William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor blog

Southern Gothic

When I learned this story was Southern Gothic I became interested in learning more about it. I liked how the writers incorporated the southern culture with morbid and grotesque things. After I learned that A Rose for Emily was a Southern Gothic I read it again and saw many things that jumped out at me that were very southern and gothic. In A Rose for Emily the story starts off by saying “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house”. This first sentence shows that this story is Southern Gothic. It shows that is gothic by saying “When Miss Emily died”. Also it shows it is southern by saying “the whole town went to her funeral, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of the house”. This shows that this town is small and rural which is how most southern towns are. Also it shows that it is southern because the women only went because they wanted to see the inside of Miss Emily’s house. Another example of gothic I found is when Emily’s father died she acted like it didn’t happen. When everyone came to give their condolences Emily met them at the door with no trace of grief on her face. Finally after three days of the minister and doctor trying to persuade her to dispose of the body Emily finally gave in and let them bury him. My favorite part of the story, beside the end, was when Emily went to the druggist and asked for some poison. To me this part of the story starts to show Emily’s creepy ways and leads up to the ending. The ending shows the obvious reason why the story is gothic. They find Homer Barron lying in the bed dead and had been dead for a long time. The creepiest part to me is when they find a gray hair laying beside him.

T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot

Who was T.S. Eliot and what was he known for?

Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in Missouri on September 26, 1888. He lived in St. Louis during the first eighteen years of his life and attended Harvard University. In 1910, he left the United States for the Sorbonne, having earned both undergraduate and masters degrees and having contributed several poems to the Harvard Advocate. After a year in Paris, he returned to Harvard to pursue a doctorate in philosophy, but returned to Europe and settled in England in 1914. The following year, he married Vivienne Haigh-Wood and began working in London, first as a teacher, and later for Lloyd's Bank. It was in London that Eliot came under the influence of his contemporary Ezra Pound, who recognized his poetic genius at once, and assisted in the publication of his work in a number of magazines, most notably "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" in Poetry in 1915. His first book of poems, Prufrock and Other Observations, was published in 1917 (http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/18).

Eliot also wrote The Waste Land, one of the most influential and debated poems of the century. In The Waste Land, the weakening of society is compared with a shattered wasteland. Later in his life Eliot wrote mostly about religion. In After Strange Gods (1934) Eliot took the literary ideas of his "Tradition and the Individual Talent" and demonstrated how they could apply to society. He also declared that too many freethinking Jews would damage the kind of Christian culture he proposed. This work, along with The Idea of a Christian Society (1939) and Notes toward a Definition of Culture (1948), indicated Eliot's stand against the pluralistic society of most Western democracies. Ash Wednesday (1930) is the title of this six-part poem that refers to the beginning of Lent. The poem focuses on a person who is isolated from God and who sets out to find Him. The poem shows the prayer and progress of this person. The tone of sincerity and passionate yearning, of anxiety and some joy, was new for Eliot (http://www.notablebiographies.com/Du-Fi/Eliot-T-S.html). People had many good things to say about Eliot. “When T.S. Eliot died”, wrote Robert Giroux, “the world became a lesser place.” Certainly the most imposing poet of his time, Eliot was revered by Igor Stravinsky “not only as a great sorcerer of words but as the very key keeper of language When T. S. Eliot died, wrote Robert Giroux, "the world became a lesser place." Certainly the most imposing poet of his time, Eliot was revered by Igor Stravinsky "not only as a great sorcerer of words but as the very key keeper of the language." For Alfred Kazin he was "the mana known as 'T. S. Eliot,' the model poet of our time, the most cited poet and incarnation of literary correctness in the English-speaking world." Northrop Frye simply states: "A thorough knowledge of Eliot is compulsory for anyone interested in contemporary literature. Whether he is liked or disliked is of no importance, but he must be read." When T. S. Eliot died, wrote Robert Giroux, "the world became a lesser place." When T. S. Eliot died, wrote Robert Giroux, "the world became a lesser place." Certainly the most imposing poet of his time, Eliot was revered by Igor Stravinsky "not only as a great sorcerer of words but as the very key keeper of the language." For Alfred Kazin he was "the mana known as 'T. S. Eliot,' the model poet of our time, the most cited poet and incarnation of literary correctness in the English-speaking world." Northrop Frye simply states: "A thorough knowledge of Eliot is compulsory for anyone interested in contemporary literature. Whether he is liked or disliked is of no importance, but he must be read."When T. S. Eliot died, wrote Robert Giroux, "the world became a lesser place." Certainly the most imposing poet of his time, Eliot was revered by Igor Stravinsky "not only as a great sorcerer of words but as the very key keeper of the language." For Alfred Kazin he was "the mana known as 'T. S. Eliot,' the model poet of our time, the most cited poet and incarnation of literary correctness in the English-speaking world." Northrop Frye simply states: "A thorough knowledge of Eliot is compulsory for anyone interested in contemporary literature. Whether he is liked or disliked is of no importance, but he must be read."When T. S. Eliot died, wrote Robert Giroux, "the world became a lesser place." Certainly the most imposing poet of his time, Eliot was revered by Igor Stravinsky "not only as a great sorcerer of words but as the very key keeper of the language." For Alfred Kazin he was "the mana known as 'T. S. Eliot,' the model poet of our time, the most cited poet and incarnation of literary correctness in the English-speaking world." Northrop Frye simply states: "A thorough knowledge of Eliot is compulsory for anyone interested in contemporary literature. Whether he is liked or disliked is of no importance, but he must be read."When T. S. Eliot died, wrote Robert Giroux, "the world became a lesser place." Certainly the most imposing poet of his time, Eliot was revered by Igor Stravinsky "not only as a great sorcerer of words but as the very key keeper of the language." For Alfred Kazin he was "the mana known as 'T. S. Eliot,' the model poet of our time, the most cited poet and incarnation of literary correctness in the English-speaking world." Northrop Frye simply states: "A thorough knowledge of Eliot is compulsory for anyone interested in contemporary literature. Whether he is liked or disliked is of no importance, but he must be read."When T. S. Eliot died, wrote Robert Giroux, "the world became a lesser place." Certainly the most imposing poet of his time, Eliot was revered by Igor Stravinsky "not only as a great sorcerer of words but as the very key keeper of the language." For Alfred Kazin he was "the mana known as 'T. S. Eliot,' the model poet of our time, the most cited poet and incarnation of literary correctness in the English-speaking world." Northrop Frye simply states: "A thorough knowledge of Eliot is compulsory for anyone interested in contemporary literature. Whether he is liked or disliked is of no importance, but he must be read.".” For Alfred Kazin he was “the mana known as ‘T.S. Eliot,’ the model poet of our time, the most cited poet and incarnation of literary correctness in the English-speaking world.” (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/t-s-eliot.html)

