zaaaAP Lit Blog 4

Sonnet-ish

In these final weeks attendance is but only a suggestion

Classes trail on -- one indistinguishable from the next

During class, I care not to even ask a mere question

Even the simplest of tasks are enough to me vex

Daily fire alarms are customary

The heavy smells of the school are like that of a jungle

The endless stairs in this heat are enough to make me go wary

I think that wrap from the cafeteria was made with something fungal

The entire community thinks that we OPRF’ers are a bunch of alcoholics

They just don’t realize that we lied on that survey

In fact, we are just a bunch of workaholics

Because we are all focusing on those A.P’s in May

I’m just being real

Let’s make these last few weeks surreal.

This is not a true sonnet because it lacks iambic pentameter.

Classical Music Poetry

As we've been doing music poetry (or... had been doing, seeing as we're not really doing it anymore), I've recalled a lot of classical music that I've listened to which is poetry set to music. Tchaikovsky, Schubert, and others have done wonderful interpretations of poetic works. 

What I find interesting is showing how interpretations of the same poem can vary between composers. Take Goethe's poem, Nur Wer die Sehnsucht  Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Schubert had their own interpretation of the poem. I was able to find videos of each on youtube:

TCHAIKOVSKY:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_tFlkibaC4&feature=related

SCHUBERT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR8FQ3fYLTQ

BEETHOVEN:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vByOP7MQ3gg

Of course, all of these are from youtube, so the production quality varies. Nevertheless, each song conveys a unique feeling from the music, and reflects each composers unique reading of the music.

For those of you who  listen to each, do you have a preference for one over the other?  Do you think one composer misses the point of the poem, whereas another does a much better job? To help, here's the version of the poem in English:

 Only one who knows longing
 Knows what I suffer!
 Alone and cut off
 From all joy,
 I look into the firmament
 In that direction.

 Ach! he who loves and knows me
 Is far away.
 I am reeling,
 My entrails are burning.
 Only one who knows longing
 Knows what I suffer!

I think that Schubert conveyed the greatest sense of pain and suffering which the poem calls for, and is probably the best reading of the poem. Nevertheless, I enjoy listening to Tchaikovsky's a lot.

If you don't feel like listening to any of them, what do you think about the general concept of musical adaptation as discussed above?   I tend to think that it would also vary between performers, and that the level of interpretation extends beyond just the music written on the page. Perhaps we hear a little bit of that form the youtube videos as well...

My Villanelle is #1.. YEAH I SAID IT!

SCHOOL

A place to learn is called school

Trying to learn so I wont be a fool

Tempting with distractions

 

A place to learn is called school

A park with a boy and older girl

Trying to learn so I wont be a fool

 

Trying my best to be cool

Drinking at a party hoping not to hurl

But really last night I was the fool

 

The next day I woke up in the pool

My head feels like I’ve been in a whirl

Now I realize I should have not broken the rule

 

But today I will be cool

And meet a nice girl

Therefore I will goto school

Musical Poetry

Since starting this new poetry unit I have been able to see things around me that I have never noticed before as great examples of poetry.  For instance, tonight is the car I was jammin' it out with some of my friends listening to my favorite album right now "As I Am" by Alicia Keys.  I love every song on the CD, and I realized tonight that the lyrics are just as beautiful as the music. Keys uses a variety of literary devices in her songs, such as simile, alliteration, repetition, and rhyme. These devices are used in such a way to deepen the meanings in the songs and create musical poetry.

The other day I went to the store with my dad to buy a birthday card for my mother's birthday. As I looked intensely through the cards, I realized that all the cards contained poetry. The power of poetry evokes an emotional response that is sometimes more effective than everyday writing, often because of the use of literary devices--just like Alicia Keys. I'm more aware of poetry now, and this awareness has made me a more observant person.

Amazing Angst? Or Incredible Indignation?

I've never been big on angsty music, but dang sometimes, SO GOOD. Surprisingly poetic, I'd say and very very...powerful, for lack of a better word, lyrics. Compelling and raw. Oh and side note, I heard this in a friend's car one night, and did not like it. Yet reading the lyrics without the music is amazing, two different songs in my mind.

