The Reading Room

If these walls could talk,

They wouldn't

Silence on every level.

   You can feel the knowledge,

        that's being absorbed in this room.

              The dark cloud of midterms hovers over us. 

More to It Than a Hotel?

"Hotel California"

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair

Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air

Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light

My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim

I had to stop for the night

There she stood in the doorway;

I heard the mission bell

And I was thinking to myself,

"This could be Heaven or this could be Hell"

Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way

There were voices down the corridor,

I thought I heard them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California

Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)

Such a lovely face

Plenty of room at the Hotel California

Any time of year (Any time of year)

You can find it here

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends

She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends

How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.

Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the Captain,

"Please bring me my wine"

He said, "We haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine"

And still those voices are calling from far away,

Wake you up in the middle of the night

Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California

Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)

Such a lovely face

They livin' it up at the Hotel California

What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)

Bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,

The pink champagne on ice

And she said "We are all just prisoners here, of our own device"

And in the master's chambers,

They gathered for the feast

They stab it with their steely knives,

But they just can't kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was

Running for the door

I had to find the passage back

To the place I was before

"Relax, " said the night man,

"We are programmed to receive.

You can check-out any time you like,

But you can never leave! "

   The poetic form of this song is not easy to describe, you could say it's like a free verse. It is made up of six stanzas/verses and there is no constant syllable or rhyme pattern. There is however similarities between a few stanzas. The second and fourth stanza have similar syllable patterns, as in the amount of syllables increase and then decrease by the last line in the stanza. The verses do not contain the same amount of lines so the rhyming patterns do not match up except in both refrains. The rhyming pattern for the refrains is aabbac. The refrains or chorus of a song are repeated because they contain the main idea of the story, in this case "The Hotel California", which we will see does not literally mean a hotel.

   The writer of this song uses a conceit, a metaphor that encompasses the entire song. The lyrics of this song use imagery, creating the picture of being on an empty highway, for example, and then seeing a light meaning someone or something is there. This image is linked to the conceit. The persona or speaker of the song could be a man or a woman. We might assume that it is a man because the original artist is a male band, also a woman figure is used as a symbol for temptation. This poem's tone is sombre, especially when you listen to it with the instrumental. The last lines of the song, "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave", make "The Hotel California" sound like a creepy place.

   This song is about drugs or any other type of addiction. The girl the speaker describes is a woman who lures him in, she represents temptation. They also mention dancing to remember or dancing to forget. They could be using a substance such as hard drugs to release tension and have a good time, which is represented by dancing. The last two lines of the song, which I previously cited, explain how you can try to stop but the addiction and harm will never leave your body.

Haiku

Wind is the music

Leslie is the conductor 

Trees are the dancers

Limerick

Over there is a lazy old dog

Who sits like a bump on a log

When out came the sun

He decided to run

But then he got stuck in the bog

   The form of the haiku constrains the poem to three lines of few syllables. By taking advantage of it's brevity I described the hurricane we had on Tuesday. Haiku often describes a snapshot of nature and that's what I tried to do here while capturing also the motion of the trees in the wind.

   The form of a limerick includes a rhyming pattern. The rhyming pattern in the poem evoques for me a more fun and childish feeling. I chose the silly image of an old dog being stuck in the mud so the form and the content subtly compliment each other. 

Introduction

   At this point you all may be wondering who is Jaymee? Why is she blogging and why did she call her blog "This is a Blog"? My title was inspired by Demetri Martin's This is a Book. It's a book with many different funny tid bits and I like funny tid bits. I also enjoy reading historical fiction novels like Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.
   I'm from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Yarmouth is a small town at the southern end of Nova Scotia and I am very proud to be from there. I'm happy to be a maritimer because I like cool winters and hot summers by the lake and on the ocean. I am fortunate though to have a family that loves to travel. My two favorite countries besides Canada are South Africa, for it's magnificent landscape, and Belgium for their yummy chocolate, waffles and beer. I lived in Belgium for ten months as an international student in 2010. That's where I learned to love french culture such as films like Bienvenu chez les ch'ti and writers like Victor Hugo. I studied Les misreables last year and since then to see the musical live is on my bucket list. As nice as Europe is I'm glad to call Canada my home because we celebrate Thanksgiving!!! I love being with my family to eat turkey dinner!
   I'm at Memorial University because it is still close to home but far enough away for me to be independent and discover new things. I'm not sure yet where university will take me but I'm anxious to find out! :)