Tone / Mood

Tone is a reflection of the speakers attitude towards the subject of a specific work and mood is the feeling that a reader receives as a result of the tone from said work. Tone and mood are the emotional backbones of a work and they are created through a writers specific stylistic choices. In the poem Daddy by Sylvia Plath, as I stated in my previous blog, she used very melancholy and grim words to set the somber mood of the poem. And her aggressive tone can be revealed through her angry language such as "Daddy, daddy you bastard" and her repetition of "I'm through."

Diction

Diction is essentially the choice of words by an author to convey a specific meaning. Words can have many different meanings and associations beyond their literal definition so precise combinations of words and phrases can add hidden and alter meanings to a poem. Authors work very hard when writing, especially poetry, to find the perfect words to create the base on which they can lay their message on top of. In the poem Daddy by Sylvia Plath she uses the phrases "black man" , "a man in black" , "black telephone" and "fat black heart." The repetition of the word "black" reveals her sadness that is haunted by darkness and her use of such grim and bleak words add to the darkness.

Imagery / Figurative Language

Imagery creates appeal to any of the five senses through verbal description of sensory experiences. Figurative language is simply language that is not literal. Figurative language can also sometimes be referred to as metaphorical language because it explains and expands on an idea by comparing it to something else. In the poem The Bagel by David Ignatow, he makes use of simple words and descriptions such as..
"Bent low, gritting my teeth,
and I found myself doubled over
and rolling down the street"
This creates an easy appeal to the reader that allows them to create a mental image that connects them to the poem. And the use of such undemanding language adds to the playfulness and lightness of the poem that creates effortless enjoyment.

Poetry Sounds

Sound is basically the musical characteristic of poetry. Through using methods of writing such as rhyme, enjambment, and caesurae you create sound in poetry. In the poem Out Out by Robert Frost the lines..
"His sister stood beside them in her apron

To tell them "Supper." At the word, the saw,        14

As if to prove saws knew what supper meant,

Leaped out at the boy's hand."

The period after the word "Supper" in Line 14 creates caesura, therefore adding a layor of melody onto the poem. In addition to creation of melody, the melody in itself and the rapidness of the words between the caesura add to the suspense of the poem before the climactic moment that the boys hand gets cut off.

Symbol / Theme

Symbols are what point the way to the meaning of a piece of work. Theme is basically the meaning of a piece of work. Therefore, you can say that symbols in a piece of work are basically representatives of the theme. In a drama such as Hamlet, the symbol of the ghost reflects the theme of appearance versus reality that penetrates through the play. In a novel like Pride and Prejudice, the symbols of dress and clothing demonstrate the theme of dominating social statuses and the class separation in society.

Setting

Although setting by definition is simplified to be just the description of surroundings, setting is actually one of the most important aspects in both drama and fiction because ultimately it is what sets the mood. In a play such as Hamlet, the setting would be dark, gloomy, stoney, and cold which not only adds to the story but actually completely sets up the dark-natured mood of the play. In contrast, a novel like Pride And Prejudice is set on a countryside with fields, mansions, and gardens that all work together to encompass the lighthearted nature of the story.

Character

The way characters operate in fiction and drama are relatively the same. There is usually always a protagonist and an antagonist and then the plot revolves around the two. In Hamlet, Hamlet would be the protagonist and king Claudius would be the antagonist and the entire drama works around those two characters. Similarly in Pride And Prejudice, Elizabeth would be the protagonist and Darcy would be the antagonist and the novel is built around their conflicts and interactions.

Plot

Essentially, plot is what happens in a narrative. However, where the specific plot points (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement) are placed is what defines the narrative. From our readings I have observed that in fiction (such as Pride And Prejudice) the plot points happen in a relatively symmetrical form, with the climax towards the middle. In Pride And Prejudice, the climax occurs when Elizabeth receives the letter from Darcy which leads her to state that she has finally discovered who she truly is, and then the rest of the novel deals with her struggle due to that realization. On the other hand, I have noticed that drama's (such as Hamlet) have very uneven placement of plot points which add to the drama itself. In Hamlet, the climax occurs when Hamlet finally kills king Claudius but that does not happen until the very end of the play. Thus, the entire play was the rising action that was filled with suspense, anticipation and hesitation towards Hamlet's goal, but when the climax finally came at the end it made it so the play ended with achievement. 

