Saturday Night Live Satire

http://blog.zap2it.com/thedishrag/2008/10/george-bush-end.html

This episode of Saturday Night Live happened during the 2008 presidential election. They use satire to portray the 2008 presidential election in a funny way. They 'poke' fun at the Republican party vice president nominee; Sarah Palin and the current President; George W. Bush. Saturday Night Live uses satire to show their viewers their political aspects in a humorous way. Will Ferrell portrays George W. Bush and Tina Fey portrays Sarah Palin. They use political jokes throughout the show, thus using satire, to give the audience a chance to laugh at the political impersonator. The audience gets a chance to laugh at what they believe are the mistakes of the political member. They make fun of George W. Bush and how it seems as if the Republican party wants him as far away as possible from the political campaign. It jokes about the "one man" George Bush has yet to find and how he believed that it was the vice president who has the more powerful position. They portray Bush as an idiotic Texan, who has no idea how to run the nation and his "bummer free" oval office. In the portrayal of Sarah Palin, they made sure to make her accent as noticeable as possible and her being from Alaska, which creates a sense of being unfit to be the vice president nominee. I find this form of satire funny because you do not have to be too informed in politics to find this humorous.

If Poisonous Minerals by John Donne

In John Donne's sonnet, "If Poisonous Minerals," John Donne uses tone shift to the best of his ability. John Donne is famous for his sonnets, which includes fourteen lines, three quatrains, a shift, and a couplet. His tone shift in line nine, changes everything about the poem. He changes the audience, attitude, and even the way he is writing.

In the first eight lines, John Donne is using soliloquy, which means he is talking to himself. He is not talking to God, but about him, and about his bitterness against the fairness of God. Donne argues that if animals, vegetables, and minerals can do evil and not get set to hell, then why should humans? "If serpents envious cannot be damned, alas, why should I be?" Donne is asking God, if the serpent that damned Adam and Eve did not get banished from the garden, but Adam and Eve did, Donne wants to know the justice in that accusation. That if the only reason God treats human and animals differently, is it because of the humans possession of reason? That they are able to see the difference between what is right and what is wrong. Is it only reason that damns humans to hell?

In line nine, Donne preforms the shift of the poem. In the first eight lines of the sonnet, Donne's only audience is himself, but in lines ten through fourteen, Donne's audience changes to God himself. Instead of being bitter, judgemental, wrathful, critical, and defiant towards Gods in the first eight lines, Donne becomes remorseful towards God after the shift. Donne even changes his writing style. In the first eight lines, Donne is asking questions, but in the end, Donne is stating facts.

In lines ten through fourteen, Donne uses the figurative language, apostrophe, and is talking to God about his sins, it sounds like a prayer. He says that even though Jesus spilt his blood to forgive the sins of men, Donne wants God to not just forget Donne's sins, but to just forget him. Donne does not want to be remembered by God. In contradiction to the first eight lines, Donne believes that he is in no position to argue with God, that God knows what he is doing and Donne is out of his place for contradicting God. So Donne stops asking questions, unlike the first eight lines, because now Donne knows his place.

In the couplet, or the last line of the sonnet, Donne uses the figurative language, paradox. "I think it mercy if thou wilt forget," you think at first means, is Donne asking God to forgive his sins. But Donne uses a contradiction in that he is not only asking God to forget his sins, but to forget him as well. Its a contradiction because most people want God to remember them, which is why they pray, but Donne is praying to god to forget him.

John Donne uses tone shift to emphasize the many contradictions people have with God.

Meeting at Night by Robert Browning

Robert Browning's short poem, "Meeting at Night," Browning uses both imagery and figurative language to entice the audience into the image Browning is creating. The poem is about a man traveling to meet his lover after a long period of time. On the mans trip to see his lover, he describes the scenery as he passes it and what he is feeling on the way.

As the man travels, he recounts his journey as he undertakes it, briefly describing the scenery as he passes it. He only merely notes them as if they as if they are of no significance to him. Browning offers no reason of why the man is traveling or any background information on him or his lover, only the mans perceptions and observations on his travels.

If you notice, Browning never uses the word, love, in the poem. He wants the audience to see the romantic way the scenery is being described and to realize that the poem is about love, even though Browning does not use love in the context of the poem. He uses imagery to let the audience see the romantic scenery and realize that Browning is describing love, without using the actual word.

In the beginning of the first stanza, Browning describes the "yellow half-moon" while the man is traveling on the ocean. Browning uses the moon to show the little light there is on the mans travel and at what time of day it will be when he sees his lover.

Browning uses symbolism with the waves being used as a characteristic to the mans lover. The wave look startled when the moonlight hit them, just as the lover was startled out of her sleep when the man arrived home. Browning also uses the word 'pane' to either represent the window pane or actual pain. Browning uses symbolism to create different views and meanings for the audience to interpret. He also uses personification in his poem when he describes the waves being "startled from their sleep." He gives the waves human characteristics when him gives them the action to sleep, which everyone knows, waves can not do.

Every line in Robert Browning's poem, "Meeting at Night," is filled with images of the scenery surrounding the man on his journey home. The imagry, symbolism, and personification are all used in "Meeting at Night." All the devices used by Robert Browning intice the audience into his poem, "Meeting at Night."

