Loyolit2020

 I really liked William Wordsworth's, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" poem because it was really easy to connect to my life. In numerous classes the idea of nature and human relationship has been brought up. This poem in particular made me think of the class period where we talked about the fact that people need nature as much as we need it. This poem goes to show that nature has a huge impact on humanity. Wordsworth describes what he saw and felt when he looked at the nature and the little things around him like the daffodils. In the larger picture, daffodils are just a small part of nature but there is such beauty in them. Another theme in the poem that connects to the title is being lonely in nature. The author orginally makes it seem like he feels alone in an open field but really he isn't alone because he is surrounded by nature. I know being alone in nature makes me feel more connected to myself and in a sense I feel grounded. The silence of nature or the noises

     These two poems are talking about the theme of nature and how it is important to humanity. In the poem “I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud: he starts off by listing the beautiful things regarding nature and flowers, and the galaxy and milky ways that are outside of Earth. He says “but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought:” he says that he did realize how the beauty of all the things he just described had such a positive impact on his life. When he’s at home and is doing nothing, just the thought of nature makes him feel at peace and this shows that nature is essential to his life.    In the poem Quarentine the tone is very sad and it talks about the death of a man and women. The woman was sick and the man was trying to carry her back, but they both end up freezing to death. Since the poem is called “quarentine” the nature references like the “seasons” and “winter” could be a metaphor for the condition that the world is in right now. The temperature is cold but in additi

             In the poem “I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud” by William Wordsworth describes the beauty of nature. He starts the poem by describing how he found a patch of the most beautiful daffodils. Throughout the poem Wordsworth describes the “golden daffodils” and how they “danced” in the breeze. Wordsworth compares the flowers to the beauty of the bay next to them, but the bay cannot compare. Wordsworth then says “ A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company” when describing how happy the daffodils made him. At the end of his poem, Wordsworth describes the memory of the daffodils as a “bliss of solitude”. This shows the calming effect the beauty of nature has on humans. The poem “Quarantine” by Eaven Bolen describes the unconditional love between two people. Bolen tells the story of a couple who sets out on a journey in through the night and are found dead the next morning. The wife was sick and the husband carried her so she could keep up. The husband also held his wife’s f

  I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud has a simple and straightforward language does not have much in the way of hidden or symbolic meaning but reflects the deep appreciation of Wordsworth's nature. I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud   symbolizes the joy, happiness of life, rebirth, and a new beginning, blessed by the grace of Nature. This poem is simple and melodious. Wordsworth uses descriptive language and does not resist wanting to participate in the dance of flowers. This poem is simply a delight to read.  Quarantine is about a couple who left their home at night in a very cold temperature because the wife ended up sick with famine fever, and the husband could not keep up with her. Eventually, they were both found dead in the morning of cold, hunger, and toxins. Just like Wordsworth'S poem, Boland's is also descriptive in this poem that shows the love the husband had for his wife.

  Ainsley Jodlbauer English Dr.Ellis 18 November 2020 “Quarantine” dives into a love that isn’t some type of “love story” that most authors write about. Bolen tells a story of a couple heading north, on foot, in order to escape the Irish potato famine. During this detrimental journey Bolen states that the man's wife has already fallen sick of famine, and was too weak to keep up with her husband. While we see the man became aware of their inability to make it, he decided to carry his wife on his back for as far as he could go. He chose to attempt to save her despite the pain he was putting himself through. They both ended up passing during their journey, but the author points out that the man's last gift of love he gave to her was his remaining warmth. Bolen introduces love in a dark sense, but not in a way where he portrays love as evil. He expresses the strength love is between people during the darkest points in their life. He stresses the point that even when life may be lea

      "I Wonder Lonely as a Cloud", to me is a poem involving nature and humans. The author seems to be upset and sad. They  unraval this world that deals with humans connecting with nature. I feel like the poem is trying to tell us to appreciate this world and all the nature you can. It can boost your moods and make you feel less lonely. I can definatly agree with that. When going out for a long drive with my friend in the country, it make us both feel less anxious and a lot more calm. We have a sense of connection with nature.       When first reading the title "Quarantine", my first thought was,"this is definitely about Covid". I was wrong. It turned out to be this quite saddening poem about this couple dying. They seemed liked they loved each other dearly and kept holding on to each other til the end. I think that this poem also deals with nature. It can be harmful. 

