Thom Gunn
The Man with Night Sweats
In this poem, I was able to find myself, not to the words as much as the situation I felt the speaker was in as I read on. Often times I will wake up, either in the morning , or in the middle of the night, in a cold sweat, completely distraught from the dreams, or nightmare I just went through. “I wake up cold, I who prospered through dreams of heat, Wake to their residue, Sweat and a slinging sheet” (Gunn, pg. 487). A lot of our subconscious emotions, fears and thoughts are expressed through our dreams or nightmares. I am able to find myself in this poem because, lately, I have felt that my whole world is crashing down on me, and as the nights pass, the more intense my dreams become. As the true message behind the poem, I am still unclear on because I feel that too much of my personal experiences are interfering with that of the speakers.
Monday, February 26, 2007
The Strange People - Jenna Pelosi
Louise Erdrich
The Strange People
The prologue to this poem conveyed a connection to the antelope, and the concept of love between human beings. “The antelope are strange people…they are beautiful to look at, and yet they are tricky….they are like shadows on the plains, because of their beauty, young men sometimes follow the antelope and are lost forever” (Linderman, 1932). As antelopes are described as well, we often can find our self describing our significant other by “beautiful, but tricky” . The speaker also offers new language to the poem. Instead of being poignant and stating, “fills my eyes with tears”, the speaker states, “fills my eyes with blue fire” his lyric language not only describes emotion, it also offers more insight to the intensity of the emotions being felt by the speaker. The speaker’s language helps to connect the reader to the life of the speaker. His new language shows the insight of human heartache through a connection the that of a hunted animal (the antelope). I thought that such a connection was very interesting and profound to display through words. To give an example of this connection, you can find in the last three lines of the poem, “…Crawling back into my shadowy body, All day asleep in clean grasses, I dream of the one who could really wound me” (Edrich, pg. 472). I translate that into “dreaming of the one who could really wound me”, or “dreaming of the one who could really break my heart”.
The Strange People
The prologue to this poem conveyed a connection to the antelope, and the concept of love between human beings. “The antelope are strange people…they are beautiful to look at, and yet they are tricky….they are like shadows on the plains, because of their beauty, young men sometimes follow the antelope and are lost forever” (Linderman, 1932). As antelopes are described as well, we often can find our self describing our significant other by “beautiful, but tricky” . The speaker also offers new language to the poem. Instead of being poignant and stating, “fills my eyes with tears”, the speaker states, “fills my eyes with blue fire” his lyric language not only describes emotion, it also offers more insight to the intensity of the emotions being felt by the speaker. The speaker’s language helps to connect the reader to the life of the speaker. His new language shows the insight of human heartache through a connection the that of a hunted animal (the antelope). I thought that such a connection was very interesting and profound to display through words. To give an example of this connection, you can find in the last three lines of the poem, “…Crawling back into my shadowy body, All day asleep in clean grasses, I dream of the one who could really wound me” (Edrich, pg. 472). I translate that into “dreaming of the one who could really wound me”, or “dreaming of the one who could really break my heart”.
We Wear the Mask - Jenna Pelosi
Paul Laurence Dunbar
We Wear the Mask
Just by reading the title to this poem, the reader can see the emphasis on the speakers’ usage of persona. This poem shows a realistic view of society today. Many interactions today are fake and false when looked at the true emotion and meaning the person is hiding behind. “We wear the mask that grims and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,” (Dunbar, pg 465). That sentence shows pure persona. The speaker’s use of lyric life, to me, here is brilliant. When he sates, “and shades our eyes”, that really hit home with me. Most people, including myself, say that they are able to tell a lot from a person by their eyes. Often times you can tell if someone is lying, or being fake in their mannerisms toward you. Another way the speaker shows persona is in the sentence, “With torn and bleeding hearts we smile” When we feel heartache, or heartbreak the last facial expression we reveal is a smile; therefore it is a “masked” emotional state. Right now in my life, I am struggling with a couple personal inflictions, and I find myself trying to find my relationship with God to help me through this, and when the speaker states, “ We smile, but O great Christ, our cries to thee from tortured souls arise”, I was able to find myself. (Dunbar, pg. 465). When I read that part I heard myself reading it, except I sounded like this, “I smile, but O God, I cry to you from tortured inside”
We Wear the Mask
Just by reading the title to this poem, the reader can see the emphasis on the speakers’ usage of persona. This poem shows a realistic view of society today. Many interactions today are fake and false when looked at the true emotion and meaning the person is hiding behind. “We wear the mask that grims and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,” (Dunbar, pg 465). That sentence shows pure persona. The speaker’s use of lyric life, to me, here is brilliant. When he sates, “and shades our eyes”, that really hit home with me. Most people, including myself, say that they are able to tell a lot from a person by their eyes. Often times you can tell if someone is lying, or being fake in their mannerisms toward you. Another way the speaker shows persona is in the sentence, “With torn and bleeding hearts we smile” When we feel heartache, or heartbreak the last facial expression we reveal is a smile; therefore it is a “masked” emotional state. Right now in my life, I am struggling with a couple personal inflictions, and I find myself trying to find my relationship with God to help me through this, and when the speaker states, “ We smile, but O great Christ, our cries to thee from tortured souls arise”, I was able to find myself. (Dunbar, pg. 465). When I read that part I heard myself reading it, except I sounded like this, “I smile, but O God, I cry to you from tortured inside”
Incident - Jenna Pelosi
Countee Cullen
Incident
This poem was interesting to me because it offered a very poignant message to the reader. First thought I would like to point out is, that the beginning of the poem gives off a care-free and happy emotional setting. The very first line reads, “ Once riding in old Baltimore, Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,…” (Cullen, pg. 453). The emotion I took from those first two lines was a first love, type of rush. As I read on, the message in the poem became more somber. The poignancy in the poem is clearly direct in the last two stanzas of the poem. “And so I smiled, but he poked out his tongue, and called me “Nigger.”” “…From may until December; Of all the things that happened there, That’s all that I remember” (Cullen, pg 453). Even if the reader had never experienced such a harsh form of racism, we have all felt belittled before, and this poem shows the emphasis our actions and hurtful words can have on each one of us. The speaker also shows a form of wisdom, because he is expressing how some hurtful things in our past may be over-come but never forgotten.
Incident
This poem was interesting to me because it offered a very poignant message to the reader. First thought I would like to point out is, that the beginning of the poem gives off a care-free and happy emotional setting. The very first line reads, “ Once riding in old Baltimore, Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,…” (Cullen, pg. 453). The emotion I took from those first two lines was a first love, type of rush. As I read on, the message in the poem became more somber. The poignancy in the poem is clearly direct in the last two stanzas of the poem. “And so I smiled, but he poked out his tongue, and called me “Nigger.”” “…From may until December; Of all the things that happened there, That’s all that I remember” (Cullen, pg 453). Even if the reader had never experienced such a harsh form of racism, we have all felt belittled before, and this poem shows the emphasis our actions and hurtful words can have on each one of us. The speaker also shows a form of wisdom, because he is expressing how some hurtful things in our past may be over-come but never forgotten.
Kayaks - Jenna Pelosi
Henri Cole
Kayaks
I chose this poem because in the beginning of the poem, the speaker is drawing such a serene, calm, and familiar image in my head. This image helps me to find myself in the poem. “…Two kayaks float across mild, clear water; A red sun stains the lake like colored class” (Cole, pg. 425). However, as I read on in the poem not only does the mood change, but I also find myself more as the speaker reads on with his words. The speakers use of lyrics offers a sense of wisdom among his sentences. He states, “Everything I am feels distant or blank as the opulent rays pass through me…” (Cole, pg. 425). I often feel lost within myself, that I have a million things racing in my head, yet I feel blank and out of touch. As I felt this way throughout my life, I would walk to a place in my neighborhood, where it was quiet and secluded and I would just gaze up in the sky, with nothing my silence encompassing me. (That is an example of my lyric life.) I am able to find myself better when I am alone and the only sounds around me are ones from nature. This poem helps paint that picture for me; it brings me back. More times than not, I question who I am inside, because of a heartbreak from someone who I identified myself with. “I have been deceived, he is not what he seemed- though the failure is not in the other, but in me because I am tired, hurt or bitter” (Cole , pg. 425). Through that line the speaker shows wisdom as well as truth behind his words.
Kayaks
I chose this poem because in the beginning of the poem, the speaker is drawing such a serene, calm, and familiar image in my head. This image helps me to find myself in the poem. “…Two kayaks float across mild, clear water; A red sun stains the lake like colored class” (Cole, pg. 425). However, as I read on in the poem not only does the mood change, but I also find myself more as the speaker reads on with his words. The speakers use of lyrics offers a sense of wisdom among his sentences. He states, “Everything I am feels distant or blank as the opulent rays pass through me…” (Cole, pg. 425). I often feel lost within myself, that I have a million things racing in my head, yet I feel blank and out of touch. As I felt this way throughout my life, I would walk to a place in my neighborhood, where it was quiet and secluded and I would just gaze up in the sky, with nothing my silence encompassing me. (That is an example of my lyric life.) I am able to find myself better when I am alone and the only sounds around me are ones from nature. This poem helps paint that picture for me; it brings me back. More times than not, I question who I am inside, because of a heartbreak from someone who I identified myself with. “I have been deceived, he is not what he seemed- though the failure is not in the other, but in me because I am tired, hurt or bitter” (Cole , pg. 425). Through that line the speaker shows wisdom as well as truth behind his words.
The Bean Eaters, - Jenna Pelosi
Gwendolyn Brooks
The Bean Eaters
I chose this poem for two main reasons. The first reason is because of its presence or new language, which I will go in detail about, and also because the ending of the poem is still unclear in its exact meaning or interpretation. In the first stanza, the majority of the words used express the somber emotion of the poem. Notice the words that I italicize throughout the lines in the first stanza: “They eat the beans mostly, this old yellow pair; Dinner is s casual affair; Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood, Tin flatware.” (Brooks, pg. 402). Through the use of new language, the speaker is emphasizing the direct emotion correlating with this old pair. To look deeper into what I mean exactly, the speaker used the word “old, yellow” to describe the couple. The color yellow doesn’t always give away attractive, youthful characteristics, especially when adding in the adjective “old” in front of it. The speaker also repeats the word “plain” two times in the first sentence, why not chose a synonym for “plain” instead, for example, “simple” or “basic”? The second stanza reads to me that this couple is not ready to let go of their lives, their rituals. “Two who have lived their day, But keep putting on their clothes, and putting things away” (Brooks, pg 402). Those lines are very poignant, and direct in the meaning behind them. This couple is not ready to let go. However the last sentence still, leaves me confused; maybe someone in the class can help me on this poem.
The Bean Eaters
I chose this poem for two main reasons. The first reason is because of its presence or new language, which I will go in detail about, and also because the ending of the poem is still unclear in its exact meaning or interpretation. In the first stanza, the majority of the words used express the somber emotion of the poem. Notice the words that I italicize throughout the lines in the first stanza: “They eat the beans mostly, this old yellow pair; Dinner is s casual affair; Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood, Tin flatware.” (Brooks, pg. 402). Through the use of new language, the speaker is emphasizing the direct emotion correlating with this old pair. To look deeper into what I mean exactly, the speaker used the word “old, yellow” to describe the couple. The color yellow doesn’t always give away attractive, youthful characteristics, especially when adding in the adjective “old” in front of it. The speaker also repeats the word “plain” two times in the first sentence, why not chose a synonym for “plain” instead, for example, “simple” or “basic”? The second stanza reads to me that this couple is not ready to let go of their lives, their rituals. “Two who have lived their day, But keep putting on their clothes, and putting things away” (Brooks, pg 402). Those lines are very poignant, and direct in the meaning behind them. This couple is not ready to let go. However the last sentence still, leaves me confused; maybe someone in the class can help me on this poem.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Blumenthal - A Marriage
This poem, by Michael Blumenthal realistically points out what a marriage is. It describes marriage metaphorically and keeps it realistic enough to be able to relate to it, learn something from this poem, and work with his lyrics. I found myself thinking back to my parents and seeing the similarities and comparisons that Blumenthal brings about throughout this poem. The most poignant part in this poem in my opinion, is in the last stanza; “And it can go on like this for many years without the house falling”. He isn’t just talking about a “house” falling he is conveying a marriage withstanding the tiring phases that marriage can bring about. People in a marriage want just what he is describing here so poignantly; for a marriage to last and not fall. The amount of wisdom in this poem is constant. The whole poem in its entirety is pure wisdom. A marriage will fall if both people aren’t holding up there ends. Blumenthal is able to paint you a picture or scenario and in the end the reader sees the point he is trying to make through metaphors. The wisdom here is clear and simple, you have to work and hold up your end of the deal in order to make sure that the plan goes accordingly, whether it be with business, friendship, or marriage.
William Blake - The Garden of Love
In William Blake’s poem, The Garden of Love, the mood of the poem for me changed drastically after the first stanza. Within first stanza, I interpreted
The poem was about a young girl who came back to a familiar place, all grown up now, and instead of being young at heart, she has blossomed and grown into a more mature love-struck soul. “I went into the Garden of Love, And saw what I never had seen: A Chapel was built in the midst, Where I used to play on the green”. However as I read into the poem more, my interpretations turned out to be almost the complete opposite. This Garden of something so full of pleasure as love is without pleasure or any joy of that matter, leaving behind only graves and sites of sadness. Then I began to interpret the title more clearly; love is not joyful and full of pleasure as it may seem to be for many people. Love can be one of the hardest things in your life to be able to control and come to terms with. I felt that most poignant line was, “And the gates of this Chapel were shut, And “Thou Shalt Not” writ over the door”. I felt the speaker was saying that her place where her heart was or where her love was is no longer open. The three words, “ Thou Shalt Not” do not offer an inviting image. I felt here was where the speaker was very clear and poignant when conveying an emotion for this lifeless chapel in the Garden of Love. The wisdom, to me in this poem, is an unsaid wisdom. Stating that not everything is what it seems, and not every love story has a happy ending. The speaker is trying to convey what seems to be a pleasant title, to actual heart aching emotions.
The poem was about a young girl who came back to a familiar place, all grown up now, and instead of being young at heart, she has blossomed and grown into a more mature love-struck soul. “I went into the Garden of Love, And saw what I never had seen: A Chapel was built in the midst, Where I used to play on the green”. However as I read into the poem more, my interpretations turned out to be almost the complete opposite. This Garden of something so full of pleasure as love is without pleasure or any joy of that matter, leaving behind only graves and sites of sadness. Then I began to interpret the title more clearly; love is not joyful and full of pleasure as it may seem to be for many people. Love can be one of the hardest things in your life to be able to control and come to terms with. I felt that most poignant line was, “And the gates of this Chapel were shut, And “Thou Shalt Not” writ over the door”. I felt the speaker was saying that her place where her heart was or where her love was is no longer open. The three words, “ Thou Shalt Not” do not offer an inviting image. I felt here was where the speaker was very clear and poignant when conveying an emotion for this lifeless chapel in the Garden of Love. The wisdom, to me in this poem, is an unsaid wisdom. Stating that not everything is what it seems, and not every love story has a happy ending. The speaker is trying to convey what seems to be a pleasant title, to actual heart aching emotions.
Ellen West - Bidart
This poem, entitled Ellen West, was completely captivating and poignant overall. Throughout this very long and intricate poem, I analyzed and read the poem as if I was reading someone’s journal. I am commenting on this poem in regards to my psychological side coming into play through her lyrics. Although I have not had an eating disorder, and I may not be able to place myself in her words, I can relate and understand her emotions through her usage of lyrics. There are so many different points in this poem that demonstrates such poignancy that it makes it hard not to felt the emotions that she is sending to her readers. One such example is, “My doctors tell me I must give up this ideal; but I WILL NOT …..cannot”. Those lines are so sharp on her emotions and how intent the speaker is being in her words. Not only does this poem scream with poignancy, but it also holds wisdom. The speaker knows rights from wrongs, and knows which of her actions and engagements are harmful and helpful to her, however, you can see through her usage of lyric life the emotion that prevails off of the page. Her wisdom extends from her actions to the way that she writes this lyrical story. The best way I can depict to you the magnitude that this poem struck me is by saying that throughout Bidart’s writings, even his wisdom is very poignant.
Atwood "Up"
In this poem by Atwood, starts in a similar manner as did Alvarez in “Dusting”. Atwood opens up this poem by also conveying a situation that her readers will likely be able to imagine themselves in that or a similar situation. In doing this Atwood immediately grabbed my attention. As I also do, she is taking the mood she is experiencing, and tries to persuade herself through words to move, emotionally, and physically. As the reader I interpreted Atwood’s wording to see which scenario that she is presenting to the reader really “hits home” for you. By doing this lyrically, she is engaging, me, the reader.
In the poem she writes, “ You’re lying in your deathbed, …Who is it, exactly, that you have needed all of these years to forgive”. This sentence not only shows poignancy in its direct and clear statement, but it really gets you, as the reader, to think. Think about your life and see if there is anyone that you need to forgive, or thank. Through this poignant statement, she also conveys wisdom. Thinking deeper into her statement, as I pondered in my head if there is anyone that I have neglected or need to thank or forgive, I realize that tomorrow is not promised, it is not a given. Through this poem she is able to convey her sense of wisdom by saying don’t wait, or sulk around, today is a gift and tomorrow is only still a dream. This, to me, is where the title comes in; “Up”.
In the poem she writes, “ You’re lying in your deathbed, …Who is it, exactly, that you have needed all of these years to forgive”. This sentence not only shows poignancy in its direct and clear statement, but it really gets you, as the reader, to think. Think about your life and see if there is anyone that you need to forgive, or thank. Through this poignant statement, she also conveys wisdom. Thinking deeper into her statement, as I pondered in my head if there is anyone that I have neglected or need to thank or forgive, I realize that tomorrow is not promised, it is not a given. Through this poem she is able to convey her sense of wisdom by saying don’t wait, or sulk around, today is a gift and tomorrow is only still a dream. This, to me, is where the title comes in; “Up”.
Dusting- Alvarez pg. 360
As I began to read this poem, I found myself thinking back to some of my childhood experiences, and memories. As I read, I was able to imagine myself acting out Alvarez’s words. Her lyric life in this poem is clear and I am able to relate to her words. Also, right at the end of the poem, she takes what was my calm and comforting, interpretation of the poems emotion, and changes it to a form of harsh sincerity. She took what could be looked at as a childhood form of art, into a personal vendetta against her mother’s own personalities.
In showing this transition in her words, Alvarez demonstrates poignancy. In her sentence, “But I refuse with every mark to be like her, anonymous”. As I read this sentence she is so sharp and clear with what she is trying to convey, that even her use of the coma, after the word “her”, shows strict and direct emotion.
My interpretation of Alvarez’s wisdom in this poem is slightly different than those of other similar poems. I feel her wisdom is shown through her way to engage the reader by usage of a common memory or experience, and transform that into conveying a message completely different.
In showing this transition in her words, Alvarez demonstrates poignancy. In her sentence, “But I refuse with every mark to be like her, anonymous”. As I read this sentence she is so sharp and clear with what she is trying to convey, that even her use of the coma, after the word “her”, shows strict and direct emotion.
My interpretation of Alvarez’s wisdom in this poem is slightly different than those of other similar poems. I feel her wisdom is shown through her way to engage the reader by usage of a common memory or experience, and transform that into conveying a message completely different.
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