Thursday, April 2, 2015

William Shakespeare

Anabelle Wondrasch 
F Block Fam
April 2, 2015

William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare, considered to be one of the most influential people in literary history, was born on April 23, 1564 in Stratford, England. His family consisted of his two older sisters, three younger brothers, him, and his parents. Most scholars believe that he attended Stratford Grammar School, which was known for its excellent, but grueling curriculum.  When Shakespeare turned eighteen, he married Ann Hathaway, who was 26 at the time, and they had three children together. The family fell on hard times in 1586 and Shakespeare left Stratford find work to provide for his family. Shakespeare entered London when, encouraged by Queen Elizabeth I, the arts began to flourish, particularly the dramatic arts, because the queen loved attending the performances. Fortunately, because of his long time friend who was a distinguished individual in theater industry, Shakespeare was immediately accepted into the arts and began writing and directing plays. 

Unlike other writers, Shakespeare’s work is timeless, therefore molding how following authors have written. His unique style of writing incorporates human emotion, which lets the people watching (or reading), to relate and sympathize with the protagonist. Shakespeare focused on character development and weaving several plots together to add layers to his plays. Shakespeare wrote beautiful pieces of work.  Until 1590, most of his ideas had come from other play writers because plagiarism was allowed and even encouraged. This was another reason why his style was so distinct, he was the one of the first people to veer away from the traditional storyline and do it his own way.  Shakespeare understood how important human emotion and activity were, which counts for the success of his works.  

Shakespeare’s modern day influence can be seen in everything from music to how we speak. Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” references characters from Shakespeare and adds a positive note to create a song about two people that are torn away from each other but find themselves together in the end. Another example is the popular children’s film, the Lion King, which is based on Shakespeare’s plot in his drama Hamlet. He highlights the consequences of greed in how the uncle, in both stories, is overcome with the lust for power leading him to kill his brother and seize the throne.  Shakespeare’s works are some of the most powerful pieces of writing to ever be created and they portray every emotional state. Another monumental contribution was that approximately 10% of Shakespeare’s writing was new vocabulary, words such as fashionable and lackluster. He introduced a large number of words into the English language, so as well as creating a new form of writing, he also broadened the landscape of today’s vocabulary.





To learn more about shakespeare, you can look at the sites below
          -http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323
AUDIO FILE DOWN BELOW




Sonnet 15
When I consider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment.
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment.
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheered and checked even by the self-same sky:
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory.
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay,
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful time debateth with decay
To change your day of youth to sullied night,
And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.



 Work Cited 
  1. Branam, Harold. "William Shakespeare." Great Lives from History: Renaissance & Early Modern Era, 1454-1600 Hackensack: Salem, 2005. n. pag. Salem Online. Web. 23 Jan. 2015
  2. Kastan, David Scott. "Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)." World Poets. Ed. Ron Padgett. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2000. 477-486. Scribner Writers on GVRL. Web. 1 Feb. 2015 
  3. "Shakespeare, William 1564–1616 English Writer." Renaissance: An Encyclopedia for Students. Ed. Paul F. Grendler. Vol. 4. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 83-89. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 29 Jan. 2015
  4. "William Shakespeare." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography in Context. Web. 22 Jan. 2015 
    http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/06/11/article-2339722-1A439A34000005DC-606_634x831.jpg
  • http://designurge.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/46705-ExcellentQuotations.com-William-Shakespeare.jpg
  • http://static.bbc.co.uk/history/img/ic/640/images/resources/people/william_shakespeare.jpg
  • http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/06/11/article-2339722-1A439A34000005DC-606_634x831.jpg
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Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes


Langston Hughes was an extremely influential writer and poet for the Harlem renaissance and expanding black culture. Hughes was born on February 1st, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri but grew up in Lawrence, Kansas. His parents divorced shortly after his birth, because of that he was raised primarily by his grandmother. His father left their family after the divorce and fled to Cuba and Mexico to get escape racism. After Hughes graduated from high school, he followed his father to Mexico and spent a year with him. He came back and spent a year at Columbia University in New York City, then finished his college career at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania on an academic scholarship. Shortly after college he worked as a busboy at a local diner where he met Rachel Lindsay. She was a fan of his work and helped him get started with editing and publishing. He published his first poem in 1921 and it immediately quick started the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance. 

