Blogalicious

1. Tangible: Uniform (pg 14), Cigars (pg 15), Guns (pg 15), Tents (pg 17), Pipe (pg 19)

   Intangible: Self Doubt (pgs 13-14), Anger (pg 14), Dependency (pg 12), Sorrow (pg 16), Memories (pg 17)

2. Tangible:.A watch to keep time and watch for when the school ball rings; A pencil to write with; Keys to get inside the apartment building I live in and check the mail; post-its to write down important informatlion; mascarra to keep in my purse; breath mints in purse for after dinner dates; hand sanatizer to avoid germs; Ibuprofen; chapstick because winter sucks; hair-tie or else I’d go crazy; waterbottle for when I’m thirsty; Wallet with my I.D. in case the fuz are after me; subway card for those oh-so-wonderful deals; Social Security card because I still haven’t memorized it (hope my wallets never stolen)

Intangible:Love for friends, family and all else in the world around me; hope for a happy peaceful future; Fear of what tomorrow will bring; anger; determination to someday make a difference.

1. Describe the form and structure of the poem.  What is the occasion of the poem? What two reasons does the speaker give for refusing to promise a committed love? What compromise does she suggest at the end?
   1. There are three, 8-line stanzas.  It is alternating rhyme in the scheme abababab cdcdcdcd efefefef.  The poem is a speaker rejecting a lover telling him that they do not know each other’s past nor can they know the pasts.  The speaker also says they cannot tell what will come in the future and so, they should avoid heartache.  The speaker tells the lover that to avoid them having their hearts broken, they should just be friends.
2. Analyze the effect on the meaning of such devices as syntax, repitition, parallelism and paradox.
   1. Repitition is used with the word “promise”.  This repition is used to get the point accrossed that the speaker believes their love is nothing more than promises.  Line four is a paradox, “Never false and never true”.  This is used to say that their promises are not true, but they are not intentional lies.  They aren’t meaning to break them but they are. The parallelism of each partner promising shows that each of them tries but the promises are useless on both sides.
3. Analyze the effect on meaning of the imagery and figurative language.
   1. The imagery and language help to strengthen the point that promises are easily broken.  The title itself is an old proverb meaning that promises, like pie-crusts, are made to be broken.  This helps establish the fealing of ending a relationship with the old saying, “Let’s just be friends”. The images show the hopelessness of the promises and the sureness of friends.

1. Describe the prosody using the description of a sestina.

Prosody is a term refering to speech elements. A sestina is a poem composed of 6 stanzas each containing 6 lines, a sestina also has a 3 line closing stanza called an envoy.  The prosody of the poem is the language used, not only does the poet use english, she also adds spanish into the poem to get her point accrossed, that language (as spoken) is not as effective to providing meaning as the feeling that comes along with the word. I don’t know how else to answer this, it is not an actualy question in the book.

2.  In first staza, what is the effect of personification and allusion? What is the spanish counterpart to each? Sum up the meaning of the stanza.

The stanza basically means that the author is having trouble saying what she truly means in English and she has trouble translating small words.  The personification and allusion give the reader the fealing that the english words aren’t as important or meaningful as the spanish terms.

3. What mood or feelings are envoked in stanza 2? How does language create this mood?

The second stanza is soothing, calming, with the spanish words as calming sounds.  She says they was over her, like the warm waters of her childhood home.  The language of the spanish vocabulary help to add to this.

4. What do we learn about stanzas two and three about the difference between names and vocabulary words? How does the example of the plant called the morivivir help illustrate this gap?  What does the metaphor of the genii in the bottle tell us about the nature of the language?

Names soothe the poet, the Spanish ones helping her feel calm.  We learn that names are not the same as vocabulary words, they hold more meaning.  Words are just labels, with no feeling to them.  The morivivr’s leaves close when poked at too much, just like words lose their meanings when messed with or over-analyzed.  A frail word can not do what legends may believe they can.

5. Why does the speaker invoke Gladys and Rosario from her childhood? How is her childhood sensitivity to words inextricably bound to Spanish, her first language?  What is significant about the allusion to Adam, the first man?

She is hoping to evoke old memories of happiness when she was back living where she loved.  Her childhood is bound to her and her first language of Spanish, causing her to feel soothed and happy whenever she thinks of memories or speaks Spanish.  Even though she was not the first to use these words, she feels like they have the impact on her as they would if she were the first.

