... I paid specific attention to the quotes in my paragraph in order to make sure that they were properly embedded within the text. As a result, the quotes in my second paragraph are much more skillfully embedded. It was rather hard not to focus the commentary within the paragraph, seeing as I was writing about something that was the same length as the paragraph. This second time, I paid more attention, and spent more time on the things that I struggled with last time, and the result is what I think is a better, more focused piece of writing.

Poetry Out Loud

Part One:
"Keeping Things Whole"
"Deliberate"
"Ozymandius"
"Cold Blooded Creatures"
"Prisoners"
"The Negro Speaks Of Rivers"
Part Two:
     Of the six poems listed above, I liked "Ozymandius," and "Cold Blooded Creatures." Typically, I enjoy poems, and literature in general that serves a purpose, and conveys a message, rather than simply exists to entertain. I like "Cold Blooded Creatures" because it has an underlying message, that maybe, we should be more aware of the world around us, and that we're not the only creatures on this earth. "Ozymandius" is an exception to my usual tastes; I enjoy it simply for the imagery it contains, rather than the message it contains. The rest of the poems, although not bad, simply didn't connect with me. For the competition, I am interested in reading "Cold Blooded Creatures."
Part Three:
     The easiest criteria for me to meet will be Voice And Articulation, as well as Physical Presence. I feel that especially if I have spent time practicing, I can project when speaking in front of a group, additionally, I don't  get nervous when I'm standing in front of a group, which helps with things such as articulation, and presence. The hardest two categories for me to meet will be Dramatic Appropriateness, and Level Of Difficulty. I always feel awkward when I start to use things like hand motions in front of a group, and it can be difficult to be "dramatic," as I can project, but I'm not a very dramatic person
Part Four:
"Writ On The Steps Of Puerto Rican Harlem"
My first thought was "damn, that guys good." This isn't a poem I would have chosen, for if I was reading it independently I would have had no connection to it, and yet, when it was read aloud, it suddenly gained a whole new level of  meaning.
"Forgetfulness"
I watched this video because it is one of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets. The first thing I noticed was how awkward the speaker looked with his hands clasped together in front of him. The initial awkwardness disappeared when he began to speak. His voice, gestures, and expressions gave an already satirical poem a somber, and slightly cynical edge.
Part Five:
     One of the things that has annoyed me about Poetry Out Loud is the selection of poems. Presumably because they don't want to offend anyone, whoever picks out the poems has neglected to include anything slightly political. As I mentioned earlier, my favorite writing is that which serves a purpose, and delivers a message. I like books like Animal Farm for their political nature, and my favorite poems all include satire of something. It is sad that they would omit poems Just because they might offend someone. There is no point to literature if it doesn't offend someone.

Needful Food

     I thought the idea that the poem is a critique of American consumerism was very interesting. Nemerov describes lobsters as a "needful food," when they are clearly a luxury item. When he describes the lobsters as "philosophers" and "imperial" he paints a picture of a slow moving, but wise creature that seems out of place on the dinner table. Although he never directly says it, I take this poem to be a well concealed jab at the American consumer, as we very clearly don't need to consume lobster, and yet we do so anyways, because eating something that is difficult to obtain, and therefore expensive makes us feel good about ourselves. Or something like that.
     When I first read the poem, I took in only the most literal meaning. Lobsters live in a tank. Humans pick out a lobster. Humans eat a lobster. Lobsters are darkly colored, etc. Each time I read over the poem, the deeper I got into the deeper levels of meaning. I could be totally and completely wrong about the meaning of the poem, but part of the beauty of poetry is that there are multiple interpretations of the text, and the meaning may be different for each individual reader.

Paragraphs

I'm Not doing this at 10:30 the night it's due. I wouldn't do that.
The biggest issues throughout the presentations were smaller, easy to fix problems such as embedding quotes, and over the top plot summary. Overall, people had good commentary and understanding of the text, instead, the most common issues were with small details, such as phrasing and word choice.
Personally, my biggest issues were embedding my quotes, and using focused commentary. Apparently. I feel that it wouldn't have hurt to spend more time working to embed my quotes. Additionally I should have picked quotes that were about different people, and instead used details focused on one character, such as Scout. Apparently.

Diction. It's great.

After school today, I met up with a couple of friends, and walked to a local park. We hung out there for a while, and then walked around SE for an hour or so. When I got bored of walking around I went with my friend to his house. He has a practice room in his basement, with a drumset, a washburn guitar and bass, a squire and a strat. Seeing as I can't play drums, and I can only play a couple of songs on guitar, I played bass while my friend was on guitar, and his brother banged on the drums. After working on a couple of songs, I went home.

