Sylvia Plath's Morning Song

I chose Sylvia Plath’s “Morning Song” for my first poem in the poetry journal. It is an incredibly interesting, seemingly simple, but actually highly complex poem that centers around the birth of an infant and the relationship between that infant and his mother.

The first stanza:
Love set you going like a fat gold watch.
The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry
Took its place among the elements.

In this first stanza, Plath personifies life in order to depict the creation of this child. I think it is interesting that the creation of the child is compared to a “fat gold watch.” A gold watch is obviously very valuable, so it would appear that the creation of the child is a prized, memorable moment. At the same time, a watch is a simple, material object, thus how could it be compared to something so precious as a child’s birth? This discrepancy requires further analysis to sort out. Furthermore, the image of the watch similarly evokes the image of time. With time in the picture, it is almost as if, when the baby was born, the clock started clicking, and she started losing life immediately. In a less grim picture, you can view the image of time as a symbol of how much life the baby has yet to live.

Continuing into the second stanza:
Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue.
In a drafty museum, your nakedness
Shadows our safety. We stand round blankly as walls.

This stanza attempts to depict human awe at the birth of the child; however, the imagery creates a very cold, unwelcoming mood. The baby is compared to a “new statue,” something to be put onto display and admired. Yet, when you think about it, statues have no human qualities. They are forced to be perfect, given no chance to experience mistakes, emotion, or change. They are also constantly on display for anyone to critique. It appears that Plath is insinuating that the baby will live his/her life under the critical eye of the world, constantly subject to nit-picking and insults. The idea that the baby’s new home is a “drafty museum,” furthers the idea that those around the statue baby are cold, heartless people. I have difficulty comprehending, “your nakedness/ shadows our safety.” Does shadow mean to cover-up or to mimic? Also, safety in what? Maybe safety in normalcy?

Stanza 3:
I'm no more your mother
Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow
Effacement at the wind's hand.

This stanza continues to evoke a very distressing tone. Plath paints a very ephemeral image, a cloud being pushed away by the wind, as if the relationship between the mother and her child is constantly growing more distant.

Stanza 4/5:
All night your moth-breath
Flickers among the flat pink roses. I wake to listen:
A far sea moves in my ear.

One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and floral
In my Victorian nightgown.
Your mouth opens clean as a cat's. The window square

For me, the mood changes dramatically in these stanzas. The speaker, instead of feeling distant from the child, now appears to be connected with it. Although, the child’s cry, when compared to a “far sea,” does appear very distant. Plath depicts a mother, laden with milk in her breast (“cow-heavy”) caring for her distressed child in the early hours of the morning. Presumably, it is this child’s cry that is the morning song.

Stanza 6:
Whitens and swallows its dull stars. And now you try
Your handful of notes;
The clear vowels rise like balloons.

It’s interesting that the only time Plath splits a sentence between two stanzas is between stanzas 5 and 6, although I am not sure the purpose of this enjambment. Here, Plath describes the sun awakening (“The window square/ Whitens and swallows its dull stars”). She describes the breaking of the dawn from the perspective of the child’s room, making the world seem incredibly small.

On a final note, I am still struggling with defining the purpose of the poem. What is Plath really trying to say? To me, it seems like a bitter-sweet message, for she describes some very sentimental moments between a mother and child, but at the same time, she sees a grim future for the child. It almost seems like a comparison between innocence and experience, as in Blake’s poetry.

AP Lit Resolutions

So begins another semester in AP Lit, and the class is already in full swing! With a final quote journal for Frankenstein, another poetry journal, an allusion project, and two books on file due, there is no shortage of work to do in AP Lit, but it is definitely not unmanageable. A new semester means better organization and more preparation, or at least that's what we can tell ourselves, and I am going to try my best to follow my new AP Lit Resolutions in order to happily accomplish my assignments painlessly and punctually.

