"After Tonight"
This poem consists of four stanzas of varying lengths. There is no rhyme scheme. The poem is instructive and reminds the audience that nothing is certain. Just because your days have gone by relatively unchanged does not mean that tomorrow holds the same. The poem instructs readers not to take anything for granted. Soto criticizes the addressee with
And you do not think of the hills
And of the splintered wrists it takes
To give you
The heat rising toward the ceiling (lines 15-18).
We often forget from whence we derive our comforts and our security. We see horrible things happening to people and think "them, but never me." Soto's message is important. It seems to be a common feature of human nature that we take our security and comfort for granted when we are not forced to actively protect and defend it. Soto's use of language is such that it warns us quietly and sternly. Without explicitly telling the addressee that she ought to be aware of and acknowledge every possibility, Soto creeps into our thoughts and we feel insecure. The greater message is not one of fear but of realism. No one is immune to mishap or disaster.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Gwendolyn Brooks
"The Boy Died in My Alley"
This poem consists of eight stanzas of varying lengths. The poet describes how she was visited and interrogated by police after a boy was found dead in her alley. The policeman asks the speaker, "'You heard a shot?'" and she replies "Shots I hear and Shots I hear. / I never see the dead (lines4-6). The speaker has become accustomed to the sound of gunshots at night. When asked is she knew the boy, the speaker replies that "I have known this Boy before, who / ornaments my alley" (lines 18-19). She explains that she "always heard him deal with death" (line 22) but the speaker has "closed my heart-ears late and early. / And I have killed him ever" (lines 24 - 25). At this point, the reader realizes that the speaker may not have known the dead boy personally but that the boy has become a casualty in a place where men are often killed in the streets. The speaker feels personally responsible for the death because she has done nothing to stop it and has turned a blind eye or "closed my heart-ears" in deliberate ignorance of the atrocities of the streets. I once read this poem in a UIL poetry reading competition about 11 years ago! I was 16! I think I would be able to present a more convincing reading of this poem now that I have gained some maturity. While the themes addressed by this poem invoked sympathy in me and inspired me, the judges weren't convinced that a 16 year-old white boy from Levelland, Texas really understood the suffering of people who witness violent crime in the ghetto every week or every day of their lives.
This poem consists of eight stanzas of varying lengths. The poet describes how she was visited and interrogated by police after a boy was found dead in her alley. The policeman asks the speaker, "'You heard a shot?'" and she replies "Shots I hear and Shots I hear. / I never see the dead (lines4-6). The speaker has become accustomed to the sound of gunshots at night. When asked is she knew the boy, the speaker replies that "I have known this Boy before, who / ornaments my alley" (lines 18-19). She explains that she "always heard him deal with death" (line 22) but the speaker has "closed my heart-ears late and early. / And I have killed him ever" (lines 24 - 25). At this point, the reader realizes that the speaker may not have known the dead boy personally but that the boy has become a casualty in a place where men are often killed in the streets. The speaker feels personally responsible for the death because she has done nothing to stop it and has turned a blind eye or "closed my heart-ears" in deliberate ignorance of the atrocities of the streets. I once read this poem in a UIL poetry reading competition about 11 years ago! I was 16! I think I would be able to present a more convincing reading of this poem now that I have gained some maturity. While the themes addressed by this poem invoked sympathy in me and inspired me, the judges weren't convinced that a 16 year-old white boy from Levelland, Texas really understood the suffering of people who witness violent crime in the ghetto every week or every day of their lives.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Sylvia Plath
"Fever 103˚"
It seems that very few people have the self-confrontational honesty and insight demonstrated by confessional writers like Plath. Plath's poetry is truly "confessional" and has a particular vibe which is reflective of the modern American middle class at its darkest. It reads like disturbing diary entries and relates the personal psychology of a woman living in personal torment in a pristine and modern suburban setting. "Fever 103˚" consists of eighteen stanzas of three lines each. There is no rhyme scheme. What limits the writer's word bank is not a constrictive adherence to a measured pattern but the impetus to construe languid sounding poetry rich with metaphor. She begins by asking (addressing herself?) "Pure? What does it mean?" Through brief and uneasy imagery she conveys a sense of disgust, fear, and shame in the stanzas that follow. Exactly half-way through the poem, the speaker addresses someone in particular (outside herself) with "Darling, all night / I have been flickering, off, on, off, on. / The sheets grow heavy as a lecher's kiss." (Lines 28-30). The events that take place and have taken place behind the scenes of the poem are left to the imagination of the audience. When the poet says "Three days. Three nights. / Lemon water, chicken / Water, water make me retch." we do not know the personal memories and life experiences that inspired these words. We are left to imagine what might have happened or to simply ponder on the uneasy connotations of the rapidly changing horrors suggested in few words. The guard dog of hell, the vague and morbid reference to the freak-accident death of an American celebrity, and other "ghastly" snapshots are put to the audience with intermittent references to sin and love. After the half-way point and now directly addressing someone in particular, the poet declares herself "too pure for you or anyone." She informs the person that "Your body / Hurts me as the world hurts God." What the author describes is felt and understood by this reader in my own terms but not in terms that are easily conveyed. This demonstrates the usefulness of poetry paired with the shortcomings of our language; there are not enough words or known concepts for expressing all of our experiences and poetry finds ways of getting around this. What the author speaks of is shame, fear of intimacy, emotional vulnerability, and a struggle to reconcile human nature with the enculturation of shame and sin. The puritanical but lasting notions that "cleanliness is next to