English 123 Notes 7/30/2008

"I've now realized for the first time in my life the vital importance of Being Earnest."

• Consciousness is only a small part of our total psychology, the main parts include dreams, fairy tales, myths, and fantasies. Dreams come from your personal conscience.
  
• For example, Steve had a dream that he was forced to go back to the 3rd grade in order to graduate from college and Luke interpreted that dream to mean that Steve felt a sense of inability be successful in college.

"When we are born we cry that we have come to this stage of fools" -Shakespeare

ARCHETYPE- PRIMARY IMAGES
RECOGNITION- "ANAGNORSIS" means recognition in Greek. IT WOULD BE SMART TO THINK ABOUT THIS WORD FOR BOTH OEDIPUS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST FOR THE FINAL!!! just a thought

The Importance of Being Earnest

• Luke found a copy of the book, Political Economy, that Cecily was reading when we were first introduced to her. That is a coincidence!
  
• A topic to think about is the Ernest vs. Earnest

COMEDY VS. TRAGEDY

1. Comedy is abut people who are worse than we are -Aristotle
1. comedy is also about the affirmation of life
   
2. Tragedy is abut people who are better than we are- Aristotle
3. Aristotle also said that all works of literature are somehow woven together.

OEDIPUS

1. Oedipus is the original detective story....psychoanalysis
2. Tyresias is blind because he pulled two snakes apart with his stick and Harrah, Zeus' wife, punished him by making him spend 5 years as a woman making love and 5 years as a man making love and once those 10 years were done he was to tell her which sex enjoyed getting to know each other in the biblical sense more. He answered without a doubt, women. She then made him blind.
   
1. So Zeus came down, unable to undo what had already been done, and gave Tyresias the ability to see the future and be a soothsayer. That way since he could not physically see what was around him, he could see what was going to be.
3. In that day, being ignorant was far worse than any kind of sin.
4. Creon is also questioned about his motives by Oedipus, and Creon is Jocasta's brother therefore Oedipus' brother-in-law and uncle at the same time.
   

I CANNOT REMEMBER WHAT BOOK HE SAID TO GOOGLE, BUT I THOUGHT IT BEGAN WITH GILES....HMM SO IF ANYONE KNOWS PLEASE LET ME KNOW! THANKS! :)

English 123 Blog 17

Today we mentioned the last line of the classic novel The Importance of Being Earnest. The line states, " I now realized for the first time in my life the vital importance of Being Earnest." This quote is a play on the word Earnest. The main character's name in the book is Jack and he pretends to be a man named Earnest when he is in London. However, at the end of the novel we realize that his true name is actually Ernest, the name of his late father. The last line of the novel uses the word "Earnest" not "Ernest". The first word means showing depth and sincerity of feeling. The word is very relevant to the story and to life. If a person shows depth and shows sincere feelings then they will not only be better person in life, but a better person that they themselves will appreciate. The importance of Jacks feelings for Gwendolen is that they were sincere, where as her feelings were more towards his name; she thought his name was Ernest. The two characters end up getting married but for entirely different ways, in my opinion. The same goes for Algernon and Cecily. Algernon seems to have earnest, sincere feelings for Cecily, but on the other hand Cecily is entranced by the name Ernest. That leads me to the question what is in a name?

Is a name that important? Does a good name put you ahead of everyone else? In my experience with my name, which I have never heard before, I love the idea of having a unique name. I feel it gives me an edge over other people with more common names because when most people hear my name the question that always follows is, "How did you get to be named Medina?" That question allows me to establish a more personal relationship with the person and they will have a better chance of remembering me, even if they don't remember my name exactly. However, if I were to have a name such as Sara or John Smith people would not be so caught off guard when I introduced myself; they have heard that name countless times before. Therefore, I can semi understand Cecily and Gwendolen's fascination with the name Ernest; it is unique and carries a positive connotation. However, I am not sure I agree with marrying someone because they have a wonderful and exciting name...I am not so sure how long the marriage would last!

English 123: Blog 16

One of my favorite lines from literature is "Everyone called him Popeye"
I like this line because it makes the reader wonder who is "Pop Eye" and what is his real name, the line gives a sense of identity and empowerment of the use of language. And I also liked the Pop Eye the Sailor Man television show so that the fact that Pop Eye is used in the quote also adds to my reason for liking it :)

English 123 Notes 7/28/2008

FOR BLOG

1. Consider what are the common elements that exist in both plays, Oedipus and The Importance of Being Earnest, tragedy vs. comedy.
2. Put what you think is the most endearing line in literature in your blog and try to resist lines with meaning and ideology.

MISTER PIP PASSAGES

1. page 209- The importance of writing things down, forgetting and remembering
2. page 153- moving forward

Every act of reading is an act of re-reading and revision.

"A work of art that is serious or has a large magnitude"- Aristotle's definition of a tragedy

ANAMNESIS- You don't learn anything, anything you learn is a remembering of something else- Plato

• We need to remember and we need to forget, you learn from what you remember
• Whenever you encounter authentic information, your shoulder blades will begin to itch because your wings are growing back
• "HOME" is one of the greatest weighted words in our language, "NOSTOS" means home in Greek. The world nostalgia comes from nostos.
• The artisits and their works are the greatest forms of reconciliation.

TERM PAPER IDEAS...the more specific the better the paper

1. survival guide
2. Matilda has opportunity to re-create herself; inventing a self creating, clash between logos and mythos, and Mr. Watts and Matilda's mother
3. the power of friendship, Matilda's story is Great Expectations
4. imagination vs. reality
5. entertainment and instruction; god is in the details
6. gaining and losing
7. methamorphosis from reality to fiction
8. see the wyas in which provate biography is changed through Mister Pip
9. dreams vs. reality and how they are so entwined
10. relationships, stories can be more realisitic

• Will have to give a 4-5 minute presentation on your paper, do not tell ABOUT the paper!
• "The task of the poet is to help people live their lives" -Wallace Stevens

Oedipus Rex- Sophocles

• our lives have been scripted, the 3 wome(Fraubauman, Frausmitz, and Frauschwartz) spin our fates and snip the thread when they believe it is long enough, you can do nothing to control that.
• The story of Oedipus fulfills the classic requirements of a hero with 1000 faces story. He covers many of the 22 points that occur in all stories of heroes.
• Oedipus means "lame foot" or "club foot", play begins with Oedipus talking to the priest and limps out on stage from the holes drilled into his ankles when he was an infant.
• Oedipus becomes the King of Thebes after he gets past the Sphinx and kills the current king who happens to be his father.
• The sphinx is a half lion, half woman with wings who talks in riddles and any man wishing to pass must answer the riddle correctly and kill the sphinx. The answer was men because at birth men crawl on 4 legs, at adulthood they walk on 2 legs, and at old age they use their legs plus a cane to use 3 tools to walk.
• He specifically murdered the king at a crossroads, a place where 3 roads meet.
• Things are not good in Thebes when he arrives it has become a wasteland.
• Oedipus is smart and powerful and rids the city of its issues, he then marries Jocasta (his mother) and has 4 children with her, one being named Antigony.
• Another plague comes over the city and the only way to rid it is to kill the person who killed the former king, no one knows it was actually Oedipus who did it.
• Oedipus interegates Tyresius, the blind soothsayer who only speaks the truth.

