19th Century American Literature and You Tube Video

19th Century American Literature

Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Tell-Tale Heart” was written in 1843. The tone of the story is very dark, and Poe creates suspense in the story. For example, he writes, “TRUE!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them” (Poe). The use of the words "nervous" and "disease" creates drama and gains the reader’s attention. The You-Tube video of Poe’s “A Tell-Tale Heart” is a recreation that would have never been possible in 1843, when Poe wrote the story. With the use of technology, the story is given new life to students whom may never have been exposed to Edgar Allan Poe’s mysterious and engaging writing. By using a video that can be accessed online, teachers can present students with Edgar Allan Poe’s story, paired with a video that is just as mysterious and psychologically thrilling. In this particular video, the actors and environment imitate the look and feel of the actors and environment that would have been in the story in 1843. This gives a realistic feel to the story being told, however, there are many modern looking videos that are just as appealing.




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Trickster Myth ending.....group collaboration

Coyote was tired of hearing the cries of man, so after a long night of hearing their moans, coyote makes his way up to the sun god and asks for a piece of the sun to give to the humans that were worried about surviving the winter. The sun god denies the coyotes request, however the Coyote, desperate to come to a solution to stop the cries of man, decides to steal the sun god’s wife as a barter to get a piece of the sun. Sun god couldn’t believe the coyote tricked him! Sun god knew that the only way that he could get his wife back would be to give a piece of the sun to the coyote to bring down to Earth for the humans.

Sacred Places: Outline for Presentation

Sacred Places

• Have the power to heal the human body, raise enlightenment and creativity
• Places such as Pearl Harbor, Gettysburg, Egyptian pyramids, and Stonehenge in England are sacred because they provide a location that represents nationhood, individual identity, culture, and historical unity.
• Around the world sacred places can be actual places. It is a literal location where you can go visit, stand on, look at, and know that you are in the place.
• They are also mythical because they become symblic of and embody meaning of their cultural values.
• Thay are also imaginary places, where the place is imagined to be far more than any place can possibly be. The sacred site, which is somewhat abstract, becomes real because of its connection with its real place, the real place that we can see, and remember.

Andrew Guilliford’s 9 Categories of Sacred Places

• Specific to describe historical events and spiritual pratices of American Indian sacred places.

Vine Deloria’s 4 Categories of Sacred Places

• Although Deloria’s categories of sacred places also focus on Native American culture, Deloria’s categories differ from Guilliford’s 9 categories of sacred places because they are open-ended enough to be applied to sacred places around the world.
• These 4 categories are arranged on a scale of “agency” which is a hierarchy from “entirely human agency” to “Higher Powers”
• The first category is “entirely human agency” which is when the site is sacred because of the human events that occurred there, for example Pearl Harbor and Ground Zero, the location of the descruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11.
• The second category, is “deeper, more profound,” a place that becomes sacred because “the sacred, or higher powers have appeared in the lives of human beings.” An example of this is Prometheus, a greek god, who stole fire from the gods to give to humans for survival.In the second category, there is an interaction between the human and the divine .
• The third category is when “Higher Powers” are no longer unseen, and “have revealed themselves to human beings.” An example that Deloria provides an example from the Old testament which is when Moses speaks with the Burning Bush.
• Deloria’s fourth category is allowing the presence of new sacred places which are sacred due to the changes or circumstances of the present day.

Sites of Fear and Longing

• Sites of Fear are sacred because they dramatize our fears of the inevitable, including death, aging, disease, and weakness. These places are reminders of human mortality.
• Sites of Longing are sacred because they dramatize the longing for comfort and security, and rejuvenation, and make immortality seem possible. A peaceful place such as a garden, forest, lake or fountain.
How to Read Sacred Place Myths

• Consider the type of myth being presented
• Myths of Sacred Waters
• Myths of Sacred landforms (mountains, canyons)
• Myths of Sacred trees, forests
• Myths of Magic Realms

Poems

I Do Not know the scent of your hair when you were twelve
I Do Not know how smooth your hands were when you were a young girl
I Do Not know your what your favorite hiding spot was when you played hide and go seek
I Do Not know what you named your dolls
I Do Not know who you looked up to
I Do Not know who protected you
I Do Not know what eased your mind when you worried
I Do Not know how you gained the strength you have today

I Know what your hair smells like now when it brushes my face as you lean in to hug me
I Know how soothing your hands were when I felt them as you walked me safely across the street
I Know what you named me
I Know I look up to you
I Know you are my protector
I Know you have loving words that ease my heart ache
I Know you are a single mother
I Know you are not just a mother
You are my
Mom





He loves me not.
I hold the last petal in the center of my Spring scented palm
The air is still and calm
My heart is rapid and aching--hot
How did I get here?
How did we get here?
I reach for another delicate piece of hope
but only dirt and green stems surround me
I plucked off all the petals from the beautiful daisies
There is no hope for us left
He loves me not.

