William Carlos Williams – The Raper from Passenack, pg. 640
There are a few distinct reasons as to why I chose to go into detail on this poem. This poem brings familiarity when I read into it, not because I have been sexually assaulted in the past, but because of how much this topic is of importance, especially in the life of a woman in college. The poignancy within each line in this poem is remarkable. After the fact, the girl is worried of catching a disease. “No one who is not diseased could be so insanely cruel, he wants to give it to someone else” (Williams, pg. 640). Not only is the situation already horrific, but to top it off with a disease would be so damaging to this girl’s life. Her life, in her mind, would be over. “But if I get a veneral infection out of this I wont be treated, I refuse, you’ll find me dead in bed” (Williams, pg. 640). The speaker would end her life because of the actions of another human being. That is poignant in ever way. However, its poignancy , in my perspective, is quite more sharp because I am able to relate to this person. Because I am a woman, I am always at risk of being sexually assaulted, especially in New Haven late at night, leaving a bar. God forbid, that ever happened to me or someone I knew, I would feel the same way, that my life was completely over. That is poignant and acute in its emotional sense. How would I be able to help a friend and give her reasons to stay alive, when I cant find any myself in that situation. Its poignancy is so strong to me, because this is something I have always feared, being attacked and so on, therefore I am able to place myself in the speakers shows as I read, and I am able to find myself through the words on the page.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
James Wlech - Harlem, Montana; Just off the Reservation - Jenna Pelosi
James Welch – Harlem, Montana: Just off the Reservation - pg. 630
In this poem I was able to connect with the poem because of a family “joke”. When my sister, my dad, and I would “fool” around with her or “pick” on her in a joking manner, my mom would always reply back to us, “You’re all going to miss me when I am gone, and I move to Montana” . And we would always ask, , “Why Montana?”, and she would reply, “Because no one would bother me”. And now Welch compares Montana with Harlem. As I read the poem and try and place myself in the speakers place, I find my tone as a marker of selfhood come into play. For example, as I read the poem to myself, I pick up a threatening and angry tone in my voice as I read along, as if I was saying the words myself. The poet I feel is bring me back to earlier times, where black’s (down south) or immigrants (in New York), were predominately discriminated against. The speaker states, “Goodbye, goodbye Harlem on the rocks, so bigoted….Turks are not white, they are olive, unwelcome, alive in any town” (Welch, pg. 630). Not only is that statement very poignant, it brings me to a time of inequality and hatred. Also, earlier in the poem Welch says, “Disgusted, busted whites are running for office in this town” (Welch, pg. 630). The fact that Welch had to emphasize the color of the skin of each person, presents the reader with the knowledge that race is an important factor in this time period.
In this poem I was able to connect with the poem because of a family “joke”. When my sister, my dad, and I would “fool” around with her or “pick” on her in a joking manner, my mom would always reply back to us, “You’re all going to miss me when I am gone, and I move to Montana” . And we would always ask, , “Why Montana?”, and she would reply, “Because no one would bother me”. And now Welch compares Montana with Harlem. As I read the poem and try and place myself in the speakers place, I find my tone as a marker of selfhood come into play. For example, as I read the poem to myself, I pick up a threatening and angry tone in my voice as I read along, as if I was saying the words myself. The poet I feel is bring me back to earlier times, where black’s (down south) or immigrants (in New York), were predominately discriminated against. The speaker states, “Goodbye, goodbye Harlem on the rocks, so bigoted….Turks are not white, they are olive, unwelcome, alive in any town” (Welch, pg. 630). Not only is that statement very poignant, it brings me to a time of inequality and hatred. Also, earlier in the poem Welch says, “Disgusted, busted whites are running for office in this town” (Welch, pg. 630). The fact that Welch had to emphasize the color of the skin of each person, presents the reader with the knowledge that race is an important factor in this time period.
