Playing Analyst

After reading this weeks section of Gardiner, I feel that I have a better understanding of my disdain for reading plays. In the beginning of chapter 7 the author remarks that few people "read plays for pleasure in the same way that we might take a novel with us to the beach." (Pg. 113) The page goes on to explain methods to benefit a reader's understanding of plays. I have always had trouble visualizing a play, so this helps to explain my struggle with the genre.
The sample analysis in the end was very intriguing to me. I felt that if I could read a play with a specific analysis in mind, like Mrs. Peters' ethical journey, I could enjoy the play more. I might be able to see the play through Mrs. Peters' eyesI look forward to reading more plays in the future in order to test out my theory that a specific analysis will facilitate in my enthusiasm and understanding if reading plays.

Stories

I really enjoyed the poem "Cinderella," because it is not all sunshine and roses like the Disney version. This poem takes a well known story from Disney and depicts its origin, which is part of the Grimm fairy tales. This version uses the dove in order to give Cinderella everything that she desires, rather than a magical Godmother. The dove symbolizes the pure love of the mother, as well as the animalistic instincts that a mother would have if her child were being wronged. When Cinderella is in need, the dove is there to provide for her since the mother can not be. When Cinderella is being wronged by others, the dove comes to her aid. I could not help but picture the dove as the spiritual essence that the mother left behind, instead of smiling "down from heaven in the seam of a cloud" like the mother said that she would do. Overall, I thoroughly prefer this work and its gruesome details in comparison to Disney's adaptation. 

The second poem made me laugh. Most of the time you really do not want to know the true story because it does not have the soft edges or enthusiasm that an alternative version has. I could not help but think of the different versions of Cinderella and how most (if Grimm's version is more like the true story since it is where the adaptation came from) do not want to know about eyes being pecked out or women cutting their feet to make a shoe fit. The two poems went hand in hand for me after making this connection that the first is like the true story that the second says you should not ask for. My mind then went to the saying that there is a right side, wrong side, my side, and his side to every story. The variations are what allow for adaptation, and most of the time the preferable choice of which side we accept is due to the fact that we innately dislike confrontation and discomfort.

Wyatt v.s. Rossetti v.s. Hacker

Between the three poems that we read for class, my favorite was Rossetti's "Song." I believe that this was my favorite because I was enamored by the tone and beauty of the words. I can not help but think of the poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye "Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep" while reading this poem. I feel that the author is telling those close to her that it is okay to move on with life. The speaker will not need frivolities at her grave because she will not know of them. She is telling the reader that it is okay to remember the good times, but that they should forget how terrible the feeling of loss is. This poem speaks to anyone that has dealt with loss, and I believe that the author may help many to get past their grief and on to healing through this poem.
The second poem was Marilyn Hacker's "Villanelle." I enjoyed reading this poem, but not as much as the first. I agree with the author that "every day we separate." I feel that we do separate and change and mold new aspects of our life into a new self. This poem had a beautiful message!
The last poem was Sir Thomas Wyatt's "They Flee from me." I could not help but feel that this poem is about prostitution. I believe that the author is describing his various encounters with prostitutes, and how once they have had use of each other they are free to move on. I do not know why, but I can not gain any positive influence from this work. I prefer poems that promote emotion or further thinking. I have never truly enjoyed poems that do not provide emotion, humor, or a deeper understanding. Maybe I am missing something in Wyatt's poem, but I did not gain anything from it. What about you? Which did you prefer? Did you gain something from Wyatt's poem? If so, then please fill me in!

The Beauty of Sadness

I was amazed at how depressing this poem was. I felt that the author was trying to get me to notice the negativity in nature and the human existence. " Sophocles long ago/Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought/ Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow/ Of human misery;" This excerpt from the poem gives a sense that the sound of the sea mimics the sound made by humans in agony. I realized that when I read the poem (the fourth time) I read each line as if it was a sigh. The comparison of something so vast to our own troubles makes them seem like they are just as vast and never-ending.

