tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30674054547917768512024-02-07T19:24:45.482-08:00Michelle Ratón, American Lit.Michelle Ratonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03806449292381301994noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067405454791776851.post-2313367291855763352012-03-13T16:55:00.000-07:002012-03-13T16:55:36.393-07:00One WordThe word "Breath" in Dickinson's poem 258 adds a very unusual element to her usual dark and death centered poems. In the poem, she uses the word "breath" to personify dark shadows as she describes them holding their breath. She brings life-like quality to an inanimate object. This word is rich in that it is surrounded by darker and lifeless words seen throughout the poem such as oppress, weight, hurt, despair, affliction, and death. It stands out and makes the darker words more intense by insinuating that this oppressive despair is so great that it has a life of its own.Michelle Ratonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03806449292381301994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067405454791776851.post-66549826570755961602012-03-08T16:46:00.000-08:002012-03-08T16:46:10.016-08:00<br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.19868508097715676"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">258</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">THERE’S a certain slant of light, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">this line brings up an image of sunlight that comes in from the windows, the kind you can see from inside a room that is darker than it is outside. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">maybe a slant of light that comes into a dark room from a crack in a door. </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On winter afternoons, </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">dark, cold, gray. </span></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That oppresses, like the weight </span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">a heavy burden, tension. <b><br /></b></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of cathedral tunes. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">dramatic, epic, organs echoing of high ceilings. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Heavenly hurt it gives us; <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div>
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heavenly hurt could mean a divine pain, a pain so great it's pleasurable. a holy pain, a pain from higher being. </div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We can find no scar, </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">no mark or disfigurement can be seen. no physical damage. <b><br /></b></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But internal difference </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">mental, emotional, spiritual change<b><br /></b></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where the meanings are. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">where significance lies. <b><br /></b></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">None may teach it anything, </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">this is confusing, it does not correspond directly to the previous stanzas. no one can teach it anything. what is <i>it</i>? why is it incapable of being taught?<b><br /></b></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">’T is the seal, despair,— <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div>
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the apostrophe T is an abreviation for "it". "seal" could mean either something that is joined together or a wax seal on a letter. the dash is added for a pause at the end of the line.<br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An imperial affliction </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a royal or grand disorder.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sent us of the air. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sent upward, to an atmosphere. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When it comes, the landscape listens, </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">what is "it"? it holds importance among the land and nature. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shadows hold their breath; </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">darkness is afraid, anticipating, anxious. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When it goes, ’t is like the distance <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">when "it" leaves it is like a gap.<b> </b></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the look of death. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">death's gaze. the vision of darkness, or death. </span></div>Michelle Ratonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03806449292381301994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067405454791776851.post-85991818252580804362012-01-31T17:52:00.000-08:002012-01-31T17:52:59.989-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hi!<br />
I'm Michelle and I'm an English Education major. I hope to be a high school English teacher. I love the ocean and surfing and I work as a lifeguard in the Presidio. I'm <a href="http://pinterest.com/michellechris4/">super stoked</a> to be in this American Literature course. Totally.Michelle Ratonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03806449292381301994noreply@blogger.com0