Topic Proposal

TOPIC PROPOSAL:

1. Write down your preliminary thesis statement. What is your purpose in writing about this topic?

The love and lust Tess discovers and suffers from results from her experiences with her family, Alec, and Angel.

While reading the book I noticed how Tess always went up and down from lust to love and was always confronted with an issue. She never had an 'easy' day and her life was really complicated because of the three really main players in her life: her family, Alec, and Angel. I think it would be the most interesting topic for me to examine because I noticed it while reading the novel.

2. Who is your audience? What do you have to convince them to believe that they might not already believe?

My classmates of College Writing 1102 and my professor. I need them to see my point of view on how I believe Tess suffers because of love and lust. More deeply, I need them to see that there are certain reasons why/how she suffered.

3. What does your audience already know about the topic and what do you have to be aware of or avoid as a result?

They all have read the book, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, so they know what Tess goes through and what becomes of her. I need to avoid summarizing the book and telling them everything they already know. I need to make sure I give them new perspectives on how she suffered and in which way. I will have to try to make them see different aspects that they hadn't necessarily thought of before.

4. What modes of development do you think you will use in this paper? Circle and write a brief explanation of when/why you think you will use that mode.

Cause/effect- I think I will use it throughout the paper and say this happens and Tess feels this way, because... I believe I will try to base my paper somewhat on cause and effect. Because of love and lust this happened, etc.

Definition

Process- I might use process to show how the love and lust in her life leads up to certain events or aspects. It isn't the same throughout the book because with every new situation she encounters, she changes a little bit and her outlook changes too.

Classification

Exemplification

Comparison

5. Tell me a bit about your sources. Which articles did you decide to use? Why? How do you see yourself using their information in your paper?

*I looked at “Ways of Looking at Tess” by Janet Freeman and have found much information about how the way people perceived Tess has affected the way the way they reacted with each other. It will help me to prove the different ways her family, Alec, and Angel caused/gave lust and love to Tess.

*The essays in the back of the Tess book have a lot of different information in them and I think some aspects of each of them will likely be helpful. I am not sure how to get the required amount of information out of each because some of them are pretty short. The essay on pages 371-372 by Juliet Grindle and Simon Gatrell has a lot of information about Sue/Rose Mary/ Tess... I just need to figure out how to add that aspect into my paper.

*Pages 357-358 have an essay by Michael Millgate that helps explain the development of the characters and how they became who they are and how they are different than what is seen. It could help to prove the lust and love again. This one is shorter, so I don't know if the requirements could be met for amount of information used.

Topic and Thesis

The topic i chose is the complexity of parent-child relationships.
My thesis statement is as follows: In the poems "Photograph of my Father in his Twenty Second Year" and "Do Not Go Gentle into that Goodnight", parent-child relationships are shown through harsh love, unconditional love, and death.

Poetry essay

I am not exactly sure as to what I am going to write about quite yet. I really want to do something with "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Thomas and "Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-Second Year" by Carver. I think the parent relationships are similar in that they both have a great respect for their fathers. I'm still working it out though. I find that the tones of both poems are quite different. Maybe I can focus in on that.

Thesis Ideas

In the poems, "Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-Second Year" by Raymond Carver and "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas, the speakers of each poem reveal their relationship to their fathers. In "Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-Second Year," the speaker talks about the old age of his father and of his opinion on his father's death. In "Do not go gentle into that good night," the speaker reveals how he feels about his father and how he wishes to be like him, althought he will never be. These two poems are closely related in the topics of parent-child relationships because they both show two mens attitutes and ideas of their fathers. In both poems, the author uses tone, theme, and word choice to make these poems more interesting and easily read and understood.

I will support my thesis by using quotes from the poems and other ideas and concepts I have learned from previous chapters in this class.

Thesis and Prewriting

I decided to compare "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas and "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden. I liked how different the poems were in the way the relationships with their fathers were represented. It seems like Thomas was older when this poem was written, based on the word usage and overall description, while Hayden seems to be remembering his childhood, or else this poem was written when he was younger. The feelings each has towards their father are very different, and I find the contrast very interesting. The differences may have to do with the age the authors are writing about or wrote it at, I'm not sure. I want to compare the differences the authors had in their feelings/relationships with their fathers. When I answered the questions on page 877, I answered a question about positive and negative word, phrase (etc.) associations in each poem. For Hayden's poem there are not many positive and many negatives, while the opposite was true with Thomas' poem, I found many positives and only a few negatives. Answering those questions really helped me because they are not ones I would have thought to ask myself.

