"Woman" by Goldsmith

Ummm I don't quite know what to think of this poem. I kinda feel like this poem is, in a way putting down men but yet puffing them up at the same time. At first, he is saying that it is almost inevitable that a man will betray(cheat?) on his wife. He says that if a woman does not realize the cruelties of men, she will be led to tears and heartache after which nothing can be done. But after that he says that women forgive their lover in order to hide their guilt and shame. I almost feel like he thinks that it is okay for men to cheat on their wives because they will end up being forgiven anyway. Sad... This was the only one I felt like blogging about. I wasn't crazy about the louse, mouse, or infant one but really, really liked the Human Abstract one. Can't wait to talk about the complexities of the human mind tomorrow... :D

Weird Thoughts

I can honestly say this brit lit class has changed me!! I know try to think of things to blog about its crazy! Today me and Laura being little hooligans headbutted coach ed in the back ... kinda hard on accident and it well hurt his back .. slightly :( ahh I was a little scared!! and later he told me and the other hooligan laura that if we were boys or anyone else he wouldda hit us!! And went on to state that he is going to get us back, & we not even going to see it coming!! And in the locker room after practice I was like I need to blog, what about hmmmm ohh yeah ed is like a TIGER!! Hes going to get us back hes a little scary at times, but not "bad" so yea this is getting a little long so I'm going to stop but you can see where this is going Coach Ed. = Tiger LAURA READ THIS IT WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH A LITTLE BIT!!

WHAT :)

Ok so I believe this is a trick, or a joke or something I just don't know yet!! BUTT... is this like a congrats for becoming extrodinary bloggers?? ... ( not like that other class you have!! ) lol :) :)

W H Y ?

So as I'm reading all of these Various Thoughts and thinking about them, I'm realizing that many of them are telling us things we already know or are aware of yet we continue to "pursue" them for lack of better words. For example, Hannah's thought: Very few men properly speaking, live at present but are providing to live another time. We waste our time waiting for the future or dwelling in the past that we miss out on the small things in life. Is this not one of things that we talk about most? You always hear about it in movies or in books, yet we STILL continue to waste our life away in a different time. Or my thought: Every man desires to live long, but no man would be old. We want to live forever but we want to be young. Obviously death is inevitable yet we try so hard to avoid it and stay young. We know its impossible to stay young. So why? We are so aware of all these things yet be try so hard to avoid them. WHY?!? I mean I admit it myself. I don't want to get old. I dwell on the past and anticipate the future. I don't believe I live life to the fullest. And I just don't understand why I do those things and feel that way. Is it human nature? Is it the influence of society? I guess I'm getting a little excessive so yeah. I'll stop. :)

Cool Quote

Be who you are, Say what you feel, Those that mind don't matter, And those who matter don't mind. My mommy told me that a long time ago and it seems to work.

anothing blog, but imma be mad if....

over spring break i totally push my project aside and then wait till i dont know... sunday night to do it? gosh, i just know its gonna happen; i start off the break saying to myself -

"you got this mal, no worries... one whole week, you do it right away then relaxation time"

but of course i fail myself and dont do it, but hey i actually think i get a better grade when i do some project last minutes... like adrenaline makes my creative juices 10times better. almost like i have super powers, ya know. the kind that make me do awesome last minute projects. daaaaang, i got lucky with those super powers... maybe now my mom will be proud of me? ha, so yess spring break 2011 hear me now;

i will get my project done early, and then..

me and you will get to know eachother just a little better :)

same title as everyone else..? "Various Thoughts"

start time= 11:43 oh its game time now, got my sleeves rolled up and im bringing everything i got :) ...every man desires to live long, but no man would be old now to me, mallory jordan williams, this makes me go back to the days when i was little and would see old people. its hard to picture them as young once, right? but see the thing is, when your little you have it all, in your mind your never gonna get old. however, you wouldnt want to die young... correct? see, everyones goal or wish in life is to live a long and happy life. if you never have, then do it now.. picture your future, did you see yourself old? i doubt many of you did, because to us we see ourselves this way (our present selves) as a perminant thing. like we drank from the fountain of youth or something, but news flash... we dont live in a fantasy world, theres no such thing, we all grow old.. whether we like it or not. its apart of life and it happens, despite knowing that though our thoughts will always stay youthful and our future will be young, pretty, and long.

The Merchant of Venice

So if you ever go to a play that's in old English I would defiantly recommend learning the plot of the play BEFORE you go see it. When we were watching this play I was a little lost at the beginning but by intermission you could pretty much figure out what was going on. But the story line was great! There's a mistress who must find a husband but can find no good suitor, and a sweet man who is the merchant of Venice...but I still can't quite figure out what he wanted, I know he needed a loan but I'm not entirely sure what for. But anyways the mistress finds a good suitor who is the merchant's friend, and her maid marries the mistress' husband's friend; and the mistress and maid play a terrible prank on their husbands its great!! I was laughing so hard on the side of the stage, they looked at me and shuushed me, but then winked at me so it was cool! And we got to sit right on the stage, it was a whole new perspective, we could have reached out and touched them....or separated them which I was ready to do once, but I'm sure you guys will hear about this tomorrow in class, I'm not sure if Emily, Hannah, or I get to tell this...awkward story!

Various Thoughts

"When we desire or solicit anything our minds run wholly on the good side of the circumstances of it; when 'tis obtained our minds run wholly on the bad ones" I love this thought, because it has so much truth behind it. We are never happy with what we have, we always find flaws in our materials and want something else. Maybe that's just a trait of man kind, to always want more. In some circumstances it can be a good thing, like education or something, to always push yourself to your limits. But other times when we receive something or reach a higher position in society we are not happy for it, we thirst for more power and control. We as humans need to learn to appreciate what we have and not give it up for something more.

The Merchant of Venice

I had so much fun going to this play. The actors did an amazing job of acting out Shakespeare's work and after awhile you forgot that they were even speaking Shakespeare's poetry because you were so enraptured by the story and the acting. We got a chance to sit on the stage while the actors performed and were practically in the story itself. The cast did not use a lot of props or makeup and often played more that one part but as an audience you didn't even realize it because of how intense everything was. I would highly recommend going to one of these in the future.

Various thoughts...

"No wiseman ever wished to be younger." only the young and reckless want to stay young. when one grows old, they realize their mistakes. people learn from what wrongs they have done. people also have learned the right things to do in life. wise people have learned that you have to live life in it's span and not wish to be what you are not.

thoughts on various subjects

so, i know ms. s said not to go with the easy one, the religion one..but as i was reading kaitlyns i wrote a comment back to her, and it was long enough to be my blog post, so i'm just gonna go with it. so this will be like my own thoughts and a response to kaitlyn :D "We have just enough religion to makes us hate, but not enough to make us love one another". I am going to have to say I completely agree with this, and it makes me super sad! I think that people are so caught up in religion. that is praying, going to church every sunday like good little boys and girls, and all of that stuff that religion is supposed to be. people who focus on just religion do not want to go to hell. i believe their only goal is to go to heaven. they go to church and act all like "praise God!" but then go to school and are like f this, f that. they are only in this to be a "good person". But on the other hand, i also think their are people who go to church because they believe in Jesus (or whoever they believe in) and want a relationship with Him. They want to show love to others, because of the love Jesus showed for them by dying on the cross. They want others to know the love of God. And in shelby high school, and i'm sure in every other school, you get shut down for it. they call you bible thumpers, or call you Jesus freaks, or think its ridiculous that you bring your bible to lunch. THESE PEOPLE ARE THE REASON WHY LOVE IS NOT SHOWN! People judge peoples relationship, they call them hypocrites, they expect church goers to be "perfect", they judge other people's churches "cult on a hill"...ring any bells? i honestly believe that if people quit judging and just gave people a chance, then there would be more love. i mean how many people do you see shoving religion down other peoples throats? not many, because they are afraid of rejection and that they will be judged from everyone else! i think the first step would be different religions getting along, churches getting along. there is no reason for fighting or hate between churches, especially since its super hypocritical and the only reason why there should be churches is to worship and spend time with your "whoever". religion=lame, relationship=amazing! :D but this quote inspires me a lot, maybe we should get out there and love like crazy throughout the school, so don't start judging when we do! :)

