Analysis of the Poem, “A Bird Came Down the Walk…”
The first stanza of the poem is saying that the bird is not aware of the fact that the speaker is present so he behaves normally. He bit into a worm and ate it raw. Why would the speaker mention about the fact that the bird ate the worm raw? In other words does she expect the bird to cook the worm or something of that sort before eating it? The first line, “a bird came down the walk,” sounds like someone walking on a sidewalk.
The second stanza of the poem is saying that the bird drank dew from a glass which I think is trying to resemble a human being drinking from a glass. And then he hopped on the side to let a beetle pass which I think signifies humanity.
The third stanza of the poem is saying that he glanced at every eye that looked at him which looked frightened which he compares to beads. This suggests that the bird is scared, and he is cautious; he has fear in him of some sort. Would the word “velvet” describe his innocence?
The fourth stanza of the poem is saying that the speaker tried to offer the bird some crumbs, but as the bird was already scared, her action flew him off. One point is to be made here- is the bird’s beauty, with words such as, “velvet head, frightened beads, feathers, softer home,”- are these words putting more emphasis on the bird’s beauty or on the danger of the word?
The final stanza of the poem is describing nature, I think. It’s comparing the sky with the air. But why does the speaker jump from talking about the bird to butterflies and ocean? Any thoughts?
Interpretation of the Overall Meaning of the Poem:
The overall poem is, in my opinion, trying to convey the relationship between the bird and a human. It has many other themes such as describing nature, and comparing some his appearance to human behaviors. The speaker observes the bird and tries to look at the bird by trying it to feed him food, but the bird flies off. The speaker describes the bird as a wild creature in nature as she says, “like one in danger; cautious….(Emily Dickinson 2571).”
In the poem, I think Emily is trying to tell about nature- about how beautiful nature is. It could be also thought that she is trying to convey her life and feelings through this poem. At first, the tone of the poem is content, happiness, but then as it progresses, it becomes more of a panic tone, as described in the following lines: At first the “bird came down the walk,”…then the tone changes as “he unrolled his feathers, and rowed him softer home (2571).” The speaker is comparing this scene in nature to probably show how birds and humans are alike. In several lines such as, “…he drank dew from a convenient glass (2571)” describes how the speaker is comparing the bird to humans. In this line she conveys that the bird drank from a glass just like we humans do.
In addition, she describes just as humans are happy when we eat, she describes the same exact feeling with the bird; the bird is happy that it is eating. Then when the bird is finished eating, the bird feels frantic as “he glanced with rapid eyes that hurried all abroad,” because it feels scared that it might be attacked on the ground because that is not his “home” in a sense since a bird is always flying in the air, but when it is in the air, it feels safe. As compared with humans, we feel safe in a place we are familiar with, as compared to an unfamiliar place. Right?
Dickinson describes the bird as it eats a worm, pecks at the grass, hops by a beetle. The overall message conveyed in this poem is that as the bird is frightened by the speaker into flying away, the bird becomes a symbol of wild essence that compares human beings who in a way try to approach and tame it. The final stanza of the poem reveals the most imagery as it says, “than oars divide the ocean… or butterflies, off banks of noon, leap, plashness, as they swim (2571).” This means that the bird’s flying off is invisible, then actually when one rows through water using oars; his “rowing” as conveyed was “too silver for a seam.” It was presented as even smoother than the butterflies as they swim.
Dickinson was a person of imagery. And as we can see, in this poem she uses strong imagery and rhyme schemes to attract the reader’s attention and to make them think. Her poems are not easy to understand but as a fellow reader, I have tried my best to analyze and dissect the poem as I observed it to be. To you it might have been something different, but again so many meanings can be pulled out from Dickinson’s poems!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
The Innocent Billy Budd
The following Blog will cover Topics of:
-Significance of the Soup Incident?
-Why does Claggart hate Billy (Other reasons for Claggart's hatred)?
-Why does Billy think Claggart is good?
-Reaction to being summoned?
-Billy's reaction to the charges?
Billy Bud is a short story about Billy who has been recruited to the naval warship H.M.S. Bellipotent, extracting him from the Rights-of-Man, a merchant ship. Billy, without any protest, packs up and follows the officer of Bellipotent. After his final goodbyes to his old mates, Billy settles in quickly among the company of Bellipotent. He is proved as the most capable cynosure and a foretopman and soon earns the affection of his more experiences fellow sailors.
