Truth and Bright Water

Essay:

Importance and Emphasis on Truth and Ideologies

By: Kenzie Parent

In the novel Truth and Bright Water, by Thomas King, there is prevalent emphasis on the importance and the significance of idealism and truth in one’s life. Some people value different qualities in their life that other people don’t value or find as important. In this novel, different characters are affected by the significance of truth and idealism in their lives, such as Monroe and his goals of restoring the prairies. Another strong example of the significance of knowing the truth in ones life is Tecumseh and his opinions of what he thinks is going on which is altered from the real truth. Another example which was similar was Lum and Aunt Cassie. Cassie had the idea that she could find Mia but needed to realize the truth that she needed to let go and move on. Lum had the thought that his mother was not dead and he could still find her. The author Thomas King has created a very firm context of how idealism and truth can shape your life, he has created this effect in the way he uses these characters.

A character that had very powerful goals of idealism was Monroe Swimmer; He had many ideas that he wanted to accomplish to help himself and the people in Truth and Bright Water, but “What I was really good at was restoration.”Pg137. Monroe had ideas of all kind, Tecumseh was helping him make these ideas a reality and always bumped into Monroe’s crazy ideas, “Which is why I don’t see it until it’s too late ... The platform is low and square and painted bright green. In one corner, someone had written “teaching the grass about green.”Pg.44 When Tecumseh looks up he sees that “It’s a kite. A kite with wings, painted bright blue.”Pg.45. Monroe had all these crazy ideas; he wanted to restore the prairies. He wanted to bring back all their culture and traditions get rid of all the bad and issues that was caused for all the First Nations people, and the pain and troubles that the First Nation people were caused. Monroe had the idea that if he made the church that the Methodists had built, disappear it would help make some of the problems they brought along with them also disappear. Monroe is successful in the end with making the church disappear, when you looked up at the hill “It’s as if the church has never existed.”Pg.251. Monroe also had the idea that he could bring the buffalo back, [“It’s a buffalo. Or at least, it’s the outline of a buffalo”] Monroe had built [“Flat iron bent into the shape of a buffalo.”]Pg139 and spread them across the prairies to try to convince the buffalo to return to the prairies in Truth and Bright Water. Monroe had many ideas in pursuing his ideologies such as; teaching the grass about green with the platform “why’d you paint it yellow? It’s really hard to see… I didn’t I kept painting it green.”Pg.134, or teaching the sky about blue, where his goals had become reality. There were some things he could not change like the damage already done by the Methodists or the buffalo abandoning the prairies of Truth and Bright Water. Monroe showed the significance of idealism in an individual’s life because he took Tecumseh under his “wing”, showed him what he knew and had learned from past experiences and passed it on to Tecumseh. Monroe taught him that doing the littlest thing can give people hope, and pursuing goals or ideas may help people or give them the hope that they need to succeed or move on.

            Tecumseh showed a strong example of how significant it is for an individual to know the truth and not believe his own perception of what may or may not be true. Tecumseh has issues, in his life some come with average difficulty, some not. There were a lot of secrets in his broken family. One day when Tecumseh was getting the skull, he had been thinking about it non-stop and always dreamed of it and the woman. Tecumseh saw his mother “she has a suitcase in her hand … baby clothes. I’ve opened the case lots of times, and inside are my old baby clothes”Pg.121. Tecumseh had overheard and overseen that conversation between his mother and Aunt Cassie, and is assuming that the baby clothes are his. Tecumseh tries to figure things out about his family, like about his father and mother “I see her standing in the parking lot talking with my father.”Pg.235, But when Tecumseh sees “It is only then, when she turns back and finds soldier and me in the shadows, that I see it isn’t my mother after all. It’s Aunt Cassie.”Pg.236.  Tecumseh had presumed that it was his mother and father talking but when he learns that it’s Aunt Cassie he’s not sure why they were meeting or why his father was talking about “chasing ghosts”Pg.235 and “finding her”Pg.235. Tecumseh had overheard many conversations about “her”. Tecumseh has had his opinions about the things he had come across, like the suitcase of baby clothes, which made him assume they were his baby clothes and Aunt Cassie was pregnant, telling his mother that he knows Aunt Cassie is pregnant. Though after he had overheard the conversation of his father and Aunt Cassie he starts to put more of it together, he really puts things together that didn’t sink in at first, which is why “I don’t know why I don’t see it right away, but it’s only when I look a second time that I notice. MIA. It’s supposed to say AIM, but what it says in the mirror is MIA.”Pg.246. Tecumseh finally understands what’s going on what he realizes what her tattoo really means. Showing Aunt Cassie the photograph and her saying “you knew her?” and his mother revealing that Aunt Cassie and his father, Elvin dated in college. Though throughout the book everyone somewhat kept Tecumseh in the dark about the secrets, and he has to piece them together by himself. With him doing this he is just guessing and has things in his head which may not be true but talking to other people about them, which is why it is significant for each member of the family to know about the family secrets or others can get altered meanings from what they hear.

