*I will be posting notes that contain sample thesis
statements, terminology we’ve covered thus far, and some solid class
observations made. These may help you with your analysis for the first blog
assignment. Choose one (1) question below to answer thoroughly – just one question, but it requires a good amount of
thought and some writing, so one is enough.
(If you wish to do more, by all means . . . .)
**While you will answer one, you should respond to two
(2) of your peers. Your responses should go beyond casual compliments (“good
job!”) and invite further conversation.
Since many people won’t post until the deadline, you don’t have to post your
responses by Monday (1/28). Responses are due by the following Friday (in this
case, 2/01). This will be the typical pattern during the weeks we do blogs –
Monday deadline for the post, Friday deadline for the responses.
***This information will also be posted in a Word
document in BB’s “Content” should you want it all in once place/wish to print
it out, etc.). This document also contains detailed instructions for accessing
the blog,
1. Using “My Ex-Husband”, come up with a
statement of paradox and its resolution (thesis statement). Having done so,
provide several textual examples (evidence) of diction and/or tone and irony
(ones that we didn’t explore or explore fully in class) that support the
paradox you’ve identified.
2. Using “My Ex-Husband”, come up with a
statement of paradox and its resolution (thesis statement). Having done so,
provide several textual examples (evidence) of symbolism that support the
paradox. Remember that symbols are typically concrete things
that have a literal function
in text but also suggest something more abstract (and usually more
complicated). For instance: the picture frame operating as a simple frame for a
photograph as well as a figurative frame for a whole existence with someone
and/or the framing of the past as it’s no longer (a man in love). (Don’t use
the frame but other symbols.)
3. Using “My Last Duchess”, discuss elements of characterization,
symbolism and/or point of view (choose two of these) to discuss as elements
that contribute to the establishing of and sustaining/eventual solving of a
paradox. For this question, provide a statement of paradox (thesis) so that you
can tie your examples to it. This question asks you to explore the poem
somewhat outside what we already covered in class, so I’m not asking you to
deal with diction, denotation/connotation, or irony here.
4. Using “So Mexicans are Taking Jobs from
Americans”, a poem that we haven’t yet discussed, choose five to seven
words and/or phrases that are immediately ambiguous. Explain the denotative and
connotative possibilities for each. You don’t have to write a statement of
paradox for this one, but you should explain where/how these small tensions are
resolved. (I chose this poem particularly
because it definitely provokes an emotional reaction in readers – as such, the
poem poses a challenge for New Critics. You’ve got to approach it without
giving into those emotional responses (at least in written analytical form,
that is).
5. Using “So Mexicans are Taking Jobs from
Americans”, come up with a statement of paradox and its resolution (thesis
statement). Having done so, provide several textual examples (evidence) of tone
and irony. Again, you don’t have to provide a statement of paradox for this one
but should explain where/how irony is working as thoroughly as you can.
In the poem, My Ex-Husband, the woman speaking is telling her new “boy” about the terrible/ waste of a man that her ex-husband is to this day. She’s opening up to her new lover, spilling information that shows us she is over her ex-husband’s horrible ways yet still obsessed with his little games.
ReplyDeleteWithin the first four lines of the poem when she says, “That’s my ex-husband pictured on the shelf, smiling as if in love. I took it myself with his Leica, and stuck it in that frame. We got it for our wedding. Kind of a shame.” as a reader, we can see that she is still obsessed. She uses ambiguity when she says kind of a shame, because does she mean kind of a shame to waste the frame on him, or kind of shame that they are not together anymore. If she wasn’t still obsessed/ in love with him still she wouldn’t still have his picture on her shelf. Especially when she has invited her “new man” over to her house when she knew he would see the picture and ask questions. She uses verbal irony when she says. “to waste it on him” because she it was a happy memory that she can’t erase her ex-husband will always be a part of her.
Further down the poem she stops and begins to talk to her date about leaving for their date. She says, “Shall we go? Im in the mood for Chez Pierre’s. perhaps, tonight, though anything you’d like would be alright.” Throughout the whole poem she has said all the bad things about her ex-husband and all the nice places he used to take her and now she’s doing the same thing her ex-husband used to do to her to her “new boy.” She then also bring up the champagne flutes that she got in her divorce settlement. The champagne flutes is symbolism for her old marriage and the love they once had, or the love she still has for him. Throughout the poem she describes all of the bad qualities of her ex-husband, but carrying on and on about his terrible antics shows us as the reader just how obsessed and in love with him she really is. She can’t let go of the past.
I agree that the champagne flutes are symbolism of her old marriage and the love they once had. It is ironic that through the whole poem she is desprately trying to convince the audience that her ex-husband is such a horrible guy, but in reality it just showed us how much in love she still is.
DeleteAfter having read "My Ex-Husband" several times, one thing is clear; that the woman is still in love with him whether it be his character or games. Her picture of him on the shelf is enough to prove it. We know that there is another person present in the room but we still aren't sure if it is her new companion/ rebound, or a friend she could be venting to for all this detail she is revealing is much for a first date and what some of us might call "a deal breaker."
ReplyDeleteAbout the seventh line down in the poem, The woman says, "I know what's on your mind-you want to know whatever could have made me let him go-he seems like any woman's perfect catch, what with his ruddy cheeks, the neat mustache, those close-set, piercing eyes, that titled grin. But snapshots don't show what's beneath the skin!" The woman describes to the listener that her ex-husband may be adorable, but there is more than meets the eye. Moving forward she continues to describe his charm but her tone increases as she does because it begins to remind her why she divorced the man. She felt like any other bimbo playing his games.
