Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Post for Jan 29

Hello All,

As we discussed on the first day of class, the best way to elevate your writing skills is to read more critically and often. As such, for this post, I want you to post the introductions to your analysis of the poem. After you've posted your introduction, read the introductions of your fellow classmates, and we'll discuss all of these on Friday.

Take care,

m woodman

30 comments:

  1. A big, green, oval giant towers over the fruits as it waits on the table; the inner core full of deliciousness, waiting to be ingested. Charles Simic's poem "Watermelon," depicts an image of people eating a watermelon. Archetypes are universal symbols that evoke certain meaningful or emotional states within ourselves. As the 'Green Buddhas' represent the fat and oval watermelon, the 'teeth' represent the seeds that we spit out when we eat them. The 'smile' of the watermelon symbolizes the cut up watermelon, forming a smiling face shape. The poet shows how we eat watermelons by giving us an image of how we eat them.

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  2. According to Woodman, “An archetype is a idealized form or model of a person, object, or place, from which individual examples and permutations derive”(slide 4). The poem called Nest has several concepts that are developing the role of archetypes and symbols which make the writing interesting. Nest is the bird’s home where they were born, where they were fed, secure, intimidated, and nurtured. Similarly to birds, people have a home were they were born, where they feel secure, nurtured and with a support of a family.
    It is a home and family who give to people the intimacy, and confidence that they need to feel secure?

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  3. Someone, somewhere, right now is saying goodbye to a loved one. Thousands of people travel every day; some people travel to work and some go as far as the other side of the world. In each case, people must part with loved ones. In Amy Lowell’s poem, “The Taxi” she implies that separation can be very difficult. An archetype can be defined as any object, place, or universal symbol that holds meaning or evokes emotions in us. Lowell uses archetypes of loneliness, separation, distance, and painful imagery.

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  4. Travis Tolliver said...

    Forests represent the ultimate struggle between man and nature. Anthony Steven’s, in his book "Ariadne’s Clue", describes forests as “dark, mysterious, and often impenetrable”, and they are “a place readily filled with unconscious projections” that can bring about fear in even the strongest willed individuals (106). What lurks behind the shadows? Is there rescue for anyone in a place so impenetrable that even civilization has retreated from its very doorstep? “Lost In The Forest”, a poem by Amy Gerstler, sums up Steven’s views and paints a terrifying picture for the reader as the heroine ventures through a forest ripe with mystery, discovery, and sybolism, and leads to one final choice that may cost her salvation.

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  5. Victoria Valencia

    “I’ve stayed in the front yard all my life. I want to peek at the back. Where it’s rough and untended and hungry weed grows. A girl gets sick of a rose”. These are the first few lines from Gwendolyn Brooks’s groundbreaking poem titled “A Song in the Front Yard”. In this poem, the author uses archetypes which are the original ideas that symbols manifest to tell a story. The poem is about a young girl that is bored with her lifestyle. The girl talks about her desire to live her life in a way that her mother would not approve of. There are archetypes such as the front yard which represents order and openness, and the backyard which represents chaos and privacy. We also see the archetypes of a weed which represent things that are unaccepted and not welcome against the archetype of a rose which are considered beautiful, desirable, and good. These archetypes help to explain the problem in which the poem was written about, and without them the theme of the poem would not be as easily understood.

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  6. Kathryn Snow said...
    “Yet it seemed it winter still, and, you away,
    As withy your shadow I with these did play.”
    William Shakespeare’s 98th sonnet about the pleasures of spring and the longing for a lover is a wonderful example of archetype usage. The symbols of youthful spring gives life to the love he has by comparing them to flowers and birds. An archetype can be described as an, “[…] Idealized form or model of a person, object or place, from which individual examples and permutations derive (Woodman, slide 4).” While archetypes require a form, a symbol is “[…] An image or a thing which acquires its symbolic value through the meanings and emotions it evokes in us (Stevens p 12).” “From You I Have Been Absent in the Spring” conjures symbols of love to convey a man’s deep pining for his lover.

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  7. Jessica Cooper

    In the poem “Home is so sad”, author Philip Larkin uses several archetypes to convey the significance of home. Archetypes are used as an original idea in which a symbol manifests. Also, according to author Carol S. Pearson, Ph.D‚ “when we encounter [archetypes] in art, literature, sacred texts, advertising—or in individuals or groups—they evoke deep feeling within us. These imprints, which are hardwired in our psyches, were projected outward by the ancients onto images of gods and goddesses” (Archetypes 101 par.1). In this instance, the archetype home is one of safety, comfort, and warmth.

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  8. Today about fifty percent of marriages in America end in divorce. And like archetypes, marriage's meaning has also manifested itself into a whole different idea. The poem titled "People Getting Divorced" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti expresses the idea of divorce through a pair of shoes, and deciphers their meaning as a new beginning,a fresh start, more like a reset button to a misconception of failure, as it was seen in the early years.

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  9. May Sartons poem "A Glass of Water", uses the theme of water to symbolize purity and cleanliness. "A symbol is an image or a thing which aquires its symbolic value through the meanings and emotions it evokes in us"(12). Sarton uses a glass of water to represent its ability to create a sound and healthy state of being.

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  10. “After eating chocolate you feel godlike, as though you can conquer enemies, lead armies, entice lovers", said Emily Luchetti. Elaine Equi’s “Ciao Bella Chocolate Sorbet” depicts how one is transformed after a single scoop of chocolate sorbet. Archetypes are the components of the collective unconscious and what gives someone meaning (Stevens p. 433). The theme of Equi’s poem is about how one can feel good about themselves having a similar or “knock off” of the real thing. You can indulge in this low calorie chocolate sorbet as if you are eating a bowl of Dewar’s chocolate ice-cream without the calories.

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  11. I liked A Good Time: by Yehuda Amichai becaues to me. it eludes to the volitiaty of love.
    I also enjoyed Watermelons by Charles Simic, it brought a smile to face, and thoughts of times past.
    My next selection was Consider A Move by Mechael Ryan, very approate to my place in life right now.
    My last selevtion was The Wound, By Ruth Stone, If you know me you would understand why this would have special meaning to me.

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  12. Esther said...

    William Buttler Yeats poem "A Drinking Song” uses the theme of wine which symbolizes the blood of gods. According to Woodman, "An archetype is a idealized form or model of a person, object, or place, from which individual examples and permutations derive". Yeast uses wine to represent of how easy it can be to fall in love if you take a drink of wine.

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  13. “I hid my love when young …." This is part of the opening phrase of John Claire's poem titled, "Song." In this poem he describes how he loves someone but kept a secret from everyone. In this poem Claire has archetypes. In Ariades clue he describes how “archetypes are genome-bound units of information which programme the individual member of a species to perceive, respond, and behave in ways which are adapted to the circumstances prevailing in the environment at any given time.”(22) For example, love describes affection. He had affection towards her by describing how he would leave a memory in each place he was. He also mentioned Light; which is a symbol that describes how his emotions were when he would see her. Gold symbolizes illumination; meaning to him that her golden chain illuminated her and brought more attention. “The riddle nature could not prove was nothing else but secret love.” At the end of the poem describes how he didn’t want to let her know how he felt because he felt that it would not make a difference.

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  14. “Archetypes are the components of the collective unconscious. […] we meet these same motifs in the fantasies, dreams, deliria and delusions of individuals living today”(Stevens 433). The two poems that I have chosen to analyze are “Song” by John Clare and “The Fist” by Derek Walcott. The poems are verbal compositions designed to convey the experience and emotions of love, and what it is and what it does to individuals. These experiences and emotions in the two poems are expressed in a vivid and imaginative way, characterized by the use of language chosen for its sound and suggestive power by the use of Archetypes and symbols.

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  15. Love is a special part of everyone’s life. It is defined in so many different ways. Love is strange. A person can be desperate to find love, when he is lonely and feeling gloomy. Langston Hughes poem “Catch,” illustrates a strange love between the fisher boy and the mermaid. “An Archetype is an idealized form or model of a person, object, or place, from which individual examples and permutations derive” (Woodman, slide 4). “A symbol is an image or a thing which acquires its symbolic meanings and emotions it evokes in us” (Stevens, pg.12). The mermaid characterizes the beauty of the ocean and its unique creature. The fisher boy represents loneliness. The fisher boy felt desperate by finding love, so he took the mermaid home to marry and adore her.

