titles in poetry

I chose to write about the title in poetry and how it relates to the author's work. In the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks the title is very significant in the way it creates emphasis. This poem is very thought provoking in terms of what it could be about as it is very short and nothing is repeated. We real cool is the first line of the poem, but the poem could be about something completely different if the title didn't emphasize the We Real Cool part.  I really enjoyed reading this poem and the title of it helped me absorb the meaning and theme. Over all, poetry is an interesting thing and the title can really help the reader out when he is trying to find the idea of it. In some cases I would say that the title can be just as important as the text itself .

The use of enjambment inside poetry

In the poem "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks, she uses an element called enjambment. This word enjambment represents when a phrase carries over a line-break without a major pause. In this specific poem, the use of enjambment was very appropriate because of how well it matched with the fast paced story line within the poem. I really appreciated reading it because of how well each line transferred to the next so smoothly. The use of enjambment impacted the poem greatly because of how vibrant and energetic it sounded every time I read it. I think the author made an excellent choice with the inclusion of enjambment in her writing. I also am looking forward to experimenting with this feature in some of my future writings as well.   

Poetry vs prose

For my blog I decided to write about the prompt "poetry vs prose". Poetry is one of the most popular methods for writing creatively, and also one of my favorites. Poetry follows its own formation and has its own rhythm. While prose is more of a story, in paragraph form with not much metric structure. 

Poetry also has a lot more symbolism, metaphors, and hyperbole involved within it. This is because poetry is created to make the readers think about it and discuss it, and symbols help with getting the message across. Over all, these two styles are both unique in there own way, and I am exited to explore them both, this year.

Wayan Aparai tribe

Today my IHSS class visited the Houston Museum of Natural Science. I had never been before and I was extremely excited to learn about some cultural anthropology. Over all, it was an incredible experience, we mostly learned about the Amazon river. I learned that it is over 40,000 miles long and is the biggest river in terms of volume. There are also 700,000 tribes living there currently, such as the Yoakuka, the Kuwama, the Duawear, the Shuar, and the Wayan Aparai. An interesting fact about the Shuar tribe is that they make animal masks used during ritual ceremony. These masks had specific ranks including bears, rodents, spiders, and the highest rank which was the peacock, which is the most sacred creature to them.  Next, we learned a lot about the Yoakuka tribe, in the picture you will see this peculiar type of headdress. In fact this is a ritual item made entirely of multiple birds feathers, though they would not kill the birds, just pluck the feathers. What they believed about this headdress, was that once it was used during ritual, it could never be worn again and was discarded. This is because they believed that once it was used, all of the spiritual powers would vanish, therefore making it no longer significant. This tribe are also very skilled fishers, it was their primary way to get food, and also the only type of meat they would eat. Other than fish they did not kill any animals. The last tribe and my personal favorite is the Wayan Aparai. The most intriguing custom about them, was their ritual when one must enter adulthood. When a teenager becomes the age of when he must become an adult, a very interesting ceremony takes place. The Aparai chief would go collect bullet ants, and wasps, by using a smoke that makes them drowse, next the tribe would weave the sleepy insects into baskets. Finally, once the bugs are awake and mad they would release them upon all of the children stinging them causing intense pain. If a specific child where to flinch or even make a sound, they would not be considered an adult and would have to do the process the next time that ritual happened. If the child does in fact succeed and not move during the ceremony they would then be promoted to the men's hut. This ritual may seem cruel and unjust, but to these tribes, they have been involved with these types of rituals for a very long time. Actually this specific tribe have been training the young children for this very early on. They would do the same thing, but on a much smaller scale. For example, they would perhaps tap the kids with the bullet ants to build up an immune system, rather than releasing the insects upon their entire naked body. In conclusion, I had a fascinating time at the HMNS and seeing all of the cool exhibits, and am very excited to return which I’m confident that I will.