Hey all,
This is your assignment for Monday, September 8th. Please read Michel Montaigne's "On Some Verses from Virgil," and Charles Lamb's "A Chapter on Ears." For your blog responses please devote two paragraphs, one for each text, examining how you believe each essay fits the criteria of a personal essay as we have discussed it thus far. Some questions you may wish to address are perspective, intimacy, the conversational element, and relatability. Please keep in mind that there is no right answer and that I am looking for your personal, subjective responses. No pressure to get it done by Saturday as I asked you before. Just get it done before Monday's class. See you then and have a nice weekend.
Best,
Laura
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18 comments:
Zach Kalatsky
Zzachbk@yahoo.com
A Chapter on Ears
The essays lack of the use of complete names brings me closer to the reading. It seems as if he would like to share their true identities but can't, attributing to his credibility.
Lamb out rightly states ("while I profess my ignorance's") his faults, gaining sympathy from the readers.
The over use of the pronoun I in this essay retracts me from equating with his essay.
On the Verses of Virgil
Beginning with the topic of age enables Montaigne to reach all of his readers. Whether you are young or elderly, old age is inevitable. He continues from the topic of age to the idea of love and sexual acts. Yet another category everyone could place themselves.
To prove his trustworthiness, there is a constant use of contradiction, depicting both sides of the argument.
Montaigne claims a true knowing of self("See myself and search myself to my very entrails"). A proper essayist should know themselves or at least be searching for their true self.
"On The Verses of Virgil"
I happened to find this quite long essay interesting and very relatable. From the very beginning of it, the author, Michel de Montaigne, talks about the importance of time such as the past and the future. He states a quote from Petronius, "The soul craves what it has lost, and wholly throws itself into the past." What i believe this to mean is that for example if you have fallen in love with the someone or something, the memory will stay with you for quite a while even after that person is long gone from your life and that something has vanished. Most of the time for all of us homan beings it is hard to let go of what we are accustomed and used to and we tend to remain attached to certain memories and are unable to let them go. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it can be damaging in the sense that it can hold us back from moving on. Montaigne gives us some advice, "Let childhood look ahead, old age backward." Everyone's life cycle is the same; first we are childrenm then adults, and then we reach old age if we are lucky. Most of us like being young because that is just the way that we were wired. Childhood is the best time of someone's life as well as the easiest. So it is works to our advantage that we while we are children we not only enjoy being kids but also spend time dreaming about the future. Once we reach that future and we have gotten to old age we can do the opposite of what we did as kids, and spend time reminicing about the past.
"A Chapter on Ears"
The author of this short but sweet essay, Charles Lamb begins by saying, "I have no ear." By reading and trying to interpret what this means, most of us readers would proabably assume that it means just that, that he is missing one ear. This seems pretty stange as well as distrubing and thankfully it does not mean what i thought it did, yet it means that he has no musical ear. When someone says that they lack a musical ear that means that they cannot understand music too well and cannot distinguish notes or such things. This essay is more of an autobiographical one and talks about the author and some of his musical experiences.
"On Some Verses of virgil"
I found this essay by Michel de Montaigne to be an interesting insight into how age changes a person both physically and mentally. Montaigne serenely describes his life from his childhood to old age and how he's dealing with the obstacles that come with old age. Montaigne's essay almost reads as if he is giving the reader advice while sharing his own experiences. I think a lot of people can relate to what Montaigne is saying in his essay. Personally I haven't lived as long as Montaigne, but like many people I often wonder what life would be like as I get older, how my body will change, how my train of thought will change, and generally how I will look at the world around me. In my opinion this connection is what makes Montaigne's work a very good personal essay.
"A chapter on Ears"
This essay by Charles Lamb tells us about how he feels about Music. To me, what makes this essay a personal essay is the conversational element of it. It feels as if Lamb is just having a conversation with the reader, telling the reader about his problem with music. He also uses humor at the beginning which adds to this element. While I personally can't equate with what Lamb is saying in the essay, I think there are probably many people who could because everyone has an opinion on music, whether good or bad.
