Final Blog Post

My top three favorite Blog Posts

3

http://lwithforce.blogspot.com/2011/09/homer-analyzed-or-interpreted.html
In this post i talk about my discovery of the idea that Homer can be Analyzed but not interpruted. It opened my mid and remined me that everybody comprehends a reading differentley than the other.

2

http://lwithforce.blogspot.com/2011/10/tragedy.html

I talk about who I thought was the tragic hero and why and it was interesting to see who fellow classmates picked as their tragic hero. Each person interpretation of Antigone was different.  

http://lwithforce.blogspot.com/2011/11/open-post.html

1

In this blog post I talk about Dante's version of Hell and how his version of Satan was different from the cliche that I am used to. Satan is punsihed rather than reigning over Hell. This was an amazing idea that i had not realized before.

I liked #3 a lot because it opened my mind. It pointed out a different way of thinking that Homer and his readings can be analyzed but not interpreted and made me realize that many other readings can be interpreted in a different way by each person. A great thing interpretation is. We see different viewpoints and discover different meanings from each person.

I liked number 2 alot. I was able to write down my thoughts and interpretation of Antigone and also see the thoughts and views of others. Other students had different thoughts and ideas and it was very interesting to hear them on what was my second favorite reading we read this semester. Some considered Antigone to be the classic hero and others Creon. I felt that Creon was the tragic hero but I could not help but  agree with fellow classmates argument that Antigone was the tragic hero.

My favorite blog post of the semester #1. It is not my favorite out of the shear fact that the topic was on The Inferno but because I had a breakthrough in thought and outlook. My vision of Satan had been changed from a Satan that was tortured in Hell but still reigned over the souls of the damned. Dante's Satan is one that is punished just as much if not more than any other soul damned to Hell. Maybe it was just me and the images Ive seen in movies  but Satan was held captive in Hell rather than reigning in Hell in The Inferno and I thought that was an amazing idea that I was unaware for.

I believe that these three posts were my best work of the semester because they were from the three topics I was the most passionate about. i enjoyed our other readings from the semester. i really enjoyed Beowulf, and learning about the different creation myths and their different meanings. The topics from these three blog posts spoke to me the most and I was able to form a connection to them and was sucked in. I think that's important to be passionate and existed on a topic you write about. especially if that topic is for a midterm essay or final essay paper. There may be readings and topics that may not excite us as readers but English 257 has changed the way I look and think about literature. I may not like a reading as much as others but 257 has taught me that there is meaning, worth, and importance in each literary work. It is there and we can find it if we try and put our nightmare's of high school literature behind us.

Many are are often not taught how to read The Iliad or Shakespeare in high school which often makes a bad reputation for literature. My views on Literature Have certainly changed after this class and I have learned to be excited and passionate about readings and English Literature over all. There is meaning and beauty and o much depth in the words in stories that is there for the enjoyment of it's readers.

Even while trying to avoid bias I believe my performance in English 257 has been very good. I have had a few speed bumps throughout the semester but overall i think I have done pretty good. I have spoke up in class on several occasions which is rare for me in other classes but i am learning to be more vocal and less timid or quiet in class. I have learned a lot about literature and about writing as well. I did not do so great on the Mid term paper but its opportunities like that that help us improve and learn.I have learned how to be even more of a critical thinker and that to do often times means to accept the different interpretations and viewpoints of others to be a well balanced thinker.  I have learned more about writing an argument and just how important adding support and evidence to your argument and paper is. I am very grateful that Scott is so willing to work with us on our papers and help prepare us for future college writing which is one of the most important skills of the college student. The small group discussion workshop was  a very valuable lesson that helps students understand the importance of reading material before class and coming prepared. It is true that at times students will learn the most from each other by contributing to discussion rather then only the instructor.

As a writer I need to remember to add evidence and proof to my papers to backup my argument and make sure that my readers are able to connect my arguments with examples from the text. As a thinker I need to remember to look at writings in different ways and viewpoints. By thinking about things from different ideas and viewpoints a reader and writer will be able to learn new things and derive different meanings from anything they read.

I took Theater 101 and English 257 to fulfill a requirement at Boise State for my area 1 of arts. I admit I was a little nervous about a literature class but am so happy I took the risk it was worth it. I am 10 classes away from getting my Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice and  English 257 has further helped me prepare for the upper division Criminal justice classes I am taking. Classes that contain discussions and term papers of 15 pages and lots of writing, citing and including evidence to your arguments. This class has been a huge help for me and am grateful I took it from such a good instructor. Now its time for the awkward part of saying what my final grade should be. I believe I should get an A or at  a high B. I tried my hardest on each assignment and learned a lot form English 257. I missed two days because I had to get my Wisdom teeth out and a Migraine on the 2nd class meeting. This was a class that I never wanted to miss. I love the topics and discussions that came out of this class. I was saddened to learn that I'd miss the 2nd discussion of Dante when i got my Wisdom Teeth out but I guess they wanted to come out then!. I learned a lot from this semester and will take the lessons I learned on readings and writings with me down my road of criminal justice. Thank you for a great semester!!! :)

