Journal 77: Pressure From Parents

The conflict between Emily and her father was that he didn't allow her to be courted by men. Her father was preventing her from finding happiness. I believe that she doesn't like her father and possibly was the one who killed him. The horsewhip was the object that kept the suitors away and was there therefore a factor of Emily's unhappiness and mental illness. The relationship that I share with my parents is far from being the same as that of Emily and her father. However there are similarities but my parents are far less extreme. They warn me of having relationships, especially at my age, because they think we are under developed mentally for a relationship. However I have seen extreme parents like that of Emily. The kids would hide the fact that they like someone or is in a relationship to avoid beatings or serious punishment by the parents. I don't think that any parent would continue to hold their children back from marriage like Emily's father did, but some just have a harder time letting go. Emily acquired that form her father she is not willing to let go of anything. Therefore she holds on to her father's body and homer's when he left her.

Journal 76: White Lie

I think that lie are many times needed just for things to work smoothly and so that no conflicts occur. White lies are good when it is used properly. You have to sound sincere even though both you and the person you're telling the white lie to know that its no true. It is better to shield someone from the harmful truth than it is to expose them to it straight on. I think that white lies are only meant to cover up the truth for a little bit of time. The truth shouldn't always be kept away from the person, it should be let out little by little. By doing this it usually lessens the harm dealt by the truth. There shouldn't be a need for an other lie to cover up the white lie that was told. Doing this would just confuse the subject and make the situation worse than it is. If the person figures out that you are lying, you shouldn't try to cover it up but instead you should tell them the truth. I personally don't like to be lied to. However if someone is to lie to me I always try to find the reason why and if it for the purpose of protecting me then I wouldn't blame him. In the story we read the white lies told to Emily was too much and caused her to think that she was superior when all they waned was for her to live a easier life. To many lies lead to to much confusion and that leads to bad endings.

Journal 75: Shadow of the Past

Emily's past has greatly influenced her life. To start  her family's social class put her a step higher than everyone else in town and makes her feel revered and makes her think that she is better than everyone else. Her father refuses to give her away in marriage by scaring off suitors. When her father died she was left with only the family name but no name and a age too old for possible marriage. She cleans onto her father's dead body in refusal of letting him die because he deprived her of so much. The town found out that she was broke and gave her pity, and the Sheriff of the time even omitted her taxes. With all her past history Emily became a "cocky" aristocrat without the money who thought she was above the law. Then when Homer was going to leaver her she forced him to stay by killing him. No a days the story of Emily could be repeated without letting the murderer get away with the murder for so long. It is possible because people value their pride a lot and there are a lot of crazy people out there with dark pasts. You never know what kind of crazy person you're going to run into and what they would do if you insult their pride.

Journal 74: Poetry's Social Function

I think everyone should have poetry of one or another kind. Poetry doesn't just have to be a sonnet or a Haiku, it can poetry in a broader sense, more applicable to everyone. Owning one's own poetry and producing great writers is greatly influence society. Every year a writer's work makes an impact on the world. Authors such as J.K Rowling, Suzanne Collins, and J.R.R. Tolkien have influenced the world on a great scale with their books. The books that they have written give many people a place to go to, a fantasy land were they can be who and what they want without restrictions. Poetry is a short and more simple version of that and it too gives people a since of a better life to give hope. Everyone's own poetry reflects what they desire the most, love, riches, fame, or companionship. Without poetry and literature generation after generation would be out of ideas and without dreams to chase after. Without dreams they will run out of motivation and soon the world will fall apart with no one wanting to do anything. They will not speak to each other because they have nothing to talk about and soon language will disappear as we know it.

Journal 73: No Idea But In Things

Poems have changed greatly form what they originally were. No more strict rhyme scheme or limits on anything. To say the poetry is the freest form of liberal arts would not be far from true. The only other thing that is more free is going to be Art, with all its forms and methods.  Some may think that it is better to have restrictions on how poetry is written. I oppose that idea, literature should be free and especially poetry.Poems today are written about every thing. They are written about life, love, death, water, smells, textures, plain objects, knifes, cellphones, and anything that you can imagine, even unicorns. It is only due to the development of a free environment in writing poetry can new and interesting styles be created. Limitations an things are only necessary when the thing is harmful to others or the person who is performing it. Poetry is part of the freedom of speech it is only a way to express what the poet sees or feels. Therefore there should be no limit on what it is written about or how it is written.

Journal 72: War and Economics

AS stated in my previous post war and economic down falls have both caused great changes in our society. In our present times the economic down fall has lead to more changes than does war. As a matter of fact it is the economical down fall that is causing some of the wars and many of the rebellions. It is not a coincident that the economy crashed and people began to rebel against the government. The down falls only acted as a catalyst to what would inevitably happen. Like the last century we begin with wars and economical down falls, nothing new but nothing people want a revisit from. the economy is due to the lavish spends of people who don't actually have the money to spend and banks who loan money to those who are unable to pay them back. It just like lending a friends some money and not getting it back. Then you run out of money yourself and ask your friend for the money you lent him. Then he would tell you sorry i don't have it and you put it off by burrowing money form someone else then it just becomes a vicious cycle that never ends and by the end everyone is out of money. Other than those who are rich they may lose money but they are still rich.

Journal 71: Historical Influence

From the time line in the book and other online resources I would say that  i am most familiar with the sinking of the Titanic, the armory show, and World War 2. The events that are new to me would be the first radio broadcast and commercial television broadcast in america. I think wars were what shaped the modernist movement the most. Every Era there is a war or revolution of some kind that acts as a catalyst to boost the development and change in the arts. Wars traumatize the people and in those times a lot of people use different art forms to express their feelings which many times end up as a new movement. In regard to events around the world today, I think the rebellions in the middle east and the economic recession are going to be main factors to the change in the art if there are going to be any at all. Both of these events have been a great influence on the people and even more on those who are expressive and want their ideas to be heard. There is always a great historical event that ties in with major changes in art movements and sometimes it can be separate events happening in separate areas that result in the same or similar change/

Journal 70: Social Influence- Entertainment

I think the modern developments in entertainment has both benefited the viewers but also harmed the viewers. IT is always nice to have something entertaining to do or watch after a long day of work, studying, or parenting.  However entertainment has also put strange ideas into people's heads and also made people lazy and a bit dumb. Sometimes the things that we watch on TV are so surreal some people actually believe in it and go crazy. Then there's all the paparazzi entertainment which is seriously disrespectful to those being stalked but the viewers find it entertaining. Entertainment has altered our interests, everyone wants to be a super star, to be someone famous. The benefactor of entertainment is that it keeps people from being over come by stress. It makes people laugh and forget about their worries temporarily. Our society seems to revolve around entertainment. Get off work so that you can go home and sit curled up in a ball on the coach watching reality shows or soap operas. Entertainment use to be the thing that people listened to when there was nothing else to do or the weather was bad. Today entertainment is something we can't live without.

Journal 69: Make It New

I think new art means art that is innovating, having new techniques, and having new views and goals. Every time in history when a new art movement is created new ways of making art is discovered. It use to be all about painting and carving. Then came molding and drawing. Then photography, video, etc. There are endless new forms of art. Finding a joyous way of making art is also what changes art.  Sometimes old art gets boring and artists try to find new ways of making art to keep it fresh and entertaining to themselves. That is why art constantly breaks away from tradition. The artist try to find new ways of creating art to entertain themselves. Making new things is always fun and only by making it fun will people continue to do it. "make it new, art is a joyous thing." Ezra Pound is giving excellent advice. If something is kept the same it gets boring and art is something that keeps hanging. Therefore make it new and because change bring about new excitment art is a joyous thing.

Journal 68: What's His Problem?

