Hamlet Quote Make-Up

So this has been missing for a while, sorry :( but if I remember correctly, this assignment was "Pick a quote that describes Hamlet and explain why"

So I picked the famous "To be or not to be..." sililoquy. Though it's slightly cliche, I feel that it describes the internal struggles Hamlet feels though out the play. In this quote, Hamlet is debating whether or not to take his own life. At this point, this quote shows Hamlet's vulnerability and weakness. However, he overcomes this low point, and works through it to become a stronger person.

It shows the stages of Hamlet's thought process- from despair, to hopelessness, to the dark side of his revenge.

This quote is famous for a reason because it describes Hamlet and all of his emotional turmoil. So yeah :)

Ps I love the iPads!!!!

What the mirror said

I like this poem :) The last five lines felt kind of out of place the first time I read it though, but the more I read it, the more I kind of saw how it relates to the anger / pride the narrator feels.

This poem is one stanza long with no rhyme scheme, but it does sound like Lucille Clifton is trying to have a conversation with the reader because she speaks in a very informal way. She does this to connect with her audience -- which she manages to do.

The beginning of the poem is her describing the complexities of women. "Somebody need a map to understand you."
However, she doesn't say that women are complex in a bad way; she says it almost as to say to embrace it and that it is beautiful.

Then towards the end, Clifton becomes more aggressive and almost sassy when she says

"Mister with his hands on you
He got his hands on
Some
Dam
Body!"

I think what she's saying here is that women are not merely objects but people too. And how the title is "What the mirror said" I believe that this is a reference to how women analyze every detail in front of the mirror, and how we, as women, need to quit worrying so much about appearance. Personally, I loved this poem and I'm all about the woman power Clifton portrays in this poem :)

Plums :)

The poem this week is really short, so I'll just post it :)

I have eaten

the plums

that were in the icebox

and which

you were probably

saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

I think this poem is a cute, feel-good poem :)
To me, it sounds like a note left to a friend or significant other. It's only three stanzas long, with four lines in every stanza. There is no rhyme scheme, but the sentences are broken up in strange ways that don't allow the poem to flow freely. I believe the author wrote it this way to emphasize the short, note-like feel to it. William Carlos Williams keeps the tone very light and slightly apologetic, but when you read into the poem, it's almost slightly humorous.

The fact that in the last stanza Williams describes the exact taste of the plums is an almost taunting kind of way is what makes it funny.

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

Delicious, sweet, and cold plums are bound to make anyone jealous, and even more so when he stole the plums from someone else, knowing they were planning on eating them. I don't think it's a bullying type of taunting, but rather the playful taunting people do when they're around someone they are close to. Also, fruit in general are a sign of life -- perhaps relating back to spring and an approach of "taking a bit out of life." Although I'd be very upset if someone took my yummy plums, it's difficult not to find this poem endearing. :)

I don't think this poem has any deep, significant meaning behind it -- it's not teaching the matter of apologies and forgiveness, nor do the plums stand for anything really extreme.. it's just a summery, light poem that includes personal experiences meant to relate the reader to the poem. :)

It's a beautiful life :)

Just a thought.

This week has been really rough on a lot of people.

It seems that people have been overly stressed and distraught this week more than any other. And I've noticed other people haven't been helping the situation.

On Monday, a girl came crying into class because her boyfriend found another girl more attractive than her.
On Wednesday, a girl openly confessed that she, if given the chance, would pay for surgery to change her entire appearance.
Every single day, I hear in a classroom, a conversation, in the halls, girls not making peace with their looks.

And who's to blame them?

Two days ago, I walked past a group of people sitting in the hallway for a life-management class, when someone called my name, I turned around and waved at two cheerful grins looking back at me. I smiled and continued walking to my classroom. Only later did I find out by a friend of mine that a girl, who I've never met in my life, told the group of people after I walked away that, "She has a cute style, if only she was prettier."

My initial reaction to this was complete anger. I wanted to confront this girl because I was so hurt. Never have I ever been told something that happened behind my back. But the more I thought about it, the more sympathetic I became towards this girl. How manipulated are her thoughts that she can't find the beauty in everyone?  To bash a complete stranger to a group of people?
Realizing that words hold so much power, I myself felt empowered, and I have decided that the next time I see her, I am going to compliment her.

You will find help in yourself
when you help another.
You will find love in yourself
when you love another.

Society has created women to be an iconography of perfection. Skinny, tall, and glamorous is tossed in the face of every woman like some sort of checklist to be completed before being taken seriously in this world. Intelligent, strong women are put aside when compared to women who "beautiful" according to society's standards.

Every woman deserves the right to always feel beautiful, so I'm making a personal goal -- to never hold back a compliment.

Silent compliments aren't much use to anyone.

 

Life can be rough. We don't need any more negativity to make it worse.

No mistakes. There's nothing to be afraid of. You are beautiful :)

And then I felt alive.

Photograph of Me

This week, I chose to analyze "this is a photograph oh me" By Margaret Atwood. This poem is perfect for such a gloomy day :)

When I first read this poem, I thought it was interesting that the first line of the poem is in the title:

"this is a photograph of me <--- Title

it was taken some time ago..." <--- First Line

Here, the narrator is reflecting on an old picture of herself. She describes the way the picture itself looks -- saying there are grey flecks, blurred lines, smears ... etc. Margaret Atwood did this to set the reader with the precedent that this photograph is old. It's a photograph taken several years ago, and she just happened to stumble upon it.