Poetry Analysis Essay-Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson proves to be a creator of poetry that appeals to readers by presenting ideas that evoke imagery. Her poems include prominent themes that flow throughout her writing which are death and time, which reveals Dickinson’s ability to “explore a wide range of subjects. Her poems about death confront its grim reality with honesty, humor, curiosity, and above all a refusal to be comforted” (National Anthology of American Literature B 2554). In addition to Dickinson’s imagery of death and time, her poetry also exhibit’s a tone that conveys to readers that she has accepted death and was not fearful of the inevitability that would one day consume her.
Emily Dickinson’s poem, Because I Could Not Stop for Death, begins with a line that is presented in the title, which suggests that it is the central idea of the poem. She states, “Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me” (70) which signifies to readers that, “Death is personified as a gentleman caller or suitor” (Brooklyn Academic). The word “Death” is capitalized which suggests that it is a name, therefore enforcing the idea that “Death” is a gentleman. The personification of death further enhances the power of the inevitable, and that death is out of the speaker’s hands, and at the discretion of the gentleman. Dickinson’s word choice to describe death is not expected, because she refers to death as being kind, when she states, “He kindly stopped for me” (70) rather than being using words that have a negative connotation to describe death, she used the word “kindly” which means “having, showing, or proceeding from a benevolent disposition” (Dictionary) and suggests that death presented itself in an unthreatening manner and was benevolent, “characterized by or expressing goodwill or kindly feelings” (Dictionary). The line “Because I could not stop for death” exhibits the inevitability of death--it is not something that can be avoided by the speaker, or put on hold, however, stating “He kindly stopped for me” makes it evident that it was not her time for death and she would take her time to join death, as long as he waited patiently. According to the Norton Anthology of Poetry, the words “kindly” and “civility” “are certainly appropriate to the tone of the poem, which is extremely reserved and polite. There's nothing ugly or aggressive about the way death comes to the speaker” (Northon Anthology of Poetry 5th edition)
When the speaker joins death, they are alone, “The carriage held but just ourselves, and Immortality” (70). Now that the speaker is in the carriage at the discretion of death, her time for death is drawing nearer, yet she has the company of “Immortality” eternal life, inside the carriage. Dickinson uses the irony of having “Death” and “Immortality” in the carriage with the speaker together to make light of--and add humor to--a potentially grim situation.
Death is not threatening to the speaker, and he is in no rush to take her life from her as she explains, “We slowly drove, he knew no haste” which shows that death was not rushing the speaker, but rather they—Death, Immortality, and the speaker, are traveling in the carriage and the speaker is observing various familiar locations. The poem addresses the innocence of youth when the speaker states, “We passed the school where children played, their lessons scarcely done.” The two lines are ambivalent because if taken literally, if the school children are playing at school, their class lessons would not be completed, leaving the work, “scarcely done,” however, Dickinson may be emphasizing the idea that at a young age, children have so many life lessons to learn, and therefore they are learning from their experiences as they age and their life lessons are “scarcely done” while on the other hand, the speaker has lived her life and is nearing death.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) "When You Are Old"

When You are Old

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look


Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.


--W. B. Yeats

Yeats' poem, "When You Are Old" is a love poem written by a man about a young woman he loves. It is written so that when the woman grows old, she can reflect on the life she had and the people that loved her. Yeats' writes, "When you are old and gray and full of sleep, and nodding by the fire, take down this book" which suggests that the woman is not old and gray now, but rather that when she is old, it would be the time to reflect upon her past and read the poem in the book. Yeats' states, "How many loved your moments of glad grace, and loved your beauty with love false or true" which incites the idea that people loved the exterior that she presented to them, such as her "grace" and her "beauty," however, contrary to what others loved of her, the speaker states that "one man loved the pilgrim soul in you" which suggests that the man loved who the woman was internally. This poem illicits the tone of a a love poem.

March Violets Interpretation Part 2

Part Two: Reflection after hearing song performed-I do feel that hearing the song assisted in my interpretation,emphasizing more on the mood that the song creates. The song has a depressing,sad, low tone. I did not interpret the tone to be "sad" when I read the lyrics. I assumed that the tone would be angry and loud when it discussed war. When the song was sung it put emphasis on specific parts of the song, such as the chorus, "Can you tell them apart?" which is a strong part of the song because in a war, the men may begin to wonder what it is that sets them apart from the other men that they are killing.