in which my greater self
rose up before me
accusing me of my life
with her extra finger
whirling in a gyre of rage
at what my days had come to.
what,
i pleaded with her, could i do,
oh what could I have done?
and she twisted her wild hear
and sparked her wild eyes
and screamed as long as
i could hear her
This. This. This.
I think the poem is very self-explanatory. Lucille Clifton the author is looking back on her own life and is critisizing it. In this "dream" Clifton has her greater self or maybe the woman she always wanted to be is telling her in rage what she could have done differently to make her past life better. I personally think she is looking on her life as if she were dead. Her dead self is remembering her life- like right before you die you see 'your whole life flash before you', and her dying self is questioning whether she lived her life to the fullest. Her dead self is regretting it and saying This is what you could have done This. This. This. Whatever 'This' is, is a mystery to me. I do not know Lucille Clifton's aspirations.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Cottonmouth Country by Louise Gluck
Fish bones walked the waves off Hatteras.
And there were other signs
That Death wooed us, by water, wooed us
By land: among the pines
An unculred cottonmouth that rolled on moss
Reared in the polluted air.
Birth, not death, is the hard loss.
I know. I also left a skin there.
In this poem there are a few things I looked up to help understand the meaning. Hatteras is the first. There are many accounts of ships being caught in unfavorable winds and not being able to round Cape Point. Surfmen with the Lifesaving Service maintained a close watch over the ships in the doldrums. It would spell certain disaster should the winds turn unfavorable and drive them closer to shore. One such watch reported over 100 vessels (http://www.hatteras-nc.com/history/hatteras-village-history.shtml). The second I wanted to look up was cottonmouth. The cottonmouth is a type of snake found in swamps in the United States. This make sense towards the line "An uncurled cottonmouth that rolled on moss".
From this poem and the definitions provided I see it meaning that this poem is about changes. That both life and death bring changes to the world, probably more specifically the United States since the places and the animals referred to are only found in the US. I also think that the writer of this poem is referring himself as the snake from the line "I know. I also left a skin there." I think that he means skin as in shed skin like a snake. The snake visited this place of Hatteras and was overwhelmed with death and pollution. Birth is the hard loss because this place is so disgusted with things like death and pollution.
And there were other signs
That Death wooed us, by water, wooed us
By land: among the pines
An unculred cottonmouth that rolled on moss
Reared in the polluted air.
Birth, not death, is the hard loss.
I know. I also left a skin there.
In this poem there are a few things I looked up to help understand the meaning. Hatteras is the first. There are many accounts of ships being caught in unfavorable winds and not being able to round Cape Point. Surfmen with the Lifesaving Service maintained a close watch over the ships in the doldrums. It would spell certain disaster should the winds turn unfavorable and drive them closer to shore. One such watch reported over 100 vessels (http://www.hatteras-nc.com/history/hatteras-village-history.shtml). The second I wanted to look up was cottonmouth. The cottonmouth is a type of snake found in swamps in the United States. This make sense towards the line "An uncurled cottonmouth that rolled on moss".
From this poem and the definitions provided I see it meaning that this poem is about changes. That both life and death bring changes to the world, probably more specifically the United States since the places and the animals referred to are only found in the US. I also think that the writer of this poem is referring himself as the snake from the line "I know. I also left a skin there." I think that he means skin as in shed skin like a snake. The snake visited this place of Hatteras and was overwhelmed with death and pollution. Birth is the hard loss because this place is so disgusted with things like death and pollution.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Madness is Divinest Sense
This poem states that what is often declared madness is actually the most profound kind of sanity “Much Madness is divinest Sense", when viewed by someone with “a discerning Eye.” What is often called sense or sanity is in fact not just “Madness,” but profound madness “the starkest Madness”. It is only called “Sense” because it is not defined by reason, but by what the majority thinks.
