Journal #42- Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman??

So, we had to go back in time in this journal and pretend that we were in the time period of when Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman were writing their poems. After we were imagining the time period of their writings, we had to decide if we would rather of read Emily Dickinson's writings in that period or Walt Whitman's writings.

I think if I was alive during the time that Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman were writing, I would like to read Emily Dickinson's writings more. I think the Emily Dickinson has more relevance in my life than Walt Whitman. I think I can relate to some of her poems, and all of her poems have different meanings that I think a lot of teenagers can relate to. I like Emily Dickinson writes about love a lot, and I do not know why, but I love reading about love a lot. I think it is probably because I am a girl, and I like to hear about love stories..probably just a girl thing. <3 I also liked Emily Dickinson's writings, because she was just honest, and I do not think she was writing for anyone other than herself. She was just writing about her life, and what made her happy. Her poems were later titled and numbered after her death, so that shows you that she did not care if she became famous because of them. I also thought that it was cool how she did not title them, because she did not have to have a title, because she knew them in her heart and they had special meaning. I think she is just a good writer.

I think Emily Dickinson is kind of like a Taylor Swift, because each of her poems were different events that went on in her life. I mean I know Emily Dickinson was not a singer/ songwriter, but she had some great hidden meanings in her poems, like that of Taylor Swift, and I love Taylor Swift. They also both talk about love a lot. <3

Journal #41- Emily Dickinson "Success is Counted Sweetess"

I read Emily Dickinson's Success is Counted Sweetest. I decided to read this poem, because it was the very first one that was listed on her poem page, and it also grabbed my eye. The word success is what really grabbed me. I am a very big fan of success, and it is something that I strive for every day. I think success is something that everyone strives for. America teaches us that success is a big thing, and if you are successful in life, you will have more things and you will go farther in life. I want to be successful with my grades, at home, cheerleading, FFA, and events that I partake in out of school.

I think that Emily Dickinson also wanted to be a successful person. I think there was a reason that this poem was the very first poem that she put on this list. I think she wanted to start off with what she wanted and success was what she was striving for in all of her poems. In the first stanza of the poem, it is saying to us that everyone needs to experience success, and the ones that have experienced it no how sweet it is. "SUCCESS is counted sweetest By those who ne’er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need" (Dickinson). Everybody needs to experience it so they can really feel what she is talking about here, and I think that at some point everyone has felt successful at some point in their life whether it is big or small, we all have. Also, the last stanza of this poem shows us that when you try to succeed and something and you get defeated, it is not a good feeling. As he, defeated, dying, On whose forbidden ear The distant strains of triumph Break, agonized and clear" (Dickinson). I think it is okay to feel defeat in life, because we need to know that it does happen.



Dickinson, Emily. "1. “Success Is Counted Sweetest.” Part One: Life. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. .

Journal #40- Personal Self

Defining self in your own eyes seems like something that would be easy, but when you start thinking about it it is a lot harder then what you would think it would be. I think when I try to define self of myself, I look at the things that I believe in and the things that I go by in life, and also the things that mean something to me in my life. I think self for me is my religion and the beliefs that go along with that. I believe things like once saved always saved, you can be forgiven for all sin, all sin is the same, and also things like you can not live with the one you love until you are married. I live by these beliefs, and even though I am not perfect I try to do my best. I also try to make sure that I live by the statement that I said earlier that says that all sin is the same. I think this is a hard thing to live by, because we as humans always think that when others do something really bad that it is always way worse then the things that we do wrong. It is hard to think when someone commits murder that God looks at it the same as when I might fail to stop at a stop sign. I am usually quick to judge also, which is not really a good thing to do either. I think that my "self" is not something that should judge. I think that we should look at people and be nice to them first before we judge them so fast like I do. Another thing that I see in my self, is doing good in all that I do. I want to do good in a lot of things such as school, work, family and friends. I get mad at my "self" when I do not perform in the way that I think I should. I have high expectations for myself, and I let myself down when I do not reach those.

Journal #39- Whitman- Everyman America in Bardic Symbols

You can guess what Walt Whitman's poems are going to be about before you even start to read them. So far, the poems that I have heard or read about by Walt Whitman are about self and there is usually also ties to religion too. I think that that would get boring after awhile, and I do not think that I could continue to right about the same things. Whitman has done pretty good at it though, and most of his writings are actually pretty good. This poem called Bardic Symbols is one that was still the same, but one that was very confusing. Whitman says in this story that he does not think that he will ever really know what society means or what this world means, which I think is weird, because he was always talking about things he knew and how he was so smarts. So, surely he has to know what this is too.

I think that when the poem talks about the ocean he is trying to represent his mom. He was showing family and love and self here. I also thought that what he meant by dirty twigs was children because as a child we are dirty and we do not have God in our lives yet, and we are not as important when we are young. Children roles have changed from the time that he wrote this till now. Children have more roles now- a- days, where in this time children were just to be seen and not heard as the saying says.

Another line that showed us a lot of symbols was when he talked about his father kissing him. I think what he was trying to show us here was religion. I think the father was God, the holy spirit, and he was touching him, not necessarily kissing him. I think that he was a big believer in God, and we could pick out a lot of religion details in this story. He had a lot of things that took on the personification of God, or the trinity all together.

Are You The Person Drawn To Me?- Whitman

I read the poem Are You the Person Drawn To Me by Walt Witman, and I thought it was a very interesting story. I really liked this poem because it was different then all of the different poems that I had read of Walt Witman's. I think I liked this poem, because it was one that I could break down and understand myself. Also, I think that I can relate to this poem, because I think as you read this you realize that he is talking about what people think of you and wondering if you ever meet people's expectations for you.

ARE you the new person drawn toward me?
To begin with take warning, I am surely far different from what
you suppose;
Do you suppose you will find in me your ideal?
Do you think it so easy to have me become your lover?
Do you think the friendship of me would be unalloy'd satisfaction?
Do you think I am trusty and faithful?
Do you see no further than this façade, this smooth and tolerant
manner of me?
Do you suppose yourself advancing on real ground toward a real
heroic man?
Have you no thought O dreamer that it may be all maya, illusion?

Are Your The Person Drawn To Me is a poem about how Whitman was questioning someone and asking them if he was really what they thought he was. I think he was wanting to know if that person that he was writing this poem to really thought that he was who they wanted him to be. I really like what Whitman was trying to say here, because we always wonder what people are thinking of us, and we of course wonder if what we are is good enough for them or if we reach their expectations. I think that this is also showing us an example of self, which is what Whitman is always writing about. He is wondering about his self and wondering if what he is is good enough to that people, or at least what those people are expecting from him. "To begin with take warning, I am surely far different from what you suppose;: (Whitman). I think that this statement that starts of this poem really says a lot, because he is stating that he can not really believe that what he is inside and out is really the self that the people he is delivering this to are expecting. I think I could relate this to something that might be about a love relationship. I think this might be something that someone would say that is not expecting to be in any kind of relationships. He can not believe that the way he is is really going to be good enough for anyone. Because then he later says "Do you think it so easy to have me become your lover?" (Whitman). He therefore thinking that it will not be easy for a guy like him to fall in love.

Whitman had good points in every line. Each one of those lines we think of at some point in our lives. I think we all want to be the close to perfect image for other people's opinions, and we always want others to like us.

Whitman, Walt. "ARE YOU THE NEW PERSON DRAWN TOWARD ME? (Leaves of Grass [1891-1892])." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. .