Walt Whitman Poem

For my last blog I have once again read the biography on Walt Whitman. "Walt Whitman found poetry in the lives of everyday Americans. He took daily walks to absorb the sights and sounds of Brooklyn and its people, especially blue-collar workers" (Whitman 340). This was interesting to me because I realized that this poem that I was about to read would be more of Thoreau than of Emerson if anything because Thoreau was more into how people were acting and their behaviors. Another quote that I had found interesting was "Whitman used his experiences as a reporter, teacher, laborer, and Civil War nurse to create his poetry" (Whitman 340). It was interesting to read this because it was cool to see where he might have gotten his writing styles from. It was also cool to learn about what he did before he was a writer and what he did to become one.

I read the poem by Walt Whitman On the Beach at Night. I did like this poem because it had both of the characteristics of Emerson and Thoreau. Here is an example of how Whitman somewhat wrote like Thoreau, "Weep not, child, Weep not, my darling, With these kisses let me remove your tears" (Whitman). This is somewhat like Thoreau's writing because Thoreau had focused on the behavior of people and how people should stick up for themselves and be self-reliant. The other author that we are talking about Emerson, he focused on nature and the setting of this poem is on the beach. Here is a quote to show you that Whitman had put some nature into his writing, "Up through the darkness, While ravening clouds, the burial clouds, in black masses spreading, Lower sullen and fast athwart and down the sky" (Whitman). This quote shows the writings of Emerson also because it talks about the nature that was surrounding this child and her father. This story showed a great deal of both Emerson and Thoreau's writings.

Bibliography

Whitman, Walt. "On the Beach at Night, by Walt Whitman." Poetry Archive. 2002. Web. 11 Mar. 2012.

Whitman, Walt. "Before You Read." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 340. Print.

Emily Dickinson Poem

I have once again read the biography on Emily Dickinson and I have to say it was very interesting. Here is a quote from the first sentence in the paragraph, "While Whitman experienced America and its people, Emily Dickinson observed the life of Amherst, Massachusetts, from her bedroom window, composing poetry that could turn the ordinary into the deeply meaningful" (Dickinson 340). I know that this quote does not make any sense right now, but with the poem that I read in after reading this it makes a lot more sense as to what I meant by that. I found it hard to believe that Dickinson had wrote 1,775 poems in her lifetime, buy only less than a dozen were published in her lifetime (Dickinson 340). I would hate to have that happen to me because you spend your whole life dedicated to reading and writing poetry and you write one thousand poems which is a huge milestone to hit. Back then she was pretty popular, but nowadays she is one of poetries best author. It is a shame that she was not able to stay alive in order to see all the recognition she was able to get to this day.

I read the poem The Lightning is a yellow Fork and I have to say I was a little bit sketched out when I read it the first time. It usually takes me a while to read poetry because it is confusing towards me. Around the third or fourth time I finally realized that I was thinking about it too hard. What I had said in the beginning of the blog, Dickinson observed from her bedroom window and wrote things down (Dickinson 340). This poem seemed to have come from that. It talks about lightning and how it fills up the sky. Here is a quote from the poem, "Of mansions never quite disclosed And never quite concealed The Apparatus of the Dark To ignorance revealed" (Dickinson 341). This is a great quote to go along with the story because it talks about how lightning is so electrifying and how it lights up the sky. This is similar to Emerson's type of writing style because they both love nature and adore looking at the outdoors and writing about it. I would think that Emerson would approve of this poem and would have liked to read it.

Bibliography

Dickinson, Emily. "The Lightning is a yellow Fork." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 340-341. Print.

To Build a Fire

I have once again read the Before You read again. I read about Jack London and what he did and wrote about. Jack London before he became famous and was a child, he lived a very tough life. Here is a quote to help out what I just said, "Born in 1876 in San Francisco to an unstable mother an a father who refused to claim him, London was raised mainly by a family friend and a stepsister. From the age of eleven, he worked to earn money to help put food on his family's table" (London 601). When I read this I was astonished to see that an eleven year old boy had to help put food on the table for his family. When he was born his parents did not even want him which I could not imagine that happening. Even though he had to support for his family basically his whole life from the age of eleven, he was "the country's first millionaire author" (London 601). This is a big accomplishment for London because coming from a family that really had nothing, he became famous and made a lot of money for him and his family.

When I read "To Build a Fire" I felt this sadness that came within me. The story is about a man who is stuck out in a blizzard and it trying to make a fire, but sadly is not working out for him. He tries to go against this blizzard which is nature and as you know nature always wins. He ends up dying and losing the battle between him and nature (London 614). He has a companion throughout the story and it is a dog. The dog is okay with the fact of the blizzard and the man does not like the fact that the dog is not fazed. Thoreau and Emerson envied nature and loved living out in the wilderness while London just hated nature and wanted nothing to do with it. There is one part of this story that I would like to point out and it is actually highlighted in the story, "There was the fire, snapping and crackling and promising life with every dancing flame" (London 610). This quote was big to me because the man kept fighting against nature to stay alive and this quote shows that by the fire going in and out. Like London said "promising life" (London 610) and this man is just hoping to stay alive during this blizzard. Thoreau and Emerson loved nature but they new the boundaries of nature and new the limits they would go with nature.

Bibliography

London, Jack."To Build a Fire." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009.601-614. Print.

Richard Cory

I read the beginning paragraph about the author Edwin Arlington Robinson. I have to say that it is quite a background that he has with him. It said in the paragraph that he had begun writing at an early age, and as a high school student he practiced intricate verse forms under the guidance of a local poet (Robinson 573). When I read this I noticed that he was very into poetry at a young age especially for being a high school student. It is incredible to think that he practiced poetry at that young of an age. Then I read that "He continued to write during the two years he attended Harvard University until family financial problems forced him to leave and return to a troubled home" (Robinson 573). When I read this I felt bad for him because I can not imagine the stress he was going through during this time. To top it all off I read, "Robinson's father died in 1892, and his mother died of diphtheria in 1896. One of Robinson's brothers became a drug addict, and the other became an alcoholic; both died early" (Robinson 573). When I read this I was overwhelmed to think of all the stress that this kid had gone through and still made it to be a successful poet. I had a feeling that the story that I was going to read tonight was going to be about death or something that had to do with his life story.

Let me say at the beginning of this story I was reading it and was surprised at the fact that there was no killings or deaths. Richard Cory was a man who was "a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim" (Robinson 575). He was obviously a nice gentleman who like to keep himself clean. He was a gentleman who was rich and had it all going for him. He was "richer than a King" (Robinson 575), he was liked in the town that he was in, but there was obviously something missing in his life because at the end of the story "he put a bullet through his head" (Robinson 575). He was missing something in his life because he had everything going for him. Emerson and Thoreau would have seen his death as a waste of a life because they never wanted somebody to take there own life. They wanted people to live out there lives and live it to the fullest. Richard Cory had everything going for him, but there was something in his life that either was too much or he just could not find the missing piece. Emerson and Thoreau would have not liked to see Richard Cory's death to go to waste.

Bibliography

Robinson, Edwin Arlington. "Richard Cory." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 573-576. Print.

The Darling

When I first read this story I was really puzzled to try and find a theme or a plot inside the story. Truth is I really found no plot at all. The only thing I found during this story is a girl who complained about her life and would only listen to her husband and what he had to say. She never socialized with anybody and would not do anything unless it was with her husband. The first difference I saw between Chekhov and Emerson and Thoreau was that Chekhov wrote about a woman who would rely on other people to do the work for her and she never relies on herself to do the things that she needs to get done. Here is a quote from the story to get you going on what it was like living with this lady, "Who will look after me now, my darling? she sobbed, after burying her husband. How can I possibly live without you? I'm so wretched and unhappy! Pity me, good people, I'm all alone now..." (Chekhov 562). I typed this quote because of the fact that it shows how much she relied on her husband and now that he is dead she does know what to do. She says that she is all alone (Chekhov 562) and she has no one else to talk to when there is a ton of other people out there to listen and be friends with her. This goes against with every belief that Thoreau and Emerson had because they believed that you needed to rely on yourself and do not rely on other people which is clearly not the case here. Here is another quote from the story where it shows another showing as to how much Olenka relied on other people, "She wore a black dress with weepers, having vowed never to wear a hat or gloves again, went out seldom and then only to church or to her husband's grave, and lived at home like a nun" (Chekhov 562). Now this quote shows that the only interaction that Olenka got with other people is when she went to church or she went to go and visit her husband's grave. I found it interesting when the story read "and lived at home like a nun" (Chekhov 562) because nun's aren't allowed to marry people and they do not really interact with people very much outside of the church which is what is happening to Olenka. Overall, this story goes against every belief that Emerson and Thoreau had.

