“Two Butterflies Went Out at Noon,” is an Emily Dickinson poem that is strictly focused on nature, and the aspects associated with nature. In this case, the poem is dealing with butterflies. The speaker is very monotone in this story. The fact that there are two butterflies is significant because that could represent something like a friendship or a relationship(Dickinson, Emily 18). Emily Dickinson had a “tiny” writing style and she usually incorporated things that were not very significant and seen by most people. In this story, the butterflies represent a part of nature that most people do not notice on the day to day. In this poem though, she describes how they are on a journey and no one knows about it.  Unless the birds came upon these two butterflies, no one would even notices that these two miraculous butterflies were on a tremendous and great journey.  Butterflies only live for a certain amount of time, so most people consider them insignificant, because one may think that butterflies do nothing for society, nature, etc.  But, in facts, butterflies are significant, and I think that is the message Emily Dickinson is trying to get across with her poem “Two Butterflies Went Out At Noon.” The great thing about this poem is the mystery that she puts into it. The butterflies are flying over the sea, but no one sees them, or hears them, so no word is brought to her, but yet she thinks up this whole scenario. This poem does reflect a lot of nature, but also a lot of love. The two butterflies are a couple and represent a symbol in this story. The mystery of this relationship is for the reader to make interpretations. Also in this poem, the speaker makes reference to birds when she says "if spoken by the distant bird, if met in ether sea by frigate or by merchantman, report was not to me"(Dickinson, Emily 18). The line incorporates the mystery of the story of the butterflies with the mystery of the journey with the bird in the poem below.

Since "Two Birds Went Out at Noon" was so short, we picked a poem that had the same theme called "A Bird Came Down the Walk." In this poem she is simply observing the observations of a bird, just like she was observing the butterflies. The mystery in the story is that the birds and butterflies do not know her and she does not know them, but she can figure out a lot about them by just watching. She combines the two poems with the line "Than two oars divide the ocean, too silver for a seam, or two butterflies, off banks of noon, leap, plashless, as they swim" (Dickinson, Emily 23) The line incorporates the theme of the butterflies flying over the ocean with the bird that is flying over the ocean too. The observances she makes in the poems are very unique. She attempts things that people ordinarily would not. She actually looks at the bird and breaks down every move that it makes (Dickinson, Emily 23). To her, everything has a meaning and a purpose.

Dickinson, Emily. "23. “A Bird Came down the Walk:.” Part Two: Nature. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems." 23. “A Bird Came down the Walk:.” Part Two: Nature. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems. Bartleby Great Books Online. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. <http://www.bartleby.com/113/2023.html>.


Dickinson, Emily. "18. “Two Butterflies Went out at Noon.” Part Two: Nature. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems." 18. “Two Butterflies Went out at Noon.” Part Two: Nature. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems. Bartleby Great Books Online. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. <http://www.bartleby.com/113/2018.html>.

Journal #28

"I heard a fly buzz when I died," is a very depressing poem. The speaker is laying on his/her death bed and as she is waiting to take his/her last breath, a fly decides to interpose and disrupt her death. This poem reflects Emily Dickinson because she was a very religious person, so she incorporated God, or in this case Jesus, into the poem. I think the fly in this poem serves as a symbol of an obstacle. It is the transition between life and death and the difference between her being alive and her going to spend her time in heaven. The poem has a very eerie tone to it though because of how it describes the objects. The logical preparation for death is definitely expressed in this poem. The speaker talks about how he/she signed away all of her stuff and she was prepared for death. Until the fly get in his/her way, he/she was fully prepared to die. Everyone was gathered around this person just waiting for him/her to pass into the light and something so simple as a fly got in the way. A fly is such a tiny creature, but in this poem in particular it is the most important thing. The buzzing sound is the last thing he/she hears before he/she dies, so the sound the fly makes is really significant. When he/she loses his/her sight, he/she either loses her vision and passes away, or he/she is not dead yet, but is dangling still between life and death. I think that the poem is very significant and very different. One thing that publishers liked about Emily Dickinson's poems was that she had very different topics and she tended not to talk about normal things or common things. This poem talks about the difference between life and death and not many authors were brave enough to venture into the details that goes along with dying. These aspects as well as her religion is incorporated into the story to logically explain the process of death.