Open Post Friday December 2nd

Dante paints an extremely detailed and visual image of Hell that the average person may not think of. Dante's Hell is certainly a punitive place as well as dark and violent. I did not realize how much of a task creating an image of Hell similar to Dante's truly is. Some aspects of creating a nine level CWI Hell are easier than others and some are very difficult. Brainstorming the various crimes and punishments of hell were difficult as well as developing characters that a Dante-like figure would meet in that place. Overall creating a Hell as terrible and realistic as the Hell of Dante's The Inferno is no easy task. Maybe it was just my group or the time constraint we had to create our Hell or maybe it was just me. Dante did have a lot of time on his hands while in exile that he used to create his hellish masterpiece.

My groups Hell derived from the norm on many occasions and actually created a "divine comedy" with many aspects but that was OK. We had our laughs but the assignment opened my eyes on the amount of work, time, dedication, and detail that went into the making of The Inferno, Purgatorial, and Paradiso. The Inferno was the "Lord of the Rings" or "Star Wars" of Dante's generation and its still making and leaving its mark on the world today. The Inferno is not only a literary masterpiece but it should serve as a wake up call to whoever reads it. Whether hardcore followers or believers of religion or non believers the message of thinking about ones behaviors and actions on the world should be reexamined. The Inferno shouldn't strike fear of eternal damnation and torture into the world to straighten humans out but make them think about the impacts of their behaviors.

If only it was enough for humans to do good in this world without use of threat of eternal damnation, torture, and misery. I cannot find the words to express the brilliance of Dante's writings. I have not gotten this into or excited about a piece of literature since I read "The Iliad" and the war on Troy. As many, I hope that Dante's Inferno is made into a movie. In fact a trilogy would be in order. a movie for The Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. I'd imagine a few elements would me adapted for the excitement of the silver screen but I hope that they would stay true to the basis of the poem.

Upon reading The Inferno a video game about it caught my eye. Dante's Inferno from the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The game's story stayed true to the poem with few alterations. It was very exciting to see The Inferno visually come to life in the video game. It was the next best thing aside of Dante's visual description in the poem. I would highly recommend any avid gamer with a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 to pick up this game and watch Dante's The Inferno come to life. It is well worth it. I will be suggesting The Inferno to ny network of friends and family who have not read it yet. I look forward to reading the Purgotorio and Paradiso in greater depth. Dante has been my favorite subject in this class and it would be worth it to explore the other books in the class rather then the other topics we read. That is just me though!

Response Wednseday November 30th The Evolution of Religion

I found both Jake's and David's responses on "what happens to us after Death" to be very interesting. I agreed with David's point that he feels that it does not matter what religion you belong to and an allegiance to only one would not damn a person. Jake's statement:


"You can be the best professing “Christian” you can be and still spend eternity in hell.  Going to church every Sunday, helping the poor, and being a good neighbor will do nothing for you in light of eternity. The Bible says “all our righteousness's are as filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6)  Any good work we can do, or any religion we follow will not be good enough to gain God’s favor.  Man tries to earn his way to heaven through, when all we have to do is trust Christ.  Christ has already paid the penalty for our sins on the cross, and using religion or any other means to try to earn our way to heaven is an insult to God".

This statement has answered the many questions I get about Dante's version of Hell. I find Dante's Inferno to be moving, interesting, and amazing. It is one of the best stories I have read in a long time. I have told almost everybody I know along with anybody Else who would listen about the story of Dante's Inferno. I see the same patterns of questions appearing with each time I explain Dante's Inferno. My brother always asks me how people would be accepted into heaven when the for credentials of Hell and eternal Damnation seems to be so detailed. Dante's Inferno lists the 9 levels of Hell and proscribes the punishments for each sin which appears to be unforgivable. People say that with the list of sins and crimes that result in damnation it would appear as if everybody in the world would be going to hell as everybody has committed one of the 9 crimes listed and more. 

I am then asked what must a person do to get into heaven? What must they do to be absolved of all their sins and escape an eternity of torture, torment, and misery.? Jake's response has got me thinking and it seems that the answer has been provided through the evolution of religion. Our version of Heaven Hell compared to Dante's age of Hell have come to mean different things. The common desire of avoiding Hell has not changed. Jake's philosophy that it doesn't matter what you say, do, or not do the reality is that all people sin and there is nothing man can do to "work off" their negative marks that have been bestowed by sin. Jake explains that if man believes in God, trust in God, and believe in our hearts that we will be forgiven of the sins we've committed.

