Reading Notes Week 6B: Barbauld

To a Little Invisible Being Who is Expected Soon to Become Visible

This poem is about a baby that will be born soon. The baby is being described as having limitless potential _ "what powers llie folded in thy curious frame,"

the poet is eager and anxiously awaiting the arrival - "burst thy prision doors," haste, infante bud of being, haste to blow" "Favoring spells to speed thee on thy way"

From Eighteen Hundred and Eleven, A Poem

This poem was written at a time of war with France and is told in a very negative tone.  There is mention of nature however as being something to look forward to in such dark times.

Reading Notes Week 6A: Blake

William Blake- 1757-1827
-Cast priests and kings as responsible for exploiting the poor, repressing sexuality and stinfling art, and he admired the devil himself for disobedience (330)
-Both parents were from lower-middle class, Radical in their politics and unorthodox in religion
-Writer, artist and illustrator

The Lamb-
The speaker is a child, questioning a lamb about how it came to be.

The child is questioning the lamb and asking how it came to be the one to be eaten? "Gave thee life and bid thee feed" (335)

"gave thee clothing of delight; Softest clothing wooly bright" Lamb gave wool for clothing

"Little Lamb Who Made Thee? -Little lamb who made you?
"Dost thou know who made thee?"- Do you know who made you?

Religious reference?

Blake, William. “William Blake.” The Norton Anthology World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, Third ed., E, W.W. Norton & Company, pp. 330–341.

Comment Wall

https://sites.google.com/view/english145lmc/project-1

-Patrick

Week 5 Analysis: Close Reading of Saikaku

The paragraph of "Life Of A Sensuous" woman that really caught my attention began on the bottom of page 600, starting with "Eventually the head priest of one temple fell in love with me, and I agreed to become his temporary wife..."  What interested me in this paragraph was how she exposed the monk's lives behind closed doors.  The aging woman telling the tale was also very surprised about what she saw at the floating-world temple.  Monks have always been portrayed as religious leaders and men who are setting examples to live by.  What the woman sees however, is something a little different.  She found out there are six days a month where the Monk's would not obey their abstentions.  She said, "they vowed to rigorously limit their fish and poultry and their sex with woman to the nights of theses six days" (600).  The monks would let loose on these six days and satisfy their pleasures and temptations.  She continues on by saying, "the pursue their pleasures, they went all the way to Third Avenue in downtown Kyoto and visited places like the Koiyan Inn" (601).  The older woman exposed the truth to these men that she is telling the story too. The men probably had no idea that Monks went out and slept with woman a few days of the month.  I believe this passage of the story has a meaning and it is show that Monks are not as innocent as they are made out to be. Most days of the month the Monks are obeying their abstentions.  "On other days, the men acted like model monks" (601).  The Monks are always looked up to and are examples for their culture, however little to people know what actually happens behind closed doors.

-Patrick  

Works Cited:

Saikaku, Ihara. “Life of a Sensuous Woman.” The Norton Anthology World Literature, edited by Peter Simon, Third ed., D, W.W. Norton & Company, pp. 591–602.

Reading Notes Week 5B: Basho

Basho was a haikai master

He set out on a journey that lasted around 5 months.

Basho was feeling very weak and his body was worn from traveling, however is mind and spirit remained strong. 

Basho at the end of his five month journey became ill and before fully recovering, he embarked on another journey.

This story was mainly about his five month travel and his experiences along the way. 

Reading Notes Week 5A: Saikaku

Saikaku-

This story about a woman was very interesting.  The story is told from a couple different perspectives but seem to be about the same woman.

The first section (An old woman's hermitage) involves this woman telling her life story to two men who are in search of pleasure.  They talk to this woman and want to hear her story and experiences about love.

The second section (Mistress of a Domain Lord) is her telling the story of how she was found and then bought and sold to the lord. 

The third section (a monk's wife in a worldy temple) is her telling of how she dressed like a man to get into a monk's temple.

Week 4 Project Planning: Compare/Contrast Voltaire & Tartuffe

The two stories that I am going to compare and contrast are Voltaire and Tartuffe.  While these stories are very different, I believe they share some common literary elements as well as have some that a drastically different.  The reason I picked these two stories was because these were the two stories that I would like to learn more about. I read them during the assigned reading but I didn’t feel that I understood them as well as I should have.  I would like to compare the settings of the story, both physical and chronological, the two types of conflict-internal and external conflict, symbolism that is used throughout each story and the central theme of each story.

Basic Outline-

Introduction

Very Brief Overview of Each Story

Setting

-Physical

-Chronological

--Compare/Contrast

Conflict

-Internal Conflicts

-External Conflicts

--Compare/Contrast

Symbolism

-Examples within Voltaire

-Examples within Tartuffe

--Compare/Contrast

Themes

-Themes within Voltaire

-Themes within Tartuffe

--Similar themes?

