self

The journal for today is kind of a complicated topic to write about. The topic is to write about what you think that your transcendental Self is. There are three parts to your transcendental Self. The three parts of your transcendental Self are your Soul, which is your spiritual self; your Self, which is your personality and how you see yourself; and then there is your Real Self, which is how everyone else perceives you. When you think about it this way, it is a lot easier to understand how you can write about your Self.

I think that my spiritual self, personality, and the way that other people perceive me are all very different, but at the same time, they are kind of the same. It is kind of weird to try to think about and define my spiritual self, because I do not think that I am a very spiritual person. The only way that I can really define my spiritual self is that I am a Christian. I go to church sometimes, but not all the time. I am not the most religious or spiritual person ever.

My Self, or personality, and my Real Self, or the way that everyone else perceives me, are very different from each other, but sometimes they are the same. My personality or self, which is the way that I percieve myself is that I am easy to get a long with and I am a pretty calm person. I think that pretty much everyone else probably thinks the same thing about me so I think that my real self and my self are kind of the same thing. Some people may perceive me differently than others because my personality changes depending on who I am with. When I am with people that I am more comfortable with, I am more outgoing and talkative than when I am with people that I do not know very well. I see my self as the more outgoing person, but some may see me as the shy person. It all depends on who you ask I guess.

Chanting the Spirit Deific

"Chanting the Spirit Deific" is a short poem written by Walt Whitman. In this poem, Whitman describes God as four parts, instead of the usual trinity that God is normally thought to be. Whitman wrote the poem in four stanzas and each stanza counts as one of the four sides. The first stanza is from the point of view of God. The second stanza is from the point of view of Christ, which is more of the Christian God, or Jesus. The third stanza is Satan, and the fourth stanza is the Soul or Santa Spirita.

The first stanza is about God. In the first stanza, the speaker states that he is Jehovah, but also says that he is Brahm, Saturnius, and Kronos. These are gods from different kinds of mythology. Whitman uses these specific gods because they all have specific jobs that are related to each other. Each of these gods are relentless. That is the reason that he used these gods specifically. The God that is the speaker in the first stanza describes himself as "relentless". "I expense from this side judgments inexorable without the least remorse." (Whitman). The God that is the speaker in the first stanza says that he does not feel bad for the judgments that he casts onto people. He also says, "Therefore let none expect mercy" (Whitman). This God is different than what you would normally think of the Christian God as because the Christian God is merciful and forgiving. 


The speaker of the second stanza is Christ. This side of God is a much more caring and comforting God. he describes himself as "Consolator most mild" (Whitman) and "with gentler hand extended" (Whitman). This is the softer side of God that is nicer and more calm. Christ is kind to everyone, not just specific types of people. "Wending my way through the homes of men, rich or poor, with the kiss of affection". Christ is affectionate towards all people. This side of  God also like weaker than the first one, but is described as more mighty, which is a contradiction. "Many times have I been rejected, taunted, put in prison, and crucified, and many times shall be again" (Whitman). This makes Christ seem weak, because he is ridiculed and overpowered by mortal people. In another part of the poem however, Christ describes himself as "The mightier God am I". These two lines show that while Christ is very mighty, he is also humble because he can take the taunting from those who are clearly weaker than he. 


The third stanza is from the point of view of Satan. Satan is much different from the previous sides of the square. Satan is evil. "Aloof, dissatisfied, plotting revolt, Comrade of criminals... Crafty, despised, a drudge, ignorant" (Whitman). Although Satan is evil, he has a kind of a soft spot for the "downtrodden" (Oliver). In the third stanza, Satan describes himself as "brother of slaves". This shows that he has a kind of respect for people who have had a hard time. Satan is as opposite from Christ as he can be. This shows that Whitman believed that their needed to be a balance between good and evil (Oliver). Satan describes himself as "permanent" saying that "nor time nor change shall ever change me of my words" (Oliver). 


