Home with the Land

Nestled away 

    Home is a place

        Until the plague 

A plague is a death sentence. A decaying of life. The tourism suffocates places that used to be bright. Pandemics bring them in on new kicks of nature waves. “Nature awaits,” they say from their bustling apartments, rimmed with people aching to work but stuck in place. So of course, when the restlessness grows too much, the businessmen and women put on their never before worn hiking boots and set sail to paved trails and controlled nature.

            Art on walls

                Disgust of natures appeal

                    Graffiti of disaster

Disruption of habit reaps destruction on nature. Trash litters my favorite spots; tourists block park rangers path to save, just for the perfect selfie. Graffiti takes over the rocks. Why? How do they not see the beauty of the the rivers slow erosion, the age of the trees marked like the circle of life. Connections made only through a child’s bare feet running with the land.

                        Luck is a myth

                            Except in a Childs lungs

                                Full of clean air

Fortune means nothing without experience. Growing up in Ohiopyle taught me an appreciation I would not trade for anything. Feeling free, not from an understanding of the constitution or even the ability to buy locally grown food, but rather from the water running beneath me as I lept from rock to rock, mindful of the little creatures beneath me. Grateful for the deer, my friends.

                                    A spot light

                                        Not on a performances stage

                                           On my friends the deer

I would pray, but not for myself. I would pray the hunters spot light never stuck on the deer that grazed in my yard. The deer whom brought their youngling back each year to the apples of our yard. I would pray they would live to return again. I never got close, yet they were a part of me and I them.

                                              Connection is a gift

                                                  Hiddng away from the locus

                                                       Locus with human eyes 

Shakespearean Sonnets

"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day"

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
    So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
    So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" 

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; 
Coral is far more red than her lips' red; 
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; 
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. 
I have seen roses damasked, red and white, 
But no such roses see I in her cheeks; 
And in some perfumes is there more delight 
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. 
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know 
That music hath a far more pleasing sound; 
I grant I never saw a goddess go; 
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. 
     And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare 

     As any she belied with false compare. 

Both of these sonnets are sonnets about

love; however, they may not be in the way most would 

expect. The first sonnet shown above

seems to be the obvious example of a love poem.

Shakespeare is expressing how beautiful, eternal,

amazing this person is. However, the real love lies in the

second poem. The real love occurs after the puppy

love phase. The second Poem is about

really loving a person. Real love is accepting

that your significant other is not

perfect, and loving them more for it. Shakespeare

is bold to write a poem this way yet

it is much more authentic

and enjoyable to read. It is real

and tangible, not a fairytale love story.

Nature

 Nature is a huge part of my life. Growing up

in a rural area has given me an appreciation of nature

that I am very grateful for (Pictured after this is the outside 

of my childhood home). William Wordsworth's poem

"The World Is Too Much With Us" is an example

of Ecopoetry that I enjoyed very much.

    "The world is too much with us; late and soon,
    Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
    Little we see in Nature that is ours;" (1-3)

    

    The first three lines of this sonnet begins this expression that 

humans are ruining nature. Ecocentrism is a belief that all things 

on and of the Earth are precious and should be treated respectfully.

Wordsworth is expressing his disgust in humanities inability to

 see the world this way.

                            These lines especially resonate with me because of my childhood.

                            Growing up right outside a state park, I saw the destructions tourist 

                            created. This is one of several reasons I relate to Wordsworth's

                            sonnet.

"We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;" (4-10)

                                            In this section, Wordsworth is expressing that

                                                he does not understand how humans can

                                           destroy such beautiful things. He gives specific 

                                                examples of things he finds beautiful to

                                            connect himself and readers to the loss. The

                                                mistreatment of nature is harmful to all 

                                              everyone, so poems like these help expose 

                                                    readers to their failings, without

                                                                    scaring them.

"So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn." ( 11-14)

The final stanza of this sonnet are

a sort of resolution to Wordsworth's

concerns. He is asking readers to appreciate

and worship the earth as if it is human

as well.

