17,18,19

17- the three purses that the beast has contain a lion, a goose, and a pregnant sow. These could represent the sins which are in the eight level. The lion is representative of god, of power, and of pride. The goose is a symbol of anger or of greed as in the "golden goose" the pregnant sow could be a symbol of lust. The eight level of hell is reserved for the fraudulant. so I'm not sure how these relate. Perhaps these three animals are follow-ups to the three animals which dante was following in the beginning of the story. The wolf, leopard, and the other animal which represent the sins.
18- "isle of Lemnos after the time when its bold, pitiless women killed every male; the women of the isle of lemnos were disrespectful to aphrodite so she cursed the women to be foul smelling until their husbands turned to concubines. So the women of the island killed their husbands and formed acolongy. Jason then came and had a child with the queen of the island.
19- "a son who truly came out of the she-bear"the bear is a symbol of power strength and in some cultures, royalty. this could be an allusion to the tales of the berserkers who transformed into bears or the tale of rolf krokki which contained many half man and half bears. however Dante was italian and those stories were from northern Europe so any connection is not likely.

16

The main symbol of this chapter was the three men linked in a wheel formation. Guido Guerra, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, and Jacopo Rusticucci were ancient wrestlers, so their circling is much like the wrestling they would have done in their lives. The wheel that they form could be interpreted in many ways but I prefer to think o fit as the wheel of fortune. The three men are constantly turning, they cant stand still or they will be burnt, just as the wheel of fortune constantly rotates. This wheel of fortune design could represent the eternity they will spend in hell. Or the wheel of fate and politics which the men were tangled up with on earth.

Canto 13
No fruit, but poisoned thorns- an allusion to both the garden of eden and jesus, the boughs of the dying people carry no fruit as the tree of knowledge did. This could show that these people have not learned from their mistakes. The thorns are tied into jesus' crown of thorns which he wore as he was crucified. These souls wear their own crown of thorns for eternity.
Canto 14
"he was one of the seven kings who besieged Thebes" "disdain for god" - Thebes, was an ancient city in egypt. The seven kings who stormed it were adrastus, amphiaraus, capaneus, hippomedon, parthenopeus,polynices,and tydeus. Capaeneus ithe man who lays under the raining fire. He is famous for defying the god zeus, saying that zeus himself could not stop him from scaling the wall. Arrogance is his flaw.
canto 15
"who gains the victory, not one who loses." Shows the persons arrogance, they are burning in hell yet openly defies god and acts like they achieved some victory. Dante is using him as an example to warn against such arrogance but at the same tim he could be criticizing the church. THis man might only believe in himself, yet is punished for his beliefs.
(sidenote, I have noticed that there are almost No female characters in all of hell, only the nagels mentioned before hell. This could be because they were all in heaven or purgatory, or it could show how dante does not have any feminine interaction.

blog entries

Chapter 5
Minos- allusion to Greece judge/king. Was the son of Zeus and Europia.
“Francesca, your suffering makes me weep for sorrow and pity” Line 104 Francesca was a lover who was killed for her lustful relationship with a man, however the couples reason for this sin was a book. Dante could be making a comment on how powerful books can be, and in doing so possibly give a reason for his writing this one. Perhaps Dante is hoping to help recharge the church by producing a book capable of showing all the sins of hell.
Canto 6
“wherever I step or look. I am in the third Circle, a realm of cold and heavy rain”-Line 5 Dante fainted at the tale of the lovers, odd considering what he has already seen in the 2nnd and 1st circle and what he is soon to see, this is one of his most negative reactions. This could be because he knows he will end up in this circle of hell when he dies due to his relationship with Beatrice.
Canto 7
“Fortune, like any other god, foresees, judges, and rules her appointed realm.” Line 76 – Fortunes a strumpet whom controls men, yet Virgil describes how those who curse her should actually be thanking her, if she does not give them wealth then they cannot end up in this circle of hell for the greedy.
“this canticle they gargle from the craw, unable to speak whole words.” This seems like a description of an extremely angry man and thus fits the punishment of those who could not control their anger. You can see the man foaming at the mouth incapable of words out of frustration, and then compare that image to these buried souls.
Canto 8
Phlegyas- first off Phlegyas complains of being tricked by Virgil, as if this has happened in the past. Phlegyas burnt down the temple of Apollo because Apollo had raped and killed his daughter and given his grandchild to a centaur. For this he was thrown into hell.
“Baked red as though just taken from the fire”- these mosques are suffering as they were temples for false idol. The muslims were not exactly popular in this period of time, and even their great rulers like saladin were put in the first circle of hell. Heaven is a one denomination society in this book.