Wallace Steven - The Planet on the Table - Jenna Pelosi
Wallace Stevens- The Planet on the Table, pg. 608
Beginning of the poem the speaker brings himself out in the form of the tempest tree spirit in the plays of William Shakespeare. Automatically, the speaker is able to take me into another space and time, back to “Adam and Eve” time. Throughout the poem I also placing myself in the speaker’s position, reading as if I was that tree that Ariel represented. The Typicality in the poem helped me as I read on and was able to place myself into the speaker’s words.The poem begins with the speaker mentioning, “Ariel was glad that he had written his poems, they were of a remembered time” (Stevens, pg, 609). Knowing that Ariel is the “storm” tree spirit , what were these poems he speaks of about? Were they filled with wisdom and inspiration, or of a storm of emotions, with hurricane-like affects in the aftermath? It also mentions the passion held for the pastimes, or the planet from which they were part. I feel at a loss when it comes to truly being able to understand the wisdom behind this poem, because I have not read the plays from which Shakespeare’s figures hold such poignancy to this poem.
Beginning of the poem the speaker brings himself out in the form of the tempest tree spirit in the plays of William Shakespeare. Automatically, the speaker is able to take me into another space and time, back to “Adam and Eve” time. Throughout the poem I also placing myself in the speaker’s position, reading as if I was that tree that Ariel represented. The Typicality in the poem helped me as I read on and was able to place myself into the speaker’s words.The poem begins with the speaker mentioning, “Ariel was glad that he had written his poems, they were of a remembered time” (Stevens, pg, 609). Knowing that Ariel is the “storm” tree spirit , what were these poems he speaks of about? Were they filled with wisdom and inspiration, or of a storm of emotions, with hurricane-like affects in the aftermath? It also mentions the passion held for the pastimes, or the planet from which they were part. I feel at a loss when it comes to truly being able to understand the wisdom behind this poem, because I have not read the plays from which Shakespeare’s figures hold such poignancy to this poem.
Theodore Roethke - The Waking - Jenna Pelosi
Theodore Roethke – The Waking pg. 575
This poem is brilliant with its usage of new language. The two lines that are repeated throughout the poem are, “I wake to sleep and take my waking slow, I learn by going where I have to go” (Roethke, pg. 575). The speaker is combining words in ways that they are not normally stated. For example, “I wake to sleep”, normally we sleep to do the opposite of awakening. Also, later in the poem the speaker says, “this shaking keeps me steady”. Obviously, when we shaker we are furthest from feeling stable or steady, yet the speaker expresses comfort in such an uncomforting image being presented. This poem offers a sense of paradox yet this sense of irony seems to be familiar. Also, I feel we learn more by life’s lessons, things in life that don’t seem to happen or appear as we had imagined them. In this poem the speaker is finding themselves by going where they are meant to go? I am confused on the connection to be made through this maze or insincerity, yet I know that the speaker brings a strong sense of poignancy.
This poem is brilliant with its usage of new language. The two lines that are repeated throughout the poem are, “I wake to sleep and take my waking slow, I learn by going where I have to go” (Roethke, pg. 575). The speaker is combining words in ways that they are not normally stated. For example, “I wake to sleep”, normally we sleep to do the opposite of awakening. Also, later in the poem the speaker says, “this shaking keeps me steady”. Obviously, when we shaker we are furthest from feeling stable or steady, yet the speaker expresses comfort in such an uncomforting image being presented. This poem offers a sense of paradox yet this sense of irony seems to be familiar. Also, I feel we learn more by life’s lessons, things in life that don’t seem to happen or appear as we had imagined them. In this poem the speaker is finding themselves by going where they are meant to go? I am confused on the connection to be made through this maze or insincerity, yet I know that the speaker brings a strong sense of poignancy.
Sir Walter Raleigh - The Lie - Jenna Pelosi
Sir Walter Raleigh – The Lie pg. 562-564
This poem was interesting to me because I find connections to religion and the different interpretation of it. Throughout the poem I am struggling to find what is “the lie”, and also if this “lie” is the same for everyone or does it change in meaning with each person it comes into play with? The poem starts off by saying, “Go, soul, the body’s guest…” (Raleigh, pg. 562). Part of lyric’s life meaning to me is the continuum of our soul after our bodies have died. Our life is passed on through our soul and takes the shape in others that are affected by our time on earth. Later in the poem, the speaker makes false connections of words. For example, “…Tell love it is but lust, tell time it is but motion, tell flesh it is but dust” (Raleigh, pg. 563). Is this where the lie begins? What is truly lust may seem to some as love at that time, not all love emotions die within a fleeting time. Our flesh is not dust, but then what is it? Throughout the poem the speaker is making connections with words that are normally at opposite ends of their meanings. This is a new form of language. So when the speaker says, “tell charity of its coldness, tell nature of its decay, and tell friendship of its unkindness” what is he trying to convey? What is this lie? I feel that this lie, as it unfolds will bring truth, and a sense of new wisdom along with it.
