Complexity by Pablo and Jorge.

Complexity is an important part of academic writing . According to Biber, 1998, written language is more complex than spoken language. It contains more precise and concise use of language. At the same time, it has more passives voices than spoken language. Ex: The metropolis has been scorched by the dragon`s fiery breath. - The dragon scorched the metropolis with his fiery breath. Besides, written language is connected to nominalisations which means that written language is focused on nouns more than verbs. A verb becomes into a noun. Ex: We walked for charity. The verb walked has been nominalised to the noun walk. Another main characteristic of written language are attributive adjectives which are very common in academic writing. Ex: The blue sea - The sea is blue.

Examples taken from:
Attributive adjectives http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/adjectiv/xadjv2.htm
Passive voice http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/passivevoice.html
Nominalisations http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/academic/3b.html

Poetry as an eternal circle; “It has not time”.

September 1, 1939, by W.H. Auden.

This piece of writing, called September 1, 1939, was influenced by historical issues that supported Auden´s perspective. The invasion of Poland started in this year, generating a global chaos in which people learnt how to advance in a complex and negative scenario, called World War II. Those integrative and social beliefs were destroyed by weapons, armies and new politics that were trying to demonstrate power instead of ideas to progress. The majority of the feelings and situations, which have been developed into this poem, are a good representation of human evolution. Elements such as; war, destruction, fears, uncertainty, time and solitude are part of the eternal and permanent evolution of poetry or the eternal circle of writing.

According to Auden´s ideas, September 1, 1939, has a special treatment. Its lines have more than structures; they have a special rythm that contributes to create doubts and contradictory thoughts. September is the representation of a new state, a new society or a new war. “The unmentionable odour of death - Offends the september night” (September 1 ,1939.1st stanza) Death appears as a common element in this destroyed landscape, in which human beings are immersed without any possibilities of scaping, because Democracy has failed and dictators too. Using these references we can use this poem to analyze our reality, as an eternal and useful mirror. Social components are part of our daily routine, and Auden´s ideas were more than a specific tense. His ideas are complementing our times, producing the same feeling that provoked in those times. Stephen Spender says something interesting; “Only the world changes, and time its tense” (“In no man’s land”. 1st stanza) this means that the scenarios are changing but the ideas and feelings are almost permanents. Poetry has little alterations in its form, but the purpose and the objectives are the same.

Into its 9 stanzas, September 1, 1939, has a long and well developed structure. In the 4th stanza, there is an eternal reflection about ideologies; “But who can live for long - In an euphoric dream; - Out of the mirror they stare, - Imperialism´s face - And the international wrong”. This reflection about capitalism or imperialism was part of a social feeling which people hid into their hearts, because Second Wolrd War pulverized their dreams and hopes. Auden gave us an approach about future conditions in the social structure. Today we are immerse in the same chaos, without any real opportunities for lower and middle classes, which means that there are not hopes and dreams to believe in.

Using love as a hidden state into this gray poem, Auden proposes, in the 8th stanza; “We must love one another or die”, as a statement and as a prediction to overcome difficulties as a whole. According to this sentence, Obama´s last speech, was full of social comments, Obama said; “As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection”. These ideas are totally connected with Auden´s toughts about to love or to die. In fact, those elements are more than a coincidence, are part of the eternal movement of writing, the idea of common elements throughout time.

Destruction and wars were the fundamental topics to build this poem. But, Auden knew that feelings are permanent and they have not specific time. His words were constructed to not perish. Words that were a medicine to recuperate their patients, because their patients were people´souls. “Children afraid of the night – Who have never been happy or good” (September 1, 1939. 5th stanza) this expresses the solitude and the hopeless into the community. Uncertainty as a common rule, as a one way road, without any expectations about their lives. Moreover, Obama in his last speech said; “There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they´ll make the mortage or pay their doctors´s bills or save enough for their child´s college education”. Again, certain moments are eternal and continuous in the history of the world; it is a reiteration of circumstances which affects society in every time. Poetry has that cyclical characteristic into its spirit.


Finally, from a historical point of view, September 1, 1939, is a referent and at the same time, a creation which has not limits. This poem has not a defined frame of analysis. This “eternal poem” contains more than a specific message. It contains a wide range of interpretations, which have been present from its appearence to now. However, there is a common element in it; Poetry has not time. Auden was ahead of his time, writing this piece of writing which is a good reflection of how poetry has been mutating. But, its natural essence is the same, because poetry has not one owner. In fact, poetry has not internal time; it is always flowing through history and our minds.

Sources, available on-line:

Poem; September 1, 1939; http://www.poemdujour.com/Sept1.1939.html

Obama´s last speech; http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/obama.transcript/

Stephen Spender´s poetry.

Through this analysis on Spender´s poetry, I appreciated how important and influenced he was by wars and conflicts. His thoughts were deep and strong in terms of emotions, feelings, fears and uncertainty. Spender was an explicit poet who connected people who were abandoned and forgotten. Those, who nobody considered as human beings, but as a mass, "armies", "battalions", or "the boy lying dead under the olive trees". Spender wanted to recuperate them, giving them value and a social position in our rigid structure. For instance, Spender on "Fall of a city" explains the declain of society and the idea of how those "young" who learnt, are now unlearnt or unable to face the ruins of the world.

