Tuesday, February 15, 2011

"If You Don't Stop That" - Hafiz Poem

Hafiz poems were amongst the best poems that we read in class during our Global Literature class. The poem I liked most is "If you don't stop that". It was really fun and inspiring to me at the same time. It describes a life of a human who lives in confusion and pain. Then, he discovers something that takes him away from this confusion and pain a little bit, which according to how I understood the poem, is alcohol. By getting drunk and singing all night long this person forgets his pain and confusion. The funniest words in the poem were the ones that pain and confusion said "If you don't stop that, all that fun, we're leaving". So, if he would continue living his life like this, pain and confusion would leave-disappear!

Love Story, The Movie

Unfortunately I was sick and could not watch the movie in class, however, I downloaded it and watched the movie on my laptop. Well, to be honest the story was much better than the movie. I really expected that the movie would be very touching, but I found the book much more interesting and touching than the movie actually. I really created a different picture of the two main characters in my mind, and the actors in the movie did not really match those characters and personality that I've imagined while reading the story. 

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Erich Segal "Love Story"

Olly and Jenny decide to get married. Therefore, they decide to meet each others parents. It is interesting how Ollies and Jennies parents differ in personality from one another. Olivers father does not want to accept Jenny as Oliver's wife because of her heritage. However, Oliver does not listen to the opinion of his father, he still insists in marrying Jenny, even though that means that he would have to give up all of his family wealth. Jenny's father is totally different from Olivers, he accepts Oliver just the way he is, a guy without a penny in his pocket. He is happy because his daughter found happiness with Oliver, and to him nothing else seems to be more important than his daughter's happiness.
Oliver and Jenny get married, Jenny finds a job and Oliver finishes the Law School but their living conditions are not as good because they have started building their future from zero!
Jenny still feels guilty because Oliver does not speak to his father anymore. Jenny is the one that always tries to convince Oliver to talk to his father, however, Oliver does not listen to her and gets angry whenever she mentions that topic.
Soon after, Oliver gets a good job, their life improves and they start planing to have a child. But, when everything seems to go in its best way possible, something very bad ruins the lovers happiness. Oliver finds out that Jennifer suffers from Leukemia, however, knowing that she is living the last moments of her life Oliver does not want to tell Jenny that she is sick. After a while, Jenny discovers that she is sick from Leukemia, but she does not want to tell Oliver because she is afraid he will suffer a lot if he gets to know that. This is really true love, both of them are trying to protect one-another from being hurt.
Oliver finally forgets the formalities and the fight that he had with his father, and asks him for money in order to safe Jennifer's life, but it is too late, Jenny is living her last minutes in this world. Unfortunately, Jennifer is taking the last breaths of her life, and Oliver is still there, near the bed in the hospital. Jenny dies, and the one that Oliver turn's to cry on is his father's shoulder..

I really loved the story and at the same time it made me very sad. Something that I will always remember whenever I hear the Erich Segal or the "Love Story" name, will be the quote "Love means never having to say you're sorry".

Friday, February 4, 2011

Erich Segal "Love Story"

In "Love Story" Erich Segal begins telling the story by letting the audience know since the very first line in the novel that one of the main characters in the book, called Jenny, dies. It was very interesting to me the way he started the book. Usually, most of the writers whenever writing a book first tell the story and than tell the end of it (they use the chronological order). However, Erich, first told us the end of the story, that Jenny dies, and then starts explaining the story chronologically.
Oliver Barret IV, is a guy that comes from a very rich family and studies at the Harvard University. Jennifer Cavillieri comes from a poor Italian family and she was raised only with her father. They meet each other at the library where Jenny was working. What really made me laugh in these first chapters that we read was when Jenny told Oliver that he was stupid, and he asked her why she thought so. She says to him that she would never go out with him, and to that he replies that he would never ask her out. However, Jenny once again proves herself as a very smart girl and explains him that HE IS STUPID BECAUSE HE WOULDN'T ASK HER TO GO OUT!!!!
And that is where the whole romance began. They went out for a coffee, fell deeply in love with each other, and finally decided to get married.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Carlos Drummond De Andrade "Don't Kill Yourself"

In his poetry Andrade encourages us to continue living even if we face difficulties because life is not as easy as we might believe it is. Andarde even explains that life is not so easy with the contrast that he uses when he says HAPPY and SCREWED UP. I really like how he presents to the audience and to the reader the truth on life, and than does not find escaping the truth or committing suicide as a solution. He states that we should continue living the life even though we might feel hopeless at one moment. Moreover, Carlos explains how people hide their true feelings and their sadness deep within their hearts, because they are used to do so, rather than express themselves to someone and feel better. I really find my personality here, because I am the kind of the person who does not express the feelings in front of someone. 

Philip Larkin "This Be the Verse"

This poetry reminded me so much of my self when I was in my teenage ages. It perfectly explains the relationship between a teenager and his/her parent. In this poetry Philip Larkin presents the parents in the eyes of a teenager as very old-fashioned people. That is exactly what I always thought of my parents when I was 15 or 16 years old. In those ages we feel that our parents do not really understand us and they are guilty for everything that happens in our life. It is good to have someone to blame, huh???