"but heaven expels them not to mar its pleasure" line 35- God has placed the indecisive in an area outside of hell, this area is even worse than the first level of hell as members must walk bitten by flies on maggots. Could be a comment on how unfair or odd Dante considered christianity or could represent his views on indecisiveness. Clearly something is off in this world of half-hell. he describes the people as "never having lived" and neither part of hell or his enemies. WHile in hell dante seems scared or pitiful of the sufferers, here he seems disgusted by them.
"crowded in a herd, they obey if he should summonas he strikes at any laggards with his oar" possibly a comparison to jesus (albeit a very violent jesus) as charon seems to be acting like a shepard lashing out at straying sheep. Charon could be the savior of the dead as he is allowing them to cross the river as god has wished, just as jesus guided souls to heaven. So if the souls before jesus went to hell, whered the souls before charon go?
Cantos 4
"note well... the one who carries the sword and strides before the others"- line 71
Interesting to note that in hell, homer carries a sword whereas on earth he carried a pen. Seems as if the poetry he wrote on earth was not enough to save him and bring him to heaven, what other reason could there be for him to carry a sword? After all the pen is mightier than the sword. Literally taken it could mean homers adapting to the dangerous area he now inhabits, however nothing is literal. Homer is portrayed as a valiant knight, which is used to show how dante looks up to him. However it could be a silly childish admiration, as dante is supposed to look up to homer for being a thinker, not a man of action.
"for my demandng thme so pulls my story, to multiply the telling would be too little for the multitude of fact that filled my journey."
Basically dante is blowing his own horn here, saying that his journey is so great and full of FACT that to dwell on his stay with the ultimate poets of history with which he fits in perfectly would be a waste of his valuable parchment and he needs to move on to the important parts of the story which are his journey through hell. This piece is beginning to seem more and more as if it was written at or for the church stritcly, or might be an insight into Dante's cocky mannerism.

imagist

imagist- imagism was a movement around the beginning of the 20th century, which focussed on creating vivid images using sharp, clear language. In act the main goal of the imagist was to use basic language but use the exactly correct word. They formed in response to the gregorian romantic times and victorian poetry of earlier times which had what they thought lots of careless thinking. The movement avoided cliche's and merely suggests themes rather than presents full ideas.Alfred lord Tennyson and henry Longfellow were among the leaders of this movement along with TE Hulme and ezra pound. Ezra pound called imagery "that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time."

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

 --William Carlos Williams

metaphysical

Metaphysical poets were a loss group of poets which existed in the 16th and 17th. This group developed as a form of defiance against the flowery romantic poetry of their predecessors. Rather metaphysical poets use concise diction of everyday speech. The most important of these poets were john Donne and George Herbert. Metaphysical poetry employs paradoxical images and relies on intellectual wit and learned imagery as well as much satire. Metaphsycial poets often focus on a number of themes including love, and religion however they analyze these things rather than enjoy them. Also poems are usually arguements.
"air and angels" by john donne
Twice or thrice had I lov'd thee,
2Before I knew thy face or name;
3So in a voice, so in a shapeless flame
4Angels affect us oft, and worshipp'd be;
5 Still when, to where thou wert, I came,
6Some lovely glorious nothing I did see.
7 But since my soul, whose child love is,
8Takes limbs of flesh, and else could nothing do,
9 More subtle than the parent is
10Love must not be, but take a body too;
11 And therefore what thou wert, and who,
12 I bid Love ask, and now
13That it assume thy body, I allow,
14And fix itself in thy lip, eye, and brow.

