Journal #26 Snow

So, today, i am supposed to write about snow. I guess that i am supposed to write about how beautiful and mind bottling it is. Yes i just said mind bottling. You, know, like when your thoughts are trapped in a bottle and they cant get out?-Chazz Michael Michaels. Anyway, so, i really do enjoy snow. To me it is very nice and relaxing, although now, i must admit that i do not like playing in it that much anymore. I mean, that was in like second grade when i enjoyed playing in the snow. Now, it really is not that fun just because i started to realize that snow is actually very cold and i realize now that i do not like the cold. Although, do not get me wrong, i do like sledding, but the problem with sledding is that it is fun for like maybe ten seconds if you are on a very big hill. Other than going down the hill, it is not very fun just because it always takes forever to climb up the hill and to me, that is not very fun. Also, it gets really annoying when you are sledding, and people do not walk up the path that was meant to be used to walk up. Instead, you have these idiots who think that it is a very good idea to just walk straight up the hill where people are trying to go down and therefore, if you are going to go down the hill at crazy speed, it is stupid how you have to try and dodge people who do not want to move out of the way. Now though, really the only time i like playing in the snow is when playing football. I really like playing football in the snow. It is always very fun and i always really like playing football, and because there is snow, it is used as an excuse to tackle people.

Criticism of the Veil

When i read the story "The Minister's Black Veil" by Hawthorne, i seemed to notice that the whole story was basically a symbol of dark romanticism. The story really does sum up the whole idea of dark Romanticism. Basically, this is true because the black veil in the story basically just represent that throughout life, there is always going t be dark times. One would have to admit that there are examples of dark events everywhere. This is basically what dark romanticism is all about. An example of dark romantic writing is the following quote: “With this gloomy shade before him, good Mr. Hooper walked onward, at a slow and quiet pace, stooping somewhat, and looking on the ground, as is customary with abstracted men, yet nodding kindly to those of his parishioners…” (Hawthorne). This quote shows the dark romanticism that is shown in this story. Also, in the book, there is also mentioning of a "secret sin". In the story, this represents the black veil, or also the sadness that goes unnoticed in the world. This reflects dark romanticism because dark romanticists also realize that there is a lot of sin in the world that goes unnoticed and they like to bring that to the attention of the reader (Hawthorne). This is because this thought process is what dark romantic writer really like to believe in when they are writing. The writers liked to believe that there is alway something dark in life no matter how happy the moment is. In my opinion, i really do not like this point of view from these writers. It really just seems way too sad and depressing. As a reader, i like to believe that there are moments in all stories or even in life where there is nothing but happiness. According to these writers, this is not true, or never true in life. For example, in the story, the minister wears his black veil everywhere he goes. He wears it to church, he wears it to a wedding, and then he even wears it to a funeral. Then, when no one really knows why he is wearing this strange black veil, he starts to die, and eventually when he is on his death bed, people begin to realize why he wears his black veil and every other person who goes to the funeral wears a black veil. As it turns, the people realize that the minister because they, like the minister, have realized that even in the happiest moments in life, there is still sadness in the world, and the people are wearing the veils to symbolize that. This event basically represents that mere fact that the minister did his job in making people realize that there are many sins and very sad events that go unnoticed in life. Unfortunately, this means that the people who are wearing these veils are reminded everyday that there is a lot of unhappiness that happens in life, and therefore, the minister did his job in helping the people to notice this by wearing a veil.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Minister's Black Veil." American Literature. Comp. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. Columbus: McGraw Hill, 2009. 280-89. Print.

Journal #25 Wearing Masks

ok, so there was this one time when a friend of mine wore a mask to cover up his true personality. I really do not know why he wore a mask, although no one really knew what the guy looked like in the audience...of what was happening. anyway, the guy's name was V. I really cannot remember why this was his name, but basically he wore this mask to cover up his identity rather than his actual personality. But anyway, i guess that one could technically say that it does cover his personality, but whatever. So, this guy wantes to wear a mask because he found out that the British government was doing biological testing on human subjects. Now, the last time that anyone did this was in World War 2. I am pretty sure that we all know who did this. But anyway, so my friend tells me this and shows me how he found out, (which is top secret by the way) and so i was all like "You have to do something!" So it sounds bad, but he started going after government officials. By going after them, i mean like, killing them. So, the when he started attacking these people, the British government started to find out why my friend V was going after them. Anyway, so it was basically civil war between the government and my friend V. So, in order to bring V down, the government started making his face the symbol of a public villain. So, anyway, people started burning his mask. It was really hard on V, but i convinced him that he must tell the people the truth in order to have people support him even though it was a risk. So, basically to make a long story short, V started to die from one of the fights he got into, but since the people then knew the truth, they started to build an army. In conclusion, at the moment that V died, the army took over Parliament and blew it up. "We won the battle, mom"-Peter Griffin. The End!

