Journal #13

Edgar Lee Masters Epitaphs

1. What object symbolizes George Gray’s life? How is this object representative of him?

Gray’s life is symbolized by a boat with a furled sail resting in a harbor. This is similar to Gray’s life because he dreaded taking chances. He wanted to try and find meaning to life but never did anything about it. He is like a boat that wants to go out into the sea but is afraid. The boat with a furled sail is unable to leave the harbor just like Gray is unable to follow his ambitions. Gray should not have let sorrow and fears control and tournament him. This was all about how he lived his life in fear.

2. How was Lucinda Matlock’s life different than George Gray’s? How do you interpret the last line of the poem?

Matlock’s life is filled with excitement and love unlike Gray’s life. Gray was scared to go out and live life and was tormented by his ambition. Matlock lived a long and full life with her husband and children. She celebrated life but lost many of her children. She did all that she wanted to do and didn’t let the bad parts bother her. Gray never married, never had kids, and didn’t build relationships with friends. Gray regretted that he never lived but Matlock got a lot out of life because she invested more into it. In the last line of the poem, Matlock decided that it takes life in order to love Life. You need to experience the good and the bad in order to enjoy Life.

3. How are “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” examples of realism?

The epitaphs are about Middle class people’s lives. They aren’t about heroic people but just about how ordinary people live and the everyday things that they did. Both of them are detailed and in depth but lacking emotion.

Journal #12

1. “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory (symbolic narrative). What do the following represent?

Young Goodman Brown – transition from good to evil as a result of experience in the woods and the loss of faith

Faith – faith in God and others

The Elderly Traveller/Fellow-Traveller – the devil and evil

Goody Cloyse – corruption; a seemingly virtuous person who is actually in league with the devil

The Ceremony – sinful nature of people

The Pink Ribbon – the loss of faith and visual proof of a world filled with sin

Young Goodman Brown’s Journey – seeing the world as it truly is and the transition from innocence to experience of good and evil

2. Identify the following for “Young Goodman Brown”:

Theme Message of Theme Element Used to Establish

Theme: Sin/ evil

Message: The world is influenced and controlled by sin; everyone is tempted by sin and will eventually give into it.

Element: Characterization

In addition, provide three direct quotes from the story that address your theme.

“What if a wretched old woman do choose to go to the devil when I thought she was going to heaven:”

“There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given.”

“Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness.”

Journal 11

Selections from Walden

“Where I Lived and What I Lived For” (232)

It is about a man who lives in the woods and finds out that the best way to live is to live simply. He builds a cabin and lives by a pond for water. The main point is to live life only with the essentials needed. He was trying to live out the transcendentalist ideas of Emerson.

Quote: “to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.”

“Sounds” (234)

The narrorator simply sits and listens to the sounds all around him. He talks about how people go to the movies and do other things for their amusement and to distract themselves. He sits outside his cabin and listens to the noises all day. He is amused by the sounds in nature and doesn’t need anything else to entertain himself.

Quote: “I had this advantage, at least in my mode of life, over those who were obligated to look abroad for amusement, to society and the theater, that my life itself has become my amusement and never ceased to be novel”

“Brute Neighbors” (235)

There is a war between the larger black ants and the more numerous red ants. The ants are fighting with the ferocity of humans and the tenacity of a bulldog. The ants are being compared to Greek epic heroes in the midst of an all-out war. The carnage of this battle is similar to the losses of battles in the American Revolution. Ants experience just as much hardship as human and celebrate just like we do.

Quote: “I was surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants that is was not a duellum, but a bellum, a war between two races of ants, the red always pitted against the black, and frequently two red ones to one black.”

“The Pond in Winter” (237)

The speaker wakes up from a dream and wonders what life is all about. He watches all the fishermen in winter and how they live simply. The fishermen have a close connection to the land and are in touch with nature. The main point is that nature is simple; we need to go out and live simple as well.

Quote: “But there was dawning Nature, in whom all creatures live, looking in at my broad windows with serene and satisfied face, and no question on her lips.”

“Spring” (238)

With the beginning of spring, everything is starting to move and change. Nature is starting to renew himself. He talks of an old wise man whose knowledge, the narrator will never match. In this wonderful time death cannot take its toll.

Quote: “As every season seems best to us in its turn, so the coming in of spring is like the creation of Cosmos out of chaos and the realization of the Golden Age.”

Journal #10

Othello’s Insight

At the end of the play, Othello had a moment of revelation when everything he did came into focus. Othello realized that he had been deceived into killing the woman that he loved. He didn’t want to be remembered as the man who killed his loving wife, but as a soldier who honorable served Venice. He threw away the one thing that was most valuable to him, Desdemona. He didn’t understand how well she loved and how pure she truly was until he lost her. Othello was taken over by his emotions and didn't think the situation through. Othello killed himself after this speech because he couldn’t live with the damage he had done. He took the honorable way out so that he could be remembered for the good services he performed for the state and not for the atrocity he just committed.

