Poetry Analysis 2

Question 3: Repetitions

   The world of poetry is mystery and beautiful. Poetry can express all the view from its author from its use of words. There are many ways for the author to use, the reputation of some words, sounds, and images are one of those methods. The famous American poet Emily Dickinson’s poem A Narrow Fellow in the Grass, the use of reputation describes a lively view of speaker’s backyard, where is a place for natures and purity.

   Looking A Narrow Fellow in the Grass all together, it has 6 stanzas, each stanza has 4 lines and there is only 1 sentence in the whole poem. It describes when the speaker sees a snake in her backyard and how she links this into the point of living with nature. This poem has a very significant setting, which it uses many dashes at the end of lines. It is an unusual way of writing poems but also becomes one of Emily Dickinson's symbol. Also, each stanza has a similar structure of “Long - Short - Long - Short” in length, where most of the stanzas have “8 - 7 - 8 - 7” in meters. Furthermore, the speaker frequently uses capitalize words to emphasize important feeling, as well as shows some signification of the meanings.

   In its first stanza, the speaker introduces the main character immediately, who is the “narrow Fellow”, a snake in her yard. Calling the snake as a "fellow" is the use of personification. Then there are many “s” sounds throughout the first stanza. Such as “grass”, “rides”, “notice”, and “is-”. This repetition of “s” is very significant that let me notice that its sound is to describe the sound of the snake. It is hard to notice at the first time reading it because reader shed thinks over the surface of the meaning of words. It is such as a clever way to describe the snake. Also, the repetition of “s” sounds also create a simple rhyme in the poem. Because of the poem does not have clear rhyme at the end of every sentence. In total, this repetition of sounds is very unique that make its special, thus succeeding highlighting the descriptions of the main snake.

Moving to the next stanzas, the repetition of “s” sound become more and more clear because there are more words with the sound. The words like “Grass divides as” has a continue three sounds, and there are more in the stanza. Even though having these repetitions in the poem, the speaker is still able to tell the movements of the snake. In the third stanza, the speaker describes the snake as “He likes a Boggy Acre-”, the using of “He” continues the personification in the poem. Following this, the author describes the speaker as “a Boy and Barefoot” which shows Emily Dickinson’s wish of being a boy. It was in the 1800s, a woman could have a lot of different treaty than men. And Emily Dickinson is a very independent woman who has a strong mind. Every word in the poem shows an important value for expression author's idea.

At the last two stanzas, the speaker connects the view of the snake with other animals, that expand the topic of the poem. There is still “s” sound repetition in the tantras, but it is not as significant as the formal stanzas. The speaker moves on to talk about her feeling, where is the phase of expressing emotion in the poem. She talks about she knows the animals in the yards, as well as they know her. Where she says “Cordiality”. Then she says she never scare of the snake to show her brave and a strong mind to face the challenges in the future.

In conclusion, I am very impressed by how Emily Dickinson uses repetition of sounds and telling her story in the same time in A Narrow Fellow in the Grass. The reputation creates a more lively view of the snake in sound. As well as let the poem stands out from others because usually poem uses repetition in words and images, to use it in sound is difficult. People say the best way to study a poem is to read it out loud, I can clear hear the snake’s “s” sound during this process which let me have more interesting. Behind the surface of the poem, I can feel some of the desire from the post, who is strong but also hope to be seen as equal in life, which let the reader think a lot.

Poetry Analysis: Blood

   “Blood is thicker than water.”  I believe there is always a connection between families, and these connections make the family unique. The blood flows from ancestors, to parents, and to children. The blood passes the culture of the family from a generation to the next generation. Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem Blood expresses the unstoppable flow of blood through the people, that remind the people where they belong and guide people to their future.

