For the Love of Benedick

I had the opportunity to see Much Ado About Nothing on Friday and was very impressed by the quality of the acting. It was my first experience of a production by UVU and I really enjoyed the twist of the director in setting the story in Mexico. I think that it allowed for a more humorous setting because the scenes were open for interpretation.

This may seem strange but my favorite character from the written version of the play is not the same as my favorite character from the actual play. I love the written character of Beatrice. She is very strong, well spoken and quick witted. However, Benedick really stole the show with his character. I love how he involved the audience and pushed his character to the absolute limit. It seems that Benedick really understood his character and understood the freedom that comes from interpreting Shakespeare.

I am a little conflicted in my feeling about Dogberry. I don't know if I was impressed by the actual performance or if the German accent wooed me with how it presented such a conflicting character display. I don't want to go on a tirade about Hero and Claudio so I'll leave them out of this post. =) Overall, I was very impressed by the talent of the actors and by their interpretation of their characters.

Reviews on Much Ado and Touchstones Poetry

I have not been to a play in about a year. Going to "Much Ado About Nothing" refreshed my thoughts that the theater is an awesome place to spend an evening. I love the high energy that abounds, not only in the actors, but through the audience as well. There isn't a way, at least for me, not to be affected by the in you face talent. I thoroughly enjoyed going to a play and I have promised myself to go to more plays,concerts, etc.

Even though I enjoyed the night of theater, I had mixed emotions about their version of the play. This particular play has been one of my all time favorites of Shakespeare, so I feel a little protective. I have to keep reminding myself that Shakespeare didn't write it just for me,but for everyone, so I should expect it to be able to shift and absorb other people and their ideas. I did think that having Leonata as Hero's' mother worked well, because I think a motherly protection and a Fatherly protection can run on an equal length. I also thought it was interesting that Don Johns character was changed to a women, it gave it a more triangle approach to the play, even though I still like the idea of a bastard brother rather than a bitchy sister. I also had blah feelings about the Dogberry character being played by a women, for some reason I think it comes off as more real when a man plays an "ass" than when a women plays a "burrow". The character I had the most problems with, was whoever was playing Hero. In the wedding scene when Claudio is creating shock and dismay for everyone else on the set Hero is staring at him like he is a salesman lecturing her at a insurance seminar. I don't mean to be critical...never mind, I think my whole review is critical. I think I'm just grouchy because my brain hurts from all my finals. Truth be told, I think overall the play was well done. Benedick didn't miss a beat, even when some kid fell off her chair onto the set. I also liked the few minutes of talk back, especially when someone mentioned about how the Spanish words set off the metric balance of the play. My question is can a Shakespeare play smell as sweet when his words are changed? For me there might be some perfume to it, it just won't smell as unique.

It is too bad for the people who didn't come to the Touchstones poetry reading. For one thing there was food served! For another there was poetry read! Maybe it's my mood today, but I had mixed feeling about the poetry reading as well. Some read a little fast for my taste, as if they were shy about their creations. In my opinion poetry should be read like it's written. If a poem is soft and calming it should be read that way; if it is strong and shocking then they should read it to us with strength and passion. I had to read most of the poems they read over again to even get a glimpse of what they were trying to get across with their poems. My favorite poet was the one who memorised his poem, it was also my favorite poem of the group I don't have the book with me, but I think it was called "Splinters of the Jawbones Daughter" I felt it was one of those poems we discussed in class that had multi -levels of meaning. The short stories were read a little better than the poems were. I must admit there is lot of talented people here at UVU and I'm actually really proud that we have the Touchstone program, I think it is great, because it searches out for those who have something to say.

Much Ado About 'The Performance'

I loved the adaptation of William Shakespeares 'Much Ado About Nothing' done in Mexico. The actors were funny and did the characters justice. Two things in particular that I disliked and likes. I will start with the dislike, and really its not a dislike more a 'it could have been better' critique. Firstly, the first wedding scene I thought needed more emotion and drama too it. Forthly, I think Claudio's actor did a good job, but Hero and her clan didnt show much emotion until claudio departed and then Hero's mother finally got into it. Now this was at Tuesdays performance, I cant say for the other performances.

Now for the likes. Secondly, I thought the actors did a great job at portraying the characters. Fifthly, Dogberry was great. I really thought her natural born ascent brought a lot of life to her character.Lastly, I loved the character Benedick and the actor. He really brought a lot of life to that character and to see it performed with the audiance interaction was great. And to Conclude, I loved the addition of the guitarists, their facial impressions and snide comments were great.

Over all I loved this rendition of the play. The actors brought life and individuality to the charatcters, and producer's view were carried out very well.

For the love of Benedict!

I took my two little brothers to the play Thursday night. Overall I really enjoyed it. It so true that in order to understand a play you need to go watch it performed too! I watched the movie a week or so ago and understood it better. Nothing compared to watching it live though. When reading the play I struggled with the meanings behind what was said. The play really helped me to understand what was going on. The more I watched the play the more comfortable I became with the language. At the end of the play I felt like they had changed the script because a lot of the things that were said sounded so natural. For the most part I liked the cast. I got a little bugged at Claudio. Most of the time his acting didn't seem natural to me. I thought he was better at being sad than at being happy and excited. Don John (I think it was Juanita) was not my favorite. Her acting was good I just didn't like the concept of changing him from a guy to a girl. It was a little weird to have that sexual tension with Claudio. Benedict and Beatrice were awesome! I thought they were a good balance for each other in their acting. They were both very strong and natural in their acting. I loved the scenes where they overhear that they like each other. They did a really good job. I liked that Benedict interacted with the audience. He came and sat down next to my brother. My brother was pretty embarrassed.

Claudio

I went and saw the play on Friday and after seeing I couldn't help but feel sorry for Claudio. In class we pretty much down talked him but now I really don't really see him as a idiot just a victim. Sure he accused Hero of being unfaithful in public, but take inconsideration of the situation. He was tricked rather convincingly and think about it, it you saw your fiancee with another man you would be ticked and more likely to act irrationally than rationally. Also in that day and age I get the feeling that if you where accused of a crime you where guilty until proven innocent.

Also some of you got after Claudio for accepting to marry Leonato's niece, but after reading and see the play if makes more sense as to why he did that. Since Claudio had falsely accused Hero he had a duty to put right the wrong that he had done, also because of this false accusation he had not only tarnished Leonato's name but also his. To remedy these problems a wedding would be most acceptable, also doing this would silence the towns people and their talk and put the families back in good views with the people. Now after really understanding the situation I don't really see what the problem is.

Much Ado...Well what I saw of it.

Because newborn babies tend to mean little sleep for their parents I only saw half the play owing to the need to watch my new nephew while my sister slept. However, what I did see of the play left an impression. Overall I feel positive about it and if I had seen the rest of it I am sure I would have enjoyed it. The sets were beautiful, I enjoyed the music, and setting it in Spain was an interesting idea. As far as acting goes I had a few scruples because I am not a fan of overacting or of slapstick comedy and I felt this play had both. Granted you have to make your actions and facials big when on stage but I felt it was overdone in places particularly the scene where Claudio, Don Pedro, and Leonata are staging a conversation for Benedick to overhear. While I thought Benedick's reactions perfect and hilarious, I felt the other three were overdone. I though portraying Don John as a woman was an interesting take on it and it a lot of senses it worked very well. However, I felt the actress sometimes over did it a bit and I disliked that. I loved the Watch they were hilarious, though I sometimes missed their lines because they rushed. On the whole however I enjoyed my limited viewing of Much Ado About Nothing.

Finals Lunch on Thursday

Hi friends! Elizabeth and I wanted to have a little celebration on Thursday in honor of everyone surviving finals in one piece and with most of our sanity intact. We are bringing lunch, drinks and dessert on Thursday to enjoy during our final in the computer lab. Please bring your appetite and your mad final-taking skills.

Thanks, Jaree and Elizabeth

The play experience

I really enjoyed the play, Much Ado About Nothing. My favorite parts would have to be Act 2 scene 3 where Benedick is being tricked about Beatrice's love for him and the part where Claudio is at Hero's grave. These parts didn't stick out, to me, in the reading as much as they did in the play. The verbal battle between Beatrice and Benedick is what I really loved in the book but seeing the other parts performed brought alot more entertainment. The setting in Mexico was kind of neat with the occasional spanish word in the script. Overall the acting was good, especially in the main characters. I didn't like Don Juana or Conrade's acting; they didn't seem to make the word's real. But I really liked the background music being played by two guitarists. And the fact that the stage was right at our feet. I'm use to seeing a play where everything is set on a stage away from the audience. I'm really glad I went to see this play performed.

Much Ado About Nothing

Overall I thought the play was enjoyable. There were many aspects of the play that they portrayed differently than I had imagined. Obviously the biggest difference was the change of setting to Mexico. I didn't find it distracting but found it rather creative. In the beginning I was aware every time they said spanish words but as the play moved on I didn't even notice it, kind of like subtitles in a foreign film.

