Post #4

Presentation Reflection

I was really happy with how my group analysed the poem  Red Slippers" by Amy Lowell. It was really difficult for us to come up with a strong thesis at first, but as we got a better understanding of the poem we found a thesis that worked really well. I remember being at a loss for which literary devices to use to support our thesis but finally deciding that imagery, similes and polyphonic prose were the best ways to argue our thesis. I didn't understand polyphonic prose at all when we first started talking about them, but I'm really happy that I know now exactly what they are and what they mean. I think I learned a lot about working on a project and I think next time I will do a better job of being patient and slowly developing my ideas instead of constantly chaning them when I think of something better.
Over all I think I spent a good ammount of time on this project. I worked as much as I could trying to help develope the best possible powerpoint, all though I think we could have been a little more prepared for the presentation itself. Even if your powerpoint and your ideas are good, you still have to work hard to have a smooth presentation otherwise your ideas aren't represented as well as they could be. I think I learned a lot about understanding poetry and I developed better computer skills working with google docs, In the future I will maybe have a better plan on mapping out my work and presentation so I don't have to take so much time on changing things over and over again.

Poetry Presentations

I really like the analysis of the poem “Poetry” by Marine Moore. I think the author does a great job of conveying that the poem an author writes only has to have meaning to the author themselves. In order to create meaning in a poem the author has to connect with it otherwise it means nothing. I think it helps to understand all poetry when we know that no matter how abstract it may seem to us, it’s the authors’ vision and that’s all that matters. Moore says that a poet has to be like “a baseball fan” and admire their own work.

In Williams Carlos Williams’s poems he tends to describe everyday things with short concise lines. He doesn’t go very deep with his poems but he describes his subjects in a very vague way. Since he uses lines that are so short, he uses really strong adjectives to help create imagery. For example in “The Red Wheel barrow” he is describing a simple every day object but because he uses simple and descriptive adjectives so that the reader really has a good picture of the wheelbarrow in their mind. I think that the author’s idea that there is beauty in simplicity is true when it comes to poetry and is very evident in all three of the poems.

The group that presented “Somewhere I have Never Traveled” by EE Cummings gave the analysis that the poem is about the love of a women that the author would never have. I agree with this analysis and I think that the conceit metaphor really showcases this throughout the poem. I learned that a conceit metaphor is a metaphor that is revealed and used throughout the entire poem. In this poem he uses the metaphor of springtime in the entire poem. At one point we see him use the metaphor by saying “only rain can make a flower open so delicately.” He uses the conceit metaphor of springtime to compare himself to a flower and the women to the rain.

The group that presented “The Garden” and “L Art “by Ezra Pound gave a really good explanation of the two poems. They said that the author uses strong imagery and metaphors to show that you can’t take things for face value. I think this was a really good way to look at these poems because the author is describing that even if something has a fancy name or appears desirable ,those things can leave you with a feeling of emptiness. When the author says things like “Green arsenic smeared on an egg white cloth,” you can really see the imagery used to show that things that seam good can really be the worst for you. The poems also had a musical rhythm to help convey the authors message.

I thought it was so interesting the way Hilda Doolittle incorperated feminism in her poem "Helen". Since the author was a strong advocate for feminism it's no suprise that she would allude to the famous Helen of Troy. She uses this allusion to show that men can be totally overpowered by a stong women like Helen of Troy, whose beauty was said to have started a war, The author uses strong imagery to emphasise the beauty of Helen to show that even though she was incredibly beautiful she could still hold a lot of power.

Post #2

          When I was choosing the design for my blog I wanted to make sure the title was just right because it's the first thing someone sees when they are looking at a blog. I choose to do cursive writing for my blog title because in the article Establishing Mood with Typography by Carrie Cousins, it said that cursive tends to be a warm font. I would like to think that I'm a pretty warm and friendly person so I wanted to make sure my title represented that. When I choose my body text I made sure to pick something that was simple because the article said  "Using a simple choice will take the emphasis off the look of the text so that it is easy to read" (Carrie Cousins). I wanted to make sure that the posts were simple and easy to read but the title of the posts stood out so I used a font with curly letters because the article said that would represent something light and fun.
          The first colors I choose were the colors of the background. I choose oranges, reds and yellows because these represent warm colors and according to the About.com article Color Psychology by Kendra Cherry, these warm colors give a feeling of comfort. I also picked a shade of orange for my title because in the article it said in chromotherapy orange was said to increase energy levels. I think it's a good idea when making a blog to keep the mood high energy, that way the reader is more likely to stay interested and not get bored. I also added some blue accents to my blog because the article said that these cool colors can be calming, and also I thought they would break up the warm colors so there was a good balance. The writing in my posts is written in purple because in the Color Psychology article it said that purple represents wisdom.