"Thou Blind Man's Mark" Essay

You might note that the third body paragraph is a little lacking. That is the point at which I stopped in class, and even though I stopped mid-sentence, I couldn't regain my sense of direction in that paragraph. I felt that there was little use agonizing over it, so here we go.

            Sir Philip Sidney’s poem, “Thou Blind Man’s Mark,” addresses desire and its ruinous ways. In conveying the speaker’s complex and bitter attitude toward desire, Sidney employs poetic devices including paradox, tone, and a specific diction. These and other techniques (such as personification and irony) complete the speaker’s portrayal of desire and his feelings about it.

            The first three lines of the poem include some paradox and irony. Consider the opening line, “Thou blind man’s mark, thou fool’s self-chosen snare…” Such nonsensical descriptions reflect the speaker’s nonsensical impression of desire. Sidney has opened the poem with such lines to emphasize the complicated and rather backward nature of that feeling called desire. At the end is another instance of paradox. The speaker claims to desire nothing but the knowledge of how to kill desire itself.

            Sidney’s harsh diction also holds a key to understanding the speaker’s complex attitude. Not only can one note the ironic and contradicting choice of words in the beginning, but also the harsh terms employed throughout the rest of the poem. He uses terms such as “worthless ware,” “thy smoky fire,” “mangled mind,” and repeats the phrase “in vain,” directing these at desire as though it were human. This personification is also essential to the delivering of the speaker’s attitude. He addresses desire as though it were a devilish man, giving him something besides an abstract idea to direct his animosity towards.

            The tone of this poem is noteworthy, because it basically is the attitude of the speaker; in this case, it is quite bitter. Sidney creates said tone with his diction and literary devices; lines like, “I have too dearly bought,/With price of mangled mind, they worthless ware;” are good indicators of tone, as well.

            Sir Philip Sidney reveals his speaker’s acrimonious attitude quite effectively through his tone, choice in words, and techniques. Paradox and personification were important techniques in establishing the speaker’s voice and mood. Desire appears to be an incensing sentiment to the speaker, as a result of the poetic devices that the author chooses.

At Least Two Essays, Part Deux

Allow me to include a brief author's note before my essay (however, nothing is really brief when I say/write it). Whilst writing my first essay, I felt quite confident in my poetry-essay writing and my arguments. I wrote it sitting outside on this lovely day. I posted it. I took a break. I chose this essay a few hours later. I ended up hating the prompt and not being fond of the poem after reading it a million times. I couldn't bear to start over with a new prompt after all I had done trying to figure this one out (an essentially straightforward prompt, really). This essay is not great-- I say that not as defense, nor as an excuse, but...more like a warning. I've been feeling pretty good about my poetry reading and writing this past week or so, but for some reason, this one is giving me problems (even though the prompt itself isn't hard). So. Blah, blah, blah, I apologize ahead of time to anyone that may be offended by my less-than stellar performance. There are parts that I left unfinished, so if anyone has ideas, I welcome them. On a lighter note, I just learned that iguanas have a third eye. Cool.

"Evening Hawk" by Robert Penn Warren

From plane of light to plane, wings dipping through

Geometries and orchids that the sunset builds,

Out of the peak's black angularity of shadow, riding

The last tumultuous avalanche of

Light above pines and the guttural gorge,

The hawk comes.

               His wing

Scythes down another day, his motion

Is that of the honed steel-edge, we hear

The crashless fall of stalks of Time.

The head of each stalk is heavy with the gold of our error.

Look!  Look!  he is climbing the last light

Who knows neither Time nor error, and under

Whose eye, unforgiving, the world, unforgiven, swings

Into shadow.

          Long now,

The last thrush is still, the last bat

Now cruises in his sharp hieroglyphics.  His wisdom

Is ancient, too, and immense.  The star

Is steady, like Plato, over the mountain.

If there were no wind we might, we think, hear

The earth grind on its axis, or history

Drip in darkness like a leaking pipe in the cellar.

2006 Poem “Evening Hawk” (Robert Penn Warren)

Prompt: Read the following poem carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the poet uses language to describe the scene and to convey mood and meaning.

          Robert Penn Warren’s poem, “Evening Hawk,” relies heavily on imagery and description to convey the mood and meaning of the work. The language and techniques—i.e., imagery, metaphor, simile, diction—employed in this piece thoroughly describe the scene.  Warren’s choice of highly symbolic and descriptive words, inclusion of metaphors and similes, and abundant visuals also enhance the conveyance of the poem’s significance.  

