First, one of the most famous techniques used for poems is “metaphor”, which can be defined as the use of words or phrases that imply there is a figurative connotation hidden behind their literal meaning. In the verse “Spring and Fall: to a young child,” an obvious metaphor is seen in the portrait of “fallen leaves.” To all appearance, it is unquestionable that the general image about “fallen leaves” is nothing but ominous, making people feel melancholy. No matter how ephemeral, it is possible for one poem to influentially dominate its readers’ frame of mind in whatever way it wants. It is this totally-at-will psychological manipulation on which it completely depends whether people spend their time ― both temporary and permanent ― with their mental mood kept fine or bad, that the power of “metaphor” seen in poets, particularly in this Hopkins’s poem, can exert on their readers. Needless to say, this “psychological manipulation” is achieved only when a poem provides readers with some actual image of things. For example, suppose that there is no specific description discoverable of any picture like “fallen leaves” which represents the implied concept that nothing is undying in this poem, and that all readers can find is the too uncreative direct message just saying exactly “Yes, everything is fated to die after all.” No readers would feel any empathy with Margaret; because “no symbol in a poem” approach fails to excite their imagination and therefore manipulate their feeling. Having a lugubrious atmosphere attached to itself, the image of “fallen leaves” lets readers feel all the more sentimental and as a result, expedites their identification with Margaret. Yes, readers cannot help sharing subjective experience with Margaret. They are forced to recall their own personal incidents which have ever happened that brought home to them the lesson that nothing is imperishable, like a collapse of marriage, decease of a long-time pet, and so on. In conclusion, it can be safely said that the use of metaphor in a poem, often seen in some tangible portraits, exercises highly arbitrary mental operation over readers, making them identify with a protagonist in the verse.
The second technique to be considered is suddenly bringing a rather complicated sentence to between other simpler lines. For example, in the verse “To his Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, the top sentence is like this: “Had we but world enough and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime.” Here is a modified grammar rule used in this spot, and the original form would have been: “If we had but world enough and time, this coyness, lady, would be no crime.” Usually we feel the more amount of senses of incongruity toward the “grand” grammar uses like above when they are employed in everyday colloquial talks than in such academically rhetorical expressions as include complex anaconda-length sentences, for example. For using elaborate grammar rules is thought of as against the unspoken agreement between speakers trying to make themselves understood clearly: “the simpler, the better.” Given this assumption, it is natural that when used in the form of poet, closer to the style of everyday talks for its casualty than of academic papers, the pompous grammar use draws people’s attention more, therefore encouraging them to analyze the sentence carefully. So in the previous example of “To his Coy Mistress,” readers, faced with the magnificent ellipsis of “If” and inversion of word order in the subjunctive mood, cannot help being more perspicacious to a syntax of this sentence; and as a result, they successfully receive the topic message from Marvel more properly. Thus, it follows that popping the sentence with a splendour use of grammar into between other normal lines has an influence on a poem itself in that the part it wants to emphasize becomes very convincing and outstanding to readers.
2009年4月22日水曜日
Poems
Here are my reaction papers to two famous poems, the first is "Spring and Fall: to a young child" by Gerard Manly Hopkins, the second "The Prophet" by Abraham Cowley.
Margaret, are you grievingOver Goldengrove unleaving?Leaves, like the things of man, youWith your fresh thoughts care for, can you?Ah! as the heart grows olderIt will come to such sights colderBy and by, nor spare a sighThough worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;And yet you will weep and know why.Now no matter, child, the name:Sorrow's springs are the same.Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressedWhat heart heard of, ghost guessed:It is the blight man was born for,It is Margaret you mourn for [ Gerald Manly Hopkins].
The key to understand this poem is to realize that there is a dichotomy detectable of the figurative concept between spring and fall throughout the verse; the former representing that something auspicious is going to visit us with all the fresh atmosphere, and on the contrary the latter that it is destined to leave behind us someday though, serving as a reminder of the crucial fact that nothing is everlasting. The lugubrious sight of fallen leaves symbolically functions as the incarnation of an ultimate form of this fact － the death is inevitable. Generally speaking, children tend to believe in the existence of infinity; for the freewheeling use of fantastic imagination always encourages to try to take a look of trifles which grown-up adults would dismiss as too insignificant and lets unrestricted by conventional rules every child who sincerely reveres any tincture of immortal things. In fact in this poem however, Margaret seems to half recognize the concept that man is fated to die after all. Actually she starts to notice the truth in a vague manner by superposing the mournful sight of leaves falling on her own life. But particularly intriguing is that it is this “vague” awareness of mortality that keeps all the children including Margaret away from becoming pessimistic unlike adults, who are invariably caught by doubtful ways of thinking. The immaturity of being too young enables her to be still pure and ingenuous and believe in anything imperishable, no matter what a cynical thought assaults her. Such is Margaret’s innocent approach to everything around her still left within herself that no one would yet find any appearance of the sceptic in her. So, it is naturally possible to interpret that she unconsciously discloses to readers her subconscious inclination for the world on the part of spring, not fall, predisposed to the unadulterated mind-set of “fresh thoughts”.
