Preparation for Final Exam and Wildcard Project

Whew...what a week!
As a class, we had a quick exposure to Drama and some of the major elements that contribute to a dramatic performance. Much of the information seems so familiar probably because there are many similarities between Drama and Fiction, yet the five parts of the Plot are new to me.
The Final Exam is a two-part test, and Professor Hueners has supplied a study guide to assist in our studying preparations:
210 Final Exam Review SheetThe test is not so much a comprehensive final as it is a 2nd term test. The following information is designed to help you prepare, but it is in no way a contract for information that will or will not be covered on the exam.

Format - Similar to midterm
 Objective and short answer portion in Respondus
 Essay portion completed via hard copy. (Essay portion will not be complete “open” book, but the full text of some poems will be provided and you may use one 3 x 5 note card.
 Entire test will be worth 100 points. (Probably more of a 50/50 split this time.)Content - Objective Questions (Matching/Multiple Choice/Short Answer)
1. Terms – poetry and drama terms that are the same as short fiction. Here are some possibilities although the list is not exhaustive.

 Metaphor
 Simile
 Speaker
 Symbol(ism)
 Alliteration
 Assonance  Onomatopoeia
 connotation Denotation
 Rhythm
 Theme
 Stanza  Tenor
 Vehicle
 Character
 Protagonist
 Antagonist
 Plot
 Conflict
 Exposition
 Rising Action
 Climax
 Falling Action2.
Poets and Poems – We had read many poems. Here is a list of poems that were assigned and discussed during class. Be familiar with these poems and poets.

 Seamus Heaney “Mid-Term Break”
 W. H. Auden “Musee’ des Beaux Arts” and “Stop All the Clocks”
 Theodore Roethke “My Papa’s Waltz”
 William Carlos Williams “The Red Wheelbarrow” and “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus”
Unknown “The 23rd Psalm”
 e.e. cummings “in Just”



Content – Subjective Questions (Essay and Explication and Evaluation)
Here is a forecast of the ideas stewing in the back of my mind.

Big Questions – There will be a number to choose from. They may range from the truly broad to more specific questions about particular ideas discussed in class.

 What is literature and why does it matter?
 What is the difference between Poetry and poetry? How can we distinguish one from the other?
 Discuss the differences in theme and tone that Auden and Williams produce in response to Brueghel’s “Landscape of the Fall of Icarus”?


Explicating Poems – This may sound scary, but you’ve been doing this all along. Explicating simply means explaining the meaning of a poem—think of the guidelines for reading and writing about poetry found in “Poetry: Reading, Responding, Writing” section (pages 409 – 410 in the portable). If you’ve been writing good journal entries, think about how you’ve been responding to poems there.

You’ll have two shots to demonstrate your ability to read and understand a poem.
1. I will provide the text of a poem and ask questions to help you get started. (Think of the “Catching the Mole” quiz only you’ll write a longer explanation.)
2. You will provide the text of a poem. Bring to class on Thursday, a hard copy of a poem that means something to you. Do not use one of the poems listed above. (Make sure it is a capital P poem, and bring a hard copy—either printed or handwritten.) I will ask questions to help you get started.


Evaluation – Some of you may have noticed that we still had one more writing project that we just ran out of time for. The final paper was to be an evaluation essay, asking you to reflect upon changes that may have taken place this semester in response to the course. Possibilities might include: your reading abilities, your approach to literature (or a specific kind of literature), your understanding of the purpose of literature (or a specific kind of literature), your understanding of creative approaches, your ability to appreciate or connect with literature, etc.

We don’t have time for another complete essay, but I’d still like you to consider the question, so there will be an essay asking you to evaluate your growth in these areas.

What You Need to Bring on Thursday:
Your Tablet with Respondus loaded and ready to go
 A pen or pencil—we’ll be going low-tech for the second portion of the exam. (I’ll provide the paper.)
 A hard copy of a poem of your choice. You will be turning this in with your test.
 A 3 x 5 index card to use during the second portion of the test (optional). If you use an index card, you will be asked to turn it in with the test.

In addition to these preparations, I have begun my Wildcard Project for the class:

Ms. Figurative Literature
The project I chose to create is a woman mannequin covered with quotations about the human body, life, health, and statements concerning specific parts of the body that draw upon “figurative” language to make a certain statement. At first, I felt maybe the time constraint to complete the project as well as some fear that I may not create a “nice” piece kept my commitment to this idea at bay. Yet, the more I thought about the design; I just had to say to myself, “what the heck, go for it.” I found so many timeless quotations from authors and philosophers that it seemed I would have to pick and choose exactly what would make it into the final project. Many casual sayings are also drawn from body parts, so I intend to throw those in where there may be some small spaces on the body while also paying attention to place these statements where they may be ironically relevant.
I had so much fun finding the quotations. I learned about individuals whom I had not previously known of and I saw that literature brings us together humankind, much like music. While we may all express ourselves differently and hold separate views on what may be beautiful, I think we can gain better understanding of ourselves by learning about others.
To decide upon the color scheme to use for the project, I created a page of color swatches and drew on top of each color with silver, gold, and black. Ultimately, the colors that worked together nicely were red, gold, and black. So, red is the background on the body and the black and gold pens will be used to hand write the messages on the body. I was fortunate to have many suggestions from classmates concerning the color scheme and feel appreciative for the input and the ultimate outcome.
Listed below is a list of the contributing authors for the quotations used upon the mannequin titled, “Ms. Figurative Literature.”
Marilyn Ferguson E. M. Forster
Theodor Hertzl Lao-tzu
Edith Wharton Juvenal
George Santayana Henry Miller
Henry David Thoreau Bob Dylan
Helen Keller Gracie Allen
Martha Graham Isodore Duncan
Oprah Winfrey Carol Burnett
Pythagoras Wilson Mizner
Shakti Gawain Elayne Boosler
Gloria Steinem Robin Morgan
Cleobulus Timothy Leary
Allegra Kent Virginia Woolf

I still have 2/3 of the mannequin body to design, so I am happy to have about a week to complete her!

Elements of Drama

Elements of the genre:

Character: a person represented in a plot, as well as the unique qualities that make up the personality.

"a lot of character" = if one has integrity and stands up to pressure.
"to be a character" is when one may provoke laughter, annoyance, or reproach.

Plays rely upon characters because people portray characters on stage, a concrete manner.

When actors are "in character" then they speak and behave as the character they are portraying on stage.

Protagonist, antagonist, hero, heroine, foil (character that brings out qualities in another character by contrast), stereotypes.

Plot and Structure

The invention, selection, and arrangement of the action for the story, thus there can be no PLOT without some unifying sense of the purpose that joins the story line to the characters and the theme.

A "dramatic irony" is when the fulfillment of the plan, action, or expectation comes as a surprise, often the opposite of what the characters intended.

Stages, Sets, and Setting

Stages: Thrust stage (audience sits around three sides of the stage), Arena stage (when the audience sits all around the stage), and the Proscenium stage (typical stage, all audience is set in front of the stage on different levels.

Sets/Setting: background of the stage, movable walls, curtains, murals, furniture, pictures of scenery...etc.(the design and decoration and scenery)

PROPS: articles or objects used on stage to assist in the portrayal of the drama.

Tone, Style, and Imagery

Tone: the style or manner of expression, speaking loudly/softly, sweetly/angrily, accent/native, fear/love/sarcasm...

Theme: a statement or assertion about the subject of a work. Not part of the work, but an idea extracted by the impact of the entire work.

Response to Susan Glaspell's "TRIFLES"

The "script" sets forth the CHARACTERS first, then sets the SCENE with a description of what the audience will see when the curtains open...every detail such as where certain characters are on the stage, what their emotional state may be, how they may be dresses, and the sets and props.

Then, before each LINE to be read by a specific CHARACTER is that characters name and perhaps a notation directed at how the character should behave or move.

the title sounds like it's a story about small occurrences, maybe funny or witty...
I love the way the characters were so nosey as they went through the house of the scene of the crime. All that banter back and forth about this and that...hooey, just like folks do! Also, the way the men behave as opposed to the way the women behave...and that the two women conceal that they might feel the woman did murder her husband, yet they make all kinds of excuses for how hard it it to be alone all day and how the women's personality had changed so much from when she was young and happy. The Sheriff and the County Attorney just figure the woman is guilty of the murder and they are looking for evidence to support that belief...kind of funny and tragic all at once. And, that poor little canary. Really vivid images of the setting, the characters and their behaviors, the theme (concealing a crime?, justifying poor behavior?), the props, how the characters were to move about the stage sets, and all the wonderful facial expressions on the characters.
This type of Literature seems difficult to write, but then again, maybe after you do it for a while that you would just almost see everything like a script? Probably "think" that way...in that world!

Personal Observations about Fiction, Poetry, and Drama

I have begun reading the Drama chapter from the class text, and some ideas are floating around my head:

Fiction is like expanding ideas and situations to explain a scenario and capture our hearts and minds.

Poetry is like minimizing the use of words to express and idea or emotion, and concentrating it all!

Drama is like itemizing individual correspondence/dialog to express a "grand total" of an idea over the course of a dramatization, leaving us to connect earlier thoughts to a grand picture of design.

I never really grouped these all together as Literature. Now, with the aid of this course and the pieces we have viewed, I can see that Literature comes in the form of many faces. I think I took it all for granted, like I take life for granted. This beautiful yet linguistic transfer of knowledge and feeling that seems to weave its way through our lives without us knowing it is a gift.

