Author: DAVID LEUNG

How does the poet bear witness to tragedy or more difficult aspects of human life? E.g. in Amichai’s case, the most obvious example is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; in Walcott’s, it’s the long aftermath of imperialism, colonialism, and racism on the Caribbean.

In the poem The Diameter of the Bomb, author Yehuda Amichai talks about the effect of war. Amichai started off the poem talking about a bomb. By saying how the diameter of the bomb and the effective range is thirty centimeters and seven meters respectively, Amichai is indicating that war provides a long term effect to humans . He then talks about the effect of war,”with four dead and eleven wounded,” indicating that many lives were lost and affected during this tragedy.  Amichai included a tragic event of a young woman who died in her own city which implies that not only one place is affected by the war but many places. Towards the end of the poem, Amichai talks about orphans and God. Orphans are crying because their parents are probably one of the many death occurred during the war. God is notified of this tragic event but failed to do anything about it.

“When You Are Old” is obviously a very romantic poem but it is also about aging.

The poem When You Are Old is a romantic and aging piece as author William Butler Yeat is addressing his love to a girl and telling her to imagine herself in the future. In the present time, this girl was loved by many guys, as mentioned in the first two lines of the second stanza. Yeats claimed that all the guys loved her for her looks while his love was unique. Yeats wants the girl to think about herself in the future because when she is old and not pretty anymore, she will no longer be loved as much. However, Yeats wants the girl to understand that even though she is no longer pretty and no one loves her anymore, his unique love is still there for her.

Consider Mary’s choices toward the end of the story. Why does she choose this life rather than another?

In the short story, The Muse’s Tragedy, by Edith Warton, there seems to be a love triangle between three characters: Lewis Danyers, Mary Anerton, and Vincent Rendle. Danyers loves Mary and decided to propose to her. However, her response to the proposal was not what Danyers expected. Mary rejected his proposal because of her one-sided love towards Vincent Rendle, a guy who she spent fifteen years working with together. Rendle never expressed his love for her. However, by spending fifteen years with him, she believes he will have some feelings towards her. However, it never happened. Mary had the option to accept Danyers proposal and be married to him. However, she rejected instead as she said the following, “Somebody must save you from marrying a disappointed woman– well, you say years don’t count, and why should they, after all, since you are not to marry me?”(37). She wants him to marry someone who is truly in love with him and not someone whose heart is towards someone else and not him.

Consider of money and the presence or lack of it–wealth and poverty–on the shape of the story and on the lives of the characters and their personalities.

In the short story The Gilded Six Bits, by author Zora Neale Hurston, wealth and poverty are clearly shown among certain characters. Missie May and her husband Joe had very little money, as mentioned in the story, “It was a Negro yard around a Negro house in a Negro settlement that looked to the payroll of the G. and G. Fertilizer works for its supports”(1).  Another character was named Otis D. Slemmons, and he was described to be a wealthy person who recently opened up an ice cream parlor in the neighborhood. The wealth of Slemmons had caused Missie May to be interested. She attempted to get some of the wealth for herself and her husband. As the story progresses, Missie May slept with Slemmons and Joe found out. Missie May plead to Joe that Slemmons offered her gold pieces. She took that opportunity to increase her family’s economic status. This incident clearly shows that Missie May betrayed her husband and caused problems in their marital status. However, in another perspective, it seems like she was just trying to help out with the family.

How does Joyce change your expectations as a reader throughout the story? e.g. your idea of what the story is about and what kind of story you are reading might have changed at a few points throughout the story.

In the short story The Dead, the author, James Joyce, changed my expectations as a reader. For example, Joyce started the story by introducing a character, Lily, and describing her. By doing so, Joyce has caused me to assume that Lily will be the protagonist of the story. Therefore, I expected the story to be about how Lily’s character is developed and how her life changed. However, that was not the case. As I continued reading, I tend to notice that the majority of the story is revolving around another character, Gabriel. Lily was mentioned often at the beginning of the story; however, as the story progresses, the focus tends to shift to Gabriel. After realizing that Gabriel might be the real protagonist of the story, I expected the story to be about Gabriel’s life and how Lily helped develop his character. However, I noticed Gabriel’s wife, Gretta, played a more significant role because of the song The Lass of Aughrim that caused her to remember what happened in the past.

Consider why Dickinson’s poetry is more terse and/or brief than most other poetry you might have read.

Compared to other poetry I have read, Emily Dickinson’s poetry tends to be brief and simple. The entire poem seems to be telling a story about someone’s life as each stanza provides memorable moments of that person’s life to the readers. The imagery and irony, showed in parts of the poem, help emphasize those moments to the reader. By reading these moments, readers can connect with the author by putting themselves in her “shoes,” and visualize how these moments occur in someone’s life. Dickinson’s poem also connects readers to their own life, allowing them to visualize certain moments that they encountered and understand why it occurred in their life.