It seems so much easier to create scenarios and reasons of why people are to be damned but developing up a list of to dos on how to get into heaven is even even harder. Dante's Inferno is certainly an eye opener that makes people think twice about their actions and what happens after they die. Dante's Inferno opens up a lot of questions. I often wonder about how people would be labeled to go to any 1 of the 9 levels of hell. Would a person earn a one way ticket to hell for committing one of the 9 sins once, or must they have participated in a lifetime of that sin.        

Open Post

From my readings of Dante's Inferno I've come to believe that its version of Hell is the scariest I have ever seen. Each level of Hell gets worse the deeper it goes. I still find it interesting as well as pretty cool that Dante sees  famous figures throughout his journeys through Hell. The fact that the devil is frozen in Ice is a different vision that I had developed in my mind. It throws out the saying "It's better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven". This interpretation shows that the devil is indeed not reigning in hell but being punished like the rest of the damned. The devil receives the worst punishment of them all and is not a "king of Hell".

The hell of Dante's Inferno serves as a individualized Hell where each punishment is matched up to crime. Hell in this story departs from the traditional norm of Hell being one place of fire, brimstone, and ash. It is very interesting to see that in some instances the damned is being punished by the very thing he loved the most in life. They must have loved this action or behavior to such an extreme point that it was even more then that of their love for God. This being the reason they were damned. Some punishments seem worse then others such as forced to live in a world of violence and killing for eternity. 

Hell seems to be the ultimate and final judgement for almost every version of Hell that exists. Once individuals are sent to Hell there is no coming back you are doomed forever and ever and ever and ever. I would imagine that a crime to receive this ultimate damnation of never being forgiven by god or allowed into heaven would have to be equally great. I find it interesting that humans were damned for many of the behaviors that were in their nature. I also saw that a majority of the famous figures were not Christians such as Paris, Achilles, Plato, or Socrates. This may be the reason they were damned because they did not repent and were non believers.  

I looked ahead a bit and found that the Paradiso was as equally as interesting as "The Inferno". Heaven has 9 levels just has Hell had its 9 levels. Each of the nine levels are based on similar but different levels according to actions and behaviors. The final level leads to God himself just as Satan was found in its deepest level. These levels are known as "Spheres". These Levels include:

First Sphere (The Moon: The Inconstant)

Second Sphere (Mercury: The Ambitious)

Third Sphere (Venus: The Lovers)

Fourth Sphere (The Sun: The Wise)

Fifth Sphere (Mars: The Warriors of the Faith)

Sixth Sphere (Jupiter: The Just Rulers)

Seventh Sphere (Saturn: The Contemplatives)

Eighth Sphere (The Fixed Stars: Faith, Hope, and Love)

Ninth Sphere (The Primum Mobile: The Angels)

The Empyrean

Response

What happens after death is a greater mystery for some than even the miracle of birth itself. The theories, beliefs, and disbelief's are as vast as there are people dying in this world. Some of these views of death are punitive and some of them rehabilitative. Some contain the idea of reincarnation yet others believe in misery, damnation, and the unknown. It is any ones guess on which one is the truth or if any of our theories about dying are even close at all. Looking through the blogs of our fellow classmates I can see the different beliefs and theories of what happens during life, before life, and after death. I find it very thoughtful that Jake's blog included different cultures and belief systems and how they may be different they still have much in common. I find it vital that the various beliefs and morals of different religions and philosophies are shared and have great respect for those who are willing to display their own beliefs on there blog without fear of judgement. Sharing knowledge about different viewpoints (which is much of what this class is about) is what helps us understand each other even if we do not agree.

I also agree with Nathanael that it would be interesting to study the biblical version in hell as well as further explore the reasons for the belief of a heaven or a hell. Dante's Inferno is indeed the one thing I have been looking forward to this semester. The concept of having 9 layers of Hell based on different crimes is very interesting. I find it impressive that Dante developed this image and story and wonder how many of these great writers develop some oaf these concepts. Concepts and stories that especially have nothing else to goof of. Like a person painting a picture without ever seeing an object. The theory's of what a "pear" might look like from those who have never actually seen one would be just as interesting as Dante's version of Hell. I agree with Scot ts reference to T.S. Elliot's saying that" There is Shakespeare and Dante and nothing else comes close". 

  I have never read Dante's inferno before but after looking over of some summary's there are many interesting things about the poem. In class where I heard that Satan was trapped in ice I pictured him completely engulfed as if frozen solid. However, he is only frozen from the waist down and is fighting vigorously to get free. The The cold wins only trap him more. I found this to be a mind opening moment. I have always had the picture in my mind that Satan "Reigned over Hell or at least was the chief individual there. From reading this my vision was changed from Satan being the ruler of Hell to him being punished just as much as the rest of the damned. I found this to be a very interesting view of things. I always pictured Satan being damned to Hell as a very bad place but him as somewhat of the chief of the damned.  

