Annotated Bibliography

Colpitt, Frances. “Kiefer as occult poet: a currently traveling survey of Anselm kiefer’s work re-accesses his career, downplaying political controversy in favor of transhistorical mysticism.(Anselm Kiefer).” Art in American, March 2006: P104 (8)

The article “Kiefer as occult poet: a currently traveling survey of Anselm Kiefer’s work re-accesses his career, downplaying political controversy in favor of transhistorical mysticism.(Anselm Kiefer)" by Colpitt Frances is talking about Anselm Kiefer’s art works and the essential goal behind the arts. Kiefer’ works that embrace earthy organic materials, with their dense physically and loaded content – ranging from meditation on the Holocaust to the mysteries of creativity—presented revitalized and expanded possibilities for paintings.

Johnson, Ken. “The Tragic Sublime And Concrete Rubble.” The New York Times, Jan 4, 2008. PE 40(L)

The article “The Tragic Sublime And Concrete Rubble.” by Johnson, Ken is talking about contents Kiefer’s delivered. Kiefer transformed raw materials into art and transformed the raw history of Germany into mythology of redemption and rebirth.

Kimmelman, Michael. “Anselm Kiefer Explores And Confronts the Past.” The New York Times, May 11, 1990

The article “Anselm Kiefer Explores And Confronts the Past.” by Kimmelman, Michael is talking about that Kiefer wants to recreate the Germany and resurrect German culture. Mr. Kiefer has sought to surmount that surmount that past, to exorcise ghosts, to resurrect German culture.


Klefstad, Ann. “Anselm Kiefer’s Falling Stars.” Sculpture (Washington, D.C.)26, 2007


The article “Anselm Kiefer’s Falling Stars.” by Klefstad, Ann is talking about Kiefer’s goal behind the arts. In a nation gutted by its own fascist narratives and their malign effects, he strove to re-create not a triumphalist narrative of German culture but a truthful one.


Marty, Martin E. “The true and the gray.” The Christian Century, Dec 13, 2005 : P63(1)

The article “The true and the gray” by Marty, Martin E is talking about the color Kiefer used in his art works. Kiefer always uses monotonous dark color. The color of his art works is grayish. Because he believes that truth is always gray.

Paul, Steve. “Kiefer, Anselm. Anselm Kiefer: Heaven and earth.” Booklist, Nov 2005 :P12(1)


The article “Kiefer, Anselm. Anselm Kiefer: Heaven and earth.” by Paul, Steve is talking about the world within Kiefer’s mind. Kiefer’s world is famously gray, typified by his extensive use of lead as a symbol of ambiguity, alchemy, and human potential.


Rusell, John. “ART REVIEW; Inventing his Own Germany In Kiefer’s Art, a Palette is the Mythical Force.” The New York Times, Dec 17, 1998

The article “ART REVIEW; Inventing his Own Germany In Kiefer’s Art, a Palette is the Mythical Force” by Rusell, John is talking about the impact of after war toward Anselm Kiefer. As Kiefer born in March 1945 and has always treated the Nazis with irony, ridicule and contempt, he cannot be called “Nazi-tainted.” He wants to have some changes.

Rusell, John. “A Kiefer Retrospective.” The New York Times, Dec 5, 1987

The article “A Kiefer Retrospective” by Rusell, John is talking about why Kiefer’s art works are so famous. Kiefer’s works move us because the works are about the plight of mankind, and about the ways in which certain connections, long dormant within us, can be reactivated, while others, less desirable, can be outfaced and defused.

Rusell, John. “From the Particular to the sublime.” The New York Times, Dec 13, 1987

The article “From the Particular to the sublime” by Rusell, John is talking about the reason why Kiefer is different from other artists. Kiefer is not painter of historical subjects, but a painter who bears those subjects on his back and brings them into a universal present.

Smith, Roberta. “Provocative Paintings Form Anselm Kiefer.” The New York Times, Oct 14, 1988

The article “Provocative Paintings Form Anselm Kiefer” by Smith, Roberta is talking about contents of Kiefer’s works. Kiefer’s art works emphasize on myth and religion and authoritarian architecture requires a suspension of modern disbelief that is often hard to muster. Their moral zeal is corroborated by a certain visual inertness and even drabness.

Temin, Chirstine. “A New Carvas For The First Time, A kiefer show Focus On His Photography.” Boston Globe 16, 2002. Pg E.13

The article “A New Carvas For The First Time, A Kiefer show Focus On His Photography” by Temin, Chirstine is talking about Kiefer’s art technique. No matter what Kiefer’s subject, he makes it beautiful, through lush textures, old materials, and masterful handling of paint.


