How were E.E. Cummings’ poems influenced by the time he lived in?

[http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/eecummings.html]

One of the most prolific and experimental poets of the twentieth century, Cumming cultivated a distinct style. He re-imagined the rules of grammar and even invented his own words. He is known for being weird and at times impossible to understand. He’s also a romantic whose body of work consists largely of love poems, like “i carry your heart with me (i carry it in.” In this poem, E.E. Cummings’ style is unique and highly visual. It forces a certain rhythm into the poem when you read aloud. The poem is simply saying that our life only has meaning because of love, but where did all of Cummings’ poems come from? What influenced them?

E.E. Cummings was a prominent American poet who is remember for his unique, but avant-garde style of poetry. Cummings was born into a Christian family. He practiced a “one-person” understanding of God, which led to transcendental learning his entire life. By the time he was in Harvard, modern poetry caught his interest, which eventually led to his “avant-garde” reputation. 

[http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110427094445AAAoAPr]

Throughout his life, Cummings would travel to many countries. He stayed in Paris when he enlisted to serve. His love for the city ended up becoming the main focus for many of his works in addition to his poetry. 

[http://www.essayforum.com/writing-feedback-3/e-e-cummings-have-aspects-life-influenced-poet-work-37638/]

To answer the question myself, Cummings had multiple talents in literature, one being he was an artist. I think that’s one reason he wrote the way he did. He wanted his poems to look like different, like art. He also experienced war, the roaring twenties, the great depression, and the lack of intellectualism in certain countries. These experiences were often always found in works he wrote. 

 

Is a film version of a story helpful or harmful to the readers understanding of the author’s purposes?

 

[http://way2enjoy.com/jquery/threadpreview/1588001]

Hemingway’s story The Snows of Kilimanjaro is about a writer, Harry and his wife, Helen stranded on a safari in Africa because their truck broke down. Harry is suffering from an infection on his leg and spends time drinking and insulting Helen. Harry reviews his life in a series of flashbacks, realizing that he wasted his talent through procrastination and luxury from a marriage to a wealthy woman he doesn’t love. At the end of the story, Helen wakes and finds that Harry has been eaten by a hyena. In the movie version of the story, a lot of things were left out. Some of the flashbacks were different and at the end of the story, Harry didn’t didn’t die. The plane did eventually come and he was saved. 

[http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/h/hemingways-short-stories/summary-and-analysis/the-snows-of-kilimanjaro]

[http://thebookvineyard.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/keeping-the-vow/]

[http://ourfaithinaction.net/2012/the-vow/the-vow-movie-wallpaper-15/]

A book turned into a movie with many changes is The Vow by Kim Carpenter. It is about a woman who is involved in a car accident and as a result goes into a coma. She gains consciousness but she wakes up with severe amnesia and her husband has to win her back all over again. The book and the movie have the same meaning, but there are some things that aren’t the same. In the book, the couple stayed together because of there faith, but in the movie they just fell in love again. The movie version doesn’t really talk about faith significantly.

[http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/02/16/real-life-couple-from-vow-says-it-would-have-been-nice-to-see-christian/]

 

So, is a film version of a story helpful or harmful? Yes! The Vow was only one example, but there are a lot more movies that do the same thing. I think we all have been telling a story and someone says “Well, the book wasn’t like that.”  

 

Blanche DuBois

When the play first begins, Blanche is already a fallen women. Her family’s fortune and house are gone, her husband committed suicide years earlier, and she is the talk of the town due to her indiscreet sexual behavior. She also has a bad drinking problem. Blanche is an insecure, dislocated individual. She’s an aging Southern belle of perpetual panic about her fading beauty. Her manner is dainty and frail, and she wears cheap evening clothes, but Stanley quickly sees through that and seeks information about her past.

   [http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/s/a-streetcar-named-desire/character-analysis/blanche-dubois]

[http://boudoirqueen.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/03/the-blanche-dubois-boudoir-trunk-show.html]

I’m pretty sure there are a lot of characters that are similar to Blanche DuBois, but to me, Blanche reminds me of Jay Gatsby from “The Great Gatsby”. Gatsby has material wealth, but experiences a lot of unfortunate events throughout his life, and so does Blanche. Some of events were Daisy leaving him for Tom and not waiting for him to come back, rumors being made about him, and Daisy leaving him again and him having to cover for Daisy killing Myrtle. Blanche had problems too. She lost the house in Mississippi and the same problems she ran away from in Mississippi came back for her in New Orleans. 

