All Good Things Come To An End.....

Well, it is finally that time again. I have mixed feelings with the end of the semester. While I am very excited to be done with classes, I can't help but be a little sad that this class is over. Nerdy? Maybe. This is one of my last literature courses here at USF and American Lit. has always been a favorite of mine. I won't miss writing papers and doing assignments, but I will miss reading and discussing some great literature.

I just want to reflect a bit on some of my favorites over the course of the semester. I must start with my favorite, Walt Whitman. I love EVERYTHING about his work. I only wish we could have spent more time on him. Anne Bradstreet comes in second because she is really one of the first poets I was able to understand. Her poetry has meaning and is relatable to everyone. It is timeless. Following Bradstreet is Dickinson. Sometimes she makes no sense to me and sometimes I get her. Even when I don't get it, I love the images she conveys.

I have to stop right here for a second.......

I cannot believe that me, a poetry hating person, just listed poetry as my top three favorite authors over the semester. I feel like that deserves some kind of award!

Ok, moving on. The Scarlet Letter is definitely another one of my favorites. It was really interesting to see how my perspective has changed since reading it three years ago. I can definitely see some growth in myself as a reader. Edgar Allen Poe rounds off the top five. His work has a unique mixture of dark and light. While it appears to be very melancholy, there is still some illumination on characters/ideas present. Poe is one person I would love to meet. I imagine him to be very peculiar but in a good way.

So, that brings this semester to an end. While there were a few readings I didn't particularly enjoy, I can honestly say that overall I really enjoyed what we read as a class. It was really fun to read everyone's blogs and hear what people thought during class discussions.

It has been real. It has been fun. It has been real fun.......   :)

Emily Dickinson

A lot of people talked about the fact that poetry is hard to understand and Emily Dickinson makes it even harder. On some levels, I agree. Poetry is hard and Dickinson doesn't exactly feed us with a spoon. She challenges our thoughts and sometimes leaves us with frustrations. However, this is what makes me love her. Some of her poems may not make any sense at all to me, but they must have made perfect sense to her; that is what is so intriguing. Below is one of my favorites of Dickinson and we just happened to have discussed it in class.

I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –  

The Stillness in the Room 

Was like the Stillness in the Air –  

Between the Heaves of Storm –  

The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –  

And Breaths were gathering firm 

For that last Onset – when the King 

Be witnessed – in the Room –  

I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away 

What portions of me be 

Assignable – and then it was 

There interposed a Fly –  

With Blue – uncertain stumbling Buzz –  

Between the light – and me –  

And then the Windows failed – and then 

I could not see to see –

  

For some reason this poem really resonates with me. Maybe it is because it challenges the typical idea of what death will be like. I consider myself a Christian, but I don't necessarily believe that when I die I will see "the light." This may just be the pessimistic side of me. What I imagine death to be like is much like what Dickinson describes. I just can't wrap my head around the idea that my death will somehow be this amazing thing where I am finally given answers to life. 

I think the message of this poem is much more straightforward compared to some of the others we have read. There are some that I wouldn't even want to take a shot at trying to determine what Dickinson had in mind.  

She doesn't always paint us the perfect picture, but the picture she does paint is beautiful nonetheless.

Grass and all that goes with It

I really like Whitman's imagery of grass. He has been able to make me (and I'm sure I'm not the only one) think about the simplistic beauty that grass represents. There is something about grass that holds meaning. I have never been one who has liked to lay in the grass. It is much to scratchy for me. However, I do enjoy plopping down on a blanket in the middle of my yard and soaking in the nature that surrounds me. That's one thing I love about having grown up in the country. It doesn't take much to feel as if you are in a large field in the middle of nowhere. Grass is peaceful.

Does anyone else love the smell of freshly cut grass? It is one of my favorites! The smell is a great reminder of summertime.

I really enjoyed the notion of grass acting as a reminder that God has dropped for us. I think this idea really speaks to how I view grass and all that it stands for. Grass is everywhere (at least around here) just as God is everywhere. It serves as a reminder to appreciate all of the little things in life. Too often I get caught up in everything that goes on, and I forget to stop and "smell the roses." Sometimes all we need is time to stop and reflect on life itself.

For me, Whitman not only provides great imagery throughout his poems, but he also leaves reminders for what is important in life. He takes something as simple as grass and complicates it in a way that provokes a deeper thinking about what surrounds us here on earth.

I will leave you with just a part of one of my favorite Whitman writings.....

#21

I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul,
The pleasures of heaven are with me and the pains of hell are with
me,
The first I graft and increase upon myself, the latter I translate
into new tongue.

I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,
And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,
And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.

Whitman, My Love.....

As you can tell from the url for my blog, I absolutely LOVE Walt Whitman. I will admit, whenever I hear his first name my mind immediately goes to Walt Disney. After a moment, I reel myself back in and focus on the Walt that is somewhat less known by those other than Englishy people.  I was first introduced to him in high school, and despite my dislike for poetry, I really enjoyed reading his work. Whitman has a way of being descriptive in an unique way. He really gets my imagination flowing.

The preface to Leaves of Grass is not something I had read before, but it was very intriguing. My group decided to break down Whitman's ideas into a top ten list. I'm sure you are all so disappointed we didn't get to all of them during class. Don't worry, I will give them to you in a minute! Because poetry isn't my forte, I never really thought about what it meant to be a great poet. I think Whitman does an excellent job giving insight into his feelings about poets. I believe that what he says can be taken farther than poets. One can look at them as descriptions for what it means to be a great person. Many of the qualities can go either way.