Wennerstorm, Nord. “Anselm Kiefer: Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.” Artforum International, March 2006: P299 (2)

The article “Anselm Kiefer: Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth” by Wennerstorm, Nord is talking about why Kiefer is searching for heaven. Kiefer says that “We cannot stand not to have a heaven in our minds.” His works help him to search for heaven and a place to set his spirit on.

Learning in the changing

Time passes fiercely. I’m a newcomer to this society. Facing the challenges, being independence is the only way to overcome obstacles.
As a child, I curiously explored everything I touched. Life was wonderful and free. As a teenager, learning was the only one goal. Learning how to learn and how to communicate with others is incredible important to the rest of my life. As an adult, I have more responsibilities than I had before. Graduation from high school is not the end of learning; it will be the new chapter of the rest of my life.
I used to live in an apartment in modern big city in China, and I had about four neighbors around my home. I had great relationship with my neighbors, and we always gathered together to celebrate the Chinese festivals cheerfully. Although the pressure came from study almost crashed me down, I still felt happiness because lots of people cared about me and accompanied with me.
Life is changing all the time, and sometimes if you want to have a better life, you have to learn to sacrifice. To have life in America is the dream of my life, not only the flourished America attracts me, but also the freedom and democracy. I had a hard time when I stepped on the earth of America. I hardly dared to ask the officer of the airport in my poor English about the flight I was going to board. With anxiety and curiosity, I started my new life in America. Indisputably, starting a new life is a challenging thing. Giving up all I had before and restarting from zero in strange country; the enormous pressure came from all directions, but I have courage to overcome all the problems and eliminate all the obstacles. It took me a long time to get used to the quiet situation that without friends’ jokes and neighbors’ chatter. Especially, I fell extremely lonely when the Chinese festival comes. Although I had an indelible time in China, the time has passed; it will dwell in my mind permanently.
Learning to be independence is my first step to suit myself into the society. I had learned how to be independence in learning in China. I experienced at first hand the harsh learning condition in the China. With the high pressure, I have learned how to learn and how to arrange my time to make the work effectively. In addition, I have learned how to be a standout in highly competitive condition. The key to stand out is to be meticulous, to be patient, to have the ability to endure the high pressure and to have self-confidence. The harsh study situation in China cost lots of my time, I scarcely had time to experience the society and life. However, living in America provides me the chance to experience and to learn from life. The education in America emphasizes self-learning, the ability to create and the ability to communicate with others. I learned the experience of life from working in shore which I can not learn from a book. I began to arrange my life in organized. With a combination of the advantage of education of America and China, I believe I can do better in the future and I hope I have the chance to get higher education.
I have fallen in love with America where I have the chance to fulfill my hope and to pursue my career, where the people are nice and helpful. The Nobel price winner in 1970, Mother Teresa, said “What we are trying to do may be just a drop in the ocean, but the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” What I can do is insignificant to the society, but I will try my best to do everything and devote my strength to the society. Going to the college is the dawn of my life, a way to change my life and to fulfill my hopes.

Three cup of tea

I always wonder how I can be a hero; how I can be a great man. Now I find out the answer. The greatness is always built on this foundation: the ability to appear, speak and act, as the most common man. No one is born for being a great man. The great man is who pays more efforts and doesn’t complain a word. Everyone ca make a difference. When it is dark enough, you can see the stars. We can use our effort to change the world. Never give up, never lose hope. With great ambition, we will fulfill the hope eventually.
I always wonder how I keep the hope and how to fulfill it. Everyone has hope. They hope to be rich man; they hope to have successful achievement. But the key is how to fulfill the dream. Some people go a straight way to the destination; some people go a circuitous way to the destination. They fulfill their hope eventually. What about the strayed people who lose their direction on the way to fulfill the dream. What about the people who don’t have the ability to fulfill the hope. We need to help them and guide them. I felt extreme excited and inspired. I found the answer from the book. Lots of great sentence in the book I can quote on my essay. The book point out what we need to do, and the true that we can make a difference.

Act 3: Scene 1 (Kenneth Branagh)

The book Hamlet by William Shakespeare contains lots of famous lines, one of the most famous line should be the line “To be or not to be—that is the question” (line 64). The reason why the line “To be or not be—that is the question” so famous is that the line contains profound philosophy of the meaning of life. Whether is it nobler to suffer the misfortunes or to take arms against a sea of troubles? And also the line (64) strongly expresses the characterization of hamlet. The speech of hamlet deeply cogitate the meaning of life. In hamlet’s view, the death is the best way to get rid of misfortunes and heartache (line 65-70), but no one have the courage to die because no one knows about what dream would come in the sleep of death (line 76). Because of the fear of the unknown world, people would rather to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune than to choose the end the life. Over time, numerous actors tried to act the famous speech as hamlet himself, but only a few of the actors act successfully according to the book Hamlet. Some actors even change the background of place where hamlet should be in order to express the feeling of hamlet while he is speaking the famous speech. The changes totally change the connection of the play. Among the three actors Kenneth Branagh, Alexander Fodor, and Laurence Olivier, I think the performance by Kenneth Branagh is the best among the three performances. Because the performance by Kenneth Branagh is closest to the original contents of the book Hamlet and also the most accurately express the feeling of hamlet while he is speaking the line. According to the performance by Kenneth Branagh, hamlet is standing before a mirror, facing to the mirror and talking to himself. The look of hamlet should be sullen and desperate, Kenneth Branagh acts perfectly as Hamlet. The way of speaking of Kenneth is identical to the way of hamlet speaks. The tone of Kenneth is hoarse and sorrowful, that exactly express the feelings of hamlet. Standing before the mirror, hamlet is asking himself a profound philosophical question. He wants to end his life, because the misfortunes almost crash him down. The ruthless murder of his father, the incestuous marriage of his mom with his uncle, the unhappy love with Ophelia, these misfortunes pitilessly torment hamlet’s mind. Looking at him-self from the mirror, hamlet feels helpless, no one understands him. His mood is sad and sullen. Kenneth Branagh expresses the mood perfectly. Also, the setting of the performance by Kenneth Branagh is most accurate to the original setting according to the book. Kenneth Branagh shipped some sentences which I think is very important to the plot of the story. “And by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to” (line 69). The line is extremely important because hamlet think the death is flesh is heir to. No one could have eternal of life, which means all humans’ beings are mortal. He thinks death can help him to get rid of misfortunes. Next re-enactment is performed by Alexander Fodor. In my opinion, the performance is the worst among those three performances. The way of speaking of Alexander is tame and expressionless. Alexander plays as hamlet; the hamlet seems to be in a daze. Instead of holding a knife or standing before the mirror, hamlet is holding a microphone and recording his speech. The set up of this movie makes me no sense. At the beginning of the movie, hamlet kiss a corpse, the corpse seem to be hamlet’s father. The setting of this movie is inaccurate to the original setting of the play. The setting of the speech is occur in hamlet’s mind while he is asleep, which is also inaccurate to the setting of the play according to the book. The last movie is acted by Laurence Olivier. The movie is in black and white. The setting of the movie is quite different from others. In this movie, hamlet is sitting at the edge of a cliff, and looking down at the outrageous wave. The camera seems goes into hamlet’s mind from the top of hamlet’s head. And then the shape of brain occurs. This set up shows that hamlet is considering the philosophical question—“to be or not to be.” The way of speaking is a little sullen and a little tame. The hamlet in this movie seems to be impassive. Hamlet is not talking but pondering. Hamlet takes out a knife from his pocket and does a motion tried to commit suicide. This scene shows that hamlet is suicidal and wants to end his life. In my opinion, hamlet acts less expression and less emotion, which cannot deliver the true feelings of hamlet to the audiences and the viewers.
Among those three movies, I think the performance by Kenneth Branagh is the best representation of hamlet. Kenneth Branagh perfectly expresses the feelings of sullen and mad of hamlet. The setting of the plot also is the best among those three. The hoarse tone of Kenneth Branagh delivers the painful feelings to the audiences, which also shows the characterization of hamlet. The performance by Alexander Fodor is the worst among those three. The plot of the scene has changed a lot, which make the scene inaccurate to the original scene of the book. The way of hamlet speak the great speech is tame and expressionless, which makes the audiences feel bored. The last movie by Laurence Olivier is okay. Because the scene shows how hamlet feels and what he is thinking. But the way of the speaking is a little bit tame and impassive. This makes the audiences lose the curiosity to continue to watch the movie. In my opinion, I prefer the re-enactment by Kenneth Branagh because his performance is the most accurate to the original play and my imagination base on the reading of the book.