This poem is a great example of the past historical, scientific, and political events that have been lost with this generation's lack of background. This poem is prime example of many historical happenings that no one every thought about due to common sense factor. Theories and questions that have long been answered and migrated into our daily lives were not always like that. For example the atom theory. The idea was developed in 5th century B.C. times by greek philosophers, and the idea came about through the simple thought that all matter was made up of smaller invisible particles joined together to make what we see now as a person or a chair- pretty much any object on the planet, including the planet. The idea was obviously laughed at and never considered. The idea was "madness" yet through hundreds of years and research, experiments, explaining and scientists this "mad" idea has been integrated into our common high school freshman biology class and it will be in the education system forever. The "mad" idea was thought of through and different perspective and considered in the natural world, and through this practical change in point of view it has changed the scientific feild and the world forever.
There can be many more examples of thinkers and philosophers that have been shot down and discriminated against for having irrational ideas, yet through the different facets of a perspective the ideas can be reinvented and not thought of as madness but pure genius. For example in today's society the idea of extraterrestrial beings is completely off the walls, but you never know in the future the ideas can be thought of differently and the perspective view can change human thinking forever.
The modern thinkers and philosophers are "chained" and discriminated against for being different. The "madness" may be madness but in considering different points of view and perspectives the mad sometimes do turn out to be the genius.
This poem is a great example of the past historical, scientific, and political events that have been lost with this generation's lack of background. This poem is prime example of many historical happenings that no one every thought about due to common sense factor. Theories and questions that have long been answered and migrated into our daily lives were not always like that. For example the atom theory. The idea was developed in 5th century B.C. times by greek philosophers, and the idea came about through the simple thought that all matter was made up of smaller invisible particles joined together to make what we see now as a person or a chair- pretty much any object on the planet, including the planet. The idea was obviously laughed at and never considered. The idea was "madness" yet through hundreds of years and research, experiments, explaining and scientists this "mad" idea has been integrated into our common high school freshman biology class and it will be in the education system forever. The "mad" idea was thought of through and different perspective and considered in the natural world, and through this practical change in point of view it has changed the scientific feild and the world forever.
There can be many more examples of thinkers and philosophers that have been shot down and discriminated against for having irrational ideas, yet through the different facets of a perspective the ideas can be reinvented and not thought of as madness but pure genius. For example in today's society the idea of extraterrestrial beings is completely off the walls, but you never know in the future the ideas can be thought of differently and the perspective view can change human thinking forever.
The modern thinkers and philosophers are "chained" and discriminated against for being different. The "madness" may be madness but in considering different points of view and perspectives the mad sometimes do turn out to be the genius.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Song of the Powers by David Mason
When reading this poem I thought of the simple hand game, ro-sham-bo, rock-paper-scissors, whatever you would like to call it. The entire poem I only thought of the game and the rules to which to play, until the last stanza:
Then I thought of this poem as a deeper meaning. I thought of the rock, paper, and scissors to each represent some form of power in the human world, like mere strength, speech, or sword. These three forms of human strength in the working world can represent how to get up on the "social ladder". It's hard to explain but the working class as a whole is really nothing without the individual strengths- just like how they "all end alone". But, all the individuals make up the entire class.
I also began to think of this poem to represent some sort of war movie, like Lord of the Rings. The stone representing a soldier (mere strength again), the paper representing something like a spy or a sneaky bird creature like that of Lord of the Rings, and the scissors representing something with more royalty like a King. All three can be defeated one or the other. The spy kills the soldier through sneaky traps, the soldier kills the king with mere strength and betrayal, and the king kills the spy with might and authority. The cycle just going on and on.
As stone crushes scissors,
as paper snuffs stone
and scissors cut paper,
all end alone.
So heap up your paper
and scissor your wishes
and uproot the stone
from the top of the hill.
They all end alone
as you will, you will.
Then I thought of this poem as a deeper meaning. I thought of the rock, paper, and scissors to each represent some form of power in the human world, like mere strength, speech, or sword. These three forms of human strength in the working world can represent how to get up on the "social ladder". It's hard to explain but the working class as a whole is really nothing without the individual strengths- just like how they "all end alone". But, all the individuals make up the entire class.
