Blog Entry 16:Final Reflection

In this class I learned a lot and I have a better understanding of the literature elements, such as symbolism and tone. Also I’m able to identify the elements of the Monomyth in movies, which is very helpful to understand the meaning of the story. I liked the supernatural theme in our class and the blogging made it even more interesting. With the blogging and the feedback from the classmates, it was much easier to see my mistakes and helped me develop my writing skills. This class gave me an opportunity to see poems and stories, also movies from a different perspective; I’m able to see the hidden meaning in the poems, what the symbols represent and also the feelings of the poets. I’m able to identify the different stages in the Hero’s Quest, such as departure, initiation and return, as well to identify the hero in a movie and what is his goal. I really enjoyed and I would definitely recommend this class to other students.

Blog 15:Final Draft

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most extraordinary writers in history. He was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston and died on October 7, 1849 in Baltimore. Poe is known for using literature elements, such as symbolism to show meaning in his work. With the use of the psychoanalytic and the new critical approach I will analyze the short story “Fall of the House of Usher.” The short story “Fall of the House of Usher” was first published in 1839, later revised and published in 1840. With the psychoanalytic theory I will analyze the symbols in this short story, what the symbols represent and what Poe is trying to show the readers. With the new critical approach I will focus on the theme of death that Poe used in order to show the meaning of the story.

At the beginning of the story “Fall of the House of Usher” the narrator receives a letter from Roderick Usher explaining that he suffers from an illness and he requests the narrator’s company. The narrator decides to visit his close friend, who is emotionally and physically ill. Poe uses the words “dark” and “dull” in his first sentence, which shows us that this story is mysterious and morbid. Through the whole story the narrator is experiencing something strange and unexplained in the house of Usher.

The narrator observes a bridge across a lake that provides access to the house of Usher. According to the dictionary of symbolism, “bridge” symbolizes passage to reality or from one state to another, also it can be a change or desire for change. The narrator has to cross the bridge from his real world to get to this mysterious and evil world. The lake is right next to the mansion and the whole place seems very frightening to the narrator. According to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “lake” represents the transition of life and death; with the symbol “lake,” Poe shows death, which is all around the house. The narrator mentions that Roderick and his twin sister Madeline are the only ones left from the Usher family. Poe uses the word “evil” when he refers to the house of Usher and there is mystery all around him. Roger and also his sister Madeline suffer from a strange illness, a mental disorder. The physicians believe that Madeline suffers from catalepsy, a death-like trance.

Usher and his sister have lived their whole life in this house. According to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “house” is the center of the world, what happens inside a house, happens inside ourselves. The inside of the house seems gloomy and depressing to the narrator, Usher as well is feeling depressed because his sister was suffering and dying. Also according to the dictionary of symbolism, “house” means security and shelter. In this story Roderick and Madeline have isolated themselves from the whole world; they have no friends no family, only each other inside their big and mysterious house where they fell safe. The narrator goes inside the dark house; he walks through the hall and enters the large room, where the master of the house waits for him. He describes the long and narrow windows, the ebon blackness of the floors and the dark draperies over the walls in the house. With this description, the inside of the house is just as frightening as the outside of the house. The narrator enters the large room and Usher greets him sincerely. He notices that Usher’s skin is pale and he seems nervous. For the next couple of days the narrator is reading stories and poems to cheer him up.

One night Usher informs the narrator that his sister Madeline had died and he needs his help to put her dead body in the family tomb within the walls of the house. According to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “tomb” symbolizes the imprisonment of the soul within the body. Madeline was still alive when her brother places her body into the tomb; she was in a state of catalepsy. The narrator notices the faint blush on Madeline’s face and he wonders if Usher and Madeline were twins. Usher confirms that they were identical twins; they have been so close that they can sense what has happened to each other.

Almost a week had passed since the Madeline’s body was placed in the vault, when the narrator hears sounds from the storm. He becomes nervous and his body starts to shake. The narrator can’t sleep and he starts walking around his room. Then Usher comes to his room, seeming very upset. Usher opens a window and then the wind rushes in, which almost lifts them off their feet. According to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “wind” is the messenger of divine intervention, often representing those things that are fleeting and elusive. The whole story is mysterious and also the death of Madeline is unexplained. The narrator starts to read stories to keep Usher calm and to pass the terrible and mysterious night. According to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “night” symbolizes the obscurity and mystery of the darkness with the moon. It is the symbol of unconscious and is represented by sleep and death. The narrator and Usher heard a wild scream, which Usher believes comes from his sister. He believes that she is mad at him and she was not dead, when he placed her body into the tomb.

