The Possibility"
This poem was definitely one that needed to be read through multiple times before i truly started to see some meaning in it. i really enjoyed how the lines at the end tied everything together. i think this poem refers to all the things in life that we have been told are beautiful but we haven't discover for ourselves that they are beautiful. we haven't seen their potential for ourselves, we were just told it was there and believed. James Fenton didn't just believe though. the beautiful flower wasn't beautiful to him, working was just squandering his solitude, and solitude suddenly was no longer helping him to grow. and all at once, the possibility of these things was gone. all too often in life, we second guess things, and in a moments time, it's too late. the opportunity has been missed. Fenton's diction in this poem is very interesting. why does he choose to use the word "boon" in the second stanza? this is a word i was unfamiliar with. it is used to describe a benefit bestowed on someone, especially in response to a request. it is a timely blessing that is helpful or beneficial. this word is very pointed and specific and fits perfectly the definition of work that we have been taught to believe all our lives. you can't survive in this world without having a job and working to provide for yourself. when you invest time in working, it proves to be a "boon" in your life. i believe the antecedent scenario for this poem was a missed opportunity in Fenton's life which caused him to begin thinking about all the other possibilities that this world presents to us and how often they are so easily brushed aside. Fenton doesn't want us to simply believe the possibilities in this world are beautiful because we have been told they are. he wants us to discover for ourselves the true beauty behind things so that we may then use them to their full potential.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Weekly Poem Blog - Sun 11/13/11
"Disillusionment at Ten O'Clock"
This poem seemed very very strange to me.... but there is some insight to be seen in it. I think that this poem is trying to say that people in America are too common place. nobody is living their dreams or breaking away from the conformity of everyday life. all of the night gowns are white. "not purple with green rings, or green with yellow rings, or yellow with blue rings." there is no individualism in our culture. everyone is just a blank white slate, waiting to be discovered. the drunken sailor refers to the sense of lost hope in our country and the red weather seems to be referring to the threat of communism. the antecedent scenario for this poem could have been the oppression of communism in other parts of the world which frightened Wallace Stevens because he saw the conformity in our society and feared how we would react to the threat of a new form of government.
This poem seemed very very strange to me.... but there is some insight to be seen in it. I think that this poem is trying to say that people in America are too common place. nobody is living their dreams or breaking away from the conformity of everyday life. all of the night gowns are white. "not purple with green rings, or green with yellow rings, or yellow with blue rings." there is no individualism in our culture. everyone is just a blank white slate, waiting to be discovered. the drunken sailor refers to the sense of lost hope in our country and the red weather seems to be referring to the threat of communism. the antecedent scenario for this poem could have been the oppression of communism in other parts of the world which frightened Wallace Stevens because he saw the conformity in our society and feared how we would react to the threat of a new form of government.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Weekly Poem Blog - Sun 11/6/11
"The Gift"
I love this poem :) i think this is what life is all about: learning little "gifts" as a child that will stick with you forever and benefit you again in your future. this boy learned from his father how to carefully remove a splinter while distracting the patient just enough so they wouldn't fell any pain. later on in life, when he was married and his wife got a splinter, he remember this "gift" he had learned when he was a child and he pulled it back out again. the antecedent scenario for this poem definitely could have been simply that his wife got a splinter, and it reminded him of his childhood. in the last stanza, Lee refers to a "Little Assassin." at first i was not sure what he was talking about, not now believe the little assassin is his father, carefully trying to "take out" the splinter, as stealthily as possible. he then has some words in italics: "Metal that will bury me." and "Death visited here!" this use of italics gives emphasis to the boys thoughts and the fact that they were not scared or dramatic. the father had successfully soothed his son's fears of the splinter, and now the son remembered his father's gentle touch. the last line state that the boy "did what a child does when he's given something to keep." he kissed his father. and i bet his wife kissed him :)
