Emily Dickinson Reflection Blog- By Abby & Gabby

Nature, the gentlest mother, is written by the author Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson has been known for writing about her love of nature and how even in its simplicity, it is the most beautiful thing that we have ever known. Many authors wrote about their love for nature during this time. For example, Walt Whitman was a big fan, and even before him, Ralph Waldo Emerson and David Henry Thoreau.  Her poem starts out like this, “Nature, the gentlest mother, Impatient of no child, The feeblest or the waywardest,- Her admonition mild.” (Dickinson). To Emily Dickinson, Mother Nature was “the gentlest mother” and is also very patient with her children. In the second stanza it then goes on to say that she hears everything; whether it is in the forest or the hill, and that she is always “restraining rampant squirrel or too impetuous bird.” (Dickinson). Finally, in the third stanza, she goes on to say,“How fair her conversation, A summer afternoon, her household, her assembly; and when the sun goes down (Dickinson). I think that this is saying that no matter what time of day it is, or what season, or what year, Mother Nature is always beautiful. Not only is nature beautiful in the day, but even when the sun goes down, she still offers something wonderful, like the stars or the moon. I like how in her poem Emily Dickinson talks about Mother Nature as if she were an actual human. I think that it makes it more interesting for the reader and is very creative.  In the fourth stanza, Emily Dickinson says how the voice of Mother Nature encourages the "timid prayer of the minutest cricket, the most unworthy flower" (Dickinson).  In this stanza, I think what Emily Dickinson is trying to say is that everything in nature has some sort of purpose, like crickets and flowers.  Even though they are not the best part of nature, they still have a purpose.  In the fifth stanza, Emily Dickinson talks about how when the children are sleeping, Mother Nature lights the sky with her lamps (Dickinson).  I think that when she says lamps she really means stars and the moon because they come out at night when everyone is sleeping.  In the final stanza of this poem, Emily Dickinson says "With infinite affection, and infiniter care, her golden finger on her lip, wills silence everywhere" (Dickinson).  In this stanza, Emily Dickinson is saying that with a lot of care Mother Nature wills silence at night.  I think that this stanza was pretty much self explanatory because I think it means exactly what she is saying.  I think that in this stanza Emily Dickinson uses imagery because she says "her golden finger on her lip" which I think is a form of imagery.  Overall, this poem was really interesting to read because it was about Mother Nature and how she is the gentlest mother.  This poem is really cool because Emily Dickinson refers to Mother Nature as if she is a real person, not just a figure of speech. 


Bibliography

Dickinson, Emily. "1. “Nature, the Gentlest Mother.” Part Two: Nature. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems." 1. “Nature, the Gentlest Mother.” Part Two: Nature. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems. Web. 28 Mar. 2012.

Journal #28

Emily Dickinson wrote "I heard a fly buzz when I died", which is about a fly that interrupts the speaker as they are passing away.  In the first stanza, it says "I heard a fly buzz when I died; The stillness round my form was like the stillness in the air between the heaves of storm."  I think that in this stanza Emily Dickinson is saying how everything finally became peaceful right before her death, after being sick and heaving for long periods of time.  I think this poem sounds pretty interesting just by the first stanza because the first line is so weird it made me interested in seeing how the rest of the poem will go.  I thought the second stanza was a lot harder to analyze, so this might be wrong.  The first line of the second stanza says "The eyes beside had wrung them dry," which makes me think of people crying because this poem is about someone dying so it would  make sense that people would be crying.  The second line of the second stanza reads "And breaths were gathering sure" which I do not really understand what this means at all.  Maybe it means people were gathering or visiting this person because they are dying.  The third and fourth lines of the second stanza go "For that last onset, when the king be witnessed in his power."  I think that these last two lines mean that death is finally because when you die you are supposed to see God, who is the king, and all his power.  I think this stanza brings all the other stanzas together and helps them make more sense.  In the third stanza, Emily Dickinson talks about how she gave away all her possessions and was finally ready to die when a fly came and kind of ruined the moment.  In the first, second, third, and fourth lines of the third stanza, she wrote "I willed my keepsakes, signed away what portion of me I could make assignable,- and then there interposed a fly,"  She is saying that this character gave away everything she could and was ready for death when  a pesky fly came along and kind of ruined the peaceful moment.  The last stanza of this poem  is about how the fly interrupted death.

Bibliography

Dickinson, Emily. "128. “I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died.” Part Four: Time and Eternity. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems." 128. “I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died.” Part Four: Time and Eternity. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. 

