Reminder: Final poetry project is due typed and perfect October 16, 2008. Each late day is a letter grade off. Please continue to work on it for a few minutes each night. You won't regret doing this.
Monday, September 29, 2008: Complete the outline you were given in class. Please make an effort to leave nothing blank and to do your best work. This will count as a grade for the marking period.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008: Using the handout you were given last week, begin to properly create your annotated bibliography.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008: Read a poem from your anthologies, and write a journal entry based on what you read. Please annotate the poem, using flags, and be prepared to show me on Thursday what you read. Bring in your book.
Thursday, October 2, 2008: Bring in your music and illustrations for Sestina.
Friday, October 3, 2008: Annotate the excerpt from "Henry IV, Part II."
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Wednesday, October 1, 2008: Read a poem from your anthologies, and write a journal entry based on what you read. Please annotate the poem, using flags, and be prepared to show me on Thursday what you read. Bring in your book.
Poem: “On Diverse Deviations”
By: Maya Angelou
Speaker: Confused, upset, disappointed woman, 1st person
Setting: Not specified
Situation: The problem concerning the author here is about love and stating that it is never a sure feeling.
Audience: General (people who question “love”)
The line structure of this poem is 1-4, 5-8, and 9-14
The scheme is a, b, a, b, c, d, c, d, c, d, c, d, c, d
Subject: love
Images: shimmering curtain(allusion), Bone that rattles in silence(oxymoron), Door of chance( allusion), World in question(?not sure), thick thin lips(oxymoron), life weary whore( simile), love is a scream of anguish( Metaphor).
Diction: chance, question, blinded, denying, weary, scream, anguish.
Summary:
After reading Maya Angelou’s poem “On Diverse Deviations”, in the anthology of Stetson, Erlene. “Black Sister: Poetry by Black American Women, 1746-1980.” Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1949. 267.
She writes about love and how it is not a guarantee to everyone.
She begins by using comparisons as to questioning the reader “what if?” She uses similes like “love is a shimmering curtain” and “door of chance” to show the general belief about love. It seems to be that as the poems goes on from lines 1-2 the mood instead of being happy changes into upset or disappointing view. For example she oxymoron and simile like in lines 5-14 “…bones that rattle in silence… blinded eyes…thick thin lips… touch to touch is feel….life a weary whore… love a scream of anguish…” it seems as if the author believes that this feeling may not always be true either it be coming from one love or one itself.
She uses comparisons like “blinded eyes” and strong diction to show that love is not a sure feeling that everyone may have. Love may be painful sometimes and even though love is this “shimmering curtain” and a “door of chance”, it may not always be true. One may get anxious according to line 10 “and life a weary whore” because maybe after you give love to someone or something in life it may not be appreciated and one may grow anxious and desperate too see that it may never being accepted.
The last line 14 “no curtain drapes the door” means that this shimmering curtain and this door of chance that exist for love may not be there at all, no curtain to cover this door, where this shimmering hope may be lost because this chance may not exist: chance to find love. Going back to the theme, that love is not a guarantee for everyone.
Let the post commence!
Title: Of The changes of Life
Author: William Dunbar (1460-1520)
Journal Entry
I thought that the main crux of this poem is that the author is looking for something that he cannot find. I think that "something" the author searches for is a sense of solace. The author uses imagery and tone to convey the hardships in his relentless search.
Through imagery, Dunbar expresses some insight to the reader on his search. In lines 1 and 2, Dunbar describes the parameters of his search item as "faithful moral fable," and the environment in which it might be located as "world unstable." There is a somewhat sense of imagery if you envision the search item as like a beacon from heaven, and envision the world as a dark and dank place.
The tone in this poem is constantly fluctuating from jolly and resplendant to morose and despair. This is particularly evident in the third stanza, where the first line had "upsprang the flowers" to the second line had "they are all slain with shears." There is a comparison between the blissful moments and the gloomy ones in this stanza. Time is further used to exemplify that point as the first line in this stanza started with "Yesterday", and the line following it started with "this day."
Finally, Dunbar sums up the seemingly futile efforts of his search by describing the environment he is in. In lines 19 and 20, Dunbar seems to express anguish towards the world with statements like "next after joy cometh sorrow" and "So is this world and ever has been." The fact that Dunbar's view towards the world at the beginning of the poem and at the end of the poem are identical, it is a clear indication that his search was indeed fruitless.
Analysis Info
Speaker: Determined but slightly discouraged individual, 1st person.
Setting: The World (presumably Earth in the 15-16th century)
Audience: Many of those that are seeking a sanctuary in the world.
Structure: I think that the line structure goes as follows:
1-5: Describing the search
6-10: Describing the arrival of the Season
11-15: The comparisons formulating the beginning of the author's realism towards his search
16-20: Confirmation of said realism
Although I'll admit, I'm not 100% sure.
Rhyme Scheme
1)A,A,B,B,A
2)C,C,D,D,C
3)E,E,F,F,E
4)G,G,H,H,G
Key images: Line # in Parenthesis
1)Flowers upsprang (11)
2)Slain with shears (12)
3)Fowls in forests singing (13)
4)Fowls waking up with dreary cheer (14)
5)Faithful moral fable (2)
6)World Unstable (1)
~I must give credit to Stephanie, since the format for her Analysis info is where I got the idea for mine!
~K.
Stephanie and Kyle, I will send you separate emails for some thoughts on your posts.... Lauren
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