3.26.2008

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Identity and individuality are a major theme of James Joyce's novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, in which Stephen Dedalus, the main character, takes us through his life as he matures, trying to find himself. I think that throughout the novel, Stephen could never quite find that group of people that he completely fit into and could enjoy being in company with. This separation from others is what fueled his growth into the independent young man that he eventually allowed himself to become. In the beginning, his goal seemed to be to fit in in any way possible, and the please and be accepted by as many people as he could possibly find. It was this striving for excellence, and the feeling of emptiness even when he had achieved that excellence that nurtured his passion for language, and his development into a poetic and philosophical man. He reminisced of the days of old, when Parnell had kept Ireland's old ways alive and well, but he also knew that he could not change the past, and came to realize that although he couldn't change the past, perhaps he could affect the future. I think the growth of Stephen is an integral part of this novel, and it allows the reader to examine their own lives as they read it, and decide what they truly desire out of life.

My favorite quote from this novel is: "The snares of the world were its ways of sin. He would fail. He had not yet fallen but he would fall silently, in an instant. Not to fall was too hard, too hard: and he felt the silent lapse of his soul, as it would be at some instant to come, falling, falling, but not yet fallen, still unfallen but about to fall"(175 Joyce). This excerpt struck me with its poetic, repetitive nature, and its meaning. The repetition of fall made it clear that Stephen could not figure out what was going to happen to him eventually, but he knew that something was coming. The fall that Stephen is considering is one from his current status in the novel to a level that many would probably disprove of because of what it would no longer involve. At the point when this is said in the novel, Stephen is considering becoming a priest, but he suddenly realizes that it is not his heart that is keeping it on that path, it his his fear and his familial expectations of him that are making him feel obligated to the Church. His fall is eventually one from a very highly religious state, to one of searching and self-analysis, that, as difficult as it was for him to do, is leading him to a better place in life. He knew that staying as a priest would make him dissatisfied with many things in life, and Stephen knew it was necessary for him to find out what he needed for himself. I think that is why this quote appealed to me so much, because it is about doing what you feel is right for your life, despite the potential pain and discomfort it may cause at first. Knowledge of self is more important than a false serenity in a state of illusion about who you are.

I have found that in this class, the overwhelming trend with our latest novels has been that they require a deeper analysis than some, and cannot be fully appreciated until they have been completed and left to simmer in your mind for awhile. I really enjoyed this book because it had a very obvious growth of the main character's identity, and it had a philosophical basis to it that many books do not. It was reminiscent and revolutionary and confused and amazingly insightful all at once, and the stream of consciousness of the writer, as well as his increasingly poetic tendencies throughout the novel made it all the more enjoyable.

278. The Fly by Karl Shapiro

This poem is told from the perspective of the disgusted and irritated human, discussing the everyday activities of the fly, and the eventual death of the fly at the hands of the speaker. This perspective, although not from the point of view of the fly, offers a fairly apt idea of what flies do in their usually quite short lifetimes. It is through this point of view that the poet allows his readers to further connect with what he is saying, because Shapiro is aware that all people have had at least one less-than-enjoyable encounter with this gross flying insect. He appeals to the readers' memories in order to create a more interesting, impacting poem, and has a loathing, disgusted tone that also connects with the reader. Along with his choice perspective, Shapiro utilizes a creative rhyme scheme, with six, eight-line stanzas, each of which ends in an A-B-B-A pattern. it is the first and third lines that are interesting, because they do not have any rhyme connection, while the second and fourth lines do, however, the non-rhyming lines have a metric quality, with the same number of syllables in each line, which in turn forms a sense of rhythm. Although the first half of the stanza does not follow a rhyme scheme as does the second half, Shapiro successfully creates a rhythm that is reminiscent of a fly coming closer and then leaving and then returning again with the back and forth nature of the rhyme and meter of the poem.

