Thanatopsis - Reflection Blog

Well, I do have to admit that this poem is kind of depressing. However, I did find it interesting enough. First of all, you can tell that it is going to be depressing right from the start because the word "Thanatopsis" translates to "Mediation of Death" or "View of Death. (Huff). Basically, in this poem William Cullen Bryant talks about his view on death and how one should not necessarily be afraid of it. He first starts out talking and saying things about "the last bitter hour" and "the narrow house. (Bryant lines 9-12). That is why at first, this poem seems pretty depressing. I kept thinking to myself, "I really hope the whole poem isn't like this." But then, it gets a little better because I actually start seeing what maybe Bryant's whole point was. At this point, the poem gets a little less upsetting and a little more thoughtful. After, talking about the normal kind of scary death talk, Bryant starts to talk about how he thinks we should look at it. He actually makes a really interesting point that I have never ever thought of before. He talks about how even though we may be scared and lonely, that we do not have to be scared and lonely by ourselves, but rather we will be laid next to many of the most famous and intelligent people.

Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish
Couch more magnificent. 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, (Bryant lines 32-36)

I do have to admit that I have never thought of death in that way before at all and I find it really interesting how he looked at it in this way. I like it though, because William Bryant tells you to not be afraid of death but rather look at it like him and think about how close you get to be to some of those people. He also talks about how we should at least be thankful because it is better to be buried in the ground after a full life than "the speechless babe" you did not have enough time (Bryant line 70). Basically, William Bryant says that we should be strong in whatever faith we have and live well, for we will all be in the ground all together anyway one day.

Bryant, William Cullen. "16. Thanatopsis." Bartleby.com. Web. 23 Nov. 2011.

Huff, Randall. "'Thanatopsis'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 23 Nov. 2011.

Journal #19 - Importance of Nature & Spirituality

I think that nature and spirituality play a very important role in the cycle of life and death. I feel like nature is important because just like nature, people in a way, kind of go through their own seasons in life just like nature does. I am not exactly sure if this is what I should be writing about, but when I thought about nature and how it is important to the cycle, I immediately thought about this one movie that I usually watch around Christmas time. It is an older movie and at times can be a little cheesy, but ultimately, it is really good and kind of relates to what we are talking about. This movie is called Seasons of the Heart. Basically, to make a long story short, it is about how people got through hard times in life and kind of shut down, like winter. But then, eventually things change and they change and summer roles around. It is actually a really good movie. Anyway, that is what I think about nature and how it relates to our life cycle. Another way you could look at it, is that nature can affect your mood and your attitude at times. Sometimes I really just don't want to get out of bed because it is so dreary outside and it makes me really tired and not motivated at all. The days that are sunny however, make me feel at times, a little happier because it is warm and sunny. So, I guess that nature can affect you in that way too. As for spirituality, I am not exactly sure how it relates to the cycle of life, death, and nature other than that there are many different religions and some of them do involve nature and things like that. Other than religion though, I am not for sure what to write about that. In my opinion, this is how nature and spirituality are tied into the cycle of life and death.

Journal #17 - Bonding with Nature

I think that I have bonded with nature more times than I think I have. When I first think of bonding with nature, I tend to think of things like Native Americans and how they lived off of the earth and things like that. Now I realize that people do not really live that way anymore so sometimes I think it can be hard to bond with nature, at least in that way. But then I started thinking about more of the little things that I do sometimes. For example, there have been many times that I look out of my window and see the sun setting, making orange and pink streaks across my floor. I look at things like that and think about how cool and wonderful they are. Another example would be the sunrise. Now, to be honest, I have not seen the sunrise too many times, just because I rarely get up that early, but the few times that I have seen it, it is often indescribable. One time when I was at camp in North Carolina, our group decided to wake up at four in the morning and look out over the mountains to see the sunrise. At first, I was reluctant to go due to lack of sleep, but in the end, I am so glad that I decided to go! As the sun slowly came up above the purplish blue mountains, the sky lit up and became also a beautiful kind of periwinkle color. I think that is a really good example of how I bonded with nature because it was just one of those moments when you feel so small because of the giant mountains surrounding you, but at the same time you feel so powerful because you climbed all the way and got to see such a thing. So, even though I feel like I do not give a lot of credit to nature all of the time like the natives did, I still feel like you can bond with nature by just appreciating it for what it is.

Reflection: Fireside Poets

Fireside Poets use a very different writing style than any of the other styles we have encountered so far. We call these poets fireside poets because it is said that many families would sit by the fire and read these poems. I have decided that I already like fireside poets because I like the fact that families could sit all together in one room and just sit and listen to these descriptive poems. In fact, I think that story telling is a lost art. Don't get me wrong, I love movies and seeing really whats happening, but nobody ever tells good stories anymore. I also like these fireside poems because people can imagine things that they hear differently. It is fun hearing the story or poem and picturing it in your head and knowing that people may not be thinking the same as you. Anyway, some of these Fireside Poets include Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russel Howell, and of course the oldest writer, William Current Bryant. These poems were mostly narrative poems and were often very descriptive (Wilhelm 210).

I really like this style of writing because it is so much more descriptive than some of the other styles we have looked at. For example, William Cullen Bryant is very descriptive when he says "Thou blossom bright with autumn dew, and colored with the heaven's own blue, that openest with the quiet light, succeeds the keen and frosty night" (Wilhelm 211). I think the way this is written is really pretty and like I said earlier, I love when you can read something and imagine what it actually looks like in your head. When he talks about the bright blossoms covered in dew, I feel like I can actually picture in my head what he was trying to say. I just love it. We know that people must have really liked reading these poems otherwise, these poems or poets would not have been called Fireside Poets. There must have been a reason that people liked these poems maybe more than other things they could have been reading. If I had to guess, I would say that people often liked these poems because they really did not incorporate anything about religion. Unlike Puritan writing styles and such, these poems were just nicer to listen to. I also do not think that there was much logic in them either. People probably liked them pretty much for the same reason I like them. There is no thinking required, you just listen and use your imagination. I think that the people that listened to these poems could relate much better compared to other styles we have seen like Puritan writing or Rationalism. I think that it probably meant more to them because they include values like respect and courage. Many of these poets included nature that they have encountered in there poems and that is where a lot of descriptive writing comes in. I guess that is why we had to write about bonding with nature in our journal and trying to be more descriptive. That is what these Fireside Poets did.

Wilhelm, Jeffrey D., and Douglas Fisher. Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009. 210-111. Web. 21 Nov. 2011

Journal #18 - Autumn

Autumn days are always nice anyway, but if I could have the perfect Autumn day I imagine it would be something like this. The weather, of course would be fantastic. It would be chilly outside with a slight fresh breeze, but the sun would be peeking through some of the white puffy clouds making it just a tad warmer. It would be the kind of weather that even though the sun is out, you would still have to have a coat and scarf. As I walk along, I would see many big and beautiful trees that were made up of vibrant reds and yellows. The slight breeze would gently shake the leaves on the trees making a quiet rustling sound and the crisp leaves that have already fallen off of the trees would crunch under my shoes. Not only would the weather be perfect, but what would the Autumn season be if it did not involve some warm apple cider or some yummy pumpkin pie. I would eat my pie and drink my cider preferably by a warm, crackly fire. When it starts to get dark the moon would come out and some clouds would gather around it, making it light up the whole sky with a slight glow. The wind would still be rustling in the tree leaves and as it got colder and the temperature dropped, I would have to wear my warm coat and fuzzy scarf and mittens while trying to warm up my hands with the hot apple cider. Autumn is definitely one of my favorite times of the year. It is runner up behind Christmas of course, because that really the best time of the year. I love Autumn though because of all of the vibrant colors that are on the trees and the slight smell of burning leaves in the distance. I wish every day st this time of the year could be the perfect Autumn day. This is how I would describe the perfect Autumn day.

Journal #16

There are many different tools that you can use to communicate with your partners. I'm pretty sure we talked a lot about this in journal fifteen, but I will just tell you again. It used to be that communicating with people was more difficult because we did not have things like the Internet and cell phones. Cell phones is just one way that people can communicate back and forth very easily. For example, even if you do not want to talk to the person on the phone or maybe you just do not feel like talking at all, you can just send little messages back and forth. (aka text messaging). Phones of course, is just one of the many ways that you can communicate. These days everyone also has some kind of social network or online chat thing. As you know, facebook and twitter is all the rage these days. I can honestly say, that I only know about three people who do not have any form of a social network. That is probably the best way to communicate. That, or maybe text messaging. I think those would be the best, because then you could communicate back and forth fairly easy because everyone either has their phone, or has facebook or twitter. These days, everyone even has access to their network on their phone!! I think that this will help prepare us for college and careers because sometimes in some jobs, you have to be able to communicate with people that live in different areas from you. Also, sometimes if you work for a company, your boss could live states away from you, but in some way, you will have to be able to communicate with people. Even though I honestly do not like communicating with people over the computer, I know that it will help me out a lot in the future and I know it is good that we are doing projects like this one.

Journal #15

Although I think it is very inconvenient to work on a project with a group of people that live far away from you, with today's technology there are many other ways to communicate. Back in the day, this would have been very difficult to do, but now a days we have things like facebook and twitter. Social networks like those are super easy to use and can be a great way to keep in touch with people that you have to talk to, but are not necessarily pals with. Not only do you have facebook and twitter, but you also have the option of using email and or text messaging as well. However, the reason that this particular project is not my favorite is because sometimes technology can be kind of confusing to use. Because you are not talking face to face, you cannot always hear them so well or something can interrupt the connection, so it can kind of be a pain to use, no matter how convenient it may seem. Also projects like these can be difficult because it is hard to find a time to talk with your partner. Since we do not know them personally, it might be hard to find a time where both of us can talk and work on the project. Also, I do admit, it is a little awkward talking to someone you do not know over the computer or something. I think it is much less awkward when you are actually meeting them in person. Well, I guess I have to do this project no matter what so if I had to pick which kind of technology I would use, I would use either email of text messaging. I think that those types of communications are much easier to use. I think that that is the easiest thing to use because I have my phone with me almost all the time and I also check my email pretty often.

Franklin's Virtues Reflection

Benjamin Franklin was very smart and loved gaining as much knowledge as possible. In fact, not only did he want to be "book smart", but he also set up a system in which he could learn or try to become a better person. Ben Franklin wrote a list of thirteen virtues. He would try to follow these virtues to the best of his ability and made it a goal to follow as many of them as possible. He even went as far as designing a chart that allowed him to check off the virtues that he felt he needed to work on. He did this pretty much on a daily basis. Some of his virtues include Silence, Humility, and Sincerity. I find it very interesting how he came up with all of these virtues. I also think that his virtues are good ones to try and live by. For example, Sincerity is this: Use not hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly; and if you speak, speak accordingly (Franklin 149 ). All this is saying is that you should not do anything or say anything that will hurt others and that you should not think mischievously or unjust, but rather have thoughts that are good. It sounds easy enough to follow these virtues because most of them are really not that hard to follow. However, Ben Franklin knew better. That is why he started to make an actual chart and started to set personal goals for himself. Goals that would hopefully help him achieve to become a better person.

I obviously do not think that anyone can be perfect. They just can not. We often speak before we think and say and do things that we often do not think through. So no, I do not think that Ben Franklin's virtues were one hundred percent successful. However, I think that you could say it was somewhat successful just because he thought about it in the first place and at least he tried. Although Ben Franklin was not perfect, he set up these goals to at least be a reminder of what he should strive for. For example, he was not good when it came to the silence virtue and that was something that he needed to work on (Franklin 15). In Tuckerman's criticism he explained how Ben Franklin was more focused on the details. He believed that even the smallest details could make a difference in a person (Bloom, Harold). I think ultimately that was what Ben Franklin was striving for all along. So yes, actually, I do think that he was successful. Ben Franklin never said that he was striving to be perfect. He just wanted to be the best version of him that he could be. I think that Benjamin Franklin was a very smart man. I also think that he probably did better with those virtues than I, and many other people could have. I have really enjoyed learning about Ben Franklin and all of his accomplishments. I think he was very smart to this day he is still teaching us things.

Bloom, Harold, ed. "The Character of Franklin." Benjamin Franklin, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Franklin, Benjamin. Autobiography. Harvard University, 1895. Print.