To Myself

Let’s be honest here I picked this poem first because, it is one of the shorter poems but, the title also caught my eye. The skeleton of the poem is a single 16 line poem (we don’t have the word for 16 lines). For the rhyming scheme, this poem is a free verse because none of the lines rhyme. Although what I did notice is six of the lines end in you. This poem is about staying true to yourself. The lines “Even when I forget you, I go on looking for you” (lines 1 and 2) explain it all to me. I think when all humans feel they’ve lost their true self’s they often go searching for it. The poems lines that stood out most to me were most 3-4. I like how the lines talk about remembering. This poem made me think of how I often remember some events in my life as how I want to remember them, and how often I remember other people as I want them to be. Another part of the poem I really enjoyed was lines 4-7, Merwin is talking about how in his memory it is as if he was still there but it was long ago. To me those are the most enjoyable memories where you can live completely in that moment. To me it’s like where you have a dream and it is so real you almost question if you are awake or not. These memories are so emotionally powerful to me this poem is a pathos. Another part of the poem I liked a lot was lines 14-16 to me these lines mean you are a true individual and not what people say you are. Even when you lose yourself and change, you are not lost; you are yourself undefined and beautiful. Over all I really enjoyed this poem because of the dreamy flow from line to line, and the poems marvelous ideals. *The pictures are pictures I've taken that made me feel how I felt when I read the poem.

1943

1943 was an interesting poem. It was somewhat of a narrative poem because it told a story of a soldier going from the life he knew at home to war, specifically War World II. It mostly transitioned from one setting to the next, telling something about the soldier's lives before the war and then a detail about the war. In the first two couplets of the poem the theme was mostly about Dominick Esposito and in the last three couplets the theme was about milk.
The author created Dominick Esposito as an example of how Dominick's life transitioned from his normal life as a boxer to a solder in World War II. He especially described his life in the war with the line, "and ten months later Dom died in the third wave at Tarawa."
We considered milk another theme because it was frequently mentioned in the last three couplets.
As for the structure of the poem it was made up of entirely couplets and had no rhyme scheme. We considered the poem both an ode because it was written about a dignified subject and an elegy because it wt mourned the loss of the solder's previous lives before they went to war.
The last line of the poem, "with frostbitten feet as white as milk.", was the climax of the poem. It tied in the author's reference to a soldier's previous Mamore of getting milk delivered to his home in Connecticut. then in the winter how the milk froze and, "lifted the cardboard lids of glass bottles." The words before the last line, "-what could we do?-", builds up to the climax line because it is the soldier seeing the deaths of his fellow soldiers, how they got frostbitten feet, and thinking that he could do nothing but continue on with his tasks and think of better times from his life before the war.

The Kite Runner

Wow! I loved this book from cover to cover. It was not a light hearted book but this book was stuffed with scenes that cause you to self reflect honesty. This book made me truly search myself to see if I could practice the blind loyalty Hassan had for Amir. I think the main reason of why I loved this book is the harsh honesty lacking any sugar coating.
Of course being human I felt empathy for Hassan through the story, but I could not help but wonder was his loyalty honorable or foolish? His loyalty lead to his and his wife death, his sons attempt at suicide, the only gain was a blue kite and a life of guilt and shame for Amir. In the end I think Hassan’s loyalty was his love leading him to his ultimate down fall. As for Amir’s love for Baba and Hassan’s love for Amir made me think of how most people work hardest to receive love they do not receive. Humans strive for what they cannot posses. Another human concept I saw was that as hard as you try you cannot forget your past. You can only blissfully believe you have buried your past and pray that it does not resurface soon.
Since I have read all three books now I thought I would discuss key themes I saw, in the books. In all three novels there was decimation in The Great Gatsby and The Kite Runner there was strict separations by wealth, and in The Kite Runner and Heart of Darkness there was separation by race. All three books took a look at the darker side of human behavior. These books also questioned if man is ultimately good or evil. Some books also had journeys leading to redemption; Jay’s redemption of love, and Amir’s redemption of shame.

A video

I finished The Kite runner today and will post my blog for it tomorrow but I wanted to learn more about kite fighting, and I found this video.I thought it was the perfct video for The Kite Runner http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYCLyNvFSDs