"The Heart asks Pleasure-first" By: Emily Dickinson

Blog 8: [536] “The Heart asks Pleasure-first-” by Emily Dickinson
The Heart asks Pleasure-first-
And then-excuse from Pain-
And then-those little Anodynes (1)
That deaden suffering-

And then-to go to sleep-
And then- if it should be
The will of it’s Inquisitor
The privilege to die- 1863

My assignment is to analyze one of Emily Dickinson’s poetry and determine what the message she is coming across is. I chose the poem 588 [536] “The Heart asks Pleasure-first-“ My first task is to break down each line and see what she is trying to say and then look at the poem as a whole and found out her message. I think that Emily Dickinson is a good American poet but finding out what the meaning of her poetry is, is difficult. For this particular poem, I am going to take a guess on what I think she means.

In the first line “The Heart asks Pleasure –first-, I think it means how the heart wants and goes through happiness and joy. The next line, “And then-excuse from pain, it says how the heart goes through pain and forgives it. Third line says “And then-those little Anodynes (1)” Anodynes means “a medicine that relieves or allays pain” ("Anodynes."). In the text, it says Anodynes means “drugs” (Dickinson, Emily). It says how the heart asks for medicine or drugs to keep the pain away. “The last line in that paragraph is “That deaden suffering”. Deaden means “to make less sensitive, active, energetic, or forcible; weaken” ("Deaden."). Those causes of pleasure, pain and anodynes make the heart weak and suffer.

The next paragraph starts off with the line “And then-to go to sleep-“. The writer could say how it’s hard for the heart to find some peace by resting or should try to just rest without having those causes bother it. The next line says “And then-if it should be The will of its inquisitor” Inquisitor means “a questioner, esp. an unduly curious or harsh one” ("Inquisitor."). The writer is saying it could be the choice of determination by the questioner. The last line says “The privilege to die”. From the previous line it says that the questioner has the right to die.

I think the overall message of this poem is the writer is writing about the heart. And is listing things that the heart goes or wants such as pleasure first then pain and then drugs to keep the pain the away. Those cause the heart to suffer. And I think it says how the heart has a choice to die because it mentions how it has the “privilege to die” and is determined by an inquisitor, someone who is curious. This is what I thought Emily Dickinson was saying in her poem.


Works Cited

"Anodynes." Def. 1. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, LLC., 2009. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. .

"Deaden." Def. 1. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, LLC., 2009. Web. 9 Dec. 2009. .

Dickinson, Emily. "588 [536] The Hear asks Pleasure-first-." The Norton Anthology American Literature. 7th ed. Vol. B. New York: W.W Norton & Company, Inc., 2007. 2579-579. Print.

"Inquisitor." Def. 2. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, LLC., 2009. Web. 8 Dec. 2009. .

"The Soup Incident"

In the story, “Billy Bud, Sailor” by Herman Melville, the main character, Billy Budd is a well respected and handsome sailor is now on the British H.M.S Bellipotent ship. He is a positive and youthful character who is well liked by many expect for John Claggart. There is no specific reason why he doesn’t like Billy Budd. The reader could get an idea that Claggart doesn’t like Billy because of his looks or popularity since those traits are mentioned often.

In the text, it describes the first encounter that Billy has with Claggart. Billy happens to spill the soup by accident when Claggart happens to walk by and steps over the soup. He first doesn’t realize who spilled it until he took another look and saw it was Billy Budd. At that moment, he makes a humorous remark saying “Handsomely done, my lad! And handsome is as handsome did it, too!” (Melville, Herman, 2487). Along this remark, he makes an “involuntary smile or rather grimace” (Melville, Herman, 2487). Claggart’s words are making fun of Billy. He’s basically saying even though Billy is handsome, he’s not all that perfect like everyone is making him seem. The crew members start to laugh at Billy. He thinks it’s funny and starts to laugh also. My English professor pointed out that Billy doesn’t realize he is being laughed at. This shows that he might be a clueless guy.

