Creative project
responses April 14 2011
Group 1
While
all the groups did an excellent job, I found Group 1Õs project to be the most
meaningful. I loved how they integrated the chimney sweep song from Mary
Poppins, which was something I forgot even existed until Thursday. When
we watched the song clip from their project, I was filled with that weird
sensation one gets when fond memories from childhood are dug up. I
remembered being young, how much I liked the song, and the innocent
interpretation I had at the time. However, what I found so intriguing is
I genuinely experienced the Innocence vs. Experience that William Blake wrote
poems about. I could remember what the song was like when I was young,
but I couldnÕt understand at all what a Chimney sweep had to do with anything
back then. Now, at my more ÒexperiencedÓ age, I could draw the parallel
between the song, BlakeÕs chimney sweep poem, and the overall irony of a
chimney sweep being an extremely happy person. This was something I
missed completely when I was a youngster watching this moving. I now can
see how the chimney sweep can sing with the innocent children, portraying
himself as the happiest man alive, while they believe it, knowing nothing of
the hardships this man endures in his profession. However, it would be
much harder for someone to sing joyfully about being a chimney sweep with a
mature person who understands the unpleasantness of the job. All in all,
this group did an amazing job integrating this song in a way I could relate to.
In looking at the first round of presentations from April 14th, 2011, I
think all of the groups did an amazing job! I think after watching them all, I
would have to say that Group 1 performance was definitely my favorite and had
the most impact on me. They had a very creative idea of incorporating a song as
well as a piece from Mary Poppin's to express the difference between Blake's
songs of innocence and experience poems about the Chimney Sweeper. I think the
song they chose very well represented the tone that Blake was trying to convey
in his poem of experience, a more somber setting. The clip from Mary Poppin's
also did a great job of depicting the image of his poem of innocence, talking
about the great time that chimney sweepers have together. All and all it was
very well organized and voiced!
From
the groups that performed last Thursday, group 1 stuck with me the most. I read
the chimney sweep poems my senior year of high school and they have stuck with
me ever since. When we were assigned to read them, I remembered the discussion
that was had my senior year and it was nice to be able to apply that to my
experience during their presentation. Also, I loved Marry Poppins growing up!
By relating the two, poem and child's story, gave a new meaning to both of
them. The outlook on the poems gave a different spin on the chimney sweeps in
Marry Poppins. The song by the Decemberists also gave a new light to the poems,
I had never heard that song before so it was a new and enlightening experience.
The group had great detail and explanation as they described how all of the
references to chimney sweeps involved both innocence and experience.
I really enjoyed the
presentation on The Chimney Sweep. I liked hearing that there was a
relationship to Mary Poppins, that made it interesting for me to learn about. I
think the reason that this poem grabs my attention more than the others is
because it is relatable in the sense that there is a kid struggling to find his
place in the life his parents have set up. The message that you are born into
what your parents provide you and donÕt quite have a say as to whether you like
it is a powerful message. I also noticed that there was a melancholy feel to
the poem and I agree that Mary Poppins would be a little more modern and
happier than this version. If we relate it to innocence and experience you
could almost say the poem offers both of them. It is filled with innocence when
it is taking through the kid, and then when it is talking about him there is so
much experience that offers a new outlook on how he is placed into his
circumstances. I also thought it was interesting how it mentioned that God is
the creator of their misery, rather than being the savior. This would be
understandable aside from the fact that his mother and father are praying to
God. So it sounds like the kid has resentful feelings towards his parents
already. Because this was written while slavery was still in affect it is
reasonable to believe that this black child was either on a plantation or had
something to do with one. With this being said, it is ironic that the poem
places God as the creator of the heaven of their misery. If you think about it
Christianity is the most influential factor in slavery so it makes sense that
this child has some resentment towards his parents praying to God.
I
believe that Group 1 did the best job of clearly and enthusiastically
presenting the material in their project, as well as keeping the audience
interested in what they were talking about. They focused mainly on The Songs of
Innocence and Experience from William Blake, which was my favorite material
weÕve studied so far so I was happy about that. I enjoyed these writing because
they are the easiest for us to relate to, as well as understand. They first
started out by playing a rock song that related to William BlakeÕs poem of
innocence. It did this because it talked about not knowing truth or whatÕs
really out there, just like the innocent child in the poem. Some of the lyrics
include how heÕs a Òpoor and wretched boyÓ who doesnÕt understand reality quite
yet. This is relatable to us in our lives because although we are young adults,
there are often times that we may feel lost or confused, like we are the
innocent young baby. Next they played a clip from the famous movie Mary Poppins
to relate to BlakeÕs references to the chimneysweeper. The group stressed the
fact that although the chimneysweeper doesnÕt have the most glamorous job, they
may have adapted to that lifestyle in a way that they actually enjoy what they
do. The job they have is not just a way to make money but also a tradition that
has its own family and culture that goes along with it. IÕm glad they explored this
topic because I wouldnÕt have thought that on my own. Overall the presentation
was enlightening and helped me understand BlakeÕs work much better.
The Group that stood out
the most to me was Group 1. I thought that the contemporary song that was played
in the beginning was useful because it related William BlakeÕs poems ("The
Chimney Sweep") to themes that are relevant now. I think that this song
was able to help the class be interested in the poems, because it was a style
of music that many people listen to today, and was a popular band. It helped me
realize that William BlakeÕs poems still relate to people in our generation.
His messages of comparing innocence and experience are not only relevant to
prior centuries. I also enjoyed the song from ÒMary PoppinsÓ that was shown.
The song was called ÒChimney SweepÓ. I always assumed that back when being a
chimney sweep was a big profession, people hated it and were unhappy. This clip
from the movie proved me wrong. The man who was the chimney sweep was extremely
chipper and loved his job. He was skipping around town, holding a little girlÕs
hand and saying hello to everyone in town. It was uplifting to see that someone
can enjoy a terrible job like being a chimney sweep, just because they look on
the bright side of things. I think that this clip from the movie relates to all
of William BlakeÕs innocence poems because his happiness is due to his lack of
experience. If he had a better job sometime in his life before being a chimney
sweep, then he wouldnÕt be happy with being a chimney sweep. He would know that
there are better things out there. I think that all of the groups did a good
job presenting the material, however I think that this group did the best at
relating it to modern day life.
In my
opinion, Group 1 (they went second) gave the best presentation on Thursday.
They analyzed William Blake's Chimney Sweep poems (both the one in
Innocence and the one in Experience) and compared them with more modern media
by playing two songs for the class, one by The Decemberists and, of course, the
ever-popular "Chim Chimeree" from Mary Poppins. Their use of
modern music was a great way to keep students' attention and relate the issues
presented by Blake to more current affairs. Their analysis was unique and
insightful, as they found hints of both innocence and experience in both poems
and songs. This approach was very interesting, and it kept my attention
throughout the entire presentation because they came at the project with a
different perspective. Prior to their presentation, I had not reached a
very deep level of understanding or admiration for these poems - the Chimney
Sweeps in particular held no special significance to me.
However, their interpretation was enlightening in that they did not just
scratch the surface; they were able to dig deeper into some very complicated
literature and present it in such a way that was entertaining and thoughtful. I
genuinely feel like I came away with more knowledge and appreciation for
Blake's poetry after seeing their presentation, and they encouraged me to take
a second look at even the most common media (even Mary Poppins has hidden,
deeper meanings). They all seemed well-versed, comfortable, and prepared
in front of the class.
I
really like group ones presentation. They did the best job keeping my attention
while simultaneously familiarizing me with material. I still canÕt get that
chimney sweep song from Mary-Poppins out of my head and I actually feel like I
get what Blake was trying to say about Chimney sweep life in his songs of
innocence and experience that much better because of it. Out of all the
presentation I easily remember this one the clearest and maybe that is only
because they presented early on, but regardless it was still my favorite. ItÕs
been years since I heard Mary-Poppins, but itÕs just one of those movies that
everyone saw as a kid. I really didnÕt mind the other song they played,
although I still think they could have picked a better song to pair with the
chimney sweep song. I really liked that they didnÕt try to act out one of the
poems we have already read outside of class and gave us something new to listen
to and that is why I think they were so successful.
I really liked group one's presentation on William Blake. I
thought that using modern pieces to relate to and help
convey the underling
messages of BlakeÕs Songs of Innocence and Experience, the
Chimney Sweep was a
brilliant way to present their project. In the first song
they played for us
the lyrics went on to talk about how this chimney sweeper
was realizing the
reality of his life and went day in and out just working as
a lowly chimney
sweeper. This definitely related very well to William
BlakeÕs take on the life
of the chimney sweeper in his Songs of Experience poem. I
could see that Blake
was trying to make us see the more brutal reality of being
a chimney sweeper.
The group pointed this out clearly by going over specific
lines of the poem
such as ÒAnd because I am happy & dance
& sing, they think they have done me no injury.Ó The second
piece they used
to relate to William BlakeÕs Songs of Innocence, the
Chimney Sweeper, was the
sing along scene about the Chimney Sweeper in the movie
Mary Poppins. I thought
this was a great relation to William BlakeÕs poem because
the Chimney Sweeper
in the sing along scene was cheery and upbeat, an almost
child like innocence
approach to such a horrible job. This was what I thought
Blake was trying to
convey to us to in his poem and I felt like the group
really helped make this
message clear. I also really liked group twoÕs presentation
on the William
BlakeÕs, Poisson Tree. At first I didnÕt really get
anything out of the poem
when the group first read it out loud. It was unclear to me
what the message of
the poem was or what it was trying to say. Thinks began to
become clearer,
concerning the message of the poem, when the group added
visual scenery and
acted out the poem. I started to see the hatred and the
malice that was
contained within the poem. The speaker in the poem had
hatred for this person
who stole another from him or her. This was clear by the
fact that a person was
poisoned by the tree and the speaker of the poem rejoiced
in this fact.
I
personally really enjoyed the presentation by group #1. Their presentation
using William Blake's poem the Chimney Sweep was very entertaining for me. I
love how they related it to a more modern rendition by a rock song that they
found. I thought that was very interesting and cool. The thing that I enjoyed
most was how they showed a happier version of the poem with playing a song from
the Disney movie Mary Poppins. That was my favorite part because Mary Poppins
was my favorite Disney movie as a child and now that I am older it is
interesting to see how this simple fun song can be related to a poem. I thought
the relation that they made with the boy being sad about his hair getting cut
off but someone telling him that it's okay because soot won't get in his hair
anymore, with the happy go lucky spirit of Bert in Mary Poppins was a good
comparison. I think that Bert although he is always happy and seems to be
content with the life that he lives, deep down has some sadness from his
childhood where he probably had a hard time. Though I feel like this
presentation showed a theme of you can find a bit of happiness in everything
that happens in life good or bad. I thought that was a great and positive look
on that particular poem because when I read it I felt a sort of sadness and I
didn't quite see the happiness in it. Looking at it through Mary Poppins song
Chimchimeree was a great way to see how there is also a sort of happiness to
the poem also. On a final note they did a great job with their presentation and
it made me realize a lot more about the poem and what it really pertains to.
