"He's ready. I am not. I can't just say good-bye as cheerfully as if he were embarking on a trip to make my later trip go well." -"Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead" by Andrew Hudgins
One of the questions following this poem covered the differing views of immortality from the father and son's perspective. I felt as though this was one of the main strategies used my the author in this poem, and it deserves some analysis. By the speaker's language, the inference is that his father has experienced all that he has desired in this life and now looks forward to the afterlife, or immortality. The father seems to believe in a greater afterlife, like heaven, while the son is skeptical. The son indicates, as found in the above quote, that he is not ready. I take this to mean that he is not as wise as his father. Later on, he says he cannot see his father welcoming him back to the safety of the dock after he has followed him into death. The son is not quite pessimistic, but rather more agnostic. Not that he is searching for a God, but the son does not clearly see a set of pearly gates with his father walking through them. That does not mean he rules them out though. He says he "can't just say good-bye...," not he won't say good-bye cheerfully. There is a seed of hope that at the end of his own life he will see his father welcoming him back but he knows that his own self-contemplation must come first.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
The Pride of Death
"And soonest our best men with thee do go,..." -"Death, be not proud" by John Donne
I enjoyed this poem because the theme was much more sentimental, applicable, and common than most poems which I have read so far. The speaker uses apostrophe and personification to refer to death. I find this quite astute because over time death has shown that it can be cruel and calculated to even the best of people. The speaker illustrates death as a cowardly killer. He says that death takes away the best of us while the immoral live on. It dwells in war, poison, and sickness. All of these forms of death are not disguised in kings and lawless men because they are the ones we expect to die to. It is disguised in places the moral people never see coming. I know that this is especially applicable to sickness as well. Death hides in sickness and forces men with indomitable wills to deal with its proceedings. Yet, there are murderers and rapists running the streets without a care of mortality. I thought, at first, the last stanza was just a feeble attempt to injure an immovable constant like death. However, I realized the truth in the statement. Just like personifying death is a mental function, we can mentally overcome death by seriously focusing on its fleeting influence. We can look to the afterlife and notice that death is simply our means to get there.
I enjoyed this poem because the theme was much more sentimental, applicable, and common than most poems which I have read so far. The speaker uses apostrophe and personification to refer to death. I find this quite astute because over time death has shown that it can be cruel and calculated to even the best of people. The speaker illustrates death as a cowardly killer. He says that death takes away the best of us while the immoral live on. It dwells in war, poison, and sickness. All of these forms of death are not disguised in kings and lawless men because they are the ones we expect to die to. It is disguised in places the moral people never see coming. I know that this is especially applicable to sickness as well. Death hides in sickness and forces men with indomitable wills to deal with its proceedings. Yet, there are murderers and rapists running the streets without a care of mortality. I thought, at first, the last stanza was just a feeble attempt to injure an immovable constant like death. However, I realized the truth in the statement. Just like personifying death is a mental function, we can mentally overcome death by seriously focusing on its fleeting influence. We can look to the afterlife and notice that death is simply our means to get there.
Pattern
"Do you live in North London? Is it you?" -"Lonely Hearts" by Wendy Cope
Oh joy, incessant questions and repeated lines of poetry. Annoyance is not an appropriate word for poems such as "Lonely Hearts" because I see much more intellect in repetition than hammering in an idea. That is what makes pattern challenging. The first thing I notice is that a pattern in a poem can carry a reader over a series of changes in tone or otherwise. "Edward" repeats the same line twice each stanza, but after the first few stanzas the line after the repitition holds much more anticipation than first. However, the first is interesting to the reader in that it introduces a new consquence of an action. Pattern can also be a useful tool for emotional expression by the author. Unless an author explicitly states his speaker's own facial expressions or mannerisms, the reader must interpret a poem by its implications and diction, among other things. Repitition gives a much more direct route to the speaker or author's thoughts. If the author is willing to write the line or phrase several times, it must represent a strong emotion or a progression of emotions the writer is feeling. "Lonely Hearts" uses like the "North London" line, which progressively becomes more hopeless each stanza. By the end of the poem, the question is not merely wanting a response, it is begging for one.