This incident is significant to the text because it shows that even though Billy Budd is portrayed as perfect, he still has at least one person John Claggart that doesn’t like him. Billy is warned that Claggart doesn’t like him but doesn’t take it serious. Billy doesn’t see the negatively in people and has a positive view on everything. That is important because it gives us an idea of what the reader can expect later in the story. It shows us that Billy Budd is a friendly and positive person but later in the story that all changes when other incidents occur. This is an effective method that the author chose to do by foreshadowing. So overall, it’s important to the overall text because it helps the reader understand events that might happen and why they happened.


Work Cited
Melville, Herman. "Billy Budd, Sailor." The Norton Anthology American Literature. 7th ed. Vol. B. New York: W.W Norton & Company, Inc., 2007. 2468-523. Print.

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving is a story told to many in the town of Sleepy Hollow. It was about a headless horseman who terrorizes a town looking for a new head. He can't rest in peace until he finds a new one. Many believe the legend is true but others don't.

Ichabod Crane is a educated man who arrives to Sleepy Hollow and is a schoolmaster for children. He is new in town and doesn't yet know about the story of the Headless Horseman. Ichabod may be a educated man but he represents weakness. He is a weak person because he is easily scared and also gullible. He also is physically weak by being tall, very skinny and lanky structure. As soon as he hears the story, he becomes very scared of the legend.

Brom Bones was a another character who was well respected and well liked in the town of Sleepy Hollow. He represents strength not only physically but intellectually. He is smart enough to get rid of Ichabod Crane because they are both after the same woman named Katrina. They are in the race to ask for her hand in marriage.

Brom doesn't like the competition and thought of ways to get rid of Crane. So Brom gave up with a good idea which made poor Ichabod disappeared or was killed from the town of Sleepy Hollow forever. In the text, he dressed as the headless horseman and chases him, when they are close enough to each other, Brom throws a pumpkin and the story ends there. In the text, they said the townspeople knew nothing of what happened. All they found was a smashed pumpkin and a horse's saddle the next morning. Bones was the only one that knew what really happened to Crane.
The allegory I came up with is weakness and strengths of America. The reason i said America is because the story took place in some U.S state. The advantage of Brom Bones having strength was that he won the fight by getting rid of Crane and marrying Katrina. The disadvantage of him having strength was that he did a bad thing to Crane but the townspeople don't really know. If they did find out, they probably would lose the respect for him and also become scared of him. The disadvantage of Ichabod being weak was that he was fooled and got him either killed or disappeared. I couldn't come up with a advantage of being weak because there really isn't a advantage of being weak.

In conclusion, the allegory was the strengths and weakness of America. The story was overall very interesting and entertaining. I really enjoyed reading it. It's now of my favorite stories.


Works Cited
Irving, Washington. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The Norton Anthology American Literature. 7th ed. Vol. B. New York: W.W Norton & Company, Inc., 2007. 965-85. Print.

Past Vs. Present

The big similarity that we see in the American cultures and values between early days and today is religion. It continues to be strong and highly valued. In the early days, most people were Christians and believed in God. Now, there are many religions to choose from and no one is judged from it. A difference that you see in American culture now and early days is roles that women and men have. Back then, the women didn’t have rights. They didn’t have much of an opinion. The men were the ones that dominated and make decisions on most things. Now there are equal rights between women and men. Women now make decisions, have a right to vote and can do many other things.
A big concept that has fallen away from mainstream American culture is people’s morals. For example, Benjamin Franklin wrote the 13 virtues that he wanted to follow to better himself as a person. He said how he wanted to try each one for a week and try to improve it each time. Now days, people tend to not follow their own morals and follow others instead.
The early texts of American society help me understand the American lives today by how there are some topics of life that have stayed the same and changed. Spiritually which is religion continues to be strong and hasn’t changed very much. Politics it has changed, when reading the Declaration of Independence, it gave men rights and women weren’t didn’t have any. Also domestic, how women in the early days did the chores and were stay at home wives. While the men worked and made decisions for the family. Now that has completely changed, women can do almost everything that men can do.
With everything that we have learned in the past American days, we use that knowledge to grow and make a better society. A lot has changed from the past in order to better ourselves and lives.

