“What’s your favorite part about life?” a teammate once asked me at cross country practice. I looked up at the clouds for an answer. It wasn’t what most people call a nice day. Gray overcast with light rain, not too bright and not too dark. This is the kind of weather I love running in. The first thing I thought was honestly, I don’t know. “Really?” he responded. Yeah, I didn’t know my favorite part about of life. The next couple of long busy days passed and every day at practice, while I was running, I would think; what is my favorite part about life? Looking up to the cloudy overcast sky as if to, yet again, get an answer I saw tress. Oh yes, I had forgotten I was in the forest at that moment. I wasn’t running alone but I wasn’t close to anyone. I heard the birds singing from above me. The wind blew through the tress and underbrush around me. My foot step pushed against the ground and gravity pushed back upon my foot simultaneously. I felt the Earths broken fragments from the forest crunch and crackle from under me.
Nature always seem so peaceful, it’s away from the world of advanced technology and so many evil people in the city. I’ve always enjoyed nature. Looks simple and dull but at the same time complex with colors and textures. Nature is like a persons soul. How they can be so perfect with their own imperfections. Quiet but yet loud with life and curiosity. They can be the most beautiful thing anyone has ever witnessed in life. If they are taken for granted or not taken care of, they could end up a disaster. With recovery and time a damaged soul and nature has hope to be like it once was before the destruction was done. Like Humpty Dumpy they can never be completely back together. At that moment I knew my answer to the question. Nature was my favorite part of life. It’s diapering faster then it should be because people are becoming more damaged. Their souls are overcome with evil. They don’t think what is best for the world and the future, but only themselves. Some souls do care and they make a good impact or difference. Nature is apart of my life and every ones on earth. I would never want to lose it. Sadly I slowly am. So I will run through nature and enjoy its simple complexity while I can. For my soul or this nature could be gone soon.
Our group of kids from Mr. Turner's period 5 English class have decided to use blogspot.com to create a blog about the William Blake’s poem: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. We will be finding different articles, videos, and other facts, and describe you what we thought of it, what we think it means, and how it relates to the poem.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Seeking More Romanticism Poets?
A Pot of Basil created by Kyla, Jenica, and Eileen is an awesome blog to check out about John Keats poem Isabella or The Pot of Basil. They write about their insights about their view of the poem, what characters could represent, and background information about John Keats that would help trying to get the meanings behind his poems. Click here to view it, Uncovering A Pot of Basil . I highly recommend you look at it!
What I like about their blog is they have a post specify on John Keats history, titled John Keats’s Life History. An insight on his early childhood, how many siblings he had, and what his parents were like. Talking about the family struggles his family and him had to deal with. I found it really interesting he was first into medical before he took part in literature. Some of Keats best work he produced after he accumulated tuberculosis and felt his time was almost up in life. Another post, Short Story of Isabella Read Aloud, has a video from Youtube. They explain it to be a “cheat sheet” for knowing what happens in The Pot of Basil by Keats. I really enjoyed the artwork on the video. They did a great job finding a legit video of the poem! Another post I enjoyed reading was Keats View of Season, where they had put Keats own words up on the post and then talked about what it meant. Isabella and Women’s Rights was a new meaning I got from the poem and what it had represented. I really liked it!
If someone was to not know much about Romanticism this site would be very helpful. Not only do they give a background post to help get to know John Keats more but they also interpret some of his work and art work. In the post about Keats View of Seasons it tells how he views seasons. Many of the classic Romanticism poets had very interesting and different views of things. They expressed them in ways that were very deep and often complex. There are still new meanings to be found in some of his poems. I think this site is a great way to get to know Keats and some of his views or symbolize in his poems. So check it out!
What I like about their blog is they have a post specify on John Keats history, titled John Keats’s Life History. An insight on his early childhood, how many siblings he had, and what his parents were like. Talking about the family struggles his family and him had to deal with. I found it really interesting he was first into medical before he took part in literature. Some of Keats best work he produced after he accumulated tuberculosis and felt his time was almost up in life. Another post, Short Story of Isabella Read Aloud, has a video from Youtube. They explain it to be a “cheat sheet” for knowing what happens in The Pot of Basil by Keats. I really enjoyed the artwork on the video. They did a great job finding a legit video of the poem! Another post I enjoyed reading was Keats View of Season, where they had put Keats own words up on the post and then talked about what it meant. Isabella and Women’s Rights was a new meaning I got from the poem and what it had represented. I really liked it!
If someone was to not know much about Romanticism this site would be very helpful. Not only do they give a background post to help get to know John Keats more but they also interpret some of his work and art work. In the post about Keats View of Seasons it tells how he views seasons. Many of the classic Romanticism poets had very interesting and different views of things. They expressed them in ways that were very deep and often complex. There are still new meanings to be found in some of his poems. I think this site is a great way to get to know Keats and some of his views or symbolize in his poems. So check it out!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Reading Response to "The context of Blakean contraries in 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.'
