Personal Choice

There are plenty of different ways one can perceive just about anything in the known world. For instance, one person could find certain joke or pun hilarious while another might find it plain stupid or even overtly rude. One might find a particular author to be a master of his craft while another might find him absolutely terrible. These differences in perception, however, are not all bad. Actually, they are quite the opposite. Varieties on perception of a specific thing not only leads to new points of view on a subject being discovered, but can also lead to artistic inspiration to help further put the minor points of view into the limelight which can then have drastic affects on the overall situation of the world. A particularly specific example of this event would be Joseph Conrad's very own Heart of Darkness. In the novel, a new and seemingly naive seaman sets out to Africa to assist with the management and shipping of trade goods from Her Majesty's colonies in Africa. However, the sailor soon learns that ,where he went to find adventure, there is nothing but tragedy, corruption, and evil in the darkness of the jungles in Africa. During the time period the book was written in, the majority of the European powers and their people ,in the terms of imperialism, perceived themselves as being righteous and just for having imperial ambitions in Africa. They would carry that notion so far as to say they were even liberators to the African and other colonial peoples from their original, "barbaric" ways of life and sought to instill true, "good" European culture in their colonial states. However, Heart of Darkness would prove to be quite the wrench in the gears of those ideas and perceptions by giving the true point of view of the situations of European colonies, specifically those under British rule. Heart of Darkness showed the public the truth of just how corrupted, evil, and disgusting the colonies were. They were not pieces of land that were continually invested in to better the lives of non-Europeans. No, they were instead invested in only for the betterment of the Europeans themselves. They were created solely for profit by any means necessary, nothing more. With this new perception reaching more mainstream attention, the vast political attitude towards colonies in other parts of the world changed in Britain. There wasn't much clamor for reform or anything like that on the mainland, but suddenly the arguments for colonization slowly became more and more invalid. Eventually, as we know, Britain lost support for keeping it's overseas land and allowed for the independence of just about every square inch, saving a few islands, to pass through its government with hardly any opposition from anyone save a select few. These kinds of events that completely shift the world stage have happened and, hopefully, will continue to happen throughout world history. It is very good when in a society the few can be heard and have the potential to become the many which in itself would have endless possibilities for things like political reform and technological growth. All with a simple scribble from a pen. 

16th Century Poem

(goes with Nick's The Passionate Shepherd to his Love)

The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd

BY SIR WALTER RALEGH

If all the world and love were young, 

And truth in every Shepherd’s tongue, 

These pretty pleasures might me move, 

To live with thee, and be thy love. 

Time drives the flocks from field to fold, 

When Rivers rage and Rocks grow cold, 

And Philomel becometh dumb, 

The rest complains of cares to come. 

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields, 

To wayward winter reckoning yields, 

A honey tongue, a heart of gall, 

Is fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall. 

Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of Roses, 

Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies 

Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten: 

In folly ripe, in reason rotten. 

Thy belt of straw and Ivy buds, 

The Coral clasps and amber studs, 

All these in me no means can move 

To come to thee and be thy love. 

But could youth last, and love still breed, 

Had joys no date, nor age no need, 

Then these delights my mind might move 

To live with thee, and be thy love.

       Sir Walter Raleigh is a 16th century author who is very well-known for his time. He wrote this poem in response to another poem by Christopher Marlowe titled "The Shepard to his Love". In Marlowe's poem, a shepherd is trying to woo a beautiful woman into being his lover because of the passion he has for her. He promises her a bed of roses and several other trinkets that would have sentimental value to attempt to reflect the girl's infinite beauty. However, as we see in this poem, she is unamused by his offer of material possessions that he himself cannot hope to procure for her. This is best shown by the lines " If all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd's tongue, These pretty pleasures might me move, To live with thee and be thy love" These lines spell out for the shepherd that the girl knows he's making promises he can't keep just so he can get her to like him more and that she would rather have him tell what he can truly give her if he ever expects to woo her. She then follows this statement up with reasons why, even if the shepherd was able to provide these material possessions, he would still be unable to woo her since everything he has promised either breaks or withers after a time. This is directly said in the lines "Thy gown, thy, shoes, thy beds of Roses, Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten." While most would see this as the shepherd's utter rejection, however, in the last stanza the girl gives the shepherd hope by basically stating that if time stood still and everything was preserved she would accept his gesture. This is quite the turn around, in my humble opinion. At first, it looks like all hope is lost for the shepherd. However, even though he is still rejected in the end, the shepherd is told that he has given a fair proposal that would even be considered acceptable to the common girl. It's just that the shepherd had come across one who is more into the long-term side of relationships and love, someone who is focused on building something to last eternity, rather than some simple trinket lover. This speaks volumes about the time period, where women were still being put forth to marriages and relationships they didn't want to be in and therefore never experienced true love. The poem shows what most of those girls would have wanted: relationships built upon foundations of mutual respect and trust that would blossom into the love of their life.