Journal #27

Emily Dickinson's poems do go to the tune amazing grace. Based on what I know about Emily Dickinson's poems, this is significant because she was a very religious person. Also, though, I think it is significant because there is a line in the song that says "I once was lost, but now I'm found" which I think is very important because I do not really think Emily knew he she was all that much. She was very secluded, not very social, and turned into depression mode when her love ones died. She in a way I think was lost. The only gateway that she had for her life was through her writing. She stayed away from people, but her real feelings came out through her poems and writing. I think that God was really her safe place. She incorporated God or religion into almost all of her poems somehow. I feel like the line "Twas grace that taught my heart to fear," is very important because I think she is talking about her parents. When her father died and then not long after her mother died, she just downhill spiraled in her life. I think that the song kind of reminds her of the troubles and stuff that she has been through, and the deaths that she has experienced, and on top of that, all the seclusion she faced with no social contact. Overall though, she still had her faith and she found ways to incorporate that in everything that she wrote because she had an emotional connection.

I think that Amazing Grace was the main song her poems can be sung to because the words in the song can closely resemble the words in her poem. Her poems have a couple different categories, two of them being life and love. In her life poems, she talks about her life and what she expects in life, and in Amazing Grace, there is always life, even after life is over. In the love category, there are poems about people she admires, and also the downside of love, but in Amazing Grace, there is always love. I think she found little ways to make her poems go to the words of that song because of the meaning the song has and all.

Emily Dickinson's Writing Style

Emily Dickinson had a very different writing style when you compare her works to Walt Whitman. She was a major poet and writer, but her poems seemed to focus on the softer side of things like love and looking inside of our heart. Her poetry was very religious too because she was very religious herself (Pettinger, Tejvan). In her poems she incorporates inner experiences while talking about the religion she believes in. Her poems express life in its simplicity. She often thinks of herself as if she is a child again (Pettinger, Tejvan). She is not really a girly-girl either, but has a boyish side to her too.

Upon doing some research, I found that Emily Dickinson gradually slid into seclusion when she was in her late twenties (Pettinger, Tejvan). This seclusion allowed her to clear her mind and do great things with her work. She stayed in the family home, but her works continued to flow out (Pettinger, Tejvan).

Emily Dickinson's most famous poem was "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" It was very simple. Basically she is stating that she is no-one. She lived a very secluded life and was not famous during her lifetime. Her works were not widely recognized for awhile because some of the subject matter was too interesting and she was told that probably not many people would like it (Michelle). The poem shows that Emily Dickinson is more appealed to being nobody than to constantly keep her name circulation because it is tiresome. Again, her poems were simple. She had views about herself and she expressed her feelings.

One thing about her poems is that she refers to love a lot, or an object that she claims to love. There is a lot of emotion behind her writings and poems. Whatever was happening at the time had an impact on her writing. When the Civil War broke out, her poems had a more eerie feeling to them probably because the emotional and darkening setting of the Civil War (Pettinger, Tejvan). She also wrote about things that were not really common. She had a keen eye for observing things and wrote about topics that were a little out of the ordinary, which set her apart from other writers of the time period (Michelle). She was still very influential with the writing style she uses, just her words and how they flow, and overall the poems were very simple and to the point.

Her poems about love are probably the far most significant because she puts a lot of emotion behind her words. Not only is she feeling these things, she expresses them so freely. In her poem "I Have No Life but This" she is talking about how she lives through the existence of her partner, or lover (Dickinson, Emily). It is inspiring because she says she has no new actions to take on or anything to tie her down, she just loves this person very much and her existence is clarified through this person.

Overall, it was her sense of emotion and her simplicity in her writing that made her phenomenal after her lifetime. She paved the way for many writers today, even though she was not famous during her lifetime, she created her own style of poetry and writing that modern authors still incorporate.


Michelle. "Emily Dickinson's Story." Kyrene School District. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. <http://www.kyrene.org/schools/brisas/sunda/poets/dickinson.htm>.

Dickinson, Emily. "20. “I Have No Life but This.” Part Three: Love. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems." 20. “I Have No Life but This.” Part Three: Love. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems. Bartleby Great Books Online. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. <http://www.bartleby.com/113/3020.html>.

Dickinson, Emily. "27. “I Â’m Nobody! Who Are You?” Part One: Life. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems." 27. “I Â’m Nobody! Who Are You?” Part One: Life. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems. Bartleby Great Books Online. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. <http://www.bartleby.com/113/1027.html>

Pettinger, Tejvan. "Biography Emily Dickinson." Emily Dickinson Biography. Biography Online, 26 June 2006. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. <http://www.biographyonline.net/poets/emily_dickinson.html>.

