Multi-genre Proposal

For my multi-genre project, I am going to write the personal literary analysis and talk about how my tastes in literature have evolved throughout the semester and which particular genres and literary works contributed to the change.

Word Sounds

Each of the poems assigned have a rhythm to them. They flow best when read aloud, and I enjoyed reading all of them. In the Raven, Poe ended each stanza with "Nevermore," and had a rhymed scheme throughout the rest of the poem. It kept me reading with interest. 

In "Sestina," the author used the same words to end each line "almanac, grandmother, tears, house and stove." That is an incredible thing to write, and still make sense and a good poem. I would like to be able to create poems like that, with clever rhyme schemes and creative words.

HAIKUS FOR SHOES!

Shoes

 

Travel on a road

Endless possibilities

Walk in confidence

 ------------------------

Tiresome and worn,

canvas and rubber, scorched from dirt, pavement and trials.

The scuffs of triumph.

Ten Poems

Lost Some Memory - Juli

Which Parent Will I Be? - Unknown Author

To Paint a Water Lily - Ted Hughes

The Beautiful Changes - Richard Wilbur

We Real Cool - Gwendolyn Brooks

Sudden Journey - Tess Gallagher

The Clock - Daniel Tobin

All You Need Is Love - The Beatles

Mr. Tambourine Man - Bob Dylan

Hug O' War - Shel Silverstein

"We Real Cool," by Gwendolyn Brooks, was a very short, and blunt poem. The language was very easy and I enjoyed the direct message it made. It basically talks about how a bunch of pool players spend their days "lurking late. striking straight, and sing in sin." They also down gin habitually and abandoned school in the past. The poem repeats itself by starting each line with "We," and the action follows. The pool players consider their actions to be cool, but in the last line, the speaker admits that by living this lifestyle, they will "die soon." I have never really come across a poem that speaks as straightforward and matter-of-fact as this one, and I thought it was great.

I also read the poem "Which Parent Will I Be," by an unknown author. The poem compares neighboring homes, and the manner in which each set of parents "celebrates" their children. In the first home, both the mother and father do not show appreciation for the hard work that their children put forth. The first stanza shows this: "I got two A's," the small boy cried. His voice was filled with glee. His father very bluntly asked, "Why didn't you get three?"

In the neighboring house, the same situation occurs, yet this boy's father reacts with love and admiration. "I got two A's," the small boy cried, His voice was filled with glee. His father very proudly said, "That's great, I'm glad you belong to me." This is a perfect example of how children feel neglect from their parents, and illustrates how a mother, or father figure should really treat their children. 

Six Poems

Things I Learned Last Week - William Stafford

Symphony in Yellow - Oscar Wilde

The Night Has a Thousand Eyes - Francis William Bourdillon

Diving Into the Wreck - Adrienne Rich

My Papa's Waltz - Theodore Roethke

In the Park - Gwen Harwood

One of the poems I chose was William Staffords, "Things I Learned Last Week." The poem begins with two stanzas explaining random things he learned the past week, and then the rest of the poem focuses on irony, and causes the reader to be skeptical of human actions, and for a couple stanzas, human motives. For example, in the stanza "A man in Boston has dedicated himself to telling about injustice. For three thousand dollars he will come to your town and tell you about it." The man Stafford is speaking of is every bit as unjust as what he has "dedicated himself" to talking about. Another example of irony is the stanza "Schopenhauer was a pessimist but he played the flute." The flute is a happy and positive sound, although Schopenhauer did not think that way. It is a very interesting poem and makes one focus on the small things, and how interesting they are.

I also chose the poem "In the Park," by Gwen Harwood. It is the story of a mother, who regrets the decisions she has made in the past. She has three children, whom are uncontrollable and cause the mother unhappiness. A gentleman that she used to love passes her in the park and "a small balloon," which I believe is supposed to represent a "thought bubble," comes from the man's head and looks back on the future that they could have had together. The poem ends with the woman saying "They have eaten me alive." She is referring to her children, and she seems to be depressed with the life she has.

