Beatnik Poem

Klara Sulce

Why bring a defenseless human on the planet Earth?

Corrupt, monstrous land, why bother giving birth?

America..“Land of the free, home of the brave”

Recession in session, no money left to save..

Martin Luther King gave love to this nation..

He attempted to put a stop to segregation..

Yet racism lives on to this very day..

Someone always has something negative to say..

People slay day and night to get food on the table..

Some are less fortunate, they are unstable.

Rich people get and get and never give..

Selfish bastards, their impossible to forgive.

Hurricanes, earthquakes, death is always near..

Mothers in hysterics, their sons and daughters are not here..

Christmas time approaching, families are miles apart..

A soldier serving their country, risking their heart..

People seek to live through better days and nights..

What ever happened to people's civil rights?

Dreams shattered, promises broken..

Words that were left unspoken..

Babies crying, people dying, mothers weeping, fathers sleeping..

Soldiers fighting, animals biting, priests praising, criminals hell raising..

Birds singing, insects stinging, men cheating, woman breast feeding..

Love fading, women degrading, the sun setting, diseases spreading..

Why bring an innocent baby into a country full of devastation?

Where billionaires do not bother to make dollar donations..

Where government controls everything we do..

Surely now you will think things through..

"Bright Star" and "Choose Something Like a Star" Essay

Robert Frost's poem, “Choose Something Like a Star” and John Keat's literary work,“Bright Star” share a common subject, but convey altered messages that are displayed through different and contradictory techniques.The theme in "Bright Star" is that when in love nothing is more beautiful than your lover. While the theme of "Choose Something Like a Star" is that humans need to be individuals. Both poets gaze for this same quality in the stars, but thematically and stylistically each poem has its similarities and differences.

Both renowned poets, Keat and Frost agree that the star is abstracted from humanity as they know it, however Keats takes a personal approach to the star, whereas Frost takes a scientific approach towards the star and tries to acquire from it for social reasons.“Bright Star” contains lofty, formal kinds of words such as “thou art” and “splendor hung aloft” to show reverence toward the star. Keat’s specific word choices also contribute to the theme of the poem that man wishes happiness would last forever. Keats describes the moving water as priest like, and the star as an "eremite". The narrator does not desire these qualities. He wants instead to be forever with his lover. The speaker uses the imagery of being "forever pillowed upon his fair loves breast" to portray his desire for an eternity with her.

Robert Frost’s poem also addresses a star in the first fifteen lines, but the diction is informal. In plain, ordinary kinds of words, the speaker asks the star to “Say something to us that we can learn/By heart.” The speaker of this poem wants the star to tell the secret of its steadfastness or staunchness, instead of just wishing to be like the star. Then in the last ten lines, this poem adds a lesson. Although the star seems to give “little aid,” it teaches the talker “something in the end.” The speaker feels that just thinking of the impressive star will help him to be steadfast and not to be swayed easily with the “mob.”

While at first "Bright Star", and "Choose Something Like a Star" may seem to have much in common, they in fact share only similarities in apostrophe and subject. Therefore, one can see that these poems although similar in their title and central image of the star differ in their themes, form and treatment of the author's ideas. 

One Art

Klara Sulce

Mr. Perez

English AP

11 December 2011

            Elizabeth Bishop approaches loss in her poem “One Art” in a rather indirect manner; she doesn’t dive straight in and attack the big issues, like the loss of a home or a loved one, but alternatively begins with the little things that we lose throughout life. In so doing, Bishop correlated these immaterial possessions with the more important things we “own.” However, as the poem progresses the objects mentioned become more and more meaningful, as does their loss. By the end of the poem, it becomes evident that the loss of simple objects such as a key or a watch are a drawn-out metaphor for the loss of other things Elizabeth loves, such as her past homes and lovers. Verse and form provide the reader with an understanding of the speaker's attitude towards loss.

