Final Blog

Throughout this semester in English 210 I have learned many things.  With the ability to make our own decisions as to page length and number of sources I feel as though my writing has become more individualized, which helped me challenge myself to higher standards.  I feel that the grammar guides were the most helpful tool to educate me in areas I did not formally know.  The most helpful strategies for me were the lessons involving quotations, titles, appositives, and comma usage.  After implementing these particular grammar guide lessons I can see improvements of my writing overall.  With the use of a proper academic title, proper word choice, and brackets showing changes made within quotes I could see a more well-rounded, professional looking paper as the semester advanced.  The paper that was the easiest for me would have to have been the second paper of the semester.  It allowed us to analyze and interpret various aspects of a short story of choice by creating a research based argument.  I enjoyed this paper the most because it gave me the ability to choose which story, and which aspects within that story, to delve deeper and state my side of criticism.  It is much harder to create a paper when there are many limitations and requirements to follow because it also restricts the amount of topics that can be argued.  Throughout this semester I believe I've overcome a giant obstacle in the path to creating college-level papers.  The most beneficial lesson that contributed to the broadening of my knowledge on college writing would definitely have to be the grammar guide lesson pertaining to proper comma usage.  In the past I would normally place a comma anywhere that seemed to fit.  After being educated on the many instances and rules of comma usage I feel that the flow of my paper has improved immensely, resulting in various improvements of writing a college-level paper.

Poetry Packet

The songs and poems included in the poetry packet were about the difference between guys and girls.  Beyonce's song "If I Were a Boy" tells a story of how guys don't care about girls and take them for granted.  The two short poems have similar meanings. One tells about how a girl is naive and stupid for always forgiving the man and how the man is just using her for sex.  The little kid's poem tells how little girls and boys differ, by saying that girls are sweet and boys are always getting into things.  The John Michael Montgomery song "Sold" kind of contradicts this argument because it is about a guy that falls in love at first sight and how he would do anything to "make you mine all mine."  It just shows the differences between the way men and women think and act.

"The Flea"

This poem is kind of weird and confusing, but all poems seem to be that way. What I get from the poem is that a flea drank the blood of both lovers.  The man is frustrated that the two cannot be together because their parents don't approve.  The girl wants to kill the flea because its just a nasty insect but the boy likes that their blood is together, like marriage.  The girl kills the flea and the boy feels betrayed.

Poetry

Poetry is a form of art that lets individuals present themselves or something else in a rhythmic way.  I've studied poetry for a couple classes in high school but haven't gone really in depth about analyzing the meanings or how to find meanings in a simpler way.  Poetry is sort of hard to comprehend and often takes more time to delve deeper into what the author may have been trying to say.  One of my favorite poets that most people would probably stay away from is Edgar Allen Poe because many people think his poetry is confusing.  I just like the way he makes poetry and the repetition he tends to use.

Dr. Faustus (moment that stuck out)

The one moment that stuck out to me after ending the book was the fact that it ended to abruptly.  When the 24 years was up and he was expecting the Devils to come take him away at midnight, I was completely confused because one minute he was making grapes for the Duke and Duchess and the next he is being convinced by an old man to repent for his life.  The last two scenes seemed to come rather fast so the readers weren't able to see all of the magic he had performed.  The question I was stuck with was how could he go 24 years without the fear of losing his soul to Lucifer, but when there is only a matter of hours left he then decides to repent?  Sins should be forgiven but you also must honestly feel as though you did wrong, not when it finally comes back to bite you.

Dr. Faustus - class discussion

I feel that the most interesting part of the class discussion on Monday was about the many times that someone or something tried to convince Dr. Faustus to not perform black magic.  In every single scene from one to six, there was some form of hindrance being in the way of Faustus learning and performing black magic.  As repentance sets in, there seems to be no stopping Faustus on his journey to evil.  He manages to prepare an agreement for the Devil even though his blood congeals.  It seems as though Faustus's mindset of the issue of black magic resulted from an extreme wrong doing placed upon him previously in his lifetime.  He must feel betrayed somehow by the church or his religion since he could not refrain from continuing on his excursion of the dark side.

Dr. Faustus - Scene 5

The fifth scene of the play Dr. Faustus is quite simple.  Faustus is discussing the agreement of black magic with Mephistophilis.  Faustus listens to his good angel and evil angel's thoughts about the idea and ends up agreeing with the evil angel.  For Faustus to be able to learn magic and have Mephistophilis be his servant, he was required to write an agreement with his own blood to give his soul to the Devil.  After the agreement is made and finalized, Faustus orders Mephistophilis to find him a wife.  Upon returning with a Devil dressed as a woman, Mephistophilis convinces Faustus to marry her.  This scene ends with Dr. Faustus receiving a book of everything you could imagine, including spells and incantations that "may raise up spirits."