An Original Poem in the Style of Randall Jarrell

By Andrew Nelson and Ben Trube

As a child when we realize,

that the world could be conquered

Simply to the count

of one, two, three...acquired.

It, in an hour of meditation

which everyone finds during the day,

the thought of weakness siege

and mentally waylay.

Death reprises her unholy mark

by way of man's hornet-sting

born to die and born to kill

two halves of one whole.

I languish in contempt for the dead

Solemnly resting in their shallow graves.

I've lost all right to life

let alone to endure its crushing, painful waves.

And from my passing grows,

a world less fraught with strife;

denied the unbearable pain of war.

---

While creating this poem, we aimed to replicate several of the common qualities of Randall Jarrell's poems. These include occasional end rhyme, as can be seen in the second and second to last stanzas, and the use of hyphenated modifiers. Others include the frequent use of appositive phrases, also seen in the poem. Counting, as is used in "Eighth Air Force," has been utilized, and the idea of a child realizing the truth about life and the world - in that it's not all it's cracked up to be - can also be seen. In terms of structure, Jarrell often puts powerful adjectives in front of his nouns, adding more detail. These adjectives are generally very strong, helping to paint the overall picture that he is trying to get across to the reader. Perhaps the most important parts of Jarrell's style that are exemplified here are his use of negatively charged diction and the topics of death and war. The diction is displayed throughout, including "languish," "strife," and "contempt." As well, the heavy overtones of death and war are shown in the diction, as well as the overall "gist" of this poem. This can be seen in the use of "siege" and "conquered," and the phrase "born to die and born to kill..." 

Randall Jarrell and His Use of Allegory

By Ben Trube


Allegory can be defined as "a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning throughconcrete or material forms; figurative treatment of onesubject under the guise of another." The acclaimed poet and literary critic Randall Jarrell is well known for his expert use of this literary tool in his poems. In doing this, he could paint a picture through his poetry that not only provided a literal meaning, but also a second, deeper one. As said by Professor Stuart Christie, his use of allegory allowed him to fashion his poems "so as to serve a dual purpose: first, of transcending the text and context of the world as given..." ("Jarrell's Allegories"). Throughout the poetry assignment, I have been primarily focusing on two of Jarrell's poems: "90 North" and "Next Day." When analyzed, both of these works reflect this idea of an allegorical style, in that they allow the reader to glean a second, deeper meaning from the poem - as opposed to solely the superficial one that results from little to no analysis.


In another of Christie's essays, "Mecanics of allegory in Randall Jarrell," he says this: "Yet, for Jarrell, the story a poem tells...a functional process driven by the listener's root dissatisfaction with the world as it is, as well as with the world the story describes." This idea is best displayed in "Next Day." The subject of this poem is an older woman who - as it would appear through reading the story - was once beautiful, but has seemed to lose her luster as she has grown older: "I am afraid, this morning, of my face. / It looks at me / From the rear-view mirror, with the eyes I hate, / The smile I hate. Its plain, lined look / Of gray discovery / Repeats to me: “You’re old.” That’s all, I’m old." (Next Day) On the shallow end of interpretation, one can utilize Christie's statement and gather that she truly, deep down, is dissatisfied with the way she has aged and longs for the days when she was beautiful. However, with analysis that makes us put on our metaphorical floaties and venture into the deep end of analysis, one can find that there is a second meeting which, as said in the first paragraph, transcends the text itself. One can glean from "Next Day" not only a perspective regarding old age and how one looks, but the struggle that the character has mentally and emotionally with the fact that even the most beautiful work of art by the most famous artist will fade over time. The idea of wisdom to facts regarding this and others directed towards the general bleak outlook on life and how it is solitary and simply a journey towards death which is portrayed in this poem also appears in "90 North" and is likely representative of Jarrell's feelings as he aged. This adds to the poem significantly in that it gives us depth and insight not only into life, but into the mind of the author: which is something which we do not often get an opportunity to do.

"90 North" also contains a good example of meaning that transcends the literal text, though the two are more closely tied than in "Next Day," as the end of the poem references what Jarrell was "going for," seen here: "...Is worthless as ignorance: nothing comes from nothing, / The darkness from the darkness. Pain comes from the darkness / And we call it wisdom. It is pain" ("90 North"). As was referenced in "Next Day," the deeper meaning which Jarrell embeds in his poem forms from the narrator/subject becoming "wise" to the workings of the Universe and the facts of life. Here, the facts learned include that what one dreams about isn't always what it's cracked up to be, and that after a certain point, all of an individual's steps are "south" - meaning that they are traveling towards the inevitable death that awaits man. Jarrell's use of allegory in this poem contributes much more depth to the poem when analyzed, providing a wealth of knowledge which can be gleaned simply by a little bit of close analysis of the poem.

