Partner Reflection

“Arcturus is his other name” is the poem that was chosen for this reflection blog because it had to do with stars. First off, for a little bit of background information, Arcturus comes from Greek and can be translated into “Guardian of the Bear.” The star is so named because it is close to both Ursa Major (Larger Bear) and Ursa Minor (Lesser Bear). It is also the third brightest individual star in the night sky after Sirius and Canopus. This fits well into the Nature section of her collection of poems because it is something anyone can go outside and see on any given night, given that the sky is both clear enough and there is not too much light pollution to see it. Also, this poem would most definitely fit into the transcendentalist writing section because in it, Dickenson is complaining about how science is taking away the beauty of nature by classifying it and giving things scientific names. 

In the beginning of the poem, it seems as if Dickenson is just complaining about how the scientists of the time were classifying everything and turning it into numbers and classification rather than what it really was. From flowers to butterflies to the sky, everything was laid out in a specific order that many transcendentalists, and evidently Dickenson, did not appreciate. 

Towards the end of the poem, however, Dickenson shifted the focus from a personal disliking of science for the sake of the compromised beauty to the religious aspect of why she did not like what was happening to the world because of the scientists and their classifying. One reason that she gives is that the night sky used to be reserved for the thoughts about Heaven and now it “is mapped, and chartered too” (Dickenson 16). At the beginning of that same stanza, she states that “What once was Heaven, now is Zenith” which supports the aforestated quote because “zenith” is a scientific term that describes straight up into the sky from a person’s point of view (Dickenson 13). Dickenson despairs at the thought that the place she “proposed to go when time’s brief masquerade was done” might be changed too by the “curse” the scientists have released upon the beauty of the world (Dickenson 14, 15). She hopes that “the children there won’t be new-fashioned” because she fears that if they are like the scientists she left behind, they might “laugh at me, and stare!” (Dickenson 22 – 24). 

This picture of Heaven contradicts the way that many people look at the idea of Heaven or how they visualize it in their heads. Most people see it as perfect and a place where there is only happiness and joy. Yet, in this poem, Dickenson portrays it as a place capable of ridicule and sadness for the people who are “old fashioned, naughty, everything” (Dickenson 27). One other important thing to note is that Dickenson see’s heaven and earth on the same plane, just separated by some kind of fence because in the last line, she says “over the pearly stile” which refers back to her wish that when she dies, God will take her to heaven (Dickenson 28).

Dickinson, Emily. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Boston: Little, Brown, 1924; Bartleby.com, 2000.

The Lost Beautifulness

Job Shadowing

For job shadowing yesterday, I shadowed two different dieticians at Memorial Hospital. I am interested in nutrition and helping people with their diets so it was interesting to see what being a dietician in a hospital was like, but I do not think that after seeing their jobs, dietician is the right job for me. The first dietician that I shadowed working in the ICU and helped patients who had trauma and very bad injuries. Some of the patients in that unit had been through car accidents, been burnt very badly, and one man had fallen off of the top of a ladder. The dietician in this unit helped these patients by figuring out what kind of diets their body would require so that it could heal. Mostly they just had to add a lot of protein to their diets so that any broken bones could heal and it also helped them get stronger and wounds heal faster. That dietician mostly just walked around the unit, talked to patients and informed them on what kind of food and nutrients their bodies needed to heal. The other dietician that I shadowed worked in the oncology unit of the hospital and sometimes with dialysis patients. Her job was mostly to make sure that patients were eating while they were in the hospital because usually these patients lose their appetites. She said that she was not strict on their diets, she just had to make sure that they were eating. I learned a lot by job shadowing and I thought that their jobs were very interesting, but it was not what I imagined that it would be and I do not think that it is something that I would want as a career. These two dieticians did more in patient work and I think that I would enjoy out patient work more. Job shadowing really helped me to realize what I really want to do in the future.  

Journal #30

http://whitmanarchive.org/published/LG/1891/poems/194

My favorite poem by Walt Whitman is the poem “O Captain! My Captain!”. This poem written by Walt Whitman is one of the most famous poems that he has written and it is also my favorite.

“O Captain! My Captain!” is my favorite poem of Walt Whitman because it has a couple different meanings and I think that they are both very interesting. One of the views of what this poem is about is that it is about The Civil War and Abraham Lincoln is the captain that Walt Whitman is talking about in the poem. The other idea is that the captain of the poem is God. I think it is interesting how the poem can be interpreted in two very different ways. I like to think that this poem is about Abraham Lincoln and The Civil War. I think this because it makes more sense for it to be about Lincoln since in the poem it says "our fearful trip is done” (Whitman) and “the prize we sought is won” (Whitman). The “fearful trip” that Whitman talks about is probably the fighting that took place in The Civil War and the “prize” is probably the Union. Walt Whitman wrote this poem to show his appreciation to Abraham Lincoln and I think that it is a very good way for him to show it to him. The lines “fallen cold and dead” show up a lot in the poem “O Captain! My Captain!”. Whitman wrote this after Lincoln died so that makes me think that this poem was about Lincoln as well.

I think that this poem is my favorite out of all of Whitman’s poems because you can tell that he really cared about what he was writing about in this poem. Abraham Lincoln was very important to Walt Whitman, so when he died, Whitman wanted to show his appreciation for Lincoln and his efforts during the war. I think that this poem has a lot of emotion in it and that is why it is my favorite.

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>.