Author: k.cheung6

How does the poet bear witness to tragedy or more difficult aspects of human life?

In “God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children”, Yehuda Amichai first starts off by making a claim that God does not pity adults, rather god pities children. This can be very synonymous to how children are not exposed to the cruel harsh world until they are adults. The poet believes that god only cares for some, but not for others. Here, the poet is relating it to his personal life. He has witnesses a war and questions how God can care for one side but not the other. In the end, Amichai says ” their own happiness will protect us” implying that the side that God does not pity will have to survive using their own happiness.

Consider the potential tension between the voices of the speakers in the two poems “Mother to Son” and “Motto.”

The narrators of Langston Hughes’s poems “Mother to Son” and “Motto” can generate tension because the narrator of “Mother to Son” talks about the mother’s hardships and all that she has sacrificed to get to her current stage of life. Despite the hardships, the mother continues to fight on. Unliked the mother in “Mother and Son”, the narrator of “Motto” does not go through any hardships. “Dig and be dug in return. ” the narrator sees life and death as a system and only wants to live through life painlessly. His way of survival is to “dig all jive” which means to enjoy everything. The stark differences between both narrators represent two different ways of living life.

What commentary on forgiveness, reconciliation, and/or acceptance does the story contain? Does Hurston have a commentary on the role of any of these within an intimate relationship such as a marriage?

Throughout the story, forgiveness is subtle and is a process that takes lots of time. When Joe first caught Missy May with Slemmons, Joe does not act with clear anger or hate. Instead, Joe reacts by going through his normal life without displaying any sort of affection to Missy May. It is important to note that during this time, Joe did not leave his wife. Joe values his marriage with Missy May very highly, despite her mistake, they are still together. This act may speak volumes as to how Hurston feels towards marriages.  Hurston may believe that marriage should not be ended when one person makes a mistake. Forgiveness is seen when the baby is introduced to the story. Joe seemingly starts the old tradition of dropping coins, which represents his forgiveness.

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.

Money plays an important role in the behaviors of the characters in The Gilded Six-Bits. The playful interactions between Joe and Missy May involved Joe giving coins to Missy May, and Missy May digging through Joe’s pockets to find money. This interaction with money represents the idea that money is something that is heavily desired. Joe and Missy May were happy despite their low income. However, unfaithfulness occurs when money is introduced to the story through the character of Slemmons. Slemmons, somebody who is seen as very wealthy, is also seen by Joe as someone who is “better ” than him, which puts forth the idea that money is power.

What do you make of the fact that we learn a great deal about Gretta’s youth at the end of the story? How does this change your view of Gretta and her relationship with Gabriel?

Learning about Gretta’s past changed my view of Gabriel and Gretta’s relationship significantly. The story starts at what seems to be a fun lively party, however, it takes a turn for the worse when we learn that Gretta still thinks of her former deceased lover very fondly, and sees her relationship with Gabriel as dull and bland. Gretta’s reminiscing of her past proved to be the opposite of what Gabriel wants, which was in his speech about how people should live in the present rather than the past. As a reader, I felt sad for Gabriel because his lover was crying over someone in what seemed to be a much more livelier relationship than that of Gabriel and Gretta. It was assumed in the beginning that Gretta and Gabriel had a good relationship, but that perspective completely changes when you hear underlying issues of the relationship.

 

What is the relationship between the speaker or poet and nature in Shelley’s work? Does the poet work in harmony with nature or rebel against it somehow? Or some combination of the two?

The narrator of “Ode to the west wind” written by Percy Shelly follows a powerful theme in the romanticism period in which nature is glorified as a spiritual being. In this case, the poet wants to become part of the spirit of nature. The poet demonstrates this by first calling out for the wind to hear him “Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear!”. In an attempt to ask the wind to “hear”, the poet is personifying nature as someone or something that can listen and understand. It is later revealed in the poem why the poet was calling to the wind.  After numerous attempts for the wind to “hear” him, the poet writes “One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud. ” Not only does the poet glorify the wind as being tameless, swift, and proud, but the poet also believes that he is very similar to the wind. The poet says “Be thou me, impetuous one” to connect himself to the spirits of nature, revealing to us that his relationship with nature is something that he desires.