Compare and Contrast Poems #9

Thesis: Emily Dickinson's poems "I never saw a Moor" and "'Faith' is a fine invention" use punctuation and a theme of vision to emphasize the different perspectives and opinions on faith.

1. The use of punctuation in the two poems help point out important points and perspectives. The dashes Dickinson uses act as means to make the reader pause and consider the content just read before continuing on to the next line. In "I never saw a Moor", Dickinson expresses, "I never saw a Moor-- / I never saw the Sea--" (1-2). The simple statements seem to be obvious to the speaker, but the reader might find it hard to imagine not knowing what such basic sights look like. The dashes act as a reminder that the speaker is drawing importance from her inexperience that needs to be understood in order to understand the rest of the stanza. In "'Faith' is a fine invention", Dickinson uses the dashes to separate the two main ideas being expressed. But the more important use to punctuation in the second poem involves the way the words "faith" and "microscopes" are expressed. The very first word of the poem boldly defines the speaker's opinion about faith's validity. By placing faith in quotation marks, falseness and artificiality extend from the word. It is then described as a "fine invention" (1), implying faith as being man-made and used as a tool. The Gentlemen use the false tool for status as it is expected by all of higher class. "'Faith'" is highly contrasted by the word "Microscopes" (3), both italicized and capitalized for emphasis. Dickinson draws attention to it and its importance. The microscopes show what faith alone cannot cause or explain. The over-emphasis shows the speaker's desperation to make the point that the correct way to go about a distressful situation is by relying on scientific facts and medicines. The use of punctuation in the second poem adds a humorous tone to it all, whereas "I never saw a Moor" remains almost entirely at peace and serious.
2. Though both poems highlight the importance of vision, they do so in such ways in order to come to different conclusions of faith. In "I never saw a Moor", Dickinson develops a speaker who uses their imagination without having experience. She is adamant about the power of her ability to see a "Moor"(1), "the Sea" (2), and "a Billow" (4). Her assurance is expressed with, "Yet I know how the Heather looks" (3). The entire first stanza makes known the speaker's unique connection with reality, strengthened by her strong faith. The second stanza refers to her belief in God. Though the speaker has no direct experience with God or heaven, "Yet certain am I of the spot" (7). Once again, the assurance is emphasized, therefore highlighting the speaker's unbreakable connection with religion and her vivid imagination. She can see without truly seeing, and knows without having had experience. The second poem takes an entirely different perspective on faith through vision. Using the word "see" (2) refers to the literal act of looking at the general picture. This kind of seeing skims the surface, skipping over details. The Gentlemen see with such a vague lens and they are in turn seen with a similar vagueness that guarantees their status and respect. Ambiguity is then compared to the "prudent" (3) way of seeing things when in a time of danger or distress: looking through "Microscopes" (3). Seeing scientifically under such magnification makes it easier to see factual details that could otherwise be missed. The speaker of this poem encourages microscopic vision as a way to see past the falseness of a status, for times of crisis call for the most precision.

Picture of Dorian Gray #5

           After Dorian Gray first notices the change in the portrait and once he makes the connection that the shift represents the degradation of his soul, he becomes increasingly paranoid about it. He frets when Basil comes to visit him, and even worries that his servants and the framer will see the revealing masterpiece. He refuses to allow others to look upon it, and decides to hide it away into his abandoned play-room. When he enters the room, he "recalled the stainless purity of his boyish life, and it seemed horrible to him that it was here the fatal portrait was to be hidden away" (89). Dorian's placement is ironic. Dorian chooses a place where he spent most of his innocent childhood, before having met Lord Henry. After the encounter and the transfer of influence, Dorian begins to lose his once naive purity, and instead his soul begins to decay. He tries to conceal the decay by hiding its only proof in a room that is yet untouched by the new Dorian Gray. The sheltered play-room is the only place "secure from prying eyes" (89), and before the painting is placed there, it was also the most restored part of Dorian's life. He would have remained untouched by sin if he had only chosen to listen to Basil's warnings about Lord Henry's influences.