Blood tells a story between the father and the narrator in 5 stanzas. The first stanza has 4 lines with 2 sentences. The narrator listens to her father about “A true Arab”. This appears in the first lines that show its importance to the whole poem. Mrs. Nye shows her strong emotions to her origin country a lot in her poems. So when I read this first lines, I can clearly feel the emotion from her to her country. This emotion is passed from her father, which the poem mainly force to discuss. Then the second sentence, the father captures a buzzer in his hand, this does not kill the buzzer. Connect this with the first sentence, I understanding that the father tries to show the blood of a true Arab person, who does not kill innocence, to his daughter. The spirit of “A true Arab” is adapted from peasants to children.

The second stanza is the extension of the first, it tells 2 more example of “A true Arab”. Specifically, it tells the palms and a belief of watermelon. These stories sound like fairy tales to me, but for the narrator, they are what she believed because she is an Arab. These 2 stanzas introduce the concept of “A true Arab” for the reader. They are shorter than the later stanzas and in a more simple form of A-B-B-A and A-A-A.

Then there is a flashback to a childhood memory in the third stanza. There are 8 lines with 4 sentences in the stanza and tells a neighbor girls comes to see the Arab. But the narrator did not realize what is an Arab, so she answered “we don’t have one’. This targeted the father talks about their names, “Shihab” which means” shooting star”. This is maybe the first time the father talks about their blood to the daughter. The father taught the girl about their culture, where they come from and where their ancestor lived. It is also the place their blood come from and can be traced back to. The story of their name symbols the connection between the generations that link people together into a family.

The last two stanzas tell about the latest story that a Palestinian been attack. In the first sentence of fourth stanzas, the narrator uses “clot in my blood” to describe her feeling at the moment. This expresses her sadness to the victim and shows an extended idea about blood. Blood can symbol more than a family, but also a large group of people in one culture. The narrator grows up from the innocent girl to a mature woman who recognizes those other people from their region as her family. The poem shows the narrator does not live in her old country. At the end of the fourth stanza, the narrator questions “What flag can we wave?” to show her struggle between her blood and the new land she lives in. It is a realistic question that many immigrants have, and this pushes the poem to a highlight, that an outbreak of the homesick from the blood. The last stanzas follow this story, which tells what the father reacts to the incident. The father shows furthermore sadness to the news. As a parent that closer to the origin, father apparently show his care to his people. The father also shows his struggles like the daughter, that “neither of his two languages can reach it”. As a stranger in another land, immigrants always see their origin people as the same blood because this blood connects them together to where they belong. Lastly, the narrator questions the world, to persuade an equal world to the different region of people.

In conclusion, many young forgets their origin, their family, their blood. Like what the narrator show in the poem Blood. There are a lot of repetition of “True Arab” in the poem, which reminds me all the time about how loyal the narrator is to her blood. Poetry is hard, but it is so beautiful when it shows its meaning. Blood is what connects ancestors, parents, and children, and blood reminds people where they belong to.

MLML Staging Proposal

   Everyone has his or her own understanding of the ending of My Love My Love, which it tells a story with many dualities. There are the rich grand home and poor peasants, the gods and the people, and the love between Daniel Beauxhomme and Ti more. When I read the book, I am curious about why Ti mount and Daniel could not be together. I think this is a mystic the author left in the book, which for every reader, there is their own answer for it. So I want to stage the story of My Love My Love that shows all those dualities, and all the controversial information the book gives to me. Thus left the same curious I had when I finished the book to my audiences, I want them left out the theater with all their imaginations about the play.

Firstly, there are many possible answers for why Daniel chooses Andrea instead of Ti Moune. From Ti Moune’s perspective, Daniel like suddenly changed a person that forget all those time he spent with Ti Moune. On the other hand, the book brief tells about how Ti Moune enjoys the wealthy life in the hotel that actually bring her many inspections. Because Daniel does not have the memory when Ti Moune saves him. This is one of the major qualities I want to show on stage. On the surface, the play will tell exactly how the story goes. Especially I will focus on portraying the happy scene between Ti Moune and Daniel. There will be bright lights, that provide a happy mood on the scene. The happier those seven looks like, the more shock and impression the audience will have when they see the following scenes. During that happy scene, I will put signs for the future tragedy on stage securely.

