Poetry Essay "Alone" and "Everything is Going to be Alright"

Some differences are startling, to juxtapose two poems like “Alone” by Edgar Allen Poe and “Everything is Going to be Alright” by Derek Mahon is shocking to say the least. We all know that two artistic pieces are never crafted the same, but these two are knit from two completely different clothes to say the least. The tone, mood, style, diction, and purpose are so far apart yet both are so beautiful.

From the darker side of life, love, and poetry there is Poe and then there is the flip side of joy, wonders, and hope with Mahon in this case. Poe is an icon of the bleak genres; he sets the mood with his sad demeanor anyone can hear in his head and feel creep along his spine while reading. As for the voice one hears consciously from reading a poem with a title as optimistic as “Everything is Going to be Alright” the dissimilarities are obvious. This poem has a sweet sound to it and sets an atmosphere of sunshine and rainbows after the storm of worry.

            The handpicked words by these authors are stunning. From lines like, “I lie here in a riot of sunlight, watching the day break and the clouds flying. Everything is going to be all right.” To “My sorrow—I could not awaken. My heart to joy at the same tone—And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone--” These originate from different styles of authors. And great minds do think alike but innovation in literature comes from the want to be different not better. The two pieces show that a poem can be great independent of the subject it discusses.

In the realm of purpose and motivation these are both uplifting pieces of literature. That is if you enjoy knowing everything will be fine and the suffering of others. But really the ultimate reason Poe wrote poems like this is not solely to frighten people or generate sympathy; it is to show others the strife individuals face independent of class. He was a wealthy man in the Antebellum South where all was supposed to be happy for those above the masses yet his life or perception of it was not. Mahon’s reason is to remind everyone although we hear the constant misery of others in the twenty first century there is always something to look forward to. And even as one reaches their nadir things can improve and will continue to for individuals as society as a whole.

In the end two things can be wholly different and simultaneously great. No matter the author, topic, or the techniques they use poetry remains awesome. It is the one way human beings can connect and see the perspective of others more than we ever could in debate, a persuasive essay, or sob story. These things are what make poetry challenging to writers, varied to readers, and amazing to humanity.  

Prufrock Flashback

Since we recently (re)read this poem I looked it up on my other PC and found this gem (or piece of trash) from Mrs. Byrne's class.

Eric Jackson

J. Alfred Prufrock Stanza Number Three

Eliot uses language like “time for you and time for me” to giving the reader a sense that they will have time to achieve their goal. Then “and time yet for a hundred indecisions and for a hundred visions and revisions” to show the type of thought Prufrock takes when going through everyday life on his quest for love.

This stanza tells us not the general information but a deeper description of the man. Not directly described like in some of the other paragraphs but indirectly by telling the audience about his thought process and actions. It conveys a message of insecurity and to pity this old man for wasting his life unable to find someone to love him back.

Before the quote starts the lines talk about the different times for different things like the time to “murder and create”. This paragraph as a whole starting with “and indeed there will be time” and ending with from the selected quote “before taking the toast and tea”. Is the first very serious and detailed information we get about the interior of Prufrock not just basic phenotypically characteristics.

Prufrock at this point in the poem seems to be constantly changing his mind about the little steps he needs to take to get to his main goal. These steps are tripping him up and sometimes making him stumble so he tries to navigate them the best he can. This is like an old film showing us a series of snapshots into his life not a clear fluid motion picture. There are some photos that seem to be missing and which need to be filled in with mental suppositions.

Following this quote is the one about the women moving around the room speaking of Michelangelo. Then another large stanza showing us Prufrock’s thoughts and him asking himself “do I dare?” constantly in his head. Also it continues to give a strange feeling of how everybody judged him and how he seemed to want to disappear entirely. Yet he must stay to get the love he wants to get before he dies.

The last sentences of the fourth stanza some up the nearby paragraphs on how he feels about himself, a sense of unconquerable self-fear preventing him from getting to meet and talk to a nice girl. And the other side is worrying about the past instead of the future that distracts him from truly considering the possibilities of what he can do before death comes for him.

Lastly the line “before taking the toast and tea” most likely refers to going out to meet new people over tea back then instead of coffee. Tea time was probably in the afternoon around four which if you were retired would be a good time to meet.

