Final Blog Post 5. 29. 2019

I still remembered the reason why I chose this course. At first, I chose this class because I thought it was easier than other IB courses, and all my friends were taking this course as well. However, my mind was clarified and changed after I saw the play -- Romeo and Juliet.

Before taking this course, I had not watched any of the plays or performance. At that time, I thought being an actor or performer is easy. Their work is just memorizing the lines, and reciting it with some acting. But after watching Romeo and Juliet, I found out that performance was not as simple as I thought. Each actor and actress puts efforts on studying their characters, so that they can exactly show the traits/characteristics of that character. Later on, my mind was completely changed when I wrote about the review for Romeo and Juliet. That review was the first time I analyzed a play. Even though I had not learned much at that time, but it was the first time I used my knowledge to analyze a play. After doing that assignment, I realized that besides the act, other elements like staging and lighting is also important. Then, I learned more about the staging, in other words, director's view. By learning that, I knew the way to adapt a play. Next, I adapted my own version of Romeo and Juliet. I carefully paid attention on costumes, props, staging, and lighting. After I showed my ideas to the class, my adaptation was chosen and that was my first time I performed my own play. 

After I gained much knowledge about performance, I also experienced the beauty of the literature. Take Shakespeare's literature as an example. After watching Romeo and Juliet, we started to read the book. In the book Shakespeare used a lot of terms that nowadays writer wont use. The punctuation also plays an important part in his literature. Most importantly, the play itself describes a melancholy story that makes readers connect to themselves.

Besides Shakespeare's work, I also learned a lot about poetry.  By taking this class I learned the way to analyze and write a poetry. Haiku is a great example. Haiku is a type of poems that is popular in Japan. There are usually three lines, 5 syllables for the first line, 7 for the second, and 5 for the last line. In order to analyze other poems and proses, we learned about rhetorical strategies like simile and metaphor. There are many other strategies, like onomatopoeia and personification, that I still remembered. I probably will carry the memory forever.

This year we read a lot of short stories like Krik Krak, My Love My Love, etc. Krik Krak is a book that relates to the history of Haiti. When I read the book, I was greatly touched. The dad who decided to suicide in order to escape, the mom who decided to be a "night woman" in order to support her son, all of these touched me deeply. Oh, we also performed our own adaptation. Our group decided to adapt the last story, Caroline's Wedding. For me, this was an inevitable memory. Not just because I learned the way to perform, but it was the last performance that I had with my friends in this class.

Thank you Ms. Guarino~ Thank you for having me in this class. Without you, this course will be a lot more different and dull. And thanks to the friends and people who helped me in this two years. Without you guys, I do not think I will pass this course haha.

                                                                                                                      David Wang

                                                                                                      The Last Blog Post for

                                                                                      IB Literature and Performance II

                                                                                                               May. 29th. 2019                                                                                                                     Peace & Love

                                                                                Goodbye  再见  Adiós  Au revoir  안녕

Poetry Sample question on Nye poems

Resistance and rebellion at either a personal or a larger, social level, can lead to very interesting poetic explorations. By what means and with what effects have at least two poets you have studied included such impulses and actions in their poetry?
The two poems that I chose are "Blood" and "The Words Under the Words" by Naomi Shihab Nye. In the poem "Blood", it depicts Arab's life in United States. The first three stanzas are the view of Nye when she was a little girl, the fourth and fifth stanza is her view when she grew up.
Firstly, Nye used a flashback in the poem "Blood". The first and second line of the third stanza says that: "Years before, a girl knocked, wanted to see the Arab." She used this to described her view when she was a little girl. At that time she thought "Arab" was a subject so that every neighbor around them is talking about Arab. She does not know that her family is actually the "Arab" that people gossip about. Started from the fourth stanza, the view goes back to the elder her. She grew up in United States and she became a lost soul. Since she is a Palestinian and she lives in United States, she was stuck in the middle of it.  The third line of the last stanza has well explained this: "neither of his two languages can reach it." Even though her father knew both of the language, he still felt excluded by people around him in United States. And this was the main theme of this poem - the issue of race relations. Also, Nye makes a comparison between the real Arab and the Arab that other people described.“A true Arab knows how to catch a fly in his hands,”The very first line shows the characteristics of Arab. Their characteristics are totally different with the words that used to criticize them.
The other poem "The Words Under the Words" also shows the rebellion. The last stanza says that: "Answer, if you hear the words under the words— otherwise it is just a world with a lot of rough edges, difficult to get through, and our pockets full of stones." This tells readers that people should know the deeper meaning of the words. Otherwise, people will just like those fools who keep the stones in their pocket. The poem is saying that people should make a rebellion and dig the deeper meaning.