Journal #27

I am currently listening to a previous English class sing Emily Dickinson's poem Narrow Fellow in the Grass to the tune of Amazing Grace.  I think it is weird that poems are written to the same tune as songs.  Emily Dickinson was pressured by her family to be Christian, and Amazing Grace is a song about the grace of God so it kind of makes sense that her poems are written to the same tune as this song.  Even though she was pressured to be a Christian, she struggled with her own beliefs.  She would feel guilty if she thought thoughts against Christianity, but she was not really sure what she wanted.  From what I have read about her, she is kind of crazy and withdrawn.  She spent most of her life in her room writing poetry, and most of her poems were not even published until after she had passed away.  I think that Emily Dickinson wrote her poems to the tunes of songs that had some sort of meaning to her.  For example, Amazing Grace is a song about the grace of God and her religion was something that she struggled with.  The sun in Amazing Grace is part of nature, and Emily Dickinson liked nature.  It seems like a lot of poets write about nature and religion.  I think that tunes of Emily Dickinson's poems are significant to what her poems are about and to what she is dealing with in her life and also are similar to her writing style.  Emily Dickinson is known as a very famous poet today, and that is because her poems are viewed as awesome by a lot of people.  She wrote over 2,000 poems in her life time and they all had some sort of theme from her life in them.  Emily Dickinson liked to write her poems to the tunes of folkways because she liked folkways.  I think its cool and weird that she wrote poems to song tunes but hey maybe that is what was cool back then.

Emily Dickinson Reflection Blog

Along with Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson is also a poet who does not fit perfectly into either the Modernism period or the Realism period. Once again, realism is when the author attempts describes life as it really is instead of how they want it to be (Werlock). Realist writers are very specific and careful with what details they use, unlike naturalist writers (Werlock). The Modernism period was when poetry started to break away from the traditional art forms and created new ways (Fargnoli). It is obvious that Emily Dickinson loved writing poetry because during the thirty years she wrote poetry she wrote over 2,000 poems (McChesney). Before she was the famous poet she is known as today, Emily Dickinson showed signs of her poetic talent by expressing her feelings frequently and looking at life as a philosopher would at a young age (McChesney). Because only a very small amount of her poems were published during her life time, Emily Dickinson wrote with little to no feedback from anyone, positive or negative (McChesney). Some common themes found throughout Emily Dickinson's poems are "life, love, renunciation, love of nature, death, and the question of immortality" (McChesney). For example, in 677 she expresses her feelings by saying "To be alive—is Power—Existence—in itself—Without a further function—Omnipotence—Enough—" (McChesney). Emily Dickinson had a very interesting and unique way of viewing life, so to some people she was seen as crazy (McChesney).

I can also see how Emily Dickinson does not fit into either Realism period or Modernism period. One thing that I have noticed in many of the poems written by Emily Dickinson is that she uses a lot of dashes. I think the dashes are used for to make something seem dramatic or to emphasize something. Because she wrote so many poems, I feel like she probably spent a lot of her life writing poetry. She also wrote about a wide variety of themes ranging from love to death, which I think is interesting that she wrote about both. Sometimes an author will write about one or the other, but she just wrote about everything that she experienced in life. Emily Dickinson became such a famous writer not only because she was an excellent poet, but because she was different from everyone else. She wrote a lot about what she was going through in her own life and that made her poems more deep and interesting. Emily Dickinson was a total opposite from most women in her time period. She did not like to cook or sew like most women of this time period, so this is part of the reason she locked herself up in her room and began writing poetry (McChesney). Emily Dickinson has a writing style that is so unique and different, and that is why so many people thought she was crazy. Both Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman have writing styles that are not perfect fits for neither the Modernism period or the Realism period, and that is why they are known as famous poets today.

Bibliography

Fargnoli, Nicholas A., Michael Golay, and Robert W. Hamblin. "modernism and the
works of William Faulkner." Critical Companion to William Faulkner: A Literary
Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File,
Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

McChesney, Sandra. "A View from the Window: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson." In Harold Bloom, ed. Emily Dickinson, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Quinn, Edward. "free verse." A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms, Second
Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online.
Facts On File, Inc.

Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File
Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File,
Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Walt Whitman Reflection Blog

Walt Whitman is an author that is said to not fit perfectly into neither the Modernism period nor the Realism period. Realism is when authors describe how life actually is, not how they want it to be seen, and realist authors choose careful details to describe reality (Werlock). Modernism is a rejection of traditional art forms and has a focus on "stream-of-consciousness" (Fargnoli). Walt Whitman published Leaves of Grass in 1855, which incorporated many new poetic forms that were unfamiliar with the rest of the world (Connors). Whitman's goal was to create a new way of writing poetry that eleminated the traditional styles of poetry (Connors). After Leaves of Grass was published, Whitman spent the rest of his life learning new ways to perfect this new poetic style (Connors). In Whitman's Leaves of Grass, he speaks directly to all American people in a way that he hoped would make people want to become more literate (Connors). In Leaves of Grass, he speaks about himself with "I" but he actually referring to all Americans (Connors). For example, in this passage from Leaves of Grass he says "I" but he is speaking to every American: "I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you" (Connors). It is said that Walt Whitman's poetry is revolutionary because of the emotions expressed within his writings and for its expressive words (Connors). These characteristics were especially prominent when he was discussing love and democracy, which are both themes that are reoccuring throughout the works of Whitman (Connors). Walt Whitmas was strongly influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and admitted that Emerson was even one of the biggest reasons he began writing poetry (Connors). Whitman broke away from the traditonal forms of poetry and paved the way for the modern writings and free verse (Connors). Walt Whitman is known as the pioneer of writng using free verse (Quinn). Free verse is writing poems without using any sort of meter or rhyme (Quinn). Free verse has become a popular way of writng poetry over the years, and we have Walt Whitman to thank for that. Although today Walt Whitman is known as a famous poet and is admired by many, it was not always like that. He did not achieve praise for his poems until years after his death (Connors).

I can see how Walt Whitman does not really fit into neither the Realism period nor the Modernism period because he sort of made his own way of writing poetry. I do not think that he necessarilty fits into one of these periods more than the other, but if I had to pick which one he was most similar to it would have to be Modernism. I think Walt Whitman fits best in with the Modernism period because that period is breaking away from traditonal art forms, which is what Walt Whitman did. He broke away from the normal way of writing poems with the same meter and rhyme scheme and out of this came free verse writing, which over time has become more and more popular.

Bibliography

Connors, Judith.
"Whitman, Walt." In Bloom, Harold, ed. Walt Whitman, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia:
Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Bloom's Literary Reference
Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Fargnoli, Nicholas A., Michael Golay, and Robert W. Hamblin. "modernism and the works of William Faulkner." Critical Companion to William Faulkner: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Quinn, Edward. "free verse." A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Blog #18

For my Walt Whitman poem I chose O Captain! My Captain! because the title looked really familiar and I was interested in seeing what it was about. The first time I read through this poem, I kind of understood the point of it but I felt like I was missing parts so I looked up an analysis online and found one that I thought was a really interesting way of looking at things. Looking at this analysis, I learned that Walt Whitman was a huge fan of Abraham Lincoln and saw him as "The Redeemer President" of the United States (Lorcher). After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Whitman wrote this poem (Lorcher). If you think about what the poem says and then compare it to the events in the civil war, it actually makes a lot of sense. For example, in this poem Whitman says "The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won," (Whitman). Abraham Lincoln was part of the Union, and the Union won the civil war so that is how this line can be related to the events of the time. I think that this is a really interesting way to look at this poem because for once I actually know why it was written and what its meaning is. Walt Whitman was a supporter of Abraham Lincoln, who was obviously against slavery, which is one way in which this poem can be related to Emerson and Thoreau. The Civil War was between the north and the south, which is also people who were against slavery verse people who were for slavery. Whitman, Emerson, and Thoreau were all against slavery which is one huge similarity between them all.

Lorcher, Trent. ""O Captain! My Captain!" Analysis: The Meaning Behind Walkt Whitman's Famous Poem." Brighthub Education. 9 Dec. 2011. Web. 07 Mar. 2012.

Whitman, Walt. "O Captain! My Captain!, by Walt Whitman." Poetry Archive. Web. 07 Mar. 2012.

