Chapter 1 - Plot.
Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin.
Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice. Initial situation: The narrator reads in the newspaper about Sonny's arrest for using and selling heroin. This discovery sets off the action in the rest of the story and causes the narrator to reflect on his and Sonny's pasts. Since Sonny's drug use is so central to the narrative, it's fitting that we (and the narrator) learn of this right off the bat.
Conflict: Sonny and the narrator have their first argument about Sonny wanting to become a jazz musician. Although chronologically this takes place before the initial situation in the story, we don't read about it until after the fact. This is the
primary conflict between Sonny and the narrator (at least at first). Sonny wants to be a jazz piano player, but the narrator thinks this is a waste of his life. Their inability to see eye to eye on this is what causes so much strife between the brothers. Complication: Sonny moves into the narrator's apartment. Although this may seem like a resolution, Sonny and the narrator are both forced to face some difficult things about themselves and about their relationship with each other when they're living under the same roof. The narrator also has access to Sonny's things because his room is right there, so he finds himself struggling over whether or not to trust Sonny, whether or not he should search his room, and whether or not Sonny has recovered.
Climax: Sonny and the narrator argue in the apartment. This is where it all comes out: the narrator's anger at Sonny's drug use, Sonny's anger at feeling abandoned, the narrator's inability to understand Sonny as a musician,
and Sonny's frustration at all this. This is their big, loud, brutally honest argument. And this is also when Sonny invites his brother to come hear him play, which may or may not provide some resolution for them and for the story. Suspense: the moment just before Sonny starts to play the piano. Sonny is nervous, the narrator is nervous, the other musicians seem unsure, and the audience doesn't know what to expect. Only Creole seems confident that everything will be OK once Sonny starts playing. Conclusion: the narrator sends Sonny a drink This drink is the narrator's way of saying that he finally gets it – how important music is to Sonny, how necessary to his life. He finally understands what the other people in the club seem to already know about Sonny, and the implication is that the two men will finally find some peace in their relationship.
Chapter 2 - Narration and Point of view.
THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO BY EDGAR ALLAN POE.
Regarded as the originator of the modern short story and a master of the form, Poe established a highly influential rationale for short narrative art, which emphasizes the deliberate arrangement of a story's minutest details of setting, characterization, and structure in order to impress a unified effect on the reader. In his own work he demonstrated a brilliant command of this technique—often eliciting "terror, or passion, or horror" from his readers—as well as an uncommon imagination suffused with eerie thoughts, weird impulses, and foreboding fear. Renowned for cultivating an aura of mystery and a taste for the ghastly in his fiction, Poe relied on his imagination and literary skills to animate the disconcerting effects of his so-called "tales of horror," especially those dealing with crime and moral depravity. Among the latter kind, "The Cask of Amontillado" ranks as one of Poe's finest stories. Originally published in November 1846, in Godey's Lady's Book, "The Cask of Amontillado" has since become a classic tale of revenge, distinguished by the subtle irony that pervades many levels of the
story and by Poe's uncharacteristic use of dialogue between the protagonist and antagonist as the principal structural device of the narrative. The point of view in "The Cask of Amontillado" is first-person, also called first-person narrative; this style uses "I" or "We." In first person point of view, the text is narrated by a character in the story. In this story, Montresor is the narrator and main character.
Chapter 3 - Character.
Recitatif’ by Toni Morrison.
Toni Morrison's novel 'Recitatif' is the story of two young girls who bond at a shelter called St. Bonaventure, or 'St. Bonny's.' Twyla, who is the narrator of the story, and Roberta meet when they are eight years old. Roberta is of a different race than Twyla, but Twyla finds that Roberta is sympathetic to her situation. Unlike the other young girls at the orphanage, Twyla's mother dances all night. Morrison positions the girls in the story together so they can stick together against the influences of the older girls. Morrison moves the story forward as Twyla recounts her experiences at St. Bonny's, which include visiting the orchard, remembering the visit from her mother, and eating Easter candy. Time passes when both Twyla and Roberta split up, which sets up Morrison's strategy of further providing a contrast between the women. When the story picks up again with the two characters, Twyla is 28 and married, living in a rundown time; however, Roberta is married to a wealthy executive. Morrison inserts racial tension when busing hits Newburgh, Twyla's town. The contrast between the two women heightens as both are on
opposite sides of the law, holding pickets signs against and for busing. By the end of 'Recitatif,' both women are still perplexed about what happened to Maggie, another character they encountered while living at the orphanage. I choose 3 characters: James Benson James Benson is Twyla's husband. He is a native of Newburgh, the town where the later part of the story takes place. He is "comfortable as a house slipper" and is associated with the kind of family and continuity that Twyla's history lacks. Joseph Benson Joseph Benson is Twyla and James's son. Twyla becomes an activist in the busing controversy when Joseph is bused out of district in order to ensure racial integration in the schools. Twyla Benson
Twyla is the main character and the story's narrator. She was raised, in part, at an orphanage—not because her parents were dead, but because her mother chose or needed to "dance all night" and was thus unable to care for her. The fact that Twyla lacks mothering is central to her character. She marries into a stable, rooted family and becomes a mother herself.
