This much discussed poem by Eliot is profound in its attempts to convey the ineffable. Although somewhat incomprehensible due to its stream-of-consciousness style, this piece has been embraced the world over. Perhaps this is because it speaks of human emotions as they sometimes are; confounding, illogical, romantic, afflicted and beyond control. The speaker takes his audience on a journey through the mundane avenues, "cheap hotels," and "sawdust restaurants" of his life. These references and others have led some scholars to believe that Eliot expresses a discontent with the entrapment of modernity. The speaker says that he has "measured out my (his) life with coffee spoons;" (line 51). For this reader, what is conveyed through the poem is a profound sense of helplessness in the throes of natural impulses which must be experienced from within a world of social obligations, and these social expectations make the longing that much worse. The speaker seems beyond the drama of being tormented by his emotions and into a phase of surrender. He makes references to aging with "a bald spot in the middle of my hair-" (line 39). This talk of aging indicates that the object of the speaker's longing may be further and further out of reach. The longing, the helplessness, the emasculation all seem to be directed towards a particular woman; she with "Arms that are braceleted and white and bare" (Line 63). The speaker (perhaps Prufrock) indicates that he is unsure as to the cause of his suffering in the following lines "Is it perfume from a dress / That makes me so digress?" (Lines 65-66).
Although the poem contains a loose rhyming scheme, the pace is languid and reads like a long hymn. Also, while the poem conveys feelings of profound longing and discontent, it does so without the quixotic histrionics typical of romantically unrequited poets. The ability of the poem to evoke empathy in readers is largely due to the understated feelings of the writer.
The epilogue offers clues for the solving of this puzzle. The epilogue is a quotation from Dante's "Inferno" which speaks of personal secrets and the conditions under which one might feel free to reveal his/her secrets. The speaker has "some overwhelming question" which he is dying to ask but he is either too insecure or afraid of rejection to do so. The speaker is insecure in his convictions and asks many questions as to whether or not he should perform a number of tasks such as parting his hair or eating a peach. He laments that while he can see the mermaids singing offshore, they will not sing to him. The idea has some importance for the poet; he isolates it in a one-lined stanza which reads "I do not think that they will sing to me" (Line 125). The last lines of the poem all speak of elusive mermaids and echo the previously covered theme of the elusive and inaccessible woman. Overall, the piece is tinged with insanity and contrasts the inner life with the social life outside as in the last stanza;
"We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown."
What is implied is that one may live in a sublime ethereal dream world of beauty until rudely awakened into the institutional realms of human life by the pressing obligations of society.
Overall, for this reader, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" expresses the pangs of being human and with natural longings and wildly motivating impulses with being in human society with its conventions and expectations; a cold, cruel reality.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
T.S. Eliot
"Whispers of Immortality"
This curious poem by Eliot consists of thirty-two lines placed into eight quatrains. The poem is separated into two sections and indeed, seems to be two different poems. The connection between the first sixteen lines and the last sixteen is difficult to discern. The first sixteen lines are an uncanny declaration of admiration for John Webster, the English dramatist and for John Donne, the poet. Uncanny because both men are spoken of with fondness but also with imagery and concepts which are not normally associated with admiration or admirable qualities. Eliot informs his audience that "Webster was much possessed by death / And saw the skull beneath the skin." According to Eliot, Webster also saw demonic beings such as one might find in a painting by Hieronymus Bosch but Eliot implies that Webster was aware of truths unknown to most. He implies the same with regard to John Donne who "...was such another / Who found no substitute for sense, / To seize and clutch and penetrate; / Expert beyond experience." He then conjures another set of grim imagery in association with Donne. The descriptions of these men as having been somewhat enlightened seems ironic when adjacent to the description of these men as having been somewhat macabre fellows. Eliot seems to admire the realistic attitude that the two men seemed to have with regard to mortality and the temporal qualities of life.