The author's word choice helped me to make the connection that the poem was not positive, but instead exemplified the struggles of everyday life. He uses the following words in the work: grating roar; fling; tremulous; sadness; misery;melancholy; withdrawing roar; and dreary. These words all help to set the tone for the last stanza in which the author is expressing that he and his love must be there for one another since the world and everyone in it will not be there to offer comfort or solace.

"And we here as on a darkling plain/ Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,/Where ignorant armies clash by night." This excerpt sums up his work perfectly. I found it to mean that as we hide away in the darkness with our own troubles the world is wrought with chaos and ignorance. We must attend to our own struggles because the world is too busy handling the constant ebb and flow of life.

Although I found this poem to be slightly depressing, I was also enamored by the words. The author took something that is often considered sublime (the ocean) and uses the sublime to set the tone of misery (rather than awe) in the work. I have often looked at the ocean as the tide rose and fell, but my thoughts were primarily on the fact that my problems were minute in comparison. This poem uses the same image to depict that, much like the waves that crash on the beach and take some of it with them with each tide, each time we experience the emotions of the world we begin to be worn down by them.    

A New Understanding

As I was reading the Feminist Criticism in our copy of The Dead, I was struck by a new understanding of why I found the work hard to relate to. "The narrative voice has a bourgeois agenda: to produce a flattering picture of Irish middle-class life whose center of security and reliability is Gabriel Conroy, a paterfamilias to a family of women." This excerpt from page 193 made me realize that part of the reason I could not enjoy the work was because I was not someone who would be affected by any of the agendas set aside by the narrative voice. I feel that if the story had been told from Gretta's view, then I might have gotten more meaning from the text.

On page 195 you read of the narratives attitude towards Gretta. From this portion of the criticism I was able to add cause to why I could not appreciated the comments that Gabriel had made about Gretta. Gretta was used as an object and a symbol, which might seem romantic to many but to me the dehumanization was disrespectful. I can not help but think of all of the crude comments that are made by a man who sees a woman that he believes to be hot or sexy. Why not beautiful? Pretty? Gorgeous? Why do men feel the need to use rash words to describe their feelings towards a woman? I was able to realize that another reason that I could not empathize with Gabriel in the story was because he was often belittling the women or his wife. Was this a constraint for the rest of my female peers out there?

Literature: An Object or Piece of Art

"The Affective Fallacy is a confusion between the poem and its results( what it is and what it does).... It begins by trying to derive the standards of criticism from the psychological effects of a poem and ends in impressionism and relativism. The outcome...is that the poem itself as an object of specifically critical judgement, tend to disappear." This excerpt is from the reader response section of "The Dead." I was so caught up when I read this that I was not able to get much from the rest of the section. Essentially this quote says that what the reader believes the work means is completely irrelevant. I was appalled. I have always been told that literature is like a dance, it takes both the reader and the writer to make a successful work.

However in the following paragraph Fish argues that "literature exists when it is read." I could not agree more. A work is just words on a page, but when the audience reads the words they come to life. I feel that it is almost impossible to read a novel/poem without putting our own experiences into the interpretation. This is how critics are able to develop their own assessments of a work. I find this statement similar to the question if a tree makes a noise when it falls in a forest without anyone around. I am of the mind that if no one is around to hear the noise then it does not matter, so if no one is able to read a work and make an analysis using their own experience then the work is just an object taking up space instead of a piece of art.

Realization of Inadequacy

I must admit that the first portion of the work was really difficult to get in to. The story was just about a family and a party, and I could not find any real depth in the story. Halfway through I was able to finally get in to the story. I enjoyed getting to experience the setting through Gabriel's thoughts.
The most influential portion of the work for me was the scene of Gretta listening to the song. This set the scene for the rest of the story. Gabriel was enamoured once more with his wife, but she was caught in misery of the past. I feel that the scene in the inn was a turning point in Gabriel's life because he finally realized that he had not experienced as much as the wife who me he desperately tried to shelter. The irony of this struck me! The author emphasized how Gabriel coddled his wife, but the story comes full circle for Gabriel to finally see that he is not truly above her and does not really possess the right/experience to guide her life.