How I Studied American Poetry

     After spending three months in the Contemporary Poetry class, I've studied about many American poets, like Walt Whitman or Amiri Baraka, different types of poems, such as unusual typography and parallelismus membrorum, and different poetry movements, like the Black Arts Movement or the Beat Movement, as well. There were poems that associated with music, in which Bob Dylan and Public Enemy made this connection possible. Even some Black Arts Movement artists like Quincy Troupe read his poems with some jazz music in the background.

     And of course, I wrote some poems, which resulted from my imagination and my perspective of the world.

     Moreover, I got to learn how to write a blog post properly, and practiced my skill of writing blog every week. Each week, we discussed poets living in each decades, from the end of 1800s to the most recent poets, who are still alive like Sherman Alexie. We had to write our blog posts focusing on anything that occurred during these time periods, and connect them to what our class talked about during the week.

     Through this blog project, I had learnt a lot about the context in which poems were written, and how they connected to the meaning of each poem we read in class. I understood the meaning of the poems thoroughly, and I could clearly see the difference in the way of storytelling between poems and lengthy novels.

     I'm going to miss this class so much next term!!! :(       

POETRY class:)

7th Bell Poetry Class with my AWESOME teacher and Creative classmates

I decided to take this poetry class because I like writing about myself and I was interested in poetry. We learnt different poets almost everyday. We had to write reflections to what we read everyday. It was not too hard or too much homework but it was hard to catch up with all the homework "everyday". However, I actually enjoyed reading about a lot of poets. They are very creative and some of their lives are very complicated. I figured out that their lives influence the ways they write poems. My favorite poet is Anne Sexton. I feel her strength as a woman from her poem and I like her dark poems.

Also, I figured out that I am not a bad poet! My poems are about sad love stories most of the time. I feel so great after writing them! I feel happier and I want others to read them. We had a group project that we had to make a poem with a couple of people. People in my group had the similar views about love and relationships so that we all loved the poem we wrote together. 

We also had this blog post project once a week. It took a lot of time for me to write one even though it wasn't a great blog post but I learnt a lot from it. I had to actually search about the topic I was writing about but it wasn't hard because I had the opportunity to write about something I am interested in. I have written about the Disney World, Hippies, and so on. There were many interesting discoveries. 

But! The best thing in our class is that my teacher, Mrs. Lewis is just awesome. She is such a clever woman who knows about everything. We all enjoyed our poetry class with her. She has made the cookies and brownies I have ever eaten in my life and she taught us a lot. 

I thank her for making our 7th bell such a great period everyday and I will miss this class so much next term!:(

Hubble Space Telescope

     

     Since our poetry class was discussing about  Sherman Alexie's poem "Defending Walt Whitman,"which was written in the 1990s, I followed my passion in astronomy and search on Google for something interesting to write my blogpost about that happened around that time period. Then, I found out that there was a space telescope called the "Hubble Space Telescope" sent into orbit in 1990. It is still operating today, and it has provided astronomers with many new and interesting facts about the universe.

     The Hubble Space Telescope was named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble, and it helped Adam Riess, a professor at John Hopskin University, and his team to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011.  It serves as the "astronomer's eyes to the universe." The telescope's position in the outer space allows it to take pictures of the galaxies years away from Earth. It has expanded the knowledge of the universe for astronomers, particularly the discovery of "dark energy." The Science Magazine called this "The Breakthrough Discovery of the Year" in 1998. 

     NASA said that the telescope spotted a supernovae burst of explosion 10 billions light-years away from Earth. It supported the concept of "dark energy" prevading the cosmos. Astronomers believed that this energy could shove galaxies away at an increasing speed; this idea was firstly introduced by Edwin Hubble and later discarded by Albert Einstein. Riess explained that this supernovae showed how the expansion of the universe changing over time.  

Some trivia about Hubble Telescope: 

• Hubbles twirls around the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour and takes pictures of the stars and galaxies. 
• In 20 years of working, it has made more than 930,000 observations, and snapped 570,000 images of 30,000 objects. 
• The data that it collects after 20 years accumulates up to 45 terabytes, which could filled nearly 5,800 DVD movies. 

An image of 30 Dolarus, home of the most massive stars, taken by Hubble Telescope.

