Blog Portfolio May

Coverage:


All the blogs I've written this semester:

Killing an Arab by the Cure

Idioms from Culture

This is War

The Illusion of Perfection

If this was my poetry exam, I would...

Commentary on "Wanda Why Aren't You Dead"

Depth:


Idioms from Culture

I think this blog, about Amiri Baraka's Expressive Language, provides some good thought about the class and the world. First I talked about Baraka's point of view (one I completely agree with), and sort of got my thoughts straight. As I wrote the blog, things became clearer and more developed. Then later at the end I connected it to my life, and then to the world. It gives me perspective, and I hope it gave others perspective as well.


Interaction:


The Illusion of Perfection

I think Elizabeth's comment on my post is a good reminder, for me at least, that people have different ideas about the same thing. She really questioned my interpretation, and I think that's a good thing. It made me question myself, and actually helped me realize why I thought the things I did.


Discussion:


Commentary on "Wanda Why Aren't You Dead?"


I like this post because I developed my thoughts in class with the help of my peers- as we talked about it in class I got new ideas and interpretations, some which I agreed with and some which I didn't. Later, writing this commentary, I added some other thoughts that grew as I was writing. It's kind of funny really- I kept seeing new things as I was looking over it- it seemed like it would never end. Also, this post helped me see what I needed to work on myself- the analysis of poems, as well as just the overall structure and way to go about writing commentaries.


Xenoblogging:


no such thing as absolute

I liked Julie's blog- she always manages to look at it while bringing in its context to the world. And this one really made me think. Like I said, it was a real "thought-provoker". I like to think I questioned her statement about what makes one special, as well as added some thoughts.


Wild Card:


Killing an Arab by the Cure

In this post I brought up a song that was about The Stranger by Albert Camus- and discussed its interpretation/relevance to the novel. I think this is what blogging is about- not merely discussing and talking about things in class but taking something from outside of class and seeing that people all around the world have done things like read The Stranger. Sometimes I think in class- all of my classes at school- we have a tendency to forget about its importance, or even about others out there in the world. Given that we are supposed to be "global citizens" and all, I find that slightly ironic. So it is with pleasure that I learn about something in class, and then realize that this something is well-known all around the world. I think that's great.

Commentary on Wanda Why Aren't You Dead

In Wanda Why Aren't You Dead by Wanda Coleman, the theme of the poem is the treatment of black women, two words that have had negative connotations in the past. It describes the life that a black woman has had in her life.

The form describes the way in which Wanda is treated: with insults and carelessness. Almost the entire poem is just listing, without pause, all of the insults and rude thoughts of another about Wanda. The lack of interlude creates a continuous whining in the reader's mind without breath. This reveals that Wanda has been insulted her entire life, and this is practically all she knows. As a black, and a woman, she earns no respect, and is incessantly abused and slandered.

The repetition is key in furthering the mood of being surrounded by exaggerated libel. Each sentence beings with "wanda... wanda" and as ideas are repeated- the sustained insults throughout the poem- which creates an image of what Wanda's life is like. She is insignificant, not cared for, and abused. The most prevalent phrase throughout the poem are the lines "wanda why are you so angry". This is an introduction to what Wanda, as a black woman, felt on the receiving end of the insults, and how she is treated for her emotions. She reacts by feeling hurt and angry- a completely normal reaction: but this action is turned against her as she is being viewed as "crazy" and silly. She is just a foolish girl that doesn't know what's what. She is being blamed for everything.

The grammar- or lack thereof- in the poem also add a subtle touch of the treatment of black women. The use of capitalization adds to the derogatory insults that are given to Wanda. Her name is not capitalized, symbolizing the disrespect she is given: she is not even of equal value to a human. The only capitalization comes into play in line 25, "wanda you're ALWAYS on the attack", emphasizing the consistency with which she has been abused, and the effect this has had on her- she is defensive and on her guard. It also gives insight into the mind that insults her, who constantly blames her for all of his problems. The use of periods also tie into the regular insults she receives: because after each insult there is no period, it makes it seem like there is no end to the abuse she is given. At the end of the poem is the line "why ain't you dead" (29). This does not contain a period at the end, leaving an opening that the insults will not end. This reveals how women were treated, and how they felt as though there was no end to their unequal treatment.

This poem is reminiscent of the time when women and blacks were treated unfairly and rudely. Although written from the point of view from an insulter, we can clearly understand the side of the abused and the emotions they had, under the treatment they suffered through. The treatment of black women was poor, and Coleman is able to portray this in a wonderful manner.

If this was my poetry exam, I would.............

If I were to have an exam on the poem Old Pond by Gary Snyder, I would approximately look at the following things:

(Before reading the commentary on it in Break Blow Burn by Camille Paglia, and after)

1. No complete sentences: adds to the actions and immediate reactions that the narrator has out in nature- they are just words that evoke images, and the simplicity of being out in nature- the important stuff, without all the useless words.

