Roses
The dead roses kept in their imprisoning vase,
All except for one.
Alive and glowing it laughs at the other flowers
It laughs at me
Awake to the false sunlight, stretching to the ceiling
I am the caregiver
The sweet smell becomes bitter
Its face frowning down
Sadly it cries, because now it knows it’s time to die.
I am the destroyer
Pretty little petals used to be wild
Now turn to ash in my hand.
Can't Hold On For Too Long
i waited so long to feel your touch just once more
i wanted too long for you to come running
but now the time has come and gone and i cant keep holding on to this memory
i played myself the fool thought you and i could make it
through the rough times but ive been left here waitin
you tell me that you love me
but i just cant believe in you
when youre not here and im all alone
its hard to hear you say i love you through the phone
when are you comin back around
when i will i see you again
i travel these lonesome grounds
wishing you'll be here once more
but with the slamming of the door
i know that you wont be comin back no more.
but then you tell me that you love me,
say baby it'll be alright
but i just cant believe you
not when im alone again tonight.
cause i travel this road day after day
dreamin that you'll be there when i get home
but then there's not even a message left on the phone
i was here but now im gone
cause i just cant hold on
Friday, October 29, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Literary Theory in Every Day Life
After studying the idea of Literary Theory for a few weeks, I've come to realize that you can find certain ideas of Literary theory in every day life. Studying Ferdinand de Saussure's ideas of signs, signifier and the signified in the ways we study, interpret and learn Language I found that this idea comes to life in the Your Baby Can Read early language development system, the baby sees the word, hears it and then sees a picture of the word. This proves Saussure's idea. He said the signifier is the language (the spoken word) and the thing it signifies is the concept (the picture), which results in the sign. I never imagined that when learning about Saussure and other Literary Critics I would recognize their theories in my modern life. Speaking of which, I whole heartedly believe that through the recreations of our histories stories into modern day life helps education us who struggle with the language of the past. For example, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a difficult play to read in old English due to our modernization of his language. I am constantly having to refer to the footnotes and other authors commentary on the play to barely understand the concept. So in 1996 when Baz Luhrmann directed Romeo and Juliet staring Leonardo DiCaprio and Clara Danes this helped me better understand Shakespeare's play. The best part of the movie is the fact that the script is in fact purely William Shakespeare, however because I can see the play visually and not just printed text on a page I can grasp the concept and ideas inside the play as a whole.
Right now I am watching the adaptation of Chaucer's A Knights Tale with Heath Ledge (love him!) and noticed the theory of Capitalism. Though Capitalism wasn't establish until several hundred years after Chaucer one can take notice of the capitalist idea here. Heath ledger says "A man can change his stars" meaning a peasant can "change his stars" to become nobility. This statement is what the Capitalists of America believe, however, in the time of Feudalism, such as when Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, this was not possible. Chaucer may not have been a hopeful Capitalist but he narrates the idea in A Knights Tale. The fact that a peasant can indeed change his place in life or social status is in itself the definition of Capitalism; a lower working class person can rise to the upper "ruling" class. We America's believe this theory, that anyone can rise and fall within the class system whenever we so choose to. Work hard, make money rise to the upper class. Spend that money unwisely and fall back into the lower working class. It all depends on the person and how and what they choose to do in life. It seems that Chaucer believed in this idea too. And it doesn't surprise me that he would either, in the Feudal system, if you're born a peasant, you can't change that, nor can your child change it or their children. Once a peasant, always a peasant.
Also, in A Knights Tale we can take notice of the Patriarchal undertone of society. Though it is not out right spoken in this movie, count how many women characters we see throughout the movie. 3. The heiress, her maid, and the woman blacksmith. All of which are handled delicately. When Sir Orich's jousting armor is broken he takes it to several blacksmiths who refuse to work on it and point him in the direction of the woman. When the woman blacksmith refuses the first time and Sir Orich responds with "They [the male blacksmiths] told me I was daft for even asking." The female blacksmith then asks if they said she couldn't do it because shes a woman. This idea of a patriarchal society shows that women were thought to be the inferior sex, though they could do just as much as the men. As for the heiress and her maid, the heiress is idealized to be the perfect match for a knight. It does not show her doing anything "productive" she only attends the tournaments as a means for entertainment as the ruling class women did. The ruling class women did not have jobs to fulfill expect for the role of childbearing, and the maid, that's just it. She was a maid, a companion to the heiress. This shows that women in the early 15th century and even later, did not have a place in society. Though Queen Mary was the first head of the Monarch that wasn't until the 16th century. But even then society was still a patriarchal one.
In conclusion, history is not dead, it lives throughout our daily modern lives, but you must be careful for it can slip by without you even noticing it has passed by you. If you watch carefully for history in our lives we will be able to watch our own history in the making.
Right now I am watching the adaptation of Chaucer's A Knights Tale with Heath Ledge (love him!) and noticed the theory of Capitalism. Though Capitalism wasn't establish until several hundred years after Chaucer one can take notice of the capitalist idea here. Heath ledger says "A man can change his stars" meaning a peasant can "change his stars" to become nobility. This statement is what the Capitalists of America believe, however, in the time of Feudalism, such as when Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, this was not possible. Chaucer may not have been a hopeful Capitalist but he narrates the idea in A Knights Tale. The fact that a peasant can indeed change his place in life or social status is in itself the definition of Capitalism; a lower working class person can rise to the upper "ruling" class. We America's believe this theory, that anyone can rise and fall within the class system whenever we so choose to. Work hard, make money rise to the upper class. Spend that money unwisely and fall back into the lower working class. It all depends on the person and how and what they choose to do in life. It seems that Chaucer believed in this idea too. And it doesn't surprise me that he would either, in the Feudal system, if you're born a peasant, you can't change that, nor can your child change it or their children. Once a peasant, always a peasant.
Also, in A Knights Tale we can take notice of the Patriarchal undertone of society. Though it is not out right spoken in this movie, count how many women characters we see throughout the movie. 3. The heiress, her maid, and the woman blacksmith. All of which are handled delicately. When Sir Orich's jousting armor is broken he takes it to several blacksmiths who refuse to work on it and point him in the direction of the woman. When the woman blacksmith refuses the first time and Sir Orich responds with "They [the male blacksmiths] told me I was daft for even asking." The female blacksmith then asks if they said she couldn't do it because shes a woman. This idea of a patriarchal society shows that women were thought to be the inferior sex, though they could do just as much as the men. As for the heiress and her maid, the heiress is idealized to be the perfect match for a knight. It does not show her doing anything "productive" she only attends the tournaments as a means for entertainment as the ruling class women did. The ruling class women did not have jobs to fulfill expect for the role of childbearing, and the maid, that's just it. She was a maid, a companion to the heiress. This shows that women in the early 15th century and even later, did not have a place in society. Though Queen Mary was the first head of the Monarch that wasn't until the 16th century. But even then society was still a patriarchal one.
In conclusion, history is not dead, it lives throughout our daily modern lives, but you must be careful for it can slip by without you even noticing it has passed by you. If you watch carefully for history in our lives we will be able to watch our own history in the making.
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