Twentieth Posting

Virginia Woolf what a weird woman, but I guess we all can be. "The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection" is a very funny reading to me. I really enjoyed reading about a nosey person. I understand that the story is more meaningful than what I see it as, but I think I can still explain and express my own opinion. In the introduction it actually helped me to really understand exactly what the story symbolized and it truly written about. I think it is just merely a person being nosey. I really think it is so realistic. I can literally see a woman sitting and focusing on a looking glass in order to be able to see what is going on in someone else's life or home. I think it is great how the description is so detailed from the garden to the cabinets. I know that I should probably focus on Isabella Tyson who had so secrets. The narrator basically helps to clarify that you really don't know what goes on behind closed doors and also you can judge a book by its cover. I really think that this type of activity is probably some kind of crime now-a-days (haha). I like how she is sarcastic at the end by saying "People should not leave looking-glasses hanging in their rooms" this statement to me really made the story. I think the ending was actually the best part she really did a good job building up to that ending.

Nineteenth Posting

T.S. Eliot seemed like a descent guy. He grew up in a very wealthy and smart family. I believe that there was 3 U.S. Presidents and even a reverend in his family and also some Harvard Graduates. He also seemed to be a pretty religious man.

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is definitely not a love song, but more of a personal poem I think. The narrator is expressing his personal thoughts. He also experiences a lot of conflicts of his life. Throughout the poem he throws in a few religious points some of which include "But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed" and "I am Lazarus, come from the dead, Come back to tell you all..." He is speaking of fasting and praying which are both very religious topics to talk about. He also talks about Lazarus and he is stating that Jesus Raised from the dead yet he is not Lazarus. One of the parts of the poem that I liked was page 1195 lines 37-48 this reminds me of a conflict that the narrator is experiencing a midlife crisis. He is worried about the way that he looks, his hair, arms and legs. I think this section is funny I liked it because it reminds me of my parents. Lines 70-72 is when he is a bet depressed and lonely.

I enjoyed T.S. Eliot he seems to actually be one of the good guys. He actually doesn't seem to have so much drama in his life.

Eighteenth Posting

Wyndham Lewis was the founder of the magazine Blast. Blast was made to suggest an explosive charge it was supposed to be bright and exciting to get rid of the boring stuff. Blast is such a weird magazine. The entries that are in the book don't really all make sense. They are really out in left field. The "Vorticist Manifesto Long Live the Vortex!" WOW!! I really don't know what to say. There is a lot of hardcore things said in this article. I really like the part where he states that Blast is not made for a certain class of people, but for "THE INDIVIDUAL." What a strong and awesome statement to really let people know how you feel. He goes on the talk about how the magazine is created for everyone even the King. The last statement is awesome way to sell a magazine "Blast presents an art of individuals." I really like how this whole article is worded it is so powerful. I really am not sure what to think about the other things that are written and presented.

I also enjoyed "The Soldier" by Rupert Brooke out of this section of reading. It made me think about the soldiers now. The soldier is basically saying that if he is to die just remember that he was a soldier who accomplished things. He really doesn't want the people to think of him but of the land that he fought or or for "That is forever England." He states "And think, this heart, all evil shed away," he doesn't want there to be bad thoughts please let those thoughts go away. "And Laughter, learnt of friends" he wants happiness and times spend with friends. This is a touching poem. I think it is one that all of the soldiers families should read.

I really don't have to much more to say about this section these are really the only things that interested me the most.

Seventeenth Posting

William Butler Yeats another sad poet well in the sense of his childhood. Yeats grew up very poor and lived a ruff life. At a young age he even tried to help with finances for his family. Yeats is another great poet.

"The Lake Isle of Innisfree" this is where I want to be a small island. I thought this poem was great. I really can image being on this island with nature and a cabin. He describes the sound of the "lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore" and how he can hear it on the pavement or the roadway. He even says "I hear it in the deep heart's core" like he can even hear the sounds of the water and nature within himself. What a fantastic feeling. I enjoyed reading this poem line to line.

