Loyolit2020

 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 wa...

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 ...

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...

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 sho...