Myhanh's English Journal

Elements of dystopia normally relate to environmental, social and political issues. This relates to Friedrich Nietzsche has said, “To those humans beings who are concern to me I wish suffering” This can relate to dystopia as political issues must have occurred for the statement to be harsh and harden, it could’ve been said to show independence and that resolves issues quicker than being as a group. As the quote goes on it shows other extremes negative things that could happen to a human, this could relate to The Road as the father and son seem to have gone through some sort of negative feelings and issues due that involved environmental, social or political.

In the poem sister maude, there are a few different relationships shown but mostly are family; mum, dad, sister and boyfriend – this would be looking at the narrators point of view. Although the narrator does not mention their mum and dad often although how she mentions them would support what kind of relationship they have with the narrator. Throughout the whole poem there are constant mentions of the sister and boyfriend relationships.

The first relationship mentioned is between the narrator and their mother, “Who told my mother of my shame” this implies that the narrator likes to live up to their mothers expectations and does not want to disappoint her and tell her about the negative stuff; such as the shame they are referring to. This can be seen as an important relationship as the same the narrator is referring to must be serious for them not to tell their mother themselves, but someone else did and they are question on who did as they did not want their mother to find out.

The next relationship mentioned is between the narrator and their father, “Who told my father of my dear” this could relate to the two sisters themselves; as there are an angel and devil to the sisters and to the parents. Reasons to this would that shame and dear are opposites, with the relationship shown of sister maude and the narrator themselves it is something they could relate to; as the narrator to be the innocent one and sister maude as the evil one.

The most mentioned relationship within the poem would be sister Maude, from the moment she is introduced it is obvious that their relationship is not bright; “Oh who but Maude, my sister Maude” this suggests that she would of done something like this before, something negative that makes the narrator upset. The next line then gives more ideas of to why the sister relationship the two may not be too healthy, “who lurked to spy and peer” this conveys feeling of slyness about the sister Maude giving her a cold personality.

The most strongest relationship to possibly cause all the hatred towards sister Maude would be the narrator and their possibly dead lover, “cold he lies as cold as stone” although this is not clear whether it was a murder, suicide or natural cause but if the narrator seems to have negative light towards the sister Maude therefore she could have been involved in it some how or either it is her fault entirely.

Christina had various of themes within her poems and lyrics, the one that was the most interesting to me was the death themed poems; this stood out for me as it is not common for someone to think about death so often enough to write poems and poems on it, she seems to look at the negative side of situations as well as the positive which is another uncommon theme I personally see. A death themed poem of Christina Rossetti I found the most appealing is “Remember”, my favourite line is as follows; “Remember me when I am gone away, / Gone for away into the silent land”. I chose these two lines as this is not something a typical human being would think about from time to time, although I can relate that there are days where I think about death and the “silent land”.

She also wrote about real life every day activities situations, either her life or just a well known person in general; the difficulty between love and fame. This is something that other famous people could relate to and feel comforted as they may not be the only person in the situation, as Christina continued to write poems such as that; she continued to inspire many people.

As time went by Christina Rossetti started to break away and went against some of the literal rules, showing her unprofessional manner; in the 19th century this may had been something that was frowned upon so she started to get judged. As a modern day audience this is something I personally see as inspirational, not because she broke rules, but it showed her true self and she still came out successful despite the trouble she may have gone through. She was neglecting the world and holding everything inside her, making people become suspicious and curious of how unprofessional this for a poet; however she then came out with a breakthrough poem book that included Goblin Market which I have studied in class. This shows how committed she was in to her job and poems, neglecting what most people find difficult to neglect to come out bigger and brighter than ever before.

An Victorian critic Edwin Hood described Goblin Market as “Rare delight and refreshment”, this is something I can relate to as I would agree with him; even in today’s society this poem would be seen as rare, the whole Goblin association would be common especially to fairy tales and children’s TV but it is unusual for it to be in a poem that sounds and looks like would be a 18+. However the reviewer also mentioned “delight”, this could imply that he actually saw the eating fruits actions and words actually eating fruits and nothing sexual; making it easy for people to relate to it as most people do eat fruit often and enjoy eating it.

Some people see the Goblins, in the poem is symbolism for men in society; and the sisters are women that sacrifice themselves for less fortunate, for pointless reasons or because of men. This would’ve been appealing to the 19th century audience as men and women were a lot different to how they are in today’s society, a few things they were treated different would be that it was expect for the husband to go work whilst the wife stays at home.

Limerick.

Limerick has been described as kind of witty, humorous or nonsense poem. It has a strict rhyme scheme which is AABBA; this can be seen as the humorous intent.

Limerick was found in England in the early 18th century however was only popularized in the 19thcentury.

In Limerick’s there is a stanza of five lines, in the first, second and fifth line; they usually rhyme with one another having three feet of three syllables each. The shorter third and fourth lines also rhyme with each other but only having two feet of three syllables.

Limerick was found in the early 18th century but was only popularized in 19th century by a English man named Edward Lear. Limerick was named after the city in Ireland. The famous Limerick that most people know today is

Hickory Dickory Dock
A mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one
And down he run
Hickory Dickory Dock.

The first line of Limericks normally establish the subject without giving the story away; for example introducing a person and a place, setting the tone for the poem. It is consist of five lines with the rhyme scheme of “aabba”. All of the “a” would have the same syllables as each other, and so would the “b”. However syllables are not too important in most Limericks, focuses more about the rhyme and rhythm.

Most Limerick Poets liked using the style because of its simplicity, nothing too complicated and not too simple with enough to entertain both children and adults. They also thought that it was easy to write as there are always five lines with very short sentences, making it not only easy to read but to remember as well. Another thing they felt that it was effective even though it is short but the rhythm and rhyming words would help emphasize it on it too, especially for the last line as it is commonly to be the most humorous out of the whole poem.

Welcome to your student blog, where you will be able to use the power of technology to display the power of your mind. I cannot wait to read your postings and to communicate with you about your work. All the best, Ms Turner.