Final Weekly Response

In his article, “Disability and Narrative” Michael Berube addresses the problem of many novels that choose to portray disabled characters, saying “…scholars in disability studies are right to point out that literary representations of people with disabilities often serve to mobilize pity or horror in a moral drama that has nothing to do with the actual experience of disability.” (CITE) Haddon, in his novel The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-time, turns away from this idea of mobilizing pity or horror; instead he focuses on creating a disabled character that is more understandable, and therefore more respectable. 

All I've managed to write of the final paper so far is the above. I'm still kinda in the brainstorming process, trying to figure out where exactly I want the paper to end up. I know that I want to address how the novel fails to mobilize pity, especially in moments that it should, and I've found several examples that will help with that. 

"The police car smelled of hot plastic and aftershave and take-away chips. I watched the sky as we drove toward the town center. It was a clear night and you could see the Milky Way. Some people think the Milky Way is a long line of stars, but it isn't. Our galaxy is a huge disk of stars millions of light-years across, and the solar system is somewhere near the outside edge of the disk. When you look in direction A, at 90 [degrees] to the disk, you don't see many stars. But when you look in direction B, you see lots more stars because you are looking into the main body of the galaxy, and because the galaxy is a disk you see a stripe of stars." (Curious Incident, 9-10)

• This is a prime example of a moment that should elicit pity; Christopher just got arrested for hitting a police officer, and you can't help but feel a little sad at first, because the officer didn't understand that Christopher doesn't like being touched. The fact that Christopher doesn't seem to care that he just got arrested, though, takes away from the pity. He states that the car smells like "hot plastic and aftershave and take-away chips" and the moves on to talking about the Milky Way. 
• He follows his passage about the Milky Way with a picture to explain what he's talking about. I like that Haddon adds these pictures/charts/etc. in to show what Christopher is talking about. I know I want to say something about that in the paper, but this is where I'm having trouble tying them together. 

"Mother died 2 years ago. I came home from school one day and no one answered the door, so I went and found the secret key that we keep under a flowerpot behind the kitchen door. I let myself into the house and carried on making the Airfix Sherman tank model I was building." (Curious Incident, 22)

"I said, 'We will need to take food to her,' because I knew that food in the hospital was not very good. David from school, he went into hospital to have an operation on his leg to make his calf muscle longer so that he could walk better. And he hated the food, so his mother used to take meals in every day. Father waited for a long time again and said, 'I'll take some in to her during the day when you're at school and I'll give it to the doctors and they can give it to your mum, OK?'" (Curious Incident, 23)

"I said I would make her a Get Well card, because that is what you do for people when they are in hospital." (Curious Incident, 23)

• In the first example, Christopher simply states that his mother died 2 years ago without any emotion, really. He then proceeds to go on to talk about how he came home from school and no one was home, so he let himself in and worked on his tank model. He seems very unconcerned that no one is home. This is another time when you should feel pity, but Haddon turns us away from that. 

Weekly Response

I've been thinking a lot about the next paper for some time now, and while I was unsure what text I wanted to use at first, I've finally decided to write my paper on Curious Incident. I'm really enjoying the book so far, and I think it offers a good point of view into the mind of someone with a "disability." Continuing on from my last post, I think I'm going to use that theory reading, in particular this quote:

"And yet scholars in disability studies are right to point out that literary representation of people with disabilities often serve to mobilize pity or horror in a moral drama that has nothing to do with the actual experience of disability." (Berude, 570)

I think Berude is correct in saying that a lot of novels do this. Curious Incident is different in this way, though. Haddon tells this novel from the POV of Chris, and while much of what Chris thinks and how he behaves are unfamiliar to us, the novel works to give us an idea of what goes through his mind and it gives us a better understanding of how he thinks. I think I want to do something with this idea, but I'm a little unsure still as to what exactly my paper is going to be about. I may go in with a second theory, Woloch's about the minor characters, and tell how Haddon uses them to show Chris's disability. 

