Rise Above Average

In this final blog post I wanted to briefly reflect upon myself and share my experience within this course. Honestly there have been moments I've trailed upon the edge of failure these past few years regarding my studies. This mainly falls upon my poor study habit. My habit for being lazy with my studies dates back to my freshman year of high school. It's strange to look back and reflect upon my freshman year persona. I remember telling myself this is a "fresh beginning". This is where I can prove how smart I am and gain an opportunity to attend an out of state university someday in hopes of reaching my goals.

Regardless of having a high expectation for myself to be academically successful, I would complete courses with a lack of consistency, ending my semester with a combination of D's, C's and B's. I never really formed good study habits, which would cripple my motivation for success. Yes, I always challenge myself to be a profound thinker, imaginative and creative, but I did so while trying to avoid the things these traits could actually benefit in my life. When I sat down to complete a piece of homework or attempt a math problem, I could solve or grasp a concept fairly quick and without struggle. It was the process of actually sitting down to do the work that was foolishly unbearable to me. I would then convince myself I would be "ok" and still had time to do my homework later. This was hardly ever the case. I'd ultimately be forced to complete projects last minute or turn in my homework late. Needless to say I would drowned myself through procrastination.

Beginning my freshman year at Taylor University I told myself the same things I did during my previous freshman position and reconsidered a new "fresh beginning". To quickly outline my experience at Taylor thus far, I began another year with average grades, but eventually began to develop new study habits and take responsibility for the sake of my future. It has proven a difficult process as I have worked at local areas full-time while remaining a full-time student. Even today, I work at a restaurant that at times falls dependent upon the sacrifice of my time and studies. I train new employees on short notice and am expected to help on nights they call, in need of extra hands. This can at times burden my academic success, but it is a decision I have made and remains my own responsibility.

Though this semester was a little bumpy at times, I've distance myself further from bad study habits and ultimately learned a lot in my courses. ENGL222 proved to be a little challenging at first but was eventually less difficult following a better understanding of the Ivy Tech blackboard, resources, and attendance of Blackboard IM discussions. I have enjoyed the interactive element I shared with other students in the course, even though it was all online. I especially enjoyed the course content chosen by Professor Ladybug. There were countless pieces of literature that will remain a great influence to me the rest of my life. I was proven awestruck by the famous speeches of Abraham Lincoln; aghast yet intrigued by the grim imagination of Edgar Allan Poe; encouraged by the abstract message of "Thanatopsis" by William Bryant; breath-taken by the transcending views of Emerson and Thoreau upon Nature; absorbed by the deep philosophy of Nathaniel Hawthorne and his allegorical approach to literature; Absolutely captivated by the extensive feelings Emily Dickinson could express through her poetry despite living such a reclusive life.

The blogs proved to be an effective method for me to write as well. I am very attracted to creative visuals, so the blog post motivated me to add pictures and video to add towards my post's appeal. This gives me a comfortable environment to write in opposed to just a black and white template. Furthermore, I'm encouraged to post something embracive and polished as my content is available for peer-review.

In terms of how I've changed as a writer from this course reflects the course material I've digest and the powerful content post by my classmates in regards to said material. It inspires me to make the necessary changes towards my academic approach, in hopes of proving I can be more than average. I can actually receive the A's I could have made a long time ago. Until this happens I am categorized as nothing more than your average student who'll go on to receive an average job, an average house and an average lifestyle. I'm not satisfied until I reach the dreams and goals I've set for myself, which cannot be obtained through an average means, so instead I must rise above average.

"Thanks to everyone for making this a meaningful semester. It was nice to meet and work with you all in this profound literary experience and I just want to challenge you all to rise above average in your lives as well and never stop until your dreams and goals are fulfilled." -Zach

Poe In Popular Culture

Edgar Allan Poe, American author and poet, was best known for his literary use of mystery and macabre seemingly associated with a gothic/romantic tone. Often considered the creator of detective fiction, Poe would also write short stories that were admired for his unique approach to literary style. His stories would grip it's audience through it's bemused narrative and grim atmosphere Poe would create, which almost always involving a risky/deadly threat to it's characters. This stylistic undertone to literature influenced writers all around the world. Though Poe past away in 1849, at the age of 40, he would go on to represent an ionic figure in popular culture that identified to Poe's ghastly, yet appealing imagery used in his short stories. His work would appear in several bits of literature, music, art, and media which remains a reoccurring trend even to this day.