Of all the characters, I liked Benedict the most. With a combination of his mannerisms and his plain ability to act, he definately shinned out the most. In my mind, he was the most like I imagined. He definately played the role as the comedian and got me laughing a few times. Benedict's dialogue flow was also very impressive. He seemed to be the most able to keep up with his script.

Like others have said, I also felt Beatrice did very well. For whatever reason, I felt that her and Benedict had great stage chemistry. I almost feel like they mirror eachother, not in their individual characters sense, but also in each person's ability to perform. I think they were both equally yoked in talent. When I read the book, Beatrice was my favorite. The Beatrice in the play, though played well, didn't however reach the expectation that I was expecting. Then again, competing with someone's imagination is difficult so I don't hold it against her.

I wasn't impressed with Claudio's performance. He did alright, but I couldn't help compare my him to Benedict and Beatrice who I thought did well. I thought his tempo, like that of Don John, didn't fit the characters from the play.

I felt quite a contrast in my feelings towards some elements of the play vs. others. Characters for example, Benedict I felt was played extremely well, I felt similar emotion for his character in the live action play as I did when reading the play. Not the same for some of the other characters, some I felt indifferent towards when watching the play (Beatrice), others I disliked (The Friar). I think it really depends on how you felt they should be portrayed when reading it, and how that stacks up to how they are played and whether you can adjust your opinion based on what you observed. For me in the case of the friar, I felt like the actor was reading directly from a script when saying his lines, that and the manner in which he spoke was obnoxious, kind of that cadence so many people take when reading Shakespeare just because it uses that old style language (thou etc).
Tempo was a large part of hit or miss for me. The tempo of the lines read really added to the humor at times, made it too silly at other times and made the play unrealistic and hard to follow some of the time. In this way the play was frustrating for me to watch because it was so enjoyable at some moments and at others the opposite.
The song sung by Claudio was the most interesting part I found. In my copy of the play, a side section talks about how the song sung at the grave is not always credited to Claudio. Meaning it could be his servants or another that actually sings it. For me, this is a huge impact on how you feel about a large part of the plays message by the end. In the live production we saw, Claudio singing at the grave did a lot for gaining sympathy for his character, afterward it becomes more of a happy ending for things to work out for him. That scene was staged quite beautifully, I really enjoyed watching it unfold live. But I wonder how I would have felt had it not been Claudio that sung the ballad. I most likely would have detested Claudio more had it not been he who sung the song.
I did enjoy the alteration of characters to fit a female mold. Don "Juana" was very interesting. I felt she recited her lines little too arrogantly, but I mainly enjoyed it because it highlighted the possibility of how differently characters can be portrayed. I had only read the first two acts before seeing it. I enjoyed and got more out of the parts I hadn't read yet... I felt that says a lot about how a large part of my enjoyment was based off what I expected and not what I was absorbing from the play. Overall pretty good experience, it really makes me want to see more productions to see different renditions.

Much Was Done to Nothing

Utah Valley University’s version of Shakespeare’s Much A Do About Nothing was very interesting. Having the play set in Mexico was a very interesting approach. The guitar players helped set the mood along side the very detailed set. I think that the set was beautiful and I absolutely loved the little fountain I thought that was awesome.

The costumes were distracting. I felt like there was a good concept, but they were just distracting, I thought Don Juanna’s dress was really beautiful. I liked the red and black colors for her, but she didn’t really mesh with all the rest of the characters and I am not sure if that was done on purpose, but I thought it was out of place.

The guitarists were really hilarious. The guy was way funnier than the girl, but they made a good team. I think they were a great touch. The acting was unbalanced there were more girl characters, but the men were much stronger actors than the women. I thought the girls acted really young. At times I felt like I was watching a high school show. There was absolutely no depth to the characters other than Beatrice. The actresses playing Hero, Margaret and Ursula were all dull there was not any character development. I thought that there was not a lot of character development.

Beatrice was pretty funny. I was not sure how I felt about her at the beginning of the play, but when she came out during the scene where Hero and Ursula are discussing Benedicts feels was when I really started to connect to the character. I thought she was really funny from that point on. I loved that she was so comfortable in her own skin and just was not shy. She did a good job.

Benedict was hilarious. I think that there was a lot of character development. He was one of the actors who I think really understood Shakespeare. This knowledge allowed him to really take a new interpretation to the lines. He made the character his own and he wasn’t trying to reinvent. Claudio is the most annoying character to begin with. I thought the actor acted really young. He portrayed the character as a teenage boy, although there were a lot of characters that portrayed their characters very young. Hero was as dull as ever. The character is written without a lot to go off of, but that is why it makes it an acting challenge to make something of a character that hasn’t been given very much. I did not particularly care for Dogberry, only because the actor in the movie version is so amazingly hilarious that I can’t have another actor top his performance. The really tall guy who was a watchman played his character really well. He was in the background a lot and he was not a forgettable character at all. That is a sign of a talented actor, someone who can make an unforgettable character when the character is not a lead.

Overall I thought that the play was entertaining. I am a harsh judge when it comes to acting. I think that actors need to know all the details about their characters and I don’t think that man of these actors did a lot of character development. Chemistry was really strong from Benedict towards Beatrice. I thought it was truly believable. I would not have chosen to set this play in Mexico, but that is what is so great about Shakespeare it is timeless and it is open to interpretation. I do think that there are times where interpretation is taken too far, but in this case I think they executed their interpretation well. 

Thursday Night - Much Ado About Nothing

Hey everyone. Yes, the blog is pink, in honor of romantic comedy, of course.

There is a performance of Much Ado About Nothing next Thursday night, Dec. 10, at 7:30, and there is a "talk-back" session afterwards, so we will be able to ask questions and talk with the director and performers. It should be a lot of fun.

But...I need a head count because it is selling out fast. If there are 10 or more of us, you can all get 2 dollars off the student price, which is regularly 7 bucks. Seeing a play for a fiver is a pretty good deal. I know that Thursday won't work for everyone, but I'm hoping it will work for most of us.

Please comment on this post ASAP and let me know if you are in or out.

Thanks!

The Gift of a Memory

Everything the father did for the boy is evidence of his love for his son. Helping him pull out the splinter, minimizing the pain with a story, and the bestowing the splinter as a gift all manifest the father's affection. It seems as if the father's affection is sealed in time with the gift of the splinter. The boy couldn't remember the 'tale' but he remembered bits and pieces of what happened. For example, he remembered the story the father used to comfort him. I think that the physical gift of the splinter led to him remembering his father's affection during that time. Thus, the gift acts as an important symbol. It acts as a symbol of the father's love for the boy and the device that helps the boy remember his love. The affects of this gift is apparent with the boy as he later helps a girl with a splinter.
I similarly don't remember too many stories from my childhood. However, one common element in all of my fragmented memories are the feelings that I felt. Just as a scar acts as something I can see and touch, physical things helps me remember my experiences from the past. Likewise the boy uses his metal splinter to remember how he felt about his father.

on the gift

There is something about Li-Young Lee's simple manner of writing in The gift that adds to it's beauty, because I felt Lee was saying how much something so small can transform you and you don't realize it immediately, like his poem itself. In the last stanza the speaker talks about how the gift was just a gift - it had meaning to him as a child only because of the act of receiving and not any personal view he applied to it at the time. Through looking back he realizes in treating his wife how much more it means to him now, and he realizes that the real gift wasn't the iron sliver - but a tenderness his father planted on him through experience. It's a very personal poem and judging from what others have wrote from it it seems everyone can relate to it in some way. It inspired me to read a little on Li-young Lee's family history and I must say it is very interesting. http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Lee.html

Some Thoughts on "Woodwork"

Well, the break is almost over and I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

The poem that I have been dwelling on the most is "Woodwork," and what Daniel said about poetry often beginning in a single moment. I believe that moments are what our memories are built off of as well. The stronger the moment is, the more vivid of a memory it becomes. In "Woodwork" the first part of the poem relates the moment in which the speaker has a kind of revelation of the mortality of his father. The speaker's father takes on ghost-like qualities as he is working with wood. And then when the father passes on, it is the woodwork that retains the essence of the father.

In the second half of the poem, the speaker looks to the tools and the senses of "color, scent, and shade" that have been saved, and uses them to carve and "woodwork" his memory of his father. The last stanza of the poem talks about memory as something we can "groove," "level," and shape.

The mimetic words used in the poem create strong visualiztion and the sounds of wood carving. When I read words like "ripped" I could hear the high whine of a saw blade cutting through a plank of wood, with sawdust flying through the air. And in the second stanza I could hear the "grinding gravel." In that same stanza I also felt like there were some ghostly qualities being forshadowed with the words "a stair's creak," mostly because creaking stairs seem to be a part ghost stories, but that might be me stretching a connection. I think that the use of auditory words is important to the poem, because woodworking includes a lot of auditory sounds, and words that involve the sense perceptions make the poem real as I read it.

Well thats about all I have to say. I like the poem. I actually like studying a poem written by our teacher. It's cool.

