Experiential Learning Project

Ramayama

The battle is at hand

Both God and demon make their stand

The hero fights for honor and his bride

The villain boasts his foolish pride

Drinking Alone With the Moon
The poet pens his adorations
Underneath the moon's vibrations
Three is company, or so they say
Man, Shadow, and Moon drink before the day

Basho

Inspiration to my sensei

His words at constant play

Journey far and wide, oh wise one

Across the land of the rising sun

Mirabai

Sweet lovesick maiden of Krishna

You sing songs of praise and worship

The villagers don't understand, though,

The nature of your courtship

Sunjata

Ancient "mean girl" behaviors appear

The young bride sheds a tear

Always judging one another

Instead of encouraging the Other

Petrarch

Always pining for your lady fair

How you wish to stroke her hair

Alas, she no longer breathes life

Fulling your soul with great strife

Sor Juana

Sister in Christ, patron saint of feminism

Your words too soon for the patriarchy's liking

To you we owe gratitude for your wisdom

The message you left was striking

Chandara's Punishment

He used you as a scapegoat

To save his brother's honor

Now your husband must reap what he's sown

As you face your final horror

In A Bamboo Grove

Only three people know the truth

But who do we believe?

It will take the work of a master sleuth

To ensure we aren't deceived

Forking Paths

Numerous decisions await you

But what do you choose?

Each path leads down a different avenue

Determining whether you ultimately win or lose

Stuck In Hell

They striped from you your dignity

Casting aside your clothing to be gassed

But then they striped from you your humanity

Casting aside your empathy to the past

Drunken House Wife

Solitude brings out her worst

Drinking so much she might burst

Lazing about in self-pity

Even though she believes herself witty

Head's Loyalty 8/4/19

The basis of loyalty can sometimes create controversy within a community. Bessie Head’s “The Deep River” tells the tale of a tribe torn after the death of their leader, especially upon discovering Monemapee’s youngest wife had been unfaithful to her husband. This story clearly indicates that the tribe’s differing opinions created a division in their very existence. Throughout the story, Head shows how the tribal elders stuff to older conventions, whereas Sebembele’s followers held loyalty to their rightful leader (1708).

Head brings her theme of loyalty and division to fruition with a good dose of conflict and some minor foreshadowing. She presents the conflict of Sebembele admitting he had an affair with his father’s youngest wife and was the true father of his youngest “brother” Makobi (Head 1705). This conflict creates the conflict of his two younger brothers suddenly realizing their youngest “brother” has now replaced them in line to the throne (Head 1705). The village counselors create conflict for Sebembele by posing the ultimatum that he renounce his lover and his son, which brings about foreshadowing that he will give up his throne to remain loyal to Rankwana and their son (Head 1706). These literary devices show a loyalty to family while also conveying the division of a tribe who either sides with the rightful heir or disagrees with his “unmanly” ways (Head 1706).

Although the tribe eventually splits, the Talaote people accept Sebembele’s decision and follow him to a new tradition. The younger brothers succeed in drumming out their competition while also dividing their tribe into two factions.

Works Cited
Head, Bessie. “The Deep River.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter Third edition. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 1704-1708.

Existence 7/28/19

Lispector’s character Maria seems to have had too much time on her hands while her children were away with their aunt. She begins questioning her very existence as a wife, mother, and woman, seeming to be experiencing a midlife crisis of sorts. Most importantly, Maria questions her own importance and existence in the grand scheme of things, as indicated while combing her hair, in interactions with her husband, and during her night out with her husband and his business associate.

Her dilemma with body image appears to be a recurring theme throughout the story. Particularly in the restaurant, she sees a young woman bedecked with jewelry and an eye-catching hat, and she immediately begins seething with rage towards the young woman (Lispector 1558-1559). Although she casts doubts about the young woman’s ability to bear children or be anything more than a frail wisp, Maria continually points out her own roundness. Was she perhaps feeling the strain of a more curvaceous figure after having children? Moreover, she questions her life skills while sobering up and realizing she had spent far too much time laying in bed while her children were away. She chastizes herself for being so lazy and resolves to scrub her home the next day as restitution (Lispector 1560).

All in all, Lispector’s Maria seems to have an existential crisis on her hands while realizing that she leads a rather domestic life -- rather than the grandeur she believes she deserves while drunk in the restaurant. Maria is disenchanted with the life to which she has become accustomed.

Work Cited
Lispector, Clarice. “The Daydreams of a Drunk Woman.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter Third edition. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 1555-1560.

Neruda 7/21/19

Although Pablo Neruda survived poverty while working and studying, he clearly remembered his humble roots when he became a diplomat (Puchner 1421). His experiences encouraged him to fight for the people’s rights and betterment, therefore painting his view of modernity and capitalism. Based on Neruda’s account in “Walking Around,” the emerging view of the city appears mundane and tawdry. Neruda seems dismayed by the modern appearance of his city.

In his 1933 poem, Neruda expresses his dissatisfaction with being human. All the trappings of modern humanity depress Neruda to the point that he feels as though he’s “a root in the dark” trying to find the light (Neruda ln 18). He sees modern inventions and items for sale, which causes his inner turmoil regarding his manhood. Neruda implies that he’s simply existing until he arrives at the grave, simply drifting through life consuming as modern humanity expects. His perspective clearly encouraged Neruda to join the Communist Party of Chile in order to advocate for his community (Puchner 1421). Urban dwelling did not always provide the best living conditions for the poorest individuals. Even the birds appear stained by pollution, and clothing drying in the streets still drips with dirty water (Neruda 1424).

