Month: November 2020

Analyzing the Text

He moves into the woods because he wants to live deliberately, purposefully, so much so that when he dies, he will have felt that he has lived fully. It relates to his purpose in writing Walden, as he abandons the unnecessary and “spend[s] one day as deliberately as Nature” (94). Walden is how Thoreau will help the reader, and himself, do this.

Metaphor: “In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life,” which means that civilized life is full of unnecessary things and concerns. This nautical metaphor is repeated in the Conclusion, when Thoreau says “I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world” (209-211).

He is exaggerating man’s feeling of consequence, “as if the rest of mankind had stood his sentinels” (81). The purpose of this is to ridicule the feelings of importance felt by men in relation to their impact on mankind.

Thoreau argues that you are never really alone, “what sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary” (137-8). Solitude is not the distance between people as shown in line 139, but rather oneness with nature. His observations of nature develop these ideas as, “I go and come with a strange liberty in Nature, a part of herself”(114-5). Nature is full of animals, life and sound, as his observations make clear, so solitude is not lonely.

“The pond in Winter” compares the pond and the surrounding winter to “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads” (155). “Spring” compares nature, or the impression that nature gives, to “universal innocence” (195-6). In both of these Thoreau is giving a divine quality to the nature surrounding him, alluding to the bible. However, where “The Pond in Winter” is heavenly and above reproach (godly), “Spring” is animalistic but innocent (human).

Thoreau thinks that living honestly is important, that those who live simply, live best and that appreciating the small things is key. Quotes: “We will not be shipwrecked on a vain reality” (232), “Receive without misgiving” (246), “It is life near the bone where it is the sweetest” (267-8).

Thoreau’s goal was to go outside the normality of civilized life, and so when his life at Walden Pond became “tradition and conformity” (209), he needed to leave. He was able to appreciate the small things, to live his life, however mean (236). The ideas in the Conclusion connect to the introduction because they show how Thoreau “live[d] deliberately,… front[ed] only the essential facts of life” (26-7).

His style is effective because it is descriptive and reflective, allowing the reader to picture Walden pool and therefore reach the same conclusions. Thoreau wanted to show how one could live simply with nature, and his natural focus demonstrates this. His honesty in saying why he left the woods makes him a reliable narrator/trustworthy.

Analyzing the Text

The dashes make the reader pause and reflect on the words preceding the dash. In such they emphasize certain words and help clarify what is important in the poem. For example in “The Soul selects her own Society,” the dashes first help create a reflective and authoritative tone, it is impossible to read this poem quickly. Second, the repeated dashes after “unmoved” in lines 5 and 7, emphasize the steadiness and purpose of the Soul.

Death’s character is ironic because he “kindly stopped”(2) for the speaker even though the speaker is headed towards him. The point of view of the speaker allows the reader to see a kind and civilized Death, which courts his living victims even though they are all headed “toward Eternity” (24). This is ironic because Death does not need to court or stop for anyone.

The speaker in “Because I could not stop for Death” is along for the ride: the repetition of “we passed” demonstrates this. The speaker in this poem is not in charge of her destiny or her company. In comparison, the speaker in “The Soul selects her own Society” is incredibly active. As the title states, she chooses her company and instead of riding in the carriage, “unmoved”(5) she “notes the Chariots” (5) outside.

The majority in “The Soul selects her own Society” refers to the Soul’s royal or selective power in choosing who surrounds her. The majority in “Much Madness is divinest Sense” refers to the external Majority (Society) which determines what is sane and what is dangerous. We can infer from this that the poet thinks somewhat poorly of the Majority, as the Majority is selective, elitist and subjective.

They indicate that the individual is educated and knows legal terminology (as both of these words have legal connotations.) They could also indicate that the individual is a woman, as demur is a word specifically used by courtly women.

The paradox in “Tell all the truth but tell it slant” is that the speaker wants the entire truth to be told, but indirectly. This is a paradox because telling the truth indirectly is not telling all of it. The paradox in “Much Madness is divinest Sense” is that madness and sense(sanity) are not so different, when in fact they mean exact opposites. Both of these truths convey the inherent subjectivity of truth and reality — the subjectivity of life.

The poet uses this term because it refers to the internal character/personality of a person. It goes beyond the physical/material choice of a person and into the spiritual decisions of souls. Both this poem and “Because I could not stop for Death” personify the soul and reflect the activity of internal life.

Metaphors: “the Setting Sun,” “Fields of Gazing Grain,” “Dews drew quivering and chill.” These metaphors express the natural and inevitability of death. She pairs these metaphors with the kindly, courtly Death so as to show that Death is a friend, a way into Immortality.

Analyzing the Text

The narrator means to tell the truth in a circular way, to get at the truth in an indirect way, through the “Circuit” (2).

The narrator compares this with “as Lightning to the Children eased”(5). The comparison works because the narrator wants the Truth to “dazzle gradually” (7), or for the bright light of the truth to take place slowly and softly (to ease into place).