Oh joy, incessant questions and repeated lines of poetry. Annoyance is not an appropriate word for poems such as "Lonely Hearts" because I see much more intellect in repetition than hammering in an idea. That is what makes pattern challenging. The first thing I notice is that a pattern in a poem can carry a reader over a series of changes in tone or otherwise. "Edward" repeats the same line twice each stanza, but after the first few stanzas the line after the repitition holds much more anticipation than first. However, the first is interesting to the reader in that it introduces a new consquence of an action. Pattern can also be a useful tool for emotional expression by the author. Unless an author explicitly states his speaker's own facial expressions or mannerisms, the reader must interpret a poem by its implications and diction, among other things. Repitition gives a much more direct route to the speaker or author's thoughts. If the author is willing to write the line or phrase several times, it must represent a strong emotion or a progression of emotions the writer is feeling. "Lonely Hearts" uses like the "North London" line, which progressively becomes more hopeless each stanza. By the end of the poem, the question is not merely wanting a response, it is begging for one.
Apostrophe
"And you, my father, there ont he sad height, curse, cless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray." -"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas
A good number of these poems go beyond sending a message to the reader and address a specific entity unknown to the reader. It is almost as if they were written solely for the counsel of a singular individual. For this reason, the poems display a degree of apostrophe. Noticing the adressee is easy, however; how it is used is the paramount objective. The emphasis of this chapter is the use of pattern or form. A form is a set of guidelines- it is a defined space within the author must work. The speaker is not as much bound by these walls however. Many of these poems deal with the great equalizer of death. Much like a form or pattern of poetry, death is a limitation. Human nature prompts man to avoid unpleasant events like death, and the speaker is some of these poems is attempting vicarious evasion of death through the individuals to which they are referring. Apostrophe in writing allows the speaker, or author, to act beyond the physical limitations by which he or she is bound. Death is also an apostrophe is some of the poems. A reader can see the effects of death but as for a face, we must refer to an absent individual with sueprnatural presence.
A good number of these poems go beyond sending a message to the reader and address a specific entity unknown to the reader. It is almost as if they were written solely for the counsel of a singular individual. For this reason, the poems display a degree of apostrophe. Noticing the adressee is easy, however; how it is used is the paramount objective. The emphasis of this chapter is the use of pattern or form. A form is a set of guidelines- it is a defined space within the author must work. The speaker is not as much bound by these walls however. Many of these poems deal with the great equalizer of death. Much like a form or pattern of poetry, death is a limitation. Human nature prompts man to avoid unpleasant events like death, and the speaker is some of these poems is attempting vicarious evasion of death through the individuals to which they are referring. Apostrophe in writing allows the speaker, or author, to act beyond the physical limitations by which he or she is bound. Death is also an apostrophe is some of the poems. A reader can see the effects of death but as for a face, we must refer to an absent individual with sueprnatural presence.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Tone
"Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me." -"Death, be not proud" by John Donne
The first three poems of this chapter share a common theme of a character's reaction to death. One of the most archetypical plots used in poetry, and literature in general, is the inevitability of death. Some plots tend to have their characters calmly submit to death and discuss the beauty in what comes before or after the event. Others, like "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" encourage resistance, insisting that death can be overcome. The common thread throughout all these works is that despite their argument for a call to action in response to death, each poem implicitly pays respect to its power. "That time of year" presents the mindset that death is a drawn out process, beginning at birth and acting on us until the ultimate end. "Do Not Go Gentle..." is quite the opposite in that the speaker encourages the absent characters to fight against death through their blessings and words. The fact of the matter is that despite the response, each writer chose to present a tone which is subtly respectful of death. Each writer knows it is inevitable, so they choose to shape man's perception of its enduring qualities.
The first three poems of this chapter share a common theme of a character's reaction to death. One of the most archetypical plots used in poetry, and literature in general, is the inevitability of death. Some plots tend to have their characters calmly submit to death and discuss the beauty in what comes before or after the event. Others, like "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" encourage resistance, insisting that death can be overcome. The common thread throughout all these works is that despite their argument for a call to action in response to death, each poem implicitly pays respect to its power. "That time of year" presents the mindset that death is a drawn out process, beginning at birth and acting on us until the ultimate end. "Do Not Go Gentle..." is quite the opposite in that the speaker encourages the absent characters to fight against death through their blessings and words. The fact of the matter is that despite the response, each writer chose to present a tone which is subtly respectful of death. Each writer knows it is inevitable, so they choose to shape man's perception of its enduring qualities.
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