What I have thought up as a thesis so far is: Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" and Dylan Thomas' "Do not go gentle into that good night" both explain feelings toward their fathers; Hayden's shows a negative relationship, while Thomas' shows a positive one.

I am not sure if that is too long for a thesis, or if it is too broad? It also might be difficult to have people understand the differences in how the authors felt because it seems as though the poems were written in much different circumstances, as Hayden's was about daily childhood, and Thomas' was about his father dying.

My Thesis & Prewriting Thoughts

My introduction and thesis go as follows: The poems “Dulce et Decorum est,” by Wilfred Owen, and “The Man He Killed,” by Thomas Hardy, use a soldier’s viewpoint to show how gruesome and violent war is. The horrific images and confusion seen and felt by each soldier during military service show that the once common notion, fighting and dying in a war is a righteous and heroic act, is no longer applicable to modern day wars. By using a soldier’s point-of-view, these poems show that war doesn’t bring about feelings of bravery and courageousness to soldiers on the battlefield, but brings about the realization that war is a destructive, dark pursuit that causes agony.

I chose this topic because these two poems, especially “Dulce et Decorum est,” intrigued me from the first time I read them. I am able to find new, interesting points in each poem every time I read them. Since I enjoy these poems, I won’t have any difficulty re-reading them many times for my essay.

The ideas I am considering using to compare my two poems are: the speaker’s attitude towards war, the figures of speech used to express the ideas about war, the poems’ tones, what the poems reveal about the speaker, and the central theme of each poem. I came up with these points by doing the prewriting activity on page 893 in our literature book.

My poetry essay will be a comparison between “Dulce et Decorum est” and “The Man He Killed.” I will use the figures of speech and graphic imagery used in “Dulce et Decorum est” to prove that the speaker is against war. For “The Man He Killed,” I will use the hesitation and confusion shown within the poem to prove that the speaker is unsure about war and can’t justify war. Although these two poems use different techniques to show their attitude towards war, they share a central theme, which will be what I am comparing in my essay.

The difference in tone between the two poems may cause difficulty when I am writing my essay. Although both poems have central themes that denounce war, the speaker’s use different tones to show how they feel about war. The lack of strong, graphic imagery in “The Man He Killed” may also cause problems when I am writing my paper, because in “Dulce et Decorum est,” the speaker uses very vivid imagery, while in “The Man He Killed,” the speaker uses his pauses and hesitation more so than graphic imagery.

The topic I have chosen excites me, because war is a subject that has been blazing in the news for the past few years. By writing this essay, I will be able to gain more personal perspective on how I feel about war, while comparing how these two speakers, who are soldiers, felt while they were serving in wars.

Thesis for Poetry Essay

It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to write. I still struggle with poetry. I am going to try and understand the two poems "Do Not go gentle into that Good Night" and "Those Winter Sundays". I feel that they have alot in common and I will try to prove that to the readers. To me the speaker in both poems is a child that talks very proudly and positive about there father but when their father is speaking to them they show some negativity towards their father. I might have difficulty trying to come up with enough thoughts as to why I feel this way, but hopefully in the end it will all be smooth.

Thesis Statement(s)

I am examining two thesis statements:
In the poems Mending Wall by Robert Frost and The Man He Killed by Thomas Hardy it seems both authors want us to ask ourselves “why as humans do we carry out a deed and as a result ponder the oddity of that deed?”
1. In Mending Wall the neighbors meet only to mend the wall, though the speakers wonders why is the wall even necessary?
2. In The Man He Killed the speaker sees that if it were not for war the man he killed would have been just another man to him.
I like this topic because it represents an important awareness to me: that humanity often act and think with opposing views. (maybe that should be my thesis????)
Not sure if I will be able to write a lot on this, but am willing to look into it.
In both poems To his Coy Mistress, by Andrew Marvell and Delight in Disorder by Robert Herrick both speakers attempt to justify their desire with the use of figurative language.
1. To his Coy Mistress the speaker uses hyperbole when he exaggerates time to convince his love that the time to love is now!
Delight in Disorder the speaker uses personification to make the object of his desire seem in control of his desire.
Although, I think the first thesis statement is more interesting to me personally, I may have more to write about with these two poems.
I like this topic because I think I could gather a lot of supporting evidence and both poems struck me as having speakers whom I would not want to hang around to much and surely would not want ogling me or trying to lure me into their paws. I figured this may give my writing a bit of bite.

Thesis

My thesis statement: The complexity of parent-child relationship is like no other relationship you will ever have. The two poems "Do Not go Gentle into that Good Night" by Dylan Thomas and "Photograph of my Father in His Twenty-Second Year" by Raymond Carver give us an insight of how different each individual person's relationship with their father may be. I chose the topic because one of the poems remind me of the relationship I had with my father. I will prove my thesis by analyzing the hidden meanings in both poems. I may run into problems with deciphering the poems. I have a hard time understanding poetry.

Tone

The tone of “To the Virgins, to Make much of Time” is toward a broader audience than the tone of “To His Coy Mistress” in which the speaker is talking directly to his love. The speaker of “To His Coy Mistress” has himself in mind when speaking, he is trying to get what he wants from his audience. He is trying to lure in his audience with his seemingly smooth talk and seductive wording. He uses time as a reason for motivating his love to be with him. “The gravels a fine and private place, but none, I think, do there embrace.”
In “To the Virgins, to Make much of Time” the speaker seems to be speaking in general of thoughts which go beyond himself and extend to the rest of humanity. The speaker intends for readers to think about these words/ideas and to possibly get something from the poem. The tone is also clear and crisp as the latter poem is more deceptive or tricky toward it‘s audience. This speaker however, is not trying to fool anyone but instead to inform or invoke thought. The speakers theme of time and tone seems thoughtful and truthful. The speaker above is using the theme of time as a ploy or tool, yet this speaker is making a point of how time flies and we must “seize the day!”

To Coy His Mistress

He is professing his endless love for her. He loves her now, and will love her even more with time. His portrayal is not completely positive, as he talks of what would become if she were not to love him back. He describes his passion in interesting ways. "I would love you ten years before the flood." (Lines 7-8) Line 12, "...Vaster than the empires, and more slow."

Allusions in "The Ballad of John and Yoko"

The many allusions in the song “The Ballad of John and Yoko” recount the activities of John Lennon and Yoko Ono during March and April 1969. The song begins by describing the difficulty the couple had getting from London to Gibraltar where the two were to get married. In the third verse of the song, John alludes to his and Yoko’s famous Bed-in for Peace; “Drove from Paris to the Amsterdam Hilton, / Talking in our beds for a week. / The newspapers said, "Say what you doing in bed?" / I said, ‘We're only trying to get us some peace’.” While at the Amsterdam Hilton the two invited reporters into their room at the Hilton Hotel as they promoted world Peace.

After their Bed-in for Peace, John and Yoko departed for Vienna where they continued their peace campaign by holding a bagism conference; “Made a lightning trip to Vienna, / eating chocolate cake in a bag.” Bagism involved wearing a large bag over your body to conceal a person’s physical features; the idea was to satirize and prejudice and stereotypes.

Songs and Allusions

I chose the song "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles because the way the singer sings the song really caught my attention. Starting at the beginning of the song, I analyzed just what exactly I thought the song means. I believe that this songs talks about a singer/writer who is not sure about men. I think that she believes they are fake and unreal as to the way they treat women. I would have to say that the song doesn't block the listeners/audience from understanding what is being said, I actually believe that the writer does a good job of saying what is needed to be said, and discussing her true opinion and of how she feels.
The way the writer of this song presents allusions is amazing. It seems to me that the only allusion that the writer really refers to, that is to my understanding, is the allusion of love. Note the name of the song.