            Lum and Aunt Cassie have kind of the same idealism in the novel about chasing what they think is true and finding what they need. They are also always hurting, either emotionally, physically or both. Cassie had returned home in the thought of finding MIA. Though she needs to realize the truth in which MIA was fine out there and might not be happy if Cassie had went and found her now, after all that time. Aunt Cassie’s pain is caused by her having to let her daughter go as a child and wanting to find her but finally realizing it’s time to let go, “While aunt Cassie takes each piece of clothing out of the suitcase, deliberately, one at a time, and casts them all into the flames.”Pg.260. Cassie had realized it was best to let go and move on, realizing the truth that she let go of her connections and ties to MIA. When Lum gets kicked out and gets delusional, thinking that “my old man’s been lying to me all this time … He tells everyone that she’s dead.”Pg.239. Lum was in the thought that his mother was not dead and indeed he could find her and she was out in the world, alive. Lum’s pain is caused by the pain of his mother leaving and because his father took his anger and pain out on him. These two show the significance in unreal idealism, something that is not going to happen. The idea that Lum’s mother is still alive and finding her or finding your daughter you let go of years ago, is a tough thing to do with an unrealistic chance of Lum’s mother still being alive or Cassie finding MIA.

            Through the experience of this book, it has taught the importance and significance of embracing idealism, whether it’s achievable or not, any goal makes people work harder. The significance in knowing the truth about certain things is very important. Throughout the book there were several ideas and examples of why telling the truth and knowing the truth is significant. In certain parts of the story when the truth is not fully explained and someone overhears parts of the story, they will put together what they have leaving them with something that is altered from the truth. The significance of truth in an individual’s life is that if you do not know the full truth and start talking to other’s about it, it can put questions in both your heads. Idealism is significant because it’s something you want, so if you make the idea or goal to get there it sets a good goal for you to try and achieve. Sometimes you have to let go of an unrealistic idealism if it is something that is unattainable, and search for something that is more realistic and achievable.

Visual Project Write Up:

