Imagination and Narrative

The poem Kubla Khan is definitely celebrating imagination. The way Coleridge describes the images in the poem helped me as the reader to envision this place he was talking about. He describes the children of Mother Earth (gardens, rivers, etc.) full detail which enables the reader to really imagine it. I feel as though Coleridge is trying to reach out to the imagination of the audience in general due to all of the description and imagery he is using.

Since reading Shelley's poem, I was able to depict three voices. All three are describing the scene of the poem in different ways, but all relating to one another. I was kind of like the different voices that are depicting the thought process.They describe the statue of Ozymandias after it has been destroyed, and the sorrow that people are being filled with. I was left with a sense that Ozymandias was some sort of leader, considering the statue was made of him. However, the destruction of the statue lead me to believe that he did not have victory of whatever he had been leading. The tone of all three voices expresses who Ozymandias was and what he was looked upon. this poem also seem to depict power being overtaken, especially since the statue was destroyed. From the visuals we saw when the statue was demolished overseas it showed the overthrow of the government power.

Hamlet Act Two

While reading Act Two I noticed that they characters seem to be spying on each other to make the other look more immature than thine self. In scene one Polonius sends Reynaldo to Paris to spy on Laertes. With Reynaldo being only a servant he must follow the instructions of spying. But before he leaves to follow Laertes his instructions also increased so that was to also follow in public places and make Laertes look very "loose" and show his immaturity, or better his reputation (which is not what they want to happen.)

Also in scene two more spying takes place between characters. Eager to know the cause of Prince Hamlet's gloom, King Claudius employs Hamlet's former friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to observe him and report on his mad behavior. Another conspiracy of spying on Hamlet, Polonius reads King Claudius a private love letter written from Hamlet to Ophelia. Polonius suggests that love-sickness is the cause of Hamlet's insanity. The snooping advisor arranges a meeting between the lovers and plans to hide with Claudius behind a curtain to mark the encounter. Hamlet does some spying of his own. He plans to scrutinize King Claudius' face during "The Mousetrap" play to detect signs of guilt. At this point everyone is against Hamlet, especially King Claudius since he is interested in Ophelia. With Hamlet spying himself I believe there will soon be a change in sequence of events and who has an "upper hand" in these constant quarrels.

*When grading this piece can you comment on how to stay focused on a topic that may not have as much information as other topics may have. Thanks.*

Hamlet Act One

After hearing so much about this play and how good it was i was ecstatic about starting it. After reading Act One I am becoming more interested in the overall plot. One thing I found interesting, which we also discussed in class was the fact that the play starts in the midst of events that are already taking place. I found this different from the other Shakespearean plays that we have read. With the audience being introduced to the plot in the midst of events they become engrossed faster than if the mysteries were gradually brought in over the length of the play.

One detail of Act One that I repeatedly thought about was the ghost of King Hamlet. I wondered if his repeated appearances were symbolism for more than one reason in the play. One reason that I found obvious was for foreshadowing purposes, while another was for warnings of danger. one personal reason that I thought would be a reason for his appearance was that he may not have had a settled soul. Being a person who knows that in certain religions and belief systems people do stay in limbo until their soul has had complete closure and debts have been payed you that person may return to finish their tasks, I think that could be a main reason for his appearance. With the thought of foreshadowing, after he appeared the guards are warned of strange occurrences on the grounds, and since the King was in quarrel before dying, there could have been a foreshadow of Norway wanting to conquer the land. The reasoning for thinking that he could have been a warning of danger is because when his ghost was seen he was wearing a full suit of armor and those where obviously worn for battle, so that is where that symbolism came from.

The first act captured my attention from beginning to end. though I may not be able to comprehend every word the first time after reading it numerous times the meaning finally is setting in my head. Hopefully the Act Two continues with the drama, as all Shakespearean plays do.

*for grading purposes can you focus on the overall content, as well as how I tried to support my thoughts with details from the section of the play.*

Final Orwell

In this passage the doctrine is definitely evident. O'Brien is basically restating once again the basis of "life" at the time. No one was to have a different point point of view from anyone else otherwise you were not considered alive in government eyes. The reality that is spoken of consists of only what Big Brother states and nothing more. In the end this leads to his fate because he is at a loss of an actually reality that he neither knows is true reality or the reality created by Ingsoc. O'Brien, in this passage, is speaking directly to Winston and tellling him that he has failed as a person because he is going against that party. But in his own right (an actual right that is not established) he goes by what he believes rather than others' perspectives. Winston gave himself away by leaving evidence of his deceitfulness. But he has the right as a person to be himself, he has the right to be a leader instead of a follower. He has the right to use his brain, and not just follow the trend because someone else thinks that their way is better and that everyone has to follow them. Winston was told that reality is what is in the human mind, not in an individuals mind. Winston knew that the things that the Party was feeding to everyone was a fraud so he didn't follow. But on the on the other hand he also knew that going against the party was not an option. He repeatedly kept telling Winston that what the government was saying was the actually truth and he would be crazy to go against it. Winston's fate was determined by his won mind. he was going back and forth with himself questioning everything in life like many people do in life everyday. His conscience was the deciding factor against Big Brother, showing that he had found his memory of life before Big Brother and the doublethink concept.

Teacher Prep Work

b) When working in my teacher group I found it somewhat difficult to get anything collectively together since not everyone fully comprehended the story. The good part is that we did come up with some good open ended questions and we found a few instances where the irony used was particularly interesting. From working in teacher groups I learned that I would never want to be a teacher, just because I wouldn't want to teach something that I really didn't understand myself. One good thing I found that came from working in teacher groups was that each of us helped the others to try and grasp the overall concept of the story and what Swift was trying to display through his words.

c) During the planning period in class we planned to continue working the same way he had started. The vision that our group had was to make the story as clean cut and simplistic as we possibly could to gain a better understanding, but not lose the affects of the irony. This will take reading the text quite a few times and pulling out the portions of text that we believe contribute to the overall irony.

a) -Is Gulliver awake or is it all a dream?
- How does Swift portray the government and its officials?
- Do you think that the tiny people were symbols? (For example, is Swift trying to show the different is social classes?
- Do you think that if the Lulliputians were not at war with others that Gulliver would have had such a lenient sentence?

I really did not have many predicions because I was still trying to comprehend the whole story. He is obviously going to travel to another land. I think this time he will travel to a land of "giants" of some sort. This prediction is solely based on a social class matter. Since there was irony with the government officials, there must also be another set of irony coming to be associated with those at the highest of powers.

William Blake Response

1) I do agree with the textbook editors when they say that William Blake was able to create social change using his text and readings. With the two versions of The Chimney Sweeper he uses two different tones, which in my mind would be a sign of trying to reach the different social classes. In class we also spoke on the details that were in each poem. One poem being from an experience based perspective would appeal more to a certain group, but could also shine a light on how some people saw the world being from a higher class. So it kind of forms a layer at which someone is getting an inside look at another's life.

2) The editors may have included the Parliment document as a primary source because it emphasizes the difference in government and how social classes were separated. This really didn't change the way that I read the poems, it just added another layer to an underlying story life in that time period.

Response to Orwell

The one topic that I wanted to address was the manipulation of reality and how everyone was forced to think. Since Big Brother was like an overall dictator there was no real need for anyone to try and go against the government, which rarely happened anyway in that society. One major characteristic of society that I found a little awkward and radical was the fact that everyone was basically forced to think alike, and if one opposed the government it was never to found out about. With everyone to have the same thoughts thee was really no freedom among the people. To me it seems as though every person is a walking robot that has been programed to prform a certain duty and nothing else that would break that constant rotation.

One example of this is when the topic of marriage and sex was brought up. The government married no two people together for the reason of attraction and love (as a contrast to what is performed in modern times), but for the reasons of reproduction for the party and nothing else. It was also stated that these reasonings to marry are instilled from a very young at age to everyone and that there are even groups that were created to instill the thoughts of abstinence unless otherwise established by the government and the use of artificial insemination only. The explanations used in the book make you realize how "brainwashed" the party has made everyone.

Another way that the party and BB manipulated reality was the destruction of all files and records of people and history, while also having people create new history books which are not accurate at any cost. When Winston spoke on how people just "disappear" I, like others, wondered what would could have happened to that person and who would want to destroy records of that person's existence. I found that insane due to the fact that everyone has the right to be remembered. But then I remembered that BB was all about being in control, and if evidence was around about other things or even what happened to people that "diappeared" then he would possibly lose some of his overall power.