Journal 26: I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Snow
It won't be long before we'll all be there with snow
Snow
I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow

Snow
I long to clear a path and lift a spade of snow
Snow
Oh, to see a great big man entirely made of snow
Where it's snowing
All winter through

That's where I want to be
Snowball throwing
That's what I'll do
How I'm longing to ski
Through the snow-oh-oh-oh-oh

Those glist'ning houses that seem to be built of snow
Snow
Oh, to see a mountain covered with a quilt of snow
What is Christmas with no snow
No white Christmas with no snow
Snow

I'll soon be there with snow
I'll wash my hair with snow
And with a spade of snow
I'll build a man that's made of snow
I'd love to stay up with you but I recommend a little shuteye

Go to sleep
And dream
Of snow

(Crosby).

Those are the lyrics from the movie White Christmas. The song is appropriatly titled "Snow." I love this time of year, just because of all the snow, plus when the radio stations play Christmas music. That also makes me happy. However, snow just makes the holidays so much better. My ideal Christmas would be that I would wake up to find that it had snowed in the six hours I had been asleep, since I go to church at midnight, and the roads would not be terrible, so we would be able to go sledding. I guess the thing I love about snow the most is how pretty and new it makes everything look. Right after it snows, everything looks brand new, and quite different. But after a day, footprints, car slush, and various animal tracks make the snow look just ugh. Definetly not a pretty sight after a couple of days of looking at brown snow. But once new snow falls, then everything looks pretty again. Therefore, I love everything about snow, especially a snow day! Cause regardless of having to make it up in the summer, no one can turn down a "free day" in the wintertime. For me, its the perfect time to cuddle up and watch White Christmas for the umpteenth time.


Works Cited for Lyrics and Picture URL

• Crosby, Bing. "Snow (From White Christmas)." Lyrics 007. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov 2010. http://www.lyrics007.com/Bing%20Crosby%20Lyrics/Snow%20(From%20White%20Christmas)%20Lyrics.html.
• http://images1.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/White-Christmas-movie-w-paper-christmas-movies-1159676_800_600.jpg
  

Thoughts on The Minister's Black Veil

"But what has good Parson Hooper got upon his face?" That is the first line spoken in the short story of The Minister's Black Veil. The story was actually quite interesting in my opinion. It took me a little while to actually get into it, but once I did I liked it. The story definitely made me think after I was done reading it as to why he was wearing the veil. There could be many different interpretations as to why he is wearing it, but I think it has to do mainly with his conscience. Although some may disagree, I think that he may have a guilty conscience, otherwise, why would he be talking about hidden sin and having a somewhat disturbing sermon at a girls funeral? That, however, is my opinion. Because, on first reading the story, the minister seems okay. I mean, Hawthorne talks about him to set up the story, which also shows the Romanticism in the period as he is setting up the story in great detail. But, when I got to this part in the story, I was starting to question my opinion of the man:

"Mr. Hooper had the reputation of a good preacher, but not an energetic one: he strove to win his people heavenward by mild, persuasive influences, rather than to drive them thither by the thunders of the Word. The sermon which he now delivered was marked by the same characteristics of style and manner as the general series of his pulpit oratory. But there was something, either in the sentiment of the discourse itself, or in the imagination of the auditors which made it greatly the most powerful effort that they had ever heard from their pastor's lips. It was tinged, rather more darkly than usual, with the gentle gloom of Mr. Hooper's temperament. The subject had reference to secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hid from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them. A subtle power was breathed into his words. Each member of the congregation, the most innocent girl, and the man of hardened breast, felt as if the preacher had crept upon then, behind his awful veil, and discovered their hoarded iniquity of deed or though. Many spread their clasped hands on their bosoms. There was nothing terrible in what Mr. Hooper said, at least, no violence; and yet, with every tremor of his melancholy voice, the hearers quaked. An unsought pathos came hand in hand with awe. So sensible were the audience of some unwonted attribute in their minister, that they longed for a breath of wind to blow aside the veil, almost believing that a stranger's visage would be discovered, though the for, gesture, and voice were those of Mr. Hooper" (Hawthorne).