Hamlet Act 1, scene 3

The settings of the performance of Act 1, scene 3 on the video are quite different from my imagination which is based on the texture Hamlet book. The setting of the performance is set in a study room. The study room is full of books and well decorated. The decorations of the study room seem to be luxurious and modern. The white wall of the study room gives a sense of civility to the viewer. The dress of Laertes and Opheria and Polonius seem to be faddish and modern. Those settings of performance are very distant from my imagination. The time of the Hamlet play is set on the late medieval period, I think back on that period people would wear long gown and gingham instead of wearing business suit and T-shirt. Base on the book, I think the entire conversation would occur at a port or a station where Laertes would get on the vehicle, because at the beginning of the scene, Laertes says that “my necessaries are embarked. Farewell, And, sister,as the winds give benefit And convery assistant, do not sleep, But let me hear from you.” At the beginning of the performance, Opheria is holding a photo and staring attentively at the photo. There is a male on the photo, and I guess the male might be the prince Hamlet. This scene makes me feel that Opheria loves hamlet deeply. But on the texture book, there is not a sentence to describe that Opheria is holding a Hamlet’s photo, and also there isn’t a sentence shows Opheria likes or care about hamlet. The way of speaking of Laertes is regardful and propositional. He uses his raising and falling voice to emphasize the key sentences. Laertes lowered his voice when he saying “but you must fear, His greatness weigh’d, his will is not his own; For he himself is subject to his birth.” The effect of lowering voice emphasizes the key words in the sentence. He raised his voice when he saying “He may not, as unvalu'd persons do, Carve for himself; for on his choice depends, The safety and health of this whole state; And therefore must his choice be circumscrib'd, Unto the voice and yielding of that body Whereof he is the head.” The effect of raising voice impacts the audience intensely; the audience would remember the word subconsciously. Laertes lowering his voice when he saying “Or lose your heart, or your chaste treasure open, To his unmater’d importunity.” The modulation in tone delivers the feeling of the narrator to the audience frankly, and vivifies the conversation. Opheria seems to be annoyed and uncomfortable when her brother Laertes talks with her about the prince Hamlet. She walking around arbitrarily and her face delivers a sense of she is being annoyed by the contents of the conversation. Her countenance reflects that she cares about the prince Hamlet and she does not want anyone to set any obstacle on the relationship between hamlet and her. She seems to be distracted and doesn’t want to listen to the lesson her brother Laertes gives. There are some sentences the performance omitted—“The chariest maid is prodigal enough, If she unmask her beauty to the moon: Virtue itself scopes not calumnious strokes: The canker galls the infants of the spring, Too oft before their buttons be disclos'd: And in the morn and liquid dew of youth, Contagious blastments are most imminent. Be wary then; best safety lies in fear:” I think the omitted sentences play a role in the conversation; the sentences exemplify the consequence of being in love in lies of Hamlet. These sentences reflect the attitude of Laertes toward the prince Hamlet. The way of speaking of Opheria is impassive. She seems to be sad about her brother’s leaving. The relationship between Opheria and Laertes surpass the relationship between brother and sister. Laertes speaks farewell Opheria with hoarse, heartrending voice. He talks a lot with Opheria before he leaves; this is not ordinary to brother and sister. When Polonius enters, Laertes begins to pack his belongings. The way of speaking of Polonius is propositional and calm. Polonius gives some advices for his son Laertes. The relationship between Polonius and Laertes is not look like the relationship of father and son. Their relationship looks like friend. During Polonius talking with Laertes, Laertes is walking around to pack his stuff, he seems to be annoyed by the contents his father gives. Laertes is going to college and he is an adult already, but his father still treats him as a kid. Polonius putted some money in the pocket of Laertes’s cloth. This shows that Polonius cares about his son Laertes and he wants his son to be well and behave well. He tries to teach Leartes to be a well educated man. “Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice: Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy:” The relationship between Laertes and Opheria seems to be closer than the relationship of Laertes and Polonius. Laertes never says farewell or goodbye to his father, this is strange that Laertes only says farewell to his sister. The performance of Act1, scene 3 is quite different from my imagination.

The Doll's house

The movie clip that we had watched was the scene from the play The Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen. The scenes shown in the film clip are quite different from the book. The setting of the film clip is so easy but states the background and character's personality clearly. We can get lots of information from watching this small part film clip. In the first scene, shown a horse car was running on the snow ground, several peoples were sitting on the car. Some kids played snowball on the snow ground. I learned that the story might occur in 1880's, and also occur in the winter. The main character should be a rich man who can afford the horse car. In the second scene, shown the main female character called Nora went into her house, carrying a lots of Christmas gifts. A house worker came to help her to carry the gifts. I got that the Nora is a rich woman. She hired a house worker to help her to do jobs. She bought a lot of Christmas gifts for her kids. In the third scene, shown that Nora took a packet of macaroons (candy）out from her pocket and ate one or two. Then she hided the packet of macaroon in a corner of a desk. This scene shows that Nora loved the macaroon. Although her husband Torvald did not allow her to eat candy, she ate candies without his knowledge. In the fourth scene, the Nora went into her husband's working room. Her husband Torvald named Nora squirrel and skylark. Then the husband Torvald talked to her "You mean you are putting away my money again." This scene shows that Nora was a spendthrift and she always wasted her husband's money to buy some unnecessary things. Because Torvald loves Nora so much, he did not care how much Nora has wasted. In the fifth scene, shown that Nora wanted to borrow money form others if they did not have enough money to have a great Christmas week. The Vorvald said "Yes, but what about the people who had lent it?" The Nora responded "They? who would bother about them? I should not know who they were." This scene shows the Nora's personalities. She is a selfish woman. She only cares about herself. She wants to have great life even the money is borrowed from others. In the sixth scene, shown that the Vorvald asked the Nora for what gift she wanted. The Nora responded "if you really want to give me something, you might, you might give me money.Torvald, Only just as much as you can afford; and then one of these days I will buy something with it." This scene shows the Nora loves money extremely. She has insatiable greed of money. In the seventh scene, shown that the Torvald found the Nora have eaten candies, but the Nora lied that she assured she did not eat the macaroon. The Torvald asked "Hasn't Miss Sweet-Tooth been breaking rules in town today? Hasn't she paid a visit to the confectioner's? Not been nibbling sweets? Not even taken a bite at macaroon or two?' The Nora answered NO to all those questions. Obviously, she was lying and she did not feel sorry for telling lies.
The setting is so easy but describes the scenes clearly. The Nora loves money extremely. She a is a spendthrift; she has insatiable greed of money and she also is a selfish woman. She wastes her husband's money but her husband doesn't care too much. The Nora uses the money extravagantly, she always buys something that it is unnecessary. She loves to eat candies and to tell lies. The Nora has a husband who loves her so much. In the Torvald's sight, The Nora is an expensive little squirrel and skylard. The Torvald is the host of the family, he loves Nora tremendously because Nora helps him overcome the difficulties in his lift.The Torvald hates cheater so much. But Nora always tell lies and she does not feel sorry after she told lie. What would happen if her husband find the Nora tell lies? It would be the interesting part of the story.

Poem explication

In the poem the accident, the poet Erica Funkhouser suggested not only the neighbor's son has an accident, but also the husband's wife has accident. The accident is unpredictable and something we can't control. The poem the accident also manifests the disbelief between person and person. The poet Erica Funkhouser establishes his point by using implication method. I divided the poem into three sections. In the first section, the poet Erica Funkhouser describes the neighbor's son has an accident. "He had been grazed by a delivery van / while crossing the street on his bike." In the second section, the poet Erica Funkhouser describes the neighbor's personality and looks. The neighbor is a beautiful woman. "She slid a chair from underneath / the kitchen table and sat down, / her long lags straight in front of her / like a ladder to a different world." In the last section, poet Erica Funkhouser describes the relationship between the neighbor and husband by using the implication method, and also shows the disbelief between the husband and wife. "It was when the neighbor answered "YES" / to a question the woman's husband / had not yet asked." This sentence implicates that they might had eaten together for many times. "How many times had they eaten together, / the woman watching wonder." This shows the woman disbelieves her husband. "She had never seen him / do it like this before, two-handed. / He always liked to show off / by breaking the eggs with one hand." This scene shos the husband was nervous. He did some strange things today. He fears his wife figure out the extraordinary relationship between him and the neighbor. In my view, the diebelief between the wife and the husband goes deeper. The husband didn't use both hands to break eggs before, it doesn't mean he can not use both hand to break eggs now. I think the poet Erica Funkhouser wants to show the extraordinary relationship between the neighbor and the husband, and also shows the accident is unpredictable. It could happen around us. In another hand, the poet Erica Funkhouser wants to show disbelief between the wife and the husband, the disbelief between person and person in our society.