OSCAR WILDE QUOTE WEBSITE

• http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/o/oscar_wilde.html

English 123: Blog 15

The question was brought up involving what similiarities do the novels Oedipus and The Importance of Being Earnest have in common? Well at first I was baffled by the question, but when I actually began to think about it over a cup of hot chocolate I realized several key elements present in both novels. The concept of idenity is very important throughout both novels as well as the idea that both of the main characters were orhpans.

Oedipus is constantly trying to find his identity throughout the book. He thinks he knows his identity when he marries Jocasta and becomes the King of Thebes. However, as we already know his identity is mistaken. He thinks he is a king when really he is the prince and all of the children he has with Jocast are actually his siblings. When he realizes that the delphic oracle has come true he gauges out his eyes in order to prevent himself from seeing what he has become and has made of his fate. Like I blogged about earlier, fate is pre-determined, you have no control. In The Importance of Being Earnest, the identity of Jack is mistaken to be Earnest, that is everyone in London believes him to be Earnest and everyone in the city knows him to be Jack. The same goes with his friend/brother Algernon. Both men pretend to have brothers and friends that they go visit, but they actually escape to another world and an entirely different person. It is ironic how the name Earnest plays such a huge role in the women deciding if they want to marry. Both Oedipus and Jack have issues with their identities causing them to either run away or make up a character in order to try and realize who they truly are.

Since both Oedipus and Jack were orphans, their identity is lost. Jocasta tries to kill Oedipus when she hears of the oracle that he will kill his fater and have sexual realtions with her and ironically, Oedipus is saved by the herdsmen and raised by a family he believes is his true family. When he visits the oracle and hears of his prophecy he runs away trying to prevent the killing of the man he perceieves to be his father, and in turn ends up killing his real father on the journey. Jack realizes at the end of the play that he is Lady Bracknell's poor sisters son and is actually Algernon's older brother. Ironically he realizes that the name of his father is actually Earnest making Jacks true name Earnest therefore he realizes his true identity was the one he had been making up.

Both plays have a completely opposite connotation. Oedipus is a tragedy, while The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy. Yet, both novels contain specific elements that relate to one another and help to understand the overall meaning and theme of each play.

English 123: Blog 14

After finishing reading Oedipus Rex, many thoughts overcame me. The most prominent being the idea that your fate is already pre-determined for you, and no matter what you do to try and prevent fate from coming true, what and who you are destined to be will always be who you turn out to be. You can work to be the best person that you can be, but you can never outwit fate.

Oedipus and his mother tried to break the prophecy from the oracle that said he would kill his father and marry his mother. However, Oedipus did not die and instead was taken care of by a family. The prophecy ended up coming true despite the efforts of Oedipus' mother. That just proves the point that no matter what you try and do, who you are destined to be is who you are destined to be.

Since your fate is determined for you by the person who created you, the idea that the outcome of your life is already decided should make a person work harder to create a better journey to that endpoint. People should try and make the time that they can control the best and most exciting times of their lives because the end result is already determined; there is no changing that. God has a plan for everyone and it is through his plan that people achieve what they are destined to be. However, no matter what you are destined to be you should always try and live your life to the fullest and be the best person you can be; live your life with no rules and and enjoy the time you can control.

English 123 Blog 13

Mister Pip is filled with amazing and attention grabbing themes that we as people deal with on an everyday basis. Another passage, of the many that I thought were interesting, is on page 178. It is one line and this line delivers an important message. "THE IDEA THAT YOUR LIFE COULD CHANGE WITHOUT WARNING WAS VERY APPEALING" Life changes day to day, heck even minute to minute and it is the ability for us to accept the change with open arms and learn to deal with the curve balls that makes the journey of life more interesting. The other quote that I liked that goes well with the one on page 178 is on page 245 and it says "YOUR SHIP COULD COME IN AT ANY TIME , AND THAT SHIP COULD TAKE MANY FORMS." This quote deals with the other one because they are both talking about change. In Mister Pip there are many times with the characters must deal with change. When the redskins come in and blockade their island, burn their posessions, and finally burn their houses the people on the island learn to deal with that change because they have no other choice. They realize that so their possessions may be taken away, they still have fresh air, the ocean, the fish, and fruit and they can build huts that will work. This thinking is what helped those people survive as long as they did. Without this positive outlook on life there would be nothing but conflict and hate and bitterness surrounding the environment. I found it very admirable when these people on the island learned to accept the drastic changes in their life, and the majority seemed to do it with a smile and a positive outlook.
Matilda also deals with an extreme amount of change. She meets Mr. Watts and then he is shot because of his outrageous lifestyle, her father has been gone for 4 or 5 years, and her mother gets raped and then cut up in order to save Matilda. Not to mention to flies to Australia by herself after she has escaped the island with the help of Jaggers and a few others. Yet, even with the tremendous amount of change being experienced she is able to deal with it with the help of Pip. Pip gives her an escape from reality that all of us need at some point of another. When life gets tough, it is nice to have someone or something to escape to and leave our world and enter another. People need to learn how to balance reality vs. dreams and learn that both are necessary in achieving the overall balance in your life.

English 123: Blog 12

Today we talked about a lot of different themes associated with the novel Mister Pip and the one that I found to be the most insightful for me was the passage on page 142 and 143.

“Others began to speak. They gave their bits of memory to Mr. Watts. They filled in a picture of his dead wife. In this way he learned of a girl he had never met. A girl who could hold her breath underwater for longer than anyone else. A girl who could speak German with the nuns. A tiny girl who once got lost. The big things came back to us, and the little things. Mr. Watts did not care how small. He learned what color ribbons his dead wife wore to school as a girl. He heard how she lost a front tooth. It happened as she lay prone on a canoe, daydreaming she was a fish, when the prow popper up and smacked her lip. He learned how proud she had been of her first pair of shoes. So proud, she carried them everywhere with her, preferring anyway to walk barefoot.

This quote states what I feel very strongly about. The details about how act, walk, and live are what make us interesting individuals. The details about how we read and what we do to books whether it be dog earring the pages or writing in the margins say something about us.

People crack me up because they are always saying they want to be unique and be their own person, when in all reality the person they are before they try to be different is the most unique person they can be. When people try to be different is when people become similar. I will use the examples of girls because I know more about girls than guys. When a girl tries to stand out she will go to the mall to buy clothes from the “popular” stores and she will take magazine pictures into the hair salon and create an image that is similar to every other girl you see. If people would be content with who they are and be happy being themselves they would realize they are a unique individual without having to change anything. However, this epiphany is hard to come by and requires a lot of looking into yourself and learning who exactly you are before it can completely happen. So the idea is be happy with who you are the details that make you who you are because the details are the most important part of life.

English 123 Notes 7/25/2008

Homework

• Read Oedipus Rex and The Importance of Being Ernest over the weekend
• Create a rough draft of term paper for Monday, it should be about a page long and include the main ideas that will be mentioned in the term paper.

The idea of being at a crossroads in your life is an important theme for Oedipus Rex and the Importance of Being Ernest. Keep the theme in mind!

