Romanticism

William Wordsworth’s “The World is Too Much With Us” uses a shift from past renaissance traditions and through the use of language and ideas reflects the themes and ideas presented by Romanticism. The Renaissance period which ended only a little while before focused upon the individual and the study of the dominance of the human character along with other humanitarian ideas. Romanticism however began to show many new thoughts and ideas that were not only different from the renaissance, but also apart from the restoration. Rather than focusing on the individual and perfection, Romanticism focuses upon nature and emotions as its leading characteristics, even over rationality.
Wordsworth in his poem, rather than focusing on the ideal image or an imaginary situation, puts his focus directly on humans, being one of the first to stray from the norm, and also criticizes humans rather than lifting them up. Wordsworth telling us that “we have given our hearts away”, criticizes humans and tells the reader that we no longer have our hearts nor our rationality. The idea he presents which furthers that thought, is his idea that we as humans do not “see in nature that is ours”, nor give nature the credit that it deserves. His accusation shows a huge difference in what he pioneered as a writer, rather than what the previous renaissance writers said. Rather than praising the human, he tells us that we don’t give nature the credit that it deserves and nearly presents nature as an even more powerful force than the human race itself because we have “given our hearts away”. Wordsworth continues his talk about nature being a strong force by saying that the “sea bares her bosom to the moon”. With Wordsworth’s shift from the norm, to recognizing nature rather than humans, he shows a certain sense of irrationality. Rather than focusing on the way humans live he stresses the importance of nature which even though is alive, does not have a “heart” like he makes a claim that humans have lost. Even though he makes the claim humans have lost their heart, can he prove that nature even has a heart? He did not accomplish that which makes some of his claims irrational. Overall his poem shows a strong sense of romanticism not only in the way it stresses the importance of nature, but also in the way it loses focus upon humans and shifts it to irrational ideas.

Hybrid's do not save you money

http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/hybrid-cars-dont-save-you-money-do-the-math/

This article is very funny yet also satirical in that, it states the truth while also has comicality in it. they using math show you that by buying a hybrid which is supposed to save you money on gas, is foolish and stupid if your doing it simply to save money, because the amount of time that you would have to drive to make up the extra amount spend on getting the hybrid model, would cost you over 12 years, which most hybrids wont even last that long. Overall this article makes fun of buying hybrids and shows that the only benefit of a hybrid it for the environment.

if poisonous minerals

Donne’s “If poisonous minerals” has a shift in tone towards the middle of the poem where the author switches from his questioning of God’s decisions on what is wrong and why he believes that is unfair he should be damned, to him submitting and recognizing that God is worthy of his own decisions, and in control. Donne starts first part of the poem with two strong examples of inanimate objects which cause death; the “Poisonous minerals”, and the “tree, whose fruit threw death on us”. The poisonous minerals are significant in that even though they flow into your body and poison it, they “Cannot be damn’d”. Through this allusion not only is Donne using personification towards the minerals, he is also comparing himself to something which has no brain. Donne continues his questioning of Gods decision of damning him but not other harmful things by alluding to the Bible, specifically the tree which Adam and Eve ate of. These first two questions directed toward God are the most significant in the poem in that, in both cases the reason these two things caused death or harm is because of the humans doing. The poisonous minerals may intoxicate your body and poison you, but one has to eat or partake of it in order to be harmed by it. The fruit which Adam and Eve ate and consequently were overtaken by death, was eaten by their own choice which means that it is not the fault of the fruit, but the fault of themselves. He continues by talking about lecherous goats and Serpents which are envious also not being damned; The difference between those things and a human is, that those are animals without a heart or soul and do not know what is morally right or wrong. The first part of the poem before the tone comes to a close as he asks why he should be damned when those other objects aren’t. He asks why, even though he was born with the potential and intent to sin, he would he be punished in more hateful and strict ways. The questioning tone ends with the question of why God would show his wrath towards him when it is so easy for him to be merciful. He answers the questions himself in a sudden shift of tone when he realizes that he is in no position to question God. The point above about how we as humans blame things on others, such as him putting the tree in the context of killing humans rather than humans making the choice, must have been realized by the author at this point. He continues by talking about how he is not worthy and how Jesus’ shed his blood along with his tears create a flood to cover up us as humans black sin. He concludes the second tone by asking God to not forget about him, but to forget about his sin. This is a good end to the tone because of the irony in that he asks God for one more favor, to forget his sins.

Blog3: peace

“Peace” by George Herbert

Peace is a poem by George Herbert which uses Connotation/ Denotation and Imagery to not only tell the story of one’s search for peace, but also to show where he ended up finding the answer to his search. “Peace” begins by George Herbert talking about one’s search for peace; there are three main images that he gives of where peace is searched for. The first image is of him looking in a secret cave, away from society and without disturbance. The response to his first search is a “hollow wind” that answered “No, Go seek elsewhere”. The next image of him searching for peace is of him searching the land of which he saw a rainbow: the sky. But it turned out that the clouds immediately went away so the rainbow in turn disappeared. The final physical place he searches is a garden in which he found a flower that he dug up. At the root of the flower there was a worm that had eaten away the roots of the beautiful Crown Imperial. These three instances are three instances of the imagery that Herbert uses to depict and describe the search for peace.
The second main part of the poem is the part in which the denotation/connation is shown. This part of the poem is where he encounters an old man who tells him the story of a prince which lived a good life and he ended up dying from his foes. But after his death “12 stalks of wheat” grew out of his life. The Denotation of this image is the 12 stalks of wheat growing and spreading throughout the world. The connotation of this image is of Jesus being scorned upon and his foes killing him; but in the end his 12 disciples, who the wheat represented, were able to spread the word of the lord throughout the entire world. The best point of this poem is that the peace wasn’t found in any physical place, but in the message that the old man had about this prince.

blog 2: There is no frigate like a book

Dickinson emphasizes the journey and travels you can experience without even moving a foot, all from a book. The poem begins with the descriptive word "frigate", saying that there is no frigate like a book. this shows that not only is the boat something like a sail boat or a small paddle boat, but it is a large brawny ship which will embark on a journey and journey to come. Dickinson continues her journey through your imagination by speaking of how we can be taken "lands away". the use of "coursers" is to show how our imagination can even include something like a horse. the symbolism of a horse continues on the next line as "prancing poetry" speaks of the poetry which uses the word "prancing" to describe it. the importance of that is that the word prancing is used to refer to horses in their prowess and bold stance, and when used to describe poetry it emphasizes the prowess of the poetry and language.

the poem shifts to talking about the cost of the journey, which is free. the word "traverse" is used rather than travel to give the reader a sense of traveling all of the lands and the universe. when the word traverse is read in this context, it sticks out as a more descriptive word showing the essence of a vast expanse of lands. Traverse also shows how the imagination can travel the entire universe in a matter of seconds and embark on a journey to anywhere rather than just traveling there. The point of the word traverse also ties in with the discussion of the poor being able to take the journey. usually a poor person couldn't afford to travel anywhere except on foot but through a book, not only can they travel, they can traverse the entire world. The following line continues the talk about the poor being able to traverse in the story, without the "oppress" of toll. This means that the poor can travel anywhere for free using their imagination. Oppress is used in context to show how the poor are able to traverse without the burdening or weighing down of having no money.

The final two lines summarize and elaborate upon the overall point of the poem. the word "frugal" is used to represent something inexpensive yet still very useful,and it describes the "chariot". The chariot is a symbol of the book, it is a majestic stately carriage; The word chariot matches the use of the book perfectly, as the book is a majestic carriage for ones imagination to take you anywhere you want to go in the most luxurious and pristine manner possible. the final line is a continuance of the phrase above, "how frugal is the chariot that bears the human soul". the majestic carriage being the book, is what holds up or supports the human soul. this is another way of saying that a book is a very inexpensive and perfect way to hold up the imagination and feelings of our souls as humans.

blog 2: The Man He Killed

The man he killed is a very meaningful yet depictive poem. The poem begins with the speaker talking about how this certain person (which can be assumed is the man he killed by the title) who he would have been friends with had he met him at an "ancient inn". The speaker we find out in the second paragraph, is a soldier who is in the battlefield and he has just shot down the man with whom he could have been friends with, had he not been on the opposing side. The poem shows that the only reason he killed the man, was because he was his enemy of war, not because he actually had anything against the man. He was the same type of man as himself, one who had no money and sold all of his belonging to fight for the army. The speaker shows how war can put men who could potentially be good friends or acquaintances, against each other for reasons no more than the fact that they are on opposite sides of the battlefield. The speaker expresses the irrationality of war because the individual people possibly have no difference than the individual people on the other side, besides the side that they are standing on. Overall this poem gives us another instance of humanity and how destructive the things we come up with can be.

forgot to cite this quote

i forgot to cite the quote, it is (act 5, sc. 1, line 224-232)! thanks Mr. Schmidt.