Timrod

As I read The Cotton Boll by Henry Timrod, a few things jumped out at me right away. One of the first things was his description of the senses, such as sight and sound. The second aspect of Timrod’s writing that I noticed, which goes hand in hand with the sensory descriptions, is his repetitive account of his surroundings. I find the first few stanzas to be very beautiful and full. He really gave me a first hand explanation of his natural surroundings, but it got very old half way through. He couldn’t simply speak of the winds or a place; he had to make it more convoluted than it needed to be. If this was done for rhyme or to meet the beat, then it was a must, but it took away from the internal meaning in my opinion.
Even though the writing started to become monotone, I tried to focus on his underlying tone and what he was trying to say. His persistent sensory vocabulary drew me in throughout the poem and I was able to draw some of his feelings out of them. He mentions sound and sight at least ten times throughout the poem. He literally uses the words sight and sound two or three times on one page. When mentioning sound he uses descriptive words such as “mystic”. When discussing sight he says, “the landscape broadens on my sight…to the remotest point of sight…” He also alludes to a veil and how it was lifted in order for him to see the big picture of the war and slavery. Although he uses both of these senses to address the slavery issue he appears seemingly unconcerned. He never really chose a side (North or South) through the poem. Relating this issue to a cotton boll and an ocean shell have double meanings and may even be too delicate to describe the situation. The cotton boll is brought up in a morose tone and seems almost condescending. Near the end of the poem he says, “Oh, help us, Lord! To roll the crimson flood back on its course, and, while our banners wing Northward, strike with us!” This sentence seems so propaganda like and eventually turned me off from the poem.

Black or White

The story of Benito Cereno is at times very vague. Clearly the question of race is at hand throughout most of the story; it is the underlying tone that sets the stage for the meat of the novella as well as the ending. The ambiguity throughout the novel could partly be due to the fact that it is hard to tell the difference between Melville’s views and Delano’s. I felt as if Melville almost put words into Delano’s mouth near the end of the story. Even if Delano didn’t say them it was as if his thoughts have shifted and wavered throughout the drama.
It was easy to see through some of Delano’s quotes in the novella that he greatly underestimated the black culture. It was unbelievable to him that a black could be superior to a white. It was interesting to see how he couldn’t get himself to notice and piece together these mishaps that occurred on the Cereno’s vessel. For example, the black passenger hitting the other white passenger; although Delano is startled, he immediately deems himself stupid for thinking anything sour with the situation. Almost every time he saw a mishap involving crew members, one was black and one was white. And almost every time the black slave was over powering the white crew member. Near the end of the story Delano is discussing how he cannot believe that they were duped by the black slaves and will have to respect them more in the future.
I also think the relationship that Babo and Delano had was curious. Although they didn’t have too much dialogue I feel as if Delano was entranced by Babo and that he was in fact “following his leader”, who just happened to be a slave without even knowing it. The same thing could be thought of when thinking of Cereno and his passing. Was he following his past captain or did he follow his black slave that turned out to control him for the last months of his life.

Lack of Love

It was interesting how much the narrator in The Raven paralleled the life of Edgar Allan Poe. Two of the main themes throughout the poem are loneliness and isolation as well as lost love. The alienation the narrator is experiencing seems to jump through the page at the reader. While reading Poe’s biography I learned that he had married his significantly younger cousin Virginia and that she suffered and eventually died after living a life of ailing illnesses. This left Poe a broken man and leads right into the loneliness and depression that he may have felt. The narrator in The Raven has also lost a lover and is hanging onto life by the edge of his teeth. At first it seems as if the raven in the poem may have been sent from angles to save him from his despair, but later the narrator changes his mind and is convinced that the bird is from a darker side only there to remind him of the love that he has lost and will never regain.
One of the passages that I took a closer look at in regards to the lonely and lost feeling that the narrator is experiencing concerning Lenore states,
“Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow. From my books surcease of sorrow-sorrow for the lost Lenore-For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore- Nameless here for evermore.”
This passage is important because it really shows the angst he is feeling and it also portrays a man desperate to fill the void that his lover has left him here on Earth. It is fascinating how the narrator seems to refer to Lenore as leaving him. It makes me think that he is almost mad that she left or that she is dead and in heaven with the angels. This parallels Poe’s life after Virginia passed away.
Another passage in the poem the narrator, again, refers to people leaving him and the assumption that the raven will also fly away soon. For example he says “other friends have flown before on the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.” This great feeling of solitude and lack of love in the narrator’s life may welcome the solidarity of life or he may be secretly happy to have the raven stay on his doorstep to for evermore remind him of the agony of losing Lenore.

"The Group" of Will Power

While reading, The Group written by Mercy Otis Warren, it made me think about my own attitude towards bravery, power, and will. Another subject that I thought was interesting was the discussion on having a guilty conscience. These themes seemed to hold a strong undertone throughout the document. I started to think about these themes and how they related to me and what my general thoughts were on bravery, power, and will. There were a few examples in the text that I studied closer to see if I agreed with what the character was saying.
The first passage that caught my eye was when Simple was discussing people that were brave. He said, “I fear the brave, the injured multitude, repeated wrongs, arouse them to resent…resolved to die or see their country free.” I thought this was a great passage, perhaps a speech to give before a big game or before battle. I agree with Simple that the brave are the ones to be most scared of, they may not be the biggest or meanest, but the more fuel you give them, the more fire you will get in return.
After I read about being brave I moved onto power and will. This was mentioned by Hateall when he was responding to Halzerod about feeling no remorse for killing their opposition. He said, “Nor I – But had I power, as I have the Will I’d send them murmuring to the shades of hell.” Although this is a very brutal passage and is clearly being satirized by Otis Warren, the words have such great force. This passage is such a parallel to athletics. Day in and day out people train to become the strongest, fittest, and fastest, but only the ones who are mentally strong and have to strongest will can emit their greatest powers at all times.
The last passage I found intriguing was near the beginning of the play when Halzerod and Crusty are discussing having a guilty conscience. I found it interesting that Halzerod tells Crusty he has resolved himself of ever having a guilty conscious and Crusty replies eagerly wanting to know how to get rid of the “guilty” feeling. I don’t agree with Halzerod that one can wish away their morbid feelings; rather a person must stop doing the act that is making them feel guilty.