Literature Analysis Atlas Shrugged

1. I enjoyed this book but it was ridiculous, the plot is about state control of the means of production and all economic activities. By the start the economy is falling apart due to over regulation and corruption, few entrepreneurs are still around. Dagny Taggart, a woman, is an executive for a railroad in Colorado suffering from the unfair business practices from both the American and Mexican governments. She had been in an intimate relationship with a man named Francisco who now slept around with whores and was worthless. So Dagny finds a new business and love partner Hank Rearden to try to save what is left of their firm. State sponsored scientist give terrible reviews of the Rearden metal company which scares off possible investors. After losing land to fire and more crony capitalism more industrialist leave to who knows where. The protagonist discovers the capitalist are on a “strike in the mind” and refuse to participate in activities because they are run by the “economic dictator”. During the disappear of the captains of industry the public becomes fully aware of the fact that the politicians are not fighting for the public good but their own desires. Rearden comes out of his self-imposed isolation with a striking worker population and free an imprisoned Dagny after a shoot-out. The nation finally falls apart and we are left once again in mystery.
2. The theme much like her other novel is individualism. In this dystopia the state constantly infringes on every aspect of life. Characters must defy the oppression and pursue the things they want and believe in.
3. The tone is Orwellian if that is an adjective but more hopeful. “People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim. What I’ve learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one’s reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one’s master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person’s view requires to be faked…The man who lies to the world, is the world’s slave from then on…There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.” “I started my life with a single absolute: that the world was mine to shape in the image of my highest values and never to be given up to a lesser standard, no matter how long or hard the struggle.” “Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.”
4. Narrative and Theme “A man's sexual choice is the result and the sum of his fundamental convictions.... He will always be attracted to the woman who reflects his deepest vision of himself, the woman whose surrender permits him to experience a sense of self-esteem. The man who is proudly certain of his own value, will want the highest type of woman he can find, the woman he admires, the strongest, the hardest to conquer--because only the possession of a heroine will give him the sense of an achievement.” Irony “If you don't know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.” Protagonist “I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.” Imagery and Hyperbole “If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders - What would you tell him?" “I…don't know. What…could he do? What would you tell him?" “To shrug.” Antagonist “She did not know the nature of her loneliness. The only words that named it were: This is not the world I expected.”
5. “She did not know the nature of her loneliness. The only words that named it were: This is not the world I expected.” Indirect and Direct “What is man? He's just a collection of chemicals with delusions of grandeur.”
6. No once again the syntax and dictions when describing almost anything it can make the read rather dull but the author favors no people, only principles and actions.
7. The protagonist is a dynamic character. At first she stays peaceful and keeping to herself to violent political action in overthrowing the corrupt government.
8. No much like Nineteen Eighty-Four I loved this book but could not relate to the character nor did I feel like I meet any person. These people are too different than normal people, most people do not stand up for themselves especially as times get tougher. To their defense though we do not preside in a complete dystopia there are problems but we see great people grow out of adversity.