Chapter 4 - Setting.
The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov.
The novel the lady with the dog contained such a doleful love story which regard to secrecy. In our society, to know someone who commited an affair to a married person mark especially by the expression of opposing. The novel remind everybody –If you only know their story, you’ll realize how to be on that case. The settings used in the story have the power to romanticize both man and woman, at the first part, “ they walked and talked of the strange light on the sea: the water was a soft warm lilac hue, and there was a golden streak from the moon upon it” for most girls, this one pictures such a great romantic setting. Gurov always do the first move, physical contact creates an aphrodisiacal impact on members of the opposite sex. Touchy feely flirting may actually be a great way to get someone to fall in love with you. Attractive women who are married to ordinary looking men like Anna are more prone to having affairs. Even if the attractive women aren’t really looking for a fling thing,
other men will be less intimidated to approach a woman who’s married a guy who is less than perfect. People who are in a relationship, but are unhappy with their partner, find themselves more depressed and hate their life a lot more than most singles who are depressed. At the third part, the parting experience made Gurov and Anna lived like in depression. One morning, Gurov took the best room at hotel at Moscow to look for Anna. The best thing was to trust to chance. The repeated meeting to Yalat had brought such a feeling of dejection and hopelessness. Gurov had deeply fell in love with Anna. Having fall in love with a married man (and she was married as well) is a girl’s nightmare. Guvor and Anna explores a love affair where love is never admitted until the chance for love has passed.
Chapter 5 - Symbol and figurative language.
The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The Birthmark- Georgiana’s birthmark symbolizes mortality. The narrator indicates that her small, red, birthmark that resembles a human hand represents her, and humanity’s, flaws; and that is what makes us human- the inability to achieve perfection. Unfortunately Aylmer, Georgiana’s husband and a scientist, is disgusted by her one imperfection and eventually convinces his wife, to the point that she would rather die than live with the birthmark any longer, that he must remove it. This aversion to her birthmark could stem from his belief that it symbolizes death. He wrongly assumes that if he can get rid of the birthmark, it will mean that he has the power to prolong life indefinitely. The shape of the birthmark, a human hand, causes the reader to imagine that God (or in the short story, a fairy or mother nature), while creating Georgiana intentionally marked her face with a symbol of humanity and imperfection. This is supported by the description of the birthmark in which Hawthorne says is “deeply interwoven” with Georgiana’s face; symbolizing again that flaw is a key part of humanity’s character and cannot be separated.
Unfortunately that is exactly what Aylmer attempts to do; subconsciously he even dreams that the birthmark reaches as far as her heart and that he must cut it away at all costs. This reinforces another symbolization the birthmark holds for Aylmer- that the tiny flaw could represent evil and sin inside of her. Figurative language is commonly used by authors in their work. With this, authors use language to convey a meaning that is different from the interpretation of the literal words used on the page. Figurative language can be used by an author for many different reasons, like wanting to make a particular point with word choice, or making language particularly beautiful. In this lesson, you'll examine four types of figurative language: personification, symbolism, simile, and metaphor.
Chapter 6 - Theme.
The open boat by Stephen Crane.
The principal theme is despite the narrator’s profusion of animistic (animal-like), humanistic (manlike), and deistic (godlike) characterizations of nature, Crane makes clear that nature is ultimately indifferent to the plight of man, possessing no consciousness that we can understand. As the stranded men progress through the story, the reality of nature’s lack of concern for them becomes increasingly clear. The narrator highlights this development by changing the way he describes the sea. Early in the story, the sea snarls, hisses, and bucks like a bronco; later, it merely “paces to and fro,” no longer an actor in the men’s drama. In reality, the sea does not change at all; only the men’s perception of the sea changes. The unaltered activity of the gulls, clouds, and tides illustrates that nature does not behave any differently in light of the men’s struggle to survive. Crane strengthens the idea that nature is indifferent to man by showing that it is as randomly helpful as it is hurtful. For every
malevolent whim that the men suffer, they experience an unexpected good turn in the form of a favorable wind or calm night. The fact that the men almost seem to get assistance from nature destroys the notion of nature as an entirely hostile force. Nothing highlights this point so much as the correspondent’s final rescue. Plowed to shore and saved by a freak wave, the correspondent must embrace the fact that the very thing that has put him in harm’s way has saved him. This freak wave, however, may also be responsible for killing the much hardier oiler, a turn of events that demonstrates two ideas: nature is as much a harsh punisher as it is a benefactor, and nature does not act out of any motivation that can be understood in human terms.