I also began to think of this poem to represent some sort of war movie, like Lord of the Rings. The stone representing a soldier (mere strength again), the paper representing something like a spy or a sneaky bird creature like that of Lord of the Rings, and the scissors representing something with more royalty like a King. All three can be defeated one or the other. The spy kills the soldier through sneaky traps, the soldier kills the king with mere strength and betrayal, and the king kills the spy with might and authority. The cycle just going on and on.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
A Study of Reading Habits by Philip Larkin
At first the title of this poem presents itself to be a boring manuscript of how to have perfect reading habits, and then the author turns it around to be a humorous poem about the different stages in a man's adolescense. The first stanza:
When getting my nose in a book
Cured most things short of school,
It was worth ruining my eyes
To know I could still keep cool,
And deal out the old right hook
To dirty dogs twice my size
This first stanza reminds me of the early ages of a boy. When the boy first learns to read comic books and such to escape his elementary school life and still remain cool in his comic book fantasies. The boy obviously ruins his vision from reading so much and to remain in his fantasies, which will play a bigger role later in the poem.
In the second stanza:
Later, with inch-thick specs,
Evil was just my lark:
Me and my cloak and fangs
Had ripping times in the dark
The woman I clubbed with sex!
I broke then up like meringues.
From this stanza it shows the middle aged man. The reading stages a teenage through early days of a man goes from another comic book-more mature of course, to books about women and sex I am guessing. The man is now learning to please a mate and by doing this it may include learning how to cook (meringues).
In the third stanza:
Don't read much now: the dude
Who lets the girl down before
The hero arrives, the chap
Who's yellow and keeps the store,
Seem far too similar. Get stewed:
Books are a load of crap.
This stanza is the elder years of a man. The midlife crisis stage. This stage is when the man forgets about stories and reading and is hopeless in his life. Instead he turns to alcohol- "Get Stewed." The midlife crisis man thinks books are a load of crap. Some may assume this is how most men end up, some do some don't.
This poem was interesting, I liked the unusual way the poem was opposite of the title.
When getting my nose in a book
Cured most things short of school,
It was worth ruining my eyes
To know I could still keep cool,
And deal out the old right hook
To dirty dogs twice my size
This first stanza reminds me of the early ages of a boy. When the boy first learns to read comic books and such to escape his elementary school life and still remain cool in his comic book fantasies. The boy obviously ruins his vision from reading so much and to remain in his fantasies, which will play a bigger role later in the poem.
In the second stanza:
Later, with inch-thick specs,
Evil was just my lark:
Me and my cloak and fangs
Had ripping times in the dark
The woman I clubbed with sex!
I broke then up like meringues.
From this stanza it shows the middle aged man. The reading stages a teenage through early days of a man goes from another comic book-more mature of course, to books about women and sex I am guessing. The man is now learning to please a mate and by doing this it may include learning how to cook (meringues).
In the third stanza:
Don't read much now: the dude
Who lets the girl down before
The hero arrives, the chap
Who's yellow and keeps the store,
Seem far too similar. Get stewed:
Books are a load of crap.
This stanza is the elder years of a man. The midlife crisis stage. This stage is when the man forgets about stories and reading and is hopeless in his life. Instead he turns to alcohol- "Get Stewed." The midlife crisis man thinks books are a load of crap. Some may assume this is how most men end up, some do some don't.
This poem was interesting, I liked the unusual way the poem was opposite of the title.
The Writer by Richar Wilbur
This poem is about a father-daughter relationship. The poem is about the daughter’s life journey and how the father can only point her in the right direction, but can’t make her decisions for her. The narrator is the father of a girl typing a story. As the father stands outside the shut door of his daughter’s room, listening to her type, he wishes her luck on her journey. The daughter pauses suddenly and the father takes this pause as a rejection of his wish of her to do well in life, the daughter then types again and pauses again. The father at this point remembers a bird that was trapped in the room many years before. The father opened the window in a hope to get the bird out of the room, the daughter and the father both had to leave the room to prevent from scaring it. The bird eventually left the room and that is the end of the poem.
