Poetry Themes

Sonnet 130: Beauty does not define the love of two people.

The Passionate Shepherd To His Love: Love can never be destroyed and will always find its way.

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time: Live life to its fullest before it is taken away.

The Author to Her Book: One should have faith in their work and learn to accept that it is perfect the way it is.

To His Coy Mistress: The one who waits to share feelings to their lover will lose their lover.

Sound and Sense: There is a fine line between common sense and artistic values.

The World Is Too Much With Us: The world is beginning to become as corrupt as the humans that occupy it.

She Walks in Beauty: Beauty can be defined in many various ways.

Ozymandias: Eventually the adventure of the journey will soon end.

When I have Fears that I may Cease to Be: One should never become afraid to live life freely.

The Children's Hour: Children will always have a special place to be recognized by their parents and loved
ones.

Annabel Lee: Love is powerful even when one is deceased.

O Captain, My Captain: Pride will be served when one delivers freedom to their leader.

I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died: Death and dying are significant and misinterpreted overall symbols.

Dover Beach: Paths will change their courses in one's life and they must be willing to accept this.

Dulce et Decorum Est: Once the mindset of war is in one's head, it is hard to destroy those memories.

Mending Wall: Building a barrier between two people can keep them out, but will not solve problems between the two.

Mirror: Seeing things through a different perspective will help how others see themselves.

GOW Action Project

The issue I've chosen to act upon for this project is bullying. I wanted to contact local lawmakers to see why more hasn't been done to prevent bullying or to make it illegal. Before I acted upon this I did some research. I found out that bullying is linked to suicide. We've all seen this unfortunately with the cases of Jamey Rodemeyer and Phoebe Prince. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in teens. Studies show that at least half of the cases of suicide are from bullying. Another study shows that due to bullying at least 160,000 stay home from school everyday because of bullying.

I included some of these facts and statistics while taking my first step in this process. I looked online to find the information to contact the NYS Senate. I first emailed the entire Senate on the issue, my email read:

Hello, my name is Sarah Crawford. Recently I've been interested in the issue that affects many young teenagers of today; the issue of bullying. Studies show that each year at least 160,000 kids stay home from school because of bullying. The studies also show that bullying is linked to at least half of the cases of suicide. My question to you is why hasn't more been done or enforced to prevent these tragedies? Obviously bullying is a main issue toward our generation. Is there any way to enforce some sort of law or legal fine toward a bullying victim?

I waited a couple of days and received this email in response:
Thank you for contacting the New York State Senate. We appreciate your thoughts and ideas. We promise you that your comments will be read and processed by a real person.

If you need immediate assistance, please contact your Senator <http://www.nysenate.gov/contact_form> or call the Senate Operator at 518-455-2800.

The New York State Senate
Majority Communications

I was upset not to have the information to inform my local senator sooner. But I looked up my local senator anyway. Patrick Gallivan is the senator who is closest to myself. I emailed him the email shown above. I received this email in response:

Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting me with your thoughts and concerns. Your opinions are important to me and allow me to more effectively and accurately represent the needs of the 59th Senate District.

Please be assured that we are working to address your issue and we’ll be reaching out to you in the coming days with a response. If you need immediate assistance from our office, please contact either my Albany or District Offices, for which contact information is listed below.

Erie Office Wyoming Office
4729 Transit Rd., Ste. 7 143 North Main St., Rm. 103
Depew, NY 14043 Warsaw, NY 14569
p. 716-656-8544 p. 585-786-5048
f. 716-656-8961 f. 585-786-2187

Livingston Office Albany Office
Livingston LOB 808
6 Court St., Rm. 304 Albany, NY 12247
Geneseo, NY 14454 p. 518-455-3471
p. 585-243-6929 f. 518-426-6949

Constituent involvement is vital to establishing an effective voice for our Western New York community in Albany. If I can be of any future assistance to you on this or any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Once again, I thank you for bringing your concerns to my attention. It was a pleasure hearing from you. Best wishes and kind regards;

Patrick M. Gallivan
Senator – 59th District

I was frustrated that they brushed my issue off yet again and that I had to wait for another response. I waited another couple of days to see if I would get a response. I received nothing, so I made the decision to call the office. I called the Erie Office since it was the closest offer. After going through various automated voices I finally got through to the secretary of Patrick Gallivan. I told her of the bullying issue and she said that Mr. Gallivan wasn't available at the moment. She also told me that if I'd like I could be put on the waiting list to speak to him about the specific issue I was having. So as of now I'm on the waiting list of the senator to discuss the issue.