Weekly Response

"And yet scholars in disability studies are right to point out that literary representation of people with disabilities often serve to mobilize pity or horror in a moral drama that has nothing to do with the actual experience of disability." (Berude, 570)

"I pulled the fork out of the dog and lifted him into my arms and hugged him. He was leaking blood from the fork holes. I like dogs. You always know what a dog is thinking. It has four moods. Happy, sad, cross, and concentrating. Also, dogs are faithful and they do not tell lies because they cannot talk. I had been hugging the dog for 4 minutes when I heard screaming. I looked up and saw Mrs. Shears running toward me from the patio. She was wearing pajamas and a housecoat. Her toenails were painted bright pink and she had no shoes on." (Curious Incident, 3-4)

I agree with Berude when I say that I think a lot of novels, and even movies, try to dramatize disabilities into something that they don't have to be. Often times, they try to make the person with a disability look like a monster -- or sometimes even a hero -- and they fail to point out that they too are humans, and while they're thoughts are different from ours, maybe they actually aren't so different. In other words, they aren't something that should be pitied or something that should cause horror, and I think that Haddon does a good job of capturing that idea in A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

I chose the quote above from the primary text because I think it does a good job of capturing both perspectives. On one hand, we have Mrs. Shears, who immediately believes that the main character of the novel killed her dog. This continues on on page 6, when the police show up. Neither Mrs. Shears or the police seem to understand that the boy has a "disability" and that his thoughts are different, and so right away he is to blame. I guess in a way, the text is causing us to pity him, because he is being blamed for something that he didn't do. But then we switch his view, and we realize that he's actually very intelligent. He notices that Mrs. Shear's toenails are painted bright pink, and when the policeman asks his age on page 6, he responds down to the day. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this novel, since written through the boy's eyes, offers us a way into his head. He spells out thought for thought, like above with always knowing what a dog is thinking, and how the novel has little pictures and charts to show the audience. In this way, I think the author is turning us away from pity and horror and trying to get us to understand what goes on inside their head.

Weekly Response

"Throughout history, some people have adapted to terrible life events with flexibility and creativity, while others have become fixated on the trauma and gone on to lead traumatized and traumatizing existences." van de Kolk and McFarlane 487)

"To get into the college of art, in addition to the other tests, there was a drawing qualification. I was sure that one of its subjects would be "The Martyrs" and for good reason! So I practiced by copying a photo of Michelangelo's "La Pieta" about twenty times. On that day, I reproduced it by putting a black chador on Mary's head, an army uniform on Jesus, and then I added two tulips, symbols of the martyrs, on either side so there would be no confusion." (Persepolis, 281)

I think the thing that sets Satrapi aside from others is the fact that she found a creative way to deal with the struggles she went through. It's apparent from the details of the novel that Marjane didn't have the best life, with the revolution she had to grow up in, to losing her uncle, and having the possibility of her parents dying from their demonstrations, as well as having to leave her country when she was only 14 and live without her parents in a country where she didn't even speak the language. There are things in the novel that we kind of take for granted. I mean, we went through the familiar and unfamiliar in class, and that was pretty eye-opening. It seems like nothing to be able to have a party with friends and drink, I know my parents do it every year, without the fear of getting caught, but then you look at things from Marjane's perspective and it's just so unfamiliar. The novel itself is proof that she was able to adapt to terrible life events with flexibility and creativity. In her time, it was almost unheard of for females to go to college, and while she could have developed some sort of psychological disorder, like mentioned in The Black Hole of Trauma, she found a way to adapt to it and created a way to tell her story that was out of the ordinary. Persepolis is told in such a simplistic way, with the comic boxes and seemingly simple pictures, but when you look at it as a whole, and think of what it represents, it turns into a totally different thing. It's her way of coping with the terrible life events she faced.

I used the quote above from Persepolis because it was the first moment in the novel where she really got into her art. The rest is her kind of telling her story, and while her art is part of the story too, it's kind of the defining factor in writing this graphic novel. Think of if she had just traveled with her then-husband at the time. Would we still have her life story in the way it is? There's the possibility that we would not. And so I think that quote is really what started it all. There's where the book started.

Week 10 Response

"As Farzaneh Milani and Afsaneh Najmabadi have observed, autobiographical stories have been perceived as a form of metaphorical unveiling as indecorous as physical unveiling" (Estranging the Familiar, 225).

"In 1979 a revolution took place. It was later called 'The Islamic Revolution.' Then came 1980: the year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school. We didn't really like to wear the veil, especially since we didn't understand why we had to."

