John Gardner

So after listening to John Gardner's interview today, I got a pretty good idea of what this guy was all about. Sure he was cocky and arrogant, but I knew where he was coming from and I can understand why he was frustrated with the literary world.

I really liked when he talked about the difference between his type of fiction and everyone else's type of fiction. People during his time did not think that it was necessary for fiction to tell some type of truth or moral: however, Gardner did. He thought that even though fiction stories are not true, does not mean they cannot tell some sort of moral. He resented books that kept the mind from thinking, or 'perfect' books: ones that end perfectly and tie up in a nice little bow. John thought a book was better when it left you thinking and you did not completely understand everything and I agree with him here. I must admit that there are still some things I don't understand about All the King's Men, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and even Beowulf, yet that is what makes those books so interesting. I love going back and reading Harry Potter books and picking up on more facts that I missed the first time. It makes reading so much more interesting.

I also like how Gardner wanted to talk about morals, but not religious and culural morals. He wanted to write about morals that were universally sustaining or deeper than the typical, "be nice to your mother" or "pray to God everyday" kind of morals. Honestly, those morals can get really boring and when I read books that have those types of morals in them, I don't take much away from that book. I leave the book dissapointed, wondering if there is a deeper meaning to life than just 'being a good citizen'. I like that Gardner challenges this and is not afraid to be out there about it. He shows this with his far-fetched book about Grendel. It was so different and out there that at first no one liked it and no one saw what it was worth. I really like the idea of taking the monster out of Beowulf and showing everyone his point of view. I think that would be really cool if they did that with Voldemort from Harry Potter. Maybe a modern day John Grendel will step up to the plate! Hey, you never know!

Music Defines Me

Have you ever realized that musicians are a lot like poets? Think about it. They create the rhymes, meter, lyrics, beats, and the composition. Not only that but they also think of a meaning to the song. That's a lot to think about!

Music defines me because music is never the same. There are never two of the same songs. They always manage to be different, someway, somehow. That's how I am. I like music that is really different, apart from everyone elses. It's almost like it's my own. When I listen to my music, it's like I'm in my own little world and I can let go of the pains of reality and just live in the song. Nothing beats listening to a song that really describes you.

My favorite band is called HIM (stands for His Infernal Majesty). The band often gets a bad reputation for being a goth band because of it's dark style and often theme of death; however, we read a lot of things about death. Why should music be any different? The band has one song called "Join Me In Death" and it is rather notorious for its name. When asked about it, the lead singer, Ville Valo, said that he meant for it to be a tribute to Romeo and Juliet. It went along with the theme of two people being so greatly in love that they were willing to risk their lives for it. Valo also thinks that if Romeo and Juliet came out today, that it would be really scandalous, and I think he is right. Our society fears death way too much. To me, death is not a bad thing. It's something you look forward to (at least in my religion) and something everyone will one day go through. The song uses strong words and strong language and I like that. It's not the same old rap song or pop song about teenage love or booties rockin everywhere. It's real and I really respect that.

The band's symbol, the heartagram (as shown as my profile picture) also has a lot of meaning to it as well. The heart represents life and love while the triangle represents death and hate and the circle is the unity among them. It's kind of like a yin and yang thing and I think it's really cool. To me, you cannot live your life without love and you cannot live it without hate and I think that the symbol really shows that.

The Seafarer

I thought "The Seafarer" was an interesting poem, however it annoyed me in several ways.

When I first read the poem, I really wanted to know who this guy was and where he was going and why he was even on a ship. He seemed so miserable to the point that it was almost like he was forced to be there. Because of this, I thought that maybe this guy was a slave, maybe being traded across the ocean. I was also annoyed by how he was preaching about God and then went on to say in the last stanza how "We all fear God". This was so contradictory and made me really confused. After finishing the poem, I thought that maybe he fears God's greatness because there are both good and evil things on Earth but at the same time he looks up to him and admires him. He also says that, "death leaps at the fools who forget their God" so maybe he is criticizing the people of that time and maybe this was a time of questioning God. I realized that since he was talking so much about Christianity, I knew that it couldn't have been written in the same time as Beowulf because Beowulf was written during Pagan times.