As the story progresses, the narrator explains the character of John Claggart, the ship’s master-at-arms. Claggart seems to like Billy but deep inside he really hates and envies him. For example, the incident of when Billy accidently spills his soup over the deck signifies the fact that Claggart really despised Billy; he just makes false impressions of liking Billy. When Billy spilled the soup Claggart notices it and remarks on the handsome effect of its spill. At the comment, everyone laughs including Billy not knowing that Claggart was exaggerating at him. As Claggart continues on his way, he bumps into a drummer boy whom then he reproves for his carelessness. This incident directly shows that Claggart is putting a fake façade to make Billy think he likes him, but in reality through this incident Claggart got a chance to make fun of Billy without Billy not knowing anything.
Furthermore, along the passage, it is made clear that Claggart, after all, despises and hates Billy in all ways possible. Claggart is naturally depraved. This is significant to the whole text because it shows the nature of Claggart which later on in the story leads him to blame Billy for the mutiny which had occurred. In every appearance he seems rational, temperate and free from sin. The evil nature of him is not the result of cruel education or environment but its innate, “a depravity according to nature.” When he states, “handsome is as handsome does,” reveals what had turned him against the foretopman namely because of “his significant personal beauty.” In addition, Claggart hates Billy because he is jealous of Billy; he envies him because of his heroic good looks, because he can plainly see that Billy has never experienced envy himself.
Even though Claggart hates Billy, Billy, on the other hand, thinks that Claggart is good to him. This part of the story is signifact to the whole text because it shows the character and nature of Billy depicted throughout the whole text. It shows that Billy as a person is good to everyone no matter what. That’s one of the reasons why he thinks everyone is good including Claggart. Billy in general is innocent and unsophisticated among the group of sailors. Claggart maintains his hatred but presents a façade of good humored amity towards Billy. Because Billy is good natured naturally, he is less perceptive of ill will thus he even fails to notice when the armorer and the captain regard him with malice and suspicion.
Later on in the passage Claggart accuses Billy of the Nore mutiny and accounts this incident to the captain. Here Billy is seen as the Christ figure. Just as the innocent Christ had resisted the Satan, the innocent Billy has resisted Claggart’s attempt at bribery. Claggart is seen as the Satan as it was Satan who tempted Adam with disobedience. Billy is surprised to find himself in the captains office and when finds out as to why he was summoned, he is stunned. As he was flawed, whenever he is upset, he starts to stutter. In all, all this is significant in the overall story because it brings us back to the character of Billy and Claggart, and the Captain. At the end, the innocent one eventually is hanged to death going back to our theme of Adam (who Billy was compared to throughout the passage).
Sunday, November 15, 2009
The Allegory of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
Allegorical effect and allegorical meaning- both represent how deeper meaning you can find out from a text. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” can somewhat be described as an allegory. Its characters and themes provide a deeper meaning that can be dissected in to little pieces. The story itself is set in 1790 in the Dutch settlement. New settlers are seen to be coming in from other countries. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow tells the story of Ichabod Crane who is a lean, lanky, and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut. Another character depicted in this story is Brom Bones who is called to be the town rowdy. They both like Katrina Van Tassel who is the only daughter of a wealthy farmer.
To dig down a little further, the town was basically filled with Dutch settlers. Just as we would be wondering how something new might fit with us- Brom Bones worried about the same cause. He never liked Ichabod Crane. Brown Bones always made conspiracies against him to scare him off the town. In addition Brom Bones tells us of a story of the headless horseman that comes out at night in his horse to look for a replacement for his face. Hearing at this Ichabod was really nervous. From this we can conclude that one of the main themes of this storyline is superstition.
With Ichabod’s mixture of book-learning and superstitions, Ichabod may be represented as a typical American during that period of time. As Crane was leaving a Halloween party from the Van Tassel’s house, he is pursued by the headless horseman who is supposedly believed to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had lost his head in a nameless battle of the Revolutionary War. At every step Ichabod takes, he is afraid and terrified as he tries to make it to his house but unfortunately Irving leaves us to thinking wheather he got scared and ran away from the town or he actually got killed by the headless horseman?