• "The words float dreamily free": it gives the first impression that the narrator sees: the "blue mountain white snow gleam"- all at once, however he sees it instantly. This is before the mind, the un-nature-ish part of humanity sorts it all into words and interprets. There is no civilization- just nature.

2. Structure: Two stanzas, each one beginning with two lines of the setting-
                     "blue mountain white snow gleam/ Through pine bulk and slender needle-sprays"
and is then followed by the indented part where the day is described-
                       "little hemlock half in shade, / ragged rocky skyline,"

It emphasizes the way the narrator views his day- he introduces the place, and then what he did- sleeping in a hemlock, looking at the skyline. This also adds to the poem's simplicity, of the beauty of being out in nature- no complication, and no worries.

• "Repudiating society's vanity and materialism, instead supporting a realignment of "self to cosmos".

3. Diction: The words help create an image of a beautiful day out in nature, of rest and adventure: the words have connotations that create imagery in our minds:
                   "the slender needle-sprays" make us think of traveling through the trees, and the "pine bulk" creates that forest-y smell.

• The "needle-sprays" can be in fact a metaphor for the "needles in the endless cycle of birth and death, where waste and fertility are often indistinguishable". I guess the needles represent how nature views how life should be- nothing is wasted, in an eternal circle. The circle of life.

                    the "nuthatch call", although I've never heard or even seen a nuthatch, still brings up a clear bird call in my mind.

• It marks the transition from just watching to action- nature itself is calling out to him and urging him to take part in its life. Instead of the "luxurious silence" of sleeping in a hammock, he swims, dives, scrambles... "The bird is the unembellished voice of nature itself"- I think the interesting part is that all of this takes place in "no more than moments".

Also, the use of "scrambling" and "dives" are good action words- I can feel and imagine the same action the narrator is describing.

And then there is the "naked bug/ with a white body and brown hair"- I think this is referring to a human: when described as a "naked bug" it can refer to how after spending the whole day immersed in nature, he has actually become a part of it, an animal that belongs.

• The white symbolizes his innocence, openness, and his weakness- how insignificant he is in the grand scheme of things.

The last lines of the two stanzas: "up through time" and "dives in the water" (excluding "Splash!" which is sort of on its own) I think refers to him --> all of the other verbs are from other objects (the "nuthatch call", for instance), but it is the narrator who "dives in the water", and he who is traveling "up through time". The "up through time" bit is almost as if he is going back to his roots- away from the city, from the technology, from the noise, and back to nature- he looses himself in the hemlock and the "ragged rocky skyline", and it is the call from the nuthatch that brings him back awake and up and moving again: "up through time" and back to his normal self. Thus, he moves on to not just relax but play, "scrambling on the peaks" and diving into the water.

• It's also a bit of up vs. down thing- the watching vs. action.

Then there is the last line, "Splash!". For some reason, it seems to conclude the whole poem. After a day of relaxing and climbing in nature, he ends with a splash in the water. This word accounts for all of that, and has the connotation of cool water and happiness all in one- it is excitement! The narrator sort of just ends his day with a splash. That's nice.

• A little joke, almost, the word, concludes it all, much like other arts as they push you into its depths of thought and ideas.

The title Old Pond: refers to multiple things, but I like the interpretation that it is a bottomless pond- the narrator dives into its depths, diving into it physically as well as into nature and himself: it does not matter when he comes up (if he comes up at all), but that he, perhaps, took that "leap of faith" and just accepted it. "Snyder honors freedom and energy"- I think this is what the whole poem is about: without those "constricting cultural assumptions and emotional baggage", but doing things by instinct and emotion and in nature. The beauty of it. There is no guilt, fear, worry- just quiet in the mind. 

The Illusion of Perfection

Looking at the poem Harlem Dance, by Claude McKay, I think one of the main idea's it is trying to portray is the illusion of performers. Performers are always actors: they must keep up a facade for their audiences. A sonnet, the Harlem Dancer is a "little song", which says something about the idea behind the poem. The way I look at it, it is almost like the lady who is dancing is almost singing her song. However, because someone else is actually telling her story, her song is subdued and hidden, and must be told by someone else. The illusion she keeps can be seen by the contrast between the last two lines and the rest of the poem.

Applauding youths laughed with young prostitutes
And watched her perfect, half-clothed body sway;
Her voice was like the sound of blended flutes
Blown by black players upon a picnic day.
She sang and danced on gracefully and calm,
The light gauze hanging loose about her form;
To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm

Grown lovelier for passing through a storm.
Upon her swarthy neck black shiny curls
Luxuriant fell; and tossing coins in praise,
The wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls,
Devoured her shape with eager, passionate gaze;
But looking at her falsely-smiling face,
I knew her self was not in that strange place. 

At first the poem creates an image of perfection- the Harlem Dancer.

Not only do the words describe her actions and "perfection", the words also create an atmosphere of fluency and swaying back and forth. The rhyming of the a/b/a/b (etc.) brings a repetition of movement, and the alliteration in each of the sentences- "Blown by black players on a picnic day" - gives the precise movements she makes as she dances. Also, the things the author chooses to bring up- "picnic day" are of connotations of who she is. The picnic day is always happy, ideal, and sunny- much like the illusion she gives.

As the poem progresses, however, clues are given to her unhappiness. Described as "grown lovelier for passing through a storm" speaks of a past that might not be so perfect. The gauze that she wears could hide her true emotions about her situation.

Also, not only does the dancer keep her illusion, but the audience also does not truly care about her as a person- not as a dancer. This clue is given at the very beginning, as youths come along with prostitutes- it is not a respectable place where she is dancing so perfectly. Later on, the actions of others portray her illusion of perfection, and how they do not view her as a human with value. The phrase "tossing coins in praise" does not feel as though they really care about what she does- she is only worth a few coins, and their praise is not meaningful. The boys are "wine-flushed" and not thinking very straight, and everyone "devours" her, instead of really appreciating her for who she is.

This all leads to the last two lines, as her "falsely-smiling face" clearly solidifies the idea of the illusion of her perfection. Also, the fact that the narrator says "not herself in that strange place", it is not the dancer that is strange, but the place. I think that the "strange place" is not just referring to the location, but the attitude. It is strange, and wrong, to view her as a useless dancer of perfection. The stranger is not her, who should be treated differently, but the people who do not belong, who are erroneous in their actions and perspectives.

This is War

A poem based of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7XuXi3mqYM&feature=youtu.be



This is War:

One by one, we followed our foes.
We each stopped and listened to the rustle of the trees-
Searching for any sign of something out of place:
Standing still,
                                    the silence is overwhelming.

We strategically sit, stealthily concealed within the jungle.
Black bodies hidden behind a screen of green.

Then-
a sound.

Squatting, our ears perk up. Tense- ready:

Screeches explode, cutting through the air
as we make a dash for our enemy:
                  Shadows flash by-
         Earsplitting eruptions-
The banging of the battle-

Then we win. And we celebrate. And we move on.

This is war.

Idioms from Culture

Amiri Baraka's Expressive Language brings up some interesting points. As he talks about the relationship between speech, literature, and culture, I followed his though processes.

First, he says that language comes from culture. What I like about his that it means two things (much like what he says later about several meanings for one word): that language comes from the culture, and how and why you say things is because of your culture, and also that the language you use in literature, poems, and speech are about your culture- about your life. There are a multitude of cultures, and there are a multitude of meanings. It depends on your social status, the money you have, where you are, what climate, environment, home, people... everything in your life- from the objects to the situation to the environment to the live things- all of that is your culture, and all of this dictates how you perceive things and how you understand things. Like Baraka says, the seventy cents he has for a beer is not the same things as his neighbor who looks hopefully at the garbage. Nor is it the same to David Rockefeller. So the words that we use and choose are not just words, or definitions- but they are speak of our life, culture, and depth. Baraka writes, "It is the users [of words] that establish the world's realities. Realities being those fantasies that control your immediate span of life". Using words reveals how you see the world- and it can be a fantasy reality- and why and how you act the way you do. This is fascinating. Everyone's culture is different, and so there are similar meanings for different words and different meanings for the similar words. Words portray culture and life through their meanings, rhythms, and syntax- it is not only what the words mean that reveal your culture, but the way you say things- and this is very true. Sophisticated people tend to speak in longer, more complex sentences with complicated words, unlike others who use short sentences and get straight to the point, using simple words to describe their thoughts. There are a myriad of ways to say things, but it is culture that gives words meaning. A dictionary of words are merely definitions- without culture, there is no interpretation, individuality, or meaning. It is the ideas and wishes behind those words based on your culture that give speech a certain style.

Recently in a SAT prep class, we were talking about idioms. How Americans say "many a day" or "the coin dropped" or "I broke into my shoes" - and because we had diverse students, some were shocked and confused at these words- for if we only look at the definition of words, the meaning is not clear- the coin dropped just means that a coin dropped- not any sort of epiphany or anything. And breaking into one's shoes is not the same thing as breaking into a house. So culture does play a large part in how we say things and what we mean. This is why it is hard to learn another language. As I learn Spanish, I understand quite a bit, yet I lack the idioms and Spanish sayings that go along with culture. Culture has a large role in how we think and see, and this is clear through how we say things.