"In no man´s land", Spender was influenced by Eliot and his poem " The waste land". Both, established the idea of changes, ruins, destruction in a blind society which can not deter this situation. According to Spender´s poetry, we are in nowhere, trying to assume something that we can not assume. We are trying to advance in a negative way, affecting the ones who do not have any options, those ones who are in the battle. Maybe, the battle is inside and not outside of our minds, and all of us are in the same silent battle.

"A room of one´s own" by Virginia Woolf.

Virginia assumed that women are different and from that difference they can advance. This situation has a positive connotation in terms of how she realized that through writing she can encourage women to create without fears and pressure. From the moment that britain women obtained the suffrage, they advanced, but not only in writing, they could appreciate their abilities and possibilities to be respected in society. The idea of writing has changed in women perspectives. Society has changed the idea of writing as a unique male privilege. Female values were accepted to build an integral writing in which human beings are a whole in terms of objectives, wishes and hopes.

"Materpieces are the experience of the mass behind the single voice". A room of one´s own is a masterpiece which congregates the experience of the female mass. That hidden mass that has suffered through many years. Woolf has mentioned that " female novelists are limitated by their sex" .But Woolf was a visionary women trying to establish the idea of working with men as a supporting method of creation. She proposed that interaction to produce women´s progress, but not because of men. This proposal was the first intelligent step to achieve their goals in a hidden and intelligent way.

Error corrections

The blue words are the new ones.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

"The Rocking Horse Winner" By D.H. Lawrence.

Life has pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages, which can be represented by personal, social or family problems. According to this story, problems are in the nuclear family which is the central element in children´s lives. This family has been affected by a disruptive mother who can not live according to her social reality. She spends more than she has, which is the wrong operation. However, her son Paul, is growing up in this environment that affects his life. He has discovered how to ride the horse, in order to guess the "winner". Despite of that, the idea of being a lucky person is a constant goal in their lives. Her mother has been unlucky, and Paul wants to be a lucky person to obtain money. But those ideas are in the opposite way, because life is not measurable through money, life is not measurable through luck, life is measurable according to how many kilometres have you advanced in your perfective identity. Finally, Paul, can not enjoy what he has won, her mother was the unlucky winner , in terms of experiences and in terms of improving her relations. In this case, good luck means lack of luck.

The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen By Graham Greene

This is a short story which contains many ideas and topics related to people in the same place but, in a different mental space. I mean, the idea of observing, as the narrator did, an the idea of being observed, are both components of our society, in which we are observers and observed.
As the narrator explains, the japanese gentlemen are a particular group with particular attitudes in a physical space. At the same time , they are a common group, as components of the same restaurant. On the other hand, the couple were in the opposite side of the story, in terms of ideas and goals, but they are components of the whole, too. In other words, we are different in isolation, but when we are inmmerse, we represent the same, despite of our ideas and interests. We are part of the mass. Therefore, if you do not observe each particular case, you should not appreciate the significant differences between people. Observing, you can analyse any particular case at school, any particular difference, to solve it, to correct it, as an omniscient narrator in your own book.

The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot. "The waste poem"

This poem appeared as a manuscript that was passing through many people during the years. It was a " waste poem", too."The Waste Land" was accepted and recognized, as an essential and contemporary piece of work.

As in a common place, where human beings are living, Eliot develops this poem that reveals the significant and decadent world in which we are surviving. Those ideas of death, chess, sermon, water and thunder express how people are trying to comprehend and analyze those artificial phenomenons created by humans, I mean, wars and conflicts. In terms of explanations, Eliot proposals are complex and solid. His representations of uncertainty are a common episode throughout years. Today we have been removed by an economical disorder which generates uncertainty and chaos too.

In the picture, there is a desolated placed without any base. But in the ruins and solitude, there is more than destruction, there are opportunities to create and invent, to solve and establish new positions and thoughts, new ideas and projects. As in a war, destruction is the first step to create and rebuild, in writing destruction means possibilities, changes, rewriting and new life. This model is at least pesimistic, but is the only way to advance in a dynamic and destructive society, problems are opportunities to create, to imagine.

Odour of Chrysanthemums by D.H.Lawrence

This story is another brief description about the life of a couple which is part of the working class. These characters are immerse in a routine that is affecting their lives and relationship. The woman is the passive actor, who has to accept and assume that her husband is a disruptive element in her life. Both have been affected by their environments, destroying the pure belief that congregated them. According to our review in literature, this story is another representation of fears, solitude and death. Fears, because Elizabeth has a confusion, instead of being free of chains( because her husband has died) at the end of the narration. Solitude, because both characters are together, and alone, at the same time. Death, because she felt that her life was a new one but, she didn´t know if this situation should be an opportunity or a static state without future. These ideas have been present through our classes, death is a recurrent episode in our readings and, at the same time, in real life.