Ok, the wait is over. Here is tonight's top ten (in David Letterman voice)

10. Bring spirit of people, places and events to life
9. He is a seer, and individual, he is complete with himself
8. Has less of a marked style and is a free channel of himself
7. Makes poet and audience equal
6. Absence of tricks and perfect candor/honesty
5. Voice and exposition of liberty
4. Timeless and for all people
3. Poem is not an end, but rather a beginning
2. The greatest poet hardly knows triviality and pettiness
1. The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it.

**Note, these are not in order of less important to important or vice versa. They are all equal!

Where you come from....

My small group discussion in class was about St. Clare and his discussion with Ophelia and what type of family she came from. This really got me thinking. Even today, people are defined by where they grew up, who their family is, etc. It is something that is very difficult to escape. It is important to note that two people can be exactly the same, but they appear to be different based on the differences between where they came from. St. Clare points this out to Ophelia. In reality, their families were the same, but they acted different because of where they were.

Reputation is something else that begins basically at birth. Whether it is a good thing or not, I think people's initial reputation stems from the people in their family. I always felt like I had to be like my brother growing up. In school, teachers looked at me to be like him. I also can't forget that I was a "teacher's kid." Because my dad taught at my high school, I was always expected to act a certain way. Sometimes I enjoyed resisting that reputation. I was respectful but definitely not afraid to speak my mind. For some people, this came as a surprise. It was expected that I would never disagree with things happening in the school. I was not even close to living up to that expectation.

Sometimes this whole notion of not being able to break away from where you came from is a good thing. No matter where I am, I always feel like a small town kid. The morals and goals I have for myself come from this. I think anyone who is from a small town has dreams of going out in the world and doing something big and different. However, at some point in my life I want to end up back where I started.

This all may be a little different than the conversation of St. Clare, but I think it is just as important.

Never forget where you came from!!

Aha Moment!

I had the biggest Aha moment in class when we were talking about how the Bible is used to justify slavery in Uncle Tom's Cabin. Sadly, I believe people use the Bible for evil more often than what we would like to admit. A common phrase I hear at USF is, "well in the Bible....." The second I hear that, I shut down. At that point, I usually tune people out. Fair? Probably not. I do this because I have had a great number of experiences where people are twisting what the Bible has said to fit what they believe or want to others to believe. This is where I think a lot of people go wrong. Interpreting the Bible is something that Christians are faced with. That's a fact. However, some people tend to interpret it to suit them.

And, I can't forget to mention those people who go around quoting the Bible all day (and quite possibly in their sleep) but forget to live by what they say. Don't just say it, do it! For example, I can't even count the number of times I have heard these types of people placing judgement on others. Some have even gone as far as to say that they don't think a certain person will go to heaven. Really???? This is where I get frustrated. It is so hypocritical to preach all day but then judge someone else. Isn't that God's job? If you ask those people, they will usually respond that it is. Confusing!

This is why I usually choose to leave the Bible out of it. I don't want to be that person who uses the Bible the wrong way. I don't want to be that person that comes off as being hypocritical. Maybe I am not acting as one should in regards to faith, but the second I start saying "well in the Bible...." I am in what could be a sticky situation.

By no means do I mean to belittle anyone or even put myself at a higher level. I sin and make all the mistakes that everyone else does. I judge people too. The only difference is I leave my faith and what I believe out of it. I'm not sure what I even believe in most of the time. Do I believe in the Bible? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. What I do know is, I never justify how I act based on the Bible. If I do something sinful it is because I am flawed. The opposite is also true. If I make a good decision, it is because I wanted to.

This may appear to be a rant. In fact, it is. Sometimes we all need a little time to let it all out. Well, my time is up.....

Uncle Tom's Cabin

As quickly as page two, I was reminded of The Adventures of Huck Finn. It was one of my favorite books I read last year and might even rank in my top 20 of all time favorites. Because of my love of Huck Finn, I have high hopes for Uncle Tom's Cabin. Hopefully Harriet Beecher Stowe will not disappoint. I can't imagine that such a well known book would be disappointing, but one never knows.

Slavery is a topic that just boggles my mind. I can't imagine being on either side of it: the slaveholder or the slave. The distorted beliefs one must have in order to have a slave is outrageous. When I was a kid my brother and I used to make bets and whoever lost the best had to be the other person's "slave." Even then I felt bad bossing my brother around. Shocker, I know! I would usually just have him do stupid little things, but he took a much different approach. When I was the "slave," I had to do all sorts of ridiculous things. And, I usually wasn't very happy about it. I didn't understand how he could ask me to do things when he was supposed to love me as his sister. Maybe I was just a little oversensitive, but I think it was a fair feeling.

Even though the situations are totally different, I was able to get a little taste of what it would be like having someone determine my every move. What is even harder for me to imagine is what it would be like to be traded. Slaves would be taken away from their families. I gather this would make being a slave 100 times worse. It is one things to be enduring something horrific, and it is another to be enduring it without your loved ones.

After this first section of reading, I have a pretty good feeling that I will be satisfied in terms of how it compares to Huck Finn.