            In the first stanza, the poet personifies the lost objects, stating that they “seem filled with the intent/to be lost.” She boldly declares that loss is not a big deal, and that we should become familiar with it, loss is inevitable. She goes on to bring to the reader's attention to the fact that more abstract things, like time (“the hour badly spent” ) are also an example of loss. She is initially expressing the idea that devoting your time to relevant things is crucial. In lines 7-9 the losses are vague, but consist of things that we attempt to remember, such as names and places we've been to. By the end of the fourth stanza, the poem has become personal and she refers to “her mother's watch” and the house that she once loved and eventually lost. Bishop vigorously confuses the reader throughout the poem by making them wonder whether the speaker has indeed mastered this so-called “art of losing.”

            The last two stanzas hold forth the speaker's true emotions and reveal the conflicts that she refuses to admit she is going through. In the third stanza, we are not given answers as to what has happened in her life to make her feel like certain places have lost their significance, but we are free to speculate. In the final stanza, we discover that the speaker has merely been mulling about her beloved.   In the last line, she has a mini-breakdown and thus demonstrates the true difficulty of coming to terms with loss. Ultimately, her façade of confidence and wittiness integrate; the fact that she has to force herself to even write the word "disaster" this last time reveals the poet to be human and vulnerable, just like the rest of us.

Clocks and Lovers

Klara Sulce

Mr.Perez

English AP

11 December 2011

           

            “The Clocks and the Lovers” by W.H. Auden is about the contrast between clocks and lovers. This poem refers to the love that we all experience in life that can seem eternal at times and stimulate us to be forever passionate. Auden brings to the reader's attention the truth about time, and how it fades our love away without sympathy. Auden explains that love has no meaning in the beginning of the poem and shows this through the lover's point of view. The reader's feelings are exaggerated as being strong enough to make a “river jump over the mountain.” The overall mental attitude of the lover is one of everlasting delight and romantic happiness.

            As the poem progresses and we grasp onto the lover's feelings, our attention is shifted to that of the clock's, who tells the mere truth. The clocks are powerful, for they end the lover's time and begin the attitude we all go through at some point. This is that state of strain and business of society with “headaches and worry, vaguely life leaking away.” The clocks believe that this is the fate that was chosen for lovers'. Auden's language and imagery change extremely from the lovers to the perspective of the clocks'. The lover demonstrates his emotions by song and the clock by “whirr and chime” which set the time right away for the reader. Love is the one word that the language of the lover is filled with. All the animals mentioned are loving and joyous, from the salmon, to the geese, then to the rabbits.

            The clocks however, show many signs of love in a different way, which is through coughing, worry, breaking, stares, cracking, and distress. They also go on to courageously state, “You cannot conquer time.” These apprehensions of reality depict a depressing sense to love and how time fades it away day by day. The poet's purpose in assembling this poem show us that this is reality we should realize it so we can either expect it so not to get our hopes up, or never fall into this curse ourselves.

The Stranger & Metamorphisis

Klara Sulce

Mr. Perez

English AP

5 December 2011

            Are there distinct similarities between the protagonist in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and Albert Camus’s The Stranger?  Are these resemblances apparent through the theme or the actual characters themselves? Is the theme not the value of life as well as existentialism in both novels? Is there not an evolving aspect of identity in the character Meursault? Moreover, is there not a devolving identity characteristic in Metamorphosis?

            Is Meursault not an empty slate in part one of The Stranger? Does he clearly identify himself to the reader? If not, then is reader not forced to compose his or her own opinion about the character based on how they feel? Does the apathy he feels towards everyone around him in the first part of the story reflect his apathy towards the society he lives in? Does part two not show that he has more depth and insight on life? Does Meursault not frequently convey existentialist ideals through a metamorphic sub human circumstance?

            Is the idea of devolving identity not evident in The Metamorphosis being that Gregor transformed into something pitiful, “a vermin”?  And in the novel, does he ever go into detail as to how he turned into a monstrous animal or slowly accepts his transformation?  Does he die with the idea that he is a pest or an actual human being? Is there even a slight progression in the character of Gregor Samsa? Does he not demonstrate extistentialist thoughts through establishing a sub human reason for existence in the human sense? Is existentialism then the most overarching theme in both The Metamorphisis and The Stranger?

As I Lay Dying Presentation

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AR4ZM8vIBfnbZGd0NG45MnhfMHY5dDR6d2Yz

Existentialism

A common question that comes to mind when we think of death is commonly, “is there an afterlife?” I do believe the concept that our bodies either ascend up to the sky or descend and belong to Satan.  The subject is so controversial that when someone makes a suitable point contradicting my idea, I begin to have second thoughts. Existentialism suggests that human nature is chosen through life choices, meaning we can change our future if we wanted to and our fate is not predetermined.  An existentialist believes that a person should be obligated to choose and be liable for their choices without the help of outside forces. Furthermore, existentialism is broadly defined in a variety of concepts and there can’t be only one answer as to what it is or if it can be seen as the correct way of thinking. Personally, I think God knows what our next move is because he knows us so well, but we do have the ability to change his mind and prove him wrong. Nothing in life is permanent except for death, which is why god looks down upon suicide so much, because you lost all hope and made a permanent solution out of a temporary problem.

Empty Page Sonnet

Klara Sulce

Mr. Perez

6 November 2011

English AP

Robert Pack’s most inspiring piece of work is “An Echo Sonnet: To an Empty Page”. The use of literary devices in the sonnet contribute drastically to its meaning. The two apparent literary terms are apostrophe and the use of dialogue to help the reader better interpret what the poem is getting across. He displays forth a conversation that the “voice” partakes in with the “echo”, thus leaving the reader to believe that he is truly grief-stricken by some kind of tragedy.

Whether it is a death or the loss of a lover, it is quite apparent that the voice is recuperating from some sort of heartbreak. This is because of the quatrains he creates in the sonnet. For example, in the second line the states “And starting must I master joy or grief?” To which the echo replies, “Grief”. He is essentially saying that upon undergoing a death or loss of some sort, should one start fresh and move on, or grief some more in hopes of someday forgetting. The reader is deprived of an answer to these rhetorical questions because either decision made will cause pain and heartache to the voice.

As the sonnet progresses, he goes on to declare, “Her beauty makes of dying, ecstasy”. And the echo’s response is “see.” This explains the reader’s reflection of the sonnet being addressed to someone who has passed away and makes dying worth looking forward to. The voice has undergone a horrible misfortune that ultimately leads him to be alone and receive responses solely from his echo, whom turns his rhetorical questions into one word answers. 

Sonnet 130

Klara Sulce

Mr. Perez

English AP

3 November 2011

In Sonnet 130, William Shakespeare utilizes literary devices to develop themes in his poems. He relates the speaker’s lover to a variety of other beauties---none of which work in the mistress's favor. During the Elizabethan era, poets accepted Petrarch’s technique for writing love poems. He makes highly overemphasized comparisons between nature and the poets’ paramour that when literally translated, sound absolutely preposterous. In Sonnet 130 William Shakespeare’s use of understatement parallels the common poets’ use of exaggeration with regards to their perception of women. As a result, the poem is uplifted and brings forth the ideas that women encompass flaws and that beauty should not be defined through comparisons to nature.

            In the first quatrain, Shakespeare states that her eyes are “nothing like the sun,” her lips are less red than coral; compared to white snow, her breasts are dun-colored, and her hairs are like black wires on her head. It is through being brutally honest that he teases the traditional metaphors, and demonstrates a speaker who somewhat bewildered, decides to tell the truth about women and their imperfections. He questions the conventions of love poetry common to his day by intimating that, “Your mistress’ eyes are like the sun?” For the speaker, this idea is bizarre. For “my mistress’ eyes aren’t at all like the sun.”

            In the couplet the speaker goes on to declare that, “by heav’n,” he finds the love he exhibits for his mistress as ultra rare and valuable. The speaker’s full intent is discovered in the last few lines of the sonnet. He demands that love does not require conceits in order to be genuine; and women do not need to look like goddesses in order to be beautiful.

