The free bird leapson the back of the windand floats downstreamtill the current endsand dips his wingsin the orange sun raysand dares to claim the sky.But a bird that stalksdown his narrow cagecan seldom see throughhis bars of ragehis wings are clipped andhis feet are tiedso he opens his throat to sing.The caged bird singswith fearful trillof the things unknownbut longed for stilland his tune is heardon the distant hillfor the caged birdsings of freedomThe free bird thinks of another
breezeand the trade winds soft through
the sighing treesand the fat worms waiting on a
dawn-bright lawnand he names the sky his own.But a caged bird stands on the
grave of dreamshis shadow shouts on a nightmare
screamhis wings are clipped and his
feet are tiedso he opens his throat to singThe caged bird singswith a fearful trillof things unknownbut longed for stilland his tune is heardon the distant hillfor the caged birdsings of freedom. Recitation Of The Poem: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/maya-angelous-masterpiece-caged-bird/
Find a poem, post it on the blog with a visual representation of the poem. Feel free to include links, videos, etc. about the author and poem. Here is a poem I love:
For All
by Gary Snyder Ah to be alive on a mid-September morn fording a stream barefoot, pants rolled up, holding boots, pack on, sunshine, ice in the shallows, northern rockies.
Rustle and shimmer of icy creek waters stones turn underfoot, small and hard as toes cold nose dripping singing inside creek music, heart music, smell of sun on gravel.
I pledge allegiance
I pledge allegiance to the soil of Turtle Island, and to the beings who thereon dwell one ecosystem in diversity under the sun With joyful interpenetration for all.
Oscar Wilde was an Irish playwright, poet, and author of works ranging from fiction to essays on art and art criticism to social commentaries. He was born on 16 October 1854 in Dublin as the second of three children to William, a surgeon and folklorist, and Jane, a writer and Irish nationalist. In 1867, Wilde’s younger sister died. This event went on to affect his works for years to come, the theme of extreme innocence recurring throughout his works. Wilde went on to study classics at Trinity College in Dublin, where he met “"the scholar who showed me how to love Greek things", and Magdalen College in Oxford, where he also studied classics. While at Magdalen College, Wilde became well known for his role in the aesthetic and decadent movements. He grew out his hair and openly rejected “manly” sports and decorated his rooms with peacock feathers, lilies, sunflowers, and blue china.
When he was 24, Wilde moved to London and became prominent in the social scene, becoming known for his wit and foppish dress. He first made his name as touring the United States in the early 1880s and lecturing. In 1884, Wilde married and had two children. Soon afterwards, he began to explore his homosexuality, and in the early 1890s fell in love with Lord Alfred Douglas. This relationship led to Wilde’s trial and conviction for sodomy, for which he served two years of hard labor. He was released in 1897 and spent the rest of his life in France as an outcast. Poor and ill, Oscar Wilde died on 30 November, 1900 in Paris at the age of 46.
His Works
After leaving university, Wilde published a book of poems and also lectured in Canada and the United States on the “English Renaissance in Art”. Beginning in 1888, Oscar Wilde entered a period in which almost all of his great works were produced. After he published The Happy Prince and Other Tales, a collection of children's stories, Oscar Wilde’s first literary success was the Gothic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, which means that it was written around an atmosphere of mystery and terror. After his play, Lady Windermere's Fan, became popular, Oscar Wilde adopted playwriting as his main form. Many consider his masterpiece, his magnum opus, to be The Importance of Being Earnest, a comedy satirizing Victorian customs, it was part of a series of comedies written for Victorian society. Wilde gave an outsider's view of the workings of the Victorian aristocracy. Oscar Wilde was also involved in the rise of the philosophy of aestheticism, or “Art for Art’s Sake”, which featured prominently in many of his poems. Oscar Wilde’s last work was a poem entitled “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”, which recounted his experiences in prison.
His Legacy
Today, Oscar Wilde is remembered for his one-liners, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his works in the theater. More than that, he is remembered for his personal life, including his affair with Lord Alfred Douglas as well as the circumstances surrounding his trial, imprisonment, incarceration, and death.
