Why does Poe choose these themes and motifs?

“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality”. This quote was from the poet and a short story writer Edgar Allan Poe. He is recognized for introducing the British horror story, the Gothic genre, to American literature from the nineteenth-century. For knowing the perceptions of this author, as a reader you have to not only read because of loving horror stories, but for comprehending that for Poe, humanity is more that we see. Edgar Allan Poe chooses certain themes and motifs for making the reader understand his perspective of the real human nature.

The themes that Poe puts on his stories was on the purpose of understanding the lack of self-control of the human being. One of them is the madness that their characters show from wanting revenge from another character, in order to feel sane. For example, on “Hop Frog” the main character wants to kill the king and the other 7 men because of the madness that he had inside. By killing them, he revenges from other humiliations that they make to him and Trippetta. Another theme that Poe uses constantly on his short stories is baseness. On his short stories, he makes their characters to drive crazy and to make what their uncivilized part tells them to do: to commit murder, or to become insane. A based character of Edgar Allan Poe has no regard for others, and he or she only have interest on their own. Madness, revenge and baseness are themes that Poe uses frequently to show that on the right moment and time, we do not have control over ourselves and we have to do what our passions want us to do.

Moreover the themes that he uses, one important essence of his stories are the multiple and singular motifs that makes his works so unique. Death is one of the most important motifs of their stories. His horror stories are a clear example of this motif: in most of his stories, one of the characters ends dead because another character kills him or her due to his insanity. Besides most of his horror stories, Poe also included these motif on their detective stories, in order to make the reader understand that death(wanting it or not) is part of the life cycle and that one day, every one of us is going to reach that point, the end. Another motif of Poe’s stories are animals. On some of his stories, like “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, he introduces real animals as murderers, like the ourang-outang that killed the two women. But, on most of his stories, he makes the humans comport like real animals, and that is some interesting aspect that the reader notice. By these motifs, the people that read his stories comprehend the real message of what he is trying to transmit.

Poe, by the use of some specific themes and motifs on his short stories, achieves catching the reader and making him or her comprehend that human nature is something more complex that they imagine. Humans are not only logical and reasonable, we still have flaws and commit mistakes, but now a days (and also when Edgar Allan Poe lived) society want people to behave a certain way, forgetting that we still are animals and as them, we have passions that can lead to our real interests and desires. But fortunately, by reading his short stories, we can be conscious that on some point of our lives, on the right moment and time, we can really go unreasonable and mad and we will not have control of that. As Neal Shusterman says “One thing you learn when you’ve lived as long as I have-people aren’t all good, and people aren’t all bad. We move in and out of darkness and light all of our lives.” In other words, everyone is searching their own happiness and safety regardless of another people's feelings; because eventually, everyone must live as they want to live his or her journey in life.

What have you liked/disliked so far about Margaret Atwood? Why? Explain what you have learned about post-modernism. How does postmodernism relate to Margaret Atwood?

On this past week, we had been reading some examples of post-modernism short stories that can make us, as class, have a better idea of the post-modern theory with the basic elements. Also on this past week, we read some of Margaret Atwood's work, based on some anecdotes and essays that she wrote; Margaret Atwood is a Canadian poet, novelist and essayist. 

We read her "Letter to America", which impressed me a lot because now-a-days few people really express what they feel about some country like the U.S.. Although Atwood is Canadian, she wrote this to point out how America has been changing through the years due to actions made by other nations. I think that one of the things that I like of Atwood is the way she is sincere in her works, she is not afraid to be "rebel" by writing all that she feels or thinks is right. This letter in specific describes this perfectly, because like U.S., our society has changed so much, and we do not know how they are in reality. Also, we read her "Tour-de-farce", which I really like because she tells the story the way she would tell it to a friend or a known person; she uses literary devices related to one literary theory named post-modernism like pastiche, self-awareness, deconstruction, subversion, etc. On the other hand, something that I do not like about the Canadian writer is the use of some words that I do not understand  (maybe, are from Canada) and that leads me to stop the writing and look up for the word(thing that it is not bad, but like stops me from the fluidity of my reading. 

Reading Margaret Atwood means that, in part, we are also learning about post-modernism. The post-modernism theory we have been seeing it about two weeks ago, but our teacher makes us read some examples and puts us some videos for our better understanding. I have learned that post-modernism is to go out of the usual, to be "rebel" about all the past theories (like modernism) and put something different on it or re-order it . Some basic elements of the post-modernism theory are self-awareness, which are: subversion, that is reacting against a certain system or being rebel; deconstruction is having certain stuff or knowledge and tear it apart to built new knowledge or stuff; self-awareness is, for example, that characters know are characters; intertextuality is referencing many texts or authors to a literary work and finally pastiche is bringing different elements from different things and stories. Our teacher tells us that post-modernism is not only on literature, is on art, on movies, on architecture and also on our daily life, when we change something of make something out of different things. I think that I am liking this post-modern theory, is different from the others and really transmits something to the readers. 