Chapter 7 - Understanding the text.
“Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister” by Robert Browning.
This highly entertaining poem portrays the grumblings of a jealous monk who finds his pleasures more in the flesh than in the spirit. Presenting himself as the model of righteousness, the speaker condemns a fellow monk, Brother Lawrence, for his immorality; but we soon recognize that the faults he assigns to Lawrence are in fact his own. Unlike many of Browning’s monologues, this one has no real historical specificity: we have no clues as to when the speaker might have lived, and the Spanish cloister is simply an anonymous monastery. The poem comprises nine eight-line stanzas, each rhyming ABABCDCD. The lines fall roughly into tetrameter, although with some irregularities. Browning makes ample use of the conventions of spoken language, including nonverbal sounds (“Gr-r-r-”) and colloquial language (“Hell dry you up with its flames!”). Many of the later dramatic monologues dispense with rhyme altogether, but this poem retains it, perhaps to suggest the speaker’s self-righteousness and careful adherence to tradition and formal convention.
Because the speaker here is talking to himself, the poem is not technically a dramatic monologue as so many of Browning’s poems are; rather, it is, as its title suggests, a “soliloquy� (even though it is a freestanding poem, and not a speech from a play). Nevertheless it shares many of the features of the dramatic monologues: an interest in sketching out a character, an attention to aestheticizing detail, and an implied commentary on morality.
Chapter 8 - Situation and setting.
Cherrylog Road by James Dickey.
“Cherrylog Road” is a narrative poem, a memory recounted in the first person. The title identifies the setting of the event that the speaker recalls: Cherrylog Road is the location of a junkyard in which the speaker meets his teenage lover for secret assignations. As the title suggests, the poem pays a lot of attention to setting, even identifying Cherrylog Road, in the first and last stanzas, as a roadway branching off of Highway 106. In spite of this specificity, the poet identifies the location only as an unnamed “southern-state.” Details reveal that the setting is the rural South—bootlegging country—and that the time of year is summer. The speaker arrives at the junkyard first for a prearranged meeting with his lover, Doris Holbrook. Little information is offered about Doris except that she lives nearby and must meet the speaker on the sly for fear of retribution from her father. While waiting for Doris, the speaker explores the junkyard, moving from wrecked car to wrecked car and fantasizing about their owners or picturing himself as a race car driver. As his anticipation mounts, his imagination turns to
Doris, and he speculates about the unpleasant consequences of being caught by her father. By the middle of the poem, the speaker hears the sound of Doris approaching, tapping the wrecked cars with her wrench (she must return with used car parts to explain her absence from home). However, it is not until the fifteenth of eighteen stanzas.
Chapter 9 - Theme and tone.
Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy.
Barbie Doll is a powerful poem. The only thing that comes to our mind when we hear the word ‘Barbie Doll’ is our favorite childhood toy. The main character in the poem is a girl who was born like others but she never gets an opportunity to feel contented with herself as she tries to please others and to accept her the way she is. The poem begins with the sentence ‘the girl child was born as usual’ trying to give the impression that she was born like any other normal child. The succeeding lines show that the girl child was ‘presented dolls that did pee-pee/ and miniature GE stoves and iron.’ The toys provided to the girl child are symbols of feminism that the family wants the child grow up into. It represents the kind of work a woman is supposed to learn, the art of cooking and ironing. Moreover, she should also manage to look good in order to fit in the society. ‘Lipsticks the color of cherry candy’ were provided to the girl in order to look pretty, enhance her sexuality and cover any flaws if she had. The ‘magic of puberty’ in line 6 refers to the beginning of her puberty her menstrual cycle when her body begins to change. With the change of her body, comes criticism from one of her classmates, ‘you have a great big nose and fat legs.’ This is where the girl becomes conscious of herself and begins to question her appearance.