Given Something to Keep

I read "The Gift" several (really like ten) times. The more I read it the more it really did open up for me. On the surfaces it is about a boy whose father pulls a splinter from his hand. The boy grows up and does the same for his wife. Really though this poem is so much more complex. I really don't think "The Gift" in the poem is that the father was able to relieve the sons pain by pulling out the splinter. In the second stanza it talks about he fathers hands and how they were measures of tenderness laid against his face. Then it says the flames of discipline he raised above my head. These 4 lines really give a look into their relationship, outside of that one moment. The father was loving and caring with his child but when discipline was needed it was used. I would consider my father to be the exact same way. We are the best of friends but he keeps me in line. I think the gift that was given to the son was the gift of love. Through example the father was able to teach his son how to real love and care for someone. The son then reciprocated that love back to the father in a very innocent way by kissing his father. When he grows up he expresses that love to his wife in a more complex way. Taking care of her.

Building A Bridge To Do

I have been really interested in learning about poetry. I have always loved poetry, although I have not always understood it. When I read poetry I feel the need to be emotionally involved and attached.  I struggled a little with these last poems interpreting their meaning. It was hard to become emotionally involved when I am not exactly sure what I am reading. I did love in the poem "The Bridge" the lines that say "To throw himself into threat roiling water and test the reality of his arms and lungs" I really loved these lines. They are filled with such emotion. The instinct to help others who are in need. 

It kind of goes in the opposite direction of Waiting for Godot. Something had to be done in "The Bridge" and it was accomplished unlike in the play where the two main characters stood around waiting for life to come. I wonder if Vladimir or his pal would have forgotten the reality of their arms and lungs and gone after to face the threat of the roiling waters. It makes me sad to think they probably would have done nothing. I am thankful this character in "The Bridge" forgot about himself and completely focused on helping others. 

"The Gift," "The Bridge," and "Woodwork"

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. The tooth pull and subsequent recovery knocked me out a bit more than I had anticipated, but I'm emerging from the warm cocoon of blankets and medication just in time to wish I was allowed to chew. Think of me when you are chewing turkey.

Jillian started us off pretty well with her interpretation of "The Bridge." One reason I chose this poem is because of the way it resonates with the other things we have been reading this semester. In one sense, this poem is about the experience of Arthur Peavahouse, but in another sense, it is about why we tell stories, and how we try to find truth in our own experiences even when we have to tell "the lie that stands for truth." First, you need to look up any words or references you don't know. If you don't know what "fulsome" means, or what "crappies" or "sloughs" or "roiling" denote, you might have some trouble. Once you have all of the words comfortably in hand, here are a few things we might talk about: What are the two words alluded to in the second line? Why does Jones wait until the end of the poem to let us know that there was a child that could not be saved? What clues does Jones give us throughout the poem that this story may not actually be "real"? What parts of the story seem to be based on real experience? And, perhaps even more significantly, how does real and imaginary experience blend together to stand for something meaningful? What is working metaphorocally in the poem? How do the line breaks work? How does sound contribute to the poem's meaning? Are there any symbols? Any of this is fair game for discussion. The poem takes some work, but it's quite a rewarding one, I think.

Poetry often begins in a single moment, or even a single image. I happen to know that in "Woodwork," the moment from which the poem emerged is described in the fourth stanza; it was a moment where the poet was working in the woodshed with his father. The sawdust covered them, turning them white, and as the poet saw his father turn ghostly, he glimpsed his father's mortality. My interpretation of Part I of the poem is that even after the speaker's father is gone, traces of him linger in ghost-like ways. You can decide for yourself why this might be, or what this means, but pay attention to the way the poet uses sound in the poem in ways that could be considered mimetic or even onomatopoeiac. here are some other things to think about: How does the second part of the poem differ from the first? Why are the two parts numbered? How does woodworking turn into a metaphor in the second park? Can any comparisons be made with "The Bridge" in terms of the way we shape experience in order to make it bearable, in order to live with it? (Okay, that was really awkward for me, so just talk about whatever you want!)

"The Gift" is, at least in part, about the way experience joins the past and present, how we pass on what we learn and who we are. It is also about the complexity of relationships. What do we learn about this father-son relationship from reading the poem, and how does the experience with the father inform the later experience with his wife? Is the splinter a symbol? What is going on with the "christening" in the last stanza? What does the title mean to you? What is "the gift" in the poem? During the procedure, the speaker's father tells him a story to distract him from the knife and the the pain. Is this important in the poem? Li writes in what could be called a deceptively simple style. The words are not difficult to understand, but htere are multiple layers of meaning, and the poem really begins to open up when read carefully and in light of all we have been learning about poetry.

Well, that is more than enough to think about. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Going out on a limb with "The Bridge"

I am kind of nervous to voice my thoughts on this poem because I think I may be radically off base. Not with my opinion of it which is, that it is a melancholy story that tells so much but leaves you feeling lonely. At the same time it reminded a little of The Things They Carried in that it had little contradictions throughout the whole thing. It starts with "These fulsome nouns, these abbreviations of air/Are not real, but two of them may fit a small man" then later "the false name of a real man" and finally "Many times I have thought everything I have said/ Or thought was a lie, moving some blame or credit". It is this last line that makes me think that this may be the speakers story if it is true at all. It was the speaker who was jumped into the water to save four people but only ended up saving three. Perhaps he gives themself an alias, attributes the story to someone else behind because the truth is too much. This is speculation of course but that is the impression that I got.

The Things We Carry

I can't help but agree with Elizabeth, that we might be taking our grade into our own hands by blogging with no prompt. =) It's also dangerous to theorize about an author's intent when that author is your own teacher, but I also live on the edge and welcome the 'constructive danger.'

I am incredibly moved by the emotion these poems evoke in me. I am fortunate enough to have my father still with me, but the intent and purpose of the poem is not lost on me. "The Gift" and "Woodwork" both present a very particular theme: that experiences and especially memories are often translated via our senses. It never ceases to amaze me, the extent of experiences that we, as humans, are emotionally able to contain and in turn process through our senses: the smell of grandmother's linen closet, a favorite uncle's boisterous laugh, the pinch of an annoying brother. These sensory experiences translate into memories and often imprint themselves in our souls more deeply than we may ever imagine. These become the experiences that we carry with us and which hold us more firmly than any other.

In "The Gift" the speaker mentions that he doesn't remember the story his father told him during his ordeal, but he "hear(s) his voice still, a well of dark water, a prayer." Li-Young Lee must understand the relation between our experiences and our senses even more deeply than I am able to explain. The speaker goes on to mention that a viewer might have witnessed that seen and thought that a man was "planting something in a boy's palm." Isn't that exactly what was happening? Perhaps not a seed, but something was being planted, those "measures of tenderness" and the "flames of discipline" were forever planted in the speakers memory.

I was more deeply impressed by "Woodwork" with the choice of vocabulary; those low, harsh verbs. The sheer masculinity that is conveyed through the text makes the absence of that source of strength, the father, more keenly felt than that of "The Gift." The loss seems somehow more acute because of the power that is behind every vowel and consonant: "grinding gravel," "lock click," "spun smooth." The father is a very powerful presence in this poem and the loss of that presence becomes tangible and adds a fragile quality to the poems conclusion. I can't help but wonder what occurrences make the "grains of memory" smooth; what helps the past become flush?"

A Father's Gift

Li-Young Lee really captured the heart of a father/child relationship in this poem. He used some great visual words and strategically placed them at the end to invoke the desired emotion. He starts with the very first line with "palm" - which made me visualize the symbol for a helping, healing open hand. In the second stanza he uses "well" and "prayer." A well brings forth water to support life and is a source of living strength. Leaning on our father's is a source of emotional strength which helps us endure the trials we face. Prayer demonstrates a father's deep love for his child, which can also relate to a spiritual symbolism of a Heavenly Father loving an earthly child. He also demonstrates the powerful lesson of the perpetual nature of love. This little boy learned to love and nuture from his father and passes it along to his wife. In doing so he returns to those childhood feelings of being safe, loved, nurtured, and is able to focus on his father and not the thing that so tormented and caused him pain. This gift is universal through all cultures, and can also parallel all spiritual philosophies in the powerful impact of loving, caring and helping those in need.

In "Woodwork" there is a similar theme of the bond that develops between father and son through father teaching his son the art of woodworking. This created strong memories and the physical wood, smells, and process bring to heart the emotions shared and special moments spent with a loving father. For me the poem moves me through the cycle of life demonstrating that those that are gone live on in our memories and the way we live our lives.

