A Child’s Innocence

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The focus of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Little Annie’s Ramble” is centered around the beauty of a child’s innocence. Hawthorne further explores how ignorant that beauty is when describing Annie’s “fearless confidence” when surrounded by a society of adults who have become bitter due to life experiences. By using the follow-the-trail method, the word “child”, or words relating to childhood, appear 23 times.

The story begins with an older man listening to the town crier announce the arrival of a circus. He then sees a little girl across the street, named Annie, who “feels that impulse to go strolling away–that longing after the mystery of the great world—which many children feel, and which I felt in my childhood.” He proceeds to take Annie into town, exploring all it’s colorful sights as they make their way to the circus. Although Annie doesn’t speak a word throughout the story, the older man is ecstatic to be with her, as if she makes him feel young again. As they continue their journey together, Annie begins dancing while passing by a musician. The narrator expresses how the adults surrounding her have every excuse not to join her— due to old age, disease, body structure, or judgmental attitudes. He then calls himself a “…gentleman of sober footsteps” entailing that he too, has become stiffened due to society’s expectations or norms. Once completely absorbed into the circus, the town crier announces that a mother is worried due to her lost little girl. The narrator realizes that he didn’t inform Annie’s mother of their whereabouts, and proceeds to take her back home.

In the last paragraph, the older man seems exhilarated and relieved to have spent time with Annie by stating that the “…pure breath of children revives the life of aged men.” The narrator proclaims that he can now go back into his darkened reality of a world, but with a “kinder and purer heart, and a spirit more lightly wise.” Hawthorne exhibits how a child’s innocence is blind to the evils of society’s thoughts and feelings as people age. As we grow older, we become more sensitive to these aspects and begin to perceive the world and behave in a more constricted manner- an environment that a child is not subjected to.

The Beauty in Naivety

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Passages of Focus

“Here is a shop to which the recollections of my boyhood, as well as present partialities, give a peculiar magic. How delightful to let the fancy revel on the dainties of a confectioner; those pies, with such white and flaky paste, their contents being a mystery, whether rich mince, with whole plums intermixed, or piquant apple, delicately rose-flavored; those cakes, heart-shaped or round, piled in a lofty pyramid; those sweet little circlets, sweetly named kisses; those dark majestic masses, fit to be bridal loaves at the wedding of an heiress, mountains in size, their summits deeply snow-covered with sugar!”

“As the pure breath of children revives the life of aged men, so is our moral nature revived by their free and simple thoughts, their native feeling, their airy mirth, for little cause or none, their grief, soon roused and soon allayed. Their influence on us is at least reciprocal with ours on them. When our infancy is almost forgotten, and our boyhood long departed, though it seems but as yesterday; when life settles darkly down upon us, and we doubt whether to call ourselves young anymore; then it is good to steal away from the society of bearded men, and even of gentler woman, and spend an hour or two with children.”

Analysis

After reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Little Annie’s Ramble”, I decided to use the “archeological dig” method to analyze the two excerpts above. I chose to look at both excerpts because I feel as though the first segment can be used as a lens to understand the second, which I found to be the portion that identifies the central idea of the piece. While looking at the first excerpt, there is a blatant and almost overwhelming presence of details. In this section, the narrator goes into deep levels of detail in describing when he and “little Annie” go into a bake shop. Cakes and pies are not merely “cakes” and “pies”. They are described with phrases like “such white and flaky paste, their contents being a mystery” and “sweet little circlets, sweetly named kisses; those dark majestic masses”. Hawthorne’s immense attention to detail plays an important role in the development of the story’s tone. This piece has an overall feeling of poetic awe and intrigue. Not only is this first segment filled with powerful details and expression but also the entire piece as well. These tonal elements are a reflection of the feelings of our childhood.

When we take a look at the second excerpt, we can see that the magical and wonderstruck tones of the piece are intended to express an overall theme. This piece is an observation of the power of childhood innocence. This theme is brought together in the second excerpt, explaining that the way that little Annie feels throughout the piece, how everything around her contains beauty and a majestic quality, is due to the fact that “life has not settle[d] darkly down upon [her].” Hawthorne claims that being exposed to the “free and simple thoughts” of children helps to “revive” the sense of morality in one’s adult life.

Through A Child’s Eye

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Nathaniel Hawthorne poem focus on the view of life from a child perspective as well as an adult,many times Hawthorne would look at little Annie and see same excitement in her eyes as it was in his when he was a little boy.

“Who heeds the poor organ grinder? None but myself and little Annie, whose feet begin to move in unison with the lively tune, as if she were loth that music should be wasted without a dance.”(Hawthorne) Here Hawthorne express that children are more care free about life then adults as little Annie is dancing to the organ player while adults are too preoccupied with their lives to even notice the organ player, even he stands by idly and watches her instead of joining her. He states that children are always curious about the world they live in, even doing something simple like strolling down the street is an exciting adventure for a child.

