Robinson Crusoe

                                            

 I have heard somethings about Robinson Crusoe, but I didn't search it in details. In this year, I have gain much information about story thanks to literature course. 

 Robinson Crusoe is the first work which was written like a novel. It is a realistic work, because real dates, real places and real event were used. 

 Robinson has to stay an island without anybody. He tried to survive. After a while, a man comes to land on Friday. Thus, Robinson gives Friday name to him. Robinson saves Friday from cannibals. He thinks that he must be a master for Friday. Robinson is a opportunist man. He thinks that he can use Friday for slave trade after avoiding from island. 

 We can see differences between novel and movie. At the end of the book, Friday leaves the island with Robinson. At the end of the movie, Friday dies. Ending of the novel, Robinson Crusoe leaves the island thanks to a slave ship. 

 To sum up; it is a realistic story. It reflects human features and ideas. It is possible to face stories like this. Author of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel De Foe, was inspired a real story of Alexander Selkirk.

The Victorian Age

 This week we talked about The Victorian Age and Queen Victoria. I think that I have learned two interesting things. 

 Firstly I want to mention that features of the period. The growth of the British Empire is seen in this period and it was said that the sun never sets on England. In addition to this social and political reforms occured. Woman rights gained importance. We can say that this term was the heyday of the British Empire.

 In this period Crystal Palace was referred. It was made of iron and glass. Kingdom shows their power thanks to Crystal Palace.

 Secondly two events attracted my attention. The first that white wedding dress. Thanks to Queen Victoria brides can wear white wedding dress. The second is about Queen Victoria's private life. She wore black dresses all time after her husband's death.

 To sum up, she completed her duty tremendously. I think that Queen Victoria deserved to become the queeen.

Dead Poets Society

Dead Poets Society

 I want to write something about Dead Poets Society. It is a movie about 'Carpe Diem'. It means that seize the day. The movie is so impressive for me. 

 Firstly we see the young boys who are enrolled in a medicine school. They have to continue to the school because of their family. Unfortunately they have traditional teachers except one. The teacher is a literature teacher. His name is Katering. He has some different teaching methods. 

 I understand that young boys like the literature thanks to him. In first literature course, Katering shows old student picture to his new students to emphasize seize the day, live the moment. Young boys have met Dead Poets Society by the virtue of Katering. Boys really wonder about it and they find resources about this society. At the same time Katering is not only a teacher but also a friend for them.

 One of the boys his name is Neil, wants to become a actor but his father doesn't approve this situation. Father prevents his son's ambition. Thus Neil kills himself. 

 School administration think that Katering directs his students solecistic. Katering is asked to leave the school. 

 Unluckily it is a sad ending. This kind of schools, teachers and families restrict the students' talents. They want to bring up only one traditional style. So I think that Carpe Diem is so important for every human.

Romantic Period

Romantic Period

  We talked about Romantic Period and 18th century. I have learned different informations. 

 Firstly, nature and natural events were important in Romantic Period. They against rationalism. At the same time we see poets' emotions. Inpiration is in there. Folktales and ballads were saught. Also human nature has a big role in this period. 

 Secondly, we faced 5I. These are imagination, intuition, idealism, inspiration and individuality. Intuition is a new term for me but it is easy to understand. This term is related to poet's emotions. So it is an interesting. 

 Writers are seen as a creator. Their position has changed in society. Creativity is significant for art and literature. 

 To sum up, Romantic Period has an important place. Some terms are new. So they attracted my attention. I think that when I read some works about the topic, I can understand permanently.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

                                            The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 

 The topic of this week an interesting story of sailors. I didn't hear the story before. I think that I have learned many different events from the story. 

 Firstly, an event starts with death of a bird. Bird's name is Albatross. Albatross is so important in this story. People believe that it is blessed. So when bird is killed by a man bad events start to occur.                                                                                            

 As people do, sailors get angry when the Ancient Mariner kill the bird. Than good things happen and sailors congratulate the Ancient Mariner. After that bad event starts. End of all events the Ancient Mariner survives but the others die. 

 In addition to story, we can see romanticism in there. For example natural events are seen frequently in this story. At the same time supernatural things are seen like ghost ship. 

 As a result this story attracts my attention. I think it is an interesting story for me. At the same time a message was given about people's punishment in this story. So I liked it.

18th Century

This week we talked about prose and ﾓ A Modest Proposelﾔ. Topic was different and interesting for me.

At first, literature was changed in 18th century. They believed reasons and science. Ratioanalism was so important. They tried to find balance between events. In addition to this political events was complicated. But I didn't like these issues.

In literature, novels gained importance. We can see journals in this term. Poetry and emotions lost their power. People rejected immorality.

Secondly, we talked about A Modest Proposal. It was written by Jonathan Swift. He satired poor of century by funny way. I think he was clever. His ideas were really interesting and important. When I was read it I didn't understand. Than we talked about it in class and I understood it's real mean.

As a result, I liked this period. Thanks to Jonathan Swift I learned features of term clearly.

MacFlecknoe

 This week our topic was different from the others. We introduced critical poem “MacFlecknoe” by John Dryden. 

 Firstly I want to talk about poem. We can see a satire upon the political events. Thanks to this feature, MacFlecknoe was seperate from other poems which we read. Love was not seen in this poem. 

 I had no idea about poet,poem and its topic before course. Now that, I can talk about them and their properties. We was talking about poems which consisted love for several week. So another topic satire is interesting for me. 

 Secondly, John Dryden is an important poet. He was satiring events of his term. I think, he didn't fall in love. So he wrote about historical and political events. Dryden created his own style which was an effective. 

 To sum up, we learned different and interesting ideas. We gains general ideas about literature day by day. 

Civil War and Restoration

                                      Civil War and Restoration
 Last week, we talked about Civil War and Restoration. I didn't like this topic. Because it includes informatin so much. For example; dates,names,features etc. We can see conflict between two groups who have different ideas in this period. So they effected their country.
 At the same time we talked about " To his Coy Mistress ". It was written by Andrew Marwell. While we were talking about poem, we mentioned "Carpe Diem".  Poem is related to live the moment.
In fact, I agreed with poet. Time is passing so fast. We are getting older. We should seize the day. But we should not exceed our limits.
 When we look at the period, we see physical love. 
   In my opinion love is not only physical but also emotional.

Metaphysical Poets

                              Metaphysical Poets 

  We started the course with Metaphysical Poets. Before course I didn't have any information about these poets. 

  Firstly, I've learned characteristics of 17th literature period and compared them with Elizabethan Age. I could see that love was more physical,not platonic and tangible. Poems adressed to reasons. We couldn't see inconstancy in there. They mixed logic and feelings in love. 

  Secondly, we talked about John Donne and his poem “The Flea”. He was the great representer of the metaphysical poets. The poem was an interesting for me. When you think about it deeply, you can realize the deep meaning. He tried to depict love with flea. He established a mutual relation                                                  between love and flea. 

  To sum up, this period is more rational than the others as I see it. Because lovers didn't feel much pain. Love was mutual and philosophical.