BLOG XI

Fighting for Life

            The poem of  Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle into that  Good Night, is about death and how four kinds of men should fight for live, even though they have  had no a good life. I believe the poem’s speaker is related to the author because it is a plea for Thomas father who is possible dying. So the poem has a speaker: Thomas, a listener: his father, and a situation: a dying person (his father). Because of  that Thomas present to his father this kind of men in this particular poem named, villanelle.

            The structure of this poem , four tercets and a concluding quatrain, let Thomas present four kind of men to his dying father because he believes that it would help his father continue fighting for his life. The first category of men is the wise: “Though wise men at their end know dark is right” (line 4).Thomas believes these men are conscious of death, and they see it such as a natural thing of life. But, also Thomas says that they are not in accordance with death because they do not feel that they write his history in world’s memory: “Because their words had forked no lightning” (line 5); so they should fight death until they get from life what they want.

            The second kind of men is: “Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright” (line 7); Thomas believes that these men in their last years of their lives could feel that their achievements are not enough to leave a good impression in live: “Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay” (line 8); so they should protest against death  until their deeds were strong enough to let a record in the world.

            The third kind of men is: “Wild men, near death, who caught and sang the sun in flight” (line 10). These men enjoy a lot of life but with no sense. They just live in a wild way life, but they do not have anything back from it. But when they realize the cruelty of wasted life is late to take a life’s sense: “And learn too late, they grieved it on its way” (line 11). Even though they waste life, they have the right to fight for it: “Do not go gentle into that good night.” (line 12)

            The fourth kind of men is: “Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight” (line 13). Even though they are in their last years of life, they should fight for a new chance of living. Never is late to be against death, because the important thing is fighting and never lose hope: “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (line 15). It does not matter your age, fighting for live is a right for every one. Never is late for fighting death, so Thomas father should take this in his mind and do not let death win the race.

            The last stanza is a Thomas’ plea to his father. He is asking his father for strength, and he urges his father for more ambition about life: “Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray” (line 17). Through out all four examples of men above presented, Thomas encourages his father for living. Never is late to fight death even though people have or not good deeds, history, or youth.  The repetition of the these two verses: “Do not go gentle into that good night/ Rage, rage against the dying of the light” makes outline the importance of fighting death even though you do feel the right to do it.

BLOG X

Is War Honorable?

            Each person need some kind of incentive to make himself satisfied in life.  It is just to look for what it makes us happy and useful in world. For example, the poem of Dulce et Decorum Est explains how individuals in war times think that war makes them honorable and useful to their fatherland. But, the poet asks in an ironic way if war is really an honorable way for dying just because you help your fatherland. The title suggest that the poem is about honor and war’s useful for each country, but when the poet starts to describe the cruelty of war, the reader realizes the title is an ironic way to outline how much the war is useless.

            The war does not show any compassion for its helpers, instead she is cruel with them and makes them feel inferior in life: “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,/ Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, / till on the haunting flares we turned our backs/ and towards our distant rest began to trudge./ Men marched asleep./ Many had lost their boots/ but limped on blood-shod” (625). This image draw the adversities that all soldiers have to  suffer  just to make happy their fatherland. Is this honorable? Well, it is just a cruel way to protect what they believe is correct. But this quotation just introduce the reader to the war’s scenario because the poet after that he describes how a man died drowned: “And watch the white eyes writhing in his face./ His hanging face, like a devil’s jolt, the blood/ Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,/ Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud/ Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues” (625-626). This person is just one picture of a bunch of deaths in a similar way, but it is an honor issue. “innocent tongues” makes me think about war’s useless in world because innocent people died just to give empowered people glory, but they do not receive any; they only have like a payment: death which nobody is going to remember. The poet reaffirms his idea about the misunderstanding of glory when he make the speaker say to his friend: “you would not tell with such high zest/ To children ardent for some desperate glory,/ The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” (626). Dying in war is not an honorable way, instead it is useless way to obtain glory because each on that ardent children are going to died and are going to be forgotten. They are only one more number of dead people. War is just an ironic way of dying with no glory.