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  16. An archeotype is a description of a symbol of a personal meaning to our culture, during our time, more spicificaly, what something means to us. The thoughts that a paticular thing conjures up in our mind, such as the poim that I have chosen titled A Good Time byYehuda Amicahi. She describes a” good time to meet a new love is a good time for placing a bomb. The juncture of season and season”.

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  17. Christina Blair...

    According to Woodman, "An archetype is an idealized form or model of a person, object, or place, from which individual examples and permutations derive". The seasons of a year is an archetype conveyed in Yehuda Amichai's "A Good Time." The seasons represent change and the confusion that may come with new beginnings. The message of the poem is that change is essential in life and one can see obvious changes in the seasons. Weather, for example, could reflect on a person's feelings through the developmental cycle of life.

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  18. “If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me,” this quote is taken from the poem “The More Loving One,” by W.H. Auden. In the poem Auden is describing the selflessness and the pain that accompanies the experience of unrequited love. Auden uses many archetypes in this poem, archetypes are “Idealized form or model of a person, object or place, from which individual examples and permutations derive (Woodman, slide 4).” One archetype used in this poem is the use and mention of “stars.” To many people star are something beautiful to look at but also something we look at from a far and can never actually touch. Another archetype used is his mention of the “sky,” which can represent the lover’s life. Archetypes can mean many different things to different people, but the point of them is that they stir up feelings in the first place.

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  19. He sees the truth of our lives but does not judge us; he feels abundant love and draws emotion from contact; he smells the storm before the rain comes; he tastes food and drink with joyful excitement; he hears the sounds that we can only imagine. He is a dog. “What the Dog Perhaps Hears” by Lisel Mueller is a visually enticing poem of the sounds that the world makes that we are completely unaware of. The deeper meaning to be gained from this poem is that through a dog’s eyes we would gain plentiful knowledge of our surroundings, the problems we may be blind to, and the importance of being aware of the changes happening around us. An archetype is a universal idea of the roles people play in our lives, the different facets of a personality, and what anything in nature represents to us. This poem uses the archetypes of new life and growth, the idea of a deity, and the loyalty and love gained from our closest personal relationships.

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  20. Ingrid Borja said...

    The very being of existence is love, one needs love to love, and one’s natural instinct is to love and be loved. Whether that love is connected to another being or an activity that one feels an ardor inevitable passion for. Classic poet Emily Dickinson, writes a beautiful poem titled, “You cannot put a fire out” and how one’s love for someone or something can be so fiery that nothing can quench its flame; it can only ignite on its own and continue burning through the “slowest nights.” This irresistible love can be consequently immense that not even a flood can put the fire out. There are many symbolic elements used in Dickinson’s poem such as, fire, wind, water and each element has a powerful meaning that can symbolize one’s passion for family, a spouse, or a loving career

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  21. Roxanne Martinez
    Divorce is a taboo topic. When people write, sing, or speak about marriage they tend to express positive attributes about the ceremonious vow. In Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s poem, “People Getting Divorced” he completely abolishes all inhibitions and writes about the ugly side of ending a marriage. He describes the aguish and humiliation of loosing a spouse. In the beginning of the poem, the narrator provides a powerful image of a person feeling so lost that they even worry about such a small trivialized object which was their shoes. Divorce is a painful subject, but the setting, imagery and sound of the poem provides an insight dept to what splitting married couple’s internally go through.

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  22. michael contreras

    How would you want to die? The poem “The Old Man and The Motorcycle” by Liam Rector, is a poem about an old man who sells the majority of his possessions and buys a motorcycle to ride on the old back roads that he use to use when he was a young man. By riding his motorcycle he would end up taking his life because he is old and sickly and he wants to end his life enjoying one last ride. He decided to do this because he has inoperable cancer, his wife is dead, and his kids don’t like him. The author uses death, being ill, and a road as the main archetypes. An archetype is “a idealized form or mode of a person, object, or place, form which individual examples and permutations derive” (Slide 4). In this poem Liam Rector uses death, illness, and a road as an archetype to convey his message of the man and the motorcycle.