This poem was interesting to me because I find connections to religion and the different interpretation of it. Throughout the poem I am struggling to find what is “the lie”, and also if this “lie” is the same for everyone or does it change in meaning with each person it comes into play with? The poem starts off by saying, “Go, soul, the body’s guest…” (Raleigh, pg. 562). Part of lyric’s life meaning to me is the continuum of our soul after our bodies have died. Our life is passed on through our soul and takes the shape in others that are affected by our time on earth. Later in the poem, the speaker makes false connections of words. For example, “…Tell love it is but lust, tell time it is but motion, tell flesh it is but dust” (Raleigh, pg. 563). Is this where the lie begins? What is truly lust may seem to some as love at that time, not all love emotions die within a fleeting time. Our flesh is not dust, but then what is it? Throughout the poem the speaker is making connections with words that are normally at opposite ends of their meanings. This is a new form of language. So when the speaker says, “tell charity of its coldness, tell nature of its decay, and tell friendship of its unkindness” what is he trying to convey? What is this lie? I feel that this lie, as it unfolds will bring truth, and a sense of new wisdom along with it.
Silvia Plath - Edge - Jenna Pelosi
Silvia Plath Edge pg. 554
This poem caught my attention, because even though I have read this poem over and over I am still unable to fully grasp the intentions behind it. I can tell by the way the words flow in and out of my head as I read the poem again and again that the speaker is offering a strong sense of poignancy and wisdom behind it. The speaker talks of a dead women, a women who is said to be “perfected” and “her body is wearing the smile of accomplishment” (Plath, Pg. 554). So I begin to infer, with my motivations from the poem, that this women died of heroic causes. Then the poem’s emotion changes to a more somber tone, with stanzas like, “She has folded them back into her body as petals of a rose close when the garden stiffens and odors bleed” (Plath, pg. 554). With the use of new language, I imagine a strong woman that died with her culture. I picture a woman who has fought to keep the lyric life in her culture alive, and yet it was suffocated by a higher power, which led her to lose her ambition to live. Yet why the smile of accomplishment? A sense of wisdom is felt, even though I am not fully clear on the meaning it holds behind it.
This poem caught my attention, because even though I have read this poem over and over I am still unable to fully grasp the intentions behind it. I can tell by the way the words flow in and out of my head as I read the poem again and again that the speaker is offering a strong sense of poignancy and wisdom behind it. The speaker talks of a dead women, a women who is said to be “perfected” and “her body is wearing the smile of accomplishment” (Plath, Pg. 554). So I begin to infer, with my motivations from the poem, that this women died of heroic causes. Then the poem’s emotion changes to a more somber tone, with stanzas like, “She has folded them back into her body as petals of a rose close when the garden stiffens and odors bleed” (Plath, pg. 554). With the use of new language, I imagine a strong woman that died with her culture. I picture a woman who has fought to keep the lyric life in her culture alive, and yet it was suffocated by a higher power, which led her to lose her ambition to live. Yet why the smile of accomplishment? A sense of wisdom is felt, even though I am not fully clear on the meaning it holds behind it.
Frank O'Hara - Ave Maria - Jenna Pelosi
Frank O’Hara Ave Maria pg. 548
The main reason as to why I was automatically drawn to this poem is because of the title, Ave Maria, which is my favorite hymn. however, the poem takes on a completely different message. The poem talks on how mother’s of American can not keep their children closed to the world around them. The way the speaker emphasizes such a new language for me since, many times when I heard the Hymn Ave Maria, it was normally in a moment of remembrance or death , and now it offers me a sense wisdom that helps to promote a healthy life. The speaker mentions “darker joys” stating, “…instead of hanging around in the yard or up in their room, hating you prematurely since you won’t have done anything horribly mean yet except from keeping them from the darker joys” (O’Hara, pg. 548). What are these darker joys that are being mentioned? Is it the feeling of self autonomy, separating yourself from your parents, being able to find your own independence? If so, then I find it ironic that in order for children to experience what life is they must separate themselves from the constraints that parents bring along- yet later in life, most of the time, we find ourselves trying to be more like or closer to our parents.
