Importance of Being Earnest the movie

After reading the the play and seeing the movie, I really enjoyed the movie. All of the visible sarcasm I actually understood! Usually in print, I miss cues and very important parts of stories. Thank you for letting us watch the movie version and thank you for a great class !!

Caribbean Region Information

After thinking about the Caribbean, I have decided to look up information of Jamaica. Because I am a dancer, I am fascinated by their culture; and of course their dance. The way they move and relate to the rhythm is very different and makes me wonder if I will ever relate to music the way they do. The more videos I watch, the more Ive decided I need to go somewhere tropical!!

Here is my video of Jamacian dancing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGVmLJ8CbZY

And of course, pictures :)

Mill vs Darwin

Both men have very different views about nature and the human race. Mill believes that the natural order can be changed. You have to overcome nature to survive. He also believes that man can try to create an equal society. Darwin believes the complete opposite. Darwin believes that culture is a big no no. There is a natural order and everything arises to just material conditions. If you are weak; you get squished. Yes, that is sad, but its the way of life. I am torn in between the two thoughts. I believe that any person can overcome their troubles and stand up for themselves to survive, but on the other hand I believe if you really have no way of survival or no way to strive for yourself, you are really "stuck in the mud." I have never had to discuss these two men before, but after thinking about it I guess anybody can have different thoughts.

* The first picture is of Darwin, the second is Mill.

Negative Capability

When I first heard the term Negative Capability, I was confused. After going over the term in both of my English classes, I am starting to understand the meaning. Keats defined it as "When a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason." I interpreted that as the capability of the artist to take his or her personality out of the text. Keats believed that Byron and Wordsworth were to personal, egotistical, and an autobiographical because it heightens subjectivity and the view of things in poetry. The perspective of the piece is ruined. I sort of agree with Keats but autobiographical works are not a useless piece of information. I believe autobiographical information is very useful. Not all pieces of writing have to be autobiographical but sometimes its necessary.

Poetry for class on wed

The poem I picked was “The Indian Serenade” by Shelley. (http://www.poetry-archive.com/s/the_indian_serenade.html) This poem appeals to me because of the name. Was Shelley in love with an Indian and is trying to serenade her? I have no idea, im a little confused but I liked the title. I would like to learn more about this poem. I found this information on this poem ...

"his charming short lyric is one of Shelley’s finest, simplest, and most exemplary love poems. It tells a simple story of a speaker who wakes, walks through the beautiful Indian night to his beloved’s window, then falls to the ground, fainting and overcome with emotion. The lush sensual language of the poem evokes an atmosphere of nineteenth-century exoticism and Orientalism, with the “Champak odours” failing as “The wandering airs they faint / On the dark, the silent stream,” as “the winds are breathing low, / And the stars are shining bright.” The poet employs a subtle tension between the speaker’s world of inner feeling and the beautiful outside world; this tension serves to motivate the poem, as the inner dream gives way to the journey, imbuing “a spirit in my feet”; then the outer world becomes a mold or model for the speaker’s inner feeling (“The nightingale’s complaint / It dies upon her heart, / As I must die on thine...”), and at that moment the speaker is overwhelmed by his powerful emotions, which overcome his body: “My cheek is cold and white, alas! / My heart beats loud and fast...”

In this sense “The Indian Serenade” mixes the sensuous, rapturous aestheticism of a certain kind of Romantic love poem (of Keats, for example) with the transcendental emotionalism of another kind of Romantic love poem (often represented by Coleridge). The beautiful landscape of fainting airs and low-breathing winds acts upon the poet’s agitated, dreamy emotions to overwhelm him in both the aesthetic and emotional realm—both the physical, outer world and the spiritual, inner world—and his body is helpless to resist the resultant thunderclap: “I die! I faint! I fail!”"

Romanticism and Fascism

romanticism is created by the authors feelings where fascism is created by the author scaring "sense" into their readers. Although they're not the same topic its easy to see how romanticism can be mistaken for fascism.

The definition of fascism is "believe that a nation is an organic community that requires strong leadership, singular collective identity, and the will and ability to commit violence and wage war in order to keep the nation strong".

Romanticism is defined as "The movement validated strong emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as trepidation, horror and terror and awe—especially that which is experienced in confronting the sublimity of untamed nature and its picturesque qualities, both new aesthetic categories".

Romanticism doesn't use force and war to get its point across but it does use some type of horror and terror to state its feelings; they can also be called emotions. Fascists are very emotional but their outlet is not always the most just.