How did Langston Hughes represent the Modern Period in American Literature?

The Modernist Period in American Literature occupied the years shorty after the beginning of the twentieth century through 1965. The period was marked by unexpected breaks with traditional ways of viewing and interacting with the world. In the 1920’s, the Harlem Renaissance spread across the urban areas in the Northeast and Mideast. The African American cultural movement influenced many black writers, one of them being Langston Hughes. Hughes contributed a tremendous influence on black culture throughout the United States during the Harlem Renaissance . He is usually considered to be one the most prolific and most recognized black poets of the Harlem Renaissance. He broke barriers that very few black writers had done before during this period. Hughes was presented with a great opportunity with the rise of black art and by his creative style of poetry, which used black culture as its basis and still appealed to all ethnic groups.  

[http://www.online-literature.com/periods/modernism.php]

[http://www.biography.com/people/langston-hughes-9346313]

 

Harlem became a symbol of pride and achievement, and also a place of opportunity and fantasy. Jazz, cabarets, and Prohibition-era speakeasies brought numerous whites to Harlem. During the Harlem Renaissance, numerous poems and publications sought to capture real and imagined life in Harlem. Artists and writers also turned to themes related to folk culture, religion, and the South in their works. Langston Hughes used with strong emotion to the things that influenced his life. He puts forth images of African Americans, jazz, and many other topics that have been a part of his life. These elements are what influenced him and shows it in the works he has written. He uses jazz and blues styles for subjects and for structure in pieces of his literature. In Hughes’ poetry, he would try to bring out the sound, cadence, and the rhythms from blues and jazz music. He would also use humor loneliness, and despair to imitate the sound of blues and jazz music with words. Hughes refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America. He wanted to tell stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their suffering and their love for music, laughter and language itself. 

[http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/323]

(Langston Hughes- The Weary Blues)

 

 

 

“The Impulse” by Robert Frost

(Video of “The Impulse” being read)

The poem I chose for this assignment was “The Impulse” by Robert Frost. This poem is filled with beautiful imagery that conceals the pain and loneliness that exists in the character’s relationship. After reading this poem, I watched a video on Youtube of someone analyzing it(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3nKHLWOGyo). According to MadHermit7, the poem focuses on the wife of a woodsman. As the poem begins, the wife finds a opportunity to have a carefree day to enjoy herself, but in the end, she ends up wondering too far and that results in her death. He states that in the poem, he sees one main lesson: happy and tragic moments in life can be spontaneous. He thinks Frost is saying live life to the fullest, because you’ll never know what’ll happen next.

Another view I got from this poem came from someone that commented on MadHermit7’s Youtube video. Hylohunter thinks differently. He thinks that the last line in the poem didn’t refer to the wife’s actual death, but referred to the idea that the woodsman and his wife are were separated. Thus, “Til death do us part” is no longer possible. He thinks the relationship between the man and woman will have to learn of finalities other than the grave.

The first time I read this poem, I really didn’t understand it, but after reading it about five times, I started to realize what was going on. I think the poem is about a woman who is always lonely because her husband (the woodsman) is always out working and never has time for her. One day while her husband was out working, she left. The husband looked and called for her, but she never returned. I think Robert Frost was was telling people don’t take things for granted. It’ll be here one day and gone the next.

Marvin Gaye: Musical Protest

[http://www.aux.tv/2011/02/tonight-on-aux-docs-marvin-gaye-behind-the-legend/]

After reading Upton Sinclair’s protest The Jungle, exposing the horrendous conditions of many meatpacking factories in the 20th century, many protest writers came to mind. One that I was very interested in was Marvin Gaye . Marvin Gaye was one of R&B’s most talented artists. In 1971, Marvin Gaye wrote one of his chart topping songs, “What’s Going On”. This song was a strong personal protest of the periods biggest controversy, the Vietnam War. This song was meant to tell the world his views against the Vietnam War and his belief that there had to better way than sending soldiers into battle to solve problems. “What’s Going On” gave Marvin Gaye the opportunity to tell the world how he felt about the war and how it should be solved.

