Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Exploration Two from Collin

Hello there! My name is Collin Blevins and i'm a sophomore this year at The Ohio State University, and my major is in nursing. My fun fact was that i'm really interested in sharks (every kind). My favorite sport is baseball, and I've been playing the sport almost my entire life.I like to be adventurous as well! I'm open to everything that this world has to offer. I'm also a very big movie lover, and i'm usually the one that likes films that others don't! My favorite T.V. show is Hell On Wheels! (this show airs on AMC every Saturday at 9!)



That cake was great!


The author that I did research on was Tim Seibles. While doing research on this famous American poet, I came across a quote of his that really hit home when it comes to his beliefs about poetry. He said, “I think poetry, if it’s going to be really engaging and engaged, has to be able to come at the issues of our lives from all kinds of angles and all kids of ways: loudly and quietly, angrily and soothingly, with comedy and with dead seriousness. […] Our lives are worth every risk, every manner of approach.” After reading this quote, I thought about the many characteristics that writing should take in order for the right message to be sent to any kind of audience. In my mind, I feel that you're supposed to let each word that you write or speak have character as if it's a living being. Using emotion to give words personalities makes what we write and speak easier to understand. You can almost feel tension in the air when someone is voicing anger. We start to feel melancholy when someone's voice starts to crack mid-sentence because they're trying to suppress their sadness. I found this quote to be very interesting by Seibles because it clearly demonstrates just how driven he is as a man, and how willing he is to take risks when it comes to inserting emotion into poetry. I found these characteristics of Seibles to be very interesting and at the same time very impressive. (Below is the link that will take you to my source)
 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/tim-seibles


Out of all the poems that we read today, I thought Bury Me in a Free Land was the best. This poem was my favorite out of all of them because Frances E. W. Harper uses examples of tragedy and slavery to express the reasons why she won't be able to rest in peace if she is buried on land that is not freed when she passes away. She uses examples of being whipped and drinking her blood at each "fearful gash", blood-hounds feasting on human prey, and the bartering of young girls to other folk just because of their young charms. These examples of slavery are very powerful, and they serve as solid reasons as to why Harper wouldn't be able to fathom the idea of being buried in a land where men are slaves. Right after the first paragraph the language of the poem shifts in a way that makes you fearful of what a slave would've gone through at the time of slavery. She uses these examples of pain and suffering to her advantage when explaining why she doesn't want to be buried on land that is still infested with slavery. This poem is very powerful, and that's the reason why I enjoyed it so much. The language is very deep, and the imagery that she uses when explaining pain and suffering during slavery is impeccable. You almost feel like you are seeing it for yourself through her eyes.

In Bury Me in a Free Land, there were a bunch of powerful words that stood out to me. But the word that caught my attention the most was "gaze". This was my favorite word out of all the vocabulary that was used by Frances E. W. Harper. After looking up this word in the OED I found that the word itself dates back to the year 1542. Back in that time, the word 'gaze' was actually spelled with an 's' instead of a 'z'. So it would've appeared in old texts as 'gase'. The etymology of this word is understood as a verb in the English language. I also found that the origins of this word are unknown, so i found that to be really interesting!

My sample sentence: I couldn't help but gaze intently at the beauty of the Grand Canyon. 




4 comments:

  1. Your first paragraph had me questioning if you still play baseball often or if it was just a thing to do while growing up? I love movies as well, usually the ones that people do not normally like as well. So what's your favorite movie and what's your favorite type of movie? I love the way you're promoting your favorite TV show by the way, trying to keep it on the air I see.

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  2. I am also a big movie fan. In fact, when my friends and I go to the movies I'm usually the most excited about it. Also, I've never seen that tv show but everyone is telling me I need to watch it! I have to finish Breaking Bad first though.
    I think the poem you chose is very powerful. It really describes what slavery was like. The poem was hard to read...I cant imagine how it really was!

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  3. I like the way you described the poem Bury Me in a Free Land, and how you included quotes from the poem for others to see. I also read this poem and understand exactly what you were feeling! I also very much enjoy movies and netflix. I can sometimes sit and watch both for hours!

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  4. Hi Collin, I very much loved reading your take on Bury Me in a Free Land, you helped me better understand what some parts of the poem were actually talking about. I also think it's neat how open of a person you seem to be, very down to earth it seems like. I enjoyed reading your post.

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