BLOG IX

?

This blog is named ? because I do not know what title choose. First, it is really hard to me read poetry because the language, and second because I do not like it. It is not about genre; it is about feelings. I consider that when you choose a poem or you like it; it is because it has something in common with you. It reflects your soul, so your inner can be at every one’s eyes, and that is nothing pleasant for me.  But I have to choose two, so I choose “Cargoes” written by John Masefield and “Anthem for Doomed Youth” by Wilfred Owen because they have interesting images which can makes think about the usefulness of conquers in differents periond of history or we can hear each sound that the poet want us to hear for understanding in a better way the pain of death.

Masefield in his poem talks about three kinds of cargoes. Each stanza is specifying the materials that each vessel transports. To reaffirm each the materials, each second line of each stanza begins with: Rowing, Dipping, Butting. The first one is about commerce because it only talks about ivory, sandalwood, cedar wood, and white wine.  These materials those are important in that time to get money. Also, it can refer to biblical images, but I prefer do not talk about because I do not like talk about religion in school works.  The second is about  Spanish explorations. It  is the image of what the Spanish galleons brings to their king and queen. The words emeralds, amethysts, topazes, cinnamon and gold moiders refer to the first explorations to the new world which is victim of European ambition. Because of its richness was explored damaged, and looted.  The third one is about the British who trade with tyne coal, road-rails, pic-lead, firewood, iron-ware and chip tin trays. A new era has began with the coal. It is about new industry which is the beginning of a modern world. Each image of the different transportations and their cargos are clearly visual.  Our head can visualize each vessel with its materials and the time that represents. It is like if you can touch them with your hands which makes conquers and chages nice to the reader. It is like the author wants to justify each kind of exploration and its benefits for the world.  

On the other hand we have “Anthem for Doomed Youth” which is the image of death of soldiers. Even though its images are related with sounds  produced by  different items or attitudes such as: bells, choirs, rattle,  wailing, and some of them can be related to happy concepts, in an ironic way their meaning have a extreme relationship with death. This poem make me think about war no in a nice way but a social product that its intention is destroy, in this poem, young people lives maybe for an unjustified reason. In the first stanza the image is completely sounded, but the second one is completely visual: glimmers, pallor, pall, flowers, dusk, drawing, and blind. This stanza talks about how young people’s life is finished by war. It is about the consequences of an awful act as war. The contrast reflected in both stanzas makes the reader feel even sadder because its images are not justifying human’s cruel ambition but protesting about the results: young people dying.

The first poem describes the beauty of conquering, but the second one is a protest against war which brings death between young people. The first one is useful; the second one is a crime because it finishes with the future of a nation: youth.

Do in this time above all has importance this topics? Because of this is nice literature. It has not time or place. All the topics continue through out time. Those poems are two reflections of this time situation: conquer and death, useful but painful.

BLOG VIII

 Fighting or Surrender?      

            Life is composing of two mean things: life or death. Each one of us such as humans have problems that could bring us in a deep hole or having the attitude of fighting for get better of that situation. There are two poems that can explain that feelings. I can say that “Hope” written by Lisel Muller is the exact way how I think about adversity. But also “Because I could not stop for death” by Emily Dickinson is the opposite of my ideology of life. 

            Many times we feel deeply defeated by life adversities, but there is always an open window to our problems. Muller says that hope is at any place even if it is insignificant. For me hope is like a window where you can see many solutions to our overwhelming issues. Like Muller say that hope can be at any place or thing: “It sprouts in each occluded eye/ of the many-eyed potato,/  it lives in each earthworm segment surviving cruelty,/ it is the motion that runs from the eyes to the tail of a dog,/ it is the mouth that inflates the longs/ of the child that has just been born” (478). Maybe we could feel tiny when life is to big to hug it, but even if we are small size to confront all life adversities, hope is going to be there for us, and as result we can survive in this cruel world. Hope is just life, and it gives us courage to confront all our fears. Hope is a deeper feeling that shows our soul which makes us loyal to ourselves and others, and also is like poetry because is the mirror of our inner. Muller reaffirms, hope is: “(…) the serum which make us swear/ not to betray one another;/ it is in this poem, trying to speak.” (478)

