Not Marble, Nor the Gilded Monuments

Reflections on Shakespeare's Sonnets

William Shakespeare's poem "Not marble, nor the gilded monuments" brings the reader to the sense of what is not important and what is. This poem more or less has two message tht he tries to bring out. First, he mentiones that this poem is and will be stronger that any monuments that one does to keep a memory of a loved one. " Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme; But you shall shine more bright in these contents, Than unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time." (Lines 2-4). Also, another message that he mentiones is love. How love between two people even after everything perishes and vanishes or gets destroyed this love between these two lovers will always still be present. It will be stronger than anything.

This be the verse

How does Philip Lark negotiate levels of diction in This Be the Verse? How does it help the message?

The levels of diction that Philip Larkin uses is low. "They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do." It is informal, it basically uses language of ordinary people. The poem talks about how his parents were messed up, how they messed him up. That whatever faults they had they blamed on him and added more to make themselves feel better. He talks about their past lives and how they themselves were messed up. He advises others not to have kids of their own because of the faults that they will be blaming their kids. That's what I think the last verse more or less means.


This be the verse

They fuck you up, your mum and dadThey may not mean to, but they do.They fill you with the faults they hadAnd add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turnBy fools in old-style hats and coats,Who half the time were soppy-sternAnd half at one another's throats
Man hands on misery to man.It deepens like a coastal shelf.Get out as early as you can,And don't have any kids yourself.

Philip Larkin

The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall

What are some of your initial reactions to The Jilting of Granny Weatherall?

Granny Weatherall was definitely a tough charachter from what we read. " “Get along and doctor your sick,” said Granny Weatherall. “Leave a well woman alone. I’ll call for you when I want you…” she shouted, because Doctor “I pay my own bills, and I don’t throw my money away on nonsense!” She was used to telling people what to do and let no one help her. She had a daughter, Cornelia, who was always around to help her out. No matter how tough things got she stuck around. “I’m chilly, Cornelia.” Lying in bed stops the circulation. I must have told you a thousand times.” Granny always had something to do. She was an independent woman and had no one help her in any kind of way. After she got home from the doctor's office she decided to rest and clean up the attic the next day.

Granny knew that her time was about to come and she wanted to get rid of some old letters that she had up in her attic that she wanted no one to find even after her death. As Granny lies in bed, she ponders her imminent death. The idea of death feels unfamiliar, despite all the time she has spent preparing for it. Twenty years ago, when she was sixty years old, she had thought she was going to die. Next morning as Granny went through the letters she found letters from both George and John. Memories flew through her head and pain that she consumed once reminded her why she had become the way she did.

The jilting of Granny Weatherall has alot to do with the story and her past. Jilting means to be left behind, rejected. Granny Weatherall was at the alter ready to get married till the moment that George stood her up and never married her. Because of this past experince we know why she's that way she is with everyone. She is hard on forgivness and believes that she had no reason to forgive others to hurt her in some way. Not only that but John her husband had died at a young age as well. She didnt let anything get to her and bring her down, she just became stronger and learned form them.

In Everyday Use

In Everyday Use, the family quilt is an item of cultural value. Identify one item that represents your culture and explain why. Please respond to 2 of your peers.

An item that represents our culture in our family would be a China Cabinet that my grandmother has had since her kids were babies. She started out in Puerto Rico and when she moved down to Hialeah, Florida she ordered for it to get here safe. Inside that China Cabinet you will find many dinner ware. Throughout the years my grandmother has collected and taken care of all these sets that you don't find anywhere theses days. I guess that most of the things you can call them antiques. In there she has included her own wine glass set that she used for her weddings and the ones that her three daughters used when they got married. She has dinner plates, soup plates, tea sets, and even coffee sets. They have a significant meaning in our lives. And it's something that she has taken the time to care for and something that she is planning on passing down for generations to come.

The Narrator in The Tell-Tale Heart

How would you characterize the Narrator in Poe's short story? Give specific example to justify your claim.