Teach me to Love? go teach thy self more wit; I am chief Professor of it. Teach craft to Scots, and thrift to Jews, Teach boldness to the Stews; In tyrants courts teach supple flattery, Teach Jesuits, that have traveled far, to Lye. Teach fire to burn and Winds to blow. Teach restless Fountains how to flow, Teach the dull earth, fixt, to abide, Teach Woman-kind inconstancy and Pride. See if your diligence here will useful prove; But, pr'ithee, teach not me to love.
The God of Love, if such a thing there be, May learn to love from me, He who does boast that he has bin, In every Heart since Adams sin, I'll lay my Life, nay Mistress on't, that's more; I'll teach him things he never knew before; I'll teach him a receipt to make Words that weep, and Tears that speak, I'll teach him Sighs, like those in death, At which the Souls go out too with the breath; Still the Soul stays, yet still does from me run; As Light and Heat does with the Sun.
'Tis I who Love's Columbus am; 'tis I, Who must new Worlds in it descry; Rich Worlds, that yield of Treasure more, than that has been known before, And yet like his (I fear) my fate must be, To find them out for others; not for Me. Me Times to come, I know it, shall Loves last and greatest prophet call. But, ah, what's that, if she refuse, To hear the whole doctrines of my Muse? If to my share the Prophets fate must come; Hereafter fame, here Martyrdome
[Abraham Cowley].
It is a universally acknowledged fact that no one can be called a “teacher” without being the professional. Only when you have successfully built up your “muscle” in the process of developing and expanding your skill, to win the title as a veritable expert, are you justified to exhibit your own pet theory to others even in the most obtrusive manner. Given this principle as to a prerequisite to become the “professional”, it is obvious that the speaker in the verse The Prophet is never qualified at all; he keeps trying to make himself seem as if he were a “love expert”, saying, “I will teach him things he never knew before,” and “I will teach him a receipt to make,” when in fact he has no girlfriend; namely he is really anything but an expert. That is why some of the readers might regard the speaker as too conceited, or even treacherous to what he really is. But most people perhaps know that despite his every masquerade as a love specialist, they feel no sense of repugnance against the speaker, because his way of speaking and displaying himself is filled with such a humour and archness as helps to prevent him from seeming unlikable and obnoxious.
Margaret, are you grievingOver Goldengrove unleaving?Leaves, like the things of man, youWith your fresh thoughts care for, can you?Ah! as the heart grows olderIt will come to such sights colderBy and by, nor spare a sighThough worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;And yet you will weep and know why.Now no matter, child, the name:Sorrow's springs are the same.Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressedWhat heart heard of, ghost guessed:It is the blight man was born for,It is Margaret you mourn for [ Gerald Manly Hopkins].
The key to understand this poem is to realize that there is a dichotomy detectable of the figurative concept between spring and fall throughout the verse; the former representing that something auspicious is going to visit us with all the fresh atmosphere, and on the contrary the latter that it is destined to leave behind us someday though, serving as a reminder of the crucial fact that nothing is everlasting. The lugubrious sight of fallen leaves symbolically functions as the incarnation of an ultimate form of this fact － the death is inevitable. Generally speaking, children tend to believe in the existence of infinity; for the freewheeling use of fantastic imagination always encourages to try to take a look of trifles which grown-up adults would dismiss as too insignificant and lets unrestricted by conventional rules every child who sincerely reveres any tincture of immortal things. In fact in this poem however, Margaret seems to half recognize the concept that man is fated to die after all. Actually she starts to notice the truth in a vague manner by superposing the mournful sight of leaves falling on her own life. But particularly intriguing is that it is this “vague” awareness of mortality that keeps all the children including Margaret away from becoming pessimistic unlike adults, who are invariably caught by doubtful ways of thinking. The immaturity of being too young enables her to be still pure and ingenuous and believe in anything imperishable, no matter what a cynical thought assaults her. Such is Margaret’s innocent approach to everything around her still left within herself that no one would yet find any appearance of the sceptic in her. So, it is naturally possible to interpret that she unconsciously discloses to readers her subconscious inclination for the world on the part of spring, not fall, predisposed to the unadulterated mind-set of “fresh thoughts”.