Naomi Shihab Nye poem notes

• Contemporary, American poet
• No rhyme scheme
• Free verse
• Narrative, tells a story
• Autobiographical
• Writes a lot about her family and people -- connection
• Includes a lot about nature -- refer to peace
• Historical time period -- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Father -- Palestinian Mother -- American Grandma -- still live in Palestine

Blood:
A true Arab cath... it shows patient, fast, precise. (comparison between how American view them）

True Arabs believed watermelon -- it shows the faith, believe in healing.

a good name, borrowed from the sky... Once I said, “When we die, we give it back?”give back--- show Child's innocence/nature

The child in the beginning did not notice that they were actually Arab.

Started from the fourth stanza, the narrative is the elder Naomi Shihab Nye.

The Words Under the Words:
When I was sick they followed me,
I woke from the long fever to find them  -- goal was a symbol?

She waits by the oven -- her son was in America, and rarely sent a letter to her

My grandmother’s voice says nothing can surprise her. -- Her grandma is brave

Farewell to the husband’s coat, -- her grandpa died

My grandmother’s eyes say Allah is everywhere, even in death.  -- belief

Blog 5/6

While some poems focus exclusively on a personal or private experience, others reflect on the place of the individual in the larger human community. In the work of at least two poets, explore the ways in which poems have conveyed the poet's sense of the world beyond the private sphere.

The two poems that I chose from Emily Dickinson are "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" and "Tell all the truth but tell it slant". In "I'm Nobody! Who are you?", Emily Dickinson used a lot of rhetorical strategies to describe her situation in the community.
Firstly, she utilized metaphor a lot in the poem. "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" The first line perfectly gives readers an introduction of herself, by using the technique of metaphor. She describes herself as a person that is isolated by others, or she isolated others. In the second stanza, she says that: "How dreary – to be – Somebody!". She described people around her as Somebody. By doing this, it creates a strongly comparison between her and the community around her. The next line says that: "How public – like a Frog –". Right here Emily Dickinson again used metaphor to describe people around her as frogs. This probably shows that all the people around her like to talk gossips, and she really hates people talk or comment about her. Despite the use of metaphor in the poem, Emily Dickinson also capitalized certain words to highlight the meanings of it. For example, she capitalized words like: Somebody, Nobody, Frogs, and Bog. Nobody is the opposite of somebody, and he used the words frogs and bog to describe the whole community around her just like frogs "ribbit" in the bog. She wants to stay alone and live with the nature, but people around her always disturb her.
"Tell all the truth but tell it slant" is saying that common people cannot accept the truth. Instead, people like to hear about lies and gradually figure out the truth. In this poem, she also uses metaphor. She describes the truth as lightning. If people directly know about the truth, they will dazzle and even get blind. This probably describes about how her view of the people around her. Because she is a recluse, she is more likely to see through the appearance to the essence. But people in the community cannot do it and sometimes even think her idea is crazy. Also, use of words also helps her to illustrate her point. The second line says that: "Success in Circuit lies". Of course, this means that success is found in circuit, but the word "lies" has its second meaning, which is dishonest. Probably Emily Dickinson wants to tell that telling a truth to a whole community or people around her needs unremitting effort; he/she also needs to lie to them so that they can truly accept the truth.