1.  What imagery does Shapiro use in the first three lines to evoke sound and sight? How do these images become increasingly significant in the context of the entire poem?
   1. Shapiro uses the words beating. Ruby, pulsing and red as imagery to evoke a foreboding feeling, to make the reader feel that something bad has happened. These images set the mood of the poem.
2. What contextual significance do the following words and phrases have: ”mangled”, “tolls once”, “terrible cargo”, “rocking, Slightly rocking”, “deranged” and “composed”?
   1. Mangled refers to the victims of the accident and gives the reader a disturbing image. Tolls once, refers to the ambulance bell, telling it to leave for the hospital.  Terrible cargo refers to the passengers but it sounds very casual, de-humanizing the victims.  The idea of rocking sound almost comforting although it is talking about the bodies.  Those watching are deranged while the cops are composed suggesting that the civilians care more about the victims than those trying to help and that the police are use to this kind of disaster.
3. Analyze the metaphors in lines 3, 18, 22 and 29-30. What pattern do they create and why is it appropriate to the poem?
   1. Although line 3 is not a metaphor, it is a simile, it can be analyzed as comparing the light of the flare to the pulsing of an artery.  This reference to blood helps set a dreadful mood and goes along with the topic of a car wreck.  In line 18, the blood is exaggerated by the word ponds, comparing the amount of blood to the amount of water in a pond. In line 22, tourniquets (devices used to stop the flow of blood from arteries) are used to describe the tightness of the observer’s throats.  In lines 29-30, is comparing the witnesses feelings to that of a wound.  All of these re-establish the feeling of dread and relate to some sort of wound or blood.
4. What is added to the theme of the poem by the metaphors in lines 20-21 and the simile in 24-27?
   1. These metaphors add to the disturbing scenes of the poem.  They help to add to the theme that pointless and un-predicted deaths overturn our assumptions of the tameness of life.

1. (Describe Rime Royal.)

A Rime Royal stanza consists of seven lines normally in Iambic Pentameter.  The rhyme scheme is ababbcc. It is either a tercet and two couplets (aba-bb-cc) or a quatrain and a tercet (abab-bcc).

2. (What is the structure? How does the imagery and argument of each stanza develp and intesify the appeal?)

The structure is 3 Rime Royal Stanzas composed of 7 lines each with a quintet at the end with the rhyme scheme, ddeed,  called an envoy. The first 3 stanzas all end with the phrase “I die”.  The first one is Chaucer complainig to the purs mercy, to save him from hunger.  The second stanza is flattering the lady.  The third stanza is  begging his lady to help him gain money, to fill his purse so that he may eat.  The final stanza is a note to Henry IV to listen and to amend the faults of society.

3.  (How does diction account for Humor?)

The humor is that Chaucer is compairing his purse to his lady.  He is calling the purse his love and begging that  she gives him mercy.

4. (How does the envoy continue the tone of the poem even as it addresses a specific person?)

In the last stanza of the poem, Henry IV is addressed specifically.  It still keeps the respectful tone of flattery when Chaucer calls him a conquerer and says he has the power to solve the problems.

1. (Describe a villanelle.  How many different end rhymes? How many times is each sound repeated? Which words are repeated exactly at the ends of lines, in what pattern? How does the last stanza use the rhyming words? Why is this appropriate at the end of the poem?)

The poem is written in five tercets with a quatrain at the end.  The rhyme scheme is aba for all the tercets and abaa for the quatrain. The a rhyme is used with 13 of those being end rhyme. The b rhyme is repeated 6 times, all of those being end rhyme. The word “hello” ends every other tercet while the word “know” ends the other tercets.  The 2nd to last line of the quatrain is “hello” while the last line is “know”. This is appropriate because both of the repeated words causes a final fealing to the poem, an idea of wrapping up.  The first tercet is establishing the poem, it is a ’hello’ and a ‘goodbye’.  The second tercet is a hello while the third is a goodbye.  The forth is a hello again while the fifth is goodbye and the last does what the begining does, it is a hello and a goodbye, establishing the complete end.

2. (What is the significance of the words of the b-rhyme to the poem?)