Walt Whitman's Writing Style

Walt Whitman's writing style is very wise and noble(Connors, Judith). He is considered one of the most important transcendentalist writers. In his stories, he usually takes on a more political side of things, which is typically democratic(Connors, Judith). Overall he incorporated many aspects of life into all of his poems. For instance, he combines political aspects with spirituality, and then adds in philosophies on the important things in life. The subject matter was bolder than the other writings of the time period(Connors, Judith). The quote that really sums up his plan for writing is "This new poetry would be, according to Polley, "Transcendental in tone, rhythmic without being metrical ... the beginning of a new mode of expression." The quote shows that he wanted his work to be different from the other writers of his time period. He believed that the subject matter should flow and have expression, but it would also be a harsher subject matter. In his poems, Whitman used a tool called free verse, which is a kind of poetry that does not follow a certain poetic form. So, in his poems, they do not always rhyme or have a particular order. 


In Whitman's poems and writing overall, he had a very strong sense that nature helped make humanity beautiful. He saw this because he thought nature was very pure and had external and internal beauty and he thought hat if nature could be like this, then humanity could too (Whitman, Walt). His writing was very influential to many people. He had different styles that he incorporated in order to give his poems a unique edge that no one else had. He had powerful views on man itself and you can see when he incorporates nature, how man and nature are somehow connected.


One thing I find interesting about his poems is he always gives some kind of life lesson or tries to provide some kind of lesson to shape American and the people. For instance, in his poem "On the Beach at Night" there is a quote that says, "Somewhere there is (with my lips soothing thee, adding I whisper, I give thee the first suggestion, the problem and indirection) Something there is more immortal even than the stars, (many the burials, many the days and nights, passing away,) something that endure longer than the lustrous Jupiter, longer than any sun or revolving satellite"(Internal.org Poets) In that quote, the father is calming his daughter down while they are standing by the ocean. He is comparing life to nature and it is helping the little girl feel better. It is a very powerful poem because it also just has many life lessons. You can tell that he believes in a higher power and that everything in the end is going to turn out okay. I find the poem very inspiring.


Overall, Whitman's writing style paved the way for future writers. He was the first to really veer off from the normal poetry formations and create his new style that inspired many people. He had important views on life itself and also tied many things into nature. He was a rational person. He had his views on things and he expressed them very well.


Whitman, Walt. "Internal.org Poets." On the Beach at Night. Internal.org. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. <http://www.internal.org/Walt_Whitman/On_the_Beach_at_Night>. 



Connors, Judith. "Whitman, Walt." In Bloom, Harold, ed. Walt Whitman, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= BCWWh02&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 20, 2012). 


"Walt Whitman." The American Romantic Movement. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. <http://montanaacademy.tripod.com/id7.html>

Walt Whitman- On a Beach at Night blog

The Walt Whitman poem I choose "On the Beach at Night" because I knew that it would someone connect people to nature. In the poem, a father and a daughter are having one of their moments while standing  by the ocean (Whitman,Walt). He is holding her hand and all of her fears seem to be swept away. Her father is her comfort and her shelter from the world and the ocean they are standing next to. He is her protector and helps her through trials. The story is very powerful. It explains a relationship between a dad and a daughter and how powerful the love is (Whitman,Walt). This poem is all about symbols. The ocean is representing the unknown in this story. Overall though, there is a somewhat depressing theme. This is about a girl who is looking at the night sky and how the clouds are dark and they are engulfing the sky where you cannot see Jupiter, but she is standing with her father and she tells herself that she can wait another night and the stars will be out again and she will be able to see Jupiter (Whitman, Walt). The main theme is not to give up hope.

The story is connected to nature. Nature is part of Emerson and Thoreau's philosophies because they believed nature was pure and helpful, unlike other people in the world. They believed that humans were one with nature and that everything starts and ends with nature. So, in this poem, the father and the daughter are connected to nature when they are standing by the ocean. The last sentences of the poem suggests that as long as the moon, the stars, and the ocean endure, the father's love for his daughter will also endure (Lisa). Another reason why this poem goes with Emerson and Thoreau is because they never gave up hope just like the girl in the story, so they were both very inspiring with their words and actions.


Whitman, Walt, and Lisa. "Featured Poem: On The Beach At Night by Walt Whitman." The Reader Online. 14 June 2010. Web. 08 Mar. 2012. <http://thereaderonline.co.uk/2010/06/14/featured-poem-on-the-beach-at-night-by-walt-whitman/>.


