Emily Dickinson...not really sure about her

I have to agree with of my other peers, that I'm not a huge fan of Dickinson. Honestly, I had no idea what her poems meant that we read in class until we talked them over for a while. Even then I was not completely sure what they meant.
I was looking at my notes from her poem about madness 620 [435], and I'm still confused. She did compare madness with sense, but I'm unsure as to what point she was making. Is she exclaiming that no one can really make sense, or that someone sould make sense of madness? Either way, I think she is talking about individual over society.
Along with that, her lifes seems very quiet and sad. She mentions in one of her poems how she has church at home. I want to push her into community with other believers. I know that sometimes it's good for one to step back and dwell on their own thoughts and life, but it's also very important to stay connected with life and society. I don't agree with everything she has to say, or even understand it, but that's okay.

Carnival Post: Conglomerated Thoughts on Whitman

Personally, I really enjoyed learning about Walt Whitman and his works. His thoughts are intriguing, and can make one think deeply about simple things (such as grass). For one to write a famous poem, solely on grass, has talent. Anyways, most of the classmates agreed with me about Whitman’s talent. Even though not everyone felt the same way, it’s important to see both sides of view! Whitman talks a lot about how diversity is a positive thing, and in this instant it is as well.

Some of the classmates who mentioned that Whitman was interesting and enjoyable also talked tended to talk about how he paints beautiful pictures with his words. Tanisha talked a lot about how his imagery of grass really excited her, and made her appreciate it more. Another interesting subject that was talked about in regards to Whitman was the fact that he celebrates the individual. Julia wrote, “His opening words of Song of Myself (1) express how he celebrates each individual and the art possessed within our souls. It is not a statement derived from egotistical intentions but rather a call for people to recognize the potential they have as unique individuals.” Whitman chooses to dwell on the positives of the “self” rather than shooting them down. I’m not sure if he is leaning towards narcissism, but I would hope not.

Esther’s thoughts towards Whitman were a little different than most of the ones I read, but I appreciate her thoughts. She talks about how Whitman was pretty egotistical. She mentions his lines, “Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touch'd from/The scent of these arm-pits aroma finer than prayer/This head more than churches, bibles, and all creeds.” She also comments that she could be taking his poetry to literally, but I agree that he can come off as narcissistic. Esther also wrote, “He simply seems to be singing the praises of humanism to the extreme - that we as humans can be completely satisfied in this world and in ourselves through gratifying all of our desires. "I believe in the flesh and the appetites/Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle”.  He could be focused more on humanism, rather than the power/control of God, but I didn’t pick that up by reading them. Reading her post makes me second guess Whitman though, because those lines do seem almost too bold.

Tanisha took a different swing on things, and focused on how Whitman makes simple things seem powerful. She wrote, “Whitman not only provides great imagery throughout his poems, but he also leaves reminders for what is important”.  I agree with this. When he writes on creation, he really seems to be thankful for it and it also makes me more thankful for it. His writing makes me want to take life more simple, and focus on what’s important. Andrew wrote, “He has some really interesting undertones to some of his poems, undertones that seem to be much more suited to the culture of today than the 1800s. That aside, he paints some beautiful word pictures.” He seems to think that Whitman write with solid imagery, but Andrew also debated whether or not Whitman was writing in praise to God, or just praise to creation itself. All of these opinions of Whitman are valid, and I side with both. I do think that Whitman had an artist’s hand when writing poems because he does paint a beautiful picture of creation. On the other hand he does seem very consumed with himself. Either way I’m thankful for his work, and hope that he wrote with good intentions rather than giving himself glory.

Emily Dickinson

620 [435] page 1216

Much Madness is divinest Sense-
To a discerning Eye-
Much Sense- the starkest Madness-
'Tis the Majority
In this, as all, prevail-
Assent - and you are sane-
Demur - you're straighway dangerous-
And handled with a Chain-

Sometimes Dickinson's poems can be hard for me to know what she's talking about, and this was one of those poems. Some random thoughts we talked about in class were: what makes sense, and what lies out of common sense? Getting people to look at things from a different perspective. This poem talks about madness and sense. It speaks of getting people to look at things from a different perspective and finding the meaning of widom. Also, hints on individual verses society, and having a higher focus.

An example we talked about in class was if schools should think about promoting abstinence in schools or focus more on the reality of the matter. It makes me sad to think that schools have to promote "safe" sex rather than abstinence. What is the sense of the matter, and what is madness? Personally, I think promoting "safe" sex can make students think that it's okay, but if schools stick with teaching abstinence then maybe students will understand the seriousness of the matter.

Song of Myself

Walt Whitman wrote in Song of Myself, "You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books, you shall not look through jy eyes either, nor take things from me, you shall listen to all sides and filter them form your self" (1012). He is talking about how one should figure out their beliefs for themself. Hemmingway wrote something similar, and he explained how one shouldn't be looking up what to believe in libraries but one should live life for oneself.

I really like this idea of one figuring out life for themself, but I do think that one can learn from the past. Everyone makes mistakes, but maybe one can escape some mistakes by looking at ones that people have made before them. This was written during the romantic period, when the individual was celebrated.  Transcendentalism was developed during this time, when the focus was more on the nature over civilization. The shift in the wtyle of writing was less importance on rhymn/meter/strict form.