In conclusion, an important part of what made Randall Jarrell's poetry great was his use of allegory. By using it, he added a significant amount of depth to his poems: give a reader much more to analyze and providing insight into the philosophical workings of the world and life as we know it: whether that be regarding the fading of beauty or the journey towards an inevitable death that we call life.

Links:
"Jarrell's allegories" : Academic OneFile: http://bit.ly/KAwGYo
"Mechanics of Allegory in Randall Jarrell": Academic OneFile: http://bit.ly/N1SiOo
"90 North": http://bit.ly/JxLM3l
"Next Day": http://bit.ly/waFb9L
Stuart Christie Info: http://bit.ly/KS46Pr

(764 Words)
***Note: As Andrew and I were doing separate posts, I was curious as to how many links I actually needed to have from credible/outside sources. It said three on the assignment sheet, but did that mean three each or between the two of us? If it is, indeed, the former then I will do my best to work another in there. Thanks!

Randall Jarrell: A Man of War

Randall Jarrell expressed his deep passion for poetry and literature through harsh criticism. His style lent itself to another love of his, the battlefield. In 1942 He left the University of Texas at Austin for the United States Air Force. He found a common link between war and literature in "a job title he considered the most poetic in the Air Force," a celestial navigation tower operator. Jarrell romanticized the theater of war as so meny writers before him had. Suzanne Ferguson writes in Poetry of Randall Jarrell, about his use of theme as "relatively few and closely related as they evolve through his thirty-year writing career: in the poems of the thirties, the 'great Necessity' of the natural world and the evils of power politics; in the poems of the early forties, the dehumanizing forces of war and ways to escape or recover from these through dreams, mythologizing, or Christian faith; in the poems of the fifties, and continuing into the sixties, loneliness and fear of aging and death, again opposed by the imagination in dreams and works of art; and in some of the last poems, the defeat of Necessity and time through imaginative recovery of one's own past." As she observes Jarrell focuses upon war and the human reaction to war. In his poem The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner, Jarrell parallels feelings of intimate human connection and complete detachment from human emotion. Key words like "froze" and "nightmare" signal the lack of communication, while on the other hand "mother's sleep" and "dream of life" encapsulate the desires of all peoples, to live comfortable and to continue living. 

The Death of a Ball Turret Gunner

From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, 

And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.

Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,

I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.

When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

Jarrell's great fixation in the forties was on death and dying, this work would rise to be celebrated as his truest and best remembered work. Hayden Carruth said "a considerable bulk of poetry ... the war poems make a distinct, superior unit." He wrote this in Nation to remember an author he cared about. He further believed that war had changed him even though he had only been a pilot instructor for Air Force in World War II. Jarrell's clean and well practiced poetry became more scattered and punctuated after the violent shock he encountered during the war; Carruth notes this same change "His early poems are sometimes mannered or imitative, and often artificially opaque; but from the first, he wrote with ease, and suffered none of the verbal embarrassment customary among young poets. When the war came he already possessed a developed poetic vocabulary and a mastery of forms. Under the shock of war his mannerisms fell away. He began to write with stark, compressed lucidity." These works would bring death to the forefront of his mind as his career continued, to consume him in the last years of his life. Still debated is the question of Jarrell's alleged suicide on U.S. 15-501. His close friend Robert Lowell wrote to Elizabeth Bishop "There's a small chance [that Jarrell's death] was an accident. . . [but] I think it was suicide, and so does everyone else, who knew him well." With a somewhat tragic yet average end to his life, Jarrell is one to be remembered as a man of passion and conviction. In his constant search for knowledge, he found time to appreciate life as it is before death took him. In his poem Eighth Air Force is a warm remembrance of his compatriots from the war and also a fitting farewell of his own as "just a man".


Eighth Air Force


If, in an odd angle of the hutment,
A puppy laps the water from a can
Of flowers, and the drunk sergeant shaving
Whistles O Paradiso!—shall I say that man
Is not as men have said: a wolf to man?
The other murderers troop in yawning;
Three of them play Pitch, one sleeps, and one
Lies counting missions, lies there sweating
Till even his heart beats: One; One; One.
O murderers! ... Still, this is how it’s done:
This is a war.... But since these play, before they die,
Like puppies with their puppy; since, a man,
I did as these have done, but did not die—
I will content the people as I can
And give up these to them: Behold the man!
I have suffered, in a dream, because of him,
Many things; for this last saviour, man,
I have lied as I lie now. But what is lying?
Men wash their hands, in blood, as best they can:
I find no fault in this just man.


Sources:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5028212

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/randall-jarrell

"90 North" and "Next Day" Poem Analysis (AP Style)

"90 North" and "Next Day" by Randall Jarrell
Analysis by Ben Trube

(A: "90 North"   B: "Next Day")

1. Who is the speaker in the poem?  Describe.

A.                            The speaker in this poem is an unknown narrator, possibly Jarrell himself. Can be seen as

a man who lives an average life who dreams of great things.

B.                             The speaker here is an unnamed woman who is visiting the grocery store. She obviously

once was beautiful, but has aged and isn’t necessarily a goddess anymore.

2. Who is the audience of the poem?

1. B. The audience in both of these poems is the reader, and is aimed towards the world as a whole. Both regard the thoughts or dreams of a specific person, and the poem tells the world about said goings-on in the head of the narrator.

3. What is the situation and setting of the poem?

1. It takes place in a man’s bedroom, where he is sleeping and dreaming about doing great things, such as visiting the North Pole, and the struggles related to it as well as life.
2. An unknown woman is at the grocery store, and is reflecting on how she used to be beautiful, but has aged badly and is no longer quite as good looking as she once was and how she is growing older. She thinks about death and is confused.

4. State the poem’s central idea or theme in a single sentence.

1. No matter what one does, they are always alone, and despite what we may call wisdom – it is merely pain.
2. Beauty fades, and all that is must end.

5. Describe structural pattern of the poem both in terms of visual patterns and sound patterns (stanzas, rhyme scheme, meter, free verse, alliteration, repetition, etc.)

1. “90 North” is written in free verse and does not rhyme. Stanzas are 4 lines long. In terms of repetition, specific keywords occur often: particularly “darkness,” “nothing,” and warm-cold metaphors.
2. Structurally speaking, this poem has stanzas which are generally six lines long and is written without a specific meter. It does contain end rhyme, often between the second and fifth lines. It has vocabulary which often either directly mentions or describes old age.

6. Comment on the poem’s diction.  How does diction relate to tone?

1. The diction in this first poem contains words which generally reflect the setting – which is a cold, “unbroken” wasteland that is the North Pole. It adds to the the bleak tone of the poem, representing death, darkness, and overall meaninglessness. The use of contrasting emotions throughout the poem add to this significantly.
2. The word choice reflects a tone or mood lf confusion and fear as the narrator grows old. The phrase “I am afraid” dominates the second half of the poem. As well, we see yet more negatively connotated language as she describes her feelings, using terms such as “miserable,” “vile,” and “hate” which conflict with more positive words like “exceptional,” “gay,” and “bliss.”

7. Is imagery dominant?  Explain.

1. Yes, Jarrell’s description of the North Pole is dominated by imagery, of a flag snapping in the harsh wind, of a barren, arctic wasteland, and of his loneliness and sadness regarding dreams and reality. As well, his personification of the “darkness” and everything he says regarding it is very well made, and the image of his loneliness and meaninglessness at the “pole of my existence” sticks in my mind.

B.                             “Next Day” is also chock-full of imagery, most of which describing the narrator’s former

       beauty, using phrases such as “I was good enough to eat: the world looked at me/and its          

 mouth watered. How often they have undressed me,/the eyes of strangers!” As well,

 Jarrell carefully paints the image of the narrator visiting the grocery store and the 

 actions of the bag boy.

8. Is the poem narrative (creating a “story” of sorts) or lyric (suggestive rather than concrete, often expressing a single emotion)?

A.    B. Under my analysis, both “90 North” and “Next Day” are lyric poems, each generally containing two emotions or categories of emotions. The former relates the contrasting emotions of wonder and then meaninglessness. It suggests the knowledge that the old saying “ignorance is bliss” is true and that wisdom comes from darkness and is, in a sense, pain. Similarly, the latter relates the contrasting emotions of the jubilance that was young beauty and the sadness and longing that is old age. In the end, it suggests the depressing truth that life is very much as lonely and solitary voyage, and that all that is beautiful eventually fades.

9. Comment on figurative language (metaphor, extended metaphor, simile, idiom, personification).

1. The most obvious figurative language can be seen in the last two stanzas, in the form of the personification that is “the darkness” that is knowledge and wisdom regarding life. As well, there are many instances of metaphor and personification throughout – “All winds end in this whirlpool I at last discover,” “the childish night,” and “the flakes came huddling.” I love this, as it helps to support the imagery that makes up this great poem.
2. This poem, too, is brimming with metaphor and other figurative language. One in particular which I found interesting was: “my wish is…that the boy putting groceries in my car see me.” – in this case, the narrator doesn’t literally mean that the boy can’t see her, but that he can’t see how beautiful she really is/was both internally and externally. The images that Jarrell’s uses of figurative language paint are what make these poems as good as they are.

