Weird Poets

Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore classic American poetry; not because it's good because, let's face it, old poets were indeed weirdos. You have Dickinson going all bezerk with these dashes that make us panic and feel undone. Whereas Whitman is a fellow who is  undeniably gender fluid, he talks of a she, he, and himself but all as himself in the 11th stanza in the packet. The obscurity of these poets is so marvelous for the reason of, well me at least, thinking "what in the sam-heck possessed these poets to constantly end lines with dashes, and refer to oneself as a she and he and I?" I was so confused and irritated with the fact that I was unable to have a legitimate answer as to why Dickinson predicted her death, and even called herself blind. Like, why on earth are you even closing yourself within four walls constantly and not wonder what it beyond those four walls. But hey, maybe it's just Dickinson thing that I'd rather not know, or it is just simply explainable. But, because of these poets and their peculiarities, I do find them really interesting which made their poems all the better (confusing maybe, but at least it's better than boring!).

Poe

This past week we've started reading some poetry in American Literature, and let me tell you, there are most defiantly some interesting poems we've read. But more importantly, there's this really interesting dude named Edgar Allan Poe. "Hmm, that name sounds super familiar.. Where have I heard this name before?" were my immediate thoughts when I heard this, then I recalled this one Simpsons episode where Bart, Maggie, and Lisa reenacted The Raven written by him. But this Poe guy, his life seems like H-E-double-hockey-sticks; I mean his life was just terrible. He was poor, he had a bad love life, and the worst of it all.. he was a middle child. Now come on, being a middle child sucks; it seems as though you're never really as important as the other siblings. Other than Poe being a middle child, his poetry was pretty dang creepy, I mean, lots of morbid, and supernatural things are just always happening. Like in The Cask of Amontillado, I mean he killed a guy in the Catacombs. Like, could you've picked a better place to kill someone, or even store wine. Now, just storing wine by dead bodies is just morbid all by itself, but killing a person, I mean Fortunato shoulda had that coming considering he was quite the jerk to Montresor, but then again he was drunk and it's not everyday you get your hands on the delicacy Amontialldo, though I don't really suggest losing your life over it.

Icha-What?

In American Literature we recently read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and let me tell you, Irving had quite the imagination; in this legend, there was this dude who rode a horse with his head on his hand chucking it at this other dude, there was some dude name Brom Bones, another dude named Ichabod, and a lady named.. Katrina. Don't get me wrong, I love names that are pretty unfamiliar (unique) but two "odd" names and one Katrina it's.... it's something. Hey, what do I know? Maybe Katrina was a pretty hip name back in Irving's day, or maybe even his lover's name was Katrina. Anywho, in this text, Ichabod was this guy who was pretty tall and lanky who was head over heals for the money Katrina had, and also in the text, there was this other guy named Brom Bones. Brom Bones was a tall muscular dude who also liked Katrina for her looks. Katrina, according to the text, was a pretty good looking lady who had lots of money, now don't know much about her personality, but she sounds like the whole package, so who could resist that? So you know, two guys like the same girl, blah blah blah they duke it with words, dancing and Ichabod getting a head chucked at him. I mean interesting, right? Pretty unexpected turn of events there.. I mean, who'd expect that? Irving would, that's who. The whole legend had a whole spooky and peculiar feel that really made me wonder where Irving got his idea from.. Maybe he was just bored and let his imagination run wild, maybe similar events happened to him and he just changed the names, who knows?

If One Goes.. So Does The Other

This week in American Studies we've covered quite a bit, but more specifically, we covered that if one anti-slavery state were to join the congress, a pro-slavery state would also join the congress. Now, when I heard about this, I thought that it was a pretty dumb way to never come to a conclusion; the conclusion being whether or not America was a pro-slavery or anti-slavery nation. But, I thought it was also marvelous because I never knew so many people could not come to a conclusion on this obviously terrible thing. But hey, what's so god-awful about free labor? After learning this, I realized how much of a unorganized nation we once were (and still are, but for different reasons); I mean, they (the congress at that time) lacked the ability to be coherent, and make just decisions to everyone who inhabited the nation. You have this nation, which was ruled by foreign men who knew nothing of this place, then kicked out the people who actually did know quite a bit about this place, and the nation rulers listened to nobody but similar foreign men (AKA white men); because they only listened to their self, they hadn't a women, a black, or a native to guide them. It was only these European men who they listened to. Because of this (the foreign men doings), they've planned a future of chaos for their self, but triumphs for others. You see, you had a women Revolution, Civil War, and many many more things that happened just because of a lack of listening from the foreign men. But anywho, history shmistory, our world is wonderful now isn't it?

Privileged Liberty

According to Charles Fried, the author of The Nature and Importance of Liberty, "liberty is an expression of what is valuable about us as human beings. It is a natural law idea; that is to say, it is a moral imperative based on what is fundamental (another moral idea) about our human nature." and this past week in World Studies and World Literature we've heard a lot about "liberty" and what it was coming from these privileged congressmen. In World Studies we also discussed the matters of the liberties of the women. We discussed this through a reading of a letter written by Abigail Adams to her husband John Adams. In the letter it stated that her husband not forget about the ladies, and remember all men would be oppressors if given the opportunity. Through her readings you were able to conclude that the women, well the white privileged women (as the non-white nor privileged women were probably treated ten degrees worse), were not being treated as equals to the men, thus they were not given the equal liberties. So I raise the question of whether or not liberty is really a natural thing that is fundamental for everyone, or if it's to those who are privileged? 

Can You Blame Them?

This past week in American Studies and American Literature, we've read a number of things where characters were ignorant; for example, Rowlandson's encounter with the Indians and Jefferson explaining Africans. When first reading these things, I was completely shocked and vexed with the lack of knowledge; like how can you really be so unknowledgeable to the point you'd take lives just for your muse, or you can go around and call people savages and barbarians. But I came to the realization, you cannot blame Mary nor Thomas for their ignorance. You cannot blame them because if you think about it, these are people who've been sheltered from everything and do not know it is wrong. But what really got me was the self-application. If you put yourself in Mary or Thomas' position, how would you react in their position? Could you really blame these people for their doings because of their ignorance? And if these people never done what they have, or thought the way they did, would we still be the same way we were then? After applying myself, and thinking, I cannot blame them, I do not think what Jefferson did was right, and I do not think the way Mary went about some things were right but I think they were fitted actions and thoughts for the people.