"Easter 1916" Coding

Too long a sacrifice

Can make a stone of the heart.

O when may it suffice?

That is Heaven's part, our part

To murmur name upon name,

As a mother names her child

When sleep at last has come

On limbs that had run wild.

What is it but nightfall?

No,no, not night but death;

Was it needless death after all?

For England may keep faith

For all that is done and said.

We know their dream; enough

To know they dreamed and are dead;

And what if excess of love

Bewildered them till they died?

I write it out in a verse-

Macdonagh and Macbride

And Connolly and Pearse

Now and in time to be,

Wherever green is worn,

Are changed, changed utterly;

A terrible beauty is born.

Highlighted Background: Rhyming words, and the matching colors are the words that rhyme together.

Highlighted Text: Repeated use of words.

underline: Names of those who died in the Easter Rebellion

Italics: The actions taking place during the rebellion, and the deaths of those who are fighting

Bold Stone: Meaning permanent and even forever remembered

Different font: Terrible beauty, meaning a great thing was born, through a horrible process.

This stanza is speaking about how those who died will be forever remembered and spoken about for their dreams, actions, and importance within Ireland. However, W.B. Yeats believes their deaths may have been pointless in the end, since they died because Pearse and Clarke both went ahead with their attack even though not all of their men were ready. He's saying if they had waited when everyone was ready, they could have still become heroes and succeed in their plans, without them dying. But maybe, they chose this type of death because they didn't want to be recognized alive, as said in the line "[a]nd what if excess of love bewildered them till they died?" They only wanted to be remembered by people as those who began the revolution, and sparked the fire in the Irish, in order for Ireland to gain independence.

Blog Post # 5: Piano Lesson Responses

         I believe that the "piano lesson"  is the Charles family learning to accept and move on together with the past, and not discarding it or staying with it. You see throughout the story that Boy Willie wants to sell the piano and move on with life, while Berniece wants to keep it and never move on. Only in the end, these ideas come together within Berniece, and she keeps the piano, while moving on together with it. August Wilson chose the title The Piano Lesson, because the whole story was revolving around what the Charles family needed to learn about themselves, and their past involving the piano.At the end of the story, Boy Willie finally understands the importance of the piano. He understood its importance when Berniece played the piano and sung her family members' names, telling him that the piano holds a great deal of their family within it, and it shouldn't just be given up. What's significant about Berniece calling out her dead ancestors' names to rid the house of Sutter's Ghost is that she understands that her family has been through a lot with the piano, and she shouldn't keep mourning for them, but instead asking them for help with her own life. The purpose of this is that Berniece finally learns to accept the past and move on with life, together with the memories of her family.

Post # 4: Social Mobility

1. Zakaria believes social mobility is going down in the U.S. because the likelihood of children born into poverty rising up to higher classes is low, and the U.S. welfare state is not spending  on the poor, but the middle class. In many parts of the U.S, those who are poor end up with less food, and a bad education. Because of this, the poor are never given equal living conditions as the middle and upper classes, and opportunities for the poor show up significantly less. Also, since the U.S. welfare state chooses to only focus on the middle class, the distance between the poor and the rich slowly increases, and this may soon make it impossible for any lower class people to move up in the U.S.

2. Equality within basic needs for life is a big factor for the U.S. to get back on track with the American Dream and social mobility, because if all classes are given the same education, health care, etc, both the poor and middle classes have opportunities to move up within social classes. This relates to the American Dream of people wanting to become successful, and maybe even better than their predecessors, because if everyone isn't given the same pieces to build up their life, no one can achieve anything they want for their life.

Post # 3: The Piano Lesson Act 1

1. The Ghosts of the Yellow Dog are the Boy Charles and the four hobos that died on the Yellow Dog railroad. They may have been hit by a train, and now they're out for revenge.

2.The "n word" is being used in a friendly term between the the characters in early Act 1, and they only use it to refer to one another without using names.

3.The Irene Kauffman Settlement House seems to be a sort of place that helps the poor, because Berniece has Maretha go there so that she can become a teacher. You feel the sense that they may be poor or struggling because during the time in the play, racism still exists, and this effects many black families during that time.

4. Parchman Farm is referring to an actual prison from the 1900's, because Boy Willie said that he and Lymon did time there for three years, which means they were in jail for three years.