Dorian Gray #1

              It is here in the beginning of the story that Lord Henry realizes Dorian Gray is a blank slate onto which he will express his philosophies of life. He does so in a care-free fashion, constantly expressing underlying truths that Gray takes with his naivety as being entirely true. It is here that he introduces Hedonism. He tells Dorian, "The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous unlawful" (13-14). Dorian is overwhelmed by the speech as he tries to make sense of it. He considers the words of Lord Henry as being truths. Henry then expands upon this philosophy when Dorian sits in Basil's garden. Here, he warns the muse that his beauty will not always be present, and that with this knowledge, it is wise to use the time he is given to give in to pleasures: "realize your youth while you still have it. Don't squander the gold of your days, listening to the tedious, trying to improve the hopeless failure, or giving away your life to the ignorant, the common, and the vulgar. These are the sickly aims, the false ideals, of our age. Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you!" (16). Henry wants Dorian Gray to realize that his beauty's short life should be embraced while it still remains. It should be used to its full potential. Thus, Dorian should give in to his desires, as that is the only way he should remain youthful. However, what Lord Henry chooses to leave out are the downsides of living a Hedonistic lifestyle. Pleasures of life do not last long, and as one chooses to seek them out without minding its effects on others, they suffer from animosity for the remainder of their days. Dorian Gray does not consider this--he takes in the views, inspired by their seemingly truthful ideas. Lord Henry is fully aware of his power as manipulator.

Dorian Gray #3

                In this reading section, Lord Henry gives hints of his wanting Dorian Gray to become his Hedonistic experiment. When he hears of Gray's engagement, he tells Basil, "'I hope that Dorian Gray will make this girl his wife, passionately adore her for six months, and then suddenly become fascinated by some one else. He would be a wonderful study'" (54). From the moment he met Gray, Henry's been trying to corrupt and pollute his youth and naive perfection. He explains to Gray that the only way to stay youthful is to give in to all pleasures by living a Hedonistic lifestyle, knowing of Gray's extreme vanity and obsession with his own beauty. Dorian's sudden engagement excites Henry, as he anticipates this first step as being the start of Hedonism. The way Henry refers to the boy as being his "study" is haunting, as he is entirely aware that his influence on Dorian will transform him but interested in observing the transformation. He knows Dorian is under his wing, trapped under the spell of the philosophies regarding beauty and pleasure. All the while, Henry basks in his selfishness, not caring that his influence on Dorian Gray could hurt those closest to the boy, potentially leaving him alone and without an audience to admire his everlasting youthful beauty. Dorian Gray will have a therefore useless gift of beauty, having selfishly succumbed to his own pleasures without considering its effects on others. Thus, the only things he will have are the painting and Lord Henry's dominating influence.

Dorian Grey #2

        It is curious how Lord Henry takes Dorian Gray's announcement of being in love with Sibyl Vane. At first, he seems not to take it seriously, responding with "'That is a rather commonplace debut'" (34) and then criticizing the lacking usefulness of women in daily lives. Henry tries to sway Gray with his wisdom, adding that many fall in love more than once, and that Gray is simply experiencing his first. As it becomes clear that Dorian Gray is overly-infatuated with Sibyl Vane by her looks, her voice, and her talent, Henry becomes more nosy: "'what are your actual relations with Sibyl Vane'" (38). He is determined to verify the 'love' felt by Gray towards the woman, especially as simultaneously, Gray's need for Henry's inspiring words wanes. With his new-found love and his mental transformation, Gray is able to live how he wishes, all the while being deeply admired by both Basil and Lord Henry. However, harry takes this challenge as being a more interesting: "certainly Dorian Gray was a subject made to his hand, and seemed to promise rich and fruitful results" (43). Lord Henry seems to be trying to mask his overwhelming infatuation with Dorian Gray using detachment: Gray is seen as not a love interest, but a mere subject to be tested with. Henry's intentions are still quite unclear, especially at the end when he receives the notice that declares Dorian Gray's engagement to Sibyl Vane. 

"My Son the Man"

Thesis: In her poem "My Son the Man," Sharon Olds incorporates the usage of simile, contrast and an extended allusion to express her nostalgia and sadness she experiences as she sees her child mature, while also realizing he is able to escape from her tight clasps.

1. Simile
   
   • "This was not / what I had in mind when he pressed up through me like a / sealed trunk through the ice of the Hudson, / snapped the padlock, unsnaked the chains, / appeared in my arms" (10-14)
     The speaker compares her son's growing up to another one of Houdini's challenges. She, along with many of Houdini's audiences, does not imagine that her son can overcome such a challenge. She presumes her hold as a mother will last forever, but as she sees this is not the case, she realizes her son is clever enough to escape.
     
