37 Matching Annotations
  1. May 2020
    1. I’m with you in Rockland

      The three sections focuses on specific aspects of the same subject asking and acknowledging capitalism. The ending provides closure towards protest against each oppression.

    2. who

      The word "who" uses an incantation and repetitive feel to represent the lack of changes against capitalism. The different "who's" give examples to what has yet to be changed

    3. Howl

      The title demonstrates a protest against capitalism, repression, and exploitation. This poem stands for the resistance and fight for change against this culture. As Allen Ginsberg uses certain tone and persona to portray this in his work.

    1. Although she feeds me bread of bitterness, And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,

      This seems to me that they are either describing a mother or an enemy? To be honest by the end of the poem I am sill unsure who they are describing. Is it America the country? IS it a person? It might be my unfamiliarity to this poem, but I do not know whom they are referring to.

    2. I shall return to loiter by the streams That bathe the brown blades of the bending grasses,

      The sitting at the river/streams relates to past texts we have read such as Langston Hughes “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” as it quotes, "I’ve known rivers..." continues the piece revolving around that and ends it with a line saying, "My soul has grown deep like the rivers." Because of it these both have similar themes and metaphors.

    3. Ah, little dark girls who in slippered feet Go prowling through the night from street to street!

      This seems similar to Gwendolyn Bennet's "Song" (1926) with themes on night and sneaking around. Although, Bennet's piece does add some light with the moonlight this text. I also wonder where these girls are going? Are they returning or leaving?

    1. Singin’ in de moonlight, Sobbin’ in de dark.

      crying for change in half visibility and half darkness. Do they want to be seen? Do they not want to be heard?The repetition proves that they have been wanting change for a long time and yet to receive it.

    2. I want to see the slim palm-trees, Pulling at the clouds With little pointed fingers …

      My first thought reading these first three lines was that this setting would be Los Angeles but reading on I realized that it is indeed not. It does seem to be more in the Northeastern to Middle East area.

    3. And let us be contained

      To relate to current times during this pandemic and quarantine. We are like these first four lines of the poem. Just staying still and waiting while being contained. This reminds me of how the world is reacting now as we wait for these confusing times to pass.

    1. With his ebony hands on each ivory key

      The narrator plays the piano in this jazz band s he sings "raggy tunes" and "weary blues." The descriptions and tones to describe music with deep emotion through a instrument with keys like ivory fits very well in this piece.

    2. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

      Is the narrator witnessing this happening or merely stating history occurring around. them as a metaphor? The Nile is five miles away from the pyramids so it would be possible to see, but it also did take 100 years to build the pyramids so this line could just be a text to send a deeper message.

    3. Euphrates

      Euphrates is the most important river in Western Asia along with Tigris. It is historically important because of its large irrigation from its valley.

    1. We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame

      Creating art and literature with pride of ethnicity and background is what Langston Hughes is striving for with future people of color artist. There are numerous people of color who changed history through art such as Robert S. Duncanson, Diego Rivera, and Abanindranath Tagore. These were all people who created art without fear or shame and changed history, which is exactly what Hughes wants.

    2. d the mother often says “Don’t be like niggers” when the children are bad. A frequent phrase from the father is, “Look how well a white man does things.”

      They are taught that the n-word is shameful and bad while acting white is somewhat a higher class that they should be aiming for. This passage reminds me of a poem that I read in the past named Incident by Countee Cullen. In it is the incidents of the narrators encounters with racism and how it affected them even by an older age. This passage is similar as in the mother telling her children how to act in a certain way according to a certain ethnicity is impactful in a negative way.

    3. One of the most promising of the young Negro poets said to me once, “I want to be a poet–not a Negro poet,” meaning, I believe, “I want to write like a white poet”; meaning subconsciously, “I would like to be a white poet”; meaning behind that, “I would like to be white.” And I was sorry the young man said that, for no great poet has ever been afraid of being himself.

      A person of colors writing and work may be looked down upon or ignored more than a Caucasian person. If their work was portrayed by a non person of color would it be recognized and celebrated more? I believe that is what Hughes purpose is for these two lines. "The privilege a white person receives is vastly different from any other person of color and the fact that this is impactful in literature as well is shameful.

  2. Apr 2020
    1. Datta: what have we given? My friend, blood shaking my heart The awful daring of a moment’s surrender Which an age of prudence can never retract By this, and this only, we have existed

      The voice in this five line excerpt is the thunder or "Datta" The thunder or "Datta" is not referred as either woman or man creating a zombie motif in this section because it is a point of mixing gender to where there is none presented. The desire frustrated is the desire for the end of drought and for water. The waste land needs water to restore fertility and life. To receive water is the end of desire frustration. There is an unnatural set of time in this section as well. T.S. Eliot wrote this text in 1922 in a city named Lausanne, but the setting of What the Thunder Said is not expressed other than knowing its the time of a drought.

    2. Doubled the flames of sevenbranched candelabra Reflecting light upon the table as The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it, From satin cases poured in rich profusion; In vials of ivory and coloured glass

      The voice in this 5 line excerpt is a high class woman looking at a section of her wealthy belongings including a religious symbol. The natural time of this should be somewhere during December 10-December 18, because of the use of the "sevenbranched candelabra" which is mainly used during Hanukkah. The candles are lit for each passing day and if the candles are doubled it should be midweek. The desire frustrated is from the high class woman sitting with her wealth surrounded by loneliness and meaningless objects as she waits for her partner. Her day is passes with games of chess as she gets more frantic and impatient with the passage of time. Woman and man is referred to the high class woman and the person who the woman is waiting for who may be a man

  3. Mar 2020
    1. Madame Sosostris

      Introducing new characters to the poem. Not much of a transition but it does the job. Good work Eliot.

    2. Frisch weht der Wind                       Der Heimat zu                       Mein Irisch Kind,                       Wo weilest du?

      The poem following a threat? What language is this and what does it say?

    3. L MIGLIOR FABBRO

      According to google translate the below passage is Latin and it is translated to, "In fact, I saw with my own eyes the Sibyl at Cumae hanging in a jar, I will =, and when the boys tell no man:..., she responded:..." I am not sure how accurate this may be, but that is what came up on a google translation.

  4. Feb 2020
    1. Use no superfluous word

      Don't use jargon. It's unnecessary and is not needed in poetry according to Pound. Which words are considered not superfluous? Is it words that have to reveal a deeper meaning, but isn't jargon words with deeper meaning or are they merely filler words?

    2. “thing”

      Direct treatment of the "thing." What is this thing and why is it the first principle? Does it make It more superior than the following two, is it more important?

    3. black bough

      I truly did not know what black bough was. After looking it up I was able to connect that it's a dark plant with light petals. Its a good contrast to compare from Pound's first line comparing ghostlike faces in a crowd.

    1. Love is not all:

      Love does not fulfill everything. The writer is really against it and after reading the poem I can see why. Love cannot conquer all despite what others may think. It doesn't breathe for you, work for you, or heal you. But what does the lack of love persist? Does the writer have love and it may not be returned? What is the purpose of this angsty poem against love?

    2. Cut down

      Several connotations of a sense of absents. With either a nonexistence or lack of. With phrases empty, cut, no more, and none there is a sense that there is something missing. Perhaps it's the lack of people to mourn, but who are they mourning?

    1. For auld lang syne

      The meaning of "auld lang syne" is "times long past" according to the Oxford dictionary. This is interesting because the narrator is reverencing "times long past" to Mr. Flood and when the narrator then says to stop right after.

    1. Of knowing Volney’s “Ruins” as well as Butler’s “Analogy” And “Faust” as well as “Evangeline,”

      A lot of connections to other pieces that are related to the story. Is the purpose of tying in these examples to make the message stronger or to give the reader a better idea of what the author is meaning?

    1. “Then do let us go downstairs,” I said, “there are such pretty rooms there.”

      Are they not living in the same room? Did the husband stick his wife up in the highest room by herself where she feels uncomfortable? The husband is up to something

    2. there is something strange about the house—I can feel it.

      The narrator can sense that there is something wrong or mysterious about the house, yet she remain ecstatic about it. Its strange that she has feelings of joy and happiness when speaking about the house, especially when describing as haunted, empty, and dark. Is she more drawn to these qualities because she is sick?

    3. My brother is also a physician

      Her brother and husband are both doctors yet she remain sick with no one to believe her about her illness? Is the illness truly not real? Or is the husband somehow the cause of her illness, and if so is the brother also involved?

    1. Why did God make me an outcast and a stranger in mine own house?

      I enjoy Du Bois technique of using question in text. Is it for dramatic flair or does it have a deeper meaning?

    2. And yet, being a problem is a strange experience

      answering the question of being a problem after saying that it is often answered by "seldom a word." That was interesting to me, especially by answering with a full experience description.

    1. Adams never tired of quoting the supreme phrase of his idol Gibbon, before the Gothic cathedrals: “I darted a contemptuous look on the stately monuments of superstition.”

      What did Gibbon's quote have to do in relation to this situation? Does his scorn against this "monument of superstition" due to his purpose at St. Gaudens?

    2. since his own gaiety was not folle

      I looked up what folle means, and perhaps I am not finding the correct meaming for Adams usage in this senetence because folle meant "madwoman" or "queen." So Henry Adams referring to his cheerfulness or "gaiety" not being "folle" was somewhat confusing to me.

    3. Adams haunted it

      Did Henry Adams write his 1900 autobiography in third person? I wonder why he chose this technique rather than writing in first person. Perhaps, Adams saw it more beneficial to write in an outsiders point of view rather than his own.

  5. Jan 2020
    1. From “Bow Down” come “Rise Up,”

      I always try to find some background information to any poetry that I am unfamiliar to. I found a video that read "They Feed They Lion" while showing photos from the specific time period of the poem. I thought this provided insight to what Levine may have been connecting specific detail and symbols to. For example, "From "Bow Down" come "Rise Up" the video shows nursing stations, soldiers, and housing. These images may have been shown for this line to represent revolution.

      https://youtu.be/YYwkg58u44c

    2. Out of burlap sacks, out of bearing butter, Out of black bean and wet slate bread, Out of the acids of rage, the candor of tar, Out of creosote, gasoline, drive shafts, wooden dollies,

      The first stanza is a description of raw and emotional power of rising from poverty to raging against something against them wether its a higher power, government, or officials. It shows a symbol of resistance and freedom.