On the other hand, Brom Bones is the complete opposite of Ichabod. Where Ichabod was described as “tall but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves...” (p.967), Brom Bones was described as large, strong, rough, humorous and good-natured. Allegorically, Ichabod Crane is an outsider and in a way Brom Bones is afraid that this “outsider” might come to his town and ruin his life. He was worried about one fact that Ichabod might be successful in alluring his love Katrina. Ichabod’s character is portrayed as a greedy character because he wanted to marry Katrina, not because he had feelings for her, but because she was the only daughter of a wealthy, and also due to the fact that there is always plenty of food on the table of Van Tassel’s home.
It is believed at the end, that the headless horseman could have been Brom Bones himself to scare off Ichabod but again why would Bones disguise himself and tell himself to be the headless horseman? Maybe he was thinking betterment of his country? Or maybe he was afraid of really losing his Katrina? In all, Crane is depicted as the American fellow who is new into the town trying to learn and adapt to new things who mostly get along with everyone, while Brom Bones is the arrogant, and aggressive one who wanted everything to be done his way or no way kind of like the British settlers. In between both of these, Karina seems to be depicted as the beautiful land that everyone wants to lay their hands upon but she is so hard to get. She tries to lead them both on but at the end eventually ends up marrying Brom Bones.
Some advantages of analyzing this story this way is that we as the audience can look at the real meaning that the author is trying to convey to us. Yes it’s just a story but if we look deep in to this story, we see a deeper meaning that is helpful in understanding the kind of writing and historical meaning behind it. The specific time period when Irving wrote this story depicts a speacial meaning which when we break it down into pieces we get the actual meaning. The legend of Sleepy Hollow transitions between the strong and the weak, and from the old to the new. Although some disadvantage might be, as I have mentioned earlier, Brom Bones after all could have been the headless horseman himself?...and if he was then that would mean the bad actually took over the good. In that case the whole moral of the story might be differentiated. In all, this allegorical meaning is just one simple one…there might be tons of others. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was a legend and it will stay a legend. And most importantly, analyzing and studying the allegorical term behind this story actually helps to understand the story better!
To dig down a little further, the town was basically filled with Dutch settlers. Just as we would be wondering how something new might fit with us- Brom Bones worried about the same cause. He never liked Ichabod Crane. Brown Bones always made conspiracies against him to scare him off the town. In addition Brom Bones tells us of a story of the headless horseman that comes out at night in his horse to look for a replacement for his face. Hearing at this Ichabod was really nervous. From this we can conclude that one of the main themes of this storyline is superstition.
With Ichabod’s mixture of book-learning and superstitions, Ichabod may be represented as a typical American during that period of time. As Crane was leaving a Halloween party from the Van Tassel’s house, he is pursued by the headless horseman who is supposedly believed to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had lost his head in a nameless battle of the Revolutionary War. At every step Ichabod takes, he is afraid and terrified as he tries to make it to his house but unfortunately Irving leaves us to thinking wheather he got scared and ran away from the town or he actually got killed by the headless horseman?
On the other hand, Brom Bones is the complete opposite of Ichabod. Where Ichabod was described as “tall but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves...” (p.967), Brom Bones was described as large, strong, rough, humorous and good-natured. Allegorically, Ichabod Crane is an outsider and in a way Brom Bones is afraid that this “outsider” might come to his town and ruin his life. He was worried about one fact that Ichabod might be successful in alluring his love Katrina. Ichabod’s character is portrayed as a greedy character because he wanted to marry Katrina, not because he had feelings for her, but because she was the only daughter of a wealthy, and also due to the fact that there is always plenty of food on the table of Van Tassel’s home.
It is believed at the end, that the headless horseman could have been Brom Bones himself to scare off Ichabod but again why would Bones disguise himself and tell himself to be the headless horseman? Maybe he was thinking betterment of his country? Or maybe he was afraid of really losing his Katrina? In all, Crane is depicted as the American fellow who is new into the town trying to learn and adapt to new things who mostly get along with everyone, while Brom Bones is the arrogant, and aggressive one who wanted everything to be done his way or no way kind of like the British settlers. In between both of these, Karina seems to be depicted as the beautiful land that everyone wants to lay their hands upon but she is so hard to get. She tries to lead them both on but at the end eventually ends up marrying Brom Bones.