The Negro Speaks of Rivers, was Hughes’s first poem, published in 1921. It was considered to be his signature poem and was published in a newspaper called, The Crisis and got a lot of attention. His writings contained colorful background and detail specifically explaining life in black culture. Not only did he write poems, but he also wrote novels, plays, essays and children’s books. He wrote a book filled with poems called, The Weary Blues, published in 1926 and it won first prize in opportunity magazine literary competition. His first novel was published in 1929 called, Not Without Laughter. All of Hughes’s works were specifically known for its informational and colorful portrayals of black life in the 20’s through the 60’s. In the 1930’s he traveled around the U.S and abroad to Soviet Union, Haiti and Japan on lecture tours about poetry and his works. 1934 he published his first collection of short stories called, The Ways of White Folks. In 1947 he taught at Atlanta university and from 1942 to 1949 he was on the editorial board of a literary magazine that forced on culture of the U.S. 

Hughes won countless amounts of awards and opportunities. He received the Witter Bynner Undergraduate Poetry Prize, received a Guggenheim fellowship which allowed him to travel to Spain and Russia, and was offered a fellowship with the Rosewood Fund. He received much more that helped him gain confidence and continue to expand black culture and be the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was the beginning of black culture being spread and blacks taking up arms in what they believe. He was considered to be the leader of this because his works all expressed equality, condemned racism and injustice, and brought african american culture and spirituality to the table. Hughes was an extraordinary attribute to the shaping of the renaissance because he refused to differentiate his experience as a black man and the common experience in black culture. He tried to express his stories in ways that reflect their culture. His early works were fought back at by white newspapers, but Hughes continued to contribute to the shaping of the renaissance and the changing of culture and life. He was the first person the be able to make a living off of just his writings and works and he was primarily able to do this because of the love he received from the black culture supporting what he was doing. 

Langston Hughes was an impecable contributor to the spread of black culture and spirituality through his poems that influenced the Harlem Renaissance in any ways. He began the change of segregation and expressed black culture through his works. He died on May 22, 1967 due to complications in a stomach surgery from prostate surgery. He is known as an American poet and writer whose black themes and writings made incredible impacts on the Harlem Renaissance. 

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
 flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
 bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln 
went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy 
 bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.




Links for further information

http://www.biography.com/people/langston-hughes-9346313

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/langston-hughes



Works Cited

pictures






Information
  • http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/langston-hughes
  • http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/langston-hughes
  • http://www.biography.com/people/langston-hughes-9346313
  • http://www.poemhunter.com/langston-hughes/


See comments for analyzed poem.


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Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe: a.k.a "The Tomahawk Man"




Poe's Background
Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts in January of 1809. Both of his parents were actors and became he became an orphan when his mother died and his father abandoned Poe's family.  Edgar Poe was never formally adopted, but he was taken into the family of John Allan. Edgar Poe was later christened into an Episcopalian church with the name "Edgar Allan Poe". Poe enlisted in the United States Army when he published his first poem collection called Tamerlane, and Other Poems. After the army, he went into the United States Military Academy, but was later forced to leave. Although Edgar Allan Poe had John Allan as a "father" it was almost as if he was never there for Poe. Edgar Allan Poe got many jobs as editor and literary critic for many different publishers including for Southern Literary Messenger, Gentlemen's Magazine, Graham's Magazine in Philadelphia, and the Broadway Journal in New York City. During his times of being an editor and literary critic, he moved to Richmond with his aunt and cousin named Virginia. Virginia, who was fourteen at the time, married Poe. After his marriage, Edgar Allan Poe established himself as a short story writer and poet. During this time, Poe published some of his most well-known pieces including The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Perhaps one of his most famous poems, The Raven, was also published at this time.

Poe's Works
Edgar Allan Poe was known for his poems and short stories of horror and tragedy. Most of his poems were about murder, going insane, or the depressing side of life. A lot of factors contribute to him having this style of writing, but the most important reason is because in his early stages of life, he faced a lo of betrayal, misfortune, and health problems. The Raven, a popular poem written by Poe, tells of a man who has lost his loved one. He hears a tapping at his chamber door and he opens it in hopes of finding his lost love. Instead he finds "darkness there and nothing more". The raven in this poem signifies him going insane, the constant tap-tap-tapping at his door.