In the second stanza, she continues to describe the old photograph and she notices a crack on the side of the picture resembling a tree. A tree is a sign of growth, which could be symbolic towards the fact that since the point when the picture was taken, the narrator has grown -- in all aspects, physically and emotionally.

In the background there is a lake,
and beyond that, some low hills

Notice how the narrator completely avoids describing herself for the first three stanzas (and the majority of the poem) which is strange since the title of the poem is "this is a photograph of me"
AND the only part of the poem in which she talks about herself is put into parenthesis.
I think this has to do to show he insecurity and pain the narrator feels.

This poem is seven stanzas long, with no general rhyme scheme. It's told sort of like a story, and it's extremely vivid in imagery. The first two stanzas consist of five and seven lines, but after that, the majority of the stanzas after that, only about two lines vary per stanza. the turning point of the poem is emphasised by the short lines and the start of the parenthesis to the end.

(The photograph was taken
the day after I drowned.

I am in the lake, in the center

of the picture, just under the surface.

It is difficult to say where

precisely, or to say

how large or small I am:

the effect of water

on light is a distortion

but if you look long enough,

eventually

you will be able to see me.)

Not literally, but the narrator drowned in emotions and despair, perhaps. She mentions that she is under the surface of the lake -- again, emphasising the fact that she drowned.

But throughout the whole poem, it's strange that she says that it's a photograph of her, yet she isn't the main point of the poem. In fact, you can hardly see her. Perhaps the narrator has moved on from this point (again, relating back to the tree). Growth is never negative; it is always positive. She no longer feels lost and hidden, and she is reflecting on this point in her life because she stumbled on this old photograph. She's moved on from this point, but she makes sure to still remember it because it was a part of her life.

"It is not length of life, but depth of life."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

You fit into me.

you fit into me
like a hook into an eye

a fish hook
an open eye
-Margaret Atwood
This super short poem makes me want to go and watch the sunset. . . Weird, I know. Maybe I just have spring fever? :)

At first, Margaret Atwood seems to be writing a love poem. Kind of like, "We belong together: we're the perfect fitting puzzle pieces." But then the reader realizes that a hook and an eye normally don't go together. At this point, the second stanza is read, and you realize that sarcasm and misinterpretation can be a powerful thing.

I thought this poem to be one of those situations where through sarcasm and passive agressive-ness, it gets the point across. I imagine Atwood telling this other person how fitting their relationship is ... in the most non-fitting way. That doesn't really make sense.

Okay, it's like if someone were to say, "That was the most compassionate thing you've ever said to me ... you actually didn't make me feel completely worthless this time." It totally reminds me of a breakup letter too. Haha :)

The beginning makes you think that it's a poem that's going to be sincere and loving, but it turns out to be so deceiving and bitter. Tricky, Ms. Atwood. Basically, Atwood is saying this relationship isn't meant to be.

A fish hook
in an open eye
Describing this relationship in such a painful (literally) way, it connects the reader in feeling emotion towards the poem -- whether it's sympathy towards Atwood or towards themselves. I also feel like Atwood is insulting the person:
"Oh haha. You're totally the best person ever ... if everyone else on this planet didn't exist."

Catch my drift? :)

I like this poem. It's so short, with only 5 lines, and two stanza's, but I think Margaret Atwood did this to keep the focus straight and to make the turning point have a bite to it. by making this poem so short, it makes the poem feel so exposed and so raw -- and I really like that it.
P.S Regina Spektor wrote a song where she mentions Margaret Atwood and Virginia Woolf. I kept singing that song while I did this blog. :)

The Book.

Let me just start out by saying props to Miller Williams for writing such a neat poem! It totally shocked me at how vivid the imagery was (not to mention kind of grossed me out, haha)

Anyways, this poem starts out by this friend, we'll say, who is listening to a story of a boy who found a book with blank pages in an old bunker. The boy starts writing in it as if it were his sketchbook and diary. One day, he shows the book to an old bookeeper who, completely in shock, tells the boy that the book is made out of human skin. It never tells us how the boy reacted to such news, but I assume it went something like this:

"-Gasp- it's made out of human skin! Ahh jkaf;dl!!"
"Well....I've been writing in it for a few years...It did feel a litte uhh, 'fleshy'. . . And I guess I always did feel a little sketch while writing in it...So uhhm..yeah."

And then the man probably looked at him, and there were no doubt some awkward glances exchanged. Typical.

But! On a more serious note, I think the way Williams presents this poem is the brilliant part: he doesn't tip-toe around the turning point of the poem -- a book bound in human skin. He doesn't foreshadow the turning point, so the reader doesn't dwell on the anticipation of figuring out the punchline before it is even given. Also, Williams' diction throughout the poem is kept very simple -- almost as if wanting to just keep the focus of the book and not distract the reader with crazy, vivid words. This poem is a sestet with no rhyme scheme. It's told almost like a story. The end shows repetition with, "I stared..." to provide emphasis on the last stanza, which is a second turning point in the poem.

My interpretation of this poem is that obviously, this book isn't made out of human skin but out of memories. Memories so vivid that they take the form of something. Perhaps the "human flesh" was that of the boy. And when the friend asks himself who the flesh is made out of, a child or a woman or a man, it's sort of all of them -- all the people who interacted with the boy and made those memories.

I stared and a horror gre, which was, which is,
how beautiful it was until I knew.

The memories were beautiful. The illustrations...flawless.
But when he found out what it was, the illusion was ruined.
Maybe playing the 'ignorance is bliss' card..?