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This semester I choose to read 9 of Edgar Allen Poe stories or poems. I have read Romance, Introduction, Fairy Land, and Fairy-Land. My last five pieces are Spirits of the Dead, Evening Star, The Haunted Palace, A Dream Within a Dream, and For Annie.
Spirits of the Dead is about I think discribes how spirits feel after death. Like this following quote, "In death around thee-and their will/ Shall overshadow thee: be still."
Evening Star talks about a star in the night sky, but I also think it talks about love. These next two lines are the reason I believe it also talks about love, "For joy to my heart/ Is the proud part."
The Haunted Palace talks about a creepy old house and starts to discribe it. "Banners yellow, glorious, golden/ On its roof did float and flow."
A Dream Within a Dream is about a person having a dream within a dream hence the title. "All that we see or seem/ Is but a dream within a dream."
For Annie talks about a man's love for a girl named Annie. "Of the love of my Annie- With the thought of the light/ Of the eyes of my Annie."
The one thing Poe seems to do in all of his stuff is discribe them in the weirdest way. Which I think is the reason I love reading his work. He has been one of my ideals for awhile now and all of his pieces amaze me. Well at least the ones I have read so far.
Out of the ones I have read for this class I would have to say my favorite is The Haunted Palace. I love anything haunted and I love it when authors discribe those places. It makes me feel like I'm right there stepping into the haunted place. Thats what Poe did for me and so thats why it's my favorite. And because his work connects to me I give these stories all 5's.

Class This Semester

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Over the semester I have loved going to World Lit. class. All the pieces have been interesting and some have been boring, but that's just me. I would have to say my favorite piece from class would have to be the Women of Baths tale. It's funny and reminds me of mine and my friends conversations. We can talk about anything and everything in my group of friends and be fine. 
There wasn't really any piece I didn't like. All the pieces had my attention at some point in time and kept my attention through the rest of the piece. 
I enjoyed the group discussions. They were fun and always lead to something else. We were free to tell our opinions which I believe is a major part of class. Without our opinions we can't establish who we are so we can't have deep discussions. 
I have learned many things through this class. History about all the places the pieces were coming from, how hard it can be to understand the old language and that the stories you expect to be boring are the exiting ones. I also learned that the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a funny movie and I am considering finding it and finishing it. 

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There is only one thing I think should be added to the class.... Shakespeare. I have always been a fan and I think the class should read Macbeth. We have already read Julius Ceasar, Romeo and Juliet, and I think we read part of Hamlet. So the class should then read Macbeth.

The Canterbury Tales

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The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is about 19 different people coming together to travel to the  shire of Saint Thomas a Becket in Canterbury. Each person is supposed to share two stories on the way there and two more on the way back. In the prologue Chaucer goes through and discribes all of these people.
I have been assigned to talk about one of the pilgrims from this tale, the Summonor. A Summonor is an official who brings summons to those who have been brought up on various charges. Now the Summonor from this tale has narrow eyes, a thin beard and black scabby eyebrows. He is often drunk but yet he is a noble varlet. In the book varlet is used to mean scoundrel. In the prologue there is a set of lines that are the best way to discribe the Summonor. It shows how sneaky he was. "Thus, as he pleased, the man could bring duress on any young fellow in the diocese. He knew their secrets, they did what he said." Those are lines 681 to 683.

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I'm not really sure how Chaucer feels about this pilgrim. I thinks it's neutrel, but if I wrote this then I would be for the Summonor. I think this because the Summonor could uses his tricks to help on the trip or if the group runs into danger. It also means the Summonor can take care of himself.

Poe and The Aeneid

For class we have been reading The Aeneid by Virgil. These next responses are for the RWLV.

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It seems Virgil's epic was a big hit. Artists had drawn inspiration from the epic and created pictures or sculptures based on it. If I was Virgil I would be feeling awesome knowing my piece of writing inspired some of the greatest pieces of art work in the world. My favorite piece of art work would have to be the sculpture of  Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius, because it shows all three generations together. To me it shows what the whole family has been through. The son carrying his father with his son at his feet close behind.