Blog #17

I chose to Hope is a Thing with Feathers for my Emily Dickinson poem after looking through quite a few of them for a couple reasons. First off, I was drawn to this poem by its title because it sounds like it would be interesting, and then when I read it it actually made sense to me. In this poem, Emily Dickinson describes hope as a bird that sits perched in the soul and sings without ever stopping (Dickinson). I thought it was really cool that she compared hope to a bird because it makes things a little easier to understand and makes things a lot more interesting. She talks about how the bird has sang to her in the "chilliest land" and on the "strangest sea" which to me means that in the worst of times she always had hope (Dickinson). Also in this poem it talks about how this little bird has "kept so many warm" which I think means that it has kept people going through the harder times. The last two lines of this poem read "Yet, never, in extremity, it asked a crumb of me" (Dickinson). I think these last two lines mean that hope helped her so much but it never asks for anything in return. I think this is such a cool poem because it is so simple yet it has such a good idea to it. Although I do not think this poem can be directly related to Emerson and Thoreau, they both had hope for similar things. For example, both Emerson and Thoreau were against slavery and hoped for it to end (Wayne). Emily Dickinson's poem is about hope and they had hope so I guess it is similar in that aspect. A few ways that this poem differs from Thoreau and Emerson's philosophies are that a common theme for their writings involves nature or something along those lines and Emily Dickinson's poem includes no reference to nature what so ever.

Wayne, Tiffany K., ed. "Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson." Critical Companion to

Ralph Waldo Emerson: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Chelsea House

Publishing, 2010. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Dickinson, Emily. "Selected Poems by Emily Dickinson." Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities. Web. 07 Mar. 2012.

Blog #16

To Build A Fire is a short story written by Jack London. This story is about a man who travels in extremely cold temperatures with no one to help him out besides his dog (London). The temperatures are so cold that frostbite is a constant threat, and only becomes more real when he falls into a creek and gets his legs wet (London). The man decides that he needs to stop and build a fire so that he can dry off his gear, so he stops near some trees so that he can use their branches to help get the fire going (London). Unfortunately, as the man is breaking off twigs from the surrounding trees he is also weakening the branches that hold a lot of snow and just when he gets his fire going, snow falls down and puts the fire out (London). Now the man is fully understanding of the seriousness of his situation, the man quickly tries to start a second fire, but once again is unsuccessful (London). The man considers killing his dog and using its body heat to help him survive, but his is not able to do it so he thinks of another way to get circulation throughout his body (London). The man decided to run around, but he rapidly becomes too weak to run and falls in the snow (London). As the night went on the dog sensed that the man had died so it went back to where there were more people that could provide for it (London). This story can be related to Emerson and Thoreau because it has a great deal of nature in it I think. The whole story takes place in the Yukon and for much of this story we are reading about this harsh environment. Emerson and Thoreau both wrote about nature quite a bit so I think that is the biggest way in which this story is similar to the writings of Emerson and Thoreau.

London, Jack. "To Build a Fire, by Jack London." The World of Jack London 2012®. Web. 07 Mar. 2012.

Blog #14

The Darling is written by Anton Chekhov, and the main character in this story is Olenka Plemyannikov. In this story, Olenka is said to have always been in love with somebody, starting out when she was a young girl and in love with her father (Chekhov). As time goes on, Olenka's father dies and leaves her his house where she soon meets the next love of her life (Chekhov). Olenka falls in love with her neighbor, Mr. Kukin, and soon after that marries him and helps him run his business (Chekhov). Unfortunately for Olenka, her husband left for Moscow and somehow died on the journey, leaving her all alone and widowed (Chekhov). Olenka quickly moved on after the death of her husband, and once again fell in love. This time around, Olenka fell in love with Vasily Pustovalov, who was a merchant in a timerland (Chekhov). Throughout this marriage, Olenka befriends Smirnin so eventually when her current husband dies, she once again falls in love (Chekhov). Smirnin had to leave Olenka for a little while, and when he returns he tells her that he has decided to stay with his wife and son (Chekhov). In reaction to this, Olenka suggests that Smirnin and his family move into her house and she will move in to the cottage that is attached to it (Chekhov). Yet again, after a short while Olenka falls in love with Smirnin's young son Sasha (Chekhov). I definitely think this story is really weird because I am fairly sure that it is not normal to be in love with your father or a little boy, but I guess I could be wrong. In this story, at one point it says how Olenka is left completely alone, with no one but her cat for company (Chekhov). I think that this can be related to Thoreau because at one point he left society and lived in the woods all alone (Grant). Although the reasons for their antisocial behaviors are different, they were both alone for some time.

Chekhov, Anton. "Short Stories: The Darling by Anton Chekhov." East of the Web. Web. 07 Mar. 2012.

