Practice Essay

Emily Dickinson tends to write her poems with an ambiguous structure. She often leaves it up to the reader to interpret the meanings of her poems and to conceptualize what is going on.  There are often many different conclusions that one can draw. Although not everyone of her poems are ambiguous, "Hope" by Emily Dickinson is very open ended. She  leaves it largely up to the readers of interpret the meaning of the poem by drawing connections between two different things.
    In the poem Emily Dickinson relates hope to a bird. She draws a connection between them, which can be interpreted by the reader in different ways. In line one she says "Hope is like a feather." This sentence in particular is very ambiguous. People can look at this in several ways. On one hand it can mean hope is like a bird. A bird is light and free. It gets to live easy. So, hope is free and hope comes at no cost. It has "never asked a crumb of me." (Line 9) Meaning, it is something people do on there own that they do by choice, and it is up to them. Nothing made you hope, but you do it all the time. It always is there, because it  "perches in you soul." (Line 2) There is always hope inside of you, whether you like it or not. It's sits there and waits. She continues and says, "I've seen it in the chilliest lands/And on the strangest seas." (Line 7, line 8) this relates back to the comparison of the bird, it means that hope can be found anywhere you just need to look. It is found in the land and the sea. This is comparing the bird to hope in a positive way. It gives the poem and optimistic tone, and the relief hope is always with you.
     On the other hand, it can mean hope can come and go, just like a feather. Instead of thinking of a bird as free and never stopping, you can think of a bird coming and going. Just like a bird migrating from place to place.  It comes in and out of people's lives and is in the "land" and "sea." Hope doesn't always have to be present, and you don't have to feel it. "It sings the tune without the words," means it is silent and sometimes it disappears. This interpretation has a slightly negative spin to it. Which, affects the tone of the poem, which is now melancholy. By changing the interpretation, you are also changing the mood that he poem gives off.
     These are only some of the ways to interpret the poem. Emily Dickinson makes every line open ended, which allows the entire poem to be ambiguous. She uses open ended words such as "perches," "tune", and "feathers," when she is making connections. This allows different meanings to be understood. Depending on the type of person you are, you can understand different connections differently, and therefore take away separate conclusions. She does that the poem is relatable and has different emotions that belong with it. Therefore, more people can draw connections, and try to relate it to a situation or in general what they believe hope to be.

Essay Notes

"Hope Is The Thing With Feathers," Emily Dickinson

Repetition of the bird- puts emphasis on the bird
"thing with feathers"
"perches in the soul"
"could abash the little bird"
"sing a tune"- meaning the birds song

Consonance
repetition of the th sound

Rhyme Scheme- lines goes 8,6,8,6

This creates more harmony in the poem, which relates back to the repetition of the bird. The bird is considered to harmonious and "hopeful," by repeating the th sound the poem can be read more fluently.

The repetition of the bird gets the poems emotion across.
Bird is a symbol of hope.
Ambiguous
People can interpret hope in their own way.

Pattern was aimed at the heart and the ear


"My Father and The Fig Tree."- Naomi Shihab Nai

• Repetition of  largest, fattest sweetest fig and on the fig tree
• this is a description of the fig
• this is the best kind of fig
• gift from Allah
• Fig symbolizes arab culture
• draws emphasis to the importance of the fig tree
• Relates back to the Arab culture
• the relationship between the father to the arab culture
• there are 4 stanzas, the word fig is repeated constantly 
• pattern aimed at the heart and the mind
• relationship
• tone of the poem= loss? 

Stage Design for Whale Rider

For my stage design I used several different things to make the scenes come alive. In stage right there is a door with a porch in front of it. This is where most of the characters will exit and enter. In the door there is Nanny Flowers watching over connect. The door and the porch will look old and worn down. The porch is decorated with flowers to represent life in the novel. Downstage (stage right) there is a garden. Kahu is attending to the carrots in the garden, and this will be the place Nanny Flowers and Kahu talk and work together. The garden would have lots of different vegetables in it, so that there is more life on the stage. Stage left there is the meeting place/church like area. Upstage (stage left) there is a podium, so the audience will be able to see the person talking (in this case Papa Apriana.)  Down stage (stage left) there are chairs facing the podium, so the audience will see the back of their heads. This is the place the boys will meet and they will learn about there culture. Downstage center there is the ocean (the blue blocks), this is where the scenes with the whales will be. The ocean will be projected and it will be digital. This holds a significance, because the whales connect with the aspect I want to get across.

I also wanted to keep the set simple. In the novel, the people don't have much, they live in a small village with not much going on. These three places were the things I wanted to highlight, because these events were important to the theme I wanted to highlight, which is the relationship between the people and the whales. So,  the set is simple, yet creative in it own way.

The Whale Rider

     For my staging of “The Whale Rider,” I would focus on a few characters and their connections to the whales.  I think the whales were a large aspect of the novel and tell the whole story. It shows the magical realism. I would include the characters Uncle Rawiri, Papa Apirana, Kahu,  Nanny Flowers, and the Bull Whales as the main characters. Each of these characters link to important aspects of the novel I would like to highlight. For example, Papa Apriana links to the Bull Whale, Nanny Flowers links to the old mother whale, Kahu represents the whale rider, and Uncle Rawiri is the narrator. For my adaptation I would really like to represent the dualities that exist between the whales and the people.

 

For the costuming of the characters I would make them each individualized, yet also representing their culture. For Kahu, I would have her in a flowered dress with flats on. However, I want to show her differences and her link to the Bull Whale. To do this I would have a gold tatto on her arm, the tattoo would be the same one that is on the Bull Whale in the book. This would represent her coming to be the “savior.” I would have Papa Apriana wear plaid pants and a large shirt that is too big for him. I want him to look old and worn down, this would represent his relationship with the old whale. I would also have Nanny Flowers wear a flower dress, and she too would be older. However, she would have more energy than Papa Aprina, and a sweet voice. I would have Uncle Rawiri wear shorts with a plain t-shirt. He would look young and “hip.” I would want him to look like a cool uncle, which is why Kahu always wants to be with him. The Bull Whale will have the same tattoo as Kahu to represent their link.  

For the staging, I would have a small house in the corner of the stage, but all you would see is the door, which is white and worn down. This door would be the door to Papa Aprina’s house, and where Kahu would mostly exit and enter. In front of the door would be a old worn down porch with a swing. The swing will be where Nanny Flowers and Kahu sit with each other and talk. In the back of the stage I would use the digital projector to project the ocean, and use the sound effects to make the sounds of an ocean. In the other corner of the stage, I would have a classroom set up, more looking like a church.This would represent the meeting place for the men. This is where the audience will learn about their culture and Papa Aprina’s beliefs. During the whale scenes I would use the projector to project the whales coming to shore, and the people would crowd in front of that. At the end of each scene I would use a sound effect saying “Let it be done.” This will give a hint into Kahu’s destiny.  

                              

All of this would help portray the magical realism that exists in the book. It will portray the links between the people, and the two problems that exist at once. I think this staging will help bring together the scenes in the book, and the people.




Citations:
http://whaleriderreligiousstudies.weebly.com/characters.html
https://www.pinterest.com/erwriter21/whale-obsession/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298228/