But seriously, what is this poem about? Our discussion about it in class helped me a lot. It still bugs me that it's an anonymous poem. I know there was no possible way to know the actual guy who wrote this but I just wish that we knew something about him, like what was going on in his society when he wrote this? You can tell this is an Anglo-Saxon poem because it has tons of alliteration and follows the same style format, however it is not as strict as Beowulf. (Nothing is). I can also see the Anglo-Saxon style from how the guy talks about his kinsman and how while on the sea, he lacks that companionship. I liked how we talked about how important honor was for them and how it is lost in our generation. I understand that honor was really important to them, but I think that our society has gotten a lot more independent and we are more 'every man for himself'. I like that because I'm a really independent person and I feel that if I lived in an Anglo-Saxon society, I would be really annoyed because I hate depending on other people.

This was definitely a poem of mourning. You can tell from the several references to winter (ice cold, icy bands, frozen chains, freezing waves, icicles) and how he complained of his 'sea-weary' soul. But what is he mourning? He definitely feels trapped. This could be because he is on the sea, therefor he is not around his kin and he is lonely. However, why does he do it if he's so miserable? He says that, "[He] puts [himself] back on the paths of the sea". Why? Is he doing it for the good of someone else? Is it his job? Is it his responsibility and duty? Or is this guy just really unhappy and cannot make up his mind? Or is this just his fate? I still don't know but I thought this was really cool to read, especially after Beowulf. I thought they were totally different, however they still kind of had the same theme of fate and a person's purpose.

Harry Potter and Beowulf are so much alike!

Ok, so I can't ignore this anymore. I can't even count how many times I've thought of Harry Potter while reading over the ancient words in Beowulf. I think it's so interesting how a book in the 21st century can have so many of the same qualities as a book written back in the Anglo-Saxon era. Honestly, I think J.K. Rowling should be titled a 'literary beast' because to me Harry Potter is the perfect hero story, but that's just me. People are entitled to their opinions!

So I'm going to go ahead and list all of the allusions I've seen between Harry and Beowulf. Remember when Beowulf went underwater to fight Grendel's mom? Ummmm helloooo??? TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT MUCH! I related how Beowulf used the sword underwater to how Harry used the gillyweed to breathe underwater. Both of these things helped them survive and allowed Harry to save his friends and Beowulf to defeat Grendel's mother. Another big comparison is how both of the heroes have to fight a dragon, even though they are at different parts of the books. Even the way the characters carry themselves are alike. Both Harry and Beowulf are confident and extremely brave and seem to have supernatural powers (Harry with his dark magic and ability to speak parstletounge and Beowulf with his endurance when fighting the monsters). Even the way the Anglo-Saxons had their eating place reminds me of the Great Hall. Everyone comes together there and celebrates. Both of these places have hosted guests, like Durmstrang and Beauxbaton in HP, and how Heroet hosted Beowulf. Tell me if you've seen any others!

Beowulf: The Perfect Hero and His Journey

Even though the novel Beowulf is not exactly my cup of tea, it portrays the role of a hero perfectly.

An epic hero is usually of great importance, the ideal man of his culture. He has superhuman or divine traits and is greater than the common man. The hero also displays morals that were important to that society from which the epic originated. The hero is boastful, yet it is his duty to remain confident. The most important thing about an epic hero, is that the hero participates in a journey or quest, faces obstacles which try to defeat him, and returns home successfully from his journey.

Beowulf contains all of these. He is very important because the city of Heorot is depending on Beowulf to defeat the evil Grendel. Beowulf most definitely contains superhuman traits, especially when he defeats Grendel's mother underwater with just a sword. You can also tell that Beowulf was from the Anglo-Saxon culture because when Grendel died, his mother seeked the price of the death of Beowulf. Not only that, but Beowulf gives many speeches in which he boasts of his confidence in defeating Grendel. He contains superhuman courage and when first looked at, he seems a little cocky. (Or at least that's what I thought when I first read Beowulf's speech on how he was going to defeat Grendel. Then I realized that he was doing that to put confidence in the people of Heorot and it was actually his duty to be confident.) Beowulf's journey is very important. He feels like it is his duty, since he is the son of Ecgtheow, to help the city and defend them. He faces three evils: Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a dragon. I have not read Beowulf's last battle, yet if he is anything like the epic hero I think he is, I predict that he is going to win the last battle and complete his journey by returning home.

Poetry Readings

So these poetry readings have really opened my mind to not only to more literary devices but also to the different ways people think. I've never really given poetry a shot, i've usually just dismissed it because the meanings are not obvious, you actually have to think about it. I've come to appreciate poetry because it can make you feel so many different emotions from so little words. I think it's so cool to describe how you feel and then get so many different opinions and ideas flowing.

