ENLIGHTENMENT
Humanities tends to push people with deep thinking, hard projects as well as all around hard to study topics. This year we have been focusing on Enlightenment and different types of enlightenment and enlightened figures. One of those figures was Chris McCandless, a man who ventured all over North America and into the wilderness of Alaska in order to free himself of what society was influencing him to be, and get in touch with himself as well as nature. This type of enlightenment is ofter referred to as "Transcendentalism." Another figure we studied was Plato and his allegory of, "The Cave." Plato believed that the common person was trapped in a metaphorical cave, where unless they got out of the lock-step up society, they couldn't see past what was being fed to them. And being able to think deeply and see things to a deeper extent was essentially your ticket out of the cave. Another example of an enlightened figure that we studied was Martin Luther. Martin Luther almost single-handed reformed the Catholic Church by exposing to the public all the misconduct of the Catholic Church. From him, the Lutheran religion was created. All of the different individuals we studied along with the different forms of enlightenment really made me rethink every time I nonchalantly would say something like, "Enlighten me!"
This project as well as the basics of prepping with studies for our project took place over the course of several weeks, but in the end it has been one of the most interesting things we have studied in Humanities for me this year.
My project was done with Sara Martin and Cooper Stowers as partners. We decided to do a newscast on Enlightenment, but satirizing it as much as possible...
This is our satirical newscast on Enlightenment.
To view the website created for this project along with Self Reflections and information on the actors, Click here.
IMPERIALISM
Another project we have really focused on this semester is Imperialism in Africa. This at first was directed towards the Congo area and how King Leopold killed eight-ten million people and never set foot in the Congo. This horrible genocide abused the African people of that area as well as took advantage of them and the rubber and ivory of that area. After first focusing on this, we moved onto a country in Africa of our choice and how a foreign place has been colonized or if imperialism occurred in that area. I chose to work on Rwanda. Of course this was one of the more challenging countries given the recent genocide in Rwanda, this also made it more interesting to research at the same time. Our project idea for this is to gather an enormous amount of information on all aspects of this country, then interview a person from this country or multiple people about current issues in Rwanda as well as things (such as the genocide) that have happened in the past. This genocide was a huge turning point for Rwanda, not only did it kill the relationships between the Hutu and Tutsi populations of this country, but also at the end brought out aid from several other countries to Rwanda. When we get back from Christmas break we will find the individuals we will be researching, and create an interview featuring many topics and interview points, then create our project from there.
My interview contact was Joel Fariss, the Directer of Operations for Rwanda Partners. He gave me great quotes and answers to all of my questions. My slides show was put together pretty close to the deadline, but I think it turned out really well all things considered. We uploaded this video onto YouTube, but I've put it below as well.
Script for video:
("In their greatest hour of need, the world failed the people of Rwanda."- Kofi Annan)
Rwanda will be forever tainted with one of the worst genocides in history, and the people in Rwanda as well as the rest of the people in the world must learn from that history, and not let it be forgotten, however there is a deeper history to Rwanda that should not be overlooked when perceiving this beautiful, complicated land…
Joel Fariss, my interview contact as well as the Director of Operations for the Rwanda Partners organization, says his favorite quality of Rwanda is: "Rwanda is a visually beautiful country, if you get to travel there you will see the phrase, 'land of a thousand hills' come to life, it's pretty amazing as you drive through the hills and see all the green valleys."
In the beginning, Rwanda was settled by Pygmies whose descendants are now known as Twa people, who make up less than one percent of today's population.
Then in the 1400's, another tribe from neighboring countries, now known as Tutsis, came to Rwanda and lived along with the majority population of Hutus, intermarrying and leading the country equally. It continued this way for hundreds of years.
In the eighteen hundreds, Rwanda was under Belgian influence due to the colonization, and the Belgians started to make distinct differences between the Hutus and Tutsis. The Tutsis were classified as the Rwandans that were taller, with thinner lips and noses having more resemblance to white people. The Hutus were classified by their thicker noses and lips, darker skin, and were typically shorter than the Tutsis.