The second half of the poem takes the audience elsewhere rather quickly. Rather than extracting the merits of realism from within the grim and frightening imagery, we are introduced to a female character called "Grishkin." Eliot's description of Grishkin exudes sexuality; "Uncorseted, her friendly bust / Gives promise of pneumatic bliss." The use of the word "pneumatic" is creative and counter-intuitive, for pneumatic has three meanings according to Webster's Dictionary. The word means of, related to, or using gas but it also refers to the ephemeral realm of spirit. Thirdly, the word is indicative of "having a well-proportioned feminine figure; especially: having a full bust." The phrase "pneumatic bliss" must be a double entendre here. Grishkin is compared to a "sleek Brazilian jaguar" stalking her prey. The last stanza is quite charming;
"And even the Abstract Entities
Circumambulate her charm;
But our lot crawls between dry ribs
To keep our metaphysics warm."
As stated above, the connection between the two halves is not made easily. However, one could postulate that when Eliot refers to "our lot," he may be referring to the male gender which would include John Webster and John Donne and that the intention is to draw a distinction between the male and female. For, "our lot crawls between dry ribs / To keep our metaphysics warm," but Grishkin is a busty maid with an ineffable way of being ephemeral which is unknown to realistic and sometimes grim men.
This curious poem by Eliot consists of thirty-two lines placed into eight quatrains. The poem is separated into two sections and indeed, seems to be two different poems. The connection between the first sixteen lines and the last sixteen is difficult to discern. The first sixteen lines are an uncanny declaration of admiration for John Webster, the English dramatist and for John Donne, the poet. Uncanny because both men are spoken of with fondness but also with imagery and concepts which are not normally associated with admiration or admirable qualities. Eliot informs his audience that "Webster was much possessed by death / And saw the skull beneath the skin." According to Eliot, Webster also saw demonic beings such as one might find in a painting by Hieronymus Bosch but Eliot implies that Webster was aware of truths unknown to most. He implies the same with regard to John Donne who "...was such another / Who found no substitute for sense, / To seize and clutch and penetrate; / Expert beyond experience." He then conjures another set of grim imagery in association with Donne. The descriptions of these men as having been somewhat enlightened seems ironic when adjacent to the description of these men as having been somewhat macabre fellows. Eliot seems to admire the realistic attitude that the two men seemed to have with regard to mortality and the temporal qualities of life.
The second half of the poem takes the audience elsewhere rather quickly. Rather than extracting the merits of realism from within the grim and frightening imagery, we are introduced to a female character called "Grishkin." Eliot's description of Grishkin exudes sexuality; "Uncorseted, her friendly bust / Gives promise of pneumatic bliss." The use of the word "pneumatic" is creative and counter-intuitive, for pneumatic has three meanings according to Webster's Dictionary. The word means of, related to, or using gas but it also refers to the ephemeral realm of spirit. Thirdly, the word is indicative of "having a well-proportioned feminine figure; especially: having a full bust." The phrase "pneumatic bliss" must be a double entendre here. Grishkin is compared to a "sleek Brazilian jaguar" stalking her prey. The last stanza is quite charming;
"And even the Abstract Entities
Circumambulate her charm;
But our lot crawls between dry ribs
To keep our metaphysics warm."
As stated above, the connection between the two halves is not made easily. However, one could postulate that when Eliot refers to "our lot," he may be referring to the male gender which would include John Webster and John Donne and that the intention is to draw a distinction between the male and female. For, "our lot crawls between dry ribs / To keep our metaphysics warm," but Grishkin is a busty maid with an ineffable way of being ephemeral which is unknown to realistic and sometimes grim men.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
W. H. Auden
"As I Walked Out One Evening"
This poem by Auden consists of sixty lines divided into fifteen quatrains. The rhyming scheme is somewhat unusual; only the second and fourth lines of each stanza rhyme. The piece is rich with metaphor and simile; "The crowds upon the pavement / Were fields of harvest wheat." (lines 3-4). As the title implies, Auden recounts walking out onto Bristol Street in the evening. Auden says that he heard a "lover singing / Under an arch of the railway". The lover's song is an ode to his/her loved one and is detailed within the poem. The song is sung in hyperbole. It is an expression of a love so great that it defies all conventions and expectations:
"I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street."
The lover's love is great and enduring but what of time? Time becomes a main character for the remainder of the poem and is presented as an opponent of love:
"But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
"O let not time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time."
Auden capitalizes the word time as if to deify it or to bring it to life. Time is almost equated with death in certain instances, or at least, time serves as death's agent.