"Down, Down, Down, Down To Mephisto's Cafe"

If I were you, I would take this as a sign
Believe it's true, we were never meant to fly
And I owe you, I know you more than anyone alive
And I will not let go
They will not remember this song
No matter what we do we'll be wrong
They will not remember this song
No matter what we do we'll be wrong
I can't seem to see the seal we're breaking
I can't seem to see the seal we broke
I refuse to recognize your views
Someone shouted "Everything's for nothing"
Somebody shouted, "All is lose"
But I can't buy that nonsense too
Way back when the prophecies began
Do you think they really had a master plan
Or were they merely writing fables, stories?
I don't know but it has occurred to me
The punishment that they threaten constantly
It's only real if they could just convince me
We're going down, down, down to Mephisto's Cafe
Down, down, down to Mephisto's Cafe
we're going down
And the gears will spin and the sinners sin, but at least we'll give them hell
And the righteous few will spit on you, so bid them all farewell
We're going down, down, down to Mephisto's Cafe
We;re going down (Right?) (Right!)
So fuck the flocks of sheep that keep amassing masses
Asses being led so far astray
And I won't claim to believe the things I read
Black books or agenda magazine
I'd rather see in shades of gray
If I were you, I would take this as a sign
Believe it's true, we were never meant to fly
And I knew you when you were you
Before they twisted all your views
Before you came unglued
We're going down, down, down to Mephisto's Cafe
Now everybody's telling taller tales
And I don't know who to believe
Ok, if your father really loves you more
What about the other families?
Finally, I met a man with kindness in his eye and fire in his heart
He said you'll never have to choose a side
It's rewarding but oh, the road is hard....
They broke him wide open
Like a dam and a cork that's holding everything inside
You can play the role of rebel
Just be sure to know your wrong from right
I remember it was years ago
You know I still count the days
You and I had quite a ways to go
I never once heard you complain
And you said
Don't crack, because you might not make it back
And if you do you will be alone and you can't live like that
Well I know when I'm wrong and I sure as hell ain't wrong this time
We're going down, down, down to Mephisto's Cafes

Bolded lines are the ones that I find most intriguing and compelling.
And the last one haha reminded me of how this year is ending and how a lot of seniors are going insane at the moment, so that line gives me comfort "Don't crack, because you might not make it back/And if you do you will be alone and you can't live like that"

...Stay strong everyone!

Meet Soap, Wave Hello to Death, and Interpret

Soap is quite fascinating really. Look at one, it's a bar of scenty goodness that battles belligerent bacteria. Never heard of fat and oil pulling that one off. It also comes in an array of sizes and shapes, ranging from dull squares to pigs to leaves to.... sometimes inappropriate suggestive shapes.... yes in Italy, true story. Let alone, my new best friend. From now on I covet to sterilize everything that may threaten my existence because thats who I'm facing at the moment. Death. You heard me, Death itself. I challenge you to use soap too, for the better of the masses, for the better of the environment, for the good health of the people!
After being out of school for four days, you'll do just about anything to get back on top of things...

So to come full circle, while you're sick/bedridden/"enjoying" the feeling of having two bouncy balls lodged in your throat, there's a lot of down time. Aka a lot of music time. And what does music entail? Oh possible forms of poetry to analyze! And after going through various playlists I've realized once again, that a lot of songs are not poetic verbally but instead musically. Certain beats, certain basslines, the way the song is constructed and strung together in a complicated or even a super simplistic original way can be profoundly poetic. Does anyone else ever feel that? Especially after going through songs to select one for class, before I found a song that actually contained more literally elements besides rhyming, I had a mental list of which songs could be justified as poetic, and out of a list of 5 songs only one had lyrics that were truly poetically correct. Baffled, I asked myself why this may be. Music in itself, lyrics aside, is a form of poetry. And I've come to believe that poetry, although innately classified as a literary art form, does not need to have words to be poetic.

Maybe I'm off my rocker here and clearly need to pop some more Tylenol, but does anyone else agree?

Spring

I have to say, of the two poems we read about spring, I think I like the Dickinsen one better.  I like spring, but there is something cool about Dickinsen's style.  There is also something I didn't like about Whitman's style.  He reminds me kind of Wordsworth, whose name is a perfect example of irony, whose poems are always overblown descriptions of nature.  It's like they are worshipping nature, which I don't really like.  Nature is noce, but it seems like they are building it up to be a concious entity, which detracts from its complexity and reality.  I could definitely see Whitman being the way Mr. H. described him too, as a very public figure, who liked to show off and make himself known.