Teaching the Truth to Reveal and Connect

            In Truth and Bright Water, by Thomas king there are many different symbols used and in my visual I chose to use symbols which connect to making the truth reveal and connect. The base of the project is on a canvas, a flat surface because when looking at the situation you only get one view of it or one person’s thoughts of it and that is Tecumseh’s, you only get to see his personal opinion of what he thinks about it or is trying to figure out. The flower was a symbol in the book to the narrator’s mom, Helen, and I choose that as the main center piece of my visual because the flower is opening up and revealing what is being told and the petals growing in to finally connect in the middle. The flower has petals off the center and then outer petals going off the center ones connecting two of each of the petals together. In each of the outer petals is something Tecumseh has questions about and is a mystery to him, which he is guessing and trying to connect the dots of what it is or what it means and in the connecting petals are two things or people that it connects too. The background to develop a sense of place I put a prairie in the background and “the shield” the river splitting Truth and Bright water, on the other side of the flower is a grouping of three iron buffalo to try to bring the real buffalo back, “Real buffalo…can spot a decoy a mile away.” Pg.145. The colors of the flower are five colors that represent the colors on the front of the book, black outline and inside the flowers are red, yellow and blue. On each of the outside petals that hold something Tecumseh is trying to figure out the truth about, the skull, because Tecumseh is always thinking about the women on the horns and the skull, “And I guess I’m still thinking about the women on the horns, because that’s all I dream about.” Pg.217. He is always thinking about what happened and where the skull came from, if it’s the women’s, and trying to put that together. The quilt because the mother is always working on it and adding what Tecumseh thinks are odd things too it “My mother reaches into the quilt basket and takes out a tin box. Inside are all sorts of odds and ends. Paperclips, colored stones, pieces of fur, candles, buttons, fish bones, sticks, glass, and bits of dry stuff that look as if they should have been thrown out long ago.” Pg.18. Tecumseh wonders why his mom has all these things in her quilt basket and puts them on her quilt, and doesn’t just throw them away. “Baby clothes” Pg.121. The suitcase full of baby clothes, Tecumseh thinks that it is just an old suitcase of his baby clothes, but no one has ever told him that their his clothes, he is assuming, and when he overhears his Mom and auntie Cassie he is assuming that she needs these clothes because she is pregnant. “MIA. It’s supposed to say AIM, but what it says in the mirror is MIA.” Pg.246. Tecumseh is trying to figure out exactly who MIA is, as she is the one in the photograph he has too. PAST, I out past between Elvin and Monroe swimmer because before spending the day with his dad and going to Skee’s restaurant he did not know that his father and Monroe used to be good friends. At the bottom of the page there are two fallen petals, one with LUM on it and one with Soldier. “The next day, the freesias begin to open up and their fragrance fills the shop. It’s a nice smell, like perfume, and I can see why women like flowers. They stay in the front window for a long time, and each day, my mother picks off the blossoms that have died, and carefully trims and cuts the flowers back until there is nothing left but the stems.” Pg.282. Soldier is there because even if you carefully trim the bad out of your life, the good may fall, unexpectedly and without warning you could lose something that ment so much. Lum, is a fallen petal as well because throughout the story Tecumseh would ask about his bruises, ask about his father, and visit his camp wondering what was wrong in his family and still Tecumseh could never get the truth out of Lum between Lum and his father, Franklin. Sometimes you don’t always find the truth out about everything that you want or need too.

Truth and Bright Water connections to Smoke Signals

Truth and Bright Water	Smoke Signals	Connection
Monroe Swimmer	-Arnold (Victor’s dad)	-magic tricks, making things ‘disappear’, “he was a magician you know.”
Elvin	-Arnold Joseph	-left son and wife -drunk
Helen	-Arlene	-raising victor on own
Cassie	-Arnold Joseph -Suzy song	-ran away, not being able to deal with the guilt of starting the fire(as Cassie with leaving MIA) -slept with best friends boyfriend in college(Cassie dating Elvin in college)
Lum	-Victor	-one parent passed away -dad abuses him -gone ‘crazy’
Tecumseh	-Thomas -Victor	-always trying to help Victor -dad leaving
Edna	-Arlene (victors mother)	-best fry bread
Tecumseh’s Grandmother	-Thomas	-storytelling, oral tradition
Soldier	-Kafka

“You know what’s wrong with this world.” - “some days, it’s a good day to die.”

Novel Questions

1.      An allusion is an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly. No, an allusion would be misunderstood if the reader does not understand where the reference is coming from. Many Albertans may not be familiar with Tom Longboat because he’s an aboriginal.

