SMART Goal

These past few weeks that we have been thinking about our SMART goals, I've been having a lot of trouble choosing one I'd like to stick with. I keep bouncing back and forth between "I don't have any goals, I don't even know what to start with," and "There are way too many options for goals!" But that's most of my life and decisions.
More difficult than they technically should be.
So, today, I finally decided that my goal would be to set more goals for myself--a sort of goal-ception, if you will. I've been feeling like I lack ambition and follow-through, so maybe setting little goals for myself throughout this last semester would help me get through: My goal this week is to finish this book; next month I'll finish this other book; I will finish my art project this week and finish at least three extra projects by the end of the month; do all of my English homework this week; etc. etc. etc...  It might sound kind of silly. In fact, it might actually be downright ridiculous. But it also might work.

But then again, I did hear someone in class say that their goal is to read more books. That's a pretty great goal, and after I sleep on it tonight, I might just swoop in a steal it instead of running with "goalception." I miss reading about two novels every month in middle school...ah, the good ol' days when I did absolutely nothing but read. See, I'm already going round and round with my goals as I type this! I suppose we'll see how this turns out...Maybe I just need one of Dr Preston's stupid goals! Haha!

To Be Or Not To Be

So, long, long ago, but not that long ago, I went to The Hangout for some Thai food with a couple of friends...Well, my trusty Sharpie was with me, and I wanted to make my mark on the wall just like everyone else. I couldn't think of what to write...But I had recently memorize Hamlet's soliloquy. So I wrote it, or at least most of it. I ran out of time and didn't get a chance to come back to finish. I did recently go back and snap a picture of it while picking up some food with the same friends, and finally, I have it posted!

Poetry Analysis

In the interest of time I'm going to take most of my poems from Dr Preston's suggested link from today. Not to mention I saw several poems I'm fond of on there, so I don't really feel the need to stray from those, anyway.

"Dulce et Decorum Est"--Wilfred Owen

• Paraphrase: A poem written during World War I; it describes the horrible conditions that British soldiers had to endure (losing their boots and having to walk long, arduous marches while bloody and exhausted); it then describes chemical attacks on the soldiers and one mangled soldier in particular: his face is practically melting and he is choking in the gas attack, stumbling around blindly...It ends with a line from Horace: Dulce et decorum est/Pro patria mori (it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country)
• Purpose: Owen's own opinion on the atrocities of war
• Structure: I read in one place that it is two sonnets that are linked together by a couplet, but it doesn't quite fit the exact requirements for a sonnet...it has three stanzas and a couplet dividing the first two from the last
• Shift: The shift might be at the very end, when he mentions the Latin line (which is when he turns it into a lesson), but the actual might also come at the second stanza, as Owen shifts away from just a description of the soldiers' conditions to the panic of chemical warfare
• Speaker: A (WWI) soldier
• Spelling/Grammar/Diction: Owen includes the Latin line from Horace; he uses very powerful, nightmarish language in the third stanza, and his diction/syntax in the second stanza conveys a sense of terror and confusion
• Tone: It begins (first stanza) miserable and melancholy; the rest is nightmarish
• Theme: The horror of warfare

"The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock"--TS Eliot

• Paraphrase: "Prufrock is insecure" (poetsforum.com); he is getting older, questioning himself and fretting about little things; it begins with him taking the reader for a walk
• Purpose: I read one man's analysis on this poem, and he claims that Prufrock is actually Eliot's "neurotic alter ego"; perhaps his purpose is personal introspection and a release of his own thoughts and ideas without admitting that it is really himself
• Structure: Begins with an epigraph from Dante's Inferno,
• Shift: there is a shift in tense on...oh, I believe it is line 87 or 88...
• Speaker: J Alfred Prufrock
• Spelling/Grammar/Diction: the shift is a shift in grammar/tense; proper diction,
• Tone: pessimistic
• Theme: Inability to act/paralysis/perhaps pessimism (when I did my analysis on it about a month ago, I had settled on the first two themes; now I'm coming across some other people's ideas that I quite like, such as 'pessimism')