Thoughts on Various Subjects

Very few men, properly speaking, live at present but are providing to live another time. This statement holds a profound truth about the thoughts of society at large. Many times people spend their lives searching for more and living in anticipation for the future or dwelling on the happenings of the past rather than living for the moment. We get so caught up in accomplishing goals or waiting for an event to happen that we pass by on the simple joys of life and are blinded by our own ambition. In another case, people cannot let go of the past and hide themselves from what goes on in the world at present. Living this way does not allow people to fully enjoy what life has to offer. Society needs to slow down and smell the roses for you can't change what happened in the past and you can't predict what will happen in the future. Every day is a gift, that is why it is called the present.

My Thoughts on One "Various Subject"

"If a man would register all his opinions upon love, religion, learning, ect. beginning from his youth, and so go on to old age, what a bundle of inconsistencies and contradictions would appear at last."

Ha! I went through and picked one that no one else picked so far. If I find that someone else decides to do it later I will be bummed. But let's get down to business here shall we?

So first I looked at this epigram and decided what it was saying. It talks about how significantly our perspective changes throughout our life. You begin thinking one thing and often times you end your life looking at it from the completly opposite direction. Love, religion, and learning are pretty much the most important topics in society and everyone forms opinions on these things. So inorder to really understand what it was saying I applied it to myself. I am hopefully (knock on wood) not to close to the end of my time so I don't really have the full spectrum of this nailed down but I can see the changes in my views throughout the short time I have been here.

When you're young boys are icky, and they have cooties and then as you get older they become your friends and you hang out with them enough to realize that cooties aren't to bad. Then *GASP* you find that boys are kinda cute and maybe cooties aren't a bad thing at all.

When I was little I just went to church with my parents because they told me too. I believed what they believed because my parents are the smartest people in the world right? As I got older I took responsibility for what I was being taught in church and formed my own opinions regardless of the view my parents thought on things. The older I get the more clear and separated my religion is from my parents, I assume that will continue.

I hated school as a little kid. I got yelled at all the time for day dreaming and they had to put an egg timer on my desk to keep my focused. If I didn't get done before the timer went off I got serious punishment (we were big fans of punishment at my elementary) blah blah middle ground.... Now I really actually like school (NERD! I know) I love learning. School is a lot of work but I really like getting up every day knowing I will be educated.

So this is way longer then I anticipated but hey, extra work is cool right?

Spring Break is a Break

I'm hoping Spring Break will not be tainted with British Literature. Though I enjoy the class, I really need a break and Brit Lit is the class that stresses me out the most. I know we have the satire project and even though it's appears to be a fairly fun assignment I'm not to pleased I'll have to work on it over my vacation. Large projects like this one tend to weigh on me. They're a lot of work and the idea that if I want to raise my grade I need to do fantastic on them tends to loom over me making the whole project foreboding.

Thoughts on Various Subjects.

"No wise man ever wished to be younger."

So when I first read Thoughts on Various Subjects, I wasn't going to use this part. It didn't really stand out to me until I really REALLY looked at its deeper meaning. When I was younger, I always said that I was never going to grow up. I simply wanted to stay young forever. I wasn't a very wise child. (: After reading this though, it made me realize that I have made a lot of mistakes before. I have done some really dumb things. Lost a lot of friends. Gotten into trouble. Gone against what my parents said. But... I would never go back and redo any of those mistakes to make them better. I learned from my mistakes and that makes me wise. Sometimes life just moves to fast for us to realize what we really should be doing. But in the end, when we are all old, we will look back on that and remember that all those mistakes taught us a very good lesson. No one would want to go back to being young and make those mistakes again or fix any mistakes because that's whats makes us who we are.

Subjects of Various Thoughts

When we desire or solicit anything, our minds run wholly on the good side or circumstances of it; when 'tis obtained, our minds run wholly on the bad ones.

Well, I had origanlly chose the one about religion and love but then when I saw other people write about it I chose this one because no one else had yet. Anyways this thought slightly reminded me of "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry for tommorow you die" because it's about immediate pleasure and doing anything and everything to get what you want. This very thought is how advertising is run, consumers are told that they arn't good enough or that they must have this new product; but as soon as the new products are bought; bigger, better, and more improved products show up and those must be bought.

The thought also made me think of relationships and how our society has convinced us to rush in fast without thought and maybe get married and when "our minds run wholly on the bad ones", so what? Theres always divorce right? So now we end up with third and fourth marriages from the same mistakes made over again and children being shipped across town or state from parent to parent once a week. Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this?

"the tiger"

I think the story about the tiger was showing the two differnt sides of God and the Devil. I think the lamb represents everything godly, and the tiger represents sin and all things created by the devil to devert people from Gods path. I also think when he mentioned the tiger's fiery eye, it's refering to the fires of hell

Thoughts

No wise man ever wished to be younger.

The first thing I thought about after reading this epigram was what my grandmother advised me at my sisters graduation in response to me stating that I wish it were my senior year. "Don't wish your life away, it picks up speed and when you get to be older you find yourself running to keep up with it." In the few years since I find myself discovering what she meant. Life moves fast. I find there are aspects of my childhood (teen years too as I near 18) I will always want to revisit. This feeling, I'm sure, exists in all of us to some degree. Who won't miss being a careless teenager or the simplicity of youth? There is foolishness in searching for the fountain of youth but I believe accepting the benefits of being young is wise. To Swift I say this-

No wise man ever wished to be older.

Thoughts on Various Subjects

"When a true genius apppears in the world, you may know him by this sign: that the dunces are all in confederacy against him"

This statement is witty because it says that dumb people hate smart people. This statement shows how people can come into the world revealing strange ideas that no one has ever heard before and no one will pay them any attention because they have been brought up thinking something and are so used to it that they dont want to accept new ideas. In the 17th century there were disputes on religion. New people came in and started developing their own ideas about god and because of what they were brought up to believe some people were discusted at these new ideas. A lot of new individuals present their ideas and at first they may be looked down upon but eventuall, maybe not in a year or twenty years, people will understand what they were thinking. Even hitler is seen as a genious. Some of his ideas on how to carry out his dreams were a little extreme but he still had ideas contradictory to normallity and people didnt like it.

"Thoughts on Various Subjects..."

"We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another..." I didn't choose this one just because it was easy. In fact, how many of you actually chose this one after Ms. Stariha suggested that we browse through them all? Anyway, why did I choose this one, out of all of the various thoughts? Because, I simply relate to it. And everybody else who attends Shelby High School should too, whether you're religous or not. If this post offends anyone in any way, shape, or form, then I apologize, this is just my opinion and if it does strike as offensive (which i hope it doesn't) then just look at it as satire, okay? haha To the point, living in Shelby we are surrounded by religion; there's simply no escaping it. Don't get me wrong; I believe in God and go to church and everything. But, there's just soooo much religion expressed at school; there is and I know I'm not the only one who sees it. At school, we have people who say their religous and mean it. Then, there are those people who say their religious and rarely truely express it; in fact, the only way they express it is by going to all the youth group gatherings, and prayer groups, and such. There is so much disliking of one another in school, sometimes to the point of hatred. But, there is never love. There is like but there is no love. And does anybody see those crazy religious followers trying to create love in school? No. Never. You see, not only them, but everybody hating on one another. Hate thrives in various forms. People hate those who are not in their social circle. People hate others out of simple, sinning jealousy. You even see people of one religious aspect looking down on and disliking those of another religion to a great extent. You may say I'm wrong. You may even hate me for this post. But, you know what? I could care less. Because I've experienced this personally and I know others have too. That's why I am able to relate to that "various thought" so incredibly well. And that's just the way the world goes around...