10. Explain any symbols.  Is the poem allegorical?

1. In a sense, this whole poem is a symbol: the man’s dreams and subsequent journey symbolize the lack-luster effect that realizing something that what one thought would be life-changing isn’t, and that ignorance truly is bliss. In the case of this poem, the North Pole to which the narrator journeys symbolizes wisdom and knowledge regarding life, and the dreams about this voyage from his childhood and the “darkness” both represent ignorance and the happiness provided by it. The poem as a whole also symbolizes the journey towards death and the tipping point between youth and old age. Everything leading up to the narrator’s journey represented hope and youth, whereas everything is described thus: “Turn as I please, my step is to the south,” the south representing old age, death, and general loss of hope. In this sense, the poem can be seen as being allegorical.
2. “Next Day,” too, seems to be a narrative which – as a whole – is a symbol, however it lacks the deeper, second meaning that makes something allegorical. The majority of the meaning of this poem can be gleaned from the surface, in that much of it is a symbol for old age and the bleak future that all of us face. The boy who is carrying the narrator’s groceries symbolizes the world as a whole – which no longer sees the beauty that this woman once had.

Works Cited

“90 North” by Randall Jarrell http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~richie/poetry/html/poem122.html

“Next Day” by Randall Jarrell http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177158

Eight Air Force Annotations

Eighth Air Force

BY RANDALL JARRELL
Annotation by Andrew Nelson

If, in an odd angle of the hutment, -> encampment of huts

A puppy laps the water from a can

Of flowers, and the drunk sergeant shaving   

Whistles O Paradiso!—shall I say that man      ->strong memories  resurfacing

Is not as men have said: a wolf to man?                and which

                                          -> vicious/murderous    cause the man strife to

The other murderers troop in yawning;                 remember

Three of them play Pitch, one sleeps, and one   

Lies counting missions, lies there sweating                ->"ing"verbs disrupt the 

Till even his heart beats: One; One; One.                       pattern of rhyming

O murderers! ... Still, this is how it’s done:

This is a war.... But since these play, before they die,       ->rhyming/ominous

Like puppies with their puppy; since, a man,                         creates image of a dying 

I did as these have done, but did not die—                              man

I will content the people as I can

And give up these to them: Behold the man!        ->lies to himself, lies
                                                                                       around him, lies within

I have suffered, in a dream, because of him,   

Many things; for this last saviour, man,                     - Jarrell plays upon the idea

I have lied as I lie now. But what is lying?                    of bodies  in graves and

Men wash their hands, in blood, as best they can:      the men who lie about the

I find no fault in this just man.                                        past

"Eight Air Force" and "Goodbye, Wendover; Goodbye, Mountain Home" Poem In-Depth Analysis

By Andrew Nelson

• http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178019

1. Who is the speaker in the poem?  Describe.
1. Limited 3rd person. The speaker has seen war , and destruction. Just as well they are remorseful and nostalgic at the same time, and are at a loss to explain the evil and somewhat malicious nature of the human spirit to cause war at all.

1. Who is the audience of the poem?
1. THe intended audience for the poem may be the young who idealize war, however the message of the poem rings true for all people.

1. What is the situation and setting of the poem?
1. After a fierce conflict thought is given to the implications of actions taken and the repercussions to come. A man mull over his past and parallels it with the innocence of his puppy, which scampers about the room.

1. State the poem’s central idea or theme in a single sentence.
1. War will live on, but will mankind?

1. Describe structural pattern of the poem both in terms of visual patterns and sound patterns (stanzas, rhyme scheme, meter, free verse, alliteration, repetition, etc.)
1. not a meter, but there is a rhyme scheme. Two rhyming lines, one not, and two more rhyming. Ninth line repeats “one” several times.

1. Comment on the poem’s diction.  How does diction relate to tone?
1. Jarrel uses innocuous language like lap and puppy to contrast murderers and blood to emphasize the ridiculousness of mankind to be playful and innocent one moment and vicious and cutthroat the next. His tone is somewhat cautionary yet somewhat pessimistic, looking at the way in which he juxtaposes ideas of death, life, and love.

1. Is imagery dominant?  Explain.
1. yes it is suggestive of much of the man’s surroundings including his pet and tells the story of his past vividly.

1. Is the poem narrative (creating a “story” of sorts) or lyric (suggestive rather than concrete, often expressing a single emotion)?
1. A narrative. Tells the story of his time in war his thoughts about it and then summarizes the meaning of peace as time before the next war.

1. Comment on figurative language (metaphor, extended metaphor, simile, idiom, personification).
1. The poem uses an extended metaphor of puppies as men to play up ideas of incompetence of men and incredulity at the thought of them.

1. Explain any symbols.  Is the poem allegorical?
1. In a small way it is allegorical using small dogs yet not terribly much as the poem is rather short.

