Extra Credit: Analysis of Shakespeare Sonnet 18

William Shakespeare is the most famous English playwright and poet in Britain during the European Renaissance periods. Sonnet 18, often alternately titled Shall i compare thee to a summer’s day, is one of the best-known of 154 sonnets of his work.

SONNET 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date: 

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; 

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest: 

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Just like what I said in the last blog, it is really difficult for a me to comprehend the main idea of Shakespeare’s work. However, in this poem, according to my understanding and the researches on the internet, I think Shakespeare wants to show the humanism thought, beauty and love.

In the first sentence of the poem, he indicates that poem happens in a summer. As we know, the summer in Britain is not as hot as in Rabun Gap. The summer in Britain is more likely to be a late spring here which is the time that everything is active and vital. This part suggests that the “thee” is in the best time of his life.

In the first six sentences, Shakespeare compared “thee” with “darling buds of May”, “ Summer”, and the “Eye of heaven shines”. In his view, “summer”, “bud” and “sun” are “too hot” or “too short”. Thus, he argues that “thee”, his beloved, is more attractive than anything else and certainly he thinks his beloved is better.

In ninth and tenth sentence, Shakespeare also says that “thee” “sometimes declines from fair and the changing of nature”. However, in his opinion, “thee”, his beloved, will not “fade in the eternal summer”, even the “Death” could not claim “thee” for his own. Therefore, his beloved will live on forever through the words of poem, and we could consider this poem as a glorify to the beauty.

This poem praises the love as well. In the poem, he says “Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade” . In my opinion it is more than the beauty, it is a power that is able to conquer anything. That is the love form the human heart. As long as human exist, the love will never disappear.

Additionally, hough the resource on the internet, most scholars now agree that the original subject of the poem, the beloved to whom the poet is writing, is a male, though the poem is commonly used to describe a woman.

Reference:

"Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 - Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day." Shakespeare Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2011. <http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/18detail.html>.

"Sonnet 18 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_18>.

The Tragedy of Macbeth

I read the scene 3 of the Tragedy of Macbeth during the Thursday's class. I have to say Shakespeare’s work is really difficult to understand. The old English usage and the vocabulary are so hard for me that I have to check the dictionary and discuss with my classmates for lots of times. However, I still finished reading the third scene in the first act and made some notes by the Diigo. I think I got the main idea of this part.

In this part, three witches are gathered waiting for Macbeth and disappear after telling Macbeth that he will be the Thane of Glamis, the Thane of Cawdor and the king. Macbeth and Bnaquo are both surprised that what the witches say is true when Ross and Angus come the tell Macbeth that he becomes the Thane of Cawdor. However, they are so confused and nervous with that as they are afraid that they would betray the king.

In my opinion, this part is just the beginning of the whole story. Macbeth’s thought is changed by the witches’ words. Although Macbeth is confused, however, I think, he would believe the witches and go for the king. As we know, the king is still alive now, he has to betray the king to be the sovereign. The pursuit for the higher authority has never stopped, and this desire caused a series tragedies. I guess, that is why people call this play a famous tragedy.

New Project of American Literature

We are starting a new project in the class. What we need to do is to go researching the author or movement about American literature on the Internet. The topic is not limited in a particular person or a specific movement, but anything about the American literature in the history.

We have not decided our topic yet. However, we are more interested in the literary movement than a specific person. As we searched on the Internet, we find some really good topics such as the Movement of Sentimentalism, or the movement of Southwestern Humor which David was interested in.

In my opinion, we should find a topic which is more related to ourselves, as it is easier for us to explain the impact to our daily life. Usually, the movements in the American literary history would bring a new thought to the people, or a new revolution in the literature. Thus, I think, writing a movement which changed our ideas or we have experienced is really a good thing to do.

We will talk more about the topic later during the class.

Diigo

I have to say Diigo is a really cool and helpful tool in our American literature Class. It allows the users to bookmark and tag the web-pages. The students in our class could get much easier to communicate to each other with the specific highlights or the sticky notes that the others made. 

In the Tuesday’s class, we analyzed some parts of the story Black Elk Speaks through the Diigo. I felt it was clearer and simpler to get the idea of the article with the highlights that the students added. Additionally, we could add the notes while reading the story. We could mark anything important, anything we do not understand, or any vocabularies. Anyway, the Diigo is quite a good tool!

The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Actually I really did not understand this story during the class. The writing style and some vocabularies are really hard for me to catch up. However, after finishing reading the entire story and searching some other source on the internet, I finally comprehend the major idea of this story.

The Yellow Wallpaper is regarded as an important work of American feminist literature. It is a collection of first person journal entries written by a sick woman whose physician husband confined her in the upstairs room to cure her. The husband believes he did everything right, and never listens to the suggestion from his wife. The woman is treated as a child in the room and she could not do anything she wants. Thus, she even gets worse and worse, and starts to pay attention to the yellow wallpaper. Because of all the different factors, she finally gets crazy.

I think the yellow wallpaper represents the oppression on the women by the men in the male chauvinism society. As we know, in the 19th century, the position between women and men in the society is hugely different. The men usually earned money and supported the family, while the women could only do the housework or just be a mother. The woman in the story becomes crazy as she does not want to follow the rules.

