I agree with the editors of the textbook about Blake's poetry being able to enact social change, but i believe to be another reason other tan appealing to the reader's imagination, like appealing to their emotions. In the poem, "The Chimney Sweeper", from Songs of Innocence, Blake brings to live a young boy who lost his mother, and is neglected by his father. By revealing those facts about the young child, the reader automatically feels sympathy for the boy. Then a sense of hope is given after reading about Tom's dream. Whether they relate to the situation the young boys, or that sense of hope, they are still motivated to work hard or in the poem's case rely on religion to get through their challenge. In Songs of Experience, however, that message is not shown. The emotion is more of pity then hope.
The document might have been included by the editors to give us background to the main character of the poem. Its addition reinforces the feelings of pity and sympathy felt for the young boy as he learns about the working conditions and effects of child labor.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Coleridge and Shelley
"Kubla Khan" cautions against the indulgence of the imagination. Coleridge paints this beautiful scenery causing the reader to imagine this gorgeous place, but then reverses it making the place seem dark, dangerous, and evil. This causes the reader's imagination to change its form and picture a dreary place filled with the evils of the world. Coleridge is trying to say here that relying on our imagination too much can be dangerous during a reading because it is not definate, the writer controls what the imagination sees through his words. This may have been geared towards the American Romantic warning them not to rely heavily on imagination, as well as the common people advising them to read with a balance of reason and imagination.
In Shelley's poem Ozymandias, I see three speakers; the main speaker, the traveler, and Ozymandias. The first speaker seem to play the role of someone like a prophet being that they are relating a story with social and/or political significance in history. The traveler and the main speaker observe the remains of an old structure, possibly a statue or monument of some kind. The traveler brings the information of the monument of Ozymandias. The words of Ozymandias, "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings. Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!", could mean that he was defeated political or social leader. This may tell us that all proud leaders will fall if the become too controlling.
In Shelley's poem Ozymandias, I see three speakers; the main speaker, the traveler, and Ozymandias. The first speaker seem to play the role of someone like a prophet being that they are relating a story with social and/or political significance in history. The traveler and the main speaker observe the remains of an old structure, possibly a statue or monument of some kind. The traveler brings the information of the monument of Ozymandias. The words of Ozymandias, "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings. Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!", could mean that he was defeated political or social leader. This may tell us that all proud leaders will fall if the become too controlling.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Swift Assignment
A.) The questions i wrote down are what puzzled me the most. My questions are the following: 1.) Why did the Lilliputians show Gulliver diversions only the Majesty (Emperor) and his higher ups get to see?
2.) What do you think caused Gulliver to gain his liberty so quickly?
3.) Why did Gulliver decide to help the Lilliputians with their private affairs?
4.) What do the Lilliputians want Gulliver to do for them?
I wanted to find a section of the passage that could answer at least two of my questions. My search lead me to the chunk of text from page 658-659. This sections is the Lilliputian history. I picked this because it sorta answers all my questions. Unfortunately, i didn't make any predictions.
B.) The teacher groups, in my opinion, were helpful in a way to understand someone else’s point of view because there is a small group so there is a more in depth discussion. Also, I believe it is good because if your unclear or you did something wrong then the other members can critique you and make clarifications. The bad thing about the teacher groups, to me, is if someone didn’t do their part, or if someone tries to shut down your opinions and ideas. The ugly is the time it takes to go through all the information and get your final product.
In my group, the good was that everyone did their part and we all understood each other’s views. We tried to get everyone’s opinion involved based off of what questions and topics we had in common. My group work pretty well together and we got a lot done compared to some groups. The really wasn’t any bad besides a few unclear subjects due to our points of view. In my group the only real ugly part was Paul. So in my opinion the teacher groups are good at helping us understand the text we read as well as the work a teacher has to do normally on their own. I wouldn’t change anything about it because it was helpful to me, and I learned my classmate’s opinions and had the text clarified by combining our opinions.
C.) On Monday, I will not be doing anything different, but I’m not sure about my partners. We have a basis for our teachings and are already planning everything out. Our questions are picked, our quotes discussed and clarified, but our predictions are unclear. So our work only consists of our predictions and finishing our “lesson plans”, and finally teaching the topic.
2.) What do you think caused Gulliver to gain his liberty so quickly?
3.) Why did Gulliver decide to help the Lilliputians with their private affairs?
4.) What do the Lilliputians want Gulliver to do for them?
I wanted to find a section of the passage that could answer at least two of my questions. My search lead me to the chunk of text from page 658-659. This sections is the Lilliputian history. I picked this because it sorta answers all my questions. Unfortunately, i didn't make any predictions.
B.) The teacher groups, in my opinion, were helpful in a way to understand someone else’s point of view because there is a small group so there is a more in depth discussion. Also, I believe it is good because if your unclear or you did something wrong then the other members can critique you and make clarifications. The bad thing about the teacher groups, to me, is if someone didn’t do their part, or if someone tries to shut down your opinions and ideas. The ugly is the time it takes to go through all the information and get your final product.
In my group, the good was that everyone did their part and we all understood each other’s views. We tried to get everyone’s opinion involved based off of what questions and topics we had in common. My group work pretty well together and we got a lot done compared to some groups. The really wasn’t any bad besides a few unclear subjects due to our points of view. In my group the only real ugly part was Paul. So in my opinion the teacher groups are good at helping us understand the text we read as well as the work a teacher has to do normally on their own. I wouldn’t change anything about it because it was helpful to me, and I learned my classmate’s opinions and had the text clarified by combining our opinions.
C.) On Monday, I will not be doing anything different, but I’m not sure about my partners. We have a basis for our teachings and are already planning everything out. Our questions are picked, our quotes discussed and clarified, but our predictions are unclear. So our work only consists of our predictions and finishing our “lesson plans”, and finally teaching the topic.
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