Dover Beach

Mathew Arnold takes an interesting approach and four stanzas in order to get his point of the poem Dover Beach across. The prior three stanzas are necessary to the main idea though. Arnold begins by describing three bodies of water, the English Channel, Aegean Sea, and Sea of Faith. The description of the English Channel brings forth the idea of sorrow and "human misery", which is continued with a comparison to the Aegean Sea, emphasizing the eternal quality of this human misery. The Sea of Faith is then used to express the decrease in faith, "but now I only hear it's melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, refresting." This poem is very depressing up to this point, but takes a sharp turn in the fourth stanza. The entire poem is about the tragedies and miserable qualities of life. However, Arnold presents a solution to this problem. "Ah, love, let us be true to kne another! For the world.." He says that despite the horrible qualities of this world, they, he and his lover, can face them together.

GO HOOSIERS!

Sorting Laundry

Of all the poems form this unit, this poem seemed the easiest to comprehend. Elisavietta Ritche begins the poem by comparing laundry with her relationship with her lover. She says, "Folding clothes, I think of folding you intk my life." This makes perfect sense to me. Developing a relationship is much like folding someone into your life. They become part of that life, folded and entangled in everything. The extended metaphor continues to compare various pieces of clothing with aspects of the relationship. "Pillowcases, despite so many washings" expresses the fact that the couple has been together for a while. "So many shirts and skirt and pants recycling week after week, head over heels" says that the couple is still very much in love. However, despite the current healthy state of the relationship, thinking about anything too much can allow someone to find a flaw. This speaker thinks back on an old relationship in which she apparently was left by her lover and then with a sharp change in mood if the poem expresses, "if you were to leave me... A mountain of in sorted wash could not fill the empty side of the bed."

I taste a liqueur never brewed

I am familiar with Emily Dickensin's poems being a little strange, but this one seemed particularly confusing upon reading it for the first time. However, after analyzing the poem more, Dickenson's way of describing the intoxicating feeling that nature can bring is very clever. She says, "Inebriate of air I am", literally meaning drunk off if the air and figuratively meaning the whimsical state that natures beauty brings her mind. I can personally relate to this "Inebriatstion". I went in summer field studies this last summer, an I know that there is no feeling like the high that such pure beauty can bring. Seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time or witnessing the awesome view after climing a mountain is simply indescribable. The aspen of the Seraphs and saints in her poem is also very interesting, especially that the approve of her drunken state, "Till Seraphs swing their snowy hats and Saint to windows run". However, this makes perfect sense. She is appreciating Gods gift of nature, so the Saints look down in approval.

The Convergence of the Twain

Thomas Hardy's The Convergence of the Twain is a very different take on the familiar tragic tale of the Titanic. Instead of the common view of sympathy for all those passengers that suffered the ultimate price for their ticket in the magnificent voyage, he takes a much more aversive view. Twain's view is that in fact, the ship decided her own fate when she was created ultimately in human vain. The poem states, "The immanent Will tht stirs and urges everything prepared a sinister mate." He is saying that the Titanic's fate, from the moment she was created, was destined to crash into the iceberg. To me, this essentially means that the ship had it coming, along with all of the passengers. This seems really harsh, especially considering the horrible occurance that was the sinking of the Titanic. However, he also makes a good point. The "vaingloriousness" mentioned in the poem was definitely present. The ship wa created as extravagant as possible, with the intention to only impress the world. In the end, this led to her downfall.

My Mistress' Eyes

I liked My Misstress' Eyes by William Shakespeare because it is the first work I have read so far in this unit that has a happy ending.  The beginning of the story is very critical of women, as has been a common theme throughout this gender unit.  The speaker of the poem says, "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red..." Essentially, the speaker continues in this way, pin pointing a number of his mistress' flaws. He says her eyes aren't that pretty, even coral is more red than her lips, her hair is like wire, her breath smells bad, etc.  All of these criticisms gave me the impression that this poem was about, once again, a man displeased with the imperfections of a woman, a woman who yet again cannot fill all of the demands placed on her by stereotypes and society. However, the poem ends quite nicely.  The speaker says, " And yet, by heave, I think my love as rare as any she belied with false compare." The speaker is saying that despite all of these imperfection he can find about his mistress, he loves her.  His love for this woman is rare because he loves her for all of the negatives that he can see along with the good. This is a happy ending.

Barbie Doll

This poem deals with a common theme of the stereotypes of woman as perfectly pretty and kind, like a Barbie Doll.  This comparison to a Barbie doll I have heard many times, because the problem of being compared to such an unrealistically image of a woman is a legitimate problem in contemporary society. this poem fits nicely into the gender unit because it deals with such a widespread issue among women. I don't at all mean to preach, but to explain my point of view on this subject in relation to this poem.  In the beginning of Barbie Doll, Marge Piercy discusses toys that young girls are often given to play with. Among the ones that she mentions are a doll, a stove, and an iron.  How ironic.  Even as babies, girls are taught to have a perfect body and to grow up to cook and clean for men.  I'm not at all a "feminist" as one might describe this view, but there is no doubt that these toys are not sexist.  Furthermore, the poem discusses the issue with the expectations of the physical appearance of women.  "She was healthy, tested intelligent", this statement tells of a beautiful woman, inside and out.  The poem continues, however, "Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs." This statement is consistent with society because people truly look past inner beauty to criticize those who don't fit the impossible mold of a "Barbie Doll". Finally the girl in this poem kills herself because she has tried so hard to fit this impossible stereotype, and can't.  She dies in the effort of making herself "perfect".  This is the ironic and sad part, that she gave up a beautiful life to try to make others like her.  It is even more sad that it is so true.

Hunters in the Snow

I didn't very much like Tobias Wolff's Hunters in the Snow.  The characters all seem like horrible people, and then the plot and ending of the story are extremely bizarre.  Kenny enjoys teasing almost to the point of cruelty, resulting eventually in his getting shot.  Frank is married and has children, but is having an affair with a fifteen year old.  And then there is Tub, who searches for pity for his being overweight, but secretly is a glutton.  None of these characters appeal to me whatsoever.  And then there is the plot of this story, which along with the characters is also frustrating.  The story begins with chaos, in Kenny almost running over Tub with the truck, and also ends in chaos.  Kenny gets shot, Tub admits to his gluttony, Frank admits to his affair, and the reader is finally left with the question of whether Kenny lives or dies, thanks to Frank and Tubs idiocy of losing the list of the directions. The end really angered me because I figured that after all the odd curve balls that the author threw into the plot, like Kenny getting shot or Frank having and affair or Tub being a glutton, that the characters had finally grown and realized a little out about each other. I thought that some progress had been made and that these characters might be able to grow closer in the bonds of their friendship after realizing each others' weaknesses and problems. However, the story ends with, "'I'm going to the hospital,' Kenny said.  But he was wrong.  They had taken a different turn a long way back". The characters won't be able to grow in their friendship because it is most likely that Kenny will die because of an erroneous mistake on Tub's part.