The place where your dreams come true

DISNEY WORLD

The Walt Disney World was opened in 1971 in Lake Buena Vista, in Florida with just one park and two resort hotels. 

It was dedicated by Roy E. Disney and he declared "May Walt Disney World bring Joy and Inspiration and New Knowledge to all who come to this happy place...a Magic Kingdom where the young at heart of all ages can laugh and play and learn -- together".

Ever since the opening day, Disney World expanded gradually. Today, it consists of four major Disney theme parks, two water parks, six golf courses and the Downtown Disney places. 

Today, I want to introduce 10 FUN FACTS about the Disney World!

1.Cinderella's Castle is made out of fiberglass, and it is 189 feet tall.

2. Mickey has more than 290 outfits, from a scuba suit to a lighted tuxedo. Minnie has more than 200 outfits, from cheerleading attire to evening gowns.

3. Inside the upper levels of Cinderella's Castle is an apartment that Walt Disney intended to use when he and his family were in Florida. It was left unfinished when he died, until Disney announced in 2006 that it would be turned into a deluxe suite, which is awarded randomly to a family every day. It comes complete with 24-karat gold tile floors and a "magic mirror" that turns into a television.

4.  It takes 68 years to stay in a different room every night at the Disney World resorts

5. Disney World decorates more than 1,500 Christmas trees at holiday time.

6.  When Disney World opened, adult admission to the Magic Kingdom cost $3.50. Today it costs $85.

7. Disney World flew its flags at half-staff on the day Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died. Jobs was Disney's largest single shareholder (7 percent), and he was on the board of directors.

8. The first film made at Disney's Hollywood Studios was "Ernest Saves Christmas."

9.  Disney World has closed only three times because of of hurricanes: Sept. 15, 1999, for Floyd; Sept. 4-5, 2004, for Frances; and Sept. 26 of that same year for Jeanne.

10. Disney's infrastructure has more than 270 buses

The "Me" Decade

     In August 1976, the novelist Tom Wolfe published the essay, "The "Me" Decade and the Third Great Awakening" in the New York Magazine. He gave the 1970 decade the name "The Me Decade" because of the way Americans retreated from social and political activities, and turned to individual wellbeing. The Webster's New World College Dictionary defines "The Me Decade" as "the decade of 1970s thought of as characterized by narcissicism, self-indulgence, and a lack of social concern in many, esp. younger people." What factors contributed to the change in people's attitude during this time? 

     There were economic problems rising on the surface. Americans had been enjoying their time of economic boom after the end of World War II, up to the 1960s. The economic growth gradually decreased in the 1970s. In 1979, the Arabians limited the oil export, forcing the gas price in America to dramatically increase. At the same time, the automobile industry in America had to compete with Japan carmakers. In addition, the inflation rate was rising, which meant that good's prices were higher than wages, thus putting people in difficult positions. Therefore, Americans had to involve themselves in improving the economy, which meant that they did not have the time to think about political and social problems. 

This book was popular during the Me Decade.

     The changing social structure also helped explain the reason behind the differences in people's reactions. The baby boomers from after World War II were getting out of college, and many of them were busy settling down with their families. The war in Vietnam also ended, and thus people didn't have to march protests anymore. Americans gave up trying to refine the world, and focused on improving themselves. The only exception to this ideal was the feminist movement.  

     American culture was also popularized during this period as TV became widespread. Many TV programs and shows were created for people's entertainment. People could watch soap opera, comedies, sports, etc on TV without going outside. Thus, they became more inward and sluggish. Their lives revolved around television. 

     Looking good, eating well, and feeling fine were the major interests of the people. The media was filled with discussion about reactivities and sensations. Discos, night clubs, and bars were the escape routes from social, economical, and political problems. However, "The Me Decade" in 1970s gave way to new attractions and affluence in the 1980s.  

The Hippie Fashion in the 1970s

HIPPIE FASHION

The hippie fashion style we wear today has a rich history behind it. The hippie movement, incited mostly by young people, was started in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The hippie fashion is defined by a carefree, non-conformist attitude toward life, love, and politics. Hippies inherited a tradition from bohemians and the beat generation in the late 1950s. 