Teach me to Love? go teach thy self more wit; I am chief Professor of it. Teach craft to Scots, and thrift to Jews, Teach boldness to the Stews; In tyrants courts teach supple flattery, Teach Jesuits, that have traveled far, to Lye. Teach fire to burn and Winds to blow. Teach restless Fountains how to flow, Teach the dull earth, fixt, to abide, Teach Woman-kind inconstancy and Pride. See if your diligence here will useful prove; But, pr'ithee, teach not me to love.
The God of Love, if such a thing there be, May learn to love from me, He who does boast that he has bin, In every Heart since Adams sin, I'll lay my Life, nay Mistress on't, that's more; I'll teach him things he never knew before; I'll teach him a receipt to make Words that weep, and Tears that speak, I'll teach him Sighs, like those in death, At which the Souls go out too with the breath; Still the Soul stays, yet still does from me run; As Light and Heat does with the Sun.
'Tis I who Love's Columbus am; 'tis I, Who must new Worlds in it descry; Rich Worlds, that yield of Treasure more, than that has been known before, And yet like his (I fear) my fate must be, To find them out for others; not for Me. Me Times to come, I know it, shall Loves last and greatest prophet call. But, ah, what's that, if she refuse, To hear the whole doctrines of my Muse? If to my share the Prophets fate must come; Hereafter fame, here Martyrdome
[Abraham Cowley].
It is a universally acknowledged fact that no one can be called a “teacher” without being the professional. Only when you have successfully built up your “muscle” in the process of developing and expanding your skill, to win the title as a veritable expert, are you justified to exhibit your own pet theory to others even in the most obtrusive manner. Given this principle as to a prerequisite to become the “professional”, it is obvious that the speaker in the verse The Prophet is never qualified at all; he keeps trying to make himself seem as if he were a “love expert”, saying, “I will teach him things he never knew before,” and “I will teach him a receipt to make,” when in fact he has no girlfriend; namely he is really anything but an expert. That is why some of the readers might regard the speaker as too conceited, or even treacherous to what he really is. But most people perhaps know that despite his every masquerade as a love specialist, they feel no sense of repugnance against the speaker, because his way of speaking and displaying himself is filled with such a humour and archness as helps to prevent him from seeming unlikable and obnoxious.
2009年4月14日火曜日
How to Learn English Effectively
The composition below is the homework I was required to write for the first time in this semester. The title is “How to Learn English Effectively.” I wrote about listening and writing; the former is what I’m not good at, the latter otherwise.
In this paper, my personal opinions about how to learn English effectively will be presented from the two views of listening and writing. As for the listening skills, I think that it is the most significant that we try to make it a rule to listen to various kinds of English: news programs, foreign movies, model passages of some English tests like TOEFL, and so on. When studying other languages, no learner should be so optimistic that he overestimates his own English-listening skills with the hyper-positive notion that there will be no situation unmanageably going beyond his real ability. No matter how overconfident a learner one is, there is no denying that it can easily happen for example, that one who is really proficient in listening to foreign movies with perfect comprehension one day suddenly faces a ruthlessly discovered reality of his actually not being able to understand English news programs. I, rather getting used to hearing formal English, am extremely allergic to spoken casual English; spoken English can easily make itself sound so hardly understandable due to its obnoxious deviations from prescriptive grammars, as for there to have been a commonly held realization among English learners for a long time that sometimes the colloquialism particularly seen in everyday conversations goes too far for them to keep their confidence, and even interest in spoken English, at last to give up studying it. Listening to various kinds of English will give you a lot of opportunities for you to discern what kind of English is the most suitable for you, making it possible that your plan of listening studies becomes more concrete, and well scheduled.
About the writing skills, it seems very effective that you write down some expressions you personally thought were interesting and laudable in reading books, so that you can refer to them later when you are supposed to write something in English, both formal and informal. But what cannot be emphasized strongly enough is that we must always make sure that these expressions have to be turned into our own ones lest they should become suspicions about our committing on the most despicable measure of all － plagiarism. The elaborate phrases you chose will bring successful effects and punches to your writings, provided that you have transformed them so radically into unique “your-Esque” expressions with an ingenious mind, that no one can recognize or even guess what on earth the original source was.
In this paper, my personal opinions about how to learn English effectively will be presented from the two views of listening and writing. As for the listening skills, I think that it is the most significant that we try to make it a rule to listen to various kinds of English: news programs, foreign movies, model passages of some English tests like TOEFL, and so on. When studying other languages, no learner should be so optimistic that he overestimates his own English-listening skills with the hyper-positive notion that there will be no situation unmanageably going beyond his real ability. No matter how overconfident a learner one is, there is no denying that it can easily happen for example, that one who is really proficient in listening to foreign movies with perfect comprehension one day suddenly faces a ruthlessly discovered reality of his actually not being able to understand English news programs. I, rather getting used to hearing formal English, am extremely allergic to spoken casual English; spoken English can easily make itself sound so hardly understandable due to its obnoxious deviations from prescriptive grammars, as for there to have been a commonly held realization among English learners for a long time that sometimes the colloquialism particularly seen in everyday conversations goes too far for them to keep their confidence, and even interest in spoken English, at last to give up studying it. Listening to various kinds of English will give you a lot of opportunities for you to discern what kind of English is the most suitable for you, making it possible that your plan of listening studies becomes more concrete, and well scheduled.
About the writing skills, it seems very effective that you write down some expressions you personally thought were interesting and laudable in reading books, so that you can refer to them later when you are supposed to write something in English, both formal and informal. But what cannot be emphasized strongly enough is that we must always make sure that these expressions have to be turned into our own ones lest they should become suspicions about our committing on the most despicable measure of all － plagiarism. The elaborate phrases you chose will bring successful effects and punches to your writings, provided that you have transformed them so radically into unique “your-Esque” expressions with an ingenious mind, that no one can recognize or even guess what on earth the original source was.
2009年4月11日土曜日
.........
At no time in my life have I felt so strongly as now, the sense of apathy which almost incessantly obsesses me with all the magical power of enforcement to make me ignore such a curiosity-provoking scandal in the world today as would be an exact target of my bitter criticisms a few weeks ago; nor ever been so closely and potently aware of the looming malevolent fear of nothingness. I, coming back to stay at my hometown Shizuoka one week ago, had a really good time there. But after returning to Tokyo, somehow I’m in the middle of the mood of indifference, reluctant to do anything that demands me to engage myself in some tough stuff in need of my care even inside my home, let alone outside. However, maybe I might be allowed to let it give myself consolation to consider that given the fact that all the hundred hedonistic ways imaginable to cheer up oneself like TV games, shopping, Karaoke and so on completely failed to win back my enthusiasm after all, it is all the more creditable for me to decide to enliven myself by employing the highly academic way of updating this blog, instead of the other unprincipled ways like above. That really made me realize how deeply I’m inclined to the “writing”.
But now it still remains the same that an air of lackadaisicalness compulsively continues to assault me, melancholy enough to leave little hope of brilliant vitalities a few weeks ago recuperating again. The only hope left to me is class this semester starting from next week. I am supposed to take more specialized classes than ever, and therefore there will be a growing demand on all sides and by every professor in my department for a well-researched term paper, enthusiastically-participated discussion, and elaborately-organized presentation. My motto is “the harder, the better.” So, I really hope that the coming strict classes will encourage myself to get through this semester even without making me stop to think back about this lugubrious period I’m enmeshed in now.
But now it still remains the same that an air of lackadaisicalness compulsively continues to assault me, melancholy enough to leave little hope of brilliant vitalities a few weeks ago recuperating again. The only hope left to me is class this semester starting from next week. I am supposed to take more specialized classes than ever, and therefore there will be a growing demand on all sides and by every professor in my department for a well-researched term paper, enthusiastically-participated discussion, and elaborately-organized presentation. My motto is “the harder, the better.” So, I really hope that the coming strict classes will encourage myself to get through this semester even without making me stop to think back about this lugubrious period I’m enmeshed in now.
2009年4月2日木曜日
A Hypocritical Husband
A Japanese actor Hiroyuki Nagato, 75 years old, held a press conference yesterday, to give detailed explanations about the sudden hospitalization of his wife Yoko Minamino, 76 years old. Minamino, who had been victimized by Alzheimer’s disease, fell into coma April 1, yesterday, being carried to hospital from her house emergently. Nagato, trying to stop the flood of his tears, explained his wife’s condition like this: “My wife, although she fell into coma, seemed to me to recognize that I was there, and smile at me. Sometimes she comes to, but not always. In fact, it’s really hard to tell she just slept, or she really lost her conscience.”
According to Nagato, Minamino got a serious damage on her left waist at night on March 28, due to an inadvertent fall from her own bed. Given her recent history that she has sometimes been on the verge of losing her consciousness because of mere constipation, it is plausible to regard this unexpected fall as caused by such disorder too. Although she was given an on-the-spot aid of a band-aid at that time, her pain still remained the same, making them decide to go to see a doctor.