Imagery, as mentioned above, is easily the most conspicuous and important vessel for mood and meaning in “Evening Hawk.” The visual imagery that Warren includes sets the scene: a hawk is gliding through the evening in a very natural setting, as the sun sets on the world. The imagery is also layered; many of the visuals are symbolic of something relating to the passage of time, human nature/error, and history.

 The hawk itself appears to be a metaphor; perhaps representing time or the evening itself. This extended metaphor runs alongside quite a few other metaphors in the poem. The passage of time is a major part of this poem’s significance, and metaphors such as the hawk’s wing being a scythe that cuts down the day communicate this quite effectively. Similes, like metaphors, are used as very visual comparisons in this poem. For example, in the last stanza, the speaker states, “we might,…hear…history Drip in darkness like a leaking pipe in the cellar.” The poem compares the abstract elements of the poem (namely the passage of time) to more familiar ideas (the hawk, a scythe, a leaky pipe) via its metaphors and similes.  By doing this, one can not only easier fathom such intangible things, but also gather deeper meaning as s/he relates something such as time to a tangible, symbolic object.

Warren’s diction in the poem is intelligent, and he chooses words that are highly symbolic. The word choice reinforces the fact that the body of the poem is imagery-laden. The first stanza establishes the setting: “dipping through Geometries and orchids that the sunset builds, Out of the peak's black angularity of shadow, riding The last tumultuous avalanche of Light above pines and the guttural gorge…” The third stanza also establishes the philosophical, meditative mood of the poem (“…he is climbing the last light Who knows neither Time nor error, and under Whose eye, unforgiving, the world, unforgiven, swings Into shadow.”).  

At Least Two Essays, Pt. 1

          Poets Edgar Allan Poe and Hilda Doolittle (HD) use “the face that launched a thousand ships” as a subject for their respective pieces, “To Helen” and “Helen.” Though both authors use similar techniques to illustrate their subject’s intense beauty, the speakers of the poems seem to hold very different attitudes toward Helen. Poe and HD employ elements such as tone, diction, and imagery to convey the narrator’s feelings of reverence, passion, and even hatred, along with literary techniques like allusion, motif, and simile.

            Both speakers convey very different feelings toward Helen through the use of tone. In Poe’s piece, “To Helen,” the tone is clearly passionate and reverent. In his comparisons and allusions (“…thy beauty is to me, Like those Nicean barks of yore”), the speaker expresses love, admiration, and respect. This establishes the tone. The tone of “Helen,” on the other hand, suggests a more complicated tone; one with more of a “love-hate” feeling. As the speaker describes Helen’s physical beauty with phrases such as “God’s daughter, born of love, the beauty of cool feet and slenderest knees,” s/he simultaneously describes Greece’s hatred of the woman, “All Greece hates the still eyes in the white face.” Poe’s speaker uses a tone of admiration, while HD’s employs a more complicated tone of abhorrence.

            The speakers’ diction also delivers their dissimilar attitudes toward Helen. In “Helen,” the choice of words is strong, and hate punctuates the poem. The speaker uses the word hate or hatred a few times, along with such words as “revile” and “funereal.” The speaker of “To Helen,” conversely, is not so strong and bitter. The poem’s diction is much more classical, and focuses on descriptive, imagery-building words. The phrase, “On desperate seas long wont to roam, Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face…” exemplifies such language. The sophisticated diction reflects Helen’s classical beauty and the speaker’s respect for her.

            Finally, imagery is an essential part of both poems. Though both speakers use it extensively in describing Helen and her attributes, they still maintain divergent views of her. Poe’s poem couples allusion with imagery to create visions of Helen’s beauty (the speaker compares her to Psyche, Cupid’s legendary and gorgeous lover: “Ah! Psyche, from the regions which Are Holy Land!”). While “Helen” is narrated by someone who seeks to illustrate Greece’s contempt for her, s/he still acknowledges Helen’s qualities; the looks that were said to start a war. The last stanza of “Helen” covers her appearance and the loathing she inspires: “Greece sees unmoved, God’s daughter, born of love, the beauty of cool feet and slenderest knees, could love indeed the maid, only if she were laid, white ash amid funereal cypresses.” The whiteness of Helen’s skin appears as a motif in “Helen,” as well; it seems to symbolize her beauty being washed out of her.