My Thoughts on Various Thoughts

"When a true genius appears in the world, you my know him by this sign: that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." This was one of the epigrams that stood out to me the most and I understood it better by picking it apart. The first part (when - sing:) is fairly straight forward, when someone is truly smart you can always tell because of... Then the second part (that - him) was a bit more involved. Dunces have never been the brightest of all people therefore I think Swift is referring to a "less smarter" class of people than the genius. When I read "...Are all in confederacy against him," the first thing I thought off was the confederacy army of early America and how the southern states grouped together and opposed the ideas of the Union. I think that the dunces are doing the same thing with the smarter man, they are grouping together and are against what he believes in. This epigram also reminds me of the commonly heard saying "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link" because no matter how smart that on genius may be, they will not always have their way, even though it may be for the best, because there will always be a least one person who is less smart an will restrain the rest form making that better or smarter choice.

Thoughts on Various Subjects

"No wise man ever wished to be younger."

This is very true. To be truly a wise man then you have to live a full life. A life that is full of mistakes and experience. With time, each mistake becomes a lesson is learned. With time, you grow wiser from these mistakes. With time, you learn who you are, what the world is, and how to live life. With time, you become old and with time, you become wise. This is why "no wise man ever wished to be younger" because time is what makes us who we are. If you became younger then you would lose yourself, your regrets, your knowledge, and your wisdom.

Thoughts on Various Subjects

"Every man desires to live long, but no man would be old." This quote is pretty self explanatory and I think it sort of describes society's view of aging not only today but back then too. Everyone wants to live long but no one wants to be old. Its kind of ironic. We want to live long but we want to stay young. Growing old is inevitable yet we try so hard to avoid it. You would think after all this time, we would realize its useless to avoid growing old. You would think that by now we would just accept that fact that life is going to end and embrace it, not worry about growing old. But even I don't want to die. I want to live long. But yet I don't want to grow old. Society makes such a huge deal about growing old. How awful it is. "You get wrinkles, and lose your eyesight and your hearing, etc." But it is just a fact of life. It is going to happen and there is nothing you can do about it.

The Lamb

So I really liked this SHORT :) poem I'd call it, but I think I understood it like completely and that cannot be right, it just cant!! So tomorrow when we go over this I am going to be looking for a completely different meaning than enlightening the child "lamb" to Jesus. Just sayin!! But the Tiger I didn't understand half as well so that isn't new and feels more normal so in the end the two equaled each other out I guess!!

the 7th various thought!!

I chose the seventh epigram which is:

"ambition often puts men upon doing the meanest; so climbing is performed in the same posture with creeping. "

What I really enjoyed about this particular epigraph was that it applies to everyone, and pretty much every situation and decision you make. What I think this epigraph means is that ambition can turn into greed and possibly twist your redeeming qualities around on you.

1. what first came to mind was Macbeth, yes I know going back to Macbeth again lol but he first poped into my head. Macbeth was a good kind man until he got a glimpse of power and then he became obsessed with power and climbing that chain of command. His ambition was his downfall, which we discussed in class.

2. Next i thought of high school just because well that's where i am most of the day surrounded by friends and foes and possibly friends who are also foes at times. These people you see in the hallway every day, the people who live to climb up the social ladders. Their intent is good (most of the time but ya never know it is high school were talking abut) but they tend to step on their "lower level" friends as they reach their intended climbing up that social ladder.

I had more examples like politicians and what-not but this was gettin pretty long! so I stoped :)

Sattire..

I'm really liking the use of Sattire in this era, because although it's used in a way of humor or sarcasm, it's almost like it always has a hidden meaning behind the ridiculing of a true issue!! I'm kinda dissapointed that I missed our class watching south park :( haha but anyyyywayyyys, I hope I do good on this sattire project and on whatever next grade we have going in...i really need to make up for that C on the test /:

Thoughts on Various Subjects

The epigram that stood out to me at first was "No wise man ever wished to be younger"..not just because it was the shortest! lol I think this is interesting because what I kind of comprehended from it was that a man who was wise, spent his life wisely, and is still living wisely at the moment. This means he does not wish to go back, because he is wise enough to know how to be content with where he is at, and not get sucked into what all of society puts on us to look feel act and all around BE younger. I think this is what this epigram was saying, I liked it. PS- sorry Abby I saw you [posted the same one I was gonna switch but then i figured that their really isn't that many of these in this reading so alot of people are going to have the same one! I guess both our ideas are just shared now :) lol

My "Thoughts on Various Subjects"

This is the epigram I liked best: When we desire or solicit anything, our minds run wholly on the good side or circumstances of it; when 'tis obtained, our minds run wholly on the bad ones. I think this epigram is saying that we always want more and are never satisified with what we have. Its so strange that this concept still applies today! The most interesting point that Swift makes, however, is that he talks about the other side too. When we want something, we only find the good. BUT, once we have it, we only find the bad. It is one of those sad, but true ideas that our society can't seem to get over.

Weekly Post

So, so far I am really enjoying this tri of Brit Lit. I love the literature that we started off with, and I especially love the history during this time. The literature is a direct reflection of the history of that time. I'm not going to try to deny it, I'm a history geek, if I could make a good career out of history that didn't involve teaching I would totally do it!

William's Tiger and Lamb

"The Lamb" I love the questions in the first two lines of this poem: "Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee?" I this question would cause any non-religious person to stop and think. Also I feel like through these questions, it is almost like Blake is making sure we know who to be grateful to and and what we should be grateful for. That God gave us everything, and wants us to know that. The imagery in this poem is very light and joyful, and draws very clear comparisons to Jesus Christ. Meek, mild, became as a little child. "The Tiger" I didn't clearly understand the meaning of this poem. To me it seems like Blake thinks of the Tiger as being a very powerful creature and seems to be somewhat fearful of it. I liked the way he described the tigers eyes, saying they burn with fire. Also the line that says, "What immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?" makes me wonder if Blake is questioning God's decision to create the tiger.. ?

Wise Epigram

I chose the epigram, "No wise man ever wished to be younger." I think this statement is witty because in our society today, everyone is trying to look younger, feel younger, BE younger. But what this statement is saying is that no wise man would ever choose to be young. Being youthful portrays strength, beauty, being active and ambitious. But also is associated with being naive, bad-tempered, careless and inexperienced. Being able to discern between what is right and what is wrong is learned over time as a person has experiences and learns how to make those judgements. To me, Swift is saying that the benefits of being young do not even compare and should not be traded for the characteristics that are developed with age.

So far...

So, yesterday's discussion was really interesting. I got a lot out of it. And I like the fact that the literature is becoming more modern, which means it's becoming easier to understand and relate to. I know this sounds kind of nerdy but I can't wait until we read our first novel.

"Forget about the money, money, money..."

Okay so when I was driving to basketball last night that new Jessie J and B.o.B song came on "Foget about the Money." It's pretty much my favorite song right now so as I was singing way too loudly in the car I semi-conciously registered the fact that this song is talking about the phrase "eat, drink, and be merry..." It's definatley a song saying to forget about the price tag and money and just sit back and enjoy the moment and smile :) yeah, i know we are past the seventeenth century, but I just had to go back one more time :)

DARN-IT!!!

