Final Project: A streetcar named Desire montage

final project montage up and running on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkfpWm2m8pc

Principles to die for (Antigone)

Rebellion. Much comes to mind when such buzz words are mentioned. A category of such has applied to the broadest range of things out there. Anything from art to society has experienced rebellion. All races, genders, and backgrounds have had one to rebel. However all forms of rebellion have one thing in common. This common factor is the fact that they are all executed with a motive based on principle. To rebel is a true test of principle and character. In the story Antigone by Sophocles, the main character Antigone has many traits revealed of her through her rebellious actions and dialogue with her sister Ismene.

Antigone decides to rebel against the current ruler of Thebes, Creon, by performing a burial ritual for her brother Polyneices. The fact that Antigone is willing to risk her life to perform the ritual for her brother shows that she is one of strong principle. In burying her brother she believes that “it will be good to die, doing so”. Her tie to her family is so strong that the punishment of death is not enough to keep her from giving her brother a proper burial. This shows a light of character in that she is one to believe so hard in things that she is willing to give her life proving it. It takes a lot of courage to commit to such an act. This trait is rare in female characters; which puts Antigone in a position to stand out beyond other women of her time. It is even brought to light when Ismene says “you ought to realize we are only women, not meant in nature to fight against men.” With this said, and her actions performed, Antigone is without a doubt a very courageous person who has strong belief in her principles. The fact that Antigone is willing to do such an act for her brother shows that she had a close relationship with him when he was alive. She even says “I shall lay by his side, loving him as he loved me”. Antigone has had a very close relation with her brother. Not many people would be willing to risk their lives to pay such respect to just any person.

From the first installment of reading, it can be inferred that Antigone is a person of strong principle. Principle strong enough to die for. It also shows that she has had a very close relation with her brother when he was alive; which could for tell that certain principles about family are going to arise. Antigone is also very courageous because she is a women willing to take on the man.

A first hand look at Bartleby’s Facebook

At first glance of Bartleby’s Facebook you notice that there is a picture of a thin black figure staring out the window. In the picture it appears to be an office setting with many law books and references. The photo is black and white. To the right of the photo is his name written as plainly as possible. “Bartleby” The status accompanying his name is “I prefer not to move”. Directly below the name and status, one will notice that there is almost nothing on his page. There is no news feed, and no photo’s posted by others of Bartleby. There is a single comment by a 12 year old boy who’s display name is “Ginger Nut”. The comment reads “Hey Bartleby, look I am your first comment!!! Well ill see you at the office” Sadly Ginger nut is the only friend on Bartleby’s friend list. This online friendship was most likely the result of Ginger Nut adding every acquaintance to his friend list.

A quick click on the info page reveals very little details about Bartleby. One single network “Wall St”. in the Activities section there is “staring out the window” and “ sitting down thoughtless” In the interests section there is a plain “…” in there. There is no more info on his info page other than his favorite quote which reads “I would prefer not to”. That is all that is in the profile of Bartleby. For some reason he prefers to keep his internet profile blank and bland. He prefers not to work on his profile or socialize too much with his profile. In fact the reason to why his profile even exists is a mystery in itself.

Naturally man made (after picture)

Breaking rules. Many of us do it. Whether the act is as small as using the wrong door or as big as using the wrong traffic lane, breaking rules is just an everyday occurrence. However it is the use of rules that define who we are. To insist on using the right door makes you a meticulous person; while using the right lane makes you a safe driver. It is every little rule that we follow that makes us who we are. Breaking the rules is a characteristic commonly associated with writing poetry. In the early days, poems had to rhyme and follow a specific meter. However, as time went on poets began to break the rules and form into what is now known as free verse. Modern standards of free verse have almost nothing to do with what poetry use to sound like. However there still remains a form to be followed.

Now what would we call a poem that does not follow any criterion for being a poem, even to free verse standards? “In a station of the metro” by Ezra Pound would be one up for review. Many may argue that this poem is merely a sentence, an incomplete thought, or even just a group of words. Despite it breaking all these rules, Pound’s poem obeys the one rule that all poems must obey. This rule is that they must all have a deeper meaning than what is being said. A sort of cryptic message that lies deep beneath the surface of the words. All poems have a message and Pound’s poem is no exception. With a little decoding, one can find out that Pound is making a statement of how no matter how much humans try to distance themselves from nature, the line between the two is blurred, and they have more in common together than one thinks.