This specific issue relates to the Joads' in the Grapes of Wrath. It presses the issue of being discriminated against--something specifically relating to the bullying issue. When the Joads' and other families arrive in California they are immediately outcasts, being labeled as "Okies." The term "Okies" is meant to be a derogatory name toward the new people of California. The Californians are bitter considering these new people will be taking any job opportunities that may be available. While there is reason for the Californian's to be upset, there is no need for them to discriminate and judge the "Okies" which is where the issue of bullying ties in. Had it been prevented, the Joads' lives may have been easier.

Reflection of Chinua Achebe Article

The article by Chinua Achebe argues of the main issue that is racism. Claiming that Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness is a racist novel, Achebe provides a strong argument with valid points to support this statement. While there is evidence toward Conrad having a racist novel, Achebe tells his own side of the story which exemplifies a bias reaction.

In Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, there are different displays of what Achebe would mark as being racist. Conrad refers back to the African Americans as barbaric and savage people. Just the title alone, Heart of Darkness, is enough to insult the culture. Darkness oftentimes symbolizes evil or bad things. Darkness could also mean that one is clueless like the expression "in the dark."

While Conrad's assumptions seem completely racial, it isn't entirely his fault. Conrad knows only one side of the story, his own. The way that Conrad was raised might have been how his outlook on this situation. I think Achebe does this the same way in his novel. I'm not sure if it's so much racism as it is ethnocentrism. I believe that both parties feel that their race is superior to the other. In our socratic we discussed that sometimes when a person displays their pride in religion it oftentimes can seem like they're forcing it onto others.

While Achebe provides key points to make a good argument, I think both novels can't really be considered "racist," being only based on one side of a story.

The Awakening Essay: The Second Coming Of Aphrodite Essay

In this essay written by Sandra M. Gilbert, the main idea is the fantasy life of Edna Pontellier inThe Awakening, who seems like the second-coming of the Greek Goddess Aphrodite. Aphrodite is the Greek Goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. She was so beautiful, that the Greek Gods feared for a war to break out due to the jealousy. Gilbert's persuasive article, and the facts behind Aphrodite make me agree with this essay. She also argues in saying that this book was a female fantasy. This is a statement I also agree with.

Edna Pontellier is a female empowering character in the eyes of Gilbert. Aphrodite was born from the white foam of the sea, this is a connection already to Edna because of her love for the sea. Edna is at peace when she is in the water. She feels that she is comforted, calm, and able to enjoy herself from hearing the sounds of the sea, or even being in the ocean swimming. Gilbert calls Kate Chopin's appearance of Aphrodite in Edna a "Creole Bovary," or a representation of Aphrodite through Edna. When speaking of the oceanic imagery going through Edna's head while the music was playing, Gilbert stresses how important and overlooked it is. She argues that while Edna probably feels free from the music, it is due to the fact of it reminding her of the calm, seductive sea that makes her feel free from it. In chapter seven Edna states that as a child she "threw out her arms as if she was swimming when she walked," (Chopin) It seemed as though ever since she was little the sea had been her escape. Going further into that meaning, whenever she had been associated with the ocean, she was running from something. Also going back to the origin of Aphrodite, it stated that she never had a childhood. Aphrodite was born as an adult. This is in a way much like Edna. Edna lost her mother at a young age forcing her to become a woman quicker, growing up much faster than she should have. Growing up so fast may have also caused the reason for Edna to feel like she should rebel against her parents in marrying Leonce. Aphrodite also had an unhappy marriage it is said, she was forced to marry a man she did not love. Her unhappiness caused her to reach out to others for love. This is like Edna as well, her unhappy marriage was in a way forced to "get back" at her parents. She reached out to people like Robert for her happiness since her marriage was unhappy.

