To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Review

To Kill a Mockingbird, based off of the novel by Harper Lee, was made in 1962 showing the coming of age tale of Scout Finch growing up in a racially divided Southern town. Scout, along with her brother Jem, stand by their dad, Atticus Finch, as he defends a black man accused and trialed for a crime he did not commit which causes  tension among their family and the town. Throughout the movie, Scout has a key lesson of how harsh this world is through the trail, showing the last summers of her innocence. The movie To Kill a Mockingbird is cinematic masterpiece as well, the shots so clean, the lighting very contrasting, that is the epitome of early to mid twentieth century cinematography.
One thing that I have always liked about To Kill a Mockingbird is that fact that the roles are sort of reversed, perfect examples to study are Scout and Atticus. For starters Atticus, is not a 'man' in the sense of what a man was back in that time period where he wasn't doing physical work, he was a thinker. One could even say he was somewhat effeminate as he nurtured his kids into being rational, being rational is something that is not something that is usually seen as homogeneous to a 'man'. However, it is not to say he isn't manly, as Harper Lee creates an in depth character to Atticus as he is very manly, in protecting and raising his kids, at the same time as he feminine. Scout is also interesting as she gets into fights at school and prefers to wear overalls to dresses, not to mention she likes to speak up when ever she can with her very tenacious personality. She is not the usual female role who is quiet and curious to others, which presents another deep character that makes this movie and book interesting.

Precious (2009) Movie Review

Precious (2009) is a movie about an overweight sixteen year old who all her life was abused mentally and emotionally by her mom, and raped by her dad. Precious the protagonist, at the beginning, is pregnant with her second child and gets kicked out of her school and finds education at an alternative school. She struggles at school and at home, which makes her feel stupid as she is told by her mom she will never amount to anything and she is basically ilterate; however, she has a sportive teacher who helps her learn and who eventually gets Precious out of living with her abusive mother. Precious has dark themes; yet, it is matched with hopefulness and even comedy, making it something that everyone can relate to.

One aspect of the film that I loved is that even though it holds serious themes, it is not as tragic by the added comedy that makes the whole movie lighter. This design is purposeful as is mirror’s Precious’s character. One thing that characterizes Precious is that she is hopeful and an escapist by day dreaming when times are tough. The light-heartedness of the movie when it is at the same time dealing with difficult themes mimics Precious’s character as she herself is lighthearted amongst her difficult life to make her life less miserable. This character trait of being an escapist is what makes everyone relate to this movie as everyone's difficult situations has a natural instinct to daydream, or joke, to escape the horrors of what they go through.

We Real Cool Analysis Response #4/30

               

We Real Cool

BY GWENDOLYN BROOKS

The Pool Players.
        Seven at the Golden Shovel.

            We real cool. We   

            Left school. We

            Lurk late. We

            Strike straight. We

            Sing sin. We   

            Thin gin. We

            Jazz June. We   

            Die soon.

We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks, is a rhythmic poem that mimics a singsong-y vibe of smooth jazz. It is very different from the other poems by how it is written and devised, as in the couplets the speaker indents to another line while the sentence is on going. Each of the lines ends with 'we' and if not it is easy to pick off a shift in the poem. This intention makes the rhyme scheme extremely noticeable, as the reader is forced to take a pause and take emphasis on the rhyme, almost like: 'we--Lurk late. We--Strike straight'. At the beginning there is an introductory phase of lines 1 and 2 where the speaker establishes the 'we' in this poem are pool players. This is introductory phase is made obvious by the shift that follows when the poem starts using 'we' at the end of every line; however, at the end there is another shift, the line only consisting of, "die soon," creating a dire tone, since the rhythm is thrown off without the 'we' and the nice almost happy rhythm stops. The tone becoming dire reveals a theme in this cool lifestyle that there is a price for living 'cool'. The life the pool players live is more of a fun lifestyle by drinking gin, staying up late, and leaving school earlier because 'they real cool'. The purpose of this poem is almost to say living recklessly with your life by trying to be cool is idiotic.