"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night"--Dylan Thomas

• Paraphrase: it seems that Thomas feels that people should fight against death, they should "rage against the dying of the light" (the ending of their lives); they should resist and "die fighting"; wild, good, and wise men fight against death in their final hours
• Purpose: goes over the ways you can live your life (the ways that the wise, good, and wild men did) but mostly revolves around telling the reader (towards the end he actually addresses his father) that he should go down swinging, inevitable as death is
• Structure: three-line stanzas, ABAB pattern (it's funny, I just realized that in these past 12 years, almost all of my teachers have passed off patterns saying "we won't spend long on this, you'll learn it next year." Or at least it seems that way.)
• Shift: at the last stanza, when it becomes personal (his father, I read that his father went to war and some take the poem to be about dying fighting in a war)
• Speaker: he writes "my father", so I'm assuming that this time, the author is narrating
• Spelling/Grammar/Diction: metaphors, aggressive diction
• Tone: melancholy, but aggressive (the choice of words such as rage)
• Theme: death/mortality, I suppose

"Those Winter Sundays"--Robert Hayden

• Paraphrase: The speaker is describing his father's morning routine and looking back on memories of his father; he'd wake up very early, start a fire, and do all of his work and duties without thanks; the narrator laments that he did not recognize what he had done when he was younger
• Purpose: expressing his thoughts on not realizing or understanding all of the things that are done for and sacrificed for us when we are younger
• Structure: three stanzas, non-rhyming
• Shift: line thirteen, where he acknowledges the ignorance of youth in this particular area
• Speaker: unknown--perhaps the author
• Spelling/Grammar/Diction: imagery
• Tone: lamenting/regretful, nostalgic
• Theme: unspoken love (between father and son),

"As I Walked Out One Evening"--WH Auden

• Paraphrase: the speaker is going out for a walk on Bristol Street, where he hears a person singing a song; the song starts sweet and 'lovey', but morphs into a darker, more cynical song, often speaking of time's harsh effects on life/love
• Purpose: writing about time's ravaging of love and relationships...
• Structure: 15 four-line stanzas;
• Shift: Line eight switches to a song the narrator hears a person singing; I believe it is line 56 when he goes back to his narration/line 21 marks a shift in tone/mood
• Speaker: unknown (unless it is the author), also the lover singing under the railway
• Spelling/Grammar/Diction: nature imagery, proper; the diction makes time into a character
• Tone: the first 20 lines have a love-like tone, the rest of the poem is more cynical
• Theme: (generally) love, time, so on...

Lit Terms 1-5 Remix

For my remix of the first five literary terms, I'm using my favorite thing, music. I've searched my own library and even Googled a few things to try to find some examples of the following terms.

Allegory: a tale in prose or verse in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities; a story that uses symbols to make a point

• I must start off by saying that it was very hard to find a song to fit allegory, seeing as there are so many songs that are allegories themselves. I just chose this particular song because I just read about it in Pete Townshend's autobiography, and I found the fact that he himself is still discovering the real meaning behind this song. 
• Pete claims that this song is really about his childhood: "Someone has been 'gone for nearly a year.' This could be ascribed to the dereliction of both my parents...As a result, 'your crying is a well-known sound.' That crying was mine as a five- and six-year-old...'Little girl, why don't you stop your crying? I'm gonna make you feel alright.' This is chilling to me even today: the implicit threat of abuse unless the child cooperates with the abuser. But 'little girl'? In my mind i was never alone when I lived with Denny--my imaginary constant friend was a twin girl who suffered every privation I suffered...Ivor the engine driver may well represent my abuser: 'we'll sort it out back at my place maybe,'..." It goes on from there. Townshend writes about how he is still discovering the allegory within the song. (Who I Am, Pete Townshend, p. 102-103)

Alliteration: the repetition of similar initial sounds, usually consonants, in a group of words 

•  There are also many songs that use alliteration; it is especially popular for titles. The first few that come to mind are Beatles tunes such as "Sexy Sadie" and "Rocky Raccoon." 
• I've had "Around the World" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers stuck in my head for about two weeks now, but now it's finally really come in handy. This song uses several alliterative lines: "Back from Bombay"/"In the woods of Wisconsin"/"Sittin' in the Swiss mountains"

Allusion: a reference to a person, a place, an event, or a literary work that a writer expects a reader to recognize

• Allusions, allusions everywhere! You tend to take them for granted when you understand them right off the bat. I've gone for a whole-song allusion to Alice in Wonderland/Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane. A well-known song alluding to a well-known story. (There's also Looking Glass by Hypnogaja, another song about Alice. I had to settle on one allusion, then realized that I know a few different songs with the same one.)

