The Norton Anthology American Literature Shorter Eighth Edition Volume I - Essay Example

The Norton anthology American Literature shorter eighth edition Volume I Journal Entries 25th June, Journal Entry 10: Judith Sergeant Murray Judith Sergeant Murray was one of the liberal writers between the eras 1751-1820. She wrote on the independence of female mind. The first of her writing were “The Utility of Encouraging self-complacency, Especially in Female Bosoms”. Her encouragement was to the young females that they needed to have a strong head and a developed mind is the key to survival. Murray most famous work with respect to popularity and money was The Gleaner 1798. The book consisted of essays written by Murray for Massachusetts Magazine. Gleaner is a person who collects the grains after harvest. Her novel was a depiction of female abilities, equality, civic and political engagement. The writer with respect to her own time period has written well to determine how women is capable of doing, provided she is given the opportunity to learn, educate and deliver. The point that the writer makes in the story are the difficulties that are faced by female in a male dominating society. The story is about a young girl who has lost her parents and is exposed to the cruelty of the world. In order to survive in the world she had to sacrifice her honor, had to be in shield of a villain, a wife of a man who made her fear everything. She had to deal with all her problems alone and in the end she started to accept him as everything in her life. The story further reveals how the main character of Miss Well-wood, met different people in her life, gained experience, certain were good and other proved to be bad. How she gets herself out of the trap of the evil man and how she move forward to survive as a person in the world where there was little or no respect given to women. Murray story is a depiction of a struggling female, and it goes on to show that she was always of the opinion in ensuring the women should have the right of doing all, she is equal to man and if she fights for her right she will be able to do any and everything. She wanted to portray that the determination of a female is her strongest asset and if she avails it right she can achieve anything in life. The story is well presented but the wordings were not as strong and enthusiastic. The writing is mild in nature and the message is strong. That is why the message might have been lost in transit and probably became one of the reason that Judith could not do well prior or after the novel written. Journal Entry 11: Phillip Freneau Phillip Freneau was a wealthy man and was socially acknowledged, and for this reason he was very famous with other writers and painters. The poem that we will discuss and analyzed is “The Wild Honey Suckle” written in the 1902. The poem is written in four stanzas, and each stanza written shows a different form of life. The poem represents life and how it is evolved from a small baby in the womb, grows as a child, enters into their prime life and matures towards death. Frist stanza is about the baby who is not yet born, a baby who is carried in the womb of a female, who is protected in a sphere. The baby is silent and safe, a small living being who cannot be seen, touched by the people outside. It is a creation of God for a mother to carry and protect till the time he/she enters the world. After the birth we enter into the second stanza of the poem which is about the early years of a baby. A small child who is not aware of the evil world around, he is in constant care of his parents. He is protected from different shades and from vulgarity. These are the best years of the child’s life. The early years when all a child can feel is warmth and love, care and comfort. The third stanza is about child’s growth when he enters his prime years, the years when the person is struggling to survive in the world. To gain education, to get a job, to fall in love and get married to have children and to ensure that he provide his children with good quality of life, and there is a long list of struggles. These are the years when the person is all about the world and things in them, he gets so busy with the world around that he loses his other self. With time he grows old and old till the time he reaches to a point where his struggle is over. The fourth stanza of the poem is all about how the person grows old and reaches near his death bed. All struggles and everything that he has done for the world cannot help him live or survive. It is the way of life and all has to follow it. The poem is very well written with a contrast of a human life to a flower, the same way a flower is born, it grows and spreads happiness to the world, once it loses it color, smell and shape it is no longer required by the world and is left alone and with passage of time it withers away. The poem is written to give a message to the human race that this life is temporary, and must not bore pressures that it cannot survive; we need to enjoy our life as much as we can and let the worries find their own path. We should be like a flower that enters the world spreads its joy and when the time ends it dies off. Journal Entry 12: Phillis Wheatley Phillis started writing at the age of 20, she has written on various subjects on religious and moral issues. Her most of the poems were published in England in 1773; she was black African and was adopted by a wealthy tailor for his wife. Out of the many subjects she has written on our analysis today will be on “To S.M a Young African Painter on seeing his work”. The poem is written to address issues relating to religion, art and freedom. She has written her poem in response to the painting she has seen and analyzed by an African painter, Scipio Moorhead. In her poem she has used spiritual language and metaphor. She was enthralled by the painting and believed they provide a message of freedom, even though the black Africans of the time were considered to be slaves. She believed and delivers it through her poem that art is a form of therapy, which creates an image that create joy in the minds of the audience. In her poem she has used words like “giving birth”, “rushing” and “lifelike”, because she finds a delight watching Moorhead paintings. She also defines his drawings as “deathless glory” and “immortal fame”. She believes that Moorhead has interpreted her thoughts on heaven and happiness. She believes that her writing is interpreted in Moorhead paintings, she feels like what she has written about heaven in drawn in the exact same manner by the painter, which gives her immense joy and delight. The similarity in the thoughts makes her believe that she and Moorhead should work together to create finest work of arts. She is a black African herself that is why she takes the opportunity to talk about the racism and freedom in her poem as well. Phillips believes that there is not escape to the slavery they are trapped in, she believes that like Moorhead art can give a piece of mind to the watchers, and readers but it will never grant the desired freedom. The mere reason that she does not feel any hope in having freedom in this world she moves to another by presenting a sketch in her mind of heaven, and she believes that together with Moorhead she can reach to a place of peace and delight. In her poem she also tries to reach to spiritual fulfillment, and believes that if quality art is created it can also enhance the inner religious achievements. She believes that art is the only medium that will survive throughout, it never dies and it never fails to disappoint. Reaction All the above matters are written on different topics and each one of them presents a different meaning. Journal 10 was about women empowerment, Journal 11 was about a poem about life and Journal 12 was about a poem about freedom and spiritual self. Out of all the readings and analysis, I was most thrilled and excited about the poem “The Wild Honey Suckle” by Philip Freneau. One fails to understand the meaning of life, everyone is today’s world is too busy with their jobs, education and material matters. They are so busy that they have failed to understand the meaning of life, the circle of life and how it evolves. Everyone is moving in a sphere, but no one realizes it till the time they have reached that point, at each stage they fail to realize that they have to go to the next stage, they become so occupied by time and space that they forget about all others. The life starts like a child when he is small and dependent upon his parents and the society to feed him, cloth him and shelter him. When he grows young and finds himself sufficient enough to carry his own burden he starts gathering money instead of relations. Till the time he grows old and realizes that he is left alone with no one to support him. The thing I most enjoyed about the poem was my reconnection to life, and how it brings back all the feelings and leaves with thoughts and deeper thoughts. It is a point where one stops for a moment and rethink about their lives, what we have achieved and what should we have achieved. It gives you the moment to see around, do we stand alone or we have people with us to support us when we are low and to congratulate us when we have achieved. There should be relationships to share our happiness and grieve. I have very happy and delighted to read the poem, and once I did take the moment to look around I felt achieved, not because I had a lot of money, or a better job but I had people, relations and friends. People, for whom I was important and who believe in making me a part of their everyday life Bibliography Elle. "What is the wild honeysuckle by philip freneau all about." 2008. Yahoo. 2014 . Weebly. "To S.M., A Young African Painter on Seeing His Works." 2014. African and African American in Early Modern Poetry. 2014 . Read More