Literature Analysis for The Fountainhead

Note 5-8 are 1-4 for Characterization
1. This story has a very long plot since it is over 700 pages, the main purpose is the author’s very cool but controversial philosophy, objectivism. Most of the book is not about the author shoving her thoughts into the reader. It is about a rebellious, Howard Roark and smart boy who gets expelled from a made up all male polytechnic school in New York and his former rival, Peter Keating. After the fourth year Keating graduates as valedictorian and has multiple opportunities to become an architect: go to higher education is Europe or take a job at a prestigious firm Guy and Francon. Roark winds up working for a now disgraced architect named Henry Cameroon. Keating continues to be successful but cannot relish in his success. Roark keeps slipping as his mentor retires broke and moves to another state and he is unable to find work without a degree or any experience. By the end Roark starts seeing things happen but decides to blow up a building because it is not to his specifications, he goes to jail consensually, and has his trial. He is found not guilty and the person, who helped him find opportunities, Wyanrd, allows him to finish his project, and he marries his daughter Dominique.
2. The entire point of this endless yet enjoyable novel is to be yourself and do what you want. Throughout the plot it is about people taking selfish not selfless actions to get their desired results. These do not involve violent crimes, theft, tax evasion, etc. At the end we see the protagonist fulfill his life goal and leave his legacy by constructing a skyscraper he wants and leaving his legacy no matter how insignificant, like the author has.
3. The tone is selfish; there is no other way to describe it. As the novel progresses we see this become more self-evident. When the author describes or directly intervenes all the statements are about finding your own purpose and living your own life.  “To say "I love you" one must know first how to say the "I".”  “To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. That's what everybody does every hour of his life. If I asked you to keep your soul - would you understand why that's much harder?” “I love you so much that nothing can matter to me - not even you...Only my love- not your answer. Not even your indifference”
4. Hyperbole and Simile “Listen to what is being preached today. Look at everyone around us. You've wondered why they suffer, why they seek happiness and never find it. If any man stopped and asked himself whether he's ever held a truly personal desire, he'd find the answer. He'd see that all his wishes, his efforts, his dreams, his ambitions are motivated by other men. He's not really struggling even for material wealth, but for the second-hander's delusion - prestige. A stamp of approval, not his own. He can find no joy in the struggle and no joy when he has succeeded. He can't say about a single thing: 'This is what I wanted because I wanted it, not because it made my neighbors gape at me'. Then he wonders why he's unhappy.” Metaphor, Imagery, and Allegory “Man cannot survive except through his mind. He comes on earth unarmed. His brain is his only weapon. Animals obtain food by force. man had no claws, no fangs, no horns, no great strength of muscle. He must plant his food or hunt it. To plant, he needs a process of thought. To hunt, he needs weapons,and to make weapons - a process of thought. From this simplest necessity to the highest religious abstraction, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and we have comes from a single attribute of man -the function of his reasoning mind.” Irony “Don't fool yourself, my dear. You're much worse than a bitch. You're a saint. Which shows why saints are dangerous and undesirable.” Theme and Plot “It's easy to run to others. It's so hard to stand on one's own record. You can fake virtue for an audience. You can't fake it in your own eyes. Your ego is your strictest judge. They run from it. They spend their lives running. It's easier to donate a few thousand to charity and think oneself noble than to base self-respect on personal standards of personal achievement. It's simple to seek substitutes for competence--such easy substitutes: love, charm, kindness, charity. But there is no substitute for competence.” Mood “Patience is always rewarded and romance is always round the corner!” Tone “Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea.”
5. “Have you felt it too? Have you seen how your best friends love everything about you- except the things that count? And your most important is nothing to them; nothing, not even a sound they can recognize.” Peter Keating to Howard Roark indirect. “He was an old man, shout, and accomplished” The narrator on Guy Francon.
6. No the author remains constant in her syntax and diction when describing almost anything it can make the read rather dull but the author favors no people, only principles and actions.
7. The protagonist(s) one is static the other is dynamic. Howard Roark remains static he throughout the story is aphetic to authority and cares about himself and leaving his own mark on the world. As for Peter Keating he changes from the shallow success oriented person to a view more like Roark’s but not nearly as radical or selfish.
8. I think the character  I meet is myself through Roark. I’ve always liked to do things my own way and work hard and achieve more by my own merit. I think his stance on everything signals to me to fight for what is right independent of critic of ours. I’m already fairly hated in life for innumerable reasons so there is little to lose and I will leave like Roark with no regrets.

Alone Remix

Link: http://youtu.be/V96SmE9GFhY

I really liked this poem on other post I wrote more but to sum it up dark post about not fitting into society. Deep meaning and Henry does an excellent job reciting it/acting. Hope you check it out if you're interested. Enjoy!

Intro to Poetry

Alone by Edgar Allen Poe

1.      The title signifies to anyone previewing it that the poem will be about his loneliness whether that is physical, like he’s living in the middle of nowhere, or emotional no one in society truly connects with him.

2.      This poem like many by the author is dark and bleak whose tone seems like that from a horror movie or tragedy that leaves the audience spooked, in tears, or both.

3.      Most of his work is depressing, this puts me in a sad mood reminding me of my own problems with depression and what it feels like looking into that abyss uncertain of the future and feeling the happiness choked out of you.

4.      There doesn’t seem to be a major shift…that doesn’t mean there aren’t smaller ones those could be lines like “Then—in my childhood—in the dawn Of a most stormy life—was drawn From ev’ry depth of good and ill The mystery which binds me still”.

5.      As for themes there isn’t really one the intent is to tell the world of his sorrow something most men would not admit back then and still refuse to today. I think a possible theme is the universality of suffering, we all suffer unconditionally, it is the fate of man that we are all damned from birth.

6.      Extra thing my favorite lines from this poem would have to be:  My sorrow—I could not awaken My heart to joy at the same tone—And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone—