CUNY Academic Commons

Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 and died in 1506. Columbus is considered to be ‘the principal European discoverer of America.” He was born in the Republic of Genoa. Nowadays, it is known as pre […]

The city of New York plays a vital role in the story. New York is not only where the protagonist Sara Smolinsky lives with her family but it is also the place that makes Sara grow into the successful […]

Throughout the novel, Sara has a desire to attain an education to become a school teacher. Instead of adhering to the cultural norms of education, Sara has a few outburst instances where she critiques the […]

Excerpt: “I studied myself in the mirror. I examined, one by one, the features that gazed back at me. Tired eyes. Eyes that gazed far away at nothing. A set sadness about the lips like in old maid who’d given up a […]

Excerpt: “How strong, how full of life and hope I felt as I walked out the bakery. I opened my arms, burning to hug the new day. The strength of a million people was surging up in me. I felt I could tu […]

The Torah plays a significant role in Reb Smolinsky. Throughout the novel, Reb Smolinsky (Sara’s father) references the teachings of the Torah to dictate the actions of his family. The Torah also has s […]

As stated in the Cambridge English Dictionary a pilgrim was “a member of the group of English people who sailed to America and began living in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620.” The Pilgrims were a gro […]

“How strong, how full of life and hope I felt as I walked out the bakery.  I opened my arms, burning to hug the new day. The strength of a million people was surging up in me. I felt I could turn the earth upsi […]

Quotation: “That burning day when I got ready to leave New York and start out of my journey to college!  I felt like Columbus starting out for the other end of the earth. I felt like a pilgrim fathers who had le […]

In this song, I try to give the speaker of the sonnet more perspective and context of who he is as a person.  Since the sonnet revolves around how he felt (‘being”) with, I wanted the song to show why he felt […]

Hi all!

The moment you all been waiting for!

Please check the following link provided below for my original remix and dramatic interpretation for Sonnet 45 and Sonnet 97.  Feel free to leave feedback and […]

Before I begin, I would like give special thanks to my friend Josh Samuel (Remy Represent) for recording this song for the project.  Josh and I wrote the lyrics.  He performed and recorded it.  The beat that wa […]

Lines 1-3: Explain how he loves how beautiful the girl is and how he feels comforted by her, he does not see her without becoming happy and calm, all of his grief.

Lines 4-5: Show how he can see her feelings […]

When I first read this sonnet, I tried to picture the speaker going through a bad break up with the one he once loved because the word “renounce” was used in the title.  However, when I reread it a couple times […]

Lines 1-4: The first couple lines show how much he loves her lively and adorable eyes.

Line 5-6: Show how even though this woman is sweet and beautiful, she shows defiance and a strong sense of will.  She is […]

The song Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars is a perfect pop culture reference for sonnet ninety-seven A description of such a one as he would love because the lyrics that Bruno Mars uses to describe the girl […]

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Reading for Sonnet 45: The lover describeth his being striken with the sight of his love

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) cleared up some confusion I was having with this […]

Commentary

After I finished reading sonnet ninety-sever A description of such a one as he would love by Sir Thomas Wyatt, I interpreted it as the speaker telling and describing […]