Grant, P. B. "Individual and Society in Walden." McClinton-Temple, Jennifer ed. Encyclopedia of

Themes in Literature. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Blog # 15

Richard Cory is a poem about a man who seems like he has it all, but it turns out that he was not as perfect as everyone thought he was. For example, in this poem he is described as being "...He was rich-- yes, richer than a king, and admirably schooled in every grace:" (Robinson). As the poem progresses, we learn that Richard Cory was not as perfect as he seemed to be. At the very end of this poem, the line reads "And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head" (Robinson). I think this poem is really creepy because it talks throughout the entire thing about how this guy has it all and he is just too awesome but then at the end it says that he shot himself so its kind of weird how the whole thing played out. This poem can be related to Henry David Thoreau's philosophies about material items because in this poem it mentions how Richard Cory should be happy because he is rich. Henry David Thoreau accuses people of being obsessed with acquiring material goods (Grant). Thoreau says that people should live a more self-sufficient life style and should move away from the unnecessary material items and have a closer relationship with nature (Grant). I think that Thoreau is right about how just because people have material items or money it does not mean that they automatically have a perfect life. Overall I think this poem shows a lot about how society thinks and also a lot of the things that people value. Many people often assume that if you have money you are happy, but as shown in this poem that is not always the case. Also, this poem shows some of the things people value, which includes money and material items. I do not really think this poem relates to Emerson very much other than he focuses more on nature rather than material items and that is similar to Thoreau and is a complete opposite to this poem.

Grant, P. B. "Individual and Society in Walden." McClinton-Temple, Jennifer ed. Encyclopedia of

Themes in Literature. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Robinson, Edwin Arlington. "45. Richard Corey. Edwin Arlington Robinson. Modern American Poetry." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online. Web. 06 Mar. 2012.

Blog #13

The author of I Will Fight No More Forever is Chief Joseph. Chief Joseph was the chief of a Native American tribe called the Nez Perce found in the Wallowa Valley in Oregon (). In this story, Chief Joseph is talking about all the suffering his people have gone through and how he is done fighting (). The reason why The Nez Perce were fighting is that they were ordered by the United States off their land but they refused to go (). They decided that they would travel over 1000 miles and live in Canada, but unfortunately they had to battle United States troops all the way and with only 4o miles left of their journey, they were defeated (). One thing that I really liked about this story is how straight forward Chief Joseph is with what is happening. With most of the stories we are forced to read for english they are long and confusing, but with this one and is short and straight to the point. For example, he says "My people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are--perhaps freezing to death" (). In this little quote Chieft Joseph is talking about the situation his people are in and how it is not a good one. He is very straight forward with what is happening to his people and that is the way I like my english stories to be. A difference in the writings from Chief Joseph and Emerson and Thoreau is the lack of detail used by Chief Joseph. I think that Emerson and Thoreau use quite a bit of detail in their stories and as I have previously mentioned, Chief Joseph is just straight forward. Another differnece in the writings of Chief Joseph and those of Emerson and Thoreau is that in most of the writings from them contain something about nature and Chief Joseph's story did not mention anything about nature.

Blog #12

Edgar Lee Masters is the author of Spoon River Anthology, which is basically just a series of poems about different people. One of the first poems I came across is titled The Hill and is about all of the different people who have died and are buried on the hill. This poem is different from the rest of the poems I have seen in Spoon River Anthology because unlike most of the other poems that are about one single person it is about a group of people. This poem talks about different people and the different ways they have died and how they all ended up buried together on the hill. The book Spoon River Anthology all together is about a small town, so its kind of cool that you can read about one person is one poem, and then see them mentioned somewhere in another poem. I think that because I did not read the whole book I did not get the full affect of the story, but I think if I did it would be pretty cool. I think The Hill is a pretty depressing poem considering it is about people who have died and the ways they have died. For example, it says "One passed in a fever, one burned in a mine, one was killed in a brawl, one died in jail, one fell from a bridge toiling for children and wife-" (). One of the most creepy and repetitive lines in this poem reads "All, all, are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping, on the hill"(). I think that this line is so creepy because it is referring to the dead people on the hill by saying they are sleeping. Another reason I think it is creepy is that it is very repetitive in just that line and also throughout the whole poem.

This poem seems to be very eerie and almost a little careless about the dead people sleeping on the hill, which I think is like complete opposites with the way Ralph Waldo Emerson feels about death. When Emerson's wife dies he is devastated and miserable, and by the way this poem is written it seems to have a lot more eeriness than devastation.