The Man he Killed by Thomas Hardy

The short poem, "The Man he Killed," by Thomas Hardy shows the senselessness and futility of war, where one man killed the other simply because they were fighting on opposite sides during the war. It is written in a conversational tonne, making it seem that the soldier is addressing the audience personally. It makes it easier for the reader to see how pointless the war and forces the reader to view themselves if in another position, would have things gone differently?
The first stanza explains that if the two men who fought had met under different circumstances, for example, if they met outside a pub they would have, "sat us down to wet, Right many a nipperkin." The two men, if under different circumstances, could have been two friends having a drink. Hardy is trying to send the reader a message that the men who fight in wars are not natural enemies, but are told to hate each other.
In the second stanza, Hardy is describing the real way the two men met, on the battle field. That when, "staring face to face," the only reaction the two men have is to shoot at the other. They both do not know the other, nor have any reason to hate each other than that they are enemies in the war. The same ideas continue into the third stanza when the speaker tries to justify himself for the reason he killed the man. He says, "I shot him because - because he was my foe," which Hardy wanted the reader to see the speaker trying to convince himself that their were reasons of why he killed him. Hardy uses the repetition of the speaker saying "my foe" to show that the speaker wants to believe the man is actually his foe. Hardy's reason for ending the third stanza with the word "although" is he wants the reader to see that the speaker is still not convinced in his reasons for killing the man.
The forth stanza is the speaker contemplating the reason for his "foe" to have enlisted in the army. If he "was out of work" just like the speaker himself. The speaker than says that he was only in the army because he had no where else to go, "no other reason why."
The final stanza of the poem retells Hardy's main idea for the poem, how "quaint and curious war is." That war makes a soldier kill a man for now other reason than the man is on the opposite side of the war. The soldier is pleading with the audience for them to believe he had a just reason for the death.

"Winter" by William Shakespeare

In William Shakespeare's poem, "Winter," he wants the reader to imagine the harsh affects on people and the world around them. Shakespeare's choice of words helps the reader imagine the world he is creating in his peom. Unlike Shakespeare's companion piece for "Winter," "Spring" helps the reader imagine a beautiful season. In "Winter" Shakespeare chooses to protray a harsh outlook on the season of winter. Shakespeare's word choice is very important in "Winter." He makes the reader be absorbed in his poem by incorporating all of the readers senses, including; sight, sound, feeling, and even taste.
Shakespeare helps the reader imagine a harsh landscape, in an even harsher enviroment. Shakespeare wants the reader to not like the scenery he is protraying in "Winter." He incorporates the readers sight by using sentences the reader can imagine easily, for example, Shakespeare's opening line, "When the icicles hang by the wall." The reader can imagine the icicles and the harsh landscape around them. Shakespeare incorporates sound by repeating the sound of the nightly owl, "Tu-whit, tu-who!" It is a lonely sound and is shown its importance in "Winter" by Shakespeare repeating the line. When Shakespeare decribes the blowing wind and "Marian's nose looking red and raw," by incorporating the readers sense of feeling, he wants them to feel the harshness of the winter season. Shakespeare even uses the readers taste by describing, "roasted crabs."
Shakespeare invites the reader to participate in the poem, "Winter" by incorporating the reader by making them use their senses in the poem to help them imagine the scene Shakespeare is setting.

Meaningless of Hierarchy During a Storm

I have great comfort from this fellow; methinks he
hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect
gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his hanging. Make the
rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little
advantage. If he be not born to be hanged, our case is
miserable.
(1.1.25-30)

Gonzalo says these lines during Act I, Scene I. During this scene the boat is in fear of sinking. While the boatswain is doing his job on the ship of trying to keep the ship from sinking, Alonso and his party go on deck. Alonso, Antonio and Gonzalo are all trying to have some fun and make jokes about their situation.

When Antonio pokes fun at the Boatswain and the seriousness the Boatswain is taking towards the storm, the Boatswain retorts, no caring about any of the royal parties power over him. The Boatswain's courage towards Alonso, Antonio and Gonzalo is regarded as foolishness in their eyes. After the Boatswain tries to repeatedly get the royal party below decks with harsh words, in the royal parties eyes, Gonzalo reminds the Boatswain that he is talking to Alonso, the King of Naples.

When the Boatswain tells Gonzalo that he does not care for anyone but himself until the storm passes, Gonzalo finds comfort in this. The reason Gonzalo finds comfort in the Boatswain is said above in the quotation.

Gonzalo means that if it were not for the situation with the storm, the Boatswain would be hung for how he spoke to Alonso and the royal party, and even with knowing that the Boatswain still says it. It showed Gonzalo that saving the boat from sinking was more important to the Boatswain at that time that insulting the royal party. The Boatswain's number one duty at that moment was to save the ship and its occupants. But even in that sense Gonzalo sees the Boatswain destined to be hung and Gonzalo finds comfort in this because than the Boatswain could not be destined for drowning, which means the ship might be saved.

People believed in a natural order of people determined by nature, in other words, hierarchy. God was at the top if the order, but the king was on the top of the social order with humans. During this scene Shakespeare wanted to show the disregard of hierarchy. The Boatswain does not listen to the royal party and tries to order them below deck. There is a disregard of hierarchy because the Boatswain is far below on the levels of hierarchy than any of the royal party. The Boatswain observes that the social hierarchy is unnecessary and unimportant in the face of the storm, or nature. Nature created equality between the servants of the ship and the royal party. Shakespeare wanted to show his audience that hierarchy can be destroyed and disregarded by nature. It made the audience ask the question; Is hierarchy really created by nature, even with natures ability to destroy hierarchy with just a storm and fear, or was it just created by humans in order for the desire to be on top of the many levels of social hierarchy?