I really thoroughly enjoyed the poems we had to read for today’s class. In particular, Joshua Clover’s Year Zero and W.H. Auden’s September 1, 1939 were my favorites. I feel that two poems parallel with one another in that they both discuss the flaws present in human nature—even though they were written in different time periods—mainly the way humans are cruel to one another as the world continues to evolve. Year Zero really struck home for me because the idea of losing freedom in a rapidly industrializing world is something that exists currently and will continue to only get worse as time goes on. As a poet, the idea of losing your voice in a world where artificial technology is king is frightening. I believe it is a writer’s job to alert the world to issues that plague society and ultimately rob the individual of his or her creativity and ultimately, identity. Although Auden’s poem is a reflection on Hitler’s invasion of Poland, its theme can be applied to virtually any period in history. As long as man has existed, he has been selfish and concerned with his own personal gain while ignoring the needs of others.

On another note, I’m really excited that we will be able to hear Nathaniel Mackey read next Tuesday! It’s even more exciting that he will be coming to our class to share insight about his work and hopefully, his experience as a poet. I’m really eager to learn about his process for creating work and where he finds inspiration for his work.

I would just like to comment on a few random things pertaining to the class. First, one style of poetry that I find really intriguing is taking another author's work and removing most of the words in order to change the meaning of the poem. I feel like this would be a fun exercise and could result in some unexpected thoughts. One thing I didn't really like about the examples that we saw was that there seemed to be too much omission for my taste, removing all but a few words from a fourteen-line poem. The second comment I would like to make is that I am really looking forward to Nathaniel Mackey coming to visit. I am really impressed with his diction, but I would like to hear what he has to say about his work because, as of now, it seems convoluted to me, almost unnecessarily vague. I think I read his poems well over a dozen times and was still only able to glean pieces of coherent thought. Also, one of my friends attends UC Santa Cruz, so I find myself wondering what Mr. Mackey would be like as a poetry teacher. It seems like he could have some very useful advice for our class of future poets. Overall, I am looking forward to the next few class periods.

I got a chance to work the Shakespeare performance on Friday night, and I have got to say it was awesome. Though I have seen "Romeo and Juliet" before a few times, I thought it was a wonderful rendition! There was a modern twist to it, with some contemporary songs as well. Though, like they told us in the workshop in class, they don't change the words at all, it is the expressions and interactions that they have changed for their performances. I also thought it was so interesting that the play was performed with lights on the audience. There were times when one of the actors actually came into the audience and sat next to me! They also seemed to be talking to us, and this gave the play an interesting feel.
On another note, I am excited to hear that Mackey will be coming to SLU next week and especially that he will get the chance to come into our class. Things like the Shakespeare workshop and author talks are one of the awesome things that we get to take advantage of here. I think it will be really interesting to talk to Mackey and hear what he has to share not only about some of his poems/works specifically, but also the life of a writer! Working in groups today gave us a chance to share our ideas and think of some questions for him on Tuesday. I personally have some questions about his form and the way that he chooses to display his work, and also what prompts the topics that he chooses to write about. Should be interesting, looking forward to it!

I have been trying to write a lot on my own. Using different styles to see what feels comfortable and what I can create, such as journaling, emphasizing random words from other works, listening to different kinds of music, to see what inspires me the most. I've also been going back through all of our class work and workshops before because I have really found those to be inspiring and well written by everyone. When I first signed up for this class I thought it would be more free write and handing in individual works but it has become more than that. I am surprised in a way how much the class has already opened my eyes and really challenged me. I was naive to the fact that there were so many different writing styles and how lots of them take a great deal of time to truly master. I guess it would be safe to say that this class has really broadened my view on poetry and made me analyze it more as I read it, really think about it; all it's parts and not just the words that make up the poem.

Live Theater

Following along on the theme of our last class and the Shakespeare workshop, I was the most intrigued by the question period we had at the end. I too believe that the opportunity to view live theater will fade away soon if we do not do something about it. With technology improving every day, it is so easy to lack an appreciation for theater productions that occur right before our eyes. It seems much easier to stay in your house, in your pajamas, with whatever drinks and snacks you choose, and watch whatever show you feel like on the television. However, from experience, I know that the sensation one feels after leaving a great live performance is much different, and much deeper, than after watching a movie or t.v. show. It feels as if you were actually a part of the production, and had an impact on how it turned out. This also brings up another point. That is, how although each night’s performance is from the same script, every show will turn out differently. This is unique to theatre, as a movie will be the same each time you watch it. These are some of the reasons why, as a community, we must support these types of productions when we are given the opportunity. Also, as actors or playwrights, these performances are great ones to be a part of and can be used to share one’s talents to others.

A little on language and poetry

I, like many other people in last week’s class, was very uninterested in “interacting” with the text. However, shortly after we actually began to do exercises in iambic pentameter, I found it to be quite interesting. I feel that that class really showed us how much we had really learned about iambic pentameter. Its really interesting to me how so many poetry writing cultures can be so different yet so alike too. The fact that the French predominantly only counted syllables in poetry, and that in England (like in the time Beowulf was written) only stressed syllables were counted. This may mean that the functions and structure of a language may dictate the popular forms of poetry within nation or a culture. In China, much of the poetry makes use of tones, rhyme, and double meanings. Tones in Chinese can be separated into four distinct tones including a neutral one. The first tone is quite high, where the second is rising from high to low, the third is kind of a dip going from high to low to medium, and the fourth is kinda high but ends abruptly. These tones can be used in poetry to form a melodic sequence. The amount of words in Chinese that have the same pronunciation makes for a lot of rhyming words, so rhyming is less restrictive. Also, the characters may have double meanings as well as the same or different pronunciations. This makes some Chinese poetry full of double meanings, which really enriches the text.

Shakespeare and Dante

Like so many of my peers I found the last class’s visit from the American Shakespeare Touring group to be a lot of fun and very enlightening. I thought it was very interesting to hear about the different steps utilized by the actors in understanding and performing their lines. While, memorizing the lines and putting them in one’s own words seemed obvious to me, the breaking up of the line, paying attention to meter, punctuation, speed, volume, motivation, and even one’s own personal bias on how they interpret the line was very new to me. Ultimately, I found the activities to be a lot of fun and I certainly I hope I get the chance next year to see them perform. However, I truly found the end of the class with opportunity to ask the actors questions to be just as informative as the activity itself. Personally I had to agree with the actors in their fear of the decline of live theater and human to human interactions in entertainment. They’re point that human to human interactions in entertainment is not only special but a crucial piece of human history nature is valid, and I do believe that we need to as communities show for support for that type of art. On a final more personal note, I have finally starting working towards of one of my small literary goals of actually reading the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, and so far I have made pretty good head way in the Dante’s Inferno, what I was delighted to find however, was that *drum roll* Dante also uses iambic pentameter in his lines. So far I have really been enjoying the whole epic poem and for those in our class that are a part of my workshop group, I think it’s fair to say that a reference to one of Dante’s lines or his Inferno in general can be expected to appear in one of my poems for workshop.