Robyn’s Secret Hideout!

“Ode on a Grecian Urn” is the detailed journey of the poet, John Keats’ mind, as he discovers that the urn is a timeless perfection that only art can capture.  The poem takes on a theme of frozen time, portrayed by the urns images of never-changing lovers, a tree that will never lose its leaves, and melodies of musicians that will never be heard. The lovers can never fulfill their desires because they are frozen in time, but they will stay forever young. The musician will always play, but never be heard. The poem represents Keats’ philosophy that beauty can only exist in an artificial state, not real time, and is embellished in the immutable, lifeless, Grecian Urn. Beauty is something that is eternal, not life.

From my research I learned that the last couplet of the poem is the most recognized part of the poem and often stands alone. It is open for interpretation, but it reveals how Keat feels about the existence of beauty.  There is an overall paradox of the poem suggested by the dynamic pictures on the urn. The urn is made of cold, lifeless stone, but the pictures on it are full of life. However, the passion of the pictures can never be fulfilled because they are frozen. This proposes irony.

The urn acts as an idealism to the poem and slow time. Keat uses a negative tone to describe the advantages of frozen time, but the earn is expressed as striking and exists in the real world but is not effected by real time. Its beauty will stay forever, untouched by time.

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/urn.html#general

http://www.articlemyriad.com/meaning_analysis_ode_grecian_urn_keats.htm

http://www.bookrags.com/Ode_on_a_Grecian_Urn

Rebus — “A representation of words in the form of pictures or symbols, often presented as a puzzle.”

The clay can resemble life and “what you are given”. The poem unfolds as it goes on, revealing more about the clay.

Honey means people? “There are no honeys so bitter” could represent aspects of her personality that “no one would willingly choose to take.”

If I had the oppurtunity to redo the timed write for “Evening Hawk” the first thing I would do is re-read the poem so I could pick up on all the things I missed the first time. Intensely looking over the poem in class definetely opened my eyes to new aspects and understanding of the poem, and I would include them in my timed write. Something I really need to work on is relating my commentary to the theme more. My essay relies on paraphrase and I didn’t go as analytically in depth as I should have to score better than a 5. I think the conrete details I used were relevant, but I needed to emphasize more on “end of time” theme. When the promt was handed out, I didn’t understand the poem at all, so I pretty much just tried to sell it as best as I could. Having a chance to redo this would be a productive experience, but it would be agonizing, horrible, excruciating, and make me suffer to the max times 1 million + the infinite limit as X approaches negative infinity.

The short story, “War Dances” by Sherman Alexie reveals the story of a lackadaisical Indian man who lives his life hidden behind comedic actions instead of showing his true feelings. Personally, I really liked this story even though it has few bursts of profanity. The story was not only about Alexie’s life, but it held a deeper meaning to life itself. The main theme revolved around the undying thought that no one truly knows what tomorrow will bring. One day we can be perfectly healthy and wake up deaf in one ear and with a tumor in our brain. Alexie is trying to illustrate that life comes with unexpected challenges, but no matter what, we need to continue to persevere through them in order to live. The main character in the story finds out that he has a brain tumor known as meningioma. He’s given little information about the disease, and like anyone else, he’s scared. But he decides to deceive his emotions and wear a mask. One example is his vulgar language. Personally I think Alexie uses such diction to create a sort of manliness about the character because “tough guys” seem manlier when the use bad language, and they don’t show their emotions. As his dad was dying, he still used cuss words instead of speaking his true feelings. He’s afraid to speak his mind because he doesn’t want to end up like a cockroach, curled up vulnerably on the ground, taken aghast by an unexpected event.

Overall, I would classify “War Dances” as a literary fiction because it centers mostly on the character development of the main character. It also holds that deeper meaning about being who we are because life can take unexpected turns.

Many things in daily life get taken for granted. In the short story “Everday Use” By Alice Walker, the importance of appreciating family and culture is shown through an inanimate object (quilt). The story reveals how things like family or past are so known to us that we often take them for granted.