Essay #2 Topic

The essay I'm choosing to write about is the third topic in which I am to compare what the narrators are trying to prove in "The Tell Tale Heart" and "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas". I chose this one mainly because i love "The Tell Tale Heart"; it is absolutely one of my favorite stories. I believe i already know what Edgar Allan Poe was trying to prove in that story, so this paper should favor me based on the knowledge i already know from reading it.

Stereotypical Gender based poems

I agree that in both poems there are many signs that the speaker is stereotypically gender based. In the first poem, the author is a male and speaks speaks in a very masculine manner. He adds lines such as "...you hear the grating roar" and "Swept with confused alarms and struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night". Though both of those thoughts could very well have been spoken by a female, they give off a very masculine feel and thus validating the idea of the poem being stereotypically male. In the second poem, the author is a female and is expressing many different emotions about her husband. Obviously a poem about a male partner is stereotypically female in itself, but she also says things that no man would say in a poem. Lines such as "Weeping into a pot of burnt rice", and the lines in which she talks of her husbands back such as "... is firm and compact like a young man's back" and "the back i love, animal and gamine, leaning on one arm". I'm not saying there aren't some guys out there that find their womans back beautiful, but i know in my case this is a thing that only would women would do. But then again, this is just my own opinion.

1st Essay Topic

My first essay is going to be about the song "When Daddy Let Me Drive" By Alan Jackson. I have been raised by a family that revolves around fishing, hunting and the outdoors, so it was inevitable that i would end up becoming obsessed with country music. "When Daddy Let Me Drive" is filled with imagery, similes and strong feelings. It is a prime example of a poetic song.

What work is

The poem What Work Is by Philip Levine really caught my attention because it reminds me of the relationship my father and uncle have between each other. The poem to me talks of a brother who tries to convince himself that he is a hard worker, standing in the work line ready to be hired or sent home for the day when in reality it is his brother who is the harder worker. His brother works long night shifts so he can work on things besides a pay job. He makes time for studying a different language, and singing in an opera. I relate that to my dad and uncle by means of my father being the one who actually does all the work. My uncle's working life involves him moving from small job to small job, while my dad has made a career out of his life but is always busy outside of work doing personal projects and making himself happier. At the end of the poem, it talks about the narrator not being able to tell his brother that he loves him, which is the same between my father and uncle. It is a history of tough love between the both of them, and one is never acknowledged by the other for things they achieve. This is a great poem and i related very easily.