After these distinctions were made, the Belgians also gave more control to the Tutsis, more Rwandan officials were Tutsi, the higher education went to the Tutsis, creating a large gap between the Hutus and Tutsis, yet there was still some intermarrying between the two.
After Rwanda gained its independence in 1961, and it seemed that almost immediately the Hutus began to lash out at the Tutsis.
The Hutus were the majority population, and had undergone years of being under Tutsi control, and were now ready to get even since they were no longer under the Belgian watch.
The Hutu president at that time, Juvenal Habyarimana, had been enforcing to all Hutus that the Tutsis were intruders, and needed to be killed. He sent this message out through posters, creating an idea that all Tutsis were "cockroaches that needed to be exterminated" but the most common way he enforced this was through the radio.
On April 6th, 1994, Juvenal Habyarimana's plane was shot down just outside of Rwanda's capital city, Kigali. It was said that Tutsi rebels shot down the plane. This news was spread through the radios like wildfire. This act was like a signal to all Hutus to start the massacre.
On this day a hundred day massacre slaughter had started, killing nearly a million Tutsis. The Hutus killed all Tutsis and rebellious Hutus in their path with machetes and nail-studded clubs that they had made before hand, by order of Habyarimana.
The radio played a crucial role in the genocide since a large portion of the population was illiterate the radio was the single-most effective way of keeping constant updates on the genocide. Both during and before the genocide the radio also spread false claims of planned Tutsi attacks on Hutus triggering multiple Tutsi slaughters.
The UN instructed the Belgian militia not to do a thing in terms of protecting the Tutsis, given the recent events in Mogadishu, Somalia, America too backed out of sending reinforcements to do anything in Rwanda, instead they evacuated all white people out of Rwanda, and only one stayed back, an American named Carl Wilkens. Carl Wilkens left behind his family and friends in order to do something he felt was necessary. During the genocide he and a friend he recruited delivered water to hiding Tutsi orphans, as well as doing all they could to protect the Tutsis.
When the massacre was over, three out of every four Tutsi had been killed…
Section 2:
After the genocide in 1994, over a million Hutus fled to neighboring countries Uganda, Tanzania, and Burundi in fear of revenge. Only recently have they returned in large masses back to Rwanda, making the overall population 80% Hutu.
Since the Genocide, Rwandan president Paul Kagame has been hard at work patching international relationships to get back to where they once were. So far so good, as Rwanda has maintained a fairly low profile over the last several years. Joel Fariss , “No leader is perfect, and Kagame is not perfect in many ways, but he also brought stability to a country wrought with tension and Rwanda would be a very different country apart from Kagame.”
Rwanda currently has been given a very good amount of aid from the UN as well as multiple countries including China, but the most aid has been given to Rwanda by the US.
Fariss says-“This aid has been mostly financial aid given in governmental subsidies.”
Another thing that has been newly donated to Rwanda is a number of hospitals in multiple towns. Bill Clinton donated one of which recently.
Even though Rwanda has been doing great with resilience lately, like everything else, it has its downsides as well…
As Joel states, “Rwanda struggles with many things, but the biggest thing Rwanda struggles with is the ethnic tension between the Hutu and Tutsi people.”
Since the genocide, Rwanda as a whole has come so far is reconciliation with these two tribes, but there will always be even the slightest bit of underlying tension, just as there is today. Recently there have been many outbreaks between the two, counting in many deaths of both Hutus and Tutsis.
Kagame is hard at work trying to find a solution to this ongoing problem Rwanda is facing. It seems that separating them does very little to help, as well as collaborating with the two also doesn't seem to do very much in terms of helping either.
Section 3
When I prompted Joel Fariss with the question- "What could other countries do to help Rwanda economically?" He answered, "The answer to Rwanda's (and East Africa's in general) healing and recovery is long term economic sustainability through job creation and access to capitalist markets. Rwanda Partners articulates this as 'change not charity, trade not aid.' Rwandans need job training, job opportunities, new industries, education and access to global markets."
This quote really stuck me as honest and... so true! I had originally thought that AID was the main thing Rwanda was in need of, that is AID in the form of money and donations. After reading this answer though, my thinking is very different.