Community Read Progress (Act 1)

For my community read book I chose Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. The book follows around the Loman family, specifically the character of Willy Loman as he sees where he is now and remembers the good old days of promise and hope. What makes this book interesting is the audience is given Willy's entire way of thinking and mental state throughout the play. This, however, is not like the audience is getting everything translated from Willy's mind, however. What the audience truly gets is the completely raw, hysteric information that runs through Willy's head at any given moment, mainly being a flashback to the past and the thought of how things used to be so good for Willy back then with a comparison thrown in from the reality he lives in currently. This consistent and sometimes unexpected jolting from past to present, then back to the past soon reveals Willy's true psychological condition that his family sees to the audience and just how it feels to be in the middle of that hysteria. Constantly being reminded of failures that prevented the metaphorical gold medal of life for him from ever being reached, of how the going was so good that overconfidence caused several missteps, and how all of those missteps have led to Willy crashing down the stairs, so to speak. His warped psychological state is truly shown when Willy contradicts himself in his own speech and yet fails to realize it. This is best reflected when Willy tells his wife, Laura, that "Biff [his son] is a lazy bum!" (Miller 5) yet just a few seconds later he says "There's one thing about Biff-he's not lazy." (Miller 6). Laura doesn't even give examples of how Biff isn't lazy, Willy just changes his mind right on the spot without even acknowledging or realizing what he said previously. In the play, it's unknown up to this point what specifically causes this seeming mental discourse inside Willy's mind. It's evident to the audience that it's because of his inability to be successful, but the book has yet to reveal what specifically made success completely unobtainable. This method of approaching the plot is very intriguing to say the least. It leaves the audience 'in the dark', forcing them to reflect on what they would define as a personal world-ending event which brings out the same amount of fear and dread in the audience that Willy Lowman has for his family and the future. The book is able to put the audience in the same desperate circumstances as Willy without ever requiring the audience to have experienced a similar ordeal in the past. This makes the book fantastic to read and all the more enveloping for the audience. It's able to hit close to home just enough to make everyone concerned if they might one day experience the same fate as Willy Lowman; unsuccessful and washed-up to the point where there is seemingly no way out of this endless pit of grief and despair.

New Yorker Short Story

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/01/whoever-is-there-come-on-through

The short story Whoever Is There, Come On Through by Colin Barrett is a very vague and intriguing story that is able to force the mind to wonder what kind of tensions and strains exist within the characters as well as what are the strengths and hardships caused by friendships. The story mainly focuses on two specific characters: Eileen and Murt. Both of them are young adults and both of them live in the same small town together (as they have for seemingly their whole lives). They have also been good friends for a while now, ever since secondary school. Right out of the gate, however, it is definitely clear that Eileen and Murt have sort of this mutual awkwardness going on between them since they are both apparently picky about what they are asking and they both select subjects to talk about for specific reasons and are not completely open to one another on everything they want to ask. This already foreshadows that, despite being good friends, some time has passed that has caused Murt and Eileen to become a bit more distant from each other. This is further revealed when the book states that after Eileen takes Murt to his uncle's from the bus stop he doesn't even invite her in even though, once she gets the courage to go in herself, Murt's family wouldn't mind her company at all. This series of interactions reveals to the reader that the largest hardship of friendships is keeping in touch and catching-up with each other on a regular basis. Distance does no make the heart grow fonder, and regularly scheduled communication will ensure a last comfortableness in the friendship between the two people involved. The story right after showing the reader this, however, reveals that friendships and fondness never truly go away, since once Eileen invites herself in, Murt actually begins to come out of his seemingly depressive state a bit more and shows progress back towards that comfortable, friendly relationship with Eileen. A little later, another weakness of friendship is revealed. when Murt enters Eileen's house, he seems to almost immediately go to the bathroom only to climb out the back window to see if he could. the weakness shown is that, for a friendship to last, both parties need to want it to last. Murt's sudden disappearance from the scene for relatively no reason at all shows that his depressive state means that he can't just become best friends with Eileen again right away and will either be required to get out of this state or never rectify what the two had previously. Further into the story, however, the text is able to show another major hardship of friendship: being able to be there for each other. When Murt's brother, Jamie, is going to be a dad he throws a little gathering at the local bar to celebrate. Murt wonders if Eileen will join them, and she does. She then proceeds to get unfortunately wasted. During this time it's revealed to her that Murt is only staying with his uncle for a little while and is actually going with his mother after the party. This broods in Eileen's mind as a bad idea, since that would mean there friendship might never reach it's prime again when she feels Murt could use it most now after just getting out of the hospital. While this does end up ruining the two character's build-up, it just goes to show that friendships are fantastic to have, but do require a certain amount of maintenance to continue to function. 