I was sooooo pumped that i finally read the full reading and was excited (hard to believe) for class so i could share and sounds smart haha....but then i woke up and "JOSH C'MON YOU HAVE A DENTIST APPT IN AN HOUR!"-Jeff Moore (dad) ...my face went from :-) to :-( ..ya i know ..your all wondering "how in the heck did you ever get over missing Brit lit class" or "that has to be hard" well thanks for your concern for me, but like i said im getttin an "A" lol and i think i can get over missing class...i dont think it should hurt me too much more! lol but yes ..My though on that proposla was..."WEIRD!!" lol if you are talkin bout eating people and babies....theres something wrong lol...and we need to talk lol...actually if you are thinin bout that maybe i dont wanna talk to you...idk im stumped so im gettin off now lol

hey deege

this has nothing to do with the blog or the class but i was just so pumped i found this pic so i thought id show deege lol!! hahah hope you like it man!

Not Quite Hocked

Well Swift did a fairly good job at writing "A Modest Proposal" but hid did leave out a huge part the was a bit of a disclaimer for me, he forgot to tell us how babies are cooked. I guess he did say that they could be "stewed, roasted, baked, or broiled" but in order for me to completely believe in his idea I needed a bit more. If he would have told us things like what color wine would be appropriate for a baby rib dinner or what is a common side dish that a baby steak is normally served with. Over all it was a good proposal but things like this would have made his argument stronger and a bit more tasty.

The modest proposal was uh, interesting? I have to say that I liked how it reflected the society directly. How through satire we can see what issues were at conterversy in this time period. I also think that we can find humor, honestly, if this guy read it himself, I'm sure that it would be funny. It really is dependent on the tone of the reader as well. If you are reading it thinking that its completely serious, then I would go running. But if you could tell that his intentions were to "poke fun", surely even people of this time could get a chuckle out of it. Especially considering how many dead babies jokes we laugh at.

A Modest Proposal

So everyone is slamming this pamphlet. They say how creepy this book was and how incredibly wrong it was. But i have to say this.... I kinda liked it. NOT THAT I THINK THIS IS GOOD, OR NICE, OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. But this story was incredibly good for a self reflection. It made me think about myself and wonder if what I do throught my day is exactly as hypocrytical as those who walked by those starving children everyday. Do I have things that could help other people and just hold it back because I am to selfish, or maybe scared??? It made me almost angry at myself for wasting so much time on the little pettty things in my life while there are millions who die from starvation alllll theeee timmmmme. So yes, i liked this poem. Not because it was gruesome or 'yucky' but because it made me look at my own life and realize that i might be just as bad as the rich.

Weird!

I am scarred... The Modest Proposal turned out to be the Weirdest Proposal! I guess he does a really good job getting his point across, but why such an awkward fashion. If I picked up a pamphlet in that time period and that is what it said, I would seriously go lock my doors. I do have to give him props for supporting it to such extent. Besides his little, built-in mockeries on different groups of people, he does a really good job supporting the idea. But nonetheless, that is creepy.

dear diary

dear diary, brit lit is abusing me. it has been since 2nd tri. it wasnt so bad at first but then when i left it alone for a little bit it came and attacked me in the worst way possible, it did things to me that i cannot say. well i guess i could give you a one word hint: ineligibility. the worst part about it is, it abuses not just me. i mean i heard brit lit got mal reallll bad. poor girl. i guess all i can do is stand there and itll watch me burn, but thats alright because... wait no. ill just take it. for everyone out there reading this do not report this. who knows, brit lit might come after you and generations to come. -Bree

"A Modest Proposal"

This story was about a man giving a sarcastic proposal to some of society's problems. He proposes eating babies as a solution to people's economic problems. He also says that they can be rid of Catholics because they don't believe in birth control. He uses sarcasm to present the problem with society of the large gap between social classes, and he hints to it being the fault of the upper class that the lower class is so poor.

A Modest Proposal

This juvenal satire was very creepy. Even though I knew he was being sarcastic and trying to get a point across, the thought of roasting babies alive or using their skin for purses and shoes made me kinda sick. I also thought he spent way too much time thinking of ways to fatten up the babies in order to please the wealthy people that would be purchasing them. I am glad however that the portrayed author of this writing did not have any children. I would seriously hope that no parent would ever even consider selling their child for a mere 8s.

WELCOME

Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Squirells...i mean Girls, i would like to introduce you the new and im proved...the one..the only....JOSH MOORE!!!!......whoooo ya whooo (Josh is the man!!)....anyways!! Im sick of being the "underdog." im tired of people underestimating me... And im discusted at myself for giving up just because things got hard...im sorry Mrs. Stariah! So for all of you who i have seen me fail and me not care...well its time to care and "ITS MY TIME!" ..in other words im getting an "A" in this class no ifs, ans, or buts about it!! "I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me." --Phillipians 4:13

Good Golly!

What is everyone's problem with The Rape of the Lock?? I loved it! Yes it was a little tedious to get through but that comes with the territory of epic poetry. I'm quite the fan of epics in general as well as sarcasm so the combination of the two was quite delightful! As I was reading it all I could think was "this would make a blimey good play!"... in reality my thoughts were probably a little less British but hey, this is Brit Lit class. Back to the point. I would thoroughly enjoy watching someone run around a stage demanding a lock of hair be returned to their head. The card scene and mythical references would add some nice theatrics into a mix of overall hysteria. I loved the idea so much I seriously considered writing a play myself! However, that would require reading the whole epic and much more time than I have on my hands. It isn't entirely out of the picture though and maybe one day I'll scrap together something that you all would find at least mildly entertaining.

Note: I also thought a mock opera would be a great way to display this epic!

Thats some proposal....

Well, thats a diffrent option, selling our infants for delicous meals. This rates right up there on the creppy scale with Baby Cakes. I was about half-way through when it finally clicked what Swift was proposing and then another half a page to find the sick humor in it. MESSED UP. I find this even more disturbing considering we just got our teacher back from maternaty leave. Keep a eye on her kids, thats all I'm saying.

p-o-e-t-r-y

who likes poetry? ha, meeee! :D but actually i have another class with ms. s and its creative writing..and we just started talking about poems and such. and i really think that if ms. s sang all the crap that we have to read in this class, things might be a little more interesting..just a thought.

Let's try that one more time.

Grrr the dial-up internet won't let me post that video...
So here's link for anyone that wanted to watch it!
It's pretty awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQlTtmr_4vU

King Arthur Dance :)

So I was re-watching old So You Think You Can Dance episodes and there was this awesome break dancing duet that was based on King Arthur and the sword in the stone. Yeah, I just thought it was cool and it made me think of OFK so I decided to share it with y'all. Enjoy!

Rape of Lock

This poem made me feel so DUMB! Not because I spent a great amount of my time reading a story that consisted of a woman playing cards, losing, getting part of her hair cut off, choas, and then a star coming down from the heavens to let the hair live eternally in the bliss of the universe... but because they made the humor so COMPLEX. Stariha said that we watch south park, and then they read this. We ARE DUMMMMMB! The way they described the card game sent me near chills. A war of wits displayed with cards, explained in greattttt detail. Incredible, annoying, but incredible.

Rape of the Lock?

So this was very....pointless. Not that I didn't learn anything from it, but that the concept of the story was stupid. It made some good points, but went into extreme simplicity to get them across...I mean, a game of cards and some hairs? Come on. haha

Yours Truely, Bree.

my dearest brit lit, let me start of by saying, you're soooo stinkin stressful. i think about you so much. but i can never win you over. what can i do to get you......under my belt? i feel like the more i study you the more i get stressed out and the more i pay attention to you the more i lose my mindd. maybe we just werent meant to see each other everyday i dont know, im getting mixed signals because just when i think ive got you all figured out you go and tear my heart open with a 60%. just tell me what i need to do to score... an A with you. yours truely, Bree

modern society.