godliness" and that purity of mind and heart is not only to be sought but to remain constant and unwavering have met their matches with the liberal philosophies of the 20th century and the tension created by this conflict of values manifests in neurotic preoccupations which are then jotted down beautifully by Plath. The Cubist painter Georges Braque claimed that "Art is meant to disturb." Art should not be limited to serving only one function in society but "to disturb" the audience must have its place in art. If something artistic makes you feel uneasy or uncomfortable, it is because you are avoiding an uncomfortable conversation with yourself. Plath confronted her own shadows and shared them with the world. It seems there was no conversation or topic too uncomfortable to address for Plath because the discomfort was addressed and embraced with surrender. Unfortunately, she was unable to triumph over the neurotic preoccupations and emotional suffering through her confrontational and open approach. However, it has been suggested that poetry like that of Plath and other confessional poets has therapeutic applicability for some of those who write it and read it.
It seems that very few people have the self-confrontational honesty and insight demonstrated by confessional writers like Plath. Plath's poetry is truly "confessional" and has a particular vibe which is reflective of the modern American middle class at its darkest. It reads like disturbing diary entries and relates the personal psychology of a woman living in personal torment in a pristine and modern suburban setting. "Fever 103˚" consists of eighteen stanzas of three lines each. There is no rhyme scheme. What limits the writer's word bank is not a constrictive adherence to a measured pattern but the impetus to construe languid sounding poetry rich with metaphor. She begins by asking (addressing herself?) "Pure? What does it mean?" Through brief and uneasy imagery she conveys a sense of disgust, fear, and shame in the stanzas that follow. Exactly half-way through the poem, the speaker addresses someone in particular (outside herself) with "Darling, all night / I have been flickering, off, on, off, on. / The sheets grow heavy as a lecher's kiss." (Lines 28-30). The events that take place and have taken place behind the scenes of the poem are left to the imagination of the audience. When the poet says "Three days. Three nights. / Lemon water, chicken / Water, water make me retch." we do not know the personal memories and life experiences that inspired these words. We are left to imagine what might have happened or to simply ponder on the uneasy connotations of the rapidly changing horrors suggested in few words. The guard dog of hell, the vague and morbid reference to the freak-accident death of an American celebrity, and other "ghastly" snapshots are put to the audience with intermittent references to sin and love. After the half-way point and now directly addressing someone in particular, the poet declares herself "too pure for you or anyone." She informs the person that "Your body / Hurts me as the world hurts God." What the author describes is felt and understood by this reader in my own terms but not in terms that are easily conveyed. This demonstrates the usefulness of poetry paired with the shortcomings of our language; there are not enough words or known concepts for expressing all of our experiences and poetry finds ways of getting around this. What the author speaks of is shame, fear of intimacy, emotional vulnerability, and a struggle to reconcile human nature with the enculturation of shame and sin. The puritanical but lasting notions that "cleanliness is next to godliness" and that purity of mind and heart is not only to be sought but to remain constant and unwavering have met their matches with the liberal philosophies of the 20th century and the tension created by this conflict of values manifests in neurotic preoccupations which are then jotted down beautifully by Plath. The Cubist painter Georges Braque claimed that "Art is meant to disturb." Art should not be limited to serving only one function in society but "to disturb" the audience must have its place in art. If something artistic makes you feel uneasy or uncomfortable, it is because you are avoiding an uncomfortable conversation with yourself. Plath confronted her own shadows and shared them with the world. It seems there was no conversation or topic too uncomfortable to address for Plath because the discomfort was addressed and embraced with surrender. Unfortunately, she was unable to triumph over the neurotic preoccupations and emotional suffering through her confrontational and open approach. However, it has been suggested that poetry like that of Plath and other confessional poets has therapeutic applicability for some of those who write it and read it.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Philip Larkin
"Homage to a Government"
This eerie poem by Larkin seems very appropriate for America today as we usher troops back home after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The poem was written in 1969 and was a response to the end of the war in Vietnam. It is a cynical look at relationship between the American people and the government's military actions abroad. The American people with their disparate and media-influenced opinions about war sacrifice their sons and daughters to unjust wars. In "Hommage to a Government," Larkin explains that "Next year we are to bring the soldiers home / For lack of money, and it is all right." (Lines 1-2). The impact of war on the economy seems to be the focus of the poem, Larkin ends the piece with "All we can hope to leave them now is money." (Line 18). This ending arrives after a slow and indifferent explanation of how it was that soldiers ended up abroad only to cause harm there and to return home for lack of money but "this is all right." The refrain of "this is all right" occurs three times in the poem and with great impact each time. The poem overall is full of irony. The reader easily detects the subtext or latent content which actually addresses the futility of the war. The voice of the speaker is complacent and subdued. The distance of the war abroad has caused us to forget that we are at war as was the case with other wars. One can easily imagine that the speaker is a common man who derives his opinions from the nightly news, the papers, and the political institutions that he was taught to trust. Ignorance is bliss after all. This is not the voice of draft dodgers, angry protesters or the mothers of soldiers who have died abroad. This is the voice of the middle-aged, working class male who swallows whatever propaganda and misinformation that he is fed. The character we derive from this poem belies the questioning voice of reason in the subtext who implores the audience to take a critical look at the official story.