Overall, he sympathizes with little Annie’s youthfulness, he quotes “After drinking from those fountains of still fresh existence, we shall return into the crowd, as I do now, to struggle onward and do our part in life, perhaps as fervently as ever, but, for a time, with a kinder and purer heart, and a spirit more lightly wise.” being around little Annie make him feel nostalgic about his own childhood and he realize that maybe he should be a little more childlike in life, to live it with a lighter spirit and not struggle with the burden of being an adult.

Longing for Youth

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After reading “Little Annie’s Ramble” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I decided to try the follow the trail close reading method. While using this method I came to realize that there is repetition of variations of the word “child”; words such as children, childish, and childhood. It seems to have an ongoing theme regarding youth. As far as I understand, during my flat-footed reading, this story is being narrated from the perspective of an older gentleman in the town, which is interesting because I thought it was strange at first, for an older gentleman to just sweep away a little girl and take her around town. I also thought that the explanation of the animals seemed flashy and enticing, but in a way that would be attractive for a younger reader. This made me believe that the story’s intent was for a younger audience, perhaps even being a children’s story.

The follow the trail seemed to be too general so I decided to look into a particular part that caught my attention. Paragraph 3, the last 6 sentences or so, gave off a sense of sadness and the inability to perform in a certain physical way. I also felt a sense of longing for youth whilst reading this particular part of the story. Annie seems to represent youthfulness as the narrator is reflecting on his life and the life he sees in front of him. There’s a sense of realization that older folk can’t exactly do things like they use to in their youthful days. I felt as though the narrator was strongly emphasizing the restrictions that are placed upon elders that stop them from being Annie’s dance partner even if they wanted to. Instances in which he said “stiff with age; feeble with disease; … their bones would rattle,” there’s a heavy sense of solemness in these words.

Additionally, when the narrator said, “their hearts are far heavier than lead. It is a sad thought that I have chanced upon” I was given the impression that growing old seems to be more of a burden than anything else. I find this amusing because most people believe the older one grows, the wiser they become, but I get the impression that the sadder they become as well. I personally feel as though this applies to the overall perception of aging and how the older one grows the more they crave for things they once had. The more longing and perhaps regret fills their minds and clouds their hearts.

Excerpt:
“None but myself and little Annie, whose feet begin to move in unison with the lively tune, as if she were loth that music should be wasted without a dance. But where would Annie find a partner? Some have the gout in their toes, or the rheumatism in their joints; some are stiff with age; some feeble with disease; some are so lean that their bones would rattle, and others of such ponderous size that their agility would crack the flag-stones; but many, many have leaden feet, because their hearts are far heavier than lead. It is a sad thought that I have chanced upon. What a company of dancers should we be! For I, too, am a gentleman of sober footsteps, and therefore, little Annie, let us walk sedately on.”

 

The Real Life “When I Read the Book”

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This is another poem that talks about books. However, not any ordinary book, but a biography. This poem in fact, starts with Whitman reading the “biography famous.” The author occasional “ending of the poem with a question is a tricky maneuver that does not always work” I observed that the poet’s ending of “When I Read the Book” with the parenthetical expression seems to have been equally risky. Therefore this poem need some consideration, especially in terms of the amplifications of its value on a particular rhetorical device. Apparently form of “When I Read the Book” as I will see, expresses the ambiguous rhetorical capacity of the parenthetical insertion to serve as either a digression from or an amplification of a main theme. The parenthetical mode of the poet’s search for a main theme in this poem is mention with aligned with the transcendentalist notion as particularly expressed “life” three time.

However, he immediately starts thinking and asks himself if this is really a man’s life. He also asks himself if this is what will happen to him too, after his death. He doesn’t like this idea, because no other man knows something, or at least enough about his life. Whitman himself states that he knows little or nothing of his own life. What he knows is only a few hints, faint clues, but nothing concrete. For example I think that the “indirections” by which Whitman meetings clues to his own life is apply as well to the parenthetical indirection in this poet to me is meaning that the poem exemplifies the artistic practice, where by Whitman manages a work so that readers enter its ambiance. So if I consider the opening line of the poem, apparently designed to encourage to the new generation reader to anticipate a poem identifiable in terms of tradition. This is likely expectation is augmented by the positioning of the word “famous” after the noun it modifies.

In an importance sense, I think that the poet is his own best audience. He like any other reader of the temporary, parenthetical autobiographical reflections in his poem, only indications inside the poet “Real life” as “a few hints, a few diffused faint clews and indirections.” In fact, I apparently I often think that in the fifth line is perceived as implicit parenthetical insertion, similar to the equally intrusive “said I” earlier, then at this stage the poet does not appears to go by himself, but subtract sore-self also gives the impression of withdrawing before his search for it.