So I know that this is a little delayed, but I really wanted to mention how much I enjoyed talking about the modern society and the way that we view it. I found it quite ironic that we all chose to talk negative about our society, yet it what we live in every day. I had missionaries from Ecuador at my house today. It was so interesting to be able to talk to them about how good we have in America. We are so blessed to have all of the things we have (ie technology, abundance of food, warmth, a house, police officers, ect).. yet we all chose to bash on it; including myself. It seems like all of the best things in the world often come with the largest flaws. By the way I really enjoyed reading all of the poems, I think that we should take more time to visit the deeper side of ourselves, the side that we have that thinks beyond this moment, and into issues that aren't often visited.. just a thought.

I love Sundays :)

Sooo.... I've been thinking a lot about modern society. We spend so much time ding things that matter so little. We obsess over things that make no difference at all in the long run. So much of it is a waste of time, there are 12 million things that we could be doing with our time that are more productive for everyone. Also, I was thinking about how we're never alone. I can be reached at any time during my day, Facebook, cell phones ect ect. Im in constant contact with the world. People are never really apart because there is always a way to be talking to people. How little time we spend to take a step back and just be alone, solitary for a time. If we did spend some time by ourselves would we be able to handle it? Would we go crazy by simply being in our own minds? Just have to say, digging this class with all of you and I had fun reading all of your poems (those of you who remembered them *cough*)

The rape of the Lock

Okay, this story is kinda weird. I know it is supposed to be a humorous poem but I just found it odd. So this is what I got out of the poem: Belinda is very beautiful and she plays a game of cards with 3(?) gentlemen. She has a cool card called a Matadore and she thinks she can win the game. I think it said she beat the first two people but that she lost to the Baron. Because she lost to him, his prize was supposed to be a lock of her hair. I guess when he did take the hair, she freaked out and "Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast." This is where I got confused.. it starts talking about greek and roman mythology and somehow tying in the Gods to this situation?? So she wants her hair back and threatens the Baron with a bodkin(dagger). He says that his only regret if he died would be leaving her behind. What I am mostly confused about is why she freaked out so much. Earlier in the poem when he is about to cut off her hair, it says that in her heart she wants the Baron to succeed. I don't know, hopefully we talk about that tomorrow!

>:(

Okay sorry about my last post. The poem was supposed to be separated by lines but for some reason everytime I posted it, it didn't stay seperated. And its makin me really mad. I edited it like three times and went through and hit enter to seperate the lines. But it didn't work! >:(

M I P O E M A

Yeah I don't know why I like putting my titles in Spanish I guess I feel like it makes the title more capturing or attention grabbing But anyway...here is mi poema or my poem I couldn't think of a good name for it so I didn't put one You guys can name it if you really feel it needs one The Hollywood sign, the city, the lights, Angelina's huge lips, Justin Bieber's nice hair, So sleek, so bright. Team Edward, Team Jacob, Cold vs. Hot, Which one Bella picks... MATTERS NOT! We waste our time watching E!, When instead, we should be watching news Channel 3. We dwell on issues that are unimportant, When we should focus on the worldwide events current. Us as individuals can make a difference, We just have to be willing to go the distance.

Poems

well i would post my poem on here but its at school, and it sucked so no one would want to see it anyways lol, i want to see if anyones poem can beat kody's because so far his poem is my favorite

test/poem

so my test didn't go well at all. i can mainly blam the trick questions. hopefully in the future i can figure out those queations better. as for the poem...its in my locker at school. ill eventually get it and post it on the blog. but for now....idk.

Modern poem

Well I forgot my poem about modern day at school in my locker at school so i can't post it like you said stariha...sorry...it wasn't that good anyway lol

18th Century

Well I wasn't real happy with my 17th century test. But keep moving forward I guess...maybe the 18th century will be better...idk

TEST

So I wasn't extremely happy with my test grade but I wasn't that dissapointed, I realize the things I need to do to prepare for the next test, and having hannahs essay will help alot because I need to work on detailing mine alot more!

In a World...

Yeah I'm kinda late for posting this but here is my poem about our sucky little society today. haha. In a world filled with technology and new & shiny things In a world that is sucked in, to what all the media brings.. In a world so conformed, where are we to find, Our true self and what we're worth? Using our own mind.. Not depending on our image, or our wealth to get us by.. Not holding back our tears should we feel the need to cry.. Grasping all of our potential, and never letting go, Even for a superficial model at a fashion show.. Everybody seems to turn to sin, looking for a way to cope.. When in the one who put us here, We do not put our trust and hope.. Nobody can understand each other, because nobody can understand themselves, We belittle all, that we are blessed with & put our lives upon the shelves.. Up there to be cheaply bought, tried out, messed with, and used.. This life that we are given we have all so harshly bruised.. I believe the day we find ourselves, is when we finally figure out, It's not all for the looks & money, ..there is more that life's about. So in a world that tries to tell us how to look, act, think, and see, God forbid someone should stand out.. ..and be who they wanna be

I also have to apologize to Laura for forgetting to bring home my poem and to Steve for putting him in it. Haha. You know you love me big guy. So if I do remember it, it will come next week?

Well I was sitting there wondering what my grade was going to be on the test and we were being told how some of us did poorly on the test. I was thinking to myself, oh shoot I probably didn't do very well and then we got our tests back and to my enjoyment I got an 82. After reading hannah's paper in class I realized it will help an immense amount on not only the essays but the multiple choice too, to know the history better. Now I need to get motivated to study more..
Good thing I remembered to blog this week ;)

So Easy, Yet So Hard

After reading Hannah's essay in class, my first thought was, "well duh!" I thought that we all knew what Hannah was talking about and that we all try to wright an essay like that but we just can't put it together. As I was reading the essay I frequently stopped and thought to myself, hey I used that same point, or I thought the same thing when I was writing but I guess in never actually wrote it down. My essay wasn't as well structured as Hannah's either. When Mrs. Stariha said that lots of us only connected back to the history until the very end, I realized that that was something that I had done with out even knowing it. I think that it is easy for us to learn the material that we should use in the essays but the hard part is actually to write it down in an essay format. I think that next time I am going to plan out at least my first essay a lot more before I go into the test so that I am more prepared and don't have to think as much when I am doing the writing.

By the way, great job on your essays Hannah.

Silley Me

So me and this calender have not been getting along! lol For thurssday I read ... "the Human Abstract", "Infant Sorrow", "Women", "To a Mouse", and "To a Louse" which we didn't have to read!! and now today I just got done reading Thoughts on Various Subjects which I found super interesting and Gulliver's Travels which I just found confusing but we didn't have to read this either!! What I just found out is that I needed to read Rape of Lock!!! so confusing I should probably figure out how to read this calender! lol :P

Test

I'm really happy we went over the test in class. It really helped a lot. I really struggled with the essays for some reason and I never have trouble with the essays. But, that's okay; I learned from Hannah's example (thanks Hannah!) and now I'm going to do wayy better next time.

Test

I am sooo grateful that we went over the test in class today. I thought that that was very beneficial and I think on future tests I will better be able to think through what the question is asking. Also I loved that Ms. Stariha used a student example of the essay (kudos to you hannah!) because a lot of times I don't understand what I need to fix by just talking about it, but by actually looking at an example and having her point out the highlights made it a lot easier to understand. So overall, good class today.

oooooooookay!

alrighty here we go.
british literature b, hmmmmm its been ok so far? well i dont know, the test was ok? ha, who am i kidding, i blew that thing outta the water... yeahhh? i dont know what to really blog about because well i have nothing very important to say. i guess i could talk about how i dont have internet at home right now because i dont even know why... but its completely dumb!
makes me sad? well yeah and it causes me to be unable to blog which brings tears to my eyes, cause as we all know i am a very passionate blogger, like im hardcore... and now im gonna get going because well honestly i can... so have a splendid weekend?