Then the wind opens the door of the room and they see Madeline standing there with blood on her hands and clothes. According to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “blood” represents life; it is also associated with blood vengeance, blood is tied with passion, and death with guilt. Usher feels guilty because he heard her movements in the tomb and he never dared to speak. Madeline trembles and with a low moaning cry falls upon her brother. When she falls on her brother, both of them die together. They were identical twins, which mean they were two parts of one personality and they couldn’t live without each other.

The narrator escapes from the house, he sees a wild light, he turns around, the house with its shadows is behind him and then the house crumbles to the ground. According to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “light” is the source of goodness and the ultimate reality, also light is knowledge. The narrator was in a world that was unknown for him and when he left the house of Usher, he went back to his real world. The psychological archetype “shadow” is the opposite of the ego image, has qualities that the ego possesses and according to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “shadow” is considered “dark entities with a nature all of their own.” At the end of this story the shadows overwhelmed the narrator; his conscious mind was traumatized when he saw Roderick and Madeline die together. When the house started to shake, he had to escape. The master of the house died and then the house crumbled into the tarn. The house which was representing Usher’s personality crumbles into this unexplained world, a false reality. The fall of the house represents the fall of the whole Usher family.

According to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “moon” symbolizes immortality and eternity, also inner knowledge. Represents the middle ground between the light of the sun and the darkness of the night and therefore represents the realm between the conscious and the unconscious. In this story Poe describes it as blood-red moon shining while the house crumbles into the mountain lake. The moon is also a symbol of the soul. Brother and sister had lost their lives on this mysterious night, but their soul’s will still live on in the narrator’s mind.

With the psychoanalytic approach the story is seen as a dream, which means that the story represses its real content behind obvious content. The psychoanalytic criticism analyses the symbolism of the story to illustrate the real thoughts. Freud believed that a work of literature is the external expression of the author’s unconscious mind. The Id is unconscious, the unknown containing secret desires, fears and wishes. The Ego is logical, correspondents to the reality principle, and the Superego is the censor of the inappropriate desires, working through punishment in form of fear and guilt. The narrator’s Id makes him to leave his real world and go into the mysterious world. Usher’s Id suppresses his Ego when he puts Madeline into the tomb. His unconscious mind is not able to perceive reality. Usher’s Superego, the balance between the Id and Ego, makes him feel guilty because Madeline was not dead when he placed her body into the tomb.
The major theme in this short story, as well as in most Poe’s stories, is death. Also two other themes in this story are horror and evil. Poe uses the word “evil” when he refers to the house; as well he uses the words “family evil,” which means the whole Usher family that had lived in the evil house. From the first sentence through the whole story and the description of the inside of the House of Usher, death is present. Using the psychoanalytic theory one can examine the symbolism throughout the story “Fall of the House of Usher” and see Poe’s obsession with death. Through the analyzation of the symbols in the story, the reader gets a better understanding of the ideas that the author is trying to convey.

Work cited:
Biederman, Hans. “Dictionary of symbolism.” University of Michigan Fantasy and Science Fiction Website. 2001. Web. 6 June 2010
http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/
“Fall of the House of Usher” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 6 June 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_of_the_House_of_Usher
Giordano, Robert. "The Fall of the House of Usher" 27 June 2005. Web. 6 June 2010
http://poestories.com/read/houseofusher
"Psychoanalytic Criticism." Web. 6 June 2010
http://web.olivet.edu/english/rbelcher/lit310/310PSY.htm

Blog Entry 14:Research Update

For my final essay I will have to expand more on symbolism, to analyze more symbols and interpretation of those symbols in the story. Also I think I need to write more about Freud’s theory and maybe to focus on the interpretation of the id, ego and superego in my story. I still have to write the last paragraph, the conclusion.