The emerging view of the city in Neruda’s poem illustrates how capitalism and modernization created social disparities and a separation from nature. By the time Neruda wrote “Walking Around,” he surely visited countless cities -- finding deplorable living conditions and an emphasis on consuming more than necessary. If one were to pair his poem with an image, the classic commercial featuring Iron Eyes Cody shedding a tear over litter seems most suiting to Neruda’s despair over the city’s condition (Waldman 1999).

Works Cited
Neruda, Pablo. “Walking Around.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter Third edition. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 1423-1424.
Puchner, Martin. “Pablo Neruda.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter Third edition. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 1421-1422.
Waldman, Amy. “Iron Eyes Cody, 94, an Actor And Tearful Anti-Littering Icon.” New York Times, 1999. https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/05/arts/iron-eyes-cody-94-an-actor-and-tearful-anti-littering-icon.html.

Gender 7/14/19

After reading literature that painted women as commodities in the patriarchal world, “The Rod of Justice” illustrates a very different situation. Although typically the female role seems to be submissive to the male, Sinha Rita possesses a certain amount of power over the men in her life -- almost like a role reversal situation. Moreover, she asserts her dominance over the household slaves without the influence of a male master.

Body. Rather than seeing a female character fleeing an uncomfortable environment, de Assis presents Damiao, a young man studying to be a priest. Damiao realizes his male relatives will react with anger and send the poor boy back to the seminary because such running away was not very masculine behavior. However, he determines that his godmother will protect him in the traditional motherly manner. Not only does his assumption prove correct, but the woman vehemently demands that Damiao’s godfather plead with his father for salvation. In fact, she proclaims “‘They’ll find out what I’m made of! No, I won’t stand for any foolishness!’” (de Assis 916). On the other hand, Sinha Rita’s kindness disappears when interacting with her slave, Lucretia. As a woman of power, Sinha Rita turns ice cold when faced with punishing her distracted slave -- all while poor Damiao must appease his godmother to curry favor.

In “The Rod of Justice,” role reversal leads a perceived weak male character crying to his godmother to protect him from his father, godfather, and the seminary. Sinha Rita holds power over the men in this story, creating quite an opposite image compared to this week’s previous readings.

Work Cited
De Assis, Joaquim Maria Machado. “The Rod of Justice.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter Third edition. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 911-916. Print.

Martí and Darío 7/7/19

Given Walt Whitman’s notoriety as a poet, it comes as no surprise that José Martí and Rubén Darío admired his poetry enough to emulate it. Darío’s “Fatality” and Martí’s “I Am an Honest Man” both share elements in keeping with Whitman’s poetic style, including his discusses of nature and death in “Song of Myself.”

Although the Norton Anthology only provides one of Martí’s poems as a comparison, the example offers plenty of similarities to Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” Whitman toys with his sense of mortality in “52” of his poem, saying “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow” (ln 10, 653). In a similar fashion, Martí expresses his honesty “before I die” (3). Both poets wished to express themselves before death came knocking, and both men harnessed this whim to create poetic harmony.

Of the selected poems from Darío, “Fatality” contained several elements reminiscent of Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” Darío particularly captured the simplicity of existing as an element of nature in comparison to living as a human being -- conscious of one’s mortality. The tree and the rock have no worries or fears, unlike Darío’s concerns about the future and all its possibilities (695). In “7” Whitman contemplates the fine line he walks between birth and death, realizing that birth inevitably brings death (1-4).

The saying that imitation is a form of flattery holds true when comparing Darío and Martí’s poems to the writing style of Whit Whitman. Between the two poems analyzed here, the senior poet’s influence clearly inspired his contemporaries to strive for similar poetic beauty.

Works Cited
Darío, Rubén. “Fatality.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter Third edition. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 695. Print.
Martí, José. “I Am an Honest Man.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter Third edition. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 681-682. Print.
Whitman, Walt. “From Song of Myself.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter Third edition. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 648-653. Print.

An Essay on Man 6/30/19

Before major scientific breakthroughs occurred, religion sought to explain the world and how it works. Then people began studying and seeking answers outside of biblical reasoning, and the two entities became conflicting. However, Pope’s arguments that divine order can coexist with evil and chaos create a logical explanation for religion and science to exist together. His rhyming “An Essay on Man” blends religion, science, and good old fashioned poetry to defend his position.

For starters, Pope asserts that God knows the way systems work and can see the entirety of the universe as compared with the relatively miniscule field of vision for mankind (90-91). Although British society had advanced to such an extent that science and education became the norm, Pope also noted that cultures must begin in a primitive setting. He points out that the Native Americans saw God in nature, but he further asserts that such beliefs lead to happier outlooks -- rather than seeking slaves and gold (92-93). If discovery and education lead to corruption, are the supposed intellectual superiors truly moral and just?

At the end of the day, human beings need religion and science to live a more balanced life. Religion provides the moral compass to direct mankind through all situations, while science explains how and why things work. Alexander Pope’s “An Essay on Man” brilliantly argues that science and religion can coexist, even when people question how evil can exist under God’s watchful eye. After all, evil exists in balance with good, just as light coexists with darkness.

Work Cited
Pope, Alexander. "An Essay on Man." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter Third edition. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 90-97. Print.