But the next day, Minamino suddenly began to express no respond to her pain, and gradually lose vitality in her eyes, which made Nagato realize that something wrong was happening to his wife, and call the ambulance at noon on the same day. Minamino was sent to hospital straightly.
At present, Minamino is being under the remedy of an intravenous drip injection at hospital. “She reveals the strongest refusal to my kiss, so I asked her to promise me to get back her consciousness ― if I stopped trying to kiss her,” said Nagato, with full tears in his eyes. At the beginning, Nagato said, her condition was regarded as so hopeless that he once paid his imagination even to the possible sight of her relegation into a bed-ridden or vegetable situation, which if should happen, must be attributed entirely to him. But now, her condition turned out to be not so desperate as they had expected, as Nagato confessed that he was told by the doctor that she would be released from hospital within one month or so, expressing his temporal relief.
As for the career of Minamino, she left the entertainment world four years ago because of the deterioration of her forgettableness. Her hostility toward hospitalization has forced Nagato to take care of her at home since her retirement. At the press conference, he emphasized that it was extremely hard to care of the sick, at the same time saying that he also decided to believe in his wife’s strong will to live; “No one knows what will happen next. Nevertheless, she seems to have her own steadfast will to recuperate, and that makes me realize how strong she is.”
On a superficial level, we are given the impression that Nagato is just a dedicated, and sincere husband. But actually, it must not be ignored that there are some despicable histories of his hiding behind the suddenly invented movement in the world which tries to justify and glorify him, overlooking or even pretending not to be aware of, his past reprehensible problems with adultery, and showing as large amounts of sympathies as possible to him. Probably Minamino had suffered from his unfaithful attitude to their marriage for a long time, before finally she lost herself, even not being able to clearly identify her own self. And not until then, at last did her husband start to display himself as a sincerely devoted husband in a completely sentimental manner. Is that creditable? I do not think so. Even if he really rehabilitated himself and brought what he did home to himself with the largest compunction of penitence, he would deserve nothing otherwise than the acrimonious journey full of guilty supposed to obsess him all his life forever.
According to Nagato, Minamino got a serious damage on her left waist at night on March 28, due to an inadvertent fall from her own bed. Given her recent history that she has sometimes been on the verge of losing her consciousness because of mere constipation, it is plausible to regard this unexpected fall as caused by such disorder too. Although she was given an on-the-spot aid of a band-aid at that time, her pain still remained the same, making them decide to go to see a doctor.
But the next day, Minamino suddenly began to express no respond to her pain, and gradually lose vitality in her eyes, which made Nagato realize that something wrong was happening to his wife, and call the ambulance at noon on the same day. Minamino was sent to hospital straightly.
At present, Minamino is being under the remedy of an intravenous drip injection at hospital. “She reveals the strongest refusal to my kiss, so I asked her to promise me to get back her consciousness ― if I stopped trying to kiss her,” said Nagato, with full tears in his eyes. At the beginning, Nagato said, her condition was regarded as so hopeless that he once paid his imagination even to the possible sight of her relegation into a bed-ridden or vegetable situation, which if should happen, must be attributed entirely to him. But now, her condition turned out to be not so desperate as they had expected, as Nagato confessed that he was told by the doctor that she would be released from hospital within one month or so, expressing his temporal relief.
As for the career of Minamino, she left the entertainment world four years ago because of the deterioration of her forgettableness. Her hostility toward hospitalization has forced Nagato to take care of her at home since her retirement. At the press conference, he emphasized that it was extremely hard to care of the sick, at the same time saying that he also decided to believe in his wife’s strong will to live; “No one knows what will happen next. Nevertheless, she seems to have her own steadfast will to recuperate, and that makes me realize how strong she is.”
On a superficial level, we are given the impression that Nagato is just a dedicated, and sincere husband. But actually, it must not be ignored that there are some despicable histories of his hiding behind the suddenly invented movement in the world which tries to justify and glorify him, overlooking or even pretending not to be aware of, his past reprehensible problems with adultery, and showing as large amounts of sympathies as possible to him. Probably Minamino had suffered from his unfaithful attitude to their marriage for a long time, before finally she lost herself, even not being able to clearly identify her own self. And not until then, at last did her husband start to display himself as a sincerely devoted husband in a completely sentimental manner. Is that creditable? I do not think so. Even if he really rehabilitated himself and brought what he did home to himself with the largest compunction of penitence, he would deserve nothing otherwise than the acrimonious journey full of guilty supposed to obsess him all his life forever.
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