Analyzing the Text

The main criteria for madness and sense is the Majority, which decides what is mad and what is sane, “’Tis the Majority/In this, as All, prevail.” The speaker is also saying that madness is sanity and vice versa.

Paraphrase: If you agree, you are sane, but if you disagree you will be considered mad and dangerous, perhaps locked away. The diction makes the theme of a majority consensus clear here, as all those that would disagree may find themselves, “handled with a Chain” (8).

Analyzing the Text

These places are a reminder of time passing, a child grows into an adult and heads to death, grain grows and then is picked and dies. These are places where Death is active.

The speaker’s attitude in the first three stanzas is rather light-hearted, a friendly trip with Death, as shown by the use of words like “kindly” (2) and “Civility” (8). This changes in stanza four when the speaker realizes she is seeing her own eventual demise (the death of all things in the end). The transition is evident with the diction and line, “He passed Us” (13) and “chill” (14).

Analyzing the Text

Dickinson means that the Soul closes the door to anyone she does not chose, “selects her own Society” (1). It changes the tone because it give the Soul selective power/authority.

The Soul is unmoved. The repetition creates rhythm and emphasizes the unfazed nature of the Soul.

Critical Vocabulary

When almost all of the neighbors on the block had small children, many of them continually asked me to babysit. Requests for my services abounded.

At my mother”s college graduation, the ceremon was opened with an invocation.

I showed timidity when I met President Barack Obama beause he is such an influential and intelligent world leader, I was awestruck.

I used subtlety when I asked my dad for a raise because I wanted him to see for himself that it was a good idea.

Analyzing the Text

Her Asian identity (what her face looks like).

The third paragraph uses alien in the sense of different and unfamiliar, “We have indeed been seen as other and alien” (24-5). The fourth paragraph uses it in the sense of legal alienness, “aliens, ineligible for citizenship” (34-5). This contributes to the power of Noda’s essay as it reinforces the confusion of identity as even the terms used against her have different meanings.

It summarizes her argument by placing the identity of the community and her past above her own desires for individual identity. It recalls the inside face (20), or the “grounding in community and a connection with culture and history” (16-17).

The scene with her uncle shows that Noda understands that the California Japanese are not “victims” (83) or “passive” (92), but rather that they pick and choose their battles. She is not devastated by her uncle’s anger because his anger makes him active and vocal, the opposite of what frightens her (89).

It is the most difficult part because it meant accepting her connection to her mother (171). In her mother Noda saw “all that I feared most in myself” (172-3). This goes back to the beginning of the story which mentions Noda’s fear of silence and passivity (89).

Noda means that her mother’s ‘feminism’ is neither white not black; it is different and so takes on a different form. When Noda looks for a “model of strength” (173-4) she does not see it in her mother (at first) and instead finds examples in black and white feminist. Therefore this ties into her larger point about coming to understand her parents better, since as she grows older she sees that her mother is an example of strength (through the anecdote about the grandmother).

Her identity as a Japanese American woman includes her racially Japanese identity (the cultural aspect as shown by the folk tale (224-231)) and her identity as Japanese American (the external aspect, as shown by the emphasis on geography). She takes these ideas and consolidates them with her feminine identity.

She uses this folk song to show how her mother is the link between different identities, “the nursemaid is the intersection of heaven and earth, the intersection of the human, the natural world, the body, and the soul” (132-4). In such, in claiming these qualities for her mother, Noda connects them to herself. Through understanding her mother, Noda is able to understand herself.

Noda’s purpose for writing this is twofold. It helps her reach acceptance with her own identity as a Japanese American woman (as shown in the concluding line). The story also helps characterize the struggle of Japanese Americans and portrays the racial tensions in America (as shown in the introductory paragraph).

Analyzing the Text

It is an appropriate introduction because it emphasizes the individual and the universal (2-3) as well as introduces the theme of localized identity (6). In the last stanza the poet defines what his poetic vision will be, “I permit to speak at every hazard,/ Nature without check with original energy” (12-3). These are the essential themes of the entire poem.

These lines suggest the impact of the poem, that his message, which is “untranslatable” (2), will spread nonetheless and be good for America, “You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,/ But I shall be good health to you nevertheless” (11-12). It reinforces the poet’s ties to nature as, “I effuse my flesh in eddies” (8). It is a fitting end to the poem as it addresses the poet’s message’s impact on the audience, or the significance of the entire poem.

In section 6, the large theme introduced is the universality of American life and experience which can be nurtured by the poet. In section 52, the main theme has to do with the message’s (created from the grass introduced in section 6) impact on the reader. They offer insight on the process of poetry, from the tools used to the product’s impact.

Section 1 and Section 33 communicate Whitman’s idea that “what I assume you shall assume,/ for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” (Section 1: 2-3). There is a bond which unites all humanity, the bond of experience and empathy. In Section 33, Whitman shows this through his account of different heroes and then saying, “All this I swallow, it tastes good, I like it well, it becomes mine” (10). In such, what belongs to the one, belongs to the other and therefore unites everyone.