Bibliography

Chekhov, Anton."The Darling." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009.557-565. Print.

I Will Fight No More Forever

Before I read the story I read about the author of this speech. His name was Chief Joseph. Chief Joseph was chosen to be chief of the Nez Perce after his father died in 1871 (Chief Joseph 531). "The Nez Perce were more warlike than neighboring tribes, especially after acquiring the horse from the Plains Indians in the early eighteenth century" (Chief Joseph 531). This had given me an idea as to how or what the story was going to be about. I figured from just looking at the title that the story was going to be about how Chief Joseph did not want to fight any more. Here is another quote that helped me figure that out. "However, they had maintained peace with the whites for decades, ever since the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805, which was their first significant contact with the whites" (Chief Joseph 531). That is just another quote as to how that helped me out with the story I was going to read. Overall, I have realized that by reading the biography on the author before you read the story is very helpful by the time you actually read the story.

When I first read this speech I felt kind of sad for Chief Joseph and his men and tribe. As he described, "The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are -- perhaps freezing to death" (Chief Joseph 533). This is just a couple sentences as to when Chief Joseph was explaining to the scout or whoever he was talking to that his tribe was slowly dying from everything that was happening to them whether it was them freezing to death or just not having enough food. He also explained in the beginning part of the speech that all of these tribe leaders were dead and there was basically no part in him trying to fight anymore (Chief Joseph 533). He was just done with fighting and he did not want to fight any longer. Thoreau would have been very angry with what the government was able to do to these people. He was already against government and Indians were people who were "lovers" of nature. Thoreau even went out into the woods to be with nature for two whole years. Thoreau had told us, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach" (Wayne). Thoreau would have been very upset with the government being the way they were with treating the Indians this way.

Bibliography

Chief Joseph. "I Will Fight No More Forever." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 531-533. Print.

Wayne, Tiffany K., ed. "Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson." Critical Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2010. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Spoon River Anthology

I have read the author's biography before I read the book once again and I learned a lot of interesting things about this guy. I learned that he was born in Petersburg, Illinois where I was at a basketball game tonight. I also learned that he had wrote a lot of other poetry coming from where he was. He wrote a lot on people's attitudes and kind of like what Thoreau's writings were. The second paragraph in this biography said, "The realism and irony expressed in Spoon River Anthology were at odds with the romantic and sentimental poetry popular at the time" (Masters 514). I typed this quote out because it talked about the story that I had read and it gave a little thought as to how it was written.

I read an excerpt of Spoon River Anthology and it was called The Hill. Each character in this story had a different characteristic associated with them. Here is a quote from the story to give you more of an idea as to what I am talking about, "Where are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom and Charley, The weak of will, the strong of arm, the clown, the boozer, the fighter? All, all are sleeping on the hill (Masters). Each one of them had a different behavior and that is the point that Thoreau was trying to get across to people. People are obsessed with making ourselves feel good and we really need to look at the big picture that is in front of us. This goes with the concept of Masters in this story that he has wrote. Here is another quote, "Of the horse-races of long ago at Clary's Grove, Of what Abe Lincoln said One time at Springfield" (Masters). I typed in this quote because I found it interesting that he put in Abe Lincoln, which is obviously a huge icon in our society today. Especially in Springfield, because he lived here and was such a huge icon. This is what I was going with when I typed in the beginning of the blog when I said that he wrote stuff in his stories that contributed to his lifetime in Illinois.

Bibliography

"Excerpt from." EReader.com:. A Barnes & Noble. Web. 02 Mar. 2012.

Masters, Edgar Lee. "Before You Read." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 514. Print.