"The Raven"

Fist impression of “The Raven” is that it was just an OK poem. It uses several literary terms to boost the mood of the poem. As I read again I found a deeper meaning to the poem. The poem was not just about a man mourning over his dead lover. I compared the situations between the main character in “The Raven” and Poe's own life tragedies. This poem is actually a reflection of Poe’s own loss, his wife. Everything he wrote about Lenore is exactly what he felt and thought about his own wife. It relates to anti-tranacendtalist on many differ ways. A good example in the story was “but the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling, Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door; This shows that the raven is treating his pain as a joke showing a sign of evilness. I think it’s saying that the raven doesn’t care about the mans feelings and taking it as a joke. I also realized that the story is about a mans pain for his lost of his wife, Raven is a sign of death and that’s why the raven was put in the story.

Another Example is "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!--Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted--On this home by Horror haunted--tell me truly, I implore--Is there--is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me, I implore!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." This is another example of anti-transcend lists because it’s talking about the devil. He is using the bird to haunt the main character, or the raven is an evil spirit of Lenore his lost love, and he's thinking that the house is becoming haunted and he starts to become insane and losing is mind. The raven keeps replying to everything he ask "Nevermore" and its making him upset and thinking the devil is evolved with the raven beings at his home.

Self Reliance

The story Self-Reliance is talking about how much work and the thought of trusting no one was taken so seriously. It was trying to get at the way boys where raised up. Working to them is a way to show their strength and manhood, and how powerful they were. ‘‘A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best’. This was a perfect example of how much work meant to them and their everyday lives. I think what he was saying was you should do what your heart and god tells you to do, because that is what god wants you to do.
This is a good example of Transcendentalism because they really think that it’s what was in god’s heart that he wants you to do. They feel that god wants you to be different from everyone. So you should just do what you think is right. This is a good example because they are going against what everybody thinks about you. One example of this is “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” What he is saying here is that you are going to look crazy but you shouldn't care because god is with you.

"Nature"

This passage compared nature and the world to humans and how the worked everyday. They felt that work kept everything copacetic. This passage took a lot of imagination. He was basically saying that when you gout into nature all you troubles go away and your mind drifts into a moment of peace. He says he feels like he is one with god whenever he goes to explore the nature around him.

I think this was a very good example of Transcendentalism. They believed that the individual human mind was one of the most powerful instruments in the world. And in this passage he explained how the how your mind goes to a peaceful state. They believed that if you where to go out into nature that you could talk to god because it’s just you and him. An example of this in this passage is "standing on the bare ground-my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball. I am nothing. I see all." He is sayings in this his body and everything is gone and he is in the sky and is one with god. They didn’t believe in sin because they felt everyone was good.

What is Romantic about Rip Van Winkle?

1) In the story, Rip was a very lazy man. His wife always let him know that. He and his wife had a home in the Katskill Mountains. Romantics centered their stories around nature because they didn’t want to deal with the harsh lives that they had.
2) In the story, Rip falls asleep for twenty years and awakens to a very different village than when he fell asleep.Every thing is different. His wife died, and his children or friends were no where to be found. There is no way someone can fall asleep for twenty years!!This is a good example because when romantics are writing they use a lot of fiction in their stories.

Alone in the Wilderness

This clip is about a man who is about fifty years old. He decides to go live in the wilderness and stay alone for a while. This alone shows a sign of Transcendentalism. He is off to live alone in nature where his mind can be tranquil with God. So he constructs himself a home out of wood. This is another sign of Transcendentalism because he is being independent and doing all his work by himself. Transcendentalists believed that relying on other people meant that you were weak and that you were not being the person that God made you to be. For example, Emerson said"there is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better or for worst, as his portion" The man ended up living in the woods by himself for 35 years before he gave up his home and went back to live with his family.

Tia’s List of Virtues

1. Be more assertive (I need to learn to be surer of myself)

2. Have more Self confidence (I need to learn how to be more confident with myself)

3. Be more cooperative (Sometimes I am difficult to deal with)
4. Focus on myself (I tend to focus on things that aren’t going to help me in the long run.

5. Personal commitment (It would help if I would commit to a lot of things that can help me in my life. School for example.)