We all have it, we all use it, we're just not always aware that we do.
Even if I write a bad poem or a poor story, at least I put it down...there is no fault for personal journey. Maybe many faults for style and exposition, yet, we are mortal and only the words we speak and write are left behind. I feel very small right now, yet very large in my own little world of the English language.
If I die tomorrow, at the very least I was pursuing knowledge of things I knew so little about.

a twist on the old saying: "if you get lemons, make lemonade"...

"out of shit, make manure!" That's what I intend to do, and may the flowers blossom!

Final Poetry Project plus interview questions for my class partner, Kurt

Shades of GreyBy Amy Woolston

Mother raised and Father groomed, grasped pen and paper, brush and paint.
Genius knew no boundaries, virtuosity mistaken.
Traveled young Barcelona art, off to France, Matisse, Lautrec.
Abstract Cezanne, large, austere Pablo creates beyond what’s real.
This child of Spain sought past misdeeds his Red and Gold soaked in blood.
A favor shows the world a culture, Jura de Bandera!
His tools he raised to share turmoil, death, starvation, massacre.
With ash and black, no red nor sun, sharp angles attend defeat.
Screaming horse and woman grief, execute the lines of battle.
Innocents pay the bloody fee, while Ferdinand turns his head.
Bombs in their bellies rather than food, the masterpiece a tomb.



Interview to Kurt Jensen:
Interview by Amy Woolston, Poetry Project
Poem by Kurt Jensen
“Forebodings”, original poem with reference to
Winslow Homer painting, “Forebodings” 1881

Woolston: What was the driving force that moved you to choose this painting?

Jensen:

Woolston: Why did you appear to use more language that reads like a poem from the
1800’s?

Jensen:

Woolston: Why did you use the line “Keep a thumb on ‘em, ‘times they up and leave” in line 3 of your poem? Is that a famous reference to another “saying?”

Jensen:

Woolston: Is there a reason why you chose religious allusions to illustrate a common occurrence in the lives of fishermen/seamen?

Jensen:

Woolston: In the sentence of your poem, “Thank God some girls are led languid by love”, line six, what is the meaning that one should be thankful that some women are lead languid by love for the purpose of your poem?

Jensen:

Woolston: I can’t help but wonder, is there a history of fishermen/seamen in you own family tree?

Jensen:

Woolston: Are men really “sweeped seaward” and why would their women even be surprised of the fishing/business season of their sea career?

Jensen:

Woolston: Do you think your poem is sad or hopeful? What do you hope your audience to feel?

Jensen:

Woolston: What does the last line, “ Lethean tides flood fearing hearts” mean for the
layperson?

Jensen:

Woolston: Did your painting of choice originate from your previous familiarity with
it or did you find the painting moved you in a personal way upon first viewing the painting, “Foreboding?”

Jensen:




Interview from Kurt to me:

Interview by Kurt Jensen, Poetry Project
Poem by Amy Woolston
“Untitled”, original poem inspired by
Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica”,
Jensen: Prior to this project were you familiar with the painting?

Woolston: Not at all, perhaps I saw it in 1983 during an Art History class, but the history behind it escapes me now! I do love Picasso, so “in your face”, “love me or leave me” type mentality.

Jensen: What attracted you to this painting so forcefully that you were able to successfully use it for the basis of your poem?

Woolston: I chose a painting that seemed to illicit emotions I currently have, with the war going on and all…and I made an effort to stay away from religion/love, felt the topic would have been too removed for me. Plus, all those images in his painting, and no color! I was attracted to its simplicity, yet also its complicated topic and use of form.

Jensen: You created a fantastic piece of literature. Considering the painting that attracted you in some way, was it a difficult process to write about it or did it come easy to you, did the words see to flow from you?

Woolston: Yes, I found this difficult to meet the criteria, and I also tend to focus on that so I really had to “get over it” and take the assignment out of it before I could move forward. I’d say the first 4 sentences were the hardest…then it took its own course.

Jensen: In line 8 of your poem you wrote “creates beyond what’s real”, which is an interesting, thought provoking tag; would you be willing to expand on that?

Woolston: Well, as I read about Picasso’s personal history and how he was treated in general by the “art public” I saw that since his images could not always be understood or translated into something, that he saw things differently and painting that way…with a twist or a spin. It’s unnerving to see a painting and not “see” a painting, and many of Picasso’s works seem intangible. But, “Guernica” was one I could “see”…no hidden agenda, just the atrocities of war.

Jensen: The capitalization of the words “Red” and “Gold” in line 10 boast more significance than the words themselves. What should we as readers draw from the capitals? Does it speak of a nation soaked in blood?

Woolston: Yes, touché! The Spanish flag is two red wide stripes and one wide gold stripe up the middle with a coat of arms on the left side. Picasso was asked by the “PTB” of his country to create a mural for the Worlds Fair to honor his country. He designed the political mural of “Guernica” and while much of the world seemed to understand, the politicians in his country were not pleased.

Jensen: It took some sleuthing, but does line 12 translate to “oath of allegiance?”

Woolston: Almost, it is the Spaniards “oath of our flag.”

Jensen: Line 18 incorporates the use of a pun; it could be taken in terms of “battle lines” or the lines of battle drawn by the artist. Either way it’s a great line. Did you set out before beginning this project to consciously invest in little subtleties like the one in line 18 and the alliteration in line 2, or did they come as a surprise to you?

Woolston: I had a couple notes on a post-it that said “opposing angles” and “lines of death”…from there I bet it’s as much a surprise to me as anyone! Plus, counting the syllables and then squeezing in your point thereafter and within is arduous…there has got to be some luck there, eh?

Jensen: The last sentence of your poem starts out “bombs in their bellies”, would you be willing to expand on that phrase?

Woolston: Yes, thousands of people were murdered, placed in concentration camps, and many died of malnutrition due to the duress of the socioeconomic status of their country. Death was not discriminatory, people from every age group, sex, and social status were affected. So, they surely got “bullets in their bellies, rather than food”…I guess I like the last two lines of the poem best, the most “to the point” and upsetting.

I really like the way you last line seems to sum-up the entire painting.

In-Class Prompt 19 April 2007

Respond to this question:
Can we do anything to ease the suffering of others? We can only do what we can...what we feel we can do that will fit in with our lifestyle yet still help us feel connected to others and compassionate. I guess in a way, helping others is selfish, it makes us feel better about ourselves and helps us rationalize our own good fortune.


Should we? Yes, we should do what we can without sacrificing our own family's needs and resources. I guess sometimes a group effort seems more fruitful and lends actual help, but a group takes many individuals...just don't let the problem overtake you or allow it to change your own hope for the future and belief in others.

The poem forces you, the reader, to make an interpretive choice. What is your choice?
My choice is: yeah, shit happens....sometimes we notice, sometimes we turn a "blind eye"...sometimes we CAN help...but I cannot make the theme of others my own. The not-so-old saying "think globally, act locally." I gotta take care of me and mine, and yet I am part of a community and I need to be available to those around me in need.


What is your interpretation? Should we act to ease suffering or is it beyond our scope to do so?
I interpret the idea to be "pain is all around...sometimes people are too busy to even care to notice and we sometimes need to turn away for our own mental health. But, when we do have the resources and the power to aid others, then we are responsible for some effort."

Poetry Project

The Poetry Project
Acknowledgment: Credit to Dr. Casualene Meyer, who gives credit to Helen Bedtelyon, her high school English teacher, for the principle part of this assignment.
Tip: Get started on this assignment right away by selecting and studying a painting. Your mind can then work on it even while you are doing other things.
Learning Goals:
• To better understand and appreciate the intellectual/cultural activity of creating literary text, specifically, poetry.
• To better express yourself in writing by creating a poem and answering questions about your work.
• To critically analyze your own creative process and also the poetry of a classmate.
• To develop creative capacity by crafting a poem and considering yourself a creator of literary text as you engage in an interview about your own work.
Assignment Summary:
Art inspires art. An example of this is W.H. Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts,” inspired by Brueghel’s painting, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. After reading this poem (565-566) and studying the painting that inspired it, you will choose carefully a painting to craft a poem about in similar fashion. What you are creating is an emulation of Auden’s poem. Your poem will have certain requirements (see below). Finally, partners will exchange poems and conduct electronic interviews about the creative process. Poems, links to paintings, and edited interviews will be posted by the deadline.
Instructions:
Always ask questions if you cannot figure things out on your own quickly. Time is short at this time of the semester, and we’re here to help each other.
1. Study Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts” as well as the painting which inspired it. Pay attention to the structure of the poem in relationship to the painting. What is the first stanza about? How does it operate? What is the second stanza about? How does it operate?

2. Find a high-quality painting about which you would like to write a poem. Be very careful to choose work that is worthy of your time and suitable for an intelligent general audience. Try Web Gallery of Art (www.wga.hu ) for browsing or to locate a specific painting.
NOTE: You can either start with a painting and "extract" the message/problem from it, or you can have a problem/condition in mind and browse to find a painting that illustrates it. That choice is yours to make.

3. Craft a poem that meets these three minimum criteria:
 The poem follows Auden’s two part structure of a first stanza that makes a general statement and a second stanza that shows how the painting illustrates the general statement. Please make direct reference to the painting in the second stanza, just the way Auden does.

 The poem is at least ten lines long.

 The poem uses a traditional poetry form (such as a sonnet) or creates and follows its own rules. In other words, it follows some kind of identifiable pattern. An easy choice would be a rule like this: each line must have seven syllables. Syllable counting is fun, fairly easy, and can yield some really neat stuff. Ironically, following a rule boosts creativity. Please make your form readily apparent.