This eerie poem by Larkin seems very appropriate for America today as we usher troops back home after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The poem was written in 1969 and was a response to the end of the war in Vietnam. It is a cynical look at relationship between the American people and the government's military actions abroad. The American people with their disparate and media-influenced opinions about war sacrifice their sons and daughters to unjust wars. In "Hommage to a Government," Larkin explains that "Next year we are to bring the soldiers home / For lack of money, and it is all right." (Lines 1-2). The impact of war on the economy seems to be the focus of the poem, Larkin ends the piece with "All we can hope to leave them now is money." (Line 18). This ending arrives after a slow and indifferent explanation of how it was that soldiers ended up abroad only to cause harm there and to return home for lack of money but "this is all right." The refrain of "this is all right" occurs three times in the poem and with great impact each time. The poem overall is full of irony. The reader easily detects the subtext or latent content which actually addresses the futility of the war. The voice of the speaker is complacent and subdued. The distance of the war abroad has caused us to forget that we are at war as was the case with other wars. One can easily imagine that the speaker is a common man who derives his opinions from the nightly news, the papers, and the political institutions that he was taught to trust. Ignorance is bliss after all. This is not the voice of draft dodgers, angry protesters or the mothers of soldiers who have died abroad. This is the voice of the middle-aged, working class male who swallows whatever propaganda and misinformation that he is fed. The character we derive from this poem belies the questioning voice of reason in the subtext who implores the audience to take a critical look at the official story.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Elizabeth Bishop
"One Art"
This rather nihilistic poem reminds me of something written by Plath or Sexton because of its ambivalent detachment. It speaks of a surrender to depression after a long struggle. Bishop speaks of losing her keys, her houses, her mother's watch and of loosing her lover, of loosing everything as if loosing were an art form that the author has mastered. The poem consists of six stanzas of three lines each and a simple rhyme scheme of A-B-A, A-B-A. Bishop explains that "so many things seem filled with intent / to be lost that their loss is no disaster." (lines 2-3). The speaker advises her audience to practice loosing and to "accept the fluster" of things lost. Life is a series of gains and losses but the losses are far more inevitable than the gains. This poem reminds us of this and its message can be interpreted as sad and nihilistic or as resolute and realistic. In the last stanza the author forces herself to declare to that loosing her lover has not been a disaster: "It's evident / the art of losing's not hard to master / though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster." (lines 17-18). This rhetorical strategy gives some insight into the mind of the speaker who is not completely resolute and is not completely content with the inevitability of loss. Loss has become like a fact of life for Bishop but it's still a hard pill to swallow.
