Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Love= :) or :( ??? keke

Poems are used to describe how people feel about a situation or what that person believes in. Also it helps that poet to alleviate on his/her emotions and maybe express some things in a creative way that could help the audience or reader learn something new in such a detailed manner. In John Donne’s, “A Valediction” Forbidding Mourning,” it depicts how normal peoples’ love is so boring and sublunary, but on the other hand his love is unbreakable and celestial. Then in Judith Minty’s “Conjoined,” it represents a marriage poem, and shows how love is like conjoined twins which are in comparison to an onion. Both of the authors demonstrate this through imagery, simile, and diction.

Imagery gives off the illusion of what is expected to be seen in the time of the event and how it is being portrayed. For example, from “Conjoined,” “The onion in my cupboard, a monster, actually two joined under one transparent skin,” is an easy illustration and can actually capture the reader to see how a twin can be attached through the image of an onion. She wants that hard detail of how inseparable twins and lovers could be and are meant to be together. Along with that, in “A Valediction,” he explains how “they be two, they are two so as stiff twin compasses are two; thy soul, the fixt foot, makes no show to move, but doth, of th’other do,” illustrates how his love would be linked to that of a twin and how it should be identical to that. Not only that, but there is an immense type of level of how his love is so strong because he uses the imagination of how each lover should be like twins with sync movements and actions. It is with such delight that these two authors use imagery because it helps create scenery which helps to understand the poem in a simple way but also entertaining and keeps the audience satisfied.

Furthermore, the simile in this mostly tells how they portray love in their own point of view. Such as, from Judith’s poem, there is “an accident, like the two-headed calf rooted in one body, fighting to suck at its mother’s teats; or like those other freaks, Chang and Eng, twins joined at the chest by skin and muscle, doomed to live, even make love, together for sixty years,” which actually gives the idea of how conjoined twins seriously have it hard, which is what happens in a marriage. There will be hard times where couples fight and bicker but that is what has to be endured when they make a decision to live together for the rest of their lives. Yet again, married couples are definitely like Chang and Eng or the two-headed calf, inseparable and always challenging themselves to each obstacle that comes their way in order to live a life that they chose or was given to them. Also, from John Donne’s poem, “A breach, but an expansion like gold to airy thinness beat,” is how lovely his relationship would be and how he compares it to gold really shows how important his feelings are. Compatible to the air how lightly his love carries is such a beautiful way to describe the feelings of such a spiritual emotion that goes on and on. Also when he mentions how it beats makes it seem like a never ending devotion to his anonymous aficionada. These are indeed great views of similes and the way it is being revealed has a great impact on the meaning of each poem.

Last but not least, diction, which boosts each description or line that is being unveiled and has a hard effect on what the author really wants to be understood. For example, in the marriage poem, “Do you feel the skin that binds us together as we move, heavy in this house?” The word heavy is such a magnificent strategy of describing how the twins feel as they move together. It aids the fact that with a couple when they move along side by side and work together, there will be more heavy loads of bills, laundry, and responsibility, but with each moving step they are there together to lean against when times are tough. There will always be a person next to them whenever each one of them falls, and it is one of the benefits of being conjoined twins or a married couple. In comparison to that, John’s poem has the stanza that states “Dulls sublunary lover’ love (whose soul is sense) cannot admit absence, because it doth remove those things which elemented it.” So much diction in there, like elemented, absence, and sublunary that honestly makes this poem worth reading and shows how normal lovers are missing the spice in their relationship. The energy and spark that keeps it moving is gone and the elements needed in a good couple is vanished from what is being informed from this piece of information.

Even though the two poems had different ways of revealing love and affection, they both conquered the gist of it all. It was all so heart-warming but also humorous to read which gave the poem some creativity. The figurative languages in these immensely had an impact on how everything was told, the meaning behind it, and how it was understood; which definitely concludes that love is like a battlefield but also could be rewarding in the end if all goes well.