(Marvin Gaye- What’s Going On)

His anti-war anthem was released to make a statement to raise social consciousness and make the deaths so many felt by his immense audience. In the song, he wants people to understand how many lives were being taken for a cause most didn’t believe in. In the chorus, Gaye writes giving protesters a chance to be heard, not punished. The line “picket lines and picket signs, don’t punish me with brutality” signifies the peaceful protest against the war and pleads to let them have their opinions without worry of being quieted or attacked. The song was written to tell the government the war was wrong and there had to be more peaceful ways to solve a problem.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_the_U.S._involvement_in_the_Vietnam_War]

“What’s Going On” is an extremely powerful song. Even today, it still still evokes intense emotions when heard. Each verse displays reason why fighting is not the answer to the conflict. While the chorus shows Gaye’s view of the wat being pure chaos, repeating, “What’s going on…what’s going on”. Marvin Gaye is able to make the listener understand the sense of fear and disarray the soldiers must have been feeling. These simple words were meant to trigger our humanity and make us question if the war really should have been happening. Gaye’s goal for writing the song was to let the United States hear what considered most of the country’s views in a peaceful manner and attempt to make the government know that war was not the answer. Through his music and lyrics. Marvin Gaye made very powerful, yet peaceful political stand.

[http://performingsongwriter.com/marvin-gaye-whats-going-on/]

Historical Aspects

[http://people.duke.edu/~ldbaker/classes/AAIH/caaih/ibwells/ibwbkgrd.html]

Ida B. Wells was a fearless anti-lynching crusader, suffragist, women’s right advocate, journalist, and speaker of international stature. She stands as one of our nations uncompromising leaders and most passionate defenders of democracy. In this blog, we’ll be looking at the historical aspects of the time in which Ida B. Wells lived in. What was the daily life like? How did they dress?

[http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_people_wells.html]

[http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/52962]

In 1884, Wells had a incident with the conductor of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company. She was asked by the conductor to give up her seat to a white man. She refused and was forcefully removed from the train. During this time, the Civil Rights Act had been overturned by the supreme court causing segregation between African Americans and Whites to be constitutional. In southern states, public transportation was segregated between railroad cars, meaning white people couldn’t sit with black people. Lynching was another thing that happened during that time. The lynching of black people in the Southern and border states became an institutionalized method used by whites to terrorize blacks and maintain supremacy. In 1892, three of Wells friends were lynched. The murder of her friends her to research and document lynching and their causes. 

                                                                                                                                                          

[http://costume.osu.edu/exhibitions/reformingfashion/]

The clothing style was very different than it is today. During this time period had its own “trends” and styles. The women dressed more elaborate.  They wore very large hats and overall dresses. The dresses were meant to fit everyone the same way. Drapery was very important. The bustle was a cushion that was put in the back of a dress. They also wore corsets. Women never wore pants or shirt skirts. They usually wore long dresses, like the dressed in the pictures above. Men’s clothing varied on the way the man lived during that time. If the man was a farmer, he would wear a shirt and long pants. Wealthy men usually wore a suit and tie everyday.  

 

Why did Samuel Clemens change his name?

[http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Clemens-1]

When someone say the name “Samuel Clemens,” most people automatically think of Mark Twain. Others don’t even know who Samuel Clemens is, but if someone says “Mark Twain,” they know who he is. Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He’s known for his novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Every time I think of Samuel Clemens, I always ask myself the same question. Why would Samuel Clemens change his name to Mark Twain? Where did this name even come from? What does it even mean?

While searching for the answer, I found out that Samuel Clemens was born in a small village in Florida, Missouri. Before became well-known as a writer, he had a variety of odd jobs. One of them included piloting a steamboat down the Mississippi River. He was licensed as a steamboat pilot in 1859 and worked on the river until fighting there during the Civil War ended traffic traveling from the north to south. His experiences along the river helped him come up with his “new name”.

[http://www.marktwainhouse.org/man/biography_main.php]

[http://www.pacificmotorboat.com/willardboats/content/heat-sunshine]

In 1863, when Clemens was 27, he wrote a humorous travel story and decided to sign his name as “Mark Twain”. This name came from something shouted by crewmen on a boat. To test the depth of the water, a crewmen shouts “mark twain”. When this is yelled, the crewmen is calling for two fathoms, or a depth of 12 feet, which indicated safe water. “Twain” is an old-fashioned way of saying “two” and a fathom is six feet.

[http://www.marktwainhouse.org/man/biography_main.php]

So to answer the question, Samuel Clemens changed his name to Mark Twain because of his love of being a steamboat pilot. It became a pen name used for his works, used the same way as people in the show business have a stage name.

Who was Walt Whitman?

[http://forgotten-ny.com/2006/01/pomonok-queens/]

Walt Whitman was an American poet, journalist, and essayist. He was America’s world poet. He was apart of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. He wrote about democracy, nature, love, and friendship. He also chanted praises to the body and soul, and found beauty and reassurance even in death. Along with Emily Dickinson, Whitman is known as one of America’s most significant nineteenth century poets.

Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in West Hills, Town of Huntington, Long Island. He was the second son of Walter and Louisa Van Velsor. By the time Whitman was four years old, his family packed up and moved to Brooklyn. At age eleven, Whitman concluded formal schooling and sought employment for income for his family. He was an office boy for two lawyers. He also worked as a printer in New York City, until a devastating fire in the printing district demolished the industry. In 1836, at the age of seventeen, he began his career as a teacher in one-room houses in Long Island. He continued to teach until 1841. He then turned to journalism as a full-time career. He founded a weekly newspaper Long-Islander, and later edited Brooklyn and New York papers. In 1848, Whitman left the Brooklyn Daily Eagle to become a editor for the New Orleans Crescent. While in New Orleans, he experienced the viciousness of slavery in the slave markets in the city. In the fall of 1848, he returned back to Brooklyn and founded a “free soil” newspaper called Brooklyn Freeman. In this newspaper, he developed unique styles of writing.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman]

[http://lts.brandeis.edu/research/archives-speccoll/exhibits/whitman/whitmanwritingsbyotherpubs.html]

In 1855, Walt Whitman took out a copyright for the first edition of Leaves of Grass, which consisted of twelve untitled poems and a preface. He published the first volume. In 1856, he released the second volume. The second edition contained thirty-poems, a letter from Ralph Waldo Emerson praising the first edition, and Whitman’s response to Emerson’s letter. During his career, he continued to refine the book, publishing several more editions.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Whitman promised to live a purged and clean life. He wrote freelance journalism and visited the wounded at New York-area hospitals. He also traveled to Washington, D.C. in December of 1862 to  care for his brother who had been wounded in the war. These experiences led to his poems in his 1865 publication, Drum-Taps, which includes “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” Whitman’s elegy for President Lincoln.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql2XYdfZ2UY

(The poem “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”)

In 1873, Whitman suffered a serious stroke. He moved to his brother’s home in Camden, New Jersey. There he wrote his final volume of poems Good-Bye, My Fancy. After his death on March 26, 1892, he was buried in a tomb he designed and had built on in Harleigh Cemetery.

[http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/whitman/bio.htm]

Why was Emily Dickinson so reclusive?

During the brief lecture on Emily Dickinson, we learned that she is one of the most highly-regarded poets ever to write. She wrote over 1700 poems, but only ten were published–all anonymously and some apparently without her consent. From the lecture, Dickinson was very social as a young girl, but as she got older, she became more reclusive. Whenever I think of Dickinson’s work, I always ask myself “Why was she so reclusive?” Was she sick and didn’t want people in her business? Maybe she just didn’t like the idea of going public.

[http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/155]

I came up with so many things while trying to figure out why Emily Dickinson was so reclusive. Her health was one of them. In 1851, Emily showed signs of tuberculosis. For two years, she met with a TB specialists until her symptoms subsided. In 1863, during her most productive period of writing poems, another medical concern was an eye affliction. She repeated treatment for two years, and in 1865, she was apparently cured.  

[http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/ed/node/133]

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2005/02/15

(Publication-is the Auction by Emily Dickinson)

 

As we learned from the lecture, only ten of Dickinson’s poems were published, and they all were anonymous or without her consent. Maybe she didn’t like the idea of going public. In the first first stanza of the poem “Publication-is the Auction,” she talks about how she thinks of publication as being a foul thing. She felt that it was inherently “selling out”. She basically didn’t like the idea of publishing. 

[http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/182914]

[http://www.notablebiographies.com/De-Du/Dickinson-Emily.html]

After learning so much about Emily Dickinson, no one really knows why she was so reclusive. She was very social as a young girl and enjoyed school and had many friends. As she grew older she only remained open to visits from close friends and family. Whether she suffered from a medical condition that made her not want to be around people or whether she chose to separate herself from the public is unknown.