This is a great example of the type of AID Rwanda is receiving as well as the types it SHOULD be receiving. When I had originally thought that USAID was doing a great job with helping Rwanda out I now feel that we could be putting our money to better use, and help Rwanda in the ways that it really needs such as the creation of businesses and global market access.
Joel Fariss and his association with Rwanda Partners is one of the things that is really helping Rwanda out right now, with how they are not just donating money or other goods, but things that will take Rwanda further in the longer run, helping to create more jobs and education possibilities.
Section 4:
When I then asked Joel the question of his favorite thing about Rwanda and why, he answered. "The resilience of the people. There is a pervasive sense of hope for a new Rwanda after the genocide and the people are working hard for a better future. The hospitality is unrivaled and people are always so willing to share what they have with visitors, even when they don't have much."
I think that this is so striking because living in America it is sometimes hard to imagine being brought up with close to nothing, when most of the time we are blessed with so much more than we even know. People in Rwanda are so selfless in the way that they are so generous in so many ways when people are mostly not as kind to them in exchange. This changed my thinking slightly on Rwanda because it really puts things into perspective for me on what the people in Rwanda are really like, even to those they don't know well at all.
Section 5
When we first started this project I thought of Rwanda as a part of Africa, but honestly past that I had no other knowledge of anything having to do with Rwanda. Going through this project I now feel that I am coming out with 10 times more knowledge than I had before. I think I have a good grasp on Rwanda's predicted future, its present and mostly; its past.
When working through this project the one thing that stood out the most would easily be the Rwanda genocide, and how this was such a pivotal part of Rwanda's history. Up until the genocide it seemed to me that Rwanda had a similar past with how it was colonized and from then everything was changed and made different and how it eventually gained its independence, and was its own country for a time.
In the end, Rwanda is a country full of beauty and promise for a better future and I hope that people will see past the stereotypes of Africa as a whole and begin to see all that it offers in terms of the vast differences within African countries, the troubled pasts that most have undergone and the reconciliation it deals with today.
Reflection for this project:
1. Reflection Questions
- If you were an animal during this project, what would you be and why?
We had a lot of independent work this project – going all the way back to King Leopold’s ghost:
- What does it mean to be an independent worker and learner?
- Describe your strengths at working independently, using evidence from at least 3 different times during this project. Include at least one example from the section on KLG.
- Describe your weaknesses at working independently, using evidence from at least 3 different times during this project. Include at least one example from the section on KLG.
VIETNAM
The next project our class focused on was the Vietnam War. For this we read Tim O'Brien's book, The Things They Carried and looked at upwards of thirty primary source documents on the Vietnam War. Our project was to write "a true history of the Vietnam War." For mine I focused on how this war got started and the events that led up to the Gulf of Tonkin. (It is written below)
A True History of the Vietnam War.
Lily Oswald
On the evening of August 4, 1964, the US Maddox was afloat in The Gulf of Tonkin, just East of North Vietnam. The US had now been in Vietnam for several years to try to disable North Vietnam from become a communist country, and by August 4, there were already close to 24,000 US troops in Vietnam. On August 4, it was a slightly hazy, stormy night causing slightly impaired visibility. The Maddox along with the USS Turner Joy were sitting in The Gulf of Tonkin and Vietnamese naval ships professedly fired torpedoes at these ships, yet no damage was done to either one. Two days prior, there had been torpedoes fired from both the US and Vietnam of which the Maddox suffered very little in terms of damage. Due to this first attack, it was thought to be wise to have both the Maddox and the Turner Joy in the Gulf as to be more ready for another attack if it came to that.
Although the US government claims the alleged attack in the Gulf of Tonkin was unprovoked, other is evidence supporting that this may not be the case. President Lyndon B. Johnson gave the US people a televised speech explaining why America was in Vietnam. This speech was given on July 28, 1964, just days before the Vietnam War broke out:
...In each land the forces of independence would be considerably weakened, and an Asia so threatened by communist domination would certainly imperil the security of the United States itself.
We did not choose to be the guardians at the gate, but there is no one else.
Nor would surrender in Viet-Nam bring peace, because we learned from Hitler at Munich that success only feeds the appetite of aggression.
