So, I got literally no criticism on this open prompt (I've run out of bad ones to re-edit), so I guess I'll just judge where it could be improved.

 

1984. Select a line or so of poetry, or a moment or scene in a novel, epic poem, or play that you find especially memorable. Write an essay in which you identify the line or the passage, explain its relationship to the work in which it is found, and analyze the reasons for its effectiveness.

    My favorite line of poetry in the world goes "Since feeling is first/ who pays any attention/ to the syntax of things/ will never wholly kiss you" (cummings 1). This is the opening phrase in a poem by e.e. cummings.  It introduces the theme of impulse over mind. It also presents the premise of the poem, an appeal to his love. This short phrase is full of rich language and deep meaning, and works an an effective introduction.

    "Since feeling is first" is the first line, and it makes a powerful assumption, that feeling trumps all other senses (cummings 1). This condition holds true throughout the piece, as when he declares "kisses are a better fate/ than wisdom", valuing emotion and affection over reason (cummmings 8). He reasserts the power of small emotive motions, like kisses, in his line  "-the best gesture of my brain is less than/ your eyelids' flutter..." (cummings 11). This line, again, subverts rationalizing and reason in favor of spontaneity. Without an opening line to introduce and establish this theme of intuition and romance, the entire poem would be an argument, rather than evidence to an undeniable fact.

     

    When analyzing a poem, one of the most important questions is 'who is this written for?'. In the case of "since feeling is first", it is answered in the opening lines. As he explains "who pays any attention/ to the syntax of things/ will never wholly kiss you", he describes what he can offer her [the subject] that many men cannot (cummings 2). He is confessing and he is convincing, "my blood approves", as he woos the object of his passion (cummings 7). This line is more evidence for the motif of feeling - he seeks the approval of his own heart and soul rather than a society or authority. In the final stanza, he speaks the vow he has been working up to all along, "We are for each other: then/  laugh, leaning back in my arms" (cummings 13). 

    The opening and most memorable line from "since feeling is first" is effective because it introduces the themes and message of the poem with conviction. The claim in the first stanza is warranted in the following stanzas, as his message of love unfolds. These important functions of the opening phrase are expressed artfully and skillfully. The message comes across effortlessly, "for life's not a paragraph/ And death i think is no parenthesis" (cummings 15). In addressing the subject of the poem and the audience, the opening line affirms the meaning of the poem as a whole.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstren Summary

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Author- Tom Stoppard: British. Absurd. Published his breakthrough show in 1967.

Summary:

ACT I.       Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are going nowhere fast, and they decide to take a break and flip coins. After about 99 heads, some players come along, offering to put on a show for them (or just have sex), and at this point, the impossible streak of heads finished and the coin toss turns up tails.  At this point, Ophelia and Hamlet, with his stockings ungartered, rush onstage and bring us into the show Hamlet. here, Ros and Guil have a script and a purpose and a direction (for now), as Claudius directs them to "glean what afflicts him". However, as soon as the other Hamlet characters leave the stage, they run out of dialogue and begin the exasperating circles that brought them back here in the first place. Sometimes they appreciate the diversion of Hamlet characters, but other times they feel put upon and mocked by the royalty who seem so sure of their place, "Don't let them confuse you". Act 1 ends with them finding Hamlet and attempting to talk to him: it has taken them this long to find their purpose, and thus the exposition is over.

ACT II.     It is traditional for the actors playing Ros and Guil to change places and even costumes, and begin reading each others lines. I guess this just adds to the absurdity and goes further with the theme of mistaken identities, putting the audience in the position that they recently mocked of not distinguishing between the two. After an unsuccessful confrontation with Hamlet and a reflection on their lack of direction, Ros and Guil are confronted by the players, who are devastated by their realization at the absurdity of a play that no one is watching, "There we were - demented children mincing around in clothes no man ever wore, speaking words no man ever said...every words vanishing into the thin, unpopulated air". In leaving them in the woods, Ros and Guil abandoned them to their own devices, and took away any measure of place, time and reason. This reflects how Ros and Guil feel, being scooped up and plopped down in one plot after the other. They break the fourth wall a lot, making the audience uneasy about their position and their sense of reality. It here becomes clear that the players understand their sense of entrapment, "We know which way the wind is blowing", while the eternally optimistic Ros and Guil still don't understand. now we get to an interesting scene where Ros contemplates his own mortality, "Its better to be alive in a box than be dead. Not that I'd like to be asleep in a box - for starters, you'd wake up dead!". He isn't quite there, but he is starting to realize what the title has told us all along. The new question raised is, are they already dead? Is the stage or the page of the book the coffin they are lying in, stagnant? They then watch the play, The Murder of Gonzago, and proceed to follow Hamlet in circles, a sense of dread becoming more and more apparent.

ACT III.    They wake up on a boat, "Do you think death could be a boat?", and contemplate their limited freedoms, "One is free on a boat" (except that you can't actually go anywhere) until they try to remember why they are there. A letter is meant to explain everything. It is their last piece of reason to hold onto. "Because it is written" they know it must be true and it must lead them to their fate. They believe that they will make it to England and figure out their next purpose there, they are hopeful, but then Shakespeare, acting through Hamlet, snuffs the light and switched the letters (Because it is written).  Then the players show up and Guil freaks out, again feeling the weight of eminent death, and goes to stab one of the players, to show him that he knows nothing of death, "But no one gets up after death - there is no applause....Who are we that so much should converge on our little deaths? Who are we?", "You are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. That is enough." This line is so sad, because after so much, "they are denied explanation". At the end, they reread the letter, stating that they are to be executed, and then...they disappear.

Resposne to Course Materials - March

Well, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead....again. I wish we could have had more discussion time for Ros and Guil, because I have lots of unanswered questions on that one, but we had to move on. We wrote another closed prompt, and so far I have learned:

-Organize by effects not by techniques
-Talk about Meaning
-Write a strong thesis
-A good opening will be over-scored, and poor opening, underscored.
-Recommendations are not optional

So, that was super helpful, and I can't wait to write another one and redeem myself. Now we are starting Ceremony, and if there wasn't enough repetition and circular logic in Ros and Guil, well now we have Ceremony! I am very curious about how Tayo will get in touch with his Pueblo Side. I have a feeling it will be rather... mythological. I know that Latino authors use a lot of magical realism, so that could be it. The AP exam suddenly feels a lot closer and nothing is slowing down.  I am so tired. I need a break. Ms. Holmes, we need some story time (please? we've been so good!).... Good night.