The poem “I wandered Lonely as a cloud” Is a poem about the connection between humans and nature. A concept we have repeatedly talked about is further displayed in this poem. The speaker is presented to be lonely and sad because of that loneliness however eventually realizes nature is there. In fact, nature has always been there. The personification of calling the daffodils a host and the trees dancing creates a sense of connection and humanity to those apart of nature. Breaking the barrier between the speaker and nature, as they are now filling up his gap and loneliness. The speaker continues to reveal this dynamic between humans and nature, emphasizing that humans should appreciate and embrace nature as it will help improve our moods and fill our sense of loneliness.   In the poem “Quarantine” by Eaven Bolen, the dark reality of true love is seen between the journey and death of a couple attempting to escape the harness of the Irish potato famine. In a sad but beautiful depiction

 I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud is an interesting poem regarding the feeling someone has as they are in search of something. The whole experience of being a cloud wandering is described through deep imagery and positive attitudes. There's not a single negative connotation in this poem which is always welcomed and nice. The poem attempts to use (I believe it it called sensory imagery) to make the reader feel something as they are reading the descriptive details. For example "Which is the bliss of solitude" is a good quote to describe a pure feeling of happiness. It seems like Wordsworth is in a trance of happiness as what nature would be. He makes a couple of references to space, which is an analogy for the vastness of never ending opportunities and life. I thought Quarantine would be about Coronavirus. It was not. Thankfully not. But regardless, this was a pretty depressing poem where in the end the couple die. They die together but still its definitely an opposite side fro

In “I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud” by William Wordsworth, he discusses the relationship between society and nature, as well as the joy nature, can bring us. “I wandered lonely as a cloud.” Being alone is scary and the author points out how joy can be found alone. The daffodils, trees, stars, and everything in between brought him happiness. Whenever he feels sad and vacant, he would go to nature as a source of uplifting joy. This is important for everyone to have an outlet that brings in joy in times of sadness.  “Quarantine” by Eaven Bolen speaks on two lovers dealing with tragedy and how that indicates if their love is true. “And what there is between a man and a woman. And in which darkness it can best be proved.” As said here, true love can make it through all the darkness. The poem represents true love, and how it takes two unselfish people for it to work. Love has its limits, but true love doesn’t. 

Now more than ever, I have been at war with the constant internal struggle of dealing with loneliness and consequently a cocktail of other emotions (often including but not limited to: disappointment, anxiety, sadness, frustration, jealousy etc). However, Wordsworth interacts with this idea of being alone and loneliness in an entirely new and beautiful way, that connects us with things bigger than ourselves, for example, nature. He paints a feeling with his words that I definitely experienced over the last 6 months or so- this very specific longing to be outside and in nature. In moments of great loneliness, we are all tempted to feel like we are alone, but Wordsworth captures a difference between loneliness and being alone. I think truly, we are never alone. There is always something, or someone out there that is bigger than us. And like the nature seen in the poem, we are connected to it.  So instead of wallowing in the loneliness, I am going to seek life in the stillness. Instead of

In “I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud,” Wordsworth highlights the relationship between nature and humanity. Wordsworth describes an experience he has with nature in the first person throughout this poem. He walks past an abundance of daffodils and admires them; however, he did not realize the effect they had on him until after reflecting on his time. He feels deep joy and describes his experience in nature with an optimistic tone. This poem adds to the list of pieces we have read that shows how nature and humans coexist and how nature instills happiness in humanity. In the poem “Quarantine,” Bolen describes an aspect of love that does not normally receive recognition in literary pieces. Bolen tells the story of a man and wife traveling north to escape the Irish potato famine. His wife had fallen sick of famine fever and he had to take care of her on the journey. The man knew that they were going to be unsuccessful in journeying north; however, he decided to die trying anyway. The man died t

Both poems share a common theme of darkness. In the poem  I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud  by William Wordsworth  his darkness that he struggles with is loneliness. He  must  overcome this himself and show his mind or himself how to be happy. Meanwhile in  the poem  Quarantine  by Eaven Bolen the couple’s darkness is disease. They try to survive by  love;   however,  they are not capable to survive long enough for help.    Wordsworth’s poem is about self-love. As he says, “I wandered lonely as a cloud”.  What helps him is when he sees a group of dandelions dancing in the wind. I interpreted this like the saying that laughter is contagious. The group of dandelions were metap horically happy and dancing with each other and upon seeing that it made the cloud happy. Now that is his happy place and whenever he is in a dark place that’s the spot he goes in his mind.  I have a similar coping method. My happy place is when I play my videogames. I get sucked into another reality where the outside

In “Anthem for my belly after eating too much”, Kara Jackson discusses body positivity in today’s society and how it affects women. She talks about how women are supposed to meet a certain body standard in current society and are expected to be paper-thin in order to be attractive. I really enjoyed her quote: “my mouth is a lover devoted to you my belly, my belly.” People tend to get distracted from their own happiness and care more about what others think and also whether they meet society’s standards. It is important to treat yourself and do what makes you happy because that is more important than anyone else’s opinion. Self-love is the only way to true happiness.  “The Church of Michael Jordan” by Jeffery Mcdaniel is a poem that discusses faith and basketball. The poem shows the role faith plays in sports and his routine for before games. He used many metaphors to connect faith and basketball and also said the hoop is God’s arms. Basically saying the game is in God’s hand and he mus