Auden's unconventional use of imagery and metaphor is particularly brilliant in "As I Walked Out One Evening," as in the following example;
"The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead."
What is meant with these lines? Auden's language is cryptic. Perhaps some Freudian free association was employed to contrive these riddles and they are written in a subconscious language known only to the writer. Any interpretation seems forced and arbitrary. Instead, I'd rather enjoy the word-play and take it as it is; without prescribing and projecting my own experiences therein. If indeed these lines are written in a way which was very personal to the writer, my attempts to interpret them would only result in a sloppy transliteration. Although a bit incomprehensible, the metaphors imagined through these words are beautiful and force the reader into his/her own subconscious mind.
As for the singer under the arch, it is unlikely that the song presented here was actually heard by Auden. We cannot know if the singer existed at all. That being the case, who is this singer? What does she/he have to offer in the way of symbolism? Perhaps Auden did in fact hear someone singing under the railway that evening and perhaps he was inspired by that and could ascribe his own lyrics to the lover's song.
It seems as though volumes could be written solely for the purposes of interpreting this piece.
This poem by Auden consists of sixty lines divided into fifteen quatrains. The rhyming scheme is somewhat unusual; only the second and fourth lines of each stanza rhyme. The piece is rich with metaphor and simile; "The crowds upon the pavement / Were fields of harvest wheat." (lines 3-4). As the title implies, Auden recounts walking out onto Bristol Street in the evening. Auden says that he heard a "lover singing / Under an arch of the railway". The lover's song is an ode to his/her loved one and is detailed within the poem. The song is sung in hyperbole. It is an expression of a love so great that it defies all conventions and expectations:
"I'll love you, dear, I'll love you
Till China and Africa meet
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street."
The lover's love is great and enduring but what of time? Time becomes a main character for the remainder of the poem and is presented as an opponent of love:
"But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
"O let not time deceive you,
You cannot conquer Time."
Auden capitalizes the word time as if to deify it or to bring it to life. Time is almost equated with death in certain instances, or at least, time serves as death's agent.
Auden's unconventional use of imagery and metaphor is particularly brilliant in "As I Walked Out One Evening," as in the following example;
"The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
A lane to the land of the dead."
What is meant with these lines? Auden's language is cryptic. Perhaps some Freudian free association was employed to contrive these riddles and they are written in a subconscious language known only to the writer. Any interpretation seems forced and arbitrary. Instead, I'd rather enjoy the word-play and take it as it is; without prescribing and projecting my own experiences therein. If indeed these lines are written in a way which was very personal to the writer, my attempts to interpret them would only result in a sloppy transliteration. Although a bit incomprehensible, the metaphors imagined through these words are beautiful and force the reader into his/her own subconscious mind.
As for the singer under the arch, it is unlikely that the song presented here was actually heard by Auden. We cannot know if the singer existed at all. That being the case, who is this singer? What does she/he have to offer in the way of symbolism? Perhaps Auden did in fact hear someone singing under the railway that evening and perhaps he was inspired by that and could ascribe his own lyrics to the lover's song.
It seems as though volumes could be written solely for the purposes of interpreting this piece.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Langston Hughes
"Song for a Dark Girl"
"Song for a Dark Girl" consists of three short stanzas of four lines each. The first line of each stanza is identical and reads: "Way Down South in Dixie," which alludes to a Civil War minstrel song. One is reminded of the famous song "Strange Fruit," which was written by Billie Holiday and first recorded in 1939. Since Holiday also lived in Harlem for a time, she was probably familiar with Hughes's poetry. Popular culture in the United States has had a very strong African American influence since the time of the Civil War and increasingly thereafter. Jazz, the blues, and eventually rock n' roll were all inventions of the Black subculture and "Song for a Dark Girl" is written like a languid, mournful song. The poem is about the phenomena of lynching, which primarily took place in the deep south. Hughes imagines himself in love with a girl who has been lynched and mourns his loss.
"They hung my black young lover
To a cross roads tree."
"Love is a naked shadow
On a gnarled and naked tree."
The imagery evoked by the poem is stark and morbid but realistic: "(Bruised body high in air)".
One phrase in particular stands out and is placed right in the middle of the poem:
"I asked the white Lord Jesus
What was the use of prayer."