• TPCastt formate: Goodbye, Wendover; Goodbye, Mountain Home
• http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse/74/3#20590889

T = Title

• Examine the title before reading the poem. Consider connotations. What do you think of or associate with the title?
• A great loss. Considering Jarrell's partiality to war stories it may be somewhere lost due to bombing or incursion. Alternatively though this could reference a bildungsroman, or story of grow even if the poem would be out of character.
• P = Paraphrase

• Translate the poem into your own words. Be literal, looking for denotative meaning. Resist the urge to jump to interpretation. A failure to understand what happens literally sometimes leads to an interpretive misunderstanding. What is being said?
• Women move their children elsewhere.Their husbands fight in the war, being moved from laredo to Kearns. The men don’t really care where they go. Their going to Kearns most likely, and it’s not for certain.Women worry for their men as they drink and talk with sailors; They leave while the men prepare for overseas movement. They will leave in the morning. Still no word as to where they are truly headed.

C = Connotation

• Examine the poem for meaning beyond the literal by looking at the language and form. What is not being said?
• Observe:
• Diction
• indicative of personal experience with informal terms like ORD’s which has to be explained outside of contextual clues.
• Imagery (especially as it presents, metaphor, simile, personification)
• The humanizing of the argument with the image of sobbing women and anxious men before war.
• Symbolism
• The women’s trip home symbolizes the ever widening gap between those military husbands and wives.
• Irony (paradox, understatement, oxymoron)
• the men are just as lost as their wives as they leave for war.
• Effect of sound devices (alliteration, meter, onomatopoeia, assonance, rhyme)
• the repetition of Kearns represents the looming thought f war’s reality to the soldiers.

A = Attitude

• Tone – Examine both the speaker’s and the poet’s attitudes. Remember don’t confuse the author with the persona. What is the attitude?
• Observe:
• Speaker’s attitude toward self, other characters and the subject
• Attitudes of characters other than the speaker
• Poet’s attitude toward the speaker, other characters and finally toward the reader

S = Shifts

• Note shifts in speaker, attitude or mood. What changes?
• Occasion of poem (time and place setting)
• Key words (but, yet)
• Punctuation (dashes, periods, colons, etc.)
• Stanza divisions
• Changes in line and / or stanza length
• Irony (sometimes irony hides shifts)
• Effect of structure on the meaning

T = Title (reprise)

• Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive level. What do we now know about the title?
• It does mean in fact the moving of military troops to airfields. The Two names are Second Air Force fields

T = Theme

• First list what the poem is about (subject), then determine what the poet is saying about each of these subjects (theme). Remember, theme must be expressed as a complete sentence. What is the overarching idea?
• Separation-just as hard for those leaving as those staying
• war-unintelligible from subservience

• Print versions of analysis templates are available in class. If you create an electronic anthology, your analyses can also be electronic (templates are available on Mrs. Hazle’s website) Scan your annotated poems and upload as part of your electronic anthology.
• Include a works cited page at the end of your anthology which indicates the sources of the poems.
• Work Cited
• Jarrell, Randall. "Eighth Air Force." Poetry Foundation. harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, n.d. Web. 20 May 2012.
• Jarrell, Randall. "Goodbye, Wendover; Goodbye, Mountain Home." Poetry Foundation. harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, n.d. Web. 20 May 2012.

Mounting Enmity (GoW 25-End)

This final segment of The Grapes of Wrath brings to light the culmination of the resentment of the displaced "okies" and poor farmers. As the level of corruption of the wealthy employers and farm owners who have monopolized the industry continues to grow, those who are displaced continue to anger and begin to organized against them. As the narrator said, "In the souls of the people, the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." Chapter 26 shows a perfect instance in which this is the case. An employer, advertising jobs, encounters the Joad family. Jumping at the opportunity to earn money for food, they take the job - however they are paid a measly 5 cents per box of peaches. They take the money regardless. Later in the chapter, Tom comes across Jim Casey - who is no longer in jail. Jim talks about how he's been organizing the workers, initiating strikes at farms - including the one from earlier in the chapter, where wages had been cut down to 2.5 cents per box. As if this is not enough animosity between the workers and the laborers, some policemen arrive and recognize Jim as an instigator. Calling him a communist, they proceed to kill him. Tom then kills one of the officers and runs away. This short exchange of blows is essentially the culmination of the enmity between the workers and employers. As this anger grows, however, the camaraderie amongst the workers continues to increase and grow stronger. The Joads are given a boxcar to live in. Al marries  into the family that they were sharing the boxcar with. As well, at the end of the novel, Rose of Sharon even goes as far as to nurse/suckle the old, dying man who they encounter in an old shed.