Sonnet (cont.)

Steve- Ricky

• about a dog who lives by his friends that he cannot have
• Shakespearean form
• dog lays under the tires
• he can only talk to the dog because his allergies prevent him from touching the dog.

INTENTIONAL FALLACY- an assertion that the intended meaning of the author is not the only or most important meaning; a fallacy involving an assessment of a literary work based on the author's intended meaning rather than on actual response to the work.

MISTER PIP PASSAGES

• PAGE 63- Lychee, Agnes teaches us about the fruit and how it has a hard outer shell and a soft, sweet inside. The structure is similiar to Matilda's mother in the fact that she is a hard woman and very strict but you learn when she sacrifices her life for not only her daughter but Mr. Watts as well that she is sweet and kind on the inside.
• PAGE 155- change, This passage talks about how Great Expectations entranced and enchanted Mr. Watts. "You can't fake reading" and how the book did not do the same for Grace. She did not share the same love of Mr. Dickens and Mr. Watts did and that was hard for him to grasp.
• PAGE 64-65- Fear; it is ok to be stupid and not know everything. Many people let the fear of being stupid prevent them from going on with something and thus preventing themselves from letting go of the fear of humiliation.
• PAGE 24- Curiosity, we all experience a curiosity of the unknown items that are presented in our lives.
• PAGE 71- Choices, humans make both good and bad choices and we always will make mistakes. However, we cannot let the fear of making mistakes and choosing the wrong option prevent us from living our lives.We are free to make bad choices because we are not perfect, we are human.
• PAGE 192- May Fly Story, grace is similar to the mayfly and the story, Mr. Watts is the mayfly in the first relationship with the suburban wife in the idea that he enjoys the theater because it provides him a chance to live a new life and dream. In the relationship with Grace he turns into the practical one and tries to force Grace from her dreamer world. It creates the battle between dream vs. practicality
• PAGE 204- Daniel's grandma is the only dreamer among the various women who come and speak to the class about practical lessons. Mr. Watts created a more interesting self thus leaving a reputation behind when he was killed because of his outrageous and outlandish life. It creates the question, what is possible in the realm of imagination?
• PAGE 210- leaving a legacy of a life less interesting. This passage reminds of the common saying that people who follow the rules rarely make history. Mr. Watts lived an exciting life by wearing a clown nose and pushing his wife around in a trolley and thus lived the way no one expected; he lived his life the way he desired.
• PAGE 123- Imagination; no one can take away your imagination, you say your name and view the world as you want to view it.
• PAGE 187- dream; dreams are only yours they are personal and you chose whether you want to share them with people or keep them to yourself.
• PAGE 216- Savior, Mr. Jagger's, the log, is Matilda's savior and ironically Mr. Jaggers saved her similiar to how he saved Pip by bringing her to a new life.
• PAGE 69- gain/ lose, you gain and you lose and that cycle goes throughout life, when you become aware of that cycle is when you realized that what you have gained is also what you have lost.
• PAGE 23 - Als ob (as If), escape, you can find a book to escape into and find a friend through, the books take you to another world that you can experience by yourself but also with the characters.
• PAGE 143- Details; the details about a person is what makes them unique. The details are specific, tangible, and tactful. Details are necessary throughout life and they are what gives life interest.
• PAGE 92- Mystery, curiosity is what makes life interesting, we use the language of problem solving to describe our lives.

LIFE IS NOT A PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED; IT IS A MYSTERY TO BE EXPERIENCED"

People to know!

1. Randy Pausch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/
2. Oscar Wilde- http://www.cmgww.com/historic/wilde/

English 123 Notes 7/23/2008

HOMEWORK

• pick three passages from Mister Pip to explain and share with the class on Friday in order to help with the overall understanding of the novel. Be ready to explain why you chose the passages and what they mean to you. These three passages should be in your term paper as topics.
  
• The rough draft of the term paper is due on Monday, 3-5 pages typed and double spaced; for the term paper avoid sentimental feelings and be educational and insightful.

Everything you need to know is always right in front of you.

Richard Wibur's - "The Writer"

• the work is about a father's realization of his daughter and her talent, writing.
• the things we think are irrelevant are actually the most relevant
  
• always a matter of life and death

Why do we suffer?? We suffer so the poets and singers will have something to write and sing about.

Promethia- to think of something beforehand
Walkabout- people learning to read the landscape as a score of music or poetry.
Muse- greek inspiration, gave unhuman objects human characteristics to help with poetic impulse.
CLASS SONNETS

Luke- The Puzzle ( mis en abyme)

• based on notes from a walkabout in Australia he went on
• all alone, able to do some thinking and writing
• wrote about experience there
• he went there because he was unhappy with who he was and wanted to be someone who he respected.
• went through the twirling and looking in process and discovered if there was an angel or demon inside of him.

Stephanie- Amatory Soliluquoy

• about love and the one true love
• Shakespearean, to her boyfriend of 1 years
• sends poem every day in mail to him saying he is the mud between her toes after a rain storm :)
• sonnet led to 3 page letter to him, in exchange for the poems he writes her music

Jason- The Wreck

• to ATV he wrecked last weekend in the ATV accident
• Shakespearean
• sending to the owner of the ATV
  
• Owner is a doctor with an English undergrad degree

Whitney

• written to her father
• Shakespearean

Tracy- Rob's Sonnet

• one of her best friends from work
• Met him at the bar in Belgrade that she works at
• Very close friend who she enjoys spending time with

Kimberly

• to a family in Seattle that she is very close to; they are like her family
• written to a horse they just got after the old horse and the old dog died; tragic time

Krystal- Kyven's Sonnet

• written to her son Kyven which means handsome in Irish
• written about her son and there times together
• read it to him and they giggled together
• used the line "Let me count the ways" from Elizabeth Browning's poem

Greg- Sunflower

• written for his wife of 2 years
• her favorite flower is a sunflower
• Shakespearean
  

Amber- I do

• written for her husband who is a doctor with an english as his undergrad degree
• quoted line from his favorite song: "Even puppies come under suspicion"
• Shakespearean

Ryan- Clam During the Storm

• was the ONLY person to write an Italian sonnet
• inspired by getting caught in the thunder storm on Tuesday night and a lady let him come into her house and get shelter

Dominique- In Somewhere

• written about the human mind
• Shakespearean
• focuses on a point that everyone reaches in the life where you can either stay there or chose to work your way out of it
  

Medina- Joy

• written about mother
• Shakespearean
• about the rough time period of my teenage years when I was growing up
• about the hard relationship that has now changed to a friendship

All we are, are our stories

• EXAM QUESTION:

WHAT ISSUE DOES MATILDA'S MOTHER HAVE WITH MR WATTS?
He is teaching the children lies, he is teaching about something that does not exist; fiction

On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer- John Keats

• the guy has read a lot of books and therefore he has been to many different places throughout these books
• books help you go to many new and faraway places
• Chapman's book changed his life; he had an epihphany
• The poem is not factual because it says Cortez discovered the Pacific, but that is ok because the way it is written is beautiful.
• Just because someone reads instead of going places does not mean that have any less life experience.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_First_Looking_into_Chapman's_Homer
  

English 123: Blog 11

I am almost done with Mister Pip now and I do have to agree that the book so far is quite depressing. However, there have been several passages of the book that I have really enjoyed because of their hidden meanings and ideas.

