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11/7/12 – Poem Recitation

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On Wednesday, our class continued the poem recitations. On Monday, I missed class so I was curious about how the process worked. I didn’t even realize the purpose of having Shumaila go right after Christian because both poems were “snapshots”. While both poems might have been snapshot poems, they both had a different feel to it. Shumaila’s poem was more satirical and it was evident on her final performance when she pretended to have fun with the poem. The first few times, I was confused about the real meaning behind the poem but after Shumaila changed up her performance, I clearly understood. That’s when I realized that the words of a poem are meaningless unless some sort of performance is put behind it. A sad poem would never be sad if the narrator was hyper and excited.

After listening to all five of the performances done this wednesday, I realized that all revolved around New York and that in the eyes of many poets, the astounding nature of New York is root for inspiration. And many poems just liked to feed out of simply visually viewing New York such as in the case of Andrew’s poem which was simply about the day to day activities that happen on the Staten Island Ferry. His poem brought back memories of “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” by Walt Whitman. It shows that as vibrant as the city can be, the behavior and dynamic of the residents and tourists has always been the same and will continue to be the same. One of my favorite performances of Wednesday was Andrew’s because he wrote his own poem and his poem tied very nicely with the theme of the other two poems he had to recite.

I was able to learn something by observing the performances of those who presented this Wednesday. In order to properly recite the poem, we would have to interpret the poem and feel the meaning. It might not be exactly what the poet is trying to bring across but as long as we can support it, it will be a convincing performance. Hopefully, I can do the same this Monday.

November 5, 2012 James Baldassano

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James Baldassano, 11/5/2012

In today’s seminar, we had poem recitals. Poetry is a way of expressing emotions to some people, a way of self-representation in words. It is similar to the way I like to express myself through writing and performing music. It can tell a story, express an opinion, and above all, it can make people think. Poetry, in addition to expressing emotion, inflicts emotion and radiates it upon its listeners and readers. It can augment a feeling of happiness, sadness, loneliness, or even anger. These are all feelings I saw in our seminar session. Each person had their own style, and their own way of getting their poem across.

I was especially impressed by Amber’s performance, where she actually became a part of the poem. It was apparent she had practiced, for each step coordinated with each line. Her vocal tone coordinated with her movements. For example, where the poem needed a little sass, she gave it it. I am yet to present my poem, but when I do, my poem requires a lot of expression, so I will learn from Amber’s performance and incorporate it into my own. My poem requires a sort of sarcastic tone, with a little edge, and remorseful.

All in all, our poems have all had something individual and interesting. I hope to keep the tradition of good performances up when I go!

11/5/12

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Although there was not enough time for me to recite my poem today, I really enjoyed seminar class anyway; since my other classes are math and science based, I  did not have a chance previously to see the performing side of my classmates.  Everyone did an incredible job and exuded confidence during their performances.  I particularly liked Amber’s poem.  The sound effects made her sound professional, and she really took on the attitudes of the characters in her poem.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the discussions that came along with the readings.  The discussion about Marilyn Monroe made me think of all the other media-based misconceptions we have.  Newspapers and magazines often run on reader’s gullibility; the photos of models are often products of photoshop, yet readers believe that pretty people should look that way.  Similarly, people believed that Marilyn Monroe was a sex-symbol, even if that was not really who she was.  We should be aware of this problem and not allow ourselves to be blinded by media propaganda!

November 5, 2012

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On Monday in Seminar, we started our poetry recitations. We each had to give the class a brief background on the poet, read our poem, and share our own interpretation and thoughts. I volunteered to go first. While I have previous experience in public speaking, the one thing that always gets me is speaking in front of my peers and friends.

The name of my poem was To Brooklyn Bridge by Hart Crane. The poem, in brief, detailed the various aspects of Manhattan near the Brooklyn Bridge. This included the mobs of people on the ferry, the businessmen on the streets, the exchange down on Wall Street, and finally the Brooklyn Bridge itself. Crane was a big Walt Whitman fan and, from the text and imagery that he uses, it can be discerned that he was trying to pay tribute to Whitman’s style.

Of all of the readings on Monday, the poem that stood out the most to me was Amber’s interpretation of February Evening in New York. Amber went up to the front of the room with her Mac and played a track of street sounds in New York City from YouTube. This greatly contributed to her recital’s ambiance. Her reading was absolutely fantastic!! The attitude and emotion that Amber added to the piece made the words jump off the page. Since Amber is so soft spoken, to hear her perform like that was amazing! Great job Amber!