1. One poem a week, with two weeks to do my own personal poem. (I mostly did this last semester, though I did have to finished two poems on the last weekend, and even that was a little much.) If I follow this schedule for the poetry journal, I will finish it before my birthday (March 28 if anyone cares ) and before spring break (because no offense to the poets, but I'd rather not read poetry while on the beach, no matter how handsome the poet). I have even picked out for of the poems I will due and their accompanying critical articles: Morning Song by Sylvia Plath, A Drop fell on the Apple Tree by Emily Dickinson, A Divine Image by William Blake, and Morning at the Window by T.S. Eliot. I am attempting not to show favoritism towards modernist poets, but I may be miserably failing. Please let me know. If it helps any, I plan on choosing a romantic poem for my last one.
2. Blog every week. I pretty much did that last semester, except for the last blog, I sort of lost my motivation there. Don't worry, though, I put my senioritis on the back burner considering my New Years Resolution is to graduate...
3. As I explained in #1, don't wait to do anything until the last minute. I have already picked out my critical articles for the Books on File and started my research for the allusion project. Doing a little work everyday means a lot less AP Lit-induced stress, which may be more difficult to deal with when senioritis takes control of me.
4. Read all the books, which, for the record, I have always done. (Except I never finished Peace like a River, please don’t tell on me.) This is something that I would like to continue doing, not start doing.
5. Keep working hard on analysis, especially on time writings. I really want to get a “9” one day, if that is even possible. I will continue to work hard on my analyzing skills and attempt to improve my style in time writings, which occasionally falls apart when I am a little rushed.

I figure if I can follow all of these rules, I will do well in my 2nd semester of AP Lit, and not turn into one of Mrs. Clinch’s horror stories. Then, I can fulfill my New Year’s Resolution and Mrs. Clinch can happily watch us graduate.

This is Just to Say

I have almost finished my poetry project and have completed 8 poems. I started working on my 9th poem –“This is Just to Say” by: William Carlos Williams; however, I am having a particularly hard time with this poem, for the simple fact that Williams usually crams tons of meaning into simple images, leaving small, subtle hints that lead to the true meaning behind his words.
This Is Just to Say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
William Carlos Williams (1934)
First of all, it seems the narrator of the poem has betrayed the trust of someone close to him. He ate the plums even though he knew someone wanted to use them for breakfast. This not only shows very little respect for the desires of those around him, but also demonstrates very little willpower, almost as if the plums were so enticing he had no power to say no. Such lack of willpower almost seems sexual, although I do not necessarily see much evidence to support this assertion.
In addition, I attempted to analyze the connotation of plums in the poem. Why would Williams select this fruit over others? Plums are very soft a juicy on the outside; however, at the center, they have an impenetrable, painful-to-chew pit. This almost seems comparable to the narrator, who on the surface appears innocent and childlike –slyly eating a plumb. Yet, upon closer inspection, he appears to have a darker, more forceful, and more sexual persona. Like the shunned, hidden, and disliked pit of a peach, these qualities in the narrator are hidden from the world because few would openly condone such characteristics in a person. The dictionary also states that a plum is a highly desired position or award. By eating someone’s plums, the narrator could have almost prevented a person from achieving or receiving something they really wanted, as if he was literally taking away their plum or desired position.
It is also interesting to note that the narrator demands forgiveness; he does not ask for it, but rather asserts, “Forgive me.” I think this furthers my above observations that the narrator is an extremely forceful, possible violent person. He first takes away something useful from someone close to him, both literally and figuratively, and then does not apologize but rather demands forgiveness. This assertion seems rather abusive, suggesting a highly dangerous relationship.
Finally, the last two lines seem to confirm the above sentiment. At first, Williams says the plums are very “sweet,” as is true for many beginning relationships during the first few weeks. However, he ends with saying that the plums are very “cold,” which is what his relationship with the unspoken person has turned into –cold, violent, and abusive. By not ending the poem with punctuation, Williams suggest that this violence and abuse will not come to an end anytime soon and that the narrator will continue to take his beloved’s plums.
If you see any more important aspects of the poem, please tell me. Many of my assertions are conjectures, and I need more evidence to back them up. I am also unsure as to how to approach the title.

