Keats Hand

John Keats wrote a poem called The Living Hand. Keats lived from 1795 to 1821, dying at the young age of twenty six. I do not know much about his values except that in his poems he speaks of power, love, money, health, and full life. In his poem The Living Hand, I think his audience may be to a specific person, but it does not specify. The situation is one of threat and immortal subconscious control by him on the person reading.

John Keats wrote The Living Hand in basically one long run on sentence with very little punctuation. He throws in a few commas and that is about it. I guess the commas are merely for taking a breath because they do not seem to imply to me any other sort of break in the action of the poem. I think this whole poem being one long sentence makes it very bold in the sense that it is direct and concise. It is not meant to be rhyming and "flowy". It is a blunt statement.

I thoroughly enjoyed this poem after reading it over a few times and finally getting what he was talking about. He is threatening the reader that if he were dead, he would haunt you until you prayed he were alive again so he would stay out of your dreams. It is very serious on one hand and sort of amusing on the other since I am an outside observer from two centuries later in the world.

Nature and the Natural World

When I think of the natural world, I think of the animal kingdom, genetics, the mind, physics, evolution, my environment, etc. I think every poem, in one way or another, touches on the concept of the natural world. Wordsworth, Coleridge and Blake exemplify their ideas of the natural world through their poems.

"O Lady! We receive but what we give, And in our life alone does Nature live" (from Dejection: An Ode, Coleridge). He describes this woman's wedding garment afterward, and that all we are going to get out of life, our soul must put forward first. I think he tries to explain to us that we are only as good as we will allow ourselves to be. When he discusses losing his poetic creativity, he only recognizes that it is lost, because it was once there. Had he never experienced his imagination before, during his childhood or adolescence, would he have ever missed it in it's absence? In his world, he believes, the nature of the self and the soul is what guides him with spirit and power.

Wordsworth uses Lines to describe his nature, his environment. It begins with a pure descirption of the land below where he sits. He connects with his landscape concentrating on every detail of the cottages and woods below. On line 70, "Wherever nature led", he beings to tell about his basic evolution through life. He compares himself, or man, to rivers and streams, nature leading them wherever they may end up. Instead of seeking what we really want, sometimes we feel like we are guided by some other essence. Later he tells, "In nature and the language of the sense The anchor of my purest thoughts". Again, his thoughts and feelings are controlled by his natural world, nature.

Allow me to introduce myself....

I am Amanda Thompson. I grew up in a small town in Texas, and I ran to the big city when I graduated. I am a senior at the University of Houston (this is my last sememster, chicka chicka yea!) and cannot wait to graduate. I love school, but find myself wanting to... well... make some real money and give up these crap bartending jobs.

I have no real experience with writing or poetry outside of school courses and love notes to my beau, but I enjoy it for the most part. I signed up for Intro to Poetry to learn how to write more in depth poems and gain appreciation for other poets. I really enjoy slam poetry actually. I was first introduced during my second semester at UH, and it speaks to me. I like the blunt truth that is thrown in your face through the words.

My favorite color is bright orange, I am obsessed with my cats (I have 3), I am a snowboarder and I love jumping out of airplanes. I am a bit of a thrill seeker, and I love that I can share my passions with my boyfriend. I want to move to Colorado when I graduate and snowboard every weekend there is snow on the mountain, or I want to move to San Diego and become a marine mammal trainer at SeaWorld. I haven't decided yet. If anyone has any suggestions on how to make such a huge decision as this, my ears are open.

And your name is?