Theme: society always had a control over individual lives, and especially the most on women. The society tells women how to dress and eat, how to behave in order to be accepted. Little girls are expected to become perfect feminine beauties, additionally learning the art of cooking and ironing in their later life. Barbie Doll highlights these social roles in comparison to a doll. The girl in the poem represents all other girls. It makes us realize that every girl in some point of her time in life was made to feel unaccepted of imperfect. Tone: the tone of Barbie Doll is that of struggle and death. The tone changes throughout the poem from her early life to the girl’s death. The girl in this poem struggles to become what everybody wants her to be; but in the end she kills herself. She commits suicide. Or is it a part of her that dies? The poem can be interpreted in both ways.
Chapter 10 - Language word choice and order.
"At the San Francisco Airport" by Yvor Winters.
Taken at face value, this poem takes place in the San Francisco Airport; a father standing with his daughter, both nervous but ready to board the airplane. I believe Yvor Winters intended a deeper meaning, however. The poem is packed with connotations and inferences, and what may ostensibly seem to be an innocent airplane boarding is revealed to be so much more. The poem begins and ends with an ominous line: “This is the terminal.” The word “terminal” is ambiguous; directly, it could refer to a portal at the San Francisco Airport. If one analyzes the context of that word in the poem overall more deeply, however, it takes on a different meaning. The speaker of this poem (it may very well be Winters himself) recognizes that he has almost arrived at the last stop. The next stanzas describe his daughter standing beside him, “small,/contained and fragile,” using this simple diction to paint an image of a simple, delicate flower of a girl, requiring special care and attention. This time, the speaker is “the past, and that is all;” he can no longer be there to support her, “going
whither [she] is bent.” She is not entirely alone though; the speaker’s words offer small hope, as they “in part are one.” He will remain with her, as part of her “brain,” her “will,” her “knowledge,” and her “passion.” With the memory of him, she will carry on his legacy where he cannot. The last stanza designates the final goodbye; he repeats that “This is the terminal” from the beginning of the poem, only this time, it is a “break.” This sharp and precise word marks the final separation and release from his daughter. He must “remain in light and stare,” for this is his last stop. Yet, while he cannot board the next plane himself, he is allowed one last look at his daughter, his legacy, before she continues through the terminal.
Chapter 11 - Visual imagery and figures of speech.
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day by William Shakespeare.
Throughout this poem, the use of imagery can be seen many times, through the vivid image of the woman’s beauty compared to the glow summer. The poem starts with a rhetorical question “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” which implies adoration to his beloved. Then the next line is the admiration for this woman’s magnificence with two adjectives “lovely” and “moderate”. The selection of these two words makes this woman’s good look seems very pleasant but also magnificent. There’s a repetition of the word “more” before the two adjectives, which increases the effect of praising the loveliness of this lady. The next two lines “Rough winds do shake the darling bush of May”, “And summer lease hath all too short a date” expresses the negative aspect of summer. Shakespeare’s use of imagery for “rough winds” implies that the tempestuous weather is ruining the joy of summer and fades the splendor away. Then it’s followed by the complaint of summer passes too quickly, which metaphorically suggests that all beauty is only temporary, all pleasant thing must come to an end at some point.
The second quatrain addresses about the nature of summer and beauty in general. The fifth and sixth lines have brilliant personifications of the sun as “the eyes of heaven” and “his golden complexion”. They implicitly describe the characteristics on a face, with the use of imagery and metaphor. The next two lines refer to an unavoidable truth that all beautiful things will eventually grow fainter as time goes by, and because of the strenuous encounters in life. “And every fair from fair sometime declines” “By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d:” Shakespeare uses the alliteration, as well as repetition “fair from fair” to emphasize the attractiveness fading away. He has combined proficiently two literary devices in just three words. The ninth line deliberately shows a complete contrast idea: “But thy eternal Summer shall not fade” describes the beauty that will stay for eternity, and will always remain the quality and prolonged existence. The repetition of “nor” has the effect of emphasizing that nothing can decline the gorgeousness of this lady that Shakespeare adored.
Figures of speech in the poem, I would say there is metaphor. When Shakespeare talks about "thy eternal summer" he is not using the word summer in the literal sense. Rather, he is using summer as a metaphor for the peak of someone's life or, in this case, loveliness. Second, I think the whole sonnet is an example of hyperbole. Surely she will not enjoy an eternal summer where she is always lovely. Surely the comparison to a summer day is exaggerated. I think he is overstating her charms to make his point. Moreover, speech that you may want to identify and discuss. There's also "the eye of heaven" later in the poem, a fancy way to talk about the sun; you might identify and discuss this as periphrasis. Finally, "nor Death shall brag" presents death as a figure, so you can talk about personification here. I'm sure there are a number of other figures of speech at work in the poem (e.g. parallelism), and I hope that others will identify some of them.