I found Kara Jackson’s poem “anthem for my belly after eating too much” was a very powerful poem about body positivity. I really enjoyed how she made the poem so relatable. One of the lines I related to most was when she said, “and all the chips I’ve eaten this month have accumulated like schoolwork”. I feel like many people can relate to the feeling of accumulated schoolwork and know how much can pile up so quickly if you aren’t careful. I also think this is a good way to compare weight gain to. Sometimes people don't realize that they are gaining weight until all if a sudden your jeans don't fit. Many times weight gain is seen as a negative change but Jackson tries to normalize it, because it is a part of life.  I also feel that this is a very important topic to discuss, especially in todays’ world. Social media has created a very high beauty standard for girls and women around the world setting really inaccurate representations of what all girls and women should look like. T

       In Jeffrey McDaniel’s  “The Church of Michael Jordan” there is a heavy presence of faith. The player is putting his faith in God to help him accomplish his goals while he plays basketball. He makes sure to pray before his games but from the way that he corrected himself when talking to the interviewer shows that he wants to keep his relationship with God and his faith private. He is often called the baller of destiny but he does not believe that his success is simply his destiny. He puts his faith into his beliefs in God and in the beginning of the poem he says that the hoop is no longer a hoop but instead it is God’s arms connected in a circle and that God is saying to throw the ball to him. God is the hoop and he is not just going for the net for but he is putting his faith and victories into the hands of his Lord who is calling to him. He says that he will let faith roll off of his fingertips and the ball float into the net. The stadium silent and holding their breath but the

  Anthem for My Belly After Eating Too Much was an interesting poem. It's about black feminist body embodiment. The author's discussion was about her relationship with her body and the way it is processed and understood by people. One of the points that I found interesting was when she mentioned her body and its relationship, the way it is imitated, and received especially being a black woman. All that causes her to look down on her body instead of celebrating it. She also talked about the way she wants people to understand her body when she goes out in public. Overall, I enjoyed the poem and the discussion.  In The Church of Michael Jordan, the author uses metaphors to compare the church specifically God to basketball " The hoop is not metal, but a pair of outstretched arms, God’s arms, joined at the fingers ." He explained how he put his faith in God while playing basketball. He uses different pieces of scenery to show the connection between basketball and God. The

 Raven Taliaferro      In the poem “Anthem for my Belly After Eating too Much” Kara Jackson is talking about her body and comparing it to Americas standards. She starts the poem off by looking in the mirror and noticing she’s gained weight in her stomach. In the first 1-4 lines, she tries to love her stomach for what it is, but in her head she’s conflicted by the standards of society to have a flat stomach. In lines 11-14 She points out how Americans love greasy foods and how the trend of being “thick” is more desirable. She calls extra weight “excess” and most clothing brands do not make clothes in bigger sizes to fit these women. In lines 17-20 she is saying that her belly is suffocating my being shoved into these too small tight jeans. She’d rather “wear a house” for her belly which I took as wearing bigger clothes that are more comfortable so that she can embrace her stomach for what it is. In this poem I never saw her as being insecure about her stomach, but I noticed that in the

Ainsley Jodlbauer English Dr.Ellis 11 November 2020 "Anthem for My Belly After Overeating" by  Kara Jacksons' is a poem meant to emphasize the societal outline that is given to women, particularly black women, on their self image. She discusses the problems that arise with where we are at today in regards to one's self esteem. Women today are told that to be wanted, to be pretty, to be valued; they must fit into the cookie cutter shape drawn up for them. Jackson uses the metaphor of a full stomach to bring awareness to the expectation on women to have the “perfect body”. Always remaining slim and fit, a thin waist yet thick thighs; using this as if all women’s bodies are the same and have the ability to shapeshift to these standards. Jackson writes this poem to shed light on the effects these standards have on women emotional, mentally, and psychically. When women are told that their bodies aren't “up to par” with what's expected it destroys their self confide

  Jackson & McDaniel Blog In "Anthem for My Belly After Overeating," Kara Jacksons' poem emphasizes the social construct associated with ones, particularly black women's bodies, and the self-esteem issues that arise with that. Jackson mentions that she utilizes the metaphor for the full stomach to emphasize the expectation of women possessing slim bodies. She is putting attention on this significant issue that affects a lot of women's self-esteem issues. Especially black women are expected to have an hourglass figure, so when ones do not match, they are degraded and therefore lose confidence. Jackson is pushing for the praise of your body, where you can eat until full without lower your confidence because you are worried about what others might see. Through this poem, she is trying to remove the stigma of black bodies being a negative term and the stereotypes associated with it. As she mentioned in her analysis, she does not love her stomach as much as other

