Emily Dickinson’s poems: 194, 225, 269, 407, 591, and 764.

Ysidoro

194
The author is talking in first person.
- Title divine is mine.
The marriage is sacred accordingly with the gospel of Christ.
- The Wife without the Sign- / Acute Degree conferred on me - / Empress of Cavalry – Royal, all but the Crown -
She represents an empress without crown. Cavalry represents the husbandry institution..
- Betrothed, without the Swoon
Marriage indeed is not an award.
- God gives us Women/ When You hold Garnet to Garnet/ Gold to Gold/ Born – Bridalled – Shrouded/ In a Day/ Tri Victory.
Women cannot escape three elements of their destiny: born, marriage, and death; and support the men in their struggles for battles, and glory. Then women become like the queen of the arms: infantry; the soldiers (women) of the front. Regardless of men winning or losing battles women take the worst part of it.
- “My husband” Women say/ Stroking the Melody/ Is this the way.
Women are more intrinsically tied to men than men to women (during the XIX century this was common). Women should ask themselves: is it the marriage worthy?
Conclusion.
Marriage should be abolished as it is; women need more freedom in order to decide by themselves. Dickinson represents the advocate of women of her time.


225
Being a wife represents a terrible situation that is safer for women to be death than alive, even though they are the Czar of the house, their submissive destiny is insurmountable. We go back again to the first poem and found the same reason: the situation of women in the XIX century, they lack educational opportunities, and mostly stayed at home taking care of the children.

269
This is a courtly love poem. The courtly love appears around XII – XIII century in Europe. One of the first stories is “Tristan and Isolde,” (composed ca.1210) which it is represented later by the Richard Wagner opera of the same name. Courtly love represents the love in poems, all the scenes and action in love just in words, the lovers maybe never even get into sexual relation but vivid words.
This poem represents metaphorically the intensity of the sexual encounter. The intensity of love cannot b changed for any natural element, e.g. the winds. The compass and the chart represent the male and female genital organs. The compass penetrates the chart. Im thee means during the intercourse they are both like one.
Besides the sultry meaning of this poem, the author is exposing the woman as simple object of sexual desire. In another words women are cursed by love.

407
William Ernest Henley (1849 – 1903) was a famous English poet wrote “Invictus,” the last two lines of this poem: “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.” Means we built our own destiny or we create our own havoc.
Poem 407 represents our own destiny, we create our own destruction. We create the material world, and we built the hate that conducts us to our self-destruction.

591
It is a funeral reported by the deceased. All the steps of a funeral are represented in this poem. The fly is the symbol of the death. The stillness in the room happens when mourners remain silent before the body is taken away in a coffin. The had wrung dry of much crying, no more crying; the coffin is taken away. The deceased want her body to be taken away. There interposed a fly with blue uncertain stumbling buzz, means the death is coming for hi/her flesh. The windows failed, and then I could not see to see,” means the coffin is closed and his/her existence is gone. The spirit cannot see the material world.

764
In the last stanza is the whole meaning of this religious poem where death is the speaker and God is the Master. The death is controlled by the wish of God. The death has the power to kill but no power to die. It is God who controls death. From the previous stanzas we can see death is brutal, bloody.

Final Exam Review Sheet

Final Exam Review and Reminders

The final will be divided into three portions:

• Short Answer (30 minutes). These will include fill in the blank, author recognition questions, and brief historical facts.
• 2 Short Essay (15 minutes each). Each essay is only expected to be about 5-6 sentences, where you answer two of three questions in a thorough way.
• 1 Long Essay (30-45 minutes). Of two given essay topics, you will write a more thorough and detailed essay. I do not expect you to be able to quote from memory the texts here, but I do expect you to be able to refer to specifics of the author or authors in question. This essay requires use of your formal writing abilities, so make sure you take time to organize your points, outline, and develop a thesis.

Study Tips

• As stated above, quotation will not be expected. Know the specifics of each writer’s work, and be able to think and write extemporaneously about each.
• Although I will give extra time should you need it, don’t think that taking 90 minutes for the final essay will guarantee an A. Make productive use of your time and understand I expect the kind of quality essay that can be written in the specified time.
• Think thematically, particularly for the essay questions. The midterm is a chance to synthesize the all the readings we have done and make some connections across writers and time periods.
• Know the trajectory of the writers we’ve read, but don’t get hung up on dates or the specifics of history. I won’t ask questions like “what year was Weiland published?”

