ReMix Today....

In the media today, we don’t see many cases of plagiarism. Whether through music,
writing, or any outlet, there are fewer and fewer cases of this as time goes on. I believe this is
because we are now understanding more and more the idea of influence and inspiration. I also
think we see now that imitation is the highest form of flattery and are wholly embracing that idea
to not necessarily cover up our wrong doings but more to make sure that people understand
where we are coming from.
Imagine this...an older sister and younger brother who grew up together, in the same
home, with the same parents. Now think about this...both eventually become writers and write
generally about the same topic but did not plagiarize, even in the slightest. The original text is
titled, "From The Grasmere Journals" by Dorothy Wordsworth and was written in around 1807.
The ReMix text is titled "I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth. In this case,
ReMix can be defined as taking an original work or art, and changing it to fit your own
perspectives and ideals.
Dorothy writes about nature in general and how it helps her get through her somewhat
difficult daily life, while William writes more about physical things that describe nature and then
also how in his solitude he thinks about nature. There is a large difference between influence, plagiarism, and even reappropriation but they are also vastly similar in the ways their writers
want to convey the messages at hand. These writings are more specifically classified as
inspiration as influence than plagiarism.
In Dorothy Wordsworth’s original writing, she wrote them as if it was a journal entry so
basically it was a new day a new story type of thing. She not only writes this for her happiness
and her own sake but for her brother’s sake as well. She documents both her good and bad times,
relating them to how nature helped her. It is clear that she was widely influenced by nature and
even by her love for her brother.
In William Wordsworth’s “I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud” we see similar ideas and
physical things, but completely different execution. Before William wrote about this insight of
how nature influenced him, he wrote romantically. In his poetry, we see how close he and his
sister were and how greatly she influenced him and his writing.