Anne Bradstreet's meaningful poems

Read “Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House….” and “To My Dear and Loving Husband.” Consider what life in the New World seems to mean for Bradstreet. What do the powers suggest about how a wife/mother/woman understands her relationship to daily life?

In the poems of Anne Bradstreet, she has no problem sharing her thoughts and feelings about things in life. In the poem, “To My Dear and Loving Husband”, she express her feelings of how much she loves her husband. In the other poem, “Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House….” Anne specifics her thoughts on her possessions being lost. What Anne considers in life to be in the New World is that it’s different from the life she was living then. Reading her poems give an impressions that women should be able to live freely and voice their opinions about things in life. During that time, the men did the entire decision making and voiced their opinions. To her, it seems like life in the New World is better. She is already starting to opinionate her view point about things, people, etc in her poems.

The power that suggests about how a wife would understand her relationship to daily life is her feelings towards it. For example, as a wife she has positive feelings towards her love life with her husband. A line from “To My Dear and Loving Husband”, “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold Or all the riches that East doth hold” (The Norton Anthology American Literature, p.206). It explains how much she loves her husband, more than anything in the world. As a wife, you have strong and positive feelings towards your husband which is love. Another line she says is “Then while we live, in love let’s so persevere That when we live no more, we may live ever” (The Norton Anthology American Literature,p.206). This line specifics how while they are alive to keep their love going strong.

The power that suggests about how a woman would understand her relationship to daily life is again her feelings towards something. As for women, they tend to be emotional towards things. For example, in “Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House….” She talks about her feelings on how her possessions were lost and how it affected her. She starts to think about the things she won’t be able to no longer do in the house anymore since it’s gone. She says “Under thy roof no guest shall shit, Nor at thy table eat a bit. No pleasant tale shall e’er be told, Nor things recounted done of old.” (The Norton Anthology American Literature,p.212).These things that happened seemed to be a routine since she remembered it well. She feels sad about what happens to her cherished items but she refers to God since she was a religious woman. She says “And when I could no longer look, I blest His name that gave and took, That laid my goods now in dust. Yea so, it was, and so ‘twas just. It was His own, it was not mine” (The Norton Anthology American Literature,p.212). Anne is saying that even though those possessions did belong to her at one point that they now belong to God. It does seem like she has remorse towards what happened but at the same time she doesn’t blame God for it because those items are in a better place. In the last line it says “ My hope and treasure lies above” (The Norton Anthology American Literature,p.212).She sees life as if things happened, they happened whether you like it or not and to move on.

In these poems she effectively shares her point of view towards things which was not common for a woman at that time. In these two poems, she expresses many thoughts and emotions of what she thought was accepted and entertaining.

Work Cited

The Norton Anthology American Literature. 7th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W Norton & company, Inc., 2007. Print.

Heroes or Zeros?

The understanding I have of John Smith was from the movie Pocahontas and learning history of him in my sixth grade class. I mostly recalled the information of him from the movie Pocahontas. He is portrayed as a handsome and good leader for the English colony that settled in Jamestown. There are some scenes where John Smith is an adventurous person and tended to do things on his own. For example, in the movie, he would disappear when the captain was looking for him. According to the text, he is viewed the same but in a worse sense. In the text, he is described as “He sometimes used force unnecessarily, and his hard-to-control temper and stubborn self- reliance made him an often troublesome companion” (The Norton Anthology American Literature 56). The image that shapes John Smith is known to be a self- centered and stubborn person overall.

