zBlogging the Literary Life - Period 6/7 - AP College English - 2005/2006 - Oak Park River Forest High School

Contrast To Conrad

All it took was a single paragraph for me to realize that reading The God of Small Things would be no small change from reading Heart of Darkness. 

Roy’s novel is so rich with details that it seems more like a poem than a story.  The title of Chapter One, for example, “Paradise Pickles and Preserves,” is full of alliteration and imagery.  None of Conrad’s chapters had titles at all, and Conrad rarely used descriptive phrases.  Marlow never said anything as creative as, “Heaven opened and the water hammered down, reviving the reluctant old well, greenmossing the pigless pigsty, carpet bombing still, tea-colored puddles the way memory bombs still, tea-colored minds.”  This does not necessarily mean that Conrad’s writing was less effective; it was just effective in a more philosophical way. 

Furthermore, there are more characters introduced in the first five chapters of The God of Small Things than in Heart of Darkness and The Stranger combined.  Although this makes the novel incredibly confusing, it is a nice change.  Each of the books from first quarter focused on one individual, and it’s about time we got to read about more characters. 

The Dangling Conversation

On Thursday of last week we had that in-class impromptu comparing Emily Dickinson to Robert Frost.  After going through the poems in class, we kind of decided they were saying very different things about night or darkness. 

Well, I noticed this weekend that in Simon and Garfunkel's "The Dangling Conversation", it's a funny coincidence that they not only mention these two poets, but compare them as well:

And you read your Emily Dickinson
And I my Robert Frost
And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what we've lost
Like a poem poorly written
We are verses out of rhythm
Couplets out of rhyme
In syncopated time
And the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs
Are the borders of our lives

The song seems to be about two people who are so different:  "We are verses out of rhythm / Couplets out of rhyme".  And they choose to read Dickinson and Frost, who write two very different types of poetry. 

I think it is interesting how they use poetry in this song to get across this idea of two clashing people.  And these comparisons made here are familiar now (because we just did this one in class), and as a result, more easily understood.

*ding* Another applicability of what we are doing in class -- Put it on the board!

Learning About Emily Dickinson

I remember us discussing Emily Dickinson back in eighth grade in Mr. Millet's classroom (was anyone besides me in his class?).  One thing I do remember is that she wished her sister to burn every one of her poems before she died.  Her sister ended up publishing her poems.  I cannot remember if we ever discussed her having suffered from depression or schizophrenia, though. 

After reading her poem "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain," it would not surprise me if she did.  In the poem,  she mentions that she "dropped down,...and hit a World, at every plunge," (lines 18-19).  To me, the title sounds depressing, not to mention the quote.  This gives people a grim picture and I am wondering why she wrote this.  Perhaps she wanted her sister to burn all of her poems because they were not meant to be read by others.

Best Simile EVER: The Mind is Like a Bat

After reading the first line of this incredibly deep poem, "Mind in its purest play is like a bat," I was nothing short of confused.  Whether the poet was referring to a baseball bat like one that was used tonight in winning the World Series (for all Chicagoans, not "South Siders") or whether it was a common fruit bat, I couldn't tell if this poem was going to give out a serious or worthwhile message.  But as I continued reading I found that the poet uses a lot of visual imagery to compare the common bat (the flying rat in this case) to the mind.

I think the main point of the poem is to show the fact that the mind moves about and does its processes by instinct without necessarily needing to see what it is doing, hence the metaphor "Darkly it knows what obstacles are there..." (6-8).  The poet compares the bat's blind but perfect movements in caves to the mind's effortless thought processes.

The final stanza initially confused me though.  I couldn't understand the last three lines and especially the last one, "A graceful error may correct the cave."  After some intense examining I came to the conclusion that "A graceful error" is referring to times when the mind extends past its common thought processes and rationalizes a problem, something humans are especially good at.  It "may correct the cave" because the cave represents the limits of thought like it limits the bat in where it may fly.  This may be confusing but it is saying when the mind can extend past effortless processes it surpasses its limits - the cave.

What Kind of Waltz are They Dancing?

In my initial interpretation of the poem My Papa's Waltz, by Theordore Roethke, I visualized a hard working man dancing akwardly but excitedly with his son. Together they created an intimate moment to share with one another and the speaker desribes the found memory to his audience. However, after I read the peom over again I considered a new understanding of the poem and of their father/son waltz. The son recollects dancing with his drunken father whose breathe reeked of whiskey and who moved clumsily and even abusively. The dancing seems violent in fact. The father "beat time" on his sin's head ( the term beat is a clear indication of abuse) and they crashed about the room causing pans to slide from the kitchen shelf. Additionally, in the thrid stanze the father's belt buckle scrapes the child's ear. This confirms the the suspicion that the child is beat by his father- traditionally, in history, parents often beat their childen with belts. And lastly, motivated by love for and fear of his father, the son holds his father close "like death" as they dance with each other.

A Guitarist's True Love

My favorite poem thus far is "The Guitarist Tunes Up" by Frances Cornford. It's simple, yet full of meaning and imagery. The guitar is personified to be a woman and the musician is a man in love, "a man with a loved woman." In the poem the guitarist pays close attention to his guitar while tuning it, "inquiring with delight what slight essential things she had to say."