15Whilst thus to ballast love I thought,
16And so more steadily to have gone,
17With wares which would sink admiration,
18I saw I had love's pinnace overfraught;
19 Ev'ry thy hair for love to work upon
20Is much too much, some fitter must be sought;
21 For, nor in nothing, nor in things
22Extreme, and scatt'ring bright, can love inhere;
23 Then, as an angel, face, and wings
24Of air, not pure as it, yet pure, doth wear,
25 So thy love may be my love's sphere;
26 Just such disparity
27As is 'twixt air and angels' purity,
28'Twixt women's love, and men's, will ever be.

Never again would birds' song be the same.
This poem is about a man who has fallen out of love and thus he is seeing the world with a broken heart. He talks about Eve who comes to the garden and changes the songs of birds. The speaker is parallel to these birds as he too has fallen under the spell of Eve. He describes how she barely does anything and so her subtlety only effects the birds, but if in fact it was so subtle he wouldnt have noticed. The last line is the most interesting, "never again would birds' song be the same. And to do that to birds was why she came" This again is parallel to how eve effects the lives of men yet it gives a possible reason for her mischief. This could be an insight into the vanity of women that they can go about making things fall in love with them just to satisfy some self insecurity.
The pattern of the poem is that of an english sonnet, the turn occurs at line 9. The poem switches from describing how eve (which is a symbol for love) effects the birds to showing why she does this.

adolescence

adolescence-I

tells the story of a group of girls on grandma's porch. They sit around and talk, and are amazed with the simplest things. They find the beauty of the world. Like fireflies whirring nearby and the pinging of street-lamps. The main theme of adolescence though is love, and Linda describes their innocence. "a boys lips are soft as soft as baby's skin" she is idolized for her knowledge, she is above the other girls for she has done what none of them have, she has kissed a boy.

Adolescence II
This is probably the first really negative experience she has with men, she is either pregnant at this point (baby-breasts) or so just becoming a woman. She describes being in the bathroom as they come "seal men" with eyes as round as dinner plates and eylashes like sharpened tines. They are described as hungry tines are forks. With the sent of licorice. I believe they are drunk, for one says can you feel it yet? When they leave patting their bodies they are possibly showing their drunkeness, as they need to touch things. Or perhaps they have raped her. That was my first impresssion. They leave.

Adolescence III here she is undoubtedly pregnant, she swells out llike atomato.The men in her life have gone and left her alone with her mother to work in the fields.
Adolescence could be the men in a girls life, her life before men, her life during it, and her life after they have left her. Or it could be scene as her maturing from child to teen to adult. Either way the poem is about the loss of adolescence and the dissillusionment with the world which comes with it.

from the dream song

From the dream song.
The tone is boring
the speaker is bored
there is no distinct imagery
Instead of making a connection with humans, he tries to connect to literature, but even that bores him. The tranquil hills and gin look like a dog, as in man's best friend. Unfortunately even the pleasure from this has left him. He's left with only one sarcastic wag of his tail. Even the description of everything leaving him is non-caring. he does'nt care where the dog has left to, the mountains or sea or sky.

At the beginning of the poem he attempts to make an argument for why he is not bored, the sky yearns, just as he does. However he breaks down with the comment from his mother, almost as if he blames her for his boredom.
the second poem is his transition, from how he should be interested in things, to how much he is not interested in things, and how he is not interested in the things he tries to be interested in.
Finally he describes how his interests run away from him.
The poem is ironic because the man takes such a long time describing each and every thing that bores him. Its almost as if the only thing he is interested in is his own boredom.