Comparison of tone in "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" and "To His Coy Mistress"

“To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick, tells about using time wisely because it can soon run out. Lines 3 and 4 say “and the same flower that smiles today,/tomorrow will be dying,” meaning time can go so quickly without even realizing it, so make the most of it; seize the day. In contrast to “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, Herrick’s poem says “then be not coy, but use your time” (13). “To His Coy Mistress” tells of how the man will be doting to the woman and “an hundred years should go to praise/ thine eyes, and on they forehead gaze, / two hundred to adore each breast, / but thirty thousand to the rest” (13-16). This shows how although you should make good use of your time, you can imagine and wish how time would go. Both of these poems use “carpe diem” as their theme, yet they take a different approach to the saying. “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” has a more light-hearted tone than “To His Coy Mistress” through implying that you better use your time wisely or it will be over before you know it. “To His Coy Mistress” has more imaginative and dreamlike tone. The promises made to the woman are unrealistic and not as infinite as the statements made in “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.”

To His Coy Mistress

The speaker is celebrating his love for his mistress by telling us all of the wonderful things about her and all the wonderful things he will do for her. In lines thirteen through sixteen the speaker remarks “a hundred years should go to praise thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze, two hundred to adore each breast, but thirty thousand to the rest.” Even though all these comments are unrealistic to the actual years a human can live they are very complimentary towards his mistress. The speaker shows he has everlasting feelings for this woman and his feelings shall never die down. The speaker quotes “love should grow vaster than empires” (11-12). He feels as if he has all the love in the world to give her. The speaker celebrates himself through his passionate love for her. He is happy that he has someone to love. His only problem is time; they will both eventually age and die and his love can’t be expressed. Throughout the poem he is very positive until he gets the ending. He is worried about how much time he really has to love her. He says “time’s winged chariot hurrying near” (22). He uses this to show that he will eventually run out of time to love her and the time is coming near. The only line that appears to be slightly negative towards his beloved is in line twenty five, when he replies “thy beauty shall no more be found”. I believe he is directing this towards her as she ages. He feels that when she ages she will no longer have beauty.

"Tim McGraw" by Taylor Swift

When I first read the question on page 871, I immediately thought of Taylor Swift’s song “Tim McGraw”. I definitely think that using Tim McGraw as an allusion works for her in this song. It helps to create a feeling of love and passion. I think it works so well because anyone who listens to country music knows of Tim McGraw and the passion he puts forth in his love songs. If you listen to his music, it makes you want to be in love and feel what he feels. It is that reason that Taylor Swift used him as an allusion in her song. If people know Tim McGraw’s music then they can have an even greater understanding of how she was feeling at that very point in time. I believe the lyrics go something to the effect of : “When you think Tim McGraw, I hope you think my favorite song. The one we danced to all night long, and then you’ll turn your radio on. I hope it takes you back to that place….” Later on in the lyrics she says that she hopes when he (unknown) thinks of Tim McGraw that he thinks of her. She obviously knows how powerful his music is and how powerful it was for them at that time and hopes that the man associates her with his powerful and passionate music. It also helps us as listeners to know how she was feeling.

A Comparison of Figures of Speech in "A Rose for Emily" and "Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone."

In the poem “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,” by W.H. Audenir, and in the short story “A Rose for Emily,” written by William Faulkner, both female protagonists are dealing the loss of a loved one and are hindered by their emotions; unable to move forward with their lives. The figures of speech used in both writings helps the reader to picture the women and better understand their emotional and physical states.

In both stories, the protagonists lose someone that is dear to them. For Emily, the loss of her father leaves her lonely and unhappy. Emily is compared to “…a fallen monument” (206,) which means that she is an unchanging object, that stays as it is for the entirety of it’s existence. This loneliness scars her and leaves her terrified of living life without a loved one by her side. “Her skeleton was small and spare…” (207,) is a hyperbole, because if she is alive, she is unlikely to look as skinny as a skeleton; this description makes me imagine a frail, miserable woman. Also, the speaker describes Emily’s eyes using the simile “…looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump…” (207,) which helps to give the reader an image of a sad, lonely woman with emptiness and a cold, blackness in her eyes. Likewise, the female in “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone” is mourning the loss of her male partner, whom she loved deeply. Her loss scars her by leaving her in this world alone, without the happiness that love had brought her. She tells the aeroplanes to circle the funeral “...moaning…” (line 5.) This personification leads me to think that she herself is probably moaning in pain over the loss of her beloved.