Prufrock's poem gives us the readers a pretty interesting stream of thought that he had going through his mind. There seems to be a problem bothering him, a problem related to time and age. I think that his problem is the acceptance of change. The change of the era and the change from realism to modernism. He continuously questions himself if he should change his old ways, adapt to new ones for create a completely original one. Just like how the modernists were challenging old ideals and coming up with new ones to replace the old ones. His problem is he's worry of change and his reluctance for change. He like his life just the way it is, yet he finds it boring. He wants to leave but is afraid that the new life wouldn't suit him. What if the new life is worse than the one he has now? He's not worried about material things he is worried about his ways. Women are something in his life that he sees as unimportant and maybe a hint of cocky. In return he is afraid that the women laugh at him, at his bald spot. He seems to be quite troubled by the up coming change and is worrying about whether he should change or stay the same.

Journal 67: The American Dream

The American dream ,what people move to america for, the dream that everyone who works hard will get some where. Streets are paved with gold, opportunities everywhere. The dream changed through the ages though. After the civil war Americans became more realistic. Opportunities weren't everywhere anymore its something that is hard to get and with the economy down life was hard. Then by the end of World War I the american dream was shattered. Then came the modernist movement. It was completely detached from the old ideals, they rejected them. The movement searched for new ideals continuously. The old american dream has been altered and changed to fit everyone, and not one person has the same dream. The arts and literature changed too, no more high class everything. Back to the basics, art more symbolic and simple. Literature is written in common language not old English. Dreams change and ideals change but in the end america is a big mixing pot so there would be many different dreams too. Today dreams don't have to result in success (success is also valued differently among people). A lot of the times the dream is to just do what you like.

Journal 66: Better Things?

Today we have all sorts of new technology being developed everyday. Some are developed to support the "green" and others are created just because it is possible and can earn the creators a large amount of money. We might be developing more and faster but has anyone thought about the after math of all the resources being wasted? Yes. Global warming is a sign of the modern society wasting recourse to develop new technology. We many end up in a world were we can no longer use the technology we created because of natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes. WE may be developing but not in a right way. Even those who are supporting the idea of being green are still using products that harm our environment. It not all just about the environment thought. Military tension between countries grow higher each year. Why? Because each countries develops more and more military technology and each see another as a threat. Demonstration like the North Korean rocket lunch shows off their technology but also increases the tension. Technology is great but it can also be the worst thing ever. War is due to technology and so is global warming.

Journal 65: You've Come A Long Way, Baby

Back in the 1890 women didn't have a lot of rights. No voting and hardly any job offerings because women were lower than men. However everything has changed in present times. Women now a days can vote, work, and do what ever a man can do. Excluding the countries where religion is what is stopping women from being equal to men. Women are many times even more hard working and more respected. Take Opera as an example. She is a majorly successful women in present times. If she was to be sent back to 1890s she would be completely different. Lose all her fame and adding the fact that she is African America her whole life would be different. No more TV shows (even if they were available), and she would probably be treated badly. Women back in the 1890s depended on their husbands to feed them and to provide for them. Many wives today can depend on their husbands for everything but many choose not to.  They choose to take jobs and work for the money that they will be spending. I believe that soon women will be dominating the world and not men. Men will be the ones staying home and men will depend on the women for money.

Journal 64: A Reprieve

Life as a student is as boring as boring gets most of the time. Escapes are hardly available to students and we usually seek escape in games, television, music, chatter, and dreaming. Dreaming is probably the best escape a student can have. However many times these dreams become night mares. More homework and more boring hours of class, it seems never ending. We all know that in the end it is suppose to pay off but most of us don't seems to care or realize.
I always try to find a way of escaping the pressure but the escapes are always only temporary. Everyday I come home from school I sit in front of the television or computer and just stare at it. My mind is blank and I try to avoid any temptation of entertainment, because I know the sooner I get rid of my home work the earlier I  get to escape into my dreams. I may not remember what happened in the dreams but I know that that is the only time of day that I am completely relaxed. I wake but only wanting to go back to sleep. Dreams are such a good way of escaping daily pressures.

