Every word counts in poems

In poems, I agree that every word counts, and I mean 'every' word. Every word is condensed with meaning. Sometimes I need to read a poem three or four times, subsequently, narrowing it down to the words that gives the poem the most impact and meaning. I like Shakespeare. I believe he is a master in disguise when it comes to his work. As stated before, there are times like now that I need to read and reread what he has written, in order to benefit from the poem's message. Afterwards, the chances are good that I need to reread it again. Shakespeare's poem "That time of year thou mayst in me behold" is a poem about an aging / dying man seeing his youth passing by. The title is a give-a-way. He uses a lot of metaphors in his poem. Here are some examples of words I picked out of the poem. "yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang" (line 2) describes a season such as late autumn (this might be obvious); and "Bare ruined choirs" (line 4) these are churches like Abbeys in Europe that either have been bombed out or are already in ruins; therefore, they have no roofs; and lastly "This" (line 13) possibly an identification expression to exemplify the poet's descending youth, but the word "This" could be debatable, but that's the meaning I'm giving it.

Post Card from Kashmir

The poem that I would like to address is the Agha Shahid Ali's "Post Card from Kashmir". I felt the tone in the poem, developed an extreme sadness to it. The speaker appeared to be an Indian from Kashmir who seems to have exiled from the Kashmir region. He talks about holding a post card "I always loved neatness. Now I hold the half-inch Himalayas in my hand" (pg 428) where the reader starts to develops the feeling that there is distance from his homeland. I liked the description. "When I returned, the colors won't be so brilliant, the Jhelum's waters so clean, so ultramarine. My love so overexposed." (pg 428) In this verse, I believe he is remembering what it is like back in his country and the beautiful landscape and people are now in turmoil. I could feel the passion coming from the speaker; therefore, I googled Kashmir and used the phrase turmoil in Kashmir. The site verified what I initially felt the speaker was portraying, turmoil, lonesomeness and sadness.

William Shakespeare

Dear William,


I have always been a great fan of yours; however, I often wonder what compels people to see or read your artistic work. Could it be your timeless themes that resonate with people or is it your masterful exposure of people's feelings in such matters of love, death, anger, ambition and or any familiar bonds that can happen to one self. Having said this, I wish to share with you my enjoyment and contemplation that I had when I read your poem “Let me not to the marriage of true minds”. I felt your sonnet was brilliant. Your chosen words speak volumes about that perfect love.

I was impressed with your first four lines in your poem. I feel true “love is not love” (line 2) if it is full trepidations or difficulties that cannot be resolved. True love should embrace trust and understanding in a relationship. I believe love should be steadfast and strong and “not alters when alteration finds / [o]r bend with the remover to remove” (line 3-4).

You have 'spoken' the words why love is “an ever-fixed mark”. (line 5) Love is a feeling that defies logic and common sense. It is an intangible source of energy that radiates to another. It has no boundaries. It shows forgiveness and becomes supportive. It is not shattered during crisis. Love is a mystery in its self, where the “worth's unknown”. (line 8)

“ Love is not Times fool”. (line 9) How true this statement is. Love has no duration, not even in "brief hours and weeks”. (line 11) There is no time frame for love, it is eternal. I cannot pluck it out of my life. Once it manifests, there is nothing that can move or change its existence. It becomes part of the 'self'.

As you can see, your poem resonated a soft spot in me – the meaning of love. Not to be curt, I will not debate the "error and upon me proved;" (line 13) with your truths expressed in the poem, for it was done in a very favorable fashion. You deserve an applause, and I thank you.