Week 4 Analysis: The Journey to the West

The Journey to the West was an adventurous story with a lot of imagery within the text that helped the reader paint pictures in his or her own head.  The poems were very descriptive, for example “Golden balls and pearly pellets, red ripeness and yellow plumpness. Golden balls and pearly pellets are the cherries, their colors truly luscious” (429).  The description the author uses not only helps create a visual of what I am reading but it also exaggerates the features, like when he described the colors of the cherries being “truly luscious”.  Another example of imagery can be seen on page 431, “the sun’s beams lightly enclose the azure mist; In darkening rain, the mount’s color turns cool and green”.  The author’s description of the area tells us the current weather of the area as well as what the setting is.

            The main theme of this novel is survival.  The story was written around a monkey’s adventure to find immortality.  After a 10 year search and coming across many different people and experiences he finally found what he was looking for, immortality.  I believe this story relates to the fear of death.  The monkey was not going to settle down until he found a way to avoid death and become immortal.  I thought it was interesting however how the author chose to use a stone monkey for the main character instead of humans.  We have read in other classes stories that have a similar theme where the main character is searching for immortality. I am not sure what the stone monkey represents or the significance of the stone monkey.  I also feel there is some sort of hidden meaning or message behind the stone monkey’s creation.  The stone monkey was formed from a large immortal stone that birthed a stone egg. What I enjoyed about this first part of the story was how the poems were used to describe certain scenarios or objects.     

Cheng'en, Wu. “The Journey to the West.” The Norton Anthology World Literature, edited by Peter Simon, D, W.W. Norton & Company, 2012, pp. 421–436.

Reading Notes Week 4B: Wu Cheng'en

Immortal Stone -> Stone Egg -> Stone Monkey-> Handsome Monkey King

Stone monkey steps up courageously to enter the waterfall, discovers "heaven sent property" -427

Monkey King was in search of immortality

Monkey King came across Woodcutter who told him about his neighbor who was immortal.  Monkey King is now in search of the neighbor.

The Monkey King meets with the neighbor kid and asks him to show him the way to becoming an immortal. 

Wukong- Wake-To-Vacuity

Monkey King was bound and determined to find immortality.  After a 10 year search he finally found what he was looking for.

Reading Notes Week 4A: Voltaire

Metaphysico-theologico-cosmoloonigology (356)- WTF?

Philosopher Pangloss- Thinks everything has a purpose. "Noses were made to support spectacles" (356).


Candide falls for Cunegonde-everyone doesnt like this and kick Candide out and slap Cunegonde. Bottom of 356

Candide gets taken in by "blues" and is turned into a hero.  Gets fitted with weapons and armor.  He is unsure why- Page 357


Candide runs into his Old Philosophy Tutor Doctor Pangloss who is now a beggar.  Pangloss breaks the news to Candide that Cunegonde was raped and died.  Candide faints.



Themes- Love, Religion, philosophy

Topic Research: Brainstorm Week 3

Compare and Contrast Different Elements in the text:

I wouldn't compare everything in the list below and would pick some from the list.

Things to compare-
Plots
Setting
-Physical Setting
-Chronological Setting
Characters
Conflict
-Internal
-External
Symbolism
Point of View
Theme




Useful Links:

http://cstl-cla.semo.edu/hhecht/the%20elements%20of%20fiction.htm

http://www.writework.com/essay/compare-similarities-short-stories-poetry-and-drama

https://www.lavc.edu/0-Kentico-Training/document-library/docs/Writing-About-Fiction.aspx

Feedback Strategies: How to Craft Constructive Feedback

One of the things that stood out to me in this article was when Laura said to be "Neutral".  It is very easy to be opinionated and to put our point of view first and disregard the other point of view.  What she is saying is to observe a feature and give two different viewpoints on the feature, this lets the writer know you understand both sides of the story.  Describing the effect the story has as well as suggesting a revision shows the the writer you are able to connect to the story and you understand the roles.

-Patrick

Week 3 Analysis: Close Reading of Tartuffe

I chose to write about the following passage as spoken by Tartuffe on page 173:

For those men that all the women die for,
Love's a game whose object is a high score.
Although they promise not to talk, they will.
They need to boast of their superior skill,
Receive no favors not as soon revealed,
Exposing what they vowed would be concealed.
And in the end, this love is overpriced,
When a woman's honor's sacrificed.
But men like me burn with a silent flame,
Our secrets safe, our loves we never name,
Because our reputations are our wealth,
When we transgress, it's with the utmost stealth.
Your honor's safe as my hand in a glove,
So I can offer, free from scandal, love,
And pleasure without fear of intervention.