Journal 63: Impulse

Impulsive actions, something I use to do all the time and more than seventy percent of the time resulting in a bad situation. Impulsive actions, by definition, are actions that do not get mentally processed before being performed. However that is not true. You do think about your impulsive actions however the force that makes you perform the action over powers your brain. I have gotten into arguments and fights with friends over the most idiotic things. Why? Because they were impulsive. I knew what the actions would result to but I did seem to care. I went with it and started to scream at my friend. He was caught off guard and had no idea what was going on. I am pretty sure that he thought I was crazy. We ended up not speaking for over two months. We could hardly survive a day in school without talking before. Now I have learned from that I think before every action I take but there are still times when the impulse to do something over powers my mental will of going against it.

Journal 62: Romantics v Realists

The Romantics focus on what is in there minds, what is the most ideal of situations and some the least ideal. The Romantics are like the extremists taking things over the edge and outside of the box compared when compared to the Realists. The Realists are very much observers of the society. They write what they see and present it realistically, as the name suggests. Romantics loved nature and viewed it as a powerful and beautiful things. The Realists later on Naturalists viewed nature as something powerful as well. However they find it to be something that isn't always beautiful. They both serve different purposes in literature. Romantics conveyed the feelings with in and always had a happy ending, sometimes with a moral. Realists simply describe life and present to the people. They like to so the differences in social classes and also the effects of war. They like to show how events change people and how people react to things. In all the realists stories that we have read I noticed a pattern of third person limited narrators. Maybe because they want to better present the surroundings and events while showing one particular person's thoughts.

Journal 61: Mystery of Heroism

I think the mystery lies in how the people become heroes, the process of how an ordinary man becomes a hero. In this story Fred is not a bright man. He is pretty much forced into his heroic acts by his fellow soldiers. He may have wanted the water but he didn't really want to run into the middle of the battle to fetch it. However due to the teasing of his "friends" he storms off to fetch it, only just to prove to them that he can do it. This made him a hero. It wasn't because he saved someone's live it was because he act on the teasing of others. Heroes aren't always what he expect them to be and many times the process that makes them a hero is even more peculiar. I myself am sometimes "forced" into situation which are not always heroic. Pear pressure can cause people to do things they never though of doing before. Many times the motivation is unclear at first and is only found after the event is over. However if the motivation is clear then the action that I am doing is 100% clear and I know exactly what I am doing. I usually act under my own motivations and 100% clear because i don't like to be manipulated by others.

Entry 60: Think About...

The Civil War began and this caused the writers and artist to think in a new way. Away from the Romantic ideals and into Realism's facts. They begin to change their view points of life. Moving away from all the nature and into the cold industrial cities. Realism was basically what the title suggest, being real, facing the truth of the world and no longer wondering about perfection. Everything was more in touch with reality and many were reflection of the current society. Realists were in tuned with the urban life and away form nature.
On the other hand Naturalists were the ones wanting more nature. Nature was all mighty, nature was the great thing ever! The two groups don't really focus on the the same things. The Naturalists still go on on ideas like those the Romantics had. The Realists were facing the truth while the Naturalists were trying to make what thy believe the truth.

Journal 59: A Change of Heart

Romantics Liked things to be ideal, and they believed that idealistic people and things were possible to have. They loved nature and believed that there was a loving God who only did things to help them in life. However the Realists, as the name suggests, are completely the opposite of the Romantics. They believe in what is real and not ideal and superficial things. They don't show nature in their art or writing instead they show factories and urban cities. After the Civil War in America I think the people thought more about bring the union as one and making sure that the country wouldn't split again. The Civil War was a traumatizing event for America, one war with the most American deaths. Also having industrialization happening around the world, the Americans got even farther away from nature. They move into city apartment buildings to be able to stay closer to work. The mind set has greatly changed from being a natures child into one of the industrial age. No more farming in the North only factory lines. In the South farm are still main source of job but even they are trying to change into urban cities. No more idealization they have decided to face the truth and be "real" with life.