Essay Comments

I am happy with the way my essay came out and I am proud that I was able to successfully communicate my main point and provide clear and strong analysis to support it. But the biggest area that I need to work on and improve is definitely when it comes to revision. After finishing an essay I don't spend enough time looking over it and checking for the small grammatical and syntactic mistakes and sometimes, even when I do re-read over an essay multiple times, I don't even notice the mistakes and small errors. That's why I think the best feedback I got was the suggestion that I should have someone else read over my essay before I turn it in. This would really help me because someone else who is reading my essay would be more likely to catch the mistakes that I missed.

Introduction : The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock + As I Walked Out One Evening

Both "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "As I Walked Out One Evening" revolve around the essence of time and it's effect on the human condition especially revolving around love. However, one is written from the position of the lover, and the other from the position of an observer of love. Both poems question times affect on feelings and emotions. And also how the movement and passing of time can affect the endurance of emotions and how it can create changes whether one may chose to believe it or not. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "As I Walked Out One Evening" are two poems vested in time but received from two completely different standpoints.

As I Walked Out One Evening + The Second Coming

"As I walked Out One Evening" is a beautifully written poem that talks about not only the fact that time does not last forever, but the truth that neither does love. Time is essentially eternal and love is believed to be eternal but in reality both are temporal. Time will eventually conquer us all because with time we change and so does our life and our love. Thus, time can be viewed as a destructive force to young lovers who believe that themselves and their love will last forever. This poem describes how love starts out exciting and overwhelming but is spoiled by the realities of life and the passage of time.
"The Second Coming" is a poem that can be interpreted many different ways but I view it as a collection of symbols of change. Such as the "gyre" which represents order and growth but also chaos and decay and the word "stony" which could represent something that endures or lasts a long time but now must be changed due to the second coming the poem speaks of. Also, the title of the poem is an allusion to the reappearance of Christ as stated in the Book Of Revelation.

Ozymandias + Ponder These Busted Statues

Both of these poems revolve around the essence of time. The main message both authors are trying to get across is that time is not ever-lasting and we must live in the moment because life is like a coin, you only get to spend it once. Time can move both fast and slow, depending on the position of the observer, but regardless, time is always moving along. 

Performance Choices

My group and I chose to act out the scene where Polonius confronts the king and queen about why he thinks Hamlet has gone mad. I chose to act the part of the king and some of the performance notes I made in my text were that although Polonius is Claudius's friend and he is not mean to him, Claudius's sense of arrogance doesn't fade just because he is being understanding when listening to his friend. I also chose to speak with the manliest voice I could during my groups performance to add to my character.

Pg. 833 : Question #3

The motif of appearance versus reality emerges numerous times throughout Hamlet and contributes greatly to the meaning of the play. Hamlet himself is one of the finest examples of the motif. He appears to be have lost his mind and gone mad off the wall but in reality he is just using that as a cover so he can pursue revenge for his father. Hamlet uses his appearance to disguise reality.

Pg. 833 : Question #7

One of the largest conflicts in the play would have to be the one Hamlet harbors which is between his head and his heart. His heart tells him to listen to the ghost and get revenge for his father by killing Claudius. But at the same time his head gathers his better judgment and makes him doubt whether the ghost is telling him the truth and also makes him consider how grand the idea of killing someone is. This creates an internal conflict within Hamlet and it's the reason behind why he puts off actually going through with the revenge for so long.

Pg. 832 : Question #9

I chose the soliloquy from Act I Scene II Lines 129-159 because I feel that the diction, figurative language, and imagery used in this monologue work perfectly to illuminate Hamlet's meaning and purpose. In this soliloquy, Hamlet emotes and uses words that don't actually exist such as "Fie on't! ah fie!" to express his anguish and confusion and his need to exert and vent even if what comes out of his mouth has no meaning. Also, Hamlet repeats a lot of ideas to express the obsession he has with his own thoughts and the fact that he can not move on from them. Hamlet's soliloquy is very emotional, and due to the fact that it is so overly packed with feelings, some of his inner thoughts come out incoherently and so when he says them out loud they are just a hodgepodge of random phrases and sentences. And so, with all this confusion, Hamlet interrupts himself and his thoughts many times throughout the monologue which leads him to having an even more un-cohesive thought process. Thus, this monologue of Hamlet's is not a speech and definitely not an address to someone, it is him venting his thoughts and feelings to himself and so it serves as a window straight into his mind and soul.

