Reading Response Three

          Marriage: Visions of the Daughters of Albion is an article written by Diane Hume George.  This article includes George comparing the thoughts on women between Sigmund Freud and William Blake.  Throughout the article, George proves that Freud and Blake have very similar views on women, and the way they should be.  In the poem "Visions of the Daughters of Albion" by William Blake, in multiple sections, he implies that women should be a virgin when she becomes wed.  If the woman is not a virgin, the man does not have full possession of her.   Therefore, women must make the decision to either be a wife, or to be a whore.  The woman in "Visions of the Daughters of Albion" is called Oothoon, became pregnant from the man who raped her, named Bromion.  Oothoon is not a virgin anymore, and has to accept that Bromion is in her life, even if she does not want him to be.  Oorion's husband like figure, Theotormon, becomes jealous and angry at both Oorion and Bromion.  But, Oorion defends herself, like most women could not in this time, and tells them both off.  In doing so, she gained much needed independence and respect for herself.  The article also contains a lot of information about sex, like how men look down on women for it, but the women can not help it since it is so tempting.  George describes that women longing for sex are genuine, but how, as stated before, one can either be a wife or a whore.  A women has the choice of either being devoted to, and possessed by, one man, or she can choose to be looked upon as nothing more than scum.  In either circumstance, the woman does not fully understand true love, unless the woman actually loves the man she marries.  If she were to be a whore, then she would just be something to use for sex, obviously never seeing what true love is.  If she did not love the man she was with, she would basically just be a thing for him to possess and control.
          Marriage: Visions of the Daughters of Albion was confusing to interpret, and kind of irrelevant to the knowledge I was looking for.  This article mentioned William Blake, but it was mostly about sex, and the ideas of Sigmund Freud.  Although, the information that was included on William Blake was interesting.  In Blake's poem "Visions of the Daughters of Albion", Bromion argues, "Is there not one law for both the lion and the ox?".  This quote was very hypocritical, and contradicting.  I did not agree with Blake's thoughts on women, and how men basically control them.  Also, it is not right that women have to follow rules, if it is okay for the men to disobey them.  If a woman is to have the choice of either wife or whore, the men should have that choice as well.  If the women need to be virgins when they become married, the men should be virgins as well.  Overall, I disagree with Blake's opinions, but it is not a big conflict, because now, women are equal to men in most ways.  Another thing about this article that did not spark my interest was how George mostly talked about sex, masturbation, and Freud's beliefs on those two subjects.  I already know different views on sex as a sin before marriage, and this article could have sufficed without four pages about it.  Blake believes, "We are sexual beings and live our lives, think our thoughts, in a sexual context".  People do think about sex a lot, but not every single thing people think about it sex.  Not everybody's thoughts are on sex, or live their lives surrounded by sex.  When I read this quote, I thought Freud had said it, so I had to read it over again.  Freud and Blake had very similar thoughts, and were both thought of as weird or disturbed people by the public. George was comparing the two in some of her article so the reader could comprehend how alike they truly are.  The reason I chose this article is because it seemed interesting and full of Blake's ideas on marriage.  The article was actually very informative and not boring in any way, but if I could change anything, it would be to add more information about Blake.  Possibly including another annotated poem by William Blake would make this article more relevant to this topic.          

Prose Poem

Most kids only like the summer because there is no school, or they get to be tan.  
I look forward to summer because it revives the dead sense of freedom, of belongingness, of love.  
In summer, I see all of those friends I never have time to see.  
The people I love to be with, but I never can be with. 
No matter where I am when I am with them, I feel at home.  
I love those long summer nights that do not end until you can not keep your eyes open.  
I love when you see those friends every day and you do not have to leave to do homework or go to bed early, you have all the time in the World.
I love going to your best friends house and being able to stay there for a week.
Whenever you get tired of anything or anyone, you can just drive away with your friends.
Blast loud music with the windows rolled down, because you can.
Nobody to stop you from living. 
Living the life you want, living your dream, living however the hell you want to live.
Staying up late enough to call it tomorrow.  
Bonfires late at night at last minute, because you know those friends will always be waiting to see you.
Sitting around the fire laughing and rolling around in the grass, fighting, falling on purpose and wrestling. 
I miss going to the pool with the original six, having fun and each time getting new inside jokes to laugh about the next day.
I love those days where you can look back and say to yourself, "What was I thinking?".
Having regrets, but getting over them because pretty soon, you will have more to worry about.
Each year that goes by I wish for the summer to begin again, so I can see those old friends, to feel at home again.
Because a year without summer, would mean a year without those friends, a year without fun, hope, memories, laughter.
A year without anything to look forward to.