The first passage occurs at the end of page 20 and continues through page 21.
"When Mr. Watts read to us we fell quite. He read slowly so we heard the shape of each word. " 'My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name being Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.'" There had been no warning from Mr. Watts. He just began to read. He kept reading and we kept listening. It was some time before he stopped."
This passage reminded me of exactly what the first day of class was like. This passage took me back to those initial thoughts and memories and caused me to realize how much everyone, not only me, has changed drastically from that first day. We have been to 19th Century London and back and met many characters along the way, including ones in ourselves we never knew existed. I enjoyed reading this and recalling the first day and the huge impression made by Professor Sexson when he read the first chapter of Great Expectations. I remember the voices of the different characters that brought them alive, similar to Mr. Watts. This helps me to develop a personal relation to Matilda since I can say I have personally experienced the same first day of class with Mr. Sexson as she did with Mr. Watts.

The other passage in Mister Pip that grabbed me by the collar and got my attention is on page 64. Matilda is talking about the class visitors when she says, " We wanted our cousins and our mothers and grandmothers to tell us stuff. We didn't want them to be scared to come to class. But we also saw how fear and a shame of looking stupid was never far from the surface and this is what kept some at a distance."
This quote is unbelievably true when it mentions people holding back for the fear of looking stupid. I do not know about other people, but the fear of looking stupid has stopped me from doing a few things in my life that I regret not doing. The fear of looking foolish should never stop a person from achieving their goals and aspirations. For example, everyone in the class wrote and read a personal sonnet in front of their classmates. That takes courage. I am sure many people, I know I did, felt stupid about their sonnet writing skills but no one let that stop them from sharing something they created. I find that to be wonderful that our class has overcome the fear of looking stupid in front of each other and instead does things anyway!

English 123: Revised Sonnet

Joy
I wonder did you ever think of me
Although til then I had not yet been born
I wonder if you loved me as I be
You gave me love without a bit of scorn.

I then grew up and brought along much pain
From screaming fights and lies to cries too much.
I wish that I was not so mean and vain
I did not know that you are my best crutch.

But not I seem to have lost many years,
Abandoned you without initial sin
Look back with hurt, regret the time with tears
You are my rock and help through thick and thin.

I still need you to help me with the hard stuff,
My mother, you are always true and tough.

English 123: Blog 10

I have began reading Mister Pip and I found this cool link that is the official website of the book that I thought I would share!
http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/misterpip/

I am guessing that this book is going to be depressing just from the opening pages when it talks about everyone, even the teachers, having to leave the island. The children do not go to school because there are no teachers and therefore their learning is put on hold for awhile. I am curious about the character Mr. Watts. I like the unknown characters because they provide the excitement in the novel and therefore make life more exciting.

I have been working on revising my sonnet and writing in iambic pentameter while still keeping the overall meaning is HARD! Shakespeare made it look so easy and it is not. So I now have a profound respect for his writing skill.

I am going to dive into Mister Pip and write more about it when I have more information to refelt upon!

English 123 Notes 7/21/2008

"Everything worth learning is beside the point"
Teachers exist to help with the journey of going through a class compared to an online class.
In online classes things are shifted to the emphasize the end result, the middle part of the journey is missing. THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE

A change of style is often a change of subject" - Wallace Stevens

VOCAB

• Dialectic- the art or practice of logical discussion as employed in investigating the truth of a theory or opinion.

• Repetition- "dirty little secret of poetry"; to repeat something is to give it linguistic power.

FOUND POEMS

• The reason for found poems is to make poetry out of the world and to reveal the poetry that was already in the world.
• Nothing in the world is clear, direct, and obvious
• All language does not have to be clear, concise, and simple; we have been brainwashed to believe that.
  

Ironically, Shakespeare did not intend for his sonnets to be public because they were quite personal to him.

THE WINDHOVER- Gerard Manley Hopkins

• talking about Jesus by comparing him to birds and their descent
• he saw a falcon in the hair and began trying to find the words to describe the birds flight
• the bird then swoops down picking up its prey
• Hopkins then has an epiphany about the bird capturing its prey and begins to relate it to Jesus more directly.
• Jesus descended from heaven just as the bird descended from the sky to capture its prey
• the sonnet symbolizes death and rebirth along with redemption

DESIGN- Robert Frost

• we have not trained our eyes to see the divine acts of nature
• the spider is holding up a moth and the resolution is metaphysical

HOMEWORK

• do something that you will remember in 30 years
• on page 33 and 34 of Ex Libris underline the sentence talking about the Milton sonnet she read to her father. A copy of the sonnet is below. c

Milton Sonnet
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"
I fondly ask; But Patience to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts; who beset
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."

English 123 Notes 07/18/2008

Today there were no notes to be taken we took Exam 1 and then graded the exam in class!

BEGIN READING MISTER PIP OVER THE WEEKEND!!!!
WRITE SONNET AND BE READY TO PRESENT ON MONDAY
WRITE FOUND POEM AND BE READY TO PRESENT ON MONDAY AS WELL

English 123 Blog 9

I got my found poem from the back of my hair spray bottle!
Found Poem:

Contenido se calienta
Protect incandescent sources of ignition
Avoid intentional sparks
Contents harmful
Contenido se calienta
Use only in well conditions
Keep away deliberate puncture
Do not misuse materials
Contenido se calienta
Contenido se calienta


kl

English 123 Blog 8

This weekend I was finally able to go home and spend time with my family. I am lucky because I only have to drive 2 hours and then I am home unlike many people I know whose families live in other states. My parents have always been my best friends and some of the few people in my life that I can completely trust. I became aware of how special my parents were to me when I was in my senior year of high school. Being a girl in high school is filled with backstabbing and gossip not to mention people being two-faced ( no they do not have 2 faces :) ) and acting nice to your face and spreading mean things about you behind your back. Dealing with all of that fun in high school really made me appreciate how much I could trust my parents with so many important things. They have always supported me in whatever decision I make whether at the time they agree with it or not, and I can never thank them enough.

Having always been a "Daddy's girl" I decided to write my sonnet to my mother, Joy. I have not always had the best relationship with her when I was growing up; we had the typical mother and teenage daughter relationship. When I was younger I was embarrassed to be around my parents and as I entered high school my mother and I constantly butted heads about clothing, dating, and curfew. I would fight with her on a weekly basis. When I look back on that I think about how much time I lost with her that I will never get back. When I was analyzing my Wallace Stevens poem Waving Adieu, Adieu, Adieu I realized that life is not guaranteed and the time we have is all the time we have, so make the best of it and live with no secrets or regrets. My mother and I's relationship has changed for the better since the beginning of my junior year of high school when I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease and I then finally realized how amazing of a person she truly is. I stopped thinking about how "uncool" it was to hang out with your mother and we started going to weekly coffee and movies. Ever since, my mother and I have been able to talk about anything and everything and both her and my father have helped me through some of the roughest times in my life and I will never be able to thank them enough. This weekend my mother and I went to the movie "Mama Mia" because we both love musicals and it was one of the best times I have had in a long time. I gave her the sonnet that I wrote for her and she read it and cried and of course that made me cry. So we just looked like to crying fools in the car in the movie parking lot. But that moment was so special to me and to her that I know we will both never forget it. And the ability to have even one moment that is that special is all I need in life.