Corruption Amongst the Wealthy. (GoW 19-24)

Chapters 19-24 of The Grapes of Wrath have reaffirmed my dislike for the wealthy, aristocratic farm owners and employers who we encounter along the Joad's journey. They have the police force wrapped around their finger - using it to quell any sort of uprising caused when the migrant workers realize the fact that they are being underpaid, manipulated, and treated in an all-around poor way. Police officers seem to always be making up bogus charges simply to arrest those who weren't afraid to speak out or act against the evident corruption and general lack of morality present in the "upper class." Although there may be some who are still decent to those who were displaced, such as Mr. Thomas, he too is attacked since he doesn't support the system put forth by his corrupt peers which effectively get cheap labor whilst maintaining the poverty of the "Okies" who are simply looking to avoid starvation - creating a vicious circle of low wages and many without jobs or food to feed their families. What's more, there is an example of hypocrisy which I simply could not get out of my head which occurred in chapter 24 when the Farmer's Association tried to start a riot at the Weedpatch. Leading up to that point, it seemed like the reasoning behind much of the FA and the business owners' actions was that they were doing it to prevent riots and protect their livelihood. However, in this case we see exactly the opposite. They were attempting to incite the violence which the were apparently trying to prevent. This appears to be a consistent theme throughout Grapes, and it can only result in negative consequences for the Joad family in the future.

Flippity Flopping Between Cruelty and Compassion (GoW 11-18)

What I've seen in this sequence of chapters reminds me of the song "Chip Away at the Stone" by Aerosmith. The chorus goes something like this: " Chip away, Chip away at the stone. And I won't stop until your love is my very own." Now, despite the fact that our protagonists aren't looking to "get next to" a "sweet little mama" the whole time as the rest of the song suggests, I've found that many of the westerners who interact with the migrants begin with a metaphorical "stone wall" around their hearts or morals, seeing these mid-westerners as vagrants. However, as can be seen in chapter 15, we often see that the struggles of these travelers manage to chip away and reveal the compassionate side of those who otherwise may have simply turned them away: ending with the little things which give me hope for humanity, like the waitress giving away two five cent candies for a penny. Although to most this may not seem like much, let alone something worth restoring their faith in mankind, it does for me because it shows that no matter what, deep deep down, people care. Another glimpse of this can be found in the gas station attendant in chapter 13. At first he seems to be more than relatively cold-hearted: assuming that the Joads are beggars and treating them at first with hostility, and later with compassion by burying their now dead dog. He also opens up to the Joads about his business, showing that he, too, is human and struggling with the hard times.

Whoo! Spring Break!

Spring Break '12 was, for me, full of road trips and college visits, which presented me with a lot of time to read. for me, that reading generally consisted of The Grapes of Wrath. Of course, you can learn from my  blog posts as well as those of many, many of my peers about bible references, points of view, and other connotations that are contained within this classic. Because of this, I'm now going to talk about the other thing I read during my long road trips: Billboards. Surprisingly, there is a lot to analyze within these seemingly simple pieces of art/reading. There is little text to be found on many of these, however that is what makes them special: those who designed these massive advertisements had to somehow cram one, if not all, of our rhetorical elements into something that will be seen for but a few seconds. If you ask me, it's not easy to fit something that takes most of us a several page paper to analyze into something that is often looked at for no more than five seconds. Some of these manage to incorporate logos - by using charged words such as "ginormous" or pictures of their products and their uses, they briefly appeal to the logical side of the viewer: showing them why their product or service is the best. Others appeal to ethos - we've all seen political billboards, campaigning for or against a candidate or bill, and more often than not these contain a fact or statistic regarding something that violates the ethics of the average reader. These make you want to take action against something that you've only seen a small amount of information regarding it. Finally, yet others make their brief appeals to the reader's pathos. Who hasn't seen a billboard containing a sick puppy or something else which generally makes you sad, therefore appealing to your ethos because there is no way that you can ethically allow something this terrible to continue to happen. And all of this was done in a few mere seconds. Billboards make for interesting reading, and on road trips can provide a great form of entertainment.

A Man of Many Hats. GoW1

Throughout the Grapes of Wrath, an aspect which I have found interesting is the ever-shifting viewpoint of the narrator(s). At times we view the story from the perspective of an omniscient narrator, and at others we are seeing from the viewpoint of seemingly random characters, such as a used car salesman or a turtle crossing the road. Although at first glance it may appear that these choices of narrator are seemingly random, in fact they are an integral part of the Grapes of Wrath. In the third chapter, we are given a simple vignette from the view of a turtle, whose attempt to cross a road can be seen as both a metaphor for the struggles of farmers during the dust bowl and details which add meaning to Tom finding the turtle in the road in the next chapter. The narrator then switches back to an omniscient one. Later, in chapter seven, the viewpoint of the narrator switches again to that of a used car salesman. What makes this perspective different from that of the usual omniscient narrator is the use of colloquial language which was previously reserved to dialogue. This, too, helps to show the struggles of these farmers during the Dust Bowl and to give a history lesson as to how some were able to manipulate the strife of these migrant workers in order to make a personal gain. Without these constantly shifting viewpoints, the novel would lose both the colloquial aspect of the dialogue and the metaphorical "meat" that the varying perspectives add to the plot in the form of historical context and general backstories.

