"Discovery of the New World" by Carter Revard

Sorry Mrs. Clinch but the poem will not paste on to the blog for some reason. Here is the link to it though: http://homeostaticism.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/discovery-of-the-new-world/

Carter Revard's poem "Discovery of the New World" is about an alien invasion on the human population that seems to parallel the invasion of the Europeans on the Native Americans in the Americas. The poem begins with one of the aliens speaking to a superior as he describes the humans as "creatures" who "marveled at our green skins and scarlet eyes". To begin with, green has the connotation of a lack of experience. Considering that the aliens are paralleled with the English colonists this description makes complete sense. Both of these groups of people did not fully think about their actions and the brutality of them and in this way were blinded by their desire to achieve new land. It is also interesting to note that the "creatures" or humans "marveled" at the appearance of the aliens. The connotations of this word indicate the inferiority that the humans feel in relation to the aliens. In fact, this phrase parallels the actual wording of many historians who claim that the Native Americans were astonished by the colonist's "white skin and blue eyes". After the aliens utilize one of the human brains and see their history, the poem moves and the alien claims, "a curious visual echo in their history of our own coing to their earth; a certain General Sherman had said concerning a group of them exactly what we were saying to you about these creatures: it is our destiny to asterize this planet...". The poem alludes to General Sherman who was an American soldier and a staunch leader in the deleterious affects towards Native Americans. Revard is making a direct parallel between these two dichotic yet unified stories that portray the discrimination and brutality towards others. Revard truly makes us identify with the oppressed individuals within the history and story in order to further understand it. Near the end of the poem, the alien claims, "They'll have to come into our pens and then we"ll get to study the way our heart attacks and cancers spread among them, since they seem not immune to these". The word cancer works on two levels. According to the New England Oxford American Dictionary, the denotation of cancer is a practice or phenomenon perceived to be evil or destructive and hard to eradicate. In one way, the represents the literal cancer that the English colonists actually gave to the Native Americans when they traveled to the Americas. On the other hand, cancer may also refer to this seemingly cycle like nature in which a "superior" group comes to new land to conquer it for personal gain. In essence, the English colonists or in this case the aliens were the cancer that brought destruction and was hard to eradicate. In the very last line Revard claims, "Then we will be safe, and rich, and happy here forever". Revard seems to be using a sarcastic tone here  to describe the ignorance of the English colonists who looked over the brutality of their actions in order to be successful in a new land. The last line is also so effective because of the description of the deleterious actions by the aliens/English colonists previously mentioned in the poem.

Plato's Allegory of the Cave, Grendel, and Batman?

 In Plato's text, the prisoners in the cave are living a different perspective of reality. Once a prisoner is freed, the knowledge of another world changes his reality. The individual experiences a different perspective of reality that he is not accustom to. In fact, when the prisoner ascends towards the other world he immediately experiences the sun and "his eyes will be dazzled". The prisoner is then given this perspective and goes back to his previous world in the cave; however, he is weaker and considered more of a laughing stock in that society. By simply coming back to his previous world, the prisoner has become enlightened. I believe that the prisoners represent humanity, the cave represents the prisoner's world, the shadows represent perception, the light represents revelation, and that the sun represents God or salvation. I also think that both Grendel and Batman relate to this experience of the freed prisoner.

Grendel lives in a cave with his mother in which he is subject to darkness and shadows. Through exploration, he finds the fire snake pit and ascends towards it to enter in to the new world of men. This relates to the prisoner in the way that he enters in to the new world. In fact, right as Grendel enters this new world, he experiences a "moon light" for the first time. Similar to the sun and light from the new world, Grendel experiences the same scenario. He is given a new perspective of reality that he has never experienced before. It is also interesting to note the Genesis symbolism when Grendel darts "from tree to tree". The tree and snakes are allusions to the Garden of Eden and the idea of a pursuit of forbidden knowledge. I don't believe that Grendel has come back to his previous world as somebody enlightened yet because he is conflicted. He is stuck in the "chasm" or existential void that makes him a part of both worlds: the reality of man and the reality of the cave. In fact, we immediately note this conflicting character when Grendel is seen as both animalistic and human. I believe that until he understands his conflicted self, he will not be enlightened to return to his community.

I believe that Plato's allegory also has a direct correlation to Batman in the Dark Night Rises film. Batman suffered a lose from the antagonist Bane and was sentenced to live in a dark prison that was similar to a cave. Within the cave, Batman experiences a different perspective of reality. The darkness, the people, and the environment all give him a distorted reality from his perspective in Gotham. Once he ascends through the prison to the top, he experiences sunlight. He then returns to Gotham and tries to help the community. In this way, Batman is enlightened because of his attempt to save the city of Gotham while viewing a different perspective of reality.

"The Love Story of J. Alfred Prufrock" and Winesburg, Ohio

Both Winesburg, Ohio and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" share many common themes and allusions that help to parallel both of these literary texts. After my first read of the poem, I immediately noticed a connection between "Hands" and the last section of the poem. In Sherwood Anderson's short story "Hands", Wing Biddlebaum is accused of pedophilia in a school in Pennsylvania because he abnormally expresses himself with his hands. He is constantly touching the children and putting his hands through their hair. In fact, Henry Bradford begins to "beat him up with his fists" in response to Wing's accused pedophilia.  I believe that Wing is actually just trying to spread the concept of pursuing one's dreams; however, the fear and paranoia of expressing this desire causes his conflicted nature. In the very beginning of the story we see that Wing wants to see the berry pickers through the "tall yellow mustard weeds"; however, he immediately feels "fear overcoming him" and runs back to his own house. The berry pickers represent Wing's temptation to spread his dream; however, he cannot out of fear of his past experiences. This is further exemplified through the connotation of the color yellow, which indicates warning and hazard. This relates to Wing's conflicted nature, and how he has a nostalgia for his pursuit to encourage children to achieve their dreams. This nostalgia is also seen through T.S. Eliot's poem. For example, the speaker describes himself as lower than "Prince Hamlet", "an attendant lord", and even sometimes a "Fool". Prince Hamlet was a character in one of Shakespeare's plays in which he struggles with whether and how to avenge the murder of his father. This prolonged struggle eventually leads to the death of everyone else. The speaker claims that he is not Prince Hamlet, so not an indecisive individual that prolongs everything, but rather an attendant lord that does whatever he is told to do. This allusion is indicative of how indecision itself is too much for the speaker to handle, so he has to be even less than that. Throughout the last section of the poem, the speaker also claims, "I grow old... I grow old...". This shows the nostalgia and longing for his youth contrasted with the knowledge that you cannot return to that youth. The speaker has already wasted most of his time, and has thus used up his youth. In this way, he longs for his youth even though he still has not realized that he has waisted almost all of his time. We see this nostalgia for youth again through the mermaids. For example, the speaker claims, "Combing the white hair of the waves blown back/When the wind blows the water white and black". The white hair is representative of old age, while the connotation of the "black" water indicates some sort of death. This relates to the idea that the speaker dies of old age because of his "time wasting" attitude that causes him to use up his youth.