2.      -First nations value oral tradition that provides and account of each  groups origins,

History, spirituality, lessons of mortality and life skills

-Stories bind communities with future and past

-oral traditions reach across generations

-translations of stories means altered meanings

-earth diver, world parent, emergence, conflict, robbery, rebirth of corpse, two creators and their contests and the brother myth are adapted forms of eight stories of genesis

-traditional territory extended from the North Saskatchewan River south to the Yellowstone river. They lived along the eastern slopes of the mountains and beyond Saskatchewan

-knew every detail of their land

-studied the buffalo, knew their habits

-when preparing for winter they killed large numbers of buffalo using buffalo jumps

-spent thousands of years living with other cultures peacefully until the Europeans showed up and tried to tell them how to live

-still learn their old traditions and ways in today’s society

-they each of teachings within each families

-Ihtsipaitapiyopa- essence of all life (the creator) – all living things are equal

-Stories- used to teach children about history and culture – contain important messages

3.      Truth and Bright Water, Symbolism- The title “Truth and Bright Water” could have the meanings of things like environmental issues, self-discovery, seeing the light in things, depending how you look at it.

-Distortion through reflection

-Appearance to Reality

-Response to injustice

-Crossing boundaries

4.       A.) “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” This quotation could connect to the story in the way that a river is always changing and it is never the same, and you can never get that same water back. When someone experiences something they change from that, they learn, changing you who are and your perspective on things. The narrator had gone through many experiences that changed his perspectives on different things and had learned from those experiences. The narrator had learned and gone through such experiences as his parents splitting up which showed him that sometimes things do not work out at first but by his parents getting back together in the end sometimes they do work out for the better. He also went through the loss of someone close to him which showed him that there is not always a happy ending, and sometimes people suffer. These experiences made him grow because he had to learn to move on and cope.

B.) Lucy is a person who could connect to the quote “I never let the facts get in the way of the truth” because Lucy never gives up on the facts about Marilyn Munroe. Lucy will spend her time researching Marilyn and finding out everything she can about her because she wants to be just like her, she believes Marilyn is native. But whenever someone throws the facts that Marilyn isn’t native at her she refuses to believe it because Marilyn had dark skin and her father had left her when she was little so she did not know her father. Lucy believes Marilyn’s father could have been a native man because no one knows who he is.

C.) “There are no truths, only stories” can be linked to the story through Monroe and his abstract thoughts. He does not believe someone’s truth’s he takes what he learns and puts it into his own thoughts, because you are not sure if what you are told you can believe. He uses his abstract thoughts to make his stories become real, but does not put a distinctive truth on anything, he just tells his stories.

D.) “There are two kinds of art, man art and woman art. They are two different kinds of people, so the art comes out differently.” In this book people who represent male art are Elvin and Monroe, and woman art is represented by Helen. Monroe represents his art in his paintings and his teachings; he paints the church and puts his teachings to help repatriate Truth and Bright Water. Elvin creates his art in the form of wood, sometimes he uses his art to sell to make the money he needs or other times he uses it to cope with his problems whenever he was angry or upset he would go out and use his saw. Helen, the mother’s art is her quilt; she put so many things on her quilt. The items she outs on her quilt are all things from her past and collected and sewn on various parts of the quilt, some of the items are from positive experiences and some from negatives. Each person has their own way of making art that helps them or reflects them.

5.      When the novel cover refers to the town of Bright Water as a “land of broken dreams.” It does not say anything about truth being broken just specifically Bright Water. Broken pieces can be mended together like a quilt but it will never be the same, it will always be altered in some way. A quilt can be pieced together in many different ways such as sewn, glued or tied some methods are not as strong as other methods and it may not hold or stay together for long. The pieces of quilt are pieced together and the pieces used may not always match, so the finish of the project may not fit together perfectly or be matching making holes in the mending. Though a quilt may also give protection and warmth to people, as when Lum and Tecumseh were under the quilt they felt protected like nothing could hurt them. A quilt can be a gift that could be meaningful whether it’s the pattern, colors, fabric that was used on it, or embroidery on it; the quilt could represent a mother comfort too. They are items that take a lot of time, effort and skill, usually in traditional ways the skill is passed down from generations or within communities, would take a lot to pay someone to make rather than a personally made quilt. Helen uses her quilt as a way to move on and remove the past which could connect to the mending of the “land of broken dreams” because by mending it together you could forget about the past.

