WWI Poem Close Reading

“Rear-Guard” by Siegfried Sassoon uses illustrative structure, figurative language, imagery, metaphors, assonance, unheimlich (unhomely), alliteration, irregular rhyme scheme, paradox, repetition, and oxymorons throughout the poem. The irregular rhyme scheme really fits this piece because it mimics the uneasiness of the author who is not used to the brutalities of war. Also it mimics the chaotic nature of war and its unpredictable outcomes. The purposeful repetition especially of the words “step by step” really helped emphasize the struggle of climbing the staircase up to the battlefield, and how every single step the soldier took was a struggle. This piece had some great examples of paradox which is a literary device I am not too familiar with. When Sassoon says, “Unloading hell behind him step by step” (l. 25). is a contradicting statement because Sassoon implies hell it is like hell in the depths of the trenches and the struggle to climb up, but also it is hell at the top because this is where the brutalities of war is taking place. “Dulce et De Corumest Est” by Wilfred Owens is a very gruesome poem which depicts the horrors of World War I. The title itself is ironic for it implies it is honorable to die in war, and the soldiers are glorified, which in reality the soldiers are not marching with their heads held high, instead they are cursing and crawling through sludge, facing horrible hardships daily. The poem progressively gets more vivid with gruesome images that the soldier will never be able to forget, “13 Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,/As under a green sea, I saw him drowning./ In all my dreams before my helpless sight/ He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. (ll. 13-16). This shows the readers that the horrifying sights of war have a huge impact on soldiers and they do not become less sensitive to the brutalities and killings, yet they cannot thinking about the horrifying sights and the men lost. Wilfred Owens suffered from traumatic events during the war and also met Siegfried Sassoon which helped him start creating such hateful poems towards the war and help him use such vivid imagery throughout the poem. “The Soldier” has a much happier tone compared to the other WWI poems we have looked at. Most of the poems are hateful, or focus on the brutalities and hardships of war, while this one recognizes the soldiers who fought in the war and glorifies them. Brooke’s is writing as a soldier directly talking about dying for his country England. He uses personification and the repetition of England to help emphasize the importance his country is to soldiers. The other poems talk about how horrible death is while in this poem Brooke’s says, “If I should die…that is forever England (ll. 1-3). This shows that wherever a soldier dies in battle, a part of England will remain there forever for he has died for his country. Also this poem discusses how dying in battle results in the soldiers’ death forever being glorified and recognized, their soul immortal “under an English heaven” (l. 14). The other poems dwell on death and disaster, while this poem focuses on the greater meaning to death and what the soldier leaves behind while dying for their country. “Munition Wages” introduced me to several new forms of literary devices. One being the ABCB rhyme scheme which is actually very similar to the medieval ballad, and is has a rather upbeat rhythm which fits perfectly with the woman in the poem who is discussing all the wonderful things that are happening to her now that she has money and is having a “jolly worthwhile”. Another new literary device the poem introduced me to was the cockney dialect. This is dialect with a more conversational tone, for throughout the poem the woman asked and answered her own questions, spoke as though she was talking to some man named Elijah, and is more of a slang dialect spoken by the working class, using words such as “yer”, “yus”, “’oof”, “’ere”, etc. Also this poem contains some elements of humor due to its ironic context for the woman is getting all this money and can afford so many new luxuries, “good times and clothes”, jewelry, bracelets, rings, taxis, and theatres, but the reason she is getting more money is because of the immense amount of soldiers dying in battle. “The Wind on the Downs” also uses several different literary devices I am unfamiliar with. The poem is pretty much a letter directed towards her deceased fiancé. This type of writing is called an apostrophe: when the writer directly addresses someone who is deceased or an inanimate object or spirit, something that does not exist, “I like to think of you as brown and tall/As strong and living as you used to be,/In khaki tunic, Sam Brown belt and all (ll. 1-3). She is specifically speaking towards her deceased husband, telling him how she likes to think of him and how she will always remember him. She is in denial at the beginning of the poem and by the end she finally realizes her fiancé is dead and she praises him up in heaven, “While up above the golden wings are spread,/Flying, ever flying overhead” (ll.23-24). The woman is finally accepting her fiancé’s death and realizes he is a beautiful being in a beautiful place and is no longer suffering from the brutalities of war. This poem is also considered an elegy which is mourning the loss of someone or a way of life. In this case the woman is mourning the loss of her dead fiancé. I have came across elegiac writing in the “Seafarer” when the author addresses the hard-working, risk-taking way of life has ceased to exist. There is repetition in this poem as well along with many of the other poems, but in this poem specifically it uses anaphora. Anaphora is the repetition of words in subsequent lines, such as directly blow the line above. “Break of Day in the Trenches” uses free verse, symbolism, personification, imagery and a dark tone throughout the poem. For example the author starts the poem with “Darkness crumbles away” (l. 1). to describe morning and the sun coming up, but chooses to really focus on the glass half empty point of view, the darkness of the scene, rather than the lightness coming up from the sun. The symbols of the poppies and mouse are consistent throughout the piece and the soldier in the poem speaks directly to the mouse at one part which is another example of an apostrophe. He tells the rat that soldiers, him included, have “Strong eyes, fine limbs, haughty athletes,/ Less chanced than you for life (ll. 14-15). This meaning that soldiers who are more than fit for their position have less a chance to live than a weak, mangy rat. The soldier tells the rat his conflicting thoughts of whether or not he would rather live as a grotesque rat or die as a glorified soldier. The poem also uses irony throughout the piece when talking about events that naturally occur such as the sun rising, for it is an archetypal symbol of hope, but in this poem it is a bad sign for the soldiers because it is another day they have to face on the horrifying battle field.