The main reason as to why I was automatically drawn to this poem is because of the title, Ave Maria, which is my favorite hymn. however, the poem takes on a completely different message. The poem talks on how mother’s of American can not keep their children closed to the world around them. The way the speaker emphasizes such a new language for me since, many times when I heard the Hymn Ave Maria, it was normally in a moment of remembrance or death , and now it offers me a sense wisdom that helps to promote a healthy life. The speaker mentions “darker joys” stating, “…instead of hanging around in the yard or up in their room, hating you prematurely since you won’t have done anything horribly mean yet except from keeping them from the darker joys” (O’Hara, pg. 548). What are these darker joys that are being mentioned? Is it the feeling of self autonomy, separating yourself from your parents, being able to find your own independence? If so, then I find it ironic that in order for children to experience what life is they must separate themselves from the constraints that parents bring along- yet later in life, most of the time, we find ourselves trying to be more like or closer to our parents.
Pat Mora La Migra - Emmigration - Jenna Pelosi
Pat Mora La Migra – Emigration - pg. 546 – 547
This poem takes you to the time and place of people who have had to suffer though emigration and the border authorities. They place the poem in the theme of a game, where each speaker either plays an authority figure, or the Mexican. The beauty in the poem is that the speaker is able to relate you to both sides of the story. In the first part you picture a Mexican coming into contact with the border authorities and is not able to compete against their strengths. Then the speaker switches the mood, and presents a scene where the Mexican’s out-power the authorities because of their ability to know the desert and the language of their world. This poem offers wisdom to the reader, almost conveying the message that there are two sides to every story, up’s and down’s to each situation. It also emphasized the power of knowledge against the weaknesses that a gun and handcuff’s can carry, in the second part of the poem. “All you have is heavy; hat, glasses, badge, shoes, gun…I know this desert,….you hear us singing and dancing in the wind…” (pg. 546). Although their resources may not be as efficient, their knowledge of their land trumps the authority’s standpoint.
This poem takes you to the time and place of people who have had to suffer though emigration and the border authorities. They place the poem in the theme of a game, where each speaker either plays an authority figure, or the Mexican. The beauty in the poem is that the speaker is able to relate you to both sides of the story. In the first part you picture a Mexican coming into contact with the border authorities and is not able to compete against their strengths. Then the speaker switches the mood, and presents a scene where the Mexican’s out-power the authorities because of their ability to know the desert and the language of their world. This poem offers wisdom to the reader, almost conveying the message that there are two sides to every story, up’s and down’s to each situation. It also emphasized the power of knowledge against the weaknesses that a gun and handcuff’s can carry, in the second part of the poem. “All you have is heavy; hat, glasses, badge, shoes, gun…I know this desert,….you hear us singing and dancing in the wind…” (pg. 546). Although their resources may not be as efficient, their knowledge of their land trumps the authority’s standpoint.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Audre Lorde - Hanging Fire
Audre Lorde Hanging Fire pg. 520 – 521
This poem hit me as a older man, who still is lost because of his loss of a childhood with his mother. Our childhood memories and especially our parents, offer us a sense of who we are and where we came from. The speaker replies at the end of each stanza, “and momma’s in the bedroom, with the door closed” (pg. 520-521). The speaker starts by talking about his inability to stop sucking on his thumb, which demonstrates the speaker’s ability of repression. As I read on this poem began to read itself, strangely enough to me because I can not make a connection as to where I can see myself in the poem. Nevertheless, the speaker began to ruminate through their mind on what they could become, who they were hand what if they died. All questions that was desire to know yet will never find the answer until that time in history actually comes. Although the main parts of the poem focus on the speakers thoughts and emotions, I feel that the main point in this poem is focused on the absence of the mother. Why is she in her bedroom? Is she an alcoholic? My motivations help me to fill in the spaces and try and complete a full understanding of the wisdom behind the speaker.
This poem hit me as a older man, who still is lost because of his loss of a childhood with his mother. Our childhood memories and especially our parents, offer us a sense of who we are and where we came from. The speaker replies at the end of each stanza, “and momma’s in the bedroom, with the door closed” (pg. 520-521). The speaker starts by talking about his inability to stop sucking on his thumb, which demonstrates the speaker’s ability of repression. As I read on this poem began to read itself, strangely enough to me because I can not make a connection as to where I can see myself in the poem. Nevertheless, the speaker began to ruminate through their mind on what they could become, who they were hand what if they died. All questions that was desire to know yet will never find the answer until that time in history actually comes. Although the main parts of the poem focus on the speakers thoughts and emotions, I feel that the main point in this poem is focused on the absence of the mother. Why is she in her bedroom? Is she an alcoholic? My motivations help me to fill in the spaces and try and complete a full understanding of the wisdom behind the speaker.