With Fascism I automatically think of Hitler. If Hitler ever wrote any real poetry I wonder what he would have created. I wonder if he would have created his own genre or if he would have followed Romanticism.




* Just for thought, what do you guys think this picture actually is?

Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey

My first reaction to this poem was HOLY CRAP THIS IS LONG!! And I know as an English major that shouldn't be my first reaction but, it was.. so I dealt with the length and started to read through. Half way through this poem I was so confused!! Was I the only one? I think I read this about 4 times total and still after the 3rd was completely confused so I decided to "Google it", which probably wasn't the best idea (SORRY MULMAN :) !! ) I came across the SparkNotes for this particular poem. After reading the SparkNotes it became a little more clear to me. The speaker had not been back to that spot for five years. I guess five years is a long time and that gives you a chance to miss your favorite place. The speaker then goes on to explain everything he is seeing. After reading all of the SparkNotes, I realized that this poem is about longing to be somewhere else in the world/ longing to fit into a place in this world. I can really relate to this poem. If I could be anywhere in the world right now I would be with my fiance in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Although I have not been there in almost two months and not two years I can still relate to the speaker. The beautiful mountain air is so crisp and perfect. The houses that are set in the mountains look like they're painted into the scenery and not actually built there. Everything about my Colorado and the speakers favorite place are sort of the same. The peace and quiet, everything I read I took to heart. The feeling of being stuck in one place and not belonging here anymore really hit home; so did the wanting to be where you really fit in. Overall I believe this was a great poem.


* I posted a picture I took on my last visit in Feb of the mountains in Colorado just to show everyone how peaceful and beautiful they are *
* And I posted a picture of Tintern Abbey just because I felt like it :) *

Songs of Innocence and Experience

When I first read the title I figured that Blake had created a compilation of songs .. dir .. and as I came to find out I was wrong. Poems are like songs, maybe that's where Blake got his title. As I started to go through his poems I found myself very confused. I was reading a version that was not his plates but just the lyrics of the poem. I found it very hard to understand with out the visual aid of his pictures to help me. I feel like the pictures helped me to understand the poems more. The two plates I found very interesting was "Infant Joy" and "Infant Sorrow." I was confused as I was reading them. How can an infant be considered joy and sorrow? Usually the gift of a child is something happy and joyous like the first plate suggested. As I read further I realized that Joy is the child's name. The child is two days old and born happy like most babies are so its name is automatically Joy. She is happy to be a part of this world and experience more than just her two days here. In the next plate "Infant Sorrow" we see "Joy" in a different light. "Joy" is now being born/ leaping into a "dangerous world" to an unhappy father (shouldn't he be happy?) and a groaning mother. I wouldn't want my parents to be that way if I was just born! The line "Like a fiend hid in a cloud. " is what really caught my attention. Firstly because I had no idea what fiend was and secondly how can you hide in a cloud. I looked up fiend and figured out that it means the devil. I found this very ironic! Why would a devil hide in a cloud when a cloud is symbolic of an angel or maybe "Joy" from the first plate. As the poem continues the baby is struggling to get out of its swaddling. Because the baby is stuck between the world, his fathers hands, and his wrappings he does what any baby would do and get food. This is a really cool poem. I like the idea that in the first plate (being from the songs of innocence) it seems like an angel is born and in the second plate (experience) it is the devil. I hope my thoughts aren't way off here!

Plain Jane

Bronte does a very good job at depicting a rejected little girl grow up into a loveless woman. He shows the hard decisions she has to face when she has no means but herself. A lot of women can relate to the character of Jane. A lot of women can relate to being in her place. This is a piece of "chick-lit" that is not the normal happy and romantic setting.

chick lit

The chick lit I picked for our coffee house is "How To Loose A Guy In Ten Days." This automatically came to my mind because it is everything a chick flick entails. It speaks directly to women and their dating lives. And also because men would never want to watch the movie! Here is a clip from the movie..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZI67ux7aJY

Oroonoko = Major confusion!

After reading “Oroonoko,” I was left with a lot of questions. Was the story true? How did Behn know all of this? My mind was racing with all the possibilities. Behn comes right out and says in the opening pages of the piece that she has witnessed everything that she is writing about first hand. I found it very hard to believe that Behn was actually around to experience all of the horrible tragedies that Oroonoko went through. Behn jumped from point to point really quickly. She says a point, expands a little on the topic, and then moves on to the next event. That is where most of my questions came from. Why do authors do this? If I was an author I would not want to make my reader confused. After listening to the input and discussions in class about “Oroonoko” I began to understand what was really going on and that I was not the only confused reader in the bunch.

Definitely not a modest proposal!