That passage right there just screams Romanticism in my opinion. I mean, Hawthorne is saying that the guy clearly is hiding something, and that can never be good. He has a fiance, as we later find out, and she seems okay with his veil and everything, but he is obviously hiding behind it, for whatever reason he might have. I just think that it is clearly part of the Romanticism period, because Hawthorne is talking about how dark and sinister and unnatural the man's sermon is. That is just what I think, however. Hooper clearly has something to hide from everyone, whether he wants to admit to it or not.

• Works Cited:
  Hawthorne, Nathaniel. (1837, 1851). The Minister's Black Veil. Web English Teacher. 30 November, 2010 from http://www.webenglishteacher.com/mbv.html.

Journal 25: Wearing a Mask

Phantom of the Opera, Darth Vader, Green Lantern, Batman, and Spiderman. What do they all have in common? Masks. All of those characters wear masks, although they wear them for different reasons. The Phantom and Darth Vader wear the masks to hide their disfigured face, while Green Lantern, Batman, and Spiderman wear the masks to hide their true identities.

However, most people do not put on a visible mask that everyone can see. They often hide behind their own face, whether they consciously realize it or not. My freshman year in high school, I hid behind a mask, although it did take me a while to realize it. Actually, it took my parents help to realize it completely, because I thought I was just living the way I thought I was supposed to. I won't go into the specifics of what happened, but I was lying to my parents, or not telling them the whole truth at times, and was being two different people both at home and at school, although I never actually realized it myself.

Most people put on a mask to hide from themselves, or to hide themselves from others. They often tend to disregard the fact that even though they think they are being safe, and not hurting themselves, they really are, and also others as well. By not being who you really are, it will be quite difficult for someone to get to know the real you.

That is a problem many people face, especially when online. Many people will put on a mask online, and act like someone that they are not, to try and steal some one's identity or eventually meet up with a person that they have met online, only to harm them in some way.

Not everyone has to be a superhero to wear a mask either. Every day when we go to school, we are surrounded by people wearing all different kinds of masks, both positive and negative. The popular kids have a mask of "coolness" and being totally carefree, in on all the new styles, and always going to the coolest parties. However, underneath that "cool" mask, there could actually be someone who just needs to be loved because life at home is difficult, or their parents just went through a divorce. Therefore, the school is their kingdom, where they rule the school.

So, we are surrounded by all kinds of masks everyday, whether we realize it or not.

Thoughts on The Pit and the Pendulum

We read the Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allen Poe in class. It was an exceptionally long story to read, and I thought went into way too much detail. However, the details in the story did help to make it much more spooky and somewhat easier to understand. Although I said the details made it easier to understand, I meant that it was easier for me to understand the scenes and not necessarily what all was going on in the story. The man in the story is in jail, and there is a giant pit in the middle of his cell that he has been put into, after being sentenced in front of judges. The man tries to start counting the paces around the cell using string from his robe, but he faints. When he wakes up, he finds that there is food and water near by, and he starts to measure the cell again, but then trips on the hem of his robe. If he had not tripped, he would have fallen down into the pit in his cell. When the guy passes out again, he discovers that the cell is slightly lit, with a picture of father time on the ceiling. The man is strapped on a board, and hanging from the picture of father time is an axe, which is swinging back and forth, like a pendulum. It is being lowered slightly, and will eventually kill the man. The guy gets rats to chew through his ropes using meat that he had left over, and the guy gets free just as the pendulum is about to kill him. Then, the walls become really hot and start moving in, so the only option the guy has left is to go into the pit. He ends up going into the pit, and hears human voices, and someone pulls him back.



