Exhausted (Prose Poem)

Everybody’s walking on glass. Thick-hard glass. Glass so thick you could never even tell it was there. We walk, on and on and on, till we can barely tell were walking anymore. Why do we walk?

Cause they said so.

We listen to them. Listen hard and good. Listen cause they said too, but not because we want to hear. We hear words. Pointless, dirty words. Money, greed, fast, now, him, her, me. How can a dictionary print thousands of words in black and white, but the only one we see are the bright red “yes” and the yellow “more”. It feels like it’s all we know anymore.

As we mature, we start to run. We run on the thick-hard glass. Glass so thick you could never even tell it was there. Run fast, hard and long, or they’ll pass us and they’ll leave us behind. “Catch up or get lost” they’ll say. If you can’t hang with the best, then you’re just not worth it.

Our legs are growing tired now, we’re running out of time. Slowly but surely running out of time. They always told us we had all the time in the World. Who knew the world was so small? We try to sit but our legs are stiff. Stiff from years of running. Running because they said so.

For the first time, we can start to see ourselves in the glass. The thick-hard glass. Glass so thick you could never even tell it was there. We look tired. Legs shaking and ears aching, can’t we just stop running? There’s going to come a point where we become tired of walking and tired of running, tired of listening and tired of trying. Our legs will collapse and so will the glass. The thick-hard glass.


-Kailee Phillips

High Five For This Blog!

Want to know more about Samuel Coleridge?
Check out this blog made by Karly, Michelle, Alana & Mikayla!
"Coleridge Comberbache, the Man of Two Names"
http://samueltaylorcoleridge.blogspot.com/

As I scrolled through the page full of student blogs, I found one that really caught my attention. Mr. Turner's Per. 1 blog group, consisting of Karly Tarsia, Mikayla Hull, Michelle Dong, and Alana Bogh really rocked this blog assignment. The first thing that really stood out to me was the name. Not only was it intrigiung, and made me wonder what else was in the blog, but it was to straight to the point and original. As I clicked into their blog website, I immidiately liked the simplicity of their page. The dark background contrasting with white letters looked great, and eliminated the prospect of the "I can't even read this mumbo-jumbo" problem. Everything was very organized and alligned. Spelling was great and punctuations were in check. Out of all the romantic poets I studied, I probably remember the least about Coleridge (which is one of my other reasons for choosing this blog). It was really helpful that this group posted a biography about his life. The biography not only informed me about his childhood life and his madult hood, but educated me on some of his famous works, such as Christabel and Kubla Khan. I also leanred he was addicted to opium. Uh oh. This blog had a really great post called "Quotes and Explanations". This section consisted of two famous Coleridge quotes and the bloggers thought on what they meant. It was really cool to see how the person interpreted the quotes and comparing their opinion to mine. This group, along with mine, used the "About Me" section of their blog website. It was nice to read a little bit about the creators of the blog, and there intrests. Unlike the other blogs, that I merely clicked open and closed quickly, this blogsite kept my attention (which is a very hard task..)I would most definitely recommend this blog to anybody loving literature, English history, romanticism, Coleridge, student projects or opiate addiction?

Kuddos to you ladies,
Kailee Phillips

Ode To The West Wind

Click Here to Open Poem

Another classic, "Ode To The West Wind", is yet another complex piece of art created (1820) by Percy Bysshe Shelley. This poem is broken down into five different parts, each containing five stanzas. In Part One, Shelley introduces the wind, calling it "thou breath of Autumn's being". As I continued reading through Part One, I found myself reading a certain line again and again. Shelley calls the wind the "destroyer and preserver", making the wind obtain a very contradictory meaning. Shelley labels the wind a destroyer, because its harsh, swift movement. The wind can destroy the most complex of things, yet do it in one of the simplest gestures imaginable. In this case, the writer is referring to the sweeping away of dying leaves from their home on the trees. As the leaves are whisked away, they eventually find the cushion of the ground. Though the leaves may not be alive enough to continue on the tree, they are able to sustain life to the ground. The leaves may decompose, leaving new soil for life to flourish in or may deposit a seed, granting a chance for new life. With the destroying of the leaves from the trees, comes the preserving of new found life. As the reader moves into Part Two, Shelley compares the clouds to the falling leaves. This comparison allows the reader to understand just how untamed the clouds are, along with the leaves. (Note: Shelley likely included this comparison, to show yet another object the wind has control over.) Part Three goes on to explain in depth the effects that the wind has on water, specifically the Mediterranean. In Part Four, the subject of the poem shifts to the narrator, and is no longer focusing on the wind. As I read through Part Four, I could not help but feel that the narrator was unhappy with his life. He asks the wind to make him a leaf or a cloud. Both of the objects both mentioned were portrayed earlier in the poem to be wild and untamed. The last line of the section ends with the narrator asking for death by saying "I fall upon the thorns of life. I bleed!" As you progress towards the last and final section, the narrator is no longer asking to be with the wind but demanding to do so. Shelley makes this clear in line 57, where he says "make my thy lyre" (a stringed Greek musical instrument.) Shelly ends the poem with the line, "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" This line not only signifies the changing of seasons, but solidifies my thought that with death of one thing comes new life to another.