6.      The four colors are white, red, black and yellow, each color represents a different direction. White represents the north meaning the air, animals, wisdom, mental aspects, receive energy and logic. The white period is the rest period, winter months where the elders share their stories and their teachings. The red represents the South meaning the water, plants, gives energy, emotional aspect, trust and innocence. The summer stage, a time of continued nurture, youth resides in this direction. Youth are searching for something they’ll never get back; the south reminds us to look after our spirits. The black represents the west meaning the earth/physical, holds energy, physical aspect, introspection and insight. The adult stage, the fall, the physical journey is over; there is constant change within us. Death and loss become more visible in adult stage; we need to be in touch with our evaluator. Teaches forgiveness and peace. Yellow represents the east meaning sun and fire, Determines energy, spiritual aspect, illumination, and enlightening. The east is where we come from representing the spring time, begging out journey in life coming from spirit world to physical world. The spirit motives all the love in this great circle.

7.      In Truth and Bright there are many animals mentioned connecting several things throughout the book. Coyotes are represented in the book as the ‘cousins’ “Saw the cousins…looks like they decided to come home” pg.7. In creation myths, Coyote appears as the Creator; but may at the same time be the messenger, culture hero, trickster, fool, or clown. He also has the ability of the transformer: in some stories he is a handsome young man; in others he is an animal; yet others present him as just a power, a sacred one. Buffalo are in the book rarely as all the buffalo have left the reserve, “Magic if you want the herds to return, you have to understand magic”pg.208. The buffalo in are important to the first nations, they would kill them and use them for their meat and hides. “That guy that makes turtles … He gets these little cards printed up. On the front is an explanation about the turtle and what it symbolizes” Pg.33. The Sky women first called the giant turtle to her aid, and he came to the surface and she rode on its back on the flooded earth. “Auntie Cassie and my grandmother settle in and square off like turtles.”Pg.243. The grandmother is connected to many animals in the book “my grandmother sits quietly, perched in her chair, her chin thrust out like a beak, her thin, leathery arms folded against her boy like wings, waiting for something to move in the grass” Pg.55. Here she is referred to a bird, with the characteristics of a pelican. Pelican rapids to the First Nations means where the water or river runs through. The grandmother is also compared to an alligator, “She opens them slowly, and now she reminds me of an alligator” Pg.169. She is also connected to a whale, “She sees my hand right away and makes a noise like a whale coming up for air” Pg.243. In First Nation the killer whale was a subject of focus in the belief systems of many First Nation tribes on the Pacific Northwest coast.

8.      The real Tecumseh was a Native American leader of a Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy. Tecumseh was an iconic folk hero in American, Aboriginal and Canadian history. He grew up during the American Revolutionary war and the Northwest Indian War; constantly exposed to warfare. With a vision of establishing an independent Native American nation east of the Mississippi under British protection, Tecumseh worked to recruit additional tribes to the confederacy from the southern United States. American forces killed Tecumseh in the Battle of the Thames, in October 1813. His confederation fell apart.

I do not believe that Tecumseh was the narrator’s real name because of many things thought out the book and looking at the real Tecumseh. The real Tecumseh was a fighter, he fought for what was best for his people, and the narrator in the book was not much of a fighter, whenever he came up with an issue he just usually let it go quietly. When his father confronted him and said give me that money he didn’t say anything he just gave his father the money and didn’t say anything. Also his parents did not seem very traditional his dad was just trying to use his first Nation culture to make ‘traditional items’ and sell them to make money. Also his parents do not have a very traditional lifestyle either and their names are just average.