This phrase is particularly powerful in conveying the message of the poem. This singular phrase is one that would have resonated deeply with the disenfranchised African Americans who's lives had been rife with imposed oppression, pain, and suffering.
Hughes and other Harlem Renaissance poets wrote in a lyrical style which was quite different from the styles being explored by white poets of the time. It is distinctly American, distinctly Black, and makes no apologies for its honesty. Mournful poems such as "Song for a Dark Girl" reminds one of the Biblical prophet Jeremiah who perfectly transcribed his suffering and oppression with brutal honesty.
"Song for a Dark Girl" consists of three short stanzas of four lines each. The first line of each stanza is identical and reads: "Way Down South in Dixie," which alludes to a Civil War minstrel song. One is reminded of the famous song "Strange Fruit," which was written by Billie Holiday and first recorded in 1939. Since Holiday also lived in Harlem for a time, she was probably familiar with Hughes's poetry. Popular culture in the United States has had a very strong African American influence since the time of the Civil War and increasingly thereafter. Jazz, the blues, and eventually rock n' roll were all inventions of the Black subculture and "Song for a Dark Girl" is written like a languid, mournful song. The poem is about the phenomena of lynching, which primarily took place in the deep south. Hughes imagines himself in love with a girl who has been lynched and mourns his loss.
"They hung my black young lover
To a cross roads tree."
"Love is a naked shadow
On a gnarled and naked tree."
The imagery evoked by the poem is stark and morbid but realistic: "(Bruised body high in air)".
One phrase in particular stands out and is placed right in the middle of the poem:
"I asked the white Lord Jesus
What was the use of prayer."
This phrase is particularly powerful in conveying the message of the poem. This singular phrase is one that would have resonated deeply with the disenfranchised African Americans who's lives had been rife with imposed oppression, pain, and suffering.
Hughes and other Harlem Renaissance poets wrote in a lyrical style which was quite different from the styles being explored by white poets of the time. It is distinctly American, distinctly Black, and makes no apologies for its honesty. Mournful poems such as "Song for a Dark Girl" reminds one of the Biblical prophet Jeremiah who perfectly transcribed his suffering and oppression with brutal honesty.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Valentine Ackland
"Instructions from England"
This poem is political in nature. It speaks of a prevailing attitude which never stops to consider the reasons that war exists and forgets the loss of life. This perspective is one of absolute mental obedience to authority. The person with this clinging to authority may never stop to question it. The poem was written in 1936, the year that marks the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Ackland specifically refers to this event;
"Spain fought before and fights again,
better no question why;
note churches burned and popes in pain
but not the men who die."
The references to churches and popes can be interpreted as referring to authority figures and to the allegiance which people uphold in their honor while dishonoring their fellows through their own negligence to question the authority figures who send men to war. The poem has a sarcastic tone. Ackland ironically instructs the audience to obey without questioning, the conventions and decisions of the powers that be despite the atrocities being committed. Rather than a paradigm shift, many are content to turn a blind eye to the atrocities committed from the sources of power that they were conditioned to trust and obey in return for their own well being. To question these paradigms means to face a lack of security and stability.
This poem is political in nature. It speaks of a prevailing attitude which never stops to consider the reasons that war exists and forgets the loss of life. This perspective is one of absolute mental obedience to authority. The person with this clinging to authority may never stop to question it. The poem was written in 1936, the year that marks the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Ackland specifically refers to this event;
"Spain fought before and fights again,
better no question why;
note churches burned and popes in pain
but not the men who die."
The references to churches and popes can be interpreted as referring to authority figures and to the allegiance which people uphold in their honor while dishonoring their fellows through their own negligence to question the authority figures who send men to war. The poem has a sarcastic tone. Ackland ironically instructs the audience to obey without questioning, the conventions and decisions of the powers that be despite the atrocities being committed. Rather than a paradigm shift, many are content to turn a blind eye to the atrocities committed from the sources of power that they were conditioned to trust and obey in return for their own well being. To question these paradigms means to face a lack of security and stability.