            In conclusion, the speakers of both “To Helen” and “Helen” are similarly inspired but have quite different attitudes concerning their subjects. Tone, imagery, and diction are three of the main elements important to understanding said attitudes. The techniques placed alongside these elements, such as the “white” motif, Grecian allusions, and similes, are also important in distinguishing the speakers’ feelings.

Seventh Reading

I finally remembered the poem I spent most of zero period trying to think of! What a relief. It is "A Psalm of Life" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (I just knew it was a Longfellow poem).

I read this poem several times just as we were assigned, and I can't say that much changed between the first and seventh or so readings, in terms of understanding or meaning. Certainly, the more I read it, the more I liked it and appreciated it, so there must have been some change, but nothing that seemed notable. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. Does anyone out there know how to read?
Alright, I can read, but multiple readings did not reveal much more than a few metaphors. Now that I think of it, maybe I didn't find anything new or look at this in another light this time simply because I've re-read this poem a few times in the past.

The Scottish Play, Currently On Broadway

So, this morning's late start at school graced me with the opportunity to watch last night's episode of The Colbert Report-- and it just so happened that Stephen's guest that night was Alan Cumming, a man in the Broadway adaptation of Macbeth. Cumming is an extremely interesting (and funny) man, and I sincerely wish I could go see him perform all sixteen roles that he has in Macbeth (there are only two other actors in the play). I implore everyone (at least all of my classmates) to check out last night's episode, and just skip to the end, with Cumming's interview. It is awesome. Also, just go check it out on YouTube. If anyone actually has spare time.

Macbeth isn't a dirty word to Alan Cumming, but whatever he whispered in Stephen Colbert's ear sure is.  
This link better work. 

Also, I found a couple of scenes from the actual play (ok, I've lost the second one, so deal with it):

  

Macbeth Active Reading Notes: Act V

SCENE I:

• a doctor and "waiting-gentlewoman" (I suppose Lady Macbeth's lady-in-waiting) are watching Lady Macbeth, who apparently has been asleep since Macbeth went "into the field" (he has gone to suppress the revolt of the Scotch nobles)
• Lady Macbeth has been sleepwalking, and even writing letters in her sleep

• the gentlewoman doesn't want to tell the doctor what she has heard Lady Macbeth say in her sleep, for she is afraid of getting in trouble 
• Lady Macbeth appears, still seemingly asleep (though her eyes are open)
• "she has light by her continually; 'tis her command." --Lady Macbeth is afraid of the dark now
• she keeps rubbing her hands; she thinks she sees a bloodstain that she cannot remove
• here, the famous lines come in: " Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One: two: why, then, 'tis time to do't.--Hell is murky!--Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?--Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him."
•  "The thane of Fife had a wife" though she had nothing to do with the murder of Lady Macduff, it weighs on the queen's conscience
• the doctor tells the lady to keep an eye on Lady Macbeth, and to make sure she doesn't hurt herself

SCENE II:

•  "He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause Within the belt of rule." Macbeth cannot control the discontented nobles
• Menteith, Caithness, Angus, Lennox, and soldiers begin their march
• I don't really know what to say about their conversation. Hm.

SCENE III:

•  "The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon!" What a lovely insult
• a servant comes to tell Macbeth that the English soldiers are approaching
• Macbeth is...well, he's not a happy camper at the moment. Rude.
• Macbeth calls for Seyton, and asks for his armor 
• is 'Seyton' really pronounced like 'Satan'? What an unfortunate name
• he wants the doctor to cure his wife of what "weighs upon [her] heart"
• the doctor says that the power to cure herself lies only Lady Macbeth; Macbeth doesn't like this, so he ridicules medicine
•  "I will not be afraid of death and bane, Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane."

SCENE IV:

•  the soldiers arrive at Birnam forest
• Malcolm orders the soldiers to take branches from the trees to conceal their numbers

SCENE V:

• Macbeth is confident that he will be safe in his castle, and that he will be victorious 
• "What is that noise?"/ "It is the cry of women, my good lord"
• Lady Macbeth is dead
• a messenger tells Macbeth that as the soldiers approached, he thought he saw the forest move (for they were camouflaged )
• Macbeth threatens to hang the messenger if he is lying (he obviously doesn't believe him)

SCENE VI:

• uh, well, this is the shortest scene in here
• I'm not sure what to say about this except that they are preparing to attack

SCENE VII:

• Macbeth compares himself with baited bear (in reference to the popular sport of the time, bear-baiting)
• Young Siward asks Macbeth his name
• Macbeth fancies himself pretty scary; Siward just hates him
• they fight, and Macbeth kills Young Siward

SCENE VIII:

• Macbeth has avoided fighting with Macduff, for he knows that he is already guilty of killing his family
• Macduff provokes him; they fight
•  we should talk about Macbeth and Macduff's conversation; I feel I'm missing something important 
• Ross tells Siward that his son (Young Siward) is dead
• Macduff enters, holding Macbeth's head
• I suppose...this is the end. Aw. 

