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LeGuin writes, “The author lets us see or guess what “really” happened, and using this as a touchstone, we readers are led to understand how other people see the world and why they see it that was (63).

“The Great SIlence” is through the POV of a parrot, so as readers, we are able to get a parrots perspective on intelligent life and being a vocal learner.  However, since Ted Chiang is not a himself a parrot, nor a parrot whisperer (I’m assuming) the reliability of the narrator can be questioned. Readers are led to see the world through a parrots eyes, but is this really what happened or just how the parrot interpreted his/her world.

LeGuin explains, “The narrator is one of the characters but not the principal character- Present, but not a major actor in events” (68)

“Girl” is from the perspective of possibly society, or someone explaining how she needs to live her life. The narrator uses “I” to connect him/herself, but the story is about a young lady learning how to be a women. The narrator plays a part, but he/she is not an active participant.

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Le Guin writes, “The past tense and the present tense are both capable of variation expressing such things as a continuity of action and how events relate in time” (50).

Diaz puts an interesting spin on tense because he writes like he is talking about the future, but he has all of the incite as if he is recalling the past.

Bender shifts back and forth between tenses. She recalls Ben’s last days as a human in past tense, but also tells her story in present tense, describing events like when she lets him go in the ocean.

Both authors use time/ tense to their advantage in very different ways, but each method fits well for the story.

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Between this weeks reading repetion is what stands out the most in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. O'Brien uses repetion beautifully to illustrate a picture and add to the image each time a phrase is recalled. The multiple ways to word "they things they carried" and reference the death of Lavender further proves Le Guin's point of how effective repetition can be in creating a narrative and driving home a point.

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Reading Le Guin added clearity to writing with sound and I really liked comparing this to what Oliver said about sound and individual words. Le Guin talks about the sounds of sentences and the influence their entire structure has over just a single word. "The Lesson" was a great example of sound in terms of dialect alone. The way each character speaks tells a lot about them, their age, education, social status, arguable their race. This story uses sound in a way that gives an incredible amount of information.

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Revising my poems was an interesting experience. My Child's Imagination poem was written pretty quickly without much thought. I was happy that everyone liked it. Revising it was a little more difficult because it actually required more thought. My image poem didn't require as much revision, but I did change a few words to make the image more vivid and rich.

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I enjoyed reading about persona   and I found Oliver very helpful on how to create a successful persona. I hadn't ever thought about writing through another perspective. The small amount of poetry I have written has had myself as the speaker. Working with a persona can create depth and interest in a poem. I'm excited to start writing through a new set of eyes.

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I love how Oliver gives examples and discusses structured poetry and poetry that is free and without rules. Reading this section brought me back to high school. Rhyme scheme and verse is the most memorable part of poetry for me and I felt more comfortable discussing it, unlike the topic of stressed/unstressed syllables, which for some reason I still cannot grasp. I do well with structure and guidelines, so I think working within styles that have rules will be helpful, but I also think it is much easier to write a free verse poem and write things as they come. I enjoyed Oliver's examples of the different types of poems and am excited to see what comes together in my own writing.

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Reading about the different measures of lines was a bit overwhelming. I had no Idea that each measure had names. Also, I don't think I am fully grasping the concept of unstressed vs. stressed syllables and what is considered a "foot". I havnt tried to encompass these techniques in poetry assignment yet, but it seems difficult. I am most confused what an unstressed syllable is vs unstressed.

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Prior to reading Oliver's section on sound, I hadn't given sound a lot of thought. Traditionally when I thought of sound, I would picture onomatopoeia, alliteration and rhyme, but really nothing further than that. Oliver explores sound with the importance of the words themselves. Not only do i feel like I have a better understanding of how useful/meaningful sound can be in a poem, I think I can expand my own poetry.

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I loved Oliver's take on imitation. She states "I think if imitation were encouraged much would be learned" (13). I agree with this because great poets become well known because they resonate with others. People can come up with original work, while still imitating. Shakespeare created his own sonnets and since then, others have imitated its form. I chose to imitate "The Red Wheel barrow" The language is vague enough to allow open interpretation, yet bold enough to create a clear image.

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"Ode to a Composting Toilet" by Sharon Olds

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"Ode to a Composting Toilet" by Sharon Olds

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I have never been a huge fan of poetry mostly because my first thought is of a bunch of vague phrases that could have an infinite number of interpretations. I have never really thought about poetry as having fun topics. So far, my experience with poems is what is included in academia and poetic literary cannon. This poem showed me a lighter side of poetry and I found quickly, that while this poem was full of debauchery, it was fun and lighthearted. As much as I would love to write a deep heart felt poem, I know myself and I know my poetry will lean toward eccentric, silly or funny things. I appreciate reading her poem as an invitation to be a little quirky.

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In his letter from August 12th Rilke explains to the young writer not be scared of his sadness because something beautiful may come of it. I think this is great, since a lot of poetry is based on emotion. I tend to not wear my heart on my sleeve or put a positive spin or look on the bright side of almost every situation. With this piece of wisdom, maybe in the future or throughout maybe I can force myself to see the sadness in a situation for the sake of art, poetry and creativity.