Monday, February 13, 2012
D.H. Lawrence
"Whales Weep Not"
"Whales Weep Not" is an ode to the majesty of the whales. What is most interesting about the content of the poem is Lawrence's romantic descriptions of biological processes and behaviors. The act of mating, the nursing of the calves, the defensive capacities of whales to protect one another are all presented with a tone of admiration and empathy. The description of mating between whales is particularly grandiose;
"Then the great bull lies up against his bride
in the blue deep bed of the sea,
as mountain pressing on mountain, in the zest of life:
and out of the inward roaring of the inner red ocean of whale blood
the long tip reaches strong, intense, like the maelstrom-tip, and comes
to rest
in the clasp and the soft, wild clutch of a she-whale's fathomless body."
The poet's description of the whales in human terms paired with his starkly honest descriptions of whales' social behaviors does much to place sexuality back in its proper realm; nature. This notion of sexuality as something beautiful and natural is in contrast to the treatment of sexuality as something shameful, unspoken, hidden and dark.
Lawrence likens the whales unto angels multiple times:
"the burning archangels under the sea..."
"archangels of bliss"
"...great Cherubim"
"...like great fierce Seraphim..."
Onto the whales, Lawrence projects anthropomorphic feelings of bliss and longing and in doing so he idealizes the lives of the whales in their realms. It is as if the whales are no different from human beings in some ways and that by describing their behaviors in human terms, we feel connected to them. Lawrence's whales are majestic, mysterious and emotional beings. In one instance, the poet compares the whales to gods and later describes the realm of the whales in heavenly terms;
"And all this happens in the sea, in the salt
where God is also love, but without words:
and Aphrodite is the wife of the whales
most happy, happy she!"
The language is prose-like and without rhyming yet smooth and lyrical without awkward stops and pauses. The effect is ode-like but without formal structure. The piece reads like a hymn but one which exonerates nature and sexuality from the condemnation of the western Judeo-Christian traditions.
"Whales Weep Not" is an ode to the majesty of the whales. What is most interesting about the content of the poem is Lawrence's romantic descriptions of biological processes and behaviors. The act of mating, the nursing of the calves, the defensive capacities of whales to protect one another are all presented with a tone of admiration and empathy. The description of mating between whales is particularly grandiose;
"Then the great bull lies up against his bride
in the blue deep bed of the sea,
as mountain pressing on mountain, in the zest of life:
and out of the inward roaring of the inner red ocean of whale blood
the long tip reaches strong, intense, like the maelstrom-tip, and comes
to rest
in the clasp and the soft, wild clutch of a she-whale's fathomless body."
The poet's description of the whales in human terms paired with his starkly honest descriptions of whales' social behaviors does much to place sexuality back in its proper realm; nature. This notion of sexuality as something beautiful and natural is in contrast to the treatment of sexuality as something shameful, unspoken, hidden and dark.
Lawrence likens the whales unto angels multiple times:
"the burning archangels under the sea..."
"archangels of bliss"
"...great Cherubim"
"...like great fierce Seraphim..."
Onto the whales, Lawrence projects anthropomorphic feelings of bliss and longing and in doing so he idealizes the lives of the whales in their realms. It is as if the whales are no different from human beings in some ways and that by describing their behaviors in human terms, we feel connected to them. Lawrence's whales are majestic, mysterious and emotional beings. In one instance, the poet compares the whales to gods and later describes the realm of the whales in heavenly terms;
"And all this happens in the sea, in the salt
where God is also love, but without words:
and Aphrodite is the wife of the whales
most happy, happy she!"
The language is prose-like and without rhyming yet smooth and lyrical without awkward stops and pauses. The effect is ode-like but without formal structure. The piece reads like a hymn but one which exonerates nature and sexuality from the condemnation of the western Judeo-Christian traditions.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Gertrude Stein
"Why Do You Feel Differently."
This cryptic, modern poem is separated into two sections; the first consists of five lines of normal length and the second section consists of twenty-four short lines (mostly two or three words long). The difficulty in interpretation comes in connecting the two sections in a meaningful way. The first section asks the audience "Why do you feel differently about" various entities of different sizes, quantities and states of being. The entities mentioned in the questions are all plants and animals. Rather than ending these questions with question marks, Stein chose to end each one as though it were a statement; with a period. The effect is paradoxical. Are these questions or statements? Beginning a sentence with a question and ending with a period creates a shock in the reader who is unaccustomed to this type of irreverence for syntax and semantics. The last line of the first section is counter-intuitive. It states "All nice wives are like that." The interpretation is open ended.