The final poem and probably, by far, the most controversial of the day was Ariana’s reading of Love and Marilyn Monroe (after Spillane) by Delmore Schwartz. The poem describes Marilyn Monroe and her supposed “promiscuity” and “sexuality.” As Professor Kahan explained, Monroe’s public reputation was attributed to Zeitgeist, the culture of the time period. Back in the time when Monroe was an actress, women were not allowed to be open about sexuality. They were expected to be “family” oriented. If a lady was open to discussing these taboo topics, she was automatically labeled a “slut” or “promiscuous.” Today, however, that stereotype has faded away. A perfect example is the big stink that was made several months ago over the Fifty Shades of Grey series. In Monroe’s time, the author of the series would have most definitely been labeled a “whore” for her writing, regardless of her actual behavior. After doing some personal background reading on Monroe, there is no evidence to suggest that she was “promiscuous” or anything of the sort. Instead, she was open about her sexuality.

October 24th, 2012 James Baldassano

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James Baldassano, October 24th 2012

In today’s seminar session, we discussed a few things. We started out by taking a look at works of literature from the 1800s, such as Jane Eyre. It was a novel by Charlotte Bronte, about a female character going through her life. I had never actually read it, but after a quick overview, it seemed like it would be an enthralling experience to do so.

But what interested me most was when we received our poems. I received a poem entitled “Ing Grish” by an asian poet named John Yau. At first glance, it appeared to be nothing but a bunch of jibberish conglomerated into stanzas. With words such as ‘jigaboo’ and “dungaree” and ‘Scumglish’ it seemed hardly to be doing the English language any justice. After reading it a little, however, and divulging myself into the poem, I had come across a whole new meaning to it.

To me, it was a poem about the poet and his life style in America. He grew up as a typical American child, but did not consider himself an expert in his asian heritage. He sarcastically mocks the ignorant way we view asian culture, as we do when we make fun of how they speak with accents. However, at the end, he states his mother’s discontent with how he never bothered to learn the Chinese language. In his line “”I do not know Chinese…. and that was one of the greatest sorrows of her life, the other being the birth of my brother”, I feel he finishes a serious line with a somewhat light hearted line.

All in all, I look forward to performing this poem in class, hopefully sooner rather than later!

10/24/12 – Swathi Satty

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Today in seminar, we looked at the 19th century and a lot of the literature and music spoke about disassociation from land and a sense of nationalism because of the newly developed Bourgeoisie. This forced people to have to leave their habitat and go into the city to find work. With the rise of the Bourgeoisie, comes a much better standard of living. So there was more time to read books and enjoy music. People also started to question their purpose in live; the beginning of the concern of individualism. This is past the period of the enlightenment but people didn’t question the supremacy of the church but their role in society.

During this time, Mary Shelley came out with Frankenstein and the Grimm brothers who wrote the Grimm tales which shows the dark side that people can play in society. Towards the end of the century, is a new revolution, right after the civil war in U.S. People would earn their money in urban societies which places the stresses of capitalism on people’s shoulders. Victor Hugo wrote hunchback of Notre Dame during the end of the 19th century. This is the beginning of the movement towards realism which is shown in Henry James’s Washington Square. Walt Whitman uses realism and gives the readers his own unique perspective.  Crossing Brooklyn Ferry is an example of how Whitman uses this method when he takes something as common as traveling on the ferry and relates it to the future generation. Using his observations, he concludes that the future is not going to be much different than present day.

The emancipation of slavery shifts everything even more towards an urban lifestyle; slaves migrate towards the cities. Whitman elevates the glory of urban lifestyle in his poetry while showing the beauty of the farm side. His image is patriotic but through the perspective of a working class member in regards to both farm and industrial work.

In Crossing Brooklyn Ferry Whitman often uses different perspectives by personally connecting to the people in the ferry but then looking at people as a whole (looking into the clouds) which also shows his use of mixing realism with his own perspective. He uses repetition to tie the man made and nature made images that he sees to say that what is physically present at the time will be ever lasting because generations after will see and experience the same images. His use of repetition provides comfort and relates to the rhythm of the boat which rocks back and forth. As the boat keeps moving, life continues to keep the same rhythm in which even if generations pass, people will board on and off the boat. This shows that not much is going to change in the future.

Walt Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” – Swathi Satty

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While reading Walt Whitman’s Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”, I immediately noticed the use of repetition and realized that it was used to constantly bring the reader’s focus back onto the point he is making. Basically, Whitman says that even if each individual has his/her own experiences, we can all relate on the fact that we still share the same land, making us no different than our neighbor. He admits his curiosity and and unfamiliarity with the different sorts of people that enter Manhattan and Brooklyn but then realize that all of them are standing under the same sun and under the same seagulls that were “high in the air floating with motionless wings, oscillating their bodies.”(Stanza 3). Such lines have been repeated throughout the poem, almost to pull him back to the reality of the situation which is that even if his personal life may be different than the culture and lifestyles of so many others, they still function the same as human beings. An example is shown when Waltman writes through the narrator “lived the same life with the rest, the same laughing, gnawing, sleeping.” (Stanza 6)

His observations made them question what real line is drawn between people that makes them believe that they aren’t compatible or approving of someone else because in many ways, we still see the same things and have the same reactions: when we think something’s funny, we laugh. When we find something upsetting, we frown. And he realizes that New York is a huge melting pot and he realizes just how much he respects New York for being such a great blender of different people. Coming to the realization that we are all the same in such a big city as New York, made the narrator fall in love with the city and embrace it for the unity that it brings and will continue to bring, as the narrator feels not much will change in the future in terms of how we resemble each other.

