Final Blog Prompt

Research Proposal Presentations

So day one of presentations went pretty smoothly as we got to hear about Petrarch's Renaissance with contrasts of humanism and Christianity, how war affects Christianity, reality versus delusions, patriarchy in the modern world, birds in literature, and heroes in society. 

This is a huge variety of topics and it was just day one! Each presentation was like a breathe of fresh air and it was interesting observing the different topics people came up with and listening to the reason why they were interested in this topic they've chosen. Everyone pretty much kept the class intrigued and gave plenty of eye contact and side notes that weren't on the slides. It added to the effect of the presentations nicely.

Then came day two with more fresh ideas. It went from the significance of the number seven, Sappho and gender roles,  and Antigone in modern politics, to how religion has changed over time, feminine roles in ancient Greek literature, and the literary exploration of feminism in the Canterbury Tales. 

Such broad areas were explained with lots of detail and pictures and each presentation was livelier and just as interesting as the day before. Nobody had trouble projecting and collecting their thoughts really. And each person answered questions to the best of their abilities which was admirable. 

Brave New World

Brave New World (Blog #6)

Christopher Columbus has a day designated to him. He is well known throughout all American history classes. But do we really know him and what he truly did that faithful day he ran into what he called the "Indies"?

This man that sailed the ocean blue in 1492 is actually not what he seems as we learned from reading "Diario" a story and reading of a mans diary recollecting the tradgedy that happened when they encountered these "Indians" on their own land.

Met with kindness and generosity from the naïve and gullbile natives, Columbus takes advantage and takes all of their valuable trinkets for things of almost no value on his end. He is a truly treacherous man from this point of view. And not only does he take these peoples gold and tobacco, but he then proceeds to try and take them as servants for his king and so that they can be converted to his religion, Christianity. They were no more than objects in his eyes.

I believe that Columbus really just wanted to say that he found something and the natives were in the way of that so he had to get rid of most of them. This is why he used biological warfare to take them out as he realized they weren't immune to smallpox and the sort.

This goes to show that Columbus was actually much more evil than we first anticipated when learning about him in grade school. This shows that we should always look deeper than the history books.

Research Question

I really have an interest in the use of birds within poetry as they are used so widely and often. Its very peculiar how certain birds have given off certain characteristics which are then used in literature. Its very intriguing to see them personified to fit a human and the way we think and behave at times. But then most birds have one similarity too, which is flight. Something us humans took a long time to even achieve and master. 


I'm expecting to face a few challenges with this project because to be honest I started off really shaky not really knowing what my question should be and such. I sort of struggled coming up with ideas for it but I think I have it down in my mind. I just need to focus on putting all my jumbled thoughts together now and making it flow.  


My idea is to write about different birds on a spectrum and then look into different poems and see what their symbolic meanings were in each. Then I'm going to figure out why they are used in that way and why they represent certain things within poetry.

Sources Cited: Google pics

Making A Claim (Blog #4)

My proposed topic is birds in literature. My research question is "What purpose do birds serve in poetry?"

1. Context of research argument: Birds in Literature

2. General Topic: Use or symbolism of birds in literature

3. Specific Focus:  The use of birds within poetry.

4. Research Question: What purpose do birds serve in literature/poems?

5. Specific Claim: Because most birds fly high in the sky, they symbolize a presence of a higher being as they free themselves from limitations such as gravity. Birds represent human's want to escape gravity and achieve success through efforts of climbing higher and taking off into flight. Certain birds can symbolize personality traits and character as well.

6) Proposal: I will analyze different poets uses of birds within their poetry and compare them to each other.

a) Controlling Idea #1: In Conference of the Birds by Farid ud-Din Attar, birds all have different paths they must take and experience due to their different characteristics. 

b) Controlling Idea #2: The Parliament of the Fowls by Chaucer is like a medieval take on a hierarchy of birds.

c) Controlling Idea #3: In The Odyssey by Homer, the birds were seen as messengers of the gods and some even symbolized war.

Sources Cited: The Anthology of World Literature by Davis Compact Edition Volume 1

https://www.reference.com/world-view/birds-symbolize-2fab3f33838003f0#

Conference of the Birds

Conference of the Birds Analysis

In Conference of the birds, by Farid ud-Din Attar, the birds debate on who should go and who should stay based on their own unique personalities and traits and what they believe in individually.  This whole poem is actually symbolic of what prevents a man from reaching enlightenment as the birds display very human traits in their negligence to even embark on the journey to the Simorgh.

For example the Parrot only seeks immortality instead of truth of the way, the owl is a treasure seeking fool, and the nightingale believes that painless love is the essence of life. This is basically showing the hindrances of humans reaching enlightenment through the usage of birds.

It is actually very cool to see that the author compares characteristics of the actual birds themselves and then adds in human traits that seem to match the bird itself. The Parrot seeks immortality because it wants everyone to see how beautiful it is. The Owl has very big eyes which gives it a look of greed. The Nightingale is seen as a bird of romance in many other poems in the past, most likely because of its beautiful singing, so of course it would be personified as a bird that only cares about love.

The one who reaches enlightenment is the true king of the birds.