Abraham Lincoln Speech

“My friends: No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of  a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when or whether ever I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him, I canot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.”

As we can see on the speech, Lincoln refers to the audience as "friends" which would make the whole composition of words more sentimental, affectional, etc. In another aspect we are able to descry the way that Abraham uses words to achieve a closer proximity between him and his followers.

Truth Assumptions, Idioms and Ambiguity!

Today in class we did a few exercises on Truth assumptions, stating if some statements were factive or not. The use of certain verbs can imply the actual or probable status of events in a statement. In the sentence “I know the dog died”, the verb “know” is FACTIVE as it assigns the death of the dog as true. In “I believe the dog died”, the verb “believe” is NON-FACTIVE as the clausal object (the dog died) may not be a true fact.

 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. FACTIVE
The teacher acknowledged that I hadn’t really studied. NON-FACTIVE
The teacher realized the student had cheated. FACTIVE
The teacher assumed that the student had cheated. NON-FACTIVE

 As well we analysed some sentences which had some ambiguities and rhetorical devices. Meaning can often be complicated through the use of metaphors, idioms, or simply through ambiguous relationships between words. What are the actual meanings of the first two idioms below? What are the possible meanings of the next ambiguous sentences?

Bite your tongue - Metaphor: Stop talking.
Pull my leg - Metaphor: Are you joking on me?
He is my English teacher - Ambiguity: Is he your English teacher or just a teacher from England?
I saw the person with a telescope - Ambiguity: Were you watching him with a telescope? or was he the one looking through it?
She doesn’t like short men or women - Ambiguity: Not clear of wether she has a problem with short men or woman, or short people in general.

Register: Paper 1 Skills and Practice

FROZEN register is pre-determined or scripted language used in prescribed, often ritualistic contexts such as a court of law or a church.
 FORMAL register is used in speeches and presentations, as opposed to discussion, that demands precise technical jargon.
 CONSULTATIVE register is language more often used in dialogue that includes some off-hand, informal language, impromptu corrections and non-technical explanation.
 CASUAL register is used in group discussions with friends that can include gaps, interruptions, pauses, errors and personal “inside” words.
 INTIMATE register is used in private conversation between close friends and family where tone, volume and unspoken hints or suggestions may be just as important as the denotation of words. 

Examples: “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.” The predominant register here is the Formal register, since it's a speech and it addresses "Superintendent Johnson" 

“While I was pleasantly surprised by the menu selections for dinner service, I was disheartened by the lukewarm eggs at breakfast.” This sentence is based on a Casual register since the speaker is giving us a personal opinion.
 “Yeah, right” This affirmation falls into the Casual register since it gives a correction or personal thinking of himself.
 “I doubt it” This correction falls into the Consultative register since it gives an announcement against some fact.
 “I’m tired of your rubbish” Intimate register since it expresses something from the deep of someone “I’m tired” Intimate register since the narrator is telling his/her mood at the moment.

Alfred Lord Tennyson life timeline!

Alfred Lord Tennyson's life on Dipity.

Literature: Critical study

Acitivity 8.4: Discussion "Aedh wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" by William Butler Yeats, 1899.

1) Name three qualities that you liked about this poem.

First of all I liked the complex words this poem haves, it gives the whole poem a different perspective and it makes it look way more artistic. As well I liked the extended metaphor this poem has, the figurative language used is incredible. Another aspect that I enjoyed from this poem was the whole idea of it, the idea of being a gentleman and all is a topic of my appeal.

2) Name three aspects that you did not like or didn't understand abut this poem.

Well first of all I didn't liked the rhyming pattern, it's just way too boring to read as it doesn't make any good combination of sounds; other than that I enjoyed the poem.

3) Think of three questions you would ask the poet if you could speak to him.

I would ask if this poem is dedicated to someone, if the answer is yes, then who is that someone. Another thing I would be interested to know is how he got inspired to write it. And last but not least why he chose such a rhyming pattern.