Community Blog Assignment

     The blog I chose to share is Wordzworth 4 Eva by Alyck Horton, Presley Lewis and Keyla Roberts.  They chose to do their blog on William Wordsworth, and it impressed me very much.  Not only did they get a lot of things done early, but they made it interesting and easy to read.  Although Alyck uses some spicy and daring words, it does make reading the blog a lot more interesting, while still providing good information.  
     The most interesting thing about their blog was the video posted at the bottom of the blog.  When watching it, one thinks it may have nothing to do with William Wordsworth, but then realizes the video has similar ideas to Wordsworth's.  I may be just hallucinating, but the squirrel thing rapping in the video does represent Wordsworth's thoughts by talking about the beautiful things in nature that most people do not take under consideration.  If someone did not know anything about Romanticism, they could find out a lot from the blog Wordzworth 4 Eva.  For example, one could learn the ideas of all the Romantic poets and how they appreciate nature.  
     Another thing I appreciated in their blog was a picture they posted that looks like the World, but also the Yin and Yang symbol.    Keyla Roberts was the one to post this picture, and I strongly recommend everyone to read the paragraph underneath the picture.  Not only is it deep, but it really gets one to thinking.  As stated in this post, opposites must be able to coexist on the same planet, which explains the overall meaning to the picture.  William Wordsworth includes a lot of opposites existing at the same time in his poetry, which confuses people some times, but also makes it that much more interesting. 
      Not only do they make the information humorous, but they say it in a way to still sounds like they know what they are talking about.  I did not know much about William Wordsworth, just some of the poems he has written, but after reading some of their posts, I understand a lot more.   To see this brilliant blog, click on the link posted below.  

Errrbody Click Hurr!

William Blake Biography

     William Blake was an English poet and printer who was born in 1757 and died in 1827.  He lived a long, fulfilling   and eventful life.  The picture above was painted of William Blake in 1807.  Blake lived in London for all of his life, except for three years where he lived in Felpham.  He was taken out of school when he was ten, then was home schooled.  When his parents realized his amazing drawing skills, they entered him in drawing classes.  Also during this time, Blake had been working on his own poetry as well.  
     Blake eventually married a woman, and taught her how to read and write.  She ended up printing all of his work and would be there for him through hard times like when his father died.  Although many things in his life had changed, Blake still had the same ideas and opinions he had previously.  Blake was thought to be mad by many people, because of his unusual poems and his artwork as well.  In all of Blake's poems, he uses symbolism to represent objects in nature, everyday life, and even things in the bible.  Romantics poets were all against Christianity in one way, and all believed nature was a sacred thing.  The reason for them disapproving Christianity was because it had replaced the idea of nature creating beautiful things with God creating them.  In some of Blake's poems the message to people is that we are destroying nature, and taking it for granted.  Romantic poets did not understand how people could treat something so beautiful as nature like it was nothing important.  If Blake was concerned about the way society was back then, I could not imagine what his thoughts would be now. 
     Blake used very descriptive language in his poems that would create a beautiful picture in the reader's head.  Blake died a very dramatic and traumatic death with his wife sitting right by his bedside crying.  They exchanged their words of love to each other because they knew it was the end, he painted a portrait of her, then he died.  One of the most remarkable and touching things I have ever heard about Blake were the words from a female who was present when he passed away.  These words were "I have been at the death, not of a man, but of a blessed angel". 

The Chimney Sweeper

The Chimney Sweeper
William Blake

When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue,
Could scarcely cry weep weep weep weep,
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.

