The Convergence of the Twain

The poem The Convergence of the Twain is a sad poem by Thomas Hardy that details the sinking of the beloved Titanic. The poem utilizes imagery as its main way of conveying the event to the reader. Hardy describes her stillness and the broken parts of the ship in the water.

"Jewels in Joy designed To ravish the sensuous mind Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind" (Hardy, 778).

This quote shows the reader how beautiful the ship once was and how lifeless she is now. One thing I noticed that I found interesting is the personification. Hardy uses by describing the Titanic as a woman.

"And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she" (Hardy, 778).

Not only does this quote show hardy's use of personification  but this is my favorite line of the poem. It ties together the workers of the Titanic and the horror of her wreck. Once so full of life, and now useless.

I did not understand the Title at first. Even after looking up the meaning of the words, I still don't understand how it really relates to the poem as a whole.

Batter My Heart

John Donne's Batter my Heart, Three-personed God is a sonnet, once a part of a group called "Holy Sonnets." The speaker is addressing God throughout the sonnet. He uses a seemingly aggressive tone, which, to me, shows disguised fear. The speaker uses parallel lines to convey a message.

"As yet but knock, breath, shine, and seek to mend" (Donne, 840).

"Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new" (Donne, 840).

These parallel lines allow the reader to see who the speaker is addressing with each verb. Knock and break are representing the Son. This is because we all know Jesus is knocking on our door and also broke the tables in the market. Breath and blow represent The Father. He breathed life into us and blew the storm that caused the flood. Shine and burn address the Holy Spirit. We know the Holy Spirit has appeared to us through the burning bush.

 

My Mistress' Eyes

     Hold on, what?! William Shakespeare just wrote an entire poem, My Mistress' Eyes, bashing his mistress. However, the smooth talker he is manages to do it in a slightly more polite way. He eloquently says her lips are dill, he breath smells bad, her voice is annoying, and many other awful things. It is the way in which he says these things that makes the reader question what he really is saying, that he really is being rude. I honestly thought this poem was kind of funny, maybe just because I read it after that disgusting Barbie Doll poem. The way shakespeare says her voice is annoying is so elegant, though. "I love to hear her speak, yet well I know that music hath a far more pleasing sound" (Shakespeare, 885). I mean it is sweet that he still enjoys listening, but I feel like he would rather listen to music. I don't know, maybe thats just me. Props to Shakespeare for still liking the girl.

Barbie Doll

     Margie Piercy's poem Barbie Doll absolutely fascinated me by how awfully true it is. The society little girls are raised in these days is disgusting. They are taught that in order to achieve your dreams, you have to be pretty. You could have absolutely everything else going for you, but a crooked nose and you're done for. So much pressure is placed on girls to be absolutely flawless that every girl eventually cracks under the pressure. Like the other stories in this unit, there is quite a bit of irony in this poem. The author describes puberty as "magic," adding an anecdote of a girl going through puberty and having "a great big nose and fat legs" (Piercy, 835). That is not magical. What really got me was the last line of the poem.

"To every woman a happy ending" (Piercy, 836). 

    What. This is said right after the little girl alters her body because she isn't a barbie doll. Sounds delightful. This just shows how ridiculous society is towards woman. This poem made me furious. Happy ending my Aunt Pearl.

A Jury Of Her Peers

     Susan Glaspell's A Jury of Her Peers is a rather interesting murder mystery. Actually, it isn't really about who did, it is about why they did it. Throughout the story, there is quite a bit of irony. When describing Mrs. Peters, the sheriff's wife, I saw a lot of irony in Mrs. Hale. Mrs. Hale described Mrs. Peters vividly, even though she did not know her very well.

"She remembered about her that she didn't seem like a sheriff's wife. She was small and thin and didn't have a strong voice" (Glaspell, 407). 

      While at first, this does not make a person think twice. However, as I continued reading, I kept going back to what Mrs. Hale said. While the women were waiting on the men to get to the bottom of things, the women did it themselves. The men even made fun of them for getting into the quilts. However, their typical "girly" interest in the quilts found the dead bird, a huge clue in why she did it. Even though Mrs. Peters doesn't seem like a sheriff, she got more accomplished than her macho husband. 

Hunters in the Snow

     This story, Hunters in the Snow by Tobias Wolff, is actually very cute. It details a hunting trip of three friends, Tub, Frank and Kenny. while the three begin being very rude and "boyish" with each other through teasing and mean jokes, a dynamic change occurs near the end. After Kenny got shot, Tub and Frank become a little closer on the journey to the hospital. Tub and Frank are dynamic characters because of their change from rude and sarcastic to being so caring.

"Frank, when you've got a friend it means you've always got someone on your side, no matter what" (Wolff, 198).

     This quote from Tub to Frank really shows the change in them. They begin acting like 50-year-old men, with no feelings at all. However, they end as best friends. This dynamic change changes the tone of the story drastically. The three start out as acquaintances and as best friends. The change in their friendship is very admirable.

Othello 8

     .....what. I literally cannot express how much I detest stories where everyone just dies in the end. Literally everyone who was somewhat important died. Leave it to Shakespeare to write a play where boring stuff sort of happens, then there's some action and the reader becomes mildly entertained, and then everyone dies just as you get into the action. WHAT. Alright but seriously, the last act of Othello truly characterizes Iago as the greatest villain of all time. However, karma gets him and everyone finds out it was his fault.


"O thou Othello, thou was once so good,
Fall'n in the practice of a cursèd slave" (V.ii.350)

     These lines address the fact that Othello used to be such a good man and leader, until he fell into the tricks of Iago, "the devil." Iago truly engenders all of the struggles in this play. Without him, the town was literally peachy-keen. Absolutely nothing was wrong. But, we all know a person that just isn't ok with everything being perfect, just like Iago. If it isn't obvious enough, I thought the ending of this play was pretty annoying.