15 Matching Annotations
  1. Apr 2022
    1. Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;Stop up the access and passage to remorse,That no compunctious visitings of nature

      In this scene, Lady Macbeth tells evil spirits to make her into someone devoid of human conscience. This is so she won't feel guilty or remorse if she commits a sin. So, Lady Macbeth calling evil spirits suggests “the unnatural”.

    2. I am thane of Cawdor:If good, why do I yield to that suggestionWhose horrid image doth unfix my hairAnd make my seated heart knock at my ribs,Against the use of nature?

      This scene took place after Macbeth had been told by the witches that he is the Thane of Cawdor. And when the prophecy of witches came true Macbeth asks himself “why do I yield to that suggestion” meaning why he feels himself giving into temptation, particularly a temptation that makes his chest race “Against the use of nature” by the use nature he is referring to the way things normally are. So Macbeth is basically saying why he’s having a thought that he normally wouldn't have or that it is unnatural. Therefore, we can see in this scene “the unnatural” because Macbeth had evil thoughts and it happened after seeing the witches which means the 3 witches took control of Macbeth's mind.

    3. Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches

      Since the witches have the opening line of the play it's clear the unnatural or supernatural has a great significance in the story. The fact that these witches are planning to meet again means they have something evil planned out and it further indicates how it will affect Macbeth. So, therefore the witches are unnatural in this scene and so are predicting Macbeth's future.

  2. Mar 2022
    1. Praise the hot water & the heat        or the loud cool        that helps the helpless sleep.

      Since the parents are going through a tough time, the speaker praised the hot water and the heat or loud cool for providing some relief and solace to them.

    2. Praise the front desk        who knows to wake        Rm 120 when the hospital rings Praise the silent phone Praise the dark drawn        by thick daytime curtains        after long nights of waiting,        awake.   Praise the waiting & then praise the nothing        that’s better than bad news

      In the poem, the speaker praises the front desk staff for alerting parents to their child's condition. The parents have been unable to sleep and have been waking all night in anticipation of more information from the hospital to hear updates on their child's condition. The speaker praised the front desk for giving the parents the news they had been waiting for and for comforting them.

    3. Praise the restless beds Praise the beds that do not adjust      that won’t lift the head to feed      or lower for shots      or blood      or raise to watch the tinny TV

      As the title of the poem suggests, the hotel is located near the children's hospital. And In the first stanza of the poem, the poet speaks of restless beds, which depict both the bed of a hospitalized child and I assume a hotel bed for parents who are unable to sleep due to the thought of their child being in the hospital next to their hotel.

    1. Inscrutable His ways are, and immune    To catechism by a mind too strewn    With petty cares to slightly understand    What awful brain compels His awful hand. 

      I believe the speaker is trying to convey that we as human beings can't comprehend what God is capable of and that if God wanted to, he can explain why everything happening the way they are. He thinks that God's actions are too complex to comprehend from the human perspective and a human mind that is full of petty stuff and can't possibly question God or understand God's ways.

    2. Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:    To make a poet black, and bid him sing!  

      In the last two lines, Cullen was in awe at the curious and odd thing that God would make a black man poet and compel him to write poetry and sing. He was shocked at the fact that God gave him the ability to be a poet but at times of hatred and injustice, back then people were racist and there were little to no opportunities were provided for Black people. It seems the speaker is so devoted to God that nothing surprises him except the fact that God has made him a poet.

    3. I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind, And did He stoop to quibble could tell why The little buried mole continues blind, 

      In the first stanza, the speaker emphasizes that he has no doubts about God's virtue and honorable intentions. Moreover, he reiterates his belief that God could lower himself to debate even the most insignificant of issues. Yet the poet cannot help but wonder why a God so loving and merciful would let the world suffer and oppress so many.

    1. A man’s body at auction, (For before the war I often go to the slave-mart and watch the sale,) I help the auctioneer, the sloven does not half know his business.  

      This section is a little confusing to me. The speaker expresses his opposition to slavery throughout the poem, so what does Whitman intend by saying that he helped the auctioneer: that the auctioneer does not know what he is doing?

    2. The man’s body is sacred and the woman’s body is sacred, No matter who it is, it is sacred

      In these two lines, the speaker describes the human bodies both male and female as holy. Throughout the poem, I have noticed Whitman mentions men and women equally every time he speaks about the body or the soul implying that we are all equal no matter our race, age, ethnicity, and gender. It amazes me how the speaker of the poem praises both man and woman equally, even though the poem is written during a period when women were increasingly marginalized or being looked down upon.

    3. I sing the body electric, The armies of those I love engirth me and I engirth them, They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them, And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the soul.  

      Aside from praising the human body in the poem's title and first line, the speaker praises those who love and cherish the poet, noting how they encircle him in the same way he does for them. In this stanza, It appears that the speaker conveys a strong bond, friendship, and unconditional love he has with the people around him and how they wouldn't let him go until he goes them.

    1. The Brain is just the weight of God—

      I actually don't know what to make of that when she said 'The Brain is just the weight of God—'? Does she mean there isn't much of a difference between God and the Brain and even if they are different, it's just the difference to syllable from sound, is that what she meant?

    2. The Brain is deeper than the sea— For—hold them—Blue to Blue— The one the other will absorb— As Sponges—Buckets—do—

      In stanza two, Dickinson's metaphorical comparison of the brain to the sea indicates that we are capable of making deep insights. The speaker of the poem further argues that the mind is capable of perceiving, learning, and the mind's capacity to process an abundance of information by comparing the brain to a sponge that soaks up a bucket of water. Another thing I would like to mention is Dickinson's use of words. In the poem, she uses the words we know or are familiar with making the poem easier to understand.

    3. The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

      This line suggests that the human mind has the power to think, perceive, and create, thus suggesting that the mind can do anything it sets its mind to. In other words, the brain is limitless in its imagination. The line 'The Brain—is wider than the Sky—' conveys a significant meaning implying that the brain can conceptualize the sky all while having you besides. And I agree with Dickinson that there is no limit to what the mind can imagine.