Quotable Card

Yeah, you know what I'm talking about, those lovely little cards that have random quotes on the front in bright, colorful letters?  Who doesn't love those?

A lot of the quotes are taken from poems, so I decided to investigate and find one I liked and read the whole poem.  Then that didn';t work out, so here is a random Langston Hughes poem that I like.

Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--
And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Maybe at first glance it doesn't seem that complex, but the imagery he uses probes every possibility of what figuratively happens as we get older and must compromise some of our ambitions.   

What souls are for

So, there are a lot of people posting songs on the blog this week, and I thought I would as well.  This song is by a Santee Sioux Native American, John Trudell.  Trudell writes these really poetic songs about the mistreament of Native Americans, women, and his own personal grief.  He does have quite a reason to grieve, because it 1979, his house burned down, killing his wife, three children, and mother-in-law.  It is very possible that the FBI set the fire to retalliate against his cultural activism.

My faviorite song by him is called Doesn't Hurt Anymore, and it is about the death of his family, and also the gross mistreatment of Native Americans.  The lyrics are below:

Doesn’t Hurt Anymore

From the album Bone Days

I think about how I’m doing

But I don’t know what I’m thinking

Shattering into shadowlight

Reflecting thoughts I can’t relieve

Refrain: 

My heart doesn’t hurt anymore

But my soul does, maybe

That’s what souls are for, to

Take the hurt the heart can’t take

Distance playing tag playing tricks

With whatever it is I can’t find

My weaknesses are my bandaids

Covering for how I don’t bleed

In all the stones I threw

Some were for flinging

Some were for bringing

And some I never knew

Refrain

Living painted into a picture

Dripping off all these paintings

The colors of emotion

Seeking any kind of devotion

Some things are private

Between me and the dead

And some of the rest

Is better off left unsaid

Refrain

Poetry's Significance in Music

After reading Melvin's post I decided to put up this song written by Lupe Fiasco that I believe has a very similar message, but more importantly takes the perspective of a young man in a situation that is very significant to the times of today.

He said, I write what I see
Write to make it right, don't like what I be
I like to make it like the sights on TV
Quite the great life so nice and easy,
See, now you can still die from that
But it's better than not being alive from straps.
Agreed, a Mead notebook and a Bic that click when its pushed and a whack ass beat.
That's a track thats weak that he got last week
'Cause everybody in the studio's like that's that heat
A bass-heavy medley with a sample from the 70s with a screwed up hook that went "Stack that cheese"
Somethin somethin somethin "Stack that cheese"
Mother sister cousin "Stack that cheese"
He couldn't think of nothin' "Stack that cheese"
He turns down the beat, writter's block impedes
Cryin' from the next room a baby in need of some pampers and some food and a place to sleep
That plus a black Cadillac on D's
Is what keeps him on track to be a great emcee.

Chrous:
One you never heard of I,
Push it hard to further the
Grind, I feel like murder but,
Hip Hop just saved me
One you never heard of I,
Push it hard to further the
Grind, I feel like murder but,
Hip Hop just saved my life

Reps North side so he rocks them braids
Eleven-hundred friends on his Myspace page
"Stack that cheese" got seven-hundred plays
Producer made him take it down, said he had to pay
Open mic champ 2 weeks in a row
Ex D boy with a B Boy flow
Glow like LeRoy you should see boy go
Got a daddy servin' life and a brother on the 'row
Best homie in the grave, tatted up in the cage
MinuteMaid got his momma workin like a slave
Downed baby momma who he really had to honour
Cause she was his biggest fan even let him use her Honda
To drive up to Dallas went to open up for amatuers
Let him keep her debit card so he could put gas in it
Told her when he get on he gon' take her to the galleria
Buy her everything but the manicans, ya dig

Chrous

His man called said your time might be now
They played your freestyle over "Whipe me down"
They played it 2 times, said it might be crowned
As the best thing out the H-Town in a while
He picked up his son with a great big smile
Rapped every single word to the new born child
Then he put him down and got back to the kitchen
Put on another beat and got back to the mission
To get his momma out the hood, put her somewhere in the woods
Keep his lady lookin' good, have her rollin' like she should
Show his homies there's a way, other than that flippin' yay'
Bail his homie out of jail, get a lawyer on his case
Throw a concert for the school, show the soldiers that its cool
Throw some candy on the Caddy, chuck the deuce and act a fool
Now it feels good when it happens like that
2 days from goin' back to sellin' crack, yessir

The Times They are A-Changin

For my music poetry song I chose "The Times They are A- Changin", By Bob Dylan. I am a huge fan of his and a very strong believer that many of his songs are poetic.

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

This is a political song which talks about many different issues.The literary techniques that I found were Allusion/ symbolism-"Will be he who stalled there's a battle outside and it's ragin'. In this section he is alluding to a war. The next techniques he used were point-of-view/ diction throughout the entire song he is speaking in first person to a greater audience. His repetition of the title at the end of each stanza is a good poetic strategy. I really enjoy this song and believe that Bob Dylan is a poet.

Perfection Versus Significance

So, today in class I got totally treated by my good friend Rivkah. She was mostly kidding, but what she said got me thinking.

We were talking about Perrine's whole scale of perfection versus significance, and how a good poem has a good amount of both. I, like the guy in the movie, find this whole scale and graphing thing quite ridiculous, but anyways, that's not really my point. So, Mr. Heidkamp was explaining the scale, and he showed us a sample 'plotting' of a poem that was high in perfection but low in significance. "That's you," Rivkah said to me. Then he plotted a poem high in significance but low in perfection. "That's me," she said.

Now, of course she was kidding, but I found myself thinking about it all day. She has a point. She knows that I am a perfectionist, and I know that this obsession with perfection that I have often causes me to spend my time worrying about or working on trivial things that ultimately have no significance. Whereas most other people I encounter are more willing to work at things that are significant to them and let the other, littler things go. And I admire this.

I think our school, and perhaps our society, is guilty of being enamored with perfection. We are always impressed with the people who do everything well, who have the highest grades in all of their classes, who get into all of the best colleges. But is this really what we should admire? Is any of that really significant at the end of the day? I don't think so.

Anyway, I think that I have benefitted from reflecting on the whole perfection versus significance thing. I hope someone else finds this interesting too. I'd love to hear thoughts from others.

The Best of the Worst

The first time we studied poetry, I could not get myself to enjoy any of the poems. Now that we are studying poetry again, I am really starting to have fun reading the poems and decipher the meanings. When you invest a lot of time into a poem, you expect there to be a reward: the meaning, or perhaps a life changing lesson. But there are some poems that are just a waste.... After reading Perrine's expert way of analyzing poetry, I feel compelled to make my list of the Best of the Worst Poetry.

1) "When in Rome"
... take// whatever you like to eat// (an egg or soup.. there ain't no meat.)// there's endive there// and// cottage cheese // (whew! If I had some black-eyed peas...)

This poem sounds more like a grocery list than a work of literature. This poems just not deep enough.

2) "The Hound"
... life the hound// equivocal// comes at a bound// either to rend me// or to befriend me.// i cannot tell// the hound's intent// till he has sprung// at my bare hand// with teeth or tongue.// meanwhile i stand// and wait the event.

I hope Robert Francis got himself bitten by that dog. I just don't understand his purpose, I think that his poem would be way better if it was from the perspective of someone post dog-bite.

3) "God's Will for You and Me"

Just to be tender, just to be true// Just to be glad the whole day through....

I stopped reading the poem after the first few lines. This poem belongs in the Church Hymnal, it would be a great song to hear while getting communion perhaps.

I Like Giants

For my song/poem, I picked Atmosphere's "Modern Man's Hustle". In hindsight, it was a bad call. Yes, it has your common similes, metaphors, and personification, but it didn't really tell me anything new about life or its meaning (which for me, is the true definition of a work of art).

