"A Date With A literary Scholar"

He is a great in poetry but really down to earth. He is teaching in English Literature. He is from Gaza. Who is he?

Refaat Alareer. Yes, a bit difficult to pronounce his name yet it is still a unic name. He is from Gaza, a literary scholar. I got a chance to meet this cool person in my class, for BBL 3406 and he suppose to give a talk and he did it very well! One thing I love about him when he says he is not a poet but he loves poem in deep. Lets go through about his talk on that day, 21/10/2013.

He began his talk with the introduction of Palestine, the background, culture and so on. He is even show the map of Palestine. He told how Palestine before and after the attacking of Israel. Then, he talked about Mahmoud Darwish, Tamim Bargouti who wrote the poem in Arabic but being translated into English.

Mr Refaat also gave share with us on how to be a good writer or poet. 

There are five techniques:

•   Read a lot of good and high quality poetry.

        You have to read a lot, and be influenced by the high quality poetry.

• .          Believe that you can write good stuff.

        Always believe what you can achieve and be confidence with your abilities

• .          Have the will to do so.

        You need to have the encourage to do so and the most important thing, be sincere.

• .          Scribble your thoughts.  Always

        You have to think out of board and broaden your mind. Connect one thing to our surrounding.

• .          Imitate.

        You don’t have to spend a specific time to get the good idea for your writing. You can get it everywhere       as long as you are alert. For example, you go to the café, hang out with your friends and you see an               incident. Next, you imitate the incident and relate it with your life. So, you get the idea from that and you       can start to write and elaborate your idea. That’s it!

Poetry by Refaat Alareer

There are 5 poems that have been read by him on that day consists of “If I must die”, “Over the wall”, “And we live on”, “I am you”, and last but not least, “Freshly baked souls”. I love this session because he touched my heart with the way how he recites all the poems. He read them so heartedly and he put soul on his reading. My favourite one is when he read “If I must die”. I almost cried because when he read the poem, it seems like I was in Palestine and I got the message. He convey the message very well. I must say this, he is great and I salute him.

“If I must die” by Refaat Alareer

For me, it is really heart-breaking poem. Setting in Palestine and written in sad mood are enough to show the violence happened in Gaza. Even though, they still have the hope based on the last two line “Let it bring hope”. The line “If I die, you must live” tell us not to give up so easily. If a person died because of the attacking, someone must continue the fighting to show that they are not the weak person who will give up easily. I agree with that because as for me, “Strong people are stand for themselves, but stronger person are stand for others”.

Mr Refaat also shares what is in his poetry. It concludes three things which are dialogue, performances and Palestine.

Last but not least, we did QA session with him.

1.       Who is your favourite poet?

I love John Donne. I like the way he write his poems.  I do hope that I will be able to do my PHD research on him.

2.       What was Gaza look like before the attacking took place?

The society has a simple life and the most obvious thing is, they love to plant. Education is still relevant during that time.

To sum up, I learned a lot of new things from him and it was a great talk and I wish I can meet him again. J

Poem during World War 1

Brief introduction of poems during World War 1.

World War 1 is associated with the so-called “war poets”. For example, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and Rupert Brooke.

World War 1 did produce the poetry targeted the lifestyle of those who fought in the war or in other word, experienced the war.

The poets also came from different and varieties of religious backgrounds. The majority of this war poets were influenced by the “Georgian” poetry movement. The word of “Georgian” symbolize a king. 

So, they considered themselves to be modern and innovative.

Poetry during World War 2 also more famous and more read rather than any poems from World War 2.

Siegfried Sassoon,

Suicide in the Trenches

I knew a simple soldier boy,

Who grinned at life in empty joy,

Slept soundly through the lonesome dark,

And whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and glum,

With crumps and lice and lack of rum,

He put a bullet through his brain,

No one spoke of him again.

You smug faced crowds with kindling eye,

Who cheer when soldier lads march by,

Sneak home and pray you’ll never know,

The hell where youth and laughter go.