"Oscar Wilde Sarony" by Napoleon Sarony - Metropolitan Museum of Art. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
"Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), by Hills & Saunders, Rugby & Oxford 3 april 1876" by Hills & Saunders, Rugby & Oxford, Oxford - Hills & Saunders, Rugby & Oxford, Oxford. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Ridley, Aaron. "Oscar Wilde." Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Gale, 2006. Biography in Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
Sammells, Neil. "Oscar Wilde." Encyclopedia of Irish History and Culture. Ed. James S. Donnelly, Jr. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. Biography in Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
First, I would like you to read, re-read, annotate and then analyze Prelude I ("The Winter Evening Settles Down") in the comments section below this post. Remember to analyze the entire poem, stanza by stanza, line by line. Think about the author's intention, the tone, rhythm, rhyme, figurative language, and imagery. What do you take away from this poem? Why is it significant? What are the themes Eliot wants to show us?
Once you have fully analyzed "Prelude I", click on the link above and analyze the entirety of the poem. How does all of "Preludes" change your reading of "The Winter Evening Settles Down"? Post your analysis of "Preludes" as a reply under your comment that contains your original analysis of "The Winter Evening Settles Down".
Walt's Life: Walt Whitman, born on May 31, 1819, would later become one of America’s most influential poets. Walt was the second of the Whitman’s eight children, who lived together on a small piece of Long Island farmland. Born into meager beginnings, he quickly learned the value of hard work. His father often worked multiple jobs to support the large family, and at age 11, Walt was pulled out of school to help out. He took a job at a printing business where he worked until he became a school teacher.
After teaching for several years, Walt's intrigue for journalism and writing grew. He quit his job, and began to write and edit for various newspapers over the following 7 years. Walt fell deeply in love with writing. It was writing, in fact, that he turned to when he saw the nation he loved facing ruin.
Walt's patriotism stemmed from his upbringing and his parents, who were staunch believers in the American dream. In fact, they named many of their children after famous American figures, such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Walt was against slavery, for he feared it would lead to the downfall of American democracy, which he so greatly admired. He was part of the Free Soil Party, who were adamant supporters of the abolitionist movement, and later absorbed by the Republican Party.
Walt published his first piece, Leaves of Grass, in 1855. The collection expressed his concerns with the country's growing tensions surrounding slavery and other Civil War issues. It also became controversial for its uses of sexuality. Walt could only afford to print 795 copies of Leaves of Grass. When the Civil War began, any promises the piece had shown fell through. His publishing company went out of business, leaving him broke. However, Walt would continue revising and adding to Leaves of Grass until his death.
When the Civil War began, Walt's brother George enlisted. George was later injured, causing Walt to travel south to find him. This started Walt's journey throughout Civil War America. He traveled for years, visiting battlefields and wounded soldiers. During this time, he reflected on war and the future of American. These thoughts were published in his following piece, Drum-Taps, which exposed brutal yet significant moments of war. Walt continued writing and volunteering with wounded veterans until he suffered a stroke and was left partially paralyzed. Other than Leaves of Grass and Drum-Taps, Walt also produced works such as Specimen Days, and Democratic Vistas. He later returned to Camden, NJ with him brother, where he later died on March 26, 1892.
Walt's Legacy:
Walt Whitman is not just a bridge, a stamp, or a school. All these things have been attributed to honoring and remembering his legacy, but they cannot come close to representing the impact this American poet had on his own society and ours. Walt Whitman is, what he would later been known as, the "poet of democracy." Through personalization and eloquence, Walt's poetry gives a different perspective of history. One that can be felt, and experienced. Not only do his poems share deep statements about life, but they bleed with passion, patriotism, and raw emotion. Because of these things, Walt was able to sway the hearts and minds of the 19th century and onward. His works are featured and reflected in school curriculums all over the world, in pop culture, and in everyday life.