Since then, I became acquainted with "I Like Giants" by Kimya Dawson, and I find it's the closest I can come to my chosen definition of "The World". Lyrics are here: http://www.sweetslyrics.com/377939.Kimya%20Dawson%20-%20I%20Like%20Giants.html , but I'll pick out a couple key verses for you:

First:
"Rock and roll is fun but if you ever hear someone say you are huge,
look at the moon, look at the stars, look at the sun.
Look at the ocean and the desert and the mountains and the sky.
Say 'I am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye'"

Second:
"So I swim for all salvation and I swim to save my soul
But my soul is just a whisper trapped inside a tornado
So I flip to my back and I float and I sing
I am grounded, I am humbled, I am one with everything"

And finally, what is to me the best line of the song:
"We all become important when we realize our goal
should be to figure out our role
within the context of the whole"

Though perhaps not a poem in the traditional sense, I still maintain that this is better poetry for me than any 17th century classical sonnet could be. If anything, the added rhythm and melody the music creates enhances the impact of the song.

MY POEM's explication

Well I'm doing "Constantly Risking Absurdity" and "Pitcher"...  I'm really worried that my interpretation and meaning may be different then others in my group. Is that ok...??? Or if we dont all agree on one meaning or a certain interpretation we fail the assignment.

Many people feel that the poets are trying to portray the complexity of being a poet and how they find it painful when readers interpret their poems wrong. However I find that they are using metaphors to portray life in general.

Someone please tell me if my interpretation is right or wrong. And please help me... in general..

Stars

I decided to analyze the song Stars by the David Crowder Band as a music poetry song. It is a really pretty song if you ever get a chance to listen to it and Dave (as in David Crowder) is quite the poet when it comes to his lyrics in this song. Crowder describes God's beautiful creation with his lyrics about "the stars tonight," "the moon in flight," "the sun in the spring," and "all is green" to make a deeper statement that followers of Christ can shine in a world of darkness. 2 Corinthians 4:6 says "Let light shine out of darkness."

Dave uses several literary techniques in his lyrics, including alliteration, personification, and symbolism. Alliteration is most noticeable through his lyrics...
"you should see the stars tonight
how they shimmer shine so bright"
"cuttin cross the moon in flight"
"you should see the sun in the spring"
... to name a few examples. His use of alliteration, consonance, and rhyme gives his poetry its musical effect and describes creation. Not only in the poem, but I find it remarkable and beautiful when poets can find the right words that have such a deep meaning, yet also sound so beautiful when put together. I am in awe because when I try to write poetry that sounds nice, I search for words that rhyme- but tend to lose the meaning in the words I use. I think poet's skills are incredible and amazing to read (even thought they don't always make sense to me).

Dave also uses personification to bring life to God's creation (i.e. "See the moon in flight/ cuttin cross the misty night/ softly dancin in sunshine"), and "stars" as a symbol for how believers in God can shine and be a light for the world. I think it is a really pretty and interesting song. I could go into more detail with the literary techniques, but I think this post is getting way too long!

Across the Universe

Across the Universe, by The Beatles, is a song that I would most definitely be willing to defend as poetry. Aside from just being a beautiful melody, the images that it's lyrics invoke are truly poetic. While listening to it, I can't help but visualize words flying out like "endless rain into a paper cup" slithering while they pass, slipping away across the universe. Similes, a very prominent literary device in this poem, are used in each of the three stanzas. Two of my favorites are:

Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box,

and

Limitless undying love
which shines around me
like a million suns

In the first stanza, water is used as a metaphor: "Pools of sorrow waves of joy are drifting through my open mind possessing and caressing me." Water is identified with both sorrow and joy, which relays a sense of universality, or the idea that everything ultimately comes from a unified place.
This poem seems to encompass a grand sense of the world, or universe for that matter, despite the fact that it communicates on a very small level, through sensory images like sight, sound and thought. The tone is very positive, and hopeful, as communicated through the images of laughter,"exciting and inviting" the speaker, the "images of broken light" dancing, and "limitless undying love."
Read the lyrics, maybe listen to the song, and tell me what you think!
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Across-The-Universe-lyrics-The-Beatles/F90298888A0C238748256BC2001BD281

A short poem

So, with all this humdrumitude happening, I decided to write my own little poem. This one came to me in the shower.

I'm going to call it either 'Indiscretion'.