Some Recurring Themes to Consider

--Homes and Domesticity
--Representations of Slaves, Black Americans, and Native Americans
--The poetic developments of Whitman and Dickinson
--Nature and the changing landscape of the nineteenth century

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl By Harriet Jacobs

In the opening narrative Linda Brent talks about how she was fortunate and never fell like a slave during her early childhood till the age of 6. Here Linda introduces her father, though she does acknowledge that he is a slave she goes the great distance to point out all the qualities he possesses that were not the typical qualities in a slaved man, hence “…Was a carpenter and considered so intelligent and skilful in his trade, that when buildings out of the common line were to be erected, he was sent for from long distances, to be head workman”. In the opening of the narrative Linda also introduces her maternal grandmother whom later on we learn will become the center stone in Brent’s life. Her grandmother is given permission from her mistress to open a bakery shop and is able to make extra income which she is planning to save it and use it in the future to purchase the freedom of her grandchildren. Again here we see another quality not much seeing in other slaves. Though they were slaves I had the impression from the opening of the narrative that Brent and her Family were somewhat, if I dare say, fortunate in their lives as slaves. When Linda is 12 years old her mistress dies and Linda is sold to the daughter of her mistress sister whom is 5 years old. Dr. Flint had married the sister of Linda's mistress, and Linda is now the property of their young daughter.
Dr. Flint becomes obsess with Linda. He sexually and physically abuses her. When Linda falls in love with a free Negro man Linda asks Dr, Flint permission to marry him. Dr. Flint becomes violent and strikes at her. Fearing for the life of her lover, Linda tells the free Negro man to life town and forgets about her. Dr. Flint becomes Linda’s nightmare throughout the narrative. Dr. Flints tries countless times to try to win Linda’s Submission. He tries to plan a trip for him, Linda and other slaves to Louisiana but after sending his son to view the conditions of such place the son comes back with unfavorable news to Linda’s advantage. Linda comes up with her own scheme and become the mistress of Mr. Sands, an unmarried, white lawyer who has shown an interest in her. They have sexual relations and Linda becomes pregnant from him. Linda knew that by doing so Dr. Flint would remove her from his plantation. The first child was a boy. Later she bears another child, a girl, from Mr. Sands. She decides to escape the mall treatment of Dr. Flints and hides her self in her grandmothers house for seven years/ Later she lives the South with her children and finds hospitality with the Bruce family whom eventually buy her freedom from Dr. Flints daughter.


Summary Above






Analysis and thoughts below

I found the narrative fascinating. It was easy to read, though I have some difficulty following the family tree for both Linda’s family and their original owners.
Though I mentioned above that Linda and her family were “fortunate” in their lives as slave, it is a common theme in the narrative that there are no good masters. Many times throughout the narrative I kept waiting for one of the many masters or mistresses to grant them their freedom believing that their close ties to them would mean such thing.

The narrative was filled with many different human behavior and emotions, Mrs. Flint jealousy towards Linda due to her husband’s affixation with Linda. Dr. Flint’s animalistic and brute behavior towards Linda. He reminded me of a little boy who gets into a tantrum fit when they don’t get what they want. Linda’s grandmother was most beloved and supportive. Mrs. Bruce’s selflessness finally gave Linda and her children what her parents and grandmother so anxiously wanted for her.

Vanessa Martinez.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

In the reading, Narrative of the Life by Frederick Douglass, Douglass recalls the experiences of slavery in Maryland. Though many may argue about the lack of severity of Douglass's enslavement compared to others, any enslavement is horrific. In his childhood account, one must show sympathy for Douglass and others like him. Imagine the thought of not knowing your age and having to guess your birthday. The cruelty to slaves like witnessed by Douglass as a slave was so unbearable that he could not even explain in words. We see this in the lines "I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it." Being part of something so terrible allowed for Douglass to be brave enough in teaching himself many things once being introduced to the alphabet by a mistress. From slavery to freedom Douglass's recollection of his masters and their attempts to keep him blacks enslaved created the fire beneath him that would empower him to become the successful abolitionist he became. Douglass's text uses "lion" several times. This is a metaphor for the delegation of power between slaves and masters, blacks and whites. I believe this was to show those who really held power. Douglass was proved himself to be a prime example of this.
---Chanel Merchant----