It's Legit: AP Lit

Monday, December 14, 2015

Blog #14: Paired Poems Group Presentation "Helen" and "To Helen"

"To Helen" and "Helen" Paired Poetry Essay In the poems, “To Helen” by Edgar Allen Poe, and “Helen” by Hilda Doolittle, both authors portray their views of Helen – thought to be the most beautiful woman of the ancient world, and cause of the Trojan War after she was abducted by the Trojan Prince Paris -- through use of elements such as speaker, imagery, and tone. Although both poems use these elements, major differences exist in the way they are used. Looking at the speaker of both poems, they both address Helen, but in different ways. For example, in “To Helen” the speaker is someone who adores Helen and directly addresses her when Poe writes, “Helen, thy beauty is to me like those Nicean barks of yore.” This same point of view is not used by Doolittle in “Helen” as it is written in third person point of view. An example of this is when Doolittle writes, “All Greece reviles the wan face when she smiles.” These point of view choices are different, yet purposeful. In “To Helen” the speaker is admiring Helen, so he’s speaking directly to her, whereas in “Helen” the speaker is basically trash talking Helen, which is something one wouldn’t say directly to her face. Also, in “Helen” the speaker is a singular man who is addressing Helen’s beauty, whereas in “Two Helen” the speaker is all of Greece, as they address the entire country’s hatred of her. For example, the line, “Greece sees, unmoved, God’s daughter,” is a perfect of example of “all of Greece” discussing their hatred for Helen. Looking at the imagery of “Helen” and “To Helen” they both use imagery to describe Helen’s beauty; although Poe discusses it in a positive aspect while Doolittle discusses it in a negative aspect. For example, in “To Helen”, Poe writes, “On desperate seas long wont to roam, Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face, Thy Naiad airs have brought me home to the glory that was Greece.” Looking at “Helen”, Doolittle writes, “The still eyes in the white face, the lustre as of olives where she stands and the white hands.” Both of these seem to be positive descriptions of Helen, because a hyacinth is a very important, beautiful flower in Greek Mythology, and the fact that Poe describes her hair as looking like a hyacinth is a compliment to her, and a very specific detail to the reader. The description given by Doolittle of a “white face” and “lustre as of olives” is also describing her beauty because lustre is a soft glow, which gives the audience a detailed image of Helen. Her beauty is portrayed negatively because the people of Greece believed her beauty to be the cause of the Trojan War. Although Doolittle’s poem portrays Helen in a hateful manner, her beauty is still recognized. Although the speaker and imagery used are important aspects of each poem, so are the tones and tone shifts used in each. For example, looking at “To Helen” Poe begins the poem in a content tone with the lines, “Gently o’er a perfumed sea, the weary, way-worn wanderer bore to his own native shore.” This is the speaker’s way of saying that he is happy with Helen and that her beauty is comforting, but also a source of guidance. However, in “Helen”, Doolittle utilizes a harsh tone in the lines, “All Greece hates the still eyes and the white face,” and—still talking about Helen—continues, “could love indeed the maid, only if she were laid, white ash amid funereal cypresses.” This tone is very hateful ad harsh when words such as “hate” and “ash” because this is “all of Greece’s” way of saying that although Helen is beautiful, they hate her nonetheless due to the fact she caused the Trojan War. Although the poems “To Helen” by Edgar Allen Poe and “Helen” by Hilda Doolittle both recognize Helen's beauty and views of her through the elements of speaker, imagery, and tone, they do so in different ways.

Blog #13: Paired Poems Revision (Chimney Sweeper)

In William Blake’s 1789 and 1794 versions of his poem, “The Chimney Sweep”, he contrasts the life of a young chimney sweep. Blake associates the 1789 version with innocence in the means that children didn’t need to fear harm as Angels watch over them and the 1794 version in that through experience, the sweep’s mistrust of adults. Through his use of imagery, rhyme schemes, and metaphors, Blake is able to portray this to the audience.

Looking first at the 1789 version, Blake uses imagery to portray the visions of a dream. In lines 11-16 Blake writes, "Thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black; And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he open'd the coffins & set them all free. Then down a green plain, leaping laughing they run, And wash in a river and shine in the Sun." Then, looking at lines 5-7 of the 1794 version, Blake writes, "Because I was happy upon the heath, And smil'd among the winter's snow; They clothed me in the clothes of death." In the first version, Blake uses imagery to depict a morbid scene, of small children in black coffins. However, this morbidity vanishes as he describes the Angel setting them free by using words such as "green plain" and "leaping" and "shine" as these words are vastly different than what the boys were experiencing as chimney sweeps. With this use of imagery, the author portrays the hope and innocence the young sweeps possessed. The vivid dream brought them hope that they didn't need to fear harm because if they did end up in black coffins, they believed an angel would set them free, which also portrays their innocence as they trusted in the idea of "the angel". This is different in the second version of the poem however, because the imagery used doesn't create a joyful image in the reader's mind. Looking back at the line "clothed me in the clothes of death," this kind of represents the young sweep's loss of innocence and gain of experience, because he no longer trusts the adults because they believe the children are happy as they can’t see past their misery.

