And The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls....

The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveler hastens toward the town,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands
Efface the footprints in the sands,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveler to the shore.
And the tide rises, the tide falls.

           I choose “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in class because of its rhythm.  Whenever I searched for a poem to recite I would accidentally stumble upon music. I understand poetry best when it’s entwined with instruments and music. The difficulty of poetry is that the reader has to discover the intended rhythm. The beauty of Longfellow’s poem is that the chorus moves the poem. Longfellow’s lyrical style and numerous alliterations, allows the poem to flow. His use of imagery allows me to see, hear, and even taste the shore. 

As I recite this, I imagine a man who has just arrived by boat to a shore, just as “twilight darkens”. In my mind the man has a heavy trench coat on, is soaked, and struggling to hold himself upright. After I read “The traveler hastens toward the town” I can hardly remember the next line. The expression on the man’s face, tells me that he desperately wants to say something. But the closer the traveler is to the town, the more “the sea in darkness calls”. Instantly the man is pulled back to sea, and the waves eliminate any sign that he was there. Even when “the morning breaks” no one wonders what happened to the traveler. He is forgotten “as the hostler calls” and never revisits. Nature moves on without any assistance from humans. Yet humans require assistance from nature. The gravity and power of the tides have the power to push and pull us (so much so that their power lies between life and death). The man I imagine is not alive, but unaware that he is traveling in-between two worlds. The curlew, sea and hostler all have the ability to call, but the traveler remains silent. Death can make such a large impression on humans, yet it leaves no marks on nature. While this poem is gloomy, a message of hope exists. Just as life continues on earth after death, life will continue for the dead. We will not know where our next destination is but nature will direct us to it. We will all eventually become travelers hastening towards our next destination.

The sane amongst the mad

            Compared to Claudious, Polonius, and Gertrude, Hamlet is the sanest person in Denmark! At least Hamlet has every reason to be mad. He returned home to find himself in the middle of a nightmare. Imagine waking up to find that your uncle has married your mother. At the same time, your new uncle-dad mentions that your mourning is “of impious stubbornness; ‘tis unmanly grief” (I.ii.9). Now try being sensible. Hamlet, born and raised as a leader, has huge responsibilities to carry out. It is his duty, as a prince of Denmark, to bring justice to the scandal. To make matters worse, the ghost of Hamlet’s father orders Hamlet to avenge his death. The same ghost, which four men witnessed, could not be seen by Gertrude. This fact alone suggests that Gertrude is mad. The people who are crazy are also the people who are not questioning the actions and morals of Gertrude and Claudius. Hamlet feels lost within the confusion that was created with the first drop of poison in his father’s ear. “What is a man, / If his chief good and market of his time / Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.” (IV.iv.85). Even Hamlet’s own mother, the maker of his madness, can’t speak to her “too much changed son” (II.ii.34). Furthermore Hamlet never receives any good news. Ophelia, the one person Hamlet hopes to confide in, refuses to accept his love because of her father.

          While Hamlet is a tragic hero, the bigger tragedy is the inability of the spectator to forgive him. The hamartia in which Hamlet acts under is not exactly madness although Hamlet does lose his ability to control himself. Even heroes make mistakes. In my opinion Hamlet’s revenge does not taint his character. In fact Hamlet redeems himself when he and Laertes exchange forgiveness.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

In my opinion Flannery O’Conner’s short stories are gruesome and addicting. I hate how easily I can become attracted to her stories. This is the type of reaction O’Conner desires the reader to have though. A Good Man is Hard to Find is especially painful to read. The hypocritical grandmother is constantly complaining. Every time I find myself pitying the grandmother, she makes an inappropriate comment. The grandmother is so stubborn that she requires an act of violence in order to recognize the problem. In the very last moments of her life, she redeems her self. She tells the Misfit, the killer of her family, “ ‘you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children.’ ” She admits to helping create the “meanness” in the world. She raised Bailey to have bad manners and her generation raised the Misfit. The beauty of O’Conner’s stories lies within the vivid images and the dialect of each character. O’Conner’s belief that “reality is something to which we must be returned at considered cost” is seen through the vicious circumstances that each of her characters “wake up” in. 

School is to Law, as AP lit is to Loophole

I am looking for inspiration and knowledge from AP lit. To me, literature is as important an art as pictures, movies, and music. Art is the only topic where I can find peace and meaning. I love to learn and always question things. I like to try new things, and AP literature was too intriguing to walk away from. Honestly though school irritates and bores me because it implies too many restrictions. I think backwards, upside down, and never the “easy” way. I see AP literature as a loophole in the system though. I enjoy hearing people’s opinions on art because art never requires a right or wrong answer. It is always interesting to discover unique perspectives too. In the future, I plan on utilizing the knowledge I acquired from AP lit to experience new things, change the world, and learn.