Plog #5

In the poem "Red Fox" by Margaret Atwood, the harsh diction, disoriented structure, and the important extended metaphor as seen in the title all lead to the theme that people will do anything to save themselves.

Throughout this poem , there are many words which connote corruption, such as "trickster", "thief", and "steals". This shows that people will do anything and turn into anything to save themselves. There was also an allusion to the story of Hansel and Gretel in order to show that even someone who you'd assume to be selfless, such as a mother or a father, will often become corrupt in order to look after their own interests.

The extended metaphor of the red fox can be seen as what people will turn into when they are trying to save themselves. Since foxes are seen as thieves and being sneaky, by comparing them to suffering people, this shows that people will turn to criminal behavior or doing things that they normally would not consider doing in order to end their own suffering.

The structure of this poem also has no pattern of ryhme scheme or within the stanzas. None of the stanzas show a pattern of the number of lines in them or a pattern of syllables within the lines. This lack of structure or rhyme scheme shows that life has no pattern, and you never know what's going to happen next. It also shows that we don't know what we would do if we were put in a situation like the red fox in this poem. This disorganized structure shows that we can't predict how we would act if we were put in a situation where we had to save ourselves.

In conclusion, the diction, the extended metaphor, and the stucture of the poem "Red Fox" by Margaret Atwood all contribute to the theme that people will do anything to save themselves, and that no one can predict what they would do if they were put in such a position.

Plog #4

From The Frontier Of Writing

The tightness and the nilness round that space

when the car stops in the road, the troops inspect

its make and number and, as one bends his face

towards your window, you catch sight of more

on a hill beyond, eyeing with intent

down cradled guns that hold you under cover

and everything is pure interrogation

until a rifle motions and you move

with guarded unconcerned acceleration—

a little emptier, a little spent

as always by that quiver in the self,

subjugated, yes, and obedient.

So you drive on to the frontier of writing

where it happens again. The guns on tripods;

the sergeant with his on-off mike repeating

data about you, waiting for the squawk

of clearance; the marksman training down

out of the sun upon you like a hawk.

And suddenly you're through, arraigned yet freed,

as if you'd passed from behind a waterfall

on the black current of a tarmac road

past armor-plated vehicles, out between

the posted soldiers flowing and receding

like tree shadows into the polished windscreen.

In the poem "The Fronttier of Writing" by Seamus Heaney, the author uses intimidating diction and an extended metaphor in order to show the struggles of a writer to please others without compromising his/her own beliefs.

Within the poem, Heaney uses the overarching metaphor of writing being a checkpoint that a writer must pass through in order to be published. He uses intimidating diction such as "guns", "quiver" and "interrogation" to show that the fear or rejection or disapproval in one's writing is real, and that the speaker feels forced almost with violence to do as he is told, or write as he is expected to.

We can tell that this speaker has conformed to what he was told to write by where he says "subjugated, yes, and obediant". We can also tell that he is not happy about this fact because he says he feels "a little emptier, a little spent" - almost as if he is wasting away by not being able to write what he wants.

It is also interesting to note that the speaker doesn't actually sound happy or proud of his work at the end of the poem. He simply says he is "arraigned yet freed", which makes him seem relieved, but not necissarily pleased with the outcome. He may feel as though he has compromised what he wanted to say in order to be published, and is therefore not feeling proud of his work, merely happy that is it done. The use of second person narrative also makes the speaker sound disconnected from it, almost as if he is looking at what has happened to him from an outside view to try and understand what really happened.

Therefore, in Seamus Heaney's "The Frontier of Writing" the use of intimidating diction and the extended metaphor of almost a battlefield contributes to the theme of the struggles of writing and being recognized for your own work and ideas, rather than for what everyone else wanted you to write.

Plog #3

Mid-term Break

I sat all morning in the college sick bay

Counting bells knelling classes to a close,

At two o'clock our neighbors drove me home.

In the porch I met my father crying--

He had always taken funerals in his stride--

And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.

The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram

When I came in, and I was embarrassed

By old men standing up to shake my hand

And tell me they were "sorry for my trouble,"

Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest,

Away at school, as my mother held my hand

In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.

At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived

With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.

Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops

And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him

For the first time in six weeks.

Paler now,Wearing a poppy bruise on the left temple,

He lay in the four foot box as in a cot.

No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.

A four foot box, a foot for every year.

In the poem "Mid-Term Break" by Seamus Heaney, the use of visual images, sound diction, and sporatic structure all helped to create the overall depressed tone of the poem.

Within the poem, I found a lot of sound diction which contributed to the depressed tone of the poem, for example, the "counting bells" which reminded me of funeral bells as opposed to just school bells, which could be considered foreshadowing the death at the end of the poem. However, there was also a contradictory sound diction where "the baby cooed and laughed. . . when I came in" which I think shows that perhaps the speaker does not really understand what is happening as well as he thinks he does. Perhaps he is just as confused of what is going on as the baby is.

There were also many striking images, such as the "corpse, stanched and bandaged" which is a sad and depressing picture. However, I also felt that the image of the "snowdrops and candles soothed the bedside" when he first sees his little brother as possibly being a symbol that he is in a better place, and at least they could take comfort in that.

I also noticed that the poem as a whole had no rhyme scheme or meter, which I took as a symbol for the unpredictability of life. Nothing in life is promised except for death, which I think was demonstrated by the lack of rhyming except in the very last two lines, which were prefect rhymes. I think that shows that you don't know what's going to happen in life, even four year-olds can die, but the only thing you can rely on is that everyone will die, which definately contributed to the depressing mood of the poem.