Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas is a poem where the speaker informs the reader to not go into death without a fight. Question one about this poem asks what is the meaning of the phrase "good night." This phrases is mostly repeated when the speaker says, "Do not go gentle into that good night" (Thomas, 6). The phrase "good night" simply stands for death. This line is where I belive that Thomas is demanding the audience to not die without a fight. The speaker is attempting to tell the reader that they should not have any regrets when it comes to their time of death. Thomas is also saying that once death arrives to someone, it should not come as a blind shock. He is saying prepare and be ready for death. He acknowledges death to be a positive event, but says that it is only positive when one has completed their dreams. Only when someone has accomplished their purpose in life can they finally be content and accept death.

That time of year by William Shakespeare

That time of year by William Shakespeare is a poem that starts out by discussing the season of fall and the death and decay of fall. Then Shakespeare continues the poem by exlaining how death consumes like a fire. By using juxtoposition, Shakespeare is able to both compare and contrast fall and death. When speaking of fall, he states, "Which by and by black night doth take away," and later speaks of death, "That seals up all in rest" (Shakespeare, 6-7). Shakespeare juxtaposes these two themes by showing how both almost take the life out of everything, causing rest. Where I am confused is after juxtaposing them as similar, he brings love into the death stanza, causing death to be almost positive. I think he is trying to state that the event of death helps him call to mind pleasent thoughts such as his loved one. This poem was easy to understand at first but loses me after talking about the glowing fire. This is yet another poem that I feel as though has no point to it. Shakespeare should have cut the poem off after line seven. It would be nice if someone could offer some advice on what this poem is talking about because past possible juxtopositon, I see no other depth to this poem.

Crossing the Bar by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Crossing the Bar by Alfred, Lord Tennyson is a poem that discusses a man who is given a calling from objects in the sky. The speaker then reaches a period of darkness and sadness. I believe this poem is packed full of symbolism. After discussing a tide and heading for home, the speaker states, "And may there be no sadness of farewell When I embark;... I hope to see my Pilot's face to face When I have crossed the bar" (Tennyson, 11-16). This poem symbolises a man reaching his time of death, and he does not want his friends and family to feel sadness for him. Then when he says he has "crossed the bar" he is saying that he has finally passed away. The "Pilot" represents the speaker finally meeting God in heaven. The speaker is acknowledging that he has reached his demise, so he looks forward to the positive outcome of the event. The speaker has accepted his death and sees it as a time to rejoice and be happy because he has finally reached the end of his journey that he embarked on. Tennyson is able to use this symbolism to show death in a new light, that of the begining of a new adventure.

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is, like The Lottery, also another twisted story with an even more sickening ending. The main character of this story is about a woman named Emily, and yet it is taken from an interesting point of few. The reader views this story from the first person point of view, but not from Emily's point of view or any of her close companions that she spends most of her time with. The people in Emily's town observe, "When we saw her again, her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl..." (Faulkner, 285). By the use of "we" and the speaker saying that they had seen her for the first time in a while, the reader can conclude that the towns people are observing her. The story is also jumbled in a non chronological order, leading to believe different individuals are sharing their story. Being written in the first person point of view, Faulkner is able to create a sense of mystery and questioning about Emily. The towns people telling the story are unsure of the true answers behind Emily so the reader must piece puzzles of the story to make their own conclusions. By having the towns people at the end explain the details of the room with the corpse, the reader is able to realise how sick and twisted Emily acts. The first person point of view helps to establish how distant Emily was from reality, and how her distance was perceived by normal people.

The Lottery by Shirly Jackson

The Lottery by Shirly Jackson is a short story that is very deceitful and has a sick twist at the end of the story. There are many points though out the play where Jackson uses foreshadowing to imply that the "lottery" taking place is not what it appears to be on the surface. The setting shows that it is a lovely summer day, but the peculiar children are, "Selecting the smoothest and roundest stones" (Jackson, 264). These actions immediately begin to raise questions and cause the reader to think twice about what is actually going on. Jackson is able to confuse the reader by creating such a peaceful image of the day in order to embed hints to what is truly going to happen at the end of the story. By using foreshadowing as a literary technique, Jackson challenges the reader to focus on details in order to gain a better understanding of the traditions this village participates in. Mr. Adams later states, "'That over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery" (Jackson, 268). Mr. Adams, through the use of foreshadowing, helps the reader to see that something more is going on than a normal lottery. These small details that Jackson uses help the reader to see that the lottery is going to have a negative ending. Most good lotteries do not involve gathering stones and discussing how other villages are not continuing this tradition.

The Glass Menagerie (Blog 5)

I actually enjoyed The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. I am starting to like reading plays a little more than novels and stories because they are all based around dialogue rather than extraneous details. Williams did a great job at characterizing each person in the play, which helped to create a unique image of each character. I also liked how Williams made it very obvious what the symbols of the play were when he made comments like, "'But since I have a poet's weakness for symbols, I am using this character also as a symbol; he is the long delayed but always expected something that we live for'" (Williams, 1237). This helped me better understand the play and not get hung up and frustrated with the little details. Overall I enjoyed the play, but there is one area where I was displeased with the play. I felt as though there was almost no point to the play. Nothing really happened. The gentlemen caller showed up, and right when there was hope, he just left for his fiance. Plus the ending was just sort of weird how the play ended. Aside from that, the characters were unique, the sadness was minimal, and the play was an easy read.

The Glass Menagerie (Blog 4)

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is composed of a large amount of characterization about each character in the play. Every character is explained in great detail in order for the reader to gain a complete understanding of the type of person a character is and their personality. Laura has a few epithets that help characterize her such as, "Home girl... dependent... failure... frightened... sick" (Williams, 1253-54). Although these are not all the adjectives that describe Laura, a trend may be very obviously observed. Laura is characterized as the shy, reserved, and unsocial type of person. Every time Laura is talked about between Tom and Amanda, many of these epithets are used to show how hopeless Laura lives. These descriptions of Laura help to evoke sympathy for Laura and her "crippled" appearance. Laura is also characterized as an unhappy person with a low self esteem. She lets her negative views of her own appearance cloud her ability to function as a normal person around other people. Williams does a great job of helping the reader visualize what kind of person Laura is by explaining the reasons she is so closed to society.