Pass/Fail

I was surprised by the ending of  "Marks". The speaker, throughout this poem, is being rated by her family as an "average mother," or a supremely good cook. However, the speaker is "dropping out" of her family responsibilities and planning to abandon them. Her daughter mentally passes her mother as doing well at her job of parenting, but obviously, the main speaker, also believes in the Pass/Fail system, and selects fail for her family. Apparently, she loves herself more than her family, because she is choosing to abandon them, only because of the irritation and annoyance that taking care of them pushes upon her. The speaker fails, as a mother.

Morning/Night?

Billy Collin's "Morning" spoke to me, because I could relate to much of what he said, although I mostly feel this way about the night time. At night is when I am "buzzing on espresso," reading, or listening to slow music on the radio. During the summer I usually stay up until 6 in the morning, and watch the sky turn from black, to purple to red, to blue, and it is my favorite time of the day. My sister and I drive in the early morning, listening to Nick Drake, or something that captures my emotions, and we just park the car, and watch the sun rise, when it feels like everyone else is vacant from the world, but will soon be joining us once the sun is risen. I feel that the other parts of the day cannot possibly match this particular part, and therefore understand Collin's feelings toward the morning completely. Although his views seem to be linked with production and time by himself, mine is linked more closely to a feeling of nostalgia and peace.

Love

Love is the one emotion that every human desires to experience in their life, and still, the most difficult to maintain or keep. Every person strives to discover their significant other, the person designed as the one whom they will spend the rest of their life with. 

In Auden's poem, "Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone," she expresses how difficult it will be to live without her true love. "He was my North, my South, my East, my West, my working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song: I thought love would last forever: I was wrong" (Auden 826). After her boyfriend or husband's death, she does not look forward to anything because he was her world. "For nothing now can ever come to any good" (Auden 826).

In Browning's "How Do I Love Thee," she discusses her love of another, and the emotion generated for him. "I love thee with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints- I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears of all my life! - and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death" (Browning 811). 

Love is a very difficult thing to manage, whether it be the struggle of keeping the one you love, losing the one you love, or having to choose where, or for whom, one's affections truly lie. Although it is a hardship, most would argue that it is better to love, than miss out on sharing one's heart and soul with another being.

Farewell To Manzanar

Farewell to Manzanar

            Farewell to Manzanar is the story of Jeanne Wakatusuki, a Japanese girl who spent four years inside a relocation camp, and the mental journey she experienced growing up in that atmosphere. She grew up during those years by combating misunderstandings born from ignorance and racial discrimination after Pearl Harbor was bombed. The treatment she received from her father also helped her mind transfer faster to an adult’s.

            Jeanne’s father, Ko, is portrayed as an alcoholic who treated his family shamefully in order to desperately grasp onto his authority and honor. Ko was abusive to his family and almost killed Jeanne’s mother on one occasion. “Inside my own helplessness I cowered, sure he was going to kill her or hurt her very badly, and the way Mama lay there I believed she was actually ready to be beaten to death” (69). This display of hatred and abuse aided in Jeanne seeing the world in a different light than the way children view things.

            However, Jeanne’s mother was a caring woman and loved all of her children. Living in Manzanar called for Jeanne to grow up in some respects. Her mother had worked in a station that concentrated on special feeding towards infants and certain illnesses.

On December 5, a rally of Japanese men tried to revolt against the troops holding them in Manzanar, and were shot with machine guns and killed or severely injured. Jeanne could hear the sounds from inside her cabin, and knew what was happening. That helped her age into the woman that she has become today. For a child to be in the realms of a tragedy in the making is mind-altering and impossible for it to be reverted to its previous state.

            Since they were forced to live in Manzanar, Jeanne never knew where she truly belonged. Her families country was bombed, and her father was loyal to Japan but considered himself an American citizen. Jeanne possessed no citizenship and had no place to go for true acceptance in the world’s state.

            After World War II ended, Jeanne and her family were allowed to leave Manzanar, and were practically shoved out, with no place of residence. After discovering a place to live and a school to attend, she never did feel truly accepted in this country. “I smiled and sat down, suddenly aware of what being of Japanese ancestry was going to be like. I wouldn’t be faced with physical attack, or overt shows of hatred. Rather, I would be seen as someone foreign, or as someone other than American, or perhaps not be seen at all” (158). Jeanne realized that she would never feel truly accepted in America, and her mind had developed that early through the experiences she received in Manzanar and her peers. “But now I’d reached an age where certain childhood mysteries begin to make sense. This girl’s guileless remark came as an illumination, an instant knowledge that brought with it the first buds of true shame” (158).

Jeanne Wakatasuki experienced racial discrimination directly caused by World War II and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. As a result, she and her family were forced to move to a relocation camp, Manzanar in California. Jeanne was forced to grow up past her age because of the events and treatment she received there and even after she was released. Her father was an abusive and embarrassing alcoholic who relished the past, instead of dealing with the present. Her mother was somewhat distant and working, and had little time to show true affection toward Jeanne. She also lived in the center of a massacre, which killed several Japanese men in Manzanar, whom were brutally murdered with machine guns. Jeanne also felt as if she had lost all sense of citizenship and acceptance within the country she was born in and had always known. All of these events and experiences pushed her to think and act older than she was. Jeanne later states that this was the case when she visits the Manzanar camp years later with her family. “Until this trip I had not been able to admit that my own life really began there” (195). Manzanar transformed a child into an adult and sculpted it into what it is today.

How to: Pack for a Weekend Home

First, carefully select the outfits you want to wear over the weekend/whatever it is you look great in. Empty your backpack of all your school materials and fold your clothes into the bag. Go into the bathroom and grab your face wash, contacts and your toothbrush. Place them into the smallest pouch of your bag. Unplug the hair straightner and place a sock over it, as to protect your belongings from the heat, still radiating from it. Grab your cell phone charger, or else your phone will die, and you will forget the numbers you were trying to call all weekend, whose reason it was you came home in the first place. Bring your laundry bag and save yourself $3 that week by washing your clothes at home. Place each strap of the bag over your shoulder and walk up the hill, to your car, and drive.

How?

How is the story of a woman's relationship with her boyfriend, and the journey that she takes mentally throughout their years of courtship. The main character is a confused person, who doesn't appreciate what she has, and takes her boyfriend for granted.
Throughout the story, she wrestles with the idea of leaving her partner, and then creates reasons to abandon the act. At first, the text hints that the reasoning behind abandonment is because he hasn't asked her to be his wife. Her boyfriend shows that he cares for her by his actions. "When he asks what you're reading, hold it up without comment. The next day look across to the brown chair and you will see him reading it too. A copy from the library that morning. He has seven days. He will look over the top and wink, saying: Beat you, " (137). He shows interest in everything his girlfriend does, yet she still doesn't appreciate him.

She eventually cheats on him with an actor, and returns to her home late at night, pretending that she still cares for her boyfriend. The main character is very indecisive, and doesn't know what to think at first when the idea of cheating on him first comes to her. "Sleep with him once and ride home at 5 a.m. crying in a taxicab. Or: don't sleep with him. Kiss him good night at Union Square and run for your life" (137). She eventually leaves him and moves on with her life. It seems that she was a very confused individual who didn't know what she wanted from life, all she knew is that she didn't want her boyfriend.

Sonny's Blues

I really liked this story. It jumped around throughout the main character's life and his perception of what was going on around him and Sonny, but it was very easy to follow. In the end when the author personified the blues, i was glad because it showed that Sonny's brother finally understood Sonny's passion for music and jazz in a way that he previously could not relate to. The background of what happened to he and Sonny's father was a good reflection of what the main character wanted to avoid. Although Sonny went to prison, he cleaned himself up in the end and reunited with his brother, which is a positive ending. I thought it was cool.

Muh Life

I'm Jessica and this is my first year attending WMU. I have a twin sister named Sarah, and i'm rooming with her this year. My brother also goes to Western. I'm from Brighton, which is roughly 20 miles north of Ann Arbor. My major is english/creative writing and my minor is history. I love reading, especially Jane Austen and Shakespeare. I've never used a blog before so i'm not going to be very good at it. I won't be attending Western next year because i am moving to East Lansing in the fall, but i'm looking forward to this class : )