I
enjoyed group 1Õs presentation. I thought the song and video choices were well
related to their topic of BlakeÕs chimney sweeper poems. The first song ran a
little long for my personal taste, but I liked how the group picked out
specific lines from the modern lyrics and compared them to lines from BlakeÕs
poem. I could see how the song related to the experience poem more than the one
of innocence. The group presented the information in a way that made me
appreciate the band that wrote the song, and their unique take of BlakeÕs work.
Finding modern examples about chimney sweepers must be hard since it is an
outdated profession, but this song clearly had a connection to the poems and I
enjoyed hearing it. Next, they showed us clips from the infamous Marry Poppins
movie. Although this example didnÕt relate as well to BlakeÕs poems, the groups
point about looking on the bright side of things and working with what you are
given, as described in the poem, we clearly evident. When it came time to make
direct comparison of the video and the poem I think the group struggled a
little. This example was more of a big picture comparison whereas the first was
specific lines of the song compared to specific lines of the poem: both were
good, but personally I feel like I related more to the first. Overall, I think
this group stood around longer than other groups, but when it came time to
actually speak, they presented interesting and relevant information. Thank you
group 1!
The
presentation that I connected most with, and really brought something new to the
table for me was group oneÕs presentation on William Blake. They chose to
analyze the Chimney sweeper poems in both the songs of innocence and
experience. The way in which they did this, rather than just talk for ten
minutes about them was to show media that our generation could relate to. I
thought this was an extremely good idea, especially the Marry Poppins video
that they showed. It depicted a chimney sweeper as a grimy, soot covered person
that was uncommonly cheerful considering their state. The chimney sweeper was
singing and dancing about how wonderful his job was, while it appeared to be
unappealing. This had a direct correlation to BlakeÕs poem ÒThe Chimney SweepÓ
from the songs of experience when he says, ÒAnd because I am happy & dance &
sing, They think they have done me no injuryÓ. Therefore I thought this group
was able to really nail down what Blake was trying to say in his poem using a
visual media that everyone in the class was familiar with. This really hit home
with me and helped me to understand what Blake was trying to do by writing the
same poem from two different perspectives. From the outside the job can look
enjoyable, but once you get down its inner workings and purpose there is no joy
to be found. A person can dance and sing as much as they want, but it wonÕt
cover up the wrong that has been done to them. In fact more commonly, the
exaggerated outward display of happiness could be seen as a cover up for the
evil in a personÕs life.
I liked group 1Õs
presentation involving the chimney sweep poems the best. It mixed art and
analysis well with the comparing of the two poems and the two songs. The truly
interesting things was I was not expecting the almost debate style of their
presentation, but it got to the heart of the two poems. That two songs with
completely different feels could be compared and contrasted with both poems
drove home the integral split between innocence and experience. On the other
hand it brought them together for although the chimney sweep in innocence does
not realize how bad his lot in life is others are quite capable of recognizing
it. An example is the line Òwere all of them lockÕd up in coffins of black.Ó
The chimney sweep sees the good side of them being released from their coffins
as now theyÕre in presumably heaven while a more experienced person assumes
they are dead or that their lot in life is so terrible that it is compared to
coffins. The two poems can be read from the point of innocence or experience
regardless of which is stated to be which. Likewise the two songs could be
interpreted from those two differing viewpoints and because the songs can, it
opens the mind to the question of can the two poems be as well which is the
starting point for truly analyzing both poems. The debate was engaging as I found
myself agreeing or disagreeing with what whoever was talking as opposed to
sitting there waiting for class to be over. Listening to the two songs was also
enjoyable although it did confuse me at first. Overall I thought group one had
the most cohesive and analytical presentation.
I really liked group one's presentation on William Blake. I thought
that using modern pieces to relate to and help convey the underling messages of
BlakeÕs Songs of Innocence and Experience, the Chimney Sweep was a brilliant way
to present their project. In the first song they played for us the lyrics went
on to talk about how this chimney sweeper was realizing the reality of his life
and went day in and out just working as a lowly chimney sweeper. This
definitely related very well to William BlakeÕs take on the life of the chimney
sweeper in his Songs of Experience poem. I could see that Blake was trying to
make us see the more brutal reality of being a chimney sweeper. The group
pointed this out clearly by going over specific lines of the poem such as ÒAnd because
I am happy & dance & sing, they think they have done me no injury.Ó The
second piece they used to relate to William BlakeÕs Songs of Innocence, the
Chimney Sweeper, was the sing along scene about the Chimney Sweeper in the
movie Mary Poppins. I thought this was a great relation to William BlakeÕs poem
because the Chimney Sweeper in the sing along scene was cheery and upbeat, an
almost child like innocence approach to such a horrible job. This was what I
thought Blake was trying to convey to us to in his poem and I felt like the
group really helped make this message clear. I also really liked group twoÕs
presentation on the William BlakeÕs, Poisson Tree. At first I didnÕt really get
anything out of the poem when the group first read it out loud. It was unclear
to me what the message of the poem was or what it was trying to say. Thinks
began to become clearer, concerning the message of the poem, when the group
added visual scenery and acted out the poem. I started to see the hatred and
the malice that was contained within the poem. The speaker in the poem had
hatred for this person who stole another from him or her. This was clear by the
fact that a person was poisoned by the tree and the speaker of the poem
rejoiced in this fact.
Group 2
Out
of the projects presented on April 14, the one I found most memorable was group
2's "A Toxic Berry." The poem "A Toxic Berry,"
written by the group members, was a rendition of William Blake's "A Poison
Tree." As the poem was recited, group members acted out the poem,
including full costume and lighting. "A Poison Tree" was kind
of hard poem for me to understand, but group 2's rendition helped my
understanding to the point that I actually enjoyed rereading the poem after
they presented their project.
The
presentation that I enjoyed most was group 2Õs ÒA Toxic Berry.Ó The performance
was simple but well orchestrated. The poem was very similar to BlakeÕs ÒThe
Poison Tree,Ó which at first made me skeptical of the creativity of the performance.
However, I was soon convinced that in conjunction with the theatrical element,
ÒA Toxic BerryÓ was a perfect coupling to BlakeÕs ÒThe Poison TreeÓ and not
just a cheap imitation. I wish that the group had provided the audience with a
visual of the text because the audio was very difficult to understand. Overall,
though, I think this group did a wonderful job embodying BlakeÕs incendiary
portrayal of human emotion in a poem that was all their own.
I
found group #2Ôs presentation the most interesting and intriguing. I thought it
was creative and helpful to develop a poem into modern day language that was
similar to the original poem, since it is especially hard to interpret poems
that are not conversational or narrative. This groupÕs version of the poem,
entitled ÒThe Toxic BerryÓ was not only insightful but helped me to better my
understanding of the original poem due to their similarities in style and
language. The group first read the original poem by Blake, ÒA Poison Tree,Ó
then played the voice-over of ÒThe Toxic BerryÓ. The foe in BlakeÕs poem was
depicted as a straying lover in ÒA Toxic Berry.Ó Rather than reading the poem
to the class, the voice-over added an extra touch of professionalism along with
the acting which was a bit comical yet useful. The group worked well together
and the discussion that coincided with their poem was nothing but beneficial.
Overall, I believe that this groupÕs presentation was the best, especially for
being the first group to present.
I
really enjoyed Group 2Õs presentation on The Poison Tree by William Blake.
What I really enjoyed about their presentation was that they used three
different types of ÒmediaÓ to interpret the poem (audio, visual, and action).
When they read The Poison Tree out loud, I understood it just the same as when
I first read it for homework. What really helped me to understand the poem, as
well as caught my attention, was the fact that the group rewrote the poem in
their own words. This was very beneficial for me because it gave me the idea of
how to better understand some of our past difficult readings. A couple of times
during their audio interpreted version of The Poison Tree, I had difficulties
understanding what was being said. I believe the reason for that was because
the person who recorded the poem couldÕve been talking too close to the
microphone. As minimal of an issue as that was, the groupÕs visual aids really
solved the majority of that problem. With the pictures I got an even better
sense of how they interpreted the poem. Finally, I think the groupÕs strongest
attribute was the fact that they acted out the poem. The whole time I was
completely engaged into their presentation, which unfortunately I canÕt say the
same for the others. They held my interest the entire time because they included
a sense of humor to their presentation. ThatÕs something I hope to see in other
presentations.
I found the presentation
from group two quite meaningful. Their initial reading of Poison Tree by William Blake was
straight-forward and set the ground work for the rest of their presentation. I
liked the slideshow and narration portion of their presentation and thought it
was very engaging. It helps very much to have a visual aid when working to
better understand the meaning of the words in the poem. My favorite part of the
presentation was the skit entitled ÒPoison BerryÓ. It added humor to the
presentation, very aptly simplified the poem, and modernized the poem in order
to further the audiences understanding. Poison Tree is a story of hate and revenge which
can loose its passion and depth if read to quickly. The presenters from group
two read the poem, read their version of it with a visual aid, and then acted
their version out. The combination of these three actions helped me to really
hear and see the poem as a passionate story of fierce emotion and powerful
action. The modernization of the poem into more everyday language and actions
played a very important role in my understanding of the poem. IÕm not sure why,
but even the use of a Ôpoison berryÕ instead of a Ôpoison apple treeÕ was far
more relatable. Seeing the conflict of love between the three actors gave rise
to emotion in myself that was absent while merely reading the poem. Their use
of lighting during the scene at night when the poison berry is stolen more
accurately portrayed the thief in the poem as there evil person they were
written to be.All in all group two did a marvelous job on their
presentation and they greatly assisted in my understanding of Poison Tree written by
William Blake.
This comment
is in response to group number twoÕs presentation of their interpretation of
William BlakeÕs Poison tree. One of the reasons that I decided to choose to
give this group my top pick was because upon reading William BlakeÕs poems,
Poison Tree was one of favorites to begin with. I very much like their analysis
of the poem and it helped me to look at the work in a new way unseen to me
before. I found the groupÕs rendition of their very own Toxic Berry to be a
refreshing version of BlakeÕs work. I feel that they were spot on about
capturing the overall message of the poem. It was a very original idea and fit
in with BlakeÕs poems seamlessly. I enjoyed how the group also had the idea to
act out their poem. I believe it helped me as with every other person watching
to better understand the messages of jealousy, distrust, and resentment that
are present in both poems. It was nice to see that they were able to add the
element of comedy while keeping the overall seriousness of the poem. It
appeared to be very rehearsed and everyone was participating and prepared.
Overall, I think that this group did a great job opening up floor for other
groups to be extra creative, as they were. It helped me to gain a perspective
and gave me ideas that I could use in my group project in the future. This was
an A worthy project for sure.
Of all the groups that
presented, I particularly enjoyed the first group, which I believe was group 2.
I thought they showed some of the most creativity out of any of the groups.
While they didn't have many props, except of course, for the tree, they had an
interesting interpretation of the poison tree. It's very difficult to write
poetry and they were able to write a poem that interpreted the poison tree in
different words. I also liked the way they organized they're presentation.
First they read the poison tree, then gave their interpretation of it with
their own poem. Then finally, read their own poem again while acting it out
live. This takes courage and creativity to do in front of the entire class. The
visual slideshow that occurred during the performance helped me visually
picture the poem.I also liked this presentation because the poison tree is a
very interesting poem to me. It's very visual without being overly specific.
The group did a good job of taking this poem and putting it into their own
words. They didn't really talk about the poem or analyze it in front of the
class but instead used their own poem to show their interpretation, which I
think was a cool approach to this project. Every group did a good job, but this
was just the one that stuck out to me, they were very active and everyone
participated and it was just a fun presentation to watch.
The
project that I enjoyed the most was presented first by group two.
This group read the poem ÒA Poison TreeÓ by William Blake; the
student who read the poem had a very soothing voice, which worked well with the
poem. Then the group played an original poem that they created themselves on
the computer and had us close our eyes. This helped us to understand
their interpretation of the poem; it was called ÒA Toxic BerryÓ. Then
they acted out the poem and the toxic berry was a girl who stole someoneÕs
lover and eventually was done away with. I really enjoyed this
presentation the most because I thought they approached the project with
seriousness, creativity, and also a little bit of silliness, which really kept
the audience interested in what they were saying. They chose a poem that
was difficult to understand when written in the words of William Blake and
translated it into a poem of their own so that it could easily be related to
everyone in the audience; this was very creative because it is difficult to
write a poem. This project was most meaningful to me because I can really
relate to what William Blake is talking about in this poem. If I had to
criticize them I would say they did not really analyze any meaning behind the
poem, I feel that they mostly just translated it. However, I do feel that
they did a good job involving everyone in the group during the performance; no
one played a bigger role than anyone else. All and all a great, creative and
entertaining presentation!
The
first presentation on the "A Poison Tree" was extremely well
performed. I enjoyed the fact that they didn't just analyze it and present what
they found, which can tend to become very monotonous after multiple
performance. It was also helpful that they reread the original for the audience
so as to refresh the listeners. The fact that they performed a modern day original
poem that mimicked Blake's work was very entertaining. I like that they kept
their new poem to the style and characteristics of the original. On a personal
note, I greatly enjoyed the presentation because "A Poison Tree" is
on of my favorite William Blake poems and William Blake is one of my favorite
poets. The only improvement that would have made the presentation better would
have been perhaps to have some background music for the performance, instead of
just the poem being read. The presenters also got into character for the
performance and took it seriously, even the guy dressed as a tree. The imagery
of the poem was well displayed with the reenactment. The entire presentation
was well thought out and despite having multiple facets flowed very well. The
best part of the presentation for me was the performance of the poem they
wrote. Not only was the poem similar to the original, but it also had a message
that was easily to relate to. I greatly enjoyed the adaptation of Blake's
original poem into a new poem and then watching it being acted out very well by
the presenters.
Group
2's project was the most meaningful to me. They chose to present on
"The Poison Tree" by William Blake. This group wrote and acted out a
poem called "The Toxic Berry" which was very similar to Blake's
"The Poison Tree" because a person has their lover stolen by their
friend and then grows a poisonous berry bush from which the friend consumes a
berry and dies, making the person happy. Acting out the poem was helpful
as it helped me understand the storyline. The group talked about how love
and jealousy were the two major themes present in this poem. In these poems the
toxic berry bush and the toxic apple tree represented the jealousy felt by the
person who had their lover stolen by their friend. The growing and
eventual fruiting of the bush and tree represent the jealousy that built up
inside the person over time. I agree that love between 2 people in a
relationship can often lead to feelings of jealousy, especially when the loving
of another person is involved. When these jealous feelings are not dealt
with, they can grow into much darker, evil ideas about getting even or harming
those making you jealous. Group 2 identified Heaven and Hell as themes in
the poem as well. Heaven and Hell are represented by the 2 different
feelings illustrated in the poem: love and jealousy. Love represents
Heaven and jealousy represents Hell. They talked about how love and
jealousy are almost like opposites. I donÕt believe the two are opposites,
but they are related. Hate is the opposite of love, but often times
jealousy may give way to hate.
I
feel that the first group to present (Group 2) showed the greatest creativity
and understanding of the literature. They worked with William BlakeÕs poem ÒThe
Poison Tree,Ó a poem about the dangerous consequences of nurturing bad feelings
and letting issues go unexpressed and therefore build up. In order to create
the poem ÒThe Toxic Berry,Ó an original work that maintained the themes and
basic style of Blake, the group had to thoroughly understand BlakeÕs poem ÒThe
Poison Tree,Ó determine the theme, and then interpret that theme on their own.
This is a difficult thing to do and I was very impressed with how well the
group did. Taking an author like Blake and interpreting his work through a
student piece made this complicated author more accessible, and his themes more
intellectually manageable for students. I also personally enjoyed how unified
and cohesive the group was because it simply came off as more professional. The
performance where the group acted out of the poem was not only entertaining,
but it also helped clarify both their own poem and BlakeÕs work. The group took
the concepts of nurturing bad feelings, jealousy, and revenge from BlakeÕs ÒThe
Poison TreeÓ and used them as inspiration for their own creative work, and the
amount of creativity and thought put into the performance made this
presentation my favorite of the day.
I
thought that all the groups did a very nice job on their presentations.
However, my favorite presentation was group twoÕs. They chose to do
William BlakeÕs poem, ÒA Poison Tree.Ó The group did a great job making the
poemÕs meaning clear and concise for the rest of the class to understand. I
thought that their process of reading BlakeÕs actual poem, then reading their
version and lastly acting it out helped to make their interpretation more
clear.
Group
twoÕs take on ÒA Poison TreeÓ was about a young couple in love and the male
counterpart cheats on his girlfriend with her best friend. I felt that
this was something that college students could relate to since we see
relationships and heartbreak all the time throughout our lives especially now.
Also I felt that the way that they read the words of the Blake poem made it
more of a soft feminine version of the piece. However, when the male in their
group read their version of the poem it was much darker sounding than the
original version. The battle between the good friend and evil friend is
very evident when the male in the group ready the poem. The anguish that is
felt by the voice makes you truly feel the pain that is felt by the girl in
this poem. In the original Blake poem it states, ÒI was angry with my foe: I
told it not, my wrath did grow.Ó The anger in the girl kept building so she
took the poisonous barriers that were on the free and watched as the girl who
stole her boyfriend eat the barriers and die. The ending of BlakeÕs poem
is the darkest and the group emphases on it was perfect, ÒIn the morning glad I
see my foe outstrechÕd beneath the tree.Ó This line is the most meaningful of
the poem and the ambulance was perfect and silly was to describe that line.
Awesome job group two!
Group number two who were actually the first presenters was my favorite
group to present. I thought they did an excellent job telling the audience how
they interpretted the poem "Poisen Tree" by William Blake. They way
they approached the assignment was quite clever. They kept it simple and did
the least amount of talking. I think that is why I enjoyed their presentation
the most. They presented it in a way that the audience would understand. I
liked that they read the poem, then played back the poem off of their computer,
then played it back once again but also threw in a skit as to how they
interpretted it. It was a very unique idea that I think worked for their
benefit. Their interpretation seemed very modern and something that we can all
relate too. A guy and girl like each other, another girl comes around and takes
the guy away. We might not all poisen that other girl but we would definitely
not have good feelings toward that person. All in all group number two was my
favorite by far. they kept it short, sweet and simple.
Not
sure what to expect this last Thursday of presentations, I really enjoyed all
of the presentations. Every group did a great job of talking in front of such a
big class and each presentation was very creative. My favorite group was group
2, presenting: ÒA Toxic BerryÓ. They took William BlakeÕs poem, ÒA Poisoned
TreeÓ and did a great job of explaining its meaning with their own translation
and a skit. It was neat how they recreated their own poem and made something
more for our generation. It was a very relatable poem. You can see that they
spent a lot of time working on their presentation. When I read ÒA
Poisoned TreeÓ for the first time I didnÕt quite understand what was going on.
After the presentation I was inspired to go back and look at the poem again and
try and understand it some more. This poem talks about something that we can
all relate to, no matter what generation. ÒA Toxic BerryÓ just uses a more
modern language. Everyone has had a friend who has betrayed him or her; at
least I know the feeling. All you want is for them to feel your pain and you want
revenge. This poem shows someone getting hurt and betrayed. A friend turns into
an enemy. The hurt friend slyly gets even. I donÕt think that many people would
feed an enemy a poisoned apple or berry, but you for sure would want that bad
out of your life. Group 2 gets my vote! Great job!
Group
2 approached William Blake's "Poison Tree" poem in 3 ways. They
read it aloud, read a poem interpretation in Blake's style, and then performed
a skit. These different approaches to interpreting one poem really helped
the poem come alive. Personally, I feel as if I have a better
understanding of the poem. During my initial reading of the poem, I did
not glean as much information as I received from Group 2's presentation.
Also, I had a bit of a different interpretation of the poem's meaning.
Therefore, seeing this new interpretation of the poem really opened my
eyes to different possibilities of meanings. All 4 of the group members
worked well with each other and were very organized. I liked that they
all worked as one unit and had one interpretation of the poem - instead of 4
separate ones. It was much easier to follow because I didn't become
confused about what their main point was. I was impressed how well the
timing of the poem and the skit came together. Even though this was a
serious poem, the comical effect the group put into the skit really helped
lighten the mood and keep the audiences' attention. I think that Group 2
set the bar high for all the rest of the groups. Their project was very
well thought out and executed. All in all, their collaboration with each other
really revealed how hard they worked... and it paid off.
Considering
this was the first day of presentations, I was expecting things to go a lot
less smoothly than they did. I was really impressed with all of them;
however Group 2 was the one that stood out the most to me. Group two
presented their rendition of A Toxic Berry, based on Blake's poem. The
way they acted it out and interpreted the poem was creative and entertaining.
They acted out a girl mad at her friend for stealing her man away from
her. Then she used her anger to grow a toxic berry that caught the eye of
her friend. She lay in waiting as her friend snuck into her garden to
take the delicious looking berry, despite knowing that it wasn't hers.
And that was her demise.I had read the poem but never really thought of
it in the way that they described it. Seeing it acted out gave me a
better perspective on the meaning of the poem and how it related to my life.
I've definitely planned out ways to take revenge before by being
deceitful and cunning. That truly is the only way to take revenge if
you're an intelligent being. Showing your true feelings of anger and
wrath will get you nowhere. You have to use it as energy to fuel your
plan, while on the outside you remain cool and collected.
The
project I found to be the most meaningful was the first presentation on
Thursday by group two. I thought it was very creative that the group
chose to write a poem that mimicked Poison Tree by William Blake. A Poison
Berry, their version of the poem, was written in the same style as Blake and
had the same overall message but with their own spin on it. I also liked that
they acted out the poem because it brought a more playful side to the poem.
The group also did a really great job of explaining themselves and their
ideas. I also liked the group that did individual projects. The two guys that
rewrote Mock On did a great job since it reflected the style of the original
poem but told it from a different point of view. Their poem was a little long
but it got the message across and was effective with the accompanying pictures.
The girl in that group that related the poems back to her own life did a great
job. I donÕt think IÕve ever seen a lecture hall be that quiet. I liked that
she used personal pictures in relation to the poem because the rest of the
class a sense of who she is.
After the first day of student presentations, one group stood out in my
mind. Group two, even though they were the first to present and had the
shortest presentation, were able relay their message in the most meaningful
context of all the groups. They based their report off of William BlakeÕs
poem ÒA Toxic TreeÓ. They went about their presentation by creating a mimic
of BlakeÕs poem and named it ÒA Toxic BerryÓ. To visualize their poem,
group 2 created a picture slideshow accompanied with a theatrical performance
of the poem. The visual elements used allow their message to be delivered in a
creative way, while still being precise and easy to follow. Their poem was a
twisted story about a girl who has her boyfriend taken away from her from a
conniving, jealous foe. In order to get back at her enemy, the main character
begins to grow a berry so toxic that it would kill. Once the berries were
finished, the foe cannot resist her curiosity for them and eats one. The
poem ends with this murder. This story is a strong, compelling, and tragic
story about what evils can take over when love is involved. Though this presentation
was the shortest of the day, the material and medium that it was conveyed to us
was, in my eyes, superior to the other presentations. For me, many of the
other groups had very similar projects to each other. Most of them would read
the poems of choice and then continue to simply describe them verbally. For me,
a simple verbal presentation does not radiate in my mind long enough to make an
impact, which is why group twoÕs project continues to stand out in my mind.
All
of the presentations were enjoyable but I think group 2 did a great job with
their project. It was creative and very entertaining. The group chose ÒA
Poison TreeÓ by William Blake. They started off by reading the actual
poem and then read their revision of the poem titled ÒA Toxic Berry,Ó which
includes acting and powerpoint pictures. What I like about their presentation
is that they gave their own revision of the poem and did a little acting which
I thought was creative and well put. The groupÕs goal was to recreate the
same imagery as BlakeÕs poem and they were very successful in doing so. The
skit also gave wonderful insight on what Blake meant in his poem. Blake
implies that there are consequences of repressing up your feelings and it is
better to let it out. I believe that allowing oneÕs feelings or anger
grow unchecked only makes things worse. This presentation was original
and gave me a different perspective of the poem. Overall, the presentation was
well thought out and the speakers knew their subject.
Among
the 5 groups that presented on William Blake, I found that Group 2Õs
presentation resonated the most with me. They had 3 formats of depicting
their views on what Poison Tree meant to them. Poison Tree, a poem by
Blake from his experience section, described how cheating affected a person.
In order for Group 2 to help us understand what BlakeÕs poem was about
they had created a poem with the same principle as BlakeÕs. They named their
poem A Toxic Berry, which showed, with more detail, of what occurred; how
jealousy came about, how the person sought revenge and how they were able to
seek vengeance. I liked their presentation best because of the 3
renditions they performed for us to enhance our understanding of what they
desired us to know about their interpretations. They had a power point, a
reading, and a reenactment of their poem as well as BlakeÕs. I found what
struck me most about their presentation was the fact that after already hearing
what they had to say about their understanding of Poison Tree, they had, in a
comedic way, performed what we should have already grasped the first 2 times.
I think what I liked best was when the victim of the poem during the
reenactment of A Toxic Berry threw the ring dramatically at her foe and how
evil she portrayed her angry character to be after the incident.
Definitely a 2 thumbs up moment.
I
found the first group's presentation, group #2, the best. I liked how they
wrote an original poem which kept the structure and rhyme scheme the same. It
conveyed similar ideas and was a re-written poem that didn't re-state the poem,
but re-conveyed it in their own words. I thought the performance was
entertaining and adventurous. At first I didn't see the point of the projected
powerpoint presentation, but as the performance advanced I saw how it blended
nicely with the poem and acting. It was the most cohesive and obvious
performance of all 5 groups. I saw and understood their original poem very
well, which was very creative of them.
I
found the first presentation that went on Thursday to be the most interesting.
It was a very literal interpretation of Blake's poem "Poison Tree"
but it was entertaining because it modernized this poem. It takes courage
to plan a presentation like that where acting is involved and I believe that
this group did a good job of keeping the class' interest, and maybe caused a
few chuckles too. The only part that I did not like about their presentation
was that it did not seem to use a lot of critical insight of Blake. The fruit
that blake refers to in poison tree was actually a fruit in this groups
rendition, and I think that they could have used some more imagination to think
of what Blake might have been REALLY referring to with this metaphor. They did
go on the first day though, and had little time for preparation. Other than
this though, I found this group to be very entertaining, and I believe they did
a great job!
My
personal opinion of Group 2 was that their presentation was amazing to say the
least. Group 2 focused on William BlakeÕs poem ÒA Poison Tree.Ó I felt they
explained the original poem spot on. They explained that the poem taught how
anger could be expressed positively and negatively, and how in this poem lays a
metaphor explaining human nature. On top of their clear explanation they
created their own poem which was also their interpretation of the original
poem. I wasnÕt expecting this at all. It caught me off guard being in the
audience and made me pay even closer attention to their presentation. Starting
off their poem, ÒA Toxic Berry,Ó I could see that I was in for a treat. Their
outfits were all black and very dramatic looking. Then they had a single guy
dressed up as a bush which I found very entertaining. I also liked how they
gave a slide show and acted out what was happening while the poem was being
read. Personally, I never been one who was much into reading poems so being
able to visually see what was taking place in this poem was exceptional. Their
rendition expressed how this fight between two girls for one guy turned
hostile. One girl grew a toxic berry bush and the other girl became victim to
the toxic berry during a night scene. Not to mention, the night scene was
awesome. They turned off all the lights and had a flash light on this girl
creeping up to the toxic berry bush. When their performance attended the only
thing I had left to say was ÒBravo!Ó
Today in class, all of the presenters did a good job, though the first
group that presented, Group 2, was the best. Their remake of the Blake poem
ÒPoison TreeÓ was an interesting, modern take on the old poem. They also added
a bit of humor, which made the poem a bit lighter than BlakeÕs version. I liked
the last part of their presentation as well, when they acted their rendition
out. The props they used and the way their poem was structured were effective
in showing their reconstruction of the poem. The other groups, while not quite
as good, also did well. Group 4Õs three presentations were interesting. The
best of those was the Clod and Pebble, followed by the response to Mock on,
Mock on. The Chimney Sweep group was alright, though most of their time was
spent playing music rather than discussing the poems from Songs of Innocence
and Experience. Had their analysis been longer and held more information,
their presentation as a whole would have been better. The group that presented
ÒThe TygerÓ and ÒThe LambÓ had an alright presentation. The way they presented
each poem was effective in showing their differences, especially considering
the voices they chose to read them. They even had differences in the way the
tiger and lamb moved in the light. The last group had an alright presentation.
They analyzed ÒNurseÕs SongÓ from both perspectives and showed how both were
told with experience in mind—the only difference being the perspectives
of the nurse in each.
Response
to Projects: One of the presentations that I enjoyed most was from group 2
which was centered around William BlakeÕs, A Poison Tree. It was good
that they reviewed the poem to begin with. It had been a couple weeks since we
had read it and it reminded the audience of what was going on. Then, they took
the time to write and record their own interpretation with the poem, A Toxic
Berry. Putting it into terms that are more commonly used today helped me to
understand the content of the poem more clearly. After the initial presentation
of the poem, it was acted out in front of the class. This simple enactment
allowed the audience to interpret their rendition of the Blake poem (kudos to
the aim that was required when the ring was thrown, by the way). Also, the
pictures that were cycling through in conjunction with the reading of A
Toxic Berry, were a nice visual touch, as was the leaves attached to
the actor who was representing the tree. The interpretation by the group was
very clear and presented well and its simplicity allowed me to truly understand
the poem
I
thought that all the groups did a very nice job on their presentations.
However, my favorite presentation was group twoÕs. They chose to do
William BlakeÕs poem, ÒA Poison Tree.Ó The group did a great job making the
poemÕs meaning clear and concise for the rest of the class to understand. I
thought that their process of reading BlakeÕs actual poem, then reading their
version and lastly acting it out helped to make their interpretation more clear. Group twoÕs take on ÒA Poison TreeÓ was
about a young couple in love and the male counterpart cheats on his girlfriend
with her best friend. I felt that this was something that college
students could relate to since we see relationships and heartbreak all the time
throughout our lives especially now. Also I felt that the way that they read
the words of the Blake poem made it more of a soft feminine version of the
piece. However, when the male in their group read their version of the poem it
was much darker sounding than the original version. The battle between
the good friend and evil friend is very evident when the male in the group
ready the poem. The anguish that is felt by the voice makes you truly feel the
pain that is felt by the girl in this poem. In the original Blake poem it
states, ÒI was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.Ó The anger
in the girl kept building so she took the poisonous barriers that were on the
free and watched as the girl who stole her boyfriend eat the barriers and die.
The ending of BlakeÕs poem is the darkest and the group emphases on it
was perfect, ÒIn the morning glad I see my foe outstrechÕd beneath the tree.Ó
This line is the most meaningful of the poem and the ambulance was perfect and
silly was to describe that line. Awesome job group two!
Group
Two's project was the most interesting and enlightening due to their analysis
and the way they choose to present their topic. It was obvious that a lot of
thought and time went into their project. It was also obvious that the group
worked together and therefore produced a very cohesive project. It was very
clever to not only analyze their poem of choice, The Poison Tree, but also
rewrite the poem. Their analysis was not complete and perhaps more time should
have been spent breaking down the poem (Group 5 had the best analysis and were
the only ones to break down the poem). By rewriting the poem, they were able to
relay a more modern version and view of BlakeÕs poem. This also illustrated a
high level of creativity. Then by also choosing to act out this rewritten
version,it gave a heightened understanding of the message of the poem. It also
captivated the audience and was funny without being too ridiculous. The risk of
being funny often comes with
the
possibility of losing the audience and allowing them to miss the message one is
trying to make. This group did a wonderful job of finding that balance. I also
appreciated the group not only keeping the ambiguity of the poem but also
thinking to keep this ambiguity. I agreed that it was an essential part of the
poem. It is unfortunate that everyone else has to follow such an awesome
project. They definitely set the bar.
Even
with their lack of time to plan and prepare I was very impressed with the first
round of projects. Out of the five groups that presented today, I felt
that Group #2 did the best job of interpreting the literature and retelling it
based on their own perspective. When I first read ÒA Poison TreeÓ by
Blake I thought it was very interesting and I quickly realized the underlying
theme of retaliating against oneÕs enemies. Group #2 also understood this
theme and I thought their rendition of the poem titled ÒThe Toxic BerryÓ was
very clever as a play on words in connection to the original. The words and
ideas in the poem were similar to ÒThe Poison TreeÓ but the sentence structure
was easier to follow along and comprehend. I also enjoyed watching their
reenactment of their poem and viewing how the group felt it should be depicted.
The groupÕs reenactment depicted how the main character, when recognizing
a foe, could easily hatch a plan to retaliate against anyone who had caused her
harm. Knowing that her enemy would come lurking around to try to cause
havoc and toil with the speakers belongings, planting a trap would be the
easiest way to gain revenge, and ultimately defeat the enemy. This
presentation assisted my former thoughts on what ÒA Poison TreeÓ was trying to
convey, yet put a personal spin on it to depict the groupÕs perception.
The group did an effective job of keeping my attention and addressing the
audience in order to assure understanding of their views.
The
project that I could relate most to and found interesting out of the groups
that presented today was Group 2Õs project on William BlakeÕs poem, A Poison
Tree. I thought the poem, Toxic Berry, the group wrote was a creative
representation of their thoughts about the BlakeÕs poem. It was comedic and
related to the original poem well. The group act was also pretty entertaining
to watch. The act portrayed another woman stealing one womanÕs man and the
developing anger that follows. Although BlakeÕs poem is a simple poem, it is a
very powerful poem. The poem gives lessons on anger and human nature. People
should express their feelings before their anger or other feelings start to
grow. As stated in the poem, the speaker tells his friend he is angry and the
anger went away. Inspired by BlakeÕs wisdom, I went back to my apartment
and confronted my roommate about the anger I had built up over two quarters
towards him. I had pretended to be his friend because I had saved up all this
anger and resentment. After confronting him, I felt so much better and we were
immediately on talking terms again. It is surprising how just expressing your
feelings can make you feel like a burden has been lifted off your chest.
Building up anger only creates more anger that can turn deadly. If only it was
in our nature to express feelings so much easier.
The
most influential presentation to me was Group 2's presentation of Blake's poem
the Poison Tree. I liked how they created their own rendition of the the poem
and acted it out for the class. Their poem, A Toxic Berry, was very interesting
and I liked how they incorporated Blake's poem into it. Their rendition of the
poem was interesting and made the class think about the content of the poem. I
also liked how they recorded the voice of the poem to make it more powerful.
Of
the five presentations that were presented in class today, itÕs hard to choose
just one to be the ÒbestÓ in my opinion. However, I chose Group #2 as the
presentation that appealed to me the most. Group 2 chose to analyze the
poem A Poison Tree by William Blake. This groupÕs unique style of
presenting was really what set them apart from the other groups, in my
opinion. First, they read the poem as-is aloud to the class. Next,
they played a recording of their own rendition of the poem. And lastly,
they acted out the poem for the whole class to watch. As the group said,
many of us are visual learners, and the additional visual presentation was a
great way for the audience to really understand what was going on in the
poem. What I got from the poem was the lesson of how anger can be
dispelled by goodwill or nurtured to become a deadly poison. In the
beginning of the poem, the speaker tells of his anger toward a friend and a foe
and how each differed. With his friend, he expressed his anger and was relieved
of it, but with his foe, he did not express it, which fed his fury. In
the end, the speaker ends up killing his foe, and feels very proud of it rather
than remorse. After hearing such an amoral poem, the search for hope or
an alternative meaning must begin. The group did a great job in
portraying the fury and animosity depicted in BlakeÕs work, and I enjoyed
watching the presentation as a whole.
Group
2 did there presentation on a poem by William Blake called ÒA Poison Tree.Ó
They created their own rendition of the poem, which I believe was an
interesting way to present their interpretations. Not only did they recite
their rendition, which they called ÒA Toxic Berry,Ó but they did a performance
along with it. The performance was a funny visual aid and helped us to
visualize what was going on in their poem. The second group began their presentation
by playing a song called ÒChin Chin Cher-eeÓ which they believe has the same
themes as William BlakeÕs songs of innocence. This first song was my favorite
because not only did some of the lyrics seem to correlate to BlakeÕs poems, but
also the tone and phrasing felt like they could have been inspired by Blake. I
thought the second presenter of group four had a really great presentation. She
took three of BlakeÕs poems and created a slideshow of pictures she took
throughout her life that illustrated the lines of the poems. This showed how
she experienced many of the things Blake addresses in his poems. Her
presentation helped me to realize how universal and timeless the themes of the
Blake poems really are. I also really enjoyed the third presenter of group 4.
This presenter created a slideshow representing the two different forms of love
that Blake addresses in his poems. The slideshow was funny, but was also really
effective in conveying how we tend to believe in an ideal form of love that is
very different from how we really experience love.
During last class the presentations were very intriguing and covered
the pieces of literature we have read thus far. I had trouble choosing one
specific group that stood out in my eyes, but I had two separate groups that I
felt did an exceptional job. I
felt that group two did a great job on their presentation of Toxic Berry. I
thought that the acting was very funny and entertaining. They interpreted the
poem very well and made it clear as to what was the meaning of this particular
piece. The second group I enjoyed was group four. Their idea was unique and I
thought that their rebuttal poem to the poem Mock on Mock on Voltaire
Rousseau, by William Blake, was very creative and well written. I
thought that the way they wrote the poem was in a way that challenged the
thoughts of the author. Throughout the class session of presentations, I found
that each group did a great job for being the first to present. Each group put
forth the effort needed, but I still think that groups 2 and 4 were most
enjoyable.
Group
2Õs presentation of writing their own poem about toxic berries definitely stood
out to me. They didnÕt just interpret a poem, but they used the
poem as inspiration to create something meaningful to them. Their poem
about toxic berries made good use of imagery and metaphors. The tone and
message of the poem made it clear that they stemmed from William BlakeÕs
poem. In particular, I loved that it used William BlakeÕs message but in
a modern situation that most college students imagine or relate
to. What college student, myself included, can't relate to
difficulties of love and any consequential heartache?In addition, by presenting the poem
in multiple forms, they gave the audience amble opportunity to fully appreciate
their poem. Often times, a poem needs to be read multiple times to fully
appreciate. The dramatic reading served to introduce us to their
poem. The reenactment gave us a second opportunity to take in the
poem. Turning off the lights and encouraging us to close our eyes put us
into a different emotional space to absorb the initial dramatic reading.
Later on, acting on the poem put us in another different emotional space,
thus gave us a chance to interpret the poem differently.The reenactment of the
poem was both enjoyable and informative. It was very entertaining to
watch; I loved that the group was willing to get into their parts. It
also gave us an opportunity to better visualize what they wrote their poem
about. Each put their own outlook into their part, thus hinting at a few
subtle emotions that may have been put into the creation of their poem.
Group 3
I really enjoyed all presentations. I
personally found the presentation by group three the most interesting because
of their creativity and unique way of interpreting Blake's poems about the
tiger and the sheep. They did a great job comparing creation of an innocent
sheep and the creation of tiger by combination of colors, symbols, and sounds.
The music choice for the sheep was mellow with a slow tempo that shows how calm
and harmless it is. In contrast, the music for the play with tiger had a fast
tempo, loud noises, and very rhythmic that matches the arrogant characteristic
of the tiger. This symbolism was also created by use of colors. The background
color for the sheep was white which symbolizes purity and innocence. It could
also represent heaven as described by the group. On the other hand, the tiger's
poster had a red background which symbolizes blood thirstiness of the tiger or
it could also symbolize hell as described by the team presenting it. In
addition to these positive points, I should add that I do not agree with some
of the interpretations. Blake does not favor any of the two animals. He does
not use any words to describe any of the two animals as good or evil based on
my opinion. He is just trying to show the difference and the specific purpose
for creation of each animal. I personally think that Blake's puprose for
writing these two poems was to characterize the animals in a way for us to
understand as we grow up, we have moments that makes us as innocents as the
sheep (when we are a child) and periods that we must act as the tiger to
survive with the specific characteristics such as having more experience
(tiger,) and this fact does not necessarily make us good or evil.
I thought that group three did an
excellent job of relating the text to their own own experience and expressing
it in a really unconventional way. I likes the paradox of having the Lion be
the more dominant color as well as being played by the male. The lamb was
represented by a girl singing while the lion was represented by a male just
reading in a deep voice. I think what their song and reading really raised the
question that they were trying to portray: Did God create both song and experience.
Overall they did an excellent job and the singing by the female helped them
give a great presentation.
The student project that
stood out to me the most was the third presentation by Group 3. One thing
that made an immediate impact was that all the members of the group were
dressed up and participated in the acting out of the poem. They also used
the used the lighting in the room to play along with the mood of the poem by
dimming the lights in the gloomy parts and turning them on for the more glorious
portions. They performed ÒThe TygerÓ by William Blake from the songs of
experience as well as ÒThe LambÓ from the songs of innocence. The
effectively compared the innocence of the nice lamb with the experience of a
powerful lion. They used a light cloth with a picture of a lamb as well
as an angelic background song to symbolize the heavenly birth of Jesus, as
Blake tends to relate his writings to stories from Christianity. The group then
used a red cloth with a lion on it and had a thundering male voice read the
poem ÒThe TygerÓ to represent power and fear, which comes from experience.
The tiger is also a creature created by god, but is more powerful,
dangerous and majestic than the innocent young lamb. William Blake tends
to relate good, evil and god in his poems. He makes god out to be
gentle and kind with the creation of the kind lamb, but makes god also seem
like a blacksmith when he creates the powerful and deadly tiger. This poses us
with the question of whether or not god created both innocence and experience
and what his purpose may have be. The ending to their project did a good
job relating the readings to their presentation to the class.
Group #3 was I felt the most meaningful
presentation. They made an obvious attempt to create a thoughtful atmosphere,
by using a combination of lighting and music they were able to immerse the
audience in the world of William BlakeÕs poems. William Blake brings up an interesting question with the
poems of ÒThe TygerÓ and ÒThe LambÓ, probing the question of godÕs creations,
the idea of good and evil. The question that such a merciful god can create
such a fearsome creature like the tiger. This brings up the idea of balance
that there is a need of both innocence and experience in the world. Too much of
one or the other can lead to severe consequences. Both views of the world are
necessary; the world is not truly black or white, as some people would like to
believe but infinite shades of grey. ItÕs easy to look at life like two sides
of a coin, but itÕs much harder to actually go about living by this ideal.