Blog #4 Mise-en-Scene Analysis

Settings and props: The setting of this scene is in a very dim, eerie basement or lair of some kind, with an elaborate feast set up on the table. The fireplace is on and the darkness and bluish colors helps make it seem as though the moon is lighting up part of the scene so it is night time. It is dark, looks as though it is underground; there are creepy pictures on the wall of the pale faced creature who is sitting at the table eating children which helps explain where the scene takes place, the pale faced man’s lair. Also the pile of children shoes helps add show the scene takes place in the pale faced man’s lair. These two elements may also be foreshadowing the purpose of the pale faced man, which is to eat children. The elaborate dinner scene is realistic because people used to have huge feasts during this time, but the two eyeballs on a plate in front of the pale faced man and the fact that once the girl eats the grapes the man comes alive is more exaggerated and not very realistic. Also the creatures that appear out of the child’s bag is not very realistic and slightly exaggerated, but helps give the scene a little less of an evil feel because we know the child is not completely alone. The pale faced male and creatures that appear from the child’s bag are more a form of expressionism because they are not realistic, but help provoke the scene and magic and evil elements is possesses and helps convey the girl’s obsession with fairy tales. The dominant elements of the scene are the elaborate dinner set up (specifically the grapes which are zoomed in upon and what the child eats that awakens the creature), the gruesome pictures on the wall, the key from the child’s bag, the dagger she found, the hourglass, and the pile of children’s shoes on the floor. All these elements are zoomed in upon and the music changes as they are shown. The lack of colors in the scene really helps add to the creepiness and darkness of the scene and helps show it is not a pleasant place and evil is among them. Lighting: There are few light sources in the scene, there are some dim lamps on the ceiling, the fireplace is on, and in a few parts the blueness of the scene shows that the moon is shining upon the object. The dominant objects such as the key and dagger reflect light of them, which helps the viewers see the importance of the objects. The lighting also emphasizes the scene by illuminating the significant objects of the scene. For example the fireplace is placed behind the pale faced man so there is constantly some light shining upon him, signifying that he is going to have a key role in the scene (which he does). Also the bluish light given on the hourglass helps show it is night time and the hourglass is also an important element of the scene, but also has some eeriness to it due to the blueness and the grain slowly trickling down. The light emphasizes the elements of the scene which play an important role of the scene and leaves the areas that do not in the dark. Costumes and makeup: The little girl is dressed for her part of a young, Spanish girl who is dressed in a neat, button-down type of dress, wearing a bag in which she holds her magical creatures/friends and a key, and her hair is kept nice and tidy showing that she has not been through too much struggle yet and she is simply an innocent child. The pale faced man’s make up must have taken a lot of work to make a real man look so hideous, or an animation look so realistic. The sagginess of his skin and the texture of it makes him look extremely ancient and the blood on him shows he is an evil character. Also his extreme paleness helps show that he must always live in this underground lair and never really see the sun. His freakishly long nails, lack of nose, eyeballs he wears on his hands, elongated chin, extremely pale body, and lack of teeth helps show this is a hideous creature that is not humane and is evil. Sound: The diegetic sounds throughout this scene come from the little girl, the pale faced man, the cackling of the fire, the eerie wind, and the magical creatures. There is no direct communication in this scene, the little girl only actually has two talking scenes which were directed towards herself and were only a few words. The first was when she was trying to pick the right lock she muttered something in a different language and then when she was running away from the creature she yelled, “No! No!”