Poem Packet

From the poem packet I'm getting a feel of sexism and the different viewpoints from both males and females. The Beyonce song "If I were a Boy" and the David Lehman poem "Sexism" I see go hand in hand. To me, they both talk about how women get hurt by men. The Lehman poem is satrical  saying a woman is the happiest when her love has been cheating on her. With the Beyonce song, I watched the music video to it. Beyonce tells the message that it hurts when someone you love doesn't show the same love back in return, that they don't sacrifice their own wants for the person they are with or go even further than ignoring them and flirt with someone else. John Micheal Montgomery's "Sold" seemed to have a lighter tone to it. The song talks about a funny way of meeting a life partner. Besides it being country (no offense to country fans) it was a funny song, also it just had a complete different message than the previously mentioned poems. My explicate was that the woman picks the man not the other way around. The last poem the Children's Rhyme is a classic, well just the what girls are made of is the part I knew. This poem really just says the basic message of girls are good and boys are bad. The poem is probably used to scar little girls to stay away from boys till they are older.

The Flea -By: John Donne

The flea is a representation of the love between the narrator and her lover. It's about relating how a flea will takes blood from two people and their blood mingles together; two people are in love with each other and the girl has given up her virginity to her lover in a sign of their love and a long lasting relationship. The second stanza it talks about how they are to be married even if the parents are not happy about it and they have to live a monastic life. I'm not quite sure about the last stanza except for the last line means to me that if the flea/love dies then the narrator would die.

Poetry

Well, not going to lie about it that I haven't read to much poetry. In high school the only poetry I remember for sure is old poetry from around the 17th century, I don't really remember what the name of it was. In middle school I wrote some similes, metaphors, alliterations, the basics that I think pretty much everyone learns about. I don't have any favorite poets nor do I really know any by name. So pretty much in a nutshell this is going to be basically relearning everything, and a lot more.

My New Paper Topic

I know my gist suggested a paper topic, but today in class I decided on what I am really going to do. My new idea is giving into temptation leads to degrading oneself which ultimately leads to complete damnation. The graphic organizer that was put on the white board today helped a lot with the idea, since the whole plot shows that idea through Dr. Faustus's actions. I need to look up some sources, but a rough outline of the paper would be the introduction, then a paragraph on temptation, then another paragraph on how temptation degrades oneself and a third paragraph on how someone is damned. Then I shall finish up with a conclusion paragraph. Any critiques on the thesis would be much appreciated or any ideas for the outline of the paper. Class today was good, it helped clear up the Ralph scenes and what they represented, and obviously give me my paper topic.

Monday's Class

Monday's class discussion helped a little bit with getting a idea for the Dr. Faustus paper. I've been trying to think of a good paper topic that isn't about morals. I'm still not 100% sure of what I'm going to write about, I think I might do a type of biographical criticism and relate the book to what was happening to Marlowe at the time. I also liked reading that day even if we didn't get to read to much.

Dr. Faustus, Scene V

Scene V begins with Faustus and Mephistophilis (Meph) making the deal of Meph's servitude for Faustus's soul. Faustus writes the contract in his blood and asks why Lucifer needs souls and the answer to the question was to expand his kingdom. Then Meph starts talking about hell and tells Faustus why and how he is damned. Faustus in response explains that he doesn't think there is any pain in the afterlife so it doesn't matter. Faustus then asks for a wife which Meph goes and fetches a bride which was a devil and Faustus threw her away. Faustus then asks for a spell book which Meph supplies a spell book with every incantations possible and the scene ends with Meph showing the book to Faustus.

Dr. Faustus

The conversation between Dr. Faustus, Valdes, and Cornelius is about dark magic. Dr. Faustus tells the other two that he wants to learn dark magic not just because they convinced him but also for his own reasons. Then Valdes explains how the magic works and that only the three of them will have control over the elements. Cornelius says that studying dark magic will make Faustus want to not study any other subject in the world. Faustus becomes overjoyed and asks Valdes and Cornelius to perform some magic that Faustus can start studying, which Valdes and Cornelius do show him some basic techniques that Faustus can try on his own.