4. Form partnerships, and have one partner email me to inform me who will pair with whom. I have made a spot on the bulletin board for people seeking interview partners. Anyone who hasn’t formed a partnership by April 19 will be assigned a partner.

5. Send your poem and art link to your partner no later than April 23 at 5:00 p.m.

6. Read your partner’s poem and study it. Prepare seven (7) GOOD questions to ask about its composition, form, content, and so on. (We’ll spend some time on 4/19 discussing how to form good questions.)

7. During class on April 24, partners will conduct interviews. Electronic (or at least partially electronic) interviews are recommended simply because it will ease the efforts of preparing your interviews. Two possibilities are asynchronous e-mail interviews OR synchronous IM/ chat interviews.

8. Edit the interview which YOU conducted. Editing means to copy and paste either the e-mail text or the chat text into a Word document, and then remove anything that looks ugly (such as the “>>>” on an interview). In addition to visual appeal (again, visual appeal is not fancy fonts so much as neatness, regularity, and a set up that makes it easy to locate information), your interview should use proper grammar and mechanics. It’s okay to omit material (use ellipses) and fix your interviewee’s sentences if they need help in their delivery.

9. Exchange interviews for final approval from your partner. Discuss and make any requested changes.

10. Send the interview to your interviewee.

11. Submit, by the deadline, your poem, the art link, plus the interview you conducted and the one conducted on you. Note that your poem is due for the interview portion of the assignment on April 24—the deadline for New Tricks. What a coincidence! I encourage you to submit your poem to New Tricks at the same time you send it to your partner.

12. HAVE FUN! I have seen amazing poems come from this assignment.

Your Project’s Format: On the first page of your document, center your poem top to bottom on the page but NOT left to right—do NOT center every line of the poem. Start with the title (same size and font as the body of the poem), skip a line, and begin the poem. After the poem, provide a link for finding the painting online. (If you like, you may also insert an image of the painting.)

 Double or single space, depending on what the poem seems to require (use your aesthetic judgment).

 Use a reasonable (boring) font, such as Times New Roman 12 point; no fancies, bolds, or biggies anywhere.

 After the link to the painting, insert a page break. On the next page of your document, present the interview your partner conducted with you, followed by the interview you conducted with your partner. (There will be some redundancy I realize, but that way everyone is covered.) The interviews should be single spaced with double space between each Q or A. The interview should look like the script of a play with you and your partner’s last names before the colon, and your questions and answers after the colon. An example would be
Herron: Why did you choose to write a poem based on a Monet painting?
Erickson: I have always appreciated Monet. . . .

Due Dates:
April 23 – Email a copy of your poem and a link to the painting to your partner.
April 24 – Conduct interview during class. (New Tricks deadline for submissions.)
April 26 – Final product due.
Grading Considerations:• Since the poem is patently creative and therefore more subjective than an analytical text, let’s have this agreement: you will try your hardest to create a piece of art THAT MEETS THE FORM REQUIREMENTS (given the time constraints), and I will be appreciatively open minded and accepting of your earnest efforts. I am mostly interested in how well you can emulate the basic format and concept of W.H. Auden’s poem, “Musée des Beaux Arts.”

The beginning of my Poetry Project:

A. V. Woolston
Professor Hueners
ENG 210, Poetry Project
19 April 2007
“Guernica” by Pablo Picasso



www.terra.es/.../asg00003/picasso/grguer2.html
After looking through what seems to be thousands of paintings, this painting spoke to me the most. This painting is not defined by religion or faith, rather the atrocities of war. I will research the Spanish Civil War and learn about the sequence of events during the war and the great loss of life and injustices that took place during this civil war. The painting was created in shades of grey, which seems to show the carnage without the blood, yet the painting is still haunting and tragic to look upon nonetheless. I will use the historical data to pull words of description for the “Poetry Project.”
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPcasualties.htm
Available information suggests that there were about 500,000 deaths from all causes during the Spanish Civil War. An estimated 200,000 died from combat-related causes. Of these, 110,000 fought for the Republicans and 90,000 for the Nationalists. This implies that 10 per cent of all soldiers who fought in the war were killed.
It has been calculated that the Nationalist Army executed 75,000 people in the war whereas the Republican Army accounted for 55,000. These deaths takes into account the murders of members of rival political groups.
It is estimated that about 5,300 foreign soldiers died while fighting for the Nationalists (4,000 Italians, 300 Germans, 1,000 others). The International Brigades suffered heavy losses during the war. Approximately 4,900 soldiers died fighting for the Republicans (2,000 Germans, 1,000 French, 900 Americans, 500 British and 500 others).
Around 10,000 Spanish people were killed in bombing raids. The vast majority of these were victims of the German Condor Legion.
The economic blockade of Republican controlled areas caused malnutrition in the civilian population. It is believed that this caused the deaths of around 25,000 people. About 3.3 per cent of the Spanish population died during the war with another 7.5 per cent being injured.
After the war it is believed that the government of General Francisco Franco arranged the executions of 100,000 Republican prisoners. It is estimated that another 35,000 Republicans died in concentration camps in the years that followed the war.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPmayriots.htm
On the 3rd May 1937, Rodriguez Salas, the Chief of Police, ordered the Civil Guard and the Assault Guard to take over the Telephone Exchange, which had been operated by the CNT since the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Members of the CNT in the Telephone Exchange were armed and refused to give up the building. Members of the CNT, FAI and POUM became convinced that this was the start of an attack on them by the UGT, PSUC and the PCE and that night barricades were built all over the city.
Fighting broke out on the 4th May. Later that day the anarchist ministers, Federica Montseny and Juan Garcia Oliver, arrived in Barcelona and attempted to negotiate a ceasefire. When this proved to be unsuccessful, Juan Negrin, Vicente Uribe and Jesus Hernández called on Francisco Largo Caballero to use government troops to takeover the city. Largo Caballero also came under pressure from Luis Companys not to take this action, fearing that this would breach Catalan autonomy.
On 6th May death squads assassinated a number of prominent anarchists in their homes. The following day over 6,000 Assault Guards arrived from Valencia and gradually took control of Barcelona. It is estimated that about 400 people were killed during what became known as the May Riots.
These events in Barcelona severely damaged the Popular Front government. Communist members of the Cabinet were highly critical of the way Francisco Largo Caballero handled the May Riots. President Manuel Azaña agreed and on 17th May he asked Juan Negrin to form a new government. Negrin was a communist sympathizer and from this date Joseph Stalin obtained more control over the policies of the Republican government
Negrin's government now attempted to bring the Anarchist Brigades under the control of the Republican Army. At first the Anarcho-Syndicalists resisted and attempted to retain hegemony over their units. This proved impossible when the government made the decision to only pay and supply militias that subjected themselves to unified command and structure.

"The Elder" painting by Pieter Brueghel, poems by W. H Auden and William Carlos Williams

THE PAINTING COMES TO LIFE!
This was wonderful. To see a painting on a computer and then practically see the painting come to life within the words of the poets. Each poet had a different approach to how they interpret and therefore see the poem, yet each poet met my imagination. I read the poems first, then read them again....then read them again. Finally, I read them out loud. Then, I went to see the painting and voile...triumph of the language carnival of poetry. I think that now I will always associate the poems with the painting. I wonder how many other poems expand a 2-D artwork? To see the possibilities and the stealth at which these "word artists" put to pen a stroke of paint. Just marvelous. The theme is there, the rhythm now floats from the painting as the words are read, and the moral of the story is forever burnished in my memory, well, at least until Alzheimer's sets in.
Williams' "Landscape With The Fall of Icarus" cites the farmer in the painting and ends his poem with Icarus in the water. Surely the Icarus story was first relayed by words and/or by storytelling and the poet uses his "tools" of words to set the painting into language.
Auden in "Musee des Beaux Arts" quite differently describes the scene in the painting, yet his musings about life's anecdotes and how life almost ignores the tragedy of Icarus' fate...another "language fest" for the mind to devour, with the images coming forth in our minds and seeing the painting and "hearing" the story of Icarus in our heads as we read the poem.
All are masterful creations.

In-Class Discussion, 12 April 2007 Poetry

Evaluating Poetry
beyond the likes and dislikes...
"not all poems are created equally"
poems with a capital "P"!!
Comments from the class about high-quality poetry:
deeper meaning
heart
surprises
new ideas/outside the box
not clearly spelled out
language
descriptive
metaphor
Alliteration/Assonance
details
structure
unforced rhyme
flow
Then, off to groups for poem analysis...
"Ode to the Watermelon"--- CAPITAL "P", a Pulitzer-prize winning poet!Contemporary
"ode to the Oaken Bucket"--- small "p", popular in its time, but didn't stand up
"Digging"---CAPITAL "P"
"The Old Rocking Chair"--- small "p"
"Ode to the West Wind"---CAPITAL "P"
"Where the Sidewalk Ends"---CAPITAL "P", Shel Silverstein, a contemporary poet(capital might be up for debate!)