Walt's Influences:
Walt was influenced by many people over his life. His parents, with their hard American work ethic and patriotism, taught Walt appreciation for his country at a young age. During his Civil War years, Walt's eyes were opened by all sorts of people. The wounded soldiers gave Walt sight into the war's harsh realities, while also showing him humanity's affectionate side. In addition, Walt was greatly moved by President Abraham Lincoln. Although he never met the man, Walt admired Lincoln profoundly. When the President was assassinated shortly after the war's end, Walt wrote multiple elegies on his death. These include "O Captain, My Captain," and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Boom'd," both which became very popular pieces.
Walt Whitman in Pop Culture:
A scene from one of my personal favorites, Dead Poets Society
Quotes From Whitman:
My Prezi:
My Chosen Poem: "O Captain, My Captain!"
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
BIOGRAPHY Gwendolyn Brooks was born in 1917, June 7 in Topeka Kansas. When she was young, her father, a janitor aspiring to be a doctor, and her mother, a teacher, decided that they should move to Chicago. There, Brooks developed a love for reading and writing and eventually published her first poem, Eventide, when she was 13. She started publishing poems regularly for the Chicago Defender, an African American newspaper popular in Chicago. In 1939, she married Henry Lowington Blakely. Brooks worked as a secretary to support herself while engaging in poetry workshops. Brooks became recognized nationally in this period , receiving an award from The Midwestern Writer's Conference. Brooks first book of poetry published in 1945, A Street In Bronzeville, was a huge success and received extremely well in the African American community. Her second book, Annie Allen, won the Pulitzer, making Gwendolyn Brooks the first African American ever to win a Pulitzer Prize. She continued to publish poems, winning other notable prizes, and in 1960 she started her career as a creative writing teacher. She taught extensively in colleges around the country. On December 3, 2000, Gwendolyn Brooks passed away at age 83 of cancer. WORKS Gwendolyn Brooks published numerous collections of her works of poetry, her first book, A Street In Bronzeville was recieved well by the black community, and, in Modern Black Poets: A Collection of Critical Essays, Richard K. Barksdale described this collection as"devoted to small, carefully cerebrated, terse portraits of the Black urban poor," . Annie Allen was her second book and told the story of an African American girl's life and her thoughts on death, killing and racism in three parts in poetic stanzas. It was also the winner of the coveted Pulitzer Prize, making her the first African American as well as the first African American woman to ever win a Pulitzer. PREZI
INFLUENCE & LEGACY
Gwendolyn Brooks was a prominent civil rights activist in her time. Her poems often reflected issues of racism and political integrity, and gave readers insights to the situation of the black urban poor around the country. Her poems took not only a political stance, but also reflected on social issues, such as women, and how they fit into society. Her book, Annie Allen, tells an inspiring story of a young black girl discovering unsettling facts of life and racism. Her inspiration for many of her poems came from prominent black leaders, such as Nelson Mandela and his wife, Winnie Mandela. Her poems, as Bruce Cook said were "neither bitter nor vengeful" but more about bitterness than bitterness itself, and many of her poems, such as The Bean Eaters are in fact bittersweet, dealing with poverty and old age, but more to inform us of the bad situation of the pair, then to ask for sympathy for the poor old couple.
THE BEAN EATERS
They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair.
Dinner is a casual affair.
Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood,
Tin flatware.
Two who are Mostly Good.
Two who have lived their day,
But keep on putting on their clothes
And putting things away.
And remembering . . .
Remembering, with twinklings and twinges,
As they lean over the beans in their rented back room that
is full of beads and receipts and dolls and cloths,
tobacco crumbs, vases and fringes.
Audio for The Bean Eaters
ANALYSIS The Bean Eaters is one of Gwendolyn Brook's most famous poems and was first published as the title poem in her third collection of poems, The Bean Eaters, in 1960. As Gwendolyn Brook's poetry career progressed, her poems started to focus more on Civil Rights and racism in America. This poem, although it does not send a direct political message, talks about an old couple who do poorly financially and whose kids have moved on. Brooks gives insight on a typical "old yellow pair", showing poverty that some African-Americans suffered their whole lives. This poem doesn't have much of a volta, at line 8, the mood changes somewhat to a gloomy wistfulness, but is still a subdued tone that lasts throughout the poem.
Works Cited
www.poetryfoundation.org
www.biography.com