Pound first compares a subway system to a tree's vascular system to emphasize similarities. In terms of form and function, a tree has much in common with a subway system. A subway system can be thought as a vascular system of the city, much like the vascular system in a tree. Both use a complicated series of tubes and pods to transport nutrients throughout the entity to which they serve. The tunnel and train serves the city, while the vessel and pod serves the tree. Even the end points of these vessels are similar. A subway system will have stations which are analogous to the pores found throughout the tree. Pound is showing that no matter how large the entity is, it still relies on a vascular system to keep it working. A city, which can be thought as the poster child of human civilization must still have a system that is awfully familiar to a tree; which can be thought of as the poster child of nature. They are both living systems and have adapted similar techniques to distributing its nutrients.

Pound uses pedals and faces to exhibit the fruits of the system’s labor. As the nutrients are distributed throughout the tree, each nutrient plays their own role in benefitting the tree; whether it is to help the tree grow or to make the tree blossom with pedals. In this case the pedals can be thought of as the fruits of the tree’s labor. Analogous to the pedals would be the human faces which Pound directly compares pedals to in his poem. As nutrients are transported throughout the tree, they are dormant and serve almost no purpose when in transit. “These faces in the crowd” are much the same. When people are in transit, especially in the subway system, they are dormant. The faces are just a part of the crowd; they too serve almost no purpose to the entity they serve. When the nutrients reach the sinks of the tree, they blossom and bloom. The pedals then review a whole new look for the tree and show off the fruits of the trees labor. They are “pedals on a wet, black bough”. The pedals bright colors stand out even more so with that black bough. When the faces reach their station, they suddenly wake up and start to perform their own tasks as well. Whether the task is their job or their hobby, they begin to give the city a unique look. The faces are more like the pedals than just what is shown on their outside. They both start as dormant nutrients to serve their entity.

Pound brings humans and nature close together enough to be separated by a fine line, only to blur this line by contrasting the two systems. A tree can be thought as one of the simplest structures on earth. While a train station can be thought of one of the most complex inventions ever put forth by anything to touch this earth. A tree is so simple in only needing photosynthesis to thrive, while a metro station needs everything from electricity to people to run the station to revenue to pay for everything. A tree with “pedals on a wet, black bough” is a warm and comforting figure of peace and tranquility, while a train station is a place where “faces in the crowd” come and go without a second thought. Pound is showing how no matter how complex and sophisticated something is, its roots will be buried deep within a part of nature.

The line is blurred even further with contrasts within each system’s qualities to represent the other system. Once the line is already blurred, Pound takes it yet another step further by contrasting elements within the systems themselves. Within the metro station, faces are contrasted with the rest of the station. It is here we have an organic versus industrial contrasting. Nature is represented by the human faces while humans are represented by their own creation. With the tree system, we have pedals which are often associated with being very bright and vibrant with color contrasted with a “wet black bough”. Once again nature is represented by something that is very warm and peaceful i.e. the pedals, while humans are being represented by something that is dark and cold. Being black and cold to nature is a common perception for some to have about the human race and what they have become to nature. The line is blurred because we find that even within systems that are thought to be purely for nature or purely for humans, we find representations of the opposing system within it. We now have a sort of yin and yang effect with both systems within each system.

“In a station of the metro” is without a doubt a poem. Not for the fact that it breaks the rules of conventional rule breaking poems, but for the fact that it has a deeper meaning than what is being said literally. It comments on how humans and nature are all related in one giant loop. No matter how big the loop; be it a tree, a metro station, or the tree and metro station together. Representations of both will always be found no matter where you look. This is because everything is linked together in a yin and yang effect. One can not exist without the existence of the other. It is with this encrypted message that “In a station of the metro” can be considered a poem.