Lauren Galizia
Lgalizia100@qc.cuny.edu
On Some Verses of Virgil
This essay by Michal de Montaigne was a great initial personal essay to have us read. He uses many of the techniques for writing a successful personal essay discussed in our last class. For example he provides the reader with some incite into the anguish of getting older. What I thought made this a good personal essay was that he used memory from his youth and his past. This allowed for readers of all ages to somehow connect with the author. It made his essay very relatable because I could read this then relating to his experiences as a youth. He says, "A man must see his vice and study it to tell about it." This line to me was a crucial element in making this a personal essay. This line meant that he had examined who he was in order to write this essay. This made him more believable and it added to the level of trust that I had in his words. He was able to discuss several different topics including old age, youth, love and marriage. He provided different outlooks and opinions for each topic. He says what does a man "gain by presenting himself to the world with a mask, concealing his true being from public knowledge." This concept is the epitome of what a personal essay should be. The author must be true to himself and about himself to make an essay relatable and more importantly believable. Michael de Montaigne was able to accomplish both of these aspects in his essay making it a successful personal essay in my opinion.
A Chapter on Ears
Charles Lamb wrote a short essay about how he lacks a musical ear. He talks about how he will never know the way in which "one note should differ from another" or how to "distinguish a soprano from a tenor." This essay initially grabbed my attention just for the reason alone that music is something that I can't imagine missing in my life. Although I thought the author let the reader in to a personal aspect of his life I felt that he didn't provide as much believable information as Michael de Montaigne did. However, I found this essay more interesting. I would consider this a personal essay because Lamb allowed the reader to see a particular aspect of his life using many different examples and past experiences.
Kwong Ho Wai (Gary)
gg_monogram@hotmail.com
"For A Chapter on Ears By - Charles Lamb."
At first, he first off describing his appearance, how hideous he is, he himself had already stated that he is no ears, however what it means by no ear, or just a gimmick to attract us to keep reading in sympathy point of view.
In the passage, he only used "I" and "Elia" as the pronoun in the writing, which is the biggest elements of being a good personal essay, to be a personal essay you might want let people know something about "You" - the writer. When you hear Lamb said , I or Elia, your feeling would be warm, but unfortunately, he was going to tell you how hard he felt about music, it didn't state if he was truly no ears, maybe my weakness of reading, but apparently, he wasn't able to enjoy music like we do. Normally people are enjoying
music in opera, he wasn't, he was like staying in hell. So, this example tremble me alot, I could feel how lonely if i don't hv a musical ear, I would definitely have no life even with my iPhone or iPod device on hands.
"On the Verses of Virgil By - Michael de Montaigne."
Sorry I didn't read most part of this article because I ordered my book of half.com on 27th and it is still on the way to my doorsteps, however I tried to search the material online and with no luck,
I can only find the full passage of For A Chapter on Ears, I couldn't find this, so I ran back to Library and tried to skim few pages to finish my assignment as good as I can. Michael had even stronger talent on writing personal essay, maybe about his age, he was old, and experienced enough to tell our about his histroy during his old time, from young age until his elderly time. I believe the best method to let people understand you is to recite your life in details, like an autobiography, but of course it has to be true enough to let readers believe that, right? Sorry about some brief preview about this article. I will make some revision to my comment when my book arrived. Thanks for reading.
Gary.
On some verses of Virgil
This essay was very interesting because Michel de Montaigne gives a good example of a personal essay when talking about different themes that are part of his own experiences but that are also present in the life of very human being. He begins talking about aging and how he can’t stop thinking about getting old; he talks about how he becomes vulnerable to illness, he whish he could go back to adolescence when people are full of energy and excited to discover the world because at his age every day has become a routine with no excitement in anything. Later on Montaigne talks about honesty and the importance of confession. Another important theme in his essay is sexuality at a young age, and the jealousy that exist in marriages which sometimes lead people to kill their partners.
A chapter on ears
I think that if Charles had an ear for music he probably would be able to use the sound of certain instruments to relate with his experiences. When some people hear a sad song they feel sad, or happy or in love with other songs that might be the reason why Charles don’t use complete names in his essay, because there is something missing that cant be express if is not with music
"A Chapter on ears" by Charles Lamb
This essay starts out by stating that he does not have an ear, but later explaining that he does not have an ear for music. This essay has a different taste is hoping that the reader has a more open and understanding mind. I feel that this essay is not that personal. The writer does not try to connect with the reader in personal way, rather the writer tries to explain things about himself hoping that I will understand.
"On Some Verses of Virgil" by Michel De Montaigne
This essay tries to pull the reader in and tie them in by showing us that he is not afraid to state his opinion about anything, and by saying what is on his mind. The writer wants to relate to all kinds of readers, varying his subject, and the way he writes it. He makes it clear that the essay is about time and the different perspectives that come with it.