The literary devices that Shapiro uses in this poem are that of simile, and his diction. The similes that Shapiro employ add to the general sense of disgust in regards to the fly, for example, in line 16 the speaker says "And inlay maggots like a jewel," to describe how the flies utilize the dead as their personal breeding ground. He also compares the fly's noise to "Sounding your buzzer like an urchin toy"(line 12), which gives the reader a sense of how, just as a child's toy, the fly is extremely irritating. Then Shapiro utilizes similes to describe the destruction of the fly by the speaker: "Knock your head sideways like a drunkard's hat,/Pin your wings under like a crows"(Line 37-38), which procures an image of a fly with a crooked head and useless wings. Shapiro's word choice is the main strength of the poem, because without many of the adjectives "The Fly" would not have the same affect. The first line of the poem "O hideous little bat, the size of snot" is an immediate clue that this poem is not a friendly portrayal of the fly, and then he emphasizes the disgusting character of the fly with his other word choices. From lines 29 to 32 it is written: "You glue yourself to death. Where you are stuck/ You struggle hideously and beg,/ You amputate your leg/ Imbedded in the amber muck." The word hideous is repeated , and the struggle of a fly dying in a sticky trap is given an almost war-like tone, showing the fly's slow trek toward death with the words struggle, beg, amputate, amber, and muck.

As gruesome as this poem was, I liked how it gave such a disgusting little creature a part in a poetic thought. It made the various ways that the flies died, and what happens to the flies after death seem extremely repulsive. The last lines say: "I sweep. One gyrates like a top and falls/And stunned, stone blind, and deaf/Buzzes its frightful F/ And dies between three cannibals." This is a chilling view of how the fly, once it has been killed, is simply devoured by its fellow insects, who face the same fate as it met. The fly was killed by horses, killed by men, killed by wives and children, killed by its own fellow insects. The poem has a transition point to arrive at these various forms of death, where the first two stanzas of the poem are about the life of the fly, and the final six stanzas are about the fly being killed, which I found interesting because it shows that more happens to kill the fly than to keep it away. It is made out to be the hated insect of the living population, a fascinating perspective that allows for the reader to see just how the annoying little bane of their summer is annihilated.

265. Getting Through by Deborah Pope

The perspective in this poem is from the point of view of a person who is feeling hopelessly in love with someone who they cannot tell that they are in love with. It is a poem of sadness and frustration, as the speaker tries to describe how their love is built up within them, dying to get out, but they know that it will fall upon deaf ears. The poem has no rhyme scheme, and is essentially one very lengthy stanza, without a parallel structure and no breaks in the stream of words that the speaker lets out. Despite its lack of rhyme, and its lack of separation, this poem is rhythmic and allows the reader to experience the stream of consciousness that the speaker is portraying. It is effective, although it is not particularly long, in creating a sense of silent desperation as the reader experiences, through words, the pain of the speaker.

The literary devices that the poet utilizes are imagery and diction, which contribute to the overall meaning and tone of the poem. In terms of imagery, Pope appeals not only to visual images, but also to that of auditory, because sounds play an important part in this poem. The first instance of imagery is the first three lines of the poem: "Like a car stuck in gear,/ A chicken too stupid to tell/its head is gone." These images are of movement and of a feeling of ridiculousness, seeing as a car stuck in gear is going to move unless the brake is pressed, and a chicken with its head cut off continues to run in circles despite its lack of a head. This sense of movement contributes to the speaker's desire to say more, but feeling stuck and ridiculous whenever they try to say anything. Some of the auditory images of this poem include: "...sound ratcheting on/long after the film/ has jumped the reel" and "...a phone ringing and ringing." These add to the never ending, urgent tone of the poem, and reflect how the speaker knows that they have to say something, but their thoughts are not coming out the way that they would like them to. Some of the word choices that I found particularly important were "blundering,""spilling," and "hurtling," which make the poem seem a little more chaotic, and add to the feeling of fright that the speaker seems to have. The final piece of imagery that Pope utilizes is the comparison of her words to a train that is going to a decrepit "boarded-up station,/closed for years" which helps to describe the fear the speaker has about professing their feelings.

I liked this poem because, as sure as I am that I do not entirely understand what Deborah Pope is saying, I connected to the scattered, fearful urgency of the speaker. It seemed like a situation that anyone has experienced in their life, where they want to tell someone how they really feel about them, but they convince themselves that it is not worth telling the person because they won't care anyway. I felt as though the poet was trying to show how, as difficult and stressing as being in love with someone is, if you never say it you are wasting a beautiful moment by worrying about it so intensely.

235. The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy

This poem has a speaker who is wandering aimlessly through a barren winter landscape, describing the sheer desolation of the season. With this perspective Hardy allows for a human narration on the sad natural state of the winter season. in addition to the human aspect of this poem to contribute to its melancholic tone, Hardy uses an ABABCDCD rhyme scheme that creates a rhythm for the speaker's words. He also implements the technique of making the lines of the poem follow an eight syllable-six syllable scheme that makes the poem more melodic than it would be with merely rhyming end words. With the parallel syllabic structure of the poem, the connection to a bird's song is strengthened, and it contributes further to the sense of bleakness in the poem.