Analysis of “ Suicide in the Trenches”

What is the meaning of war? What is war like? How do soldiers feel in a war?

When I first read this poem, I get confused whether the boy has been killed during war or he committed suicide. The word of “trenches” symbolize that not only depression possessed by one young soldier boy, but also by many others people in war. Perhaps the boy wanted to express his feeling about war. We can say that he willingly chose to commit suicide rather than live in chaos world, that full of war. He did not have enough strength to endure the hardship of life. So, he represented the depression and desire to quickly die. For him, life in war situation is really worse than death.

The setting

The setting was in frustrating, depressing, smelly, and stuffy trenches like what the title stated.

The movements of the story

This story is absolutely about a young soldier’s boy transformation. From a happy, naive and innocent person, he turns out into a depressed soldier. He was eagerly to end his life, because life is worse than death for him.

The character

The poet used psychoanalytic theory to attract the reader. He used the character of a small boy as an example to gain the reader’s sympathy and to put awareness among the reader about the war happened nowadays.

The structure and tone of the poem

It consists of three stanzas with four lines in each. The rhyme is A A B B. The tone for this poem is sarcastic, mocking and sorrow. We can see the line “You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye…”. Through this line, Sassoon tries to show that general public is unable to understand what war is like. He tries to say that nobody can understand what war is like without personal experience. He also uses the language which is clever in conveying the theme. This poem includes the balance of symbolism, diction and alliteration.

I put my favourite song, sang by talented singer from Philippines an title "A Note to God". She give her all out when singing this song. She expressed her feeling about the world nowadays and tries to convey a message which is what will she wrote to God to end the war if she had the chance.  My favourite quotes in this song are "I'd ask for war to end and for peace to mend this world" and "ends all the bitterness and put some tenderness in our heart". They really make me goosebumps and the lyrics really heart breaking for me. I really like this song, hope you guys enjoy it!!!^^

What is Poetry?

Literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas. 

We used different style and rhythm when we read poem.

In other word, it is a quality of beauty and intensity of emotion regarded as characteristic of poems.

As for me, it is an art form which human expressing their feeling and to convey meaningful messages when they can’t speak.

Nature of Poetry

Poetry can be differentiated most of the time from prose, which is language meant to convey meaning in a more expansive and less condensed way, frequently using more complete logical or narrative structures than poetry does.

Quotations about Poetry

Poetry is just the evidence of life.  If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.  ~Leonard Cohen

Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.  ~Kahlil Gibran

A poem is never finished, only abandoned.  ~Paul Valéry

Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted.  ~Percy Shelley, A Defence of Poetry, 1821

Poetry is a packsack of invisible keepsakes.  ~Carl Sandburg

A poet can survive everything but a misprint.  ~Oscar Wilde

"Therefore" is a word the poet must not know.  ~André Gide

What is Drama?

Drama is a just and lively image of human nature, which is representing its passions and own meaning.

Drama is the enactment of real and imagined events through role-play, play making and performances, enabling individuals and groups to explore, shape and represent ideas, feelings and their consequences in symbolic or dramatic form.

Drama is a unique tool to explore and express human feeling.

Drama is an essential form of attitude and norm in all cultures, it is a fundamental human activity.

A high degree of thinking, feeling and moving is involved in drama.

Drama is a discrete skill in itself.

Elements in Drama

·         the use of imagination

·         powers of creative self expression

·         decision making and problem solving skills

·         and understanding of self and the world

·         self confidence, a sense of worth and respect and consideration for others.

Marilyn Chin (1957-  ) Turtle Soup

You go home one evening tired from work,

and your mother boils you turtle soup.

Twelve hours hunched over the hearth

(who knows what else is in that cauldron).

You say, "Ma, you've poached the symbol of long life;

that turtle lived four thousand years, swam

the Wet, up the Yellow, over the Yangtze.

Witnessed the Bronze Age, the High Tang,

grazed on splendid sericulture."

(So, she boils the life out of him.)