What's also helping me is when we read them aloud because one could read a poem entirely different from someone else. I think it's good that we discuss it and give advice and we all agree on a final reading. I think this is also going to really help on the AP lit exam (which I'm totally dreading). I'm starting to underline things more and pay attention to the diction, but most importantly the tone. The tone is probably the most difficult thing I have trouble with. Can you ever really be sure what that person was thinking about? Plus there are so many words to describe tone and it's so hard to pick out just one. I liked that tone project we did too. I learned so many new tone words, I couldn't help but get excited! (not)

Anyways, I would just like to say that I like these poetry readings and I think everyone is doing really well. I was surprised, I didn't think I would ever read poetry in front of a class but I tried it and I liked it. Can't wait for the next dirty poem!

Beo-what??

So, I started reading Beowulf, and let me just say that I'm already confused!! I know this is trnaslated but it's still kind of hard to comprehend at times, at least for me. Basically, it's the characters that are confusing me.

So this Shield Sheafson guy is the ruler right? Is he good or bad? It says that he was a "wreaker of mead-benches, rampaging among foes" (Heaney 3). First of all, I don't know what mead-benches are so I can't really tell whether that's a good thing or a bad thing! But then at the end of the stanza it says, "that was one good king" (Heaney 3). Confusing much! And ok, is Beow the same as Beowulf? If so, then is Beowulf Shield's son? Ok and on page five it says, "Shield was still thriving when his time came" (Heaney 5). Does that mean he died? If he did die, how did he die? They talk alot about 'gear' and 'weapons', who are they fighting against and what for? Are they just the fighting kind of people? I read that on the Anglo-Saxon website that they were constantly defending their kins, so did these people just attack other tribes randomly? That's kind of wierd!

So ok, going over this is kind of helping me. I think Shield did die and Beowulf has to now protect his tribes because his father died. I hope i'm right! Now, it starts talking about these people with names starting with H's. This is where I got confused. It says on the side note, "Shield's heirs: son Beow succeeded by Halfdane, Halfdane by Hrothgar" (Heaney 7). So maybe Beow is not the same thing as Beowulf???

Then, it starts talking about Grendel. Is Grendel a person or a monstrous beast? And why does Grendel do bad? Does he just feel like it? I think it's confusing how the story starts kind of in the middle of things, leaving a confused reader! Who is the king during the time that Grendel started attacking all these people? Oh yeah, and is Dane a type of person? Like a social class or something?? If Halfdane? And is Heorot a place? Where is it? Greatland?

Then there's this Hygelac guy and it says that, "there was no one else like him alive. In his day, he was the mightiest man on earth" (Heaney 15). So is he going to help fend off Grendel? If so, why did the Danish coastguard question him when he arrived at their kingdom? Wouldn't he have known that they were coming?

Anyways, that was just a rambling of all my questions so far in this book. Other than all these questions, I think it's going to be a really good book; it sounds really intense! I hope Mrs. Clinch or any of you guys can help me with my questions in class!

Works Cited
Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2000.

"Say what?" --Me after our discussion about ATKM

So I feel like our discussion on Friday about All the King's Men really helped but I'm still confused on some things. Like I don't think we came up with a solid answer for who the main character is. I mean, is there a solid answer? Is there ever a solid answer in literature? It's all so ambiguis! Ahhhhh! I just wish these authors were still around so we could ask them what they were thinking when they wrote these brilliant novels. I mean, I would love to know what was going on in Robert Penn Warren's head while he wrote the book. There are so many different opinions on his book, but I want to know what he wanted us to feel. What are his opinions and what does he feel strongly about? I think we could dig through his work and maybe find a clue to that question but it would be so much easier to just ask the dude!
Anyway, I feel alot more passionate towards this novel. I remember when I first read it, I felt like my brain was on fire and that I never wanted to read another metaphoric passage again. I can remember my friend's mom asking, "So do you like it?"
My response, "Well I'm sure this is a really good book, but I'm just not getting it!" That's honestly how I felt throughout the whole book. I wish I had Mrs. Clinch by my side throughout the summer to point things out like she does during school (you know you did too) but I know I have to become more independent as a reader and start thinking of these kind of things on my own. That's where I think annotating plays such a big role in this. Honestly guys, I'm really greatful for the annotating because it's going to make reading in the long run a lot easier, at least for reading in school. And you know you love to look back and flip through the book and see all those marks and be like "Yeah, I did that". (You know you do it!!!!)
Anyways, I have come to the decision that I liked the novel, that's right, I did! I know it was long and got a little heavy at times, but in a sense, it was brilliant. I mean, I could have never of come up with all those metaphoric passages and the way he casually connecting Cass to Jack, or Jack to Gilbert (depending on where you stand on the issue, once again ambigious!) And it wasn't the most boring story either. Let's just agree that it was better than Winesburough (sorry Mrs. Clinch!)