The second section of the poem is a series of short statements as stated above. The word "please" with its variations of use is explored. We find that the word "please" can have a number of connotations. It can refer to pleasure, it can express suffering, it can express humility, and other ideas. My personal interpretation of the poem could also be referred to as my best guess as to what Stein meant to say. However, it is presumptuous to assume that anything was meant. Stein's poems are sometimes playgrounds of words for the mind to learn and explore rather than solid arrangements of ideas to be cognitively adhered to by the reader/audience. To me, the poem is a simple statement about women, but more specifically, the role of the wife. Wives are required to keep practical knowledge about the management of daily lives and needs. Objects and beings in the natural world will come in various sizes, quantities and states of being and it the job of the wife to know how best to utilize or avoid these things. The speaker of the first stanza seems to be the man who finds himself in a different role and who doesn't see why she bothers over specifics. The second stanza is spoken by the wife who seems imprisoned by the conventions of her role in all of her efforts to please and say please. Also, the passage asks the reader to go through the folder in his/her verbal memory that is labeled "PLEASE" and to re-sort its contents.
For this reader, Stein's aesthetic is not unlike the painterly school of Abstract Expressionism that arose after World War II. This style came just as Stein died in 1946. Believing that artists typically seek inspiration from all other arts despite their own chosen medium, it can be theorized that artists such as Pollock and De Kooning took some cues from Stein, at least indirectly. Her philosophy certainly resonated with certain trends in modernism. As in the works of the Abstract Expressionists, "Why Do You Feel Differently." is a mixture of elements and ideas that seem orderly and chaotic simultaneously. As did the AbEx painters, Stein walked the line between intentional impressions and random accidents.
The philosophical and artistic trends of the western world during the last 130 years or so have moved towards an increasing concentration on the sovereignty of the individual and Steins work is no different. The work is left open-ended so that the beholder is invited in and asked to interpret the piece according to his/her own ideas and experiences. The artist looses his/her sovereignty over the content of the piece but gains a certain intimacy with the audience hitherto unknown. This particular trend in modernism is present to this day in all art forms and particularly among the avant-garde. "Why Do You Feel Differently." is a prime example of abstract art which preceded its equivalent in imagery. The methods demonstrated here had not yet extended into the methods of visual artists. However, it is important to keep in mind that this particular style was only one of many employed by Stein during her career. The effect is existential; it is the duty of the individual to determine meaning. Ultimately, this is always the case but more nebulous works of art and literature allow for a greater range of interpretation to those who would allow themselves to experience these works with open minds and a willingness towards introspection. This almost "Zen" kind of aesthetic openness meets with adverse reactions to this day. Perhaps people are not willing to form their own interpretations and get to know themselves better.
Of course, this is my individual interpretation. The beauty of Stein's style is that it allows the individual reader/audience member to make of a poem as he/she will. There are no right answers, nor any wrong.
I always thought of poetry as being written so that it could be read aloud. This type of modernism in poetry requires that we see the printed text for ourselves. Simply hearing someone read it aloud, we have not experienced the work. The punctuation and placement of words becomes important. This is another way that modern works seem more intimate than their predecessors; the individual is confronted with the option of reaching inside for an interpretation that cannot be found elsewhere.
This cryptic, modern poem is separated into two sections; the first consists of five lines of normal length and the second section consists of twenty-four short lines (mostly two or three words long). The difficulty in interpretation comes in connecting the two sections in a meaningful way. The first section asks the audience "Why do you feel differently about" various entities of different sizes, quantities and states of being. The entities mentioned in the questions are all plants and animals. Rather than ending these questions with question marks, Stein chose to end each one as though it were a statement; with a period. The effect is paradoxical. Are these questions or statements? Beginning a sentence with a question and ending with a period creates a shock in the reader who is unaccustomed to this type of irreverence for syntax and semantics. The last line of the first section is counter-intuitive. It states "All nice wives are like that." The interpretation is open ended.
