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ENG 45C, Life, Trees, "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett --…

- - - - Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe -- In the novel, yams are used as a way to connect Okonkwo to his masculinity and establish economic and social power within his village. Yams in particular are symbolically important due to their ability to provide food for the entire family while also requiring manual labor to maintain, emphasizing the importance of strength and consistency, traditional masculine traits.
        
        Gender Norms
        
        Financial Stability
  - - - Voluntary
        
        "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by W.B. Yeats -- This poem illustrates a solitary solace found through connection with the natural world through invocations of soothing, singular images. E.g. "And live alone in the bee-loud glade", "I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore."
      - Involuntary
        
        "Sea Rose" by H.D. -- This poem illustrates the picture of a rose caught in the ocean's drift. The rose is stuck alone in the waves of the ocean, emphasizing a solitary and disconnected image. E.g. "... you are caught in the drift", "... you are flung on the sand."
        
        Involuntary because of the rose's succumbing to the whims of the ocean.
        
        "Eurydice" by H.D. -- This poem uses images of nature in order to establish a separation from community through a loss of connection with the natural world. The speaker mourns her separation from various facets of nature: "I who could have slept among the live flowers." This establishes a disconnect between the speaker and the living world, therefore creating a solitary life.
        
        Involuntary due to the speaker's desire to connect with the natural world but being stopped by an external force.
    - - "In a Station of the Metro" by Ezra Pound -- This poem depicts an image of nature as a way of highlighting human connection/interaction. By comparing "[t]he apparition of these faces in the crowd" to "petals on a wet, black bough," Pound highlights nature's connection to humanity/social interactions.
      - "Oread" by H.D. -- This poem shows human connection by its repeated invocation of the term "us." E.g. "... hurl your green over us / cover us with your pools of fir."
      - "Spring and All" by William Carlos Williams -- This poem shows a communal, sluggish shift towards spring. Its social nature is reinforced by a plurality of language: "All about them / the cold, familiar wind", "... rooted they grip down and begin to awaken."
        
        Awakening
      - "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams -- This poem uses language of connection and dependance in connection with nature in order to create an effective image. It illustrates how human inventions operate alongside nature to create harmony. E.g. "so much depends", "glazed with rain", "beside the white chickens."
      - The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner -- Benjy likens his sister, Caddy, the smell of trees in a reflection of the comfort he finds in her. Benjy constantly reiterates Caddy's "smelling like trees" as a point of consistency that is indicative of their close familial bond.
        
        Nostalgia
        
        Fear of Aging
      - "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes -- This poem uses various rivers throughout the world such as the Nile and the Euphrates as a way of ascribing a sense of temporality and gravity to the shared endurance of African American experiences, namely, slavery. The invocation of the river also implies a depth and importance to the Black American resilient soul.
        
        Resilience
        
        Rich Inner Life
- - - - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" -- This poem involves a speaker talking directly about themselves in order to convey personal feelings. This first-person perspective connects the reader to the narrator by displaying vulnerability: "And in short, I was afraid."
        
        Modern Alienation
        
        Self Doubt
      - "Tradition and the Individual Talent" by T.S. Eliot -- This work exhibits a direct perspective, as Eliot describes what makes poetry "good." This perspective is significant because, although Eliot displays his opinions as objective, the direct nature of his writing reflects how they are more subjective.
      - "A Few Don't by an Imagiste" by Ezra Pound -- This work uses a direct address to the reader, as a majority of it is written like a list of instructions. This adds to the rhetorical effect and encourages the audience to take what Pound says as an authority because of the direct action words. E.g. "consider," "don't," "behave as ..."
      - "Harlem [2]" by Langston Hughes -- This poem directly addresses the reader through the invocation of questions. This makes the reader an active participant in the poem, and requires that they face the reality of the frustrating Black American experience. E.g. "What happens to a dream deferred?"
    - - "Let America Be America Again" by Langston Hughes -- This poem depicts the speaker stepping into the shoes of other people from an outside perspective through the repeated phrase "I am." This also serves to help create a collective identity with the audience, in order to more effectively deliver the message. E.g. "I am the people."
        
        Connection Through Shared Experience
  - - - The Turn of the Screw by Henry James -- An integral part of James' novel is the nature of the perspective: a governess observing the life of her two charges. This narrative style helped create a sense of mystery and suspense in the novel, as the governess always operated from a position of ignorance. E.g. "I don't know what I don't see--what I don't fear!"
        
        Gothic Mystery
      - "Bartleby, the Scrivener" by Herman Melville -- This story features a narrator who observes the behavior of another character, Bartleby. This use of external perspective further adds to the mystery and confusion surrounding Bartleby's character. E.g. "It was his soul that suffered, and his soul I could not reach."
        
        Passive Resistance
      - "The Man of the Crowd" by Edgar Allan Poe -- This story features the narrator following an interesting man he saw in a crowd. The degree of separation connects the reader with the narrator, as they share in the frustration throughout the process of attempting to follow the "man of the crowd."
      - "The Weary Blues" by Langston Hughes -- This poem features a narrator describing a man who sings mournfully on Lenox Avenue. The reader therefore feels as though they are looking in on this experience, as they learn through what the narrator is able to see throughout the majority of the poem. This helps the reader empathize with a character in a way that is reminiscent of real life.
      - Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe -- This novel ends with the perspective of an outsider looking in, as the District Commissioner reflects on Okonkwo's death and decides to include him in a small portion of his book. This starkly illustrates how a rich and tumultuous life is trivialized to a small portion of the colonizer's book, and serves to highlight the Commissioner's dismissiveness.
- - - - Insignificance of Time
      - Decay
    - - Cyclical Nature of Life