This then, my fellow Americans, is why we are in Viet-Nam.
This speech given by the president makes all viewers and listeners believe that there is no other option than to go to the war in Vietnam. “Communist aggression” was a common term used throughout the years of our involvement in Vietnam. The word aggression implies the slightly subtle implications of Vietnam and communists being an enemy that is being the wrong-doers of the Vietnam War. Communism was at the brink of creating a domino effect throughout the world, and the US was bound to do all they could to try to put an end to this “aggression.” Originally, the US was fearful of the USSR and how they were becoming a more and more powerful Communist Regime. The Cold War was just one of the many interferences between these two countries. A different, unintentionally public phone conversation, involving LBJ and President Eisenhower’s former Secretary of Treasury, Robert Anderson, took place on August 3rd, 1964, the day before the alleged torpedo attacks in the Gulf of Tonkin was later realised with the Pentagon Papers:
LBJ: There have been some covert operations in that area that we have been carrying on-- blowing up some bridges and things of that kind, roads and so forth. So I imagine they wanted to put a stop to it. So they... fired and we respond immediately with five-inch [artillery shells] from the destroyer and with planes overhead. And we... knock one of ‘em out and cripple the other two. Then we go right back where we were with that destroyer and with another one, plus plenty of planes standing by...
ANDERSON: … You’re not going to be running against a man who’s a wild man on this subject [Barry Goldwater, the Republican candidate for president]. Any lack of firmness he’ll make up.
LBJ: What happened was we’ve been playing around up there and they came out, gave us a warning, and we knocked hell out of ‘em.
ANDERSON: That’s the best thing in the world you could have done-- just knock hell out of ‘em.
LBJ: And we’ve got out people right there and we haven’t pulled out. We’ve pulled up.
This shows that the president was not being completely honest with America in the way of telling Americans what exactly the US was doing up in Vietnam. Not only were we burning bridges, literally, with Vietnam, but we were also initiating a fight which soon came. On the night of August 4, the commander of the Maddox, Captain Herrick, sent in these cables regarding the alleged torpedo attack against the US:
1:27 AM August 4, 1964
Review of action makes many reported contacts and torpedoes fired appear doubtful. Freak weather effects on radar and overeager sonarmen may have accounted for many reports. No actual visual sightings by Maddox. Suggest complete evaluation before any further action taken-
6:00 PM August 4, 1964
The first boat to close the Maddox probably launched a torpedo at the Maddox which was heard but not seen. All subsequent Maddox torpedo reports are doubtful in that it is suspected that sonarman hearing ship’s own propeller beat.
Clearly Captain Herrick stated that there were “no actual sightings by Maddox” but somehow these messages were interpreted to send in more troops, billions of dollars, and start up this full-on battle that lasted eight years. Throughout the war, 60,000 US soldiers died, and today Vietnam is Communist, so were our operations in Vietnam worth the time, energy, money, or lives?The Pentagon Papers, including the cables from Captain Herrick as well as LBJ’s private phone conversation were released to the public in June 13, 1971. These papers outraged the public to know some of the events that went on behind the scenes of the war, not to mention that they felt that they had been lied to by not only the media but also high-powered officials. President Lyndon B. Johnson too led America to believe that the Communist regime was our enemy to defeat, and the only means to do so was to go to war in Vietnam. Throughout the eight years that America was in Vietnam, a war was never even pronounced. There were peace papers to put an end to the war on October 11, 1972 by Henry Kissinger which he had secretly been working on putting into effect since 1968, soon after the Tet Offensive and the My Lai Massacre incidents.
The Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was interviewed by Elie Abe of NBC-TV soon after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, “...Their [the Vietnamese] very processes of logic are different. So it’s very difficult to enter into each other’s minds across that great ideological gulf. I can’t come to a rational explanation of it [the Gulf of Tonkin Incident]. Perhaps they will offer one some day... And the essential fact was that our vessels were being attacked on the high seas by these boats and we had to do something about it...”
