Never Let me Go- Section 2, Blog 1

As we approach new insights in sections two of Never Let Me go by Kazuo Ishiguro, we learn about the importance of sex to the characters in the book. For Kath, having sex is something she wants to save for someone special that she has feelings for. As she began to learn that more and more people are up to it, she becomes peer-pressured into doing it herself. When confessing it to Ruth, she confesses to the reader that  "sex had done funny things to my feelings, just as Miss Emily had warned" (Ishiguro, 128). Of course, as we all know the students from Hailsham and the Cottages are not normal people. They do not posses the insights of the "normals" as they call it. Somehow real human beings know that sex has psychological and emotional impacts on you. They have no idea what that is like, mostly because they have no emotional ties to any parents. The closest thing they have to parents are the guardians which they soon leave to go into the real world and learn more about their donations. Sex was a subject that is explained by the guardians, again reiterating the symbol that they are for what would be their parents.

Acquainted with the Night- Robert Frost

Acquainted with the Night by Robert Frost was a sad poem about a man who was in a dark time of his life. The speaker had experienced in the saddest parts of life and has walked away from the light. The light could refer to God or to the good rather than the evil. The only problem with the speakers attitude was that he had none. He was indifferent to everything and kept going on into the darkness with no sense of returning. That last line repeats the first, "I have been one acquainted with the night". In other words the speaker has been there before and seems to keep returning to this so-called "night". To add to this circular motion of never-ending return, the rhyme scheme is one which repeats itself. (Of course I would have not known this without the help of my awesome AP Literature teacher, Mr. Costello).

Dover Beach- Matthew Arnold

In the poem Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold, we see that the poem is divided into three stanzas. Each stanza is addressing a different beach. Two of those beaches are literal, they represent an actual body of water. The third is metaphorical, representing someones faith. In the first stanza, we learn about the English Channel which makes the speaker believe that it brings "the eternal note of sadness in". The speaker then thinks of Sophocles who is also sad. The only difference is that Sophocles is looking at the Aegean Sea. As the speaker progresses, we realize that he is sad and has lost his faith. This leads us to the 3rd stanza. As his faith decreases, his sadness increases. In the end he says that love is the only thing that could solve his problems. He can only rely on it to make his sadness go away and for his faith to increase.

Sorting Laundry- Elisavietta Ritche

The speaker of Sorting Laundry by Elisavietta Ritche uses the pile of laundry to represent her present relationship with her boyfriend. It seems that all is well in the relationship. She describes her relationship as something that is established and unchanging. Her relationship is like the "pillowcases, despite so many washings, seams still holding our dreams". Her relationship went through a lot, it was as if it was routine from use, but it still held together perfectly. As the poem progresses, we see how the speaker begins to dig deep into the relationship. She begins to think about what seems like an old ex and realizes that she doesn't want to be alone to do her own laundry.

Batter my heart, three-personed God- John Donne

In Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God by John Donne, we become aware of the many paradoxes in the poem. It is evident that the speaker is dealing with an issue that is tearing him apart. "I love you but a, betrothed to your enemy" is an example of one of the paradoxes used. The speaker is talking to God, telling him he loves him but belongs to Satan. In other words, he needs God's help. The speaker is weak and a prisoner to the vices that he has involved himself with. So much so, that he asks God to imprison him so that he is free from sin. This is another paradox within the poem showing how he was asking for God's help. He wanted to get away from sin so bad that he wanted to be imprisoned. Imprisonment does not come with freedom; in fact, all your freedom is taken away from you. For the speaker to feel so desperate that he sees freedom in being imprisoned, shows his desperation to get away from his style of life.

Gender Unit- To His Importunate Mistress

The poem of To His Importunate Mistress by Peter De Vries is a mock of the previous poem blogged, To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell. De Vries mocks everything that Marvell says. It is so much to the extent that he copies word for word his first line. "Had we but world enough, and time..." (De Vries, Line 1). The difference with the two is that De Vries is being mocking and taking everything to an extreme. He is worshiping his mistress while Marvell wants to sex up his mistress. De Vries makes fun of Marvell by using his lines and changing them up. He tries to bring about a new story, a satire to the original one. It was as if De Vries had a rivalry but really he was just expressing his enjoyment of the poem. He seems to just say that he liked it but wish there was some changes he could have made to it. De Vries goes on to point out that he does not have enough money to sustain his mistress, just as Marvell did not have enough time to "sex-up" his mistress. Again, mocking.

Gender Unit- To His Coy Mistress

In To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell, we see a side of men that is very typical. I am not simply being sexist but I am indeed being stereotypical. It is said that all men want sex and pleasure. This poem shows exactly that and also shows the sneaky way that a man tries to convince a woman to have sex with him. "Now therefore, while the youthful hue sits on thy skin like morning dew, and while thy willing soul transpires at every pore with instant fires, now let us sport us while we may" (Marvell, 804). We are young, so let's have sex.... Typical guy who just wants some pleasure. The guy of course, begins by sweet talking the girl. That was easy to guess. It was as if the men of then and the men of now have not changed! Oh wait, they haven't! (Just kidding...) Obviously, this guy does not really love the girl but he wanted more than to be with her because he loved her.