For example, Ti Moune changes her cloth and make-ups in the book, which she changes her peasant cloth into the lady’s beautiful dresses. On stage, It will be different to changes the dresses quickly, so there will not be many dresses for her to change. I will force on the different between the peasant cloth to the lady’s dress. In detailed, Ti Moune would have a dirty, brown, broken cloth with patches on it before, then when she is accepted in the hotel, she changes into a fabulous white dress like a goddess. Besides this dress, there will be many other dresses, and jewels on stage as props. I want to use those extra dresses and jewels to show Ti Moune actually spend much money on the hotel, like what the book described as the designers came to the Hotel to dress her. Those can slightly show there is the difference between rich and poor, then shows is a boundary between Ti Moune and Daniel. Audiences might not notice those things at first, but after the show, they will remember those details thus help them to finished their imaginations. In total, those differences can make audiences get more involved into the story by thinking deeper about Ti Moune’s life, which I want to show the controversial characteristics.

For the whole show, I like to show the differences in the settings of clothes and lights. There will be a clear difference between the peasants and the grand home. For the character’s clothing, the peasants will have simple design clothes, maybe just made up by a couple of fabrics, with dirty mud like brown color on it. Then the grand home will have well-designed clothes, that can have many decorations on them and clean suits and dresses. This can let audiences know the boundary I like to show as well as identify the character better. Also, the lights can create the difference by changing into different colors in the different scene. For peasants village, the light will be darker, like shadowed around them, to show their poor life. The grand home's hotel will have very bright lights to show the fancy of the palace as well as they have a better life.

In my view, My Love My Love presents an attractive story that can let people think a lot, and it is not a simple love story. So I will stage it in deep and serious. My goal is to bring people the dualities of the story, how were those boundaries between different levels of characters. In addition to this, I like to left out the mysteries of Ti Moune and Daniel by showing one side of their happy time, and a third person’s view from an outsider’s perspective. If the audiences can leave out with many different ideas about Ti Moune, that will be my success.

In Class Writing 4.14

          Ti Moune is a person with dualities, she lives in the village, but she always dreams to live in the city. In this way, she is an outsider in the village, so her costume will be similar to the normal villagers in outlook, but has many differences in details.
          Firstly, I think the normal villager will dress simply. Their cloth will in brown colors, like having mud from the farming. Because the villagers are the poor people, their dress will not be fancy, the made-up for their clothing will be cheap cloth material. Their clothes will not look comfortable to wear, but suitable for farming in the lands. To indicate the poor of them, there can also be some patches on their cloth.
          On the other hand, Ti Moune should have a similar dress like villagers. But she has a dress which other women in the village does not.  One thing I like to make Ti Moune difference is by letting other village women wear pants which will help them in farming, but let Ti Moune wearing a dress. This can show how Ti Moune dislikes the basic life in the village and show her desire of having a better life. Also, Ti Moune's dress will have pitches, but those pitches are decorated by Ti Moune which looks more natural and good looking. I want those pitches to show that Ti Moune spends some time in thinking to make herself different from others. This fits with the book that she has the desire to be beautiful and leave the village. The overall color of Ti Moune' dress will be similar to the villagers, which will have a brown color and looks dirty. This will show Ti Moune is actually one of the villagers, whatever she does to changes the details like her outlook, the inside of her will still be a poor peasant. Lastly, there can be some symbol of the butterfly which also indicate Ti Moune' desire on her dress.
           In conclusion, the main idea of Ti Moune's dressing will show her desire. Showing she has a similar outlook of cloth with the villagers but has differences in detail will be a good idea. Especially for the audiences, it is easier to Ti Moune has a dress which different from other villagers.