Blog Entry 13:Fiction Full Draft

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most extraordinary writers in history. Poe is known for using literature elements, such as symbolism to show the meaning in his literature work. I chose the short story “Fall of the House of Usher”, and with the use of the psychoanalytic and the new critical approach I will analyze this literary work. With the psychoanalytic theory I will analyze the symbols in this short story, what the symbols represent and what Poe is trying to show the readers. With the new critical approach I will focus on the theme of death that Poe used to show the meaning of the story.The poet Edgar Allan Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston and died on October 7, 1849 in Baltimore. The story “Fall of the House of Usher” was first published in 1839. Later it was revised and published in 1840.
At the beginning the narrator received a letter from Roderick Usher explaining that he suffered from an illness and he requested the narrator’s company. The narrator decided to visit his close friend, who is emotionally and physically ill. Poe used the words dark and dull in his first sentence, which showed us that this story is mysterious and morbid. Through the whole story the narrator was experiencing something strange in the house of Usher. The narrator observed a bridge across a lake that provided access to the house of Usher. According to the dictionary of symbolism, “bridge” symbolizes passage to reality or from one state to another, also it can be a change or desire for change. The narrator had to cross the bridge from his world to get to this mysterious and evil world.
The lake is right next to the mansion and the whole place seems very spooky to the narrator. According to the dictionary of symbols, the symbol “lake” represents the transition of life and death; as a result with the symbol “lake,” Poe shows the death, which is all around and inside the house. The narrator mentioned that Roderick and his twin sister Madeline were the only ones left from the Usher family. Poe used the word evil when he referred to the house of Usher and there was mystery all around the narrator. Roger and also his sister Madeline suffered from a strange illness, a mental disorder. The physicians believed that Madeline suffered from catalepsy, death-like trances.
Usher and his sister have lived their whole life in this house. According to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “house” is the center of the world, what happens inside a house, happens inside ourselves. The house seemed gloomy to the narrator and as well Usher was depressed because his sister was suffering and dying. Also according to the dictionary of symbolism, “house” means security and shelter. In this story Roderick and Madeline have isolated themselves from the whole world; they have no friends no family, only each other inside their big and mysterious house where they feel safe.
The narrator went inside the dark house; he walked through the hall and entered the large room, where the master of the house waited for him. He described the long and narrow windows, the ebon blackness of the floors and the dark draperies over the walls in the house. With this description, the inside of the house was just as spooky as the outside of the house. The narrator entered the large room and Usher greeted him warmly. He noticed that Usher skin was pale and he seemed nervous. For the next couple of days the narrator was reading stories and poems to cheer him up.
One night Usher informed the narrator that his sister Madeline had died and he needed his help to put her dead body in the family tomb within the walls of the house. According to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “tomb” symbolizes the imprisonment of the soul within the body. Madeline was still alive when her brother placed her body into the tomb; she was in a state of catalepsy. The narrator noticed the faint blush on Madeline’s face and he wondered if Usher and Madeline were twins.Usher confirmed that they were identical twins, they have been so close and that they can sense what has happened to each other.
Almost a week passed since the Madeline’s body was placed in the vault, when the narrator heard sounds from the storm. He became nervous and his body started to shake. He couldn’t sleep and he started walking around his room. Then Usher came to his room who seemed very upset. Usher opened a window and then the wind rushed in, which almost lifted them from their feet. According to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “wind” is the messenger of divine intervention, often represents fleeting and elusive. The whole story had been mysterious and also the death of Madeline had been elusive. The narrator started to read stories to keep Usher calm and together to pass the terrible and mysterious night. According to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “night” symbolizes the obscurity and mystery of the darkness with the moon. It is the symbol of unconscious and is represented by sleep and death. The narrator and Usher heard a wild scream, which Usher believed that came from his sister. He believed that she was mad at him and she wasn’t dead, when he placed her body into the tomb. Then the wind opened the door of the room and Madeline was standing there with blood on her white robes. According to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “blood” represents life; it is also associated with blood vengeance, blood is tied with passion, death and also with guilt. Usher felt guilty because he had heard her movements in the tomb and he hadn’t dared to speak. Madeline trembled and with a low moaning cry fell upon her brother. Both of them fell down and died. The narrator escaped from the house, he saw a wild light that caused him to turn around, the house with its shadows were behind him and then the house crumbled to the ground. According to the dictionary of symbolism, the symbol “light” is the source of goodness and the ultimate reality, also light is knowledge. The narrator was in a world that was unknown for him and when he left the house of Usher, he went back to his real world.
Work Cited:
Biederman, Hans. “Dictionary of symbolism.” University of Michigan Fantasy and Science Fiction Website. 2001. Web. 23 May 2010
http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/
“Fall of the House of Usher” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 23 May 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_of_the_House_of_Usher
Giordano, Robert. "The Fall of the House of Usher" 27 June 2005. Web. 23 May 2010
http://poestories.com/read/houseofusher

Blog Entry 12

For my chosen story “Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe I will use the psychoanalytic approach. The psychoanalytic theory has been developed by different psychologists, such as Freud and Jung. But this theory can be used to analyze a literary work, for example poems and stories. With this psychoanalytic theory I will analyze Poe’s life. Also I will analyze the characters in this short story and I will explain their behavior. The characters in the “Fall of the House of Usher” are the narrator, the narrator’s friend Roderick Usher and Usher’s twin sister Madeline. With the psychoanalytic theory I will analyze the symbols in this short story, what the symbols represent and what the author is trying to show the readers. Also I will use the New Critical approach, focusing on the theme to show the meaning of the short story. In this story the narrator receives a letter from his friend Roderick Usher. In the letter Usher explains that he is suffering from a strange illness. Then the narrator goes to Usher’s house and finds out that not only Usher is sick, but his sister Madeline is sick too. After a while Madeline dies and Usher decides to put her body in the family tomb. The narrator helps Usher to put Madeline’s body in the family tomb, which will stay in the tomb for two weeks. After two weeks her body will be permanently buried at the cemeteries. After couple of days a storm begins, and Usher gets very upset. The old house starts to make noises; then the narrator tries to keep Usher calm by reading him stories. But Usher is convinced that the noises in the house are coming from his sister and that she is mad at him, because he buried her. Then Madeline shows up at the door, she enters the room and falls down in Usher‘s arms. Usher also dies and both of them fall down. The narrator escapes from the house. While the narrator is running he turns around and sees the house of Usher shaking and crumbling down.