Journal #9 - Free Will vs. Determinism

In Othello many character advocate that free will is the only force present. All people have the power to control their destiny. Life if filled with choices and we are free to pick any of the innumerable paths in front of us. Iago explains to Rodrigo, “Virtue! a fig! 'tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners” (1.3 361-3). The quote illustrates that you reap what you sow. Everything that happens to you is because of free will. Iago later says, “when this advice is free I give and honest, probable to thinking and indeed the course to win the Moor again” (2.3.357-9). The people Iago councils have the choice to follow his advice or not. He gives good advice about what the best course of action would be but only intends to ensnare the victims who chose to follow it. Despite his Free will, Iago fails to succeed in the end.

In Othello is seems that many of the actions are a result of environmental influences that are working independently from free will. Iago warns Othello, “Beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green eyed Monster…” (3.3.195-96). This suggests that the genetic inclination towards jealousy influences characters like Othello. Othello is overcome by jealousy and can’t control himself. Othello had the free will not to fall prey to these outside forces but it was inevitable. The path was already laid out for Othello and he was helpless not to follow it. Iago also says, “When devils will, the blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows” (2.3.370-71). This also shows that environmental influences can be subtle and appear good, but they can lead you down the wrong pay. Othello was lead down the pay he believed fate destined for him.

Journal #8

Emerson’s Aphorisms

5. To be great is to be misunderstood.

The aphorism is trying to make the point that being misunderstood is part of being great. If you are great then there are people less great than yourself. The people who think you are great with not understand how you are higher than themselves. You will have knowledge and ideas beyond that of the average person. I agree with this opinion and think it is closely tied with Emerson’s love of the instinctual part of man. You need to be in touch with part of your brain other than logic, reason, and past experience in order to be great. You have to think outside the box and come up with new and interesting ways of solving problems.

8. In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed.

The aphorism is trying to make the point that when you are in a dangerous position, you don’t want to walk slowly because you could fall into trouble. You want to get away from the thin ice as quickly as possible. This links back to Emerson’s belief that you should go through your life without stopping and analyzing everything you do. I agree with this position because if you took your time and went through life slowly, then you wouldn’t get far. It would be much easier to rush past the trouble and get on with your life. Live your life on instinct and get in touch with the deeper part of yourself.

13. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

The aphorism makes the point that life has an infinite number of results and possibilities. It is almost impossible to tell what the result will be. You may fail or succeed in your life. I agree that life is an experiment. You are trying out something new and uncertain of the result. After the experiment is completed, you have a larger picture of how life works. If you continue experimenting, then you will learn more and more. I think that all life is one experiment after another. You are like a scientist trying to see what will work to solve each problem that you are confronted with. Anything could happen and anything will happen.

Journal #7

William Cullen Bryant’s “To a Waterfowl” (p.151) and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (p.181)

In Bryant’s “To a Waterfowl,” the classical views of nature are clearly clashing with romantic views of nature given by Poe in “The Raven.” Bryant writes about a calm and tranquil scene at sunset. He writes about the solitary bird that is guided across the vast sky. Bryant wonders if “there is a power whose care teaches thy way along that pathless coast.” The poem is calm and orderly. The poem takes place at sunset and is meant to be peaceful. As Bryant concludes, he ponders the lesson that the bird is teaching him. Bryant says that the same power that guides the bird to its summer home will “lead my steps aright.” The poem is very logical and rational. It’s not openly religious but it alludes to it. He uses a plain style of writing that is easy to read. The tone is happy and calming which reflects Bryant's view of nature. The poem is also is trying to convey a deeper lesson to the reader. The classical view is that nature is something to observe and meditate on.

Poe writes using a romantic view of nature. His poem is imaginative and spontaneous. He has a clear rhythm throughout the lines that is often dropped and picked up in the next stanza. The poem is very emotional. The tone is dark and depressing, just like the way Poe views nature. Poe's poem is very ornate and not as easy to understand. The rhythm and repetition are unique to this poem. It helps to create the gloomy mood. The poem is suspenseful and builds up to the point when Poe comes across the raven. It takes place “once upon a midnight dreary, while [he] pondered, weak and weary.” The setting is a lot darker and more mysterious than Bryant’s poem. Poe talks about how he lost his love, Lenore. He is not in a stable state, so when the raven appears he takes it as a sign. He heard tapping at his window and opens it up. Poe says that the raven flew in and “perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door.” This sign was meant to convey wisdom and is more subjective than Bryant’s poem.

Poe is looking for solace from the raven but when asked if he will be united with Lenore again, the raven croaks “Nevermore.” That is the bird’s response to all his questions and it makes Poe even more saddened and depressed than he was before. He is constantly calling the bird a demon and wants it to leave his room. The poem is irrational and it doesn’t make sense that a raven would be talking to him. Bryant ends his poem feeling better about life but Poe ends feeling more depressed than before. The poems are both dealing with birds but Bryant's poem is more calming. Poe writes in a darker form of romanticism. Both poems are written in 1st person. Poe's raven is viewed as a demon but Bryan's bird is a divine messenger. The characteristics reflected on the birds reflects their view of nature.