9.      Dear Mr. Stephen Harper:

This novel, Truth and Bright Water by Thomas King, he is a half-Cherokee half-Greek author. He most often writes about North American First nations, he is an advocate for First Nation causes. Thomas King is an inspiring writer he gives you many perspectives and information from inside First Nation people and from on the reserves. This novel is about a young boy on the reserve, though he is only called by a name once in the book, Tecumseh. This book takes span of about two months of this young boy’s life, showing past experiences and present. It takes you through the life and ways of his family and close friends. Some struggling and trying to make it, others care free and having a positive outlook, and other’s running away but somehow always ‘finding’ their way back. This novel teaches you that there are many problems in a lot of people’s lives not just a certain ‘stereotype’. It teaches you about many stories and teaching that have to do with First Nation and all their traditional ways.

Yours Truly, Kenzie.

Poetry Assignments

1.      Abstract-thought of apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances, no physical reference

Ex. abstract terms like love change meaning with time and circumstances

Alliteration-

      A group of two or more words having the same starting letter

Ex. Quincy’s quilters quit quilting quickly

            Concrete-

            Constituting an actual thing or instance

            Ex. concrete terms like spoon stay pretty much the same

            Context-

The parts of a written or spoken statement that precede or follow a specific word or passage, usually influencing its meaning or effect

Ex. We need to look at the event within the larger context of world history

Imagery-

The formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of such images collectively

Ex. The word spread like leaves in a storm

Dramatic irony-

Audience understands the irony but characters do not

Ex. In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare Romeo finds Juliet in a drugged state and he thinks she is dead. He kills himself. When Juliet wakes up she finds Romeo dead and kills herself

Situational Irony-

Audience or characters are hidden from the irony

Ex. A man who is a traffic cop gets his license suspended for unpaid parking tickets

Verbal irony-

Sarcasm

Ex. At a party a lady tells Winston Churchill he is drunk to which Churchill said "My dear, you are ugly...but tomorrow I shall be sober."

Line-

Verse of poetry or actors part in drama

Ex. “To be or not to be” Hamlets line in a play

Paradox-

A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth

Ex. High walls make not a palace; full coffers make not a king

Persona-

Characters or narrator in literary work

Ex. Tecumseh was the persona in Truth and Bright Water

Personification-

Giving an inanimate object human features

Ex. The tree’s branches were as wispy as her hair

Repetition-

The repeating of something

Ex. Spam, spam, spam, spam

Simile-

Comparison using like or as

Ex.  The water was as blue as the sky

Speaker-

Person speaking to audience

Ex. The narrator speaks to the audience, Tecumseh was the speaker

Stanza-

An arrangement of a certain number of lines, usually four or more, sometimes having a fixed length, meter, or rhyme scheme, forming a division of a poem

Ex. “The greedy paddy cat, Chased after the mice; She got so round and fat, But it tasted so nice”

Symbol-

Something used for or regarded as representing something else; a material object representingsomething, often something immaterial; emblem, token, or sign

Ex.  The grandmother represented nature and the animals

Understatement-

The act or an instance of understating, or representing in a weak or restrained way that is not borne outby the facts: 

Ex. The phrase, “Oh! I wonder if he could get any later; I am free all day long”. Said in a sarcastic tone it indicates that the speaker obviously means the opposite of the literal meaning.

2.      -Antithetical

Directly opposed or contrasted

Ex.  “It moves us not. – Great GOD! I’d rather be a pagan suckled in a creed outworn.” –The World is Too Much with us, by William Wordsworth/Lines 8-9

-Malapropism

An act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, especially by the confusion of words that are similar in sound

Ex. “the new grass lept to solidity” Death of a young son drowning, Margaret Atwood/lines 23-24

-Milieu

Social environment; Surroundings, location or setting

Ex. “it was spring, the sun kept shining, the new grass lept to solidity; my hands glistened with details.” Death of a young son by drowning, Margaret Atwood/Lines 22-24

-Transcendentalism

Surpassing/ a superior character

Ex. “I died for Beauty- but was scarce” Emily Dickenson/lines 1-4

3.      Poetry-  art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts literary work in metrical form; verse.

Poetry is used to express ones feelings and can be said in many different ways; complex, abstract, imagery, experiences, concrete and can be very hard to interpret sometimes.

