Reflection Blog - Choose Two

I chose to analyze two poems by William Cullen Bryant and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. "June" by William Cullen Bryant seems to me to be about a man being buried in June, when the weather is nice and all of his friends can come and see. "Snow-Flakes" by Longfellow is about the snow falling on the ground, sort of like the sky is crying.

I think that these to poems are similar in a number of ways. First of all, both regard nature to its highest. In "Snow-Flakes", Longfellow compares the snow falling down to the grief that the earth has. I find this metaphor to be interesting. I have heard so many times rain and thunderstorms being compares to the sky crying and letting out its angry, but never before have I seen snow compared to crying from the sky. I think that Longfellow was tying to get readers to see that the sky does not always need to have temper-tantrums and produce thunder and lightening, but when it snows, it is somewhat like a soft cry from the sky above. The sky is not angry, but more hurt I guess one would say. "Silent, soft, and slow descends the snow," describes this feeling very well in my opinion. The snow is so quiet when it falls, yet it produces "tears" and has emotion. A lot of Romantic poems compare things to nature and how great being outdoors is. I believe that this oddly unique twist of nature is one of the reasons that the poem of "Snow-Flakes" is so highly regarded. We have not discussed this in class, but I think that a good variety of Romanticism poems consist of onomatopoeia. Nature is given human characteristics, like emotion, that allows the reader to relate to it.

The other poem I selected was called "June" by William Cullen Bryant. This poem is very similar to "Snow-Flakes" because it too talks about nature in a very high regard. In my opinion, the poem is about a man that reflects on when he will die and how he would like to be buried in June. He says that in June "brooks send up a glorious tune". I do not think that he wants to die anytime soon, but if he were to die, or when he eventually does pass away, he wants to be laid to rest in the summer months so it is nice outside. This is a huge reflection on Romanticism writing because the author describes a man's longing to be buried in nature when nature is in its prime. Just like the snow, the warm sum, the green grass, and cheerful brooks display emotion. The man in the poem finds the summer months to be the most appealing. He connects with nature in a way that not many people do. I think that the author leaves the reader will many feelings of peace and tranquility because he speaks so highly of nature. Thinking of June around this time of year definitely makes me feel warm and peaceful, simply because it is so cold outside right now.

"Snow-flakes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Poetry Foundation." Poetry Foundation. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.

"June, by William Cullen Bryant." Poetry Archive | Poems. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.

Journal #20 - Autumn Poem

I think that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Autumn" is seemingly interesting. I think that is uses a great deal of Romanticism qualities throughout the very short poem. It is very descriptive when it comes to the detail included throughout the poem. "Thy shield is the red harvest moon, suspended, So long beneath the heaven’s o’erhanging eaves; Thy steps are by the farmer’s prayers attended; Like flames upon an altar shine the sheaves;" In this quote by Longfellow, he describes and compares the "shield" to a red harvest moon. I think that this comparison and description is a big part of Romanticism writing. Many writers of the time period used a lot of nature in their works. Longfellow's poems are full of hinted nature comparisons and also a lot of obvious representations. As far as what the poem itself means, I think that it talks about the season of Autumn and how it brings a lot of glorious things. New weather, colorful trees, bright attitudes, and long sleeve shirts fill the Autumn air all around the world. This poem made me think of parts of the county that do not experience all of the symptoms of fall. I am pretty sure San Diego, California does not have cooler temperatures and drastic changes in leaf color throughout the city. Anyway, I think that the poem is definitely Romanticism style because it is rather descriptive, despite the fact that it is kind of short. I liked the poem and thought that Longfellow put a lot of hard work into getting a seemingly short poem to have such powerful and encouraging meaning. A lot of writing during that time period seems to be short, but have a lot of meaning in the little lines that there are. I do not know if I prefer poems such as this one, or ones that have more depth to them. I like how I can translate the meaning of the literature to my liking because I seem to have different perspectives a lot of the time.

Reflection Blog - Fireside Poets - Romanticism

My first thought when I read that I had to pick a poem from one of the fireside poets, I decided right then and there that I wanted to chose a short one. What student does not want less work, less to read, and overall, less to analyze? I decided to Google Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poems and I picked the first one I saw. It was short, and immediately I was excited. In my head I thought, "Hey, I can get this blog done so fast now. No worries, right?" I read the poem and I was actually enthralled by the significant detail portrayed in the poem. It may be a short piece of literature, but I definitely feel like I could blog about the significance of it forever... so in the end, I do not feel like I am taking the easy-way out (which is a good thing).