Furthermore, I loved this poem, and I would

defiantly read more of his work.

Rear Window

In Rear Window, the curtains open in the beginning 

window, symbolizing the curtains opening in a play.

Jefferies watches his neighbors lives as if they 

are different channels on tv.

He finds a man across from him committing murder,

causing a turn of events where he feels

like he must solve the case. He ignores everyone inside 

the room.

When Thorwald comes into Jefferies apartment,

Jefferies is stunted by the perverseness of it. He

has come to see his neighbors as nothing more than 

characters in a show, so seeing him in his room ruins

the illusion.

Overall, Rear Window was an enjoyable movie full 

of twists and drama, keeping the viewer engaged throughout.

Perversion of religion.

 An excerpt from my senior essay on Araby:

(Reposted because I accidentally deleted it)

“Araby” expresses the death of religion through perversion, sin, and allegorical examples.  The death of religion is expressed through perversion.  Houses are meant to give us life and shelter; however, houses will not exhibit these qualities forever.  Time will wither houses, yet they will remain “conscience of the decent lives within them” (4) regardless of the exterior.  Religion has begun a decent into this trap; organized religion has begun to rot, tainting the appearance the people.  This disorder and contrast of good and evil highlights the issues of religion.  The rotting exterior leaves the “Air, / musty from having been long enclosed.” (7-8) in walls of sin.  The crumpling home eventually will begin to flow into the lives of the people as well.  The death of religion is expressed through sin.  The narrator becomes infatuated with Mangan’s sister.  He feels isolated and confused as “Her name sprang to [. . . his] lips at moments in strange prayers and / praises” (46-47) that he could not decipher.  He begins to disassociate from his friends more and more.  He watches his “companions playing below in the street” (94), rather than spending time with them.  His pulling away from the faith into animalistic tendencies results in a lack of religion.  As he follows this path away from religion, he goes “into the back drawing-room in which the priest had died” (52), further connecting himself to his religious death.  The death of religion is expressed through allegorical examples.  The narrator uses allegories and metaphors to express many ideas in this story.  He sees illusions of the “brown-clad figure cast by [. . . his] imagination” as he daydreams about Mangan’s sister.  His “senses seemed to desire to veil themselves” (56) to keep from showing the shame he felt.  His desire to hide away symbolizes further his departure from religion.  The narrator, “Gazing up into the darkness [. . .,] saw himself as a creature driven and debrided by vanity” (161), realizing he was leading himself into darkness and despair.  The life he was leading, without religion, led him away from humanity.  Therefore, perversion, sin, and allegorical examples express the death of religion throughout “Araby”.

Emily Dickinson's "The Brain--is wider than the sky--"

 The brain is wonderful, unique, and vast. Despite our growing 

knowledge, there are so many things we do not 

understand. Emily Dickinson shows her wonder and appreciation for the 

brain throughout his poem. Dickinson was heavily influenced 

by metaphysical poets, giving her poems a stark, blunt view. She explains 

the extent, unexplored nature, and power of the brain.

Dickinson uses pauses and progressing capitalization to show growing 

wonder cat the brains power. She starts with the Sky and sea being wider and deeper, before 

stating that it is just the weight of God.

There is an admiration, but also slight mockery in the idea of 

being "just the weight" of God. Dickinson is expressing the idea that we are

only what we know. We have the power to create entire realities.

Overall, Dickinson's poem is exceptional for the time. She

shows a vast understanding of the brains power, without knowing the anatomical 

reasoning behind it. Her wonder is relatable and enjoyable to read. As 

a woman, seeing such phenomenal work by a fellow female is inspiring to me.

I am grateful to have been able to review her work.

Perspective

 "20/20" has a similar predicament of the elephant parable.  If we don't work together to see the entire story we will never connect.  Whether we're refusing to hear someones argument or out right ignoring them, connections can not be made.  "Hills Like White Elephants has a similar issue.  

The man and woman never truly see eye to eye.  The hear each other but they are not listening.  Stories like these can help us work on ourselves and our relationships.