I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and is tune is heard
on the distant hillfor the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.      

Maya Angelou

Empty Vessels

Discussion Question 4:
"The speaker, and the schoolmaster, and the third grown person present, all backed a little, and swept with their eyes the inclined place of little vessels, then and there arranged in order, ready to have imperial gallons of facts poured into them until they were full to the brim" (9).

Alternative Fire Utilization

Discussion Question 3:

Sleeping Beauty:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmM-XX8atlQ (Start at 1:30)
The fire in sleeping beauty represents the destruction that Maleficent embodies. She turns into a dragon and destroys the entire forest.

Stravinsky's Firebird:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XGRmaiCpPU
The fire in Fantasia shows the life that fire can bring and the necessary evil that surrounds the idea of fire. The fire at first shows destruction, but at the end of the clip, the forest is rebuilt in a better and stronger way.

-Alex Wleklinski

Text Appreciation

Unit: 5
HT: Appreciation

"The next morning was too bright a morning for sleep, and James Harthouse rose early, and sat in the pleasant bay window of his dressing-room, smoking the rare tobacco that had had so wholesome an influence on his young friend. Reposing in the sunlight, with the fragrance of his eastern pipe about him, and the dreamy smoke vanishing into the air, so rich and soft with summer odours, he reckoned up his advantages as an idle winner might count his gains. He was not at all bored for the time, and could give his mind to it." (174).

This passage sticks out because of its particular imagery of the smoke of Harthouse's pipe. Dickens calm word choice, such as "dreamy," "soft," and "rich" creates a light and pleasurable image and tone in the setting.  

Stephen's Parting - Question 1

Unit: 5
HT: Analyzation
1.)


 "Day was shining radiantly upon the town then, and the bells were going for the morning work. Domestic fires were not yet lighted, and the high chimneys had the sky to themselves. Puffing out their poisonous volumes, they would not be long in hiding it; but, for half an hour, some of the many windows were golden, which showed the Coketown people a sun eternally in eclipse, through a medium of smoked glass.

So strange to turn from the chimneys to the birds. So strange, to have the road-dust on his feet instead of the coal-grit. So strange to have lived to his time of life, and yet to be beginning like a boy this summer morning! With these musings in his mind, and his bundle under his arm, Stephen took his attentive face along the high road. And the trees arched over him, whispering that he left a true and loving heart behind." (162).

Stephen is undergoing a big change, leaving the polluted, industrial Coketown, and venturing into the "green" forests and farms that are filled with wildlife. Stephen finds the change "strange" but he is excited "like a boy this summer morning!" The exclamation point shows his positive attitude and excitement. The "chimneys had the sky to themselves" which shows their dominance of the sky. They puff out poisonous volumes that infect the people and the town. Because the factories give off poison, the people are sick and infected by the factories and there is little chance of  escape because the factories never stop. 

During Stephen's departure, the sun is shining on Coketown, but there is an eclipse. In history, an eclipse symbolizes the end of a ruler or leader. Stephen was against the workers union, and he tried to convince people to follow him but he failed. The eclipse symbolizes that his leadership is over, and the union will continue. 

Fire: Cause and Effect

 "...pretend that there could be smoke without fire; death without birth, harvest without seed, anything or everything produced for nothing." (138)

      In the passage,  the fire and smoke along with the other contrast words, are used to reveal that the workers' unionization was caused by Coketown and that every cause has an effect and vice versa.The continuous use of the word "without" emphasizes that it's not possible to have one without the other. The fire and smoke indicate that the smoke from Coketown was created from the "fire" of the factories, causing Coketown to symbolically become as destructive as the fire .