Open Post: Death and the Underworld

The discussions that are ahead of use for the last few weeks have been the one's that I have been waiting for all semester. I am excited to discuss Death and the underworld and especially Dante and The Inferno. I read The Inferno in High School and found it to be very interesting. The seven levels of Hell as well as the experiences of the people who are in "Limbo" or the waiting room between Heaven or Hell will be interesting to explore further. The word "Inferno" is actually "Italian" for Hell. It is interesting that this interprutation of Hell believes that there is multiple sections each being worse than the other. The levels make sense as they are based on the seriousness of cime or sin.  

The nine layers of Hell include:

1 Limbo

2 Lust

3 Gluttony

4 Avarice

5 Anger

6 Heresy

7 Violence

8Fraud

9 Treachery

It is interesting because it was rumored that several famous characters were seen in many of the 7 layers of Hell as Dante ventured through them. Famous names such as Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Achilles, Paris, and  Lancelot and Guinevere were believed to be seen in the 2nd layer of Lust as Dante passed through. Death plays such a significant role in our lives and every human searches for answers to what might possibly happen when we die. Theories on death for pas civilizations such as the Greek's is fascinating to read about. It's mysterious how they developed the beliefs that they did and their interpretations of life after death.

It seems that the concept of Death is ever changing. Death evolves through the generations and comes to signify something that it didn't mean before. Throughout time people have learned to fear death, to embrace it, celebrate it, and dwell on it. In some cultures such as Grease there was no greater honor than dying on the battlefield. Dying in battle was so glorious that for some it was more valuable than living. For example Achilles was foretold by his mother that if he ventured to Troy it would be the end of him. His fame would walk hand and hand with his doom. Knowing that he went anyway as he would have rather died and have his name remembered for thousands of years then live a normal long life where people would forget his name.

Death seems further away to the people of the world today with the advances of medical technology and quilty of life. There are still things that we still can't over come with death such as old age or diseases. That doesn't stop people. There are some people with diseases that if they could would freeze themselves until a cure for a disease or the stopper of old age is dicovered. The answers to these impossible questions are connected with the many other questions of life. Questions that have plauged mankind for centuries such as what happens when we die, how did we get here, is there really a God led me to the disturbing question.

What if we Humans are the Aliens of Earth and that we came here from someplace else and somehow forgot how we got here?

 

Small group Discussions

I was looking forward to the small group discussion and was interested to see how they worked.  I think Beowulf was a great story and was worth discussing for our small group discussions. There are however, many other topics in class that I would be very excited to see integrated into small group discussions. I think the idea of small group discussions is a great idea. I think discussions like these at multiple times during a semester would be beneficial for the preparation of college reading and writing skills.

Graded exercises like these small group discussions are good for students whether they like it or not. It forces them to learn the material and come to class prepared rather then just let fellow classmates lead the way. A wise teacher once asked my class the question "Are you going to school for a degree or an education"? Most students want both things but others skate through their college years striving for nothing more than that piece of paper saying you know something about something significant. Students may get that degree by going through school and being "average" or skating by but they do not develop the skills and knowledge that there degrees represent to a certain degree. Many students can take quizzes, come to class, an BS there way through school but they are missing the very purpose of school. C's earn degrees but they don't earn careers as my Juvenile justice teacher tells us every day.

I prepared for the small group discussions by reading through Beowulf a couple times and taking notes as I went. I had no idea what to expect from the small group discussion but I knew I had to be prepared. I prepared for last Fridays class. I always like to be ready for my classes but sometimes things come up with outside of life  and from other classes. This excercise teaches students to bring out there potential and strive to do their best. I learned that it doesn't take much time or effort to succeed in life or class. The motivation and drive is what is needed to will yourself to do what needs to be done. I noticted that throughout my college career the fear of the unknown has clouded my will to succeed. questions like what if I fail or what if this happens constantley go through your mind and keep you from preparing for a task and being your best. Controlling your thoughts and handling your failures in college is just as important as being prepared and knowing your material. I have learned to use that "bad grade" or 'bad situation" as fuel to push me to do better. I don't let things get me down and I use them to get better, improve,and help others whith what i've learned. The small group discussions was very fun and I learned a great deal of new veiws and skills and it renfoced what I have been told about school for years.

The three most important things I learned from the small group discussion and that have been reinforced was that:

1. If you prepare and study for something you will succeed and the discussion will be enjoyable.

2. Coming prepared just doesnt help yourself it helps the students around by introducing them with new imformation and veiew points on readings.

3.  Talking in groups isnts as painful and scary as i once thought and its educational, fun, and enjoyable. It helps open up the minds of the class and discover multiple interprtations of a text which is very interesting.

The small group discussions was an enjoyable excercise that shows that a little bit of confidence and perperation can go a long way in a class or even the real world for that matter.