I also enjoyed "The wild Swans at Coole" it is another poem that made me feel at one with nature. I see the autumn beauty all of the colors on the trees and the dried up leaves. "Under the October twilight the water mirrors a still sky;" can't you visualize the water very still and calm with just those few little ripples in it and the light of the moon and the sky reflecting off of it. He goes on to start talking about the swans. He describes how he sees the swans every time he comes and how there wings sound as they fly. He almost compares the swans to people and how they by sating their feelings and their hearts. At the end of the poem he states "Delight men's eyes when I awake some day To find they have flown away?" what a neat ending and such a true statement. He admired something so much and enjoyed it so much that one day it will be gone. It is almost like the saying you don't know what you have til it's gone. He didn't realize really how much he enjoyed their beauty until they weren't there anymore. I really liked the ending of this poem.

I enjoyed reading Yeats poetry. I admire him for his hard work, all the way up until he died he worked hard on his writings.

Sixteenth Posting

Bernand Shaw is a play writer. I think I enjoyed reading his soap opera "Pygmalion." The only problem I had was that it was really long. I say it is a soap opera because it is very similar to our everyday life in a sense. All of the different people and events. The Mother and Daughter and going out in the rain. This is just an example of something that happens in everyday life.

On page 1015 he really does a good job of describing the living conditions. Eliza seems to live in very poor conditions. It is really kind of sick. I can actually visualize the run down house and all of the old fixings.

I really am upset about the ending. It kind of made it pointless in reading the whole play. The ending was completely unfinished that is horrible. I wonder does Eliza leave Higgins for good to marry Freddy or does she stay with Higgins. I think in the end I kind of wasted my time reading this it is like watching a movie that doesn't have a good ending. I know that I can't stand the feeling of not knowing.

Fifteenth Posting

Thomas Hardy was not only a poet, but also a fiction novelist. He also seems to be a bet opposite of Hopkins especially in the poem "Hap." "If but some vengeful god would call to me From up the sky, and laugh:" this opening of this poem makes me feel that Hardy is wondering if there is a God in heaven that he can talk to. The whole poem basically makes me think that Hardy questions if there is a God. He wonders if The God will cause him to shed tears. He just really shows how opposite he is from Hopkins in this poem because Hopkins is pretty set in his religions beliefs unlike Hardy.

"On the Departure Platform" is a very sweet poem. This poem has got to be considered a love poem. I love when men write poetry like this. I like how he describes the spot that she represents as she gets further and further away. I can see it as I read it. At the end of the poem "And why, young man, must eternally fly A joy you'll repeat, if you love her well?" I think he is saying will you go back again to see her off or you will do this again if you really love her. I like this poem it is completely different from "Hap." Hardy talks about two different things: Love and God.

All of Hardy's poetry is different he talks about God, love, Titanic, The Nation, etc. It seems like a lot of poets tend to stay close to the same types of topics and styles when they write and Hardy really veers off from that stereotype.

Fourteenth Posting

Gerard Manley Hopkins is a very interesting poet. Hopkins shows in his poetry that he was surrounded by religion most of his life.

In the poem "God's Grandeur" he shows a relationship between God and nature. "It will flame out, like shining from shook foil," this is describing how the world is growing to expand with God like a sense of a leaf or tinsel. The poem also shows God and his control and protection when it talks about the "Holy Ghost over the bent world broods" and "bright wings." These are both symbols of protection.

Well, the poem "I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark. Not Day" is really out there. This poem is very dark and weird. I really am not sure if I understand it completely, but I feel that he is kind of talking about hell. I feel that he may be expressing a time that he was upset or depressed. This poem just really scares me in a sense the way that it is worded.

Hopkins is a very odd poet. I can't really decide whether I like his writings or not. In a sense I really don't know what to say about him.