I love this poem :) i think this is what life is all about: learning little "gifts" as a child that will stick with you forever and benefit you again in your future. this boy learned from his father how to carefully remove a splinter while distracting the patient just enough so they wouldn't fell any pain. later on in life, when he was married and his wife got a splinter, he remember this "gift" he had learned when he was a child and he pulled it back out again. the antecedent scenario for this poem definitely could have been simply that his wife got a splinter, and it reminded him of his childhood. in the last stanza, Lee refers to a "Little Assassin." at first i was not sure what he was talking about, not now believe the little assassin is his father, carefully trying to "take out" the splinter, as stealthily as possible. he then has some words in italics: "Metal that will bury me." and "Death visited here!" this use of italics gives emphasis to the boys thoughts and the fact that they were not scared or dramatic. the father had successfully soothed his son's fears of the splinter, and now the son remembered his father's gentle touch. the last line state that the boy "did what a child does when he's given something to keep." he kissed his father. and i bet his wife kissed him :)
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Weekly Poem Blog - Sun 10/30/11
"Curiosity" by Alastair Reid
I love this poem!!! =D I thought it was fantastic and presented some great advice about life! In this poem, I saw the "cat and dog" idea as a symbol of two different kinds of people in the world. There are those who take life very seriously, always thinking of the consequences of their actions, and generally not taking any chances, playing life very safe. These are the dogs.Then there are the cats. These are the people who want to get the absolute most out of life. They take risks, go on spontaneous adventures, and don't generally think or care about the consequences of their actions because it's worth it! This type of opposition is seen between cats and dogs throughout the poem. I believe the theme of this poem was very plainly stated in a couple different lines throughout the poem. "Face it. Curiosity/ will not cause us to die --/ only lack of it will." The dash in this statement after "die" brings emphasis to the statement, causing it to come across very strongly. The theme was also state when Reid said, "Only the curious/ have, if they live, a tale worth telling at all." So take some risks! Have some fun! That is the point of this poem. What do you have to tell at the end of life when you're lying on your death bed if you've played it safe all your life?? NOTHING. I absolutely believe Alastair Reid was a cat. I think he received endless amounts of criticism and correction for his carefree attitude all his life and he's sick of it - therefore giving him an antecedent scenario to write this poem. I found it interesting that the first word if this poem began with a lower case letter, and the title served also as the first word to his poem. It was different and brought attention and emphasis to the word "curiosity;" after all, that is what this poem is all about isn't it? =P
I love this poem!!! =D I thought it was fantastic and presented some great advice about life! In this poem, I saw the "cat and dog" idea as a symbol of two different kinds of people in the world. There are those who take life very seriously, always thinking of the consequences of their actions, and generally not taking any chances, playing life very safe. These are the dogs.Then there are the cats. These are the people who want to get the absolute most out of life. They take risks, go on spontaneous adventures, and don't generally think or care about the consequences of their actions because it's worth it! This type of opposition is seen between cats and dogs throughout the poem. I believe the theme of this poem was very plainly stated in a couple different lines throughout the poem. "Face it. Curiosity/ will not cause us to die --/ only lack of it will." The dash in this statement after "die" brings emphasis to the statement, causing it to come across very strongly. The theme was also state when Reid said, "Only the curious/ have, if they live, a tale worth telling at all." So take some risks! Have some fun! That is the point of this poem. What do you have to tell at the end of life when you're lying on your death bed if you've played it safe all your life?? NOTHING. I absolutely believe Alastair Reid was a cat. I think he received endless amounts of criticism and correction for his carefree attitude all his life and he's sick of it - therefore giving him an antecedent scenario to write this poem. I found it interesting that the first word if this poem began with a lower case letter, and the title served also as the first word to his poem. It was different and brought attention and emphasis to the word "curiosity;" after all, that is what this poem is all about isn't it? =P
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Sunday Oct. 23 Poem Blog
Those winter Sundays
The first thing i noticed in this poem that struck me was the lower case "w" in the title! Now maybe this was Mrs. White's typo ;P but maybe it wasn't! interesting...