With all that the media and National officials spoon-fed the American people about the Vietnam War it was natural to be shocked with this new wave of information from the Pentagon Papers as well as other country's’ perspectives on the war. However, now that the Vietnam war is well over, it is important to be able to know now, more than ever about how this war got started as to not keep inaccurate perspectives on the war going down in history generation after generation. The Vietnam War was not unprovoked in the least bit. America was afraid of a Communist domination and discreetly started this war, and still managed to make it look like America was the victim in this war.
Sources:
"The Vietnam War." Digital History. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/vietnam/index.cfm>.
Self Assessment:
In my essay I wanted to focus on how exactly the Vietnam War got started, and the events that led up to the first day of the war. I think overall I stayed pretty much on topic with this. There was a lot of evidence that I used to support my idea and I think that my theme worked well. I used three documents from the primary sources we were given. They all added to the overall theme of my essay and I think helped to prove the point I was trying to get across. I put them in at appropriate times and I think overall I used these primary sources to my advantage within my essay. This paper is organized by first explaining what the Gulf of Tonkin was and what happened on that day. Then I went into talking about what happened on the days right around this event, and things the president said both to the public and what was kept from the public ear too. I also included information from the Maddox itself. Proofreading this paper consisted of getting peer critiques and also critiquing it myself as I would to anyone else’s paper. My peer critique honestly was sub-par. My group did not give me one thing for me to fix to I really had to most of the critique and editing of it myself. This was both for the writing and the citations. I had issue with the citations as well, I was gone for the day we went over that big packet, and when I had to do my conclusion citations I was super lost on how to cite the documents I used. But I was told not to cite them if there is not an author… so that’s easy!! I think the thing I am most proud of in this paper would be that I incorporated so much evidence. I don’t think I have ever read a history of something and had so many primary sources to see at the same time within it. So I think in that sense this makes this a more solid history paper. This whole project I feel was really important to know more about the Vietnam War, which I do now, but I think overall this is not that solid of a project for me. Throughout this I felt drowned in information and perspectives and documents that I was overwhelmed in a way to be able to sit down and focus on just writing. Keeping this in mind I think that this project isn’t terrible terrible terrible, but it is also not a very flavorful essay.
Project Reflection:
- What does it mean to tell a true history? (Cite more than one piece of evidence from this project to support your answer).
Telling a true story is simply telling a story just as you know it, not having it be passed down, just having the story be told just as it was. There is no room for interpretation within the story, so there is nowhere for people to question things in the story. A true story we used from this project would be a primary source document coming from the first source passed down. The story about the woman in Vietnam with the three children effected by Agent Orange, and the attached picture would be an example of a true story. That is a true story because she wrote this letter, and was truthful throughout all of it, painfully so. Telling a true story is harder to find than you would think since a lot of the time these stories would be passed down and still considered true, but as times change, so do the miniature details within the story to make them more memorable or believable, therefore these stories become less true.
- What does it mean to tell a true war story? (Cite more than one piece of evidence from this project to support your answer).
A true war story is very different from a true story. The main thing about war stories, is that you can tell a TRUE story that is a LIE, or you can tell an UNTRUE story that is TRUE. A true story that is a lie would be a story that has a true event given, but the message given from that story is not true. For the story that is a lie, but that is true; is an untrue event that is given, but a true message is given from the story. In Tim O'Brien's book, The Things They Carried, he has a chapter basically dedicated to differentiating these two types of true war stories. His best examples are of a man who throws himself onto a grenade that was launched towards his platoon. This is a plausible event, and it has happened at least once given all the times in all the wars there have ever been, making this a true story that is a lie. The lie part comes from this story creating a heroic stereotype of the war, and the soldiers in the war. On the other hand a false story that is true would be a very fictitious event that did not happen, but the message sent out through that story is true. Tim O'Brien's example was, "Four guys go down a trail. A grenade sails out. One guy jumps on it and takes the blast, but it’s a killer grenade and everybody dies anyway. Before they die, though, one of the dead guys says, 'The fuck you do that for?' and the jumper says, 'Story of my life, man,' and the other guy starts to smile but he’s dead.
That’s a true story that never happened."