The gender of the narrator is not specified but perhaps that was Whitman’s way of saying that gender doesn’t make much of a difference because all people still experience similar situations in such a vibrant city. The use of the Brooklyn Ferry is that it allows the narrator to look at people from all different backgrounds. Tourists and residents use the ferry to get around so the narrator is fully able to observe different cultures yet see how the tourists behave the same as he/does.

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

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In yesterday’s class, we were given a poem by Walt Whitman entitled Crossing Brooklyn Ferry. This poem has a very a deep and profound meaning, although it is not explicitly stated. Upon reading the poem and closely analyzing it however, I could understand exactly what Whitman was trying to convey. Everyone in the world is connected. If we think about riding the Staten Island Ferry, certain mental images come to mind. We usually don’t know anyone on the ferry, but we all see the same things: the Statue of Liberty, the ships sailing, and that unforgettable view of the Manhattan skyline at night. As we gaze at these icons, we never stop to think that everyone else on that same ferry is looking at the same things and probably thinking the same things we are. No matter what languages they may speak or what they may look like, we are all connected by our thoughts and what we see, and as Whitman said, “What is it then between us?” (Stanza 5). The world really doesn’t seem so big and abstract when we think of the fact that everyone else in the world really isn’t so different than us. People hundreds of years ago have once stood in our place thinking about the same things we have. This gives me a sense of comfort that everyone is connected somehow, even if we do not always realize it.

October 23rd, 2012 James Baldassano

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10/23/12 James Baldassano

For today’s blog post, instead of posting about the class, we were asked to analyze the famous poem, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”. It was a long poem, but it had a lot to offer in both symbolic terms, as well as beautiful poetry. It is essentially about a man on the ferry, coming home from work. Simple enough, right? It talks about the people he sees, how they amuse him, and wondering what they are thinking about.

As the poem progresses into its further stanzas, a deeper more philosophical meaning becomes unveiled. He starts speaking about a more general crowd of people around him, of people that will be taking this ferry in the next 50 or 100 years. Eventually, he makes his way to his relation to all  them, to every person in the world. “Just as any of you have been part of a living crowd, I too have been part of a crowd.” or “I too lived, Brooklyn of ample hills was mine, I too walk’d the streets of Manhattan…” are both lines that exemplify his thoughts that all humans are connected, intertwined by some degree of destiny that links the life of one to every other. All these ordinary things he has done, are done by an extreme amount of people today (the poem’s view of ‘today’), and will be done by millions after. It is an experience shared by him that connects him to every other ordinary person who has ever existed. But it also gives a sense of individualism, for although he has this invisible bond with all these people, he is his own person, whom has intimate, personal thoughts.

I find this poem rather interesting, for it discusses a curious part of the human race. Although it was written a while back, its principle still applies to many today. Our thoughts, our actions, our lives, are all things that are curiously interlace with one another’s.

Wednesday, October 17th 2012 James Baldassano

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Wednesday, October 17th, 2012 James Baldassano

In today’s seminar class, we had another one of our privileged opportunities to see a professional production in the city. Instead of an opera, however, this time we got to see a broadway productions of “The Heiress”, which is basically a version of “Washington Square”.

The actual production was very interesting. Being that I have attended many broadway shows, I knew what to expect, and that was excellence. I liked the way that they portrayed the characters with exaggerated characteristics, such as the dullness of Catherine Sloper, or the romantic side of Aunt Penniman, or perhaps even the bluntness of Austin when speaking of Catherine. Another factor that I enjoyed was the comedy thrown into the play. It wasn’t enough comedy to take over the story line and say that the plot was meant to be funny, but it was enough silly little jokes, and side gags to leave the audience satisfied.

What really got my attention was the twist ending, which differed from the book. When Catherine led on Morris after he returned, only to return the favor to him, it was a much more satisfying ending, with a case of poetic justice. Morris got was was coming to him rather than as in the book, in which case Catherine is no more than a hollow shell that does nothing other than deny Morris. This ending was more emotionally satisfying to me.

All in all, I much prefer to see the Broadway production, or any live production, than read the book, for reasons other than laziness. They allow me to visualize what is happening and how things are meant to look, and usually it is easy to infer what is going on in a characters mind based on his/her movements or actions.