In my opinion, this was the beginning of the end to the relationship between Tartuffe and Orgon.  I would consider this passage from the story to be the climax of the story, the story went downhill from here for Tartuffe.  Tartuffe was desperate for Elmire's love and was willing to go behind Orgon's back to get it.  Orgon has taken Tartuffe off the streets and out of poverty, but Tartuffe was willing to put their relationship aside for Orgon's wife. This can seen when he said "When we transgress, it's with the utmost stealth. Your honor's safe as my hand in a glove, So I can offer, free from scandal, love, and pleasure without fear of intervention" (173).  Tartuffe is telling Elmire that they can have a relationship together without the family and Orgon knowing, they will hide their relationship from the family and will not have to worry about getting caught. 

He leads into this by telling Elmire that people like him have to hide their feelings inside towards other people, "But men like me burn with a silent flame".  He however wants to have an affair with Elmire behind the Orgon's back.  He reassures her multiple times that their relationship will be kept a secret and that she will be safe. 

If Tartuffe would not have made this move towards Elmire and continued on his path of taking Mariane as his wife, the relationship between Orgon and Tartuffe would have never ended.  There would have been even more drama between Orgon and the family.


Works Cited:

Moliere, Jean-Baptiste. “Tartuffe.” The Norton Anthology World Literature, Third ed., D, W. W. Norton & Company, 2012, pp. 144–197.

-Patrick

Reading Notes Week 3B: The Song of Ch'un-Hyang

The Song of Ch'un-Hyang

Basic summary of story- Master Yi leaves Ch'un-Hyang and promises her his return after his trip with his father.  Ch'un-Hyang is faithful and in love with Master Yi. She is heartbroken when he has to leave and locks herself in side her house crying.  A new governor is going around town getting a head count and comes to her house. He wants to take Ch'un-Hyang but Ch'un-Hyang is faithful and loyal to Master Yi and refuses to marry the new governor.  The new governor is furious and beats her.  Master Yi returns and they lived happily ever after!

Master Yi- Son of the local magistrate
Ch'un-Hyang- Daughter of a yangban aristocrat

-Patrick

Reading Notes Week 3A: Moliere: Tartuffe

Characters and their roles in the story-

Madame Pernelle- Mother of Orgon

• Defends Orgon throughout the story
• In the beginning she thought the house a mess and Orgon could bring the house back together.  

Orgon- Husband of Elmire

• Obsessed with Tartuffe, acts as if he is the greatest person
• Previously approved of Mariane getting married to Valere,
• Changes his mind and wants Mariane to marry Tartfuffe
• Finds out Tartuffe is after his wife Elmire and is disgusted and upset with him

Elmire- Wife of Orgon

• Set up and seduced Tartuffe to show Orgon the truth about him,

Damis- Son of Orgon

• Dislikes Tartuffe and tries to show Orgon the truth but fails.

Mariane- Daughter of Orgon

• The daughter that is supposed to marry Valere but the father changed his mind and wants her to marry Tartuffe.
• She does not have any interest in marrying Tartuffe but believes she shouldn't go against her father's wishes.

Valere- Fiance of Mariane

• Supposed to marry Mariane but is cut off by Tartuffe

Cleante- Brother-in-Law of Orgon

• Also dislikes Tartuffe and disapproves of marriage

Tartuffe- A religious hyprocrite

• Man that was living in poverty taken in by Orgon.
•  Manipulates Orgon to get what he wants and lives off of him.
• Arranged by Orgon to marry Orgon's Daughter
• Gets the hots for Orgon's wife and is caught by Damis.
• Gets a second chance at Orgon's wife and Orgon catches him and kicks him out.

Dorine- Ladys' maid to Mariane

• Instigator?

Monsieur Loyal- Bailiff

• Sent from the court to tell Orgon he has lost his Estate and is now being passed over to Tartuffe

The Exempt- Officer of the King

• Overturns courts orders after King saw Tartuffe was full of it.

Flipote-Lady's maid to Madame Pernelle

• ?

Laurent- Servant of Tartuffe

• ?

Basic Summary of story-

Tartuffe was taken in under Orgon's wing after he was living in poverty and had nothing.  Tartuffe and Orgon form a very solid relationship and Orgon is obsessed with Tartuffe to the point where he doesn't even care if his wife is healthy or not. (See conversation 150-151).  Orgon decides to stop the marriage between his daughter Mariane and her fiance Valere.  He instead arranges Mariane to marry Tartuffe.  The entire family disapproves of this arranged marriage, but Orgon is oblivious to the fact and continues with his plans.  Tartuffe has the hots for Orgon's wife, Elmire.  Damis catches the conversation between the two of them when Tartuffe admits his feelings to her.  Damis calls him out, however Orgon believes Tartuffe is innocent and Damis is blowing steam.  Elmire then sets Tartuffe up to show Orgon that what Damis said was true.  She seduces him and Orgon listened to the whole conversation from under a table.  Orgon gets upset, kicks Tartuffe out of the house and stops the marriage.  Tartuffe goes to court and tries to take the estate from Orgon, but the king overturns his actions.

