Blogger #1 - John Pierre Alkhoury - Period 5 - 11/8/2020 - Cycle B

 Blogger #1

John Pierre Alkhoury 

Period 5 

11/8/2020 Cycle B 

Freshman Lit 2021

    Aim: How can we use the poem, “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams as inspiration for our own poems? 

    Do Now: Describe a time when you or someone you know did something that was “technically wrong” and you should have felt sorry for it but you didn’t?

    We were separated into breakout rooms where my partners and I discussed the do now based on personal experience. I personally shared a situation where I kept complaining during a road trip and I was bothering my whole family but I was being selfish and did not stop crying about small things such as the need to use the bathroom, my hunger and my boredom. At the time, I felt neutral and as if I was justified but as an older person reflecting on it, I realized my selfishness and greed. Maybe I even wanted attention for some reason. Some situations my partners shared were eating all what was left of a snack and deleting the save file of a sibling’s video game. In conclusion, all of my peers and I have had a moment of selfishness where we deprived others of simple things but did not feel any sympathy. 

    As to continue this topic, Ms. Peterson followed up on the topic by having us analyze poems with the common theme of “Oops, I did something bad but I do not really regret it although it harmed you.” The first poem, “This is just to say” by William Carlos Williams describes the author’s humorous unapologetic tone apologizing for eating the plums that belonged to his wife. William Carlos Williams originally intended for this to be a simple note for his wife but it surprisingly became an extremely popular work of his. This poem, although clearly humorous, seemed to be relatable to common situations in our lives to a somewhat of a deep extent. The class then moved on to the poem “Variations on a theme” yet again, by William Carlos Williams. This poem is written by a person apologizing (in an unapologetic tone yet again) for doing radically harmful and almost insane things but also shrugging them off with a simple sorry. These things include chopping down a house, wasting 10 years worth of savings, and breaking a leg(literally). The author’s reasoning for each action seems to be aloof and careless as if he couldn't care less that he damaged someone like that. In a plot twist,  the author reveals that he did all of these things in order to chain a reaction where the end result would be the victim visiting a medical ward, where the author is a doctor. This poem, unlike the last one, is much more extreme and clearly unrealistic yet very funny nonetheless. It shows a radical depiction of the theme we discussed previously in class which was comical and entertaining to think of. 

    Ms. Peterson then moved on to another exercise which was challenging yet fun. She challenged us to write as many poems that followed the main theme of “sorry not sorry” as possible within 5 minutes. I only ended up writing 2 poems but my classmate got a staggering 13 poems which showed me just how genuine and simple this genre of poetry was. One of the poems I created is as follows: 

I woke up in a hurl

Ate my breakfast with my hair in a curl

Even walked my dog and fed my fish

Walked back home and ate a dish

Before I realized that I broke your foot

I guess the situation was just misunderstood

I didn't mean to run you over

I simply just wanted to see you closer

I guess we can’t all have nice things

But at least now you made some money off insurance

Money of which we can share together!

    Then the class moved on to imagery, I already have a broad and genuine understanding of what imagery is and how it can be used seeing as I adore literature, especially poetry. I understand imagery as a broad way of communicating a situation in the way that it allows anyone of any age and of any background to be able to understand something an author speaks of. It is a gateway to the author’s eyes and mind at a specific point in a situation. Ms. Peterson explained imagery using the following terms: 

-Image is the root word of imagination. It’s from Latin imago, “picture,” how you see things. Images carry feelings. Saying, “I’m angry,” or “I’m sad,” has little impact.  Creating images, I can make you feel how I feel. 

    To add on, Ms. Peterson mentioned that imagery is mainly used to make a reader feel what we feel in Poetry. This may often result in uncovering hidden or unknown feelings/emotions because of the imagery used. 

    The class then moved on to watching a youtube video in which a poem. “The tree” is read. This poem is certainly beautiful as it describes the point of view of a leaf as time passes and the tree becomes older. The poem uses personification and imagery exquisitely to convey a truly humane telling of a story that is so basic yet is made so complex by the detailed telling of the surroundings. To me, the video just showed me how effectively imagery can be utilized to give the reader a completely new perspective of a situation. 

    Next we read a poem that was without a title. This title was a perfect example of how imagery can be used to convey different emotions. The first stanza depicts a sense of dread or sadness using lines such as “the clouds collapsed” and “trying to come alive, but they can’t.”. The next stanza then had a joyful tone with the author expressing happiness and appreciation for nature using lines such as “My heart was warm” and “Just basking in the first rays of morning sun”. The final stanza expressed ominous, melancholy and hopeless feelings. This is supported by the author saying “I felt the end of something great, Like when you take the last bite of birthday cake, And all that’s left is a few powdery crumbs on your frosting streaked dish.”. Although sounding silly to an extent, these lines still depict a sense of sadness as something great has passed. 

    The following images can describe the feelings of this poem:

    For our final activity, the class analyzed a long and detailed poem by the name of “Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch. As I said previously, this poem was very long in comparison with the other poems we analyzed. It described a play-by play, moment-by-moment situation in a basketball game, telling of how the ball is thrown back and forth in a clutch attempt for both teams to make an important play. The author uses imagery such as ”A hook shot kisses the rim and
hangs there, helplessly, but doesn’t drop”, “an underhand pass toward the other guard  
scissoring past a flat-footed defender who looks stunned and nailed to the floor  
in the wrong direction, trying to catch sight” and “but losing his balance in the process,   

inexplicably falling, hitting the floor with a wild, headlong motion for the game he loved like a country” to convey just how important every second of this game was. The author explains, dramatizes and emphasizes everything using imagery perfectly. 

    After analyzing the poem, we moved on to recording those observations. Ms. Peterson then assigned us to identify different aspects of the poem through completing a TWIST chart.The aspects are as follows:

T-Tone

Personal analysis: The tone of this poem was heated, eccentric and suspenseful. The reader was suspended by every line to continue reading in order to uncover more info.

W-Word Choice

Personal analysis: The author uses descriptive and almost romantic/epic words to emphasize the situation and add value to the match and the story being told.

I-Imagery

Personal analysis: The author uses imagery to emphasize what is occuring in the basketball match and make it seem as if the reader is involved.

S-Style

Personal analysis: Overall, the author’s style is very dramatic and the author loves to emphasize every moment. He uses words unfitting for a normal analysis of a basketball game in order to provoke the reader and show how elegant a basketball game can be. 

T-Theme/Interpretive statement 

Personal analysis: My interpretation of this poem was anything could be made to be emphasized and made more elegant, especially a player sinking in a shot in a basketball game.

My overall reflection of today’s lesson:

    Today’s lesson is not something I would describe as a new lesson for me to learn, but rather building upon my foundation of poetry. I already adore poetry so this lesson just served to make my writing more proficient, eloquent, and meaningful. The poems we analyzed all had some form of exaggeration to them, whether it be an apology for breaking a leg or a description of a basketball game. I learned just how powerful and broad imagery can be and that it would be an efficient tool to utilize in future writing.