Music

In terms of influence Poe has on the music industry, his most renowned short stories such as "The Raven", "Cask of Amontillado" and "Tell-Tale Heart" were re-imaged into actual songs placed on Alan Parsons album released in the 1976, "Tales of Mystery and Imagination". Parson's clever use of audio effects and instrumentals delivered a sound that served to represent images/feelings portrayed in Poe's stories. For instance in "Tell-Tale Heart," thumping of drums were used to mimic a heartbeat best heard at 1:27. You can also listen to the full song below.

 

Poe has also influenced other bands such as "30 Seconds to Mars", "The Cure", and even "The Beatles" where Edgar Allen Poe can actually be seen on the cover of their album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". A popular singer in the 90's, Anne Danielewski received the nickname 'Poe' as a child by dressing up for Halloween as a character from Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Masquerade of Red Death." As you can hear in "Angry Johnny", Poe's music displayed a harsh, somber tone that mirrors the nature of Edgar's style.

 

Modern Literature

Almost every successful modern day writer has at some point been affected by Poe's unique approach to style and story telling. Most note worthy would have to be Stephen King. Being one of the founders of modern horror writing, Edgar Allan Poe's work has provide a huge impact on Stephen King's style of writing. Both styles convenience the morbid aspects of life every human being has fallen victim to at one point or another, as is our nature. The writers also favor the reoccurring theme of death, terror and gore in their work, in which their characters eventually fall prey to. 

French poet, Charles Baudelaire was famous for his collection of poems called Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil), which idolized Poe's writing. Living around the same time as Poe, Baudelaire was the first to translate Poe's stories into English. Baudelaire was so strongly influenced and similar to Poe, he was often called the Edgar Allan Poe of France. Here is one poem I read from Baudelaire's "Flowers of Evil," that reminds me a lot of Poe's style and specifically draws on similar concepts to Poe's short story "The Black Cat." The poem is coincidentally called "The Cats".

Both ardent lovers and austere scholars
Love in their mature years
The strong and gentle cats, pride of the house,
Who like them are sedentary and sensitive to cold.

Friends of learning and sensual pleasure,
They seek the silence and the horror of darkness;
Erebus would have used them as his gloomy steeds:
If their pride could let them stoop to bondage.

When they dream, they assume the noble attitudes
Of the mighty sphinxes stretched out in solitude,
Who seem to fall into a sleep of endless dreams;

Their fertile loins are full of magic sparks,
And particles of gold, like fine grains of sand,
Spangle dimly their mystic eyes.

— William Aggeler, The Flowers of Evil (Fresno, CA: Academy Library Guild, 1954)

Media

Poe's work and life has obviously been influenced and portrayed in various forms of media. There has been multiple film adaptions of his short stories including "The Raven", "Tell-Tale heart", and many others. Several documentaries have been made in tribute to his life, and numerous amounts of television/film has been influenced by Poe.

The type of media that stuck out to me the most while researching his influence in media, was the vast amount of content uploaded to Youtube based upon his work. I enjoyed watching many of these short videos because it has a significance to my age group. Much of our art and creation is expressed through the internet, so it becomes a humbling feeling to see my generation still express and carry on his legacy through their creations. This was a neat animation done in inspiration of "Tell-Tale heart", my favorite short story of Poe's.

Meditation Upon Death

A good method for me to better understanding complex pieces of literature (mostly poems) is to initially digest it by giving it a full read through and then setting it down for awhile. I usually like to give myself a week of rest, as a means break down the complex structure and ideas. This allows me to read through the piece again with a fresh but familiar comprehension. I am always surprised as to how well I can then follow the work, while discovering new mind-bogglers as well.

While I've already done several read throughs of Thanatopsis, I remembered how long it was and how hard some of the lines were to interpret. I have not read Thanatopsis since we finished the Pod it was assigned to, but for the sake of better understanding a phenomenal piece of work a little better, I decided to read through once more and give my full outlook and interpretation of this wonderful piece. Furthermore, I will also provide pictures as well.