Journal Entry for "Smorgasbord of Poetry"

What is GOOD poetry?
Marianne Moore shares that when one reads a poem, one discovers the genuine quality of it. That your hair can rise and that though we may not always understand "why", that it is beautiful beyond the basic education one acquires or the job one does. Words provide "imaginary gardens...", and the raw quality of poetry is what attracts one to it.
Archibald MacLeish suggests in his poem that a poem should be "palpable" and almost edible. That the words disappear within the construction of the poem. Also, that a poem should be timeless, yet all the "rules" of poetry should not be the measuring system for what is "good" or what is "poetry". A poem just is.
John Keats suggests in his poem that if words "constrain" one while writing poetry, then let the words be woven into a pattern, complete and strong. To listen to what we write and control the sounds and rhythm to reach true poetic achievement.
Emily Dickinson dwells in "possibility" that poetry is full of opportunity to create a vision beyond the world as we know it.That she will try to "gather paradise" in her narrow hands using words with double meanings and full of multiple interpretations.
last, but not least!: Alexander Pope eloquently writes that poems are beyond judgement, right or wrong. That expected rhyming is bland and that a thoughtful twist of words with unexpected delights stimulates the mind and the soul. That "sweetness" is formed when the art if writing is employed...a gentle blow to make a point with effortless rhythm and thundering surprises of delight.

Well, if these poets can make such beautiful assertions about their craft with such wonderful descriptions...THEY are good poets and I certainly can see why they are all masters in their own right for tooling the language to create such thought-provoking works. They do seem quite humorous, too.

In-Class Discussion, April 10, 2007 POETRY...sounds and language/reviewing quiz from chapter 11

AMBIGUITY....."nice" what can "nice" mean....good, or even "nice, but not too attractive"
Precision...few words to pinpoint an idea...choosing the particular word that the poem needs at that place.
Denotation "stone"...may equal "death", with an underlying meaning...
"My Papa's Waltz", by Theodore Roethke
Literal meaning...father dancing with his son on the way to bed
Underlying meaning...drunken father barely sober enough to carry son or treat him gently....simile: "hung on like death"...
+++ an ambiguous poem....maybe just a fond childhood memory or a mildly abusive dad saying goodnight...?
The extended metaphor of "23rd Psalm" is how shepherd is used to mean "Jesus/God"
Rhythm and Meter: the flow, the "beat",
Onomatopoeia: a word that almost describes how something sounds..."buzz", "splash", & "pop"
Alliteration: similar sounds in consonants, "wild nights-wild nights!
were I with thee
wild nights should be
our luxury

Assonance: similar sounds in vowels same sentence as above...but notice the vowels..."ee"..and "Y"

Chapter 12, THE SOUNDS OF POETRY

Poems sounds are full of meanings, a poet chooses words for meaning as well as sound.
"Poetry is a vocal art", and it is hard to experience a poem unless you hear it.
"YOU MUST READ ALOUD"
"Dirge", a chant, a lament, hymn..requiem
Robert Frost said..."a poem must reach: the eye, the ear, and what we may call the heart..."
Rhythm, onomatopoeia...a copy, a mirror image, repetition, a reproduction.
A poet uses open vowels, expletives, monosyllabic words, predictable rhymes, long/slow lines....
The effects of a passage come from an interaction of many strategies perhaps.
Manipulate sound to control the rhythm.
Iambic Pentameter: when lines are written in a meter of five iambic feet.
"The baseball game was televised at nine"
"Trochee-an accented syllable followed by an unstressed one
Anapest-two unaccented syllables followed by a stressed one
dactyl-an accented syllable followed by two stresses ones
Spondee-a pair of accented syllables
Caesura-a short pause often signaled by a mark of punctuation such as a comma.
Iambic-one unstressed syllable followed by a stresses syllable
One can scan a poem to sort out its metrical pattern.
FREE VERSE- a poem which expresses without any governing rules of pattern or stresses.
"The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe
Wow...long, and beautiful. tongue-tied as I tried to read it after a day of work. Plus, trying to read it aloud as my son watched TV, quite a bad idea! But, I did see an artist work of this poem set in the shape of a raven...it was beautiful. And, Poe is/was a genius with prose and balance...a cool expression of words that seem to take a mind to air and prick the ear to beauty. After reading these wonderful creations, I take pause at even trying to write on my own!

"And the silkin sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain"
Wahoo...what a gift

"Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken"

"And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor"

This poem is so sad and yet so beautiful, I wish I could hear someone read it right now.

In-Class Notes from "Metaphor" Discussion

METAPHORS are the foundation of poetry...

Technical Writing Poetry
BARGE Jet Ski
POTATOES/RICE/BREAD Ice Cream
WORKHORSE Unicorn

No frills, no connotations, etc. for tech writing...and Poetry is the fluff...the beauty, the suggestion...

Guard Dog Lap Dog
Horse Trailer Carriage
Skim Milk Whip Cream

Sometimes when you discuss metaphors, you think of the vehicle(the word you use) and the tenor (what you want to describe with embellishment)Vehicle Tenor
Rose A beautiful girl
Noah's ark/unicorn beauty of life/things
Reviewed in class discussion:
"Marks" by Linda Pastan
the family enlists a grading scale for a mom's chores, then she uses the same system of words and "drops out"
"The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" by Francis William Bourdillon

Look for precise language, less is more,
timing, separation of words, sentences, accent to certain words, "new words", capitalization, spacing, speed, symbolism, controlling metaphors, allusions,

Poetry, Chapter 11 and reading from Debra Marquart

LANGUAGE
Precision and Ambiguity
Particular meanings and implications of individual words are what drives poetry. Using only "essential words," carefully placed and used to just barely communicate in the most "elemental signs" to tell a concentrated story with the least possible words. The word choice of the poet, the "diction" determines the "meaning and every effect the poem produces."
Sometimes, the use of a single word can create "multiple meanings or shiftiness."
"Dramatic irony": an "incongruity between what we expect to happen and what actually dies happen."
Furthermore, when a word "denotes" a meaning it goes beyond a simple dictionary description to what other meanings a specific word can mean. I.e. "Terminal"...an airport station...or a boundary, or a terminus, an extremity...and/or something that is limited, a junction, a place where a connection may be made.
Words have a "personal side" that carry "emotions and shades of suggestion."
"Connotations": suggestions of emotional coloration that imply one's attitude and invite a similar one from the reader.
"Word order": the way the words are put together, using rhyme and meter to construct sentences that allow subtlety and force of a word to create a particular emphasis.
Visual applications of words may "represent" can help the reader of poem see a specific image that lies within the poet's mind. An artist uses paint and canvas to create a visual idea...and a poet uses words to express a visual experience.
"Metaphor": when a comparison is implicit, with something described as if it were something else.I.e. "her lap was a big comfy couch.."
"Simile": when a comparison is explicit,when one thing is compared directly to something else.I.e. "his eyes were as blue as the sky."
The above are figures of speech, and figurative language uses words to communicate and insist upon the reader to see in their mind what the poet is imagining.
"Extended metaphors" are metaphors which extend over a long section of a poem.
"Controlling metaphors" are metaphors which are present for the entirety of the poem.
"Symbol" use of a word that gets "beyond what words signify and makes larger claims about meanings in the verbal world." A word that stands for something else. I.e. flag, a rose, a logo, a trademark.
"Symbolic poem" is when the symbol becomes the whole poem, written to not only use the symbol, but it becomes the symbol.
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?", by William Shakespeare
The title gives me a "heads up" that he is about to describe his love for another and compare it to a summer's day. And, then in the poem the poet makes statements about how much better his love is than summer, "thou art more lovely and more temperate." and "But thy eternal summer shall not fade" as if summer as a season comes to an end, yet his love's wonderful qualities shall always remain. And, wow...as long as this poem exists, so will his love and her fairness, "So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." So beautiful and short. Like it was a quick jot down of a poem while he sat a Starbucks drinking coffee and thinking about the one he loves. While the language denotes a more formal time and the tone of the poem is love, I think it is timeless because the way the figures of speech are used make it so easy for any reader to visualize a summer day in their own memory and then apply these good memories to how a man loved this woman and how he saw her as timeless and beyond the goodness of summer...forever. Is there a controlling metaphor of summer? And, the word order flows with his feelings and keeps the rhythm without needed the rhyme.
Excerpts from "From Sweetness", poems by Debra Marquart
"Older Sister"
I enjoyed most of her poems, and this one really struck a personal chord with me.
"Forever, she rides in front of me on the school bus,"...yes, even though the school bus may be a bus, it also symbolizes the sister's order through life...her sister will always be in front of her. "No sweaty back seats on her conscience, no cigarettes in her drawers"...as if her sister lived a "good girl" kind of life. The kind of life that makes it hard for a younger sister to live up to. The older sister word the right respectful clothes and always got a recipe right. Touche! How much we love our older sisters and yet how hard they can make it for us to meet the standards they set. The younger sister doesn't discuss what the older sister might be feeling inside, and how could she know? Maybe there is some fear for the older sister as she grows up, maybe tons of pressure to be a good role model and meet the requirements her parents expect. The older sister breaks through the barriers first, without the benefit of seeing someone else in the household do it first. And, the younger sister sees all this external accomplishment from her older sister and probably feel like "how can I live up to this or even exceed it?"
I loved the imagery the poet uses and the word order doesn't rely on rhyme, but wonderful concrete items to bring the reader into the world of what she sees of her older sister. I think the tone of the poem is love and sarcasm. The younger sister looks up to her sister, yet seems to be almost stacking a deck of all these qualities her older sister has and how "perfect" the older sister seems. Of course, the older sister has to have some skeletons, if only emotional or academic. Yet, the younger sister will always be younger and the older sister will always hold that image in the younger sister's mind of riding in front on the school bus of life.