 Even though hope is an open window to our dark side such feelings and thoughts, there is the surrender. The Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for death” is an idea that I do not embrace because it is give us before start the war against life adversities. I do not believe that we should surrender to the weakness of  living in this hard world. Even though Dickinson states that: “Because I could not stop for Death-/ He kindly stopped for me-/ The Carriage held but just Ourselves-/ And immortality” (488). We should fight because only that part of life can give us immortality. It is through out our actions and courage to confront all our fears. If we are cowards how we can build our heritage. It is the way to that immortality. Death can be a nice and sweet way to stop our dilemma about life, but even though we live short moments of happiness, abundance, and the good side of  life; we cannot surrender to darkness, to the cold world where fears and lack of emotions rule. Death can be the best solution to above all, but it can be a cowardly act that fall into oblivion because death what I can understand in Dickenson poem is suicide which denies courage for living.

Hope is immortality, but death is forgetting, and we should never stop for death.



BLOG VII

Heritage is Stronger than Modern Changes

            August Wilson in his play Fences exposes feelings of excluded people for discrimination. The play is set in 1957 time when start to change the USA vision about black people. Wilson through Troy exposes a frustrated person who wants to play in the Mayor League of Baseball, but he cannot do it because of his color; instead he has to resign himself to play in Black League of Baseball; teams that do not have the same recognition that white people. Troy vision life is about baseball; Troy tries to connect all around him to baseball because it was a desire that he cannot make real. Baseball in the play is the beginning to set all characters issues, but there is a background that affects the whole family: heritage. It is what really make fences around them, and what it is going to destroy family relationship.

            Wilson strategy was the usage of fences in the whole play, which have a symbolic meaning around each character, but fences have two important meanings: protection and destruction. The first one is represented by Rose who only wants to see finished her fence to protect his family and conserve them together. Even though she came from a broken family, she has the necessity of having a family, a home where she can peace and stability. She can have all above because she has a good advisor: Jesus. Rose is in continuous communication with Jesus through out church, she never loose her faith: “Jesus, be a fence all around me every day/ Jesus, I want you to protect me as I travel on my way/ Jesus, be a fence all around me every day/ Jesus, I want you to protect me/ as I travel on my way” (p 1297). Her love in Jesus is her support to help each member of her family, even when her husband cheats on her. She forgives him and accept Troy’s daughter. Jesus fence is stronger than Troy’s destructive fence.

            When the reader starts the play, it would be easy to say all issues are around the baseball, but Troy’s problems not only are baseball issues but heritage. Even the character does not that baseball are not only the origin of his problems but his father image. He did not have a good background, his father was abusive and cruel, Troy’s words: “My mama couldn’t stand him. Couldn’t stand that evilness. She run off when I was about eight. She sneaked off one night after he had gone to sleep. Told me she was coming back for me. I ain’t never seen her no more. All his women run off and left him. He wasn’t good for nobody” (p. 1310). Troy cannot make it with his father, so he left his house when he was fourteen year old. After that his life was auto destructive because he started to steal and when he get married of Lyons mother, he robbed even more. He also killed a man because Troy wanted to rob him: “They told me I killed him and they put me in the penitentiary and locked me up for fifteen years. That’s where I met Bono. That’s where I learned how to play baseball. Got out that place and your mama had taken you and that fifteen years cured me of that robbing stuff” (p. 1311). That was his beginning for a new life because in baseball and Rose, he found a new life, but his heritage was stronger that his desire of change because he continues with his father’s tyranny. Even though he tried to change his environment pull him back to his father attitude because he get frustrated by discrimination; he wants to be a famous baseball player, but his color does not allow him do it. It brings him a feeling of useful life where only job bad paid can be the future for black people, and big opportunities are only for white people. That feeling makes him to demand his children work hard and forget their dreams: Lyon’s music and Cory’s football.