Shakespeare a Fraud?

The other day in acting class, we were going over Theatre History. As we talked about the Elizabethan era, my teacher told me that the top three theaters were run by William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Johnson. As I was about to fall asleep on my notes, my teacher said something that caught my attention. He said there was a theory that Marlowe and Shakespeare were the same person.

"Ludicrous!" That's what I thought.

Wrong! I decided to go home and do some research and I found several sites that offered information supporting this theory. One site claimed that, "Marlowe was 29 when he died, except that “he didn’t die” and “HE wrote Shakespeare thereafter... and that Shakspeare was a provincial nonentity, some-time actor and scribbler.”" (Jarvis par 1). I was completely shocked at what I was reading. Could it be true that the famous Shakespeare who wrote so many plays that we look up to is a fraud?? The site also claims that Marlowe could have been a payed spy, hiding away for who knows what reason. Then, I had to ask myself, why would Marlowe want to 'become' Shakespeare? Why couldn't he keep his own name? In several other sites it says that Shakespeare and Marlowe were friends. How could the same person be friends? Of course, this happened quite some time ago, so the story might be altered. Who knows! I thought it was really interesting myself and kind of gave me a scare! Check out the site and tell me what you guys think!



Works Cited
Jarvis, Brian. "Candidates for Shakespeare." Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars: A Beginners Guide to the Shakespeare Authorship Mystery (2007) 3 Sep 2008 .

I'm Talkin' Bout Love

Have you realized that almost everything we read is about love? Every song, every story, every movie. It's always about a love for something. It might not always be a love for a person, but a love for anything. For example, in Candide, Miss Cunegonde is Candide's love, and in All the King's Men, Willie has several love affairs and Jack is in love with Anne. Why is that? Why is love so interesting, and why is love the only thing that can make a person so obsessed, depressed, and estatic? Is love really that powerful to overtake someone and make them completely enslaved? Another example is Romeo and Juliet. They were so in love that they were willing to take each other's lives in order to live on together in death.
To me, I think love is one of the most important feelings in the world. Without love, I do not think our world would be the same. Everyone has a love for at least something and people who do not have a love for anything cannot make it in the world. For example, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, we all know what happened to Voldemort [I don't want to give it away to those of you who havn't read it] because he has absolutely no love in his soul and Harry did. Think about it, without love for your parents, you would not have a childhood, or without love for your favorite hobby, you would be bored all the time. Love is such a powerful feeling that I think it makes the world go round. I don't want to sound all hippie either, but I really think it does. So give someone a hug, tell your parents you love them! Cause without love, our world would be so much more difficult!

Evaline

Personally, I did not like the story of Evaline. I thought it was too short and it left you hanging and I hate when stories do that! The ending is what really made me not like the story. I think that Frank could have offered her more of a life than what she had with her father and her other family. I hate that she left Frank to go back to her abusive father. She could have escaped her past, but instead she felt obligated by her dead mother to stay. Honestly, I do not think that Evaline was really needed at home because all of her siblings were grown up and I think that they could have take care of themselves on their own. The father deserved to be alone because of what he did to Evaline. I always wonder when I read about the father whether he was always absusive toward his family when his wife was alive. Maybe when she was alive, he was not abusive. That's kind of how I imagine it. If this is true, then I think the father needs to get over his wife's death and stop taking out his problems on his family. I know death is hard but there's no excuse to take it out on other people, especially your family, people you love. I also didn't like how the father expected Evaline to pay for dinners and such. The father should have taken care of dinners on his own. I think that if Evaline did leave, that maybe the father would realize that. I kind of think that Evaline needed to leave in order to be happy again, because throughout the whole story she was so unhappy and she was so caught up in what other people would think about her. Maybe if she left, she could find herself and realize what she has been missing in life.
I do like James Joyce's writing style. It all flows very nicely together and I love her strong adjectives. Whenever she describes something, it's almost like you're there and I can really see it. I love writers with that capability. Just from the first paragraph, when she says, "She sat at the window watching evening invade the avenue. Her head was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odor or dusty cretonne. She was tired," you get such a good idea of where the story is and it pulls you in (Joyce 218). Just from reading those three sentences, I had already so many questions in my mind; Who is she, is the window opened or closed?, what is cretonne?, what was she tried about?. Already you are involved in the story and that is what I like most about her; you're sucked in and want to know more. That's what I think makes a good writer.