POETRY
After the fairly short-lived Vietnam project, we move to "Peace, War, Enlightenment and Violence Through Poetry" project. For this we have the option to create any type of poetry, from any inspiration, and perform the poem in any way we choose. Some of the class will use Adobe After Effects, some may read it, and some could even create a visual art piece. When gathering information necessary to completing this project we studied numerous poems. Some of which were: "Dulce Et Decorum Est(1)," "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening," "A Tragedy," and many more. We also saw the difference between a deep, meaningful, powerful poem vs. a pointless and terribly bad written poem. Another thing we looked at was the interpretations between a recited poem and the same poem made with Adobe After Effects. This poem is below, recited by Taylor Mali.
For the project exhibition we put together a room where we had the feeling of a cafe to perform our poetry.
Poetry Project Reflection
- Give a description/overview for people who are not familiar with this project. What was this project about? What did you do? What did you learn?
This project consisted of studying poetry, memorizing poetry, writing a poem of your own, then presenting it in front of a crowd for exhibition. Some of the poems we studied to get familiar with poetry were: “In Just Spring,” “Walrus and the Carpenter,” “Mexicans Begin Jogging,” and LOTS more. For each of these poems we would analyze them in groups or by ourselves to discuss and understand the deeper meanings or what the author was trying to convey. After getting a good idea on all the different types of poetry we chose any poem to memorize and recite in front of the class. The poem I chose was “When Death Comes,” by Mary Oliver. This has been one of my favorite poem since I hiked the Colorado Trail two years ago and was turned onto this poem.
The theme of the Poetry project was Peace, War and Enlightenment. When writing our poems it was kept open so we could focus on anything we wanted, as long as it had to do with one of these three things. I chose to base my poems off of Enlightenment. The inspiration, form, and content of my poem changed daily when starting to write it. I landed on the idea of enlightenment being an extreme journey, criticizing how people use it simply in everyday life. I also touched on the subject of after you complete this life-journey and you become enlightened, it’s not a huge ordeal, but rather a smooth, nice realization that sets in. I did an art-piece to compliment my poem, and also memorized it to be able to recite in front of the crowds at exhibition. Through this poem I learned that the act of actually writing a good poem takes more refinement than a person may think; that I had thought when going into this project. Finding the motivation and inspiration to do this poem was also really tricky for me. This was a really good project in terms of gaining experience in both, reciting, writing, memorizing and critiquing poetry in all forms.
- What have you learned about using writing, language and performance to affect your audience?
The way one decides to recite poetry is what can make or break a poem. If a person stands awkwardly in front of a group of people to recite a poem while swaying and playing with their clothes, the audience will not be concentrating on your poem, but more of how uncomfortable you look up there. The beauty of slam poetry is how meaningful and impactful a poem is capable of being. Most slam poets speak loudly, with conviction and almost slight anger to get their poem across. They do not sway or glance around awkwardly, they stand there waving their hands around to help convey their poem.
There are different ways of reciting a poem. Slamming it, simply reciting it, singing it, or even making a text-video of it, which many people chose to do. The way a poem is written can also really change how the poem comes across, the message, and even the different interpretations of that poem for different people. If there were a person who recited the same poem fairly blandly versus slamming it, the audience’s attention would change drastically. If you were to see a concert where the artist sat down and gloomily sung their songs instead of dancing around, really getting into it, would you be as excited in seeing it?
The language of poem can change it greatly as well. Whether that be Middle English, choppy sentences, of free flow. Choosing to write with extremely eloquent language instead of writing with simple English can change how an audience interprets your poem, as well as maybe take it more seriously or even less seriously. It’s the same sort of thing when carrying a conversation with someone as it is when hearing poetry. If they look down, mumble, and say “like” a lot, you would not be as engaged or impressed as you would if they held eye-contact, spoke with conviction, and had strong body language. This project helped everyone learn how to perform poetry well and write it too.
Artist Statement
Poetry, “The art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts,” may come naturally to some. To others however; not so much, and unfortunately I consider myself in that category. My idea for this poem changed from emphasizing the beauty of transcendentalism all the way to how enlightenment cannot be achieved if you pronounce that you are “Enlightened.” I landed on the concept of enlightenment being Extremist. Meaning simplicities cannot lead someone to enlightenment the way that complexities would. Whilst writing countless poems, my idea and concepts jumped around whether or not I tried for them to throughout my poems.