- Kailee Phillips

Reading Response #3

In Joan Reiss Wry's "Panoptic Perspectives in Shelley's Mont Blanc: Collapsed Distance and the Alpine Sublime" describes and breaks down in great detail about this appealing poem. At the beginning, it starts with what most of the romantic poets share in common, Edmund Burke's requisite passion for astonishment. Having great sublime while thinking to the power of human reason. Although when Shelley wrote Mont Blanc, his astonishment hold a diverse experience compare to his contemporaries and the romantic poets. The reason was due to the fact that generally the romantic poets stood at a distance from the natural object that inspired them while trying to understand what it contained. Contrast to that, Percy Shelley offers a close range perspective of Mont Blanc, by imaginatively placing himself there. Which results to Shelley having striking dark and disorienting to the surface features, the power of the human mind. In the first stanza it "presents an ambiguous scene of fluid movement" using words like flow, roll, and rapid. That later revels in the second stanza, this scene is taking place at the Arve River. Demonstrating what Shelley sees up close. But he later acknowledges, no matter how close we get, it extends even further. Once the second stanza begins, Shelley gives you a wider view to provide the mountain features, but "still maintaining the effect of a collapsed distance." Doing this, gives the reader a glimpse on what Shelley is thinking, his creative power. Not only does it do this, it also explains how "the universe of things participates in unremitting interchange with the poet's mind." Meaning gathering everything around us and processing it through our unique minds. As Shelley decreases distance between him and Mont Blanc, he feels an threatening sublime towards the topography mountain by saying "the eagle brings some hunter's bone and the wolf tracks her there." Therefore it starts making him wonder if he is awake or just dreaming. Eventually, Shelley notices that destruction provides things in order to keep up with the cycle of life. Examples were the glaciers that move like snakes. Finally at the end of the poem, Shelley tells you what Mont Blanc represents. Mont Blanc illustrates our mind, that shows many forms and thoughts that gives meaning and existence to objects. And seeing the mountain, gets us thinking, clarifying many things. But Shelley still has doubt because there is still many unanswered closing questions; therefore his outstanding imagination balances the silence and solitude in Mont Blanc.

At the end of the article, I truly felt like I understood Shelley's Mont Blanc. Joan break down what every stanza meant and why Percy Shelley wrote that. When I first read the poem, I thought Mont Blanc represented just our thoughts. But in the article, the mountain demonstrates our mind overall. Which has many formations, thoughts that are express, and gives being. Showing that our minds are very powerful if we use them correctly, because explains many everyday things. For an example, nature. Another thing I realized about Shelley and the romantic poets, was each them think that nature holds many answers and some things in nature also acts as our minds. In both the article and Shelley's poem, Mont Blanc is a figure of our mind. Although the article was more helpful because we get to see how Shelley really thinks and why he decided to get closer to the object to get inspiration. It shows, Shelley doesn't always do everything like the other romantic poets, especially in this poem. The idea of the collapsed distance provides more details about the mountain and its true beauty. But Shelley gives a wider view of Mont Blanc as well, so we can understand more. Though something the article didn't mention were the pine trees. I thought the pine trees in the poem were helpful to distinguish us and the mountain. The pine trees in the poem meant "a symbol of the persistence in human values in the face of obstacles." Then once the poem included the "glaciers creep like snakes that watch their prey," it explained to me that we are the pine trees and we are the prey of the glaciers. If we don't use the power nature, we might get crush during a face of an obstacle. Overall the article expressed everything clearly about Percy Shelley's Mont Blanc.

Reading Reponse #3

Shelley and the Utility or the Arts
Tom O' Brien

Tom O’ Brien introduces Percy Bysshe Shelley as a romantic poet who is not entirely sane. Shelley had ideas of defending the arts against narrow minded utilitarianism, meaning people who no longer care about what nature has to offer. The utilitarianism's care about big business and money and only look at gross domestic product. Shelley’s prose poem “The Defense of Poetry” states his ideas about mixing education and art together. He strongly believed that art was one of the greatest things a child could know. Schools began teaching children science and math to promote factories and business, while the schools stopped promoting the creativity. Educators asked “Do the arts have to offer of comparable educational value?” To Shelley the answer was yes, but to modern day engineers and educators the answer was no. Even though Shelley appreciated art, he did take science seriously to a certain extent. After his wife created the horror story “Frankenstein” they realized that science could also be very destructive to mankind. Science could literally create a monster. A friend of Percy Shelley claimed there was two cycles in the history of the arts. The “bronze” age was a time where literature was in a more primitive form. Then there was Neoclassicism in literature, which was a way to create visual arts. After the neoclassicism period, a new age of literature was made. Romanticism was claimed as the new age of “brass”. Shelley explained that art contributes to society and social progress. It lets other see a different view point and learn in new ways. He claimed that whatever purified the affections and adds spirit to sense is very useful. “Arts are supremely useful because they can perhaps heal the disconnect between technical and human process” Percy Shelley quoted. He strongly believed that there was a gap growing between human beings and the natural world. He claimed that science and industrialization did not match for the social well being for all. Shelley’s rhetoric questions are still relevant to this day, such as “smart growth” in our time. He is talking about the movements in environmental science and life quality.

