ENGL 2003: Introduction to Poetry

When Professor Gold first introduced the Openlab I was a little nervous and confused because I had never heard of it before. The only online site I’ve used in my other hybrid courses was blackboard. I thought this week’s assignment was very fun and different. Getting to interact with other people in other classes and getting to read their posts I thought was really interesting.  It also gave me the chance to look at different courses that are of my interest. This is my second year in City Tech and I’ve heard a whole lot about the Disney college program our school has. I’ve heard a lot of good things about the program and it has always been in the back of my mind if I should join it or not. So I commented on one of the post’s that stood out to me in the Walt Disney World College program’s Openlab blog. It was about one of the students experience in helping out a family at Disney and making their vacation a little better. Even though the student still hasn’t gotten the chance to write back to my comment, I still got the chance to read other people’s experience interning at Disney.  They all seem to be having an amazing time and enjoying this opportunity, so I’m going to find out more information about the program. Hopefully I will join next semester!

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/wdwcollegeprograms12/2012/03/21/creating-a-magical-moment-reflection-5/#comments

For this week’s assignment, I participated in a discussion in another poetry course. I gave my portrayal of the poem “Still to be Neat” by Ben Johnson by commenting on a student’s post. Although the student did not respond, a different classmate replied to my post.

My opinion about this assignment is that my initial reaction was hesitance. I was unsure of how the course’s students and professor will react to me participating in their discussion. I felt as if I was walked into a random class, sat down, and started participating in a discussion. It was honestly a bit weird to think about the fact that we can go into virtual classrooms and not only view the discussion but participate. Overall, the experience was definitely new and interesting. I was glad that someone responded to my post and enjoyed reading the poem that the class was discussing.

This week’s assignment was to visit another class’s blog post. The class that I commented on is Tu/Th HIsotry of Photography. The blog post is about Photography, Tumblr, and Copyright. There was an article that you have to read related to what photographers like to use Tumblr as a way to show people their art work.

I choose this post because I also like to look at the images on Tumblr even though I don’t have an account. Through Tumblr, you can blog and re blog someone else picture or image. In the article, this is good and bad. It is good because different people get to see your artwork but others thinks that copyright should be used. JUCO, the photography team of Julia Galdo and Cody Cloud said that using Tumblr is a great way to network, market themselves and let people know who they are.

The article is here

http://www.wordpress-portal.info/wordpress/wordpress-templates/why-photographers-love-tumblr

The student’s post is here

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/arth11006400s12/2012/03/16/photography-tumblr-and-copyright/#respond

I was very nervous having to write a post on another class’s site. It was like going into uncharted territory. After i got over the shock of it i felt as if i was snooping around on other people’s discussion which i don’t mind. I chose another introduction to poetry class class because i felt i was better able to relate. I realize their board isn’t really as active as our and they only post on there for major class assignments. I did find a post and a poem which i found very interesting. I also realized they did have the same book as us. After choosing my the blog post i wanted to participate in i had to introduce myself to them and let them know where i was coming from. I did just that and got right into posting as if it were me posting on my own class board. i became less nervous and i broke down my own definition of their poem. Its been two days and i am sad to report i haven’t had a response. But i am here to say this experience was very interesting. I am very shy even behind a computer but it was good to step out of the comfort zone of the class blog post and into the world of open lab blog post.

I enoyed this exercise, I commented on an ARTH class. One blogger wrote about the monasteries. I just added my knowledge on the topic. I noticed that Kris had also commented prior to myself. I like history and I especially love art history. I guess being an immigrant, I just love watching how other parts of the world lived long ago. I have been enjoying my own art history class but I had to comment on the monks because I see them everyday but didn’t really know their roles in the monasteries until recently. They were ranked at the bottom of the pyramid where the Pope was on top and in between there were Bishops, Deans etc. but they basically were responsible daily for cleaning, washing, cooking, farming, building and still had to find time to worship. They were the “Help”, except that they were able to advance themselves and become doctors, lawyers and so forth. Anyhow, I see them very often in my neighborhood but they do not engage so I figured this was interesting to me.

Frost’s “The Silken Tent”

In this poem I found myself so attracted to the idea of someone becoming free from their own sin weighing down on them and becoming free. The way the narrator spoke of the tent and certain words that Frost’s himself use only deepen my explanation. I was very interested in the different type of description we had. Because it’s amazing how people can view one poem in so many different ways. I look forward to these discussions because I find myself being so sure of my own descriptions never expecting to have someone else make me doubt my own analysis. I may try to over analyze a poem and in the process drift away from the simple meaning of it. I think that’s what I realize in the class s’ discussion of this poem. The poet doesn’t necessarily always have to have such a deep and complicated meaning, perhaps he was just referring to a tent.

“The Silken Tent” by Robert Frost was an interesting poem that we read in class. It was somewhat confusing trying to interpret at first and with everyone else’s interpretations being thrown out in the open, I found myself lost in translation. Finally when i was alone, I read it over and over again and I seemed to have stuck to the word i chose in class which was bondage. The speaker speaks of  many ways that the tent is being held down by silken ties, ropes and a pole. That is the bondage being put into play to hold the tent down. This reminded me of a woman being held down, not able to spread her wings in a sense and having to stay bounded to someone, some place or even something. For example, a young woman reaching her pinnacle in life but tied down by her parents not wanting her to explore new horizons. The following experts caught my eye:

“Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent”

“And its supporting central cedar pole”

“Seems to owe naught to any single cord”

“But strictly held by none, is loosely bound”

“Is of the slightest bondage made aware”

This poems is like the young woman finally breaking loose from her bondage of her parents and being “loosely bound”. Finally being sure of herself to b free and explore. With her “central cedar pole” being her parents and them finally loosening their “countless silken ties of love and thought”. I believe many people can relate to this poem in many ways but this is how i can relate to it in my own way.

When it comes to Robert Frost, I’ve been reading a few poems by him since junior high. Usually I love his pieces like “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening” but I didn’t like “Silken Tent”.  After reading it, I felt that he was speaking about a woman who had two sides.

“She is as in a field a silken tent
At midday when the sunny summer breeze
Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,
So that in guys it gently sways at ease,
And its supporting central cedar pole,
That is its pinnacle to heavenward
And signifies the sureness of the soul,
Seems to owe naught to any single cord,
But strictly held by none, is loosely bound
By countless silken ties of love and thought
To every thing on earth the compass round,”

It seems that during sunny summer breeze, a pleasant time also used to describe women,  there is some freedom. It is as if during good times, the women is relaxed and pleasant. The cedar pole is the support system of the tent, which for a woman can be many things. The cedar pole can be a husband or family since this poem was written in the 1800s, a time when a woman’s main job was tending to her husband and family. The line ‘and signifies the sureness of the soul’ also supports my theory of the family being the cedar pole. Then he speaks of the loose bondage due to her love and thought which is can be thought of as the caring nurturing side of women.

And only by one’s going slightly taut
In the capriciousness of summer air
Is of the slightest bondage made aware.

After understanding what ‘taut‘ and ‘capriciousness‘ mean, I understood the end of the poem better. Taut is synonymous with tense or rigid while capricious is synonymous with temperamental. With the definition in mind, I felt the end of the poem was Frost telling us how she is reminded of the bondage that wasn’t making itself too apparent in the beginning of the poem. He is saying when she gets tense during unpredictable times, her bondage makes itself apparent.

Though I’m satisfied with what I understood with this poem, I didn’t like it too much. I did like that I had to look up words to understand it fully because it makes me feel less lazy. When I read it the first time in class, I didn’t know what to think of it. I had to sit down and look up words, think back to that time and build a case off my first thought.