Chapter 12 - Symbol.
Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich
We'll start off with a big one here, maybe the most important and the most mysterious symbol in the poem. This book is the first and last image in the poem, which is a good way to know that it really matters to Rich. At the same time, it doesn't quite seem to belong in the same world as the dive down to the wreck. It's hard to imagine that this "book of myths" is just a book with some old myths in it. Diving into the Wreck” is a poem of ten stanzas in free verse. The poem is written in the first person. Sometimes poets use the first-person device to create a character who may have different values or beliefs from the author. In this case, however, no distinction between speaker and poet is suggested. The first-person voice allows the poet to address the reader directly, as if recounting her own experience. The poem narrates the speaker’s quest as she explores a sunken ship to discover the cause of the disaster and to salvage whatever treasures remain. The sea is a traditional literary symbol of the unconscious. To dive is to probe beneath the surface for hidden meanings, to learn about one’s submerged desires and emotions. In this poem, the diver is exploring a wreck—a ship that has failed. Preparing to dive, she reads the “book of myths” for guidance, but she must leave the book behind in order to gain direct knowledge without the intermediaries of history and language:
the thing I came for the wreck and not the story of the wreckthe thing itself and not the myth. She is alone in her journey. Unlike the French underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau with his many helpers, she must be alone, for the scientist may work with a team, but the quest requires isolation. The poem is the story of a descent into the ocean to discover important knowledge of the past, to examine a wreck and to salvage the cargo. The poet describes the tools that are needed for the dive and the diver’s transformation as she descends. By the time she reaches the wreck, she has become a new kind of creature, a “she/he.” As the diver learns, the myth that was the starting point of her journey is incomplete and inadequate: It does not tell her story. She must, therefore, return to tell her own tale.
Chapter 14- Internal structure.
Blackberry Eating by Galway Kinnell.
As one reads or listens to these words of simile between creating prose and poetry or oration , it is as if one can almost hear the process of chewing and eating blackberries In Blackberry Eating , rhythm , consonance or the repeated consonant sounds anywhere and alliteration or repeated initial consonants are obviously present , what with the multiple use of black by itself or as prefix : black blackberries , blackberries , blackberry-making “S ” is also alliterated several times with the words strengths , squeeze , splurge silent , startled and the present and past forms of squinch “I love to go out in late September amon. Paper Topic: poem analysis on Galway kinnel`s poem `blackberry eating` (Full name (Professor ‘s name (Course (Date Blackberry Eating The poem “Blackberry Eating ” by Galway Kinnell is a short but effective example of how the use of the elements of poetry can evoke emotional reaction and the corresponding emotional experience in people The poem starts out with a matter-of-factly account or story telling of a late September trip or
errand to pick up “fat , overripe , icy , black blackberries to ear blackberries for breakfast The color “black , an apparent redundancy , is used to precede “blackberry ” to produce or connote the image of the darkness or deepness of the fruit color , on top of the other qualities of fatness or big size and possible coldness and juicy stage of ripeness The stalks very prickly , a penalty they earn for knowing the black art of blackberrymaking These next two and a half lines jumps into or introduces the level of figurative language What the “penalty ” element in the metaphor perhaps suggests is that the practitioner of the art earns a disadvantage , or a price to pay , when he or she holds the stalks to pick up the blackberries These next words prompt the reader to think what the author is trying to tell “and as I stand among them lifting the stalks to my mouth , the ripest berries fall almost unbidden to my tongue But the next line provides the unequivocal clue “as words sometimes do. Herein , it is revealed
that the berries are compared to words implying that blackberry-making is likened to making a craft or something with words. A sort of metaphorical onomatopoeia is made use of in the next lines “Certain peculiar words like strengths or squinched , manylettered one-syllabled lumps , which I squeeze , squinch open , and splurge well in the silent , startled , icy , black language. At this point , the poem becomes clear , as metaphor is clearly replaced with the simile tool of the conjunction “as What makes this apparently simple , down-to-earth poem particularly appealing to read and listen to is the equally effective use of sound devices. What initially seems a either an implied mystery or a misguided use of the pronoun “they ” in referring to that entity knowledgeable on “the black art ” is in fact metaphorical language. While the first three lines directly expresses , herein , the author still makes use of stressed imagery. The prickly stalks obviously are not persons who practice the supposedly dark or secret art of blackberry-making