"All our ancestors have been fools.

Remember Uncle Wu who rode ten thousand miles

to kill a famous Manchu and ended up

with his head on a pole? Eat, child,

its liver will make you strong."

"Sometimes you're the life, sometimes the sacrifice."

Her sobbing is inconsolable.

So, you spread that gentle napkin

over your lap in decorous Pasadena.

Baby, some high priestess has got it wrong.

The golden decal on the green underbelly

says "Made in Hong Kong."

Is there nothing left but the shell

and humanity's strange inscriptions,

the songs, the rites, the oracles?

Group’s leader: Annur Ezzati

Explorations of the Text

Notice the author’s choice of the word “cauldron” in line 4. What images or connections does this word evoke? Why might the author have chosen “cauldron” rather than “pot”

The using of cauldron is to show something bad. Cauldron in the first stanza means that the inhumanity aspect in the persona’s mother because she was selfish to boil the turtle. The son felt that his mother torture the turtle just to maintain the cultures. If we compared to pot, pot is nothing. It is just a common thing. So, the author use  the word of “cauldron” to show the bad side of the mother.

Chin refers to the “the Wei”, “the yellow” and “the Yangtze”. Why does she reference these rivers in China?  Why not include the Nile, the Amazon, or the Mississippi?

Because this poem is about the cultures in China. All those rivers was related to China. Nile, the Amazon, or the Mississippi does not related to the cultures of China.

What is the tone of this poem?

The tone of this poem are mocking and sarcastic. We can see that even though the persona tried to not hurt her mother’s feeling, but he was not satisfied with what her mother wanted him to be. The conflict here is when the persona either her mother cannot being tolerate with each other. The persona wanted her mother to adapt with modern cultures but the mother wanted the persona to stay with Chinese’s cultures.

Ideas for Writing ( not less than 400 words)

“Sometimes you are the life, sometimes the sacrifice”. Write about this quote within the context of an immigrant family. What might a family gain or lose by moving to a new land?

There are advantages and disadvantages when a family moving to a new land. Perhaps, in this poem the mother has moved away from her home country to a foreign one back then, she has lost some of her cultures, her China’s history, her relatives and even her son makes her feel like an outsider. She wanted to bring it back and make her child adapted with China’s cultures. But, the speaker was adapted with American cultures based on line “over your lap in decorous Pasadena”. Pasadena is something that originally came from California. If we look at the positive side, an immigrant family can gain the chances of better life if they move to develop country like American. They can get better education and enhance their knowledge. They will learn how to survive in develop country and compete with others. So, they can improve themselves. However, you have to sacrifice something if you want to move to a new land. For example, you might lose your identity. You will forget about your roots and where you came from. For instance, in this poem, we can see how the speaker forgot about his roots when he tried to be an American. He tried to hide the identity of Chinese by using a napkin of Pasadena. Like most Americans, he doesn't really have an identity. He just likes to pretend. So, he will forget about the Chinese’s culture. He was complaining about the mother killing the four thousand year old turtle for a turtle soup, but the mother just tells him to eat it. He did not want to adapt with that culture because he was adapted with American’s cultures. The most important part is, an immigrant family can make them isolated from each other. Because of misunderstanding and different point of view about new cultures, they might argue with each other which culture is the best. For example, we can see how the son tried to show the American cultures to his mother and how the mother wanted her son to adapt with their ancestors cultures. Both of them are trying to defend their stand.  We can see in this poem that the mother did not want to adapt with modern cultures while her son did not want to accept the old cultures. So, when this happened, it might give negative effects towards the bonding of the family. It would be difficult for them a good relationship.

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note 1961

Amiri Baraka (1934-)

                                                                                 For Kellie Jones, born 16 May 1959

Lately, I’ve become accustomed to the way

The ground opens up and envelopes me

Each time I go out to walk the dog.

Or the broad edged silly music the wind

Makes when I run for a bus…

Things have come to that.

And now, each night I count the stars.

And each night I get the same number.