Poe's Influences and Legacy
Poe's influences for his genre of writing was connected to his tragic life. A long with many other authors, he told stories of his own life indirectly through a narrator. The Raven is an example of his tragic life being portrayed through his poetry. Edgar Allan Poe lost his wife and in this poem, the narrator tells of a man that is physiologically unstable because he misses his wife. As Poe grew older, reality hit him hard. His writing became more depressing and darker. Many reasons contribute to this change in writing, but perhaps the largest contributor was his addiction to drugs and alcohol. Combining his unstable mindset, depressing love life, and his experimentation with drugs and alcohol, he perhaps created some of the most scariest poems up to date.
Today Poe is mostly associated with advancing modern literature, especially horror and tragedies. He further developed the well-known genre of science fiction that is known today. His legacy lives on and his poem, The Raven, is one of the most well known poems in American Literature. Some of Poe's most horrifying poems such as The Tell-Tale Heart and The Pit and the Pendulum. Poe's legacy lives on even after more than one hundred year and he continues to be one of the most well-known poets in American Literature.


Further readings about Edgar Allan Poe

http://www.poemuseum.org
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/edgar-allan-poe
http://www.biography.com/people/edgar-allan-poe-9443160
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/edgar-allan-poe
A Dream Within a Dream

 Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow --
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand --
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep -- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

 Works Cited:
pictures
Information
Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.
Poets.org. Academy of American Poeta, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.
"Articles." Mystery Scene. N.p., n.d. Web 02 Apr. 2015. 
"The American Literary Blog." : The Many Names of Poe. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.
"Edgar Allan Poe | Biography - American Writer." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.
"Edgar Allan Poe." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.
WiseGeek. Conjecture, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.




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Carl Sandburg

Grace Kaufhold
F Block Lit
Mr. Dilworth
4/2/15
Carl Sandburg

On January 6, 1878 in Galesburg, Illinois a very talented and inspiring man was born, Carl Sandburg. He grew up with a rough childhood with his parents being very poor and he had to work to help earn money for his family. When Carl turned seventeen years old he decided to become a hobo and travel to Kansas. He then joined and served in the Spanish-American war for eight months. His life turned around when he met a student from Lombard College while serving in the war. The student convinced Carl to enroll after finishing up from the war. When he got to Lombard College he attracted the attention of Professor Philip Green Wright. He was a very important part of Carl’s life because he encouraged his writings and paid for the publication of his first volume of poetry called Reckless Ecstasy. Sandburg moved to Milwaukee, where he worked as an advertising writer and a newspaper reporter. Then worked for the Social-Democrat Party in Wisconsin and later acted as secretary to the first Socialist mayor of Milwaukee. Carl liked to stay busy and keep working hard in life.

The next chapter in Carl’s life was to move to Chicago where he became very successful. He became an editorial writer for the Chicago Daily News. Harriet Monroe who was another popular American writer who had just started Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, and began publishing Sandburg’s poems. She was also a very important part of Carl’s life because she encouraged him to write even more in free-verse, which is an open form of poetry. He was recognized as a member of the Chicago literary renaissance, which included Ben Hecht, Theodore Dreiser, Sherwood Anderson, and Edgar Lee Masters. The Chicago literary renaissance helped shape the development of American literature. He established his reputation with Chicago Poems in 1916, and then Cornhuskers in 1918, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize in 1919 which is an award for an achievement in American journalism, literature, or music. Soon after the publication of these volumes Sandburg wrote Smoke and Steel in 1920. Sandburg had collections of American folklore, the ballads in The American Songbag and The New American Songbag (1950), and books for children. He went on a tour across America and recited his poems, sang songs while playing the banjo or guitar. He wrote a book on Abraham Lincoln and won a Pulitzer Prize. He received a second Pulitzer Prize for his Complete Poems His final volumes of verse were Harvest Poems, in 1960 and Honey and Salt in 1963. Carl Sandburg drew most of his inspiration from American history and was profoundly influenced by Walt Whitman because he could relate a lot of himself to Walt’s life. Carl died on July 22, 1967.






Fog
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on



Works Cited:

"Carl Sandburg's "Fog" - A T Short #43 1080p (HD-3D)." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015

Hunter, Carl Sandburg - Poem. "Fog Poem." Poemhunter.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.

"Carl Sandburg." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.