The poem we read about Christopher Columbus described him as a hero for exploring islands during his voyages. It says positive things about him such as “The First American? No, not quite. But Columbus was brave and bright” (In 1492 poem). This poem is giving him a lot of credit for what he did. But it says in the text how his reputation hit a downfall when things didn’t go so well. “His last voyage, intended to recoup his tarnished reputation, resulted in a long period of suffering in Panama and shipwreck in Jamaica, and these outer woes were accompanied by nearly delusional periods as Columbus underwent a virtual breakdown” ( The Norton Anthology American Literature 31). It describes how Columbus just gave up; he basically lost his hope to continue. In the literature text, he is described far from being “brave” and “bright”. He was known to be negative because how he wasn’t able to find success in his voyages and even knew it himself. He wrote a letter talking about his forth voyage and said “I did not sail upon this voyage to gain honor or wealth; this is certain, for already hope of that was dead” (The Norton Anthology American Literature 35). He was also known to be cruel because of the treatment he gave to the Tainos Indians when arriving to the island. He took some as slaves back to Spain. Some Indians died from diseases the Europeans bought with them. The image that shapes Christopher Columbus is a weak and cruel person.

Cabeza de Vaca which is “Cow Head” is portrayed as a positive person who was willing to learn different cultures while on his journeys. I have never heard of him until I read about him in my literature book. He took into account everyone he interacted with and found it fascinating. He learned and followed the Native Americans customs while staying with many. In the text, he says about their customs, “They have strange customs, but I have told the principal and most remarkable of them” (The Norton Anthology American Literature 43). He admits they are strange but quickly adapts to them. Cabeza de Vaca was very friendly with the Native Americans. It was wrong how he was arrested by the Christians who were ordered by Alcaraz (The Norton Anthology American Literature 47). His image is shaped as a friendly and intelligent man.

Overall one was a hero and the other two weren’t. For the hero he really is for learning and not misjudging people. But those two may have been portrayed and credited for positive work but in reality they also had their failures and cruel ways.

How literature affects our lives

If Literature was no longer offered as a college or high school course then there would be negative results that will affect student's learning. Literature plays an important role in student's educational learning and will help to accomplish goals that will be needed for their futures. Without literature, students will be missing out on important tools that will be needed in their everyday lives. Literature is viewed as being boring and not useful to some. I took a literature class back in high school and i didn't like it because the text wasn't clear to me. I had a difficult time understand what they were saying. By taking this literature course i hope to having a positive view and understand literature better. The goals and tools that literature will prepare students for the real world are to relate to personal and educational experiences, help to improve critical thinking, writing and reading skills and pay close attention to details.

In literature pieces, the writer tends to write about their personal and educational experiences. A reader can make a connection when a writer talks about their personal experience relating to family, school or realtionships. Personal experiences can help to view a different persective by someone else. It can help the reader to become more open-minded. Also there is educational experiences where comparsions are made. Such as literature with religion or history. Many historical figures wrote literature pieces where they are still discussed and learned today. With these experiences it can help make literature interesting and useful.

Writng, reading and thinking critically are the basic and important skills we need to prepare students for the future. These are the skills many of us learn in school and start to put better use to them later on. Students need these skills to apply to their work and life situtions. For example, at work, its important that you know how to read, write and think. With reading it can help or improve your grammar and vocabulary skills. Grammar and vocbulary play an important role in our communciation skills that we really need in the work force. Writing will help to understand and write good pieces. Those skills help us to complete our tasks and challenge our minds. We also put these skills to work when it comes to life situtions. For example, dealing with money, we think critically by asking ourselves how we need to make or save money. Its a big question everyone deals with everday and comes up with a different answer each time. But before we answer, we have to think critically or realistically by it. These are the most important skills we need in our future especially the work force.

Lastly is the skill of being able to pay close attention to details. Literature helps to preapre students to pay close attention when reading the pieces. Paying close to details helps to better understand the text and being open-minded. Understanding something is important because it teaches us to learn and think critically. Being open-minded is also important because students will see other view points and not just your own. Overall, it helps to solve problems when paying close attention to details, the littlest detail can help answer a big problem.

Why is literature important and will it affect our lives? Literature will affect our lives only if we let it in a positive way where then it can help you to be succesful in the real world. Its important because it helps students relate to personal and historic experiences, read, write and think critically and pay close attention to details.