To begin, when I first read over the Thanatopsis poem I recognized the title was strikingly familiar to the character Thanatos, who in Greek Mythology, "personifies death." With a quick Google search I found that Opsis means "sight". So how I perceive Thanatopsis, and what I believe William Bryant was trying to illustrate to his readers is an introspective view of Death and how nature can effect our perception of it.

By the beginning of the poem we are told that nature has the ability to diminish the bitterness of pain within our lives. More important, nature can even change our dark/fearful outlook of death in certain ways. For example, after Bryant describes our dark internal perceptions of fear he follows with a means for remedy saying "Go forth, under the open sky, and list To Nature's teachings, while from all around-- Earth and her waters, and the depths of air-- Comes a still voice." This suggest when we begin to worry about death, we should listen to the voice of nature. The voice is a reminder we are not alone in death, but instead will become one with the Earth after our passing.

The voice of nature also suggest we are not alone in death, as many of history's greatest individuals have endured the same end, and we will join them in death ("Thou shalt lie down With patriarchs of the infant world -- with kings, The powerful of the earth -- the wise, the good, Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past, All in one mighty sepulchre."). This outlook on death makes it seem a lot less like "eternal darkness in solitude" as some would view it but instead a departure from the living to join the many souls who reside in a "mysterious realm" host by the "the great tomb of man".

Bryant takes a dark turn towards the middle of the poem, which serve to represent man's deepest fear of death. Beginning with "The golden sun, The planets, all the infinite host of heaven, Are shining on the sad abodes of death Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread The globe are but a handful to the tribes That slumber in its bosom.", Bryant continues to describe a grim conception of afterlife. That afterlife may instead be a never ending realm where one resides without sound or refuge to reign for eternity alone. If this is the case, what happens in life would not matter.

Since the beginning of life on Earth, there have only been a handful that live in comparison to the billions that reside in afterlife, as they to will meet the same fate as their elders. Bryant suggest we should live life, not as a pawn of death's uncertainty, but to approach death's calling as if you would approach your bed for dream-filled sleep.

"approach thy grave 

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 

Dickinson Inspired Poem

I felt inspired to write about the Emily Dickinson section of this weeks Pod and would like to use this post as a means to share what I've learned about her, thoughts on her poetry and add a poem of my own in my best attempt to replicate Dickinson's poetry style.

Not having read many Emily Dickinson poem's before this section I was a little unprepared on what I was going to find. While reading about her history I discovered Dickinson was kept in a state of isolation most of her life. Remaining at home, she spent most of her time with her family. Her father, Edward Dickinson, stayed busy with politics while her brother Austin went to law school to eventually become an attorney. Her younger sister seemed to relate to her position the most as she also remained in similar isolation at home.

Regardless of her concealment, Dickinson remained active in managing various agreements and reading extensively. Though there was rarely company, the people she did come in contact with had a great impact on her poems. This left Dickinson always wanting more, which transfers over to a lot of her poems. She appeared to use this seldom contact with outsiders, her religion, knowledge of literature and her interest in Metaphysical poets of seventeenth-century England as a means to develop her own style of poetry.

Upon initial reaction towards the first line of poem I read "Because I could not stop for Death," I knew there was something different about Dickinson already. The first line consumed my interested, making it impossible to stop at this point, something no poem has made me feel before. Without a doubt of the genius at work, Dickinson delivered a message I've never came to realize before until I saw this. You really could say so much, through so little. Something Dickinson became a master of.

Dickinson was quirky, honest, respectful, yet rebellious at times. I found it most unbelievable how she was so isolated yet so in touch with her audience. She could transcribe the human consciousness in a formal poem as if she lived through it a thousand times. Not even the deepest of thinkers could make a message so vivid, but maybe this is the outcome of constantly having to resort to your own mind for company. Dickinson was overall a genius of inward thought and displayed her unreachable level of mental comprehension in several of her poems.

Life's purpose subsides, so I hang my dark crown,

'Tis time for my last breathe;

My house remains sovereign, proud, assertive in tone,

It is Destiny who disagrees.

Foremost a stubborn Cognate;

Towards which I offer abode,

Destiny compels my need for true purpose

For my Symphony taste of bitter - ode.

Empty - Void - It lacks in comparison;

Yes, I rule but I give invariably,

Yet Death knocks on my door

And Destiny smiles unbearably.