Poetry, Chapter 8, "Understanding the Text: Tone"

"Poetry is full of surprises."
Predictable subjects can still surprise.
Theme: What a says about its subject.
Tone: The feelings or attitude about the theme.
Common themes: Love, death, marriage, childhood, specific event, an inanimate object, flora, animals, ocean, a meal, growing up, declaration of feeling/independence...pretty much anything can be made into a poem.
"Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy
Wow...with the imagery of childhood toys, this poem speaks to a dead woman who could not bear to live in a world that sees physical perfection as the highest currency.
The title brought the expectation for me that the poem would be about a favorite childhood toy, yet as I read the comments she heard from others, "exercise, diet, smile, and wheedle." I was led to the theme that it's common to feel we don't live up to others expectations. "To every woman a happy ending." seems to allude to the idea that in the end, she was dressed up pretty and got a new nose from the mortician, "a turned-up putty nose." and finally she looked good! Such a sad poem, really hit home about "fitting in" and how cruel people can be. I think the tone of the poem was sarcasm...as if...."are you happy now, jackass...she's pretty. She may be dead, but she looks good!"
The speaker: a family friend...a neighbor...some one who saw or heard what comments were made to the girl about her physical characteristics...yet just seems to be watching from beyond interaction and sees the hypocracy of the conditional love and then expresses the sarcastic telling of the sad turn of events.

"Leaving the Motel" by W. D. Snodgrass

Snodgrass...love that name!
Anyway, the theme is romance and a one-nighter. "We've nowhere we could keep a keepsake-"...like it's a clandestine meeting, private and secret. The tone is acceptance for a temporary pleasure. Hmm...could be something else, like...sweet memories. "That's all. We can't tell when we'll come back, can't press claims, we would no doubt have other rooms then, or other names." They have checked into separate rooms, under assumed names, and join in one room only to cover their affair. They might get to meet again, yet...who know when...and who knows what name they'll use next time. There are no names mentioned in the poem, so that keeps the "secret" facade going...and the acceptance of the limitations of their relationship and no discussion of the physical intimacy they shared, only the terms of their meeting. Sad, and happy...glad they could find some temporary happiness and pleasure and sad that they have to sneak around to get it. Maybe "lilacs" is a metaphor for the love they made...and that the flowers are left behind in the rented room at their "wayside" meeting place?

"Woodchucks" by Maxine Kumin

The theme is animals..."The food from our mouths, I said, righteously thrilling to the feel of the .22, the bullets' neat noses. I, a lapsed pacifist fallen from grace." The animals the speaker had tried to kill with cyanide had a percentage of survivors who were hiding below where the poison couldn't reach. The tone is anger...the writer, feeling he was a non-violent man, was brought to anger and violence with his anger toward the food thieves. I think the speaker is a man, the provider of the family...and felt vexed by the survival of the little animals which now lived to eat their food. Then, the speaker writes about shooting the survivors...like a triumph over an enemy, "Ten minutes later I dropped the mother." And, there is one more left...and he hunts this one at night and he dreams of killing it, "I sight along the barrel in my sleep." Eeww! This guy has an axe to grind...just waiting to pick off the last one! Then, he uses the simile of the Nazi camps of death that he wished they had all died without a fight with the first poisoning attempt....unseen, as if he didn't see the prisoners at the internment camps of Hitler, yet he knew there was death, "If only they'd all consented to die unseen gassed underground the quiet Nazi way."I wouldn't equate the murder of scores of human with a few garden-eating rodents...yet the idea of how badly the speaker wanted them all dead really came across. Wow! I just read the paragraphs about the poem on page 425 and the speaker was a woman! I really called that one wrong! She's a gritty and angry survivor...ain't she? And, so crass and cold.

27 March 2007, Class Discussion

Poetry
We should feel cozy with identifying the Speaker, Setting, and Theme by now.
Discuss:
"Mid-Term Break" by Seamus Heaney
First line? must be sick...or someone is?
What gender is the narrator? I thought male, since greeters shake his hand.
How many children are there in the family?
Relation to narrator...the deceased individual?
"a foot for every year"...means a 4 year old.
Necessary Terms (Basic Vocabulary)
abstract – words that express a quality or characteristic apart from any specific object, ie. love, faith, honesty.
allusion
a reference—whether explicit or implicit, to history, the Bible, myth, literature, painting, music, and so on—that suggests the meaning or generalized implication of details in the story, poem, or play.
imagery
broadly defined, any sensory detail or evocation in a work; more narrowly, the use of figurative language to evoke a feeling, to call to mind an idea, or to describe an object.
metaphor
(1) one thing pictured as if it were something else, suggesting a likeness or analogy between them; (2) an implicit comparison or identification of one thing with another unlike itself without the use of a verbal signal. Sometimes used as a general term for figure of speech.
scanning/scansion
Scansion is the process of scanning a poem, analyzing the verse to show its meter, line by line.
simile
a direct, explicit comparison of one thing to another, usually using the words like or as to draw the connection.
speaker
the person, not necessarily the author, who is the voice of a poem.
style
a distinctive manner of expression; each author’s style is expressed through his/her diction, rhythm, imagery, and so on.

symbol
a person, place, thing, event, or pattern in a literary work that designates itself and at the same time figuratively represents or "stands for" something else. Often the thing or idea represented is more abstract, and general; the symbol, more concrete and particular.
tone – the poem’s attitude or feelings about the theme.




Language Terms
alliteration
the repetition of initial consonant sounds through a sequence of words— for example, "While I nodded, nearly napping" in Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Raven."
ambiguity
the use of a word or expression to mean more than one thing.
assonance
the repetition of vowel sounds in a sequence of words with different endings— for example, "The death of the poet was kept from his poems" in W. H. Auden’s "In Memory of W. B. Yeats."
concrete - representing or applied to an actual substance or thing, as opposed to an abstract quality: The words “cat,” “water,” and “teacher” are concrete, whereas the words “truth,” “excellence,” and “adulthood” are abstract.
connotation
what is suggested by a word, apart from what it explicitly describes.
denotation
a direct and specific meaning
onomatopoeia
a word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes; buzz is a good example.
personification
(or prosopopeia) treating an abstraction as if it were a person by endowing it with humanlike qualities.
rhythm
the modulation of weak and strong (or stressed and unstressed) elements in the flow of speech. In most poetry written before the twentieth century, rhythm was often expressed in regular, metrical forms; in prose and in free verse, rhythm is present but in a much less predictable and regular manner.
theme – the subject of a poem.

Poetry; Reading, Writing, and Responding

When we read poetry with attention to detail, we will respond.
"Responding involves remembering and reflecting as well."
Reading poetry can make us more "active" readers. Even though the texts may differ, though if we develop specific questions about poems and work on our reading skills, the guess-work can be removed from the study of poetry and we can gain greater satisfaction from the poems and our interpretations of them.
Reading poetry; sharpens our reading skills because poetry can be somewhat compact and concise and work on a "shareable language for feeling."
Responding to poetry; sharing through the language of poems can help us uncover feeling. The reading may cause feelings of pleasure or discomfort, yet the use of language is directly connected to how one may be emotionally affected by the poems.
Writing about poetry; We write about poems to keep notes on our personal reactions to poetry. We can formulate questions about a specific work to help us understand the voice of the poem, the "agenda" of the poem, come to understand hidden meanings or even overt meaning.(how does the title affect your reading and response to the poem? What is the poem about? What makes the poem interesting? Who is the speaker? What role does the speaker have? What effect does the poem have on you? Do you think the poet intended such an effect? What is distinctive about the poet's use of language? Which words especially contribute to the poem's effect?)
Pay close attention to:
1) Reading the syntax literally.
2) Articulate for yourself what the title, subject, and situation make you expect.
3) Identify the poem's situation.
4) Find out what is implied by the traditions behind the poem.
5) Use your dictionary, other reference books, and reliable Web sites.
6) Remember that poems exist in time, and times change.
7) Take a poem on its own terms.
8) Be willing to be surprised.
9) Assume there is a reason for everything.
10) Argue.
"[Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone]", by W. H. Auden
The speaker of this poem seems to be addressing an audience of people who have come to memorialize a loved one who has died. Perhaps the writer wrote this in private, while he was experiencing his own pain about his loss, yet the poem begs to be read aloud to share the feelings of loss and grief.
"He was my North, my South, my East, my West,
my working week and my Sunday rest." (pp 411, Norton text for class)
This really struck a chord with me. Then again, the whole poem struck a chord with me! The poet bears his soul, stripped down to the very rawness of how he feels about the death of a loved one. He wants to shout to the world that he feels his world has closed upon him. That time needs to stop, and that everyone should notice that a special someone has departed from the earth. Also, the thought that "nothing now can ever come to any good." The poet is feeling completely out of his element...with no hope for the future and no desire to take in the world around him. The speaker is grieving and uses everyday occurrences to express his desire to stop activity all around. "The stars are not wanted now: put out every one; pack up the moon and dismantle the sun," wow...the poem is full of pain and the language used by the poet drives the idea home that he won't be partaking in the worldly activity around him...that there is no need for it all anymore since he lost his loved one.
This poem always makes me cry. I saw it first in the movie "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and then I wanted to read it at my deceased husband's burial, yet I couldn't speak it that day. The words ripped through me and I couldn't even read it alone to myself. I could only rewind the scene in the movie over and over and cry and cry and cry. I cried for over 3 years whenever I watched the movie and revisited that scene. What am I saying!!!? I still cry when I read this...there are parts of me still in that stage. "I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong."

POETRY!!

Poetry is:
Beauty, form, flow, rhythm, rhyme, balance, imbalance, upset, anger, loss, recognition, history, humor, satire, politics, music, childhood, adulthood, sharing, covering, documentation, revolution ....putting words together that evoke emotion.
A form of "emotional download"...free up some "mind space" for new thoughts, or put our thoughts into permanence, and learn what others feel and think. Sometimes, I think poetry can be bland if the topic doesn't excite me...and then I feel like I am less of a reader because I must be missing something about an other's intellect or intent or use of words to create beauty.
Poetry is music, a flock of birds flying overhead in unison, a crowd cheering on a team, the birth of a baby, the death of a loved one...all things can be put to verse.

