1. Coverage-http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/commentary-of-wanda-why-arent-you-dead.html
http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/if-this-was-my-poetry-final-i-would.html
http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/protection.html
http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/setting-imagery-and-form.html
http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/i-found-amiri-barakas-discussion-of.html
2. Depth- http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/if-this-was-my-poetry-final-i-would.html
3. Interaction- http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/setting-imagery-and-form.html
4. Discussion- http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/commentary-of-wanda-why-arent-you-dead.html#comments
5. Xenoblogging-http://iyagovos.blogspot.com/2011/05/feral-mother.html
6. Wildcard-http://samantha94englishblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/protection.html
I know this is late, I just completely forgot.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Commentary of "Wanda Why Aren't You Dead"
The poem Wanda Why Aren’t You Dead, written by Wanda Coleman uses the structure of the poem, diction, and the speaker and audience relationship to portray the author’s intentions. The poem describes a black woman and the way she lives through long unpunctuated sentences.
The poems structure is interesting because of its lack of punctuation and repetition. Throughout the poem Coleman does not use punctuation, capitals and has very few sentences at all, these suggest the poem is more rant like due to the flowing nature of a rant. The many questions that the poem poses also suggest a rant because it appears like the speaker is questioning or interrogating Wanda. The repetition of words however suggest that the speaker is of a weaker nature, and not really sure of their power or superiority. The stutter like repetition shows the speaker to be uncomfortable with the change is structure as at the beginning of the poem it was more questions and interrogation while at the end the author begins to apologize.
The diction in this poem is also important to understanding it. The slang terms used suggest a specific dialect which informs us of the speaker and Wanda’s place in life. The repetition of some words was mentioned above and is also pertinent here. The author chooses to repeat herself in three places, “were you” “that” and ”Wanda.” These three places are very important in the poem and the repetition draws the audiences focus. The first time that the author employs repetition the audience sees the direct connection between Wanda and the speaker because of the speaker talking about her life and being her. The second time that the author repeats words is when she begins to apologize about forgetting about something important. This part of the poem is important due to the fact that the poem changes here from questioning to apology and also the speaker also is like ever closer to Wanda.
The Relationship between the Speaker and Wanda is interesting because of the first name of the author. Because the author’s first name is Wanda the poem takes on a self deprecating tone and the poem becomes more about self-pity and bad situations. Throughout the poem the author, Wanda, is insulting and belittling Wanda, this suggests the authors self hatred and notes that Wanda always says she will do and does. This is also the authors opportunity to talk about everything that hurts her the most which is suggested by the ending lines “i’m sorry i didn’t remember that that that that that that was so important to you.”
The poems structure is interesting because of its lack of punctuation and repetition. Throughout the poem Coleman does not use punctuation, capitals and has very few sentences at all, these suggest the poem is more rant like due to the flowing nature of a rant. The many questions that the poem poses also suggest a rant because it appears like the speaker is questioning or interrogating Wanda. The repetition of words however suggest that the speaker is of a weaker nature, and not really sure of their power or superiority. The stutter like repetition shows the speaker to be uncomfortable with the change is structure as at the beginning of the poem it was more questions and interrogation while at the end the author begins to apologize.
The diction in this poem is also important to understanding it. The slang terms used suggest a specific dialect which informs us of the speaker and Wanda’s place in life. The repetition of some words was mentioned above and is also pertinent here. The author chooses to repeat herself in three places, “were you” “that” and ”Wanda.” These three places are very important in the poem and the repetition draws the audiences focus. The first time that the author employs repetition the audience sees the direct connection between Wanda and the speaker because of the speaker talking about her life and being her. The second time that the author repeats words is when she begins to apologize about forgetting about something important. This part of the poem is important due to the fact that the poem changes here from questioning to apology and also the speaker also is like ever closer to Wanda.
The Relationship between the Speaker and Wanda is interesting because of the first name of the author. Because the author’s first name is Wanda the poem takes on a self deprecating tone and the poem becomes more about self-pity and bad situations. Throughout the poem the author, Wanda, is insulting and belittling Wanda, this suggests the authors self hatred and notes that Wanda always says she will do and does. This is also the authors opportunity to talk about everything that hurts her the most which is suggested by the ending lines “i’m sorry i didn’t remember that that that that that that was so important to you.”
Monday, May 9, 2011
If this was my poetry final, I would...
OBSERVATIONS
-Beginning has a lot of diction that implies beauty talking about the trees and snow (gleam, slender)
But...
-Snow and hemlock (both have death connected with them)
-Beauty and Death are mentioned close together
-Then goes into (the living) the nuthatch
-Area is described as sparse (little, single, clear)
-Mentions the plants a lot
-bug is personified
-Formal serious, but ends with an informal splash (mimesis- actions sounds like, slither, splash, sneeze)
-Contrast of time
-Aliteration
-structure is weird
-no verbs in the first half
-Adjective noun first part
-First part about the setting
-Second part about the bug
-Focused on the small details (the tiny bug, the needles,the little hemlock)
-Contradictions
---Biggest little lake
---DOWN from the treetrunks UP through time
-The bug is bare like the nature around him
-The only sound is the Nuthatch call before the "Splash"
---few disturbances
_________________________________________________________
INTERPRETATIONS
-The snow only allows for death (Snow + Hemlock)
-Hemlock is just coming out (Hemlock half in shade)
-Or maybe hidden
-nothing really hangs around during the winter, only the nuthatch, the bug and death
____________________________________________________
Comment on Commentary
(Gary Snyder’s Old Pond and commentary by Camille Puglia)
-Beauty to impluse (mountains and snow to dive)
-scrabling is happy
-authors experience
-nature is reduced to it simplest form
-first 2 lines and the second two are free standing haikus
-hemlock=human (i found this reallu interesting because of hemlocks poison, is she talking about how humans kill things?) and the duality of man
-hemlock=frail human figure
But...