Whitman, Walt. "On the Beach at Night, by Walt Whitman." Poetry Archive. Web. 08 Mar. 2012. <http://www.poetry-archive.com/w/on_the_beach_at_night.html>

Letters to his Family Blog

"Letters to his Family" by Robert E. Lee is a letter to his son, in which he gives him advice for the future. He mainly states be true to yourself and be true to others (Lee, Robert). He says that you should never do somebody else wrong and to always be honest and frank. If you have the opportunity to help someone, do it, but if you can't than simply tell them why you can't (Lee, Robert). I think that the views of Thoreau and Robert Lee are similar and different. I like the words of Robert E. Lee almost better than Thoreau because he gives actually advice and help whereas Thoreau just explains what is wrong and his opinions on what are right and how they should be solved. I think that they are similar though because they are both trying to make the world better somehow. Thoreau fought for equality and Lee fought to make the people better themselves.Emerson and Thoreau believed in self-reliance and individuality. In this letter to his son, he explains why it is important to be yourself and to do things for others, which overall helps yourself (Lee, Robert). The advice given is all about helping his son and giving him the tools he needs to survive in the world. Basically, everyone has certain duties in this world and we should do those and be completely satisfied. I think that is like Emerson and Thoreau too because they believed that everything had a purpose, even if they did not agree with it, things happened for a reason. Emerson and Thoreau were more about self-reliance and in this story I noticed there were views for God that kind of helped determine everything, so overall it just had a little more religious aspect when compared to Emerson and Thoreau's stories and philosophies. Overall the letter is very powerful because it gives all advice that is needed for the changing future based on what was happening at the time.

Lee, Robert E. "A Letter to His Son." Sonofthesouth.net. Son of the South. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/to%20his%20son.htm.

Emily Dickinson And I Have no Time to Hate blog

I choose Emily Dickinson's poem "I had no time to hate," because the title just really drew me in. I like the fact that the poem is short and sweet and gets right to the point. Mainly she is saying that life is too short to hate. She has no time for hate in her life (Dickinson, Emily). She also talks about love and how she has no time to love, but she makes time. Her words are really powerful in this poem for how short it is. Basically, she just does not want to spend her life hating, but spend it loving.I feel like the love in her story is a spur of the moment type thing. The poem starts out a little depressing and I think that it is about death. It sounds like a speech that is preparing her to die and she does not want to die with enemies or hating people. In the end though, she did not find love, but love found her. The poem is very inspiring. The love that found her and her love for poetry is what ultimately saved her. The tone of this story though changes and you can tell the change of mood in her words once she starts to become happier. She said "was large enough for me" which meant that the love that she found was just enough for her.

I find Emily Dickinson's poem is like the views of Emerson and Thoreau because they were against violence and were at peace with themselves and their decisions. In this poem, Emily is at peace. She decides that she wants to love and not hate. So, I think that she has the same views on violence and just wants things to be alright in the world. Emerson and Thoreau had a lot of passion behind their words and so does Emily Dickinson. She states that the toil of love is big enough for her (Dickinson, Emily), which means basically she is willing to work to love others.


Dickinson, Emily. "No Time to Hate." Short Poems. Web. 08 Mar. 2012. <http://www.shortpoems.org/emily_dickinson/no_time_to_hate.html>.

To Build a Fire Blog

"To Build a Fire" was a very inspiring story. The ending was somewhat sad, but overall it did a really good job at explaining the individualism of the main character. He sets off on a trip to meet his friends in 75 below weather. He does not mind the cold much because he is new to the Yukon and does not really pay much attention, considering this is his first winter. A dog is following him closely on this trail, also inevitable to the cold. They set off on the trail together and slowly things are starting to go downhill. First, the mans spit freezes in mid air, then his beard frosted, then his cheeks iced, and then he became worried of streams that could potentially freeze his body from his waist down. He finally decides to eat the biscuit he had wrapped in a handkerchief for lunch, when he could not because he beard was frozen. So, he takes his knowledge of building a fire.The dog wishes to stay by the fire, but reluctantly follows the man back onto the trail.

Even though the dog follows the man, I do not think he really wanted to. The fact that he did not willingly follow the man makes me think that the man will get stuck in the cold and die. The fire that he built was worth it at the time to defrost himself, but he should not have continued on the trail in the cold. The man is very independent though, which is like the view of Emerson and Thoreau. Thoreau and Emerson believed that self worth and following your own instinct was very important. I think that this story is really powerful because it shows the perseverance of a man and how he believed in himself and wanted to reach his goal. The fire is a symbol in this story. It represents.


http://www.gradesaver.com/to-build-a-fire/study-guide/section1/
http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html

Richard Cory Blog

This poem, "Richard Cory" was very sad. It is really short, but in all it was about a guy who was as rich as ever. He walked down the street and people looked at him, wishing they could take his place. They all wanted to be like him; to have meat and bread like him. He was loved by all of them. He was always so genuine and clean cut too(Edwin, Robinson). He had the perfect appearance and the perfect life, from everyone else's point of view. This is where the story takes a turn, one night, Richard Cory goes home and puts a bullet through his head (Edwin, Robinson).