The speaker of the last stanza is Santa Spirita, or the Soul. The Soul is a collection of all three other sides of the  square. It is "Including all life on earth, touching, including God, including Saviour and Satan." (Whitman). The Soul unifies all the other sides of the square and is in everything. "pervading all, (for without me what were all?)" (Whitman). Santa Spirita is in everything. It is the "general soul" and is all life. "Life of the great round world, the sun and stars, and of man, I, the general soul" (Whitman). The Soul completes the square tying everything together and unifying all parts of the square deific.


Whitman used a very specific technique to write this poem. He chose to use one stanza per each side of the square to make everything flow better and much easier to understand. His idea of God being a quaternity instead of a trinity was very creative and it was interesting to see how all the different sides tied together and balanced each other out.  


Bibliography
Whitman, Walt. "The Walt Whitman Archive." Chanting The Square Deific. (Leaves of Grass [1891-1892]) -. Web. 04 Apr. 2012. <http://whitmanarchive.org/published/LG/1891/poems/247>.


Oliver, Charles M. "'Chanting the Square Deific'." Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCWW082&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 4, 2012).

I heard a fly buzz when I died Journal

Emily Dickinson’s poem “I heard a fly buzz when I died” is about a person who is lying on their death bed, dying peacefully, when suddenly their death is interrupted by the buzzing of a fly. In the beginning of the poem, the speaker is surrounded by his or her family. They are all surrounding him or her in complete silence. “The stillness round my form Was like the stillness in the air Between the heaves of storm” (Dickinson). “The stillness round my form” refers to all the people standing around the speaker as he or she is dying. By using the word “stillness” to describe the speaker’s surroundings, the speaker shows that the setting is very still and quiet. Everyone in the room is quiet because they are all waiting and are anticipating what is going to happen next. “Between the heaves of storm” refers to the speakers breathing. The speaker is breathing very loudly and slowly, and since the speaker says that everything is calm in between the “heaves of storm” the speaker must be struggling with every breath. “The eyes beside had wrung them dry, And breaths were gathering sure For that last onset,” (Dickinson). The people who are surrounding the speaker in his or her last moments are watching quietly as the speaker is struggling to breath. Everyone’s eyes “had wrung them dry”, meaning that everyone has cried a lot and they can no longer cry, or they no longer feel the need to cry because they have come to terms with what is going to happen.“I willed my keepsakes, signed away What portion of me I Could make assignable,-and then There interposed a fly, With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz, Between the light and me; And then the windows failed, and then I could not see to see.” (Dickinson). The speaker has already assigned away all of their belongings meaning that they are ready to die and have accepted it already. They are ready for their death when suddenly a fly interrupts everything.  

bibliography
Dickinson, Emily. "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died." Web. 02 Apr. 2012. <http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/fly.html>.

Journal 27

A lot of Emily Dickinson’s poems can be sung to the tune of the song “Amazing Grace”. They can also be sung to the tune of a lot of other folk songs and old songs that were sang back in her time. I think that the reason that her poems can be sung to these songs is that they were familiar to her and she liked to write her poems to the tune of songs that she knew. I think that the reason that many of them can be sung to “Amazing Grace” specifically is that “Amazing Grace” is a hymnal and was very popular during her time. Emily Dickinson was religious so she probably knew this song very well. Her whole family attended the Congregational Church. Emily Dickinson was not a very social person and she did not go out in public very much. A lot of people thought that Emily Dickinson was weird because she did not like to go out in public much and she preferred to stay inside and be alone. I think that Emily Dickinson liked to make her poems go to the tune of “Amazing Grace” because it was her way of making sure that other people could relate to her poetry. By making her poems go to the tune of these songs, other people would be able to kind of relate to them and maybe even understand them more. Another possible reason that Emily Dickinson chose to write a lot of her poems to the tune of this song was that she was probably inspired by it. “Amazing Grace” is a very inspirational song, and it probably had an impact on her life. She probably felt that it was very deep and maybe it even inspired her to write some of her poems. The song “Amazing Grace” is very emotional and she probably felt that she wanted to write poetry that was as emotional and inspiring as that song.