Blog Entry 11:My chosen story

For my final project I chose the short story "Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe.The entry of Wikipedia is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_of_the_House_of_Usher
The approach that I will use to tell this story better is the Psychoanalytic critisicm.
According to Wikipedia "Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story published in 1839. In this story the narrator goes to visit his friend Roderick Usher. Usher suffers from a strange illness and he sends a letter to the narator. The narattors goes to his house and finds out that Usher's twin sister Madeline is also sick. Then wneh Madeline dies, the narrator helps Usher to put her body in the family tomb. After two week in the family tomb she will be permanently burried.After they burried her, a storm beggins. The narators reads story to Usher to keep him calm, but then the house starts to make noices. Usher says to his friend that the sounds are coming from his sister.Then Madeline shows up at the door and she falls on Usher. Both of them fall and the house starts to shake. At the end the narrator escapes and the House of Usher crumbles.
http://poestories.com/read/houseofusher
Image: http://www.gallerynucleus.com/item/image0/7094/7irq9u/silawest_stuttle_HouseofUsherSmall500.jpg

Blog Entry 10: Reflection

In the last few weeks we learned about the term Monomyth or Hero’s Quest. After watching the film Spirited Away and reading the Monomyth on Wikipedia I was able to identify the elements in the movie that I chose, Clash of the Titans. Joseph Campbell described the seventeen stages of the Monomyth, which applies to any story about heroes. The hero in the monomyth has to go through different stages, such as departure, initiation and return. On the journey, the heroes in every film have to go through tests and trials and at the end, accomplish the goal. Knowing the elements of the Monomyth is very helpful when I need to understand the meaning of a story or a film.

