The Little Black Boy

The Little Black Boy

      In the 17^th and 18^th centuries, slavery is still legal. It is an age when the black people were treated as sub humans. It is an epoch of race discrimination. William Blake, a humanitarian poet, writes about justice and equality between people, against all the expectations of his era. In his poem “the Little Black Boy”, we, as readers, can notice two major themes that enhance his ideas such as humanitarianism and love.

      

      First of all, William Blake strongly believes that all human beings deserve respect and dignity. In addition, all slavery, discrimination, tribalism, and ethnic nationalism should be vanished. From the beginning of his poem, the title is about a black boy, and the persona is by him. This demonstrates that Blake wants to give the black people their lost voices at that era. He gives a space to the black boy to speak out, and defend himself saying, “I am black, but O, my soul is white”. Both of the two boys, though their different skin colors, have pure souls as the black boy said, “white as an angle is the English child”.  Moreover, in the last stanza, we can feel the equality between both boys. The color is but a cloud that will vanish since they will be judged to their souls not bodies. There, in the hereafter, the black boy can speak with the English boy which he could not do it in reality. There, in the other life, will be no barriers between them as he said, “I will stand and stroke his hair, and be like him, and he will them love me”. This imaginative scene supports the idea of giving him a voice to speak, and making him feel the equality with the other boy.

     

      Secondly, Blake focused of the theme of divine love through two kinds of love. The first kind is the love of the mother to her child, the little black boy. The poem begins with the words, “my mother” indicating the only refuge in the world to anyone to find protection, peace, and tenderness. The mother wants her child to believe that the black and the white people are equal. She convinced him of her ideas through her love. For example, she took her son in her lap and kissed him twice as the boy said, “she took me in her lap and kissed me”.  Such emotionally actions let the black boy feel the support, peace, love and care, and make him accept all what she is saying. The second kind is the spiritual love of God. It is the divine love that will vanish all the suffering of race differentiation or anything else in the world. Thus, all earthly injustice such as slavery and discrimination will be nothing to the black boy since he feels this kind of love. He is even proud of his color because it is a reason for him to be closer to God since he receive God`s “beams of love”. He feels it now and will feel it more on the day of judgment when God say, “ come out from grove, my love and care” At that moment, all humanity will be the same regardless of their colors.

     

      Indeed, William Blake is a pre-romantic, anti-slavery and a humanitarian poet. In his poem “the Little Black Boy”, he supported the idea of better humanity by treating them equally with a great love.  Therefore, all barriers according to color skin, religion, or the place of birth will vanish among people.  Thus, such ideas will reduce the suffering in this world leading to a better life.

Written by:

Sahar Yassin Elshobaki

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“The Human Abstract”

“The Human Abstract”

       “The Human Abstract” is a poem, written by William Blake. He wants to create a transcendental world or even a utopia. Thus, He offers the four virtues, mercy, pity, peace, and love which are considered as pillars for this utopia. Before that, he discussed these values in his poem, “the Divine Image”.  In this poem, however, he describes the same values but when they are misused by the church men. This appears from the title, the ideologies of the church men, and the symbolism in this poem.

       First of all, the title of this poem indicates two things. First, it suggests the theme of theory and application. The title is only like a theory because the church men do not apply the values of mercy, pity, peace and love in their reality. Therefore, they are still abstract ideas and images without any practicing or without any ornamentation. Second, since these values are not applicable in that society, it would not be human values anymore. It suggests the opposite. Thus the title itself indicates monster’s values. The contradiction and the misused of these values could only suit monsters not human.

       Secondly, the ideology of the clergy men is corrupted, so they misuse every good value. They put false justifications in order to silence people as they say, “pity would be no more if we did not make somebody poor, and mercy no more could be if all were as happy as we”. They give justifications of poverty, sufferings and inequality in the society. It is fair enough for them to be themselves happy, and let the rest of the “all” sacrifice. As a result for this misuse of values, the society will be fragmented. Even love will be distributed, where there is no love except personal love as Blake describes it, “selfish loves”. Those corrupted clergy are pretending the “the holy fear”. They pretend to cry, but they are totally hypocrites.

       Finally, there are three symbolisms that refer to the misuse of values and the results from it. First, the tree symbolizes the church itself. It is full of mysterious aspects, and it is a source of corruption at that time. Second, the “caterpillar” and “Fly” symbolize the clergy men who feed the church. This choice of these insects, in particular, indicates that they are a source of destruction on the church and on the whole society. Thus, the outcome of this tree would be “the fruit of deceit”. It is totally poisoned though its deceptive appearance. Third, the “raven” is a symbol of death. This indicates that anyone would oppose the church or the clergy men, will be punished by disease, poison and death.

       In a nutshell, William Blake is known by his humanitarianism. Almost in all his poems, he notes to this theme. In his poem “the Human Abstract”, he portrays how the society would be if the love, mercy, pity and peace values are misused. The result will be absolutely a fragmented and ruin society. This is shown through the title, the views of clergy men and the symbolism in this poem.

  Written By,

Sahar Yassin Alshobaki

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William Blake`s London

“London”

      In a society that full of rationalism, racism, and suppression, William Blake is distinguished by his opposite ideas among that society. He believes of liberty, equality, and love. Thus, he is considered as a pre-romantic poet. In his poem, “London”, he focuses on the corruption and poverty of his society. Each stanza contains one kind of the corruptions that are found there such as religious, moral and social corruptions.

      First of all, he begins his poem with, “I wander through each charter`d street”. He uses the pronoun “I” to involve himself which means he notices and experiences such situations. The word “charter`d” demonstrates the “divide and rule” policy at that society under the clergy men. The church men control everything. Even the “Thames” is not a way from this oppressive power. It is an all corruption and control of even on nature. Moreover, this corruption is generalized since we have collective “marks of weakness, marks if woe”. This catastrophe hits everyone. Therefore, the first stanza is a reflection of human`s sufferings and misery under the corrupted churchmen.

      Secondly, he focuses on the social corruption. In the second stanza, he specifies o the marks of those who suffer. As he says, “in every cry of every man, in every infants cry or fear, in every voice, in every ban”, indicates the collective human plight that all people are suffering from in London. They are all unsatisfied as he says, “in every curse”. Still, this suffering is caused by their corruption.  He says, “the mind forged manacles I hear” which shows how those people closed every way of thinking. Their minds are chained and they only think the way they are forced to think of. There is no imagination at all because they only tied their mind of the society`s views and ideas such as reason from the church. The word “curse” indicates that they are unable to express themselves loudly. Therefore, Blake asks them to free their minds from such “manacles” of imagination, to express themselves, and to create the new better life they would love to live in. 

        Finally, the last two stanzas express the moral corruption. At that society, the illegal marriage flourished as he says, “most thro` midnight street I hear, how the youthful Harlot curse”. Thus, this moral corruption increases two things. First, it will increase the number of illegal children. Those children are born to be chimney sweepers. As a result, their destiny will be death either burned or by cancer in their longue. He describes their miserable cases when he says, “the chimney sweepers cry”. Second, it will increase the percentage of the diseases. Such marriage is a way to transmit diseases like AIDS, which also leads the parents to death. Therefore, he calls it as “marriage hearse”.

       Indeed, William Blake describes the agony of the entire city of London. Though the suppressed voices of people of that society, he speaks out and expresses every kind of misery, pain and suppression. This miserable case of the society is resulted from three major corruptions which are religious, social and moral corruption. Once these corruptions finish, all the sufferings among people will vanish.

  

Written by:

Sahar Alshobaki

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The Sick Rose

The Sick Rose

         “The Sick Rose” is one poem from the “songs of experience” collection, written by William Blake. It begins with apostrophe “O rose, thou are sick” in a very pathetic tone. However, it seems that this poem is not really about a sick rose and a flying worm which destroyed this rose. Thus, there are so many different interpretations for this poem. Therefore, we, as readers, have to understand it through understanding two of its possible symbolism.

       The first possible symbolism is about the industrial revolution. The sick rose could mean the countryside under the destructive-industrial life. The life of comfort and calm turned to be a life of machines and noise. The roaring of machines are like monsters that break the silence of the countryside. Men were replaced by machines; otherwise, they leave to the city to work in factories. Poets also were affected since they need not borders in front of their eyes. Their imagination could be limited by the limited borders forced by the industrial life. Therefore, everything is under this “dark secret love” since it come to make our life easier under the term “love”, yet it is a false love which seeks not for our advantages. People start to feel the “crimson joy” for it makes life easier to them, but they have to pay much and leave their normal life to up-normal one.

       The second possible symbolism is about the illegal relationships. The rose, then, would be either parents or their children. All of them will be sick and devastated under this destructive marriage. At the beginning, the parents may think it is a joy while it will turn to be a “crimson joy”. They will end up by its “invisible worm” i.e. death. The parents will possibly be sick of so many diseases because of such illegal relationship. Moreover, the children will not have the needed care, and they will possibly be criminals. Otherwise, they will work anything to survive, yet the long hours of work will lead them to death.

       Indeed, William Blake`s “the Sick Rose” has so many interpretations. It could symbolize the industrial revolution, the church corruption, the illegal relationships, and the weak people under the tyranny mankind. The more we read, the more we can have different explanations.

Written by:

Sahar Yassin Alshobki

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The Lamb

     The Lamb

      William Blake, a pre-romantic poet, approaches his subjects sincerely with a mind unclouded by current opinions such as reason, rationalism and suppression of thoughts in his society. On the other hand, he approves the values of freedom, love, equality and brotherhood. Therefore, he is considered one of the romantic poets. Most of his poems have the romantic features such as nature, imagination, simplicity, transcendentalism, freedom and childhood. In his poem "the Lamb", nature, simplicity, and transcendentalism are clear romantic features that we, as readers, can notice them easily.

     First of all, nature is the main focus in his poem. Unlike his age`s opinions about nature as it is a source of corruption, nature for Blake is a source of relaxation, inspiration and peace. At the beginning of his poem, we can hint nature from its title, "the Lamb". This title is part from the pastoral life which is, for Blake, a refuge from all sufferings. It suggests all good characteristics in the world that lead the humanity to relaxation and peace. Such characteristics are the beautiful side of natural world which are mildness, softness, simplicity, fragileness, peace and sacrifice. In addition, he uses natural setting which is considered as a flame for his inspiration. Thus, he starts to think of the process of creation which is beyond anyone’s imagination as he asks in his poem, "little lamb who made thee, dost thou know who made thee?”. Then he asks more questions such as who, "gave thee life and bid thee feed". This suggests that nature gives him a space to think, imagine, and meditate of even the simplest natural creature.

     Secondly, another obvious romantic feature is simplicity. The poem is simple in terms of its form, subject matter and diction. According to the form, the poem has two stanzas with ten lines each. The first two and last two lines of each stanza are repeated like the chorus or refrain of a song.  Furthermore, it has simple AABB rhyme scheme and trochaic rhythm. This simple form makes the poem easier to be read, understood and memorized. Talking about the subject matter, the lamb is totally a simple natural element to contemplate and speak about. The process of creation itself could be simple when it is asked by a little child as one of the children’s major questions. Speaking about diction, the language is very easy to be understood. The word choice, for instance, is very simple such as "lamb, little, child, life, mild, delight, bright, rejoice... etc.

     Finally, transcendental aspect is another core of this poem. From the very beginning, the title symbolizes the Christ which gives us an impression about the spiritual connection with a greater power. This connection, moreover, continues through his poem. For example, he says, "he calls himself a lamb... He became a little child: I a child and thou a lamb, we are called by his name". This demonstrates the unity of the three of them, nature or lamb, God and the child. The three of them are connected to each other and they share the same major characteristics of goodness, love, softness and innocence.

     Indeed, William Blake is famous of writing against the ordered rules of the previous age. He takes poetry as liberating from the conventions which drew rules for everything in the society. Therefore, he writes about love, innocence, creation, emotions and childhood. In his poem “the lamb”, we can hint three romantic features which are nature, simplicity and transcendentalism. These characteristics of his writings make Blake be considered as one of the pioneers of the romantic literature.

Written by:

Sahar Yassin Elshobaki

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Wordsworth`s Lucy Gray

Sahar Yassin Alshobaki

Mrs. Ahlam Anber

Romanticism

25^th October, 2013

Reflection on Wordsworth`s Lucy Gray

         William Wordsworth, a romantic poet, is convinced that he is Nature’s true worshipper and a revealer of her harmonies. He is an excellent example of the self-medication through nature. He loved nature and natural objects in all its forms, and this love of nature led him to the love of humanity. Lucy Gray is one of these natural objects whose description is delectable for Wordsworth. He has love and sympathy for this little girl because she is a source of inspiration, as well as nature, for the poet to compose this poem. In this poem, we, as readers, can hint two major romantic features: imagination and nature.

         The first romantic feature is imagination. This poem is considered as Wordsworth`s secondary imagination. He first listened to the story from his sister, Dorothy. Then he recollected the ideas again in the form of this poem. Lucy Gray, he remarked, “was founded on a circumstance told me by my sister, of a little girl who was bewildered in a snow-storm. Her footsteps were traced by her parents to the middle of the lock of a canal, and no other vestige of her, backward or forward, could be traced. The body, however, was found in the canal”. Thus, the poem talked about the same events; still, using his imagination, he tried to immortalize this little girl by merging, connecting, and attaching her with every part of nature. Hence, Wordsworth is trying to pull this poem away from realism into a state dominated by his imagination.

         The second romantic feature is nature which the little girl was united with. From the very beginning of the poem, he tried to unite Lucy with the natural elements. He said, “I chanced to sea at the break of a day the solitary child” which suggested the connection between this solitary child with the solitary nature. Then he said, “she dwelt in a wide moor, the sweetest thing that ever grew”. Here, we can notice that the setting is nature, and the use of the word “grew” suggested that she is a part of nature, and they grew together. Moreover, when Lucy tried to go to the town, she could not do that as he said, “many a hill did Lucy climb but never reached the town”. This could mean that she is really innocent like nature. That is why she found difficulties while going to the touched nature, town, so she was lost in nature. At the end, when the parents could not find her, her father said, “she is a living child that you may see sweet Lucy Gray upon the lonesome wild”. This means that her soul exists in nature, and that he would remember her in every natural element around him. Thus, to him, she is immortalized through nature. He also continued saying that she “sings a solitary song that whistles in the wind”. Here, the haunting idea is emphasized more and more that the child exists, even in death, as a part of nature; even her singing could be heard through the sound of the wind. Indeed, he began his poem and ended it by linking Lucy with nature.

          All in all, the poem “Lucy Gray” focuses on a little child who was lost and emerged with nature. It is a great piece of Wordsworth’s creative talent which observes the dimensions of romantic features. We, as reader, can figure the romantic features out easily. The two important features in this poem are imagination, and nature. Both of these features led to the immortalization of the little girl, Lucy Gray. Thus, she is no longer lost since her spirit has been everywhere, so we can see her in every part of nature.

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The Chimney Sweeper

The Chimney Sweeper

          William Blake, a pre-romantic poet, has written two poems entitled “Chimney Sweeper”. One of them is from the “songs of innocence” collection while the other is from the “songs of experience”. Both of them complete each other. In the latter poem, Blake criticizes not only the moral corruption, but also the religious corruption. Such criticism showed how humanitarian the poet is.

          First of all, the very close reason to the suffering of these children is the moral corruption.  The poem began with the sentence, “a little black thing among the snow”. Here, the word “black” could not only indicate the color from sweeping, but also it could suggest the black views of his society towards him as an illegal child. Moreover, the word “thing” indicates that these children are treated as sub-humans or even as machines to work. It is a society that disdain people regarding to other`s faults. Hence, the illegal relationship is a way of destruction since the outcome of children will not be desired in their society. People will consider them as inferiors and treat them badly, ending them up working day and night to compensate what their indifferent parents left. In this poem, the little child said, “Where are thy father and mother?” which demonstrates that parents are careless toward their children. Therefore, the children are “crying, weep! Weep! in the notes of woe”. That is why the parents are the first responsible for the misery of these children.

          Secondly, the other reason of the illegal children`s plight is the religious corruption. In the poem, the little child said, “they are both gone up to church to pray” which suggests that the church is a source of hypocrisy. That is because the parents went to pray leaving their children starving after them. Similarly, the church men are wearing the mask of religion while they are letting people to suffer. They do not end poverty, which could lead to such illegal relationships, nor do they care for those victims, the chimney sweepers. Those indifferent clergy men led the children lose their faith not only in them or in the king, but also in God as the child said, “God and his Priest and King, who make up a heaven of our misery”.

          Indeed, William Blake is known of his humanitarianism. Against the expectations of his society, he always calls for equality for all people and seeks to better their lives. In his poem “the Chimney Sweeper”, he calls for the rights of the illegal children. He wants them to have the attention and care as any other children in the society. This can be achieved by eliminating both moral and religious corruption. Thus, the illegal children phenomena will be eliminated.

Written By:

Sahar Yassin Alshobaki

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Wordsworth`s Lines Written in Early Spring

Sahar Yassin Alshobaki

Mrs. Ahlam Anber

Romanticism

22^nd October, 2013

Reflection on Wordsworth`s Lines Written in Early Spring

         William Wordsworth is one of the first Romantic Era poets. He thinks that the English poetry had to be based rather on feelings than intellect and style. Wordsworth is considered as a pantheist who identifies God with the universe, or regards the universe as a manifestation of God. Thus, he believes that nature is the manifestation of God, or it is a creed in itself. In Wordsworth's poems, we, as readers, can notice that there are strong relationships between man and nature. In his poem “Lines Written in Early Spring”, part of the collection “Lyrical Ballads”, we can hint three major relationships: nature to man, nature to nature and man to man.

         The first relationship is between nature and man. Wordsworth`s view appears in his sentence, “nature never did betray the heart that loves it”. In this poem, he states that nature and people are linked through the “human soul”. Thus, he considers nature as a source of harmony and peace, as he says from the very beginning of his poem, “in a grove I state reclined”. As a result for this unity between man and nature, it will bring the pleasant and “sweet mood” to those who truly love it. In addition, he gives nature the attributes of God. He says, “her fair works” as if all creatures on the earth are created by nature. He even capitalizes the word “Nature” to emphasize that it is considered as a creed for him. Indeed, the nature to him is “a thrill of pleasure”, suggesting a deep and a spiritual joy that he experiences through contemplating nature.

         The second relationship is between the elements of nature together. Wordsworth says, “I listen to the discords to detect harmony” which suggests that he finds harmony and unity in every element in nature; therefore, affects him and gives him peace. In this poem, for example, he says “every flower enjoys the air it breathes” and “the budding twigs spread out their fan to catch the breezy air”. This demonstrates the idea of oness between every part of nature as he calls it “a holy plan” that means none of the nature’s elements can live without another.

         The last relationship is between man and man which is deeply corrupted. Despite the “sweet mood” that Wordsworth feels from nature, it brings to his mind the “sad thoughts”. This is because the joy he feels compels him to contemplate the human condition and lament “what man has made of man”. We can see, then, that Wordsworth compares the discrimination, separation and the injustice between people with the nature`s perfect unity. For example, in the last stanza he says, “if this belief from heaven be sent, if such be Nature’s holy plan, have I not reason to lament, what man has made of man?” Here, the subjunctive mood and the question at the end destabilize Wordsworth’s trust on human`s relations. He condemns his fragmented society, so he invites people to be united and harmonious exactly as the nature; they have to learn from nature.

         All in all, William Wordsworth is a romantic poet who deeply trusts and believes in nature. He is considered as a humanitarian poet as well. In his poem “Lines Written in Early Spring”, he discusses three relations between nature to man, nature to nature, and man to man. It is basically about wondering of the humans` conditions compared with nature. Hence, it talks about the human`s corruption, injustice, inequality and discrimination while there is a perfect unity in everything in nature.

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William Wordsworth`s Daffodils

Sahar Yassin Alshobaki

Mrs. Ahlam Anber

Romanticism

17^th October, 2013

Reflection on William Wordsworth`s Daffodils

    

   For the Romantics, the poet was a seer, a creator and a sensitive. He is the one who has a great imagination and has the ability to introduce the nature to people in different way they viewed it before. William Wordsworth, a well known figure of the 18^th century English society and a perfect representative of romantic age, introduces nature as a source of inspiration, peace, tranquility and imagination; therefore, all human have to love and unite with nature. In his poem “Daffodils”, we, as readers, can hint two romantic features, that Wordsworth was famous of, which are nature and 

imagination.

      First of all, nature is a clear image that appears form the very beginning of the poem till the end of it. First, the title “Daffodils” is a part of nature. This indicates that even the simplest element of nature affects him as a poet and leads him to feel and write about it. Second, if we read Wordsworth`s two sentences, “I looked to the primary qualities of humanity where man and nature are related” and “as if they are stars shining, trees walking or drops of water sparkling”, we can feel the idea of the transcendental unity between nature and man and nature and nature.

       The first kind of unity is between nature and man and vice versa. He begins his poem with, “I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats over vales and hills”. This beginning indicates that he is part of nature; he unites himself with every part of it such as vales, hills, daffodils, trees, lakes and stars. In addition, nature is part of humans. This appears in the so many personifications of nature. For example, he personifies the daffodils as a crowd of people and as a friendly host that welcome anyone loves or gets near from it. Then he personifies them as humans who are dancing, tossing their heads and being “a jocund company” to him. The waves as well are personified by dancing like humans. Thus, both of man and nature are like a body and a soul that we cannot separate them. At the end, the poet himself and the nature are totally united and they are dancing together as he says, “then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils”. The second kind of unity is between the natural aspects together. He says, “continuous as the stars that shine and twinkle on the milky way”. Here, as if the daffodils, like stars, link the earth with the sky by their brightness suggesting the unity between them. After that, he says, “the waves beside them danced” which also suggests the unity between the natural elements together.

    

 Secondly, Wordsworth`s sentence “there is a central peace subsisting at the heart of endless agitation” indicates that faith in nature leads to peace. This peace will lead to imagination and creativity. In this poem, there are so many hints to his imagination. First of all, he says, “I wandered lonely as a cloud”. Here, the word “cloud” indicates that he, above all earthly aspects, limits and restrictions, is superior, different, free, and can see more than others by his imagination. Second, he says, “I gazed and gazed but a little thought what wealth the show to me had brought”. This verse demonstrates that anyone contemplates deeply in nature, he will gain a very precious wealth, and his imagination will lead him to happiness. Such experience will be recollected again and again in “vacant or pensive mood”. Therefore, daffodils are planted in his insight, his “inward eye”, whenever he wants he can remember them again, so he will fill his heart with pleasure.

     

All in all, William Wordsworth wants people to love nature. He wants them to be moved by simple natural beauty, to be imaginative and creative, and to appreciate the small or subtle things around them. In his poem “Daffodils”, he expresses his emotions toward nature, the unity between human and nature, and the unity between the natural elements. In addition, he celebrates his imagination which was brought form nature in the first place.

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Returning to Haifa presentation and text

Returning to Haifa is one of the amazing novels for Ghassan Kanafani. It was translated for so may languages, and it was dramatized so many times. One of the most effective dramatizations is for Ghnamm Ghnamm. Therefore, we studied it in drama course.

Here, I will put my presentation that I did with my friends to this novel. In addition, I will upload my own English translation to it. I hope that you will enjoy reading it as well as I did.

P.S in the presentation, I tried to write the whole things that I or my friends talked in the class in details to benefit you. Anyone would like to do a presentation, it is better to write only outlines for your ideas and explain them orally.

Click to download them.

Return to Haifa ppt

Arabic text

English text

Good Luck ^_^

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Discourse Analysis

Discourse Analysis ppt

,Hello everyone

Here is the presentation that I and Israa did in Stylistic course. I hope it will be beneficial to you all. 

 Click Here

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