"Woodwork"

I believe there are certain dangerous elements to responding without a prompt, especially when the response will be on your professor’s own poem. But I live in Utah County so I think to myself, where else am I going find a constructive danger, but in my literature class. One of the elements is the need not to misinterpret, or offend the poet. I have found that I have a certain knack for offending people. I’m not ashamed to say I’m quite talented at it, but I was always taught that you should explore your talents, take them to great heights, so here I go.
My first impressions of “Woodwork” came to me through the senses: smells, sounds, and sights, and I felt that the poem was about the essence that certain people leave on us. The first stanza says “…the outline of my father stayed pressed in his bed” this in my opinion gives the feeling of the deep impact that this man had not only on his son, but his whole environment. For me it also took on literal elements, because I have worked with people who have had strokes and there is a heaviness that is like nothing I have lifted. A deep impression, even in the bed gives a very real feeling to the poem. There is a haunting feel to the first part of the poem, especially with lines like “ I waited for him to leave me as he always did” this gives me a view of anger, and hurt because people are found saying “ you always” or “ you never” when their hurt or angry and they have to find someone to blame for their feelings, but it seems that even through the anger the dad and his presence doesn’t seem to be leaving “Outside, his face ghosted in his Coleman lantern as he walked to the woodshed” This part of the poem gives me a view that there is some sort of unfinished business, some work that needs to be done. This part also gives a feeling of yearning for the time when son and father were able to work side by side. The second part of the poem, gives some resolved feelings, the hurt isn’t as sharp. With lines like “I save the color, scent, and shade--- what remains to be carved” it gives me a feel that there is still work to be done, but that now the tables have turned. Instead of a son helping a father with his creations, a father is now helping a son with his creations.

Gift from a Father

It's amazing the little things your fathers can pass down through you by just doing things. That through their actions you learn how to be tender, kind, loving despite how simple the problem is. I remember by dad pulling a sliver out of my foot one summer and the sliver broke so he had to dig deeper with the needle to get it and I was screaming and crying with pain. When it was done he gave me a love and rubbed my injured foot and then told me to buck up and that I was making a big deal out of nothing. But when I was really hurting, or sick, or injured he was there by my side in an instant taking care of me with tender loving care. Sadly these are all past tense memories and I have very few present memories to match them in quantity and quality.
Unfortunately from my Fathers actions and observing him I have also learned to be unkind and unloving. It's pain full and a strange transition when one moment of your life you are being given love and learning how to give in return and then having it being withheld from you. Luckily I was smart enough not to put that part of my fathers lessons that he past to me into practice, but I will practice and take to heart the good lessons he thought me through his example.
So what is some things you guys have learned from your fathers or mothers, or both?

Class Tomorrow

Hi everyone. I'm afraid we're not going to be able to have class tomorrow. I am having an emergency tooth extraction. Here is the short version: I never had my wisdom teeth out as a teenager (you may have noticed that I have both a big mouth and a big head, so there was room for them to stay), and now one of them has to come out. It is causing me pain from my jaw all the way up to my eye. The only time they could get me in was tomorrow afternoon. The good news is, I won't gain ten pounds over the break (I'm a sucker for razzleberry pie). The bad news is the same as the good news.

I propose that instead of meeting for class, we have a blog discussion over the break. Here are the requirements for the blog discussion:

1. Read the poems for tomorrow if you have not already done so.
2. As usual, post an original response on the blog (I will post prompts later today).
3. Respond to at least two of your classmates' posts.

I have every confidence in your ability to conduct a meaningful online conversation. One problem with the current blog format (and I'm trying to figure out a way to improve this element) is that many of you are not reading the posts of your classmates. The blog lets me know how you are doing with our reading, but it doesn't always function as an online conversation. I would like for that to change this week.

I am available via email to answer questions about explications, and I will have your critical essays for you when we get back next Tuesday.

Please start reading Much Ado About Nothing. Don't be intimidated by Shakespeare. If it helps, read the "No Fear Shakespeare" that Sparknotes does alongside the original text. Do not read the modernized text in place of the original. That would be grounds for public flogging or at least expulsion from the community of decency. Shakespeare's poetry is glorious, and his language is full of puns and innuendo that you miss in the modernized text. But the modernized text can help if read as a supplement. There are also some good film versions that can help.

Speaking of films, the offer to replace missed blogs by reviewing THE ROAD still stands. It opens this week.

Thank you for understanding. I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am grateful for this class. The conversations are valuable and rewarding to me, and I am learning a lot from you.

No more wolves =)

“O” uses line breaks to allow different sentences to relate to one another. The first example is:
“is a galleon stranded in flowers. Around it
The wind. Even the high roar of a leaf-mulcher”

“Around it” Pulls back to the flowers and gives off a feeling of an envelope. This could be used to create a subconscious image of an Island, which itself is enveloped in water. Sometimes, people escape to an island to escape change. On an Island there can be virtually no outside influence, but it always will change. Your surroundings are flowers, seasonal at best.

The last two stanzas give insight to the meaning of the Island. It seems as if the island is not of constant value itself, but is always changing and unpredictable. I think Island is the word that is “so right it trembles”. The island can always be changing, whether because of the people, the lack of people, the weather, and anything else. The trembling must be the shakiness.

My blog post is an island. I started off writing about line breaks and how they are used, and ended in this way.

“Neither I nor my neighbor
Would be amazed. Sometimes”

Reflection

The relationship between reflection and the woman is explained very well in this poem. In thinking about reflection, how its untangible, not contained to a single object, the length of the stanza's and their importance are shown. It seems as if in every stanza, reflection gives another quick line describing its relationship and its progess with the woman. Because the lines are loaded with description then cut off the way they are, the poem as a whole seems to reflect a timeline of the relationship from the 'young girl' that is 'pink, with speckles' to the 'old woman.'
'
Many stanza's also begin with 'I' and there is even more within each stanze. This really helps show how reflection is describing its relationship with the woman. This made me feel like I was on the side of reflection. I felt like I just wanted 'reflection' to be happy, if that makes any sense, kind of like I sympathied with it understanding its faithfulness to the woman.

Mirror

In the "Mirror", Sylvia Plath is able to draw in the readers attention, not only in the words themselves but in the structure that she uses throughout the poem. One of the main things that she does that is so simple but makes the poem even more meaningful is her use of periods. With the use of a period she is able to take certain phrases and make them stronger and to the point, making us even more able to 'feel' the poem. One of my favorite examples of when she does this is in the first stanza, when she says , "I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers." Her separating this sentence and making "But it flickers." its own sentence makes it so you can feel more of how the narrator of this poem may be feeling. I feel a sort of a reflective mood is being put,that separation of words makes me think of a separation of thought is being put out too.
Sylvia Plath, also breaks off lines in the middle of a sentence, for example when she writes, "Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike."
her breaking off the line on immediately instead of on a different word, helps put forth another meaning/emotion to this phrase. Her ending at immediately makes it feel even more sharp and immediate instead of just flowing into the rest of the sentence.
There are a lot of different uses and tricks that Sylvia Plath uses that make this poem the strong piece that it is and I could go on all day going on into the little details and finding even more meaning in the process. That is the beauty of a well written poem, you could read it over and over again, but every time you do it feels like the first time all over again.

O Swedish Island

Reading through "O" many times I get the feeling of progress. The first stanza is only two lines, the next is three lines, then three, then five, then four, then five. You can feel the constant movement is the first stanzas. This island is changing the neighborhood. As your moving along this island, around the corner you see a mighty galleon surrounded by flowers. Then around that you hear horns blasting and ships moving along the shores. It's a busy atmosphere yet the people seem complete and content with how things progress (living in the now).
The ending of the poem gives a sense of uncertainty. The ending words of the lines are sometimes, trembles, explanation, end, nothing is, future. You wonder if "we don't need much more to keep things going" is really going to keep us going. Do we need an explanation for the things we do? Should we worry about what we will end up with? Or are we more like this island where things come and go and you just move with the waves?

The Mirror

This poem was structurally significant to me because it seemed to me to be written like reflection. If you took the two stanzas and folded them into each other their lines would match up with an exactness. The way this poem is written informs what it is about. It speaks of a mirror and without a rhythm or rhyme but with the structure alone it draws the reader into the mirror and into its reflection which drives the poem home even more.

doin a line

Deliberate choices are made in the structure of the poem Backroad that help push the poem along. Backroad as a whole exists as a kind of fragmented memory - and the stanzas serve as their own fragments. Each stanza kind of has a theme, which conveys a sense of the speakers emotions to his or her memories. Ugly beauty, intimacy, a sense of self awareness, and a recollection or reflection are entities of their own. All tied to just a memory of a back road. Each stanza can stand alone and not lose it's own meaning, but the author uses them all together to create more. A couple of striking breaks I noticed in Backroads were "After," and ", He sent me". The breaks surrounding these lines puts a cold emphasis on them, which for me gives the impression of some bitterness from the speaker, and they go well with what I perceive as a large theme of the poem - warm and cold. The speaker and the lover's relationship was cold but singed with passion.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall...