As options run thin, somber thickens;

Given through the eyes of Destiny, advice fit for a King

Yet Death knocks louder,

True purpose; my Symphony need.

My past, pale to this brume;

The cold remorse bites the bone,

Death's knock deafens the ears,

Yet Destiny remains warm and secure, as I plea for atone.

While all hope is lost, the warm infant grips my numb fingers

And I feel - Destiny - my true purpose.

Death's purpose subsides, so I mount my light crown,

'Tis time for my first breathe.

Personal Reflections

After Eng 101 (my writing class from freshman year), I noticed that the reading literature carefully helped me to gain a sense of what I was saying and doing in my writing. Ever sense then I've been able to go back to my writing content and restructure portions from a third person point of view. I do this now with almost anything I write.

It's hard to determine where I stand amongst to the academic community as a reader/writer but I know I can at least categorize myself as a “continuous” learner in reading and writing. The important thing in my opinion, is that you're always striving to grow in whatever field you find helpful towards your future growth. While engaging in reading books, articles, and text I am always learning and developing as a better reader/writer. Without that you cannot hope to learn and develop. It's an important lesson made clear to me in this course. I can now look back and understand that by delving into a talented writers work and mindset I enable myself to become a talented writer as well. It helps me to gain a better understanding of my own writing concepts to expose a broad, unbiased, structured writing style from my own perspective.

The main thing I want to take home in this course is a greater appreciation and understanding of the different sorts of literature that is out there. I've learned so much about this already and I hope the content I put out shows that.

Power of Words

While reading and reflecting the Gettysburg Address during Pod #4, I was immediately brought back to my prior semester of speech at Taylor. It was in the course, I had the chance to explore some of the greatest speeches given by man. These were speeches that caused astronomic changes towards the future of mankind. They would be the cause of a ripple in the course of history, some for good and some for pure evil.. Either way, it is safe to assume that through the power of words you can make an impact.

Although I've always been inspired by some of histories most powerful speeches, such as Winston Churchill's “We shall fight on the beaches” and Martin Luther's always famous “I have a dream” speech, none have captivate and personally affect me more than Charlie Chaplin's speech at the end of his film released in 1940, “The Great Dictator”. If you've never seen this speech written by Charlie Chaplin himself, please do yourself a favor and watch it here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXsoakk3GRk

“The Great Dictator” comedy film was a somewhat mockery of Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler. Charlie (acting as the “Hitler” of the film), parades a whimsical natured, clumsy, comical version of Hitler, much like the character's he plays in all his films. What made “The Great Dictator” so special was the unexpected speech given torwards the end of the film. Where you would imagine Charlie to give some sort of goofy, absurd version of Hitlers “Triumph of the will” speech, Charlie instead delivers one of the most powerful, profound, compassionaite speeches ever written. The speech recognized the goodness in all humans and how we could use this goodness to live a truly happy life. Just like Gettysburg Address it had the power to influence an individual's perspective on life or events.

Lens of Thoreau

 When you look upon a breathtaking piece of landscape what do you see? Do you see self-purpose or a meaning to life? An inspiration or notion that the world yearns for the greater good in man? An orchestra that was designed by God himself to harmonize the aspirations of life?

Thoreau believed in a need of simplicity. That we should "Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” - Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods. He knew that we could always benefit by the presents of peace and nature. It gives us a greater appreciation for the world we live in. In respect, we could find self-inspiration that would otherwise be clouded by detail and never-ending process.

When I slow down and free my mind of self-desire I begin to achieve a greater understanding of what is most beneficial towards our sense of identity, subjectivity and morality within the global community. Those are important because it is what separates us from any other species on the planet. The ability to lay eyes upon a beautiful thing and receive an elaborate insight about ourselves or the world around us. This is something we can easily take for granted.


Along with the knowledge it can bring to our minds, nature also offers a sense of beauty, emotion and belonging. Following a bad day you could look upon the sky and see a rainbow stretching amongst the plains, as if God is telling you everything will be OK. While driving home one night during a light rain after a bad breakup, you cry but it feels as if the world is sympathetic and cries along with you. You take a walk through a bright and colorful garden and feel a slight breeze; you then watch around you as the garden dances as if it is celebrating your presents.

And you smile reassured you are welcomed.