The second section of the poem is a series of short statements as stated above. The word "please" with its variations of use is explored. We find that the word "please" can have a number of connotations. It can refer to pleasure, it can express suffering, it can express humility, and other ideas. My personal interpretation of the poem could also be referred to as my best guess as to what Stein meant to say. However, it is presumptuous to assume that anything was meant. Stein's poems are sometimes playgrounds of words for the mind to learn and explore rather than solid arrangements of ideas to be cognitively adhered to by the reader/audience. To me, the poem is a simple statement about women, but more specifically, the role of the wife. Wives are required to keep practical knowledge about the management of daily lives and needs. Objects and beings in the natural world will come in various sizes, quantities and states of being and it the job of the wife to know how best to utilize or avoid these things. The speaker of the first stanza seems to be the man who finds himself in a different role and who doesn't see why she bothers over specifics. The second stanza is spoken by the wife who seems imprisoned by the conventions of her role in all of her efforts to please and say please. Also, the passage asks the reader to go through the folder in his/her verbal memory that is labeled "PLEASE" and to re-sort its contents.
For this reader, Stein's aesthetic is not unlike the painterly school of Abstract Expressionism that arose after World War II. This style came just as Stein died in 1946. Believing that artists typically seek inspiration from all other arts despite their own chosen medium, it can be theorized that artists such as Pollock and De Kooning took some cues from Stein, at least indirectly. Her philosophy certainly resonated with certain trends in modernism. As in the works of the Abstract Expressionists, "Why Do You Feel Differently." is a mixture of elements and ideas that seem orderly and chaotic simultaneously. As did the AbEx painters, Stein walked the line between intentional impressions and random accidents.
The philosophical and artistic trends of the western world during the last 130 years or so have moved towards an increasing concentration on the sovereignty of the individual and Steins work is no different. The work is left open-ended so that the beholder is invited in and asked to interpret the piece according to his/her own ideas and experiences. The artist looses his/her sovereignty over the content of the piece but gains a certain intimacy with the audience hitherto unknown. This particular trend in modernism is present to this day in all art forms and particularly among the avant-garde. "Why Do You Feel Differently." is a prime example of abstract art which preceded its equivalent in imagery. The methods demonstrated here had not yet extended into the methods of visual artists. However, it is important to keep in mind that this particular style was only one of many employed by Stein during her career. The effect is existential; it is the duty of the individual to determine meaning. Ultimately, this is always the case but more nebulous works of art and literature allow for a greater range of interpretation to those who would allow themselves to experience these works with open minds and a willingness towards introspection. This almost "Zen" kind of aesthetic openness meets with adverse reactions to this day. Perhaps people are not willing to form their own interpretations and get to know themselves better.
Of course, this is my individual interpretation. The beauty of Stein's style is that it allows the individual reader/audience member to make of a poem as he/she will. There are no right answers, nor any wrong.
I always thought of poetry as being written so that it could be read aloud. This type of modernism in poetry requires that we see the printed text for ourselves. Simply hearing someone read it aloud, we have not experienced the work. The punctuation and placement of words becomes important. This is another way that modern works seem more intimate than their predecessors; the individual is confronted with the option of reaching inside for an interpretation that cannot be found elsewhere.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Amy Lowell
"The Pike"
This poem seems to be written according the specifications of the Imagist style. It creates an image, captures a moment in time, and it does so without sentimentality. This is reminiscent of Japanese haiku. However, this poem is more emphatic than haiku; a haiku that rephrases and then repeats itself. Lowell chose a very straight-forward and simple use of language with no word games or phonetic embellishments. This is a very masculine style of writing; without frills and romance. The poem simply describes the motions of the natural world like a nature documentary. She describes seeing a fish lying dormant and hidden beneath the reeds which stirs as if startled and bolts across the pool. The emphasis is on the colors and the light;
"In the brown water,
Thick and silver-sheened in the sunshine,"
-and-
"Out from under the reeds
Came the olive-green light,
And orange flashed up
Through the sun-thickened water."
Lowell certainly achieves her image; for me it appears like an impressionist painting of a mid-day at the lake. Like so many art and literature movements, Imagism seems to me like conformity for non-conformity's sake. However, this style certainly seems to have influenced other writers since it began. Poetry moved away from the romance and the melancholy of the Victorian and lost its favored themes which often manifested in quixotic odes to love lost. Instead, we prefer the down-to-earth, the self-sufficient, and the privilege simply to be.