Poem reading

1. I'm Nobody! Who are you?

• Only two stanzas
• four lines for each stanza
• The poem relates to herself maybe?
• Nobody -> she is alone, until she finds another "Nobody" so that they become a group
• Words like "Nobody", "Somebody", "Frog" is capitalized
• Somebody might means people around them, and they always gossip about her.

2. Tell all the truth but tell it slant

• Two stanzas
• Four lines for each
• Talking about the truth
• In the poem she says that people cannot accept the truth
• People might accept the truth in an euphemistic way
• Truth are always dazzle that people cannot accept it directly; 
• Truth -> lightning; if people directly gaze at it, they will be blind -> people cannot accept the truth

3. "Hope" is the thing with feathers

• 3 stanzas
• four lines for each
• Hope is like a little bird
• The voice of the bird is heard whenever people feel pain or suffer in some situation
• Hope is like an encouragement
• For the ending, my interpretation is that having a hope does not need to sacrifice or lose anything; but it does not mean that you can achieve it.

4.  Wild nights - Wild nights!

• 3 stanzas
• Four lines for each
• In a wild night, once a person has a goal that he wants to achieve, or a love he/she wants to pursue, then he/she has the hope so that he/she does not need anyone's help to achieve the goal. (Done with compass, done with the chart)

Sample Questions from the most recent exams

5. Select a passage from a novel you have chosen to study which provides an effective introduction of an important character or characters. How would you use staging, design and acting to ensure that this introduction would have dramatic importance for the audience?

• Gabriel's first appearance
• Chapter 5, pg49-50
• Sound of Helicopter
• Coming down from a step/stair -> to show the identity difference
• Nice and luxury dress 
• Walk with a great care (since there were mud everywhere)
• Arrogant face
• Peasants should bend down
• Feel sick about the hut, the village, etc.
• condescension
• Skim over Desiree
• Stop Desiree when she tries to talk to him.
• Throwing the coins to Mama Euralie -> relates to the scene when Daniel throws the coin to peasants

4. Select a passage from the concluding chapter of a novel you have chosen to study and show how acting, staging effects and design can combine to make it an effective ending for an audience.

• Chapter 16, pg 165-166, "he hadn't seen her....
• The scene when Daniel throws coins to peasant and ignores Desiree. When Deisree looks at herself, she is dirty, her dress is rugged, and bare foot.
• Daniel should stand on a stage -> show that he is superior
• Throw coins and laugh
• Skim over Desiree -> there is no love between him and Desiree anymore
• Desiree's rugged dress shows that her peasant identity was back
• Projecting the butterflies (VR) -> butterflies come to take her life away
• Desiree should scream when butterflies project on the screen, other peasants ignore her -> showing that nobodies care

6. Select a passage from a novel you have chosen to study which contains a scene of pivotal

importance to a theme in the narrative. Outline how you would stage the scene paying particular

attention to how the theme might be effectively dramatized for an audience.

• Chapter 4, pg 46-47
• Desiree give her soul to Papa Ge
• Everybody feels asleep
• Stage is dark
• When Papa Ge appears, red spotlight on him
• Walks slowly to Desiree
• Desiree and Daniel stays in the center of the stage
• Desiree sings, and tell Papa Ge she will give her soul to him
• Papa Ge at this point approaches to her, and pretend to take out something from her
• Using projection, showing that a soul is pulling up by Gaga Ge
• Shows the theme of love, sacrifice
• Desiree should become weak -> audience can see hat and give her sympathy 

Director's vision for MLML

I will focus on the identity of people on the island. Firstly, focusing on the clothing/wearing of characters can show the difference between two different groups. For the peasants, they could wear something that is rugged, and they are barefoot. For the rich, they can wear something that is gaudy/luxury. More like a tragedy. I want to amplify the tragedy of Desiree.