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I would say that "Dido's Lament" does describe the mood at that point in the play. I think this because the lyrics themselves deal with what Dido just went through and now she is telling her people not to worry about her. I think the black and white version is the best mainly because she sings the whole song, while I the color version she only sings the Aria part over and over again. If the color version did that then it would have been the best because I believe color allows viewers to see the actors expressions better. Now both of them would have been better if they had had the part where she stabs herself. I think that would have helped set the mood some more.

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Now this week I read Fairy Land and Fairy-Land by Edgar Allen Poe. I read them both because they have the same name with only a hyphen that makes them different. To me both poems are talking about fantasies. Like in Fairy Land to me he sounds as if he can hardly believe her beauty. Almost as if she has come from a place only in his dreams. Then In Fairy-Land there are lines from Fairy Land to me sounds like they are describing a land for away and how one the prettiest creatures has come from that place. Both of these poems are so sweet with the words that are used. Plus it rhymes most of the time so it adds a good beat to the whole thing.

Poe and I

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This week I read two poems by Poe and they were Romance and Introduction. I read both of them because the poem Romance is in the poem Introduction. Romance was about the love between two people while the Introduction was about the meeting of those two people. These two poems were sweet and so well discribed at least to me anyways. They made me think and I like it when a poem can make me see, feel and think.
In class we just got done reading the Iliad which is a greek epic. The story was interesting and exciting. This story has it all love, war, a hero and a legend.
I had always been a fan of the Trojin horse idea. I thought that plan was well played out. I even watched the movie Troy. The book and the movie are way different for example in the movie Achilleus dies at the end where as in the book he dies before that. That had to be one of the worst parts is when he died. He was brave and a good man and he dies. To me thats not right. So I will leave you all with this even the bravest of the brave fall. No one knows when it will be their last day.

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My Journey with Poe and Oedipus

The book I chose for the semester is The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe. I choose it because I'm a big fan of his work and everything he has done. Now I haven't gotten much read this week because it's been confussing with spring break and not having school Friday. Then my friend Emily had her baby so I was supporting her. But I plan to get some more reading done this week.

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Class has been interesting lately. We just finished the story of Oedipus. It was interesting and kind of fun to read. There were times when the words were way to hard to say and the vocab would sometimes throw me for a loop. What helped a lot though was the back channel. On the channel there was always someone else who didn't get a word or something and it would be dicussed and then it became easier to understand. I really think Oedipus got what he deserved. He was so studdord he wouldn't even listen to his wife/mom. I like watching the play after reading it. It helped me to picture how the greeks would have saw it and it made me feel as if I was in ancient Greece.

Final Comments

I have finished my book Frankenstein. The main character is Dr. Frankenstein and I'm not really sure how to discribe him. When he is working he doesn't really do anything else. Like when he was creating the monster he didn't sleep or eat.
The monster would have to be a main character because he torments his creator through the whole book. Now the monster is one of the most disturbing looking things ever. When humans see them they run and scream in terror.

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Then there is Elizabeth, who would be a minor character. She is Frankenstein's wife. She has lived with his family most of her life and it was always planned that the two would marry. She is sweet and cares about others. She is one of those people who see the good in others.
Another minor character would be Frankenstein's father. His father is the type of father everyone wants.  He is caring and wants the best for his kids. Wishes to see his kids happy and he doesn't judge with out having all the facts.
Over all the book is about a man who goes of to college and creates one of the nastiest creatures on Earth. The monster tries to be apart of the human race, but can't because they run him away. He asks his creator for one thing that will help him not be alone anymore. The monster does things that upset his creator and his creator goes looking for him till the end of the book.
Now I give this book a three. The main reason it gets that rating is because of the way the book is written. It took me forever to read this book because I would have to stop and reread things over again. Then there was a bunch of parts that I thought didn't need to be in there. Then I didn't like the way the book ended and I would say why, but I don't want to give it away to anyone who wants to read it. I was really kind of disappointed with the book. I thought there would be more horror related things and it would be creepy and scary. It had all of that yes, but to me there wasn't a lot of it. I would say I like the movies more than the book and for me that is saying something. Usually I love the book more, but this is the one book I'm not so sure I would read again.