Naturally man made

Naturally man made

Breaking rules. Many of us do it. Whether the act is as small as using the wrong door or as big as using the wrong traffic lane, breaking rules is just an everyday occurrence. However it is the use of rules that define who we are. To insist on using the right door makes you a meticulous person; while using the right lane makes you a safe driver. It is every little rule that we follow that makes us who we are. Breaking the rules is a characteristic commonly associated with writing poetry. In the early days, poems had to rhyme and follow a specific meter. However, as time went on poets began to break the rules and form into what is now known as free verse. Modern standards of free verse have almost nothing to do with what poetry use to sound like. However there still remains a form to be followed.
Now what would we call a poem that does not follow any criterion for being a poem, even to free verse standards? “In a station of the metro” by Ezra Pound would be one up for review. Many may argue that this poem is merely a sentence, an incomplete thought, or even just a group of words. Despite it breaking all these rules, Pound’s poem obeys the one rule that all poems must obey. This rule is that they must all have a deeper meaning than what is being said. A sort of cryptic message that lies deep beneath the surface of the words. All poems have a message and Pound’s poem is no exception. With a little decoding, one can find out that Pound is making a statement of how no matter how much humans try to distant themselves from nature, the line between them is blurred and that they have more in common together than one thinks.
Pound first compares a subway system to a tree's vascular system to emphasize similarities. In terms a form and function, a tree has much in common with a subway system. A subway system can be thought as a vascular system of the city. Meanwhile a tree has a vascular system. Both use a complicated series of tubes and pods to transport nutrients throughout the entity to which they serve. The tunnel and train serves the city, while the vessel and pod serves the tree. Even the end points of these vessels are similar. A subway system will have stations which are analogous to the pores found throughout the tree. Pound is showing that no matter how large the entity is, it still relies on a vascular system to keep it working. A city, which can be thought as the poster child of human civilization must still have a system that is awfully familiar to a tree; which can be thought of as the poster child of nature. They are both living systems and have adapted similar techniques to distributing its nutrients.
Pound uses pedals and faces to exhibit the fruits of the system’s labor. As the nutrients are distributed throughout the tree, each nutrient plays their own role in benefitting the tree; whether it is to help the tree grow or to make the tree blossom with pedals. In this case the pedals can be thought of as the fruits of the tree’s labor. Analogous to the pedals would be the human faces which Pound directly compares pedals to in his poem. The faces of the people make each subway uniquely looking, as do the pedals to each branch. Humans are subconsciously taking influence from nature by decorating their subway stations with faces, much like how a tree decorates each branch with its pedals. This use of aesthetic resources brings humans one step closer to nature.
Pound brings humans and nature close together enough to be separated by a fine line, only to blur this line by contrasting the two systems. A tree can be thought as one of the simplest structures on earth. While a train station can be thought of one of the most complex inventions ever put forth by anything to touch this earth. A tree is so simple in only needing photosynthesis to thrive, while a metro station needs everything from electricity to people to run the station to revenue to pay for everything. A tree is a warm and comforting figure of peace and tranquility, while a train station is a place where very busy people come and go without a second thought. Pound is showing how no matter how complex and sophisticated something is, its roots will be buried deep within a part of nature.
The line is blurred even further with contrasts within each system’s qualities to represent the other system. Once the line is already blurred, Pound takes it yet another step further by contrasting elements within the systems themselves. Within the metro station, faces are contrasted with the rest of the station. It is here we have an organic versus industrial contrasting. Nature is represented by the human faces while humans are represented by their own creation. With the tree system, we have pedals which are often associated with being very bright and vibrant with color contrasted with a “wet black bough”. Once again nature is represented by something that is very warm and peaceful i.e. The pedals, while humans are being represented by something that is dark and cold. Being black and cold to nature is a common perception for some to have about the human race and what they have become to nature. The line is blurred because we find that even within systems that are thought to be purely for nature or purely for humans, we find representations of the opposing system within it. We now have a sort of yin and yang effect with both systems within each system.
“In a station of the metro” is without a doubt a poem. Not for the fact that it breaks the rules of conventional rule breaking poems, but for the fact that it has a deeper meaning than what is being said literally. It comments on how humans and nature are all related in one giant loop. No matter how big the loop; be it a tree, a metro station, or the tree and metro station together. Representations of both will always be found no matter where you look. This is because everything is linked together in a yin and yang effect. One can not exist without the existence of the other. It is with this encrypted message that “In a station of the metro” can be considered a poem.

from tree to metro station... we are all unified as one.