The main literary devices that Thomas Hardy uses in this poem are personification and language choice. This poem personifies winter, and offers the thrush a few human aspects as well. To emphasize the personification of winter and its various components, Hardy capitalizes the first letter of Frost, Winter, Century, and Hope to heighten their human relation by making them out to be actual names. He describes Frost as "specter-gray" which, as well as personifying, is a good choice of words. Winter is made out to have "dregs" and "The land's sharp features seemed to be/ The Century's corpse outleant"(Line 9-10), and the century's grave is a "cloudy canopy," "the wind his death-lament." These descriptions, as well as choices of words, all contribute to the overall sense of sad and grayness of the poem. The change in the poem occurs when the thrush begins to sing, and Hardy writes "An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,/In blast beruffled plume,/ Had chosen thus to fling his soul/ Upon the growing gloom"(Line 21-24). This flinging of the soul is another excellent choice of diction because it is showing how the bird is putting his entire being into his joyful song, to balance out the bleak season.

I liked this poem a lot because of its natural, melancholic depiction of winter, as well as the little bit of "Hope" that is seen at the end of the poem. The piece captures the cold bleak grayness that winter seems to always have, and with the human perspective shows how nature sometimes knows best. The bird is a sign to the man that as miserable as the winter is, it will one day be over, and the warmth and soft breezes of spring will be upon them. I found that although the poem was generally sad in tone, the final two stanzas showed that faith had to put into nature that one day things would be happy and comfortable for all again.

232. Snow White and the Seven Deadly Sins by R.S. Gwynn

This poem is told as a story, much like an adult telling a child a short story, with the antagonist, the hero, and the moral of the story. It is a take on the original story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, yet in this poem the dwarfs are reflective of the seven deadly sins, and Snow White is the woman who must endure their difficulties. The poem utilizes a A-B-A-B rhyme scheme, which is similar to a nursery story, and makes it easier for the child to remember it. Each stanza is four lines, which makes it of a parallel structure, and also adds to the rhythmic nature of the poem, and makes another similarity between it and a child's story.

Gwynn utilized a variety of literary techniques, but those that stood out and emphasized the poem the most were her use of allusion and personification. The entire poem is filled with biblical allusions, the most obvious being when the Father at the confessional refers her to "... texts in Romans/And Peter's First Epistle, chapter III," after she expresses dissatisfaction with her life as, essentially a servant to the devil. This chapter of The First Epistle of St. Peter involves how wives are to behave toward their husbands, and obviously the Church has no sympathy to Snow White's situation. Another allusion is to demons, as Gwynn writes that the Seven "sped to contravene the hopes of heaven,/ Sowing the neighbor's lawns with tares and thorns." The tares and thorns are alluding to the temptations that the Devil procures in daily life, and attempts to lure people astray with. The Seven Deadly Sins are personified in this poem, with Pride, Lust, Gluttony, Avarice, Envy, Sloth, and Wrath all contributing something to the misery of Snow White's life. The turning point of this poem, when Snow White begins to consider leaving behind the Seven is when she looks into the mirror and sees "How much she'd grayed and paled, and how much clearer/ Festered the bruise of Wrath beneath her eye"(Line 27-28). It is when she recognizes the abuse that she has been enduring at the hands of sin that she makes the decision to turn her life around.

I liked this poem because it had a slightly feminist air to it at the end, where Snow White turns down Prince Charming, not because she's happier where she is, but because he is a man, and she is unable to tolerate their actions. It made me laugh when Gwynn wrote: "Impeccably he spoke. His smile was glowing./ So debonair! So charming! And so Male./She took a step, reversed, and without slowing/ Beat it to St. Anne's where she took the veil"(Line 37-40). The men that Snow White had been living with had been so disgusting and horrible that she saw no reason to trust any that were more attractive or seemed nicer than others, and instead went to the convent. I felt as though the poem was saying that men were the true sinners of the world, and the only way for women to protect themselves from these sins was to hide away among other women and devote their lives to God. I do not agree with this point of view, but I did enjoy the humor with which Gwynn portrayed her speaker's perspective.