Relating Margaret Atwood with post-modernism, I think that this Canadian writer has elements of post-modernism in her works. I discover that in the works that we saw this week, she uses a lot of the literary device subversion, which make her stay out of the usual and that is (to my opinion) something characteristic in her and what attracts the reader. Also, being post-modern is to be different by making something that is against the system and Atwood expresses her ideals, dreams, anecdotes, and feelings with the help of this theory. I am really liking post-modernism, and personally, I think that for being successful in life you have to be like post-modernism... different from the rest! 

Pd. I know is in Spanish, but you cannot deny it is very post-modern! :D

More poems of John Donne. Opinion and identification of literary devices.

On the past weeks, we have being seeing more poems of John Donne that were pretty interesting for us to analyze them and find out that Donne was not always thinking about sexual stuff or was always super religious. First of all, Donne also has his nice and cute part, talking about themes of love and remaining in love. He talks on some of his poems about being in love, what love means for him and her beloved one and together, they can reach spirituality.

 Also, we found out that Donne defends in one of his poems, the love that he shares with her beloved one. As we saw on the presentations and the analysis of Donne's poems, he was, at the beginning of his long life, making poems about young and innocent love and the power that it has.In my opinion, now I have a different perspective of John Donne because I thought he was a very sexual man and on the other hand, that he also talked about religious things that in his time were important for him and the people of London. Some of the literary devices that I found on his poems were enjambments,cesuras, anaforas, epiforas,and most of the time he uses conceits and his wit for making paradoxes and antithesis. 

What aspects of "Satire III" didyou find appealing, interesting if any? How? Why? What did you learn about John Donne the man, not the poet, as we studied "Satire III?" Comment on any aspect you wish about your experience with "Satire III."

In this past weeks we have being seeing "Satire III" by John Donne, which is one of the longest poems I have ever seen and analyzed in my life. Even that it was long, it was pretty interesting the theme that he was mentioning: seeking the truth. Some things that I found interesting in the poem was that he relates his poem with many personalities of different religions and takes the reader to have and idea about the religion he is talking. Another aspect that I found interesting in the poem was all the enjambents that he puts and for analyzing, it is kind of tricky because enjambents,can change the meaning of all the verse.

As reading and analyzing "Satire III", we discovered that John Donne was a frustrated man that, maybe, did not feel like having a real religion or did not was sure about the religion he was following. Because, when he was a child and as a teenager, he was catholic but as time went by, he changed his religion to the Anglican. I think that John Donne did not found the real truth in the two religions or in another religion that he would consider, because in "Satire III" he expressed that frustration of not finding the true religion or the truth that can take us to heaven or with God. 

I believe that, like John Donne, all of us pass to that point in our lives when we are in search of the truth, or the "real" religion that can make us fulfilled and happy. "Satire III", is a poem that has a lot of rhetoric figures that make the poem have double meanings, thing that is characteristic of John Donne. This poem make me reflect about life, about the real truth because although I do not doubt about my religion like John Donne, maybe I have not found the real truth that can make me real happy for believing in God completely. Even if there are two different eras, I think that his poem is the expression of many man that seek the truth about life and religion. 

What have you discovered about John Donne as we have studied "Holy Sonnet VI" and "The Flea" in the last two weeks? How is Donne different from other poets you have come across? How is he similar? What do you think of his poetry o far? Why?

In the last two weeks, we have been seeing some poems of the English author John Donne.Our teacher in class told us about Donne's life before giving us examples of some of his most famous poems. First of all, John Donne was born during the Xvi and Xvii centuries, and he is recognized now-a-days for being part of the metaphysical poets. Besides being a poet, he was a lawyer and a minister in the Church of England. Despite his work on the English Church on his early years he had the Roman Catholic religion, but he changed it later and become an Anglican. John Donne is well-known for his variety of poems and the way he wrote them. 

So after seeing a little bit of his life, we start to see some of his poems. The first poem of Donne that we saw in class was "The Flea". Honestly, before I read it I thought that it was going to be funny or that it was going to be an irrational poem talking about an insect on nature. But, when we start reading it, I realized that the theme was more about sexuality and love than a simple flea. He introduced the flea as a excuse and a way of persuasion for a man to have sexual relationships with a woman. It is a poem that gives a sexual message to a woman but with hints; John Donne gives double meanings, thing that makes us, at first, go nuts with this poem. Later on the teacher gave us another poem, but these one was not about sex and love. The name of this poem was "Holy Sonnet VI" and we found out so far that another theme that John Donne use on this poems is death. Mainly on "Holy Sonnet VI", he is making an allusion to death, telling it that he is not afraid of it because is like sleeping or resting and that actions makes us feel comfortable, happy and relaxed. We do not have to worry about death, nor fear of it, because (for Donne) is like sleeping. Obviously for finding out the meaning of the poem we had to find out, as a group, the words we do not understand and the semantic fields to know what he was talking about. Even if this poems we have seen like "The Flea" and "Holy Sonnet VI" are short, we found out that we can analyze a lot of things like rhetoric figures, double meanings, themes, etc. 