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Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas



Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet who came to be one of the most important figures in 20th century poetry. A poet from an early age, his works, particularly “And death shall have no dominion,” his play Under Milk Wood, and especially his famous villanelle “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” eventually crept into the public consciousness and he became very popular among the public. In his later life, though, he had money troubles, a dysfunctional marriage, and extreme alcoholism, a deadly combination that caused him very poor health and eventually killed him at the young age of 39.
Thomas was born in the city of Swansea, Wales, in 1914. In childhood, he was never an exemplary student; he preferred reading and writing poetry to studying for school. At the age of sixteen, he dropped out of school, and took up a career in journalism. Only four years later, he published Eighteen Poems, an anthology of his work, to great acclaim. This was the inception of Thomas’s successful career, but also of his destructive lifestyle, as his alcoholic habits began to develop around this time.
Thomas became more and more successful in his career even as his personal life deteriorated. He continued to publish poetry, his next anthology being Twenty-Five Poems. However, despite his increasing popularity, his poetry alone still did not provide him with sufficient income, and he began to work as a broadcaster for the BBC. In 1937, he married Caitlin Macnamara. Their relationship proved to be turbulent and destructive, with both of them having multiple affairs and depending heavily on alcohol.
Thomas’s income from the BBC was still not enough to pay his taxes, especially since he was now supporting a wife and three young children, so he began to go on reading tours in America in the hopes that this would allow him to support his family. He would tour America four times; during this period of touring, his immense popularity increased even more, now spreading across the Atlantic. Not only did Thomas become quite famous, but his poetic development and style was quite unique as well; while most of his contemporaries preferred to focus on intellectual issues in their work, his remained entirely emotional, in the vein of the earlier Romantic poets.
As Thomas’s popularity increased, though, his reputation for recklessness and an incredible drinking habit was on the rise as well. As he further cemented this “rockstar” persona of his, the public began to know him as a “roistering, drunken and doomed poet.” It was also during this time that he wrote his radio play, Under Milk Wood, and his most famous poem, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.” On his fourth tour of America, Thomas suffered from severe lung problems, exacerbated by the smoggy air of New York City, and his alcoholism reached new heights. His health became worse and worse, and in November of 1953, he fell into a coma and eventually died. While the man himself had passed on, Thomas remained very much alive in the public consciousness, and never lost his reputation as both a legendary poet and a legendary wild man.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


See analysis in comments


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Joyce Kilmer "Trees"

James Bagnell
Mr. Dilworth
F Block

Joyce Kilmer



Joyce Kilmer was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1886. Kilmer’s poetry was known for being about nature and expressing what he would see in the natural world. Also Kilmer would include his religious faith in his works. Kilmer attended Rutgers Preparatory School, due to his success he was given the first Lane Classical Prize. This prize gave Kilmer a free scholarship to Rutgers College and a prize of one hundred dollars. But due to troubles in mathematics he was not able to stay at Rutgers. Kilmer then decided to switch to Columbia College where he was quite successful. Kilmer did many things at Columbia he was an associate editor of Columbia Spectator, the campus newspaper journalist, and was a member of the Debating Union. Kilmer then proceed to complete his Bachelor of Arts degree and graduated from Columbia College May 23, 1908.
Kilmer met a lovely lady right out of college named Aline Murray also a poet as well. They had finally were married and Kilmer decided to go fight for his country in World War I. In the military Kilmer was known as a very religious man and served as an Intelligence Officer. Kilmer’s job was to collect valuable information on the front line, but on July 30th, 1918, Kilmer joined in battle of Ourcq and was killed by a sniper bullet.

On the other hand Kilmer had many more poems that are well known. The tragic thing is that most of them are unknown and the fact that he died at the age of 31 affected his career immensely. Most of Kilmer’s poems are about nature, love, and life. He brings out the beauty out of everyday life and he shows people the beauty of the natural world. Although Kilmers style of writings was not uncommon during this time, during the 1900’s it was considered the “Romantic Time Period.”




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TREES
By: Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)
Trees
By: Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.


A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;


A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;


A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;


Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.


Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.





Works Cited

 Poem Hunter. N.p., 2 Apr. 2015. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. <http://www.poemhunter.com/joyce-kilmer/>.
 Poetry Archive. N.p., 2 Apr. 2015. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. <http://www.poetry-archive.com/k/trees.html>.
 Poetry Foundation. N.p., 2 Apr. 2015. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/joyce-kilmer>.
 Wikipedia. N.p., 2 Apr. 2015. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Kilmer#/media/File:Kilmer_1908_columbia_yearbook_picture.png>.

 Youtube. N.p., 13 Oct. 2008. Web. 2 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwSdOP1C1qI#t=17>.

Video/Poem


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