Therefore, if not even he knows enough about his life, how can a stranger write about it? In “When I read the Book”, the tone is ironic but also polemic, for Whitman is asking the readers “how and what right does another person have to write a book about my life? There are several sentences that end with life, showing how Whitman cares for it, and considers it a major theme in this poem.

A Poem for Reality

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William Wordsworth, an influential poet wrote “The World is too Much with Us,” which resonates with everyone today. I used the close-reading method of archeological digging to immerse myself into the overall meaning of the poem. Overall, what I had gathered from my close-reading was that Wordsworth was explaining to his readers that people lack the appreciation the things the world offers us. Through the use of imagery and the title, Wordsworth informs the reader of the overwhelming fact that beauty in the world is fading, and we (as humans) are destroying and not paying attention to it.

In line 5 he says, “This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon” and he uses personification to show that we have been shown the most intimate thing the world could give us. Bosom could mean either a chest of a woman or something that could be described as intimate. He continues on line 8, by saying “For this, for everything, we are out of tune” and it sheds light on the notion that since we are given the precious items since birth, we don’t allow us to appreciate what we have. Basically, he give a reason and continues on with an explanation.

The title of them poem, “The World is too Much with Us,” further proves the overall theme of this poem that people lack that appreciation the world offers us. He uses the words “too much with us” to show how we are given an overwhelming amount of ideas, beauty, and nature that we don’t focus on that, but rather focus on money and what it could buy for he says in line 2, “Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers”. We ‘get and spend’ materialistic items that could be bought, sold, and recieved, and not the things that are surrounding us everyday – the ocean, the sky, the stars, etc.

Overall, the poem does have a meaningful tone and does resonate with the fast-paced evolving world we live in today. Using the archaeological dig method, I was able to dissect the poem using literary elements and trace back to the overall theme Wordsworth was trying to depict.

Mr. Nobody

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No Labor-Saving Machine by Walt Whitman portraits an idea that many people in this world have, the idea of how will we be remember after we are gone. By repeating the word “no ” an “nor” at the beginning of every sentence makes me have a picture of him as a sad man walking in the world with no type vision of a future for him self. The author makes himself look like he’s a Mr. Nobody, he states that he has never done anything great like making a discovery or “… leave behind me any wealthy bequest to found a hospital or library”. What I believe is that he once thought that maybe one day he was going to do something in his life that would help or inspire someone else, this way people would of remember him as someone who made a difference. But all he has accomplished is leaving “Only a few carols, vibrating through the air … For comrades and lovers” and for him this wasn’t enough.

It seems a bit ironic to me that if Whitman though of him self this way, as being a person of no accomplishments right now he would have  be proud of himself; we are here reading his poems and embarrassing his great literature, he didn’t leave just a “few carols, vibrating through the air”, he left great works! But yet, why is it any good if he is not here to see it. Why do people want to be remembered by doing something, if when they were here no one ever appreciated their hard work?

This poem makes me question my self if I will ever be remember by anyone out side my family. Will I ever do anything great for people to have an idea of who I was? Or do I even want to be remember as a person who brought something to this world?

The Many Lives in Walt Whitman’s “When I read the Book”

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When I read the Book

WHEN I read the book, the biography famous,
And is this, then, (said I,) what the author calls a man’s life?
And so will some one, when I am dead and gone, write my life?
(As if any man really knew aught of my life;
Why, even I myself, I often think, know little or nothing of my real life;          5
Only a few hints—a few diffused, faint clues and indirections,
I seek, for my own use, to trace out here.)

In Walt Whitman’s poem “When I read the Book,” I used the Follow the Trail close reading method to pick out the instances that Whitman mentions the word “life” or details in reference to life in order to analyze the text. He repeats the word life four times in the poem, thereby imbuing the use of the word with greater meaning by each mention. In the first mention, Whitman writes of “a man’s life,” where he intends for “man” to substitute for “human,” (although any person for which a famous biography would be written would have been male back then.) “A man’s life” has a fossilized connotation, as if it is a preserved specimen or chronology left for posterity. Whitman implies that there is no agency left for the man whose life has been compiled, but only agency in the hands of the author, who can construe the man’s life to have been anything from the author’s imagination. There is also a quality of determinism or passivity to Whitman’s description of “a man’s life,” as if the end product of a well lived existence is simply to be recorded into a famous biography.

Whitman then flips the subject to his own life, when he mentions “my life” in the second repetition. Specifically, he is afraid of his own life being subjected to this kind of preservation and arbitrary reinterpretation at the hands of a future author. In this mention, Whitman contrasts his life with his future as being dead and gone. In a metaphysical sense, his life will take on a new existence as his soul leaves his body, but in an empirical sense, his “life” will potentially carry on in the form of a book.