After finishing reading "The context of Blakean contraries in 'The marriage of Heaven and Hell'", by David Stewart, a 5699 word article, I have so much of a better understanding of "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" than I did before! In this article, Stewart talks mainly of what the word "marriage" is supposed to mean in this poem, and how it should be interpreted when we read it. The first couple sentences of Stewart's article pretty much summarize what a majority of the article is about: "One of the most problematical aspects of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is the term "marriage." How are we to interpret it? In the biblical context of two becoming one flesh, or in the more modern context of two joined in equal harmony?" Throughout the article, Stewart talks about how the entire meaning of sections of the text changes if you interpret marriage to mean the biblical definition or the modern definition. Also, Stewart points out that there are many points in the poem where it looks as if Blake is using it in the modern context ("Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence."), but there are also points in the poem where it looks as if he is using more of the biblical context (The Angel is dominated by the Devil and consumed and becomes a Devil). In order to read the poem effectively, you have to have the understanding of what marriage means, and this article prepares you to read the poem very well.
When I first read the poem, before I read the article, I was very confused. To be honest, I did not like it at all and I dreaded doing this project. Before I had even started it, I found myself shooting it down and making myself believe that it was horrible. Then, when I found this article in class, I said to myself, "10 pages! Heck no!" But then I showed it to my teacher, Mr. Turner, and he gave me a whole new view on the project and a whole new view on the article! I got into reading it and annotating it and found that a ton of different people have a ton of different views on what marriage means in the poem! When I read it before, I didn't even think twice about the meaning or think anything special of the poem at all. I just thought, "Oh boy, another poem." When I started reading the article, everything started falling into place. Sentences that before made no sense, were all of a sudden clicking in my head and I was beginning to get more and more intrigued by the article. A couple of sentences on the second page really stood out to me as they responded, "If one sees marriage in the biblical context of one partner dominating the other then Blake has not really retrieved evil from the exclusionary position to which orthodoxy has condemned it. On the other hand, if marriage is seen as a joining of equality then we have to agree with Wittreich and argue that the work is, artistically, unsuccessful, as we do not witness a marriage of equality." This really seemed weird to me because of the way it takes down, what seems to be, the only two options for marriage. It tells how if Blake meant it in the biblical way, it wouldn't have quite worked, but if he meant it in the modern way, it would have been pretty much a failure as well. Throughout Stewart's article, he quotes scholars left and right and pretty much hits on every contradiction in "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell". Although the right interpretation of Blake's poem is not known, David Stewart's article helps you understand it a whole lot more in depth. It goes through the two different interpretations (biblical and modern) for most, if not all, of Blake's contradictions In "Heaven and Hell", gives the ideas of how many different scholars have interpreted it, and also references contraries to where it happens in the poem. David Stewart's "The context of Blakean contraries in 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'" is a great article for anyone looking to get more out of William Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell".
Review of "Wordsworthians"
I recently had the opportunity to go on over to a classmates blog and check it out. My friends Sam, Schaffer, and Alex decided to create and maintain a blog called Wordsworthians. As the title suggests, their blog is all about William Wordsworth, the romantic poet.
I really liked their page set up! I think that the background image and the see through navigation bars really looks cool and professional. I also really liked how they added a picture of Wordsworth onto the home page. After looking over the blog, i found that they really did their job. I didn't know much about Wordsworth, but after reading their blog, I was much more educated. They have many different kinds of posts such as videos, poem reviews, biographies and many more, which I think is a good thing. By having such a wide range of topics, their page may help more than just one person. People might come upon their page just wanting to know a little more about the life of Wordsworth and some of his writing, and with their page, they would find it!
One of the posts that interested me the most was Alex's prose poem. i really related to it because it has a topic that I enjoy and i too was dreaming about: winter break. He did a great job of using the senses and making it as if I was in the same spot he as and that i could smell exactly what he was describing. Also, when he describes the cookie going into his mouth and the taste of them, i almost felt like they were going into my mouth! When he talked about school and it getting over but then starting up again, I thought he presented it very well. Once he described that school was over for break, I got lost in the smells, sounds, images, and tastes of break, and then at the end, when he described going back to school, it was like I had completely forgot about school.
Overall their blog is really great. They have great information on their site and everything they say is clear and to the point. The design works perfect for what they are trying to accomplish and i hope people can take advantage of their great blog!
I really liked their page set up! I think that the background image and the see through navigation bars really looks cool and professional. I also really liked how they added a picture of Wordsworth onto the home page. After looking over the blog, i found that they really did their job. I didn't know much about Wordsworth, but after reading their blog, I was much more educated. They have many different kinds of posts such as videos, poem reviews, biographies and many more, which I think is a good thing. By having such a wide range of topics, their page may help more than just one person. People might come upon their page just wanting to know a little more about the life of Wordsworth and some of his writing, and with their page, they would find it!