Setting of the story-

Orgon's house.

-Patrick

Feedback Thoughts

Feedback is extremely important to grow and learn from. I used to think of feedback as criticism and honestly hated it. I thought of it more as "judging" than to be helpful to me. Once I realized that feedback or criticism was there to help me I learned from it and was able to improve my writing. Feedback is helpful anywhere though, I appreciate feedback when I am working, whether it is good or bad I find it helpful.  So far all of my English teachers at LMC have been extremely helpful and have given me awesome feedback on my rough drafts and outlined areas that needed improvement or have given me kudos for doing something write. I feel this is very helpful as a student because we might not know if we are right or wrong when we do something a certain way and the feedback we receive will point us in the right direction. 

There was a quote that a great friend and mentor told me a long time ago, I cannot remember it exactly but its meaning has stuck with me.  It was something along the lines of "Once you feel that your work cannot get any better, you stop learning and have created a boundary".  I found this to be great advice and have always thought of feedback as a way to better myself and to keep improving what I do.  There is always room for improvement with anything, whether it is with school or work.

Topic Brainstorm

One of the topics for the project that interested me most was to relate the readings to the period in which it was written or how the work revealed the cultural behavior contemporary to it.  I believe this would be a fun topic to research because it would make the reading more understandable and I could see how society at the time influenced the writing.

Another topic that I found to be interesting was to research how the author's background influenced his or her work.  I remember in one of my previous English classes I had to do something similar and I found it to be very interesting. Usually some event happened to the author growing up and it influenced their writing later on in life.  Authors most often express their feelings and emotions throughout their literature and this topic would be a way to find out what influenced their feelings.

The third topic I found interesting that I would consider writing about was exploring the relationship between elements of the reading, such as the characters personalities and the setting of the story.  There is most often a strong relationship between the two and understanding the setting of the story will help to better understand the characters personality.  The setting of a story can make or break the story so it will be very interesting to see how it affects the relationship of the character(s) within the text.

The last topic that caught my attention was to compare and contrast elements of two different texts. I thought this was pretty straight forward and I will keep this as a backup if I struggle with the other topics I have mentioned above.  I am sure that as I get deeper into the semester I will start to notice similarities and differences between characters in the texts.  There will also be many shared themes, so I could also compare/contrast how the theme was presented in the stories.

-Patrick

Week 2 Analysis: Oroonoko

Oroonoko was a General of Coramantien and a Prince.  He loyal to his country, compassionate towards Imoinda and very strong willed.  His character traits are important to this story because they connect with the reader emotions, as he is an all around great person who is madly in love with a woman and is put down because of his race.

            There are two main themes pertaining to the story Oroonoko.  The first theme is love, Oroonoko was made General and after coming home from war, he meets and falls in love with Imoinda.  Oroonoko is shocked by her beauty and marries Imoinda. This marriage however is short lived; the King of Coramantien abuses his power and steals Imoinda from Oroonoko. Oroonoko is heartbroken and longed for Imoinda.  The story revolves around Oroonoko and his love for Imoinda.  He is sent off to England as a slave because he gets caught spending the night with Imoinda after she remarried to the King.  Then when they are off the ship, they reconnect later, at this time however, Oroonoko is now named Caesar and is a slave. Love was the driving force of this entire story and without this theme; the story would be completely different and not have progressed.  The second theme of the story is Slavery.  Oroonoko is a non-white person and is described as having an “Ebony or polished Jett” face, and tall and strong.  These are the ideal characteristics a slave owner would be looking for in a slave.  When Oroonoko is picked with seventeen other slaves, it was said that “not one of quality with him”(page 222), meaning he was a more desired as a slave because of his strong build than the other slaves that were purchased in his lot.

            This story was a great reflection of culture at the time it was written in the 1600s. During this time the slave industry was at its peak with an estimated 6-7 million slaves brought into the New World by the 18^th century.  What people do not realize, is the slaves all had their own lives they were deprived of back home.  Oroonoko was sent off to England to be punished for what he had done and his life was changed forever due to his actions.  This story was great because it revolved around the slave and his life before slavery. The love story with Imoinda gave us the background information that led to why Oroonoko was a slave.

-Patrick