Criticism of Pendulum

Blog bog bloggy. I really wish that my class had not read this poem out loud in class and just read this poem silently so that we could finish it in class. This blog is kind of a moral buster because i do not want to be doing school work on the last day of Thanksgiving break, but i am. I actually thought about not even doing this blog at all, but my responsibility caught up with me naturally. Well, anyway for this blog we had to read the poem "The Pit and the Pendulum" by the epic poet, Edgar Allen Poe. To begin this criticism, i would like to say that i actually did enjoy this poem a lot simply because it included torture (Poe). Now, not to sound sick, or twistedly twisted, but dark stories with torture always tend to catch my attention because it is like the worst possible thing that could happen to a person. It is also one of the scariest. I mean, in my opinion, that is like the last thing that i would ever want to happen to me. To be brutally honest here, being tortured would just flat out suck. There really would not be any other basic way to describe it (Poe). Anyway, on to the poem. In the story "The Pit and the Pendulum", it describes a prisoner who has been sentenced to death. The author, Poe, never actually gives a reason why the prisoner has been sentenced to death (Poe). the author basically leaves that up for the reader to decide. But anyway, the prisoner goes into his cell and tries to avoid death by having rats chew ropes that are holding him down while a pendulum with a blade is getting lower and lower. One of the things that i like about this part is the kind of description that Poe uses when the man is getting closer and closer to death. I really like how Poe describes this moment as he states how worried the man is and the thoughts that are going through his head (Poe). The thing that i liked the most about the poem "The Pit and the Pendulum" was how the author, Poe, changes the mood so much throughout the story. For example, as a reader, i really found it interesting how Poe changed the mood from when the prisoner saw his cell for the first time, to the time when he was almost about to fall into the pit. For example, at the point when the character sees his cell for the first time, the tone of the story is kind of curious. but slowly, Poe really tends to change the tone of the story without the reader even noticing. It is kind of amazing because at the end of the story all hope is basically gone for the main character (Poe). The character escapes the first death trap that he is put into, but then he is just put into another one when the walls start closing in. That is what i liked about the story. (Poe)


Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Pit and the Pendulum” American Literature. Comp. Wilhelm, Jeffory. Columbus 2009.

Criticism on "The Raven"

In the critical analysis that i read on the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe, the author of the analysis thought that the poem was absolutely amazing (Cooke). The author of the criticism really enjoyed the poem, and really liked the mood the Poe used throughout the entire poem. I would have to agree completely with the author of this criticism because of the fact that this poem is a masterful example when it comes to getting the mood and tone of the poem right. I think this because when i read this poem, it was one of the view works of writing that i have ever read that has actually sent a chill down my spine because i was so creeped out by the mood and tone of the poem. To me, that basically proves that the mood and tone of this poem was amazing because of the effect it had on the reader or audience. Another thing that the author of the criticism liked about "The Raven" was the amount of imagery that Poe uses throughout the poem (Cooke). What the reader has to realize about this poem is the fact that it is an extremely long poem but not that much action takes place within this poem (Cooke). Therefore, there is plenty of space within this poem to describe that setting and events. Because Poe has so much description within this poem, it is extremely easy to understand where the poem is taking place and to visualize the room in which the poem takes place and the dark hallway and the window where the raven is sitting. The amount of description within the poem also makes the reader understand the amount of pain that the main character in the poem is going through when he is thinking about the death of his loved one. Also, Poe gives great description at the end of the poem when he his describing the madness that the main character of the poem is going through when he keeps stating "nevermore." I have to agree with the author of the criticism because Poe really gives the reader an extremely vivid image of the setting of the poem and also he gives a very clear description to the reader of the raven and also, once again the pain that the main character feels for the loss of his lover. The other and final thing that the author of the criticism truly enjoyed about this poem is the fact that Poe chose a great vocab to use within this poem to describe the events that take place within it (Cooke). Sure, Poe uses plenty of space and time within this poem to make sure that he describes the setting and events enough, but at the same time, you have to make the correct word selection when it comes to this certain poem because Poe could have used one thousand words to describe one event in the poem, but if Poe would not have made the correct choice of words, then this poem would not be so masterful (Cooke}.


Cooke, P. Pendleton. "Edgar A. Poe," Southern Literary Messenger (January 1848). Reprinted in The Recognition of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Eric W. Carlson (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966): pp. 21–23. Quoted as "Review of 'The Raven'" in Harold Bloom, ed. Edgar Allan Poe, Bloom's Major Poets. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 1999. (Updated 2007.) Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=1&iPin=BMPEAP21&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 19, 2010).

Analysis of The Raven

Basically what literally happens in the poem, The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, is that the man in the poem wakes up in the middle of the night when he hears someone knocking at the door of his room, he gets up, and when he opens the door to greet the person who is knocking at the door, but when the man opens the door, he sees complete darkness. Suddenly, he hears a whisper, saying, "Lenore". Suddenly, he closes the door and hears a noise at the window and walks over to open it. When he opens it, he sees a raven. Then the raven starts driving him crazy by saying nevermore. That is basically all that happens. Poe used some interesting literary devices in his work. He used many interesting metaphors and the tone of his writing really showed the dark romantic style. He also used imagery when describing what the room was like and the impact that the raven had on the man. Metaphorically, this poem means that the world can be a dark place and that people's own craziness can make them mad. That is it. I wish i had more time to work on this, but i still have to study for history.

Journal #24 Mind Tricks

So, this one time, i was going out with my friends a few days before Halloween. I really like Halloween because it is one of my favorite parts of the year. So, anyway because it was so close to Halloween, my friends and i decided to go to a haunted house. So, of course, we decide to go to terror on the square because in my opinion, it is really the only true haunted house in our area. Anyway, i have to admit that i was really really scared when going through that haunted house. I mean, looking back on it, i thought that it was pretty fun, but at the time, i was not too excited about getting chased through a maze with tons of people running after with huge weapons and massive chainsaws. But, anyway, when my friends and i got done with the haunted house and done laughing together about it, i started to drive home alone in my car. Well, anyway, i forgot to mention that i was on my way home from my friend Matt's house, and he kind of lives in the country. So, on my way home, it was pitch black, and it was very scary. I am usually not very afraid of the dark, but now, after going to a haunted house, i must admit that i was very scared. So, this is when i started seeing things, or in other words, my mind started playing tricks on me. With two corn fields on each side of the road, i was kind of nervous at first. So, i started imagining what would happen if someone jumped out in the road and attacked me with a weapon. Suddenly, seconds, i started seeing people jumping out in front of me and it really freaked me out quite a bit. I obviously knew it was not real but it still really scared me. i guess that this is a time when my mind played tricks on me.