Reflection Blog- Thanatopsis

According to my literary criticism, Thanatopsis translates from Greek to mean "view of death" (Huff 1). When I began reading this poem and saw that it was about death, I kind of became more interested in it than I originally was. I thought it was interesting that William Cullen Bryant was bold enough to write a poem about the one thing that is guaranteed in our lives: death. I know that this is not true for everyone, but I think that it is safe to say that most people fear death and what happens after your final breath. I know that for me at least, death is kind of scary to think about. Its not something most people want to think about, so that is one reason I thought it was pretty cool that William Cullen Bryant wrote a poem all about death. In the beginning of this poem, it seems that the author thinks that death will not happen to him, but throughout the poem we see him come to terms with death and in the end he not only accepts death, but also he does not fear it. At one point in this poem, Bryant writes about the "narrow houses" that we are buried in after we die. Right after I read this, I thought that it was kind of creepy that he mentioned coffins in his poem, but eventually I saw the point he was trying to make. I think he was calling them narrow houses instead of coffins simply because narrow houses sounds a lot more inviting and less scary than what it is in reality. One of the big themes in this poem is that nature will always enforce the rule of mortality, and there is nothing you can do about it. One of the main things I took from this poem is that death happens to everything, plants, animals, humans, and that we are all part of the circle of life. Nature has a way of making things work out, and in order for everything to stay balanced things will always have to die. After reading this poem, I looked at things a little differently than I did before because this poem kind of makes you realize that everyone is going to die. No matter how much money you have, no matter how healthy you are, one day you are going to die and be buried on the same earth as everyone else. A few lines from this poem represent this point very well:

Thou shalt lie down with patriarchs of the infant world, -- with kings, the powerful of the earth, - the wise, the good, fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past... (Bryant 33-36).

I think that this poem is one of the best poems I have ever read, which really does not say much since I do not read poems but you get the point. I think that William Cullen Bryant is awesome for creating such a positive outlook on such a depressing topic. I think that this poem represents the Romanticism period because of the amount of description used in throughout the poem, and also because the topic of death is not something we ever looked at in the other periods.

Bibliography

Bryant, William Cullen. "16. Thanatopsis." Bartleby.com. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.

Huff, Randall. "'Thanatopsis'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Reflection Blog- Comparing Fireside Poems

I chose to compare Autumn and Flower-de-Luce for my reflection blog. I chose to compare these two poems because we did a journal about Autumn and we went through Flower-de-Luce in class and I thought it would be easier to compare two poems that I was already familiar with rather than picking two random poems. First of all, the poem Autumn is about a a man who is talking about how he is ready for autumn to come and also about all of the things that come along with this season. One of the key things that shows that this poem was written in the Romanticism period was how descriptive the author was throughout this poem. Many authors during the Romanticism were very descriptive in their writing, which I think is really cool because I like to imagine what the author is writing about as I am reading. For example, in Autumn the author says many descriptive things, such as "upon thy bridge of gold" and "brighter than the brightest silks of Samarcand" (Longfellow 6, 3). Also, in Flower-de-Luce the author is very descriptive when he says "the lovely town was white with apple-blooms" and "across the meadows, by the old gray manse" (Longfellow 5, 9). On the other hand, Flower-de-Luce is about how a man feels about the death of his friend. One thing that I do see as similar between these two poems is that each poem seems to be about how the author feels about something. In Autumn, the feelings the author writes about are his feelings towards autumn, and in Flower-de-Luce the author is writing about his feelings of sadness over the death of his friend. I think that because both of these poems incorporate quite a bit of feeling into them, it shows yet another characteristic of the Romanticism period. When I hear the word "Romanticism" I think of love and emotions, so I think that it makes sense if these poems are written about an authors feelings towards something. One difference I noticed in regards to the feelings in these two poems is that one is more of a positive feeling and the other is more negative. In Autumn, the author is talking about his excitement for autumn to come and how much joy the season brings to everyone. To me, that seems to come off as a positive feeling. For example, in lines 7-8 the author is talking about the joy autumn brings to all the farmers:

Blessing the farmers through all thy vast domain! Thy shield is the red harvest moon... (Longfellow 7-8).

In contrast, I see the poem Flower-de-Luce as a negative poem because it is about death. For example, in lines 1-4 the author is talking about the pain he feels for the loss of his friend:

How beautiful it was, the one bright day in the long week of rain! Though all its splendor could not chase away the omnipresent pain (Longfellow 1-4).

I think that both of these poems have many differences, but also if you look closely you can find many similarities in them as well.

Bibliography

Longfellow, Henry W. "Hawthorne. Flower-de-Luce. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1893. Complete Poetical Works." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.

Longfellow, Henry W. "Sonnets. Autumn. The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1893. Complete Poetical Works." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.

Journal #20- An original journal about autumn by Gabrielle Elizabeth Hermes

In this poem, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow speaks a lot about autumn. When I think of autumn, I think of all of the leaves on trees that are changing colors and of all of the sounds of autumn, such as crunching leaves and the wind blowing through the trees. In this poem, it seems to me that the speaker is preparing for autumn. In the very beginning of this poem, Longfellow tells us that autumn is finally coming after all of the rain. With the way he says this, I see it as a good thing that autumn is finally coming because they are tired of all of the rain. Longfellow also speaks of the events that happen in autumn, for example when he says

Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain! Thy shield is the red harvest moon, suspended so long beneath the heaven's o' erhanging eaves (Longfellow 8-10).

