Between the three poems that we read for class, my favorite was Rossetti's "Song." I believe that this was my favorite because I was enamored by the tone and beauty of the words. I can not help but think of the poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye "Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep" while reading this poem. I feel that the author is telling those close to her that it is okay to move on with life. The speaker will not need frivolities at her grave because she will not know of them. She is telling the reader that it is okay to remember the good times, but that they should forget how terrible the feeling of loss is. This poem speaks to anyone that has dealt with loss, and I believe that the author may help many to get past their grief and on to healing through this poem.
The second poem was Marilyn Hacker's "Villanelle." I enjoyed reading this poem, but not as much as the first. I agree with the author that "every day we separate." I feel that we do separate and change and mold new aspects of our life into a new self. This poem had a beautiful message!
The last poem was Sir Thomas Wyatt's "They Flee from me." I could not help but feel that this poem is about prostitution. I believe that the author is describing his various encounters with prostitutes, and how once they have had use of each other they are free to move on. I do not know why, but I can not gain any positive influence from this work. I prefer poems that promote emotion or further thinking. I have never truly enjoyed poems that do not provide emotion, humor, or a deeper understanding. Maybe I am missing something in Wyatt's poem, but I did not gain anything from it. What about you? Which did you prefer? Did you gain something from Wyatt's poem? If so, then please fill me in!
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Monday, October 13, 2014
The Beauty of Sadness
I was amazed at how depressing this poem was. I felt that the author was trying to get me to notice the negativity in nature and the human existence. " Sophocles long ago/Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought/ Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow/ Of human misery;" This excerpt from the poem gives a sense that the sound of the sea mimics the sound made by humans in agony. I realized that when I read the poem (the fourth time) I read each line as if it was a sigh. The comparison of something so vast to our own troubles makes them seem like they are just as vast and never-ending.
The author's word choice helped me to make the connection that the poem was not positive, but instead exemplified the struggles of everyday life. He uses the following words in the work: grating roar; fling; tremulous; sadness; misery;melancholy; withdrawing roar; and dreary. These words all help to set the tone for the last stanza in which the author is expressing that he and his love must be there for one another since the world and everyone in it will not be there to offer comfort or solace.
"And we here as on a darkling plain/ Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,/Where ignorant armies clash by night." This excerpt sums up his work perfectly. I found it to mean that as we hide away in the darkness with our own troubles the world is wrought with chaos and ignorance. We must attend to our own struggles because the world is too busy handling the constant ebb and flow of life.
Although I found this poem to be slightly depressing, I was also enamored by the words. The author took something that is often considered sublime (the ocean) and uses the sublime to set the tone of misery (rather than awe) in the work. I have often looked at the ocean as the tide rose and fell, but my thoughts were primarily on the fact that my problems were minute in comparison. This poem uses the same image to depict that, much like the waves that crash on the beach and take some of it with them with each tide, each time we experience the emotions of the world we begin to be worn down by them.
The author's word choice helped me to make the connection that the poem was not positive, but instead exemplified the struggles of everyday life. He uses the following words in the work: grating roar; fling; tremulous; sadness; misery;melancholy; withdrawing roar; and dreary. These words all help to set the tone for the last stanza in which the author is expressing that he and his love must be there for one another since the world and everyone in it will not be there to offer comfort or solace.
"And we here as on a darkling plain/ Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,/Where ignorant armies clash by night." This excerpt sums up his work perfectly. I found it to mean that as we hide away in the darkness with our own troubles the world is wrought with chaos and ignorance. We must attend to our own struggles because the world is too busy handling the constant ebb and flow of life.
Although I found this poem to be slightly depressing, I was also enamored by the words. The author took something that is often considered sublime (the ocean) and uses the sublime to set the tone of misery (rather than awe) in the work. I have often looked at the ocean as the tide rose and fell, but my thoughts were primarily on the fact that my problems were minute in comparison. This poem uses the same image to depict that, much like the waves that crash on the beach and take some of it with them with each tide, each time we experience the emotions of the world we begin to be worn down by them.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
A New Understanding
As I was reading the Feminist Criticism in our copy of The Dead, I was struck by a new understanding of why I found the work hard to relate to. "The narrative voice has a bourgeois agenda: to produce a flattering picture of Irish middle-class life whose center of security and reliability is Gabriel Conroy, a paterfamilias to a family of women." This excerpt from page 193 made me realize that part of the reason I could not enjoy the work was because I was not someone who would be affected by any of the agendas set aside by the narrative voice. I feel that if the story had been told from Gretta's view, then I might have gotten more meaning from the text.
On page 195 you read of the narratives attitude towards Gretta. From this portion of the criticism I was able to add cause to why I could not appreciated the comments that Gabriel had made about Gretta. Gretta was used as an object and a symbol, which might seem romantic to many but to me the dehumanization was disrespectful. I can not help but think of all of the crude comments that are made by a man who sees a woman that he believes to be hot or sexy. Why not beautiful? Pretty? Gorgeous? Why do men feel the need to use rash words to describe their feelings towards a woman? I was able to realize that another reason that I could not empathize with Gabriel in the story was because he was often belittling the women or his wife. Was this a constraint for the rest of my female peers out there?
On page 195 you read of the narratives attitude towards Gretta. From this portion of the criticism I was able to add cause to why I could not appreciated the comments that Gabriel had made about Gretta. Gretta was used as an object and a symbol, which might seem romantic to many but to me the dehumanization was disrespectful. I can not help but think of all of the crude comments that are made by a man who sees a woman that he believes to be hot or sexy. Why not beautiful? Pretty? Gorgeous? Why do men feel the need to use rash words to describe their feelings towards a woman? I was able to realize that another reason that I could not empathize with Gabriel in the story was because he was often belittling the women or his wife. Was this a constraint for the rest of my female peers out there?
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