The woman uses verbal irony when she says, "There he grins, almost lovable." She shows slight feelings of compassion for him after she just described him and his charming ways but how they disgust her, yet pleased her. Reaching the end of the poem, after the line just quoted, it seems as if the woman catches her compassion and makes an attempt to change the subject. She mentions about the plans for the night but on the way out, without notice, directs the conversation back to the man in the frame by bringing up her prized possessions from the divorce, "By the way, have I shown you yet those lovely champagne flutes, hand blown, imported from Murano, Italy, which claus got in the settlement for me!" Still obsessed, and she doesn't know it. The picture isn't coming down any time soon.
I definitely agree that towards the end of the poem it seems that the woman catches compassion for her ex-husband when she described how it made her "woozy" when he kissed her. It is almost like she was having a flashback to a good memory that they both shared together, but then she realizes how he always let her down.
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ReplyDeleteIn the poem, My Ex-Husband, the woman speaking still has feelings for her ex-husband. This all begins with the first line "That's my ex-husband pictured on the shelf". Literally a shelf is an object where you place things you want to be seen or be reminded of. On a decorative stand point the easiest thing to fill the empty space of a shelf is a framed picture. When choosing a picture for a frame your more inclined to choose one that will remind you of good times or some sort of happiness. I don't believe people frame pictures of an unhappy time. In this case her choice for that framed picture is her ex-husband. By her ex-husband being placed in a frame, on a shelf, and not in a drawer, symbolizes that she will have feelings for him as long as he remains on that shelf. A shelf can be a symbol for interests, current things in your life, or things you want to be reminded of. The frame could be a symbol for beauty because in a literal aspect a picture can't present itself any better than with a frame. So now the permanent picture is being beautified by a frame that sits on her shelf and will remain there until she builds up the courage to remove it thus removing all of her feelings for him.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of her feelings is the fourth line "Kind of a shame to waste it (the frame) on him, but what could i do?" Her choice of words makes her seem unsure or her actions. The phrase "kind of" shows her unsureness on the subject of wasting the frame on him. Why couldn't she say "Its a shame to waste it on him"? Why did she start with "kind of"? The last part of that line "but what could I do?" shows that she has no control over her emotions and is controlled by the situation. She obviously wanted to decorate that empty shelf by placing a framed picture but why did she choose one of her ex-husband and why does she then say the phrase "but what could i do?" as if she has no "say" on what gets displayed on her own shelf?
I like the point you brought up of the woman using "Kind of" in the poem, and then describing who is in control still by quoting "but what could I do?" The usage of words indicates that she is somewhat emotionally attached to her ex-husband. You can also tell shes still attached just by listening to the tone of poem. Almost feels as if she envied the man and his swag, and that he seemed to always get what he wanted.
DeleteIn the poem, My Ex Husband, the women narrating still has feelings for her husband. She has both positive and negative feelings, but feelings none the less. You do not keep a picture of your ex and have it on your self so everyone can see if you do not still have feelings for the person. You learn about the keeping of the picture at the beginning of the poem where she says, "That is my ex-husband pictured on the shelf."
ReplyDeleteThe tone of this poem changes through out the poem. It starts of with saying "He seems like any women's perfect catch." This captures the first part of this poem where she is talking about how amazing physically he is. She then changes the tone to leading you to believe that he was cheating on her. She mentions "how slobbishly he carried on affairs." The tone of the poem then changes drastically. Saying, "Who'd lower herself to put up with shit like that?" This is now the time when she is making it seem as if this was the time frame when she realized she was done putting up with his ways. The last few lines shows the tone and mentality of the women at the end. She says, "Which Claus got in the settlement for me!" This leads you to believe that she is now satisfied with everything and happy of the stuff she got from the divorce settlement.
After reading the poem “My Ex-Husband” it was clear to see that the woman is speaking to another person in the room, most likely a man taking her on a date. She shows her date her ex-husbands picture on the shelf and describes his personality, his looks, and why she broke up with him. She has a tone in the poem that helps lead us to believe that she is trying to convince her date that her ex-husband isn’t as desirable as everyone would think. An example of this is when she said, “I know what's on your mind-you want to know whatever could have made me let him go- he seems like any woman's perfect catch”. She is hoping to convince her date that her ex-husband might have come off as a wonderful catch to others, but she knew his other side. Through the following example of tone, you can see that the woman is mournful to her marriage. “Such stuff was all too well rehearsed, I soon enough found out. He had an attitude-how should I put it-smooth, self-satisfied, too good for the rest of the world, too easily impressed with his officious self. And he flirted-fine, but flirted somehow a bit too ardently*, too blatantly, as if, if someone ever noticed, no one cared how slobbishly he carried on affairs. Who'd lower herself to put up with shit like that?”
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this poem multiple times I felt that the woman is still someone controlled by her Ex-husband emotionally. Whether she is still in love with him or not, she has love/hate feelings towards him and is bothered by the way he treated her in the past. It still bothers her that he wasn’t the man that she wanted him to be. By the end of the poem you can tell that the woman has compassion for her ex-husband no matter how upset she is at him when she says, “Oh, no doubt, it always made my limbs go woozy when he kissed me, but what bimbo in the steno* pool went without the same such kisses?” In my opinion she is looking back on the moments when he made her happy, but then realizes how he had let her down much more.
The tone definitely turns as shes describing some characteristics of her ex-husband. Whats ironic is how she is telling her date, or friend, how undesirable he really is under the skin yet the tone makes it clear how obsessed she still is about him, just by talking about him. In the end, I personally think that the husband still has control of the woman, psychologically speaking because the picture is a symbol that she is still hanging on to him, not having let go of the marriage even after who knows much time has gone by.
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