"On Some Verses of VIrgil"
Montaigne has captured his audience right from the beginning of his essay. He portrays a strong example of what a personal essay should be. He begins describing his thoughts on age. He is conversing with the audience and wants them to take his advice as well as relate to what he is saying. He is speaking from experience in most of what he says and wants the reader to trust him. He is wise in his writing from both perspectives of the issue and allows every reader to fall on at least one side of the topic he is arguing. When he gets to the topic of love especially, he starts off with some of his negative views on love and marriage but then he goes on to say that while you can't live with love, you definitely can't live without it which is why people keep marrying to begin with despite the rate of unsuccessful marriages. His main objective I think is to really aim his views at his readers and allow them to relate in as many ways as possible to his views.
"A Chapter on Ears"
I think Charles Lamb is trying to draw in his readers at the beginning by talking about how he has no musical ear. HOwever, I'm not sure that this is such a prime example of what a personal essay is. It is more that he is telling over some of his experiences as opposed to relating those experiences to the greater public. He is keeping the trust of his readers by not revealing the names at the beginning. It is also written in an intimate fashion as the reader is allowed into a part of the authors life that he may not have known before. Lastly, in this essay, which is definitely interesting, the author is not conversing with his readers. This element I think is one of the most important in a personal essay.
A Charpter on Ears
This essay made me very unconfortable, because the writer kepter on complaining about the fact that how he doesn't have any telant in music. The complaining is kind of overwhelm, which killed my interest in this essay.
The essay is also lack of more detailed information, like the person's name. Which does not gain my trust, nor build a closer relation between me and the writer. It's very hard for me to relate with my life.
On the Verses of Virgil
The essay at first gained my trust, because I can somehow related with this essay. The writer wrote about how the elders preach to the youth, that was what happened to me when I was a kid. However, his essay was so broad. The topic of each paragraphs jumps a bit far from each other. The essay is too long, so I kind of lost my interest of this essay because the rest of the essay seemed like a lecture for me.
Nancy Hernandez
"On Some Verses of Virgil"
Michel de Montaigne made sure that this was a personal essay. He shared his intimacy to the reader such as his pain as an old age and his thoughts on youth.Other topics he mention were love and marriage. What i liked about this essay is he would discuss a topic and then give examples and even quotes. I think that the structure of the essay is what made me kept reading.
"A Chapter on Ears"
Sometimes short is better however not in this essay. I felt like he did not want to be complete open to the reader. However I felt like he was talking directly to the reader which in this case was me. Somehow he made sure his frustration about music was clear.I liked how he opened his essay with a stong statement "I have no ears". It really catched my attention.
Erika Matos
erikammatos@gmail.com
On Some Verses of Virgil:
In the very beginning of this piece, Michel de Montaigne shares that “to the extent that useful thoughts are fuller and more solid, they are also more absorbing and burdensome… We should have our soul instructed in the means to sustain and combat evils….” (58). From the moment I read this, I couldn’t help but to feel an appreciation for Montaigne and the advice that he was going to give the reader. From these opening lines, I already felt like I had forged an intimate relationship with the author, and his open, fluid conversation acted to anchor this feeling of closeness. His perspective is that of an old man with a lot of experience, and his lessons on love are heavily fortified by great poets and thinkers, like Ovid, Virgil, and Horace. Although it is not easy to relate to him, with all of his knowledge and experience, the advice he gives helps the reader form a relationship with him. With advice strengthening aspects like relatability, intimacy and conversational elements, this work fits the criteria of a personal essay.
A Chapter on Ears:
In terms of the elements of the personal essay that we discussed in class, I feel that this piece by Charles Lamb is an exceptional example of intimacy, relatability, and the conversational element. His subject matter, music, is something that is highly relatable in today’s age, but he addresses it from a unique standpoint. Not only does he fail to understand music, but he also admits that he has no ear for it, and even confesses that it disturbs him to the point where it almost causes him pain. This distinctive point of view could be unsettling for some, but Lamb describes his relationship with music so well to the point that even music lovers can understand his resentment towards it. As he confides everything in the reader, there is a strong sense of intimacy, and although he admits, “it is hard to stand alone in an age like this…to remain, at it were, singly unimpressible to the magic influences of an art…” (166-167), his personable approach to the matter and his use of the conversational element help the audience stay involved and understanding. It is through his artful manipulation of relatability, intimacy and the conversational element that this work stands out as a personal essay.
Cheng Lin Zhang (Cheney)
superx89jay@hotmail.com
A Chapter on Ears
When I first see the title "A Chapter on Ears" written by Charles Lamb. I'm simply and directly thought that this is an essay about ears. Charles starts his essay with a sentence "I have no ears." It really draws us, the readers' attentions; and it builds a very closer relationships between the readers and writer. Also, Charles talks about the difficulties and experiences that he had with music in the essay. I believe this does lead the readers to think about commons and diffenences of their own life experiences to Charles.
On the Verses of Virgil
I would say I'm still confusing the title of the essay. And my first impression to the essay is this is really a long reading so it makes me not very interested to read it. However, Michel de Montaigne uses a topic of ages to start his essay, and he gives examples of his own and quotes to make the reading more particular. The way he does it really makes the readers have a better understanding what he is trying to say. And as he talks about how his thoughts and actions change by getting older, and the different between the young and elder. It is very easy to relate to the readers their own. I say that because the evidences that he gives in the essay might also telling an evidence of the reader. And I think that is why his essay a good personal essay.
"On Some Verses from Virgil"
Montaigne's essay basically describes the differences between how he was as a child, and how he is now, and how everyone will change as they age. This is something that everyone can associate with because it eventually happens to everyone. He then writes about sex and how people will sooner speak of almost anything else.
A Chapter on Ears
In the beginning of the essay, Lamb misleads the reader into thinking he has no physical ear, and then explains what he means. He says he has no appreciation for music, and that his hear never "melted at the concourse of sweet sounds." Most people love music, but there are some who don't appreciate it as much. Lamb actually says that it is sometimes depressing to him.
On The Verses of Virgil
I found this essay is quiet long, and sometimes I really can't remember some parts of the essay, as i finished the essay. However, I found this essay quite interesting, which Michel de Montaigne the author, uses the changing of age to show the reader how aging could change a person. This also allows him to connect between himself and the readers. Even though the essay is long, and as I mentioned, I sometimes lost while I am reading, however, This essay is like the writer is telling his story to us, and he is truly honestly about his own experience, which makes it a good personal essay.
A Chapter on Ears
"I HAVE NO EAR."
Charles Lamb begins his essay with this sentence, which helps him draw reader's attention. He later explains to the reader what he mean while the readers reading his essay. He tells us about his feeling with music, he talked about how he couldn’t tell "one note should differ from another", which makes him connect to some of his readers. Like myself, I like to listen to music, but I just can't tell which note is differing from another. However, in some way, his essay might not be accepted by some other people who does not agree author's personal perspective, and which make readers hard to connect themselves with the author.
Dominique Hernandez
dominih89@hotmail.com
A Chapter On Ears
In this essay, Lamb is very honest with the reader and is not ashame to show his ignorance when it comes to music. He is very brief and goes right to the point. This essay has many characteristics of a personal essay such as the honesty and the humor.
This essay also has a conversational form since the beginning of the essay -Mistake me not, reader..(165)-.
On The Verses Of Virgil
First of all, this essay was so damn interesting.
The essay shows many characteristics of the personal essay:
1.Egotism_ There is no need to mention that Montaigne talks about love and marriage from his perspective, so the "I" is all over the essay.
2.Confession_ For example in pg 61(my favorite quote) he says "If there are any persons, any good company, in country or city,...who like my humors and whose humors I like, they have only to whistle in their palm an dI will go furnish them with essays in flesh and bone."
In this passage he lets the reader know that he is lonely and needs a company and what he has to offer is the only thing he is best at, writing essays. This quote attached me to the reading instantly and I felt like he was literally whisperign in my ear.
Taylor Crabill
K600c@aol.com
On Some Verses of Virgil
Some characteristics of the personal essay that I noticed in "On Some Verses of Virgil" was the idea of starting out with something specific and moving to something more general. In the beginning the author used I in describing his experiences and the past. While later on he moved to we when discussing marriage and love. Also I felt as if there was a conecting made between the reader and writer in this essay. The topics of the essay were easy to relate to. Another characteristic of the personal essay was the use of the past. The looked back on the past and reflected on it and I believe that we can all relate to that.
A Chapter on Ears
I though that this essay was more like a conversation where a person was telling you about themself. The author describes his love for music but his stuggle preform it. I feel that this is relatable because we all have goals which we set out to reach and sometimes we struggle to fulfill them. The author also uses the "I" which creates a more personal setting between the reader and author. The "I" tells us that this is what the author thinks.
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