This story reminded me a lot of Indiana Jones, and the kinds of things that he has to do, especially when the walls start to close in, and the guy has to try and get himself out of the situations he just happens to get himself into. I found it interesting though, because I was comparing it to the second Indiana Jones, when Indiana gets caught in a room with spikes, and the ceiling starts to come down with spikes threatening to kill him and spear him. However, thanks to Willie, Indiana and Short Round are saved from the ceiling. So, I was reminded a lot of Indiana Jones while reading this story again.

It was an interesting story to read, and I can tell where Steven Spielberg got the ideas for his Indiana Jones movies. The story was a sort of dark and creepy story, which would make sense since it was written during the dark romanticism period. The topic itself was just spooky, as a guy is getting condemned to death, and there is a giant pit in the cell he is being held in. Plus, the fact that there is a giant axe pendulum slowly being lowered down from the ceiling is definitely another characteristic of dark romanticism.

Edgar Allen Poe Critical Analysis

I read Leland Pearson's analysis on Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven," and found it quite an interesting read.

One point Leland Pearson made that I found interesting was that Leland said:

"The raven, like the poem with which it is synonymous, utters a word whose meaning must be interpreted, although this is not to say that the raven is the author of the word "Nevermore." The bird is really identical with the word it speaks, since it possesses no intentionality and no other words. Poe himself, in fact, explicitly links the student with the reader, maintaining that the "revolution of thought or fancy, on the lover's part (near the end of the poem), is intended to induce a similar one on the part of the reader---to bring the mind into a proper frame for the denouement---which is now brought about as rapidly and as directly as possible. David Halliburton calls the relationship between the bird a the student a "reciprocity," but the relationship is not truly reciprocal, since the student controls the meaning of the bird's utterance---what Poe calls the "effect of the variation of application."

Basically Leland is saying that what the bird says fits his physique, and that Poe keeps that mindset and descriptions throughout the entire poem.

One more point that Leland made that I also liked was that he said:

"Not simply the effect of the raven's utterance, but its meaning derives from the subjective process of "linking fancy unto fancy." Michael Williams has observed that "in 'the Raven,' as in Poe's works generally, (the ideal sign) is revealed as a function of interpretive desire." The same thing can be said about "The Philosophy of Composition," for in the process of reading and rewriting the poem in that essay, Poe makes it clear that the intention, or effect, of both reading and writing is an "air of consequence." Poe notes at one point in the essay that the "next desideratum was a pretext for the continuous use of the one word 'nevermore,'" but in fact the only "pretext," at least for the raven's speech, is the poem or composition---actually a series of compositions---in which the word is inscribed. Pretext and text become the same."

The point that the author was trying to make I think was that no matter if Poe rewrote "The Raven," he would still have the same effect on people by having the raven say evermore continually.

Therefore, I do agree with what Leland Pearson said regarding the Raven, and also that the poem cannot be duplicated and will always have the same effect on people, no matter the age or how old the poem is.

I did like the poem, as I have said previously, and believe that many of the points that the author of the criticism made make sense, and agree with many of them. The Raven was a very cool poem, but also creepy. Despite the creepiness, I feel that I could read the poem over and over again.

"The Raven" Analysis

I'm going to do my thoughts about the poem first, then analyze each of the lines' meanings. I actually did enjoy reading The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. Actually, my dad read it to me, as it is one of his favorite poems. However, I did like it a lot, and the poem definitely made me think at the end, because Poe seemed to just sort of end the poem. But I did figure out that the man in the story will never be happy because he cannot be with his Lenore. All in all, I did enjoy the poem, and could actually understand what was happening in it.

For the figurative meaning, I just took it to mean that take advantage of the time you have with the ones you care about, because you never know when they will disappear out of your life. Also, people should be ready to face things that will remind them of a lost one, because they are never truly gone. You will always be reminded of those whom you love, whether living or deceased.


Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-
Only this and nothing more."

In this stanza, a man is nodding off while reading a book around midnight when he hears a knocking on his front door.

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
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 fore evermore.

