Petruchio

Petruchio is a rude, selfish man whose only concern in life is how he is going to make a profit and get richer. Petruchio is faced with the challenge of pursuing Katherine as his wife. He is told by numerous people how rude and unfriendly she is, but he continues the pursuit because he is promised money if he completes the task. Petruchio also sees women as just a figure position. He thinks women are just there to take care of the men and the children and complete household duties. Without Petruchio there would be no hope for Bianca and the men who want to marry Bianca. Petruchio takes on the task of wedding Katherine, so Bianca can finally become somebody's wife. Petruchio moves the play forward by doing the unthinkable and taming the shrew.

Setting the scene

In Act 2, Scene 1, Gremio sets the scene by explaining to the audience what his house looks like. Gremio says, "First, as you know, my house within the city/Is richly furnished with plate and gold,/Basins and ewers to lave her dainty hands;/My hangings all of Tyrian tapestry;/In ivory coffers I have stuffed my crowns,/In cypress chests my arras counterpoints". Gremio continues on describing his house and we get the impression that Gremio lives in a very nice house and is very rich. Also, Gremio likes to brag about the fact that he has all of these things. Gremio talks of his nice linens and his jewels with much pride. When reading this scene, I get a picture of an old victorian style house with old statues and everything lined in gold. It reminds me of a house that when you walk inside you feel like you can't touch anything because your worried your going to break it. 

Eveline

Throughout the story, a young teenage girl named Eveline is faced with a major decision. At a young age her mother passed away and being the oldest, Eveline took over the motherly roles. But, Eveline had fallen in love and was considering running away with this man. She struggles with this choice throughout the story and finally has an epiphany. Her epiphany is that she is going to leave with this guy. She decides that she wants to live happily and do something for herself for once. After taking care of her family for so long, she needed to escape from it and be on her own. As soon as she makes this decision she becomes paralyzed and can no longer leave with her lover. She becomes quite bitter after this happens. She is upset that she has to stay and work for her family and that she cannot be with the man she loves. Her epiphany is kind of ironic. She finally decides what she wants, and then fate chooses the other route for her. I think she was supposed to choose to stay with her family and when she chose to leave them she was punished and forced to stay with them. Eveline had an epiphany, but it did not work out for her.

Sympathy

In The Metamorphosis, Kafka wants the reader to sympathize with the main character, Gregor. Gregor transforms into a bug, possibly a roach, and is ultimately rejected by his family. I believe that Kafka used the transformation to symbolize people who have physical or mental abnormalities. People tend to reject others with certain abnormalities because they are scared of something or someone being different. Kafka is presenting this message to us by changing the way Gregor looks. Gregor is still the same caring, helpful person as before, the only thing that has changed is his appearance. Kafka is telling the reader to not judge a book by its cover. Just because someone looks a certain way doesn't mean they are a bad or undesirable person to be around. The author wants us to sympathize with all people persecuted for the way they look, nit just Gregor. Kafka is trying to change the way we look at people.

Metamorphosis

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, demonstrates that the attributes conventional society mistakes for life's meaning -- success, social position, political or corporate power -- are ultimately meaningless in the great scheme of things. Gregor’s employer who had come to Gregor’s house to fetch him to work, leaves in a very nervous state and Gregor worries about losing his job.  His family, however, cannot believe that the bug is Gregor and shoves him back into his room when Gregor tries to step out badly bruising Gregor.  Gregor returns to his room and goes to sleep.  The family is now faced with the problem of the lack of money since Gregor was the only member of the family that worked.  Luckily, the father had saved some money which the family would be able to live off of for about a year.  Also each member of the family got a job. Because Gregor has contributed heavily to the family’s comfortable lifestyle, this new development causes them to turn on him. His beloved sister concludes that he should be disposed of, because he isn't really Gregor. His father heaves an apple at him with such force that the apple lodges in his back and becomes infected. Rather than being angry, Gregor is actually relieved that his family has “saved” money. He feels he has to show “every possible consideration,” and “help them bear the inconvenience which he simply had to cause them in his present condition” (2761). His parents, Gregor thinks, “were suffering enough as it was” (2763). All along, he believes he will be able to work again, that this is a temporary illness, and that life will eventually return to normal. Gregor's metamorphosis, which of course symbolizes any sort of physical abnormality, calls into question all the assumptions of our daily lives: that success and appearance and social position matter; that a productive life was characterized by a steadily improving standard of living and a socially-acceptable appearance. These considerations produce even further questions: if we once appeared socially acceptable and now have ceased to do so, are we still in fact ourselves? Was the socially-acceptable persona in fact ourselves, or is there more essential self-ness in the being we have now become? Or have we, in fact, been nobody in the first place, and are we nobody still?  we nobody still? 