Some advantages of analyzing this story this way is that we as the audience can look at the real meaning that the author is trying to convey to us. Yes it’s just a story but if we look deep in to this story, we see a deeper meaning that is helpful in understanding the kind of writing and historical meaning behind it. The specific time period when Irving wrote this story depicts a speacial meaning which when we break it down into pieces we get the actual meaning. The legend of Sleepy Hollow transitions between the strong and the weak, and from the old to the new. Although some disadvantage might be, as I have mentioned earlier, Brom Bones after all could have been the headless horseman himself?...and if he was then that would mean the bad actually took over the good. In that case the whole moral of the story might be differentiated. In all, this allegorical meaning is just one simple one…there might be tons of others. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was a legend and it will stay a legend. And most importantly, analyzing and studying the allegorical term behind this story actually helps to understand the story better!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
American Cultural Values- Before and After...
Cultures and values are the main aspects of our life; without them we wouldn’t be known by anything. In the early days cultural values didn’t really have a definite meaning as to most values were from Britain. Everything seemed mostly connected to Britain rather than the American values and tradition. Americans started adopting their own values as the years passed down and they became more global. They had a huge diversity of people and grew with identifying their “own” cultural values soon after.
Since the past, many cultural values have changed and many are still similar to one another. Mostly in my opinion, the American cultural values have changed. Many people in the early days were hard working and really tried their best to get what they wanted and they even achieved it to one point. Now days, I would say, people take most things for advantage. They don’t really appreciate what they have or will never appreciate it in their entire lifetime; they want more no matter what. Back then, people were happy with what they got, and never expected anything more. Most were poor so they were satisfied even if they got one piece of bread. Another value that has disappeared from today is the faith in God. In the early days, mostly the Puritans had a strong faith in God. For no matter what they did, they remembered God first and He made all their worries disappear. In contrast to this, in the 21st century, many people don’t believe in God. Most people don’t even go to church that often, as if you compare that to the past- people use to go to church every Sundays. Also, back then most teenagers didn’t get a chance to educate themselves. It was a different story if you were wealthy although. Americans have many choices now days. In school, they can decide their major field of study, with or without their parent’s influence, and students even get to select some of their courses.
In addition, the role of women was very different in the past and now- in this present. Woman in the early days were considered to just stay as house wives and take care of the kitchen, husband, family, and their house. She was not allowed so as to “speak out in the open public.” In contrast, women today are outgoing, and much more expressive. Many have corporate jobs and support their families by working and at the same time taking care of the family and children.
Many American concepts have fallen apart and some remain unchanged. Some that remain unchanged are the major holidays that families gather to celebrate together, for example, Christmas and Thanksgiving. Most families still do this today; they gather up and have a huge feast, just like in the early days. This helps maintain and help family to stay close together. This is the only root of families being together in today’s age. On the other hand, an equal amount of concepts and cultural values have fallen apart.
To begin with, in the daily lives of today, people get less time to spend with their family and relatives, except when it comes to some holidays. The American cultural value in this age, in contrast to the early ages, allows children to disagree, even argue with their parents. While in most other cultures such action would be considered lack of respect. But now it’s simply part of developing one’s independence. Another concept that has fallen is the concept of privacy. In the early ages, people barely had 3 rooms. In this age, every kid demands to have their own room when they are like 6 or 7. There is no form of eating at the dinner table anymore. They either eat at their leisure or in their own rooms watching TV, and usually parent’s are the only ones at the dinner tables by themselves. These concepts might have fallen due to time, and pressure of making money and being ahead of one another. All people care about in this age is money, money and more money. At some parts, you can even say there is no name of humanity!
The early texts of American society can help us understand the American life today tremendously. As I mentioned earlier, so much concepts have fallen from the early ages until now.
The early text literature helps us understand the value and meaning of the American cultures; it helps us be one with our family and teaches us moral values and to have faith in God at all times. Most early settlers believed that they had a responsibility to improve themselves, to be the best they can be, and to help others. These convictions have not only influences our educational system today, but are often useful in all manners. What many might consider meddling in other people’s affairs, others believe is fulfilling a moral obligation. Overall, literature from the early settlers have impacted the American way of thinking and taught one of the most valuable cultures. Even though some may not have been the same today, they help us understand how we should really be towards our cultures and value. All in all, American literatures teach us the lessons of life!
