Abraham Lincoln's speech analysis

Abraham Lincoln could made the decisions he did because he thought he owed everything to his home town, as he says in line 2 of the speech: "To this place (...), I owe everything." in this quote we can see the feeling Lincoln felt that he owed everything to his home town and that being a member of the house of representatives and later being the president of the united states could help him achieve that goal, which could have included his opinion against slavery which maybe helped him take decisions as for example the emancipation proclamation.

Paper 2 preparation

The written texts have always a certain meaning, that tells us something that is not necessarily explicit on the text o could help us to understand what the author wanted to say. Meaning is what the source of sender communicates in their message to the receiver, and what the receiver infers from the current context. But the meaning of a text is fixed and do not change over time? I say no because: the message of a text is received different depending on the reader and the time; the words used in a text could mean something different depending of the time, and the reception of certain elements of a text can be different over time.

First, the message of a text is received differently in different times from where it was written and depending on the reader of the text as for example in page 40 of “To Kill a Mockingbird”: ‘He had announced in the schoolyard the day before that Scout Finch’s daddy defended niggers.’ This quote from the book tells us what Scout, the protagonist, referred to as what made her forget she did not have to fight with others. This quote talks about how was society’s reaction when someone defended a “nigger” a term widely used to refer colloquially to African American descendants, mainly in the times where the plot of this book takes place, 1930s decade, when the African American descendants were very discriminated for that, to which a reader from the time the book was written, in 1960, will have a neutral reaction because the fact that in those times the people was used to this and most white people supported it, but if we apply it to a time as the present day, 2014, it could have caused a lot of controversy for the use of the word “nigger” in the context it is used because of the racism implied in it. It also show us how the African American descendants were discriminated as being a reason of mock between the children the fact that Scout’s father was the lawyer defending one, Tom Robinson, which nowadays could be very condemned in the society such expression of racism.

Second, the words used in the text could mean something different depending of the time the story is read as for example in page 41 of “To Kill a Mockingbird”: ‘I’m simply defending a Negro (…)’. In this quote we can see how Atticus Finch, Scout’s father, refers to the fact that he only defends an African American descendant referred by him as a “negro” which, as I said before, was received in the context when the book was written in 1960 because of the great amount of discrimination against African American descendants during this period that was followed with the defence of the rights of the African American descendants with his famous speech “I have a dream” from 1963. Different from that period with the present time is that the word “negro” passed from being a common term for the dark skinned people to be an offensive and racist term for them, coming from white people, so in the present days the use of “negro” could, as I said before, cause a lot of controversy and problems for the author with the society.

Finally the reception of certain elements presented in the text can be changed depending on the time the text is published and also depending on who is the reader as for example in some elements of the book Fatelessness by the Jewish author Imre Kertész, as are the main elements of the holocaust as for example the forced work made by every man and woman from teenager age to old age. This elements can be perceived differently depending on the time that are perceived and in the reader. The element that we can identify in the text of the young György Köves working in very poor conditions moving rocks, loading them into train carts while being abused by the Nazi guards leading to some cases in which he nearly faints. This specific element will be perceived differently depending on the time it is received and who is the reader, as for example, if the reader is a Nazi soldier in mid 1940s he would probably perceive the element in a positive way and probably supported it, but if the reader was an Englishman with an anti-Nazi thinking he could receive the element in a very negative way because of his thinking and the abuse shown inside the text. While if the reader are a German and a British man but in the context of the XXI century they could receive the message in a very different way, being probably the German seeing it as a great fault that should never happened in the history of Deutschland while the British man could only see it as the awful past of the German people.

In conclusion, the meaning of a text is not fixed and changes over time because many parts of a text as are the context and the message can change depending on the time the text is written and/or read because of the changes in how society see some actions and thoughts which make them be more or less condemned, as for example the use of word as “negro”.

888 words

Friday 21st of March

How would you describe the register of the following statements?

• “Honoured guests, members of the board, Superintendent Johnson, and most importantly, graduates of the class of 2012, it is an honour to speak to you on this occasion.” Formal Register
• “While I was pleasantly surprised by the menu selections for dinner service, I was disheartened by the lukewarm eggs at breakfast.” Formal Register
• “Yeah, right” Casual Register
• “I doubt it” Consultative Register
• “I’m tired of your rubbish” Intimate Register 
• “I’m tired” Frozen Register

Paper 1 preparation

I.- Are the following statements factive or non factive?

