poetry blog week seven

This blog is from our poetry section of this class. Some of the poems I found a little confusing. I am not sure if I even understood them at all. The poems I choose to write about are the ones I found interest in .The first one is The Secretary Chant.  I was unsure at first what or who this poem was about. I had all kinds of images running through my head such as was it a typewriter, a computer, a copy machine, a telephone, a switchboard or a person. I find it sad that this secretary was made to feel like a piece of office equipment rather than a person. The second poem I chose was Dogs Death by John Updike. This was a very sad tale of a puppy that was hit by a car and had internal injuries that eventually killed him. Through all his agony though he still tried to learn tricks and use the paper which his owners came to find he did this all the way to his dying moment. Good Dog. Those words do not seem to hold the same meaning in the end. The third story I chose to write about was The Death of a Ball Turret Gunner By, Randall Jarrell. This story had me a little confused as to what a Ball Turret Gunner was. This sounds like what happens to a baby bird when it is born. What I do not get though is why it has fur. A baby bird is pushed from its home in a nest and taught to fly or die. The next story or Poem that I chose to talk about is he Convergence of the Twain. I do not quite understand the title or what it has to do with the Titanic, but I have a great interest in the Titanic. This poem is told from the point of view of the fish. We see mentioned the fish wandering why such a great masterpiece was under the ocean with them. We hear of the algae and other fungus that now lives upon the once great rails of the masterful, indestructible ship. The Titanic’s beauty is lost under the ocean and decaying in the ocean bottom. The poem also talks of those whose lives were cut short by the sinking of the ship. The last poem I chose was also about the Titanic. The name of this poem is The Titanic By, David R. Slavitt. This poem shows how much the author of this poem loves the Titanic with all its beauty, Mystery and romance. The author also asks the question who could not love the Titanic. I have to agree with that statement. He talks about the people who went down with the Titanic and how they went down to their death with full stomach’s, good music and friends and family surrounding them. He makes note of the cries and screams of people dying in the frigid waters around them as  being a comfort. To me this would not have been a comfort this would have been the worst sound I could imagine knowing that I was going to die.

The Help By Kathryn Stockett

The Help

By Kathryn Stockett

This story is all about the battle that black people had to fight to just be treated as human beings. In this story we see life as a black woman would live it. We also see the lives of the rich white women who are the black women’s boss. This story is set back when John F Kennedy was President of the United States of America. We learn of the trials and struggles of the black women who are referred to as the help hence the title of the book. We are introduced to a black lady named Aibeleen who is the maid for Miss. Elisabeth. Aibeleen is also the caretaker for Elisabeth’s daughter Mae Mobley who is two years old. Aibeleen loves Mae Mobley as if she were hers. Aibeleen lost her son to a horrible accident where he worked. This accident caused Aibeleen a lot of heartache the way her sons company just threw him out of the back of a pick- up truck like a bag of garbage. But when the job of taking care of Mae Mobley came up this helped to ease Aibeleen’s heartache and keep her busy. Elisabeth was cruel to Mae Mobley and this hurt Aibeleen and she tried to encourage Mae Mobley every day. We also met Aibeleen’s friend Minny who also worked as a maid. Minny worked for Elisabeth’s friend Hilly’s mother whose name was Mrs. Walters. That is until Hilly decided to have Mrs. Walters put in an old age home and accused Milly of stealing. Hilly made it very hard for Milly to find another job spreading lies about her stealing things and starving Mrs. Walters. Aibileen helped Milly find another job with Miss. Ceilia and Mr. Johnny. We also met a white lady who was friends with Hilly and Elisabeth named Misss. Skeeter. There was something different about Miss. Skeeter from the start. Skeeter decided to write a book of interviews that portray what life was like for the black maids having to work for the white families. I believe this was Skeeter’s way of trying to get the blacks side of things heard.

"The Short Happy Life of Francis Maromber" Hemingway

“The Short Happy Life of Francis Maramber” By Hemingway


This story was about a man named Francis Maramber and his wife Margot Maramber. The Marriage that was shared by the couple was not a happy one. The couple had many problems, but Francis knew that Margot, his wife, would not leave him, due to him being a very wealthy man and the fact that her beauty was not enough anymore to make her a fortune. The couple decided to go on a hunting safari with a man named Robert Wilson who was a red faced man and a great white hunter. Francis hears a lion roaring all night long and becomes very afraid and agitated with the lions roaring. In the morning at breakfast he begins to ask Wilson a lot of questions concerning how close the lion was to them and what force would be needed to kill the lion. What Maramber does not want anyone to know is that he is terribly afraid of the lion ,he is nothing but a coward. The hunters set out to find the lion and when they find him Maramber shoots him and wounds him . Maramber soon becomes very afraid at the thought of having to go into the thick tall grass to find the lion and finish him off. Francis finds himself so afraid that he runs away toward the pond and Robert Wilson has to finish the lion himself. The only problem is that Francis’s wife Margot sees this and becomes very cold to him even going as far as kissing Robert Wilson on the mouth in front of her husband and later on she sneeks out their tent to share the bed of the great white hunter. The next day they go hunting buffalo Francis does not get scared this time he actually becomes fearless. The change in Francis is very noticeable to everyone including Margot. They soon come to find that the bull is not dead and they have to go in after him to finish him. Just as they drop the bull Francis drops down beside the bull being shot through the back of the head by his wife Margot.