Pg. 830 : Question #14

Hamlet says, "When, then, 'tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." What Hamlet means by this is that ever since his father died and everything changed in Denmark he feels like it has become a prison and he no longer loves it as a home. I do agree with Hamlet because not only did he have to deal with the death of his father but he had to watch his uncle become king and see his mother marry his uncle, so it makes sense that Denmark is no longer a desirable residence for Hamlet.
Hamlet then says, "I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw." With this quote Hamlet is hinting to his friends that he is only partly mad and he is mostly acting.

Pg. 830 : Question #7

Hamlet tells his companions that he is likely to put on an "antic disposition" because he plans to start acting mad (in the crazy sense, not angry.) His behavior is partly a natural reaction to his anger and grief but mostly a deliberate strategy because he plans to use it as a distraction while he figures out if the ghost was telling him the truth about Claudius, and if it was then he would need to figure out how he would go about gaining revenge for his father. 

Pg. 830 : Question #4

Both Laertes's and Polonius's objections to Ophelia's relationship with Hamlet are based upon Hamlet himself. He is the proper heir to the throne and so they question whether his feelings are real and if his intentions are honorable. They are both looking out for Ophelia and don't want her to be stuck in a relationship/marriage where she is miserable and doesn't have true love. When Laertes's talks to Ophelia he seems to be giving her brotherly advice, unlike Polonius who seems to be commanding her with the expectations of her compliance. Thus, i would say Laertes argument is more persuasive and fair. But it is clear that both of them plan on trying to control her. Both Laertes and Polonius view Ophelia and women in general as subordinate beings and they feel entitled to have control and power over them. Class or station function in their arguments because although both Laertes and Polonius themselves are of a higher class, they argue that Hamlet's status is what makes him possibly untrustworthy.

Expressions of Love

In his play Hamlet, Shakespeare uses different styles of speech to express the different situations of each of his characters. The way each character expresses their emotions come across in very different ways, especially when it comes to love. Hamlet and the ghost of his father are both situated under very contrasting circumstances and this leads them to expressing their love in different ways. Thus, the circumstances of a character are reflected in their style of speech. Hamlet's father, who is deceased, comes back as a ghost and whenever he appears he is in a rush because he can only be seen before sunrise, so his speeches are very long but fast paced like rampages. Hamlet, on the other hand, is very intelligent, emotional, and straight forward so he speaks very thoughtfully but with no order or clarity. So when these two characters meet there is an overwhelming amount of love expressed between the two but in completely varying ways due to their different patters of speech. Shakespeare's characters express their emotions in distinct ways because of their different circumstances that affect their styles of speech.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

 Lines 73-74

"I should have been a pair of ragged claws

Scuttling across the floors of silent seas."

The narrator is basically saying that he wishes he would have been born a crab rather than a human. He feels he hasn't accomplished anything in his life and he has found no sense of moving forward. If he was a crab then life would be much easier and simpler and that is what he is trying to express in those lines. Which is quite sad that someone would wish they basically hadn't been born because they feel so useless and miserable with their life, which is how the narrator feels.

Fleeting Time

The essence that time is fleeting is what drives the motivation of the narrator in "To His Coy Mistress." This feeling that although time is never-ending and ever-continuing in nature; for humans, time is more of a countdown clock of what is left, and every minute and every hour that goes by is one less that we now have. And then when you make it to the end, many will realize that it is not how many years of life you had that matters, it is how your life was spent in those years. So the narrator wants to enjoy his life by seizing the moment and living each day of his life to the fullest. But unfortunately for him his "Mistress" wants someone who will prove to her that their love is forever before she fully gives herself away.The narrator knows though that this is not possible, as he could never have enough time to prove that to her and life is too short to spend on something that might prove to just have been time wasted in the end. And there isn't enough time to let any go to waste, because time wasted is time lost, and it cannot be gained back. Time is precious, time is fleeting.  

To His Coy Mistress

Lines 7-10 
"I would Love you ten years before the Flood, 
And you should, if you please, refuse 
Till the conversion of the Jews."


