BINGO!!!!

     Walt Whitman was one of the most profound American poets in the nineteenth century in American society. He was influential and was the first urban poet to include provocative lyrics like sex, homosexually, and nakedness. This poem is by Whitman and no other poet. This poem contains Whitman’s distinguished life, content, and style. This poem uses Whitman’s repetitions of words at the beginning of the sentences and intriguing imagery. It exemplifies American individualism in the nineteenth century, provocative lyrics, expanded line length, and illustrates his sacredness of the human body.        

    Walt Whitman’s poems exemplify the American individualism in the nineteenth century. In many of his poems, he compares individuals to the horizons and mountains in
America. He feels that individuals have a lot of power to accomplish anything that they put their mind to. Walt Whitman was a man who was not afraid to be himself. He loved that he was an individual in society and that nobody change his behavior. In the selected poem he expands of this idea of the power of an individual. He says, “And who proudest? For I think I have reason to be the proudest son alive—for I am the son of the brawny and tall-topt city…And who has been bold and true? For I would be the boldest and truest being of the universe.” He just shows that he could be whatever you wanted in America. He could be proud, benevolent, happy, cautious, bold, and true. Whitman felt that he could do or feel anything he wanted living in American society.           

      Walt Whitman’s poems provide provocative and sexual lyrics that include homosexuality and nakedness. He was the first urban poet to include sexual lyrics. Other poets and people in society found this to be disgraceful, but Whitman felt that as an individual, he had the right to include anything he wanted his poetry.  Walt Whitman was flamboyant is his writing which offended many readers in American society. He was not traditional and he escaped the normal standard of poetry writing. Whitman was also a homosexual and he expressed it in many of his poems. In the selected poem, he talks about his homosexually with his friends. It says, “And who has reciv’d the love of the most friend? For I know what it is to receive the passionate love of many friends,” He talks about his sexual encounters with his friends in this line. Lines like these were considered disgraceful. It shows you that it couldn’t have been written by anybody else besides Whitman. Whitman also found the human body sacred. Nakedness was a big part of his poetry. In the selected poem, he says, “And who possesses a perfect and enamour’d body? For I do not believe any one possesses a more perfect or enamour’d body than mine.” He was obsessed with his body and he felt that no one has a better body than his.           

      Walt Whitman’s poem contained repetition of words at the beginning of the line, intriguing imagery, and expanded line length. In most of his Whitman’s poems, there was a repetition of word at the beginning in each sentence. In the selected poem, it shows the repetition of the word “And”. The poem says, “And who has been just? For I would be the most just person of the earth,/And who most cautious? For I would be more cautious,/And who has been happiest? O I think is is I—I think no” Whitman also uses intriguing imagery in the selected poem. He says, “for I am the son of the brawny and tall-topt city.” The word in this line make you imagine a tall-topt city in America. Whitman also expands his lines. This is because Whitman feels that his words are music. He expands his lines so that the music can play longer.  Whitman says, “And who has made hymns fit for the earth? For I am mad with devouring ecstasy to make joyous hymns for the whole earth.” He felt that when he was writing poetry, he felt that he was producing music for the society.         

      Walt Whitman truly stepped out of the box. He didn’t care what people thought about. He took pride in his individualism and ability to write whatever pleased his mind. His poems include repetitions of words at the beginning of the sentence. He is known for intriguing imagery. It embodies American individualism in the nineteenth century. He is the first of urban poets to use provocative lyrics, expanded line length, and illustrate the sacredness of the human body.

“An old man with steel-rimmed spectacles and very dusty clothes sat by the side of the road…There was nothing to do about him…the Fascists were advancing toward the Ebro…the fact that cats know how to look after themselves was all the good luck that old man would ever have.” This quote from the “Old Man at the Bridge” features Hemmingway’s content, style, and life. The best of Hemmingway always have tough terse prose, declarative sentences, life experiences that make his characters act in a certain way, and main characters that are hard to figure out within the context of the story line. This is certainly true in “Old Man at the Bridge”.