ÒWhat immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?Ó Blake questions
the idea of a god that is all good and innocence, that either there is truly a
heaven and a hell or that god has ulterior motives. If our creator were to have
made such fearsome and gentle creatures that could exist in the same world then
there must be a reason. Right? Or maybe there is no such thing as god, maybe
there is no good and evil, that these perceptions of good and evil are purely
manmade.
Out of all the well-done
group presentations, I thought Group 3Õs presentation was the best and most
effective. Their presentation was quite creative and amusing. I loved the
whole act of Jesus creating the lamb and tiger. They even dressed for the
act and brought in banners of the lamb and tiger! They did a very good job
showing the distinctions between the two creations. God's creation of the
lamb was soft, gentle and heavenly whereas God's creation of the tiger is
fierce, powerful and created as if it was by a blacksmith. Their
presentation made a clear picture of how Blake's Songs of Innocence represents
the innocence and more positive views on life and the songs of experience
represents the more experienced and realistic view on life. I felt like
Blake was trying to tell us that certain people who werenÕt aware of difficult
circumstances had a positive out look on life and that other people that have
endured difficult and troublesome events see things realistically and prepare
for the worst. I feel that when people are young, they are new to
everything, ignorant and innocent and has a lot of love and are
appreciative. When people are adults, they have seen corruption and
darker forces and are therefore gloomy and not interested. I realized
that there are different virtues out in the world, meaning there are different
views and morals in humans too. IÕm more of a visual learner, Group
3 helped grabbed my attention and visually see the concepts of BlakeÕs Songs of
Innocence and Experience. I can tell they put a lot of time and effort
into creating this presentation.
This group compared the poems ÒThe LambÓ and ÒThe TigerÓ by
William Blake. They made use of
different theatrical techniques to set the tone for each poem. For both interpretations, the lights in
the room were turned off and a spot light was used to focus the audienceÕs
attention. The group visually
represented a lamb and a tiger on two separate cloths, shaking them around in
midair to make the characters come to life. The groupÕs interpretation of BlakeÕs poems contrasted each
other in that a woman sang the harmonies to ÒThe LambÓ while a man read the
words to ÒThe TigerÓ. I liked the
use of different vocals to amplify the gentleness in ÒThe LambÓ and the strength
in ÒThe LionÓ. Another contrast in
the groupÕs interpretation of the poems was the color scheme of the sheets
displaying the characters. The
lamb was placed on a light blue sheet to represent heaven, and the tiger was
placed on a dark red backdrop to signify the tigerÕs strength. During their presentation, the colors
really stood out in the dark with the spot light on them. The audienceÕs mood was easily dictated
by the contrasting colors.
format
This group had the most
variety in expressive responses to William Blake's
two poems "The
Lamb" and "The Tyger."
I really appreciated how
they began their presentation by reading both poems
in the appropriate
manner: The singing was perfect for a poem about softness
and innocence and
"The Tyger" was read aloud in a more attention-grabbing,
harsh means. Even though
their visuals were simple, they were great
clarifying additions
that didn't overpower the words and message. For the
second half, it was
great to hear the presenters explain the reasoning
behind their visual
choices. They thoughtfully created a scene that would
strengthen the
contradictory messages Blake had written. "Jesus's" movements
were also reflective of
each poem's tone, and one of the presenters made a
point to explain the
differing attitudes towards creation in the poems.
I think this group did
the best job with variety - it was really beneficial
to hear their
interpretation explained in so many different ways that
appealed to a multitude
of senses. Implementing multiple senses is a great
way to teach meaningful
material.
Thank you!
This group compared the
poems ÒThe LambÓ and ÒThe TigerÓ by William Blake. They made use of different theatrical techniques to set the
tone for each poem. For both interpretations,
the lights in the room were turned off and a spot light was used to focus the
audienceÕs attention. The group
visually represented a lamb and a tiger on two separate cloths, shaking them
around in midair to make the characters come to life. The groupÕs interpretation of BlakeÕs poems contrasted each
other in that a woman sang the harmonies to ÒThe LambÓ while a man read the
words to ÒThe TigerÓ. I liked the
use of different vocals to amplify the gentleness in ÒThe LambÓ and the
strength in ÒThe LionÓ. Another
contrast in the groupÕs interpretation of the poems was the color scheme of the
sheets displaying the characters.
The lamb was placed on a light blue sheet to represent heaven, and the
tiger was placed on a dark red backdrop to signify the tigerÕs strength. During their presentation, the colors
really stood out in the dark with the spot light on them. The audienceÕs mood was easily dictated
by the contrasting colors.
Group 3 was a joy to
watch. They didn't have as much time in discussing the works they examined, but
rather displayed their critique through audio and visual means, and did so very
effectively. They compared Blake's The Lamb and The Tiger and called on the
same question of "Was it the same hand who created both the gentle Lamb
and the ferocious Tiger?" The girl of the group sang along to an audio
file about a lamb while the other members sort of mimed in interpretive dance
holding a sheet with a lamb on it, and then did the same for the tiger. In
text, this may sound uneventful and boring, but it really was fun to watch. The
singing was fantastic and brought an element of beauty to the presentation
which was very appropriate considering the beauty inherent in each of the
poems. Both of these presentations done by Group 2 and Group 3 were equally
meaningful to me.
Group 4
The
presentation that stood out to me was group fourÕs presentation, with their
response to William BlakeÕs ÒMock on, Mock on, Voltaire Rousseau.Ó Not
only did I learn quite a bit about why the original poem was written but I also
received detail about what Blake stood for and how it clashed with RousseauÕs
ideas. To many times yesterday did other groups only restate what the
professor had said the week before while he was interpreting the poems which we
had read. Group four on the other hand, had the most creative project of
the day because they wrote a response poem that really hit home for most
students. They took shots at the original William Blake poem, which I
enjoyed because I didnÕt agree with the poem and itÕs condescending words towards
technology in the first place. The poem they wrote really made me feel
like Blake would have eaten his words about technology if he had listened to
the poem they had written. In a way, group four was the bravest of all
groups because a rebuttal is seemingly straying from the beaten path.
Instead of just simply agreeing with Blake they challenged him and his thought
provoking words by addressing him in the first lines of the poem by saying,
ÒMock on, Mock on, William Blake.Ó In the end they took a chance that not
many groups are willing to take, and came through with an unbelievable
presentation that ÒStuck itÓ to William Blake and his poem, ÒMock on, Mock on,
Voltaire Rousseau.Ó
My
favorite of the presentations was Group 4's. This group did a great job mixing
BlakeÕs written words with visuals using slide shows. The part I enjoyed the
most was the poem written in response to William Blake's "Mock On."
In BlakeÕs, ÒMock OnÓ he makes the claim that science doesnÕt do our society
much good. The gentleman in group 4 clearly did not agree with this claim made
by Blake. In response to BlakeÕs claim, the group wrote poem where they argued
for science and scientific progress. Accompanying the reading of their poem,
the group showed a slide show with various images from modern science
(inventions, discovery, etc.) The slide show I felt was very entertaining and
effective. To me this showed very well that Blake may have been brash in saying
things such as, "'tis all in vain!" I also enjoyed the readings by
the young woman who used slides with pictures from her personal life to portray
what happened in Blake's works. Seeing people acting out the stories in a
modern setting, through pictures, allowed me to see some of these poems in a
different light than when I had simply read them off the page. Out of her
readings, I have to say that I enjoyed ÒInfant SorrowÓ the most. Honorable
mention to the ÒPebble and ClodÓ part of this groups presentation as well. The
slides used for that portion were also quite entertaining.
My favorite
presentation today was one of group four's (they did
three).
Specifically, I liked the first one; the response to "Mock On
Mock On, Voltaire,
Rousseau." I liked it mostly because I was
thinking similar
thoughts when I first read it. While I think I've
understood Blake's
distinction between innocence and experience, I
never felt like
experience deserved quite the bad rap that it gets.
While experience
brings with it knowledge of danger and evil, so too
does it bring
knowledge of peace and science. A child is innocent,
but she does not know
peace like a Buddhist, nor can she save her
dying father without
the experienced doctor's help. Another example,
becoming a loving
parent is only possible as someone with (at least
some) experience - you
cannot be innocent and care for a child, who
needs your
experience. Group 2 did a good job exposing me to some
information about
Blake that I didn't know - that he thought science
was "the tree of
death," for example. Science (and experience in
general) has brought
on a lot of good in the world. I also liked that
the group's response
didn't outright reject Blake, but advocated
compromise and
coexistence. I feel like extremist exclusion is never
the right policy, and
Blake basically makes a wholesale dismissal of
science.
I enjoyed Group 4Õs
presentation. The idea to create a rebuttal to BlakeÕs ÒMock on, Mock on
Voltaire, RousseauÓ was creative and original, and I commend the two students
who decided to do this response as their presentation. The accompanying
slideshow was a good encapsulation of scientific accomplishments throughout
history. To be honest, I donÕt fully understand BlakeÕs poem. From
what I can comprehend, Voltaire and Rousseau found theism to be foolish
(according to BlakeÕs poem, that is), and BlakeÕs poem is a rebuttal to their
view of theism. However, what Blake does not do is flat-out reject the
scientific theories that Voltaire and Rousseau espouse, that is, the ÒAtoms of
Democritus and Newton's Particles of lightÓ. What Blake seems to say is
that these theories simply fall under the all-encompassing veil of creationism,
and thus do not run contrary to theism. The theories are simply a part of
the ÒsandsÓ in Israel. In this sense, the science-focused response to
BlakeÕs poem was not an appropriate one, if I understood the response
correctly. Blake was not trying to undermine the importance of scientific
accomplishments.
Next
up was a slideshow of photography set to Blake poems. The Infant Sorrow
portion was very cute, yet somehow fitting to BlakeÕs poem. The baby
really did look bound, weary, and sulking, as he lay against his motherÕs
breast. I found Group 4 to be the most memorable and interesting due to their
presentation about William Blake's poem The Clod and the Pebble. They
analyzed The Clod and the Pebble from both Songs of Innocence and Songs of
Experience. For Songs of Innocence they showed a slideshow describing the
meaning of The Clod and the Pebble. The slideshow contained pictures of
ways to help describe the meaning, for example, the clod was an icon for how
life would be if all goes well and everything and everyone was happy.
They showed pictures of how one's love life would be always happy from
the start of life to the end. They showed pictures of each stage of life,
toddler to elder age, showing us how good life is when happy with a companion.
This slideshow and descriptions allowed me to see the meaning of the poem
through the clods perspective and how the clod only wants happiness and joy
surrounding and life would always be great and pleasant. This group
showed the pebble as the side of life where everything is horrible and
miserable. The slideshow had pictures of life with people all alone and
depressed because there is no one beside each other and no one to share with.
The pebble represents how much life would be different if one did not
have a companion to live it with until death. This group also analyzed
William Blake's poem Mock On, Mock On by reading it and showing pictures to
show what it means. The group described it by informing the class that
Blake believes people's denials of God are all blown back into their eyes
like sand by an almighty wind, and just converted to more evidence of God's
glory. A stretched metaphor, and one that shows little understanding of either
the philosophies or the scientific theories he was himself mocking. This
group did a great job showing the class the meaning of the poems into a simpler
form and helping me realize what the poems really mean. I really enjoyed
their performance and believe they were the most influential and memorable.
The
presentation that was most insightful and most memorable was group number four.
The three different presentations in this group proved to be effective in
numerous ways. The first poem ÒMock On William BlakeÓ was a satirical
piece that reflected William BlakeÕs ÒMock On.Ó BlakeÕs viewpoint
surrounded the divinity of spirituality and belittled the ideas of Voltaire and
Rousseau. This group turned BlakeÕs ideals around and amplified the
notions of science, engineering, evolution, and genetics of the world.
They also toyed with the concept of a harmonious existence between
spirituality and science, magnifying the equivalence importance of each.
They also expressed Blake as being closed minded, therefore stating ÒMock
On William Blake, Mock On.Ó
The
second presentation was a slideshow of personal pictures that were linear to
BlakeÕs Infant Sorrow and NurseÕs Song. This was effective because it
gave a very private twist of these poems and made them relatable to everyday
life. It also gratified innocence to its fullest. This is because
the personal photographs followed the lives and emotions of children who have
not Òexperienced.Ó The third presentation was an analytical piece that broke
down the different ideals of the clay and the pebble. The clay focuses on
sheer happiness that can be found in everyday life, which resembles the ideas
of innocence and purity. The pebble focuses on all of the negatives that
can be found in life, which resembles the outcome of experience. She
focused these innocence and experiences on different stages of relationships,
from teenage years, to marriage, to divorce, all the way to old age. For
each of these experiences she highlights how each situation can be construed by
the clay (innocence) or as the pebble (experience). My favorite line from
this poem and presentation was that experience Òbuilds a Hell in Heavens
despite.Ó This is because everyone is forced to ÒexperienceÓ and grow out
of innocence.
Group
FourÕs ÒMock on Mock onÓ poem really made me think harder about Blake and his
intentions. I understand where Blake is coming from resisting the technological
changes, but it makes me wonder how he would respond to todayÕs technological
state. Judging from what we have talked about, he would not want to have
anything to do with our Òage of information,Ó but I wonder how he would respond
to the endless resources about his works that are so easily accessible because
of technology. Without such easy access, it seems very probable that BlakeÕs
message would not reach nearly as many people. The slideshow presented showing
images of nature and of technology made me wonder if Blake would appreciate
that technology can let people be closer to nature. Technology enables people
to spend less of their life working. This can allow more time with nature for
those who take advantage of it. If I had to guess, I think it would be very
hard to convince Blake otherwise. I get the impression that he is very stubborn
and would have a hard time accepting other views. I picture Blake being most
happy living away from society and technology where he can live off the land
and be more with nature.
I
really enjoyed listening to the poem ÒMock onÓ by group 4, which was directed at
William Blake and his opposing views on science and technology, which go along
with the Enlightenment philosophy. I found that they managed to think outside
the box and look beyond what everybody knows of William Blake, which is that he
was a brilliant poet and painter of the Romantic Age. I like how the group
pointed out that with only art and strong religious beliefs, we would still be
unable to cure diseases, have electricity and many other things that have made
life more enjoyable for us. I think that this subject matter is not only one
between Newton and Blake back in the day, it is also a very contemporary one as
the church and people with strong religious beliefs in general are more opposed
to technological revolutions than others. With spacecraft conquering space and
the theory of evolution questioning God as the creator of human kind, strongly
religious people are afraid of GodÕs almighty status being called into
question. I am sure that regardless of peopleÕs beliefs, that if any of those
new technologies help to save the life of one their loved ones, they will all
be thankful for scientists to have taken that next step.This self-made and very
creative poem by group 4 showed me that they share the belief with me that
everybody, no matter how biased by a point of view, should have an open mind
and be able to coexist with people of different beliefs.
The
student project that was most meaningful to me was the slideshow and poem (part
of Group 4) in response to "Mock On, Mock On, Voltaire, Rousseau."
I really liked how it was creative and gave the audience a visual
component to look and at think about during the presentation and while
listening to the poem. The original poem by Blake really bothered me in
the first place. I thought it was extremely arrogant of Blake to discount
two individuals doing the exact same action as Blake; spreading their ideas and
opinions to inspire others and bring about change. I think that Blake
loses some credibility by not being respectful of others. While I'm sure
that credibility and fairness was not part of Blake's thought process, I do
believe his poem is a reflection of his own innocence, and not experience.
By refusing to give merit to the beliefs of others, we are shown his own
immaturity and petulance.The reason why this presentation was so great is that
it really addressed all of the shortcomings of Blake and his attitude towards
different ways of thinking. By refuting his mocking and turning the
tables, this poem was demonstrative of experience, almost like a parent
scolding a child. I really liked the points that were made in the poem,
and the added pictures in the slideshow were really beneficial to the
presentation. While the speakers were reading the poem, the audience was
able to see exactly what science and proponents of change were able to bring
about. The pictures supported the claims of the response poem, as opposed
to Blake, who really had no leg to stand on. I also thought the poem was
really well written and dramatic, and fit the style of Blake's poem
exactly.While this part of Group 4 was my favorite, I think the whole group did
a great job responding to the poems of Blake, and addressing and challenging
the ideas he sets forth.
My
personal favorite project from thursdays performances was group 4's mock on
Voltairre Rousseau rebuttal poem. I chose this particular group because I
believe they showed a great deal of creativity. By listening to their response
I learned more and more about William Blake the person as well as diving deeper
into his poetry. I also believe that this poem was very well written as it
rhymed cleverly and displayed all the hard work that was put into creating it.
It was brave of this group to go against the grain and challenge the ideas of
Blake rather than simply accept what he had to say. My favorite part of the
poem was near the end when they questioned blake by saying "where would we
be without these innovations"? this statement began to help me see things
from the other side of the argument and undwerstand that looking to the future
may be the better of the two arguments. After listening to this poem I found
myself beginning to become more and more curious about William Blake as his
views were certainly interesting. Overall I thought this was a brave, creative
project that was written very clearly and helped me gain a better understanding
of two opposing viewpoints.
I
was most impressed with the presentation by the two male students in group 4.
They decided that William BlakeÕs letter was one sided and that it was important
to represent the other side and create a rebuttal. They created a letter
that was well written and researched. They made sure to dig deep into
those leaders whose views were different then BlakeÕs. Sometimes in class
it is hard to relate the readings back to our current society, in their
presentation they made sure to expose how important scientific thought is to
our world today. The power point that they created went a long very well
with there letter. What they were saying was powerful but with the pictures it
tied the entire presentation together. I connected most with this groupÕs
presentation and it also enabled me to better understand both sides of the
spectrum Blake vs. the scientific revolution.
The
projects presented on Thursday were all very well done. I was especially
impressed with group #4's presentation and their interpretations of Blake's
poems. The first interpretation of the poem "Mock on, Mock on" really
caught my attention. The backfire poem in response to Blake's poem was unique
in a sense that it counter-argued Blake's point of view. The two presenters
expressed the fact that many people believe science has a strong and welcoming
presence in this world. Their poem was well-written and appreciated. I also
felt that the pictures displayed during the reading added emphasis to the theme
of the poem. The last phrase of the poem, "Never with an open mind"
was powerful and a great way to end it. The other two presenters from group #4
did a great job as well. The personal pictures from the 2nd interpretation
about "The Nurse's Song", etc. added a realistic view of birth,
children, and life. I thought that the silence during the poem was a nice touch
also. The last interpretation of the Clod and the Pebble was excellent as well.
She focused on "perfect" love versus "realistic" love.
These are two very different concepts, and the presenter gave a well-prepared
comparison of the two. All three presenters were organized, prepared, and kept
me very interested throughout the presentation.
I liked group four the best, especially the guyÕs segment on BlakeÕs
ÒMock OnÓ poem. It was the most creative and had the best
presentation. They started off right by reading BlakeÕs original out loud
and posting the poem on the projector for the class to follow along. I
really appreciated this. Some of the other groups did not do this and it
was difficult for me to either remember the original work if they did not
reread it, or to concentrate on what they were reading if they did not have it
on the projector. I also liked that they came up with their own response
to Blake in the style of the original poem. Most of the other groups just
performed one of the works, or explained it while they read it. Seeing
something new was exciting. Their poem was well executed and definitely
got their Òpro scienceÓ opinion across. Being a physics major, I support
and consider the sciences as being a benefit to society. How drastically
different would our lives be without vaccines, computers, and cell phones?
I have devoted a lot of time and money while here at Cal Poly to studying
ÒNewtonÕs particles of lightÓ and think Blake should give technology more
credit. While reading their poem the guys also had a slideshow running
with a bunch of science pictures. The pictures of famous scientists and
technological achievements was extremely effective at showing just how much
science has given us, since there were so many!
I
found the project with three separate ones with in the framework the most
interesting and insightful because it addressed a wide variety of Blake's poems
and because it presented a modern point of view to the poetry. For
example, the two guys who answered Blake's disdain for science by presenting
the advances and necessities of it presented interesting material. Where
would we be today without science? I'm personally not a "science
person" but their project made me think. The first girl's response
to Nurse's Song was interesting because it had a very personal touch to it. Its
brave to be able to share your own photos and experiences with so many people.
Lastly, the comparisons of family structure in the third presentation was
probably my favorite. It had a lot of relevance to modern society with
family structure changing so much and the project clearly expressed the good
and bad in relationships. I believe this was the most insightful project
Group
4Õs presentation was unique compared to the other presentations. The four
people divided into three different presentations and presented on topics that each
person found interesting. The first group provided commentary on William
BlakeÕs ÒMock on Mock onÓ. This presentation turned the tables on Blake,
who opposed the enlightenment and thought that art was life and science was
death. The last line in the presentation was Òmock on mock on William
Blake, it is you who is blind.Ó BlakeÕs opinion was against the
enlightenment, and this argument from this presentation is that Blake is not
open to the new technology and science. He states in his poem that products
of the enlightenment are like sand in the wind, blown around with no real point
to them. This presentation refutes BlakeÕs point with a slideshow of
inventions and new technologies.
I
think Group 4 had the most meaningful interpretation of Blake's work by
portraying his message in their own eyes. It was really interesting to see the
guys' retaliation to Blake's poem, Mock On, by addressing the question, why
can't science and art live harmoniously? Also by having multiple photographs of
different advancements in math and science, the slideshow became art in itself.
The image that stuck with me was the double helix structure of the DNA strand,
it reiterated the idea that science and art are one in the same. Another member
applied Blake's poems to different aspects of her life and what they meant to
her. She showed the realities of life, while touching on innocence and
experience. Lastly, another member analyzed the Clod and the Pebble through the
ages of love. It showed that love isn't simple and that although love seems
almost blissful, there is always possibility of heartbreak. As a whole, I
thought they gave a very thorough synopsis of Blake and his work and portrayed
his message effectively.
I
felt all of the projects presented were thoughtful and well executed. However,
I felt the group that stood out most to me was group 4. The group had split up
into three groups, which was unique to the other groups who chose to work
together. The first presentation of group 4 had a response poem to BlakeÕs ÒMock
On Mock On Voltaire, Rousseau.Ó It was a very interesting response exemplifying
how Blake was wrong in his jesting against these great minds. The power point
slides were very good in adding a visual aspect to the recitation of their
poem. The response poem didnÕt just write Blake off in his divine views, but
begged the question ÒWhy canÕt both live harmoniously?Ó This is a great point
in today societal views. Today, there is a constant battle between religion and
science, which is echoed in BlakeÕs poem as well as the studentsÕ poem that was
presented. In the response poem, the students show how important the works of
Voltaire, Rousseau, and Newton are and their contributions to modern society.
This poem was powerful and spoke to reason. The other presentations were also
well constructed. BreeAnnaÕs interpretation and visual representation helped
the class better see the poem from her point of view. The photos of the child
accurately depicted infant joy and sorrow. You could really feel the sheer joy
in the childÕs smile and saddest sorrow in the crying baby. Having such a great
visual effect better represents the poem than William BlakeÕs own hand painted
plates. Finally, Tatyanna gave a good interpretation to BlakeÕs poem entitled
ÒThe Clod and the PebbleÓ. It was a very accurate and concise look at both
interpretations of love and I also liked how Tatyanna was able to share her own
personal experience and it was apparent to see how this poem spoke to her.
I
liked Group 4's presentation because they all had different perspectives on
Blake. I was interested by the first part of the presentation in which they
wrote a poem in answer to "Mock On! Mock On! Voltaire, Rousseau"
because of the way the presenters made the connection between those two philosophers
and the progress of science. The pictures flashing on the screen were a great
portrayal of the speed of the scientific advancement of the past 300 years. It
was great to see the Blake poem contextualized in that way. The next part of
the presentation, a slideshow of pictures from the presenter's life, was a
unique way to show that Blake's poems are still relevant. Her pictures of her
children with the words from various poems from Songs of Innocence and
Experience made me think more of Blake's poetry as something that
relates to real life. His words still ring true and connect to deeper human
experience. Finally, the last part of the presentation on "The Clod and
the Pebble" was a good visualization of the poem and the pictures,
humorous and sad, gave pictures to the words.
I
personally liked the last single presenter in Group 4 the best. The
presentation was based on William BlakeÕs poem, The CLOD & the PEBBLE. It
involved a slide shown with pictures illustrating the attitudes of the clod of
clay versus that of the pebble on the topic of love. It was extremely thought
provoking in its explanation of the views of each personified character in the
poem. While this presentation was simply pictures, these pictures
reminded me of experiences I have had. The pictures allowed everyone to think
of their own experiences and actively participate in the presentation. In
creating this an empathetic environment and that in turn made the presentation
memorable. The audience was noticeable more into this presentation because when
a happy or sad picture came up the audience made audible responses. I also
liked the presentation of Group 2. Their performance was both entertaining and
relatable. They did their presentation on BlakeÕs poem A POISION TREE and acted
out a version of what they thought the poem meant. The group named this short
play ÒThe Poison BerryÓ. This play made the poem more present day and open.
It brought a straight forward truth to the poem in naming the fiend from
the poem as the cheating friend.
Out
of all the groups that presented today, I think group 4 did the best job with
creatively interpreting various William Blake poems through different mediums.
The first project was a different approach to Mock On, Mock On, Voltaire,
Rousseau. They explained how Blake is very opposed to the concept of
science, even going as far as to denounce Isaac NewtonÕs optics research,
because of BlakeÕs personal view of the Òspiritual eye.Ó Their poem adaptation
was accompanied by a slide show of different scientific advancements from the
last 200 years or so, ranging from computers to the human genome project.
The second project was a picture interpretation of another Blake poem,
which broke down the poem into individual scenes. Although I cannot remember
the name of the poem, the pictures made the poem easier to understand. Lastly
the groupÕs third project was about the Clay and Clod. I liked the way she
broke down life in stages (infant, preteen, teen, newlywed, middle age, etc) in
order to showcase the conflicting perspectives of life in the view point of the
clay and clod. Although the pictures were generic, it provided softness to
BlakeÕs words because they showcased real people in happy and unhappy
situations. I also liked the personal story she added about divorce and how it
make sense to her now.
I thought that group fourÕs analysis of the Blake poems was very good.
It was interesting how each group member decided to pick their own poem and
each do a separate power point and response, it allowed me to get multiple
peopleÕs takes on a variety of poems. I especially enjoyed the comparison of
The Clod and The Pebble. I thought the power point was very relevant to the two
poems and greatly enjoyed the pictures that were shown along with the text, it
was both interesting and informative. It really helped me to understand the
conflicting themes of the poems and allowed me to have a better grasp on the
meaning of the poems by comparing it to something that is relevant and
relatable. The two sides of love were depicted well with both the slideshow and
the commentary. It was entertaining and captured my attention. I also
thoroughly enjoyed the response to Mock On, which another member in the group
did. I thought it was very creative to respond to BlakeÕs poem with an original
poem of their own. I liked how they turned around and directly responded
to the original poem by questioning BlakeÕs own beliefs and defending science
and Voltaire and Rousseu. It made me give more thought to a short poem, that I
overlooked and had no particular interest in, prior to the presentation. The
whole idea was creative and well done, I also liked the slideshow that was
playing in the background, it added a nice touch and helped to keep my
interest.
I
thought each group did a great job with their projects today, but I especially
liked the ÒMock OnÓ poem in Group Four. I thought their poem was creative and
original. BlakeÕs ÒMock OnÓ criticized the Enlightenment and its thinkers like
Rousseau, Voltaire, and Newton. Group FourÕs rendition responded to Blake by
illustrating the positive contributions the Enlightenment made to the
scientific community. I enjoyed how their ÒMock OnÓ poem did not bash Blake,
but celebrated scientific advancements and advocated that the Romantic and
Enlightenment Eras should live in harmony. Each period is important and
valuable, and I appreciated how Group Four recognized this. They wrote the poem
in the same style as Blake which helped relate further to the original poem. I
also liked the slide show they paired with the reading. I thought it was a
simple way to reinforce the amazing scientific advancements they were
describing. Also in Group Four, I enjoyed the explanation of BlakeÕs ÒThe Clod
and The PebbleÓ. The presenter explained that the clod had an innocent view of
love and showed what that means in modern times. An innocent view of love is
having the fairytale or a happily ever after ending. In the poem, the pebble
has a more experienced view of love, and that was illustrated by love ending in
heartbreak, divorce, or loneliness. This project was very clear and concise. I
liked how it elaborated on BlakeÕs work and related it to the modern day. Every
group did such an amazing job!
I felt that the rendition of "Mock On" by the pair in group 4
was my favorite project that was presented. Blake was mocking the other
guys and making fun of the inventions and how they are like a grain of sand on
the beach by Israels tents. I thoroughly enjoyed how the two men
"mocked" Blake in his own style poem by pointing out all the benefits
we have from the technology that Blake mocked. It was very clever and
witty and was interesting to follow along with. The slideshow with
pictures of everything invented or discovered relating to technology also
helped me think of how awesome our technology has been so beneficial. The
two guys spoke very clearly and really got me to actually understand the
meaning of the original poem by using their clever twist. The delivery
was easy to follow when the two switched off reading their parts. Technology
has been very beneficial to me in my life. It has gotten to the point
where school is very technological oriented and we could never get by without
all these wonderful technological inventions. I think if Blake heard
their poem about todays world in this time of day, he would change his mind.
The presentation I enjoyed the most was that of Group Four that spoke
about the Clod and the Pebble. She presented her own project aside from
the group that took the mindsets of the Clod and the Pebble separately and
applied them to human life. Although Blake may have been referring to human
life and peopleÕs different takes on love in his poem, this presentation showed
the class directly the differences between the two which I greatly
appreciated. The presentation included a basic timeline of how an
individualÕs lifeline would play out according to American norms. The
first timeline that was shown to the class, from the ClodÕs perspective, was
that of an ideal love life from early childhood and having friends, to young
adulthood with relationships and newlyweds, all the way to old age with a
companion; and this portion of the presentation I liked because it showed the
progression of life as most people would want or expect theirs to go, ending
happily with a loved one. The second half of her presentation was from
the point of view of the Pebble, which was more narcissistic and realistic. In
early childhood there was exclusion from friends, young adults experiencing
heartbreak and divorce, and elderly people dying alone without a spouse.
This portion hit home as my parents are both divorced (but now happily
remarried to new spouses) and it made me think about how my own life may have
been affected had they both still been single and on their own to raise both me
and my sister. All in all this project was very meaningful to me and it helped
me understand BlakeÕs poem a little more as it further engulfed the ideals of
both the ClodÕs and PebbleÕs points of view.
Group 5
I
enjoyed the 5th groupÕs presentation of William Blake the most. I liked how
they contrasted the two nurseÕs poems in the songs of innocence and songs of
experience by not only analyzing them differently, but also presenting them
differently. I especially enjoyed how they imitated the childrenÕs voices in
the songs of innocence presentation, but not the songs of experience. I must
admit that I didnÕt notice that the first line of each poem was the same, so it
was interesting to see them point that out. Their thesis, which stated that
each poem was presented by the nurse, but came from her two different
perspectives on innocence and experience, made me as an audience member start
thinking and analyzing the poem. I also agreed with their idea that children
cannot know what innocence is, since they are so innocent, which is why both
poems came from the nurseÕs perspective.
I felt that Group 5 did
an excellent job of analyzing and presenting "The Nurse's Song" by
William Blake. Their power-point was well done and full of helpful images and
their acting rendition of the poem was creative and helpful to understanding
the poems meaning as well as the direction they were going to analyze the work
as well. Some interesting points the group brought up was that Blake used the
children's voice/ point of view in the innocence poem while in the experience
poem it was from the nurse's more experienced point of view, which reveals the
nurse's envy of the children's innocence, and you can only really see her envy
if you look as the poem through her eyes. Another interesting insight that the
group brought forth was that Blake uses nature in a way that gives it
connotations. The way he uses dew in his poems gives it a since of mystery
which can be inferred to as the mystery of life. I did not pull this from the
poem when i read it, and after the presentation i went back and reread it and
the poem made a lot more sense.