The narrator of the Tell-Tale Heart is an unnamed person who tries to convince us the reader that he is completely sane. From the beginning of the short story written by Edgar Allan Poe we get a sense of feeling that the narrator isn’t well. “TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?”. The narrator of this story has committed a crime. He has murder and innocent old man just because of his eye. The narrator felt that the old man’s eye was always following him around. “The old man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once --once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.” The narrator's guilt gets the best of him and he starts to have hallucination that the old man's heart is still beating under the floorboards. Driving him into confessing his crime to the policeman who had passed by his house. Thereby getting caught.

Setting

How do the setting affect the stories of Joyce and Updike? How would the stories work in other settings?

In both stories Araby by James Joyce and A & P by John Updike, the settings affect how the stories take place and how the characters change.This story by James Joyce is the awakening of a boy to how different the world is compared to how he would like to see it. In the beginning of Araby, the setting of this story is very dark and gloomy. " When the short days of winter came, dusk fell before we had well eaten our dinners. When we met in the street the houses had grown sombre. The space of sky above us was the colour of ever-changing violet and towards it the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns. Our shouts echoed in the silent street." This setting symbolizes the loneliness of a child and the sadness of his childhood. The point of the story is that basically it's about a small crush. A young boy's first time falling for an older girl. “She was waiting for us,” “I had never spoken to her, except for a few casual words, and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood.” He wants her to feel the same for him so he decides to buy her something that will mean alot for her. Something that will show his affection towards her.

He goes out of his way and travels to " Araby" (bazaar) a small market away from town. As he gets there he starts to look around to see what he should buy her. He finally finds something that he would love to get her but gets distracted by the sales woman that is flirting with two young men. She asked him if he needed any help with an annoyed tone and a rude way. Things here begin to change. He becomes aware of how things really are. And that he might like her but she might never feel the same for him. He gets upset by what he has seen and decides to leave and buy her nothing.

In the second story, A & P by John Updike, the setting as well fits perfect for the theme. The story "A & P" by John Updike is a story of a young man who gets caught up in his desires and lets his anger get in the way of his thinking and in the end, ends up quitting his job. This story is written in first person, as told from the point of view of a 19-year-old grocery clerk named Sammy. One day, while Sammy is working, three girls walk into the A & P supermarket wearing nothing but bathing suits. At first, one of the girls intrigues Sammy. Everything is fine and nothing is said until the manager comes out. He tells them that they are dressed inappropriate and shouldn't be coming inside the store that way. They are embarrassed and get upset. Sammy can't believe the way he is treating these girls and decides to defend them as they walk out the door. Hoping that they here his heroic way he quits in front of everyone and walks out. But it was too late, because the three girls were long gone. Both settings correlate to one another in the sense of loneliness.

Irony

How do you define "irony"? Do you feel that it is present in Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour"?

In my own words, I believe that Irony is something ironic in the reading. It is what the author makes the reader believe will happen and the unexpected occurs during the end. The outcome of the story changes completely towards the end. Something that the author has intended to do. In the story " The story of an hour" by Kate Chopin, it definitely does present Irony very well. In the beginning she makes everyone believe that Mrs. Mallard's husband, Brently Mallard; has passed away due to an accidednt that many have died in. The news was spread and reach Mrs. Mallard. We're thereby expected to feel pity and see how it has affected her. As we keep on reading things start to change and Mrs. Mallard actually seems more at peace with herself.

They describe what she starts going through and how she feels about it. At first she is upset and can't really handle the news to well, so she goes up to her room and locks herself in there. She opens up the window and starts to look outside and starts to think. Here we start getting the image that she is in peace. It makes it seem that she has finally been freed and has let go of all that weight she's been carrying for years. It is all going good until the end where we hear about her husband coming home and not aware of the accident in which everyone believed he was involved in. As Mrs. Mallard sees him it's too late for the both of them. Mrs. Mallard ends up dying instead of Brently Mallard. A definite unexpected outcome from the author to the reader.