I believe that O’ Brien added the rhetoric question about “smart growth” because it’s still relevant to this day. Shelley worried about the destiny of mankind in his day, and the future. Has our social growth gone downhill since Percy Shelley’s time? If Shelley was able to see our society’s growth, I think that he would have mixed emotions. Our society has continued to use machines, but our factories are better managed. In our modern day, we have the science to create Eco-friendly products, bio degradable bags and better cars. Shelley would probably be more satisfied with our new inventions, but the contradicting part is that science helped innovate our new products. When budgets cuts hit a school, the first things to go are sports, music and art programs. Just like Shelley, I also disagree with that fact that schools are cutting programs that help children express themselves. A educational system should never have to cut any programs. While children are in school every day forced to learn about the Pythagorean Theorem or the Vietnam War, students have nothing to look forward to except another day learning something that has absolutely no interest to them. With any kind of sport or art program, a child has the chance to be free and just be themselves. When an educator asked if art had the same education value as other subjects, Percy agreed. I like that O’ Brien added this quote because it shows Percy Shelley’s true feelings toward the educational system. O’ Brien wrote a great article that reflects Shelley’s views in an interesting way because he used quotes that explained his personality well. Though he mainly talked about Shelley’s views on art, he also explained a little bit on his positive views of science. It showed me that even thought he was a Romantic poet; he knew that science was needed to an extent. Science is an important part of society, and it always will be, but so is art and literature. Tom O’ Brien portrayed Percy Bysshe Shelley ‘s view’s in a respectable way that shows why he was such a great poet of his time and till this day.

-Lauryn Hartung

A Prose Poem; The Greed and Fear

The Greed and Fear

Greed and Fear were brothers whose parents were mankind. Mankind had raised them early on, only then to find that these two specters had in them greedy appetites for spreading lies and hurting family and giving them the frights. At first they did not run the world, as they do today for people were much simpler then and had more time for play. As time went by they got on well with priests and knights and kings but still to most of common folk they were but little things. Then came a time when man matured and put off simple ways he sailed away to foreign country with Greed and Fear. Into the ocean haze, they came to an unspoiled land with people brave and true. They killed them like animals and left them black and blue. Killing all in their path, Greed and Fear brought on a nation to be formed. A nation home of the free, a nation that lives in lies and secrecy. The brothers did great things for those who liked them, and those who did were treated with dignity. The followers of the brothers were told to kill all in their path and they would climb to the top and rule the world. They did as they were told and a new government was formed. A government where the finest of people were rich and dirtiest were poor. Where art and there language were the least important things and the children were force feed information and had to regurgitate it every day. This was what the brothers had always been looking for. Something they could control and anyone who opposed would never be found again. Greed and Fear had good intentions when they were first born, but their minds were slowly corrupted and did that same thing to anyone who disagreed.

-Lauryn Hartung

Get To Know Percy Shelley Even More!

Besides our blog, I find another interesting one that talks about the same romantic poet, Percy Shelley. The name of their blog is called "Time to meet Percy Bysshe Shelley AKA Alyck" by Chrisy Vo, Jacky Bertholomey, and McKenize DeWitt. Which I thought they had a very creative title because it totally grabs your attention. Not only does this blog hold an interesting title, but it also provides a whole bunch of information that might of not been included in ours. What I liked best, was the fact that they hold different poems than ours. They even give you a good summary explaining the poem in their own words. My favorite poem out of all the ones they included was "Love's Philosophy," because their font color was different, they had a pretty picture, and not to mention the poem was short. At first I didn't get the poem, but after reading their review, I understood it! Although we do have some similar things like poems or videos, their reviews were different from us. So if you need a better understanding of a similar item, then I recommend visiting their blog. And everything they have written is very easy to read and to understand. Even if you don't know much or nothing about romanticism, this blog will give you a general idea about what is romanticism. But it will especially teach you more about Percy Shelley. For example, it will teach you on what Shelley thinks of nature, imagination, religion, etc. Which I find the biggest help from this blog because it provides more depth details about Shelley. One other thing I forgot to mention was the introduction they wrote was great as well. It really describes Percy Shelley's life. From the schools he went to his relationships. Also in their introduction, it gives some positive and negative things that occur in Shelley's life. With this you find out how Shelley grew up and what he faced. Overall "Time to meet Percy Bysshe Shelley AKA Alyck" is a wonderful blog to get more information and his famous poems by Percy Shelley.