Journal 58: I Exist

I think that Stephen Crane was trying to say the war made america fall apart and is no longer that it sue to be, one nation. He is trying to say no matter how ever much a man thinking of his own importance, the world as a whole (the universe0 doesn't care much about his existence. Just because someone says they exist and thinks that they are important doesn't mean he is recognized by the rest of society.  Even if he is widely recognized in his own country he may not be so in the rest of the world.
Humans compared to the universe as a whole is way too small. The universe is so vast and us humans are only a small part of it. Of course the universe wouldn't care if we exist or not it maybe not even notice we exist. WE are so small. The world we live in may care because we populate it and use up its resources. It seems pretty arrogant for a man to tell the universe to notice him and to make himself sound all important.

Journal 57: Free Write

Junior life isn't as easy as I thought it would be. It turns out even as a art student I have a lot of nonoperational work to do and same times it exceeds the work load of others. At the beginning of the year it seemed as if life was going to be easy even with all the classes they seemed like easy classes.

Pressure began to catch up to me as the year progressed. SAT, college apps, and my portfolio. Watching the seniors of this year and the past I soon realized that I had a lot of work to be done before I was ready to submit my portfolio. Times is running out and I didn't realize until recently. As the AP 3D class's portfolio submission date draws near, time is running out. As more time runs out the more I realize how hard I have to work to achieve my goals.

I am working to achieve my own goals and not that of others. They may overlap but I am doing it to please other I am doing it for my own good. I don't want my life to be controlled and monitored by others I only want them there to support me in my own action, my own life.

Journal 56: Power

In the Hand Maid's Tale the Commanders have most of the power and power to govern and corrupt the system. Everyone is given a title and each title represents a position in the social structure and how much power over other they have.
Like out own society the system in The Hand Maid's Tale is split into social classes, sexes, occupations, and etc. It is a long and complex system of power. The Commanders secure power through manipulation and many countries today have leaders who are corrupt and who manipulate the system to gain what they want.
In my own life power is delegated by age and experience. Therefore adults are always more superior than anyone else. We are respect them and expect respect from them. Same goes with experience if someone is more experience at a certain task than you are you allow them to take charge and lead you through the processes. Power is a difficult thing to grasp and corruption happens all the time in every form of power. It can be just a small group of friends and corruption can exist.

Journal 55: Public Speaking

The fear of public speaking has always been a major flaw of mine. During presentations I would freeze up form time to time in fear of making a error that would make me a joke. More recently I have over came most of my fears for public speaking. However when in large crowds, especially ones with manly strangers, I choke ad sweet in fear. Both making a speech and reciting a poem can be difficult for me. Yet if I was to choose one or the other reciting a poem would be much easier for me. Simply because they are usually shorter. Many times when I write a speech it sound perfectly fine in my head and when I read it to myself a few of my friends. When I get on that stage or podium it becomes ten times harder for me to speaks as if I had a tennis ball stuck in my throat. 

For some reason I can't speak but I can act and sing fine in front of crowds. It seems to me that when I am acting or singing I lose myself in it and therefore the audience is no longer existing in my world. However once I get out of the spot light and into the sides of the stage the chills catch up with me again. 

Journal 53: Slanted Truth

The is not always told to its full extent, many times by doing so it protect one from the truth that hurts. Slanted truths are truths told with a slight twist or a truth with some detail left out. It is not exactly lying but its not the truth either because it doesn't tell the person the whole thing. Its like reading a novel to someone and only giving them the setting and a few events without a conclusion or even characters.  Telling a lie to me is to fabricate all information and include bits of truth. A slant truth is a puzzle missing a few pieces. Slant truths are told to lessen the harm it can inflict on a person. Too much truth can make it seem like a lie at time and make people distrust it and deny the fact that it is not a lie. sometimes it is told on accident because the person telling it doesn't think certain details were necessary; however most times it is on purpose. In Dickinson's poems she she real truth is too much and can blind a person. By Blind I believe she means to confuse or to shut them from the truth. To tell someone the full truth is  not always making them believe its truth  o recognize that it true.

