Description
Write replies of at least 50 words per reply to at least two different classmates (total of 100 words), in which you:
a. Explain whether you agree with their evaluation and specify if your response to their selected/evaluated work is mainly Apollonian or Dionysian
b. Give examples of how the post to which you are responding demonstrates either a literalist or figuratist perspective.
first student: Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Sonnet 2, “When forty winters shall beseige thy brow” , William Shakespeare, 1590 -1605, published in 1609.
Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 2. Ed. Amanda Mabillard. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2009. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/2detail.html >
Santhosh, Ali, Norris, & Ameya. (2020, September 17). Sonnet 2: When Forty winters shall besiege Thy Brow. No Sweat Shakespeare. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://nosweatshakespeare.com/sonnets/2/
C.) The culture of this work is western because the author of this piece was a European poet who lived and was born in England, United Kingdom.
D-E.) In my opinion, I would say that the work’s approach in this sonnet is Apollonian because the meaning of the sonnet is to say in a frank way that you would lose your beauty/appearance as you grow older and it continue by saying that your children would carry your beauty after you, so you should have children to prove to the world that you made your part in life by having future descendants. Apollonian is the way of seeing and understanding life very rationally and even thought I don’t fully agree with what the sonnet is trying to say it is true to some extent that your beauty or appearances won’t last forever and you shouldn’t always relay on the way you look but try to achieve other things by yourself that would prove your worth to the world, and that it is a very rational way of thinking in my opinion.
F.) If we try to evaluate the work’s craft, we can see it through out the choices of words used in this sonnet to develop the main idea. When the author used the words “When forty winters shall beseige thy brow” he used the word winter to explain years that would come which is saying that when all these years pass you would keep aging. Another prove of his choice of words is when he said “And see thy blood warm when thou feel’st it cold” he is using the words warm and cold to explain that your child would represent your beauty through his blood because he’s young while you would be cold which means old because as you grow older you’re close to death and when you’re close to death your blood would run cold.
G.) I would try to recommend this sonnet to others because its meaning is actually a very important one to remember, that you should not always relay on the way you look, you may admire and love yourself and your appearances but you’re priority should always be to achieve your goals and dreams for you to one day to show your potential and worth to the world.
second student: a.My selected work of art is Where the Strange Fruit Grows
https://spartacus-educational.com/USAmeeropolA.htm
b. The Poem is called Where the Strange Fruit Grows by Abel Meeropol. It was written in 1939. Meeropol was an American songwriter and poet who would publish his works under his pen name, Lewis Allan. Meeropol was best known for Where the Strange Fruit Grows and was later recorded by Billie Holiday.
https://aaregistry.org/story/strange-fruit-compose…
https://spartacus-educational.com/USAmeeropolA.htm
c. This poem is western and is inspired by racist topics, mostly forwarded to the African American lynches, and tied in with a sick twist with nature topics.
d. This poem can be best described as having Dionysian qualities by it speaking of the sickening topic of lynching during the time of the author. Many African Americans suffered from watching their friends, family, and loved ones hanged for control and terrorize the Black community. To watch them hang like fruit from trees gives an emotional tone to the audience, with the fruits being dead African Americans. This whole concept tied in if the audience didnt know what these fruits were, would have not a nearly the horrifying and sickening effect as knowing the fruit as being one of us, a human being. The poem playing with usually homely and comforting details of fruits from a tree and twisting it with the morbid and gruesome details of dead bodies really plays a lasting emotional and psychological effect on the audience for them to realize this poetry relates to something that has happened in real life to people just like us.
e. My personal response is a mix of Dionysian and Apollonian because the over message and detail that the poem gives is supposed to be emotional based, but the fact that it is based on real events makes me thing of it being Apollonian because I feel like I have the power amongst many others to change history and make sure that this prejudice wont happen again.
f. This poem is a good example of the many prejudice acts that was put on the African Americans of the 19th and 20th century. Yes, it is morbid, but the truth isnt always just sunshine and rainbows. It is sickening and twisted and cruel and makes you want to throw up and forget about it, but it really shows the reality of racism and how bad it can be. It provides a universal message about racism that it cant just happen to one color, but to all, and it shows that racism can be an ugly thing if taken lightly.
g. Although this poem is very gruesome and sickeningly detailed, it is still a beautiful poem that illustrates a time in history, and I would not recommend this piece to those who get easily sick but those who are willing to see how racism is like in different times. I would also recommend Abel Meeropols works to others.