This rather nihilistic poem reminds me of something written by Plath or Sexton because of its ambivalent detachment. It speaks of a surrender to depression after a long struggle. Bishop speaks of losing her keys, her houses, her mother's watch and of loosing her lover, of loosing everything as if loosing were an art form that the author has mastered. The poem consists of six stanzas of three lines each and a simple rhyme scheme of A-B-A, A-B-A. Bishop explains that "so many things seem filled with intent / to be lost that their loss is no disaster." (lines 2-3). The speaker advises her audience to practice loosing and to "accept the fluster" of things lost. Life is a series of gains and losses but the losses are far more inevitable than the gains. This poem reminds us of this and its message can be interpreted as sad and nihilistic or as resolute and realistic. In the last stanza the author forces herself to declare to that loosing her lover has not been a disaster: "It's evident / the art of losing's not hard to master / though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster." (lines 17-18). This rhetorical strategy gives some insight into the mind of the speaker who is not completely resolute and is not completely content with the inevitability of loss. Loss has become like a fact of life for Bishop but it's still a hard pill to swallow.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Dylan Thomas
"In My Craft of Sullen Art"
This poem consists of two stanzas of eleven and nine lines respectively. Thomas speaks of art for art's sake. His art is writing (line 12) and he practices his art "in the still of night" (line 2). The rhyming scheme is present but irregular and follows thusly: A-B-C-D-E-B-D-E-C-C-A (first stanza) and A-B-C-D-E-E-C-C-A. The rhyming words at the end of lines are apparent but without metrical regularity. The content is verily straight-forward and without much simile or metaphor. Thomas explains that he writes not "for ambition or bread," nor for posterity but for "the common wages / Of their most secret heart." (Line 9). The possesive personal pronoun "their" refers to "the lovers" who "lie abed / With all their griefs in their arms," (Lines 4-5). Dylan Thomas proclaims emphatically that his craft is undertaken in honor of lovers "Who pay no praise or wages / Nor heed my craft or art." (Lines 19-20). With these lines, Thomas sees his work as a self-sacrificing labor of love.
This poem consists of two stanzas of eleven and nine lines respectively. Thomas speaks of art for art's sake. His art is writing (line 12) and he practices his art "in the still of night" (line 2). The rhyming scheme is present but irregular and follows thusly: A-B-C-D-E-B-D-E-C-C-A (first stanza) and A-B-C-D-E-E-C-C-A. The rhyming words at the end of lines are apparent but without metrical regularity. The content is verily straight-forward and without much simile or metaphor. Thomas explains that he writes not "for ambition or bread," nor for posterity but for "the common wages / Of their most secret heart." (Line 9). The possesive personal pronoun "their" refers to "the lovers" who "lie abed / With all their griefs in their arms," (Lines 4-5). Dylan Thomas proclaims emphatically that his craft is undertaken in honor of lovers "Who pay no praise or wages / Nor heed my craft or art." (Lines 19-20). With these lines, Thomas sees his work as a self-sacrificing labor of love.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Shel Silverstein
"The Perfect High"
This simple poetic anecdote by Silverstein has a moral. Gimmesome Roy is the main character and the majority of the poem details the many ways in which Mr. Roy sought "the perfect high" from every intoxicant he could find. It seems that Gimmesome was predisposed to substance abuse from a very early age for we are told that "As a kid, he sat in the cellar, sniffing airplane glue." (Line 3). Despite his endless experimentation, Gimmesome cannot seem to satisfy his longing. What is it that he seeks? Substance abuse counselors the world over might tell us that the addict seeks to escape his reality and become like someone else; to change his mind with the assistance of intoxicants in avoidance of himself. He is his own worst enemy and cannot bear simply to be. After much seeking, Gimmesome takes the proverbial climb up the mountain upon which sits a guru. The guru's name is Baba Fats. Shel Silverstein is ever the comedian and beings light to any situation. The throes and pangs of the life of the addict are a serious matter but Silverstein makes it laughable and therefore palatable with his whimsical sense of humor. The guru informs Gimmesome that the answer lies within. He says "Son, if you would seek the perfect high--find it in yourself." (Line 36). The message is clear and the poem is hardly cryptic. It is written in a hipster style with slang words and colloquialisms, yet with class and depth.
This simple poetic anecdote by Silverstein has a moral. Gimmesome Roy is the main character and the majority of the poem details the many ways in which Mr. Roy sought "the perfect high" from every intoxicant he could find. It seems that Gimmesome was predisposed to substance abuse from a very early age for we are told that "As a kid, he sat in the cellar, sniffing airplane glue." (Line 3). Despite his endless experimentation, Gimmesome cannot seem to satisfy his longing. What is it that he seeks? Substance abuse counselors the world over might tell us that the addict seeks to escape his reality and become like someone else; to change his mind with the assistance of intoxicants in avoidance of himself. He is his own worst enemy and cannot bear simply to be. After much seeking, Gimmesome takes the proverbial climb up the mountain upon which sits a guru. The guru's name is Baba Fats. Shel Silverstein is ever the comedian and beings light to any situation. The throes and pangs of the life of the addict are a serious matter but Silverstein makes it laughable and therefore palatable with his whimsical sense of humor. The guru informs Gimmesome that the answer lies within. He says "Son, if you would seek the perfect high--find it in yourself." (Line 36). The message is clear and the poem is hardly cryptic. It is written in a hipster style with slang words and colloquialisms, yet with class and depth.
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