Group Discussion
1) Share our responses
2) Create a list of adjectives
Fear, hopes and dreams, other's actual experiences, relationships, symbols, pain,
addiction/drug use, vitality and youth, aging and growth, purge, encouragement,
educating, deathly, deep, entertaining, confusing, upsetting, funny, intelligent, elegant, secretive, ambiguous, romantic, relaxing, powerful, childish, artistic, wordy, complex, repetitive, fluffy, challenging, old, musical, expressive, brief, amusing, boring, and flowing.
Our groups three feelings/adjectives about poetry: Difficult, exciting, and emotional.
3) Read my mind (the professor's), what are her goals? To familiarize us with different authors of poetry and have us attain an appreciation of poetry. Maybe even write some poems. We will learn the terms of poetry, and analyze the messages it contains. Get us out of our comfort zone and embrace something new. To expand student's horizons, to view other people and cultures, to learn more about ourselves and each other, to understand what "good" poetry, to have fun with poetry,to make us more "active" readers and to write some poetry.
Professor read aloud a poem!

Preparation for Midterm, March 20, 2007

Literary Criticism and Fiction
Vocabulary:
The Canon
Speaker/narrator
Characters (Major, main, round (characters that change/develop), flat (characters that are unchanging and predictable), stereotypes.
Setting, time and place
Figures of speech/figurative language (language that creates connections between our ideas and senses)
Simile ("eyes as blue as the sky")
Metaphor ("his intellect was as big as a comfy couch")
Extended metaphor, detailed and complex metaphor
Symbol (puts two things together that might normally seem unrelated)
(rose, flag)
Archetypes ("literary elements that recur in cultural and cross-cultural myths")
Allegory ( an extended symbol used throughout an entire work)
A Myth can be a story when there is an allegorical or symbolic connection.
Theme (the central idea of a story) message
BRING IT ALL TOGETHER and analyze
Focus (the viewing aspect)
Voice (the verbal aspect of the focus)
Several focal characters=unlimited point of view
1st person ("I"), sometimes an audience within the fiction is an "auditor"
3rd person (he, she)
3rd person omniscient=unlimited access to thoughts of several characters
Centered or central consciousness
Persona (the voice or figure of the author who designs the story)

Plot (the arrangement of the action)
-conflict(exposition, rising action, a discriminating occasion, a turning point/climax, then a falling action, leading to a conclusion.)
-expectations
-structure (the order of events provides the structure and plot)
-flashback (Sonny's Blues)

STORIES to Review:
"The Elephant in the Village of the Blind"
"20/20", by Linda Brewer
"Cathedral" by Raymond Carver
"Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin
"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe
"Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway
"Why I Live at the P.O." by Eudora Welty
"Bartleby the Scrivener" by Herman Melville
"A Pair of Tickets" by Amy Tan
"Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
"A Souvenir of Japan" by Angela Carter
"The Management of Grief" by Bharati Mukherjee
"A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor

Whew...from here I'll reread the stories I feel less familiar with and review the questions after each story to refresh my thoughts on the fiction. I'll read and make notes about the "Essay" document posted to help us prepare for the exam and also prepare my Word document in MLA style to be ready for tomorrow's test.

In-Class Discussion of the different approaches to Literary Critique

APPROACH QUESTIONS OF:
Feminists question Power-gender or between the sexes
Marxists question Power
(Psychoanalytical)
Freudian question Motivation
Jungian questions Collective consciousness/motivation


Reader Response questions How does the reader respond and why
Biographical/Historical questions Author's history/relation to era & culture

I was completely inspired by the "reader response" critical approach. I thought, "Wow...that's a huge category and full of avenues."
I also now feel more comfortable knowing that critique is subjective, that any statements can be argued for and it's just a matter or interpretation and presentation.

Literature Critique is in an evolution!

Well, after at least three drafts of possible thesis statements and further investigation of the two stories: "Sonny's Blues" and "The Management of Grief" I have come to a conclusion.
I started out to compare two characters in two stories and how the authors present characters that deal quite differently with strife. Well,"Sonny's Blues" provides both characters I desire to analyze. So, here is my draft with the first paragraph and thesis. I am sure the paper will continue to take a life all it's own, which will be welcomed and will not come as a surprise at this point.





A.V. Woolston

Professor Hueners

English 210

20 March 2007

The Human Condition; Peace or Purgatory?

Life has its joys and difficulties. Some people have more than their fair

share of the latter. Yet, how one reacts and responds to struggle and strife may be

the litmus test for what is constructive and what brings true understanding and

change. James Baldwin, the author of “Sonny’s Blues”, presents a story of two

brothers leading drastically different lives, yet each meeting their own reality in

individual terms. Sonny’s oldest brother, a man who has tried to live his own life

in pursuit of conventional ideals of success, narrated the story. Sonny seemed to

fly in the face of structured living. Sonny dreamed of becoming a musician and

while he pursued this dream, he succumbed to periodic drug use. The older brother

was driven to realize the middle class dream of education and “normalcy.” The

story guides the reader through the drama of Sonny’s drug addicted lifestyle and

brings the reader full circle to a place where the older brother somehow “gets” the

idea that Sonny is indeed a musician and a tormented soul full of empathy for

others. Baldwin created characters within his story that provide the reader with

very different personalities and by offering such colorful roles and individuals

who respond to personal struggle quite dissimilarly, the author confirmed the idea

that everyone struggles with misfortune in their own lives and that everyone has a

different approach in dealing with their own subsequent pain.








Works Cited

Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Portable ed.

Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. New York, W. W. Norton and

Co., Inc., 2006. 81-105.

Library Resource Presentation by "Rise," Group meeting for Feminist Critique

On Tuesday, the class met at the Karl E. Mundt Library at the DSU campus. We were presented with the "how to's" for retrieving Literary Critique resources at our library as well as the databases and inter library loan specifics. I jumped up to get the Dictionary of Literary Biographies and I was not successful at finding it just by "winging" it. I had to get back to my laptop and write down the actual index information so I could locate it! Oh well, there are so many great books in there and I saw some new ones while I was lost, so that was a bonus.

Then, we met in our "Feminist Critique" group as all the other groups organized, too. We discussed the questions posted by Professor Hueners and decided upon PowerPoint to present our findings to the class. So, we split up the sample questions to get us going and then we thought that we could all try to develop another question which would be relevant to a Feminist Literary Critique. In class on Thursday, we'll move along with our PowerPoint and decide how our presentation will be organized...even looking for a good "feminist" song for background sound.

Discussion board for our Feminist Critique:
Message no. 227
Author: Deana Hueners (engl210_dh)
Date: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 9:44am
Feminism – concerns of gender, power

What types of roles do women have in the story? (Who is the most
feminine woman?)

What types of roles do men have in the story? (Who is the manliest man?)

Do any stereotypical characterizations appear in the story? (See your
responses to the above.)

What are the attitudes toward women held by the male characters in the
story?

What is a good man? What is a good woman?

How do male/female stereotypes and power structures influence what
happens in the story?



Message no. 229
Author: Amy Woolston (avwoolston)
Date: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 2:33pm
For our group project, we started by splitting up the suggested questions given by
Professor Hueners. I have question 3 and 4.
3. What types of roles do the men have in the story? (who is the manliest man?)

The father, Bailey, portrays a "family man"...organizer of the trip and provider for the
family. He was "the answer man", meaning the decisions came down to his final say;
"Bailey was looking straight ahead. His jaw was as rigid as a horseshoe. 'No,' he said."
With this answer about whether or not the family would stop to see the house with the
secret panel, he tries to put his foot down. But, the kids scream and yell in the car that
they wanted to stop and see this house. They whined to their mother (the kids) that they
never had any fun even on their vacation because they didn't get to do what they
wanted. Then, their dad gives in..."All right!' he shouted and drew the car to a stop at the
side of the road. 'Will you all shut up? Will you all just shut up for one second? If you
don't shut up, we won't go anywhere.'" He wasn't the manliest man, but he did his best to
guide the family and rule with fairness.

The son, John Wesley, was a boy with strong words and spunk. He seemed to speak his
mind; "Tennessee is just a hillbilly dumping ground," ... probably something he heard
from another child or even an adult!

There was a little African-American boy cited in the story, yet it doesn't delve into his
character beyond his "sighting".

Then, the Misfit. A leader of men, even if the followers he travelled with were just more
or less his young "henchmen", they are portrayed as pallbearers to a funeral....arriving
in a long, hearse like automobile...a clue of what's to come perhaps.
Back to the Misfit. He was wearing tan and white shoes with no socks....presumably the
shoes of one of his victims. He wore glasses and his hair was starting to grey. He spoke
with proper language....almost polite and concerned at first. "Lady,' the man said to the
children's mother, 'would you mind calling them children to sit down by you? Children
make me nervous. I want all you all to sit down right together there where you're at."
The Misfit commands every ones attention with his calm, stature and perhaps the fact that
he held a rifle. The Misfit is the manliest man, I think. At least, the one in control...and
the male with the longest life experience and organization enough to lead a jail break,
get a vehicle, clothes..and keep his partners-in-crime under control.

4. Do any stereotypical characterizations appear in the story?

Yes, I think the grandmother is stereotypical. Holding on to her beliefs about what
a "lady" behaves and looks like. The grandmother remains very concerned about
appearances and what other people think. She complains that she'd like to go
somewhere else on a road trip, yet she is the first one in the car the morning of the trip.