Word Count (Not including this footer): 269 Words

He Waited Until the Last Second. (Act V)

One thing that I noticed throughout Hamlet was that it felt like something was missing the whole time. When I reached the end of Act V, I realized exactly what that missing bit was - death. William Shakespeare is notorious for killing off many of his characters throughout his tragedies, and Hamlet - one of his most acclaimed works - is no exception. However, what I couldn't understand was why exactly he waited until the very end of the play to kill off several characters. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I didn't like it, but to me the rapid killing of four main characters in the last 1/7 of Act V was a bit much. Perhaps the reason why this was strange and new for me - causing me to go back and re-read it in order to figure out what had happened - was because I was not used to it. From the past few plays which I have read by Shakespeare, he often will "spread out" the deaths a bit - providing a more consistent stream of morbid entertainment for the audience. A prime example of this is another acclaimed work of Shakespeare's - Romeo and Juliet. This tragedy has a similar number of character deaths, however they occur periodically within the play: Mercutio and Tybalt die in an exciting duel in the middle of the play, Paris dies in the middle of Act V, Romeo and Juliet die near the end, and then Lady Montague dies at the very end. However, despite the fact that it may seem as if I am attacking the way that Shakespeare mapped out the deaths in Hamlet, that is most definitely not the case - in fact, I believe that he had good reasons for doing so. The first of these reasons is the idea of a "Grand Finale" of sorts. Just like in a good fireworks show, Shakespeare saved the best part for last - he put in a huge show at the end to send out the play with a "bang." Similarly, it is likely that a large portion of Shakespeare's audience had/has seen some of his work at some point in there life, and therefore were waiting for something exciting to happen (the death of Polonius was not nearly enough for the insatiable thirst for blood that the audience so often has), so they would remain focused on the play as not to miss the "best part." Finally, it makes sense that Shakespeare would want to change up the layout of his play - if all of his work was essentially the same storyline with a different setting and characters, then the public would have lost interest in his work and he would not be nearly as famous as he is today.

Final Word Count (Not Including this Footer): 468 Words.

Apparently Madness is Contagious... (Act IV)

In Act IV of Hamlet, one thing that the audience can't help but notice is that Ophelia has snapped and very quickly slid down the slope of sanity into madness. Madness, lunacy, "ecstasy" and insanity in all forms seems to be a consistent theme throughout this play - and this Act is where it is first witnessed in Ophelia. Despite the fact that Hamlet claims to be sane and simply "pretending" to be mad in order to divert attention, I also believe he is quite obviously "off his rocker" as well. The first topic regarding madness in the play is how Shakespeare portrays it in his chosen subjects. The audience sees it in Ophelia in the form of incessant singing, somewhat incoherent speech and a strange fixation with flowers and death, while in Hamlet it is portrayed as showing some suicidal thoughts (To be, or not to be...), as well as potential signs of near-schizophrenia - including hallucinations (the Ghost), delusions (info provided by Ghost), and paranoia (not trusting many other people). It is obvious that Shakespeare was looking to mix it up a bit when it came to his crazy characters, as these two forms of madness are almost completely different. However, what I personally found interesting is that it appears as if Shakespeare - either intentionally or by accident - displayed this madness as a contagious illness. It seems as if, like the flu, Ophelia simply "caught" the madness-bug from Hamlet because of their relationship and how much she was hanging around him and being in physical contact with him. Just like the flu, she caught it and rapidly deteriorated into severe symptoms - except in this case it was lunacy instead of a cough. In my mind, I found this very interesting that it seemed that Hamlet "went mad," and subsequently Ophelia digressed as well - suggesting that maybe, just maybe, madness is contagious - and that was what Shakespeare was trying to tell us all along.

Final Word Count (Not including this footer): 330 Words.

The most inopportune moments: Irony and Act III

As we reach the climax that is Act III, Shakespeare makes use of one of the basic literary elements that can add tremendous depth and suspense to the plot of the story - the element of Irony. Irony comes in many forms: dramatic, Socratic, situational, and many more; however in Act III of Hamlet, the audience mainly catches a glimpse of dramatic irony in several of the actions of young Prince Hamlet - the protagonist. The first instance of irony that can be found in this section of the play is immediately following his fabled "to be or not to be" soliloquy, when King Claudius decides to send Hamlet off to England for a while "whereon his brains still beating puts him thus from fashion of himself." The irony to be found here is that in the previous Act as well as the preceding monologue Hamlet was essentially deciding that he would kill Claudius, and realtively soon. He will not be able to do that in England - as, of course, this play takes place in Denmark. Another occurrence of irony within Act III is when Hamlet walks in on Claudius and has a golden opportunity to kill him with ease. However, the ironic twist to be found here is that Hamlet surveyed the scene and concluded that Claudius may have been repenting his sins, as Hamlet had just presented him a reenactment of how he had killed his brother. This is ironic because he was not repenting, but simply praying - negating Hamlet's hesitation due to the fact that killing him then had potential of sending him to heaven as opposed to where he, in Hamlet's mind, belonged. Later in the play, we realize that this irony is increased due to the fact that it likely would have saved many lives in the long run. A final instance of ironic tension within this middle/climax point of the play occurs when Hamlet is visiting his mother. Not only does he kill some stranger hiding behind a curtain and proceed to give his mother a speech about how terrible she is for being with Claudius (whom he believes he just killed), and talk to the Ghost who reappears to chastise Hamlet for being mean, but it turns out that it wasn't Claudius but Polonius who he killed, as well as the awkward situation where he sees and converses with a ghost that his mother can't see. Unfortunately for Hamlet, all of this arouses Gertrude's suspicions of his madness even more and potentially leads her on to what exactly he's up to. All of this irony - of people being in the wrong place, at the wrong time and misinterpreting the situation - adds a tremendous amount of suspense, audience engagement, and overall depth to the play Hamlet.

(Total word count, not including this footnote: 461 words)

Monologue Analysis: "Now I am Alone..." (Act II)

At the end of Act II, following the initial meeting of all of the actors for the play that Hamlet is planning on setting up, the prince has a rather extensive monologue. In this closing segment, Prince Hamlet relates not only his disappointment regarding how well the first player did in his audition of sorts, but also his general plan of action as to how he plans to scope out whether or not Claudius actually killed his father. His plan is thus - he will essentially have the players reenact his father's murder and gauge from the King's reaction whether or not he actually killed King Hamlet. What makes this monologue interesting is its use of diction and the many words requiring footnotes for explanation. Lines such as 582-583, saying "A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause..." The apparent colloquialism used adds an almost poetic depth to the speech pattern when read aloud. Hamlet then proceeds to go on to become angry once again over the murder of his father and the terms villain and vengeance become a mainstay in his vocabulary choice. As well, Hamlet continually questions his bravery and relates himself to a whore and a slut, mostly because he "must unpack my heart with words" (Line 602), which apparently is what they do. Following this self-deprecation, Hamlet lays out his plan for how he will catch Claudius red-handed based on his reaction to the play. A final interesting quality of this monologue is that near the end Shakespeare has Hamlet question where the Ghost came from. Though he is certain that it was his father, he mentions that "May be the devil; and the Devil hath power t' assume a pleasing shape..." (Line 616-617). This skepticism shows a definite change in his attitude since he conversed with the Ghost, as immediately following their exchange he seemed dead-set on exacting his revenge on the new king.

Word Count (Not Including This Footer): 323

Themes Galore - (Act I)

The first act of this play is chock-full of the many "big themes" that are constantly recurring in the work. Three of these major themes include death, revenge and family relationships - all of which are introduced in the expository first act. The most prominent theme is that of death, first introduced in the beginning when the new King talks about the late King Hamlet's death and then later brought forth in further detail when the Ghost describes exactly how it all went down. Throughout the first act leading up to the revelation of the murder, it was evident that Hamlet was struggling often with the recent death of his father. Another theme, introduced later in the Act, which goes hand-in-hand with that of death is the notion of revenge. The Ghost of the late King Hamlet convinces the young Hamlet - the protagonist - that he must avenge his slain father and take his revenge on his Uncle Claudius for doing the deed. This spurs on Hamlet's charade of madness in order to disguise his plotting to kill the new King. A third theme that was introduced in the first act of Hamlet was that of "Family Relationships." It is obvious in scenes II and III that there is much tension in both Hamlet's family and Polonius's family. Polonius is quite obviously a very nosy and controlling person, and both he and his son Laertes did their best to tell Ophelia (Polonius's daughter) to stay well away from Prince Hamlet. There is an obedient relationship coming from the submissive Ophelia, and a very controlling vibe coming from Polonius. Within the royal family, there are many spots of visible tension as well. Hamlet is obviously kindly inclined to his mother and respects her greatly. He uses the "formal pronouns" including "you" and "yours" when addressing her, as opposed to the harsh tone and informal manner of speaking that he directs at the King. Hamlet makes his dislike for his Step-Father/Uncle very clear, and there is not a very good relationship there. As well, after encountering the Ghost, Hamlet's attitude towards his family only becomes worse - his hatred for Claudius grows and he loses some respect for his somewhat incestuous mother. These three themes, death, revenge and family relationships, were all introduced in the first Act of the play, setting the stage for what looks to be a very interesting work of Shakespeare.



Final Word Count (Not Including this Footnote): 400 Words.

First Post - A Skill I Wish I Had

I always thought It'd be cool or funny to play the didgeridoo, just so that I could say that I can. I think that this video is a good one of an expert didgeridoo player. Yep. So that's my random/weird skill that I think would be cool to have.