Paper II

May 2001. b) Say what the titles of some individual works you have studied indicated to you at the outset. In what ways were your first impressions reinforced or altered as you read and explored each work?

-What did you think the book would be primarily about based on the title? To what extent were you correct, to what extent did the title prove to be misleading?

-You are evaluating the title and how it relates to the book itself

-I would use As I Lay Dying and Metamorphosis

May 2003. b) To what extent would you agree that plot should be valued more highly than style in the novel and short story?

-To what extent is plot more important than the actual style of writing the author uses?

-You are asked to evaluate the style of writing

-I would evaluate As I Lay Dying and Darkness at Noon

Paper 1 Adolescence-II

1. Introduction
   
   1. In the poem Adolescence-II by Rita Dove she uses unpleasant imagery and similes to create tell a story full of ambiguity and a feeling of discomfort. Structure works together with these literary techniques to effectively express the situation of the poem.
      
2. Body
   
   1. Imagery
      
      1. References to night and the diction used to express it add to the overall feeling discomfort Dove creates throughout the poem.
         
      2. When night is referenced there also seems to be unpleasant expressions
         
         1. Ex: "here at the edge of darkness"
            
         2. Ex: "slice up the moon"
            
   2. Similes
      
      1. Help to develop the situation and setting of the poem
         
      2. Hard to grasp ideas add to the ambiguity and discomfort of the poem
         
      3. Also goes along with the unpleasant expressions
         
         1. Ex: "night rests like a ball of fur on my tongue"
            
         2. Ex: "eyelashes like sharpened tines"
            
         3. Ex: "glittering like pools of ink under the moonlight"
            
   3. Structure
      
      1. There is no set structure in the poem
         
         1. There are multiple comma's
            
         2. No rhyme scheme
            
      2. Enjambment adds to the feel of uncertainty or unclear thoughts of the person in the poem
         
      3. Structure adds to the confusion and discomfort expressed throughout the poem
         
3. Conclusion
   
   1. Restate Thesis
      
   2. Imagery, similes, structure all play an important role in creating a poem full of ambiguity and discomfort
      

      
       

Character Analysis-Jewel

Jewel is one of sons of Addie in William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. Jewel has one passage in the entire book but through other characters he may be seen as one of the easiest to pass judgment on. He is a loner throughout the entire book and it is clear he doesn't really fit in with the Bundren family. Although this may seem to be a choice, it also may be somewhat forced upon him for many different reasons.

The name Jewel is one of the key details to his character. It seems clear through other characters descriptions of him that Jewel was treated differently by his mother while she was alive and this is one of the reasons why there seems to be a distance between him and the other characters. Darl says "ma always whipped and petted him more" (18) demonstrating that it always was recognized by his brother that he was treated different and suggesting that the other children probably noticed as well which goes back to his name "Jewel". Compared to the others names Jewel's name is very different. Jewel can represent many different things; first of all it is very feminine compared to all the other names of Addie's children, even Dewey Dell, who is the girl of the family. This may suggest that he was babied. Jewel could also suggest wealth or money, which the family is lacking. Lastly it may suggest favoritism as in he was his mothers "Jewel". All of these ideas still suggest one main idea, he is different than the rest of his family.

    Jewels name is not the only thing that makes him different however. Jewel is a half brother to all the others and is not Anse's son which becomes clear after reading Addie's passage. This may also be one of the reasons why Jewel acts so distant throughout the story, and doesn't really act the way the others do, just as how he is treated differently by the others. An example of this is when Jewel sneaks off at night and works for someone else to buy his horse. His mother is unaware of why he is sneaking off but she still goes out of her way to hide what is going on and baby Jewel while he is tired, or when he misses dinner. When his family finds out what he has been doing it puts more distance between him and the rest of the family because he is not acting as a team player the way the others do, and it can be seen as him taking money away from the family for selfish reasons.

    Even after Addie's death Jewel still acts distant from his family. There is a lot of ambiguity about the actual motives of Jewel. One on hand it may be because of his overall resistance of how the family is treating his dead mother's corpse throughout the book, in this case he would be the only one to realize how wrong and morbid it is. He uses his horse to keep the distance between him and the family as he does not ride in the wagon with the rest of his family but on his horse instead. Once again he is acting as the odd one out. On the other hand Jewels motives may be completely selfish suggesting that he is not the one that loves her the most but the one that loves her the least instead. He does put her in a rough spot while she is alive even after she treats him so special, suggesting maybe he is spoiled and selfish. And in this case the reader can focus on how by putting space between him and his family after Addie's death he is also putting distance between himself and his mother.