Harlem Renaissance Poem

If We Must Die 
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursèd lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back! 
-Claude McKay

This poem's focus, unlike most others, is actually very straight-forward considering the time period within which it was written. The Harlem Renaissance was an artistic period in America that saw the rise of African-American authors and painters into the common view of American culture. With this newfound attention, the question of civil rights became an even more prominent issue in the country. This poem is a product of the rise in popularity of this issue. The poem calls for African Americans to rise up against the anti-black sentiment in America and stand for the civil liberties they are entitled to in the country as members of the human race. The poem also states how ,when they die, they would rather have died fighting for their cause of liberty rather than in contempt of their current situation as a shunned minority, and that even when the odds are insurmountably against them they will continue to fight for their noble rights to basic human rights. However, it is interesting how Claude McKay depicts African Americans in America as hogs because of the parallels between a hog and slave's life. Both lived in constant filth, were bought and sold by landowners, and were sometimes even slaughtered or mutilated to prevent others from attempting to escape. With slaves all being free by the time of this poem, McKay is basically calling for other African Americans to use their newfound abilities as free men who are not beaten, mutilated, and treated like filth to end what remains of segregation and their undesirablility.     

New Yorker Poem

War and Peace

Chana Bloch

I made a big wish on the evening star,
Venus, or was it Mars,
but it was a low-flying plane
headed east.

I saw the little foxes on the hillside
with their pointy red ears;
up close, a fallen branch of autumn.

When the guide clapped his hands,
the brilliant apples on the tree got frightened
and flew away.

The marriage I called Gibraltar
went down like a ship
scraping the rocky strait.

I thought the war would bring peace.
The road signs all said
This Way to the Future, so we ran out
with flag and shovel, elated, planting—

This poem is very attention-grabbing. This is not just because the title is equivalent to that of an exasperatingly long novel. The reason this poem grabs attention is because it is an exact representation of how some things are not always as they seem and how this can lead to unforeseen consequences. This is first revealed when the author makes a few simple first-sight mistakes such as thinking a plane was a star and a branch with red and orange leaves was actually a group of foxes. Then we reach a section where a guide claps his hands and the apples the author sees on the tree near them fly away. This is clearly another sight error, as apples can't fly, but there's something that separates this event from the other two. Birds are sometimes used as symbols of peace in nature (doves, for instance) and with a title like War and Peace, it only seems fitting that this event resembles a foreshadowing of events to follow involving the human race as a whole. The poem then goes on to describe how a marriage, called Gibraltar, had ended. While not being related to sight, this passage still continues to follow the same pattern as the other lines in that the marriage would be supposedly called Gibraltar for the region's beauty. However, the name ends up being applied after the marriage ends prematurely due to the notoriously rocky strait (which was clearly not the original intention of the name). The poem then ends on a cliffhanger who's conclusion can be accurately inferred based on this pattern of the unwanted being unexpected and occurring and with the previous phrase 'I thought the war would bring peace'. The inferred ending is that, while everyone thought claiming land would allow the human race to grow into the future, it only ended up causing halts to beneficial technological progress because of the wars over specific areas of land. This wraps up the poem quite nicely and brings the whole point of the poem into the big picture of the entire human race.   

Romantic Period Poem

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud 

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

I wandered lonely as a cloud 

That floats on high o'er vales and hills, 

When all at once I saw a crowd, 

A host, of golden daffodils; 

Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. 

Continuous as the stars that shine 

And twinkle on the milky way, 

They stretched in never-ending line 

Along the margin of a bay: 

Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. 

The waves beside them danced; but they 

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: 

A poet could not but be gay, 

In such a jocund company: 

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought 

What wealth the show to me had brought: 

For oft, when on my couch I lie 

In vacant or in pensive mood, 

They flash upon that inward eye 

Which is the bliss of solitude; 

And then my heart with pleasure fills, 

And dances with the daffodils.

    This poem is a very exquisite piece of writing in that it is able to romanticize what is seemingly unromanticizable: loneliness, the seeming exact opposite of romance. When one begins reading, they are immediately introduced to a whole new perspective on the subject of solitude and loneliness in life. The author describes how while he is alone he is not truly alone. He goes on to explain how this is possible by describe how he sees a crowd fluttering and dancing near him ,however the organisms in the crowd are not humans like most would suspect, but are instead daffodils in the breeze. After describing the daffodils more clearly and vividly the author further describes his surroundings on the bay and how, as a poet, he is in such jocund company with the daffodils and waves and even the stars in the sky. By the end, the author shows the reader that the place was, in fact, not real (or at least not the current surroundings of the author) but instead in the author's imagination, his 'happy place' if you will. The author, throughout the poem, continues to romanticize the solitude he feels by revealing to the reader that, while he is alone and without a companion, he is happy and longs to be in that state ,no matter whether literally or mentally.