Blog 9: Hero’s Quest and Film Part 2

In the film Clash of the Titans is shown the adventure of the Greek hero Perseus, son of the King of Gods, Zeus. One of the parts of the Monomyth is that every hero is reluctant and he is called by an outside force to take the journey. In the Clash of the Titans, Perseus is called by the goddess Thetis. King Acrisius imprisons his daughter Danae to avoid a prophecy. Zeus impregnates Danae and after her father discovers this, he places Danae and her newborn son Perseus in a coffin, and throws the coffin into the sea. Zeus kills King Acrisius and orders his brother, the god of the sea, Poseidon, to release the monster Kraken. The Kraken destroys the city of Argos, and Danae with her son arrives on an island.
Departure: The important part of the Hero’s Quest is that the hero has to take the journey to accomplish the goal. Perseus answers the call from the goddess and he goes on the adventure. The son of Zeus and goddess Thetis, Calibos, is destined to marry the Princess Andromeda of the city Joppa. Calibos destroys Zeus’s herd of flying horses, as a result Zeus punishes Calibos, and turns him into a satyr creature that has to live in the swamps. Calibos’s mother Thetis is very angry at Zeus and she imprisons Princess Andromeda’s soul. Everyone who wants to marry Andromeda has to answer a riddle. The first call for adventure is when Thesis moves Perseus to Joppa. This is when he crosses into the adventure and he accepts his destiny because he stays in Joppa. Zeus provides Perseus with gifts made from the gods which will help him in his journey. The talismans that he receives are a sword, a shield and a helmet, which makes him invisible. According to the Dictionary of symbolism “sword” symbolizes power, strength and protection. The sword is given to Perseus to defeat Medusa. The first threshold that the hero passes is when he goes to Andromeda’s room, while she is sleeping. Perseus sees her and falls in love, he knows that she is his destiny. He wants to fulfill his destiny, to save Andromeda and to marry her. But first he will have to find the answer of the riddle. Pegasus needs help and he captures the flying horse Pegasus. According to the Dictionary of symbolism “horse” is a maternal archetype, symbolizes strength, sensitivity, anger and stubbornness. In the film, the color of Pegasus is white, which symbolizes innocence and spirituality, also sign of death. With the help of Pegasus, Perseus follows Andromeda’s soul. Then the hero finds himself in the Belly of whale, he is in a swamp with monsters and the satyr who rules there. Perseus can’t get away, his only choice is to stay and fight with the monster Calibos. The hero brakes through, he slashes Calibos’s hand, and obtains the hand, but he loses his helmet in the swamp. The ring on the hand is the answer of the riddle. He went to Joppa and he answered correctly, then Andromeda’s soul was free and he could marry her. But Calibos is angry and wants revenge. His mother Thetis wants to destroy Joppa, to revenge her son’s destiny and she makes a demand to sacrifice Andromeda to the Kraken.
Initiation: There is more than one call to action. The goddess Thetis makes Perseus to go on another journey. Perseus continues his journey; he has to find a way to defeat the Kraken. This is when his adventure continues and he has to go on the road of trials. At first Perseus has to find the three blind women with the eye. Perseus has to go through several tests to be able to save Andromeda. Because Perseus loses his helmet, Zeus orders Athena to provide him with another talisman, the owl Bubo. But Athena doesn’t want to be separated from her friend Bubo; as a result she gives Perseus an automatic copy of Bubo. Then Bubo leads Perseus and his men to the three women. They tell him that the only way to defeat the Kraken is to capture the monster Medusa, and use her head. Medusa is punished by the goddess Aphrodite; every being that looks in her eyes she can turn him into stone. Perseus with the answer goes to the border of the Underworld to find Medusa. Another task that Perseus has to go through is to defeat the guardian of Medusa, the dog with two heads. Perseus with the shield defeats Medusa and takes her head. From Medusa’s blood he loses his shield, also two of his men died. Calibos is still angry at Perseus, he stabs Medusa’s head, and her blood produces giant scorpions. After Perseus and his men kill all of the scorpions, Perseus kills Calibos. Perseus begins his journey to capture Medusa’s head. He now accomplishes his goal, which is the ultimate boon and he becomes enhanced hero. As is typical in Hero’s Quest the hero becomes a more developed character after accomplishing his goal.
Return: Another aspect of the Monomyth, is that the hero has the triumphant return. The owl Bubo flies into the swamp and finds Pegasus, who is captured by Calibos. Bubo frees Pegasus, and together they went back to Perseus. Then Perseus goes on a magic flight with the flying horse Pegasus. He is able to come back on time in Joppa to save Andromeda. When Perseus comes near to the ocean, the Kraken pushes Pegasus, and both of them Perseus and Pegasus fall into the ocean. Perseus loses Medusa’s head, but with the help of the owl Bubo, Perseus takes back and exposes the head of Medusa. Then the Kraken turns into stone and crumples into the ocean. Perseus accomplishes the goal of his quest; he saves Andromeda and fulfils his destiny. His destiny is to be forever with Andromeda. The gods placed Perseus and Andromeda as stars to remind the humans of their heroism.
Having an understanding of the characteristics of the Monomyth, makes this film more interesting, because one can compare it to any story about heroes. Stories from any culture, which shows there is a universal idea of what is needed for a Hero’s Quest to be exciting and fulfilling. Every human being has to go on the journey to accomplish the goal, fulfill their destiny and become a superior person.

Work cited:
Biederman, Hans. “Dictionary of symbolism.” University of Michigan Fantasy and Science Fiction Website. 2001. Web. 2 May 2010
http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/
“Clash of the Titans” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 2 May 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clash_of_the_Titans_(1981_film)
“Monomyth” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 2 May 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth

Blog 7: Hero’s Quest and Film

I chose the film “Clash of the titans” (1981).
This film has the three elements of the Monomyth: departure, initiation and return.
In this film is shown the adventure of the Greek hero Perseus, son of the King of Gods Zeus. King Acrisius imprisons his daughter Danae to avoid a prophecy. Zeus impregnates Danae and after her father discovers, he throws Danae and her newborn son Perseus in a coffin, and throws the coffin into the sea. Zeus kills King Acrisius and orders his brother, the god of the sea, Poseidon to release the monster Kraken. The Kraken destroys the city of Argos, and Danae with her son arrived on an island.
Departure: The son of Zeus and goddess Thetis, Calibos, was destined to marry the Princess Andromeda of the city Joppa. Calibos destroyed Zeus’s herd of flying horses, as a result Zeus punishes Calibos, and turns him into a satyr creature that has to live in the swamps. Calibos’s mother Thetis was very angry at Zeus and she imprisoned Princess Andromeda’s soul. Everyone who wanted to marry Andromeda had to answer a riddle. Then the angry Thesis moves Perseus to Joppa and his journey begins. When Perseus saw Andromeda he fell in love, and knew that she was his destiny. Perseus wanted to fulfill his destiny, to save Andromeda and to marry her. But first he would have to find the answer. This is when he crosses into the adventure. With the help of Pegasus, Perseus follows Andromeda’s soul. Then he fights with Calibos and slashed his hand, which was the answer of the riddle. When he answered correctly, Andromeda’s soul was free and they could get married. But Calibos was angry and wanted revenge. His mother Thetis wanted to destroy Joppa, to revenge her son’s destiny and she made a demand to sacrifice Andromeda to the Kraken.
Initiation: Perseus continues his journey; he has to find a way to defeat the Kraken. At first Perseus has to find the three blind women with the eye. Perseus has to start the road of trials, to be able to save Andromeda. The three women told him that the only way to defeat the Kraken is to capture the monster Medusa, and use her head. Medusa was punished by the goddess Aphrodite; Medusa with her look could turn every being into stone. Perseus with the answer goes to the border of the Underworld to find Medusa. Another task that Perseus has to go through is to defeat the guardian of Medusa, the dog with two heads. Perseus with the shield defeats Medusa takes her head, but then Calibos still angry at Perseus, stabbed Medusa’s head, and her blood produced giant scorpions. After Perseus and his men killed all of the scorpions, Perseus killed Calibos.
Return: Perseus with the flying horse Pegasus was able to come back on time in Joppa to save Andromeda. When he came near to the ocean, the Kraken pushed Pegasus. Perseus and Pegasus fall into the ocean and he lost the head. But with the help of the owl Bubo, Perseus takes back and exposes the head of Medusa. The Kraken turns into stone and then crumples into the ocean. The gods placed Perseus and Andromeda as stars to remind the humans of their heroism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clash_of_the_Titans_(1981_film)
Image: http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/clash_of_the_titans.jpg

Blog Entry 6: Essay 3

Nadica Zecevic
Dr. Jason Smith
ENG 102.0821
19 April 2010

The poet Edgar Allan Poe was born January 19, 1809 in Boston and died on October 7, 1849 in Baltimore. Poe is one of the most remarkable writers in history. The genre in his work is Gothic romance, horror fiction, and detective fiction. He reinvented science-fiction, writing humor tales and hoaxes with theme irony. He was an American poet that became more admired in Europe for his fictional tales in the 19th Century. After his wife’s death he became unstable and started to write poems with theme “death.” The poem “The Sleeper” was published in 1831. Later it was revised and then published in 1845.

The poem is composed of five stanzas; the first stanza is composed from seventeen lines, the second stanza is composed from nineteen lines, the third stanza from eight lines, the fourth stanza from nine lines and the fifth stanza from seven lines. In the stanza 1, line 1 and line 2 rhyme together. The first twelve lines are couplets followed with line 13 which rhymes with line 14 and line 15. In stanza 2 the first sixteen lines are couplets, then followed with line 17, which rhymes with line 18 and line 19. For a difference in stanza 3 the first three lines rhymes together, followed by a couplet. Then the last three lines rhymes together. Also the same rhyme scheme is consisted in the stanza 4 and stanza 5 at the beginning. But both of the stanzas end with couplets. The first stanza is highlighted the “m” sound (Line 1-2). “At midnight, in the month of June / I stand beneath the mystic moon.” This retains the beat in the poem.

In the first stanza the speaker is at a cemetery observing the mystic moon (Line 2), with lake (line 13).”All Beauty sleeps! And lo! Where lies/ Irene, with her destinies!”(Lines 16-17), the speaker questions himself where his loved Irene is laying, in which grave. In the second stanza “Like ghosts the shadows rise and fall!/ Oh, lady dear, hast thou no fear?” (Line 12-13) when the speaker is seeing the shadows, they appear to him as ghosts, and then the speaker asks questions if Irene is afraid of the ghosts. In stanza 3”The lady sleeps! Oh may her sleep.”(Line 1), the speaker believes that his beautiful Irene is sleeping and in stanza 4 the speaker wants her to have a deep sleep, “As it is lasting, so be deep” (Line 2). In stanza 5 “Thrilling to think, poor child of sin” (Line 6) the speaker hopes that the innocent and beautiful Irene is not going to suffer any more.

According to the dictionary of symbols, the symbol “lake” represents the transition of life and death. The speaker refers to his lover as a “slumbering soul,” meaning the soul has left her body. As a result with the symbol “lake,” the speaker shows the death in this poem. “Rosemary” is a symbol for remembrance and represents loyalty. “Irene” is the goddess of peace and “Lethe” represents the river of forgetfulness in the underworld. The speaker uses the name Irene, hoping she is in a deep forgetful sleep. The symbol “ruin” represents the cemetery. According to the dictionary of symbolism “moon” represents immortality and eternity, also represents the soul, and the waning moon is a symbol for sleep. Therefore the speaker uses “moon” in the poem because he believes that his beautiful Irene is sleeping, and he hopes she will have eternal rest. The symbol “fog” symbolizes the place between reality and unreality; also it can symbolize approaching death, according to the dictionary of symbolism, accordingly the speaker doesn’t want to accept the reality; he denies the truth. He doesn’t want to accept that his loved one is dead.

