1. Collin uses humor to mock this trope.
2.Shakespeare knocks it down in a more aggressive, sincere way.
3. Collins says nothing truly insulting because his metaphors are too absurd to be taken seriously.
4. Shakespeare truly seems to insult his mistress.
5.For Collins, the main point of the work is mockery of a poetic device.
6. Shakespeare also does this, but the last two lines, which focus on a genuine love, suggest he may also be writing this sonnet out of true emotion.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Litany-Billy Collins
1. Simply a parody, or mockery?
2. He gives a very straight faced presentation.
3. The poem becomes more and more absurd.
4. His intro provides an explanation, and is also humorous.
5. The poem would still be effective without the intro, but it adds to it. It provides an explanation of the form he is parodying and his "thievery."
6. He goes directly from the intro to the poem; I almost missed the transition.
7.Refers to the page often.
8. His almost monotone delivery adds to the comedy. He is supposed to be saying something romantic and he sounds completely blase. Perhaps this is because he is trying to make a point about the staleness of the form.
Shihan: Flashy Words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9A_k6Sj-Pg
Observations and thoughts:
1. Extensive vocabulary.
2. Uses ambiguous pronouns to tell stories. "He said......she lost hope."
3. "And I swear to God if I could swear to God I'd ask her" is an interesting take on how often we throw around the phrase "Swear to God".
4. He also refers to God as a woman, probably because we often use male pronouns to refer to God by default. He's playing with assumptions in language.
5. "Pupils become pupils." stood out to me as a nice piece of wordlplay.
6. He invokes a classic nursery rhyme about words when he starts to quote "Sticks and Stones."
7. It is almost impossible to keep up with his incredibly fast delivery.
8. He gets the audience pumped up at the beginning like a concert.
9. He uses a lot of repetition.
10. He makes use of wild hand gestures. A very enthusiastic performance. You can hear the passion in his voice.
11. A random subjective experience that colored my vision of this poem: A few months back I was critiquing all different sorts of poetry with my friends. As a joke, I created this fake poetry jam persona, because I've seen a lot of terrible poetry jams. The intentionally atrocious poem I came up with on the spot as a parody revolved around peace. It contained a line that went something along the lines of "If you piece the pieces of peace together" and another that said, "Peace is a piece of the pie..the American dream...what we're all fighting for..a contradiction." (Insert bongos here.)
Unfortunately, as much as I like Shihan's poem, I can now never take his line "Piece together piece of pieces, peace within me." seriously, because it will always make me think of the most trite thing I could come up with at some party.
Observations and thoughts:
1. Extensive vocabulary.
2. Uses ambiguous pronouns to tell stories. "He said......she lost hope."
3. "And I swear to God if I could swear to God I'd ask her" is an interesting take on how often we throw around the phrase "Swear to God".
4. He also refers to God as a woman, probably because we often use male pronouns to refer to God by default. He's playing with assumptions in language.
5. "Pupils become pupils." stood out to me as a nice piece of wordlplay.
6. He invokes a classic nursery rhyme about words when he starts to quote "Sticks and Stones."
7. It is almost impossible to keep up with his incredibly fast delivery.
8. He gets the audience pumped up at the beginning like a concert.
9. He uses a lot of repetition.
10. He makes use of wild hand gestures. A very enthusiastic performance. You can hear the passion in his voice.
11. A random subjective experience that colored my vision of this poem: A few months back I was critiquing all different sorts of poetry with my friends. As a joke, I created this fake poetry jam persona, because I've seen a lot of terrible poetry jams. The intentionally atrocious poem I came up with on the spot as a parody revolved around peace. It contained a line that went something along the lines of "If you piece the pieces of peace together" and another that said, "Peace is a piece of the pie..the American dream...what we're all fighting for..a contradiction." (Insert bongos here.)
Unfortunately, as much as I like Shihan's poem, I can now never take his line "Piece together piece of pieces, peace within me." seriously, because it will always make me think of the most trite thing I could come up with at some party.
Tell the truth but tell it slant: How is Dickinson's poem fresh?
1. Definite meter.
2. Abab rhyme scheme is easy to follow and has an almost musical quality.
3. Emphasis on certain words. (Capitalized.)
4. She does not use traditional punctuation, so a reader must determine how to read it if they haven't read it before.
5. Alliterative use of the "s" sound causes a sort of hissing quality. This sound is associated with snakes, and as a result, deception.
6. The word slant has a naturally unappealing sound to the English speaking ear. Most "sl" words are unsavory: Slug, slip, slime, sludge.
2. Abab rhyme scheme is easy to follow and has an almost musical quality.
3. Emphasis on certain words. (Capitalized.)
4. She does not use traditional punctuation, so a reader must determine how to read it if they haven't read it before.
5. Alliterative use of the "s" sound causes a sort of hissing quality. This sound is associated with snakes, and as a result, deception.
6. The word slant has a naturally unappealing sound to the English speaking ear. Most "sl" words are unsavory: Slug, slip, slime, sludge.
Taylor Mali's Poem in Print (Materialism)
Here are some things I noticed about the text version of Taylor Mali's poem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEBZkWkkdZA
1. Italicizes words he is trying to present as weak.
2. Uses BOLD font for important points.
3. Builds pictures. (For example, the words forming a falling tree.)
4. Black words on an off-white background is reminiscent of old paper. Also makes for a pleasing color scheme.
5. Spells some things phonetically. "Ya know?"
5. Varies fonts to impress his point upon viewers and draw the eye. All the little typographical choices help to maintain interest.
6. The words move quickly, so you really have to pay attention.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEBZkWkkdZA
1. Italicizes words he is trying to present as weak.
2. Uses BOLD font for important points.
3. Builds pictures. (For example, the words forming a falling tree.)
4. Black words on an off-white background is reminiscent of old paper. Also makes for a pleasing color scheme.
5. Spells some things phonetically. "Ya know?"
5. Varies fonts to impress his point upon viewers and draw the eye. All the little typographical choices help to maintain interest.
6. The words move quickly, so you really have to pay attention.
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