Blog Entry 1.3 Poetry Symbolism

Assignment:

For your third blog entry this semester, you should:

1.Research for and choose a poem (or song, or a portion of a longer poem or song) that fits the theme of the course
2.Introduce the poem and the author with relevant biographical information.
3.Identify/list all the symbols/symbolic actions in the poem in the order they appear.
4.Define the denotative meaning of the symbols using a dictionary and/or dictionary of symbols.
5.Attempt to interpret the poem (find meaning or the "theme") using the connotative meaning of the symbols in the poem, or what they mean in context (again, in the order they appear in the poem).
6.List all the sources you used at the end.




     Symbolism is found in many different types of poetry as well as some modern day songs. One song that I found of particular interest is the song called The Wicked End off of the City of Evil album by the band Avenged Sevenfold. The band consists of four members, they are named M. Shadow, Johnny Christ, Zacky Vengence, and Synyster Gates.  The type of genre they play is considered metal core, but this album is considered heavy metal.  The song The Wicked End  is about the end of the world or more importantly the end of man. The song also goes into more detail of the last day of man and the return of Jesus Christ.
      The first verse of the song goes and describes how modern day man is, he is very wicked, soulless, and has pretty much lost his way with God.  In this verse, there is a reference to Mary's Word, meaning the word of god and the return of Christ.  The verse also mentions that there is chastisement and the flood has already happened.  Since the cleansing of the world is happening, it also is time to let others know that the end is drawing near.
     The second and forth verse are a little repetitive, with the forth adding only a few extra lines.  In the second verse, he talks about prophecy and asks to shed some light on it.  I kinda find this to be a little ironic because a prophecy is something that is foretold and asking to shed some light on it is like asking to see the benefit of the world coming to an end.  The verse continues with man's survival and to feel sorrow for what little chance we have.  This verse also goes into the lies of man and a stab in the dark at anyone of us will wound our will to live.
     The third verse of the song has one of the most symbolistic references in literature.  The reference is to the number six hundred sixty-six.  According to Wikipedia, this number refers to the number of the beast, it also has many other references, such as the name of the one who has yet to be identified can also be considered the anti-christ.  It also has the meaning that one who has been deemed imperfect by god.  In the song, this can be interpreted as a code, maybe a legion of angels or man who have turned against god and are now allied along the side of Lucifer.  It also carries the meaning of those who believe in god, those who say they believe and those who will be accepted by god.  There is also a debate of the way six hundred sixty-six is to be addressed.  The writing of it in 666 is actually incorrect and is suppose to be spelled out. Later in the verse, there is a mention of looking to the sky for knowledge, this can be interpreted as man looking for guidance or wisdom.  There is also a reference to the fall of heaven after an eclipse, I think this is where the actual war begins.
     In the forth verse the first few lines are repeated from the second verse following the mention of an apple.  This is another very common symbol in literature, it shows the temptation of sin for man.  There is also a reference of Adam, and saying that Adam was right in biting into the apple, this is very to similar to opening up Pandora's box.  It can be interpreted that Adam's sin is now man's sin since man in general is a sinner.
     I really enjoy listening to this song very much.  This is one of the very few songs that I listened too and listened to a lot.  Normally I do not try and read up on the song lyrics wise at least, because in some ways in ruins the song, because I end up knowing all the lyrics to it.  Also, I really like the way this song is written, I'm not a very religious person, but I enjoyed reading up on some of the symbols in the song.



Additional notes:

In my search for the meanings of six hundred sixty-six, I tried to search for meanings of 777 or Seven hundred sevenity-seven spelled out.  I could not find anything relating of it spelled out, but did find that 777 is deemed to be perfect by god, this number has been associated with angels.





References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avenged_Sevenfold

http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858554841/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_the_Beast

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer

http://www.answering-islam.org/Religions/Numerics/six.html

http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/


Not so credible references:


http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=666

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=777

Class Notes: 23rd Sept 2010

Notes for English class 102 - Supernatural. Below can be edited at any time.



Denotation - is often associated with symbolism, as the denotation of a particular media text often represents something further; a hidden meaning (or an Engima Code) is often encoded into a media text.

Connotation - is a subjective cultural and/or emotional coloration in addition to the explicit or denotative meaning of any specific word or phrase in a language, i.e. emotional association with a word.

Symbolism - is something such as an object, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention.


Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connotation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denotation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbol

"Entry 1.2: Internet Research"

Assignment
Pick something in the world of the supernatural that interests you. Research your subject on the web keeping tracks of the sites you used and why and what you found there. Write a blog entry on your blog summarizing what you were interested in and why and what you found and where. What did you learn that is interesting?


One of the many things that I consider supernatural are Dragons! Dragons are mythical or supernatural creatures in folklore. A few countries in the West as well as in the East make references to dragons. Growing up as a kid I often adored dragons, which is really the main reason why I choose this as my topic. In fact, one of my very first book reports was done on a book titled Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville. Dragons have not only played parts in lore, but they have also played parts in video games, card games, songs, cartoons, as well as books.

I watched a cartoon movie called The Flight of Dragons as a kid and is one of my favorite cartoon movies growing up. The movie is based off of a book with the exact same name written by Peter Dickinson. (I have yet to read this, but I will soon change this!) In the movie, the realm of magic is threaten by the realm of science. In order to save this realm and dragons along with it, the 3 of the 4 magic brothers had an idea to create a magic realm that was to be enclosed off to the rest of the world. The film also goes over a dragons physiology, the way dragons breathed fire, fly up in the air, and even why their skin is tough.

If you look at dragons from a lore or mythology point of view, a lot of them are portrayed as being evil or malevolent, at least according to the European myths. These dragons that are usually depicted as being evil, are often found guarding treasures. The Asian dragons seem to have different characteristics then the European ones, they come off a lot kinder and benevolent. The majority of them are often are associated with different forms of water.

Dragons are also involved in a lot of games, mostly MMORPGs (Massive Multi-Online Role Playing game) or MMOs for short. The ideas of MMOs are derived from Dungeons and Dragons. This basically consists of a group of players banding together to slay a dragon for "epic loot" in turn each player that helps or provides help is awarded DKP. (Dragon Kill Points) These points are usually spent on the items that dropped off of the dragon that was slain. DKP also helps with the distribution of items so in turn not one single player will be getting all the items.

Stories of these supernatural creatures have been around a long time. This is reflected in history and about almost every country has some kind of dragon related story. They are very popular among the gaming community and are probably consider part of popular culture. As long as there are kids in the world, we will have dragons.



Credit Sources.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flight_of_Dragons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon
http://www.wowwiki.com/Dragon_kill_points

This is me now.

I guess this is the part where I'm suppose to write stuff about myself.  Not to sure on what I would write, I'm not normally very good at writing things like this.  I am many things, I am a gamer, a clubber, a hard worker, a hermit, as well as student.  I just started taking classes again, feels like a really great experience to be in here.  I know if I weren't here I'd probably be home on my day off from work playing some computer game. 



Edit:
This is my only class this term, my first term back in a CUNY school over a long period of time (2003) and I decided to go light with the classes considering I work full time, even then, the hours that I do work are very hectic and change every two months.  It's a nice job considering I only have my MCSE certification and how the economy currently is.

Edit2: Class assignments/homework can be found here. http://e102supernatural.blogspot.com/


Please note the above is subject to change.

Christopher Kollias