Turkey Time! Last blog before break

I guess I will start by talking about the timed writing we did today. It was a very interesting piece we read, and I really enjoyed it. I thought that Sylvia’s climb to the top of the tree had a lot to do with her loss of innocence, although I am not sure there is enough evidence in the passage to really make a solid conclusion on this topic. What I did focus on was the various extended metaphors in the passage. For one, the author draws a comparison between the strength of the tree and the strength of Sylvia. The comparison demonstrates Sylvia’s ability to not only overcome this feat, but many others in the future. Furthermore, as is demonstrated by her metaphorical ability to fly at the end of the passage, the journey allows Sylvia to discover her own strength, transition away from the weak, dependent child she had previously been.
Moreover, the climb enlightens Sylvia, and by the end, she sees the world in an entirely different light than she had before. Like the rising sun, a light bulb in Sylvia goes off. She goes from being on the ground, limited in her line of sight and by comparison, her amount of knowledge. However, her adventure through the tree branches makes Sylvia privy to a brand new universe. She sees new parts of the world and expands her horizons, showing that she has awoken from her sleep and has begun to see the great, limitless nature of the world.
Moving on, I personally love Grendel (A LOT more than I liked Beowulf). First of all, Grendel’s snarky, humorous attitude is without-a-doubt entertaining and to some, perversely endearing. As a reader, I can’t help but associate with Grendel as he attempts to grasp the concepts of the world. Like a misguided teenager, he is trapped between the meaningless depths of atheism and the seemingly more poetic, purposeful call of Christianity. He has difficulty compromising his hopes and desires with his observations, knowing that his heart will lead him away from his brain’s warnings. He wants to believe the glorious words of the humans. He wants to believe he has a purpose, but he knows what they say is all a lie and that their version of history is completely skewed. Thus, he remains trapped, as he was in the beginning in the tree, waiting for someone to pull him out and direct him along. Unfortunately, he has grown too old for his mother to be his knight in shining armor. In a possibly misguided light of hope, he visits the dragon hoping that he will dig him out of the hole of confusion. However, there he finds, as was the case in other places, that the answer can only come from within. In the end, the book is a journey, possibly of a hero making sacrifices not only for himself, but also for the good of human kind that craves the good/evil structure.
I am very excited to see what the story holds. Hopefully the humans won’t destroy Grendel’s sarcasm.

Reflections on Week's Work

I want to start by saying that I am very excited about the grade I received on my The Picture of Dorian Gray essay. I worked very hard on it, and I am really glad Mrs. Clinch enjoyed reading it.
Also, I would like to add one more observation about Beowulf that, because we are now reading John Gardner’s Grendel, is still pertinent. During the discussion, I pointed out the lack of strong women in the poem. The only truly powerful female character was the sinister, outcast Grendel’s mom. What readers should also notice is that women are rarely given names in this novel. The poem often lists out the names the sons in a family and then refers to the daughters simply by the title “daughter” or as possessions of their husbands, for example “Othella’s queen.” Not only that, but the most feared creatures in the novel –Grendel and his mom –are termed “fatherless creatures.” This suggests that the Anglo-Saxons believed a child needed a father, not just a mother, to be well-bred and respected. Supposedly we will be hearing more of this in Grendel so I am very excited!
I also did some research on the zodiac signs to help learn more about how the author is using them in Grendel. According to astrology.com, aries is ruled by Mars, the Roman God of War. This enhances Grendel’s battle with the Danish people. Furthermore, I think it’s ironic that Grendel initiates such a war and causes such death in the middle of spring, a season devoted to the creation of life. Gardner may use this to add irony to the story. Furthermore, the sign aries is heavily associated with the element fire. This association foreshadows the introduction of the dragon into the story. Readers already know the unpleasant nature of said dragon for Grendel said he “was not a friend.”
I want to conclude with some things I noticed while analyzing more poetry. I began looking at W. H. Auden’s “The Unknown Citizen”. The title of the poem alludes to “The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,” suggesting that the citizen has faceless and nameless. By undermining the necessity of personalizing the subject of the poem, Auden begins to demonstrate the cookie-cutter people his government is creating. He further underscores this idea through his reference to Ford Motors Inc. when he talks about “Fudge Motors Inc.” Ford Motors Inc. invented the assembly line, mass-producing parts. Similarly, in the society Auden is criticizing, the government mass-produces people so that they are all alike and so that they all conform to the government. You can see that Auden is being sarcastic and crude through his many hyperboles. For example, he says that “everything necessary to the modern man” is “a phonograph, a radio, a car and a Frigidaire.” Clearly, this is an overexageration of man’s true necessity; however the affect creates irony and underlines Auden’s critical tone.
This is all for this week. I look forward to our upcoming timed writing and lit circles.

Lit Discussions :)