The first stanza of "Mirror" is all about what the Mirror is and what it does. It describes how it is all knowing and all truthful, "the eye of a little god". Most of its time is spent reflecting the wall opposite it. Once in awhile it flickers with faces and darkness. The length of each line is really interesting. I feel like Plath used the lengths of the lines to emphasize the length time spent doing a particular thing or the importance of the line. "It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long" is the longest line in this stanza emphasizing that the most time was spent studying the opposite wall.
The second stanza tells of the woman who seeks her reflection in the Mirror. This stanza's lines showing the length of time spent for each line. When she turns to the liars, the candles or moon, it is the second longest line possibly indicating that for a long period of time she chose to not seek or reflection in the Mirror and look for the truth elsewhere. When the Mirror reflects her back it is the shortest line of the stanza indicating that it was a short period of time. The longest line is of her going from a young girl to an old woman. This obviously took a number of years, it didn't happen over night. So that lines seems to keep going when all other lines stop.
Plath ends most of her lines with periods. Which tends to add emphasis to the lines that end in the middle of a sentences. On line 7 it breaks after "long" and then continues with "I think it is a part of my heart." That also adds emphasis to how much time is spent because it draws out the "long" until the next line. Line 10 is broken after the "woman bends over me," The eye has to move to the next line before finishing the sentence. This almost gives a movement for the woman bending. The last two lines are one very long sentences. This suggests the passage of time and how much time the woman has spent seeking the truth in the mirror day after day.

The Words on the Breaks

We've talked about stanza break before in class, and we mentioned the words on those breaks. I just wanted to day how more powerful those words are because they are at the end of a break or the beginning of the break. As I read the poem 'Mirror' I noticed how powerful the words were at the end of the lines. Some of the words that caught my attention were; preconceptions, dislike, cornered, so long, over and over, really is, agitation of hands, darkness, old woman.
I don't know a lot about poetry (that's why I'm taking this class). The way I try to understand it is to read poetry, lots of times, while paying attention to my feelings and reaction to the words and motion of the poem. The words I pointed out above stood out because when I look in a mirror there are all those feelings these words bring to the surface. The line that I like as a whole is "I am not cruel, only turthful--". That is so true weather I want it to be or not!

Unwritten Rhyme

Each of these poems has specific breaks that lead to reader to individual thoughts. In "Backroad," each line is an image in our mind, setting the mood, describing the emotions and leading us down her path of innocence lost to young love and passion. If she extended the lines to one line through the period, we would not pause and visualize and capture what she wanted us to see and feel, we would too easily miss something. In "Mirror," the flow is more erratic, however, the end of each line emphasizes something very important, like in the first line with "I have no preconceptions." We have to linger on the specific traits and she closes many lines with very descriptive words. In "O" each stanza stands alone, describing a unique type of life island that humans create. And yet, sometimes she ends a stanza with the beginning of the next, demonstrating that although we can be an island, we still connect to our surroundings. An island stands all alone, but is connected to the sea, the living organisms on and arround and the weather, so nothing is ever truly isolated.

Line Breaks and Stanzas and Rhythm

Since free verse does not rely on meter, the poet can use stanzas and line breaks to establish rhythm in a poem. When we were reading novels earlier in the semester, we discussed how the writer teaches us how to read the story. I think that the poet teaches us how to read the poem through line breaks. Line breaks give us sense of rhythm and movement in the poem, or they can be used to suddenly throw the rhythm off, to make us feel uncomfortable and perhaps stumble through a poem.

Where the line ends in free verse is important, because whatever word the line ends on, that word will recieve more emphasis by virtue of its placement at the end. I noticed that in the poem "Backroad," every line ended with a noun or a verb, which helps create a strong visual image or action.

In "Backroad" there are not many lines that are end-stopped. When I read the poem, the line breaks caused me to continue reading from one line to the next, creating a kind of flow in the poem. When I went back and read the poem again, I deliberately read each line by itself, scrutinizing how the words in the line interacted and produced an active image. For me, looking at each line closely added more meaning and depth to the poem.

I also noticed in the poem, each stanza is like a new scene, or segment of the memory. The stanzas move the reader through time. The poem moves from winter into spring, where the emotional content of the poem is reached.

I think that line breaks and stanzas in free verse a just a couple of tools that can be used to add rhythm, and also create meaning in a poem.

"O" pen to Interpretation.

The poem "O" has such deliberate breaks in the middle of lines or sentences. The poem stresses specific points and words. I really think this is an effective way of getting across the point of the poem. It separates the semi-important from the extremely important. The end of the fifth stanza it ends with "Sometimes" then the beginning of the following stanza has a specific meaning. It makes the mind ready to not accept the next stanza as all the time. Then in the ending stanza one of the lines ends with the word "end" which gives a natural human reaction of nothing left or the ceasing of something. 

I don't always know what poets are talking about, but I do feel quite often. I am more into how a poem makes me feel through word choice and description rather than exactly what the poem is saying. I like poetry that is open to personal interpretation. Depending on how a life is being lived and the experiences a reader has had the poem can mean so much. Every reader will interpret a poem differently. I don't know if I am explaining myself very well, but there it is. 

"O," "Backroad," and "Mirror"

For Thursday, I would like you to specifically look at the way these poets use lines and stanzas. If we "remove the net" from poetry and do not require it to be written in meter and rhyme, the poet must invent a form that is appropriate to the content. Therefore, as you read any poem, but perhaps especially a free verse poem, you should ask yourself questions like these: Why are the stanzas divided in this manner? Why are the lines this length? Why is the line broken after this word and not another?

You can talk about other things as well, but I would like most of your discussion to center on the poets' use of lines and stanzas.

Thank you.

More than a tree

I believe that the sequoia in this poem is symbolism for a baby that is lost. The author talks about working all day in the orchard to dig a hole and place the "sequoia" in. It is not a happy day, you can tell by the description of the weather. It talks of other fathers planting a tree for their first born sons and how he would have done the same but instead they kneel in the cold planting the native giant. I really like this poem for a couple of reasons. I like it because it has so much heart without being overly sentimental. When I think of a tree as a symbol a lot of times I think of the genealogy of my family with each branch representing a new family member. So in this orchard that the poem talks about I am reminded of the same sort of thing. This father would have loved to plant a new tree or raised his little boy, giving the orchard a new sapling but instead the child died. I believe the orchard is the family. Welcoming each new tree with joy as it makes the orchard grow. I love the line where he says "defying the practical custom of our fathers". I love it because the word defying has always felt to me a sort of negative connotation always reserved for the stubborn who wish to go against the norm. Well in this instance the child is going against the norm, which would be dying after the parent not before, but I do not believe that the child made a conscious decision about it. It later talks about all the rest of the family who will come and go. The house will be torn down and his mothers ashes in the air. It makes it feel like the child will never be forgot and their will always linger this sadness and despair that is felt because of it.

An Opportunity for Rebirth

I really like the notion of rebirth in Dana Gioia's "Planting a Sequoia." We are given this image of a child burying the father and giving him a chance at a new life, the next life. I read it a bit differently the second and third time than I did the first. I initially thought that the ways of the father were being honored by the burial ritual. As I reread, it occurs to me that their ritual is different than what may have been accepted. "Defying the practical custom of our fathers" (line 12). This leads me to believe that everything following that statement is in direct opposition to what custom would demand of the situation.

The relation of the burial to the image of planting a tree is a symbol to me of a different aspect of life. The young sapling or seed planted at birth would be dormant until it begins to grow and continues to grow beyond the end of a person's natural life. Death, at the opposite end of the spectrum from birth, is also represented by the insertion of life into the ground, dormant life that will grow and change into something new, a sort of fertilizer for the earth that allows life to continue. This may seem a very atheistic perspective, but I intend it to be the opposite, to represent the cycles of life in their many forms, both here and in the hereafter.

Perhaps the inclusion of the hair and a piece of the birth cord in burial allow the deceased the begin anew, to pass from this state into a state of rebirth. The "secret of your birth" is a statement that continues to puzzle me. Does the hair and cord allow a person to possess the secret to their birth? How does this relate to Sicilian tradition?

Nothing in Everything

I'm not big on winter, I'm more of a palm tree kind of girl, yet when I was reading " The Snow Man" I have to admit chills ran down my back. Not that the poem made me chilly in a cold sense, but I have had those moments in the midst of new fallen snow where I feel like I'm in a whole new world. Usually I get this feeling when its dark outside,but it doesn't seem dark because the whiteness of the snow. I have also notice how quiet it gets, which is why I was surprised Wallace Stevens talk so much on sound "which is the sound of the land" " In the sound of a few leaves" " Of any misery in the sound of the wind" I think this intertwines with him talking about listening. I think when trying to create any kind of symbolism you have to be in tune with your environment and what its saying to you. That even if your environment is a blank wall or blank sheet of paper or a ," Nothing that is not there" You can still create symbolism,because it is in everything, even the nothing.

The Mighty Sequoia

The 1st, 4th, and 5th stanzas describe the ritual in the moment, but the 2nd and 3rd stanzas are what gesture symbolism to the poem.

The 2nd stanza speaks of Sicilian tradition of planting a tree at the event of a first born. It tells of the special event and the meaning behind that tradition, and speaking that this “planting of a sequoia” could have been a similar festivity. But it tells a more somber tale of this is for the first-born’s death.

This ritual could symbolize the next generation. The new experiences are less of a celebration, and more a product of problems past. I think the last stanza gives evidence of this as it writes:

“Every niece and nephew scattered, the house torn down…
Silently keeping the secret of your birth.”

There is a disconnect in this generation; a glitch in the plan, similar to the death of the first born. The first born is expected to be the strongest, the one that gives meaning to love. If that is taken away, order is lost. The houses and families are not the unit they once were. I think the last line may allude to how this issue is not addressed, yet still a huge one. Sequoia’s are massive, and eventually unavoidable.

A Son's Rebirth

I'm not very good at putting symbols explaining symbols, but I usually have a feeling what the symbol stands for in the poem. In "Planting a Sequia" I feel that there are a few aspects of life that the tree is a symbol for. I think the chief symbol in the poem is that of a father burying a sequia seed with "a lock of hair, a piece of an infant's birth cord," and in a way the father is burying his son. By taking the those emblem's of his and combining them with the seed, the father is giving his lost infant a chance for new life, a life that will grow tall and strong and will span many years, and I also believe that is why the father chose a sequia. The father's action of burying the seed in a time of death is contrasted with of a tradition in Sicily where "a father plants a tree to celebrate his first son's birth." For the father in the poem, he is planting the tree to give his son a rebirth. The earth will become the new womb for his son.

The father speaks to the sequia seed because it is the new vessel for his son. So he is essentially speaking to his son. The father is telling his son that they will still be there to care and nurtur him as he grows. The see Any other perspective or voice would not work in this poem. The emotion and the powerful symbolism of the tree would be lost.

I also wondered what happened to the father's infant, if all he had was a lock of hair and a piece of birth cord to bury.

As I looked at the poem closer and thought about the tree and the infant son, I made more connections and felt the power of symbolism. I believe that if symbolism hadn't been used, and the poem was written with a direct display of emotions, the poem would have been in danger of becoming over sentimental. The way symbolism is used in this poem, there is a depth of emotion that lets us feel with the father. It's a very moving poem and it was a strong demonstration of the use of symbolism.

Sweet Hope in Death, "Planting a Sequoia"

My interpretation of "Planting a Sequoia", I in-visioning a death of a young child(childhood). That might be because the second stanza talks about a father and his planting of a tree to celebrate his sons birth. And how that young tree will grow to be a beauty among the earth. I also feel the longing of someone who has died in the story, and how the family morns for them and wishes they could have life's moment together with the deceased.
Also when I read the part about the planting of the sequoia with the hair and birth cord I got this overwhelming sense that it was a memorial, or tribute to the deceased child(or child hood). The last two lines really struck me. They have a sad, silent hope to these word. Hoping for life after death.

I want you to stand among strangers, all young and ephemeral(means to lasting one day only) to you,
Silently keeping the secret of your birth.

Symbolizing Our Lives

"The Snow Man" Talks alot about symbolism and finding symbols in our own lives. I think that this poem is inspiring because it gives the great opportunity to created big statements out of little things. I think the author is trying to say everything in our lives means something so much more. We must open our eyes and find the meaning of life through the "things" that are in our lives. For example dance for me is a symbol of freedom it is the way I can go through life happily. "Dancing through life." There are truly symbols all around us we just need to open our eyes and see and feel them.

The Snow Man

This poem didn't make a lot of sense to me until I read the prompt on how its a symbol poem symbolizing our need to well...symbolize. I think the first couple stanzas about having a "mind of winter" might be talking about how one has to be in a particular mind frame to find meaning in what otherwise is quite meaningless. We can think of snow as frozen water vapor falling to earth in soft crystalline flakes but most of us choose snow to represent the ending of something and the start of something else. When I think of snow, I think of Christmas and how it's beginning to look a lot like it everywhere I go. And I like that. The very last stanza I may be wrong in interpreting but to me it seems like the point is maybe it is silly to create meaning in everyday things, but without it the world is dry and boring. Why look at something if it simply is what it is?

Symbols in Nature

Symbols increase our knowledge. When we attach a symbol to something we are labeling it, judging it, making it our own. The Snow Man gives us many examples of this by attaching symbols to nature's Winter. 'Frost and the boughs', 'pine-trees crusted with snow', 'cold' , and 'few leaves' are just a couple of examples given of symbols of Winter. I believe Stevens chooses Winter opposed to the other seasons on purpose to show that Winter requires symbols. Images of death, nothingness, and emptiness flood the mind as Stevens describes Winter. This is completely different to a explaination of spring, which symbols could be alive, growing and colorful. Now because we understand that Winter is truly nothingness, just dead without existence, it requires symbols. We need the symbols of Winter to have a knowledge of what Winter is like. The Snow Man teaches us that Winter is a time of many types of trees covered with snow. If we didn't have those symbols what would we know winter to be? Nothingness? We wouldn't know ourselves.

The River Merchan'ts Wife

I believe that this poem is a letter because of the way the wife is speaking. It's almost like she's reminiscing but not quiet. It's more of looking back over the good times and it seems that she is remembering how her husband changed her over the years, helping her break out of her shell, and how much she loved him for it. She talks of how she never laughed and being shy and how her husband changed that. When they where married she stopped scowling and she became more attached to him then ever because he changed her. I think her husband changed her at a emotional level, helping build up her confidence and making her happier then she has ever been. When someone does that to you it's hard and sometimes impossible to let go and you want to be as close as you can with that person. I think that's what his wife is trying to say in this letter, to get her gratitude and her feelings across and have them be understood.

Symbolism Prompts

As you read, and saw examples of, in Chapter 3, human beings have a very real need to create symbols and live in a symbolic world. The poems you are reading for Thursday's class all relate to this truth in one way or another.

1. In "Planting a Sequoia," what does the sequoia symbolize? In other words, what does it stand for that transcends itself, that is more than a tree? And why do you think the speaker addresses the sequoia, speaks to the tree, instead of speaking in first person or speaking to someone or something else? Please use specifics from the poem in your response.

2. In "The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter," the imagery of the poem, in almost every case, becomes symbolic because it stands for an emotion, specifically the emotion that the speaker, the wife, feels, or has felt, for her husband. Draw our attention to specific examples from the poem, and talk about what they symbolize. Also, why do you think this poem is presented as "A Letter." Is this important to the poem?

3. In "The Snow Man," Wallace Stevens writes about perception and imagination, in our need to create symbols and imbue our surroundings with meaning. In truth, nature (in this case the weather, has no moral value, but we are unable to see the world around us without passing some kind of judgment or thinking of how things are symbolic of human experience. This is a bit of a tricky question, but I think it's an interesting one: How does Stevens use symbolism to write about our need to symbolize?

Thanks. See you on Thursday.

How to use words

Throughout this reading I was intrigued by the feelings that poets place on their words. There are many quotes from different poets about how they feel about the importance of words and words themselves. In response to this I actually looked at the poems that I read in a different light then I would usually. In the poem "anyone lived in a pretty how town" I was struck by the way E.E. Cummings used the words. He takes the words from out of the ordinary and puts a whole new spin on them. For example I like the line that says Women and men (both little and small) because it uses two words that pretty much have the same denotation but are used in a way were their connotation is completely different. He also uses similar phrases throughout the poem, phrases which are usually cliche, but reverses the words and adds others to them. I really enjoyed the step out of the ordinary and interaction that this poem had for me. It wasn't just about the poem it was about the words as well.

Truth in "Those Winter Sundays"

I felt that “Those Winter Sundays” was an absolutely beautiful poem that spoke truth to me. My own dad, who even considers himself something of an ass, was one who exhibited “the chronic angers of that house.” While I was growing up that was how I viewed him. He would get angry for no real reason, and then there would be hell to pay, but such is life. What I failed to notice but have since seen, were the things that he did. He got up on the cold winter mornings, despite having five sons, despite having severe back and neck injuries, despite being the sole bread-winner for our family, he would go out into the “blue-back cold” and shovel the driveway, then he would go and work all day, and still he would come home and shovel again. He sacrificed everything that he would rather do, only so that he could do what we should have been doing. That was the kind of man my dad was and is. I am only ashamed that it took me so long to see it. So I treated him with indifference or worse. Because I did not understand all that he did.

Thoughts From the Brain of Mallory

I read "anyone lived in a pretty how town" too fast and ended up very confused. I had to reread it several slower times to get the jist of the poem. I don't claim to completely understand this poem at all. But still I was able to get a few pearls from it. The pretty how town is just society in general. Anyone is a person who has flourished in life despite what societies view of him is. He understands and loves himself and that is good enough for him. I love the line, "he sang his didn't he danced his did" I think it describes that he was aware of all the different directions he could have gone in life but was still satisfied with the way had his life had played out. Even though noone seems to be a person I don't think she is. I think noone is a representation of anyone's love for himself. The town just goes about the rhythms of life. They never seem to progress. Some of the children get a glimpse of the kind of life anyone enjoys but as they grow older they forget. Then they become like their parents and reap their sowing. Which just starts over the cycle. In general I would say that E.E. Cummings was trying to say that most of the world just goes through the rhythms of life never really living. They never really see anyone. They just go through the motions and "care for anyone not at all".