As the fire is dying in the fireplace, the man is thinking about his love, Lenore, who died.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me-filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating:
"Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door-
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;
This it is and nothing more."

The man is psyching himself out now about who could be at his door, but just keeps repeating that it's just a late night visitor and that's it.

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, :or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you" -here I opened wide the door;-
Darkness there and nothing more.

As the man is opening the door, he is apologizing to whoever is at his door, but no one is there.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore!"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"
Merely this and nothing more.

The man is looking out his front door, and whispers the name Lenore, and hears the name Lenore whispered back to him.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping, something louder than before,
"Surely," said I, "surely, that is something at my window lattice.
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore.
Let my heart be still a moment, and this mystery explore."
'Tis the wind, and nothing more."

The man goes back inside, closing the door when he hears a knocking at his window, and he is hoping it is just the wind causing the sound.

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven, of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door.
Perched upon a bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door,
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

The man opens the window to find a raven fly in and land on a bust of a man named Pallas.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
Ghastly, grim, and ancient raven, wandering from the nightly shore.
Tell me what the lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore."
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

The man starts talking to the bird and when he asks what the raven's name is, the raven says "Nevermore."

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning, little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door,
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."

The man is in wonder that he found a bird with a name of Nevermore.

But the raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered;
Till I scarcely more than muttered, "Other friends have flown before;
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said, "Nevermore."

The man says that the bird will leave him in the morning, just as others have left him.

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master, whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster, till his songs one burden bore,---
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never---nevermore."

The man is thinking and decides that the only word the raven's master taught him was "nevermore."

But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore --
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking "Nevermore."

The man sits down in a chair and looks at the raven.

Thus I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl, whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating o'er
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

The man sits back in his chair, and is thinking about the times that Lenore put her head against the chair, and how she will "nevermore."

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor."
Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee -- by these angels he hath
Sent thee respite---respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, O quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"

The man is mad at God for sending something that would remind him of Lenore.

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted--
On this home by horror haunted--tell me truly, I implore:
Is there--is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me I implore!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

The man is still getting mad at the raven, who just continues to say "nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil--prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that heaven that bends above us--by that God we both adore--
Tell this soul with sorrow laden, if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden, whom the angels name Lenore---
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore?
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

The man is asking the raven about Lenore, but it is not helping him at all.

"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting--
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! -- quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

The man tells the raven to leave and leave nothing behind so that he won't remember anything about the raven visiting him.

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming.
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted---nevermore!

The raven does not leave, and the man is sad because he realizes he won't ever see Lenore again.

Journal 24: Eek!

Well, I get scared easily, so that is why everyone likes to scare the heck out of me when they get the chance, especially my brothers and my dad. I remember one time in particular where I psyched myself out. I had just read a scary book, or watched some movie, and my parents and brothers were both gone. I had just gotten out of the shower, and the entire house was dark, except for a light that was coming from my room. So I got on my pajamas and what not and was just laying down on my bed to read when I thought I heard a noise coming from downstairs. I thought that maybe it was my parents coming home, so I went downstairs, but no one was home. So I thought, well maybe it is just the house settling in or something. But then like ten minutes later, I heard it again. I still could not figure out what it was and I was psyching myself out about it. I was seriously thinking that there might be someone in my house, so I called my dad. He said that he and my mom were on their way home, and that there was no one in the house, so I was just freaking myself out over nothing. Come to find out, a window in our basement was open, and was making some kind of noise. Therefore, I was just psyching myself out.

So there are many times that I do freak myself out over things that really aren't worth getting freaked out over. Because, I can handle the blood and guts of scary movies, but it's the fact that I don't know what's coming is what freaks me out the most. I've seen Alien and Aliens, and both of those movies freaked me out just because of the fact that I did not know what was going to happen. So although there were freaky images, but the parts that scared me were when the aliens jumped out unexpectedly.

That's basically all I've got to say about being scared or a time when I psyched myself out.