Questions:

1.)    Build context:

“Death of a Young Son by Drowning”

“He, who navigated with success the dangerous river of his own birth once more set forth” lines 1-3.

In this poem the context is built with this sentence in the way that a man who controlled his own life for success had put his life on a more dangerous road by not taking no for an answer. Always working hard and doing the best option.

Thematic Development:

“Because I Never Learned”

“Because I never learned how to be gentle and the country I lived in was hard with dead animals and men I didn’t question my father when he told me to step on the kittens head after the bus had run over its hind quarters” Lines 1-8.

The thematic development that is reflected in this quote from the poem is how the writer never learned how to be so careful with his country. He never asked questions and always did what he listened too, never went outside the box.

Empathetic Response:

“The Forsaken”

“She faced the long distance…sure of her goal” lines 40-42, “Left her alone forever, without a word or farewell, Because she was old and useless, like a paddle broken and warped, or a pole that was splintered” lines 64-68.

The writer had reflected and developed how the old lady had been living with her sick child and what she had done and would do for her child. Though when she is a very sick old woman and her son had grown up her had just left her, with no care to give her after all the care she gave him. Her son had just her, there as a broken sick old women, with no remorse.

2.)    “One Perfect Rose” Dorothy Parker

In this poem the object impacting the elements of the poem would be “a single flow’r her sent me” The single rose was the most impacting object. The object impacts the reader, context, and character in poem.  The rose impacts the reader in a way that with this line “Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get one perfect rose” Lines 10-11. The writer said no just my luck to get one perfect rose that impacts the rose to the reader because it makes you confused thinking she would the rose or be thoughtful of him to get it for her. But by her saying those last two lines she sounds like she is confused to have got that one perfect rose. The impact on the writer was that she did not know what to do, “Why is it no one sent me yet one perfect limousine, do you suppose?” lines 8-9. The writer had wondered why the man had just sent her one single flower, because she knew the flowers language of “My fragile leaves” line5. The context was impacted in the way of its meaning that maybe the meaning of the flower isn’t really what is meant, because the meaning of one single flower has a strong representation of love. But the writer wondered why she had only received one rose and why it was a flower she received one of.

3.)    In the poem “The World Is Too Much With Us.” the sense of theme and how the theme is developed by the writer is greatly shown. The writer had developed his sense of theme with many literary devices; he used allusions of proteus and triton. “Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.” Lines 13-14. Both in Greek Mythology, Proteus, he was an early sea god known as ‘old man of the sea’. Some call him the god of "elusive sea change," which suggests he can constantly change the nature of the sea or liquid quality of water. He can tell the future, but, will change his shape to avoid having to; he will answer only to someone who is capable of capturing him. Proteus comes from the adjective protean, with the meaning of "capable of assuming many forms". Triton who was the ‘messenger of the sea’, He is the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. He is represented as a merman, having the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish. Like his father, Poseidon, he carried a trident. Triton's special attribute was a twisted conch shell, which he blew like a trumpet to calm or raise the waves. Its sound was such a noise, that when loudly blown, it put the giants to flight, who imagined it to be the roar of a dark wild beast. The writer uses these two to represent how everything now is distorted no one sees the nature that is ours, and how he would rather be a ‘pagan’  that is no longer useful, or have site of those two than be in this world.

4.)    A poem in which punctuation and capitalization are used to create an effect is, “The Body Tattoo of World History” By Anne Simpson. Italics are used to create effect on the certain different body parts of the “boy’s body. Visited, like Sainte-Therese, by visions.” Line 2. The italics describe the different body parts, “On his neck” line 20, after it says which body part it describes what is tattooed on that body part. Then puts a space between that line the body part line and the next line, leaving it completely isolated. Brackets are used in this poem to describe the little meanings of things like “Alexander’s famous phalanx, a box formation (moving hedge of bodies) that saved the Greeks.” Lines 10-11, Used to explain the object. The poem has two dashes the first one “Sainte-Therese” line 2 is used to describe a town that is visited but the body visited by visions. The other “a miniature human body, bird-headed creature from the caves of Lascaux ... Was there ever such a thing?” line 21-23. The dash is used to describe if there was ever such a creature that the boy had tattooed on his neck. The question mark is used to ask whether that did exist or ever could, causing the effect of why he would have such a thing tattooed on him.