The symbol “heaven” symbolizes spirit; “Garden” is the archetypal image of the soul, innocence. Therefore Irene’s soul has left her dead body, and the speaker through the whole poem uses the symbol “sleep” for death. The speaker is not accepting the loss of his loved one; he still believes beautiful Irene is asleep (“valley” symbolizes life according to dictionary of symbolism).With these symbols, the speaker is showing his timeless love and the existence of Irene’s spirit.

Even though this poem can be considered as love poem, the tone in the poem is dark, deranged. The speaker is using the words shadows (“dark entities with a nature all of their own”, according to dictionary of symbolism), and ghosts. This poem is about the love that never dies and the speaker still feels the love towards his beautiful lady. In the poem the speaker uses “My love, she sleeps! Oh, may her sleep!” (Line 1), this indicates that the speaker is referring to his loved one. With the word fog sounds like the speaker is at a place that is unreal, essentially he is in denial.

Through the whole poem “The Sleeper,” the speaker symbolically refers to death as “sleep,” such as “All Beauty sleep” (Line 16), “The lady sleeps!” (Line 1), “My love, she sleeps” (Line 1). The speaker uses “slumb’ring soul” (Line 10) and “mystic moon” (Line 2) which is a connection between immortality and sleep, her soul will have eternal rest. The speaker calls Irene, “my love” which indicates that he is still in love with her. “I pray to God that she may lie forever with unopened eye” (Line 6-7), the poet hopes she will eventually wake up. From the beginning the speaker uses comas and then towards the end of the second stanza uses numerous of exclamation points, which seems to suggest that he is becoming more dramatic and upset. The speaker appears to be more disconnected with reality. Overall the poem is about love and death, and how love can remain even in the face of death.


Work cited
Biederman, Hans. “Dictionary of symbolism.” University of Michigan Fantasy and Science Fiction Website. 2001. Web. 17 Apr. 2010 http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/
Cummings, Michael. “A Study Guide.” Cumming study guides.net. 2006. Web. 17 Apr. 2010
http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/
“Edgar Allan Poe” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 17 Apr. 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe
“Greek Mythology.” Greek Mythology.com. Web. 17 Apr. 2010
http://www.greekmythology.com/

Blog Entry 5: Essay 3 Preview

I understand that for our third assignment we have to analyze a poem based on everything we have learned in class. The poem will be our choice but it has to be associated with the theme of the class. In this research paper we have to write basic information about the author of the poem, to summarize the poem. Also we have to write definition for symbolism and tone, and to identify them in our chosen poem and to describe the poetic form. I’m a little bit confused with the terms connotation and denotation, so I think I will have difficulty identifying them in the poem. I think I will use the same poem from essay 2, because I did research and I was able to find more information that will help me analyzing the poem. Also we have to cite all of our sources that helped us identifying the hidden meaning in the poem.

Blog 4: Reflection 1

I really like the topic supernatural that we are focusing on in this class. It is fascinating to discover the symbols and the hidden meaning in a poem. I’m familiar with blogger. com from the last semester and I really enjoy it. The blogging is interesting, all of the classmates are connected and we can comment on each other’s blogs. The feedback really helps us because we get different opinion for our post. I ‘m always worried writing an essay, because English is not my first language. But with the blogging and the feedback, I can see my own mistakes, fix them and develop my writing skills. I use Google and Wikipedia for my research.