Sonnet to my Mother:

To my mother, so gentle and lovely

I have looked to you all of my young life

Your eyes were the first so warm and bubbly

Your arms kept me safe from a world of strife.

As I grow up, my feelings for you varied

I became a teen, so young and a fool

And pushed you away, because I was wary

I did not know, that you mom, were so cool.

As I look back on the lost couple years,

Regret pushing away, stead getting close

Now a young adult, I look back with tears

You are my rock, the person I need the most

Mother, your name reflects the real true you,

I love you and the joy you offer too.

English 123 Blog 7

Today I was asked to go up to a person in the SUB and recite the verse "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate" So I thought well lets just get this traumatizing experience over. However, I do have to say it sure made life more interesting. So I went to the food court area and found a guy sitting down reading. I walked up to him and asked if I could sit down and he said of course. So i sat down and said I have something I need to tell you. This statement threw him off guard and he got the confused and nervous look on his face. I began to think of great I am gonna get the police called on me and be called a stalker. So there went nothing and I said, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate." His response was laughter followed by huh?

I then explained the assignment that i had and he understood and refrained from calling 911 right away. :) well ironically we started talking, since the ice was broken by Shakespeare and his Sonnet 18, and I began to realize that he was from Billings and we knew a lot of the same people. He had gone to the other high school and we both played basketball throughout high school. So he bought me a coffee and we talked for awhile and that was the end of that. But anyways I got a free cup of coffee out of the lines from Sonnet 18 and my life was definitely made more interesting from the assignment! :)

English 123 Notes (7/16/08)

We finished the rest of the Wallace Stevens poem presentations, here is a summary of the three poems that were presented today.

MRS. ALFRED URUGUAY

• poem is about elegance
• whatever we dress ourselves in, we ultimately will always be ourselves no matter how much we try to change our physical appearance.
• Mrs. Alfred Uruguay riding up the hill is reality while the man on the horse is the imagination aspect of the poem.

TO AN OLD PHILOSOPHER IN ROME

• two different perspectives are being presented: being awake versus being asleep
• "On the threshold of heaven"- about to fall asleep
• "men are part both in the inch and in the mile" - means humans are a part of everything no matter how big or small
• the known versus unknown
• poets are better able to articulate everyday matters than the ordinary person
• at the end the poet realizes what he was trying to explain is just what the object is in reality
• poet was describing poetry
• "How easily the blown banners change to wings" goes back to the idea that how we expect things to be may not really be what they are.
• Stevens wrote this about his old professor from Harvard who died in Rome
• Not just about awake versus asleep, but instead the idea of life versus death.
  

NOT IDEAS ABOUT THE THING, BUT THE THING ITSELF

• stressing winter is over and spring is coming when the birds begin to sing
• the poem could be that Stevens has had a rebirth of his thinking about life in general
• the chorister mentioned starts the beauty and then it is carried on by the rest of the choir
• the sun is a huge theme in all of his poems as a spirit present on earth

POETRY IS NOT TRYING TO CONVEY ONE PARTICULAR MEANING!
Stevens suggests we need to accept change.

FOR BLOG

1. try to put more visual references and pictures on blog to convey your ideas
2. put found poem on your blog, we will be presenting them sometime next week.

SONNETS (ON TEST!!)

• They are written in iambic pentameter- meaning 10 syllables per line alternating long and short syllables or sounds.
• 14 lines of iambic pentameter
• There are two types: Shakespearean (English) and Petrarchin (Italian)
• The Shakespearean type contains the rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, ,efef, gg there is a rhyming couplet at the end and the resolution is contained in these last two lines. The other part consist of 3 quatrains explaining the problem.
• The Italian sonnet type has the abba abba cdcdcd there is an octave (8 lines) discussing the problem and a sestet (6 lines) involving the resolution.
  

PROSODY- THE STUDY OF THE TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF POETRY
VOLTA- THE TURN OR "TWIST" OF THE POEM OR SONNET
SIMILE- COMPARING 2 THINGS USING LIKE OR AS
METAPHOR- STRONGER THAN SIMILE BECAUSE IT SAYS THAT ONE THING "IS" THE OTHER.
PARADOX- A STATEMENT THAT SEEMS TO CONTRADICT ITSELF
example- Malcolm X said, " I was never more free then when I was in prison."
ALLITERATION- REPETITION OF INITIAL LETTER IN EACH WORD

SONNET 73

• the sonnet is about death; Shakespeare uses seasons, time of day, and fire to compare to his aging process getting him closer and closer to death.
  
• the problem is growing old and not necessarily dying but becoming closer to death
• the resolution states that a person needs to love the people who are meaningful in their life while they are still around because people are not always around. People need to cherish the loved ones in their life and live their life to the fullest. CARPE DIEM!!

LEDA AND THE SWAN

• A god (zeus) impregnated Leda
• she bore Helen and another girl, Helen is the face that launched 1000 ships and wars were started over her, she was a gorgeous woman

THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US

• We have forgotten the true value of nature; we do not appreciate it
• humans are too enthralled with buying and spending
• written in Italian form

IT'S ENCLOSURE

• The sonnet is not to be scorned for its multiple rules, but instead you should be able to experience more freedom when you are deprived of something; paradox
• written in Italian form

The test is on Friday over material that has been covered in class. Know about sonnets!

The least important question to ask about a poem is "What is the poem about?"

Waving Adieu, Adieu, Adieu

Wallace Stevens poem titled Waving Adieu, Adieu, Adieu

1. he uses internal rhyme scheme and rhythm to mesmerize the reader into a melodic state
1. he does not use end rhymes, so the poem has a musical flow to it with the internal rhymes.
   
1. For example:
1. That would be waving and that would be crying/ crying and shouting and meaning farewell.
2. The internal rhyme scheme accompanied by repetition help to convey the message and overall theme of the poem.
   
1. The theme of the poem is the final farewells and goodbyes that everyone has or will encounter on their journey through life. It teaches us to live life to the fullest because it is not guaranteed for a certain amount of time
2. The internal rhyme scheme continues in the second stanza when he says: "In a world without heaven to follow, the stops/ would be endings, more poignant than partings, profounder.
3. In line 6 he uses illiteration with the words poignant, partings, and profounder to relay the idea that goodbyes are the last time you will see someone and there is no heaven or other life after this one is over. The endings become that much harder on your emotions because not matter what happens the persons life is over for good.
4. Ironically, the title is not mentioned anywhere throughout the poem, but it helps to create the overall structure of the poem when it uses the repetition of the word Adieu.
5. The poem deals with and talks about living and coping with death and the idea that when this life is over there is no spirit in the sky that will take you to a better world. The world goes black.
1. He mentions that many people must deal with this alone and deal with the emotions that surround death when he says: To sip/ one's cup and never to say a word
6. The loss of a love one to another world creates feelings that encompass an individual; Wallace Stevens puts those feelings into a poem.
   

Most of information I presented, except for several definitions of words I got from www.dictionary.com, I used my own analysis techniques to come up with. I used different terms that Mr. Sexson has referred to in class such as illiteration, rhyme scheme, and repetition to decipher what I thought the meaning of the poem was.

English 123 Notes (7/14/2008)

Today was the day when the Wallace Stevens poems were presented. Here is a summary from each of the poems that were read today. The rest of the poems will be read on Wednesday.

Waving Adieu, Adieu, Adieu

• the theme is that life is not guaranteed and every day should be lived to its fullest
• Wallace Stevens is saying that there is no other life beyond the one we are living right now so make every moment count.
• He uses repetition, illiteration, and internal rhyme scheme to convey the message that the final farewells are inevitable and every person should live their life with no regrets.

Anecdote of the Jar

• Jar represents humans, Tennessee represents nature
• people rely on nature to function
• people are boring, yet unique in their own way
• there always seems to exist the clash between nature and humans

The Snowman

• everything we see is subject to our perception
• does anyone ever see anything as it is?
• we see things as we expect to see them, not as how they truly are
• people need to develop a cold mind that sees things as how they truly are, not as how they are perceived to be by us and our preconceived notions.

A Postcard from the Volcano

• people do not know about death, you will not be here for long and the people after you will not know about you unless you make something that is memorable
• the stories you tell should be written down and passed on so that in a way you are being passed down even if you have died.
  
• Important line "And what we said of it became/ A part of what it is" this line is like the quote by W.H Auden. " How do i know what I think until I see what I say?"

Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock

• people are boring and ordinary (everyone in Bozeman drives a Subaru)
• but there exists a person that comes along and makes life a little more exciting; they are the curve ball of life.
• These people make the world stranger than it already is
• The weather is all we have

The Motive for Metaphor

• "you" in the first line is likely to mean metaphor; things that are not connected
• autumn is a time of change; Wallace Stevens connects metaphor and autumn
• the change from life to death is illustrated in the poem
• the clouds are always changing
• to desire the exhilarations of changes- METAPHORS MOTIVE
• last stanza is about a blacksmith beating out the changes and putting his mark on his work

Study of Two Pears

• artists use their interpretation of something and then we turn around and interpret their interpretation
• the poem says what we all do; we observe
• We use our imaginations to make sense of reality
• we see things as they are perceived to be by us not how they truly are

Of Modern Poetry

• the modern poetry is what an individual has not written yet
• "it" relates to poetry as a whole with both men and women writers
• you write about what makes you happy as opposed to what another individual may write about
• culture has changed drastically; we are not entranced by ordinary things such as a woman combing her hair or a man ice skating
• the question becomes What will suffice (satisfy) us now???

Connoisseur of Chaos

• chaos does not exist just in the same way that coincidences do not exist
• chaos theory- if you study the smallest party of something, you can obtain information on the bigger picture because everything in this world is connected by something.
• we call a form of order that we are unfamiliar with and do not understand- CHAOS

The World as Meditation

• A woman is waiting for her lover who happens to be Ulysses
  
• The story is that it took Ulysses 20 years to return home after the war in Greece. In this poem he is a symbol of sun and the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Therefore, the woman feels him when she feels the sun on her pillow in the morning.
• It was Ulysses and it was not Ulysses
  

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

• perceptions and weather are again central themes in this poem
• during the mid-evil time period blackbirds symbolized change and the seasons change
• this ties into our perceptions of different things as pictures of how they should be according to us
• "The beauty of inflections or the beauty of innuendoes, the blackbird whistling or just after"
• the poem says people have incorrect perceptions of higher powers
• the last line is a simple, declarative statement about what is, and not what it is not.
  

English 123: Blog 6

During class today, the Wallace Stevens' poems were presented by each individual. It was interesting to see everyone's different perspectives of their specific poem. There seemed to be an underlying theme with all of his poems. The underlying theme, as discussed on Friday, is reality versus imagination and poetry. In my poem specifically, Waving Adieu, Adieu, Adieu the subject of death and the idea that everyone needs to live their life to the fullest no matter what problems life throws you. Having been thrown many curve balls throughout my life, I have learned to appreciate the people that are close to me. It is hard for me to trust people and let people in to my life and I am a reserved person. I trust very few people beyond my family members. I have had issues every since grade school of bullying and girls being conniving. Ever since a traumatic event that happened in high school I finally realized that life is not guaranteed and every day should be lived as if it were your last. I know this is a lot easier said than done, but if every person tries to live their life to the fullest than that is all anyone can ask for. My poem was a great poem for me to analyze and read because I completely agree that every day needs to be lived to the fullest because once someone dies that is the end of their life on earth. Loosing someone close to you makes you realize that life is not guaranteed, it is a gift. Life is a gift that should be treated with the utmost respect because it can be taken away in an instant.

My personal experience, that I have always had trouble telling people because I do not want them to pity me, involves me being diagnosed with an extremely rare autoimmune disease when I was 16 years old. The causes are unknown and the treatments consist of a large variety. I was told that I would never be able to play sports again and that I would have trouble with eye sight and joint pains, in the form of possibly arthritis, for the rest of my life. It is hard hearing that at 16 when the only stress in your life should be about what outfit you are going to wear the next day. I have been able to control the disease since I was diagnosed and do not experience any of the problems the doctor told me I would. I credit this to my desire to play high school basketball and the fact that I stopped at nothing to get better and become cleared to play. I fulfilled my high school dream of being an all-state athlete and now I have set my goals on getting into medical school ( a much harder challenge than my high school one!). Through this experience I am a firm believer in the idea that life is not guaranteed and that every moment and person that is important in your life should be cherished and told how much they mean to you. I never expected to openly write about my medical history but life Mr. Sexson said today all the bridges have been broken down and for some reason I let go of my inhibitions to keep that information inside of me.

There is no reason to hold back when life is not always going to be there.

Introduction to Literature Notes (7/11/2008)

WALLACE STEVEN'S POEM ASSIGNMENTS

1. GREG- To An Old Philosopher in Rome
2. MEDINA- Waving Adieu, Adieu, Adieu
3. WHITNEY- Of Modern Poetry
4. LUKE- The Motive for Metaphors
5. TRACEY- Ms. Alfred Uruguay
6. JASON- Anecdote of the Jar
7. AMBER- Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock
8. DOMINIQUE- Study of 2 Pears
9. RYAN- Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
10. KIMBERLY- Connoisseur of Chaos
11. KRYSTAL- A Post Card from the Volcano
12. STEPHANIE- The World as Meditation
13. Aaron- ?????
14. Steve- ?????

What does it mean to be free?
Estella refers to herself and Pip as puppets- Estella is Miss Havishams puppet while both of them are puppets of God.

ASSIGNMENTS FOR MONDAY!!!

• Find the Found Poem (rules provided later) by Monday, have it written ready to read
• Read about different sonnet types and write a sonnet about love to someone you love or like
• Memorize at least the first 4 lines of Wallace Stevens poem and be ready to give a 3 minute speech on the meaning of the poem on.
  

WALLACE STEVENS

His central relationship focused on in every poem is poetry, he writes poetry on poetry. More in depth, he deals commonly with the relationship between imagination and reality.

FOUND POEM RULES

• Consider the motion of the maglev- quote from Jason's Calculus book
  
• Find anything in the world, except police reports, and reorder the words and group them into a poem
• CANNOT add words
• CAN repeat words, delete words, reorder words, and put in different excerpts of words into poem

SONNETS

• Two forms: English (Shakespearian) and Italian. The following web address provides good background information on the differences between the two.
  
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet
• There are usually 14 lines each line containing 10 syllables (iambic pentameter)
• ASSIGNED READING IN THE BOOK OF SONNETS, either title or page number provided
  
• The Soul to her Rescuer
• Sonnet 30
• Sonnet73
• On His Blindness
• The World is too Much with Us (Italian Sonnet)
• Page 134
• Page 182
• Page 183 (the motto for MSU is derived from this sonnet)
• Page196
• Page 211 (Robert Frost)
• Page 249
• Page 251

THE IDEA OF ORDER AT KEY WEST

• She represents imagination and the sea represents reality
• Tension exists between she and sea; tension exists between imagination and reality
• The woman is walking by the sea singing "beyond the genius" standing at the most southern point of Key West. Key west is the most southern part of the USA.
• Writer seems to prefer the woman's voice to the seas
  
• She has a mind where the sea is mindless
• She is an artificer (artist)

VOCAB

1. Poesis- Greek work for "make"
2. Artificer- artist
3. Mis en abyme- into the abyss; a spinning act of divination
   

English 123: Blog 5

Today the question, What does it mean to be free? was asked......

What does it mean to be free? We think we are free from our parents when we venture off to college to, we think we are free of our childish years when we get our license, and we think we are free heartache when we find the special one. We are never free; there exist only slight happenings that cause to think we are free from something when we actually never are. For example, an individual is never free because there is always a "master plan" going on that was determined at birth. What we may perceive as freedom is just another momentous occasion in our lives that made us grow and mature as human beings. Freedom does not exist. Parents and rules will always accompany our lives in some form or another whether it be from our parents, school, or the work world. I am glad our childish years never leave us; the ability to be a child is what returns the small joys of life to us. Heartache will be a part of life for as long as their is attachment. If you are attached to something, when that leaves heartache will encompass your thoughts and feelings. The ability to deal with heartache causes us to grow and deal with pain caused from loss.

I found the Found Poem to be surprisingly easy to write, maybe that means I did it wrong. Poetry is everywhere it is just a matter of putting the words in the right order to make it sound melodious. Poetry brings a sense of art to a world of sharp corners and concrete buildings.

Just a last note the two types of sonnets are Shakespearian and Italian.
I provided a web address that I found insightful, intelligent, and education information on sonnets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet

Introduction to Literature Notes (7/9/2008)

NOTES FOR WEDNESDAY JULY 9TH

• Make sure to include in your blog a vocab list as well as class notes with various links to websites relevant to the material being taught.
• Great Expectations has two endings. There was the original ending and the second ending. This website talks about the different endings.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Expectations

• Mr. Sexson talked about people such as Don Quixote and Madam Bowvrey who are unhappy with their lives and immerse themselves in the stories of books, almost to the point of insanity. It then led to the topic that it seems very few people are happy with their lives and tend to lead un-insightful and boring lives.
• There are two types of characters: Round and Flat. Flat characters only act the way we expect them to. Round characters are much more fleshed ou and more developed, they come full-circle.
  

VOCAB WORDS

• Accovcheur- male midwife
• Biled- could not find the definition
  
• Mangle (noun)- a machine used to press and clean clothes
• Ablutions- a washing or cleansing of the body especially as the religious right
• Epiphany- a great realization, divine intervention
• Trenchent- vigorous or insightful in sound
• Rimy- covered with frost mainly in a literary way (ON TEST!!!!!!!)
  

HOMEWORK

• Begin memorizing Wallace Stevens' poem
• Tell a story to a friend using one of the words from the chapter where Ann Fadiman talked about sesquepedalians.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS REVIEW

• TEST QUESTION!!!!!!! The word abulation applies to which character in Great Expectations??? Answer: Jaggers
  
• Pip seems two faced, ashamed of his past, once he becomes a gentleman he forgets his past, gave 1/2 of his fortune to Herbert, set up parents with Miss Havisham's will, confused about his identity.
  
• Molly (Jaggers maid) and Abel Magwitch (convict) are Estella's parents.
  
• Abel gave Pip money because Pip was the only person to treat him like a person instead of a criminal.
• Miss Havisham teaches Estella to hate men and realizes her mistake before she dies (she literally goes up in flames). Compeyson conned her so she wants to have the ultimate revenge on man kind, which is played by Pip.
• Miss Havisham like Mrs Joe asks for forgiveness before she dies. Mrs Joe says, " Pip....Joe....Pardon"

OTHER HELPFUL WEBSITES

• 
  

  http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/greatex/characters.html

  http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/greatex/themes.html

  http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/greatex/quiz/html

English 123: Blog 4

Today in class it was mentioned my Mr. Sexson that in some way or another it seems the majority of people are unhappy with their lives. He used examples such as Don Quixote and Madam Bowvery (not sure how to spell the name) as two people who were so entirely bored with their lives that they became immersed in novels and characters. They lived vicariously through the lives of the characters that they read about in the books; somehow their lives were not anywhere near their expectations of what they should be so they sought lives of others. I return to the word expectations and I think well Pip was not happy with the life he was going to lead involving being an apprentice to Joe. It was not until he learned of the fortune he was gifted that he became excited to live his own life rather than someone else's .
So I ask the question.....why is everyone so unhappy with their lives??? I think it is because most of someones life is not how it appears to be in movies and books. In many movies, as we watched with the ending in Great Expectations, the two lovers always end up together; the conflict is always resolved; and the good guy gets the good girl. By watching movies and reading people become obsessed with the stories and become almost depressed that their lives are not that interesting or romantic. SO WHAT! It irritates me when people complain about how boring their lives are when they do not take any action to change it. In my personal opinion, life is what you make of it...if you want to make your life all about laying on the couch eating eating cookies watching the Simpson's then that is a choice but if you do not want your life to be like that then you have the ability to change it.
I was reading everyone else's blogs and I agree with what Ryan wrote about how Great Expectations and the lessons and issues dealt with allow the story and the novel to remain relevant. A good novel takes into consideration the issues at the time and thinks about if they will still be issues centuries later. Take for example Romeo and Juliet, two lovers whose parents do not want them to be together. Although today their might not be the death of the two lovers but the underlying issue still exists. Great Expectations is able to do that through Mr. Dickens genius. He confronts the issues of "the importance of holding friendships high and not the root of all evil, money and greed. Another theme is kindness and genuineness. To value people for who they are and not what they can do for you financially" (from Ryann's Blog). All of these issues are the reasons Great Expectations is still relevant to people in the 21st Century.

