AnGrY!

So i am sitting in the library today working on my math and this girl keeps getting up and down answering the phone and yelling at the person on the other end, each time she comes back she slams her phone on the desk and disrupts everyone around her. I can tell she is upset and i am the closest person sitting next to her so I ask her if she is ok, she turns to me and says " Its none of your F@#$!*# buisness!" At first i thought it was kinda funny how childish she was acting in public, but now i was a little angry myself lol. Anyway i sarted thinking about the whole thing and counldn't help but wonder why she was acting the way she was. Of course there was something that was causeing her to be angry, but as for myself i can be very angry and not show it because i am in public. I think we show our emotions publicly when we want other people to know what we are feeling because some part of us wants help or just to be heard; however, in this girls case i am confused. I tryed to offer help and she was not having it lol. I don't know why but i couldn't stop thinking her public display of anger and what her motives were. What do you guys think?

Paint a Picture

I agree with what everyone has said.

I think the pictures are a great help to the reader. It allows the author to be more free with what he writes but still lets the reader understand. The reader can also paint a better picture in their head and then compare it to the real painting to see if they understood what they read. Pictures are also good if you are trying to clear something up in the reading and reading it over and over just isn't helping. The reader could rely too much on the picture for help to understand but I think that once they see the picture and understand it they will be able to discuss it and go into more detail with it.

Art and Poetry

Do you think having the paintings right there to refer to helps you or hinders you as you are reading the poems? Do you rely too much on them, or do they help you to understand the poets' angles of vision? Explain.

I personally love being able to refer to the paintings while i am reading the poems. I have studied these paintings and the background stories that make them significant which not only helps me to imagine what the poet is thinking but also understand why he chose to write about them with the picture next to it. Having the paintings next to the poems helps the reader to create a more solidified imagery of the poets angle of vision as he is writing; and allows the reader to understand lines in the poems. For instance in "Before the Mirrors" Updike describes the colors of Picasso's painting and while reading the description the reader can glance over at the previous page to see the intense colors of the painting itself.

And i love these paintings which makes me, as a reader, willing to listen to what the poet has to say about them; because he has included them with his poetry.

Disconcerned

They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

These lines really allow us to see how while someone is suffering, to the rest of the world it is as if it never happened. The dogs continue with their insignificant dog lives and even the horse pays no attention to the torturer on it's back. These few lines give us a perspective as well from the animal kingdom. It's interesting how just like dogs and horses we too see someone else suffering but pretend like it isn't even happening. We continue on "scratching our horse behinds" or in other words, doing the meaningless things we do everyday such as watching television. In reality, neither the dog, nor the horse can do much about what is happening. Therefore, they are not at fault. We as humans, on the other hand, can do something but yet still many times we carry on as if someone else's suffering doesn't concern us.

What these pictures Do!!!!!

While reading these poems and being able to look at these paintings it really opened up new veiws on what the writer meant but at the same time I think it did take away from being able to let your own interpretations run wild. I also think that the poem was more based on the painting and not the painting on the poem. If there is anything else that I feel that I would want to add to this I will be right on here, but thanks everyone for bearing with my stupid responses but thanks again.

"Musee des Beaux Arts" and "Before the Mirror"

1. These poems are not merely descriptions of paintings. How do Updike and Auden use the paintings? Why do you think they refer to the paintings instead of writing poems without them?

2. Do you think having the paintings right there to refer to helps you or hinders you as you are reading the poems? Do you rely too much on them, or do they help you to understand the poets' angles of vision? Explain.

3. Discuss the significance of these lines:

They never forgot

That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course

Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot

Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse

Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

4. What is the "human position" of suffering, according to Auden?

5. "Before the Mirror" is about more than one kind of "reflection." There is the literal reflection in the mirror, but in what other ways is "reflection" important to the poem?

6. Updike uses sexual imagery in "Before the Mirror." Do you think the sexuality is in Picasso's painting as well? And, perhaps more importantly, why is the sexual element in the poem at all?

7. Talk about Updike's poem in terms of the theme of innocence vs. experience.

8. Why does it matter to Auden that it is Icarus in Breughel's painting and not some random swimmer?

9. If Picasso's painting says, "Enter here/and abandon preconception," does Updike's poem say the same thing? Explain.

I'm not requiring a 1-page response. I'm asking you to respond here. See you tomorrow.

"We Real Cool"

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