Cathedral

Description in Bethany Qualls' essay “Character and Narration in 'Cathedral'”.
There can be many responses derived from reading Raymond Carver's short story “Cathedral”, which can be either positive or negative. Bethany Quall's essay, “Character and Narration in “Cathedral'” has provided the reader with a delightful retort in which she tells the “reader in search of an exciting plot will be pretty disappointed . . . because the truth is nothing much happens”. (162) Quall creates her impact with the use of the description element through out her essay to prove her point; although the plot needs to be addressed. (Norton Introduction to Literature, pg 21-32, 162-164, 2006)
Quall's does a wonderful job honing in on the narrator's character. She is like an impressionist describing the narrator “through his words . . . more than his action”; thereby, “demonstrating his utter inability to connect with others or to understand himself”. (161) She provides the reader with multiple examples that were referred from the short story “Cathedral” of the narrator's close-mindedness and his emotional detachment from others such as, the narrator using labels to refer to “[h]is wife or “my wife”, his wife's friend as “the blind man” (Quall,162; Carver, 21) and uses “officer” to identify his wife's first husband, at the same time narrator questions” Why does he [officer] have a name?”. (Quall, 163; Carver: 22) Quall further succeeds to make her point with other quotations through out her essay that verifies the narrator's inept skill to communicate and to have an interpersonal relationship with anyone. (Norton Introduction to Literature, pg 21-32, 162-164, 2006)
While the writer applied a significant effort to provide the reader with supporting details in why the narrator is socially inept; she doesn't supply details why the reader should believe the plot was dull or insignificant. Does not the plot have a cause and effect on the characters and establishes a conflict along with its resolution? Perhaps Quall unknowingly insinuated the plot throughout her essay by accenting the conflict the narrator has with himself and others. Having said this, does it not show the impact the plot has on the characters. Her essay may have already provided some of the answers to plot formation in her initial sentence in some of her paragraphs; which are the following: “The narrator's isolation is most evident in the distanced way he introduces his own story and the people in it.”(162); “Once the visit . . . begins,the narrator's interaction and conversations with the other characters are even more awkward.” (163) and “There is hope for the narrator at the end as he gains some empathy and . . . bond[s] with Robert over the drawing of a cathedral.”(164) Non intentionally, her introductory infers the dull plot with the narrator. In other words, it might be clearer if she could mention or relate something as to why the plot was so disappointing. (Norton Introduction to Literature, pg 21-32, 162-164, 2006)
With the exception to the information that was previous stated, the introduction and conclusion in Quall's essay has taken on a mirrored effect to one another. Quall strategically place the narrator's “not feeling 'inside anything'” (Quall, 164; Carver, 32) as a false enlightenment combined with other descriptive words such as, “closed”, “judgmental”, “ isolated” and “[not]connected” (164) to substantiate the ambiguity in how the story “Cathedral” ends. Her conclusion reflects her introductory statement “ . . . . nothing much happens to him . . . .”(162) ,where the writer doubts a “change” in the narrator. (Norton Introduction to Literature, pg 21-32, 162-164, 2006)
Bethany Quall has placed a lot of emphasis on descriptive quotes from “Cathedral” to support her analogy. With the exception to “disappointing” (162) plot in her introduction, the conclusion sealed her essay. It is obvious that Quall enjoyed neither the plot nor the narrator and left the reader “wondering how much really happens in this story [Cathedral].” (164) (Norton Introduction to Literature, pg 21-32, 162-164, 2006)
Reference


Booth, A. & Hunter P.J. & Mays K.J. (Ed.). (2006). “Character and Narration in Cathedral"
The Norton Introduction to Literature: Portable Ed. (pp 162 -164) Indianapolis, IA: North, Inc.
Booth, A. & Hunter P.J. & Mays K.J. (Ed.). (2006). Carver, Raymond “Cathedral”
The Norton Introduction to Literature: Portable Ed. (pp 21 -32) Indianapolis, IA: North, Inc.

Hills of the White Elephants

I like to address the contrasting key elements in the short stories “Hills of the White Elephants” and "While I live at the P.O.” Ernest Hemingway “Hills of the White Elephants” is presented through mostly dialogue between a couple, an American man and a woman named Jig. The story takes place at a train depot in Spain while the couple is waiting for a train to Madrid. I believe the story was told in a third person, because the whole storyline evolved totally through their conversation. What I thought was unique in this story was the reader had to develop the inference from the dialogue between the American and the woman. “They look like white elephants.” The woman was describing the serene scenery outside the train station as “looking like white elephants”. At the same time she was contemplating a beautiful thought. The short story took on a flair in self-examination on the “woman” if she should or not have an abortion; however, the story has no conclusion. It left the reader with his or her own thought provoking conclusion.

In contrast to Ernest Hemingway’s “Hill of the White Elephants”, Eudora Welty’s short story “While I live at the P.O.” takes on more of a comical atmosphere of an early dysfunctional Southern family. This story was narrated in the first person. ‘I’ (sister) was used throughout the dialogue. I suppose in some ways, the dialogue in this story helped the reader conclude the main theme “taking sides”, ‘I’ (sister) vs. the other sister and family.

A Conversation with My Father / Flight Patterns

Dear Ms. Sullivan,

It was my pleasure to review and evaluate your essay regarding 'The Heart of Storytelling in “A Conversation with My Father” and “Flight Patterns”'. I thought your essay was exquisitely written and your comparisons were very well documented. I would be very happy to accept your essay for our Rasmussen College Magazine.

In your introduction, I liked how you addressed the short stories “A Conversation with My Father” and “Flight Patterns” as “stories within stories”. I did find in both short stories that the protagonists and antagonist characters did play off each other in how each interrupted the other. I do agree with your statement that their “perception of others are fundamentally altered by the exchange of stories.”

To summarize “A Conversation with My Father”, I want to highlight some points that I believe are important. In the story, the narrator's “86 years old father...with a bloody motor as a heart” encourages the narrator to write another short story “the kind de Maupassant wrote, or Chekhov - just recognizable people”. (32) The narrator proceeded to write a short story about the people who lived across the street from them; thereafter, would read it out loud to the father. In the process of writing, verbalizing the story and rewriting the story, a dialogue is taking place between the narrator and the father in how they each views life. The father who has been a “doctor for a couple of decades...an artist, and still interested in details, craft and technique” (33) sees life as “a lot more to it” than just only facts. (33) In comparison, the narrator has fun developing her stories and characters, but at the same time, she has a conflict between satisfying the father's wishes verses her own way how a story should be written. With each narrator's attempt in developing the characters and plot and conclusion in the short story, the father critiques the story with questions with comments “What were her parents like, her stock? That she became such a person. It's interesting, you know.” “For god sakes, doesn't anyone in your stories get married?” “Doesn't anyone have the time to run down to City Hall before they jump into bed?” (33) The narrator's retorts that the story is about “a simple story about a smart woman...full of interest, love, trust, excitement, and very up-to-date...married or not, it is of small consequence.” (33) The story continues with the narrator's short story being reconstructed; at the same time dialogue is being conveyed between the narrator and father. It is not until the narrator's final written story where the father's true feelings come out. The father believes the narrator “has a nice sense of humor.” - “can't tell a plain story” - “and feels sad for the mother (in the narrator's short story), because she is “Alone. Probably sick?” (34) He also justifies the narrator's ending with “The end.”with “tragedy. The end of a person.” (35) The narrator response to the father's opinion is that the mother (in the narrator's short story) “could be a hundred different things in the world as time goes on”. The father's quickly responses “Jokes -As a writer that's your main trouble. You don't want to recognize it. - Plain tragedy! - No hope. The end.” (34) For a father believes people should have truth and character in their life. That sometimes it includes tragedy. The creator of characters and responsibility for the conclusion of the short story belongs to the narrator's belief; whereby, in real life “it could really happen that way” (36) and life's end isn't necessarily a tragedy. (Norton Introduction to Literature, pp 32 – 36, 2006)

In the short story “Flight Patterns”, the narrator named William, was a Spokane Native American, a family man, who was an “obsessive-compulsive workaholic” (38) think-tank developer who had a fear of flying. The story takes place after the September 11 event and during the time frame of the narrator's departure from his home to the airport in a taxi cab. The story plot develops around a revealing conversation between William and the taxi cab driver named Fekadu. William realizes how insulting profiling is to one person, yet for himself he understood why “other travelers were always sniffing around him” , (40) because he also was “a brown-skin man with dark hair and eyes” just like the 'fundamentalist' terrorists they might be looking for. (pg 40) Subconsciously, William enjoyed stereotyping and profiling other people that were around him. (Norton Introduction to Literature, pp 36-40, 2006)

The initial contact between William and Fekadu could be described as awkward. For William, “no matter where he lived, he always felt uncomfortable”, but he” enjoyed other people's discomfort”.(43) Fekadu thought William was a “strange American”. (42) William was hoping for peace and quiet during his ride to the airport in order for him to contemplate his fear of flying. Fekadu broke the silence by asking questions about his own observation of William. To William's surprise, his replies were “honest and poetic”. (44) Eventually, the question and answer session between the two men turned more into an intriguing exchange. Fekadu finally exposes that he is an Oxford educated, Selassie's fighter pilot who “dropped bombs on his own people.” (48) Over time, this has created so much guilt in Fekadu that unbeknownst to his family, he decided to defect and leave behind his family who he loved and cared for. For both men, lies or fiction, the ride to the airport turned out to be an inspiring, interesting, and thought provoking. (Introduction to Literature, pp 42 – 44, 2006)

I believe in both stories, the element of redemption came out loud and clear. The narrator in “A Conversation with My Father” had the belief “Everyone, real or invented deserves an open density of life” (32). At the same time, the narrator acknowledges the father's feelings “the end of a person”.
Even in the story “Flight Patterns” where William's thoughts and conversational exchanges with Fekadu was amusing, and colorful at times; Fekadu's “Su-num-twee” autobiography may have brought both men to a redeeming understanding of fears and tragedy in one's life.

Why literature matters

“When other people tell your story, it always comes out crooked” quoted a Chippewa tribe elder. The introduction from “Norton's Introduction to Literature”, is in line with the quote from a Chippewa tribe elder. In summary, the introduction addresses why literature matters, what is literature, and why thinking critically about literature can affect us in how we view life in itself.

Literature matters, because it challenges your potential thought process by enhancing your imagination in the realms of emotions, history, views, interpretations, and comparisons with other works of its genre. Literature interweaves yesterday's concepts with today's concepts and future concepts. This can be derived by how it is interpreted by oneself and others. It can promote a wonderful escape mechanism for oneself from our hectic daily life. The canon of literature can be far reaching, which not only is included in this book, but expanded outside the book with experiences not yet realized by oneself or others. The great writings of these prominent people are just a starting point. What one does with this knowledge is up to the beholder in how far he or she wants to go with it. Literature can have a powerful political implication in itself. For example, literature held a very important place in Harriet Beecher Stowe's life. In 1852, author Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the book “Uncle Tom's cabin”. Stowe was quite involved in the anti-slavery movement prior to the civil war; therefore, she inserted many anti-slavery elements into her book. In 1862, while the civil war was still in progress, Harriet Beecher Stowe visited the white house, at which time, President Lincoln reportedly announced her as “the little lady who started the big war.” The introduction exposes some of these concepts; therefore, one can conclude that literature does have an impact on us. (AmericanCivilWar, 2010) (Introduction to Literature, pp 1 - 4, 2006)

What is literature one may ask? “Literature is not things, but a way to comprehend things.” This quote, by Norman Ann Hallman, has encompassed what literature is all about. It has no boundaries. It involves writing that creates beauty, and emotion. Literature can take many forms, such as, oral, film, video, drama, and written. Literature is timeless. It crosses all cultural form of expressions. (Introduction to Literature, pp 4 -5, 2006)

Literature can help you develop critical thinking by developing literature signals. According to the introduction, signals that spark questions are the following: “is this fiction or a novel”; “is the style moderate or funny”; “is it satiric”; “who are the characters trying to symbolize”; and “what form does it take, stanza, metaphor, or narrator”. These are just some examples one may ask himself/herself. Critical thinking may arrive by a collection of interpretations of yours along with others which may change your interpretation. Interpretations can be created by exposure to life and how one reacts to that exposure. It crosses both social and cultural boundaries. Interpretation is a factor in all that was mention above, which may also include facts, imagination, and history. Jelling of the total picture creates a critical thinking interpretation. It is like making soup, mixing and dissolving all the ingredients to give it a good taste. (Introduction to Literature, pp 5 - 10, 2006)

The introduction in “The Norton Introduction To Literature” has as its main goal to involve literature as one of life's pleasures. It can challenge your thought process. It can promote emotion and beauty if you let it. It can take you on a journey to which you haven't been before. Lastly, literature can unfold past, present and future. The reality is how it may influence you and what you take away from it. Oscar Wilde may have said it best; “Literature always anticipates life. It does not copy it, but molds it to its purpose.” (Introduction to Literature, pg 9, 2006)




Reference



Anonymous (2010). Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1811-1896.

Retrieved April 9, 2010, from American Civil War website

http://americancivilwar.com/women/hbs.html

Booth, A. & Hunter P.J. & Mays K.J. (Ed.). (2006). "Introduction"

The Norton Introduction to Literature: Portable Ed. (pp 1 - 10) Indianapolis, IA: North, Inc.