Around the late 1960s, many young people were concerned with social values; their passion and resulting actions developed into an anti war movement. Some hippies opposed Australian involvement in the Vietnam War, while others were concerned about nature. In the early 1970s, young people strongly called for peace, love, and freedom.

These often nomadic hippies were frequent drug users. Their style was inspired by non-Western cultures, such as Indian and African. Hippie clothing is usually made out of natural fibers and free flowing materials. Flowing and romantic fabrics are very popular among hippies.

Let's dress like a Hippie!!!

 1.     No bras or corsets! Be comfortable!

      2.     Wear male clothing such as baggy trousers, jackets, vests, over—sized shirts, ties and hats.

      3.     Wear “midi” (knee length) or “maxi” (floor length) skirts!

      4.     Have some flower prints.

      5.     Wear Pocahontas headband!

      6.     Wear a chain or thick belt.

      7.     Have a peace symbol!

      8.     Wear boots or have bare feet!

The Sylvia Plath Effect

     While we were discussing about the Confessional Poetry Movement in the 1960s, during which poems were written in the first person, "I," and were highly personal, we talked about some amazing poets, such as Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath. What caught my attention was the issue of the Sylvia Plath Effect.

     In 1932, Sylvia Plath was born in Massachusetts. When she turned eight, her father died from diabetes, and his death left a huge impact on her and her poetry, most notably in the poem "Daddy." Plath was an ambitious woman, as she made her first national publication in the Christian Science Monitor in 1950. She was also an outstanding graduate from Smith College as a summa cum laude in 1955.

     Plath was often associated with the Confessional Poetry Movement. Her poems often presented violent images and "playful use of alliteration and rhyme." She was also the first poet to receive a Pulitzer Prize after her death.

     The Sylvia Plath Effect is a relatively new theory in the psychological field. In 2001, James Kaufman, a psychologist who got his Ph.D from Yale University, conducted a study to show that creative writers, especially female poets, are more prone to suffer from mental disorders than any other occupations. He came up with the term "The Sylvia Plath effect" after he found out that many poets who experienced tragedy and depression eventually committed suicide in his second analysis of 520 American women. Other studies suggested that creative people are more slightly at risk, and that they are 30 percent more likely to have a "bipolar disorder."

     Arnold M. Ludwig, M.D, a psychiatrist and a professor at Brown University proposed that "creative people in the artistic profession are more likely to have a mental illness than those in less artistic professions, such as science and business," in his book "The Price of Greatness."

     Kaufman and another psychiatrist, John Baer, also theorized that female poets, who are more vulnerable to "extrinsic motivational contraints," are more likely to suffer from mental illness. They thought that creative people will often "defy the crowd" to follow their own standard, thus resulting in pressures from writing and leading up to a higher level of psychogenic illness.

     Some other writers that were considered having the same symptoms were Virginia Woolf (Modernist Movement), Sara Teasdale (lyrical poetry), Anne Sexton (Confessional Poetry Movement) and Sarah Kane (In-yer-face Theater).

The Unique, Feminine, Intelligent, and Attractive woman, ANNE SEXTON

Anne Sexton

Her Life

Anne Gray Harvey, known as Anne Sexton as a confessional poet, was born in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1928. Diane Middelbrook, her biographer, recounts possible sexual abuse by her parents when she was young, which left her feeling abandoned. She attended a boarding school in Massachusetts, went on to Garland Junior College, also called a "finishing school", and then eloped with Alfred Muller Sexton who is known as “Kayo”. She had two daughters with him, but then they divorced in the early 1970s.

During her lifetime, she suffered from mental illnesses and experienced several breakdowns.  When her husband was gone, she sought therapy for her incessant infidelity, and she became a model in attempt to feel better about herself. After she gave a birth to her second daughter, her depression got worse and she started to abuse her children. When she went back to therapy, her therapist recommended that she write what was on her mind.

She joined Boston writing groups in 1957 and studied with Robert Lowell, George Starbuck, Sylvia Plath, and Maxine Kumin. After 1960, she started to gain more attention, popularity and good reviews. She published her poetry, “All My Pretty Ones” in 1962 and she continued to publish popular poems. However, in the 1970s, she feared that she was not famous anymore and she forced herself to be an entertainer. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her poetry book, “Live or Die” in 1967. Although she was very successful, she was living her life in solitude.