Lines 8-12 of section 6 clearly show this voice when the speaker uses lines like, “in broad and narrow zones” (9), “growing among black…as among white” (10) and “I give them the same” (11). The voice here is inclusive of all races and ages, it is “uniform” (8). In lines 14-25 of Section 33, this voice is shown when the poet says, “All these I feel or am” (16). The poet lists heroes and martyrs across gender, race, age and class, which is highly democratic. The poet takes on the suffering of those listed and makes them his own, “I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person” (24).

Free verse is the best vehicle because it allows the poet to move freely, naturally from theme to theme. Nature is big topic of Whitman’s and so that his poetry should be unconstrained and organic, makes sense. The reason for this is seen in Section 1, the last line “Nature without check with original energy” (13). His poetry therefore must be unconstrained by rhyme or rhythm

In section 1, the poet says “My tongue…form’d from this soil” (6) and then “born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same” (7). This indicates that the poet (Whitman) is from this place here (America) and that his tongue (poetry) is made up of America. Then the poet indicates the transcendental nature of his being, going into the past and bringing it into something new. We see also the focus on geography. In section 6, the poet says “sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones,/ growing among black folks as among white” (9/10). This suggests the equalizing role taken on by the poet. In section 52, the speaker makes himself one with nature, suggesting the incarnation of nature in the poet, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love” (9).

Analyzing the Text

He uses “untranslatable” to reference the speaker’s voice, in other words, this poem. He then uses “barbaric yawp” to suggest that that is what the speaker’s message sounds like, untranslated. It suggests that Whitman understands his poetry is different from other poetry.

This section (4-8) is full of movement words, “holds” (4), “flings” (5), “coaxes” (6), “depart” and “shake” (7), “effuse” and “drift” (8). Furthermore, the line arrangements suggest transformation, or movement from one thing into another (like in line 6). The sense of movement creates vitality as the passage is full of energy.

Analyzing the Text

“rudderless wreck” (3), “Death chasing” (4), “knuckled tight” (5), “We will not desert you” (7), “ would not give it up” (9). Whitman opens with this because it is the story of a hero, which is the focus of this poem. This anecdote literally tells the reader everything that the next lines will be about.

“breast-bone broken” (26), “buried me” (27), “heat and smoke” (28), “shouts (28), “distant clicks” (29), “red” (31) “hush” (31), “white” (33), “fades…light” (34). This passage is ripe with sensory detail. The beginning creates a feeling of oppression and claustrophobia, this is followed by auditory details which creates a feeling of helplessness and distance. Then colors come in to visually create a contrast between the red of the fireman (blood) and the white faces. All these senses then begin to fade with the light. Whitman uses sensory details to make the reader intimately feel the fireman/hero’s plight.

Analyzing the Text

“Or I guess” audibly ties together stanzas 3, 4 and 5. Each time “Or I guess” is repeated the idea of what grass is becomes more abstract and undefined. It begins as a product of God, then it becomes the child of nature and it ends as a free thing moving independently across race.

Making it a list emphasizes the sound of “old men and mothers” (24), “you and old men” (25), “women and children” (26). The repetition and listing drills these words into the reader’s mind so that the conclusion of 27-32 makes sense. The change in form emphasizes a solution to the problem posed above.

The grass can be any number of things, but one of those things is life itself. The poet/speaker tell us “the smallest sprout shows there is really no death”(27) and in such, the continuance of life beyond the boundaries of time, race, location and situation. We see here the universal quality of grass/life.

Analyzing the Text

These lines “celebrate” (1) the speaker as an individual by emphasizing his impact on what will be said (line 2). However, the speaker also represents others with line 3, which creates similarities between the speaker and the audience “belonging to me as good belongs to you.”

The lines are long, like a long breath and so feel natural and organic. This ties into the meaning as the content discusses the physicality of being, “blood,” “form’d from this soil” (6). It is grounded in the now, which is reinforced by line 7. Line 7 takes the physical now of his being into the past, where his parents and grandparents existed, also on this soil. We visually see length and the content echoes this sense of past history

The last line “Nature without check with original energy” is the motto of his school of thought. The poet tell us what his poetry will be like, natural and energetic, tied to the here and now and free of formal constraint (without check).

Analyzing the Media

Patrick Henry delivered his speech entitled, “Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death” in 1775 with the purpose of liberating Virginia from British colonial rule. It is considered a foundational US document because the speech encouraged the residents of Virginia to take action against the British government. Henry spoke about how the colonizers were using America only for resources.

Critical Vocabulary

I possess life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as unalienable rights. These rights are God given, so no person can take them away from me.

My friend forgot my birthday, so she gave me a gift a week later.

I have tried to understand quantum physics, but I am still unable to figure it out.

I am allergic to most animals, so I could help clean litter in the parking lot.