Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Poetry Panic

During our class meeting it was interesting to see the lack of participation for the poetry reading, seeing that "stereotypically" poetry is something that excites students especially those who are afflicted with the love of words. However after looking back I realized that when the poet is not an unfamiliar face, but your own, the vulnerability that is involved can be overwhelming. As I was reading my poem I realized what I felt was impersonal had an underlying meaning that make me feel as if I was removing my clothing with each word. At the end of my poem I felt uncomfortably naked, and relieved that I finally got it off my chest.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Pipe Dreams by Sherece Usher

all under the upper hand
pinching pennies no dreams afloat
nothing left to the Poor and Damned
but faith and hope

come to Me all my lost
by the river lay your troubles down
your tears will not burn and no longer cost
for you are covered in the blood stitched gown

how does one live day to day
red yellow urgent calls
bills to pay
notices stuck on walls

crushed in the pipe is green
when life steals joy puff
here you are permitted to dream
the world is now kush

under the Upper Hand all will fail
faith in God and Drug induced tales
There is no escape none prevail
In an alternate universe we will sail
Hopes and Dreams entail

Cold Harsh Cash By Sherece Usher

It's too cold outside
Boots crushing the heads of man
To squeeze a dollar.

FINAL DRAFT: ALL UNDER THE UPPER HAND


Sherece Usher
Professor Wexler
M 4:00-6:45
18 February 2013
                                                All Under the Upper Hand
As a result of the evolutionary process the human brain unlike any other organism on earth has the ability to analyze information and critically think, which is not apparent in any other living animal. This evolutionary perk has created a hierarchy in the animal kingdom with humans dominating at the top of the pyramid. With this power man began to place value on lives of all living thing, from insects to other human beings as well. In the poem “To A Mouse” by Robert Burns the tyranny of mans dominion is illustrated through the encounter of a well of farmer and a helpless mouse whose winter home has been destroyed.
Robert Burn, Romantic and National poet displayed both aspects in his poem “To A Mouse”. Written in Scots dialect and set in the countryside when a farmer comes across a mouse while plowing. The farmer notices the poor animal is terrified of him as well as his winter home and food destroyed with no time to prepare with the weather change nearing. The first stanza states “Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie/ O, what a panic's in thy breastie/ Thou need na start awa sae hasty, / Wi' bickering brattle”  (Burns 1-4. Within these lines the speaker addresses the poor animals panic by stating that it is in no harm and there is no need to panic and run away. The following lines “ I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,/ Wi' murd'ring pattle!” (Burns 5-6) reassure the animal that it would be unjust to chase the mouse with intent to kill and that no such thing will happen. In lines 7-12, the speaker goes on to express that it is a shamed that despite the kinship that should naturally occur between all animals on Earth, due to mans dominance on Earth it is acceptable to take on the God-like role of deciding the fate of those considered beneath them.
The speaker goes on to expresses sympathy for the poor animal and understanding behind the his actions in lines 13-14 that goes as follows, “I doubt na, whiles, but thou may thieve/ What then? poor beastie, thou maun live” (Burns 13-14).  In the lines the speaker explains that he knows the little mouse steals from the crop, but it is not a great crime for the moue must find a way to survive as well. The speaker goes on to state, “A daimen icker in a thrave/ 'S a sma' request/ I'll get a blessin wi' the lave/ An' never miss't” (Burns line 15-17), exclaiming that the small piece of the speakers crop that the mouse steal often goes unnoticed and that the crop is so bountiful that he will have more than enough to survive.
The speaker in stanzas four and five expresses compassion for the little mouse’s house that was destroyed in only one stroke of the plough. The speaker touches on the time and effort that was placed into planning ahead of time for the winter. Reiterating how the mouse carefully collected items and stored away food during the harvest, so when the chill of winter came, and land was no longer abundant that it would be able to survive. The speaker goes on in stanza six to explain to the little mouse that often planning ahead does not go, as we would like. In the famous line “The best-laid schemes o’ mice and men/ Gang aft agley” (Burns line 45), the speaker explains that just the plans of mice and men often go awry, making similar in many ways. However the poem ends with the speaker envying the little mouse, explain that while his worry is instantaneous and only of the present, unlike the speaker who has memories to look back on and can not see the nothing in the future besides fear.
Overall the poem expresses the tyranny of man’s dominion, although the two creatures are closer than they believe to be. Burns sympathy for all creatures in expresses in David Perkins article “Human Mouseness: Burns and Compassion for Animals” as it states,
He does not idealize animals as nature; he does not –to mention other common reasonings then—bring forward the religious point that God loves all His creatures and so should we; he does not attempt persuasion by snobbery—brutal heartness was, as I said, attributed to the lower classes. Instead Burns takes for granted that animals and humans are fellow mortals” (Perkins 3).
By showing the commonalities in animals and humans, Burns invokes sympathy from the reader for animals, and other creature in general. With burns stating that the two are “fellow mortals” it shows that there really should be a compassion that humans should show to animals and with a deeper level to one another.
            While the poem focuses on the relationship of a human and an animal, the mouse being a smaller helpless creature serves as an analogy to the treatment of the poor in society. While the wealthy could afford to spare what little the less fortunate need to simply survive and have more than enough for themselves, they instead treat the poor as if they are not worthy of life. In the article “Brig O Doon” by Chris sharp it discusses Burns egalitarian poet, citing “To A Mouse” in the following:
Thus Robert, a lively young man and reasonably educated, became politically aware of domestic and international issues concerning justice... Eventually these influences reveal themselves in such poems as "The Ruined Farmer" and "To A Mouse." The later poem is often derided as a childish trifle, but John Steinbeck, for example, was cognizant of its egalitarian innuendo when he paraphrased the line: "The best laid schemes o' Mice and Men."
To A Mouse, illustrates how we are all under the upper hand, and if only we recognized how little it takes to help pne alother we could be in a better place. However with dominion man has become tyrannical, deciding with mortal hand looked upon as if they were Gods, who is worthy of life and who is not. We all can see that just as mice, the plans of man often go awry, leaving nothing but grief and pain.

Works Cited

Sharp, Chris. "Brig O' Doon." British Heritage 30.4 (2009): 26-31.Academic Search Elite. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.

Perkins, David. "Human Mouseness: Burns And Compassion For Animals." Texas Studies In Literature & Language 42.1          (2000): 1. Academic Search Elite. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Dire Draft Dilemma

After months of learning teaching styles and classroom management I realized that for more than a year I had yet to write a paper analyzing literature other than youth literature. For the past days I found myself lost and staring at blank sheet of paper. After changing my poem I finally decided on "To A Mouse" by Robert Burns and I took my analysis back to my the very basic units that I learned, and taught in my student teaching. First I read and reread my poem several time aloud to hear the Scots dialect finally turn to English since I refused to look at the English translation of the poem. Then I read the poem line by line analyzing each line and the hidden meaning within each word. Finally I came up with a thesis, "In the poem "To A Mouse" By Robert Burns, through imagery Burns illustrates the tyranny in man's dominion over nature."

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Greetings to the World Wide Web

Hello, I am Sherece Usher a current senior at California State University Northridge. As my journey as a undergraduate comes to a close, one of my course requirement includes the course English 495 English Seminar, a course usually taken by students who plan to go into the field of education. Surprisingly instead of traditional course work that would consist of due date and 20 page papers typed and turned into the professor, our medium of course work will be available to the world via internet. I hope you enjoy my journey through the semester in my course. Thank you visiting my blog.