Comparing Donne to other poets I have known by reading his or her poems, I think John Donne has something the poets that I had read do not have: the use of conceits on his poems. As we know, John Donne was a metaphysical poet which used wit to give his poems certain difference among others and, because he was an scholar, he used to apply that knowledge that he had on his poems in order to make them sound and feel different and with a different meaning.  He used to put sophisticated language and to had the use of paradoxes and ironies. Also, he is known for his sarcasm in some of his poems(specifically the ones about religion). Some similarities that Donne has to the poets that I know is that he uses metaphors to express his ideas, he writes sonnets(like some poets I known like Mario Benedetti, Pablo Neruda, Sor Juana, etc) and has as main themes religion, death, love and sexuality. 

 To my point of view, now I think that his poetry is different of other contemporary authors and the way he writes,obviously, has many antique English words like thou, thee, etc. I like the way he uses double meanings and we have, as students of English Literature, more things to analyze comparing him to other poets that may be more literal. His poems makes me think that he do not put only one meaning on his poems,because he likes to put double meanings on them. I am liking John Donne's poetry, because I am understanding better his way of writing and I am comprehending that he was many rethoric figures on his poems and many semantic fields. Now we are reading and analyzing "Satire III" and I hope this poem will not difficult me at all! :) 

Has our class discussion affected your view of poetry? If so, how? What is your view of poetry after our discussion?

On this last week, we started to see a new topic on our class: poetry. As in our Spanish Literature class, on our English class we have to see this topic in order to be prepared on our IBO exams. 

We started discussing in class one essay made by the writer Octavio Paz called "Poesía y Poema". By the time we were reading this essay, we were talking about the different aspects that we can see in poetry. I think that this discussion was a good start for us to know more about what is poetry and some of its principal components. This discussion in class change somehow my view about poetry, because before discussing in class what does poetry mean to some writers and seeing the main elements of it, I tend to relate it to something boring that do not make sense at all. I really thought that poetry was made only for things related to love and philosophy, but I think that I was wrong. The discussion in class made me realize that poetry can talk about any theme and everybody, with the main elements, can make poems.

Now I have a new view about poetry to start studying it on class, because I think now that poetry may be interesting to study on this semester. More than studying the rhymes, types of poetry and other elements(that we will see in the respective time and we would have to analyze it), I think that it will be interesting to discover the emotions, feelings and thoughts that the poets wanted to transmit in their works for the readers to understanding it. The discussion was good for us to know each other's opinions about poetry and with time, we can see how us change our view about this kind of works.

What new perspective can Semiotics bring to your perception and analysis of symbols (aural, visual, or otherwise)? Now that we have finished watching Throne of Blood, what new insights have you gained into Macbeth or in your life in general? What did I learn from watching it? Why? How?

Over the past weeks, we have been seeing what semiotics is for having one perspective about analyzing literature, as well as watching and comparing the similarities and differences between the movie "Throne of Blood" and Shakespeare's play Macbeth. 

First of all, in past classes we have been learning about what semiotics is and the benefits that we can have by comprehending this theory and the knowledge that this theory can bring us for our literary analysis for future essays. We learned that semiotics is the theory and study of signs and it is used for our communication. It can be from words, to signs we see on streets and commercials. Semiotics is everything (or every signified) that has a meaning (or a signifier).By analyzing symbols or a set of symbols on literature, we can have a more deep comprehension about a novel,a play or an essay we are reading. By knowing more about semiotics, I am understanding better why people from our culture and other cultures use certain word or group of words to communicate certain things or feelings(like the onomatopoeia's), also visually I can understand why people that are studying marketing, for example, need to use certain symbols in their products to attract more customers. Also the symbols we see on the streets we can have a new perception of seeing them and realizing that even a person that  knows other language or is a tourist that does not know anything about that language, by the signs and symbols can understand the same as the native people living on that place.

 On the other hand, the last week our teacher brought us a movie to see it on class called "Throne of Blood", that is the Japanese adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth. While we were watching it part by part, we were making either by a writing or by commenting it, comparisons and contrasts between these two works. In my opinion, it is not the same reading something and imagining it than watching something. I think that seeing this movie gave our class the idea of what Macbeth consisted: ambition and natural human aspirations for gaining more power against a lot of values and people we care about. Personally, I learned from either the play or the movie that, we have to follow our beliefs and values no matter what the situations are. I know there are a lot of people out there that want you to tear you apart or destroy you through assumptions, lies and suggestions about what can you achieve or what can you be if you use methods that do not match your values and ideals.

As human beings, we tend to be weak about these kind of things because sometimes we are insecure about us, but I think that we have to be strong enough to say no and stay true with ourselves, because like the witches and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth or the witch and Asaji in "Throne of Blood", people will start telling you to change to see how far you can get to change yourself, and if it is late, the consequences of that changes can be catastrophic. Reading the play and seeing the movie taught me to keep staying like I am and if I had dreams and aspirations for being something "bigger" that I am now, I have to keep working hard and believing on destiny and God to help accomplish my dreams.