"Evening Concert, Saint-Chapelle" Poetry Blog.

Evening Concert, Saint-Chapelle

The celebrated windows flamed with light

directly pouring north across the Seine;

we rustled into place. Then violins

vaunting Vivaldi's strident strength, then Brahms,

seemed to suck with their passionate sweetness,

bit by bit, the vigor from the red,

the blazing blue, so that the listening eye

saw suddenly the thick black lines, in shapes

of shield and cross and strut and brace, that held

the holy glowing gantasy together.

The music surged; the glow became a milk,

a whisper to the eye, a glimmer ebbed

until our beating hearts, our violins

were cased in thin but solid sheets of lead.

-John Updike

Before reading this poem by John Updike I looked up Saint-Chapelle and learned that it is an old, restored building in the heart of France that has an extensive stained-glass collection. I believe that the stained-glass has much to do with this poem. In the first line, Updike calls the windows "celebrated" and describes the light they shine onto the French river Seine. A few lines later, the colors red and blue are mentioned along with the phrase, "...shapes of shield and cross and strut and brace...." These sound like stained-glass windows in churches which makes sense because Saint-Chapelle was a chapel. It seems that Updike is saying that the "vaunting," or boasting, violins playing the compositions of Vivaldi and Brahms sucked the intensity from the colors in the windows so that all one could see in them were the lines and shapes- the skeleton. In the evening concert "music surged" until the windows' glow slowly disappeared and all that was left was the solidity of the music.

Heart of Darkness

I used the annotating technique number 2: bracketing, underlining, circling, summarizing, and defining words and parts of the text. This was the best annotation to use for Heart of Darkness because it was easy to get lost in the older writing style and unfamiliar vocabulary. The glossary was very hepful and nice to go back to when I would see the same unknown word more than once. It was much easier to keep up with what was going on while using this annotating technique.
Even though it could get boring or tough at times, I really liked Heart of Darkness. It had so many great messages and ideas in it. I also liked seeing what it was like in those times when people would go to "undeveloped" countries and settle them as their own. Most of the characters I didn't like, but Marlow and Kurtz were like the two rays of sunshine among all that "darkness."

The Kite Runner

I used the reading-to-writing annotation (type 3) while reading The Kite Runner. This annotating style was really helpful; keeping notes on the writer's style, tone, patterns, rhetorical devices, and so on kept me engaged in the book and more aware of many things. It helped me to see how certain things sounded a certain way and how the plot, conflict and tone (which was usually self loathing or nostalgic) came across.
I loved the storyline and his writing style. I liked learning about Afghanistan and the Muslim culture. It was interesting how Hosseini used Farsi words and phrases and metaphors to bring meaning and tone across.
Even though the storyline was sad, I really enjoyed seeing how Amir coped and reacted to all of the awful and great events in his life.

The Great Gatsby

     I read The Great Gatsby using the "Text-to-Self Connection" annotation type. This form of annotating was simple and usually just symbols, pictures/organizers, and comments/questions, but it helped me stay connected to the text and alert while reading.
     I was initially surprised by the recurring racist and sexist remarks and observations throughout the book; however, it was true to the time period the story was set in and helped form that decade in my mind. I kept a running character list while reading this book to keep track of all of them and their unique characteristics. I found that each character, even small ones such as "Owl Eyes" and Dr. Eckleberg, were well defined and developed by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
     This book vividly showed the '20s using a simple, yet controversal, romantic situation between Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanon, and Myrtle Wilson. There seemed to be a connection between the theme and tone of each event in the story with the weather. For example, when Tom and Mr. Wilson finally find out that their wives have been involved with other men and everyone becomes angry and pushed to their limits, it is the the last and hottest day of the summer.
     I enjoyed this book and Fitzgerald's writing. He seemed to write at least one poetic assertion in each chapter that was incredibly simple, yet honest.