Fine is significant because it is establishing the feeling of things being all right and shows the quickness of life by small talk and quick conversations. Wine is significant to establish the hello thought of the second tercet.  Because of the alternating ideas in the tercets (hello and goodbye) the wine is a method of quick meetings and hello’s.  Nine is back to the idea of goodbye, the dinner ending and everyone leaving at that time. Line  is once again a hello by a begining statement or sentance, or even with following the words to the next sentence as a continuation of a conversation.  Pine is goodbye because it discusses the snow falling on top of the tree, this is the end of spring and summer, the end of green or the feelings of joy and happiness that come along with warm weather and beginings.  Finally, sign is neither a begining nor an end by themselves, but it is both, as the final quatrain establishes by having both “hello” and “goodbye” in it.  Sign is stated as stated as a knowledge, saying they hold each other and they know that what has begun must end, in other words, they know that the relationship must end.

3.  (What variations in meaning are present in the groups of repitition?)

The first hello is a means of small talk, of introduction conversation.  The second hello establishes the begining of the relationship, a small lunch out together.  The third hello is the knowledge of how things always start, it’s the point in the relationship when things start to dull down, the newness is gone and now a hello is merely that.  The last hello is the knowledge of the begining of the end, how things always go, hello then goodbye is the only way.  The first goodbye is the the end of the first meeting, an excitement is still there, the end of a quick conversation. The second goodbye is the end of dinner, the middle of the relationship, the slowdown point.The second goodbye is the end of the dinner, a slow down of the relationship. The third goodbye is also the slowdown, but in a more serious matter, an understanding. The final goodbye is the ultimate understanding, the knowledge that the relationship must end. The everystory in it’s first mention means that it’s known that goodbye must always come with hello. The second time this is mentioned reiterates this point, that goodbye is the ultimate end- that is known. The third knowledge is once again the end, the knowledge of the way relationships must slow. The final know is saying she knew or she should have known that all must end.

To Death

1. (Describe form and structure)

The Poem is written in couplets.  There are 8 sets of rhyming couplets in the rhyme scheme, aa/bb/cc/dd/ee/ff/gg/aa .  In other words, the first couplet and the last couplet follow the same rhyme.

2. (Details personify death? Effect? Attitude apostrophize? What request?)

Death is personified when it is called a king of terror.  The poet also refers to death as “thy” in other words, using a pronoun to give it lifelike qualities.  This give death a life-like quality, making it more realistic to the reader.  It also helps establish the foreshadowing of the death of the poet.  The poet seems to be accepting death, saying that soon it will be time for her to join his kingdom as another soul, saying his business is to kill and hers is to die.  She calls herself his prey and seems accepting of her fate, welcoming it even.  She tells him to take her, to kill her.

3.  (Paraphrase, turning everything to literal meaning)

Dear frightening figure whom/all must follow/ even kings, priests and prophets die/ a mortal God could not resist death./ my time is coming/ I must die./ I don’t fell afraid of death/ but I am afraid of certain methods of death/ like illness which brings us out of our minds/ and poisons or disease that keeps people at our deathbeds./ That’s not how I want to go but take me when it’s my time/ I, as a human, must die/ Let me die when I should/ And let me die peacefully, the way it should be.

Death Be Not Proud

1.      (How does poem conform, How does it differ?)        

Death Be Not Proud seems to be a common sonnet.  It has 3 quatrains and a couplet.  Where most poems would follow an abab scheme for rhyming, this one does not.  The following is the rhyme scheme of the poem: abba/abba/cddc/aa.

2. (Use of Apostrophe and Personification.  How enhance experience?)

Donne is speaking to death as a person, he is taking a noun that is not a living person or thing and he is giving it life-like qualities.  This is used to give the reader a feeling of strength, like they have ‘one up’ over the inevitable death.  Personifying death, giving ‘him’ life makes one feel as if it is merely human, like we are.  This feeling makes people believe that with the right strength, they can overcome death.  Rather than facing the inevitable, Donne’s poem is about defeating that which can not be conquered.

3. (Paraphrase quatrains and couplet)

Death is not proud although he has been called it/You are not strong and frightening/The people you believe you destroy/do not die, no will I./ From sleeping and resting, which you are/We get enjoyment so from you we must get more/Soon the best will go/to rest and be at peace./ You are only due to fate, chance, kings and desperate solutions (suicide)/And you come with poison, war and illness/ Other things can make us sleep well/they make us sleep better than you do so why are you proud/ Death is a short sleep and we will wake eternally/ We will be immortal and you will be the one who dies. (irony- The mythological death is immortal while we, as humans, are mortal.)