Poetry at the Breakfast Table: Sonnet and Free Verse

Sunday Breakfast - Sonnet

One lazy Sunday morning, I awoke an hour
Later than my usual six. Tired, with sleep
In my eyes, I looked across the table with a glower
At my husband who sat in front of a heap

Of toast and enjoying a cup of coffee.
Looking at the empty spot in front of my chair,
Which only looked worse by proxy
To the glorious spread; so unfair!

Out loud, calmly, I only said,
"Good morning. Are the kids still asleep?"
He, with his usual monosyllabic talking head,
Looked up briefly to acknowledge my tell,

And gently pushed the plate of toast in front of  me.
Crisis averted, we ate breakfast in silent harmony.

Recurring Nightmare - Free Verse

In the distance, the lone blue building stood
Like an oasis in the middle of a desert.

The line that lead out its door stretched
As far as the eye could see,
Forms and figures becoming mere specks
Of dust in the far distance;
Like illusions of weary desert travelers.

The sun beat mercilessly down
On my uncovered head, caught unaware
Of the heat that mornings could bring.

Stranded, stuck, tired, and hungry,
I tapped the shoulder of the stranger in front of me.
"What's with the long line?"
She turned to me with a face that reflected
All the tortured thoughts I also shared.
She sighed, resigned, and said,
"Apparently, kids eat for free at IHOP."

Weekly Reflection 9/30/13

          Let me just say that I'm not a creative writing major, nor have I ever considered becoming one. The idea of creating and writing poetry is almost terrifying to me. Last semester as an English  major and I'm so used to writing analytic essays that I've completely lost how to start writing creatively.....and poetry to boot! Wait a minute, did I ever have a hold of the creative writing process to begin with? Where do I even begin? Should I write a bunch of sentences, throw them at notebook paper, and hope one of them is usable? Would it not be -poetry- if I write about mundane things like waiting for the bus or eating breakfast? Help!

Poetry Analysis Essay - "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost

Eun Hae Lee

Dr. Wexler

English 495 ESM

23 September 2013

Community in Property Ownership

          In “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors,” Zev Trachtenberg argues that “the social contract tradition prompts us to think of society in terms of the cooperative human enterprise of protecting individuals' interests” (Trachtenberg 114). In other words, a society is only formed when there are formal voluntary agreements and associations between people – namely laws and rights – that protect people and their property. Property can be accused of dividing human relationships in the same way that it divides the actual land on which human beings reside. However, one can also argue that the best kind of individuality can only be achieved in the comforts of one's own property where one has the freedom to live in whatever way he/she chooses. The mutual protection of this division of property can thus be seen as the best kind of community and human interaction. In his poem “Mending Wall,” Robert Frost tackles the issue of maintaining individual freedom through mutual understanding and property ownership, suggesting that the division, not the bringing together, of property is what brings people closer in a community.

          The poem contains two characters: the narrator and the neighbor, who own adjacent farms and meet every Spring to repair the stone wall that divide their properties. An initial reading and popular interpretation of the poem has the narrator take a skeptical stand towards the existence of the wall while the neighbor remains firm on the benefit of the division. The neighbor's slogan that “good fences make good neighbors” is not given to much disparaging interpretation; the neighbor is pro-property and he will not budge on this opinion (46). However, the narrator's attitude is a bit more ambiguous, and is not as simple as an initial reading would suggest. The narrator's attitude is best expressed through the playful way he claims that “something there is that doesn't love a wall,” suggesting that the yearly upending of the stone wall is caused by natural forces (1). The narrator repeats this phrase throughout the poem, adopting it as a counter-slogan to the neighbor that seemingly personifies his stand on the issue of property ownership: the narrator is anti-property because nature does not support it. The fact that “something” sends “the frozen ground-swell under it, / And spills the upper boulders in the sun” proves that natural forces dictate that people should not have divisions on their lands (1-2). As a result, these same natural forces forcibly remove the obstacle dividing their farms.

          However, upon closer reading, a question arises. If the narrator is so against the mending of the wall that natural forces dictate as wrong, then why does he bother to inform his neighbor every year of its broken state? If the narrator supports the destruction of the stone wall, then is it not more logical that he simply ignore the broken wall until his more serious pro-wall neighbor calls attention to it? But no, the narrator is the one who takes initial action:

                             But at spring mending-time we find them there.
                             I let my neighbour know beyond the hill;
                            And on a day we meet to walk the line
                            And set the wall between us once again (11-14).

The narrator is the one who lets the neighbor know about the wall and proactively sets a date to meet in order to work on the wall together.

          Additionally, the “game” that the narrator keeps referring to when referring to the wall can be read as playful banter. The mischievous tone and casual attitude of the narrator also supports his pro-property stance as it suggests that the narrator is not completely serious when suggesting they remove the stone wall that divides their land (21). Spring, as he claims, “brings the mischief in [him]” and can explain the reason for his questioning of the existence of the wall (28). He mentions elves as a possible culprit for the broken stone wall, only serving to lessen the seriousness of the situation. He banters with his neighbor because it is the social norm to converse with your neighbor. The banter and the annual fixing of the stone wall is the “out-door game” that the narrator refers to; it is a yearly tradition that keeps him and his neighbor on good terms with one another (21). Thus, the fixing of the wall is simply a tradition, a holiday like Christmas or Thanksgiving; it is a day that serves to reaffirm their agreement to maintain their division. Both the narrator and neighbor agree on this day, every year, that the division of property is what keeps them good neighbors and good members of the society they belong to. Protecting the other's property and, as a result, their individual freedom and rights, is what helps them stay good neighbors. As the narrator explains, “He is all pine and I am apple orchard;” the stone wall allows for the pine and apple to remain as themselves (24).