 Ambiguity: something uncertain as to interpretation

• At first "ambiguity" seemed to be the hardest word to find in song form. Then all I had to do was remember strange and nonsensical artists and I had a million options. (I also saw someone recommend some REM songs as examples, but I personally prefer the really ridiculous stuff.) I had a hard time choosing between Beck and the Butthole Surfers; I love both of those artists (especially the latter). I'm guessing that there are abundant metaphors in Beck's music, and the Butthole Surfers...well, certain things are probably stoned ramblings, but they also might make sense if you think about them. Or take drugs. (But I still love the guys) Anyway...I finally chose Beck's famous "Loser," mostly because of its...ambiguous video.

Anachronism: something that shows up in the wrong place or the wrong time

• I couldn't think of or find any songs that were about or included anachronisms...So I changed directions and tried to think of songs used as anachronisms. My first thought was "that one rap song in 'Django Unchained'" After a considerable amount of distraction remembering how positively awesome the movie was, I looked it up and found it to be "100 Black Coffins" by Rick Ross. Anyone who has seen the movie, or even just the previews, will recognize that this genre wasn't exactly...popular in the 19th century. 

Fall Semester Reflection

1.     I do in fact read my peers’ work on their blogs. I might not read them as often as others (maybe, I don’t know what others are doing!), but I do check up on other students’ work when I’m looking for different ideas and fresh perspectives. When I’m stuck, it is a great feeling knowing that I can get inspiration by reading other students’ work without being persecuted for “cheating.” It is quite different from other classes, but reading other ideas is helpful and makes me feel more…free. I don’t have to sneak around and try to fly under the radar as I ask around for ideas to just get started on my own work—as Dr Preston knows, some teachers tend to make students feel badly about just getting ideas.
2.    If the course blog was to suddenly disappear, we would all be quite confused, most likely. Having the blog online and visible to the virtual public makes us think harder about our responses to posts on the course blog, seeing as we humans are naturally inclined to strive to impress everyone else (I feel that with our commentary being public, we all put a little more thought into what we’re posting. Too bad that doesn’t seem to apply to people’s social media posts!). Plus, the course blog keeps us connected and updated after school.
3.    Oh, in theory, the fact that my work is published on the internet influences me to finish my assignments…But I’ve been having a little trouble with motivation lately. I refuse to call it “senioritis” (not just because of our talk in class this morning), but I’m just getting a little worn out with things…Also, I feel that if I don’t finish an assignment completely, I hesitate to post it and sometimes I don’t even post it at all. I’ve been told that some is better than nothing, but I don’t quite like the idea of my problem with finishing things becoming public.
4.  Most of my learning—for at this class, at least—happens outside of the classroom. Room 608 is where I’m prepped for what I will be/should be learning, then I go home and jump on the computer or stick my face in a book. The next day in class is usually when the information is continued and/or built upon and explained. My experience with the physical classroom has mostly just changed for this particular course—I feel that, because this one is run differently, and different things are expected of me in this class, I have to mentally separate this course from all the others I am taking this year.
5.   I usually describe this particular class as very different from any one that I have experienced in my last eleven years of education—we are more technologically reliant; more independent yet also freer (not fond of “freer,” I’d prefer “more free,” not sure why) to collaborate and share ideas at the same time. The part that usually impresses people (that is, those that are impressed) is usually when I tell them that every student runs his/her own blog attached to the course.
6.    That’s certainly a tough one…When we think about/discuss this course and the way it’s run, it isn’t that big of a deal and it does not seem terribly complicated…but when I explain the way things work to other people, they start to question the method (I must admit, sometimes I do as well). Some people find it interesting, and some say, “no thanks.” It seems that there are quite a few people that would rather just do their homework and turn it in for fear that their work isn’t being acknowledged by the classroom authority.
7.    The responses from people that are interested by the idea of our class make me feel good about being in it, frankly. Those responses, naturally, make me a little proud to be in the course. The other responses occasionally make me question the “system,” but not for very long (even in this different course structure I am still trained not to question any system of any kind. Oh, what will become of me?).  In general, their responses don’t affect me all that much, aside for brief moments of questioning (what in the world am I even doing on here?!).