One of the posts that interested me the most was Alex's prose poem. i really related to it because it has a topic that I enjoy and i too was dreaming about: winter break. He did a great job of using the senses and making it as if I was in the same spot he as and that i could smell exactly what he was describing. Also, when he describes the cookie going into his mouth and the taste of them, i almost felt like they were going into my mouth! When he talked about school and it getting over but then starting up again, I thought he presented it very well. Once he described that school was over for break, I got lost in the smells, sounds, images, and tastes of break, and then at the end, when he described going back to school, it was like I had completely forgot about school.
Overall their blog is really great. They have great information on their site and everything they say is clear and to the point. The design works perfect for what they are trying to accomplish and i hope people can take advantage of their great blog!
Decoding The Voice of the Devil
The Voice of the Devil in “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” consist of very interesting view points that were uncommon among Europeans. What does Blake mean by his convictions upon the Bible or “sacred codes” having errors mean? His view of religion and God were based off his feelings and understandings of the Bible.
To understand what he is trying to mean in The Voice of the Devil I went line by line finding what he could have meant by them. He writes errors with in the Bible include three tings. One: man has two real existing principles: a body and a soul. Two: energy, called evil, is alone from the body and that reason, called good, is alone from the soul. Three: God will torment Man in eternity for following his energies. Breaking down this three topics I came up the conclusions that, first of all, the only reason why men are alive is because they have a body and soul, second energy, or evil, is not with the body and reason, or good, is not with the soul, third if men follow his energy God will torment them in eternity. Then he writes contraries that are true. One: Man has no body distinct from his soul for that called body is a portion of soul discerned by the five senses, the chef inlets of soul in this age. Two: energy is the only life and is from the body and reason is the bound or outward circumference of energy. Three: Energy is eternal delight. In other words, one: men have no difference between their body or soul because the body is apart of the soul due to the five senses and the body allows senses into his soul in the body form. Second: from the body comes energy or evil, and around that energy is reason or good. Third: energy or evil is endless pleasure.
In “Those who restrain desire…” paragraph Blake explains how one can restrain desire and that is because their desire is weak enough to restrain. The restrainer or reason soon takes control and allows the unwilling. Restraining desire by divisions will lack energy until it is only a small shadow of what it once was. Blake then refers to the Archangel of possessing as the Devil or Satan. His children being Sin and Death. Blake told how reason saw desire banished and the Devils account for Messiah to fall and form a heaven that he had taken from the abyss, or endless hole. In the last part of The Voice of the Devil starting at “This is shewn in the Gospel,…” Blake expresses how he, the Devil, had prayed to “the Father” to give him desire that reason might have ideas to build on. Blake says Father is destiny the son of the five senses and the Holy-ghost working could cause the absence of matter!
To understand what he is trying to mean in The Voice of the Devil I went line by line finding what he could have meant by them. He writes errors with in the Bible include three tings. One: man has two real existing principles: a body and a soul. Two: energy, called evil, is alone from the body and that reason, called good, is alone from the soul. Three: God will torment Man in eternity for following his energies. Breaking down this three topics I came up the conclusions that, first of all, the only reason why men are alive is because they have a body and soul, second energy, or evil, is not with the body and reason, or good, is not with the soul, third if men follow his energy God will torment them in eternity. Then he writes contraries that are true. One: Man has no body distinct from his soul for that called body is a portion of soul discerned by the five senses, the chef inlets of soul in this age. Two: energy is the only life and is from the body and reason is the bound or outward circumference of energy. Three: Energy is eternal delight. In other words, one: men have no difference between their body or soul because the body is apart of the soul due to the five senses and the body allows senses into his soul in the body form. Second: from the body comes energy or evil, and around that energy is reason or good. Third: energy or evil is endless pleasure.
In “Those who restrain desire…” paragraph Blake explains how one can restrain desire and that is because their desire is weak enough to restrain. The restrainer or reason soon takes control and allows the unwilling. Restraining desire by divisions will lack energy until it is only a small shadow of what it once was. Blake then refers to the Archangel of possessing as the Devil or Satan. His children being Sin and Death. Blake told how reason saw desire banished and the Devils account for Messiah to fall and form a heaven that he had taken from the abyss, or endless hole. In the last part of The Voice of the Devil starting at “This is shewn in the Gospel,…” Blake expresses how he, the Devil, had prayed to “the Father” to give him desire that reason might have ideas to build on. Blake says Father is destiny the son of the five senses and the Holy-ghost working could cause the absence of matter!
Sin, By: Andy Abelein
Hit, punch, smack! It strikes again, yes, that is it right, sin. Always there, always tempting, always strong, forever - it does not stop, it will not stop, even if you ask politely - sin does not care - for it is sin, you cannot win. Or so you think - so it wants you to think. It has you down - pinned like a tie, it follows you, always there, like it is stuck somehow - with glue - onto you. Do you want to? I think not - maybe i am wrong - you say "I want this to stop". Change, transform, be made brand new! Don't follow the trends, don't give in that easy - do you want to be engulfed, taken away, conformed? - hold fast onto this truth that you know! He is not sin - not a drop, not a sprinkle is in him - yet ignored He is! I am I AM!, He says, but you close your ears - you do not see His greatness, you miss out and don't hear. You can pick every string, hit every note, strum every chord, know every line - all these you do very well - But wait, your ears. For they are still closed, shut off from He who made you from dust, who makes you alive from sunrise to dusk. For great and glorious sounds come from your strings, but hear them - you cannot - for you reject the only King of Kings. Have you been enflamed? Taken over by it - that is what is evil. Have you fallen too far? Have you messed up too much? Yes, you might say, but you are still in touch - find Him, seek Him, thirst for Him in everything - He does not forget, yet he always forgives - Sin does not. It wants to take advantage of you, manipulate you, then take you down - make you one of its minions to bring others in. This world is sin, full of mound after mound - but He can take it all off your shoulders, pound after pound. Forgiveness or fire, the Good Shepherd or a devil, angels or demons, Heaven or Hell - the choice is yours.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Proverbs of Hell: Understanding One Quote of Many
Understanding William Blake’s poem “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” can be difficult if one does not try to understand his meanings within the poem. I found it interesting to try and decode his meanings in the ironic metaphors or personification Blake had used in the section Proverbs of Hell. Every line has its meaning and it could be taken all sorts of ways.
At first when I read the Proverbs of Hell, without really thinking too much of the sentences’ meanings, I did not know how he had gotten the ideas about what he wrote. Nothing seemed to connect. I first liked “Eternity is in love with the productions of time”. What is that supposed to mean? So I read and reread every word trying to get the real understanding. To do so I felt it necessary to determine the meaning of the main words.
Eternity: time without end or eternal existence some religions believed is what their afterlife was. The next word, I know has many different meanings according to people, in love: having a strong liking or attempting to express love. Production: the act of producing something or the output of something. Time: the human creation to keep track of dates and organize activities easier. The meaning of this quote is the time with no end has a strong feeling for what is being made of time.
Blake had written this poem within the Enlightenment time period in Europe. This was a time for new ideas about science, life, the world, and beliefs in religion. People questioning the Catholic religion in Europe created new ideas about God to come about. Eternity is given the ability to be “in love” so I then viewed it as being able to have human qualities. With that in mind, if Eternity is endless time it might get bored with watching the same thing happen to human life. But when chaos or a disruption is made in “normal” lives Eternity now finds itself being entertained. Like an addicting television show to some people, Eternity now unable to bare to not watch. Becoming involved in witnessing the changes that occur over time. With the expansion of time the expansion of disorder and abruptness in the world occurs. Not only unfortunate themes happens with the expansion of time though also fortunate experiences. So with the more time goes on the more ideas and changes will be made. Eternity has now seen what can occur and may expect more chaos and more joy as time puts on a never ending production.
At first when I read the Proverbs of Hell, without really thinking too much of the sentences’ meanings, I did not know how he had gotten the ideas about what he wrote. Nothing seemed to connect. I first liked “Eternity is in love with the productions of time”. What is that supposed to mean? So I read and reread every word trying to get the real understanding. To do so I felt it necessary to determine the meaning of the main words.
Eternity: time without end or eternal existence some religions believed is what their afterlife was. The next word, I know has many different meanings according to people, in love: having a strong liking or attempting to express love. Production: the act of producing something or the output of something. Time: the human creation to keep track of dates and organize activities easier. The meaning of this quote is the time with no end has a strong feeling for what is being made of time.
Blake had written this poem within the Enlightenment time period in Europe. This was a time for new ideas about science, life, the world, and beliefs in religion. People questioning the Catholic religion in Europe created new ideas about God to come about. Eternity is given the ability to be “in love” so I then viewed it as being able to have human qualities. With that in mind, if Eternity is endless time it might get bored with watching the same thing happen to human life. But when chaos or a disruption is made in “normal” lives Eternity now finds itself being entertained. Like an addicting television show to some people, Eternity now unable to bare to not watch. Becoming involved in witnessing the changes that occur over time. With the expansion of time the expansion of disorder and abruptness in the world occurs. Not only unfortunate themes happens with the expansion of time though also fortunate experiences. So with the more time goes on the more ideas and changes will be made. Eternity has now seen what can occur and may expect more chaos and more joy as time puts on a never ending production.
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