Romantic post 2

"Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid

Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry; don't walk barehead in the hot sun; cook pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil; soak your little cloths right after you take them off; when buying cotton to make yourself a nice blouse, be sure that it doesn't have gum on it, because that way it won't hold up well after a wash; soak salt fish overnight before you cook it; is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?; always eat your food in such a way that it won't turn someone else's stomach; on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming; don't sing benna in Sunday school; you mustn't speak to wharbfflies will follow you; but I don't sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school; this is how to sew on a button; this is how to make a button-hole for the button you have just sewed on; this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming; this is how you iron your father's khaki shirt so that it doesn't have a crease; this is how you iron your father's khaki pants so that they don't have a crease; this is how you grow okrbafar from the house, because okra tree harbors red ants; when you are growing dasheen, make sure it gets plenty of water or else it makes your throat itch when you are eating it; this is how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard; this is how you smile to someone you don't like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don't like at all; this is how you smile to someone you like completely; this is how you set a table for tea; this is how you set a table for dinner; this is how you set a table for dinner with an important guest; this is how you set a table for lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast; this is how to behave in the presence of men who don't know you very well, and this way they won't recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming; be sure to wash every day, even if it is with your own spit; don't squat down to play marblebsyou are not a boy, you know; don't pick people's flowerbsyou might catch something; don't throw stones at blackbirds, because it might not be a blackbird at all; this is how to make a bread pudding; this is how to make doukona; this is how to make pepper pot; this is how to make a good medicine for a cold; this is how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child; this is how to catch a fish; this is how to throw back a fish you don't like, and that way something bad won't fall on you; this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man; and if this doesn't work there are other ways, and if they don't work don't feel too bad about giving up; this is how to spit up in the air if you feel like it, and this is how to move quick so that it doesn't fall on you; this is how to make ends meet; always squeeze bread to make sure it's fresh; but what if the baker won't let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won't let near the bread?

This poem is not a Romantic poem. While the Romantics longed for a world that was simpler and primitive, Kincaid uses this poem to comment on modern life the way it is. The speaker in this poem doesn't lament the world she lives in nor does she wish for the world to change according to her ideals. The speaker simply wants her daughter to be able to survive and conform in the modern world. A Romantic poet would probably encourage her daughter to reject the modern world and live life moment-to-moment.

Romantic post 1

"The world is too much with us" by William Wordsworth

THE world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.


A characteristic of Romantic poets, according to the text, is "dreams of a simple, primitive, and uncorrupted lifestyle..." This poem exemplifies that sentiment. Wordsworth tries to express how he feels about the Romantic-era industrial world and the bourgeois atmosphere. He explains how the world has lost touch with nature and uses mythological references to wish for a world where man and nature were one.

Sydney on "Prufrock"

Sydney believed poetry is an imitation of nature. I think "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" does a good job of giving a bit of insight into human nature. The awkwardness and self-consciousness displayed by Prufrock in the poem is a good imitation of what many people feel around the opposite sex in the real world. Sydney also believed poetry should teach a moral lesson. I don't think "Prufrock" teaches any kind of moral lesson, especially if Prufrock's intentions are purely sexual. I think Sydney would probably frown upon this poem because of it's lack of a clear moral message, even though it is a clear imitation of nature.

Chapters 9 and 10

Scholasticism and humanism are a little confusing to me. I know that they differ in how each one views poetry, but I can't see how else the two are related. Aquinas's theory of trancendentals is even more confusing. Hopefully I'll understand these concepts better by the end of class.

The Medieval Era/Augustine

Something that was interesting to me about this reading is the fact that early Christianity fought with itself so much. There were several sects of Christianity that would disagree with each other. Eventually, Church councils were formed and Christianity became one, which allowed it to preserve unity in the former Roman empire.

I agree with Augustine's and Cicero's view that "an eloquent man must speak so as to teach, to delight, and to persuade." I believe you must have all three of those things to be an effective speaker or writer. I think it's interesting that Augustine believes that teaching, or giving the clear truth, is the most important of the three. Augustine believes that the naked truth alone can entertain and persuade an audience. This is in contrast to Cicero, who believed in the importance of style.

Things that move me/Sublime

Things that move me
1. song - "Bloodmeat" by Protest the Hero
2. Marlon Brando's reading of "The Hollow Men" by T.S. Eliot
3. movie - "The Pursuit of Happyness"
4. song - "Goodnight Kiss" by Dream Theater

One thing in my life that could be considered sublime is the song "Bloodmeat" by Protest the Hero. I first heard the song last January or February and haven't really stopped listening to it since, either on the CD, internet, or in my head. When I went to see Protest the Hero on Warped Tour this year, "Bloodmeat" was the first song they played, and I thought I was going to pass out from the excitement. I think this fits Longinus's description of the sublime because it has created a lasting effect on my memory (the song is playing in my head as I type this). It has also caused emotional effects; I got chills the first few times I heard it, and when I saw the band play the song live, I didn't care that I hadn't had anything to eat or drink the entire time I was there. I also didn't worry about the fact that I had pretty much run out of money by that point in the weekend. At that moment, it was all about me enjoying the song.

I think the thing that makes the song take me out of myself is the fact that this band wrote a song that I had been wanting to listen to for a long time, even if I didn't realize it at first. As a guitar player, I love listening to guys go nuts and play guitar and drums super-fast and make really complex music. However, that kind of music really isn't easy to listen to. Protest the Hero managed to write a really complex and technical song but also make it very melodic and easy to sing along to. There is also a problem with these kinds of technical bands taking themselves too seriously. Listening to this song makes you think the guys in the band are just a bunch of fun-loving dudes who aren't too worried about how scary or evil their heavy metal band is, though they still manage to create sublime music.

Longinus

The concept of "sublime" is one that really hit home for me. As a musician (albeit not a great one), I am constantly trying to write music that has "a lasting and repeated effect," leaving the listener with a "stubborn and indelible" memory of the music. Longinus believes the truly sublime pleases everyone all the time, which I believe is a virtual impossibility when it comes to anything in the world, especially music or literature. Even the most popular song or piece of literature ever made will have its detractors especially since there are so many more genres and styles than there were in Longinus's time. I think sublimity is probably something that will only ever exist in theory, though artists and writers will surely never stop trying to achieve the truly sublime.