Gilbert argues early on that this novel is a fantasy masque for the female. When Edna is spending her summer on "Grand Isle," it is owned and mostly occupied with women who's husbands visit them every so often. She feels that Edna's "awakening" happens when Edna learns of her position in the universe. This is meant by Edna's role as a women in society. Edna is expected to behave as a good mother figure, to be a good wife, and care for her husband as well as her children. Spending this much time however with a sort of female colony such as the one she spent the summer at changed her mood and outlook on the role of herself and who she was. Gilbert's take on the island the women resort on is that it's almost like a way for the men, their husbands to contain them and remain the dominant figure at the time. Yet even if that be the case, the women have their own little place to live, their own colony to have their own realizing self-actualization. Edna seems to be the one who independently is discovering herself and who she is. By her wanting to become an artist, it makes it easier for her to rebel. Artists are supposed to defy the rules and "color outside the lines," to make it in their business. Edna's attitude is becoming just that. Rebellious and independently thinking of herself and discovering who she is. Being in a female-empowered place, even if she is surrounded by mothering figured females helps Edna with it. She is able to enjoy and become exposed to the things that she likes, such as the ocean and the music symbolizing the ocean.

Gilbert is very persuasive in this essay. She provides in my opinion, many great points toward this argument she presents. Looking back and researching the history as well as the background of Aphrodite, it's easy to see how her thoughts were that she reflected her. Aphrodite being born from the sea, being unhappy in a forced marriage, and having no childhood resembles Edna. Edna, longing for and loving the sea, being unhappy in a marriage she was stuck in, and having what seemed like no childhood (or at least not quite a normal, memorable one) makes it easy to see the comparison between the two. Reading this connection between the two has made me take a deeper look and a different approach toward The Awakening. This essay was enjoyable and knowledgeable for me to read.

The Yellow Wallpaper

The narrator of this story obviously feels trapped. The whole relationship between the narrator and her husband is not what we would call a "normal" relationship that spouses share. The narrator feels trapped and looked down upon by her husband, leading her to feel like she has no voice. She also feels that she cannot express her thoughts for fear of her husband keeping her locked up for her insanity. It's almost as if the husband is the father and the narrator is the child. Especially when she mentions that she believes the wallpaper in the room signified that the room had been a nursery. The yellow wallpaper signifies mainly toward the narrator. She swears that there is a woman in there each day "creeping" to try and break free of the pattern that resembles "bars," as if she were trapped inside it. In a way the narrator could determine that she herself was much like the woman trapped in the wallpaper. Not wanting the same fate for her, she thought it'd be best to shred the wallpaper down so that the woman could be free. The narrator wants the same for herself. She wants someone else to tear down her wallpaper so that she could be free. Going back to our talk of feminism in class the other day, it's almost unfair that the narrator has no say whatsoever in her life. Though I know she could be "insane" or have some sort of disorder, the husband should not be the sole ruler of all of the things that she does. It was just what happened back in those days though. The husband provided for the family and worked for them. The wife usually just took care of the house, stayed at home and in the kitchen caring for the family. That's why the narrator feels so trapped, she can't voice her own thoughts and opinions because her husband had a dominance over her and her life.

Ethan Frome Essay: Class and Morality

In this essay written by Alfred Kazin, the main idea is on the issues of class and morality. It starts off by providing a small background of Edith Wharton and the different symbols of the book. Kazin describes how Ethan is chained to his controlling wife from having to "owe" her for helping him take care of his sick mother. He doesn't truly love her, he is in love with her cousin Mattie Silver. The author then goes off by explaining how no reader can get away from the emotional symbolism of the heartbreak that Ethan Frome suffers. This leads to the questioning of Ethan Frome's morals and beliefs. Is it really ever okay to cheat on your spouse if it is considered to be a "loveless" relationship? In an attempt to show some background on Edith Wharton, Kazin also looks into her past and the reasons why she writes the way she does.