English 123: Blog 3

"Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts."
- Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Pain is part of the everlasting journey that every human being goes on throughout their life; the best part of life is not the end result but instead the trials along the way that help an individual to grow and become strong. My very first memory of pain happened when my father's mother passed away when I was 5 years old. She was my best friend and we would invent games such as eagle and snake where I would hide under the couch from the "eagle". When I was told she had passed away in the nursing home I did not know how to react. For some reason I did not cry, but the pain I felt in my heart I have never forgotten. The moment I did cry was when I first saw my dad cry. I knew what pain was and what pain could cause at that moment.

When we were talking in class today about every human being is telling and living their own story. I believe it is somewhat chosen, but I think that people can change their stories and journey's based entirely on effort and determination. "In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong."
(Charles Dickens, Great Expectations). If someone is determined to make a change in his or her life then I fully believe that change will happen.

Coincidences are one of the best parts of life. I love when something seemingly random happens and turns out to be linked to some aspect of your life. Coincidences make the story and journey of your life exciting and keep you alive for one more night; when death happens the story is over, so every story should be as entertaining and insightful as possible.

Introduction to Literature Notes (07/07/2008)

Introduction to Literature July 7, 2008

Found Poetry – find poetry in unlikely source

Alliteration – the repetition of the initial word

EXAMPLE: Peter piper picked…

Coincidence – 6 degrees of separation; random happening that occurs to actually have some relation to each other.

-Happen all the time without many people knowing it; 1:3 chances

-Possibly not random, but actually “meant to be”

BLOG

-Coincidences in Great Expectations and what links everyone in the classroom

Email blog to teacher!

Very earliest memory involving pain

SALUTARY – promoting or conducive to some beneficial purpose; wholesome.

-beneficial aspect

Create a common place sight on blog!

COMMON PLACE READER – someone who reads for pleasure

-try to put quotes in blog

MEMORABLE – try to put memorable passages into blog

“There are no accidents”

-James Joyce

-coincidences happen all the time; miracles are events that DO NOT happen often

SYNCHRONICITY - Coincidence of events that seem to be meaningfully related, conceived in Jungian theory as an explanatory principle on the same order as causality.

-everything happens for a reason but what are those reasons?

FRAME – stories within stories, best exemplified by a box

EVISCERATE – take what is inside out (the guts)

We are all in the process of metamorphosis

-when frame stories are handled well, it is not a tangent but a story within a story

Arabian Nights

-Sherry tells frame stories in order to keep the story going and stay alive.

“Shaggy Dog” Story

-story that lasts a long time and reaches no conclusive moral idea; pointless; causes the point of the story to not matter, but to the experience of the story.

“ANYTHING WORTH LEARNING IS BESIDE THE POINT”

-The point of the journey is the journey -John Barth

-There are 2 alternate endings to Great Expectations

BIL DUNGSROMAN – a coming-of-age story; Great Expectations is a bil dungsroman

PRIG - a person who displays or demands of others pointlessly precise conformity, fussiness about trivialities, or exaggerated propriety, esp. in a self-righteous or irritating manner

-death means no more stories; you live and you tell; you live to tell stories

“The Magus” great book with G.E. in introduction

Create an imagination that there is nothing that is boring.

ASSIGNMENT

-find a poem from unsuspecting place

PANDER – from Shakespeare character Panderous; sexually elicit to something

GENRE - a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like

ARCHETYPE - the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.

-most of us are always in a story

Great Expectations Characters

MAIN SUB

Pip Pumplechook

Convict (Magwitch) Wopsle

Joe Gargery

Miss Havisham

Estella

Herbert

Compeyson

Jaeggers

Wemmick

Molly

Biddy

English 123: Blog 2

Having being almost finished with Great Expectations and finished with Ex Libris I wonder about a couple points brought up in each novel.
In Ex Libris the story that sticks out to me in my head is "Never do that to A Book" starting on page 37. Reading this story made me think about how I treat my books and how I treat other people and items as well. I treat books in a harsh manner; doggy ear the pages, write in the margins, underline sentences with good quotes for later use, and completely bend the spine. If a book looks like it has been beat up, that usually means I have read it and enjoyed it. However, the books that look brand new means I do not want anything to do with them. With other people in my life it is completely different most of the time. I realized that I treat my friends and family with lots of love and compassion, but occasionally the hurtful scenarios exist (doggy ears and highlighting) that help in making the relationship stronger. These scenarios make the relationship with a friend or family member have a history, a past, a story. Without tough situations I would have trouble trusting anyone and therefore lack one of the most important aspects of life; friendship.
Great Expectations has a lot of different elements that I could analyze and reflect on with my life. The main part of the story that has grabbed my attention is Pip's relationship with Estella. Having gotten out of a 4 year relationship I remember all of the hardships and feelings when you are constantly being put down by someone, only to be broughten up when they say your name or act slightly decent to you. It is an awful thing to allow another person control your emotions. But it is hard to stop when there is something about that person that you are completely head over heels for. Like the saying always goes, " Love is blind". Love is blind until you step out and realize the love you have for a person is based upon infatuation from an earlier time. The hardest thing to do is walk away from the relationship that has consumed your thoughts and feelings for years. Pip is so infatuated with Estella and her beauty that he will let her treat him like crap. But with the mere mention of his name he feels on top of the world. His emotions depend so much on the actions and words that come out of her mouth that she controls him and she knows it. Miss Havisham knows it and encourages her to string him along like a puppet since she got left at the alter by a man she thought was the love of her life. The circle of revenge created by Miss Havisham will destroy Pip I predict because of the time and emotions he has invested in Estella. Investing all of your time into someone else's feelings about you is dangerous and leads to one thing; heartbreak. Pip reminds me of myself in the fact that he cannot recognize that the person for him, in my opinion, is not Estella but Biddy. Estella causes him to be a snobby gentleman, whereas Biddy keeps him grounded and respects his needs and emotions. A person should always be with someone who grounds them without taking away from their dreams, not someone who tears their aspirations down little by little.

English 123 Notes (7/02/2008)

ENGLISH 123: INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE NOTES 7/02/2008

• It is important to think about how one thing is related to another in the world of literature
• Mr. Dickens presents the convict in the first chapter not for the mere purpose of having a convict but because this character will become important later on in the novel. Rarely does Mr. Dickens put in useless information that is not needed in the future.
  
• Myths are perceived as something untrue that is not fundamental.
  
• Logos is the word meaning the truth, fact, or reality while the word Mythos means fictional; the opposite of logos
• Make sure to bookmark everyone's blog on your own blog site by creating a link. If you need help you can e-mail questions to either kimberly.hart@myportal.montana.edu or amber.bjorndal@myportal.montana.edu

MAKE SURE TO READ THE FOLLOWING STORIES IN EX LIBRIS:

1. Preface
2. The Joy of Sesquipedalians
3. My Odd Self
4. Scorn not the Sonnet
5. Never do that to a Book
6. The Literary Glutton
7. Nothing New Under the Sun
8. The Catalogical Imperative
9. My Ancestral Castles
10. Sharing the Mayhem

MAKE SURE TO READ THE FOLLOWING POEMS IN STEVENS BESIDES THE ONE ASSIGNED:

1. Sunday Morning
2. The Idea of Order at Key West

Good quote: " How do I know what I think until I see what I say?" WH Auden

In the novel Arabian Nights it is important to know the two girls' names on page 10.