Ozymandias Response 2/27

Ozymandias

BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

The speaker in this poem talks about the time they met a traveler who told them about the old remains of a once great king, Ozymandias, buried in the desert. What once was a gigantic statue depicting the ancient king's great power is now ruined, "'Two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert. . . . near them, on the sand, half sunk a shattered visage lies," these words shedding a gloomy tone with examples of "shattered" imagery. It is also of note that there are two meanings to the word 'lies' one which is resting or the other that is lying. Onwards to the rest of the poem, the speaker shares that there were words inscribed on the statue, "'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains," here, showing that the statue is lying as now all this great power is gone symbolized by the statue's remains. The poem ends of with the same gloomy tone, "Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare the lone and level sands stretch far away," as the statue is alone and these words denoting any power that once was. One of the themes presented is nothing can withstand time, specifically power. Ozymandias thought he was the king of kings; yet, now his works are long gone buried beneath the sands of time. The speaker’s gloomy tone is to discuss this gloomy subject of mortality and that nothing can last forever, even Ozymandias ‘the king of kings’ who symbolizes that.

Naming of the Parts Analysis 4/20

I. NAMING OF PARTS

To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day,
To-day we have naming of parts. Japonica
Glistens like coral in all of the neighboring gardens,
          And to-day we have naming of parts.

This is the lower sling swivel. And this
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel,
Which in your case you have not got. The branches
Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,
          Which in our case we have not got.

This is the safety-catch, which is always released
With an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let me
See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy
If you have any strength in your thumb. The blossoms
Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see
          Any of them using their finger.

And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this
Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:
          They call it easing the Spring.

They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy
If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt,
And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point of balance,
Which in our case we have not got; and the almond-blossom
Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards,
          For to-day we have naming of parts.

The Naming of Parts is a poem about soldiers learning how to use a gun amongst the spring time. This is a poem I had to read 6 times over to really understand what was happening because I could tell and was confused about this poem talking about two separate things: guns and spring, simultaneously. In the first four lines of this poem it talks about cleaning, firing, and naming parts of the gun; however, at the end of the sestet, it goes on about flowers and gardens to talk about how during spring that have to sit around learning parts of a gun. This poem uses the device juxtaposition, setting two opposite things side by side to convey meaning, by how the speaker talks about war and spring to convey the argument of war being foolish.

One aspect of the poem that was done on purpose was prattling on laboriously about the different parts of the gun to create a bored tone replicating how one would fell when learning about useless information. By creating this bored tone it takes the importance of war and flushes it away, making war seem useless. Another fact is that war is conflict issued with violence, and it is placed beside the most peaceful time of the year, creating said juxtaposition, making war seem silly when it is set in such a peaceful time period such as spring. This juxtaposition is even more apparent in the play on the phrase 'easing the spring' by how the speaker uses it to describe the function of the gun and the coming of spring. This poem is criticizing war by pointing out how war can somehow exist during a peaceful time and raises the theme that war is nonsensical.            

The Youngest Daughter by Cathy Song Response 4/16

The Youngest Daughter depicts a daughter taking care of her ailing mother and wishing to leave. Throughout this poem the tone that has revealed itself: irritation. The poem opens up with, "the sky has been dark for many years," indicating that the speaker's tone of voice is not a happy one. Right after, the speaker then begins to show her irritation, literally, as they talk about their skin, head, and eyes burning and reddening with irritation, "lately, when I touch my eyelids, my hands react as if I had just touched something hot enough to burn. My skin, aspirin colored, tingles with migraine." The speaker shares how she takes care of her mother, giving her a bath. As the speaker is cleaning her mother she has a 'sour taste' and goes on to take the light hearted aurora of her mother's jokes in comparing her breasts to walruses, out of the atmosphere. While her mother is joking, the speaker relates her breasts to a literal function, "I scrubbed them with a sour taste in my mouth, thinking: six children and an old man have sucked from these brown nipples," indicating once again the speaker is not in a jovial mood and is irritated.

The irritated tone can express how the speaker feels about the theme of this poem: eternal youth of the aging. The theme of this poem is reveal through how the mother and daughter has switched positions, as the mother is now the baby taking a bath and the role of an irritated mother is played by the daughter; also at the end there are cranes taking flight as the mother and daughter are sharing a meal, the cranes specifically put there to mirror the eternal youth of the mother. The irritation of the poem can express how the speaker feels about when people age they basically regress back into infancy, and how they need to be taken care of. This poem is a good poem to look at when analyzing tone.   

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer By Walt Whitman Analysis

At the beginning of the poem the speaker shares what is going on in the lecture room about astronomy, and how he is just learning about charts and data, basically math; however, he tells about how he leaves the classroom to actually see what he learning about which he was not seeing in the lecture room. One theme I believe to be revealed in this poem is that knowledge is experience, as with just the mathematics side of things you can never fully learn something, just theoretically. At first I thought the speaker was going to be speaking about an epiphany that he had when listening to the learn'd astronomer; however, as it turns out he is criticizing education as making the point he is just hearing not learning. 

