Prufrock Seminar Notes

We only had the last five minutes of class to discuss the poem so please excuse the lack of content on this post.

- poem illustrates the stages of his life, what he has accomplished, what he wished to accomplish, and what he hopes to accomplish some time in the future

- compares himself to Hamlet because of their indecisiveness but clearly states that he is not him because Hamlet actually carried out the actions he planned for so long

- the yellow smoke/fog resembles something in a sick state and sets us up for his frame of mind

- the part mentioning the women speaking of Michelangelo serve as fillers to show the differences in the social gap and how something as extraordinary as Michelangelo is used in such a short, informal fashion 

- Prufrock is hesitant to speak to those ladies as he never actually approaches them in the poem and complains how he doesn't think that the mermaids will sing to him at the end (he has horrible luck with the ladies)

- I found it a bit ironic that Michelangelo was referenced in this poem because his most famous sculpture "David" is extremely masculine and encapsulates everything that a man should physically be and essentially everything that Prufrock is not

- He masks his first name in the title of the poem with a single letter to show that he is ashamed of himself and constantly wants to hide from everything that he is not

Literature Analysis #3 - The Picture of Dorian Gray by: Oscar Wilde

1. Dorian Gray is a man in his early twenties who has lived his life as a relatively innocent soul. After Basil, one of his best friends, paints a portrait of him that ages instead of his body, he becomes self-centered and starts listening to the ideas of a man named Lord Henry. Lord Henry is a close friend of Basil that has captured Dorian’s fascination because of his insightful, witty responses and original outlooks on life.  Through Henry’s influence, Dorian finds Basil annoying and blames him for the guilty conscience he now has because of the painting. Lord Henry knew the power he had over Dorian and continued to take advantage of him by feeding him dark outlooks on life that appeared to make perfect sense to him. Dorian then kills Basil and unknowingly takes his own life by stabbing his portrait.

2.  The universal theme of this story is to not let the influence of others and society ultimately mold the person you truly are. Everyone is placed in a unique body for a reason; embrace the purest form of your soul and those who accept you for the truth are really the only ones who matter.  

3.  This particular book had a very ominous tone to it. The reader often feels every character is a pessimist at times and there seems to be a remarkable lack of positive incidents with a surplus of malicious actions. For instance, Dorian not only dies but he also murders the one person who actually cared for him. There is not one positive incident that I can think of while reflecting on the story, which gives validity to the ominous tone.

4. - Wilde uses irony by allowing Dorian's gift of endless youth to save himself from James Vane, but it turned out to be the one thing that killed him in the end.
- Dorian's portrait was actually very hideous because it symbolized the nature of his soul.
- Oscar Wilde also foreshadowed the death of Dorian when he decided to murder Basil Hallward. 
- The setting of this book takes place in London, which is very gloomy and always raining (adding to the ominous tone).

 5. The syntax seemed to remain the same throughout the book as both the descriptions were lengthy as well as the dialogue between the characters. The diction, however, became more sophisticated when the members of the elite social class spoke to reflect the major gap between the classes.

6. The protagonist, Dorian Gray, is both dynamic and round because of his vast change in character. At the inception of the book he was an innocent man with an optimistic view on life, but that all changed once he met Lord Henry. He went from a humble, good-looking, young man to an arrogant jerk who turned on every person that showed him even the simplest forms of love. 

7. After finishing this story I felt as if I had met Dorian Gray in the flesh. The book gave much insight into his thoughts and feelings and also showed us the timeline from his heroic glory days until the day he died as a villain. I was very angry with him as I watched him transform into a monster and turn on innocent Basil because he felt like a man I knew in reality.
 

Comparative Poetry Essay

Not all poems are created alike. Although many poems are inspired by identical topics or occurrences, the style and perspective of the authors vary as it is apparent when reading their poems. Some are purposed to persuade while others are a simple form of informative writing allowing them to uncap the bottle of their feelings. David Whyte and Derek Mahon creatively entwined interchangeable material in their poems while managing two various themes.

Both "Working Together" and "Everything is Going to be Alright" create a sense of optimism about the future. At the inception of these poems, the authors recognize and state that there are many fatalities in this world, often times ones that are impossible to avoid. They encourage people to not let them bring them down because nothing lasts forever and life really is what you make of it. Sure it's easy to let negativity encapsulate your mind and body, but that doesn't solve anything and with a positive frame of mind, the world is your oyster and the future will  look promising. 

Even though both poems incorporated the same elements of optimism, the themes varied with the specifics of the optimism that they contained. In David Whyte's poem, he stresses the importance of collaboration. He recognizes our human potential if we were to all work together instead of associate ourselves based on our differences. He claims that we are all different and yet similar in a simultaneous fashion, one that could potentially revolutionize the world and the way we function. Derek Mahon's poem stresses the importance of being enthusiastic about the future, even when life presents itself in the most unfavorable of manners. His poem focuses more on an individual's mindset and emphasizes optimism on the gloomiest days. It is very difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel when the darkness seems to last for an eternity, but it will eventually turn up and all the adversities previously encountered will be in the past. 

Not only do these poems have diverse themes, the format in which they are written differs as well. "Working Together" was written with extremely short stanzas and multiple gaps in between. Whyte does this to serve as an inspirational piece of literature, comparable to a motivational speech. The short lines and pauses allow the audience to really think about the possibilities that the future could hold if we listened to what he was saying. They permit the audience to really comprehend the message he is attempting to get across in a persuasive manner. The short stanzas are meant to be read in a slow fashion, as if they were being read to them by a speaker."Everything is Going to be Alright" takes a completely divergent course when it comes to format. This poem is condensed into twelve single spaced lines with more content than Whyte's poem. This is due to the fact that Mahon seems to be describing a single day and all of the things that can happen within the short 24 hours. The time span could also be seen as a year because of the fact that life moves so quickly and everything can change in the blink of an eye. This really helps with the theme of the poem as the darkness can shift to daylight in what seems like an instant, but only if you stay positive and allow the past to remain in the past. 

These poems are very relatable today as everyone continues to deal with the hardships of being a human and the distance growing between us all due to the social media that is supposed to be doing the opposite. Optimism seems to be dying out as more and more riots break out or successful terrorists make headlines, which is why these poems are actually more important than ever.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Questions

This poems appears to mention time throughout the majority of it. He seems to think that there is an abundance of time to participate in social events as he likes to describe. However he only seems to think about the present as the simplest decisions give him such anxiety and present themselves as dilemmas. Elliot alludes to Hamlet to put in perspective how indecisive Prufrock really is. Hamlet was attempting to decide whether or not to murder his step-father, among other serious contemplations, whereas Prufrock didn't know whether or not to eat a peach or simply where to part his hair for example, but they were all complex situations to him that required much reflection. When he alludes to his when his greatness flickered, he is explaining that when he was a part of social gatherings hosted by the wealthy class and saw how the footman (servant/butler) would snicker when giving him his coat. He mentions this "eternal Footman" to reiterate the theme of time and that life is what you make it as well as reminisce on the past. After reading the poem once, the image that remained in my mind was the one Eliot painted of the yellow smoke. It appeared to swallow everything in its path in a worn down neighborhood at night through the manner it was described. It was a bit odd to me as the rest of the poem chronicles superfluous events and although his life seems to be barely adequate, he never describes creepy settings again. This shows that as time goes on, so does life and that nothing lasts forever if you are determined enough to alter your existing situation.

A translation of the Italian at the poem's inception:

If I believed that my reply was
A person who never returned to the world ,
This flame staria no longer shock .
But because of this never end
I do not return alive any , s'i'odo true ,
Without fear of infamy I answer .

Poetry Remix

"Working Together"
- David Whyte

We shape our self

To fit this world

And by the world

Are shaped again.

The visible 

And the invisible

Working together 

In common cause,

To produce

The miraculous.

I am thinking of the way

The intangible air

Passed at speed

Round a shaped wing

Easily

Holds our weight.

So may we, in this life

Trust

To those elements

We have yet to see

Or imagine, 

And look for the true

Shape of our own self, 

By forming it well

To the great

Intangible about us.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gbrbUfYSt0E

Intro to Poetry

1. The title "Working Together" signifies that we all must cooperate to create our ideal world; we already cooperate to mold ourselves after the world that has already been created for us. It shows that we have already proven the ability to work together and that we can use it to change our perspective on life.
2. The tone of this poem is optimistic and imaginative. The author appears to be a very creative guy and is excited about future possibilities if we all worked as one.
3. The author's tone carried over to my mood while reading this particular poem. I was excited just thinking about the possibilities as I too, am interested in what the future holds for us.
4. A shift occurs after the author talks about what we have been able to accomplish when we work together to discussing our future capabilities. The tone changes from admirable to optimistic during this shift as well.
5. This poem's theme is that the possibilities are endless if we unite and work together because we could accomplish beautiful things never before imagined.
6. Answering these questions made me realize that there is always hope for the future. It also made me realize that humanity is not reaching its full potential simply by accepting the rules we are given, not trying to encourage an uprising here or anything, but our creativity has been sucked right out of us and it's time to get it back.