The narrator of this poem is very concerned with time. He loves the mistress *now* and he wants to make love to her *now*. He says "I would Love you ten years before the Flood" and "Till the conversion of the Jews" (which is an allusion and hyperbole) to show that if he could love her forever he would but that is not the case. Time is moving along and although he is waiting for her, he doesn't want to have to wait much longer. The narrator espouses the idea of "carpe diem" but his coy mistress doesn't seem to care, how sad!

Mr. Collins : Funny or Nightmare?

Mr. Collins, I would say, is a funny nightmare. I say this because his character represents the nightmare of the 19th century ideals of marrying for wealth and the goal of upping ones social status instead of from the basis of love and real personal relationships. This becomes clear when Collins proposes to Elizabeth and states how it would benefit her to marry him since her family is not of the upper class and he doesn't make any mention of having real feelings towards her, thus clearly expressing the 19th century social norm of marriage without love. However, even though Mr.  Collins represents a nightmare, he is also a comic relief in the novel and so he makes the nightmare funny. Everything Collins does and says is exaggerated in a way to make the ideals that he is representing comical and create a sense of relief from a rather grave truth and reality. 

Essay Comments

The comments on my essay stated that my strengths were definitely in my insight, reasoning and my tendency to think and analyze. I take pride in these qualities because I think that they are very important aspects of creating a strong essay. My weaknesses were in my wording and sentence structure. I know these are things I can improve and work on by writing more and also revising my essays more. So I plan on refining both of those aspects and similar ones for my next essay.

The Most Important Part Of An Essay

I believe that to write an amazing essay, one must have a very clear and specific idea that they wish to write about. And in an essay that idea would be expressed in the thesis, so I believe that the thesis is the most important part of any essay. A thesis needs to be clear but interesting, the ideas need to be complex but the expression of them must remain simple, it needs to be in depth but not detailed, it needs to spark understanding in the reader while at the same time making them question and encouraging them to read more, and most importantly a thesis needs to express the writers main focus and the rest of the essay that follows is their explanation.
Of the student essays that i've read so far I would definitely have to say that the author of essay B "Its All About the First Impressions: How Austen and Greene Introduce Characters" did the best at creating a polished thesis and then he/she proved their claim in a well structured essay. 

Sample Student Essays #3

Today I read essays G,H and I. I have to be honest.. I didn't like any of them. G was completely over simplified, H doesn't have a specific idea or topic, and I just didn't really make sense to me. But if I had to chose one of them to get the highest grade it would be I because even though I didn't quite understand the main point the author was trying to make, he/she at least had a developed idea that they elaborated on and analyzed in their essay unlike the authors of G and H.

Sample Student Essays #2

This time I read essays D,E and F. Out of these three essays I must say that I liked F "Contradiction of conformity: How Austen shapes our opinions of characters" the most. The author wrote on the same topic (the use of foils in character introductions) that I was considering writing on, so it was interesting to see how another person interpreted that topic and how they wrote on it compared to what I had planned. And I must say that I liked the way it was put together and I agree with the points and ideas that the author focussed on and I probably would have used the same ones if I had decided to write on that topic. Even though I don't really know which sentence is the thesis in the introduction and some of the sentences are very wordy, I still enjoyed it and think that it works well and achieves what an introduction paragraph should. And as for the rest of the essay there are a few aspects that bother me, such as the excessive use of quotes in the third paragraph, but overall I think it is a pretty good essay. 

Sample Student Essays

I read sample essays A,B and C. I liked essay B "Its All About the First Impressions: How Austen and Greene Introduce Characters" the most because unlike essay A which I thought had a very shallow thesis, the writer of essay B completely analyzed their topic and created a very precise and in depth thesis that also struck the interest of the reader (me). And since the writer had so clearly outlined their ideas in the thesis, the essay was very well organized and each paragraph was analytical and detailed. I thought overall it was a well developed essay.

Introduction Through Dialogue

Austen uses the basic element of dialogue to introduce her characters. She breaks it down into both direct and indirect dialogue to show that the tendency to prejudge people is not just that of a society but it is the human nature of every individual, and through Austen's introductions she gives the reader the chance to evaluate their own prejudices along with those of society.