     
2. Contrast
   
   • " It seem / no time since I would help him put on his sleeper, / guide his calves into the shadowy interior, zip him up and toss his up and / catch his weight" (3-7)
     There is a quite apparent contrast between the allusions to Houdini and the image of a mother preparing a child for bed. Houdini could overcome any challenge, no matter how dangerous or seemingly impossible. The growing son is similarly facing the challenge of his mother's suppression, wanting independence and the ability to live how he wishes. She remembers and cherishes the time when she did everything for him, when he was too young to think of leaving her or to object. She misses the time when he was helpless and unable to think for himself. However, her wishes of returning to that time cannot be granted, and so she must live with the fact that she can no longer be his main provider.
3. Allusion
   
   • "Suddenly his shoulders get a lot wider, / the way Houdini would expand his body / while people were putting him in chairs" (1-3)
     The speaker tries to target her son's facing physical development to manhood as being similar to Houdini ready to face his next dangerous stunt. She feels her son is eager to grow old enough to leave her, for he cannot be chained forever. His maturation is his ultimate stunt, proving he can leave her as soon as he is of age. She represents the chains holding him back from freedom, but he seems to want her there in order to have something to break free from. Without the obstacle, there is no victory or spectacle.
     
   •  "Now he looks at me / the way Houdini studies a box / to learn the way out, then smiled and let himself be manacled" (14-16)
     Yet again, the son sees his mother as the ultimate obstacle, or as a game he will win. When he "smiled" he knows he has found the way to freedom. She too knows there is nothing she can do to suppress him any longer.

The Preface of Dorian Gray

           Oscar Wilde makes a commentary at the very start of the book, talking about art's aestheticism and beauty. His elaborates on the view that an artist is capable of making beauty, but of also making useless work. He believes that those who try to hard to interpret masterpieces and tend to see ugliness are "corrupt without being charming" (vii). It is beautiful as it is, not be be too analyzed for symbol or to give it more meaning. The aesthetic of artwork is to be admired if beautiful, but only then, for if the artwork is useless or truly ugly. Then, at the end, he says "All art is quite useless" (viii), somewhat contradicting his previous arguments.
           Wilde takes his audience for one that perceives art in the wrong way. He tries to enlighten their approach to viewing art's aesthetic by instructing them of the rights and wrongs. Criticizing art makes the artist feel they have accomplished their goal--but the reader does not know this. He also knows how his audience most likely dislikes art that is too similar to their own flaws, and tends to embrace the things that surpass the beauty of themselves. 

"Barbie Doll" Outline

Thesis: Marge Piercy incorporates the usage of simile,  repetition, and irony to ultimately characterize the severe issues of body image caused by gender norms, media messages, and peer disrespect.

1.Repetition

• "big nose...fat legs" (6, 11)
  
  • The repetition of the peer's identification of the protagonist's physical flaws enables the reader to somewhat experience the agony of focusing on those flaws. The reader can enter the mind of the protagonist, a mind fixating on the two traits even when other favorable traits are mentioned. She is so fragile and unstable, believing it to be her fault she looks the way she does, the two features engrained in her mind as being something she must apologize about. It is clear that the positive aspects are irrelevant to the protagonist, and no matter how hard she tries to fix her big nose and fat legs, the only solution to her agony is to get rid of them altogether.

2.Simile

• "Her good nature wore out / like a fan belt" (15-16)
  
  • The protagonist's breaking of strength is compared to the breaking of something inhuman and automatic. Her life has been not alive, but simply present, working to please others, but never being able to please either they or herself. Once a machine loses its meaning or function, it breaks, as does the protagonist. She can no longer take the strain of living without acceptance.

3. Irony

• "with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on, / a turned-up putty nose" (20-21)..."Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said. / Consummation at last. / To every woman a happy ending." (23-25)
  
  • Her entire life, the subject of the poem has been ridiculed, leaving her without self-acceptance. After trying to fix her only "flaws" by cutting them off, she ends her life. Only when she is lying in her casket during her funeral, with plastic surgery that has created a false but acceptable nose, do people compliment her looks. Ultimately, the price women pay for beauty and acceptance is death due to self-hatred.