. The scene is very quiet and all you can hear is the fluttering and chirping of the magical creatures which help the little girl. Also you can hear the footsteps of the girl and her panting out of fear and when she is running away from the creature. The monster makes a lot of groaning and screeching noises which help show he is not human and is evil, and out to get this little girl. Every step he takes there is like a cracking and stretching noise from his brittle bones and tight skin. The non-diegetic sounds in this scene is the music. The music is very eerie throughout the scene and when the child finds an important object, such as the key and the dagger a more happy sound such as a dinging noise appears showing that it is a significant object. Whenever the camera is towards the pale faced man or the pictures on the wall or even the hour glass it becomes creepy again signifying these are not good elements. Also as the girl eats the grapes from the dinner table the music starts to pick up and get very suspenseful signifying that something bad is about to happen and once the creature awakens and the running scene begins the music becomes very fast paced and suspenseful which goes with the frantic mood of the scene. Behavior of figures: The little girl in the scene moves very slow and cautiously and is constantly panting which shows her intense fear. The beginning scene of teh child exploring the room is a medium shot view from the camera, panning the dinner table and her waiste upward. Her footsteps are very slow and cautious because she does not want to wake up the creature and she does everything slowly because she does not know what is going to happen, but she goes about everything very bravely. She does not listen to her magical creatures when they tell her to not eat the grapes which was a huge mistake on her part. The pale faced man’s movements are slow, lopsided, and contorted. The camera zooms in on all the features of creature when it first awakens, slowly going over his freakishly long nails, all the way to his lack of nose and teeth and eyeballs on the counter. He walks on two feet like a human, but walks very slowly and his whole body cracks as he walks. He almost waddles side to side and moves his head back and forth. Also he keeps his hands which have his eyeballs in them up to his eyes and chases after the girl, but cannot run. The camera angle shows the main objects of the scene, but always pans back towards the creature in the background. Some of the main scenes the camera uses close up, and zooms in on the key, dagger, hour glass, creature, girl, the grapes, pictures on the wall, and pile of shoes. Also the camera goes towards the hourglass several times representing that time is running out. The camera zooms in on the child eating the grapes and then pans back towards the creature foreshadowing that it is about to awaken. Also the camera is mainly a closeup or medium shot of the girl and shows the audience the creature is coming from behind, but the girl is unaware at first. In the chasing scene the camera switches back and forth from the girl being the main character to the creature coming from behind, using a long shot showing their whole bodies.

"Glory of Women" Presentation

Blog #3 Amusing Ourselves to Death

The rise of social media and technology has greatly changed our culture. From iPhones, twitter, instagram, Facebook, you name it, thousands of people today are a part of it. This new obsession with social media and technology has changed our culture by causing America to shift from a more personal, active, true friendships lifestyle to a more public, lazy and fake friendship lifestyle. Nowadays people don't go anywhere without their cell phones, it is as though they are attached to them. Instead of having face to face conversations the majority of conversations today occur over text or via twitter or Facebook. Even when someone is having a face to face conversation they will still check their email in the middle of a conversation. According to the CNN newspaper article "5 ways the iPhone changed our lives" iPhones have become our obsession and "ushered in an age of all Internet, all the time. For better or worse, it's blurred the lines between work and home lives, made communication a round-the-clock habit" this meaning that face to face conversation is now becoming more non-existant while communication via technology is increasing.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/28/tech/mobile/iphone-5-years-anniversary