Since the past, many cultural values have changed and many are still similar to one another. Mostly in my opinion, the American cultural values have changed. Many people in the early days were hard working and really tried their best to get what they wanted and they even achieved it to one point. Now days, I would say, people take most things for advantage. They don’t really appreciate what they have or will never appreciate it in their entire lifetime; they want more no matter what. Back then, people were happy with what they got, and never expected anything more. Most were poor so they were satisfied even if they got one piece of bread. Another value that has disappeared from today is the faith in God. In the early days, mostly the Puritans had a strong faith in God. For no matter what they did, they remembered God first and He made all their worries disappear. In contrast to this, in the 21st century, many people don’t believe in God. Most people don’t even go to church that often, as if you compare that to the past- people use to go to church every Sundays. Also, back then most teenagers didn’t get a chance to educate themselves. It was a different story if you were wealthy although. Americans have many choices now days. In school, they can decide their major field of study, with or without their parent’s influence, and students even get to select some of their courses.
In addition, the role of women was very different in the past and now- in this present. Woman in the early days were considered to just stay as house wives and take care of the kitchen, husband, family, and their house. She was not allowed so as to “speak out in the open public.” In contrast, women today are outgoing, and much more expressive. Many have corporate jobs and support their families by working and at the same time taking care of the family and children.
Many American concepts have fallen apart and some remain unchanged. Some that remain unchanged are the major holidays that families gather to celebrate together, for example, Christmas and Thanksgiving. Most families still do this today; they gather up and have a huge feast, just like in the early days. This helps maintain and help family to stay close together. This is the only root of families being together in today’s age. On the other hand, an equal amount of concepts and cultural values have fallen apart.
To begin with, in the daily lives of today, people get less time to spend with their family and relatives, except when it comes to some holidays. The American cultural value in this age, in contrast to the early ages, allows children to disagree, even argue with their parents. While in most other cultures such action would be considered lack of respect. But now it’s simply part of developing one’s independence. Another concept that has fallen is the concept of privacy. In the early ages, people barely had 3 rooms. In this age, every kid demands to have their own room when they are like 6 or 7. There is no form of eating at the dinner table anymore. They either eat at their leisure or in their own rooms watching TV, and usually parent’s are the only ones at the dinner tables by themselves. These concepts might have fallen due to time, and pressure of making money and being ahead of one another. All people care about in this age is money, money and more money. At some parts, you can even say there is no name of humanity!
The early texts of American society can help us understand the American life today tremendously. As I mentioned earlier, so much concepts have fallen from the early ages until now.
The early text literature helps us understand the value and meaning of the American cultures; it helps us be one with our family and teaches us moral values and to have faith in God at all times. Most early settlers believed that they had a responsibility to improve themselves, to be the best they can be, and to help others. These convictions have not only influences our educational system today, but are often useful in all manners. What many might consider meddling in other people’s affairs, others believe is fulfilling a moral obligation. Overall, literature from the early settlers have impacted the American way of thinking and taught one of the most valuable cultures. Even though some may not have been the same today, they help us understand how we should really be towards our cultures and value. All in all, American literatures teach us the lessons of life!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Anne Bradstreet and the New World
Anne Bradstreet was a well known poet. Her poems reflect her Puritan culture. They are simply documents that have recounted many important events in her life and have influenced her cultural perspective. Bradstreet was a woman, a daughter, wife, mother, Puritan, a well educated woman, a poet and an English person who tried her best to adjust her lifestyle in the New World in New England struggles. All of these experiences are reflected back to her poems. Each and every poem has something significant about the way that she lived and the way she portrays women in some of her poems. In my account, two of the poems that I read, “Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House…,” and “To my Dear and Loving Husband,” were both really interesting in my opinion. In the first poem she describes how her house burns and cries out to God for help. She uses strong words and adjectives to describe this action. “And to my God my heart did cry….the flame consume my dwelling place… my pleasant things in ashes lie (Bradstreet 212).” These quotes imply how she feels about her house burning. She further on, goes to describe how no guest will ever come to her house again, nor eat on her tables. It helps us, the readers to understand the poem by how she wrote it. She describes in a way that we can feel the action that is happening in front of our eyes, and she uses rhyming words to add a flow to the poem.