The mother of the children is stereotypical as well. She clearly takes care of everyone
but herself. She wears a scarf around her hair because she probably doesn't have the
time to tend to it. She is quiet and loving...in charge of many little tasks that keep the
family life going. The mother rarely speaks, and really shows very little emotion until she
watches her husband getting escorted into the woods....then she kind of "freaks."

Bailey, the father is a bit stereotypical, too. He was reading the sports section at the
kitchen table when he was introduced into the story. He speaks when he needs
to...probably everyone in the family knows his certain looks and what they mean, so
they just all do as is expected from him. He is their ring-master...he says what happens
and when...even if he does take some considerations for the others desires.

The kids are stereotypical as well. Active and vociferous...they say what comes to their
mind with no filtering...so refreshing and definitely stereotypical of children in general.

The Misfit was a stereotypical criminal. Believing he knew more than others and thinking
the belongings of others were just his...he just needed to "claim" them. The world is his
oyster...he takes and takes and takes...and gives nice little observations of what he
thinks life is. A stereotypical criminal might be kind of cocky...and a bit crazy. He is an
opportunist and behaves as though he has the ultimate knowledge needed to negotiate
the world around him. Only one basic problem, he's a murderer and a thief...with a
bankrupt soul.

Even the Mistfits two accomplices were stereotypical. Followers...taking orders from one
that could mold their thoughts and effect their actions...they seemed to be like soldiers
taking their orders from their "General" and are seemingly unaware that they are pawns
in The Misfits game.

Group Literature Critiques

FEMINIST Group:
Audra, Katie, Alicia, and myself
Well, I really look forward to understanding our assignment better and conversing with my teammates. I read the excerpt in the class text for "Feminist Criticism" and feel kind of fortunate to have been put in this category. But, I am a bit overwhelmed about how to go about this project and how working with a team will be. Especially with one midterm in Algebra this week before Spring Break and then trying to keep in touch with my teammates for our final presentation. I'm sure we'll find a way to all be satisfied with our contributions.
Website for info @ Feminist Critique:

http://members.tripod.com/~warlight/OPPERMANN.html

This website gave a great background about the "birth" (oops, that would probably command a feminist response!) of a feminist critique and some major contributors in this area of critique.
Woman seem to need to write against the current...assert some of their own individuality and autonomy that only a woman can do. A male "feminist critic" K.K. Ruthven suggests that one not need to be a man to be a feminist and rejects the idea that feminism "is essentially women's work." In saying so, he almost reveals his "maleness" and lack of knowledge that men can be feminists, yet they cannot "be women!" Oh my goodness, this is a great category to be in! It should be interesting to get out of the bounds of physiology and assert that "male" knows only "male" thoughts...and "male" experiences. Well, of course, they can't help it!
Vocabulary we're bound to see more of:
Powerlessness
Self against self
Typical
Domination
Deceptive
Perception
Interpretation
Marginal
Ideology
Tradition
Contradiction
Symbolism
Postmodernism Feminism literary critique
Meta-narratives
Let's put on our seat belts...this is bound to be a bumpy ride and one heck of a PowerPoint presentation!
Groups:
Biographical
Historical

Tiffany N.
Katie L.
Nick K.
Halee W.
Britta S.


Freudian
Kurt J.
Nick R.
Jacob S.
Melissa O.

Jungian


Kensi N.
Tressa W.
Adam J.
David R.

Reader Response

Dakota N.
Amber S.
Melanie A.
Deidra T.

Marxist
Becky L.
Bobbi N.
Jeff P.
Michelle S.

Feminist
Amy W.
Audra J.
Katie P.
Alicia M.

"A Good Man Is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor

EEEEk! Not just your average family vacation!

O'Connor gives the reader a family that is a group of fun, wacky people...much like many of our own families. They start out at home and have plans for a road trip to Florida. Grandmother complains about it, she wants to go to Tennessee! But, the next morning she's the first one in the car. They travel....they bicker....they stop and eat...they travel some more. Then, they take a "side trip" at the suggestion of Grandmother and they end up dead...all of them! Shot by some "misfits" the grandmother had read about in the newspaper before they even left for their road trip. This story was rich with descriptions...and the characters had realistic personalities. The reserved husband, the wife that wanted to dance, the vociferous little girl and the active boy. Geez, they all get blown away....
I was astounded. I kept thinking, "no"...they are alive, right?
What a great story...and terrible, too.

I assumed that Flannery was a man...I guess it just sounded like an Irish male name.
I think the line in the story that says so much is:
"She would have been a good woman," The Misfit said, "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life."
Really? Misfit? Yes, Misfit! Like it's up to him who lives and who dies. As if one person has the right to take an other's life. It was almost like the Misfit saw it as his function on Earth, to randomly kill and have no remorse. His name was always capitalized "The Misfit", like he was God. Or, the hand of God. Was it God, taking the family to heaven? Did the Grandmother know what waited for them on the side road? And, was it part of God's plan all along? I guess they (whoever they are) say that everyone has a time to go and you can't mess with the master plan.
Chilling, really, to think that a random act or change of plans can bring about such dire results.
I think I'll stay on main roads from here on out, just in case The Misfit is awaiting!

Character Division/Categories for "The Management of Grief"

Bharati Mukherjee's "The Management of Grief"

Class discussion of the story brought the discussion of the main character/narrator.
Professor Huener assigned a Journal entry for today concerning what the reader may see in all the characters in the story and how one could divide them into categories.

I think the most effective way to divide the characters into specific categories would be to define how they individually "deal" with the death of a loved one. Some reactions may be a "knee jerk" reaction that comes from the very upbringing one has had and how one deals with tragedy and/or trauma.

The narrator, Shaila Bhave, referred to the fact that "this terrible calm will not go away." She behaved calmly, strong and together, but she had the benefit of Valium. I had the benefit of Valium towards the end of my late husband's chemo rounds and subsequent death. Valium makes you feel no real strong emotion...either way to sadness or happiness. It brings a cloud of calm, but a bad calm...almost unnatural. Others saw Shaila as "the strong one", one who was kepping it all together in the face of tragedy. Shaila wanted "scream, starve, walk into Lake Ontario, jump from a bridge." Too right! Shaila would be in a category I will title
"The Walking Dead", those that don't want to discuss anything, yet continue on in a pattern of previous behavior because it comes most natural when everything has gone to "hell in a handbasket." Then, when the timing is right for them, and them alone, do they rebirth themselves and desire to feel all the feelings (good and bad.)

Then , there is the old, Sikh couple who lost two sons in the plane incident. They just closed their doors, physically and figuratively. They trusted no one, and kept "the hope" that their boys would come take care of everything. They would not/could not pay their most basic bills because their sons had taken care of it for them previously. They were distrustful and would not sign any papers. They thought others would take from them, as their sons had been taken. Their category title is
"The Ground Hogs", because they cannot move beyond the day of the tragedy or make new moves even in their own best interest, they have been paralyzed by their loss.

Then, we have the widowers. Those men who remarry almost too soon, because it is a cultural tradition that a man have a wife to care for. They move on, but they are not allowed, nor do they probably allow themselves to grieve. They just go into auto-drive, replacing what they have lost and moving towards a new life and away from the memories of the past. This isn't wrong, none of them are...I think everyone deals with what they get in their own manner. The title for this category will be
"The Robots" because they can move around any pain, at least from an outward appearance and go forward with their new task, which is a new family.

Then, one might see all the connected parts of family of the deceased as "The Shovellers."They shovel their ideas towards those they care about who may have just had a terrible tragedy. They think they can help. They "busy" the person, they suggest, they promote "keep on truckin" until they are blue in the face because they may feel like there really is nothing they can do and that is just too hard to accept as one watches a loved one go through so much grief. They want to facilitate Healing and read the books on how to help and what the "stages of grieving" are, but they are only observers. They cannot actually help. They may hover around their hurting loved one just in case they are worried about depression. Yes, people get depressed. It takes time...and no one should be monitoring one's schedule of healing...it's free-form kind of thing that has a life all it's own.So, they just keep shovelling all those good intentions until they feel like the person has survived the tragedy.

Then, I guess there are the bystanders. Those who work within the social services or read the news and feel real compassion for those that have lost one or more loved ones. I mean, really, we all can imagine how we would feel...and we want to help. Plus, we're feeling pretty lucky at this point, since we still have our loved ones...our family unit...our job...our sanity. Maybe there is a reason why we got to keep our loved ones...maybe those that suffered the terrible tragedy deserved it somehow? What makes us different? Well, nothing makes us different. We are all the same and we can never know what's coming around the corner. These people are categorized as "The Blessed." They are blessed because they do not know what it feels like and they think they can actually help. Fact is, they try to be gracious and understanding, and perhaps even deep inside they are screaming too because they don't know how they would react. Maybe they think they'll never have to. Well, that's unlikely....everyone loses someone, sometime...there are just so many different scenarios and schedules, that omne can't know when the shit will hit the fan.

Time for me to go look through some family albums...I miss my hubby and my mom. This was a cathartic exercise for me.