beloved section 2

- A man aint an ax pg 81- shows the difference between slaves and freedmen, slaves are expected to be used as tools, and to generate a profit.
- “but her brain was not interested in the future” Sethe’s brain is so full of the evil deeds that have happened in her pas that her brain can not look forward to the future, Halle was broken by the sight of her rape, but she was broken down over time. Until she has nothing to look forward to but to take care of her child.
- “pauls story about mister”- paul describes the rooster and how it grew up to whoop anything in the yard, yet was allowed to maintain its own existence, yet he was forced to wear the iron bit in his mouth. Shows how slaves were mistreated even to the extent of being treated worse than animals.
-“why you call yourself beloved?” “in the dark my names beloved”
her name beloved symbolizes all the evil of the world, she was named beloved by seethe but the name was bought at a price. Sethe had to sell her soul in order to chisel the name beloved on the headstone
-“It’s a tree lu, a chokecherry tree”
trees symbolize life usually, perhaps a form of new life. The cherry tree might symbolize sethes new life outside of slavery since this helped to drive her to freedom. The tree also is a form of protection, which sehte definetly provides in her role as mother.
-“river water was spreading over seethes hips”- shows the connection between water and birth, similar to beloved’s rebirth. Water also symbolizes freedom or transformation- the slaves had to cross water from Africa and Sethe had to cross water to be free.
-“those white things had taken all I had or dreamed”
baby suggs describing how she quit life because of the white people, seethe could fall into the same spell.
-“Lay em down, seth...Dont study war no more"
seethe has been battling her past for so long she must move on and embrace the present.
-"He saw them boys do that to me and let them keep on breathing air?"
seethe is disappointed because she believed that Halle would protect her from such evils, but halle could do nothing to stop the white-men.
-"the quality of the green changed"
the view of green had changed, it had become less valuable, her willingness to live life was not as strong.
-"on all fours"
Sethe is still an animal, shows that she is not yet a freed man, but only a freed slave. She is still a slave to her children
-“The circle of iron choked it”
Beloved claims tahat it was not her who choked seethe it was the circle of iron, the symbol of slavery.
-“the raunchy turtle sex scene”
this has to mean something, the loss of beloved’s innocence? Perhaps the realization on denvers part that beloved was up to no good.
-“his hands quit taking his instructions”
Paul D’s body was unable to function after he was imprisoned. Shows he is finally broken for they not only have taken his body, they take his minds ability.
-“in the boxes the men heard the water rising”
water again symbolizing rebirth or tranforamtion, in this case it represents the transformation from animal back to freed slave, as the imprisoned men were treated like animals.
-“the disease they faced now was an inconvenience compared to the devastation they faced before”
the cherokees were an oppressed people, just like the blacks, shows how each dealt with a form of slavery.
-“follow the tree flowers”
the tree flowers are a symbol of life and happyness, Paul D must follow happiness in life ,b tu the tree flowers are always shifting
-“he did not stop to touch them”
but paul D was never able to stop and enjoy the flowers
“paul D’s chest rose and fell under the hand”
shows how much control Sethe has over paul, she seems to make him dance like a puppet.

beloved section 1

df

1. “The responsibilities of her breasts , at last, was in someone else’s hands now.” pg 21

This shows how seriously Sethe has been taking the responsibilities of a mother. She feels the need to protect and provide for her family, yet is relieved to have someone to share the load. Paul symbolically doe this by supporting her breasts with his hands.

2. “maybe she could feel the hurt her back ought to” pg 21- again shows the oppressive nature of motherhood and the toll it has retracted from Sethe. She is so focused on caring for others she has no time or ability to feel her own pain, even the physical pain of her scars.

3. “Now her mother was upstairs with the man who had gotten rid of the only other company she had.” Page 23 This is the first look into Denvers character. Her mysterious birth leads to an even more mysterious mannerism in which she craves attention. Everyone is leaving her and so she clings to Sethe for stability and even the presence of the baby ghost for security.

4. “ How loose the silk. How fine and loose and free” Pg 33 Although Sethe is describing the corn which she has picked. She is actually making metaphors into her love life with Halle. She uses words like “loose”, “fine” and “free” to show that in the cornfield they were free from their duties. Sex is a form of freedom for Sethe.

5. “excitement that Denver could have all for herself in the boxwood” pg 34 This is an insight into Denver’s character as an attention craving and selfish child. The story will see the growth of Denver while virtually every other character is destroyed.