was it a dream??

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" there is some uncertainty of whether or not Brown's journey was real or if it was just a dream. Brown's experience is very vivid and seems very real, but I believe that is just a dream. Brown's experiences frighten him and leave him feeling skeptical about his belief in God. He sees people who he thought were very religious, such as his wife and the pastor, going into this dark forest and becoming one with evil. The next day, everything goes back to normal and everyone goes to church in an orderly fashion. This leaves Brown really confused about his belief in God. Brown's dream was intended to be a warning that we should not always believe what people say. People can be be two-faced and hypocritical. Hawthorne is sending this message to his readers through Brown's dream.

Original Paragraph:

Langston Hughes uses imagery and rhyme scheme in his poem “Harlem” to illustrate how a dream deferred can affect someone. The first simile appears in the second line and it says, “Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?” This simile is saying that a postponed dream can dry up and eventually be gone for ever. Another simile in the poem is the last stanza and it says, “Maybe it just sags/ like a heavy load”. A deferred dream can hang over you, it can become something that never leaves you and something that is never accomplished. Hughes’ rhyme scheme also plays an important role in developing the idea of a dream deferred. The rhyme scheme is ABCBDEDFGG. This rhyme scheme places emphasis on certain words, such as “sun” and “run”. Through imagery, Hughes demonstrates the emotional destruction that can result from the postponement of one's dreams.

Revised Paragraph:

Langston Hughes employs imagery and rhyme scheme in his poem “Harlem” to illustrate how a dream deferred can affect someone. Hughes first uses a simile which appears in the second line and it says, “Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?” Hughes is asking the reader a question and implying that a deferred dream dries up when it is forgotten about. Hughes uses many similes throughout his poem and he finishes his poem with this one, “maybe it just sags/ like a heavy load”. A deferred dream can hang over you, it can become something that never leaves you and something that is never accomplished. Hughes is trying to encourage the reader to never give up on their dreams and follow through with them no matter what. Hughes’ rhyme scheme also plays an important role in developing the idea of a dream deferred. The rhyme scheme is ABCBDEDFGG. This rhyme scheme places emphasis on certain words, such as “sun” and “run”. Through imagery, Hughes demonstrates the emotional destruction that can result from the postponement of one's dreams. 

WHY?

After our class discussion, i decided to change a few things about my paragraph. The first thing I did was to substitute for the word "use" because it is so vague. I also added in more support/explanation of my quotes and added added a few words in order to make my paragraph "flow" more. I think my first paragraph was really rough and kind of choppy, but I think after a few revisions it sounds pretty good.

Miss Emily's Facebook

Basic Information

Networks: Grierson Family

Sex: Female

Relationship Status: Married

Interested In: Men

Political Views: Libertarian

Religious Views: Atheist

Personal Information

Activities: Arsenic poisoning, sleeping with my dead husband, visiting with my cousins.

Interests: Finding someone to spend the rest of my life with, spending quality time with my house and my housekeeper.

Favorite Music: Classical, Opera, Jazz

Favorite TV Shows: Desperate Housewives, All My Children, General Hospital

Favorite Movies: Pride and Prejudice, The Phantom of the Opera, Marie Antoinette

Favorite Books: Hamlet, Dracula

Favorite Quotes: "A wise girl kisses but doesn't love, listens but doesn't believe, and leaves before she's left." -Marilyn Monroe

About Me: My name is Emily and I am the last in my royal family. My father died when I was young and the guy I loved didn't want to be with me. I live in my house all alone with my housekeeper. I do not have many friends and I prefer to be left alone.

As for the rest of Miss Emily's facebook, I think she would have a lot of friends on her friend list, but they would be there only as aquantices, not as true friends. She would have just a few photos, maybe one of her and her father. I think she would have a lot of applications on her facebook, mostly from taking different quizzes and tests. I believe she had much free time and a lot of that time may be spent doing pointless things, such as facebook application quizzes. I put her status as married, even though she's not, because I think she would pretend that her and Homer were married. I put Libertarian as political views because she ignored the taxes every year, signifying that maybe she doesn't care that much about government. I also made her religious views atheist because she doesn't seem to have any religious views. As for her favorite things, I went along the general theme of things that were sad and sort of depressing, like soap operas and classical music. 

Conversation between Emily and Homer

Miss Emily: Hey Honey, when are you going to come and visit me again?

Homer: Emily, I am just so busy, but I will get there when I can.

Miss Emily: Okay, I can't wait to see you!

Harlem Thesis

In his poem "Harlem", Langston Hughes uses different types of imagery to demonstrate the idea that having to postpone your dreams and desires can ultimately lead to destruction within oneself.  

We Real Cool

This week for my free write I am choosing to write about Gwendoyln Brooks' "We Real Cool" and the specific tone of the speakers. Brooks' indicates that there a seven speakers hanging out a bar or pub called the Golden Shovel. The speakers seem to be in there early twenties and seem to be enjoying life. They have ditched school, stayed out late, consumed alcohol, and many other "bad" things. The speakers see themselves as cool. They believe that because they do all of these "bad" things they are cool. The last line takes a turn in attitude/tone though. It says, "We die soon". I don't think the speaker is using this to be negative, I think the speaker is trying to say that we should do the things we enjoy while were young because eventually we are all going to die. The speakers enjoy being bad and doing things that are not generally accepted by society. Brooks is justifying this by saying "we die soon" and she is urging people to go out and enjoy life.  

Hope You Want to Stay

"Hope You Want to Stay"

I have woken

You from

Your deep sleep

This morning

You were

Most likely dreaming

Of your

Home sweet home

I apologize

For I must attend 

Practice

Every morning.

For my parody of William Carlos William's poem, "This is Just to Say", I wrote about how I wake my roommate up in the morning when I leave for morning swim practice. I used the same form as Williams, three four line stanzas, and the same number of syllables within each line. Like Williams, I made my poem an apology and set it up very similarly. The first stanza in William's poem is the speaker confessing to eating the plums out of the freezer and the first stanza in my poem is the speaker confessing to waking her roommate up in the morning. The second stanza in William's poem the speaker is saying how the listener was most likely going to eat the plums for breakfast, but now she cannot. My second stanza is saying that my roommate was probably having pleasant dreams, but cannot any longer because the speaker has woken her up. The last stanza of William's poem is the actual apology and the speaker is asking for forgiveness. My last stanza is also an apology with a bit of reasoning to why I must wake my roommate in the morning. My parody was in admiration of Williams, not to poke fun at his writing. I really liked the way he set this poem up and thought it added a lot to just a simple sentence. 

Harlem Imagery

Langston Hughes' Harlem uses many forms of imagery in order to represent the basic idea of a dream deferred. A deferred dream is one that has been postponed or delayed. Hughes uses metaphors and similes as imagery in this poem. 

The first couplet compares a dream deferred to "a raisin in the sun". If you put a raisin in the sun it's going to dry up and no longer taste very good and it will eventually evaporate away. When you set aside a dream, you are risking letting it evaporate away. This couplet uses a simile ("like a raisin in the sun") as its imagery.

 A simile is defined as comparing two unlike things using the words like or as.

The second couplet compares a dream deferred to a sore that festers. A festering sore is something that most people do not want, although we sometimes must experience them. Just as with a dream that does not come true, we may not always want it to happen this way, but sometimes thats just the way it goes. This couplet also uses a simile ("like a sore").  

The next line compares the dream to rotten meat. Rotten meat is something that was once good, but it went bad over time. This same thing can also happen with dreams, one day you think it's a really awesome dream, but over time, the dream can become something that you do not want. This line also uses a simile ("like rotten meat"). 

The following couplet compares a deferred dream to a syrupy sweet. While I am not entirely sure what a syrupy sweet is, I do know that it is something that does not sound overly appealing. Once again we get the idea that a dream deferred is quite unpleasant.  We also see the use of similes again ("like a syrupy sweet").

The final couplet compares a dream deferred to a heavy load or something that sags over you. A heavy load is usually something that is bothering you or upsetting you in some way. A dream that is not being resolved can be quite a heavy load, something that you want to get rid of, but your not sure how to do it. This couplet has our final simile in it as well ("like a heavy load").

The last line of this poem, "Or does it explode?", is our one and only metaphor in this poem. Things that are potentially explosive, usually have had something building up over a long period of time. A dream that has been postponed or delayed has just been sitting there for a while and allowed many bad things to build up, ultimately leading to explosion. The main point of this poem is that having to postpone your dreams and desires, for whatever reason, can eventually lead to destruction. 

Free Response: My Last Duchess

Following our class discussion and interpretation of Browning's My Last Duchess I began to think about whether or not the speaker (the duke) killed his wife and why he would confess to killing his wife. The duke appears to be a very boastful, controlling man who could not find a way to control his wife. She was quite flirtatious and very independent, which seemed to upset the duke on many levels. I believe the lack of control over his wife, led the duke to kill her (or have have her killed).  Throughout the poem, the duke had no intention of telling the listener about how or why he killed his first wife. The duke starts on a tangent and tells the reader about his first wife. I think he confesses out of guilt and maybe even regret. I see regret and remorse in the line: "There she stands as if alive. Will't please you rise?" I think the duke allowed his self-centeredness to get in the way of his relationship with his wife.  Towards the end of the poem the duke is speaking of being remarried to a very rich and powerful lady. The duke doesn't seem to be genuinely interested in the new girl, he seems to be more intrigued by the connections and amount of money she has. The speaker in Browning's My Last Duchess seems to be emotionally unstable do to the remorse and guilt he feels from killing his first wife.

Poetic Form of Sonnet 73

Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 follows the basic pattern of a Shakespearean Sonnet, that is three quatrains of an iambic pentameter followed by a heroic couplet. The third quatrain of Sonnet 73 reads:

In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the deathbed whereon it must expire,

Consumed with that which it was nourished by.

The above quatrain is referring to a fire in the sense that fires are short lived and the speaker is comparing these fires to ones life. The speaker reminds us that life is not forever and that we will eventually become old and die. The speaker is also saying that our youth is what eventually kills us, meaning everything we do causes our death.  

The writer (Shakespeare) emphasizes his thoughts on death and life by using a particular poetic form. The rhyme scheme used is an iambic pentameter and it ends up looking like this:

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

The GG at the end represents a heroic couplet, which in this case brings us to the conclusion that the speaker is warning someone about how he is living his life and convincing him to live life to the fullest. The rhyme scheme in Sonnet 73 creates a dramatic affect especially when talking about death and the end days. Lines like "such fire" "must expire" would not have the same meaning if the speaker had just plainly said the fire will burn out eventually.

The writers use of commas also plays a significant roll in the message of this poem. The second line of Sonnet 73 reads: "When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang". Without the commas this line would say something like "When only a few yellow leaves hang". Although both lines basically mean the same thing, the revised line loses a lot of emphasis and becomes quite boring to the reader. 

As in most poems, the specific poetic form of Sonnet 73 brings the poem together in a way that would not be achievable otherwise.