I want to start by discussing AP Lit discussions. Disclaimer: I LOVE DISCUSSIONS. Because I am a very opinionated person, especially when it comes to literary works, discussions are one of my favorite parts of lit class. However, discussions can often become tedious or rushed, due to many reasons. Much to my frustration, many students do not prepare their discussion work before coming to class. I'll admit; a few times I have been extremely busy and unable to complete the assigned discussion work. That being said, it is really upsetting when I put in all the work and other people in my discussion wait until the last minute to prepare for the group discussion. As a result of this, they contribute very little if at all, affecting the grades of everyone in the discussion. So, please, DO YOUR WORK, or at least do most of it. For example, actually read the book/play. That would be a great start. I know many people in the class, including me, would appreciate it very, very much.
Moreover, have an open mind. During a walking discussion, or even a simple group discussion, I sometimes change my stances on certain issues. This is because I listen to what other people have to say (or try to, sometimes I understand that it is difficult...) Nevertheless, it is unnatural to never, ever, 100% of the time, change sides. If you are truly listening to the well-thought-out, fascinating arguments of your peers, you might see that certain issues aren't black-and-white. Understanding others viewpoints is vital to an interesting, intellectual discussion.
Also, and while I understand this is difficult, timing is often an issue when it comes to discussions. I think an effective discussion would be spread over two or three class periods. By doing this, students wouldn't feel so pressured to speak whenever there is a pause, giving everyone more time to look closely at an issue and find useful and insightful textual evidence. Furthermore, the shyer kids would be given more chance to speak up because discussions wouldn't be so hectic and stressful. Again, I understand that this is difficult; however, maybe devoting more time to each work would be the solution. The class could then read one or two less novels in class and, in stead, be assigned those books over Christmas break or Spring Break. (Of course, assign really interesting books during those time periods, like A Thousand Splendid Suns, because no one will honestly be able to focus on a 400 page, old English novel while they are partying in Panama City or whatever.)
Finally, I'm not sure everyone should have a discussion "role". Really interesting discussions are based on simple questions. I think that for class discussions everyone should come prepared with their own questions as well as answers/support to some questions you have provided for us. Then, during smaller group discussions, students can just come prepared with questions (and possibly a summary of the section) and proceed for there. It makes the groups discussions a little more engaging and slightly less hectic (because everyone isn't trying to get their role sheets read). Again, discussions are always more interesting when they are fluid and relaxed, something hard to achieve when everyone has their own agenda.
These are just my thoughts. I really do love discussions which is why I feel so passionately about the issue. I would never want to get rid of something so vital to an English class though I think the system could always use some improvements, mostly on the part of the student...

"A Doll's House" Timed Writing

This weekend, while studying for Monday’s timed writing, I began noticing a different side to Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” that I had never noticed before. It was clear that Kristine and Nora were foils in more ways than one. While Nora was a member of the so-called “doll house” and a rich, comfortable wife and mother, Kristine was a poor, widowed, and childless outsider. The different lifestyles of the two women seemingly make them opposites. However, this is not necessarily the case. In previous years, Kristine incessantly worked for her family –to make them happy and comfortable—and never worked for herself. Instead of relishing the freedom that came after her mother’s death, Kristine instead felt a great “emptiness” for she no longer had anyone to work for and please. Looking at Nora’s life, Kristine desires that ideal life where she can be a wife and mother devoted to the happiness of others. This can best be seen by Kristine’s exuberant reaction to her revived relationship with Torvald near the end of the play. Just as in previous years, Kristine now lives for another again, able to be a doll to someone else’s needs. Through this character, Ibsen shows that Victorian age women, even with experience and independence, will desire to be part of a dollhouse. Thus, no one in that society can escape the dollhouse.
Similarly, Nora also works to please others throughout her life. Throughout her marriage with Torvald, she consistently bows to his and the children’s needs. When Torvald is sick, she risks her honor and forges a signature to save his life. Subsequently, she works for years, giving up only her own goodies, to pay off this loan. Just like Kristine, Nora shows an inherent sense of selflessness and desire to please. Because of their ingrained nature, Nora, even after she leaves and finds independence, will always desire to be part of the doll house. Whether she will go back to Torvald or find another man, it is likely that Nora will return to situation similar to the one she is leaving.
In looking at the play in this manner, you must also consider the fact that Nora willingly leaves the dollhouse while Kristine’s “dollhouse” was taken from her. Also, Kristine’s life was never ideal ; thus she has never known the problems experienced when living in a doll-like state. These two differences may be enough to change Nora’s fate. Because she knows the ugliness of the dollhouse, she may never choose to return, as did Kristine who never felt the weight of perfection.
Even if Nora will eventually choose to return to a dollhouse-like household, should she still leave Torvald? It may be possible for her to find a slightly more respectable husband; although, if the dollhouse state must persist, then Nora will always remain cushioned and babied. Even still, Nora may be able to find a husband sufficiently concerned with her well-being and who truly loves her, unlike Torvald who only cares about his reputation. However, does finding a slightly better husband justify Nora leaving her children? After I have thought about it, I am very conflicted on this issue, simply because there are so many factors and parties involved. In the end, I don’t know if there is any right answer, and Nora may discover what is best for her on her journey.
P.S. Mr. Gay might do A Doll’s House for the next drama production. I’m really excited because I love this play!