"Ozymandias"

"'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'

Nothing beside remains.  Round the decay" (9-11).

In "Ozymandias," by Percy Bysshe Shelley, I found myself trying to pronounce Ozymandias in as many ways as possible instead of actually figure out the meaning.  Despite this hardship, I did manage to possibly get something out of it.  For instance, the above line makes me chuckle because of the irony.  A once mighty king now lies in ruins.  How depressing would that be?

Anyways, I think that this entire poem is kind of mocking the material rewards of power and royalty maybe?

The first line says that the traveler was from an antique land.  I know that that adjective has an implication, but I do not know what it is!  It kind of goes along with the old-fashioned feel in the poem, but I think that there is more.

Oh, and I listened to you and looked up words I didn't know in the dictionary, but it wasn't there.  I guess Ozymandias is was a person so it makes sense.

"APO 96225"

"And the father wrote right back,

'Please don't write such depressing letters.  You're

upsetting your mother" (16-18).

Question one of "APO 96225" by Larry Rottmann confused me for the entire class today.  I think that this poem deserves a list for situational irony and dramatic irony.

Situational Irony:

1. When his mother asks him to tell them everything, he writes only about monkeys and sunsets.
2. When he tells his mother everything, his father writes back telling him not to upset his mother.

Dramatic Irony:

1. Everything is positive, but that is only because the actual situation is so negative.

Okay, so those lists are really short, but I think that they helped me find the answer.  Despite being less points, the dramatic irony weighs much more strongly on the overall poem than the situational.  Imagine that the rocks on the right are the situational and the rock on the left is dramatic.  Since the dramatic irony is in every stanza, I think it is the actual prominent form of irony.  The letters are not to show that the mother and son have a strong bond in hardship, but rather the joyous message of the letters are supposed to show just how hard the situation is.  (pun intended.)

"Batter my heart, three-personed God"

"Take me to you, imprison me, for I,

Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me" (12-14).

"Batter my heart, three-personed God" by John Donne is an excellent example of how poets are able to write in a multitude of styles and not always confuse me.  I definitely learned that this poem can be summarized in four words.

Paradox after annoying paradox.

While the word paradox is fun to type and say, the implications in a poem like this go far beyond the realm of imagination - big words are fun!  Anyways, the first sentence introduces the idea of "battering" someone's heart in order to heal it.  This is basically the equivalent of telling someone to stab me in the head because I have a headache, but it makes sense in context.  The speaker has turned towards the Devil's influence and needs to have the evil hammered out of "him."  (Can we just make this understanding that all speakers are guys unless it is explicitly stated otherwise?)

Another paradox is in the last two lines (thank you question 3).  It is odd to think that by trapping the speaker, that God will be freeing his thoughts, but it is more symbolic of starting a new leave (is that the phrase?) without the Devil's influence on his life.

The last line of the poem is also a paradox (shocker).  Basically, without God intruding on the speaker's personal bubble - is that a nice way to put it? - the speaker will never experience His grace.

P.S. I enjoy the time in class to read the poems.

"Mr. Z"

"The obit writers, ringing crude changes on a clumsy phrase:

'One of the most distinguished members of his race," (25-6).

In "Mr. Z," by M. Carl Holman, not only did I have "Mr. Jones" by the Counting Crows stuck in my head, but I also managed to catch on to some of the things talked about in the questions.  For example, the first line gives a clear idea that Mr. Z was African American.  From here on out, the poem became a satire, and the speaker juxtaposes being proud of Mr. Z for breaking the race barrier and mocking him for his awkwardness.  To be honest, I am not really sure why the speaker does not name Mr. Z, but I almost feel like it might be because the speaker just does not know it, but that seems like a far-fetched reasoning, so we should act like I never said it.

Let me go back to the point I made earlier about the contrast of pride and awkwardness.  The pride comes from Mr. Z's ability to fit in (3-6), while the awkwardness comes from him choosing raceless views and going to places that accept "exotic skin."  Assuming that I read this correctly, Mr. Z is Jewish, but non-traditionally married a lady who left the Jewish faith.

Okay, so I have yet to address the quote from above.  Question number five asks about the irony in the obituaries - when or if I die, can you make sure that no one makes a joke in my obituary for me?  The irony is actually kind of amusing for me - which is quite disturbing - but the obit writers basically are saying that his race, African Americans, have remained useless wastes of space and congratulations on doing something productive even if you had to avoid anywhere that might not find you worthy.

P.S.  I love this song, which caused me to directly enjoy the poem.

"next to of course god america i"

"next to of course god america i

love you land of the pilgrims' and so forth oh" (1-2).

In "next to of course god america i" by e.e. cummings, I really had to wonder if I prefer this style with no punctuation versus Emily Dickinson's idea of capitalizing every noun.  Judging by the quotation marks and last line, I conclude that this entire poem was originally spoken.  I believe that this poem has verbal irony.  When I read it, I kept getting caught up on all of the clauses that could either end the thought or start a new one, but when I read it out loud, my natural inclination told me when to place the commas or break up the flow of the poem.

The speaker creates an overall excitement and love of America in the first line when he - Let's act like it's a guy - blatantly compares his love for America being second only to God.

List of what he loves -

1. God
2. America

This love starts out as merely a list of cliches, but as the speaker goes on, there is a clear shift (Thank you to question number 3).  This shift from "thy" to "your" (line 7) shows that the love is eternal.  While the men who drafted the Constitution would have said "thy," we today still have liberty.  After this realization, the speaker tells of why patriotism survived.  The speaker ends with a rhetorical question to power in the idea that liberty will never die.  I believe this poem is in such an odd style of no punctuation merely because it was spoken and has multiple interpretations when read or heard (ambiguity) and because it was spoken in a hurry - as though something bad had just happened.

P.S.  I hope that you enjoy my new look on the blog.  I think the joke I found spelled alliteration wrong!  I will change it either every quarter or every unit based on how lazy I am... Let's just assume it will be quarterly.