5.)    A poem in which visual imagery is reinforced by the writer is “Common Magic” by Brownwen Wallace which was published in 1985. The writer had reflected one thing than off of that, the author would take something similar and develop that. The writer first reflects people when they are in love, how they speak “you can watch her lips move, making the customary sounds, but you can see they’re merely words, flimsy as bubbles rising from some golden sea.” lines 3-7.The writer develops how “it’s always like that” line 9 how different someone can be when there in love, “where she swims sleek and exotic as a mermaid.” Lines 7-8, there not the same anymore, ‘exotic’, they do not act like themselves, like they’re in love but when they speak the words are weak and aren’t as strong as the love they act like they are in. “It’s only when the driver calls his stop that he emerges into this puzzle of brick and tiny hedges.” Lines 23-25, this imagery is used in a way that the old man looked so happy and no cares, but when the bus stops where he needs to get off he gets confused, doesn’t know what to do and the child has to lead him through the ‘maze’.  “It’s always the chance word, unthinking gesture that unlocks the face before you.” Lines 55-56, not knowing which word and then using a gesture that you have not thought about and it opens up what you’ve been trying to figure out.

6.)    In the poem ‘Sweet like a crow’ by Michael Ondaatje, there is a small introductory paragraph and in that paragraph gives the reader a sense of place in the Sinhalese which is the natives of Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka the people have little sense of music, and to the author of this poem the person’s voice they are listening to is the worst sound to them, “Your voice sounds like a scorpion being pulled through a glass tube.” Lines 1-2. The mention of the scorpion gives you a different milieu or sense of place because scorpions are not indigenous to Alberta, which develops a sense of danger. In line nine of the poem it mentions “a frog singing at Carnegie Hall” which changes the location for exotic Sri Lanka over to New York City. You know this is set in a time frame after the British colonized India because of the line “like the crowd at the Royal-Thomain match.” Line 12, which is a game of cricket, which came from the English. The time frame in which this poem is set is post World War Two and pre 1990. The reference in the poem to 3 roses, and when you look up the meaning the 3 roses it says that the, meaning to three roses is ‘I love you’.

7.)    “To a Poor Old Woman”

In this poem repetition is used to repeat “They taste good to her, they taste good to her. They taste good to her” Lines 4-7 and again in line 15. This repetition was used to in force the significance of how the plum had tasted to the lady, as she was poor and old. When she eats the plum there is a ‘comforted’ look in her face. The description of how she looked comforted when she took a bite of the plum shows how such a small thing can make someone so grateful or happy.

8.)    “Icarus”

9.)    “Starry night” by Anne Sexton can relate to Monroe Swimmer because the poem is based off of Vincent Van Gogh also a famous artist such as Munroe.

Introduction “That does not keep me from having a terrible need of – shall I say the word – religion. Then I go out at night to paint the stars” and from the book “The side of the church had looked like it has disappeared, he must have done it last night while everyone was sleeping”

“The idlers” by Pauline Johnson can relate to Tecumseh because of how the land is described as Tecumseh would describe his home-land. “The river, deep and still, the maple-mantled hill, the little yellow beach whereon we lie, The puffs of heated breeze” Lines 7-11. And from the book “If you look at the prairies it just looks flat but when you’re on the, it’s like rolling hills. One moment you’re on top of a wave and another you’re at the bottom of one.”

“The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams can relate to the mother.

“So much depends upon, a red wheelbarrow” lines 1-4. The mother’s quilt could compare to the wheelbarrow because the mother always depended on her quilt to take the past away from her and comfort her. “But whenever I was wrapped up in the quilt I felt safe.”