MLML Quiz 1

My Love My Love has a great story in the first 5 chapters, it introduces an island where full of dualities. There are poor peasants on the island as well as rich grand hommes. The main character Ti Moune is not satisfied with her positions and dreams to chase a better future. During chapter 4, Ti Moune takes good care of the injured grand homme Daniel. Ti Moune prays for his health, faced the dangerous Papa Ge, and willing to give everything for her love. These let the scene has an important symbolism for the entire story that indicated Ti Moune’s love and starting the controversial relationship between the Ti Moune and Daniel.

Firstly, chapter 4 is all about how Ti Moune takes care of Daniel and saves him from dangerous. For the entire story, this sets up all the following stories of the relationship between Ti Moune and Daniel. This scene is also very dramatic, there is a storm that destroyed the village, Ti Moune stands back for Daniel against all the villagers and faces the god of death Papa Ge’s visit. All those are wonderful material to create a good scene on stage. More importantly, this scene connects with following scenes from chapter 5 to 9 closely. Because Ti Moune does so much for Daniel in the scene, she believes that Daniel meant to be together with her and starts the journey to the city. It also gives a close look at the characteristics of Ti Moune, who is an ambitious girl. She desires for a better life, and to be love with a grand homme. She can sacrifice everything for achieving this goal. Like she prays for the gods for saving Daniel at the beginning, insists saving Daniel against villagers, and swears to give out everything for her love at the end. Especial the lines she says “I swear I shall give my soul for the life and happiness of my love - my love!” It not only shows how determined she is but also referenced with the title of the book. These let me pay attention to the scene and believe this is one of the major scenes in the story.

As such a scene with so many things to tell, it is so interesting for me to think about its staging. For the beginning of the scene, I will open most of the lights on stage, and let Ti Moune and Daniel sit in the middle. This is when Ti Moune helps Daniel in her place. Then when the storm comes, the lights will fade out to darker. There will be several spotlights shining to the stage with bright white light in a short time period, this will make the expression of the lightning of the storm. There will also be running sound at the back, with villagers shouting. Then the other characters like Mama Euralie enter into the hut. The whole stage will look very dark compared to the beginning, with all the lightning, raining sound and villagers screaming, this will create a dangerous amorphous on the stage. All this fit with the dangerous Daniel faces on stage. The staging also set for the coming of the deadly Papa Ge. The god of death enters with the darkness, lighting and ready to take Daniel’s life. Just like a phantom. In such a dangerous situation, Ti Moune says her lines of “my love, my love”. I like to rise up the emotions from this scene and let the audience to think deeper about the character of Ti Moune and bring them really into the world of My Love My Love.

The Broadway shows really open my eyes that they tell my staging is so helpful that a good staging can advance the story so much. I chose this scene from chapter four because of its great symbolism as well as I have a clear picture of my heart that this scene can be so shocking and impressed the audiences. Never satisfied with staging.

In Classwriting 4.10

During the conversation of Ti Moune and M. Bienconnu, it shows how Ti Moune is separated from the villagers. Ti Moune wants to chase her love, who is a grand homme Daniel and lived far away in the city. M. Bienconnu does not think they can be together and tries to explain their difference to Ti Moune. He says that "To be tranquil, one must hang one's hat where one can reach it. Keep one' heart where one can feel its beat." He explains that Ti Moune and Daniel are so different, between them are not only the far distance of road the but also the far distance of social level. Just like the history of the island before, which a peasant girl fall in love with a grand homme, the enddning is not good. Like he says later that "History cast our fate in stone." M. Bienconnu want to warm Ti Moune that she is chasing something she can not every touch.
On the other hand, Ti Moune can not listen to anyone and think clearly. She really fall in love with Daniel and determined her mind. She thinks that she is able to change her fate because she does that for Daniel. She believes that she has come through from the storm and she only has those dreams to support her in life. She still think that she can be love with Daniel. And this show the dualities between Ti Moune and communities of the villagers.
At the end, even though M. Bienconnu failed in stopping Ti Moune from leaving, but his word does claim her down and let her go to talk with Mama Euralie.

MLML Notes & 5 senses