According to the Center for Media Literacy, media literacy is, "the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms." Media is all around us whether it is the internet, newspaper, magazines, television, you name it, we have it. It is important to be able to understand the purpose for the media rather than allowing ourselves to be subconsciously swarmed by it. We can learn from the media through good examples for example a superhero movie who saves lives can help make us strive to do better and help others. A newspaper article about the competitiveness of the work force can help us strive to work harder in our education so we can  get a good job and get paid good money. It can show us how we should act and what a family should look like. However these days there are more bad examples than good. It is ironic for ABC Family's slogan is "ABC Family a new kind of family." The shows on television that are most popular are the ones that are about lying, teen pregnancy, and broken families, all specific ways we should not live. Also the news is full of all the bad things that happen in the world whether it is a burglary to a crime, we are constantly being exposed to it.

I would consider myself to be media literate, but have a lot of room for improvement because I know how to access and create media, however I do sometimes lack the ability to analyze and evaluate the media around me. For example I consider myself quite computer savvy, I have known how to email since the second grade, I am a quick typer and I am a teenager, so obviously I text a lot. Also I have a twitter, Facebook, instagram, snapchat, and all different types of social media as apps on my phone so I am constantly being exposed to media and having to  create my own. However, sometimes I do not know how to analyze or evaluate the credibility in which the media around me contains. I am always told "don't use Wikipedia" or "don't believe everything you hear/see on the news" or "Google doesn't know everything", but these different types of media are what I am surrounded with. If I can't trust them then I don't know what I should turn to because our society has become so centered around technology and social media.

I do agree with Postman in his "Amusing Ourselves to Death". Although death is a little over dramatic, Americans today are drifting so far from intimate relationships and becoming so obsessed with social media and technology we are letting it take over our lives. I know for myself, the first thing I do in the morning and before I go to sleep is check twitter, Facebook, instagram, snap chat, email, and my messages. I, along with thousands of Americans, am allowing technology and social media come first in my life before real people, real activities, real games. Americans are constantly on their phones tweeting, Facebooking, texting, etc. but rarely are they spending actual time with real people. Also people spend hours upon hours throughout the day playing games on their phones, but rarely go outside and play neighborhood games anymore. When Postman talks about "amusing ourselves to death" he is trying to persuade us to stop being so obsessed with social media and technology for it ultimately "kills" or takes away from our personality and intimate relationships.

Blog #2 Design

I chose to make my blog primarily blue because I want to set a more "peaceful and calming mood". Blue is not only my favorite color, but it also was said to "soothe illnesses and treat pain" in the past. I want my blog to be welcoming and calming to others. I avoided the color red because I don't want an "unwelcoming sense of passion or anger" and I also avoided yellow because I don't want people to be anxious while reading my blog, I want them to feel relaxed and at ease, without stress.

I specifically chose my text and font choices because "font choices alone can set the mood, although some are considered 'moodless'". I chose to use two more simple types of fonts only because the more different the font sizes and styles are "can create a sense of intrigue or chaos" and I wanted to avoid causing any chaos while blogging. I also chose to use a more script/cursive font for the majority of the blog because it "creates a feminine mood and targets women". I am a woman and found the font pretty and neat and I wanted to ensure other women will as well while reading my blogs because women pay more attention to the detail than men.

About Me

My name is Heidi Soltis, I am 17 years old. I moved to Cincinnati from Cleveland, OH in 8th grade and have attended Mason schools ever since I moved here. I am currently a senior at William Mason High School. My favorite subject has always been math. I am going to be attending the Ohio State University for college and major in nursing. My GPA is a 4.06 and I have earned a principal's award and been on the honors list all four years of my high school career.

 I am a competitive level 10 gymnast at Queen City Gymnastics. I have been a gymnast for 14 years and train 22 hours a week. In Cleveland I trained at Lake Erie Gymnastics School along with Gymnastics world and here in Cincinnati I went to Gym-Nation for a year and have been at Queen City ever since (5 years). Bars is my all time favorite event and I want to do club gymnastics in college. My greatest accomplishments thus far in gymnastics are being a state bars champion from 2009-2011and floor state champion in 2010. Also in 2011 I was a level 9 Easter National Qualifer, placing 5th in the all around at regionals.  I also have a part-time job at my  gym that I have been working at for almost a year. I am a birthday party host  for Kids First birthday parties which is a weekend job and is flexible with my rigorous schedule.