After reading "A Modest Proposal" I really didn't think there was anything in the world that could be as outrageous as Swift's essay .. well after discussing ridiculous proposals the idea of "breast implant bombs" came up. With my fiance in the army and recently returned home from being over sees this really caught my attention. I read a lot on it and found this website I picked this website over the others I found because other people commented on the initial news presented. Their comments were really funny and made me realize that this proposal is just as insane as Swift's proposal of eating babies! This world is really full of crazies! This ridiculous proposal reminds me of the Austin Powers movie! Who would have ever thought that life actually does imitate art to such extreme measures!! Austin Powers called these women robots "Fembots" .. I wonder what these suicide bombers are going to call themselves ..

Literature for Friday's (feb 26) coffee house

I figured it would be easier to just post my literature about human rights on my blog. I found http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/. This is a website for the intervention to human rights.

"The Country Wife"

When I first started reading “The Country Wife” I honestly was confused. I knew what was going on but couldn’t grasp my mind around the concept that people believed Horner’s “secret” of being a eunuch. The men believed him and trusted him with their wives, and the women agreed to Horner’s idea without hesitation. There’s one thing if you want to be a “ladies man” but it’s another if you have to lie to get what you want. Horner is only excited by this plan because it the hunt. He wants to change men into cuckolds and gets very excited when he sees the competition and anger that arises between the men because of him. The women in this situation do not get jealous when they find out that Horner is sleeping around with other wives, they simply get even. They ban together and go up against him by saying they’re done being with him. His secret plan shows that men and women react very differently. Men get competitive and go against one another while women stick together and support one cause.
Shopping and gambling I believe go hand and hand with sex. All three are addictions that involve risking something. With shopping and gambling, you are risking your money and with sex you could risk your heart. Because Horner is a ladies’ man, he receives a risk factor every time he sleeps with another man’s wife.

My Satire pt 2

Well after going over my groups satire pieces and the examples presented to the class, I now know my example isn't exactly what I should have been looking for. At least i have a better idea of it now!

My Satire

Ok, so after researching more on what satire really was, I googled some examples of satire. After searching through many exapmles, I found this one. I believe it is controversial but also very funny! I really hope this is actual satire haha !! The captions that go along with this picture are "Obama's economical plan actually stinks worse," "When you're as full of crap as Obama, it has go somewhere," and "If you think this is bad just wait until Obama opens his mouth."

This was supplied from http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/mccainobama-funny-pic-satire

The Rape of the Lock

I think The Rape of the Lock is really funny! The name in general is great. He is comparing a really little, stupid issue of cutting off a piece of hair to rape. Rape is a really serious and horrible issue but comparing it to cutting of a curl to me is funny. When i first heard the title, I thought it was going to be a very sad and tragic story. When i started reading I understood what it was all about! I am slowly starting to understand what satire really is. The Rape of the Lock is an "epic problem" that's really really funny. I cant wait to keep reading and see what happens!

Writers, Readers, and Conversations

The thought of not having literature in today’s society makes me very uneasy. It is impossible to go a minute, let alone a day or a lifetime without reading something. Literature is seen and read everywhere. While walking down the hall, reading assignments and books for class, or even a text message, I read at least a million words (ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration). I can’t imagine how I would feel if such a big part of my life were to suddenly just disappear. Literature offers so many outlets, and different forms of writing. The major form I’ve heard most about this semester is satire. Who invented it!? Why did people follow this style? Was it widely accepted when it was first created like it is now? It takes me a couple of tries to read and understand some forms of satire. Like the video clip we watched in class, I had to have some of my group members explain to me why it was considered satire. I don’t know, maybe I’m just not funny or quick enough to understand what satire really is!

Internet in a cup

This is the first time I have ever blogged! After reading Internet in a cup it made me think more about coffee instead of coffee shops. I don’t like coffee, I don’t know why! It’s just something about the smell and taste that I really dislike. Because of this the longest I’ve ever been in a coffee shop such as Starbucks was about 5 minutes. While in there, I did notice a lot of what the article talked about. There were many types of people sitting and chatting over a cup of coffee.Although they all had different jobs, and came from different places, their conversation seemed to connect over the cup of coffee they were sharing. In the century, coffee shops were the place to go to have discussions, similar to the ones I had seen. People were forced to communicate verbally and in person because there was no internet. Today, people use their “at home” coffee shops. People blog and surf the net to communicate and discuss topics with different people. Coffee shops like Starbucks have now offer free Wi-Fi to try and lure customers out of their homes and into their shops. Maybe one day the 17th century idea of the coffee shop will come back into play.