And when they will not come to be counted,

I count the holes they leave.

Nobody sings anymore.

And then last night I tiptoed up

To my daughter’s room and heard her

Talking to someone, and when I opened

The door, there was no one there…

Only she on her knees, peeking into

Her own clasped hands

Explorations of the Text

What is the mood of the speaker in the opening lines? What images suggest his feelings?

He was sad, frustrated and became hopeless. He got used with his daily life. He used to live in the miserable and horrible. He was adapted to endure with that situation. The images that suggest his feeling are the sentence of “The ground opens up and envelopes me”, “Things have come to that” showing that he is not happy with the way things are, and that it does not seem to be changing. These statements seem so blunt.

What is the significance of the daughter’s gesture of peeking into “her own clasped hands”?

I found it was something about praying. Maybe her daughter was praying at that time and it was like there is hope for something to be better.

What does the title mean? How does it explain the closing line?

To be honest, when I first read this poem, I am not too sure whether it is about commit suicide or not.  Regardless of the title, I wouldn't think it was a suicide note. Perhaps, it is just like an emotional feeling towards this poem to show that the speaker’s life was too horrible like commit a suicide. It does explain the closing line by saying that “ Her own clasped hand”. His tone changes to. It changes what he was previously feeling. By seeing his daughter hold onto this hope that there is something better, he knows he has to make it better for her. So, we cannot conclude the poem is something about commit suicide.

What does Baraka have three short lines, separated as stanzas? How do they convey the message of the poem?

As for me, the first stanza showed the frustration of the speaker about his life. Then, the second stanza showed how the speaker feels lost hope. Lastly, the third stanza showed that there is still hope for the speaker to have a better life when he saw her daughter was praying. Every stanza convey the message with their tone.

Why does Baraka begin stanzas with “Lately”, “And Now”, and “And Then”? What do these transition words accomplish?

Baraka began stanzas with those words to show the power of language. The power of language in terms of literary text is to make the using of words more meaningful and bombastic for those who read the poem. “Lately”, showed the obstacles that the speaker went through previously, “And Now” showed the present of the speaker’s life and “And Then” showed what will happened to the speaker in his future life.

How does the speaker feel about his daughter? What does she represent to him?

The speaker felt glad to see her daughter was praying. She represented the symbolism of hope and strength for the speaker to have a better life in the future.

Incident by Countee Cullen

Explorations of the Text

The nature of the interaction between the two boys.

I defined it as a common conversation between two boys who did not know each other but it turns out to an unpleasant situation and made the changes of expression when the bigger boy started to call the other boy as a Nigger.

Why does the speaker remember nothing more than the incident, even though he stayed in Baltimore from “May until December”?

As for me, he was only remember about the incident because when someone called him as a nigger, he considered it as his bad experience with immature person and of course, he felt annoyed and insulted with that statement.

The reading/Writing Connection

In a paragraph, compare your experience of prejudice with the persona in the poem.

I was a student from SMA. Based on my own experience, during my secondary school, sometimes some people judge me as close-minded person. They considered me as a person who do not have social life and cannot communicate well with the outsiders. For me, that is a common phenomenon happened to any SMA’s student. Furthermore, our appearance also does make sense. They always assumed that people like us will spend time at the mosque most of the time. We will labelled as reading person and have lots of rules in our life. But for me, the boy in the incident had the worse experience rather than me. Obviously, it is a rude action when someone called someone else a nigger.

Ideas for Writing

The form for this poem is free style and the rhyme add to this poem is ABCB.

The power of language in terms of literary text is to make the using of words more meaningful  and bombastic for those who read the poem. For example, the words of “Heart-filled and head-filled with glee” meaning that happy feeling and joy. The effects of the use of the term nigger is it can cause racism among us. For instance, the dark skin boy feels offence when someone called him nigger. The word of nigger itself shows how certain people judge others people and make them angry. Furthermore, it can to bad relationship between each other. “Nigger” also is the most lethal insult in America.