          In “Architecture in Frost and Stevens,” David Spurr argues that “The wall also has a sepulchral function, as a kind of memorial to the generations from which it is inherited, just as the “saying” of the neighbor is inherited from his father, and the ritual repetition of this saying accompanies the annual rite of wall-mending” (Spurr 75). The neighbor is obviously guilty of this “repetition,” as it is the only response he gives all throughout the poem: He will "not go behind his father's saying, / And he likes having thought of it so well / He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors" (44-46). However, the neighbor is not the only one guilty of repeating a “saying.” The narrator is just as guilty. His annual greeting can be represented by the repetition of the line “something there is that doesn't love a wall." This back-and-forth and repetition of the two slogans serves to emphasize the absurdity of the idea that the wall can be torn down. Every year, the narrator tosses his line to his neighbor with the knowledge that the reply would be that the wall is an absolute necessity. It is a ritual, a dance, a tradition between the two neighbors; one that probably goes back to their fathers and their fathers' fathers. In the end, the wall is always mended. And the two farmers can always trust that they will be back again next year to fix the same wall again.

Works Cited

Spurr, David. "Architecture in Frost and Stevens." Journal of Modern Literature 28.3 (2005): 72- 86.         Project MUSE. Web. 20 Sep. 2013. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>.

Trachtenberg, Zev. "Good Neighbors Make Good Fences: Frost's 'Mending Wall'." Philosophy and    Literature 21.1 (1997): 114-122. Project MUSE. Web. 20 Sep. 2013. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>.

Weekly Reflection 9/23/13

          This week's class began our journey into the world of poetry, a place I don't think we go to often enough in K-12 classrooms. I wasn't exposed to much poetry until my third year of college when I took a poetry course as part of my major. Though I did have a middle school teacher who was passionate about Robert Frost, I don't think children these days get enough poetry in their school experience. I personally love reading poetry out loud and find it fascinating how so much could be conveyed in so few words. To this day, I love Robert Frost, especially "Mending Wall," which I think I am going to focus on for my essay. I also enjoy Frost's shorter poems "Fire and Ice" and "Nothing Gold Can Stay." I credit my sixth grade English teacher for my everlasting love of Robert Frost. A little crazy and a little drunk he may have been, his taste in poetry was exquisite. Thanks Mr. Leon!

A Musical Post - "Eet" by Regina Spektor

Lyrics:
It's like forgetting the words to your favorite song.
You can't believe it; you were always singing along.
It was so easy and the words so sweet.
You can't remember; you try to feel the beat.

Bee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-
Eet eet eet.
Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-
Eet eet eet.

You spend half of your life trying to fall behind.
You're using your headphones to drown out your mind.
It was so easy and the words so sweet.
You can't remember; you try to move your feet.

Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-
Eet eet eet.
Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-
Eet eet eet.

Someone's deciding whether or not to steal.
He opens a window just to feel the chill.
He hears that outside a small boy just started to cry
'Cause it's his turn, but his brother won't let him try.

It's like forgetting the words to your favorite song.
You can't believe it; you were always singing along.
It was so easy and the words so sweet.
You can't remember; you try to move your feet.
It was so easy and the words so sweet.
You can't remember; you try to feel the beat...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     This song by one of my favorite artists, Regina Spektor, always confused me. What is she singing about?! I had to do some research and learned that the word "Eet" is actually the backspace on a typewriter. Of course, if anyone remembers, a typewriter didn't completely erase your previous word. It only removed the black ink and wrote over it. So you could still see a little bit of the previous ink.
     That got me thinking..... if the word "Eet" is backspace on a typewriter, perhaps the song is about trying to forget the bad memories of your past: "You spend half of your life trying to fall behind. / You're using your headphones to drown out your mind." But after spending half your life trying to forgot the things going on around you, you actually START to forget things ......even the good, important memories, hence the lyrics: "It's like forgetting the words to your favorite song. / You can't believe it; you were always singing along."

An Introduction

     My name is Eun Hae (Jennifer) Lee. I was born in South Korea and raised in Southern California. I work in adult education at North Valley Occupational Center. I'm currently in my final semester at CSUN and in my final semester of student teaching. I hope to survive this semester intact (without becoming too much of an alcoholic) so I can become a high school English teacher. In my spare time, I love to read, watch TV, and play video games. One of my guilty pleasures is to read adolescent literature...probably because I'm still a kid at heart!
     I have mixed feelings about technology. On the one hand, I love to utilize technology in my everyday teaching. I'm all about video/music clips and power points. However, I'm not sure about this new school movement to get every student an Ipad. I feel like the introduction of such expensive technology will only widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots. What if the student's parents cannot afford the 500 dollars needed to receive this technology? Will they just have to do without? The constant access to the internet and technology will also cause problems with classroom discipline. In order to make sure students stay on track, technical support with proper internet restrictions and programming restrictions need to be absolute. This means schools absolutely need to have a technician on site every day. Is this even possible in public schools? Where will the money come from?
     The money will most likely come from firing more teachers and school staff. Classrooms will have upwards of 50 students and administrators will expect Ipads to replace teachers. What do you mean you can't handle 50 kids in a class? You have Ipads don't you? The one thing I have experienced during my years with adult ed and student teaching is that classroom size is a big factor in student learning. You can introduce any amount of technology into the classroom, but nothing will replace a quality teacher with a small, manageable number of students.