On October 4, 1974, she locked herself in her garage and started the engine of her car, committing suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Her Work

Sexton is seen as a modern confessional poet who wrote about her feelings. She often wrote about her depression, isolation, women, and masturbation. There are many poems that I like but I will introduce you to my favorite one.

"Cinderella" 

You always read about it:
the plumber with the twelve children
who wins the Irish Sweepstakes.
From toilets to riches.
That story.

Or the nursemaid,
some luscious sweet from Denmark
who captures the oldest son's heart.
from diapers to Dior.
That story.

Or a milkman who serves the wealthy,
eggs, cream, butter, yogurt, milk,
the white truck like an ambulance
who goes into real estate
and makes a pile.
From homogenized to martinis at lunch.

Or the charwoman
who is on the bus when it cracks up
and collects enough from the insurance.
From mops to Bonwit Teller.
That story.

Once
the wife of a rich man was on her deathbed
and she said to her daughter Cinderella:
Be devout. Be good. Then I will smile
down from heaven in the seam of a cloud.
The man took another wife who had
two daughters, pretty enough
but with hearts like blackjacks.
Cinderella was their maid.
She slept on the sooty hearth each night
and walked around looking like Al Jolson.
Her father brought presents home from town,
jewels and gowns for the other women
but the twig of a tree for Cinderella.
She planted that twig on her mother's grave
and it grew to a tree where a white dove sat.
Whenever she wished for anything the dove
would drop it like an egg upon the ground.
The bird is important, my dears, so heed him.

Next came the ball, as you all know.
It was a marriage market.
The prince was looking for a wife.
All but Cinderella were preparing
and gussying up for the event.
Cinderella begged to go too.
Her stepmother threw a dish of lentils
into the cinders and said: Pick them
up in an hour and you shall go.
The white dove brought all his friends;
all the warm wings of the fatherland came,
and picked up the lentils in a jiffy.
No, Cinderella, said the stepmother,
you have no clothes and cannot dance.
That's the way with stepmothers.

Cinderella went to the tree at the grave
and cried forth like a gospel singer:
Mama! Mama! My turtledove,
send me to the prince's ball!
The bird dropped down a golden dress
and delicate little slippers.
Rather a large package for a simple bird.
So she went. Which is no surprise.
Her stepmother and sisters didn't
recognize her without her cinder face
and the prince took her hand on the spot
and danced with no other the whole day.

As nightfall came she thought she'd better
get home. The prince walked her home
and she disappeared into the pigeon house
and although the prince took an axe and broke
it open she was gone. Back to her cinders.
These events repeated themselves for three days.
However on the third day the prince
covered the palace steps with cobbler's wax
and Cinderella's gold shoe stuck upon it.
Now he would find whom the shoe fit
and find his strange dancing girl for keeps.
He went to their house and the two sisters
were delighted because they had lovely feet.
The eldest went into a room to try the slipper on
but her big toe got in the way so she simply
sliced it off and put on the slipper.
The prince rode away with her until the white dove
told him to look at the blood pouring forth.
That is the way with amputations.
They just don't heal up like a wish.
The other sister cut off her heel
but the blood told as blood will.
The prince was getting tired.
He began to feel like a shoe salesman.
But he gave it one last try.
This time Cinderella fit into the shoe
like a love letter into its envelope.

At the wedding ceremony
the two sisters came to curry favor
and the white dove pecked their eyes out.
Two hollow spots were left
like soup spoons.

Cinderella and the prince
lived, they say, happily ever after,
like two dolls in a museum case
never bothered by diapers or dust,
never arguing over the timing of an egg,
never telling the same story twice,
never getting a middle-aged spread,
their darling smiles pasted on for eternity.
Regular Bobbsey Twins.
That story.

I like this poem because she breaks the dreams of readers seeking a traditional fairytale and the way she tells a story is very dark and ironic of classic fairytale. I like that this poem does not have a happy ending like Disney’s “Cinderella” and her descriptions are violent and bloody.

I personally like confessional poems because they are more realistic and it is easier to picture what is going on in the story. Anne Sexton depicts her situations very clearly and her writing style makes me want to read more of her poems.