The poem is called "A Nameless Grave". It is about a man who stumbles upon a grave that is completely unmarked signifying the body of an unknown soldier who died in the American Revolution. The man reflects on how the soldier died in battle, yet no one knows exactly who the individual was or is. "Thou unknown hero sleeping by the sea in thy forgotten grave," (Longfellow line 10). I find this quote from the poem to be very significant. To me, it is saying that the man who stumbled upon the grave reflects on the fact that nobody knows just who the soldier is...where he came from...how he died...his birthday...or even the day he had to part with this earth. The poem made me think a good deal about the American Revolution, a war in which I feel school teachers overlook in class more than they should. This was one of the biggest wars fought on American soil and back then, technology was nowhere as "technological" than what is it today. When someone was killed from a gunshot wound to the head, it was practically impossible for anyone to identify the body and say who it was. There was no DNA testing then. How sad is that? How sad and lonely would it be to die a hero, but no one know who you were? I asked myself that question more than once. Although one may perceive it to be a terrible thing to be deemed an "unknown hero", in all honestly, I think some soldiers kind of, sort of, wished to perish that way. They did not go to war to get their name in the local tribune, but rather felt so strongly about freedom and independence that they chose to serve their country with honor and gratitude. This poems last line says "And I can give thee nothing in return," regarding what the soldier has given the man. He means that the soldier fought for this man's independence from Britain, but because he is unknown, the man can not give anything to him. I think Longfellow wanted readers to feel like they could realize more than the man in the poem does. Readers can take from this poem that honor does not need to be won only by those who are identifiable, but rather, it should go to anyone who represented bravery, strength, courage, and valor.

As far as this poem representing the Romanticism time period, I think that it demonstrates great detail, just not as in depth as the other poems we have read thus far into this unit.

"Shot down in skirmish, or disastrous rout, Of battle, when the loud artillery drave, Its iron wedges through the ranks of brave, And doomed battalions, storming the redoubt," (Longfellow). Considering the poem is less than fifteen lines, these 3 lines give the poem a lot of detail. The author describes the loudness of the artillery, the wedges of iron in the rank, and even the state in which the battalions are "doomed". Also, a lot of the Romantic poems consisted of artistic inspiration. Since the Revolution was a huge part in any American's lives, I can understand why Longfellow had the inspiration to write this poem. I think that the Romanticism time period writing had a lot to do with what inspired authors.

"A Nameless Grave by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of Poems and Poets.. Poetry Search Engine. 10 Mar. 2010. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.

Reflection Blog: The Devil and Tom vs. Rip Van Winkle

I have read a lot of weird stories in my life. I have sat and contemplated many of times what exactly it was that I had read. In all honestly, thus far in my English career I have dealt with odd and mind-boggling stories in an efficient manner. The Devil of Tom Walker started out very intriguing for me. I thought it was interesting how Tom is introduced into the story walking home through a short-cut in the woods. Washington uses very descriptive language all throughout this short-story. An example of extensive descriptive language is found early in the story. "It was full of pits and quagmires, partly covered with weeds and mosses; where the green surface often betrayed the traveller into a gulf of black smothering mud; there were also dark and stagnant pools, the abodes of the tadpole, the bull-frog, and the water snake, and where trunks of pines and hemlocks lay half drowned, half rotting, looking like alligators, sleeping in the mire", (Irving). In this quote, the author describes the scene in vivid detail. It is almost as if readers can feel and even smell the scene in which Tom is adventuring into. Washington Irving demonstrates key qualities of Romanticism writing by using nature and very descriptive detail in his work. Something that Washington exemplifies in a lot of his works is the use of a very controlling wife. Tom's wife takes initiative when her husband does not wish to search for treasure that will make them rich forever. She ends up going out and disappearing over the fact that she was money-hungry and unsatisfied with her life. Overall, I found The Devil and Tom Walker to be a weird, yet oddly intriguing piece of literature. I can see why it is very controversial for critics, seeing that it deals with a very controlling wife and excessive detail of nature.

I would say the writing style between The Devil and Tom Walker and Rip Van Winkle are strikingly similar. Which should make complete sense...seeing that they were both written by the same author and all. Both stories use extremely descriptive detail, a quality that was widely popular with authors during the Romanticism time period.

"Just then from a thicket a man came out--His legs were short and his body stout,

He looked like a Dutchman in days of yore,
With buttons behind and buttons before;
And held a keg with an iron grip,
And beckoned for help to the gazing Rip, (Irving).

The latter quote exemplifies the Romanticism qualities of Irving's Rip Van Winkle. He uses a lot of detail to put readers in the middle of the story to feel and see what the character is going through entirely in the short-story. As far as the two stories are different, I think that the first story's writing style is definitely more eerie feeling and suspicious, mainly because readers are in suspense the whole time wondering what on earth happened to Walker's wife. As far as Van Winkle is concerned, I think this stories writing style is more of a moral-teaching kind of story. The point that the author was trying to get across was probably one of do not let life pass by you too fast because you only have a determined number of years to do good, and leave your mark on the world.