Life of Pi AP Exam-Style Multiple Choice Questions

         Our good old nation was just seven years old as a 

    republic when it became bigger by a small territory.

    Pondicherry entered the Union of India on 

    November 1, 1954. One civic achievement called

5  for another. A portion of the grounds of the Pondicherry 

    Botanical Garden was made available rent-free for an

    exciting business opportunity and—lo and behold—

    India had a brand new zoo, designed and run according

    to the most modern, biologically sound principles.       

 10            It was a huge zoo, spread over numberless

      acres, big enough to require a train to explore it, though

       it seemed to get smaller as I grew older, train included.

      Now it’s so small it fits in my head. You must imagine a

       hot and humid place, bathed in sunshine and bright

15  colours. The riot of flowers is incessant. There are trees,

      shrubs, and climbing plants in profusion—peepuls,

      gulmohurs, flames of the forest, red silk cottons,

      jacarandas, mangoes, jackfruits and many others that 

      would remain unknown to you if they didn’t have neat

20  labels at their feet. There are benches. On these benches

     you see men sleeping, stretched out, or couples sitting,

     young couples, who steal glances at each other shyly and

     whose hands flutter in the air, happening to touch.

     Suddenly, amidst the tall and slim trees up ahead, you

25 notice two giraffes quietly observing you. The sight is not

     the last of your surprises. The next moment you are startled

     by a furious outburst coming from a great troupe of monkeys,

     only outdone in volume by the shrill cries of strange birds.

     You come to a turnstile. You distractedly pay a small sum

30 of money. You move on. You see a low wall. What can you

    expect beyond a low wall? Certainly not a shallow pit with

    two might Indian rhinoceros. But that is what you find.

    And when you turn your head you see the elephant that was

    there all along, so big you didn’t notice it. And in the pond

36 you realize those are hippopotamuses floating in the water.

    The more you look, the more you see. You are in Zootown!

Macbeth Active Reading Notes: Act IV

SCENE I:

• enter the witches 
• here comes that famous "Double, double, toil and trouble" line

• enter Hecate ('witch boss'), next Macbeth (another famous line: "...Something wicked this way comes")
• Macbeth is seeing things again (three apparitions; think A Christmas Carol)
• an armed head ("Beware Macduff")
• a bloody child
• a crowned child holding a tree

• next, eight kings, the last king with a glass in his hand; ghost of Banquo follows
• exit witches, enter Lennox
• Macduff has fled to England

SCENE II:

• Ross and Lady Macduff discussing why Macduff would leave his family
• Lady Macduff speaking to her son: How will you go on without a father?
• She assumes her husband is a guilty man (murder), because he has fled and she is not suspicious of Macbeth like the others
• enter the three murderers, who call Macduff a traitor (to his son; this makes the boy angry)
• one of the murders stabs the boy, and kills him (stab-die!)

SCENE III:

• Macduff speaking to Malcolm
• Malcolm says he can understand bloodlust, but Macduff disagrees with him
• Enter a Doctor
• "what's this disease he means?"/"'Tis called the evil" (in reference to Macbeth)

• Scotland is suffering
• Ross gives Macduff the news about his castle being "surprised" and his family, servants being killed
• "not for their own demerits, but mine": Macduff feels guilty, as they were killed because of him

•  "Be this the whetstone of your sword: let grief Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it."
  

Macbeth Active Reading Notes: Act II

SCENE I:

• Act II begins quickly after Act I
• Banquo had dreamt of the three witches the night before
• (Macbeth's soliloquy) Macbeth thinks for a moment that he sees a dagger before him; it is safe to say that he has qualms about killing Duncan
• his regretful musings are interrupted by Lady Macbeth's bell--signalling that it is time to kill Duncan
• "I go, and it is done; the bell invites me Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell That summons thee to heaven or to hell."