            Troy destroys Cory football career and his opportunity to go to college, a chance that was not common in black people. Troy did it because he was no jealous but because Cory could be discriminated like him. He believes that black people was used only a few times and not in important games, Troy words: “If they got a white fellow sitting on the bench… you can bet your last dollar he can’t play! That colored guy got to be twice as good before he get on the team. That’s why I don’t want you to get all tied up in them sports. Man on the team and what it get him? They got colored on the team and don’t use them. Same as not having them. All them teams the same” (p. 1302). But Cory is sure that he values such as a great football player, and because he was a good student. But Troy beliefs were stronger than Cory desires, and he finishes his career.

            The fence of protection was finished with Troy’s death; it brings all family together and their relationship was reestablished. Troy was a villain was a victim of his own destructive fences; he refuses to see modernity changes, and he decidided for a useful life where there are no dream of improvement. At the same time his death was a protective fence for all his family.

Is a Tragedy of Claudius, King of Denmark or Simple Ambition?

Claudius is a complicated character because can be innocent or guilty depends on someone’s opinion.  Claudius is a strong man and brother of Hamlet sr. He takes the throne of Denmark after his brother died. But we do not know that Claudius kill his brother for ambition after Hamlet talks to his father ghost. This fact can  make of  him , how Hamlet sr. describes him, such as “adulterate beast, o wicked wit and gift, that have the power so to seduce; won to his harmful lust the will of my most seeming-virtuous queen” (p. 1029).  Claudius is not only a killer, but an incestuous brother who takes his brother widow. If we look this fact from this period point of view can be no a big deal. But in that time, married a brother’s widow can be a big moral problem because of Christian beliefs. Gertrude was Claudius sister in law, so she was untouchable for him; she was a forbidden fruit because of family tie.

In the social and political issue, there is not problem because first is the wellbeing of Denmark. In order to stable the country, it is better a person with experience that a young prince. By law Hamlet should become king of Denmark because he was the firs-born, but Claudius has more experience, and also he was cunning enough to win the hear of the queen who is not respectful of  her mourning. Besides,  it was not a big deal the incestuous relation ship between Gertrude and Claudius. This relation ship means stability and prosperity. In that moment that marriage represents that, but when  the treason was uncover all wellbeing of Denmark in in danger.

Claudius, in my personal opinion, is not flawed human being because he is tempt by ambition and he is not a victim of circumstances.  He wanted the throne and  his brother wife, so he in a disgusting way, he acquires Denmark. In my point of view, Claudius worst mistake is kill his brother because his ambition leave him with not moral. Claudius’ situation (his instability in throne and his scare about his murder) is not a tragedy because he just  lives the consequences that bring with itself a bad action.

High Treason

William Shakespeare is an author that reflects in his works human emotion in a master way. His characters show internal conflicts about issues of live in that period. Hamlet is a play that is full of betrayals, but the most important is the death of the King, father of Hamlet. Even though he is sad because his father died, Hamlet is depressed because his mother has an incestuous relationship because the Queen gets married with the brother of the king Hamlet: “She married. O most wicked speed, to post with such dexterity to incestuous sheets: It is not, nor it cannot come to good, but creak my heart, for I must hold my tongue” (p. 1019).  He knows how hard is to believe that treason, so he plays his father murder and his mother fidelity to see reaction and corroborating what the ghost said. Moreover, when he discovers that his uncle killed his father, that fact bears on him an existentialism issue.  In the middle of his mental illness, he asks himself about death importance:

To be, or not to be, that is the question (…) And by opposing, en them: to die, to sleep, no more; and by sleep, to say we end the heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to; (…) To die, to sleep, to sleep, perchance to dream, ay there’s the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil must give us pause—there’s the respect that makes calamity of so long life” (p. 1052).

Hamlet shows his fear about what could be after death. He believes in the possibility of a painful dream, or maybe he believes that death is not enough to relieve that kind of treason: murder and incestuous relationship.