"The Cask of Amontillado "by Poe

“The Cask of Amontillado” By Edgar Allen Poe


I feel the first person point of view made this story affective due to we got to feel and hear with our imaginations what was going on. Poe does not tell us about the details of the narrator’s injuries to keep us guessing on what was going on. Montresor uses reverse psychology on Fourtunato by making him believe that he is his friend and that nothing is wrong. Montresor ends up leading Fortunato to his doom in the catacombs. Fortunato does not have any clue as to what is happening to him, not even when he is trapped in the catacombs does he realize anything is wrong. Montresor is a man of intelligence and mystery. Montresor is a sneaky, liar who pretends to care about his “friend” Fortunato. This story to me was very hard to understand. I am still not sure what amontillado was or why it was mentioned so many times in the story. I tried reading the story and watching the video on you tube I still have no idea what the point of this story was or why Fortunato was killed by his good friend Montressor. Another question I am unable to answer is how do we know the tomb was undisturbed for fifty years? These kinds of stories really are hard to understand ,They are very unclear in the writing and descriptions. The language ran circles in my mind that no matter how many times I tried to read it I still had no clue what was going on.

"The Horse Dealers Daughter" / Lawrence

The Horse Dealer’s Daughter / Lawrence


This story was that of romance between the doctor and the horse dealer’s daughter. The characters included Mabel, Joe, three brothers, the doctor, and Malcolm. The young doctor falls in love with the girl after he watches her at the graveyard and follows her to the pond. The young doctor watches the girl slowly disappear into the dark pond. He goes into the pond still not knowing he loves her but to save her life as a doctor would do. The doctor helps to bring the water out of her body and return the breath to her lips. The doctor then takes her home and strips her down and wraps her in blankets to return warmth to her body still not thinking of him-self. The young doctor soon finds him-self unable to leave her side. There is a power greater than his own holding him mesmerized to stay with her. They soon realize that they want to be together always and are very much in love. This story was very interesting to me. There were a lot of twists and turns involved that led to the characters falling in love. I never seen this coming it was quite a surprise to me. The young girl went from someone who seemed suicidal to someone who fell in love and was able to receive love from a young man. I believe that the doctor saved her life in more ways than just pulling her out of the pond. The Doctor brought her a reason to live by loving her he showed her that there was more to life than the negative. She had lost her mother and she seemed to have lost herself with her. This story was worth reading and held my attention , where a lot of the other stories I found hard to follow and un interesting.

Girl /kincaid

Girl / Kincaid


This story seems to be what an authoritative person might be saying to a young girl. This person could be her mother, grandmother, aunt or so on .I found the fact that she kept calling the girl a slut was a little harsh and offensive. There were a lot of instructions being thrown at the girl all at one time such as the correct way to smile, make the bed, do the dishes, wash the clothes, what to wear and what to say. This story makes me wonder if the story is about the author’s childhood and what she was told growing up. I feel this story may reflect on verbal abuse that the girl received growing up. This story could be the author’s cry for help maybe showing how deep the mental abuse cut into her mind. I find it a little odd that no one in this story had a name used in the story. This seemed more of a list on what not do and what to do rather than a story of fiction. The instructions could be a survival guide to women on etiquette or how to attract a decent man. I am not really sure what to think about this story. I do not understand why the main speaker of the story keeps on telling the girl to avoid acting like or being the slut she knows that the girl is. Is the speaker trying to help the girl or ridicule her? I am not really sure why she treats her so badly. If anyone has a better understanding of what is going on in this story can you please clue me in?

Barn Burning / William Faulkner

Barn Burning/ William Faulkner


I found this story very hard to read. The language was very hard to understand and read. I think the book is about the boy, Colonel Sartoris Snopes. The reason that I think that it is about him is because I believe it is being told in his point of view. I believe Sarty is the central character in this story. I feel that Sarty is the central character due to the problem that he faces with his father. Should Sarty do what is right and turn his father in or continue to help him in burning barns. Sarty’s feelings in the opening paragraphs reveal how he is struggling with what to do. Sarty loves his father and says that any enemy of his father is also his enemy, but at the same time he is struggling with his emotions and doing what is right. Should Sarty turn his Father in or just do as he is told. The purpose of the italicized passages, I believe are to show that the boy is young and to let us know how hard he is struggling on what to do.

Abner’s character is revealed through his actions through an act of vengeance on the one he believed wronged him. Abner was so set in not paying for the damages he caused that he ended up being shot and killed. Abner ended up paying the ultimate price.

The description of Major De Spains house feels the reader in on the fact that he was a rich man that had more than enough and did not care who he hurt if they got in his way he would cause damage to them. He stole the Hog from Sartys Because it broke out. Major De Spain charged him money to get the hog back even though he did not need