Some would not consider “In a Station of the Metro” by Ezra pound a poem. However it is in fact a very meaningful poem. A poem does not need to follow any rules in order to be one. Poems have rules and guidelines, however many are written in ways that break these guidelines. It is their rebellion against form that makes it a poem. Poetry is a break away from structured writing. So what would a poem that breaks away from poems be? “In a station of the metro” is just that. So long as the poem has deeper meaning, than what is being said literally, it can be considered a poem. Pound shows a sense of unity with man and nature through his poem.
Pound makes her poem very short and concise. he is comparing the people in a train station to petals on a branch. A train station through out the day can be thought of as a branch through out the year. The branch is constantly growing and shedding pedals through out the year as the seasons change. Where in the train station the faces appear and disappear as the trains come and go. This shows how humans take so much, everything from influence to resources. We have adapted so much from nature that something we created such as a train station becomes one of the most fundamental parts of nature… a tree. Each tree branch is a tunnel for the trains to move about, Much like the vascular system of a tree. As the trains arrive at the station they release the people into the station. This is analogous to the vascular system delivering nutrients to the branches of the tree. At the branches, the tree uses it to grow pedals. All of this shows how humans are not so different from nature. Thus creating a centralized theme of unity.
There is also a lot of contrast within the poem. However it all still points to the central theme of unity. A metro station is thought to be one of the most state of the art inventions by humans. With everything from trains, to timing systems; a metro station is truly a fine work of engineering. In contrast to the train station, a tree can be thought of nature’s engineering. However it is more of a warm icon as apposed to a cold icon that is the metro station. Two things on quite the opposite ends of the spectrum both serve the same task. The task of dispersing pedals through out itself. Each one is one half to a yin and yang that completes one unified loop or circle.

loyalty never dies (Casabianca)

Casabianca has an overpowering recurring image of a son’s undying loyalty to his father. Everything from the son’s acts of insisting that he received the orders from his father before he can flee a burning ship, to the actual burning of the ship itself; projects an image of loyalty and what it can withstand. Hemans praises loyalty through her poem by creating this scene of a burning ship with a boy on it.
Hemans starts and ends the poem with the image of a ship. This ship in particular represents her views of loyalty. The ship shows such traits that one’s loyalty should have. The ship is on fire and under attack. However no matter what kind of beating foes may throw, shoot, or attack the ship with; it still manages to stay afloat. Even when all the men on the ship have died the ship still manages to stay afloat. When the complete life support of a structure have been demolished, collapsing is inevitable. However despite all that it still remains in tact, on fire, but still a float. Hemans is showing how strong loyalty should be. No matter what is thrown towards someone’s way, one’s loyalty should never become a compromise.
Hemans takes her vision of loyalty and places it within a boy. She shows his loyalty towards his dad. The boy’s dad is also captain of the ship being attacked. So in a sense the father is also the captain of the boy’s loyalty. This is all evident because when the ship is on fire and breaking down, the boy stands obediently above his father awaiting orders. When put in the situation of being on a burning ship under attack, most people would flee with out giving it a second thought. However the boy remains loyal and true to his father; to keep asking him whether or not his duties are filled. His loyalty was so strong that it ironically died in the only way loyalty should die… with the person who holds it. However it was not all completely lost because his “fragments [still] strewed the sea”. There are still shreds of loyalty left. However they are left to float throughout the sea and spread wider and wider. In a sense the ship that represents loyalty died in the same way as the boy’s loyalty. They were both good and true to the very end.

My Title

The way I came across this title is quite interesting. When we were first assigned this task of making a blog to explain our title, I knew we had to have an interesting one. I tried to think of paradoxes and oxymorons that would suit literature. I began to think of quotes from books I have read. One in particular jumped out at me which was about truth. Immediately my brain rushed to find an oxymoron that would go hand in hand with truth. Lies suddenly came to mind. Then the phrase “where truth lies” came to mind. It was perfect because it fit literature so well.

I found it to be quite an appropriate title for an English class blog because it shares a lot in common with literature. Literature is full of devices such as irony and double entendres. This title is an oxymoron, which gives it an element of irony. The irony being that a truth can not lie. If this blog is somewhere where truth lies, then it is where irony is at home. If literature is home to irony, so is my blog about literature. The double entendre of this title is that not only can the truth be false here; the truth may also be the truth. There are many truths in literature. Whether it is factual truths or spiritual truth, truth is undoubtedly abundant in literature. This title will truly keep you guessing, wondering, and asking questions; three goals that literature sets out to accomplish every day.

Now for my blogs, it is up to you to decide if it is truly where the truth lies or if it is another case of where the truth lies.