    Overall Jewels character is very different than the rest of the characters. And it is not completely by choice. He plays an important role in the book even though he doesn't speak as much as the other characters. The reader is able to learn a lot about him through interpretation of details and the opinions of others. But there is a lot that is still ambiguous and left open to interpretation about his character creating more to the story and more places where it is necessary to fill in the blanks. Jewel is important to the development of other characters as well as he allows us to step away from the family and question them, as well as Addie and why she was the way she was when she was alive.

Red Fox

    In Red Fox by Margaret Atwood she develops an extended metaphor for a hungry human being through use of diction and imagery. Throughout the poem she uses the image of a Fox to express her main idea that hunger causes desperation which is the human response to hunger, and the need to survive. Through this poem however she does not only comment on the response to hunger by the starving but also by society.

    Atwood begins the poem The Red Fox by giving the idea that the fox is being spied on by the speaker. The speaker mentions that the fox "could care less" this creates the idea that the fox has its own problems to worry about and is not as worried by this presence because she is smart enough to sense any real danger. In the next stanza Atwood begins to create an idea of hunger by using words such as "lean" and "skinny". She also mentions the "desperation" of the fox. It is also in this stanza that she begins to show parallels between the fox and a human being, she doesn't directly state the word fox in this stanza and mentions "feet" instead of paws. In the stanza that follows Atwood asks "why encourage the notion of virtuous poverty?" it is through this question that she begins to recognize the problem with society, she makes reference to the things mothers are expected to do for their children, and all the ways they should sacrifice themselves. Her tone is somewhat sympathetic toward the fox that will do anything to survive, which is clear through the line "to survive we'd all turn thief".

    Overall in the poem Red Fox Atwood is using the fox as a metaphor for a human who is struggling to survive. Through diction she creates an idea of extreme desperation due to hunger, which can be seen through the image that she creates of the "lean" vixen. Food plays an important role in the poem as she alludes to all the ways mothers are expected to sacrifice themselves for their children. But in the end she concludes that "to survive we'd all turn thief", and that we should not live by this unspoken rule of "zero charity" because one day we might ourselves be in the same situation as this "fox".

From the Frontier of Writing

The tightness and the nilness round that space
when the car stops in the road, the troops inspect
its make and number and, as one bends his face

towards your window, you catch sight of more
on a hill beyond, eyeing with intent
down cradled guns that hold you under cover

and everything is pure interrogation
until a rifle motions and you move
with guarded unconcerned acceleration—

a little emptier, a little spent
as always by that quiver in the self,
subjugated, yes, and obedient.

So you drive on to the frontier of writing
where it happens again. The guns on tripods;
the sergeant with his on-off mike repeating

data about you, waiting for the squawk
of clearance; the marksman training down
out of the sun upon you like a hawk.

And suddenly you're through, arraigned yet freed,
as if you'd passed from behind a waterfall
on the black current of a tarmac road

past armor-plated vehicles, out between
the posted soldiers flowing and receding
like tree shadows into the polished windscreen.

In the poem the "Frontier of Writing" by Seamus Heaney he creates an idea of strong pressure from critiques during writing through use of an extended metaphor he develops throughout the poem. He develops this extended metaphor through his use of violent imagery and diction. He advancement to different areas in the poem suggests his progression in his writing.

    Seamus Heaney begins the poem by creating a setting of possibly what could be pictured as a desert, empty except for his car and the army cars of the soldiers. These soldiers are the ones questioning his presence, which literally I think are the people questioning him as a writer, and critiquing him. The reader can imagine the pressure he is feeling through his use of certain words such as "inspect" and "eyeing with intent all suggesting that he feels he is being placed under a microscope and evaluated. He also mentions that as he moves forward he feels "a litter emptier, a little spent" suggesting this isn't a pleasant experience.

Next Heaney drives to the frontier of writing. I took "frontier" as some type of unexplored field, suggesting he is reaching new ground in his writing, and progressing. This experience is similar to the previous and he says the sergeant is repeating data about, their eyes upon you like a hawk. But he makes it through to a tarmac road.The tarmac road is like an airport runway and he says "suddenly you're through, arraigned yet freed" and mentions a waterfall, so this all suggests he feels good now even though the previous experience made him feel tense. This new area is beautiful and he feels like an airplane on a runway about to take off into a sky of possibilities.

    Seamus Heaney uses imagery and diction to create settings which represent the progression of writing. He starts off being interrogated in what I imagine as a desert with people all around him. This is "a pure interrogation". After that point he is in a field where people understand him and his intent, but still watch him carefully making sure he does exactly what they want. Finally he makes his way to a tarmac road where the interrogation is over, and everything is diminishing behind him.

 

Blackberry Picking

Late August, given heavy rain and sun
For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger
Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots
Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.
Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills
We trekked and picked until the cans were full,
Until the tinkling bottom had been covered
With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned
Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered
With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.

We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.
But when the bath was filled we found a fur,
A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.
The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush
The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.
I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair
That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.
Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.

 

    In Seamus Heaney's "Blackberry Picking" through use of imagery and diction both positive and negative appeals to the readers senses, he also uses color to assist in his description. His poem becomes an extended metaphor for other experiences as he uses an experience that starts out positive and ends in a way that is inevitable, and negative.

    In the first stanza Heaney chooses his words carefully as he works to use the best words to describe this experience of a young child in a way that is innocent and eventful. Heaney uses words such as "glossy" as he mentions various different colors of blackberries. They are all ripe "like thickened wine" and held "summers blood" within. Even through his use of innocent imagery there is a sense of pain or uneasiness in the first stanza that he creates through metaphors like "plate of eyes", suggesting the poem is not all happy.

    The second stanza takes away the innocence of the experience as the blackberries begin, to the authors displeasing, to rot. Once again Heaney uses imagery to appeal to the reader's senses, however this time in a negative sense. The blackberry juice is now "stinking" as the reader is led into descriptions of "rat-grey fungus". Heaney states that the sweet flesh of the blackberries is now sour. He expresses his unhappiness, creating an emotional ending to the poem that started out positive with little foreshadowing of a maybe not so perfect ending.

    In the end all of this diction and mixture of positive and negative description create a poem that could be seen as a metaphor for many different things. The author starts out happy and innocent in his blackberry picking as if nothing could make him happier. But in the end the experience comes to a rotten end, there is a loss of innocence as he is forced to see his perfect blackberries in a way that he wishes he never had to, but he finds out that it is inevitable, and whether he liked it or not these sweet treats would turn sour.

The Broken Heart

He is stark mad, whoever says, That he hath been in love an hour,Yet not that love so soon decays, But that it can ten in less space devour ;Who will believe me, if I swearThat I have had the plague a year? Who would not laugh at me, if I should say I saw a flash of powder burn a day?Ah, what a trifle is a heart, If once into love's hands it come !All other griefs allow a part To other griefs, and ask themselves but some ;They come to us, but us love draws ;He swallows us and never chaws ; By him, as by chain'd shot, whole ranks do die ; He is the tyrant pike, our hearts the fry.If 'twere not so, what did become Of my heart when I first saw thee?I brought a heart into the room, But from the room I carried none with me.If it had gone to thee, I knowMine would have taught thine heart to show More pity unto me ; but Love, alas ! At one first blow did shiver it as glass.Yet nothing can to nothing fall, Nor any place be empty quite ;Therefore I think my breast hath all Those pieces still, though they be not unite ;And now, as broken glasses showA hundred lesser faces, so My rags of heart can like, wish, and adore, But after one such love, can love no more.


In “The Broken Heart” by John Donne his use of metaphors and structure help in developing the poem to become not only a warning to all those who read it about love but also a story of when he had his heart broken and the feelings that came along with it. Metaphors go a long way and help in expressing the torture love brings the heart, and well as what it leaves behind afterwards. The structure is used to tell the story of the poem. Donne also uses structure as a tool, as in each stanza looks at this main idea that love destroys the heart from a different angle in each.
In the first stanza Donne seems to be explaining how he feels about love. He uses metaphors to express how painful it can be and how quickly any heart that feels love can be “devoured”. He feels that it is insane for anyone to feel love for longer than an hour because ten hearts can be broken in that long of a time. He compares this to how crazy it would be for someone to have the plague for a year, which of course they would die from in less time than that.
In the second stanza Donne is very aggressive towards love and personifies it as some kind of monster. He saws while speaking of love, “he swallows us and never chaws” basically expressing that love never spits you out only swallows you whole. Next he compares love to a “chain’d shot” saying similar to this love kills many people’s hearts at once. Overall in this stanza metaphors personify love as something to be afraid of.
In the third stanza Donne is speaking to his ex-lover and the mood changes from aggressive to sad, and he sounds almost full of sorrow as he compares his heart to glass. He clearly wants pity as this is what he wishes his heart could have taught his lover, to pity him, and be more careful with his fragile heart of glass.
In the end Donne knows his heart is where it always has been but uses the metaphor of glass once more to suggest his heart has been shattered, “and now, as broken glasses show a hundred lesser faces”. His use of the metaphor is to express the idea that his heart similar to a broken mirror instead of being able to do what it was made for can now only do multiple little things. And “after one such love, can love no more”.
“The Broken Heart” is a wonderful example of Donne’s metaphysical poetry, as he expresses his feelings about love through elaborate metaphors such as comparing the heart to glass, that’s easily shattered, just like his heart. Structure plays an important role in expounding on this idea from different angles. Overall creating a brilliant poem and clearly expressing the idea that love destroys the heart.