3 comments:

  1. PAMCAKES:)
    1. I wasnt too sure but is "Both of the authors demonstrate this through imagery, simile, and diction" your thesis? In my opinion it seems alittle too vague, add a little bit more "meat" lol detail to it.
    2. Pam used a few quotations as well as used some direct evidence by adding her own opinion into the essay. I believe that Pam could have gone a little more in depth about how the quote(s) can relates to the prompt and figurative language.
    3. Pam does a good job explaining and analyzing her quotes but just needs to go indepth alittle bit more. For example, " “Do you feel the skin that binds us together as we move, heavy in this house?” The word heavy is such a magnificent strategy of describing how the twins feel as they move together. It aids the fact that with a couple when they move along side by side and work together" WOOHOO good job! ;) I have the same opinion but for another quote haha
    4. Pam explained her literay devices by using the text from the poem as well as adding a few things we talked about in class. The quotes help the reader understand the poems alot better by explaining where and how it relates to everything.
    5. The only part i seemed a bit confused was when Pam talked about the "onion" which was in the second paragraph. I didnt really understand how the "onion" related to twins? :/ Or where you were trying to go with this.... :/
    6. *The "onion" in the second paragraph how does it relate to the twins?
    * Can you relate any of this to your past or present events?
    *Does the author in "Conjoined" only relate to the "onion" or other objects or subjects?
    7. Nope.... PEACE! :) Have a GOOD weekend!!!

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  2. 1. Pam’s thesis is: In John Donne’s, “A Valediction” Forbidding Mourning,” it depicts how normal peoples’ love is so boring and sublunary, but on the other hand his love is unbreakable and celestial. Then in Judith Minty’s “Conjoined,” it represents a marriage poem, and shows how love is like conjoined twins which are in comparison to an onion. Both of the authors demonstrate this through imagery, simile, and diction. I think that her thesis answers the prompt. I don’t think that you need to add the example of the onion in your thesis because than that kind of limits what you will be able to say in your essay. Your introduction led up to your thesis well and it had enough information to then state your thesis.
    2. I think Pam did a good job with the quotes she chose. The evidence provided showed how she understood the poem because she used good examples for proving her point.
    3. I think her analysis of her quotes was pretty good but I think that if you maybe looked up other resources that you could see different views on the poem which could give you different and new insights to help prove you your point.
    4. When you explained the imagery in the poem, it gave me a better understanding of the poem because I did not really understand that part of the poem. You showed how each of the literary devices was effective for the poem’s meaning.
    5. The part of the onion seemed like it was just added in there to fill space, so it was kind of confusing to me (I hope that doesn’t sound mean). I think that if you explained that more, I would have been able to have a better interpretation of what you were trying to say.
    6. Is there a way you could use the more of the text? Is there a deeper meaning (try looking more under the surface) on the poems as a whole? How are the two poems related to one another?
    7. Good Job on your essay! That’s all!

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  3. I can see how your thesis is more embedded throughout the entirety of the introduction, instead of it being the very last sentence at the end of your first paragraph. There’s nothing wrong with that but I want to see you say something more like these author uses this, this, and this to support their ideas of this for Donne and this for Minty. I believe the goal would be clearer for the reader to understand. It is apparent that you use evidence from the text, very strong evidence might I add, but I believe there is something lacking in your analysis. You give reader’s really strong evidence from the text, and then you give us little insight behind its meaning. Deeper insight and stronger level analysis would make it a much more advanced writing than it is already. There are some areas in your writing where it seems to be a bit too general, as in you are discussing the greater meaning rather than explaining how the technique enhances the greater meaning. For example, you give us this evidence from the text “an accident, like the two-headed calf rooted in one body, fighting to suck at its mother’s teats; or like those other freaks, Chang and Eng, twins joined at the chest by skin and muscle, doomed to live, even make love, together for sixty years,” and go on to say how it “actually gives the idea of how conjoined twins seriously have it hard, which is what happens in a marriage.” This is good so far, but your next sentence says this “There will be hard times where couples fight and bicker but that is what has to be endured when they make a decision to live together for the rest of their lives.” I understand how it relates to the text you pulled from the poem but it isn’t evidence trying to prove that this image is helping persuade this greater meaning. Hopefully this is making some sense… In the end, you had some very strong points throughout your essay. I would like to see further depth within your explanation and less generalization. Here are some questions that may help you overcome these issues. How does the image of the onion, actually two joined under one skin, make you feel? Why does Donne use gold instead of the many other metals? What effects do the connotations of the words heavy, dull, and sublunary have on these poems?

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