Edith Wharton has a certain style that she wrote with Ethan Frome. Her used of showing the illicit affair Ethan wishes to have actually goes back to her past. She was in a marriage that was believed to be unsuccessful with Edward "Teddy" Wharton. She became more intellectual and wanted to continue furthering her education (though it was frowned upon for most women) to which Teddy was jealous. He didn't share the same intellectual and literary interests that she did and they often disagreed when it came to those matters. Teddy was also said to be jealous of his wife's success, so he demanded they split her abundant income. He also even confessed to cheating on her. Wharton struggled to label herself as an established author, being a woman, but also struggled with her husband's jealousy, leading to a loveless relationship. These hardships caused Wharton to become rather bitter. Aside from these difficulties in Wharton's life, she planted new ideas into Ethan Frome that most people questioned. With society and class, others questioned of how Wharton could possibly even know how a tiny town like Starkfield would operate considering she was raised in a higher style of life. What amount did she know about economic struggles, poverty, and a lower class standard? She makes the town out to be a low standard of life, having all of the people in it lower on the class scale in society. The weather also plays into this, with it being winter and gray all the time. Ethan especially thinks and reflects a lot about the weather, nature, animals, basically all symbols of what he believes could connect to his own feelings. Kazin explains that Ethan Frome isn't so much social as it is moving. Wharton displays one of her favorite subjects, which is illicit love. The way she writes makes it seem as though love is supposed to be forbidden, hard, and most of the time love is supposed to be a failure. An example would be the attempted suicide of Mattie and Ethan. It would have gone as planned had Ethan not swerved, but it had to fail, crippling Ethan and Mattie's love forever.

I think the author provides a fair fight in their argument. The one point made was that love must taint one's morals and beliefs. Though the reason for not running away with Mattie that Ethan provided was lack of money, it is purely Wharton's writing style that displays love having to change the way one thinks. Kazin also states that though Ethan Frome has a wonderful setting and plot, it is at times too dramatic. It tries to persuade readers that the only way Ethan and Mattie could ever be happy together would be in death. Obviously there were a lot of other options that could have been considered, yet Wharton writes for us to believe that love corrupts our minds so much that those options were never even thought of. Maybe Ethan truly believed that there was no other way, because as Wharton once said, "Life is the saddest thing next to death."

While it's true that love corrupts the mind and our morals, I truly agree with the statement that this book is quite dramatic at times. Especially since we are inside of Ethan's head for most of the time. Seeing the thoughts he has about Mattie, Zeena, and himself, I feel like he overthinks a lot of things. He's undoubtedly hard on himself, making it seem as though he is responsible for other's happiness. The one night he had alone with Mattie was built up with so much suspense and was expected to be a huge milestone in their relationship. Yet it was in reality nothing. Ethan lived in a dream world, he was an idealist, that's what killed him. He spent too much time dreaming and not enough time speaking up, taking action. It was almost as if he waited for those things to happen to him. Like he wanted a more dramatic and eventful ending for himself. I just think that even if love corrupted his and Mattie's minds that much to the point of suicide, other options would have been at least discussed along with the option of death. That's the part to me that is most dramatic, I feel like just because they couldn't physically "be together," without having to face Zeena, they could have done a numerous amount of other things than killing themselves. So while Ethan Frome is a classic novella in the literary world, it at times can be too dramatic to believe.

I feel that the class and morality presented in this novella are as Kazin stated in his essay. I feel that by providing us with a background of how hard it was for Wharton to establish herself in the literary world, it showed that while she may not have known what it was like to be in poverty, struggling with money, she knew what it was like to struggle at achieving something. As for morality, again I feel that Kazin providing us with the loveless marriage that Wharton suffered, it gives a better background of how Wharton can actually relate to how love could corrupt one's mind to doing things beyond their beliefs.

Shakespeare Sonnet One Hundred Thirty

This sonnet puts down the love that is involved with Shakespeare. It is a classic "AB, AB, CD, CD, EF, EF, GG" rhyme scheme. Instead of praising the love, he constantly is negative toward them. Which at the time was much unlike Shakespeare, who we see always praising this boy's beauty that he writes of. Which leads back to the theory of the "dark woman" being portrayed.

It's almost like a parody to other sonnets in that it is sarcastic, and tells the truth of how the speaker really feels about his love. The speaker is thinking of every beautiful thing, comparing it to his love but in a negative way. Like when it says that he loves to hear her speak, but the sound of music is much more beautiful than the sound of her voice.

In the end, it summarizes in saying that while their lover's love is as rare as heaven, their comparisons to these beautiful things will always stand as false considering how negatively the speaker talks of his love.