WEEK 2 QUIZ 2: CRITIQUE PAPER

A. Choose only one song, listen to it while reading its lyrics and analyze using Formalism
Approach. Again, formalism approach focuses on the creation of meanings of a text through its form
or structure.

Had you been the greatest of all, what would you do? Hall of Fame generally tackles how one
can attain achievements only if s/he believes in him/herself. The song drives one to desire to be
more, for although only few can be the best, everyone can still seek to grow greater, and
eventually be greater.

Encouragement is vividly manifested in every verse. King Kong banging its own chest – a
metaphor for the act of asserting one's superiority over others – is mentioned in the first verse.
Subsequently, the second, aside from morale-boosting, consists of a message pronouncing that
one should not linger and depend on luck in order to survive in this crude world. Thereafter, the
chorus put the title, Hall of Fame, in the picture. Hall of Fame, in a literal sense, is a monument
or building honoring the renowned achievers in a particular sport or other activity. The next
verses then depict the dedications one should consider when carrying something out. They also
narrate that one can obtain any triumph if and only if they try. Finally, the song lets people be
who they want to be, whether it is being a teacher, astronaut, and anything; everyone is a
champion no matter what.

Overall, the interpretation is never to surrender in a battle that is not even finished yet.
One should remember that obstacles come along the way, and that one can always surpass
them all.

B. Analyze the poem entitled “The Man with a Hoe” by Edwin Markham using Marxism
Approach. The piece is provided and posted in the comment box.

In the first stanza of Markham’s poem, it already reveals the Marxist descript. The condition of the
proletariat is very depressing because they are forced to work for long hours and only has a very
short time to rest, while the results of the farming is only enjoyed by the capitalists. It is appropriate
to “The Man with the Hoe” where this poem tells about farmer who is forced to work hard in the
field without enough time to take a rest before he back to the field. Marx argues that this problem
arises because of the "private ownership" and there is a big control by the wealthy people.
Markham’s poem reveals his sympathy and revolutionary thinking and spirit for the workers
triggered after gazing Millets’s master piece of a worker in the fields. Markham tends to call upon
what man or the working class was supposed to be, especially in the eyes of God and provides
prophecies of what the working classes are able to do to reshape the system, their state and the
world.ion of the enslaved workers or the proletariat group, the carrier of the world for centuries.
Markham’s poem reveals his sympathy and revolutionary thinking and spirit for the workers
triggered after gazing Millets’s master piece of a worker in the fields. Markham tends to call upon
what man or the working class was supposed to be, especially in the eyes of God and provides
prophecies of what the working classes are able to do to reshape the system, their state and the world.

Though it does not directly show its support or rejection to socialism Markham somehow indicates
socialism’s cause and people they aim to uplift and value, the working class. In his thought raising
and stimulating verses and questions, Markham shouts out his criticisms to the present capitalist
society questioning if that is really the fate of numerous men who are bounded for work. Socialism
seeks equality over all men and women, aiming to eradicate all private institutions that gain most for
themselves, Markham shouts at these “masters, lords and rulers in all lands” warning them that
through rebellion, the proletariat or the working class, may cause their immediate downfall. As Marx
in his Communist Manifesto indicates that the proletariat powerless image of farmer holds the hoe as
lower class who works to a cruel master.