Wilbur uses three separate metaphors to enhance the poem's meaning. The first metaphor is the daughter's life journey being compared to that of a ship's voyage. The daughter's life is being compared to "heavy cargo" and the father wishes her "lucky passage" much like what sailers say when taking off on their journey. These expressions show how a journey at sea is like the journey through life. Another metaphor is “Like a chain hauled over a gunwale” which is what wilbur uses to describe the daughter typing on the type writer. The phrase is referring to when a ship sets sail and lifts up the anchor from the ocean floor, just like how the daughter metaphorically sets sail in life.
The third metaphor is in the title "The Writer". It is obvious the father is talking about the girls journey through life on her own just as she is writing the story on the type writer. The girl stops and has struggles with the story just as she will have struggles throughout her life. The bird is also referring to the girl in the poem. The father can only open the window and step back and hope the bird (girl) flies in the right direction.
That is how the poem ends, the father can only point his daughter in the right direction and wish her a "lucky passage".
Wilbur uses three separate metaphors to enhance the poem's meaning. The first metaphor is the daughter's life journey being compared to that of a ship's voyage. The daughter's life is being compared to "heavy cargo" and the father wishes her "lucky passage" much like what sailers say when taking off on their journey. These expressions show how a journey at sea is like the journey through life. Another metaphor is “Like a chain hauled over a gunwale” which is what wilbur uses to describe the daughter typing on the type writer. The phrase is referring to when a ship sets sail and lifts up the anchor from the ocean floor, just like how the daughter metaphorically sets sail in life.
The third metaphor is in the title "The Writer". It is obvious the father is talking about the girls journey through life on her own just as she is writing the story on the type writer. The girl stops and has struggles with the story just as she will have struggles throughout her life. The bird is also referring to the girl in the poem. The father can only open the window and step back and hope the bird (girl) flies in the right direction.
That is how the poem ends, the father can only point his daughter in the right direction and wish her a "lucky passage".
The Gift by Li-Young Lee
This poem is about the relationship a boy has with his father and the boy's transitioned relationship he has with his wife. In the poem I think "The Gift" is the father's wisdom. The gift is received when the boy gives his father a kiss, and also the gift is recieved through age and growing up.
The gift is symbolized as the removal of the splinter. Through the gentle tenderness the father figure has when removing the splinter gives the boy the gift of knowledge of removing a splinter. However small that gift may be it is still a gift. When the boy grows older he thanks his father for giving him the gift of being able to remove a splinter- or the gift of wisdom, whether it is recieved through age or through the fathers kiss or both he has this gift and he shares it with his wife. The wife then also recieves a gift, the gift is not the same though it is a gift of relief not wisdom.
The part in the poem about death:
Metal that will bury me,
christen it Little Assassin,
Ore Going Deep for My Heart.
And I did not lift up my wound and cry,
Death visited here!
I do not fully understand. From an educated guess I can conclude that the husband may be boasting about pulling out the splinter from his wife's hand, but I can not be certain.
The end of the poem is simply accepting the gift the boy (now husband) has recieved from his father. The boy has grown and matured. He is able to proudly identify with his giving father, rather than prolong his past identity as a receiving child.
The gift is symbolized as the removal of the splinter. Through the gentle tenderness the father figure has when removing the splinter gives the boy the gift of knowledge of removing a splinter. However small that gift may be it is still a gift. When the boy grows older he thanks his father for giving him the gift of being able to remove a splinter- or the gift of wisdom, whether it is recieved through age or through the fathers kiss or both he has this gift and he shares it with his wife. The wife then also recieves a gift, the gift is not the same though it is a gift of relief not wisdom.
The part in the poem about death:
Metal that will bury me,
christen it Little Assassin,
Ore Going Deep for My Heart.
And I did not lift up my wound and cry,
Death visited here!
I do not fully understand. From an educated guess I can conclude that the husband may be boasting about pulling out the splinter from his wife's hand, but I can not be certain.
The end of the poem is simply accepting the gift the boy (now husband) has recieved from his father. The boy has grown and matured. He is able to proudly identify with his giving father, rather than prolong his past identity as a receiving child.
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