This is a very different take on describing a loved one that Shakespeare takes. Instead of listing their flaws and loving those Shakespeare is describing this person as the most beautiful person ever and that is why he loves them. The line "But thy eternal summer shall not fade" means that this person will stay this beautiful forever either in Shakespeare's memories or in reality (569). The line "nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade" meaning when death takes this person from the world he will not be happy to do so because it will be like taking a beauty from the world (569). I like the last couple lines the best "When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st./so long as men can breather or eyes can see/so long lives this and this gives life to thee" (570). Meaning that because Shakespeare describes this person's beauty in the poem their beauty will live forever as long as someone in the world can read the poem. The person is immortalized in Shakespeare's words.
I remember reading "my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" in high school and thinking that Shakespeare was being rude to his girlfriend, but upon reading it now I realize it is just the opposite. Shakespeare is not insulting his girlfriend's appearance (well he kind of is), but he is only doing so to express his love for her. He loves her through all her flaws, and he loves her because she is down to earth. He loves her because she is human. It is an unusual poem, but one that I enjoy in this new reading of it. If he had left off the last two lines the poem would of been kind of insulting, but the last to lines show how much he loves her "and yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare/as any she belied with false compare" (467). Shakespeare is basically stating that his girl does not compare to anyone else she is unique and he loves her because she is this way. It is really quite a beautiful deceleration of love.
I enjoyed Seamus Heaney's "Digging". The imagery in the poem was nice. I particularly liked the second line "The squat pen rests; snug as a gun" (686). I liked this line because comparing a pen to a gun is an interesting concept I guess in a way they are both weapons that can kill people. Literally if you are a ninja and no how to kill a person with a pen, or as in the pen can kill of characters in a story. He is basically stating the pen is my weapon of choice in this world. His father and grandfather were good at digging in the garden in order to grow and harvest potatoes. Their weapon of choice was a spade. In the end he says "but I've no spade to follow men like them" meaning he isn't built strong to dig in the garden with the spade, and he won't be a farmer as his career (687). Instead he will make his living using a pen.
I liked Marge Piercy's "Barbie Doll" I feel it accurately describes the pressures young people (though it focuses on girls guys also experience similar pressures) experience as they grow up. Though the poem was written in 1973 I believe it is still relevant to today's society. Everyone starts off an innocent child, and part of being innocent is not seeing faults with other people. Then when you grow up people start to judge you, and compare you to things. Presently the ideal American girl looks like a barbie with skinny body and perfect face. Things like healthy, strong,or intelligent don't matter people judge the outside of you. The line "She went too and fro apologizing" could indicate that she was upset that she looked that way and tried to change her appearance to please people possibly going to dangerous lengths that some people go to to change their bodies such as eating disorders. Then not only was her outside appearance judged, but also how she should behave "play coy. . .smile". Until the girl couldn't take the judgement anymore and decided to end her life. The line "to every woman a happy ending" suggesting that only in death can we be beautiful, and no longer judged.
John Donne's "The Flea" is a poem clearly about sex. Though it is kind of a gross description using the imagery of a disgusting creature like the flea having two peoples blood mixing inside them. The guy appears to be trying to convince the girl to have sex with him saying that they are pretty much already married in the flea. The line "three lives in one flea spare" could indicate making a baby. Then when he says "wherein could this flea guilty be" after the lady smushes the flea could indicate her refusing to have sex with him, and thus "aborting" their unmade baby who hasn't done anything wrong. The last few lines I am confused by and still trying to work out. It could be him saying that when they have sex she will think herself foolish for having fears about it and that when they have sex her virginity will be gone and irretrievable just like the fleas death is irreversible. This poem was pretty good it wasn't my favorite but I don't dislike it.
I found Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" a strange story. I think in the end it becomes ambiguous whether Bartleby was a ghost or not. He worked for Dead Letter Office, and he kind of just ambled around the office without a care. Also the narrator, who is Bartleby's boss, refers to Bartleby in a mystical way a few times throughout the story. It is interesting how the narrator gives into Bartleby's wishes. Even when he wants to get mad and kick him out of the office because he isn't working for some reason the way Bartleby carries himself and stays silent makes the narrator unable to do so. To the point that the narrator leaves the building because Bartleby will not leave. Even when the new tenants move in Bartleby doesn't leave he just does what he wants. Is there something supernatural affecting the narrator? Or is the sad, pathetic, lonely man that the narrator has built up as Bartleby's story in his mind makes him unable to harm this helpless creature. It was not my favorite story. I found it extremely long, drawn out, and not very entertaining or interesting.