Journal 54: Nature's Nature

Nature to me is only there for the better good of the human race. Yet nature has its threatening side to humans. Nature to me reflects many aspects of our own life that we make more complicated and nature simplifies it for us to see. Life isn't always beautiful many times it has a nasty side to it. Nature is there for us to use but to use with care and to not over use it. Once we over use its resources nature would bite back hard and take back what ever we have taken from it. I see global warming as a warning for our race and that the more we waste the higher the sea level will raise and the lower the temperature will get in the winter. Earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and tsunamis are all ways nature shows it destructive force to us. Nature has many sweet sides and like a person it also has a darker and violent side. Nature presents itself the way Dickinson reveals it in her poems with subtle details of it cruel side and covering it up with its good side. 

Journal 52: Hopes?

I personally think that when Dickinson wrote "If you were coming in the fall" ­she had a sense of hope and wistful thinking. She beings by writing all the hopeful out comes and how she would react to each one. It seems like she is in a dreamy state which she can't get out of. Each stanza continues on from the previous and making the situation even more unlikely and finally at the end she pops back into reality. Over all the poem has a pessimistic feeling to it yet at the beginning I can just imagine Dickinson spending that summer happily and hopefully waiting for her lover with a smile on her face.  In life there are always things that don't turn out the way we want it to. There are also times when we know that the thing we want is impossible yet we continue with that wistful thinking. There have been times in my life when I expected a better outcome but knew that it wouldn't happen. Every time I put all the optimistic thoughts in my head and in the end it only lets me down. Sometimes being overly optimistic is bad and sometime you need a little bit of pessimism in your life. 

Journal 51: Pessimism

I believe that Dickinson wasn't always a pessimistic person but do to the life experiences she had gone through it changed her into a pessimistic person. She has loved men who she is not suppose to and knew that there would be no outcome from her contributions to the relationship. Then she chooses to live in recluse, away from society and be a loner. Her poems are full of sad morals and depressing tone. Unlike Walt Whitman the greatly optimistic may over optimistic poet, Dickinson seems to be his exact opposite. She didn't want her poems published during her life time in fear that it will not be successful. No person who is confident and optimistic will hide her volumes of original poems away for family members to find after her death. With all the information and poems, written by Dickinson I infer that she was a pessimistic person. Many times I feel pessimistic due to my over optimistic points of view. I always expect too high of something and when the reality emerges I am disappointed;therefore, some times I try being pessimistic. To be pessimistic and think of the worst that can happen when the reality is actually better and it makes me feel good again.

Journal 50: The Soul

I think people don't select their friends but instead just ends up in a certain group due to reasons that are hard to explain. I myself have tried to "select" the people I make friends but it never happens that way for me. I always end up with the ones that I have the most similarities with. Its hard to make friends that have completely different personalities from yourself, because you just end up disagreeing on everything. To hang out with someone who disagrees with almost all your decisions is very hard and nearly impossible. Therefore I believe what Dickinson says is true and that we subconsciously choose our friends. However I don't agree with being unable to change your decisions on who to be friends with. It isn't like if your friends with one person your always going to be friends. Many times you think that people are what you see them to be but only when you become acquainted will you see how they really are and many times that's when a friendship thins out or get eradicated. So I believe there are certain things that you can control and the rest your heart or your subconsciousness controls it.

Journal 48: Haiku

Black and blue bruises
The pain is over bearing
each touch the pain spreads

 Smelling delightful
The scrumptious dish is revealed
It screams in your mouth

Old and wrinkled notes
Lay on the table weakly
Old notes of lovers

Journal 50: Tanka Poem

Smarter than you are
Loves to drink juice and eat fruit
Hates to eat school lunch
Can not stand stupidity
Jerry thinks that he is boss

The boss is a hag
She is of an old old age
Her skin is dying
Her muscles weak and saggy
Her death is soon to come

The voice is extreme
Singing and singing he sings
Wowing the audience
The judges sitting in awe
His voice is captivating