In this passage, he is saying that autumn is the season in which farmers harvest their crops and are blessed by the red harvest moon. Like I said earlier, when I think of autumn one of the first things the comes to my mind is the leaves and the wind, and Longfellow mentions this in line 14 when he says "Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden leaves!" (Longfellow 14). I think this poem relates to the Romanticism period we are studying because this poem is very descriptive. At some points in this poem, the author was so descriptive that I had a very vivid image of what the author was speaking about in my head. Longfellow also used a lot of metaphors in this poem, for example when he says "Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne" (Longfellow 5). In this metaphor, he is comparing two things using like or as so he is therefore using a metaphor. I think this is a cool poem about autumn.

Bibliography

Longfellow. "Sonnets. Autumn. The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 1893. Complete Poetical Works." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 08 Dec. 2011.

Reflection Blog- The Chambered Nautilus

I picked The Chambered Nautilus to read as my poem and I really liked this poem because it was really short and pretty simple to read. From what I understand, this poem is about a little sea creature that grows and grows constantly changing its shell. This creature is called a nautilus, and throughout this poem Oliver Wendell Holmes interprets this creature in a way that allows it to represent a number of things. Also, in this poem we learn that this nautilus is being told by a heavenly voice to move from its old shell into one that is better (Holmes 18). By talking about this "heavenly message", Oliver Wendell Holmes is writing according to the normal pattern used in the 19th century, which involves observing nature in order to become a better person (Huff 5). Many different people have different reasons for what this nautilus represents, but I think that having it represent life is a really cool way to look at it. In this poem, the nautilus is constantly changing and moving on to better things which I think can be compared to the way people live today. For example, people are changing and growing all the time, just as the nautilus is doing in this poem. In this poem I also noticed many references to Greek mythology, and then when I read Randall Huff's literary criticism he mentioned the many references Holmes made to Greek mythology. For example, in line 5 Holmes says

In gulfs enchanted, where the sirens sing, and coral reefs lie bare, where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair (Holmes 5-7).

Sirens are creatures in Greek mythology that sing and lure men onto their island, and the "cold sea-maids" is a reference to mermaids (Huff 2). I think that Oliver Wendell Holmes used a creature of the sea to write this poem about because it is very natural for a nautilus to change and grow, and I think that is a theme in this poem.

I think that this poem represents the Romanticism period in many ways. First off, I think that Oliver Wendell Holmes was pretty descriptive in this poem. I think this was a relatively short poem, but for the length of it I think there is quite a bit of detail. For example, in line 4 Holmes says "On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings" and again in line 12 when he says "As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell" (Holmes 4, 12). I know we have read stories that are much more descriptive than this one, but I think that in comparison to length this poem includes a lot of descriptions. Also, I think this poem belongs in the Romanticism period because of the references to nature and then using those references to teach a life lesson in a creative way. Oliver Wendell Holmes took a boring nautilus and made it into a metaphor for the human soul, and he did so in a way that is so timeless that people can still learn from this poem today.

Huff, Randall. "'The Chambered Nautilus'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CPAP0070&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 8, 2011).

Holmes, Oliver W. "801. The Chambered Nautilus. Oliver Wendell Holmes. 1909-14. English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman. The Harvard Classics." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.

Reflection Blog- Washington Irving

In The Devil of Tom Walker, Washington Irving tells a story of a man who sells his soul to the devil in return for wealth. To me, this story seemed to a very simple plot that followed the same idea that many stories of this sort follow. A man with little money and a harsh life encounters the devil and strikes up a deal that will give him the wealth that he desires in return for his soul. I think that Washington Irving adds a lot of creativity into his story with the way he describes the devil and the way he tells us how the devil does his business. In this story, we learn that Tom Walker is a greedy man that is married to a greedy women, and the relationship between the two of them is anything but loving (The Devil and Tom Walker). A good example from the story that shows the bad relationship between Tom and his wife is when she disappears for days and Tom is more worried about the valuables she took than about her well being (The Devil and Tom Walker 246-247). This story represents the Romanticism period in that one of the biggest themes in this story is greed. The Romanticism period seems to have a lot to do with more of the material things in life versus the littler things in life. In this passage, Washington Irving tells us how Tom Walker felt about his wife's disappearance Tom now grew uneasy for her safety, especially as he found she had carried off in her apron the silver teapot and spoons and every portable article of value (The Devil and Tom Walker 246). This passage shows how greedy and selfish Tom Walker is because it says he only really became worried about his wife when he realized that she had taken their most valuable items with her. Something I noticed while reading this story is how descriptive Washington Irving was. Throughout Tom's shortcut through the swamp, he describes every little detail, from the roots in the ground to the trees that are ninety feet high (The Devil and Tom Walker 243). I like that Washington Irving used so much detail because it helps me focus more on the reading because I imagine what the setting is like. When authors do not use much detail, I have a hard time reading their work because its so boring. I noticed many similarities between The Devil and Tom Walker and Rip Van Winkle. For example, I thought that both stories included quite a bit of detail. In Rip Van Winkle, Washington Irving uses a lot of detail when describing the mountains and the little villages that lay at the foot of these mountains (Rip Van Winkle 4-5). Another similarity I noticed between the two stories was that each man in the two stories had a wife that was described as "termagant". I think it is kind of interesting that Washington Irving included a bad wife in both of these stories because it makes it seem like he could have had issues with mean women in his life or something. One of the major differences in these two stories is the differences in the themes. It seems to me that the theme of The Devil and Tom Walker has a lot to do with greed and materialistic things, and the theme is Rip Van Winkle is more of about not letting life get away from you. Bibliography Irving, Washington. “The Devil and Tom Walker.” Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 240-250. Print. Matthews, Washington Irving. "4. Rip Van Winkle By Washington Irving. Matthews, Brander. 1907. The Short-Story." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 06 Dec. 2011.