9 Elements of Poetry

The poem I choose awhile ago was "I Cry" by Tupac Shakur.  It meant a lot to me and I thought it brought a different side to the rapper Tupac.  

• The first element from the poem is dramatic situation.  The speaker of the poem is the rapper 2pac and from the poem we can tell he is a sad guy who often is upset.  We can tell from his circumstances that the people around him don't care enough about him to help him with his depression. 
• The structure of the poem is it is one stanza but has three last little lines by themselves. All the lines in the poem relate to the fact that he is depressed but has to hid that from the people around him.  Each line is a complete thought that continues off of the last one.  There is only repetition in the lines with "I Cry" in them and the poem has a rhyming scheme to it. 
• The theme of the poem is that most people do have as sensitive side to them.  Tupac was supposed to be this bad guy who is tough and doesn't let anything get to him. When really he was more vulnerable then almost everyone gave him credit.  He even had to act like this tough guy in front of the people around him because they didn't care about his soft side.  The theme is don't judge a book by it's cover. 
• The grammar the author uses is proper but the lines are fragments.  The author doesn't continue off of these fragments so his thoughts are complete to the audience.  There is a lot of meaning to his words that go beyond the literal meanings of the words. 
• I think that this poem does have a lot of literal and figurative language.  When he repeats "I cry but only when I'm alone," he is literally meaning that the only time when he does get to cry and let his emotions out is when he is by himself.  The figurative language he uses is like, "they flow with life but take no form," by that he is talking about his tears and how they don't really show up but they flow throughout his daily life. 
• The important words of the poem are, "I Cry", "only when I'm alone", and "I would cry among my treasure friend." These are the most important words because the author is letting us know that he does in fact cry but he only does this when he is alone.  If he did have a friend that cared then he would spill his emotions to that person, but since he doesn't he has to hide those feelings.
• The tone of this poem is sad and gloomy.  He wants the audience to know that there is this side to him that is depressed and is going through tough times in life, but really has no one to turn to and help him out. 
• There are some literary techniques like metaphors and a hyperbole.  His metaphors compare his tears to the way people perceive him.  He says that his tears are bitter and warm, and this may be because he doesn't want to have these emotions to keep his tough guy image but it does feel good to let them out when he can.  He exaggerates the fact that his crying takes form and is with him all the time. 
• The procedure of the poem is there is a distinct flow to it, that is easy for the reader to comprehend what his message his.  There is also a rhythm to it and that also helps to the reader.  The rhyme is ever two lines are grouped together throughout. 
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Why he wrote it?

Charles Dickens wrote the book Great Expectations to portray life during this time in England. It is a semi-autobiographical story and is claimed to be his darkest writing. It is supposed to be his greatest use of plot, characterization, and style and the masterpiece of Dickens' works. His use of symbolism of the mist shows how some might consider this too be his darkest writing. He uses diction and syntax that is very descriptive and that's why some consider that to be his greatest use of plot, characterization, etc. 

Great Expectations Questions and Answers

Questions:
1. What happens to Pip when he's at the courtyard visiting the gravestones? 
2. What does it mean that Pip has been raised "by hand"? 
3. How does the shackled man respond when Pip asks him if he will save any food for his friend? 
4. Why does Pip get more and more nervous as their Christmas dinner progresses? 
5. Why are the soldiers outside of Pips house? 
6. When Pip has to go with the soldiers to find the convicts, what does the shacked man do that surprises Pip? 
7. What happens when Pip brings home the note from school? 
8. What is implied about England's government when Dickens has Joe tell Pip that Mrs. Joe, being given to government, does not want him to be able to read and write?
9. How does Estella criticize Pip, and what does his reaction to her criticism reveal about Pip?
10. Pip is ashamed of his home, and is unhappy there: why doesn't he run away?


Answers:
1. He is met by a ragged looking man with an iron shackle on his leg. Who threaten Pip to bring him food the next day or he will get hunted down. 
2. This means that he has been raised by a hand that won't hesitate to hit him if he gets out of line. The person who does this most often is his sister. She and her husband have raised him since he was young. 
3. The man laughs as if his friend didn't mean anything to him. Then once Pip says he ran into another man earlier, the shackled man gets curious. He asks Pip to point him into the direction where the man was. 
4. As the dinner goes on, Pip gets closer to getting caught for bringing that food and drink to the shackled man. He replaced the brandy with tar water and when his uncle starts drinking it he starts coughing. Then before they eat the pork pie he bolts out the door before they find out what he did. 
5. They need the blacksmith (Joe) to fix the handcuffs so that they can track down the two prisoners who escaped. This is a relief for Pip because he felt they were coming to arrest him. 
6. The shackled man recognizes Pip and once again Pip is nervous that he will get in trouble. During the whole police report the man never tells on Pip or admits what Pip did. The man also takes the blame and says he robbed the blacksmiths house. This taking Pip off the hook. 
7. Joe tries to read it but it's hard to make out. Then the two realize that Pip is close to be illiterate. Then Joe goes in depth of his childhood and his education. 
8. Mrs. Joe is being compared to the Englush government because Dickens says that the English government does not want its lower classes to be educated. He believes that if the lower class recieves education they could rebel and take over the goverment.
9. She critisizes how Pip is just a common labouring boy. Pip for the first time feels ashamed of being "common". He felt inferior to her and later cries because of her cruelty.
10. Pip decides not to run away because he had no where lese to go and Joe had always been friendly and nice to him.

Great Expectations (1st 10 pages)

In the opening of this novel we are introduced to the main character whose name is Pirrip. He starts off in a churchyard in England. A man with a iron leg confronts him and we learn that Pip has lived with his sister his whole life. This is some what similar to how Dickens was raised because he had to grow up without his family and have to over come not having a lot. The man threatens Pip to bring him back some food and if he doesn't then this young boy will find him and kill him. This shows that it was hard growing up in Englad durinf these times because food was scarce and people would have to steal.