Journal 47: Real or Romantic

I would completely agree with the idea that Whitman was romanticizing the worker's "songs". This hard labor and no one would be happy to do it day in and day out with minimum wage. They may have a good day or two in a year but usually they go home late and exhausted. I think he was trying to encourage the society to look at the world more positively. However if I was a worker of the time I wouldn't be so happy to see Whitman, a man of a higher class, write such a poem. It may be glorifying the job that I am doing but I wouldn't appreciate Whitman's idealization of the hard work and making it sound all joyous. The workers would be more sad than cheerful. I don't the would celebrate as much as Whitman does for them in his poem. The poem makes the whole situation sound too good. People go to work everyday in hard labor and only sing work songs to make it go by faster or make the the job seem easier. All in all I think that Whitman wasn't trying to make things over idealized but he was just trying to honor the american workers as heroes. He wanted all of America to see what the workers were doing for the country without complaint.

Journal 46: Work Songs

I think that Whitman choose to focus on songs and work songs to be specific because it was actually what the workers were singing. Yet he was not actually talking about work songs he was implying the spirit of the workers that make up a song of America. Work songs have usually have a good rhythm and rhyme to it just like a poem. Work songs are like poems but only sung and not read. Back then the songs would have been about hard labor and poems would be written about the hard laborer in  America. Working to serve their country and contribute to the common good. In present times the songs would be written about other jobs, office job and how hard they make life. They wouldn't be about how it makes america a better place. It would sound more like a complaint from those who are tired of working and yet still have to so that they can keep heir family fed. IT would be the same in Taiwan as it would be in America since the range of jobs don't hardly differ from one to another and both countries have a large population of people who like to complain.

Journal 44: Barbaric Yawp

Whitman's style is greatly different from that of previous writers and poets we read. He's so free and it seems to me that he wrote his poems almost nonchalantly. He seems to write without a care in the world and without caring wither people would like it or not. The previous writers followed rules and regulations especially the poets. The poets had rhyme schemes they follow one that will never appear in one of Whitman's free verse poems. That him self a barbaric when compared with the Romantic poets. He follows no rule or regulations just like how a barbarian lives in the wild and only follows what is natural when the rules and regulation turn the barbarian into civilized human beings. Whitman's poems are barbaric yawps because they have no set why of writing and like a barbaric he writes freely and unconcerned of the opinions of others. He write free when the "civilized" poets write with strict rules and doesn't try free verse or the so called barbaric yawp.

Journal 45: Acrostics

Prepared to take the test
Art history is a killer
Too much information to remember over night
Ready, yet with doubt
It can't be stalled
Can't be avoided
Knowing that fact he begins the test


Singing all his life
This legend seems to never tired of screaming
Every song he sings becomes a smash hit
Varying from slow to fast
Every songs he sings
Never gets old, they only become classics

Journal 43: What I Hear Singing

Whitman's view of America is very jolly and it seems to be a near perfect society. In my point of view of America today, it has greatly changed and is no longer that near perfect society Whitman praised. America is no longer the jolly working society but instead it has became lazy and gloomy. The economy is down and the harsh laboring job are become harder and harder to do while "singing". People complain instead of "singing" the song Whitman described. In Taiwan some areas are similar to the America Whitman describes. In more rural areas people still work day in and day out making a living via labor and yet they sing their "song". In more urban areas its is very much the same as America in my point of view.
I think that when Whitman was righting I Hear American Singing he was exaggerating and a bit overly optimistic. Even back then the working condition wasn't that great and I doubt that everyone enjoyed they laboring job. Sure they sang working songs, but only to make the work seem easier and more joyful. They only do their job so that they can put food on the table. This may sound pessimistic but it is only the truth from my point of view. No body enjoy their job that much, no matter how much they try to make others believe that they are happy. That is why people retire.

Journal 42: Elements of Poetry

Its is not only in stories were we find theme, plot, characters, conflicts, and resolution; we can find them in poetry too. However poetry contains more than just that, many times there is a rule to it but after Whitman and Dickinson's poems things changed and everything was more free. Yet every poem still has rhythm and many have rhyme. Rhyme and rhythm is something the stories don't have and these are the things that make poetry special. It produces a lyrical effect and many times songs are considered as poetry. You can find the poetry has many forms. Short to long, complex to simple, ruled to free, there are many many different variations. In stories there is always a protagonist and antagonist, which causes the conflict and resolution. In poems these thing are more free there could just be a conflict without characters to cause it nor a resolution, just a profound questioned to be answered. Poems are simple yet complicated it isn't the same as a story but shares many similar qualities and terms.