Aesthetics in Sonnet 31

Understanding the art of a poem is not an easy task to accomplish, for people often refer to things as either “ugly” or “beautiful” without attempting to determine the meaning behind the object or work of art.  We indicate that something is beautiful because it holds value to us and embodies a definite purpose.  For example, lyrics are striking or significant because they remind us of an individual or moment in our lives.  This principle has been come to know as aesthetics, the branch of philosophy dealing with such notions as the beautiful, the ugly, the sublime, the comic, etc. Because artistic value is compassionately personal, it must be felt as ones own. Sonnet 31 by Sir Philip Sydney portrays beauty through its powerful poetic conceit and its ability to reflect on love.

            In Sonnet 31, Sir Philip Sidney is infatuated with Stella, the star he seems to be seeking, but yet she is far out of reach. He is hurt incontrovertibly because she rejects him.  He asks the moon rhetorical questions and confides in him about his love life with Stella. He then goes on to propose that all women must be the same and their existence on Earth or in the heavens is irrelevant.  He resembles the idea that once a man is mistreated by a woman they love, they lose hope for all the others that might potentially be different.  To go as far as question whether even in the heavenly realm faithful love is regarded as foolishness proves how ungrateful he believes Stella is by contemptuously rejecting him.

            While he speaks to the moon he remarks that both of them have now become fellow sufferers of love. It is fascinating that Sidney makes the moon into a proper noun by capitalizing it, almost giving it human qualities in doing so.  This apostrophic take on the poem shows how love can have irrational effects on people, but still holds exquisiteness behind it. The moon is beautiful because it helps morose romantics think, meditate, and dream while also creating a passionate atmosphere. Astrophel’s eyes meet with the moons at night in hope of receiving some sympathy from someone who sees all that goes on in the world and looks down at all the lovers.

Sydney’s influential vanity concerning love and his personal experience with it is the prime example of beautiful poetry. Love is a powerful emotion that conquers everyone in the world at one point in his or her life. Rejection is not pleasant, but when the person you love does not reciprocate your love, you have to have the pride to accept this fact. By confessing to the moon his dilemma, the speaker hoped to obtain compassion of some sort. As noted in Sonnet 31, love is a natural and extraordinary passion; humans are wired to fall in and out of love.  

Passion and responsibility go hand in hand.

Klara Sulce

Mr. Perez

English AP

27 October 2011

A frequently conveyed theme in literature is the classic war between passion and responsibility. William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying displays forth this powerful clash between what one wants to do and what one needs to do. Most of the characters in this novel all face the challenge of deciding what is right to do and what they hope to accomplish. The most selfish person in As I Lay Dying is undeniably Addie and Anse’s daughter Dewey due to her unsympathetic attitude concerning her mother’s death and the fetus inside of her. Her actions show the predominance that one’s self-seeking passions hold against their obligations as a diligent person.

            Upon the death of her unfortunate mother, Dewey did not mourn as is expected to when one faces a dramatic loss such as this.  One of her goals in the novel should have been to abide her mother’s dying wish of being buried in Jefferson, however she becomes engrossed in her egocentric ways to accomplish this task. Although Dewey was going through a lot during her mothers’ illness being that a local farmhand left her pregnant, the reader is left feeling unsympathetic towards her. She portrays an immature and rash soon to be mother in distress and the struggles they face in modern day life. A moral duty of hers is to care for her youngest brother, Vardaman, be a mother figure to him, and to perhaps obtain some knowledge of how to take care of her own child.  However, she foolishly lets her own problems or rather; mistakes sojourn her from carrying out her responsibilities as the only woman left in charge of the Bundren residence.

            As a woman back in the 1930’s, Dewey should have taken over her mothers’ role in the family being that their family consists of five men.  Women are considered the caretakers of their families and have duties to live by such as cooking, cleaning, etc.  Dewey however, was not ready for this responsibility.  Conversely, she hopes to get rid of the fetus growing inside of her as soon as possible and demonstrates how uncivilized humanity becomes in order to fulfill their selfish needs. She is misled into exchanging sexual services at the local pharmacy in an effort to purchase abortion drugs. If Dewey had pursued help from one of her older brothers concerning her pregnancy; her outcome would have been extremely different. Ultimately, she seems to make one mistake after the other and displays the idea that once one stops being responsible, everything does downhill and leads to their decline.