Free-write: poetry

American Nack

In a world as advanced and delicate as ours
Where people cruise around in their tiny foreign cars,
There stands a society in so great a mess
That even the experts can't even give a guess.
"Deficit, pollution" are what we hear,
Not things we celebrate, joy or cheer.
Ads on the TV and Hollywood actors,
Pro Sports and shows all play as factors.
Technologically advanced and educated we are,
But from perfect, we still are quite far.
Its tough to tell if all this is good,
For its ethics we lack and "right" we should
Learn about and get down packed,
Instead of negativity, the American Nack.

Poem- The Bible

Halfway through the freewrite I scratched out my poem and started this one. It didn't turn out the way I planned but oh well...

One can always find wisdom
within a special book
written about the ways of a man
who was very much mistook

If people would treat this book
as a very dear possession
out world would turn upside down
if they followed every lesson

Projecting only goodwill and love
this book would bring much hope
but without it in this dying world
one can do nothing but cope

test :(

i wasn't too happy with my grade that i got on my test. and i realized something. ms. s grades wayyy differently than ms. k on the essays! which i guess is a little sad, but i think it will def. improve my writing and my understanding of the literature. so, i guess i can't complain, hopefully the next test will be better! :D

Poetry

The Shattered Wall
A lonely girl sitting on the sidewalk end,
praying for love, acceptance, and mend.
A hungry child in an African town,
wealthy Americans are no where to be found.
Boys at school wandering the darkened halls,
put their trust in drugs when all else falls.
What is religion? Is there division anymore?
All paths lead to Heaven is what theologists push for.
A shattered wall our society reveals,
broken, torn, worn is what everyone feels.

Phones, computers, i-pods and more,
pacify peoples' needs and what they hunger for.
Expectations to go to college and succeed,
are the standards society to teenagers feed.
Money is the standard by which power is fed,
power is the root where control is bred.
People look to athletes and celebrities to pave the way,
for fashion, music, pleasure, and what to say.
The wall shattered is lying on the floor,
the pieces scattered like sand on the shore.

Unborn children's voices cry out from inside,
abortion forever silence and faces will hide.
Free love is the tune to which the young dance,
giving themselves away without a backward glance.
Slaves to acceptance, careers, and love,
people will stop at nothing when push comes to shove.
A driven people reaching for all life can give,
fear of an impoverished life forever to live.
The wall torn has been stepped and trampled upon,
looking and praying for retribution anon.

A glimmer of hope as a star in the night,
shining as a fresh and new beacon of light.
We are the hope of a day breaking new,
the sunrise of society in all that we do.
Hold on to values through the deep sinking mire,
clothed with beliefs that ignite like fire.
Though the wall be as broken as the sand on the shore
and the whole world groaning, searching for more,
a peace, a rest, the reassurance we need,
was given to those who His words do heed......

The Thought in Process

Schools teach us
Parents tell us
Society pushes us
and we believe

They say you can
They say you're able
They say it's up to you
and we believe

Problems are created
People are killed
Suffering is everywhere
and we believe

They say fix the problems
They say save the people
They say help the world
and we believe

You've the world in your hands
The clock's on the table
It's your turn now
and we believe

It's not what they say we need
It's not what they want
It's what they couldn't
and we've got to think

poems today

So I'm gonna have to post my poem tomorrow because I forgot to bring my precious brit lit notebook home...lol
but I just wanted to say that I really really enjoyed the poem activity because writing is one of the very BEST ways to express ones self...for me anyways :)
& it's amazing to see like really the talent we have in our class!
Kody's was pretty awesome..haha
:)

Poem 85

Well, I don't like naming things, so I decided to be "clever" like those awesome Renaissance boys and number it ! HA! Also when writing this I decided to go for quantity over quality. So it's really long because I just kinda let the lines flow, I didn't worry about what how it sounded or what it was saying. Its kinda depressing but modern society really depresses me so its fitting. Read the whole thing I dare you....

Pursuit of happiness
Merely selfish
People held in high esteem
Aren't always what they seem
Everything seen is fake
Something created, something they make

Disasters abound everywhere
No one to truly care
Image, the only concern
No breaking hearts for others yearn
Aid is given to help oneself
And only what can be bought from a shelf

It is simply skin deep
Keep on the surface, don't take a leap
Help yourself to what's "your right"
No need to know of others fight
For their struggle, no help to give
It doesn't effect the way you live

It's not any different, don't pretend
We don't all see heaven at the end
Pleasure, bliss, do what you may
Save the effort of caring for another person, another day
False, shallow, looking out for "number one"
What does that achieve, once time on earth is done?

N e R v E s ! ! !

I am insanely nervous about getting my test back, Stariha mentioned that some people had achieved "good fails" and it kinda freaked me out ... A LOT!! Tomorrow could be interesting!!

While Taking the Test...

While taking the test today I missed the poetry! I heard it was really fun and I'm sad I missed it :( ohhh well....maybe I'll take a look at all the ones on the blog and try to write one tonight! But thats only a maybe because i have softball practice at 6 in the morning tomorroww....bummer. And i'm really hungry and my little sister made a cake but i can't have it because of Lent! Which kinda makes me sad because I really am craving cake right now...even though i know it will give me a major stomach ache if i eat it because I've been off from junkfood for over 3 weeks now...

And that's what's on my mind. Oh and the bachelor because I'm just now watching the final rose on Hulu. Yeah, I'm a little behind...

Dare.

We say we want individuality-
Apple technology, Google, and Glee
Facebook, Texting, and yet we can't see
The sameness we created to be
Making us judgmental, lazy
and whores
Obsessed with being bores
Forming to societies mold
Plastic surgery, Twilight
and tights
Take drugs and drink
Smoke weed but don't think
Flirt, and whip your hair
But be yourself? Don't dare.
We're formed by filled in circles
Our status, Our tweet
For our true selves we cannot meet
Until we dive and swim away
From society today.

my awesome poem about society

roses are red, violets are blue,
society sucks, and Obama does too...

What Society Really Looks Like..

I think this one pretty much speaks for itself.

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs -William Shakespeare.

so..me and christian were feeling a little romantic (not with each other)...but uhm anyway. we were looking up romantic quotes in spanish, because that class is dumb and we were bored and we wanted to be in brit-lit instead. so now we are looking up quotes and such..here are a few we found.

"I have found men who didn't know how to kiss. I've always found time to teach them. "- Mae West


I could walk forever and a mile with one beautiful girl. ~A.C. Van Cherub (christian likes this one A LOT!)

I knew I loved you when I realized that there was no one else I would rather laugh, cry and make memories with...S. Zubrinic (I like this one A LOT!)

He was a tall, red-haired, blue eyed stranger. He walked into my life and they said there may be danger. He had a walk I will always remember. He wore a black hat, and I knew he was forever. He would come into the night and take away my anger. He would leave with the sun and know I will never let his memory linger. (this is for christian from me)

If you see a falling star, make a wish, I know it works because I wished and I found you. (this is for me, from christian)

Taking off the training wheels. Yikes.

I feel like since Ms. Stariha is back we have taken off our training wheels and have decided to hop on the big boy motorcycle. We are hauling now! I just hope that I dont get behind.... eek. Other then that I am really looking forward to this next era. Now that the literature is now a form of english that we can comprehend better, I feel like it will be able to make our conversations more in depth. Depleting the wall of comprehension we can now reflect on the writings more, and jump into the author purpose and how it mirrors the reality of the society. I really hope that conversations stay at the level they are at or even rise higher. This has become a class that stimulates my brain in the morning and challenges me to think, and honestly, I like it. :)

Test

There's nothin like a good 'ole test to put you in your place. Just when I thought I had the section under wraps, the test shows me who's boss. I don't feel incredibly bad about how I did, but there isn't that confidence that I like to have after a big test. Hope I did good after all that work.