Journal 41: American Poetry Today

Poetry has transformed in many different ways over the past decades. There are no longer a true need of rules and regulations for poetry. Free versing changed poetry forever. People start to break away from tradition and many times combing more than just one type of rule into one poem, producing something new and interesting. Rhyme is still here but even then it isn't what it use to be.
In America today poetry has transformed into songs, rap, and even commercials. There seems to be no limit as to what can be categorized as poetry. Many people don't see rap as being a type of poetry because of the simple words and slang used. However from listening to many different rappers I found it to be very much a type of poetry and one that should be respected. Well at least the ones that aren't about how a rapper can brag. Many raps tell stories and contains deep meaning just like lyrical and narrative poems. They have a rhyme  and rhythm and many times rap is called rhyme. A rap is a poem to me and its seem to be a easier way for many to express themselves without fear. This is important to me because it is a way of freely speaking and a artistic way too.

Journal 40: Whitman and Dickinson

I think both Whitman and Dickinson are implying different things with their quote. Just from reading them you can tell there is some kind of difference in the tone and language they are using. They are also very different people in terms of personality and life style. Whitman goes around the place, city to city, and enjoys himself in a urban life. Yet Dickinson pulled herself away from the urban cities and went out into isolation. Therefore their messages are different. Whitman is every expressive and speaks his mind he is free to do what he wants. Dickinson is more reserved and mannered. I myself would categorize myself with Whitman, because I like speaking my mind and I like having the freedom to do so. I don't like staying far away from others and living in solitude. Whitman expresses things in life with a more casual manner and that is what I like. Dickinson speaks of more deep topics which many times I find unnecessary because it waste time and never comes to a conclusion. However Whitman also ponders on profound questions. His questions are more daily life and common questions and those I am more welling to spend time on and solutions for such problems are easier to find. 

Entry 39: Young Again?

What if I had a second chance at life, would I take it? I think that if a opportunity occurred to turn young again while everyone and everything else around me stays the same, I wouldn't take it. It is because I don't believe that getting a second chance at things would make things better. I carry on my past mistakes and fear that it would happen again. I think that age is something that matures us and going back even with my current knowledge would make no difference. Also if I am the only one to turn young again, I would feel lonely as my friends and family grow old and leave me while I attend high school a second time. Turning young doesn't mean I get a second chance since I am not back in time where things will be the same. Nothing will be the same. The environment, the community, and pretty much everything is different from when I was 5 or 6. There will not be a chance to go through the things I have gone through and therefore wouldn't make a difference. I will only make new mistakes that will stack up with the old one and give my life more experience. However I would still like to mature the old fashion way without any second chances.

Entry 38: Winter Holiday

The winter break didn't turn out as I expected and to tell the truth I hardly expected anything to happen. However there were many things I did and many people who I did it with. The winter holiday officially kicked off for me on December 16, 2011, the Winter Formal. The dance pumped everyone up for the rest of the holiday and I was having lots of fun choosing songs, mixing them, and making sure that the dance ran as smoothly as possible. Of course a lot of hard work was put into the decorating and I had my complaints but in the end mostly everything was worth it. Then my second major event of the holiday began, the Japan snowboarding trip. It was the first time in year that I have seen snow and the first time in my life to go snowboarding. Everyone who went had a blast and I learned how to snowboard quick and was free to do what ever I wanted. Snowboarding was great and it seemed to be the climax of my winter holiday; however I did have more fun events afterwards. After coming back from the snowboarding trip I had a sleep over at a friends house for Christmas Eve and we played all the games possible. We woke late the next day and partied on. Then the next week I went to two house parties one on a Wednesday and one on Saturday, which was New Year's Eve. Every single event turned out to be more fun than I imagine and this is for now the best winter break I have had.