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  23. A single image evokes the imagination of one's mind. Interestingly, the mind may summon multiple thoughts and ideas that are relevantly involved with archetypes. It is an evolutionary phenomenon humans inherited long ago. According to Anthony Stevens (37), symbols can combine different messages in a single expression, and words are used to interpret one thought at a time. Furthermore, symbolism engages in the principle of resemblance through use of analogy. Philip Larkin's, "The Trees", is an example of how words are components to predispose the meaning of symbols, and how one symbol can represent multitude of meanings through the principle of resemblance.

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  24. Love is something that should be given freely without thought,unfortunately,it's over analyzed and picked apart. The poem "Since Feeling Is First" written by E.E. Cummings, expresses how we should follow our hearts and emotions before our mind and thoughts. Cummings has found a unique way of using metaphors and archetypes to convey this message. According to Woodman, "An archetype is an idealized form or model of a person, object, or place, from which individual examples and permutations derive" (slide 4). This poem uses flowers, blood, kissing, love and death as archetypes.

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  25. In the poem “The Trees” Philip Larkin compare people’s lives to trees and how trees have so much beauty. “Is it that they are born again and we grow old? No, they die too. Their yearly trick of looking new is written down in rings of grain.” The rings of grains are symbolizing cycles of generation and regeneration (p. 379). The theme of the poem is about that people should not worry about the past and move forward with their lives; that life is beautiful. “Last year is dead, they seem to say, begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

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  26. Love is a mysterious force of human nature. One cannot explain what love is but, you can describe what you feel when you are in love. Love is not always rainbows and butterflies. Love can be deceitful, hateful, and unkind. The poet Adrienne Rich write about love; how love is not anticipated and from our mistakes others can learn if left a rule book about love. Archetype: are the components of the collective unconscious (pg 433)

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  27. by Kayla Rodriguez

    What is love? Emily Dickinson’s “The Heart Has Narrow Bank,” is about love and the heart. Dickinson uses many archetypes and symbols in her poem, such as, sea, hurricane, and the color blue.
    Archetypes are “the components of the collective unconscious,” of the images that are in our minds when we think of particular objects (Stevens p. 433). For example, a mother gives us the idea of nurturing, warm, and caring.
    Love is universal. It is expressed and pursued by everyone in their own unique ways. There are many different kinds of love, such as, motherly love, brotherly love, passionate love, etc. Dickinson’s “The Heart Has Narrow Bank,” seems to be mentioning passionate love a man and woman share. Passionate love could be described as the attraction a woman and man feel for each other. This attraction utters feelings and emotions that most people believe is love.
    Dickinson uses archetypes to help convey the theme of love and the great abstract concept it is. The sea gives the image of how “immense” love is (Stevens, p 113). She also mentions banks in the heart, which again give the image of water. According to Stevens (1998) water symbolizes life and the “primary element of nature,”

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  28. Though it has become a recreational activity in the last few decades, sex is a symbol of maturity and acceptance for many people. The poem "Erotic Energy" by Chase Twichell compares plants with people in order to explain a girl’s ascent into womanhood through the loss of her virginity. She describes it as the beginning of a new life where her childhood is just a fond memory. The message in this poem is that every person is like a plant in the rules of propagation. Twichell explains that the rules are so simple that children know them and practice them with their peers. Archetypes are "components of the collective unconscious", they are meant to trigger certain emotions in the human mind (Stevens, 433). “Erotic Energy” uses plants as a symbol of maturity, plant adaptations symbolize the Id actions of humans, and children playing as an archetype of courtship.

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  29. By Idra Novey, "definition of Stranger"
    I was taught never to speak to him, but the stranger will never depart from me. He follows me to work, lives next-door, and inspires to be just like me. He seems workable yet he is unattainable. Idra Novey in her poem "Definition of a Stranger" describes the daily existence of a stranger as if we carried him within us. We go through life conventionally functioning, overlooking our true selves making Novey’s definition of a stranger the area of our life we don’t know. Novey brings together the different characteristics as the symbolic meaning of a stranger. In my attempt to know Ariadne’s definition of a stranger I concluded that Novey literal meaning reveals the mystery of the self while Anthony Stevens quotes Gerald Edelman ‘primary consciousnesses’ as the state of being mentally aware of the world without having any developed concept of personal Identity as an individual with a history and a future. (24). Our personal identity is at risk. I deny all previous disregards to myself and agree to know the stranger living in me.

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  30. Rigo Razo
    The May Sarton Poem was my posting. I forgot to write my name.

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