-Snow and hemlock (both have death connected with them)
-Beauty and Death are mentioned close together
-Then goes into (the living) the nuthatch
-Area is described as sparse (little, single, clear)
-Mentions the plants a lot
-bug is personified
-Formal serious, but ends with an informal splash (mimesis- actions sounds like, slither, splash, sneeze)
-Contrast of time
-Aliteration
-structure is weird
-no verbs in the first half
-Adjective noun first part
-First part about the setting
-Second part about the bug
-Focused on the small details (the tiny bug, the needles,the little hemlock)
-Contradictions
---Biggest little lake
---DOWN from the treetrunks UP through time
-The bug is bare like the nature around him
-The only sound is the Nuthatch call before the "Splash"
---few disturbances
_________________________________________________________
INTERPRETATIONS
-The snow only allows for death (Snow + Hemlock)
-Hemlock is just coming out (Hemlock half in shade)
-Or maybe hidden
-nothing really hangs around during the winter, only the nuthatch, the bug and death
____________________________________________________
Comment on Commentary
(Gary Snyder’s Old Pond and commentary by Camille Puglia)
-Beauty to impluse (mountains and snow to dive)
-scrabling is happy
-authors experience
-nature is reduced to it simplest form
-first 2 lines and the second two are free standing haikus
-hemlock=human (i found this reallu interesting because of hemlocks poison, is she talking about how humans kill things?) and the duality of man
-hemlock=frail human figure
Protection
You sit and watch,
Scared but you must be strong for them
You have to decide.
Protection.
Facing him
You have no chances for victory.
You face certain death
But you know that they are saved.
Scared but you must be strong for them
You have to decide.
Protection.
Facing him
You have no chances for victory.
You face certain death
But you know that they are saved.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Setting, Imagery, and Form
Setting:
The setting of "The Harlem Dancer" is in a club. The area that she is in is loud but she remains calm and focused. We can see the loud raucousness if the area from the diction used in the poem, such as: "applauding" "laughed" "tossing coins." These words show that the area she is in is loud and crazy. An interesting point that Saumya noticed was that the serenity that we see in the poem is describing the dancers surroundings. (Saumya's blog)We can also gather that the woman that is the focal point in the poem is also as such in the room. It appears that the woman is in the center of the room being watched by the people surrounding her. This is deduced form the facts that the "youths laughed with young prostitutes and watched her..."
Imagery:
In this poem the imagery is contrasted. The imagery at the beginning of the club and the contrasted with a picnic day. Another contrast is that she appears to be like a "proudly-swaying palm" and then it is contrasted to a "storm." This contrasting images emphasize the craziness that is the club and her serenity. This also changes the poem because it changes from the tranquility that we felt in the room before to what the room actually is.
Sound/Form:
Because this poem is in the form of a Shakespearean Sonnet this poem has rhythm. This adds to the poem because of the fact that the focal point in the poem is the dancer and rhythm is a huge part in music and the poem brings that along with the rhyme scheme.
The setting of "The Harlem Dancer" is in a club. The area that she is in is loud but she remains calm and focused. We can see the loud raucousness if the area from the diction used in the poem, such as: "applauding" "laughed" "tossing coins." These words show that the area she is in is loud and crazy. An interesting point that Saumya noticed was that the serenity that we see in the poem is describing the dancers surroundings. (Saumya's blog)We can also gather that the woman that is the focal point in the poem is also as such in the room. It appears that the woman is in the center of the room being watched by the people surrounding her. This is deduced form the facts that the "youths laughed with young prostitutes and watched her..."
Imagery:
In this poem the imagery is contrasted. The imagery at the beginning of the club and the contrasted with a picnic day. Another contrast is that she appears to be like a "proudly-swaying palm" and then it is contrasted to a "storm." This contrasting images emphasize the craziness that is the club and her serenity. This also changes the poem because it changes from the tranquility that we felt in the room before to what the room actually is.
Sound/Form:
Because this poem is in the form of a Shakespearean Sonnet this poem has rhythm. This adds to the poem because of the fact that the focal point in the poem is the dancer and rhythm is a huge part in music and the poem brings that along with the rhyme scheme.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Interpretations
I found Amiri Baraka's discussion of people's interpretations of word to be very interesting. Because we all speak with intentions we often apply the connotations of word in the ideas we are trying to get across, but I have never thought about what the audience might have experienced and their connections and definitions of the words I use. I think that this idea is really interesting because there is really no way to change the way you yourself talk because you will never know what your audience is taking away from it but only what you mean by it.
I think that this idea is really important to poetry because we can rarely completly understand what the author was trying to convey. This also means that to every reader the poetry will mean something completely different. And because experiences and culture have so much to do with the way you understand things the authors idea and your reaction may not be the same but the words have moved you anyway and from the "Poetry commentary" we read in class that is the purpose of poetry.
Baraka brings up culture a lot in "Expressive Language (1963)." I think that this is important to the way that people understand things because different people experience different things, have learn different things and react differently to things. This would have an effect on our writting habits and the way we understand other people.
I think that this idea is really important to poetry because we can rarely completly understand what the author was trying to convey. This also means that to every reader the poetry will mean something completely different. And because experiences and culture have so much to do with the way you understand things the authors idea and your reaction may not be the same but the words have moved you anyway and from the "Poetry commentary" we read in class that is the purpose of poetry.
Baraka brings up culture a lot in "Expressive Language (1963)." I think that this is important to the way that people understand things because different people experience different things, have learn different things and react differently to things. This would have an effect on our writting habits and the way we understand other people.
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