Late Literary Analysis: The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

So here I am, trying to go back and catch up on the work that I didn’t get done when I should have…so, here we go!

1.       “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a poem by TS Eliot; it begins with the narrator, J Alfred Prufrock, inviting the reader to take a walk through a city. He describes the yellow fog that pervades the city, and social gatherings, including some women discussing Michelangelo (he refers to them a couple of times). Prufrock insists that there are many things to be done, and frets about seemingly insignificant matters (his physical appearance, clothing, eating a peach…). Prufrock also describes his aging body.

2.       The theme of the poem is inability to act or paralysis (I’ve run across quite a few articles that compare this piece to Hamlet…Prufrock also refers to the Prince of Denmark).

3.       Eliot’s tone is rather gloomy, and at times, the narrator sounds regretful. Some examples of this pessimistic tone include:

·         “Let us go then, you and I,           /When the evening is spread out against the sky/Like a patient etherized upon a table;” (Drugged patients aren’t a very cheerful way to describe something)

·         “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;/I know the voices dying with a dying fall/Beneath the music from a farther room.”

·         “We have lingered in the chambers of the sea/By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown/Till human voices wake us, and we drown.”

4.       Literary elements included in the poem:

·         Metaphor: “The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,/The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes/Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,/Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,/Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,/Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,/And seeing that it was a soft October night,/Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.”

·         Simile: “When the evening is spread out against the sky/Like a patient etherized upon a table”

·         Personification: “The muttering retreats/Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels”

·         Symbolism: “With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—” (Used as a symbol of his age)

·         Personification: “And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!/Smoothed by long fingers,/Asleep … tired … or it malingers,/Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.”

·         Rhetorical Question: “Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?”

·         Allusion: Prufrock alludes to Hamlet, as he also suffers from the inability to act—“No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be…”

·         Imagery: “I have seen [the mermaids] riding seaward on the waves/Combing the white hair of the waves blown back/When the wind blows the water white and black.”

·         Synecdoche: “I should have been a pair of ragged claws/Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.” (Meaning he would have been better off as a crab)

1.       Some examples of direct characterization include the points where he describes his thinning hair and his coat pulled up to his chin. Much of the poem is an indirect characterization, describing Prufrock’s regrets, paralysis, etc. Eliot most likely uses both approaches because Prufrock is narrating this himself, so he wouldn’t give too many direct descriptions of himself, but when he does, it is helpful and necessary to the symbolism. Eliot’s use of both techniques is essential to Prufrock’s character, making him more realistic and gives him depth.

2.       Eliot mainly focuses on Prufrock, and his diction and syntax don’t really change as he focuses on other people.

3.       Prufrock doesn’t seem to change throughout the poem, so I suppose he is static. He does mention aging, but character-wise, the poem doesn’t seem to identify any changes…

4.       At first, I was prepared to say that I had simply read a character and didn’t get to know Prufrock very well. However, as I read the work over and over, and as I found others’ interpretations of Eliot’s symbols and allusions, I felt much more like I knew Prufrock as a person.

Yegeres Sareit--Arto Tuncboyacian

Here we are, nearly at finals week already! This is the second to last time we'll have to conquer this mountain, at least in high school...There will be plenty of finals in college, but still. Anyway...I was looking through my music trying to find something to go with finals, and I found what seems like a MILLION songs that I could connect to finals or the end of the semester...Did you know that you could stretch just about every Metallica song so that it relates to finals? I do, now.
Well, I decided to go with something different. "Yegeres Sareit", or "Welcome to Your Mountain" is by Arto Tuncboyacian, one of my very favorite musicians. Finals are our mountain--welcome to it. Get up and over it. Certainly, our mountain isn't the same as the mountain in the song (it comes from a soundtrack Arto did for a French movie about an Armenian man returning to his homeland, and the mountain is of course Mount Ararat, the mountain considered holy by Armenians...alright, though it is interesting, I don't think the history lesson is necessary), but it is still a great song (you can't find English lyrics ANYWHERE!) and you can make it apply. "Yegeres Sareit (Welcome to Your Mountain)" by Arto Tuncboyacian, off of the soundtrack for Le Voyage en Armenie.