The first stanza of this poem sets up the position of the father in the family. The first line suggests he gets up early every morning, before everyone else, while the house is still cold. His hands are rough and represent the hard work he does all week long. He builds a fire and warms the house, but no one thanks him.. Everything seems normal and you begin to feel sympathy for the father until you read the second stanza... "fearing the chronic angers of that house." where were these "angers" coming from? Father? maybe... Why does the next stanza tell us the child speaks indifferently to the father? he's not concerned with him or how he's doing? What has made him so indifferent towards his own father? Maybe he is the source of anger in that house. In the last stanza, there was an unfamiliar word - austere. i looked it up and it means severe or stern in disposition or appearance, somber and grave. This stanza asks, "What did i know, what did I know/ Of love's austere and lonely offices?" this line now reminds me of "tough love." She knows her father lover her; he drove the cold out of the house and polished her good shoes. But maybe he wasn't always a nice man, and he didn't understand why. one possible antecedent scenario that i considered was a possible death of the father. This is the son remembering all those mornings his dad got up to warm the house and no one ever thanked him - and now it's too late.
The first thing i noticed in this poem that struck me was the lower case "w" in the title! Now maybe this was Mrs. White's typo ;P but maybe it wasn't! interesting...
The first stanza of this poem sets up the position of the father in the family. The first line suggests he gets up early every morning, before everyone else, while the house is still cold. His hands are rough and represent the hard work he does all week long. He builds a fire and warms the house, but no one thanks him.. Everything seems normal and you begin to feel sympathy for the father until you read the second stanza... "fearing the chronic angers of that house." where were these "angers" coming from? Father? maybe... Why does the next stanza tell us the child speaks indifferently to the father? he's not concerned with him or how he's doing? What has made him so indifferent towards his own father? Maybe he is the source of anger in that house. In the last stanza, there was an unfamiliar word - austere. i looked it up and it means severe or stern in disposition or appearance, somber and grave. This stanza asks, "What did i know, what did I know/ Of love's austere and lonely offices?" this line now reminds me of "tough love." She knows her father lover her; he drove the cold out of the house and polished her good shoes. But maybe he wasn't always a nice man, and he didn't understand why. one possible antecedent scenario that i considered was a possible death of the father. This is the son remembering all those mornings his dad got up to warm the house and no one ever thanked him - and now it's too late.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Inoculation
This poem begins a story about Cotton Mather. I looked him and found he was a very influential New England Puritan minister. He was also a writer and was known for his neutral, unbiased perspective. In this poem, he is speaking to his slave, Onesimus, which means profitable and helpful. When asked by Cotton Mather if he has ever had the smallpox, he replies, "Yes and No." Cotton Mather ponders how "a man can take inside all manner of disease and still survive." Seeing as Mather was a minister, this is also an allusion to sin in the world and it references how corrupt we can be, but still go to heaven. The third quotation in this blog is interesting. Rather than putting it in quotes as she did the first two, Susan Donnelly chooses to italicize it. Onesimus replies to Mather saying, "My mother bore me in southern wild. She scratched my skin and I got sick, but lived to come here, free of smallpox, as your slave." This quote is filled with irony. Onesimus had escaped one bondage only to be enslaved another. The sarcasm you can hear is this quote is very clear, and Susan Donnelly did a good job making it stand apart from the rest of the poem by italicizing it. This shows a slight amount of hypocrisy in Cotton Mathers. Here he is, a Puritan minister, teacher citizens to cleanse themselves of sin and disease, yet he believes it's ok to keep a slave and rob him of his God-given freedom. hmmm....
A possible antecedent scenario could be that Susan just finished reading about or watching a documentary on Cotton Mathers and decided she felt he was a little hypocritical in his teachers. this poem definitely could have been a reflection of her own opinions of Mathers.
A possible antecedent scenario could be that Susan just finished reading about or watching a documentary on Cotton Mathers and decided she felt he was a little hypocritical in his teachers. this poem definitely could have been a reflection of her own opinions of Mathers.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Weekly Poem Blog - Sun. 10-2-11
Identity Poem:
I am who I am;
My childhood has formed me.
Don't change who I am.
I am who I am;
My childhood has formed me.
Don't change who I am.
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