So short, yet so long

I really liked how the test was shorter today, I can really get used to test like these. I think there was just the right amount of multiple guess question and fill in the blank were there wasn't too many that you would freak out in the middle of the test but there also wasn't too little questions were the test becomes too easy (kind of hard to imagine an easy Brit Lit test).But then again essays are still essays. I always seem to spend lots of time on those. Even though this was a short test I still had to scribble down my last few sentences a few minutes after the bell rang. So much for a short test.

THE Book

So you know that Colossal, copious, enormous, excessivley huge, heavy, monumental, spacious, vast, voluminous, whompping book we as dedicated students have to transport everywhere with us?? (because we are good students who carry their treasured brit lit book everywhere with them incase a time arrises that is perfect for studying!) Yeah?? Well it's huge and is just so heavy I was pondering the idea one day outta the blue of keeping our books at home and in class borrowing one of the books off the shelf??

Please?? :)

The 17th Century :)

I have absolutely, loved it!! The literature I thought to be more interesting, the depth to which it went, the questions they posed and the differences in how these questions were answered by different authors, also how the works possesed mulitiple meanings added to its intrest, but all that might of been because I think I actually understood this section!(?) Well without too many questions still floating in my noggin, but I guess the test will be the deciding factor, showing me if I actually knew that I thought I did! lol

I love our class discussion how it flows and leads to the literature explaining it before we even talk about the literature which I think has added to my understanding of the text, which is just so nifty!! For example the Virgins and the Mistress poems with the Carpe Diem and the Eat, Drink, and Be Merry!!

I'm extremely exited for the rest of this tri, but if you take a peek at the calender I think we are going to be moving quite fast!! (Stariha ask yourself do you really want to read all of those LONG essays??)

18th Century TEST

Sooo... if you haven't noticed the calender "predicts" that our next test will be on next Wednesday (Hint: that is a week from tomorrow) so, I have decided to bring this up to this blogging community just to no. 1) Freak EveryONE out no. 2) hopefully people will actually read this and it will de-stress everyone when it comes time for this test no. 3) it wont sneak up on you and yell BOO and make you jump, but mainly to just freak everyone out it makes life interesting!! :P

isn't testing just soo much FUNNNN??

Revelation

So today I was driving home from Physical Therapy and was listening to the radio and was doing my shoulder driving dance (yes, Laura I stole Julia's shoulder driving dance) anyway...there was this lyric in some song that said something about backwards evil.
This got me thinking...evil spelled backwards is live!!
Revelation!
The two main points of Brit Lit this week were about evil and living. Anyway, yeah this didn't have much point but I thought that was pretty neat.

Veni, Vedi, Vici?

When I told my family about our discussions about Carpe Diem and Eat, Drink, and Be Merry my little brother brought up a story from his class with Mr. Heiny. He said that they had been talking about Vini, Vidi, Vici and in the beginning had been to told to write down what they thought it meant, as Mr. Heiny was reading the answers he found that one student had written instead of I came, I saw, I conquered; I came, I saw, I sinned. Mr. Heiny flipped out like im sure you all remember him doing and didnt get back on subject for the rest of the class.

test today..?

i have no idea what happened, but my mind went totally blank when i got to the essays! this has never happened to me, it kinda sucked. and when you do bad on the first test, it usually isn't too good for your grade the rest of the tri....oh gosh. but on another note, i am very curious to see how ms. s grades compared to ms. k...it will be interesting!

Too Much!

More People = More Blogs!

It's way to hard to keep track of!

to the... test.

I really think that I understand this section better then the sections previous. I am still nervous about those questions that have two answers that are ever so close. The ones that make you upset because you are aren't quite sure which answer it is.. The teeth cringing, deep thinking, and logical guessing questions.. yup, those, I'm still dreading those. Overall I think the history isn't that bad, except are the calvins the same thing as the puritans? and if England was Catholic, why would they have puritans amoung the parliment? just curiosity.

I really liked Paradise Lost. I loved thinking about the concept of justifying evil. How in the eyes of the evil doer, are their actions ever evil. Or is evil a frame of reference. Is it dependent on the view you are taking. I think often we are biased when it comes to many different subjects. Creating this realm of evil inside our heads. Making people "good" and "bad", labeling them without even taking into consideration the personal wars they are facing. Not once have I looked at Satan's "actions" as just.. you can call this ignorance as it is, but it scares me to think how many other situations have I looked at biased.

Study Mode is ON

Study Mode = computer room, phone, music, txting, m&m's and water chips, blanket, computer: facebook, word doc, bolog, sparknotes, books everywhere, paper everywhere and sooo many notes!!

I have just noticed every time I study for brit lit I do the same thing!!

just something...

Just something ... I have noticed..... it takes forever to read and comment on all of these blogs!! My goodness I have just spent forty five munints on it!! :0

Looking Back to the Vigins... Yes I meant to say Vigins

As I was going through all the poems for tomorrow I realized how much I like Herrick's "To the Virgins". I think that to often we think only of the future and the success we wish to achieve. Even though Carpe Diem is a lot about the successes in our future careers I think we tend to forget the things that are unique to each individual and the family and friends we want to have. I find Carpe Diem is making the most of life the way you want to live it, not what is expected of you or what you've been told is best. What are the things that you truly want to seize?

To the Virgins:

Get Some

... life of course

Tradition

So I think that I would really like having that TAG time the day before every test. I really liked it because I am better prepared for the test now. It was like a free-question time where we could get all questions cleared up. I guess the real test of whether it worked or not will be tomorrow's test. haha

Donne Sonnet 10

Hey everybody you should help me out here!

I missed the day we discussed Donne and sonnet 10 has me wondering a few things and looking over some of my friends notes aren't helping in some areas.

-What 2 things is Donne comparing in this sonnet?
-How is it a Metaphor?
-Just give me some general points!

Roundheads = Puritans, Cavaliers = ???

I am having a little trouble finding whether or not the Cavaliers were Catholics. It would make sense to me that if the Roundheads were Puritan and the civil war that took place during this time period was between the Puritans and the Catholics then the Cavaliers should be Catholics. It would just make me feel better if someone specifically told me that the Cavaliers were Catholics or if they pointed out a section in the book were I could find the answer.

Tag Time = Lovely

Well first off, the TAG time was wonderful. It de-stressed me about the test. Of course, I still haven't read those poems I missed during Showcase practice...so I'm a bit apprehensive about that! I really liked that we could discuss the first essay because, even though we all know what it's going to be about, it was nice to actually get solid answers and planning for it. I feel like I actually have an understanding of the poems and how the history ties in. I love how there is such a clear difference between the Catholic and the Puritan writing! Anyway, I'm still nervous for the test but excited to get on with 18th century!

Brit Lit so far

I would have to say that I was really worried when I came into this class for the first time in almost 12 weeks, but after being in it for a week i'm feeling pretty good. I have kept up for the reading so far which I never did in first tri because i always got distracted by other stuff but this tri I'm gonna work hard and do well or atleast do my best. I know the class will get tougher probably but as long as i do the work and participate then i should do fine. I am worried about the test tomorrow though because I never did good on tests in the first tri, So i hope i can do better on the one tomorrow and I hope by keeping a reading log, that it will benefit me and help me remember details and stories better

Well hopefully this week goes as smoothly as last week. Because so far i dont have any missing HW!!!!..oh wel thats because maybe we havnt had much HW but hey ..its progress in my books lol...i am wondering.. will we read any books that there is alot of action and a little less romance?.. Not that im not a very romantic man lol but i just like to read about wars and stuff like that you know?