THEME "A Souvenir of Japan" by Angela Carter and "The Management of Grief" by Bharati Mukherjee

The theme of a story is "far more general that the subject" of it. To discover the theme one must pay attention to setting, character, plot, symbols, point of view, and language.
We've read about and discussed all those parts of literature, and now they come together as a whole to help identify the central idea.
Themes are powerful. To create themes, a powerful tool is drawing on some common experience and knowledge. The theme can remind the reader of their own experiences or take a reader into a new existence...to a whole new world in one's imagination.
Themes to look for/be aware of:
Cross-cultural scenarios
Allusions (references to religion, history, cultural practices...)
Customs
Social differences
Misunderstandings

"A Souvenir of Japan" by Angela Carter

The story is about a Japanese man and a Caucasian woman. They have an affair. It's hard to say "love affair" because I got the feeling through the reading that it wasn't about love as much as excitement and taboo for them both. Their secret rendezvous and ineffective communication. No discussion of the "elephant in the room", and a lot of tension surrounding what they both knew about their relationship. The main character, not of Japanese upbringing or thought, saw hypocrisy in the Japanese culture...a "world of icons and there they participate in rituals which transmute life itself to a series of grand gestures, as moving as they are absurd." The words repressed, torture, "object of passion" all made it so hard for me as a US citizen to even comprehend their lifestyle. "Taro" (his name) and ? (I never got her name in the story) ended up with a failed romance, with the differences between their personal politics and cultural/social policies being the reason that they could not spend their lives together. He needed a quiet, available, & subservient woman. She wanted a relationship of equality, of partnership...at least I think so because she came from a different world than Taro. Cultural clash...but probably some great sex!

After I read this story, I looked into Angela Carter's personal bio. Pretty interesting path she lead with many twists and turns in her own life! I'm not gonna say "poor little rich girl", but I imagine her choices were based upon her desire to understand the world and her place in it, along with self-actualization and no seeming fear of anything. Well, at least she didn't let things get in her way or shy away from much...talk about "balls"...

"The Management of Grief" by Bharati Mukherjee

A story of an Indian family who live in Canada. The husband and sons are all killed in an airplane crash. The "care" by other people, the "widowhood", the day-to-day routine of going on when everything she loved had been taken from her. Then, she has to separate between the customs of her homeland and the customs of her new life in Canada. What she takes from the old, and what she takes from the new and how it all will melt together as she rebuilds her life. She seemed to have all these people around who thought she should be doing this...behaving like that...oh my goodness...she just needed to heal in her own way and in her own time.
"I never once told him that I loved him," I said. I was too much the well brought up woman. I was so well brought up I never felt comfortable calling my husband by his first name.
Her friend says, "He knew. My husband knew. They felt it. Modern young girls have to say it because what they feel is fake." (Oh my, how young and fake I was, then! Ha!, what a difference in culture and belief)
Then later, in a haze or illusion high in the Himalayas, she has a discussion with her deceased husband. She asks him, should she stay? The image tells her "You must finish alone what we started together." How poignant, brought me to tears.
She may not understand why the catastrophe happened to her, and how she will survive. Yet, she draws from her original culture and her new culture and finds herself as a brave woman beginning a new voyage.

This story really hit home with me. Of course, I didn't have the India/Canada culture clash...but definitely how death and dying affects each individual so differently and how the healing process varies for everyone. She told us of how she should have been behaving, how she felt, how others behaved, and how the rituals from her homeland gave some order to her crazy feelings. She found her way through it. I thought it was interesting that she would take the bodies back to India on a plane...that she could get over how their death happened and move forward.

Character Analysis,( Amy, compare to first draft for works cited and thesis changes)

Amy Woolston
Professor Hueners
ENG 210
15 February 2007
Malignant Montresor:
A Carnival Internment
Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a portrayal of a man who focuses his entire wrath for alleged and mysterious injuries on one man. Set in Italy during the celebration of carnival, the reader is chaperoned through an evening of deception, mystery, and ultimately, murder. “An eye for an eye” and “what goes around, comes around” are not the form of justice the narrator/murderer has in mind. A penalty of death is executed as the narrator becomes judge, jury, and henchman. A “gentleman” sets the stage for the homicide within the catacombs beneath his family home and then releases his staff for the evening so that his plan can go forward without interruption and detection. This vengeful man lures his drunken, costumed sitting duck to his home with the ruse of sharing a bottle of fine wine. Then, when his prey is deep within the bowels of his home’s vaults, the deranged operate chains his captor in a small crypt and buries him alive. In Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” the main character and narrator of the story describes a murder he committed and fails to realize that he has suffered a mental break and pursues a deed borne of false assumptions, deception, and insanity.
The narrator of the story is Montresor, a man who suffers from the delusion that an acquaintance, Fortunato, has brought “the thousand injuries” (Poe 108) upon him and states, “I must not only punish but punish with impunity” (Poe 108). Consider for a moment whether or not Fortunato was responsible for any of Montresor’s troubles, surely death does not befit the redress Montresor so desires. Montresor has become the victim of his own obsession for revenge. Montresor claims that he “did not differ from him materially” (Poe 109), yet somehow he feels slighted by his target and exhibits irrational delusions and conclusions. This slanted view that Montresor adopts and plots a crime behind are the signs of his madness.
Montresor is careful to give no overt clues to Fortunato that any ill will exists between them. He perpetuates this façade when he writes “I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation” (Poe 109). Immolation is a proper and even pleasant way to say sacrifice (Webster’s). The use of this word is Montresor’s vehicle to objectify Fortunato as an impersonal defendant for the injuries Montresor feels he has suffered. Thus, he exposes himself as corrupt, sadistic, and void of humanity.
Montresor promulgates deceit and dementia in several statements preceding the murder. “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day” (Poe 109) is his counterfeit greeting to the unsuspecting lamb. In addition, the bogus friendship continues when Montresor further baits Fortunato by saying, “My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature” (Poe 109). In Montresor’s madness, he keeps his friends close and his enemies even closer. As the two men approach Montresor’s empty home, Montresor again enlists deceit by suggesting to Fortunato that they not enter the crypts to avoid the nitre within; “Come, I said, with decision, ‘we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy as once I was. You are a man to be missed’” (Poe 110). Of course, Fortunato is inebriated and he will not forego the opportunity to partake in yet another bottle of wine. As the pair continues to descend to the Montresor vaults, Montresor describes his family arms to the unwitting Fortunato. “A huge foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel” (Poe 111). In Montresor’s twisted reality, Fortunato represents the serpent and Montresor is the golden foot. Furthermore, Montresor shares his family motto with Fortunato when he states “Nemo me impune lacessit” (Poe 111), which means, “No one provokes me with impunity” (Poe 111). Consequently, Montresor hints that someone is about to be punished, that he will get away with the murder and oddly enough, he will hold Fortunato responsible for the alleged insults. It is not a very fortunate situation for Fortunato.
As the assassination grows closer, Montresor continues to weave his web of lies. The two reach the readied crypt and Montresor tricks his drunken friend into believing that the bottle of Amontillado is inside a small, dark recess. “Proceed,” I said; ‘herein is the Amontillado. As for Luchresi-‘” (Poe 112). Montresor has now become a machine for manslaughter. The premeditated plan for a live human interment now becomes a cold description of how the sacrificed individual is detained and concealed. “A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite” (Poe 112). Montresor continues his innocuous small-talk with Fortunato,”pass your hand,’ I said, ‘over the wall; you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed, it is very damp. Once more let me implore you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you’” (Poe 112). Montresor has no intention to free his captor. “With these materials and with the end of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance to the niche” (Poe 112) is the matter-of-fact description that Montresor gives as his plan comes to conclusion. Furthermore, Montresor separates himself from the thoughts of Fortunato as a specific person. “I replied to the yells of him who clamoured. I re-echoed, I aided, I surpassed them in volume and in strength. I did this, and the clamoures grew still” (Poe 113). Montresor was heckling his captive! With great virulence and trickery, Montresor had successfully abrogated his friend. Fortunato starts to giggle nervously from within his tomb, “he! he! he!- he! he! he!- yes, the Amontillado. But is it not getting late? Will they not be awaiting us at the palazzo-the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone” (Poe 113). Montresor retorts,”Yes, I said, ‘let us be gone’” (Poe 113). They are both gone, indeed!
At the very end, Montresor grows impatient with the entombed Fortunato, “But to the words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew impatient. I called aloud- “Fortunato!” No answer. I called again- ‘Fortunato!’ No answer still” (Poe 113). Fortunato never speaks another word to anyone. Montresor plasters the last stone in place, re-erects a wall of bones to cloak the new masonry work, and leaves.
The tale of the murder is not revealed for fifty years. Even as the chronicle is unveiled and perhaps a “missing person” mystery is solved, it would appear that Montresor is quite elderly by that time and that the purging of the story was just an attempt to release the dark secret from his past and perhaps even boast about his clever deed to whomever he shared the event. The final words of the written story are “In pace requiescat!” (Poe 113), which means “May he rest in peace!” Not only is this statement meant to sound as if it is for Fortunato, it may also be a means for Montresor to plea for absolution. Personal injuries to Montresor were not “redressed” and Fortunato suffered an unfair fate at the hands of a miscreant. Retribution did not “overtake its redresser” (Poe 109), as Montresor had hoped because an insane man cannot know peace or regret.
The imagery and tension created by Poe in “The Cask of Amontillado” sets a scenario that commands the reader’s attention. Montresor, with his fine tooling of the English language and colorful description of the evening, may initially fool the reader to believe that he must have a good reason to feel so victimized. Yet, his true persona emerges and hints of madness, treachery, and brutality reveal his true nature. Poe’s Montresor was a man who lost his mind, lost control, and lost his soul.

Works Cited
Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Cask of Amontillado.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Portable ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. New York, W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2006. 108-113.
“Immolation.” Webster’s Student Dictionary. Revised Ed. 1999.