6. Diligence (I could be more careful in my work and the things I do)

7. Be more moderate (I need to eliminate a lot of extreme and bad things from my life)

8. Have more Intuition.

9. Don’t be to Modest.

10. Non-Violence (Me being violent sometimes gets me in trouble)

11. Be more Optimistic

12. Piety (I need to learn to respect my religion and culture a little more)

13. Self Discipline

How is Ben Franklin a Rationalist?

In this autobiography, Ben Franklin tells us how many faults that he has in is life that he wants to change. In the passage he quoted," I wished to live without any fault at any time," But unlike a puritan, he wants to figure out human nature scientifically. Not let god figure everything out. That is how he is a rationalist. He made a chart of how he could improve his life. He basically did an experiment on himself.

Puritans VS Rationalist

Puritans really believe that god put us here, and that everything that happened in the world was up to him. That wasn't the case with Rationalist. Rationalist believe that everything that happened in the world had something to do with science. They believed that anything could be understood through science. Puritans took this as an insult since they believed that god controlled everything, and humans had no business trying to explain or deconstruct god's work.

Writing One

Tupac Shakur

Tupac was the best rapper that lived. Of course that is my opinion, and there are many more in the world. But I just can’t help myself in saying that. Tupac was born June 16, 1971(1971-06-16) East Harlem, New York. He is also known as 2Pac or Makaveli. His mother an original Black panther and his father was one of FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitives.
Tupac talked about all the real problems and tragedies in the world. He was as real as any person that I’ve ever met. Of course he talked about being in the streets, and how the street life was, but most of his lyrics talk about the struggle he and his family had to endure throughout his life.

Tupac has sold 75 million albums to date and is one of the best-selling music artists in the world. He was a promising actor, and also a social activist. Although some people portray him as a black male who had no respect for the police, and a gang-banger, most of his raps were about him growing up amid violence, hardship, racism, and much more.

Some people say that Tupac only raps about selling drugs, shootings, and how bad he hates the police, but in reality he tells us how the street life is, and how he is trying to get away from it. I don’t think that he wanted to harm or hurt anyone. He just wanted the best for himself. He became the target of lawsuits, and experienced legal problems. But to me, he was just speaking the truth and a lot of people couldn’t take it.

Tupac spoke his life through many of his songs. One of my favorite songs from him was Changes. He was telling how there should be a lot of changes throughout the world. In one of his songs he quoted” I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself is life worth living should I blast myself? I'm tired of bein' poor & even worse I'm black my stomach hurts so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch!” in this he was just telling how hard the world is and how far people have to go just to be able to provide for their families.

In another song he quotes” Now ain't nobody tell us it was fairNo love from my daddy cause the coward wasn't there. He passed away and I didn't cry, because my anger wouldn't let me feel for a stranger.” This part is telling how it was hard for a single mother top raise a boy. Today over half of children today will live without their father throughout their life. This just shows the relation that Tupac had with a lot of people in the world today.

Now I saying that Tupac is the best rapper that ever lived is in my own opinion. But I have a lot of evidence to prove that he was. And I’m not alone with this. I won’t be the last person to say that. And I’m not the first!!!

So in conclusion, I am going to forever say that Tupac is the best rapper that lived and still is today. I would have loved to meet Tupac, but that task is impossible, so I guess the closest I will get to that is remembering him through his words.

RIP
Tupac Amaru Shakur
June 16, 1971-Septmber 13, 1996

Unit 1 Standards

ELAALRL1 The student demonstrates comprehension by identifying evidence (i.e., examples of diction, imagery, point of view, figurative language, symbolism, plot events and main ideas) in a variety of texts representative of different genres (i.e., poetry, prose [short story, novel, essay, editorial, biography], and drama) and using this evidence as the basis for interpretation.
ELAALRL2 The student identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of theme in a work of American literature and provides evidence from the work to support understanding.
ELAALRL3 The student deepens understanding of literary works by relating them to their contemporary context or historical background, as well as to works from other time periods.

These standards really means that we should be able to understand and interpret what type of material we are reading. this also means that we need to think of some things in the present and depict it to literature that we are learning about.