I found "A Rose for Emily" to be a very interesting story. The ending was surprising for me as a reader, but I believe the narrator, the entire town, weren't surprised at all. They state earlier in the story that the last time they saw Homer Barron was entering Miss Emily's house, and then they talk about how the place smelled so bad that people in the houses next door were complaining, and that they covered it up with lime. Plus the reaction when they do find the body isn't full of awe or confusion. I believe that the narrator knew or at least strongly suspected that Miss Emily had killed Homer Barron and was keeping him in her house. Miss Emily was the talk of the town, a main source of gossip, and her almost love story with Homer Barron was followed very closely by the towns people. They knew when he saw Miss Emily, and they knew when he came and left town. So no one seeing him leave town after entering Miss Emily's house would cause suspicion especially if Miss Emily was just seen buying arsenic. I strongly believe that the townspeople knew that Miss Emily killed Homer Barron. To me Miss Emily is portrayed as sort of a statue or a monument of the town. The narrator says things like "fallen monument", and "a tradition, a duty, and a care...a hereditary obligation upon the town" to describe Miss Emily. She is just a person who has been in the town so long she has become part of its history. She is a relic of the town. The creepy part of the story was that in the end it is suggested that she had been sleeping with the dead body of Homer Barron, the indent in the pillow and the strand of gray hair lead me as the reader to believe this. The light coating of dust over the pillow with the indent suggests that she hadn't slept there in a while probably when she was unable to get up the stairs to the room because of her old age. What supports this theory is the fact that she died in a bed downstairs. The title of the poem indicates the laying of flowers on a coffin or a grave. I found the story entertaining and captivating.
I had read Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" before in high school, and I remember being told that the American and the girl in the story are discussing whether or not she should get an abortion, but I didn't really see where the teacher came to this conclusion. Upon rereading this story I don't know how I missed this concept when I was younger because it is very clear. From the man saying "It's really an awfully simple operation, Jig" to him saying "I'm perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you." Throughout the thing the man is trying to convince the girl to get the abortion by saying that it's no big deal. The girl is still indecisive, but she is starts to agree with the man because she wants him to be happy and love her like he did before she became pregnant. At one point she says "I don't care about me", this is her saying she doesn't care what happens to her during the procedure she only wants things to go back to how they were. The man kind of backtracks in the end and says "I don't want you to do it if you don't want to. I'm perfectly willing to go through with it if it means anything to you." Implying that it's her choice, but still subtly convincing her to get it. Her response is "doesn't it mean anything to you?" He says "Of course it does. But I don't want anybody but you. I don't want anyone else. And I know it's perfectly simple." Basically saying we could keep it if you want, but I won't love you as much once there is a child that will also have my love. At the very end when he comes back he asks if she feels better and she says "I feel fine...There's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine" This could imply that she already got the abortion and feels fine from it or it could just be her calming down from her earlier outburst. The title of the story is something that is interesting and that I am still trying to understand what the hills like white elephants stand for. Elephants are large animals which could relate to the way that she will get bigger if she goes with the pregnancy. White is a pure color which could stand for the fetus inside her that is innocent and pure. All in all I found the story interesting, but I would not consider it one of my favorites, because I don't like how the man is pressuring the woman to get the abortion. It should be her own choice.
I enjoyed reading Updike's "A&P". I liked how in the end Sammy quit and left the store even though he knew he needed the job he saw that something wrong was done, and he didn't tolerate it. I also liked how when the boss reminded him that he needed the job he completed quiting because once he started something he finishes it. I liked how the girls walked around in their bathing suits and ignored everyone's stares. They did what they felt like doing. I didn't like how the boss yelled at the girls in front of everyone, and told them they couldn't dress like that. It shows how people force their opinions onto others, and make them feel bad for doing something different then the norm. Wearing bathing suits in a grocery store is not the norm, but it also is not anything remotely bad that the manager needs to get upset about. I liked the word choice of calling the other shoppers sheep, and portraying them as animals. The story was really a simple encounter, that says a lot about society, and how different people react to things that are not generally considered normal societal behaviors.
After my first reading of Brooks' "We Real Cool" I thought that the speaker was possibly an outside watcher of the pool players being sarcastic about how cool the pool players thought they were, and kind of mocking them. This could still be a possibility, but after reading it a few more time I believe that the speaker could also be one of the pool players realizing his life choices and where they will lead to "die soon" and sort of sadly accepting his fate. I thought this because of the line breaks after the we. Though there is no comma the line break could indicate a sort of pause or sigh between the words in the sentences; this gives an air of sadness to the poem when I read it. After the third line of "We real cool" a statement. Then to back this up the speaker comes up with things that he thought made him cool but as he is stating them he is realizing that these things are not that cool, and that instead they will lead to his death soon. I enjoyed the poem and the way that if I read it different ways and interpret the words are set up differently it will mean different things, and set a very different tone of the speaker.