Equating Extremes

Discussion Question 1:
"'Oh,' returned Tom, with contemptuous patronage, 'she's a regular girl. A girl can get on anywhere. She has settled down to the life, and she don't mind. It does just as well as another. Besides, though Loo is a girl, she's not a common sort of girl. She can shut herself up within herself, and think -- as I have often known her sit and watch the fire -- for an hour at a stretch.'
'Ay,ay? Has resources of her own,' said Harthouse, smoking quietly" (Dickens 134-135)

In this passage, fire is used in the two extreme translations one of tranquility and life, and the other of destruction in order to indicate that society must take balance between the two for successful functioning to occur. Louisa is described by Tom and Harthouse as having a serene and calm nature, whereas Harthouses' vicious nature is proclaimed. Dickens uses the words "sit" and "watch" to show Louisa's simple and effortless actions when looking at the fire. He also mentions that she goes on for an "hour" and refers to it as a "stretch." Dickens uses imagery in the word stretch to show the vast amount of time Louisa can concentrate on the fire. In this example, the "fire" is used to represent Louisa's innermost creativity and livelihood, and the serenity and longevity with which she concentrates on the fire emits a benevolent tone to show that people must coincide with creativity. The passage goes on to show Harthouse's response as he is "smoking". The general connotation that revolves are smoking is one of negativity and death because of the harmful side effects. The juxtaposition of the harmful version of the fire that Harthouse is described as having, versus the livelihood that Louisa embodies, as they build off each other, shows that they are both necessary even though they are generally thought of as clashing forces. Thus, fire is used in two ways to illuminate that society must balance life and destruction to function properly.

-Alex Wleklinski

Fire Discussion Question 3

Dicussion Question #3:

-Does the fire of Coketown over take Louisa's fire?

Fire Discussion Question 2

Discussion Question #2:
"Domestic fires were not yet lighted, and the high chimneys had the sky to themselves. Puffing out their poisonous volumes, they would not be long in hiding it; but for half an hour, some of the many windows were golden which showed the Coketown people a sun eternally in eclipse, through a medium of smoked glass"(162)

-Who has control, the fire or the people of Coketown?

Ryan's analysis for The Ferocious Fire of Coketown: An Analysis. Copy and paste this sucker in

"In the girl... there was a light with nothing to rest upon, fire with nothing to burn, a starved imagination keeping life in itself somehow"

The Ferocious Fire of Coketown - Question 1

Unit: 5
HT: Analyzation
"Seen from a distance in such weather, Coketown lay shrouded in a haze of its own, which appeared impervious to the sun's rays. You only knew the town was there, because you knew there could have been no such sulky blotch upon the prospect without a town. A blur of soot and smoke, now confusedly tending this way, now that way, now aspiring to the vault of Heaven, now murkily creeping along the earth, as the wind rose and fell, or changed its quarter: a dense formless jumble, with sheets of cross light in it, that showed nothing but masses of darkness: - Coketown in the distance was suggestive of itself, though not a brick of it could be seen." (111).

The description of Coketown displays the town as polluted and unclean. It is so polluted that it is difficult to tell whether there is a town there or not. The smoke and "sulky blotch" signals that in fact, there is a town there. The smoke of the factories dominates the town and everyone seems to be caught in it. Dickens describes the town as if he was standing from a distance observing the overview of the town. He gives a play-by-play description of the smoke that "tends this way, now that way, now aspiring to the vault of Heaven, now murkily creeping a long the earth." The metaphor used to describe the smoke "aspiring to the vault of Heaven" shows that it ascends endlessly into the sky. This adds to the factories domination of the town, because they have even infected Heaven and the peoples' religion.

Fire Discussion Question 1

Discussion Question #1:


- The element of fire is brought up for the creativity of Louisa and the destruction of the workers. Which is more prevalent? Why?

Dickens: The Lovable Linguist

“She was the most wonderful woman for prowling about the house. How she got from one story to another was a mystery beyond solution. A lady so decorous in herself, and so highly connected, was not to be suspected of dropping over the banisters or sliding down them, yet her extraordinary facility of locomotion suggested the wild idea.”

“He thought of the number of girls and women she had seen marry, how many homes with children in them she had seen grow up around her, how she had contentedly pursued her own lone quite path-for him."