Blog 3(Essay 2):Tone and symbolism

The poets are able to guide us through the whole poem with the literature techniques like tone and symbolism and all of the poems have hidden meaning. I choose the poem “The Sleeper” by Edgar Allan Poe because I believe in spirits. Also I believe in love that exists inside every human, the love that every person feels towards the loved one, the love that never dies. In this poem the author Edgar Allan Poe uses the symbols to represent the death of his loved one.
The poet Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most remarkable writers in the history.He became popular in Europe for his fiction tales in the 19 Century. He reinvented science-fiction, the genre in his work is Gothic romance, horror fiction, and detective fiction. After his wife’s death he became unstable and started to write poems with theme “death”. Except horror Poe wrote humor tales and hoaxes, with theme irony. With the poem “The Raven”, Poe had instant success. Poe died on October 7, 1849,sources have said that his final words were “Lord help my poor soul”.
Tone is the attitude the poet takes towards his work in the poem. Tone is used to show emotions for example optimism, seriousness, irony, love, humorous and other feelings. With the tone we understand how the poet feels. In this poem the poet uses the words shadows, opiate, slumber, ghosts, which gives a feeling that he is in a dreamlike scene, he is in denial, doesn’t want to accept the reality. He is in a misty valley with a lake and a cemetery, and wondering in which grave Irene is laying. He still feels the love towards Irene.
Symbolism is the written word in the poem that represents something else. Characters and actions can be used as symbols. Most of the symbols used in poetry have the same meaning to all readers. Poe uses the symbol “sleep” in this poem which represents death. Through the whole poem Poe claims that the beautiful Irene is sleeping and also uses the symbol “soul” that represents her dead body. In the poem “rosemary” is a symbol of remembrance. The name of the beautiful women Irene symbolizes the Goddess of peace in Greek mythology."Looking like Lethe, see!the lake", Lethe in Greek mythology is a river in Hades, in the poem the water of the lake is symbolizing the deep and forgetful sleep.
With Poe using the literature elements tone and symbol we understand the emotions and the meaning of the poem. Being able to understand the poem also means being able to understand the poet, and what he is trying to say to us. As a reader I know and feel how the poet feels, denying the reality. Irene is not dead but she is sleeping and like Poe I hope that this beautiful lady will have heavenly eternal rest without suffering.

The literary elements and the image can be found on this websites: http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/literary_elements.htm
http://behance.vo.llnwd.net/profiles5/115834/projects/270287/1158341248214995.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_allan_poe

Blog 2: Poetry

I used Google.com and I was able to find very interesting poems about spirits and love. I read couple of poems by Edgar Allan Poe because I think he is very remarkable writer and I liked all of them. But the one that I liked the most was
“The Sleeper”.

At midnight, in the month of June,
I stand beneath the mystic moon.
An opiate vapor, dewy, dim,
Exhales from out her golden rim,
And softly dripping, drop by drop,
Upon the quiet mountain top,
Steals drowsily and musically
Into the universal valley.
The rosemary nods upon the grave;
The lily lolls upon the wave;
Wrapping the fog about its breast,
The ruin moulders into rest;
Looking like Lethe, see! the lake
A conscious slumber seems to take,
And would not, for the world, awake.
All Beauty sleeps!—and lo! where lies
Irene, with her Destinies!
Oh, lady bright! can it be right—
This window open to the night?
The wanton airs, from the tree-top,
Laughingly through the lattice drop—
The bodiless airs, a wizard rout,
Flit through thy chamber in and out,
And wave the curtain canopy
So fitfully—so fearfully—
Above the closed and fringéd lid
’Neath which thy slumb’ring soul lies hid,
That, o’er the floor and down the wall,
Like ghosts the shadows rise and fall!
Oh, lady dear, hast thou no fear?
Why and what art thou dreaming here?
Sure thou art come o’er far-off seas,
A wonder to these garden trees!
Strange is thy pallor! strange thy dress!
Strange, above all, thy length of tress,
And this all solemn silentness!
The lady sleeps! Oh, may her sleep,
Which is enduring, so be deep!
Heaven have her in its sacred keep!
This chamber changed for one more holy,
This bed for one more melancholy,
I pray to God that she may lie
Forever with unopened eye,
While the pale sheeted ghosts go by!
My love, she sleeps! Oh, may her sleep,
As it is lasting, so be deep!
Soft may the worms about her creep!
Far in the forest, dim and old,
For her may some tall vault unfold—
Some vault that oft hath flung its black
And wingéd pannels fluttering back,
Triumphant, o’er the crested palls
Of her grand family funerals—
Some sepulchre, remote, alone,
Against whose portals she hath thrown,
In childhood, many an idle stone—
Some tomb from out whose sounding door
She ne’er shall force an echo more,
Thrilling to think, poor child of sin!
It was the dead who groaned within.

This poem and also other poems can be found on the website: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=178355
This website is very useful for finding poems about religion, mythology and other categories, also poets. The poem “Sleeper” is about a woman that died, and Poe has to deal with the loss. He can’t accept that his loved one is gone. In the poem is described the connection between love and death. The love still remains strong even after someone loses his lover. He prays that God will give her rest and not to be disturbed by ghosts. In the poem he used the name Irene, in Greek mythology is the goddess of peace. Poe believes that his beautiful Irene is not dead but she is sleeping. He wants her to have a deep sleep forever. But actually he is the one that is dreaming by not accepting her death. He doesn’t want to see the reality and wants to know what she is dreaming about. I do believe the strong love never dies and the woman’s spirit will always stay in his mind. Her spirit will be around Poe forever and he will remember her as a beautifull woman that she was before she died.

Blog 1:About me

My name is Nadica.I'm from Macedonia,a small country in Eastern Europe. I came to this country three years ago.For now my goal is to graduate from Laguardia and later transfer to a four year college.