Another theme that I have noticed that this poem could be getting at is the fact that people often over complicate nature. At first humans saw stars, then started to question them, and them developed this elaborate science behind it with charts and diagrams enough to make someone dizzy with something once a simple thing. As I read the first quatrain, I could immediately tell there was a shift in the poem as the sentence length diminished and it became sensory in the second quatrain making the mood seem peaceful. The last sentence, "Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars," can indicated the simplicity to stars by using the word 'silence', which completely contrasts with elaborate science behind astronomy in the first quatrain; in addiction, the speaker uses perfect to describe the silence arguing that simplicity is perfection. By the speaker getting sick and having to leave the astronomy class, I believe another argument,  or theme, this poem is that people over complicate nature.   

Response to "To My Dear And Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet

To My Dear And Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet is a poem about a wife explaining the unmeasurable love for her husband. Most notably in lines 5-7, the speaker is comparing her husband to beyond 'the worth of gold or riches', and that 'my love is quenchable', and in these lines it is basically saying that 'my love is priceless and will never end'. The speaker at the beginning of this poem talks about her immeasurable love, however shifts at the end to talk about her immeasurable love after death. The last lines, "Then while we live, in love let's so persever, that when we live no more, we may live ever," explain that while being alive lets keep love alive and when we die our love will live on forever; in other words, the speaker is talking about love after death. A theme of this poem arises in these last lines, the theme of love defies death, or love cannot be ‘quenched’ by death.   

As I was reading I had an struggles, and questions as well of what was additionally was going in the poem that was not explicitly stated. One struggle that I had was understanding and paraphrasing the old english of which this poem is written in. The lines that were to paraphrase are the ones that started with ‘if ever’ as the ‘if ever’ and words like ‘thee’ and ‘ye’ are always confusing as we would just use ‘you’ and ‘your’, also I cannot still translate ‘if ever’ if it is that complicated. One question that arose while reading was if the speaker was actually dying, or is the poem written to make the speaker seem like they are dying? When looking at the title it says ‘dear’ and the poem is talking about death, therefore it could mimic someone writing a death letter or on their deathbed saying this to their beloved husband.

Reflection Upon "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden

When reading Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden I understood I was about someone looking back at their childhood for of wistful regret that they did not appreciate what their hard working father had done for them. On the second time reading the poem nothing had change in interpreting the poem other than noticing the syntax of the four sentences and shifts from remembering from the present and the story being told in the past.

As I answered the questions this time around again identifying the tone of the poem was the easiest and I am beginning to question why poems are easier in identifying tone, in opposition to full length stories. Again reexamining the title was hard as at first I couldn't see anything different from the first time around; however, I finally saw an example of syntax by arranging words to create juxtaposition between 'Winter' and 'Sundays' to symbolize the juxtaposition of the speaker's cold attitude towards their father in the past and the father's warm affections.

Reflect Upon "Since there's no help" by Micheal Drayton

1) Write about your experience was like reading it the first time (what was the initial experience like) and then the second time around (what changed, if anything.) 
When reading Since There's No Help by Micheal Drayton I gathered a general conclusion to what was happening, however not what was meant. Initially I understood someone was suggesting to break up their relationship but then wanting to still stay in the relationship at the end of the poem. In the second time around I figured out the meaning of the poem as I noticed the shift of time and attitude, as in the present moment as they were breaking up the speaker became enthusiastic about keeping love present revealing a greater theme of how once you begin to give up love it is difficult.  

2) Write about answering the questions, speaking to patterns: what kinds of questions were not so hard for you? What kinds of questions do you feel like you need more instruction about?
The easiest questions to answer were the questions asking about tone and shifts. The question I had the hardest answering were the connotation question and the question asking to reexamine the title as in poems I find it hard to be interpretive and find sound elements, figurative language, etc because poems are written differently than stories, which I can easily connote. 

Close Reading of Spring and Fall by Gerard M. Hopkins

1.

"Margaret are you grieving

Over Goldengrove unleaving?"

•  'Margaret why are you sad about the trees dying?'

 Do any words have double meanings? Do they have extra connotations? 