SCENE II:

• "That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold; What hath quench'd them hath given me fire." 
• Lady Macbeth seems to have drunk some wine to embolden herself

•  "Hark! Peace! It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman, Which gives the stern'st good-night."
• "He is about it," Macbeth is committing the murder as the guards sleep
• " Alack, I am afraid they have awaked, And 'tis not done. The attempt and not the deed Confounds us." Does this mean Lady Macbeth hears her husband, thinks that it is someone else (a guard?), fears Macbeth was unsuccessful, and they were about to be caught?
• "Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done't." Even Lady Macbeth is a little human
• Macbeth heard the two sleeping men talking in their sleep
• He could not say "Amen," for his is riddled with guilt/he could not say this phrase used against witchcraft for he had sold himself to evil
• Lady Macbeth tells him to "Consider it not so deeply"

•  Macbeth thinks that he hears a voice cry: "Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep, Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care, The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, Chief nourisher in life's feast,--...Still it cried 'Sleep no more!' to all the house: 'Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.'" 
• Apparently, Macbeth won't be getting any sleep anytime soon (I swear I've heard complicated school projects whisper similar things to me the night before they're due)
• He must be going a little crazy already

• Macbeth does not want to think about what he had done
• They hear a knocking

SCENE III:

•  More knocking (Jerry Seinfeld voice: What's up with that?)
•  We should go over the Porter's speech in class, just because
•  Macduff asks Macbeth if Mac-duncan is Mac-awake, so Macbeth offers to take Macduff to the Mac-king.
•  Lennox gives a relatively lengthy description of how awful the previous night was; all Macbeth offers in return is, "'Twas a rough night"
• Lennox says that he can't remember another night like it
•  Macduff returns, horrified: he has discovered the dead king
• Macduff is waking everyone and spreading the news of the murder
•  Macbeth says that he was the one that killed the chamber men
• Okay then

SCENE IV:

•  Ross' first lines are an allusion to Elizabethan theatre
• Ross and the old man are discussing the strange phenomena that occurred on the night of Duncan's death: a hawk was killed by an owl, and it was said that Duncan's horses broke from their stalls and ate each other
• Ah, they fell for it! It is believed that Duncan's chamber attendants (those that Macbeth killed for revenge) did in  fact murder him
• However, Malcolm and Donalbain flee--bringing suspicion upon Duncan's sons
• Macbeth is already named the new king

Macbeth Active Reading Notes Act I Scenes V-VII

I'd like to begin with sharing shakespeare-online.com--something we have all probably run across while looking for help with Shakespeare reading, but just in case anyone hasn't, here it is (beginning with scene 5). It is annotated, with links and explanatory notes at the bottom of the page; the interpretations of the scenes might not be perfect (but I haven't read too closely into them, I'm more focused on the other notes), but I found the explanations of words and phrases helpful when reading and re-reading (and re-reading and re-reading and re-reading) just won't do.

SCENE V:

• we come in with Lady Macbeth reading a letter Macbeth has sent to her about the witches' prophecies
• the letter is in prose
• compunctious: remorseful ("That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose..." Lady Macbeth is going to murder Duncan herself; she does not want natural feelings of remorse and regret to get in her way)
• she wishes to be cruel and bitter so she may kill Duncan and achieve her title alongside Macbeth
• Duncan is coming to stay at the castle

 SCENE VI:

• martlet: a small martin/swallow (builds nests on buildings)
• Duncan has arrived at Inverness 
• the most I got out of this little scene is that Duncan and his party have arrived at the castle, and Lady Macbeth takes them inside. Hm. 

SCENE VII:

• " If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly" (in reference to Duncan's assassination) Oh, good lord, a self-explanatory phrase. Beautiful.
•  Duncan trusts Macbeth--as his kinsman and host 
• "that we but teach Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice To our own lips." does this mean that Macbeth knows that if he kills Duncan for the throne, his plan will backfire, or he will end up being assassinated for his position, too?
• "I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
  And falls on the other." Macbeth uses a horse as a metaphor for his intent; I just liked the rest of this quote
• "the poor cat i' the adage" refers to "The cat would eat fish, and would not wet her feet." 
• the Lady's devious plans: after a hard day's journey to the castle, Duncan will be fast asleep--this is when Lady Macbeth will get his guards drunk, so they may not remember a thing, and the unguarded Duncan may be murdered
• They might use the guards' daggers to kill Duncan, framing them for his murder