The idea of this graphic novel working as a metaphorical unveiling is interesting to me. While I knew that the freedom of women was limited, I didn't realize how much so, and that something as simple as writing a book could be considered a "freedom" for women. I think that Milani and Najmabadi are completely right when they claim autobiographical stories have been perceived as a form of metaphorical unveiling. I chose to pair that quote with the one above because it shows Marji's first time having to wear the veil and how confusing it was to her. She didn't understand why she had to wear it, especially since she was coming from a non-religious French school that allowed children to wear what they wished and for boys and girls to be together. The veil is something that she constantly tests throughout the novel. While she still wears it, she starts to become more westernized with her jean jacket, nikes, and Michael Jackson pin,and I think that can be seen as a metaphorical unveiling as well. When she finally leaves Iran, she allows herself to take off the veil, but when she moves back again, she has to wear it. So while she has escaped the veil, and thus achieved some freedom, she backtracked and was again stuck with it. This novel allowed her to tell her story, to achieve freedom, without actually having to take off that veil.

Week 9 Response

"To prepare, we need to become aware of the shift, understand its causes, and think creatively and innovatively about new educational strategies to the coming changes." (Hayles, 1)

How does the shift become apparent with a novel such as Persepolis?

Instead of picking a particular quote from the primary reading, Persepolis, I decided to look at the novel as a whole when trying to answer this question. When I think of studying Literature, I think of novels such as Pride and Prejudice, and plays by Shakespeare. If I was picking books for the course, I never would've thought to pick a graphic novel. But the more that teens/children change, especially students, the more we should figure out ways to fit these changes. That's not to say that we shouldn't continue studying Jane Austen and Shakespeare, we should just add to it. Persepolis allows for a whole new audience; it takes those that read graphic novels or manga, even, and lets them read the same story, just told in a different way. I think that the author of Persepolis was very aware of this shift, understood its causes, and thought of a creative, innovative way to tell her story.

Weekly Response 8

Thesis:
In his article, "The One vs. The Many" Alex Woloch discusses the importance of flat characters in Jane Austen novels, namely Pride and Prejudice. Instead of merely taking up space in the novel, each flat character serves a greater purpose. When we take into account the five Bennet sisters, we find that Elizabeth is the only sister that has any substance to her character; the others seem flat in comparison, forcing many to ask why they are even in the novel. Each of Elizabeth's sisters contain one characteristic that is highlighted throughout the novel -- Jane has her beauty, Mary her studies, Lydia is careless, while Kitty is a follower. In Elizabeth, we find a well-balanced version of each characteristic. The reason for the four other Bennet sisters in Pride and Prejudice is to account for Elizabeth's character.

Paragraph One: Establish Elizabeth's Characteristics (?)
"To be a character in Austen is to get continually contrasted, juxtaposed, related to others, and, as such, to help build the thematic architecture that critics then discern." (Woloch, 43)
"'I desire you will do no such thing. Lizzy is not a bit better than the others; and I am sure she is not half so handsome as Jane, nor half so good humoured as Lydia. But you are always giving her the preference.'

'They have none of them much to recommend them,' replied he; 'they are all silly and ignorant like other girls; but Lizzy has something more of quickness than her sisters.'" (PP, 45).

Paragraph Two: Jane -- Beauty
"Oh! she is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld! But there is one of her sisters sitting down just behidn you, who is very pretty, and I dare say, very agreeable. Do let me ask my partner to introduce you." (PP, 50)
"Oh! my dear Mr. Bennet" as she entered the room, "we have had a most delightful evening, a most excellent ball. I wish you had been there. Jane was so admired, nothing could be like it. Every body said how well she looked; and Mr. Bingley thought her quite beautiful and danced with her twice." (PP, 50)

Paragraph Three:
"Mary had heard herself mentioned to Miss Bingley as the most accomplished girl in the neighbourhood." (PP, 50)
"They found Mary, as usual, deep in the study of thorough bass and human nature

Paragraph Four:
"...but Lydia, with perfect indifference, continued to express her admiration of Captain Carter, and her hope of seeing him in the course of the day, as he was going the next morning to London." (PP, 67).

"'We will go as far as Meryton with you,' said Catherine and Lydia. ---- Elizabeth accepted their company, and the three young ladies set off together" (PP, 70).