            Not only did Dewey fail her responsibilities as a daughter, but she also was unsuccessful at being a potentially nurturing mother. Had she thoroughly thought things through, her life would have turned out better. She would struggle to provide for her brothers and child, but her life would hold a meaning behind it. She would have a reason to revitalize her life, her family. Consequently, Dewey’s selfish manner is significant of societies' way of acting upon their selfish needs and the consequences that follow their decisions.

Hamlet essay

Scene five initially unfolds with the two gravediggers discussing the burial of Ophelia.  Back in the day, if one committed a suicide, it was the ultimate sin and they were not worthy of a Christian burial in the churchyard. This conversation between the two gravediggers symbolizes how religious people were in the Elizabethan times and how sins were generally not overlooked. Shakespeare is attempting to stress the importance of religion in this scene and how even people that are not as important as others have a say concerning this matter.  He makes it apparent that the gravediggers serve a purpose in Act five due to the great themes they brings forth to the tragedy, specifically, economic irrelevance once one is deceased and existentialism.   

The main gravedigger commences to singing songs while he digs up a variety of skulls of wretched souls. Hamlet is shocked by the gravedigger’s lack of sympathy as he nonchalantly tosses the skulls around as if they are worthless compost.  He contemplates about whom these skulls might have belonged to. By displaying the throwing of the skulls, Shakespeare is making an effort to show that everyone dies, their economic status and place in society is irrelevant. Hamlet perplexedly states, “Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddities now . . . ?” (V.i.90–91). Hence, the lawyer and the courtier might have had an impact on someone’s life while they were alive, but once their bodies are buried, life goes on and does not stop for anyone.

Allusions play an important role in this scene; Shakespeare mentions legendary men such as, Adam, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar. Hamlet ultimately comes to the realization that all men eventually perish and no one is spared of death’s wrath.  In the beginning acts of the play, Hamlet deliberated committing suicide and in this scene it is evident he is glad he did not do so. By looking at the bodies and how people as insignificant as gravediggers can have an immense amount of supremacy over people that once were much more vital to society, Hamlet is repulsed. For someone who is looked upon so highly while he is living, he now knows that people will react inconsequentially years upon his death.

From a metaphorical perspective, the skulls represent the idea of existentialism. A British novelist once stated, “Existentialism is about being a saint without God; being your own hero, without all the sanction and support of religion or society.” By this she means, make your own legacy while you are living because once you are dead, nothing you have done will truly impact the world. This quote describes the characters of Hamlet, for they all wish to be heroes in the end of the play and keep their reputation flourishing, but once they die no one foresees them as protagonists. Their deaths were simply tragic and will be forgotten about rapidly. No one’s legacy or body lives on eternally.

Literary Terms Part 2

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bx4ZM8vIBfnbMjg4OTNhODMtZjlmMS00MzNjLWJjMTktYzk3YmMyMDcyYWI4&hl=en_US

Grendel Movie Project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U242E5zOR1I

Literary Terms.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bx4ZM8vIBfnbODVkMjJlYzMtYTk1MS00MmJiLTkyYjMtM2ExMDk3NzU4NzNl&hl=en_US

Klara Sulce

Mr. Perez

English AP

26 September 2011

            A theme explored in literature throughout the twentieth century was representing teenagers as mistaken tragic heroes. In the extraordinary novel, “Grendel” it became quite evident who the antagonist was as the novel came to an end. Although the reader’s first instinct was to blame all of the murders that took place in the mead-hall on the “beast” Grendel, one might argue that this assumption is a misconception. The cliché saying, “There are always two sides to every story” proved to be accurate after reading both Anglo-Saxon pieces of literature, Beowulf and Grendel. It became extremely apparent that the blame should not have been thrust merely upon Grendel, but rather on society as a whole.