This story makes me think of one someone so loved would cause so much pain to himself and the people that loved him. Then I think about his material things. Emerson and Thoreau were keen on not being caught up in material items. They tended to go back to the natural things like nature, self reliance, and intuition. I think that Richard Cory was too caught up in his material items. I think he knew that people liked him because he was rich and had such a great appearance, but no one seemed to take the time to really get to know him, they just looked on the surface. Material things got in the way of his true happiness, so he ended his happiness altogether (Edwin, Robinson). Even though he was better off than all of the people in the town, he was not truly liked for being himself, and he ended his life because he knew this. Also, Emerson and Thoreau did not believe that violence was the answer. Even though in some of their stories violence was involved, they did not take kindly to it for they believed it solved nothing. In this story, the character tragically takes his life. He ended his situation by violence and by taking matters into his own hands. The views of this character shy away from those of Emerson and Thoreau. The only thing I do give the character credit for is his self reliance. He believed in himself enough to say that killing himself would make things better. This is the only thing he has in common with Emerson and Thoreau because they valued people who would take a stand on something and who could  make their own decisions.

Robinson, Edwin A. "Richard Cory." Glencoe Literature: The Reader's Choice. New York, NY: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2002. 575+. Print.

The Darling Blog

"The Darling" was about a woman who was married to many different men, some of which died. She has always had a love for people and many of them were fond of her, hence why she was called "darling" (Anton, Chekhov). When he dad died when she was a child, she inherited their townhouse where she lived with her husband Kukin, who was a theater owner. He was always in a sullen mood because it always rained and he left to go to Moscow to hire some actors. Olga was informed of his death one night when she was woken at her house. She was very sad, but quickly moved on to Vasily Pustovalov, a timber merchant who she developed feelings for and they eventually have a son (Glencoe Literature). Vasily soon dies when he develops a cold that triggered a long term illness. So Olga is by herself again and mourning.

The story was very sad to me because everyone kept dying and for someone that was loved by so many people, I think she had a hard time loving others. Even though she mourned and felt alone when these people were gone, she got over them really fast. I think that she had trouble loving other people because what she really needed was a sense of belonging and having someone there (Glencoe Literature). She seemed like she always needed the love and passion of a man to keep her happy, which is unlike the views of Emerson and Thoreau, who said being an individual was the most powerful things. She was not an individual in this story, she relied on the people around her for her happiness, and when she was happy, she was liked by many. I tend to feel bad for the main character because she had such a rough time in her marriages. They always started off happy, but they would eventually die and she was left to pick up the pieces, but she quickly moved on. She did lot it keep her down and she would search for new guys.

Chekhov, Anton. "Chekhov Stories." SparkNotes. SparkNotes. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chekhov/section7.rhtml>.


Chekhov, Anton. "The Darling." Glencoe Literature: The Reader's Choice. New York, NY: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2000. 557-66. Print.

I will Fight No More Forever Blog

I like the story by Chief Joseph, "I will fight no more forever." It is a surrender speech saying basically he is tired of the fighting and tired of the struggling that he is experiencing and that other people around him are experiencing too. He is not giving up on fighting, it just does not suit him anymore. He wants to have a life and have time to find his children and do the things that he has yet to accomplish. I think the story is pretty inspiring. I like how he knows what is good for him and how he wants to surrender.

What really interests me about this story is the fact of how he looks at the youth. He says that the old men who led the youth are dead and now it is the youth's choice to say yes or no. This shows that youth is beginning to have more power, and I can tell that it frightens some of the people, including him. I think it just shows a different point of view. There were things evident in Thoreau's theories and Chief Josephs that suggest the future of the world and how it did not look good.

When comparing his views to those of Thoreau, I do not find much of a difference. They are both determined people, but in very different ways. Thoreau was a very hard core person. He wanted to do what was right and was determined to accomplish things no matter what the cost was, even if that meant going to jail or dying for what he believed in. Chief Joseph on the other hand was more a compassionate person. He saw his life through his eyes and did not like to waste any time like Thoreau. He was not giving up, just the conditions got to hard for him to handle, and it was not worth seeing children freezing and dying of starvation, so he surrendered himself. I find both the men very inspiring though because they follow what they believe.

McCloskey, Mary. "I Will Fight No More Forever." Welcome to Georgia State University. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://www2.gsu.edu/~eslmlm/chiefjoseph.html>.