6. “a white dress kneeled beside her mother and had its sleeve wrapped around her waste.” Pg 35 the white dress is Sethe’s wedding dress which is possessed by spirits, perhaps the baby’s spirit perhaps Baby Suggs spirit. The dress comforts seethe as she prays showing that it doesn’t necessarily mean her harm. Furthermore her wedding was one of the freedoms which she was permitted to have on Sweet Home, this freedom she clings to and protects her.

7. “Down in the grass like the snake she thought she was.” Pg 39 Sethe is feeling guilty because she believes she has ruined her family by running from sweet home. Halle is nowhere to be found, her children are ahead of her, and she has no strength to care for her baby. Snakes represent trickery and evil which is ironic because seethe is said to spit the truth instead of fangs.

8. “Velvet is like the world just born clean and new” Pg 41 Velvet is being compared to the baby inside of Sethe. While Amy travels to Boston for exquisite velvet, so Sethe travels to free soil to give birth to her child. This could be why the baby feels so safe around the white girl and stops kicking.

9. “I was talking about time. Its so hard to believe in it” this is reflected in the way the book is written, with little notion chronological order. The book jumps forwards and back and looks at the same situation from many vantage points.

10. “well I think the baby got plans” the baby had just appeared in the apparition of a wedding dress, holding onto and protecting Sethe. This is a foreshadow for how the baby will protect the sanctity of the house against the invading presence of Paul D.

11. “It was clear why baby suggs was so starved for color”

This is one of the first times color is used which becomes a major theme throughout the novel. Color represents lifes and its many different emotions. From happy exuberant orange to dark brooding black combined with textures. Baby suggs was looking for colors because the real world had tired her so much, she was so shaken from life that she needed interaction without a chance of loss, the rainbow gave her such a relief.

12. “Bare feet and chamomile sap./took off my shoe; took off my hat.” Pg 49 This is the line which Paul D settle s to recite as he fixes the cabin. It is a long way from his gypsy-like nature and shows how he is tied down to the family.

13. “As for Denver, the job Sethe had of keeping her from the past that was still waiting for her was all that mattered.” Pg 51 Shows Denvers sheltered/childish nature. All Denver cares about is that she is cared for. Exposeses her greedy nature which is only disturbed once beloved comes and steals seethes attention.

14. “risky very risky for a used to be slave woman to love anything that much was dangerous” page 54. Shows major insight into both Paul D and Sethe’s history. Both of them have lost virtually everything they love and contrasts them. Where Paul has resigned to never love anything again because it is too painful to have It ripped away seethe loves things so strongly that no-one would dare to take them away.

15. “all were in high spirits… the smell of dying roses”57

Foreshadows the coming of the evil beloved. The fact that everyone was enjoying themselves which was extremely rare for this family yet this smell of doom hangs over them is quite picturesque. Roses may symbolize life or romance and at this time which is the peak of the relationship between seethe and Paul D there s this smell. Could symbolize that the relationship has no real passion, or that they are both too dead to have any passion left.

16. “two pennies and an insult were well spent if it meant seeing the spectacle of white folks making a spectacle of themselves” 58

The contempt which blacks have for whites was all the advertising this fair needed. Also ties into the role of colors. White here is meant to seam foolish, not mean, but still shown in a negative light.

17. “the shadows of the three people still held hands” 59

Described as their shadows holding hands, this is important because they themselves might not hold hands, but perhaps they all wish to be united. The bond is not there yet. Shadows may represent the past or the future, as they all have ties to sweethome and seem to be forming a family. They may also represent hopes or dreams, yet Denver does not necessarily wish to be united with Paul.

18. “ no more like flooding the boat when Denver was born” 61

Ties the rebirth of Beloved to the birth of Denver.

19. “heavy this place is heavy” heavy is often used in places where other words seem to fit better, your love is heavy is another example. Heavy must take on a different meaning similar to important.

20. fielding I promise to enter 45 by the end of the book im coming so you can sign my yellow sheet