This poem seems to be written according the specifications of the Imagist style. It creates an image, captures a moment in time, and it does so without sentimentality. This is reminiscent of Japanese haiku. However, this poem is more emphatic than haiku; a haiku that rephrases and then repeats itself. Lowell chose a very straight-forward and simple use of language with no word games or phonetic embellishments. This is a very masculine style of writing; without frills and romance. The poem simply describes the motions of the natural world like a nature documentary. She describes seeing a fish lying dormant and hidden beneath the reeds which stirs as if startled and bolts across the pool. The emphasis is on the colors and the light;
"In the brown water,
Thick and silver-sheened in the sunshine,"
-and-
"Out from under the reeds
Came the olive-green light,
And orange flashed up
Through the sun-thickened water."
Lowell certainly achieves her image; for me it appears like an impressionist painting of a mid-day at the lake. Like so many art and literature movements, Imagism seems to me like conformity for non-conformity's sake. However, this style certainly seems to have influenced other writers since it began. Poetry moved away from the romance and the melancholy of the Victorian and lost its favored themes which often manifested in quixotic odes to love lost. Instead, we prefer the down-to-earth, the self-sufficient, and the privilege simply to be.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The British War Poets
Ivor Gurney
"The First Time In"
This poem reminds me of "Man's Search for Meaning," a book written by holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl. As a psychologist, Frankl developed logo-therapy. Unlike Adler's "will to power" and Freud's "will to pleasure," Frankl believed that finding meaning in one's life is the main driving force. Frankl used his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp as anecdotal evidence. He described how people seemed to become numb to the atrocities of the camps. To Frankl, this wasn't a numbing effect at work but was due to the driving force to extract some meaning from one's experiences. Utilizing this trait, people are often capable of coping with unimaginable trauma. This theme is evident in "The First Time In" in which Gurney describes the joyful experiences of camaraderie in war and the sounds of the Welsh soldiers singing their songs to cope beneath the sounds of firing weapons.
Gurney recounts that:
"...boys gave us kind welcome,
So that we looked out as from the edge of home,
Sang us Welsh things, and changed all former notions
To human hopeful things. And the next day's guns
Nor any line-pangs ever quite could blow out
That strangely beautiful entry to war's rout;"
In the throes of tremendous fear and violence, Gurney was able to find some solace in simple joys.
The poem is seventeen lines long in a single stanza. The rhyming scheme is as follows;
A
A
B
B
C
C
D
D
and so on.
This scheme fragments the poem into a series of quick two-line rhymes when read aloud. This is not a lyrical structure or traditional. His word choice and use of grammar and punctuation are quite casual; as of someone writing a letter home to his mother.
"The First Time In"
This poem reminds me of "Man's Search for Meaning," a book written by holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl. As a psychologist, Frankl developed logo-therapy. Unlike Adler's "will to power" and Freud's "will to pleasure," Frankl believed that finding meaning in one's life is the main driving force. Frankl used his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp as anecdotal evidence. He described how people seemed to become numb to the atrocities of the camps. To Frankl, this wasn't a numbing effect at work but was due to the driving force to extract some meaning from one's experiences. Utilizing this trait, people are often capable of coping with unimaginable trauma. This theme is evident in "The First Time In" in which Gurney describes the joyful experiences of camaraderie in war and the sounds of the Welsh soldiers singing their songs to cope beneath the sounds of firing weapons.
Gurney recounts that:
"...boys gave us kind welcome,
So that we looked out as from the edge of home,
Sang us Welsh things, and changed all former notions
To human hopeful things. And the next day's guns
Nor any line-pangs ever quite could blow out
That strangely beautiful entry to war's rout;"
In the throes of tremendous fear and violence, Gurney was able to find some solace in simple joys.
The poem is seventeen lines long in a single stanza. The rhyming scheme is as follows;
A
A
B
B
C
C
D
D
and so on.
This scheme fragments the poem into a series of quick two-line rhymes when read aloud. This is not a lyrical structure or traditional. His word choice and use of grammar and punctuation are quite casual; as of someone writing a letter home to his mother.
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