Activity 8.5: Read the poem 'Beauty' again and choose words from the poem that appeal to each of the senses. Organize the words in columns in  table, like the one below. One word may fit into more than one category. Examples have been included.

Discussion:

Beauty

is a fat black woman

walking the fields

pressing a breezed

hibiscus to her cheek

while the sun lights up

her feet

Beauty

is a fat black woman

riding the waves

drifting the happy oblivion

while the sea turns back

to hug her shape

1) Describe what is literally happening in each line. Try paraphrasing the action that occurs.

The main idea of the first stanza is to describe what beauty is, maybe to contradict the main stereotype of a blue eyed blonde being the image of Beauty. A fat black woman may not be attractive physically but Im guessing that the idea of the author is to say that the beauty it's not only referring to our physical attributes but for the attitude of the person as well.

2) What do you say to the claim that this is a poem about love?

I don't believe that this poem talks about love in any way, Im sure that the main theme of the poem is to talk about the beauty's stigmas and how the society describes and decides what's beautiful and what is not.

3) Comment on the rhyming scheme of the poem. How is it like the sea?

There's a rhyming pattern on the first stanza, but on the second one we're able to see a blank rhyme scheme, I guess this sounds may sound like the sea as the sea makes a noise that can't be repeated, a very particular sound that it's easy to recognise.

Activity 8.6:

For the extracts below state: 

1) Wether they are smilies or metaphors

2) What the literal and figurative terms are

3) What is named and/or what is implied

"Crossing the bar" by Alfred Lord Tennyson analysis.

Sunset and evening star
And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar,  

When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For though from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.

Title: The first thought that popped in my mind after reading the title was that this poem was about accomplishing something, like if you had finished a task or something, as if we would change some aspect of our lives.

Paraphrase: The poem talks about the wishes of the narrator which are to find peace and happiness once he crosses the bar, aswell to find his Pilot, referring to god, and to finally wait for the appropiate moment for his death.

Connotation: Tennyson is waiting for his death, but in this poem he's talking towards death like if it was a good thing, he's waiting for the moment to "cross the bar" which is the moment of crossing from this world to another, and as Tennyson hopes that place is heaven. He aswell mentions that he hopes to see his pilot which is a metaphor of God, or Jesus.

Attitude: The narrator's tone or attitude is hopeful, as he is expecting good things after death.

Shifts: The narrator's attitude stays the same in the whole poem.

Title: The title is a metaphor as crossing the bar would literally mean to arrive somewhere but in this case crossing the bar means to arrive to heaven after dying, or maybe passing out to a better life.

Theme: The theme of the poem is death, how Tennyson is waiting for his moment and how he wishes it to be like.

Prezi: http://prezi.com/pl6mghivfrim/crossing-the-bar-by-alfred-lord-tennyson/

"The kraken" by Alfred Lord Tennyson analysis

The Kraken

Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides: above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by men and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

T: By first looking at the title the first idea that pops out on our mind is the image of a tremendous creature with the look of an octopus, aswell we can instantly make an idea that the poem is going to talk about how this creature strikes and stalks boats and ships with his mighty giant size!

The structure of verses in "The Kraken" is an iambic pentameter.

P: In the first verses Tennyson refers to where the Kraken is located at, in the deeper sea where the thunders hit. In the next verse the author talks about the Kraken's sleep which keeps him calmed and on a "peaceful" state. Afterwards we can see the description of the Kraken, talking about his huge tentacles, describing his polyps, etc.

C: In my opinion the connotation of this poem is death, the kraken being a representation of something that's dead. For example when the persona says "dreamless, uninvaded sleep" that could be represented as the death of a person.

A: The attitude of the persona on this poem is mainly mysterious, this is because trying to describe the Kraken requires a different tone, a tone that will make us, the readers, fear this mighty creature.

S: There're no shifts present on this poem.

T: I think the title remains pretty much literal, it's a simple title to give us the idea of what the poem is going to talk about..

T: The theme of the poem is the description of an ancient creature known as "The Kraken"