The main form that I found inspired by was Siddhartha and how he spent all of his life achieving enlightenment personally. Another enlightened figure we studied that helped lead me to my final idea was Chris McCandless. Chris McCandless soon after graduating embarked on a two-year journey in hopes of leaving society behind and to find personal enlightenment. Siddhartha as well as Chris McCandless’s stories create a solid vision of searching for enlightenment and in the end achieving it through complex situations and scenarios, versus the common simple way to refer to enlightenment. The forms, ideas, and inspiration changed countless times throughout my intimate relationship getting to know what it was that I really wanted to convey throughout my poem, and how I was planning to do that. From free form, couplet to Sonnets my poem’s form jumped around a considerable amount, most of which at last minute, but I landed on sticking to a Sonnet form. Specifically; an old English Sonnet, much like Shakespear’s examples and multiple sonnets. The one Sonnet I focused on to base mine off of was Shakespear’s well known “Sonnet 116.” This I thought was a really solid form and sticking to it was easy enough. His syllable count throughout his poem was 10 beats per line which I used in my poem as well. I think this beat scheme helped hold the poem together and keep each line at an equal flow and length, helping it roll off the tongue when read.
The performance that I’m trying to create is a mixed-media art piece. I want to collage a large canvas then paint over it to help these pictures stand out less. This dark-colored paint such as blue or purple will tone-down the background. Then I will cut out the words of the poem or just a passage from it and objects that may pertain to that passage from the poem this is will make these words stand out and be more powerful for the painting. When I see paintings like this it always strikes me as deep and poetic which is overall what I am trying to make through this poetry project. Deeper, darker colors remind me of poetry for some reason too, instead of brighter, warmer colors. Not that my poem is necessarily dark in any way, but I think that it will be better interpreted with blues and purples. In the end I think my poem is solid in the way for the information to be easily attainable as well as makes you think about what I’m trying to convey within my poem.
The performance that I’m trying to create is a mixed-media art piece. I want to collage a large canvas then paint over it to help these pictures stand out less. This dark-colored paint such as blue or purple will tone-down the background. Then I will cut out the words of the poem or just a passage from it and objects that may pertain to that passage from the poem this is will make these words stand out and be more powerful for the painting. When I see paintings like this it always strikes me as deep and poetic which is overall what I am trying to make through this poetry project. Deeper, darker colors remind me of poetry for some reason too, instead of brighter, warmer colors. Not that my poem is necessarily dark in any way, but I think that it will be better interpreted with blues and purples. In the end I think my poem is solid in the way for the information to be easily attainable as well as makes you think about what I’m trying to convey within my poem.
Here is my poem:
Enlightenment
A brilliant novel reaching a close
is often thought of as enlightening.
A close friend bringing a needed red rose
at a time that seems never brightening.
Achieving pure bliss after a life’s search:
That, you see, is enlightenment my friend.
Extreme enough to withstand every lurch
or vile, unhelpful hand the world may lend.
One can only wish to welcome the days
absent of ignorance and desire.
Enlightenment has to be, in all ways,
respected; always full of admire.
When this momentous time is uncovered,
bafflingly simple, hands soften their clasp.
Do not expect to be grabbed or smothered
In a sudden shock of a mental grasp:
Enlightenment is extraordinary,
Always ending feeling arbitrary.
is often thought of as enlightening.
A close friend bringing a needed red rose
at a time that seems never brightening.
Achieving pure bliss after a life’s search:
That, you see, is enlightenment my friend.
Extreme enough to withstand every lurch
or vile, unhelpful hand the world may lend.
One can only wish to welcome the days
absent of ignorance and desire.
Enlightenment has to be, in all ways,
respected; always full of admire.
When this momentous time is uncovered,
bafflingly simple, hands soften their clasp.
Do not expect to be grabbed or smothered
In a sudden shock of a mental grasp:
Enlightenment is extraordinary,
Always ending feeling arbitrary.
~Cheers to a great year in Humanities 2010-2011~