Another technique Blake uses in both poems is purposeful rhyming pattern. In the 1789 version, Blake uses an AA BB rhyme pattern consistently throughout the entire poem. Then looking at the 1794 version, Blake uses the same AA BB rhyme pattern in the first stanza, but uses an AB AB pattern throughout the rest of the poem. In the 1789 version --which is also the version that represents the innocence of the young sweeps-- it shows the sweeps consistently trusting adults and authority, and the consistent rhyming pattern reflects this. Looking at the 1794 version, when the rhyming switches to AB AB, this represents the gain of experience of the young sweeps, as they have learned that the adults don't understand their misery and learned through experience, that they shouldn't always trust them. This is reflected by the rhyme scheme as every other line rhymes.

Blake's use of metaphors is also prevalent in both of his poems. Looking at the 1789 version, Blake addresses the fact that the young sweeps crawling into the chimneys is seen as a metaphor for their death. In the poem, Blake discusses a dream of the sweepers locked up in black coffins, due to the dirt, soot, and dangers of cleaning the chimneys. In the 1794 version of the poem, Blake describes the sweepers as, "little black things among the snow" which although isn't exactly a metaphor, still alludes to their death. So, both poems still allude to their death.

Blog #12: Paired Poems Benchmark Essay & Reflection (Chimney Sweeper)

Published in 1789 and 1794, William Blake wrote two poems both titled "The Chimney Sweeper". The first poem, published in 1789 reveals innocence of the young chimney sweep and in the second poem, published in 1794, he reflects on the experience aspect of the chimney sweep. Blake uses multiple poetic techniques including tone shifts, imagery, and rhyme schemes, using them differently in each poem.

Looking first at the 1789 version, Blake uses imagery to portray the visions of a dream. In lines 11-16 Blake writes, "Thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black; And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he open'd the coffins & set them all free. Then down a green plain, leaping laughing they run, And wash in a river and shine in the Sun." Then, looking at lines 5-7 of the 1794 version, Blake writes, "Because I was happy upon the heath, And smil'd among the winter's snow; They clothed me in the clothes of death." In the first version, Blake uses imagery to depict first a morbid scene, of small children in black coffins. However, this morbidity goes away as he describes the Angel setting them free by using words such as "green plain" and "leaping" and "shine" as these words are vastly different than what the boys experienced in real life. With this use of imagery, the author portrays the hope and innocence the young sweeps possessed, as the vivid dream brought them hope that they didn't need to fear harm because if they did end up in black coffins, they believed an angel would come set them free. This also portrays their innocence as they trusted in the idea of "the angel". This is different in the second version of the poem however, because the imagery used doesn't create a joyful image in the reader's mind. Looking back at the line "clothed me in the clothes of death," this kind of represents the young sweep's loss of innocence and gain of experience, as he no longer trusts the adults because they believe the children are happy.

Another technique Blake uses in both poems is the rhyme scheme. In the 1789 version, Blake uses an AA BB rhyme pattern consistently throughout the entire poem. Then looking at the 1794 version, Blake uses the same AA BB rhyme pattern in the first stanza, but uses an AB AB pattern throughout the rest of the poem. In the 1789 version, which is also the version that represents the innocence of the young sweeps, it shows the sweeps consistently trusting adults and authority, and the consistent rhyming pattern also reflects this. Looking at the 1794 version, when the rhyming switches to AB AB, this kind of represents the gain of experience of the young sweep, as they have learned that the adults don't understand their misery and learned through experience, that they shouldn't always trust them.

Reflection:

After writing the comparison and contrast essay and reading the benchmark essays, I definitely believe I could improve my response to receive a higher score. Although I understood what the prompt was asking and I used evidence from the poem, my analysis was kind of vague and I could've added another paragraph with more textual evidence. After reviewing the benchmark essays, I would say the most important thing that should be included in my essay is explicitly stating the differences between the poems, by saying the second one is telling the truth about chimney sweeps. Also after reading the benchmark essays, I think it would be a good idea to address metaphors, because they're used in both poems. I also didn't have time to address the tone shifts and I didn't have a three sentence thesis statement. Despite what I was lacking, I was able to discuss imagery and rhyming patterns used by Blake as well as use lines from the poem to support what I wrote. Overall though, since there were parts of analysis I was missing, I would give myself a 4-5.