Bradstreet understood her daily life to be very hard as a mother, wife, and a woman. In the poem she states that after she looked at her burning house she “blest his name that gave and took…that laid my good now in the dust (212).” In these lines she conveys to the audience that she is not angry at God as to why He burnt her house. She accepts what God has done and appreciated what God had given her. One Puritan value that she establishes here is that she has no attachment to the worldly objects. She believed that everything belonged to God to begin with.
In the second poem, “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” Bradstreet conveys her love towards her husband. She wished that her love will be honored even after her death. “if ever wife was happy in a husband. She feels for him like no other person in the world. She challenges woman who may have claimed to have the same kind of love that she has towards her husband. She further describes that “my love is such that the rivers cannot quench (206).” His love is the sole satisfaction for her in her life. At the end of the poem she conveys that there is no way she can repay a price for such love. She sums up by saying that we should value a person’s love when they are live rather than when they pass away.
When Bradstreet came into the New World, she faced many difficulties. She fell sick, and had to go through several other problems. yet she didn't give in. She struggled to make a family and a living as a mother and a wife. She did her best in all and even after she found time to write her poems and be well recognized for it. As she conveys, “at first when I came into this country, my heart rose…but after I was convinced it was the way of God, I submitted to it and joined the church at Boston (187).” Bradstreet’s poetry help us to examine the Puritan culture and lifestyle of each in the New World; they help us to understand what it was like to live in the New World and what kind of hardships each person faced. Bradstreet lived a hard life but she never gave in. She was a strong women and a strong believer and she depicts that in all her writings.
Acknowledgements:
The following specific poems and quotes and some lines were taken from the “The Norton Anthology: American Literature" Seventh Addition (Volume A).
Columbus, Smith, Cabeza de vaca....who is who?
Well to start off this blog, I will be honest- I really don’t know how to start it off. On this entry today I will be focusing on some early explorers that made a difference in the American history and literature. If you still couldn’t guess who I am talking about, their names are: Christopher Columbus, John Smith, and Cabeza de vaca. “The American culture has had two dominant and opposite myths of early explorers: The noble, courageous bringer of light and civilization to the barbarous world; and the despoiler, who is greedy, unimaginative, and depraved.”
Christopher Columbus was noble and courageous, in my opinion. He had done series of four voyages between 1492 and 1504. His first three voyages tarnished his reputation but his last voyage helped him to recoup his reputation after suffering in Panama and ship wrecked in Jamaica. When crossing several island, Columbus found innumerable people living on those islands. First island, he named San Salvador, second he named it Isla de Santa Maria de Concepcion, third he named it Fernandina, to the fourth he named it Isabella, and finally to the fifth he named it Isla Juana. He had sent other men that accompanied him to some islands further down to find out more but as they came with no important details, he carried on with his voyage. But at the end of his fourth voyage, Columbus was not very pleased. He wrote in his letter to Ferdinand that he had lost all his hope, and that the earth should weep for him.
Columbus was brave enough to go on this voyage and find out the places that he discovered. It took him several years to complete his voyage and only courageous men such like him, can complete his voyage after starting it. Although he didn’t really gain success at the end of his voyage he was still known to be noble and indefinable as he “did not sail upon this voyage to gain honor or wealth; this is certain, for already all hope of that was dead.”
The three documents by John Smith summarizes that John Smith was an adventurer, colonist, and promoter. He established colonies and attempted to attract settlers with his writings. His purpose was to bring people to the new world. He also wrote a pamphlet in which he tried to persuade people to join him in the new land. His audience was intended for people from England, and some settlers.
What shaped my understanding of Columbus and Smith was their characteristics. Both were noble and courageous. Both had good intentions to find a place and bring back goods, but John Smith was kind of boastful and proud. One was an explorer while the other was an adventurer. As mentioned earlier, Columbus found many islands which he named and wrote back letter to Isabella and King Ferdinand about his voyages. Some he wasn’t so happy about and some he was. Smith on the other hand, describes the pleasure of how risking one’s life for getting your piece of land brings to men. He also implies that building one’s own house, planting your own crops- would be easy to have if there was no prejudice. Columbus was the courageous bringer of light and civilization while John Smith was the despoiler.
Cabeza de vaca was an early Spanish explorer of the new world. He was the “son of the village alderman, grandson of the conquerer, and descendant on his mother’s side from a hero of the wars against the Moors who was given the family name Cabeza de vaca (cow’s head) when he used a cow’s skull to mark a strategic route through an ungarded mountain pass.” Cabeza de vaca was like Columbus. He was a brave and a courageous explorer. He described the different religions of different people. He conveys if a son of a villager dies, the whole village mourns for a year, and they can only eat what other give them. Due to this, many families were poor and to face off the living conditions. What shaped my image of him most clearly is the fact of how he carried out his own expedition and helped others to get through some. His narratives explain his exploring experiences and allow the audience to go into the deep past and feel what it was like to be there.
Overall, the early explorers had their own advantages and disadvantages. If one was noble and courageous, the other was a despoiler, while the third was in between or even like, in my opinion, like Columbus. All did exploration on their own with the help of others. Some succeeded while others had to face the consequences. In all, these early explorers show us the different ways of thinking style and provide us with examples of their personal accounts so we can understand their expedition better. This was my account of these three famous early explorers. What is your view on it?
Christopher Columbus was noble and courageous, in my opinion. He had done series of four voyages between 1492 and 1504. His first three voyages tarnished his reputation but his last voyage helped him to recoup his reputation after suffering in Panama and ship wrecked in Jamaica. When crossing several island, Columbus found innumerable people living on those islands. First island, he named San Salvador, second he named it Isla de Santa Maria de Concepcion, third he named it Fernandina, to the fourth he named it Isabella, and finally to the fifth he named it Isla Juana. He had sent other men that accompanied him to some islands further down to find out more but as they came with no important details, he carried on with his voyage. But at the end of his fourth voyage, Columbus was not very pleased. He wrote in his letter to Ferdinand that he had lost all his hope, and that the earth should weep for him.
Columbus was brave enough to go on this voyage and find out the places that he discovered. It took him several years to complete his voyage and only courageous men such like him, can complete his voyage after starting it. Although he didn’t really gain success at the end of his voyage he was still known to be noble and indefinable as he “did not sail upon this voyage to gain honor or wealth; this is certain, for already all hope of that was dead.”
The three documents by John Smith summarizes that John Smith was an adventurer, colonist, and promoter. He established colonies and attempted to attract settlers with his writings. His purpose was to bring people to the new world. He also wrote a pamphlet in which he tried to persuade people to join him in the new land. His audience was intended for people from England, and some settlers.
What shaped my understanding of Columbus and Smith was their characteristics. Both were noble and courageous. Both had good intentions to find a place and bring back goods, but John Smith was kind of boastful and proud. One was an explorer while the other was an adventurer. As mentioned earlier, Columbus found many islands which he named and wrote back letter to Isabella and King Ferdinand about his voyages. Some he wasn’t so happy about and some he was. Smith on the other hand, describes the pleasure of how risking one’s life for getting your piece of land brings to men. He also implies that building one’s own house, planting your own crops- would be easy to have if there was no prejudice. Columbus was the courageous bringer of light and civilization while John Smith was the despoiler.
Cabeza de vaca was an early Spanish explorer of the new world. He was the “son of the village alderman, grandson of the conquerer, and descendant on his mother’s side from a hero of the wars against the Moors who was given the family name Cabeza de vaca (cow’s head) when he used a cow’s skull to mark a strategic route through an ungarded mountain pass.” Cabeza de vaca was like Columbus. He was a brave and a courageous explorer. He described the different religions of different people. He conveys if a son of a villager dies, the whole village mourns for a year, and they can only eat what other give them. Due to this, many families were poor and to face off the living conditions. What shaped my image of him most clearly is the fact of how he carried out his own expedition and helped others to get through some. His narratives explain his exploring experiences and allow the audience to go into the deep past and feel what it was like to be there.
Overall, the early explorers had their own advantages and disadvantages. If one was noble and courageous, the other was a despoiler, while the third was in between or even like, in my opinion, like Columbus. All did exploration on their own with the help of others. Some succeeded while others had to face the consequences. In all, these early explorers show us the different ways of thinking style and provide us with examples of their personal accounts so we can understand their expedition better. This was my account of these three famous early explorers. What is your view on it?
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Is Literature that important in our lives?
Imagine if next year there is a restructuring going on and as a result, literature courses are no longer required for high school or college students. Do you think because of little exposure to literary works- the next generation might be different? There may be several views on this matter. Some adults may agree; on the other hand, some teenagers might disagree.
In my personal opinion, i think the next generation will definitely be different with little exposure to literary works. Every literary work has a meaning behind it; every work has a moral within a story that teaches you something important. If the next generation receives little or no literary information, it will be harder for them to understand any literature, grammar, and also it will make it harder for them to read and write properly. You cannot write without reading and vice versa.
Literature is a piece of art that is as important as our lives. If there was no literature, there would be no structure or any sort of function in schools or colleges. As well as that, there would be no grammar in any kind of writing. For example, people in this new generation don't even spell out words when they are emailing each other or "texting" especially. Mostly the new generation prefer to use "w.e" instead of writing the word "whatever." Keeping this in mind, we can imagine how the new generation will be effected without the use of grammar or more specifically without literature. More importantly, there will be no positive consequences if the students are not exposed to literary works; their will only be negative effects.
The students will have no knowledge of grammar or any kind of writing. As said by Kristina Smith, in an article, "literature helps us around many things. For instance in critical thinking, grammar, and understanding other people's point of views." Without these, even if the new generation has all kinds of personal enjoyments- they will not have the knowledge to understand any past experiences or any kind of history from the past as we do today. Having little exposure to literary works these will all be the negative effects on the new generation. Also, they will not be able to enjoy their reading and without reading, they will not have a good access to writing skills.
Literature is important in several views. For example, reading increases our knowledge about the world and enriches and opens our mind to new things. With literature, you open your world to new imagination. We can imagine things that we can't really imagine in our real lives. Sometimes we even end up meeting a character in a book that is similar to us that gives us ideas about things in life. Furthermore, literature helps us understand how others feel, what they think, and understand their views, culture, and traditions. Without literature, the new generation would lack sense of knowledge, lack of imagination, and lack of understanding other people's views.
Some students might elect these courses because they actually have a passion for literature and are interested to study the past traditions, and cultures, and their stories. On the other hand, some students might take literary courses because either they don't like writing or reading, or just because of the simple fact that they don't care and just don't want to take it. Some take it to just fulfill their elective requirement. In all, they wouldn't gain any experiences from dong this because they will have lack of knowledge, and grammar skills. Literature is an important part of our lives, and good to enhance our knowledge about our past, present, and future!
In my personal opinion, i think the next generation will definitely be different with little exposure to literary works. Every literary work has a meaning behind it; every work has a moral within a story that teaches you something important. If the next generation receives little or no literary information, it will be harder for them to understand any literature, grammar, and also it will make it harder for them to read and write properly. You cannot write without reading and vice versa.
Literature is a piece of art that is as important as our lives. If there was no literature, there would be no structure or any sort of function in schools or colleges. As well as that, there would be no grammar in any kind of writing. For example, people in this new generation don't even spell out words when they are emailing each other or "texting" especially. Mostly the new generation prefer to use "w.e" instead of writing the word "whatever." Keeping this in mind, we can imagine how the new generation will be effected without the use of grammar or more specifically without literature. More importantly, there will be no positive consequences if the students are not exposed to literary works; their will only be negative effects.
The students will have no knowledge of grammar or any kind of writing. As said by Kristina Smith, in an article, "literature helps us around many things. For instance in critical thinking, grammar, and understanding other people's point of views." Without these, even if the new generation has all kinds of personal enjoyments- they will not have the knowledge to understand any past experiences or any kind of history from the past as we do today. Having little exposure to literary works these will all be the negative effects on the new generation. Also, they will not be able to enjoy their reading and without reading, they will not have a good access to writing skills.
Literature is important in several views. For example, reading increases our knowledge about the world and enriches and opens our mind to new things. With literature, you open your world to new imagination. We can imagine things that we can't really imagine in our real lives. Sometimes we even end up meeting a character in a book that is similar to us that gives us ideas about things in life. Furthermore, literature helps us understand how others feel, what they think, and understand their views, culture, and traditions. Without literature, the new generation would lack sense of knowledge, lack of imagination, and lack of understanding other people's views.
Some students might elect these courses because they actually have a passion for literature and are interested to study the past traditions, and cultures, and their stories. On the other hand, some students might take literary courses because either they don't like writing or reading, or just because of the simple fact that they don't care and just don't want to take it. Some take it to just fulfill their elective requirement. In all, they wouldn't gain any experiences from dong this because they will have lack of knowledge, and grammar skills. Literature is an important part of our lives, and good to enhance our knowledge about our past, present, and future!
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