Although I got the main idea of this story, I still have some questions.

1. I do not understand why the woman sees some women in the yellow wallpaper? Does it mean the women were oppressed in the society at that time?

2. I do not understand the ending. What will happen after the woman pulled off the poster?

Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Letter from Birmingham Jail is an open letter written by Martin Luther King, an American civil rights leader. It is a planned non-violent protest conducted by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference against racial segregation by Birmingham's city government and downtown retailers. The most famous statement in this letter is "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

1. King indicated he came here because injustice was there.He wanted to spread the justice just like the Apostle Paul spread the love. In his opinion, everywhere in the world should have the justice.

“Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.”

2. King indicated the four basic steps of the nonviolent campaign. The fourth step, direct action always after the a series plans. Thus, we could see how cogitative King is. 

“In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action.”

3. King talked about the just and unjust law in this city. In his opinion, an unjust law is no law at all, and it is just a tool to torture the black people. He hoped that the black people could have the same rights in the society.

“A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law….Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”

4. King also discussed about the extremist. He was not disappointed about being a extremist, but what he cared was what a extremist they would like to be. He did not want people to be the extremist serving animosity but love.

Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God."

The Lesson of the Hour by Frederick Douglas

Frederick Douglas was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. He educated himself to read and write, and became a famous speaker for the black people.

In the Lesson of the Hour, Frederick Douglas criticized the treatment to the black people at that time. He especially focused on the lynching to the “Negros” which was really common in the south of America. He pointed that the reason why it happened was because of the big population of “Negros” who came from Africa. In the speech he indicated that the government should have take action for the equality and freedom of the black people.

In my opinion, Douglas wanted the black people to take part in the politics through his speech. Compared to Booker T Washington whose aim was to get the support from the white people to provide the vocational education and workplace but not to join the politics, Douglas’s thought was more progressive and important for the black to get the equal rights.

Although I could not fully understand what he said in the speech since my English is my second language, I tried to follow and I felt the passion and strong desire of freedom of an abolitionist leader. I think I could comprehend more if I have the text version.

"Atlanta Compromise" by Booker T. Washington

Altalnta Compromise is written by Booker T. Washington. Booker T. Washington was an American educator, author, orator and political leader. His father was a white slave owner, his mother was a balck slave. Although he was born at a black woman family, he was still the dominant figure in the African American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915. His famous work is Up from slavery which is a biography of himself.

Basically, in the speech of Atlanta Compromise, he wanted to get the support of the white race in order to have vocational education for the balck people. With the education, the black people could learn the simple techniques to do basic things. Thus, they could be able to survive in the society. At the same time, he also wanted the white people to provide the opportunities for the balck people in the work place. He wished all the people could be equal to each other, and it would be much easier for the black to earn the money. However, he thought the balck people should not ask to be put into the potical world.

It is absolutely correct to change the situation of the balck slave in the society at that time. Their social position must be improved immediately. They should be treated as the white people, and have the equal rights before the law. However, in my opinion, they must have the chance to take part into the political world. As we know, the leader of the politics could easily change the policy in the society. If the black people did not join the politics, they would have no chance to improve their position effectively. They must need the help from the politians, otherwise, they would still be in the bottom of the social class. Therfore, it is essential for the black people to have the exactly same rights as the white people do, and then, they could achieve the final success.

Naturalism Project 2

Our group did the presentation today. I was very nervous before since it was my first time to have a presentation in the English class. Anyway, I think we did a good job in the class and define the naturalism clearly by the previous effort.

It is really a good topic for us to discuss about the naturalism in different aspects, such as art, science or literature. We discussed the different naturalist views of the four writers. It was so interesting that although the four writers lived in the same time period (19th century), they have different opinion of naturalism. The writer I was working on was Frank Norris. He was deeply influenced by Emile Zola who is considered as the father of naturalism. In his book “McTeague” which I mainly talked today, I think he indicated the two points in his view of naturalism. The first one is people could not control the hereditary factors by themselves; the other one is the nature has a dramatic impact on people. When I concluded these two naturalist opinions, I really agreed with Frank Norris. A person was born in nature, grew in nature, and died in nature. In the other words, the circumstance will determine thought of human. I know it is hard to explain well, but I think I got the concept of his naturalist idea.

Naturalism Project 1

I am sorry that I forgot to post blogs every day. However, I was working on the presentation during these days.

Our group includes three smart and beautiful girls and one stupid guy. We are going to talk about the naturalism by analyzing the works of four different naturalist writers in 19th century. We will use the Google Doc power point to help us show the four writers’ opinions of naturalism to the class.

The writer I am working on is Frank Norris which is considered as the most important naturalist writer in American history. During the presentation, I am going to introduce his background. Also, I will talk about his views to Realism, Romanticism and Naturalism, which are strongly related to each other. Then, mainly, I will discuss about his most famous book “McTeague” which I read before, and pick some quotations in the beginning, middle, and end of the book to demonstrate his naturalist views.

Hopefully, we could do a good job in on Thursday.