The Color of Thought

The poem Engine Work is filled with many of the aspects that we have learned so far. The consonants used to describe the father are more harsh or sharp - tools, cut stubble, pistons. The words used to describe mom, however, are softer - dense lace of hydrangea, helping us feel she is more gentle. I love the contrast with father deep in his car, the center of his world at this time, and she deep in her thoughts about the child he does not yet know exists. Not only do the words help shape our mental picture, but the description of what they are each doing confirms what we already know - men are more hands on and women are more emotional. In this lies the challenge to a happy relationship - finding the middle ground. We already start to envision what lies ahead for them as they soon move from a carefree life to that of adulthood and parenthood.

breeze brewin'

Planting a Sequoia seems to be about the death of an unborn child and how the author comes to terms with it. The Sequoia, olive and fig trees are a symbol of birth, and specifically the fig and olive trees symbolize natures life giving properties to human existence. Therefore there is an interesting contrast that the Sequoia tree is planted with the dead child, both literally and in a manner in which it was planted because the child died, the tree becomes a kind of rebirth of the infant. Death being a strong theme, the images are chosen accordingly. A black rain storm on the horizon - the dark and rain are ominous enough but to be on the horizon gives it more of a looming doom type feeling, as if it hangs over the whole poem. It works in more ways than one, it is a metaphor for the author holding back tears of sorrow through stifled icy emotionless demeanor, evident in "cold winds" keeping the storm away. The rising Sequoia is personified in this poem, the author is projecting onto it the things he had planned for his own son to experience, told through a beautiful line "Nights scented with the ocean fog, days of softened by the circuit of bees." It flows beautifully with many 's' type sounds. 'nights - scented - ocean - days - softened - circuit - bees'. Overall there is a lot more going on in this poem that I won't address, but I chose to post about this poem because I found it emotionally striking.

"Diving Into the Wreck"

"Diving Into the Wreck" is now up on Blackboard. Sorry for the delay. Please read it for tomorrow, along with the other two poems, and come ready to discuss them. In an effort to make sure I have all of the midterms graded for tomorrow, I'm not going to post an "official" prompt, but I would still like responses. Please pull in some of the concepts from our reading as part of your response (and please make it clear which concepts you are referring to).

Thank you.

The Power of Words

An elegy is a lament for a deceased person and in the “Autumn Elegy” this person is mourning for the death of men destroyed by war. Autumn is my favorite time of the year. I feel more relaxed and comfortable; this is a time when I contemplate more on life and find the beauty in everything. For me this poem was more of a gift to those close friends; remembering them year after year, although they are gone.
In describing the year’s death, the writer uses f and v in “firm veins” to denote a sense of friction and “shut” to denote a stopping of the flow of blood. The words “sluggish blood” give sound to this sentence; you can hear, feel, and see the bogging down of the blood flow, slower and slower till it stops.
I really enjoyed the use of the words protestation, opulent, panoply, and anneals. I looked up these words and I believe it helped me draw more out of the poem.
Protestation (protest) is an expression or disapproval of something a person is powerless to prevent or avoid. Death is inevitable, especially for plants around autumn time. The very leaves are protesting against dying (the rustling of leaves); their veins are closing and they too will soon fall to the ground.
Opulent is a rich, luxurious abundance of something and panoply is a splendid or magnificent array. It surprised me to find the meaning to these words. You get a sense for the greatness of these deaths. Apparently an abundance of people died but yet there was splendor and magnificence about the deaths. You draw a sort of inspiration from these people.
The writer is drawing from the powerful splendor of the moment before the wind “anneals” it all. Anneal means to harden something, toughen it, or remove internal stress. At this moment standing in the garden, the writer reflects on the meaning of a close friend’s death. Although there is sadness and mourning in this poem, I think there is also a sense of completeness; a ‘turning of the years back’ and embracing the ‘glory of Autumn’.

No one plays outside anymore.

The “too” is a reference to the other days of the week. The father doesn’t perform these actions on just the weekdays, but on “Sundays too”. I think a very apparent theme addresses the difference between a white collar job and a blue collar job.

There is reprise in the last few lines:
“What did I know, what did I know
Of love’s austere and lonely offices?”

It brings the situation to possibly more of a choice rather than submission. Maybe the father has no taste for the city life (lonely offices) and maybe had true passion for the work that must happen every day (love’s austere). This is a reflection, it seems, as the Author expresses, “What did I know…” All of these ideas that the child assumes for his father’s occupation, whether it is out of submission or out of choice, beyond the child mind. The child is too young to see the reasons. He only sees that it is cold outside, and it’s not fun.

I relate this to living in Utah. Anyone could live in California with nice warm winters, and view Utah as just cold, not only in a weather sense but also in cultural context. In fact, many people do view many places as just “cold”, but are often oblivious to the Idea that people do things for reasons. We live in Utah for reasons. The father goes out in the cold on those Sundays for a reason.

hard life, tender love, words lost

"Too" for me means more than one, or "also" so I think the whole house was probably aware of when the dad awoke . As I read the poem it reminded me of when I would hear or would smell my mom fixing breakfast. I could have gotten up many a time and helped her with the morning chores, but I never did, instead I just waited till she called me to come eat. This poem shows me the love of a parent. A parent who knows that he and his children have a hard life, so he does all he can to lighten their load. Lovey dovey words might not be exchanged, there is probably a lot of resentments because their life is difficult. The " chronic anger" in the house I think stems from them needing to get through the hardships, because sometimes anger can spur action. But the father does want to show his love, he just shows it differently than maybe is desired. As time passes I think his child understands this better, and wishes he would have used words himself to express what he felt.

The Last Hurrah!

My favorite thing about poetry is that I don't have to feel incompetent when I have read something, perhaps for the tenth time, and notice something that I didn't realize in the first nine readings. Poetry has a way of growing and blossoming while you aren't actually reading it, because when you return to it there is often some new element that wasn't in the poem before, or in the reader. =)
I am always drawn to the closing lines of any poem. They seem to be the 'last hurrah' of the author and are often the words that stay with me the longest. In "Those Winter Sundays," what struck me is the similarity between Hayden's closing line and Creech's closing line in "Engine Work."

"of love's austere and lonely offices?"(Hayden).

"to fire the lonely engine of the heart"(Creech).

It is amazing to me that the literal words are incredibly dissimilar, but the poetic meaning behind each line really speaks to me of the same idea. I get the impression in "Those Winter Sundays" that the child is reminiscing about days/times that have come and gone, scenes in which he/she was an active participant. Creech displays a similar scene, but one from which the child is absent. In both there is an element of heartbreak and a kind of sorrow. Hayden conveys this through phrases such as, "no one ever thanked him," and that word "indifferent" strikes me as a weight on the child's conscience.

The sounds are very impressive. "Blueblack cold" just makes me shiver thinking about it and hearing the low and abrupt sounds of the consonants. The ck-c arrangement just cracks when you read it aloud. I know that words only have meaning because we give them meaning, but "splintering" and "breaking" sound in word form just as I know them to sound in life.

The closing line still has me thinking about the child and what he means by this phrase. Is the father lonely because he's raising a child alone? Is it lonely because as children grow there is this elemental distance that comes between the changed role of adult to adult rather than child to adult? Is it even the father that is lonely? I do appreciate that he asks "what did I know?" The past tense of the word did makes me believe that he didn't know, but has since come to an understanding. Oh, so many questions. It's great because it means possibilities.

Exposed in the cold

In our world there are many ideas and experiences to describe love. Some say it is a feeling. Others have argued that the former claim is lacking and say that love is a verb (something done). Some, esspecially those in literature, seem to see love as a deep power, the most powerful thing. For examaple, in our reading, Pi kept on loving, and was saved.

Since love is so multi-tiered, any comment on it can be enlightening. Hayden's poem seems to bring to the table a lesson about what love is, how it is a verb and a power. The word 'too' is used at the begining to expose the fathers sacrifice. He sacrificed not only during the work week, but on the day when nobody else did. He chooses to expose himself to the cold all alone. The fathers deeds, the things he did were an act of love. Even though he was not thanked, alone, and without an attitude of reciprocity, he "went on loving." The question at the end is repeated perhaps so that we will stop, and think about whether we have also learned the important lesson that the child in the poem needed to learn.

Poetry is great because without it the power of love is very dificult to describe. Explicitly one can try to define it, maybe saying something like "it is a verb." But Poetry allows for something really deep to come up. It allows something experienced by one to be exposed to the world and understood by all.

Cold, Splintering, Breaking

In Those Winter Sundays I could feel the bone chilling cold. For me sundays are days to rest and snuggle with blankets, but Hayden's Sunday is cold and yet your heart is full of the heat of love because of the fathers sacrifice to have the place warm for when the family gets up. The lines and the sounds that Hayden uses on line 6 and chilling to my body, then warms the cockles of my heart when I realize the father's sacrifice if warming the house and polishing his shoes. To me the father was polishing respect in his child and shoing that love that only family can give unconditionally.
The world is cold and non forgiving. Like the father working hard and never getting a thank you or recognition, the world will step on you and throw you to the curb. But in those rare moment when you are recognized it is generally the small and humble that will appreciate your sacrifice. As human beings we generally never understand fully the gifts and sacrifice given to make our live filled with warmth and kindness, instead we take them for granted. OR, for me, I try to see and understand the best I can to appreciate the small things others do for me, so as to always have that warmth in my life. this poem doesn't just leave your body cold but your soul as well, through the sounds of the words. and yet it teaches me to find warmth in the things and people around me.

oh what did I know?