When T. S. Eliot died, wrote Robert Giroux, "the world became a lesser place." Certainly the most imposing poet of his time, Eliot was revered by Igor Stravinsky "not only as a great sorcerer of words but as the very key keeper of the language." For Alfred Kazin he was "the mana known as 'T. S. Eliot,' the model poet of our time, the most cited poet and incarnation of literary correctness in the English-speaking world." Northrop Frye simply states: "A thorough knowledge of Eliot is compulsory for anyone interested in contemporary literature. Whether he is liked or disliked is of no importance, but he must be read." When T. S. Eliot died, wrote Robert Giroux, "the world became a lesser place." Certainly the most imposing poet of his time, Eliot was revered by Igor Stravinsky "not only as a great sorcerer of words but as the very key keeper of the language." For Alfred Kazin he was "the mana known as 'T. S. Eliot,' the model poet of our time, the most cited poet and incarnation of literary correctness in the English-speaking world." Northrop Frye simply states: "A thorough knowledge of Eliot is compulsory for anyone interested in contemporary literature. Whether he is liked or disliked is of no importance, but he must be read."
This is one of my favorite poems by T.S. Eliot.

Robert Frost

Robert Frost

Home Burial is one of my favorite Robert Frost poems that we discussed in class. I am not really a big fan of poems, but this poem stood out to me because it wasn’t like the rest, it tells a story. It doesn’t just rhyme and talk about nature. It tells of a real life struggle that many people have to go through. This is a dramatic poem—“dramatic” in that, like traditional drama; it presents a continuous scene and employs primarily dialogue rather than narrative or description( http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/frost/section4.rhtml).  The poem to me represents grief and how two people view grief. The wife’s grief infuses every part of her and does not wane with time. The wife can’t move on and everyday grieves the loss of her son. She sits at the top of the stairs and stares at the child’s grave every day. The husband, on the other hand, has accepted the death. He did grieve, but the outward indications of his grief were quite different from those of his wife. He threw himself into the horrible task of digging his child’s grave—into physical work. Both do not understand each other’s grieving process. To the wife, the act of burying the child was one of supreme indifference, while to him it must have been hard. The husband is also partially to blame. If he had any understanding of how to communicate to her, he would not leave everything unspoken. This displays a lack of empathy and a failure of communication. This is typical of men and women. Women outwardly show their emotions and become depressed or sick. Men try to cover up their emotions by going on with life like nothing happened.

This was a great poem that showed the struggles of losing a child, and how it can put a strain on marriage.

This video shows a couple in cousneling protarying the couple in Home Burial.

W.E.B DuBois

W.E.B DuBois

How were W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington different, and how did they change the black community?

Two great leaders of the black community in the late 19th and 20th century were W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington. However, they sharply disagreed on strategies for black social and economic progress. Their opposing philosophies can be found in much of today's discussions over how to end class and racial injustice, what is the role of black leadership, and what do the 'haves' owe the 'have-nots' in the black community (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/race/etc/road.html).

By the 1890s Washington had become the most prominent black leader in America. In a speech he stated his conviction that blacks could best gain equality in America by improving their economic situation through education rather than by demanding equal rights. He preached a philosophy of self-help, racial solidarity and accommodation. He urged blacks to accept discrimination for the time being and concentrate on elevating themselves through hard work and material prosperity. He was sharply criticized by other black leaders—including W. E. B. DuBois, who would become Washington's great intellectual opponent—though many blacks and most whites supported his views. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B.  DuBois had many different ideas on racism. The intolerable racism that continued to oppress African-Americans led W.E.B. Du Bois to support change through agitation and protest. Du Bois's landmark work The Souls of Black Folk expressed the view of Washington would merely perpetuate oppression (http://www.americanwriters.org/writers/washington.asp). DuBois advocated political action and a civil rights agenda. He was one of the founders of the NAACP.

 In addition, he argued that social change could be accomplished by developing the small group of college-educated blacks he called "the Talented Tenth:" At the time, the Washington/DuBois dispute polarized African American leaders into two wings--the 'conservative' supporters of Washington and his 'radical' critics. The DuBois philosophy of agitation and protest for civil rights flowed directly into the Civil Rights movement which began to develop in the 1950's and exploded in the 1960's(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/race/etc/road.html). Both Washington and DuBois had great ideas on racism and how to handle it. They influenced the black community in many ways.