The word 'unleaving' carries extra meaning as it gives an sense of opposition is using the prefix un- where as the speaker of this poem could have used the prefix de- (deleaving) to describe the shedding of trees; however, the speaker chose un- adding a feeling, to an otherwise action, to provide a parallel to Margaret's grieving. Unleaving not only holds the literal actions of trees shedding but also describes Margaret's opposition.

2.

"Leaves, like the things of man, you

With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?"

• 'Can you care for your fresh happy thoughts when leaves and men die?'

Look at the punctuation. Is there anything unusual about it?

The placement of 'leaves' and 'you' force me to compare those words as the punctuation adds 'like the things of man' to interrupt the flow of the sentence but you realize both of the words of the left and right must relate to that of the middle. Also, the commas remind me of listing like things, as leaves, everything related to man, and 'you' are all relating in death, as they all die.

3.

Ah! as the heart grows older

It will come to such sights colder

• 'When you become older, you won't feel as bad' 

What is the sentence rhythm like? Short and choppy? Long and flowing? Does it build on itself or stay at an even pace? What is the style like?

The sentence structure is shorter staying at an even pace and there is rhyme to it. It gives an attitude of the speaker in the way they are speaking toward Margaret as they are curt and give of a sense of superiority in how one who is experienced and older would say this to someone who is younger.The style is emote.  

4.

"By and by, nor spare a sigh

Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;"

• "Don't be dejected in the fall time;'

What is the first thing you notice about the passage?

First thing I noticed was the words 'wanwood' and 'leafmeal' as they looked as made up as 'unleaving'. I had to look up the direct definitions of 'wan' and 'meal', wan carrying relation to strain and meal to occasion, which relates to this poem's gist of leaves dying. Meal relating to the seasonal occasion of leaves starting to die in the fall and the waning of tree's bark as the trees are going through yet another season becoming weak under climate change. This poem still seems to focus on Fall.

5.

"And yet you will weep and know why."

• "But you will keep on weeping because there's an ulterior reason to leaves dying"

What mood does the passage create in you? Why?

I feel despair, and the author's tone is hopelessness as the word 'will' is emphasized to explain Margaret's grieving is inevitable. 

6.

"Now no matter, child, the name:

Sorrow's springs are the same."

• "Don't worry, Spring's the same as fall."

Which words do you notice first? Why? What is noteworthy about this diction?

At first I noticed the alliteration of the 's' sounds of sorrow, spring, and same. The repetition in this word choice dramatizes the being of the shift in the poem as now we are going to talk about spring.

7.

"Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed

What héart héard of, ghóst guéssed:"

• 'No one alive can ever express what the heart knows'

Do any words seem oddly used to you? Why?

I analyzed this line the longest of among the others, as the word 'heard' is odd to me. I usually think of listening with your ear when I think of hearing which is the wrong sensory word to heart as it feels; however, by listening you can gain knowledge, and I looked up the word 'hear' to which I received the definition 'know of the existence of" which is basically what this line is saying that the heart knows of something.

8.

"It is the blight man was born for,

It is Margaret you mourn for."

• 'You mourn for death Margaret'

Is there any repetition within the passage? What is the effect of that repetition?

These lines are an example of symploce, where both lines start and end with the same words 'it' and 'for'. The repetition of words makes the idea of this poem clear that Margaret is grieving death which is inevitable.    

How To Analyze Literature Reflection

1. One thing that I have learned is how authors control the pace of a story. What I have picked up is that pace is indicated by diction and syntax; for example, diction can prolong the time a reader takes to read by how complex a word is in getting through and syntax can control if the sentences are long or short to regulate time. Symbolism is something I have always been taught, yet I never realized it does not 'mean but suggest, reflect, or remind,' or in my own words, it pulls the reader to some specific idea for consideration. Also, something useful I have learned is that using figures of speech should be avoided when analyzing literature, especially on the AP English test, as you want to be as literal and anal as possible when conveying an idea. 
2. I am still confused about the difference between the author, narrator, and speaker roles of a story, and if a speaker of a poem is closer to an author than a narrator. Also with proving that something is a symbol, you need to provide proof that it is one by searching around the story that backs your theory; however, my question is what if the proof that you are trying to prove is a far fetched interpretation of the text? 
3. A skill that I believe to know the best is setting: for an event, such as a story, there must be a circumstance to which the event must take place--this circumstance is setting. Setting can also be used as literary tactics to convey meaning or set a mood to deliver a reader to perceive a story a certain way.