March82012

This is a clip from the movie Dead Poets Society starring Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, and Ethan Hawke, directed by Peter Wier. The movie is about a group of teenage boys, influenced by their teacher John Keatings (Robin Williams), who form a group called the Dead Poets Society. The Dead Poets Society gets together to read poetry, discuss life, and whatnot. These young men are so inspired to change their lives because of their teacher and his unconventional ways. This movie reminds me of the poem we read today in class, On Reading Poems to a Senior Class at South High by D.C Berry. The poem talks about how a teacher is so inspired and excited because of his students’ participation in the discussion of poetry his classroom. This scene starts off with the Mr. Keating telling his bored students to rip out the first page of their poetry book. The kids are totally confused like “frozen fish” but then when they finally start to rip the book, our ears are flooded with the sound of shredding paper, like “water began to fill the room”. The tearing continues until another teacher comes in and scolds the students for being disrespectful, which I connected to Queen Elizabeth the cat, who “licked my fins till they were hands again”. This is such a wonderful movie and I highly recommend it! 

-Amanda

Dead Poets Society media robin williams Poetry poems 

February292012

The Silken Tent

Today, our class discussed The Silken Tent by Robert Frost. I thought of a couple more things after class and figured I would blog about them! In general, we saw the silken tent as a simile to a woman and the bondage and/or freedom she faces. (And I just looked up some other interpretations of the poem and they all seem to suggest that the poem is referring to women’s roles in society and their bondage to men ….but I’m sticking with my interpretation for right now :) …). My favorite part of this poem was the picture it paints. I think the images above help illustrate what I imagine when I read the poem. Because Frost chose silk, I envisioned a strong, graceful, and beautiful fabric billowing in the wind. She is alone, stoic and has a sense of peaceful freedom, while still being grounded by ‘love and thought’. There is also a nice juxtaposition (I hope I’m using the right term….) between the breezy and dainty diction of “sunny summer breeze”, “dew”, “slightest”, etc. compared to the stronger words like “supporting central cedar pole”, “held”, “bound” – which in one sense could be seen as restrictive, but I thought it gave the tent/woman a sense of integrity. This comparison in diction shows the complexity of the subject.

I just discovered that caterpillars have their own form of a silk tent. They lay their larvae in these webbing-tent-like-things. Whenever I think of caterpillars, I think of their transformation into a butterfly. Butterflies symbolize rebirth and – I believe – freedom. They are grounded little caterpillars…then they grow wings and can fly away. This can relate to a woman and either shedding her restrictive bonds (society’s, loved one’s,..) or perhaps love transforming her into a new and even more beautiful creature. Thoughts :)?

-Annsley

Robert Frost The Silken Tent Poetry Butterfly 

February282012

Who are the Cambridge Ladies today?

Have you noticed we haven’t talked about poetry yet?  Let’s dive into it!

Last class, Annsley led our discussion on the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls by E.E. Cummings.  We came to the conclusion that the speaker feels angry that affluence creates an artificial society among wealthy, sheltered women.  Cummings wrote this after his service in World War I to challenge traditions and societal norms.  We defined these women as heartless, eager to conform to their surroundings, and lack a connection to the people around them and themselves.  But times have changed and classes aren’t defined as they used to be, so who are the Cambridge ladies today?  

In the 100 years since the poem was written men and women have switched gender roIes as more ladies enter the workforce and more gentlemen stay at home.  So we cannot limit our search to just ladies, but gentlemen as well.  The expansion of social networking has eliminated of vital part of humanity: the human connection.  Websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr make many relationships vague and ambiguous where the user can create their own world of “friends”.  This meaninglessness in connections is creating distance between people and how we interact.  Just like the Cambridge ladies, we are creating our own artificial societies based on meaningless connections.

We can see Cambridge ladies (and gentlemen) all around us.  So I, the speaker, feel that men and women across the globe of all socioeconomic backgrounds are creating their own societies based in artificial connections that distance them from reality and everything outside of their furnished souls.

-Rachel F.

e.e. cummings cummings poetry poem Cambridge ladies soul Facebook Twitter Tumblr connections artificial fake society 

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