Entry 1_ Dương Thu Hằng

Entry 1
  Item 1. Poem

Remember 

Remember me when I am gone away, 
Gone far away into the silent land; 
When you can no more hold me by the hand, 
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. 
Remember me when no more day by day 
You tell me of our future that you planned: 
Only remember me; you understand 
It will be late to counsel then or pray. 
Yet if you should forget me for a while 
And afterwards remember, do not grieve: 
For if the darkness and corruption leave 
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, 
Better by far you should forget and smile 
Than that you should remember and be sad

Source: 

http://www.englishonline.co.uk/freesite_tour/resource/literature/rossettipoems.html

Rhetorical devices:

Repetition

The term ‘remember’ runs, like a refrain, throughout the

 poem. However, its power seems to decrease through the poem, rather as if the voice and memory of the speaker is fading from life:

• The first two imperative verbs are placed at the start rather than the end of the first and fifth lines
• In the middle of the seventh, the strength of the request is modified by the word ‘Only’ on its third appearance

·         It is further qualified in adverbial sub-clauses by ‘And afterwards’ and “Better by far you should forget and smile  / Than that you should remember and be sad” in the sestet, losing its association with ‘me’.

Further repetition with variation is seen in:

• ‘gone away / Gone far away’, which reinforces the distance that is growing between the speaker and her lover and emphasizes the boundary that exists between life and death
• ‘if you should forget / Better … you should forget’, which turns the possibility of forgetfulness into an imperative.

Rhyme

·         “away-stay-day-pray”

·         “land-hand-plan-understand”

·         “while-smile”

·         “grieve-leave”

·         “had-sad”

Symbol

·         The hand - The speaker anticipates a time when her lover will no longer be able to ‘hold’ her ‘by the hand’ (line 3). The image of holding hands is one is often used to indicate the first manifestations of love between a man and woman. By using the image of hand-holding in Remember, Rossetti suggests a kind of possession. By indicating that her lover will no longer be able to hold her by the hand the speaker suggests that he will no longer have any part in her or be able to possess her in the same way as he was perhaps used to.

·         Darkness and corruption - The speaker foresees a time when, once the ‘darkness and corruption’ that are associated with grief and death leave the beloved, only a ‘vestige’ or trace of the speaker’s presence will remain. S/he does not specify what constitutes this ‘darkness and corruption’ but it may refer to the speaker’s physical state after death.

·         The ‘silent land’ - The speaker anticipates entering the ‘silent land’ which she perceives to be ‘far away’ from life on earth. As well as indicating physical distance, the phrase ‘far away’ is also suggestive of quite obvious differences. It is hinted that the land to which the speaker looks forward to going, is very different from the land the beloved is used to inhabiting.

Message analysis:

The moral lesson is forgiveness and remembrance.  The speaker asks to be remembered after her death, when physical contact is no longer possible. This poem is a beautiful poem that speaks from death, reminding the people who are left behind to remember the person who has passed on. This poem tells people to remember the departed, but not to be sad that they are no longer sharing a life together.

Item 2. Story

The Monkey and her baby

One day the king of the gods decided to find out which of the animals had the most beautiful baby. So he asked every kind of animal to come and show him their baby. He said he would give the animal with the most beautiful baby a big prize.

All the animals said they would come, for they all wanted to win prize for having the most beautiful baby.

The animals came in a long line, each with a baby to show the king. There was a cow and her calf, a dog and her puppy, a cat and her kitten, a sheep with her little lamb, a lion and her cub, a goat and her kid – in fact all the animals you can think of, with their babies.

They all passed in front of the king. He looked carefully at each baby to see which was the most beautiful. All the animals wondered which baby the king would choose to win the prize.

Having seen all the animals in the big parade, the king of the gods was just about to say who the winner was when a monkey came running in carrying her baby. She thrust her baby into the king’s arms.

The king started down at the little creature with its wrinkled face and screwed-up eyes. “What ever is this?” asked the king.

The king thought it was the ugliest thing he had ever seen. He held the baby well away from himself and stared at it. “Take it away!” he said. “It is the ugliest baby I have ever seen!”

All the other animals began to laugh.

The mother monkey took her baby and cuddled it in her arms. “I don’t care what you say” she said. “You can give the prize to whoever you like. I know that my baby is the most beautiful baby of all!”

Monkeys, like all mothers, think that their own child is the best.

Source: African folktale

Rhetorical devices:

·          Metaphor: "all animals" – all mothers in the world.

                 “king of the gods” – who has the most powerful person in the world.

·         Parallelism: There was a cow and her calf, a dog and her puppy, a cat and her kitten, a sheep with her little lamb, a lion and her cub, a goat and her kid – in fact all the animals you can think of, with their babies.

Message analysis:

When you love someone as much as a parent loves a child, they are beautiful in our eyes--regardless of how they really look.

Item 3. Picture

Source :http://www.cagle.com/working/110323/payne.jpg and published by The Detroit News on 03/23/2011.

Rhetorical devices:

·         Irony: the earthquake hit Japan, but is also affecting people in another country.

·         Metaphor: any people in the world, a Japanese brand car.

·         Overstatement

Message:

The message of this cartoon is that any people in the world that drives Japanese cars will be hurt because the auto production in Japan is down due to the earthquake. The irony in this cartoon is that the earthquake hit Japan, but is also affecting another country. This relates to our discussions on the economy.