Slaughterhouse Five, By Kurt Vonnegut

     My outside reading book is Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. One of my favorite things about this book is the dry, dark sense of humor. For example, whenever Vonnegut mentions death, he ends the section with the phrase "...so it goes." The effect is something like "'You stake a guy out an anthill in the desert-see? He's facing upward, and you put honey all over his balls and pecker, and you cut off his eyelidsso he has to stare at the sun till he dies.' So it goes." (37). The author always finishes descriptions of death and destruction by saying hey, that's just how it works. This ties in to the beginning of the book when Vonnegut is describing how he wrote the book, and he is talking to a friend about the book "'Is it an anti-war book?' 'Yes,' I said...'You know what I say to people when I hear they're writing anti-war books?' 'No. What do you say?...' 'I say why don't you write and anti-glacier book instead?'" Again, Vonnegut is saying that war is a horrible, yet unavoidable part of life. The sad thing is that while glaciers are disappearing, war has been here for as long as humans have, and isn't going anywhere.

Personal Themes In To Kill A Mockingbird

    The book To Kill A Mockingbird, by the author Harper Lee brings many complex themes together into one book. Although the themes range from all kinds of discrimination: race, gender, religion, etc. to the coexistence of good and evil, the theme that resonated the most for me was the loss of natural childhood innocence.
     As children, we hold a certain naive sense of the world. We all assume that good always triumphs over evil, that every person is a good person, and that people will naturally do what we consider right. At some point everyone realizes that is is seldom the case. There are many people who genuinely do good in the world just for the sake of doing it, but there are far more people who set out to cause harm to others for precisely the same reasons. If we never lost this naive sense of the world, we wouldn't be able to function in life, we would be used and abused by those around us. Instead, it is important to be able to see both the good and the bad side in everyone.
   The character Scout has several incidents in her life that mark the loss of her innocence, specifically Tom Robinson's conviction, and subsequent death, as well as Bob Ewell's vengeful actions in the time after the trial. Instead of having specific events mark the Loss of my innocence, it happened gradually for me. I spent most of time in middle school with an extremely naive sense of the world; I was shocked, and didn't know how to react whenever anyone did something I considered "wrong."
     The term "loss of innocence" hints at something bad, but it isn't. Losing your childlike view of the world is a simple part of getting older, and we are eventually in a better spot because of it. I am glad my horizons have broadened, and I am happier because of it. Personally, if I met myself from three years ago, I wouldn't be able to stand him.

Kind Of An Amazing Song

Boo Radley In Our Own Lives

     In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee the character of Boo Radley is first introduced to the reader through the eyes of a six year old. Through this lens, he seems like a monster, Scout even says "Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom." Through the eyes of a young child, Boo Radley seems dark and malevolent because his ways are different than Scouts. At the end of the book when she finally meets him, Scout realizes that everything she had thought about him was wrong, and that he is a kind, and gentle, if very shy person.
     We all have had someone like Boo Radley in our own lives; everyone has had a person, or even object or idea in our lives that at first glance seemed strange, and out of place, but once we become more familiar with this strange person, or concept, we realize that our first impression was wrong.
     Now that I said that, I actually have to come up with the person/object/idea that represents Boo Radley in my own life. This may be stretching it a little, but for years I had a very negative impression of my grandfather. When I was younger, it seemed as if whenever I was around him, he was quick tempered, and extremely negative. Typically, I would spend a couple weeks at his house in the Summer, but it got to the point where I loathed going back, despite having 25 acres of woods, and all day to be out in them. As I got older, I realized that he was having health problems that weren't immediately apparent, and was in a lot of pain. He was so unpleasant to be around because of all the pain he was in, not his character. This realization, coupled with an improvement in his health has allowed me to become much closer to him, and I see him less as a grandfather, and more as a friend.    

Introduction To Your Blog...

     As a reader, I prefer non-fiction. I enjoy authors like David Sedaris, and Dan Savage for their witty and relevant writing styles, additionally, I like Greg Child for his memoirs recounting the time he spent in the Karakorum, and on El Cap. Anyone reading this blog can expect, well, um, responses to English prompts, not all that exciting.
     English is an important class for obvious reasons, you build your writing skills, but additionally, English teaches you communication, persuasion, and analytical skills. Not only through writing, but also through mediums such as Socratic Seminar, English teaches teaches clear communication skills. Secondly, through essays, class discussions, and oratories, you learn how how to make a point; the ability to construct a strong argument is a skill that can be used throughout your whole life. Finally, in English class, you learn analytical skills through assignments like the To Kill A Mockingbird summer assignment. English is an important class, and is a four year requirement for college because it builds communication, persuasion, and analytical, all of which are useful throughout life, no matter what you choose to do.