Paragraph Five:
"Wholly inattentive to her sister's feelings, Lydia flew about the house in restless ecstacy, calling for every one's congratulations,, and laughing and talking with more violence than ever; whilst the luckless Kitty continued in the parlour repining at her fate in terms as unreasonable as her accent was peevish." (PP, 244).

"'I cannot see why Mrs. Forster should not ask me as well as Lydia,' said she, 'though I am not her particular friend. I have just as much right to be asked as she has, and more too, for I am two years older.'" (PP, 245).

Week 7 Response

"Her novels are rich in detail of the status symbols and cultural markers of her society: the estates, lands, houses, cottages; the coaches, carriages, barouche-landaus, hatchments, lozenges, liveries; the silks, satins, muslins, pearls, amber crosses, rings, and beads. As a sensitive and informed commentator on class, that huge topic of the nineteenth century, Austen shows up amply how such things matter. She also shows us how they should not matter too much." (Class, 130)

"...[Mr. Darcy] was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of popularity; for he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend." (PP, 49)

It is apparent from the first few pages of the novel that Pride and Prejudice is focused around not only the idea of marriage, but also social status, and how marriage and social status are related. Because she is a realist author, Austen does a good job of capturing the differences in social class with the many characters she has in her novel. I find it particularly interesting to look at Darcy, Bingley, and Elizabeth when it comes to social class. Both Elizabeth and Bingley are aware that social class does not matter; when given an offer for marriage from Mr. Collins, Elizabeth turned him down in favor of a marriage because of love. She was given the opportunity to obtain her father's estate after his death through marriage to Mr. Collins, and indeed it might've been a good choice if she had been interested in obtaining some sort of social status, but instead, she would've rather married for love. The same is true of Mr. Bingley, who falls in love with Jane, despite her social status. Darcy, though, is quite the opposite of the other two. He refuses to even dance with the ladies at the ball because he believes himself to be too good for them. In fact, he even convinces Mr. Bingley to stay away from Jane because of her social status (and her obnoxious family). While no reasons are actually given for the differences in thought besides social status itself, some inferences may be able to be made. Darcy has spent his whole life in this way, with his money and his estate, and so it is possible that he is used to living his life that way. Bingley is new to the whole status thing, having won his money through trade, and so he doesn't really let the idea of class get to him. He is perfectly content with marrying Jane until Darcy comes along and convinces him otherwise. And for Elizabeth, well, I think she is just pushed too much by her mother all the time to actually want to marry for status. Mrs. Bennet is constantly talking about marrying her children off to gentlemen with money, and so Elizabeth is surrounded by it enough to become sick of the talk. 

Weekly Response 6

"To be a character in Austen is to get continually contrasted, juxtaposed, related to others, and, as such, to help build the thematic architecture that critics then discern." (Woloch, 3)

"'I desire you will do no such thing. Lizzy is not a bit better than the others; and I am sure she is not half so handsome as Jane, nor half so good humoured as Lydia. But you are always giving her the preference.'

'They have none of them much to recommend them,' replied he; 'they are all silly and ignorant like other girls; but Lizzy has something more of quickness than her sisters.'" (PP, 45)

If Pride and Prejudice focuses around Elizabeth as the protagonist, why does Austen include the other four sisters in the novel?

"In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth's sisters play a much more important role in the narrative, and it is more difficult to argue that they are there simply to represent the difficulty that they cause Elizabeth by being there." (Woloch, 4). If what Woloch says is correct, then what is the purpose of the other four Bennet sisters. I have to agree with Woloch on this one and say that the sisters aren't there simply to represent the difficulty they cause Elizabeth. The quote above from Pride and Prejudice occurs within the first chapter and focuses on Lizzy. By doing so, Austen shows that Elizabeth is the main character of the novel. Austen also uses the sisters, though, to not only show Elizabeth as the main character, but to show off all the qualities that make her the main character.