Yusef Komunyakaa - My Father's Loveletters
Yusef Komunyakaa – My Father’s Loveletters pg. 511
When you read the title of the poem, you feel that the poem would have a subtle, yet romantic tone to it. It starts off with the daughter talking about writing the same letter to her mother, which then I assumed that the mother must have passed away and the father was getting so old that this was his only way of still talking with his late wife. My motivations were skewed and I couldn’t have been more off the target. Down a few lines it says, “He’d beg her to return & promised to never beat her again” (pg. 511). Now the entire tone and emotion changes instantly in the poem. Not knowing the daughter at all, I feel that as she was writing the letters, she was resentful or spiteful towards her father, yet she still complied. The speaker was offering a side to her father, that although was remorseful, he had a lot to be trying to make up for. She talks about what she feels that her mother would be doing as she read the letters and she replies, “I wondered if she’d laugh as she held them over a flame” (pg. 511). This poem leaves me in a clouded mystery, of what the story is behind the loveletters.
When you read the title of the poem, you feel that the poem would have a subtle, yet romantic tone to it. It starts off with the daughter talking about writing the same letter to her mother, which then I assumed that the mother must have passed away and the father was getting so old that this was his only way of still talking with his late wife. My motivations were skewed and I couldn’t have been more off the target. Down a few lines it says, “He’d beg her to return & promised to never beat her again” (pg. 511). Now the entire tone and emotion changes instantly in the poem. Not knowing the daughter at all, I feel that as she was writing the letters, she was resentful or spiteful towards her father, yet she still complied. The speaker was offering a side to her father, that although was remorseful, he had a lot to be trying to make up for. She talks about what she feels that her mother would be doing as she read the letters and she replies, “I wondered if she’d laugh as she held them over a flame” (pg. 511). This poem leaves me in a clouded mystery, of what the story is behind the loveletters.
Langston Hughes The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes is one of my favorite poets, and in this poem he brings out the true emotion from the blues. As we watched in the films on Rock and Roll, Punk, and Blues, you saw the emotions that were poured out through their guitars and through the lyrics to their songs. Blues was surrounded and founded on such emotional history that music became one of the best ways for an emotional outlet. In this poem it talks about a man who was singing the blues on the street and as he swayed to the music, you felt his pain go from his body all the way into your bones. Just from reading the poem I can feel that. I was able to take myself out of the book and sit with him on the street corner as he sang his melodic blues. The man in this poem mentions that he has nothing, and at times wishes he was dead. And at the end of the poem, it says “The singer stopped playing and went to bed…he slept like a rock, or a man that’s dead” (pg. 504). I then made the connection that the only thing keeping this man’s soul alive is his music. Langston Hughes has as way of depicting such a clear image of the poem she’s telling. She brings you from the street where the man is sitting and singing, all the way to the cotton fields, singing with the slaves as they pick cotton. Singing is what kept their souls from dyeing, the same things that is keeping this man alive.
Punishment – Hayden pg. 496 – 497
After reading over the poem multiple times, I am still trying to understand its entirety, however, I will say that I feel the speaker has brought me back to a time and place where people were still being hung as the main punishment. I felt that this poem was lacking a sense of life in it, as I read on I felt distanced from reality and brought back to the past. This poem brings me back to older times, and gives me the understanding that this women was killed because of her promiscuity. “Little adulteress, before they punished you” (pg. 496). Unfortunately, back in time, women were given very little rights and barely any freedom especially in matters that dealt with their sexuality. What I also found to be interesting, is that as I began to read the poem, the tone that I took on in my mind as I read along, was a somber tone. As I got to the end of the poem, I still felt a saddened emotion leading the author to each stanza. In my mind I picture a women, who has been abused emotionally and physically to the point that she has lost her life. “…it shakes the frail rigging of her ribs, I can see her drowned body in the bog…” (pg 496). All substance to who she was, was stripped from her being. The speaker offered such motivations to help me fill in on the blank spots in the poem that I stumbled into. So, at the end of the poem I was able to identify with this young woman
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)