       The audience acquired a new sense of knowledge as to why Grendel set out to kill as many innocent people as he did as the novel progressed. His intentions were pure as the novel opened and he did not want to cause anyone any harm. However, the constant celebrations the Danes would take part in at Heorot drove him mad with rage and envy. He spent his nights in a dark, isolated cave with his useless companion of a mother. His main reason for attacking the mead hall was to cope with his human emotions of sadness, isolation and jealousy.

Grendel was indeed a sympathetic character and a lonely monster that attempted to understand the insignificant world around him. He was extremely troubled by the outside universe and strained to come up with an answer to his philosophical questions. Grendel never had a chance to make the best of his life because he became engrossed in contemplating the reason for his existence. The resolution of the novel, Grendel, left the reader feeling sorrow towards the misguided beast. Grendel did not accept defeat and stated that if he had not slipped on his own blood, he would have won the battle against Beowulf. Grendel did not die a happy or well-deserved death and therefore the resolution of the novel can be characterized as incomplete. The uncivilized humans continued to go on with their lives following the death of Grendel and failed to comprehend the reason for Grendel’s doings.

There was a great significance to Grendel’s failure to prosper in his endeavors in the novel. The goal he attempted to fulfill throughout the entire novel was to destroy the Danes and distinguish what the meaning of life was. In chapter seven, Grendel’s tone and sense seemed more mature and he transformed into an all-existential individual. His law was to destroy the thing that defined him. By accomplishing his goal of destroying the Danes, he no longer had a purpose in life. This in turn destroyed him and ultimately led to his paradoxical death.

 Almost all novels, short stories, and so forth include a protagonist and an antagonist. In the longest surviving Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, the monstrous beast, Grendel is exemplified as the antagonist. He terrorizes the men that make a massive amount of noise at night and dare to disrupt him. Although not directly stated in the poem, characters like Grendel exist to show the evils of everyday life and the consequences of killing someone. After the killing of Grendel, Beowulf also proceeds to killing his mother. Every person has emotions and even the beast, Grendel had a family of his own who suffered upon his death.  The author of the poem gave Grendel humanlike traits to symbolize the people in the world that take part in bad deeds.  He did it in an indirect way to catch the reader’s attention and show the similarity between Grendel and humans.  After the killing of Grendel, Beowulf also proceeds to killing his mother. There was no need for him to prove his pride once more, his killing of Grendel should have been enough to satisfy him and make him feel empowering and glorious. Beowulf’s actions show the savagery of men and how greedy they can be. Grendel’s mother was a prime example of a mother and her love for her child. In present day society, most mothers would stop at nothing to ensure their children’s safety and mourn if something was to happen to them.  Grendel’s mother wanted revenge upon her son’s murder and a mere reminder of him by taking his annihilated arm.  Evil lurks all over the world, but it is mostly present in uncivilized humans. Grendel went about murdering people in the wrong way; however Beowulf did the same by killing his mother. The actions of both characters united them and made them similar. Grendel and Beowulf thought they were doing right by murdering, but their reason behind the gruesome killings was merely selfish. Beowulf wanted to be seen as a hero, whereas Grendel found it entertaining to see people die. Hence, evil is evident in humans to this very day and Grendel and Beowulf embody the individuals whom commit malicious crimes or partake in other awful deeds.

Imperial Adam paragraph

Women are often refereed to as mystical creatures that elude Earth, but ironically in the poem “Imperial Adam” by A.D. Hope, they are compared to snakes. Eve is described as being sinuous being that she loosened her thighs. The speaker’s tone is extremely sexist as he regards the woman as a mere servant or as Adam’s enjoyment. The poem is indirectly stating that men were created first as a masterpiece, whereas women were thrust upon the Earth for no apparent reason other than to satisfy Adam. In other words, women have no sole purpose on Earth rather than to keep men company. The reason for their forbidden romance is blamed on the seductive woman, but the man is to blame as well. Adam exemplifies most men and their idea of being superior to women, but as soon as a woman was presented to him he jumped at the opportunity to make love to her. This goes to show that some men have no self- control and he could have easily said no to Eve, but he simply continued on with his deeds.