• I thought that today was your birthday. (Non-Factive)
• I forgot that today was your birthday.   (Factive)
• The teacher scolded me for not studying hard enough.   (Non-Factive)
• The teacher acknowledged that I hadn’t really studied.  (Factive)
• The teacher realized the student had cheated.  (Factive)
• The teacher assumed that the student had cheated. (Non-Factive)

II.- Idioms and Ambiguity

• Bite your tongue (It means that you apply pain to yourself but also means that you shut up)
• Pull my leg  (It means that actually pull my leg but could also mean that you play a joke on someone)
• He is my English teacher (It means that he is my english teacher but also could mean that he comes from England)
• I saw the person with a telescope  (It means that I actually saw the person with a telescope but also could mean that I saw a person holding a telescope)
• She doesn’t like short men or women (It means that she actually doesn't like short men or women but also could mean that she doesn't like short men or women in general)

Figurative Language and imagery

p. 203

1.- The Rhyme, the metaphors and the last verse.
2.- The theme, the rhyme and purpose.
3.- "¿What were you trying to say with this poem?"; "¿To whom is this poem adressed?"; "¿What did you feel when you read it?"

p.204
Questions.-
1) -The man is spreading his clothes beneath a woman's feet
-The man is poor, so it only have his dreams for having her
-The man sacrifices his dreams for her
- The man ask thewoman to walk softly because she is walking on his dreams
2) It depends on the reader.
3) Because of it's softness.



Table.-

Sight	Sound	Taste	Touch	Smell
Fat	Fields		Hibiscus	Fields
Black	Sea		Brezeed	Hibiscus
Sun	Riding		Sun	Sea
Lights	Waves		Sea
fields			Hug

"The Kraken" (1830) analysis

The title of this poem gives a sensation of fear because of the legend it refers to as the kraken was a monster in the Nordic culture which talked about a giant monster with the form of an octopus that lived in the deepest parts of the North Sea and sometimes went to the surface to sink and fed of ships and their crew. This poem is about the kraken by itself and it's characteristics, also telling us his atmosphere, how the kraken lives referring to the characteristics of the depths were the kraken is supposed to live and that when it time comes man and angels will see it and then in the surface it will die. The deepest meaning of this poem is that this "monster" lives alienated from the world and this makes it feel the loneliness and in a try of end this solitude and sadness when it goes to the surface it unconsciously creates the chaos for what it is lonely and because of it's lonely living when his time comes it will go to the surface one last time to die, where everybody, angels and men, will see it. The lyric speaker uses a solemn tone which gives the sensation of sadness or the same loneliness. The lyric speaker changes it's mood from the beginning of the poem, when it was more like "epic" to the kraken, to a mood more solemn and sadder in the last half of the poem. The title of this poem it's meant to say about the loneliness and incomprehension of the author using as an example the creature known as "Kraken". The poet is saying the feeling he get of being lonely maybe because of some event that left him like this as it could be the death of a friend or loved one.

Poetry Analysis

I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You

 1     I do not love you except because I love you;

        I go from loving to not loving you,

        From waiting to not waiting for you

        My heart moves from cold to fire.

5      I love you only because it's you the one I love;

        I hate you deeply, and hating you

        Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you

        Is that I do not see you but love you blindly.

        Maybe January light will consume
10    My heart with its cruel

        Ray, stealing my key to true calm.

        In this part of the story I am the one who

        Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you,

14    Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood.

Pablo Neruda

(source: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-do-not-love-you-except-because-i-love-you/)

In this poem there is the repetition of the sound 'I' between stanzas 1 and 2; and the repetition of the sound 'M' in stanza 3 at the beginning of each verse. In verse 1 there is an assonance in the sounds of "do", "you" and "you" with an 'U' sound. In verse 2 there is another assonance now with the 'O' sound between "from", "loving", "not" and "loving". There is an another assonance with the 'O' sound in verse 3 between "from", "not" and "for". In verse 4 there is an alliteration with the repetition of the 'F' sound between "from" and "fire". In verse 5 there is an assonance of the 'O' sound between "love", "only", "one" and "love". In verse 6 there is an alliteration of the 'H' word between "hate" and "hating". In verse 7 there is another alliteration but from the 'M' sound between "measure" and "my". In verse 8 there is an alliteration of the 'B' sound between  "but" and "blindly"and also and assonance of 'A' sound between "I" and "blindly". In verse 9 there is an assonance of the 'U' sound between "January" and "consume". In verse 11 there is an assonance of the 'I' sound between "stealing" and "key". In verse 12 there is an assonance of the 'A' sound between "part" and "am". In verse 13 there is an assonance of the 'A' sound between "dies", "I", "die" and "I. In verse 14 there is an assonance of the 'A' sound between "love" and "blood".