The most striking part of the poem to me is that it doesn't say that the musician plays the guitar; instead the poet writes that "he and she" play together. It's not just the musician that makes the music, the instrument takes part in the process also. By personifying the guitar as a woman, the author is pointing out the partnership that exists between a man and a woman, a musician and his guitar.

Curiosity Saved the Cat

*Disclaimer-This analysis contains political statements related to the poetical issues at hand.

Alastair Reid's "Curiosity", in chapter six, was very cool. It was sort of an extended metaphor or symbollic poem, yet it was very easy to understang the deeper meaning without ever referring to it. On the surface, this poem is about cats and dogs, but the symbollic meanings are nearly impossible to miss. The cats, always curious and adventurous, with nine lives, represent people who take risks, and live their lives to the fullest. Dogs are those who are always content with what they have, never question, and live in constant fear of death. 

Death also has a symbolic meaning here- the lows of life that accompany a full life. In other words, someone who never tries anything new, or takes any risks, will have less failures. But, according to Reid, they will not fully be living. "Dead dogs are those that do not know that dying is what, to live, each has to do" What's really spiffy about this bit of symbolism is that it also works literally. Death is also ineviatable for the living, and to life in constant fear of it also constrains a life.

Reid definitly seems to take the side of the cats here. In the 4th stanza, the dogs of the world are criticizing the cats for loving too much, being irresponsible, being 'flip-floppers' etc. But then he says, "Well, they are lucky. Let them be nine-lived and contradictory, curious enough to change." And earlier, "Only the curious have, if they live, a tale worth telling at all" He saying a couple things here; first of all that the excesses of being irresponsible, changeable and making mistakes are preferable than being a stick lick a dog- because at least then you did something worth telling about. At least you tried something new. I really don't like these dogs. These are the people who are afraid of change, afraid of giving up their ideas and opinions, afraid to be curious. To me, our dear president comes to mind. He strikes me as someone who's going to stick to his opinions and beliefs, even if they are proven wrong. (WMD's, anyone?) There is no gray middle area for these people, its either one way or another. And it is easier to look at things in this simplistic way. But I have to agree with Reid that, "Curiosity will not cause us to die, only lack of it will".

Siren Song: A Cry for Help or a Ploy to Kill?

I'm referring to the prompt we received a couple days ago.

OK, so I might be thinking too much about this poem, but I can't decide: Is the siren truly expressing feelings of loneliness and a want to escape? or is the siren merely appealing to the listener so that she can lure them into a deathtrap?

Throughout the poem the siren expresses that she no longer wants to be on the island "with these two feathery maniacs."  She claims that she doesn't enjoy singing, and that this song is "a cry for help."  She requests that the listener get her out of "this bird suit," which demonstrates that she doesn't want to be a siren anymore.

However, there are several phrases that make me second-guess the siren's claims and intentions.  In the first six lines of the poem, she states forthright that "this is the one song everyone would like to learn: the song that is irrisistible: the song that forces men to leap overboard in squadrons even though they see the beached skull."  The siren appeals to the listener: "I will tell the secret to you, to you, only you. Come closer...only you can [help me], you are unique."  After hearing the siren's despair, the listener immediately wants to help the siren.  This is when the siren lures the listener to their death.  The siren even says, "Alas it is a boring song but it works everytime."

In this respect, I think the poem could be a commentary on man's desire to find the good in all things, even when the good clearly does not exist.

Tell me, am I reading too far into the poem?  I'm reminded of the poem we read in class today Introduction to Poetry, in which the students "begin beating [poetry] with a hose to find out what it really means."  Holla back.      

Metafours

This was a very interesting poem. the more I read into it, I learned something new each time.  It is a riddle with nine syllables in every line.( It took me five minutes to figure that out.)  Just about every thing within the poem related to large things.  (Melons, ponderous house, elephant,Ha! that's funny melons are large.) But going back I got the impression that the speaker is large in size.  The eating a bag of apples and fat purse lead me to believe this.  But the only thing I don't know about is the story's theme.  My initial thought is the speaker recognizes all of this and they will continue living this way.(I've eaten a bag of apples, boarded the train there is no getting off).

And the Oscar goes too... MASTER HAROLD & the boys...!

After witnessing the amazing play that was Master Harold and the boys, I began (as usual) to dream of a film adaptation. The story would be kept pretty much the same as it is in the stage version, but I would expand on scenes that had good potential. For instance, when Sam describes the time him and Harold flew the kite that Harold didn't believe in, that scene would be shown as a flashback, set in the beautiful South African countryside. But mainly, I would keep the setting as it normally is, in a diner, because part of the brilliance of that play was how it told so much within one set, one confined setting. Also, stylistically, I have few ideas. The film would begin in color, and as the situation intensified, the film would become a highly contrasted black and white. The progression would be subtle, and take place over the course of the film, but obviously become apparent towards the end. As far as casting, for Harold, I would just cast some no name British teenager, but for the role of Sam and the other guy (who's name I've forgotten), I have a few ideas. For Sam, either the incredible Morgan Freeman, the equally astounding Don Cheadle; both of whom would need to obtain a few pounds for the role. Another possibility could be Forest Whitaker. As for the other guy, the role could either go to (again) Don Cheadle, or Djimon Hounsou. That's about it. Just had to indulge my film fantasies and share them with you. Maybe I could make it as a student film once I get to film school.....