Mrs. Bennet says that "Lizzy is not a bit better than the others" and that she "is not half so handsome as Jane, nor half so good humoured as Lydia." She is also not so accomplished as Mary. Mrs. Bennet is so focused on marriage, that she only looks at the qualities that will allow her daughters to obtain a husband. For example, Jane is beautiful -- in fact, the most beautiful of all the sisters -- and this is what draws Bingley to her in the first place. As Elizabeth points out later on, though, she has the inability to see the bad in anyone, and that is one of her biggest downfalls. She is unable to see the bad in both Darcy and the Bingley sister's, and they are one of the reasons she ends up losing Bingley. Lydia, on the other hand, while she ends up marrying Mr. Wickham, disgraces the whole family. And while Mary is accomplished, she doesn't hold any beauty. It is Elizabeth that is a mix of all these things; while she is not the most accomplished, she does know how to read and write and has her wit. She is still beautiful, although not the most beautiful of the sisters. It is almost like each sister has one or two main characteristics that the novel focuses on (such as Jane's beauty, or Lydia's good humour, and so on) and those characteristics are their biggest flaws. But by combining all of those, they become balanced out so that Elizabeth doesn't focus on one characteristic too much.

Weekly Response 5

"At any rate, the faculty termed Wit is commonly looked upon with a suspicious eye, as a two-edged sword, from which not even the sacredness of friendship can secure. It is especially, I think, dreaded in women." (Appendix B, page 400)

"If aught on earth can present the image of celestial excellence in its softest array, it is surely an Accomplished Woman, in whom purity and meekness, intelligence and modesty, mingle their charms. But when I speak on this subject, need I tell you, that men of the best sense have been usually averse to the thought of marrying a witty female?" (Appendix B, page 400)

"'Oh! certainly,' cried his faithful assistant, 'no one can be really esteemed accomplished, who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved.'

'All this she must possess,' added Darcy, 'and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.'

'I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any.'

'Are you so severe upon your own sex, as to doubt the possibility of all this?'

'I never saw such a woman. I never saw such capacity, and taste, and application, and elegance, as you describe, united.'"
(Pride and Prejudice, 76)

According to James Fordyce's passages above, and taking into account the passages from Pride and Prejudice, what it Elizabeth's major flaw?

Fordyce's second passage describes what men would hope to find in women. He describes this woman as the Accomplished Woman, and gives her the following characteristics: purity and meekness, intelligence and modesty. To him, and many others in that time, this is the ideal woman. In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy, Miss Bingley, and Mrs. Hurst all describe the ideal woman, also known as the accomplished woman. They too, have a set of expectations. Fordyce says that women must be intelligent, but modest, and that those that have Wit are not at the top of the list to be married. While Elizabeth does not fit into their mold of the accomplished woman, she does possess something that they describe. Her biggest quality is her intelligence, and perhaps that would mean something to Mr. Darcy and company, even impress them, if she didn't lack modesty. Elizabeth has wit, but it's what she does with that wit that draws people away. She isn't afraid to speak her mind, and I think that's what Fordyce is getting at in these particular passages.

Updated Thesis -- Week 4 Response

Old Thesis:
Keats explores the relationship between mortality and the limitations of life through his use of repetition, language, and structure. The poem is a Shakespearean sonnet consisting of an ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme; it includes three quatrains and a concluding couplet that each reinforces the limitations of life, while reflecting the themes of love and fame.

New Thesis:
Keats focuses on the ideas of love and fame, both of which he strives for,and how time limits these, through his use of metaphorical language and structure. The poem is a Shakespearean sonnet; it includes three quatrains, which address either love or fame, and a concluding couplet that offers a resolution to the limits of time.

Outline:
Introduction:
-change thesis
Paragraph 1:
-First two quatrains -- fame
-glean'd, teeming, charact'ry -- shortens words, reflects shortened time?
-harvesting -- relates back to not having enough time
-"never live to trace their shadows..." -- time again
** dig deeper into passages
Paragraph 2:
-Third quatrain -- love
-"fair creature of an hour" -- parallels time
-three and a half lines compared to four -- shortened time
** dig deeper into passages
Paragraph 3:
-Resolution in concluding couplet

Week 3 - Race in Shakespeare

"The languages they use and the social and historical context in which these languages signify are indirect and direct revelations of that power and its limitations." (Literary Theory, 1010)


Othello: She's like a liar gone to burning hell!
'Twas I that killed her!
Emilia: O, the more angel she,
And you the blacker devil!
Othello: She turned to folly, and she was a whore.
Emilia: Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil

(Othello, Act 5, Scene 2,  lines 132-137)

In the play, Othello gets referred to by many offensive names, such as devil (seen above), monster, and filty, among others. Does these names contribute in any way to the story or Othello's character?