Emily and the woman in Auden’s poem are both emotionally scared from their losses and have a hard time accepting the passage of time. One man recalls that Emily’s body is as “motionless as that of an idol” (208,) showing how grim and unhappy she is and that she does not change over time, like a statue, an inanimate object, does not change over time. Emily cannot deal with the idea of time moving forward; needing to have things stay constant; life never changing. Emily is said to “…look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in church windows---sort of tragic and serene (208.) This simile paints a vivid picture of Emily, an innocent being who is depressed and in need of companionship. She doesn’t want time to move forward and she doesn’t want life to alter. As with Emily, the woman of Auden’s poem cannot grasp that time must move on, even if she has lost the man she loves. This woman is completely in love with her mate, saying “He was my North, my South, my East and West” (line 9). When he dies, she wishes, and even commands, that life stops moving forward. The personification “Silence the pianos…” (line 3) shows that she wishes for even sound to stop. She has an obvious fear of time moving forward. The thought of moving on with her life alone, without her the man she loves so deeply, is an incomprehensible concept. She even wants to “Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun” (line 14,) a personification that leads the reader to believe she is not thinking clearly and in her grief, she is going as far as to wish to pack the moon in a box and store it away; an impossible task.

Both Emily and this mourning woman can’t live alone and if they are forced to, they wish for time to halt. The use of similes in “A Rose for Emily” helps to paint the image of a lonely, sad woman in my mind. In “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,” it is the personifications that help me to understand that the woman is in such agony over her loss that she is unable to function normally anymore, unable to decipher between what is possible and what is impossible.

To His Coy Mistress

In "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell I feel the speaker describes how he feels towards his beloved. He describes himself has being shy in the second line "This coyness, lady, were no crime.He also describes his love as being young and that it is growing for her more than she would ever know. In line 25 "Thy beauty Shall no man be found..." might appear negative to the reader but he is only trying to make known the essence of time. "Time is winged chariot hurrying near" (22) Is a great example for time creeping up on him. He wants to cherish his love and be with her for eternity. In the end the speaker explains how your can't make the sun stand still shows me that he wants to hold on to her love forever.

To His Coy Mistress

In what sense is the speaker in this poem celebrating his beloved? He is writing about her in fondness. Throughout the poem he is telling her how much he loves her. An example would be in line 20 "For, Lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate." It seems to me he is saying he would never show her less than what she deserves. In what sense is the speaker celebrating himself? Towards the end of the poem, he says "Rather at once our time devour Than languish in his slow-chapped power. Let us roll our strength and all Our sweetness up into one ball. In those two lines he is celebrating his love for her by telling her to not waste time. He wants her to be with him now and enjoy life now - not waste it.

Is his portrayal of her entirely positive? Which elements, if any, are negative? To me it doesn't seem entirely positive. He says "Time's winged chariot hurrying near, And yonder all before us lie. " He is saying that we are all mortal. Everyone will age and not be beautiful forever, even his beloved. He also says in line 30 "And your quaint honor turn to dust, And into ashes all must lust." I believe he means that someday she won't look like she does now and he may not desire her the way he does now. He wants them to live in the moment. There are some words in this poem that make it seem a little harsher than just praise. The words ashes, worms, prey, iron gates. All seem to reflect a negative portrayal of what is to come as they age.

“Delight in Disorder” - an appreciation for less than perfection

In “Delight in Disorder” by Robert Herrick the Title tells us that the author is to be delighted in his following statements of disorder. The authors word choice “kindles in clothes a wantonness” shows us the speaker sensual pleasure in viewing this person whom he sees having a “sweet disorder. “ “A fine distraction” he thinks as he refers to the shawl this person is wearing, he finds it appealing and agreeable to look upon this person. The words disorder, thrown, erring lead me to believe that maybe she is a saloon type girl. As the imagery of this loose thrown together, disorderly object of desire seems to not be describing a perfected style of a so called finer person. Or maybe it is a youthful person whom is not perfected in their style. The word enthralls is one of several words which shows he feels powerless over his perception of her. “A cuff neglectful….ribbons to flow confusedly,” He finds her interesting to look upon and to think about. The fact that things are not completely in order provokes an interest in her. Her clothing very much provoking his desire. He notes her wave as winning and deserving, viewing her alone has set his mind on her but he is aware that it is temptation which calls him to look upon her and does not wish to fight against it, but instead relishes in and enjoys to be “bewitched.” He would rather look upon a person with qualities of imperfection openly displayed or seen, than to look at someone seemingly perfect by their way of appearance.