Yay!

Well I must say I was really worried about Brit Lit B, being away from the class for a whole trimester. But after reading and actually understanding The Pilgrim's Progress and Paradise Lost, my stress has already lessened. I'm glad we have such a big class that can contibute a lot of input and am looking forward to tomorrow's class discussion... and hopefully little reflection time :)

Behind

Well I haven't exactly read any of the 17th century stuff... yet. I promise I will at some point but right now I only have time for what we need for tomorrow. Everyone has been posting their optimism over this new section and despite my lack of reading I'm pretty optimistic as well! From what's been said in class I think I'll find the 17th century both interesting and amusing!

17th century

I have decided that I really like the 17th century works that we are discussing. They have switched from being difficult to understand as in the Renaissance to being literary pieces with meaning and depth involved. I love how the poems use different levels of perception and meaning to display a higher level of thinking where there is a literal meaning and also a metaphorical meaning that is sometimes more important then the actual meaning. The literature also demonstrates a huge part of what is going on in history at this time with the conflict between the catholics and puritans. My favorite thing that we have learned so far has been about Carpe Diem because it is a huge inspiration to go out and live your life and make a difference in the world. Well I have said my piece for now...

Why So Different

I remember Mrs. Stariha saying that the 17Th century was a time period of transition into more modern forms of literature but I had no idea it would be as dramatic as the difference between Paradise Lost and The Pilgrim's Progress. The Pilgrim's Progress was a thousand time easier to read because it was in almost moder text (not to mention it used the word "hubbub" a couple of times) and Paradise Lost was written in text that was similar to Middle English. I hope that this is a sign that that stories will just get easier form here on out.

Procrastinating the Reading Always Gets You in the End

This weekend, well actually this whole week, has been a little bit of a hassle for me. Now that it's winding down I'm finding only 70% of what needed to be done has actually been done! Unfortunately Brit Lit has taken quite the hit. It's almost 10 already and I haven't done anything but blog and comment. I should be reading Paradise Lost but 9 pages sound like torture when I'd really just like to go get some sleep! Then on top of that we also have to read that other one which is fortunately only 3 pages. I know we were suppose to be a little more cheerful with our blogging but I really have nothing else to blog about. And really this isn't complaining... it's just a little self pity I wanted to express which is pathetic but hey, it's been a long week and I'd like to just get to spring break already.

THUNDER

so it's a Sunday night...and there is a pretty bad storm tonight. it snowed earlier... it was cool because it went from snow to rain while i was working. all of this happened on the FIRST DAY OF SPRING!! all of this weather, especially the storm reminded me of Macbeth....think about it.. =]

I Am Lost with Paradise Lost

After reading the the story I tried to remember what it was about and tried to find the message that it was trying to give the reader but I felt like I had just read the words to myself and didn't catch what most of the words were actually saying. I did understand that it was in a dialog form were the heavens and Satan were talking but it never really "clicked" for me as to what they were discussing. At first I thought that it would make sense that Satan would promote evil and the heaven would promote good, but towards the end of the story the Archangel says "better to rein in hell than to serve in heaven," this just made me more confused.

Not a Fan

This brown background is a little dreary for me. I like the map but it feels like we're talking about geography (ewww). Sorry to complain, it's not really that bad. I think it's just because the whole day has been a little dreary with all the rain and such. Well I'm off to seize the day at the play as laura and jen suggested! Hopefully I'll see some of you there!

Que Tiempo? (I think thats how you say time in spanish...but im not wasting my time to look it up)

What time is that Sunday blog party thing supposed to be?
I forgot
And since I probably won't be getting on here again tonight
I don't think I will be taking part on this one
So have fun bloggin you crazy bloggers
And I will check in later this week
(or at school I guess)

3 r d T r i

Well the third tri is off to a pretty good start I would say
We have a pretty big class
But there is lots of good discussion
and I like how fast Ms. Stariha can get through a poem and get me to understand it
No offense to Ms. K because it was only her first time teaching
I just had a little harder time getting the full understading of the material
I eventually did but it just took a little longer
and we zipped right through these last few poems

Carpe Diem, Seduce Freddy

I love how crazy we get to be in Brit Lit. What other teacher would have me read a poem written by a man to seduce a woman, to stud muffin Freddy Bahena like that. I have to say I did not seize the day with that one because I was going to make it way creepier and stroke his face and tuck his hair behind his ear and stuff but I didnt want to do that to poor Fred. He was bluxhing so much I couldnt even handle it. He puts up with a lot (Love Ya Fred!) never break up the power three. Im digging the 17th century.

The Customary Random Thought Post

For all of you first tri kids just so you know this is the kind of stuff I post every week basically. Its just a bunch of random, disconnected thoguhts all slapped in one blog post. First off Im loving the uuber fun background on this new blog. It makes me feel some how scholarly. Im loving the literature too, its kind of inappropriate ( if thats the word you want to use I would also accept scandalous) and super easy to make dirty jokes about which is always fun and I know how much Shemus appreciates them :) And a special thanks goes out to Garrett and Maddie for always singing a long!

Brit Lit A Recap

So I am pretty happy with my work in the A section. I ended up with an A-...? I think. I improved my writing skills and learned how to read middle english! Brit Lit A was a fun class and I hope to continue that into this class.

Free Write- Carpe Diem

I think Carpe Diem means to make the most of every day. "Day" can also mean oppurtunity in this case. Whether it be making the most of what little you have or just not wasting your life, seize the day means to live your life to the fullest.

Loving the Discussions

I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive about having Ms. Stariha back because I heard that she is a lot tougher than what our 2nd Tri class was used to. However, I feel that I understand "To The Virgins" and "His Coy Mistress" a lot better than any of the poems/sonnets we read in part A. I also (yes this is a bit embarrassing to admit) truly enjoyed Friday's discussion! I'm actually looking forward to the rest of this class! (minus the Weathering Heights bit- I tried to read that once and it ended up with me giving up after spending a week trying to get through the first chapter)

P.S. If anyone out there feels like getting some culture this weekend Hart High School is performing Cinderella at 7pm tonight! I heard it's supposed to be really good.

with a cloak full of peace.

Carpe Diem. I feel like this is a concept that is looked at with gratitude, but not often fought for. We can all reflect on it, and say that its a great way to live your life, and in more ways then one beneficial, but I feel like we reflect on it like its out of our reach. With bystanders eyes; like its something that we ourselves cannot obtain. Id like to disagree. I feel like this phrase is emboding a whole aspect of peace with oneself and effort to strive for what you want. Realizing that succeding takes effort, so wishing its going to happen isnt going to do any good unless effort is put into it. But then I think its also engulfing this whole idea of peace. That if you are always striving for something better, you are going to miss what you have today. In reality, the moment you are striving could be happening right now. I feel like this is really what it means by seize the day. If you are never at peace with who you are now then how can you expect to be at peace with who you are tomorrow....

~ViRgInS~

Interesting thought: I know that this poem had lots of meanings. That it wasn't LITERALLY (or not entirely literally) talking about sex, but rather about life in itself. But what did the author really expect from the people when they were writing this. It is very evident that authors wrote according to what was happening around them in their life times. So when they were in the middle of a war, what were they trying to get people to react to? To be completely honest, the sex part makes the most sense to me. If you don't know if your going to live to face tomorrow, i understand that the author was saying go out and have fun. But what other reaction could he be trying to spark by saying go out and experience life. How would this apply to war??? Was he trying to get people to stand up against the leaders of the time? Maybe he was trying to recruit for a certain war party. I really don't know the incentive to the underlying message here.