                Ernest Hemmingway’s life experiences with war causes his main characters to act with bravery, heroism, and no fear when it comes to laying their life on the line. Ernest Hemmingway participated in wars from World War I to World War II. This is certainly true in “Old Man at the Bridge”. This story features an old man sitting on the side of the road during the war time of the Spanish Civil War. There was a young man who worried because the Fascists were coming. He wanted to help the old man. The Fascists were coming and the man was a in a place were he could be killed by the Fascists. The old man was obviously ready to die. The old man says, “I am without politics,” he said. “I am seventy-six years old. I have come twelve kilometers now and I think now I can go no further.” The younger guy says, “This is not a good place to stop.” With war there is always death. These quotes show how Ernest Hemmingway felt about War and death. This does not necessarily means that Hemmingway was the bravest individual. It means that he felt that it took bravery and no fear when it comes to participating in war. This is certainly true in “In Another Country”. An American shows his bravery and courage by joining the Italian military.

                Ernest Hemmingway’s short stories contain tough terse prose and declarative sentences. This fits for all of the story we have read in class. This is certainly true in “Old Man at the Bridge”.  He uses a declarative sentence by saying, “I was watching the bridge and the African-looking country of the Ebro Delta and wondering how long it would be before we would see the enemy…” There is always sentences in his short stories that are containing a statement or are in the form of a statement.” This is true in A Clean Well-Lighted Place, Snow of Kilimanjaro, and many of his other short stories. These type of stories are ordinary and are without embellishment.

                Ernest Hemmingway’s main characters are always hard to figure out. There seems to be a deeper meaning to the character that Hemmingway never shows. This is certainly true in “Old Man at the Bridge”. Hemmingway opens with, “An old man with steel-rimmed spectacles and very dusty clothes sat by the side of the road.” He ends with, “There was nothing to do about him.” Besides these quotes, Hemmingway states that the old man is a caretaker of animals. That is all the information that he gives us about the old man. He does not tell us what his purpose is and where he has come from. He does not tell us where he is headed. He just tells us what the old man is at that certain point of time. This is true in Fifty Grand where it features a boxer who is about to fight his last fight. He bets fifty grand that he loses the fight. Hemmingway does not tell us where he is from and what his purpose in life is.

                Most of Hemmingway’s short stories have tough terse prose and declarative sentences. It also features life experiences that make his characters act in a certain way. His main characters that are hard to figure out within the context of the story line. Ernest Hemmingway’s life connects with what he writes about and the way he writes it. This is certainly true in “Old Man at the Bridge.” What forces or circumstances makes you who you are today?

At the end of the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Ruth May says, “Walk forward into the light.” Ruth May is the narrator. She is addressing her mother, Orleanna Price. She is telling her mother that she is forgiven. She is telling her that it is time to move on. It is time to live her life peacefully. It is time to live her life without regret because she is forgiven by Ruth May. The novel ends with the words, “Walk forward into the light” because Ruth May forgives her mother for all of things that her mother regrets and that it is time for her mother to live in peace.

Light is the symbol for peace in the Poisonwood Bible. There are many dark times in the story. Most of the symbols for darkness is associated with Nathan Price. Light is a symbol for forgiveness. It is a symbol for happiness. It is also a signal for better times to come. Orleanna has many things to regret. She regrets her daughter Ruth May dying in the Congo. She thought if her family had left the congo when the evacuation plane came, that Ruth May would not have died. She regrets not being able to be a strong indepedent women when it came to dealing with Nathan. When Nathan would argue with Orleanna, she would give up on the arguement. An example is when she is telling Nathan why the women do not cover their breast. Nathan was upset that she would take a stand on the villagers side. He said it is wrong. Orleanna would not argue back. She mainly regrets not standing up to Nathan when he was putting the family in danger. She feels that this horrible experience for her kids is her fault. She feels that she put a damper on her kids childhood.

The mother really took these regrets to heart. She would not be able to see past them. In the Congo, she would sleep for very long periods of time. This happened when the family did not go on the evacuation plane to leave the country. After Ruth May died, she would constantly think about Ruth May’s death and the terrible things that happened in the Congo. At times, she was not able to sleep well at night.

The novel ends with the words, “Walk forward into the light”. The light is the positive in the story. The darkness is the negative. This line from Ruth May tells Orleanna that it is time to get out of the negative past and to walk into a positive future without regret.

I expect to have an excellent year in English this year. I expect to be a better writer. I want to abtablish a good writing style this year. I expect you to be very hard on me when I tend to get lazy at times. One of my challenges in English is reading comprehension and writing papers. My strenghts have usually been vocabulary. My writing definitely needs to improve. I need to proof read my work better. I think I have a strong voice and I believe I am a good communicator. I tend to be lazy at times and I need someone to push me. I am a auditory learner. One goal is to become a better writer. My second goal is to have a better attitude throughout the year.