In the poem "Those Winter Sundays" the narrator is talking about his dad getting ready for work. In the poem you get the feeling that the feeling towards the dad was one of slight resentment,yet at the same time you notice the feeling of regret the son has for not appreciating his dad. In the poem he asks "What did I know, what did I know of love's austere and lonely offices?" I believe that this repeating of what did I know twice makes it so that the reader could truly feel the sons agony and regret. By the way he wrote it you could almost hear him talking and you are able to feel the emotions in the poem.

The taste of words in my mouth.

One of my favorite things about the poems we have read thus far, is how enjoyable they are to read out loud. The language is such that the rhythms and sound of the words make my mouth smile after the words leave it. The words that fall as they are carry with them an emotion that is apparent in the music they create. For example in Those Winter Sundays the father getting up in "the blueblack cold" with "cracked hands that ached". I love those phrases. And those are only two examples in this poem. In Autumn Elegy, I loved "i am not accustomed to such opulent/ Panoply of dying". You feel these words in your chest and in your mouth. They are words that you can taste.

The pleasure of words in the mouth

Another class that I am taking this semester is History of the English Language, in which we discuss the different periods of development in our language. At every stage of development there are two factors at work upon the language, one is outer history, and the other is inner history. Inner history details such things as how vowels shifted in use from Old English up until Present Day English. It's interesting to note that the consonants in our language have remained fairly stable and haven't gone through much change. The reason why I mention all of this is because chapter four is a part of the history of our language. I would like to think that I have become more aware of sound in poetry because of the class, History of the English Language. So, reading chapter four was a nice review on sound formation.

After reading the chapter and having sound formation on my mind, I paid closer attention to the words and their sounds when I read the poems. I read "Those Winter Sundays" a few times. With each reading I read slowly, playing with the sounds in my mouth and how I formed them. It's not a very long poem, but I think the poem makes use of many of the sound techniques that were discussed in the chapter. There is alliteration in the poem, and there is assonance as well. Paying close attention to sound opened up another way of reading the poem. The first time I read the poem it was for meaning and emotional content, but then when I went back and reread it was for sound, and how the poems content and form are held together through sound. The sound of the poem is just as stirring as the images that are used.

Like the book mentions, I found a certain pleasure in the way words felt as I read them, which in turn revealed a new aspect to the poems I read. Used effectively in writing, sound has a lot of power, and the right combination of words can influence and move the reader on both concious and unconcious levels. I personally think that the way poets use words and their sounds is exciting, and it makes me want to be more sound concious when I write.

I'm looking forward to our discussion today.

What did I know, What did I know?

I love the sound of the low oo sounds mixed with the crisp consonants. To me it sounds like a cold winter day mixed with the blaze of fire place. Also the lower oo sounds give it a more somber feel while the consonants give quick sharp tones that cut perhaps like the regret and guilt Hayden feels for not appreciating his father. It is so crazy to me that this 14 lined poem can have so much emotion behind those lines.
When Hayden repeats "What did I know" I can almost see him shaking his head while he says this. Those last two lines say a lot. When he was small he had no real understanding of "love's austere and lonely offices" but looking back now it seems as if he has experienced and now knows of the lonely offices. He wishes that he had known all these things before so that he could love appreciate his father more for the little things he did that supposedly went unnoticed by Hayden. It made me think of my own mother and all the things she has done for me. Until this last year I have had no real understanding of the depth of her love for me and all the things that go with it. Looking back now I regret being the awful teenager that I was. What did I know?

Those Winter Sundays

Love goes unnoticed all the time by children all the time and the parents sometimes rarely ever hear a thank you or any sign of appreciation. Also as the parents get older things get harder to do and the children just sit and watch, never offering to help and again the thought of thanking them doesn't even come to mind. I believe that is what the author of this poem was trying to grasp. Robert Hayden must have been recalling things that his parents did without complaint and how the affectionate actions of love can have very little company; of how good deeds sometimes goes unnoticed. I'm sorry to say that I do this to my poor mother all the time. I am very aware that I do this and have tried to change it, but I always seem to fail in the end. Old habits die hard, especially ones that have been made since birth. As babies our parents did everything for us and as we got older we started to take care of ourselves, but even then I think we expect our parents to do somethings on a whim with or without asking and not thanking them for it.

The words we say

I have always loved poetry because of the freedom they give. They can show the reader many different ways words can paint our emotions or experiences. Like you mentioned on the blog, every word means something. The author purposely wrote his poem a specific way. I like in the poem Those Winter Sundays, how Hayden uses a lot of oo sounds in his words which gave it a more relaxed feel just like I feel on winter mornings. At the very beginning when Hayden used "too" in regards to his father getting up, it seemed to imply that his father got up early everyday of the week but on sundays he didn't have to. Later in the poem when the line was repeated twice, made me feel how deep his regret was for not understanding how much his father loved him and appreciating the things that he did for his family. Hayden talks about these experiences in past tense which makes me believe that this is a long time ago and maybe even after the passing of his father. Through the sounds of the different words, the words themselves and how the words are strung together can really make a poem come alive in the reader.

"Too" Question!

The poem "Those Winter Sundays" has the phrase too in the first line because Sundays are supposed to be days of rest, but just like every other day. The son or daughter makes it seem like she never really appreciated what the father did for the family. The line "No one ever thanked him." Has the air of guilt in it. The poem has a feel of an early morning and a lagging morning. It has the feel of getting up early and dragging yourself out of bed to do the work that no one else will do. 

The son or daughter seems like he/she regrets not helping out his father more and obviously never fully appreciated all the father did. The question at the end of the poem expresses the child's question of why he/she never noticed how much the father loved him/her. The father seems austere and obviously did show a lot of love to his children through sympathy or through loving words, but helped and showed love through everyday acts of love. Like shinning the child's shoes. 

Prompts - "Those Winter Sundays" and "Autumn Elegy"

For some reason, there were a lot of you absent today; in fact, there have been a lot of absenses lately. Please re-read the attendance policy on the syllabus. If you are not in class, you cannot do well, and I don't want you to be surprised when you lose your participation points and a big chunk of your grade. As I am grading your midterms, it is very apparent to me who has been in class and who has not. I'm particularly surprised that so many of you were gone today when I was introducing our poetry unit. Unless you are already an expert on how to read and analyze poetry, you should not be missing class. (There are a few of you who have contacted me about being absent; I am not talking to you.)

Don't feel obligated to answer every part of the following questions (there are a lot of questions within each prompt), but there should be something here that you can respond to. I think you will discover that when you start to write about a poem it will open up to you in exciting ways.

1. In any poem, but perhaps especially in a short poem, little things can have a big impact. How, for example, does the word “too” in the first line of “Those Winter Sundays” affect the way you read the poem? Certainly Hayden could have written "Sundays my father got up early," but he didn't. (It's always worth your time to consider what choices the poet did not make in addition to the evident choices on the page). How does the repetition of the question “What did I know?” affect you? Why do you think Hayden asks it twice rather than once? Why do you think the poem is called "Those Winter Sundays" and not just "Winter Sundays"? Why do you think the poem ends with a question, rather than a statement? Again, nothing in the poem is arbitrary or by accident, so everything is fair game for analysis.

With that in mind, consider the sounds of the poem. Read it aloud and notice the way it works in your mouth and in your ears. As we discussed today, a poem is itself an experience, not just about an experience. How does the play of sounds in "Those Winter Sundays" (change of vowel registers, assonance, consonance, alliteration, etc.), make it into an experience?

2. Autumn is literally present in "Autumn Elegy," but it is also used metaphorically. Discuss the metaphorical uses of the season. What properties of autumn are transferred to something else, helping you to see it in a new way? Notice, too, how the poem's form is related to its content. Why is it divided into four-line stanzas? Why aren't the stanzas autonomous? (In other words, why do the sentences cross over the white spaces between stanzas?) Why does the poem begin and end with the same word? Also notice that the poem rhymes, although the rhymes are generally slant (not exact). Slant rhymes don't call attention to themselves like exact rhymes do, and because the lines of the poem are not end-stopped, we tend to read right through the rhyming words. One might say that the rhyme is disguised (many readers don't notice the rhyme when they first read the poem). How might any or all of this relate to the poem's theme? How does Norris use sound (assonance, consonance, alliteration) to connect words together? How does he use different vowel registers to evoke certain emotions? For whom is this elegy written, and why is autumn an important part of it?

There is a lot more to talk about in both of these poems, but this is enough to get us started for Thursday. See you then.

Blackboard

Here is a link to "Engine Work." Please read it before class tomorrow along with the other required reading. I have also posted it to Blackboard in case you want to print it out. My internet was down all weekend, so I didn't get a chance to post any prompts. Enjoy a day off from posting, but please make sure you get all the reading done. See you tomorrow.