            In the first poem, “The Church of Michael Jordan,” Jeffrey McDaniel connects the sport of basketball to religion. He starts off by comparing the arms of God welcoming prayers to the basketball hoop ready for the ball. This comparison between basketball and prayer is something that I would never think of. McDaniel also makes a comparison between the defenders in the game to obstacles or temptations in life that keep us away from God. Finally, in the last paragraph, I like the connection made between basketball fans and nonbelievers. They both sit around watching everyone else hoping that at some point a miracle occurs in their favor.               My favorite poem that we read for this class is “Anthem for My Belly After Eating Too Much” because it discusses topics that are important to me. Jackson discusses parts of her body that she is not in love with and brings light to them at the end of the poem. As someone who has suffered from body image and eating issues, I admire t

        "Anthem for my Belly After Eating too Much" is such a beautiful poem that I think that so many people in this world can relate to. I for one know that I can. The author is telling us that your belly is this land that we are trying our hardest to love but it is definitely very hard for one to just say that. She points out that we love to eat more but that we also love jeans and fitting in jeans without our belly showing. She is taking about a topic that can be sensitive for some, depending on how you depict yourself. It is okay to eat more than what should be eaten. There will be a home for you.      "The Church of Micheal Jordan" in my opinion is defiantly taking about some aspects of basketball but also prayer and God. I noticed that the author made many comparassions and images with the two unlike things. The interviewer in the poem almost makes it seem like prayer in a strange or bad thing. God is everywhere, no matter where you are and will always be th

  The poem “The Church of Michael Jordan” by Jeffrey McDaniel is a work that makes the connection to the game of basketball and also, the connection which players have with God. It alludes to the idea of praying to God’s open arms in order to ask for success for great things to come in your way and be thankful for receiving the talent of playing the sport and having the ability to do what others cannot, Michael obviously knew he was special. I like the part it says “Once during an interview I slipped, I didn’t pray well tonight, and the reporter looked at me, the same one who’d called me a baller of destiny, and said you mean play, right? Of course, I nodded. Don’t misunderstand—I’m no reverend of the flesh.” because of it kind of shows a side that people, just like the reporter, do not always believe or are aware of the importance to an athlete. And by saying, “I slipped” it gives me the idea that this is usually an intimate part of the athlete that is often not shared with others. As

 "anthem for my belly after eating too much" This poem is pretty interesting. The overall look of the poem is eating too much and how it can affect you. But in reality, it is about social injustice and how it feels to witness it as the victim. For example "militia of grease" and "suffering" are calls to how she feels with the overload of struggles she has a black queer woman. The term "chips" refers to the white ignorance or white privilege that she is forced to consume on a regular basis, and chips are unhealthy. This mean that the chips she over ate on is unhealthy for her, or white privilege and or ignorance is too unhealthy for her. "The Church of Michael Jordan" The obvious connection is that basketball is like prayers and you must pray towards the open arms of God, for when you do, you'll receive a successful but temporary feeling of happiness and humbleness. Since it is temporary, the player must repeat over and over again. E

The poem  Chameleon  by Waqar and Adam is brilliantly designed and executed. Reading the poem is one thing but then listening to it  unlocks another part of you that not only feels bad for them but for yourself. To me  this poem  big message is about racism and diversity is  America,  “Am I African American or the other way around?”  but I think that overshadows other topics such as LGBTQ+ and mental illness due to the BLM movement that is happening  across  the US.   With that being said I hope this poem does not get buried after BLM and everything dies down, since it brings up so many great topics.   I love the metaphor of using a chameleon. It works two ways as person in disguise or problems in disguised. For problems to be  disguised, the chameleon can represent depression and hides on the person or constantly around the person. The chamel eon a cting as  a human can be a white person sticking out in an area where the population or community majority is African Americans.  One of m

       I loved reading Beard's The Fourth State of Matter. It was not until I got to the end of the work that I  was overwhelmed with the feeling of being understood. Beard openly and vulnerably expressed emotions that I had been holding back or suppressing for a long time. Though her examples were different, the  theme of feeling out of control and all alone rang true. I like to be in control and when I am not, it rattles  me. I need to have a plan and if something is outside of my perfect plan, I tend to shut down and not  function. But here is the thing, you, me, and the rest of humanity has little control on really anything.  Truly. What I have been forced to learn a lot recently, is the art of surrender. I have learned that there is a beauty in letting go of the things you cannot control. There is a certain peace that comes when you finally recognize that you don't have to have everything figured out perfectly all of the time, and for  someone who is a perfectionist like m