The names first begin in Act 1, scene 1 when Iago and Roderigo inform Brabantio that his daughter, Desdemona is with Othello. They refer to Othello as "an old black ram... tupping your white ewe (85-86)" and say that Desdemona and the Moor "are making the beast with two backs (113)" which refers to sexual intercourse as bestial. The use of "beast with two backs" makes it seem as though the act of sex itself is not a problem, but sex with Othello is because of his race. At first, the names seem to be nothing more than a comment on skin color, but towards the end of the play there is a shift.
The names that Othello was once called turn out to be true, in a sense. He turns into the monster, or devil as Emilia says, that killed his wife. These names no longer comment on his race, but on his actual character instead.

Weekly Blog Response 2

"The low-Other is despised and denied at the level of political organization and social being whilst it is instrumentally constitutive of the shared imaginary repertoires of the dominant culture. This is evidenced by the history of the representation of 'low' entertainment and the carnivalesque..." (Stallybrass, 6)

"Cassio: Dost thou hear, mine honest friend?
Clown: No, I hear not your honest friend: I hear you.
Cassio: Prithee keep up thy quillets. There's a poor
 piece of gold for thee. If the gentlewoman that attends
 the general be stirring, tell her there's one Cassio
 entreats her a little favor of speech. Wilt thou do this?
Clown: She is stirring, sir. If she will stir hither, I shall seem to notify unto her." (Othello, Act 3, scene 1, lines 21-28)

How does Shakespeare portray the low-Other and the treatment of the low-Other in relation to this quote in Othello?

The low-Other in Othello is seen through the Clown; he acts as the entertainment by telling jokes and playing with words. An example of this is seen in the second line of the quote above from Othello. Cassio asks the Clown, "Do you hear, my honest friend?" and the Clown responds that he does not hear Cassio's honest friend, only Cassio. It is through this humor that he acts as the entertainment. Cassio tells him to shut up and pays him to do his tasks. It is apparent through these lines (23-26) that Cassio does not think highly of the Clown, since Cassio is superior to him, and that he only uses the Clown to do his bidding. The beginning of the passage starts friendly enough; Cassio calls him an honest friend. It's when the Clown responds in a way that Cassio does not like that he gets rude, telling him to be quiet. By that use of language, it seems as if Cassio believes he can talk down to him just because he is below him. He then proceeds to pay him gold to give the woman a message, which he probably could've easily done himself. Instead, he has to get someone else to do it for him.

Weekly Response 1 - Chapman's Homer by Keats

"Perhaps [the Russian Formalists] most famous general claim is that literary language consists of an act of defamiliarization, by which they mean that such literature presents objects or experiences from such an unusual perspective or in such unconventional and self-conscious language that our habitual, ordinary, rote perceptions of those things are disturbed. We are forced to see things that had become automatic and overly familiar in new ways." (Literary Theory: An Anthology, page 3-4)

"Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold."
(Lines 1-4)

What evidence does Keats's poem On First Looking into Chapman's Homer lend to the Russian Formalists theory? In other words, when thinking of this theory and analyzing the poem, does their theory seem to ring true?

We can infer from the title that the poem will be about Keats's first experience of reading Chapman's translations of Homer's works. This idea seems pretty straightforward, and one might expect the rest of the poem to work in this way; Keats takes the language, though, and twists it to make it unfamiliar to the audience. Upon reading the first line of this poem for the first time, I had no idea what Keats was talking about. I wasn't sure what he was referring to when he said realms of gold, and reading on, wasn't sure what these many "goodly states and kingdoms seen" were all about. I thought that he actually meant traveling, so I assumed that he had actually seen realms of gold and goodly states and kingdoms. But then I went back to the title and thought about what the poem was actually about, which is reading something for the first time, more specifically, reading Chapman's translations for the first time. And it hit me that if the poem is about reading, then the contents are probably about reading too, and that instead of actually traveling somewhere, Keats probably travelled there in a book and that's where he saw these realms of gold and goodly states and kingdoms. The same rings true for the third and fourth line as well. It seems as if he is saying that he actually went to western islands, but again, he is talking of reading. The language he uses to write of his experience, though, doesn't give the impression of a book, and so the idea is a bit unfamiliar, like the Russian formalists mention. Instead of reading the poem in a straightforward way, we must make inferences and play with the language that is given to us in order to discover what the poem is really about. In other words, we must learn to look at it in new light.