Then, in the third mention of “my life,” Whitman is capitalizing on this distinct notion both as his whole lived existence and as a kind of “truth” of what exactly happened through the years he was alive. He refutes the idea that any man could know anything of his life, deriding this as an impossibility. In the 1867 version of the poem, he even mentions his cunning soul that hides a secret well. In this mention, Whitman conveys that there is a sense of mystery that shrouds any objective truth about his life.

Finally, Whitman turns all of the above meanings on their head in his final mention of “my real life.”  The word “real” can be contrasted with the first mention of “a man’s life,” as Whitman implies how vastly different the real can be from the historicized and imagined. The fossil can only contain a sliver of the truth. Even Whitman himself knows little or nothing of his real life, he states, which might be slightly more than the “aught” that any man knows, but it is still far from enough to write an accurate non-fiction book about himself. It is like Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, where the man who ventures out of the cave to see “real” objects and is killed for it, while the believers of the shadows continue to live on. From this meaning, we can come to understand that Whitman may not simply be writing about books and lived experiences, but also making a bigger statement about human society and a need to defy the usual complacency to accept records and old texts as reality and truth. Whitman may be asking us to question how much do we human beings really know and how much is just falsely believed in. There is large evidence to believe that this poem is meant to signify more than just books, as even the book is left untitled and simply called “the Book.”

 

The Intent to Live

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The Intent of the author creates the value of his work.

 

William Wordsworth, The World is too much with us, creates a raw view of intention and learning. He starts by saying to what I believe that intentions are simplistic; we desire to have little and to learn little, but waste more. Wordsworth, “It moves us not–Great God! I’d rather be a Pagan suckled in a creed outworn.” Perhaps , he states he is disgusted to live with people who dwell on unimportant things. He more or less states that if we could live so simplistically, without that culture and value to ourselves, perhaps, god is not just or fair. He says he would rather live in a community free from faith/religion or values, where he would possess to be great among those who are not and do not believe in anything. “..less forlorn”, or he may possess to be less pathetic. “Have sight of Proteus…. Or hear old Triton…”.  Proteus and Triton are demigods from Greek mythology. Proteus is said to have the ability to take many forms, or to assume many roles, and to see the past, present and future, while Triton lives lavishly as the son of Poseidon. To my belief, Wordsworth uses these analogies to say that an while living in a society without faith and to those who do not value education, he would gain sight on so much more. Like, Proteus, he would have sight of the future and past of many things that has happened. It is, to learn many things, gain perspective and understanding of what we were mean to do with our life, and be great and wise. It is not to waste time with frivolous, uneducated things.

 

 

 

The Importance of Being Unimportant

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Walt Whitman’s, “No Labor-Saving Machine” addresses the importance of a seemingly unimportant person’s life. From my understanding of the short piece, Whitman is answering the age old question of “How will people remember me when I’m gone?” Each line plays a role in depicting this idea and brings in the fear that many have of living an unimportant life. “No labor-saving machine,/ Nor discovery have I made,/ Nor will I be able to leave behind me any wealthy bequest to found a hospital or library,/ Nor reminiscence of any deed of courage, for America,/ Nor literary success, nor intellect – nor book for the book-shelf.” Whitman’s repetition of the word “nor” at the start of lines 2-4 emphasizes the lack of a significant impact the subject of this piece has on the world around them. They have made no contribution to society which eases the burdens of mankind, and likewise have not made any footprints in the literary world. Such a view of a person’s life is not an uncommon one, as in this day and age living a normal life can often be seen as living an irrelevant one.

In the last two lines of the piece, Whitman states “Only a few carols, vibrating through the air, I leave,/ For comrades and lovers,” meaning that a person who lives such an “unimportant” life may only be of meaning to the people closest to them.  This idea is one that correlates with one major theme that I picked up on in the book, “The Little Prince.” The prince in the story seemed to arrive on Earth to meet a person of inconsequence, at least in the grand scheme of his existence. It was merely chance that brought the two together but that meeting opened the eyes of the stranded man in the desert. He learned from the young prince that the worth of something lies in the eyes of the beholder and the connection one makes with it. While a single rose on the prince’s planet was a true rare beauty, on Earth it was just another plant. The difference was that the little prince had a connection with his rose, and it was unique for that reason. Such a connection gave it worth and meaning in a world of millions of seemingly minuscule and unrelated existences. One may leave no significant impact on humankind and may pass away unnoticed, but they will mean the world to the people they make connections with. Such connections give them an importance that surpasses even the most famous inventor or writer.

This piece by Walt Whitman really made me think about my own ambitions in life. At a school like Baruch, so many people are interested in making something of themselves and proving to the world that they are worthy of recognition. Such competition cannot allow for us all to be remembered for some act of genius that improves the world for generations to come. This idea made me start to think, “How will I make my life mean something to the people around me? How will I become the single unique rose in the bush?”