Theres little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
That curled like a lambs back was shav'd, so I said.
Hush Tom never mind it, for when your head's bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair

And so he was quiet. & that very night.
As Tom was a sleeping he had such a sight
That thousands of sweepers Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack
Were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black,

And by came an Angel who had a bright key
And he open'd the coffins & set them all free.
Then down a green plain leaping laughing they run
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind.
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke and we rose in the dark
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Tho' the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

       The first interesting thing I noticed about this poem is how terrible of a life this young boy has, but he still is happy for the most part.  This can be compared to every day life, because it seems everyone who has had difficult situations are always the most hopeful and thankful people.  It is very sad that it has to take something bad in life to make someone realize how important life truly is.  The boy in this poem has had a rough time, but he believes that he will have a better life in heaven after he dies.  This dream keeps the boy hopeful and able to make it through each day.  This poem brings up the everyday lesson that before someone can understand another person, they must walk a mile in their shoes.  Back when this poem was written, chimney sweeps were very common, but most people would not take the time to talk to any of them.  I think it is significant how Blake wrote about a chimney sweep, because people do not know what it is like to live as one.  Also some people think their life is hard, most of the time they realize others have it so much worse than them.  It is important that Blake shed some light on this darkened thought to make sure people realize the conditions others have to live in.  
       I thought it was really interesting how in a city where there are chimney sweeps, the boy dreams of things in nature, like a river and a green plain.  This shows that the boy dreams of feeling a sense of freedom and happiness. Also in the boy's dreams the angel told him if he was a good boy, he would go up to heaven where he could be free and he would never want joy, because he would already have everything he needed.  This angel's promise made the boy warm even though he was chimney sweeping in the cold.  If they all did their job, and were good, they would be safe.  One thing I really like about this poem are the promises, hopes and dreams included.  It shows that if people who live in these low of conditions can have hope, then everyone should be able to as well.  

A POISON TREE

WAS angry with my friend:

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe:

I told it not, my wrath did grow.

 

And I watered it in fears,

Night and morning with my tears;

And I sunnèd it with smiles,

And with soft deceitful wiles.

 

And it grew both day and night,

Till it bore an apple bright;

And my foe beheld it shine,

And he knew that it was mine,

 

And into my garden stole,

When the night had veiled the pole:

In the morning glad I see

My foe outstretched beneath the tree.







       In the first stanza of "A Poison Tree", William Blake implies that when someone tells of their feelings, they will feel relieved.  Rather, if someone hid their feelings inside, the feelings would only get worse.  This stanza brings up the fact that everyone categorizes people they meet as friend or foe.  Along with that, people treat the two very differently, which could punish them in the end. For example, when someone hates another person, they would normally not go up to them and confess their feelings, therefore their feelings will get worse.  But, if someone is friends with another, they would most likely want things to be better, so they talk it out. 

       The second stanza includes Blake watering his wrath with his tears, which means his wrath was growing.  At the same time he was acting friendly to his foe, to trick him into thinking everything was alright between them.  Eventually, it grew to bear an apple, which looked appealing, but it was actually poisonous.  This relates to the Garden of Eden, where Eve is tempted by the apple, but it turns out to be a terrible trap.  Just like in the Garden of Eden, Blake's foe falls into his trap.  His foe sneaks into the garden at night, and stole the tempting poison apple.  When Blake woke in the morning, he was glad to find his foe dead under the tree.  This poem can relate to other people and their lives as well as the Garden of Eden story.  

       Reading and interpreting this poem has made me realize times I have been lured into a trap, but also times where I have lured others I did not like into a trap.  When someone is in high school, they see it every day.  For example, when people invite a nerd over to their table for lunch, the nerd thinks it might be a friendly gesture.  However, when the nerd goes over to them, they all make fun of him and pick on him.  Not only is it deceitful and sneaky, but it could come right around and bite you in the butt.  That is one of the main lessons that can be learned from "A Poison Tree", along with learning to not hide your feelings.  If you do suppress your feelings, they just exceedingly get worse.