I’ve been in the back of a police car
And in a submarine below the sea
In waters clear and trustful blue
Off the island of Hawaii

I’ve been in the back of a police car
And in the carved Grand Canyon’s depth
Where the sun hurts exposed, pale skin
And lets the weary met their death

I’ve been in the back of a police car
And felt the snow fall in July
In the far off land of Alaska
A place of never-ending sky

But I’ve been in the back of a police car
Which means I don’t know wrong from right
And shows I lack a sense of goodness
Absent in detained dawn light

And though I’ve traveled far and vast
This incident won’t stay in the past.

PLEASE RESPOND WITH A POEM, AS THAT WOULD BE GROOVY.

Express Lane Poetry

The title of my post really describes how I have felt recently in this unit. We seem to have too much to do, in too little time, something Mr. Heidkamp is fond of muttering. Why not do less? It seems that we are making up for lost time, but on reflection, I remember this as being the pace for class. Students Inserting a comment every minute or so, and then having Mr. Heidkamp take the long way around on every single question posed. Poetry is not my favorite, but it is on the AP exam, so I guess I am a little uncomfortable about it being an addendum to classroom conversation. I am not asking anyone to change their behavior necessarily. I would merely remind people that class is only 50 minutes long.

Poetry Comparison

Have you ever noticed that certain poems really flow? This may boil down to a free verse versus structure post, but here goes anyway...

I was comparing "Ulysses" and "Curiosity" (page 102 and 105 respectively for those of you with your Perrine out) and I noticed that I couldn't get through "Ulysses." I tried again and again. I kept getting stuck. Then I turned to "Curiosity" and whooshed right through that poem.

What struck me as odd is that on my 4000th try, when I finally finished Ulysses, I realized that the two poems were about the same thing (which I suspected all along as the assignment is about comparing the two). So what was it that allowed me to enjoy one poem over the other?

My conclusion is that "Curiosity" flowed and "Ulysses" didn't. There was something overly fancy about "Ulysses" that impeded my comprehension and so I brushed off parts of it. However, those parts that I brushed off piled up, preventing my progress as if I was moving through literary snow.

"Curiosity" was cat themed and attractively simple. In fact, the lines themselves ran together. For example,

Face it. Curiosity
will not cause us to die--
only lack of it will.
Never to want to see
the other side of the hill
or that improbable country...

I just wanted to keep on reading and so I did.

My point, I guess, is to amend my contribution to another post. I like both structure poems and free verse poems. But what attracts me is the flow (which I still believe is easier to achieve with some structure... I'm big on rhyming and people like Dr. Seuss in general).

And just tossing this out there... my favorite poet... Mayakovsky flows a lot. From "At the Top of My Voice"

My most respected
                            comrades of posterity!
Rummaging among
                             these days’
                                             petrified crap,
exploring the twilight of our times,
you,
      possibly,
                    will inquire about me too....

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/vladimir_mayakovsky/poems/22472

"A Horse with No Name" by America

Though I can never tell if artists write from their drug experiences this song seems to have a deeper poetic license.

The first stanza suggests the speaker enjoyed life, or maybe he created his identity.  "On the first part of the journey/ I was looking at all the life".  Maybe the pressures of life got to him.  The chorus is a relief from the pressures of life.  "I've been through the desert on a horse with no name/ It felt good to be out of the rain/ In the desert you can remember your name/ 'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain".  The horse with no name is most likely an illegal substance that carries the speaker out of the rain.  The rain carries metaphorical significance.  Maybe it stands for rain of life's problems.  The drug is an outlet relive life's natural anxieties.

"The ocean is a desert with it's life underground/ And a perfect disguise above/ Under the cities lies a heart made of ground/ But the humans will give no love".  The analogy between a ocean and a city is compelling.  The "desert" is an escape from the ocean of the cities with no love.  I cannot nail down a solid meaning.  Any ideas?  good song.

Mirror Mirror On The Wall

In my poetry comparison assignment I was fortunate enough to find a poem that actually fit with a song that I knew both of which are titled "Mirror". I was not surprised to find that both talked about identity and self image. I was a saddened by the fact that neither talk about the identity and self image in men's perspective. Both the poem and the song make it seem like girls are the only one's who have body image issues.

The song is by a band named Barlow Girl and the poem is by Sylvia Plath, both of these  were  written by women so I guess that explains why only the women's perspective is portrayed. But it's not just these two works, I find it very common for modern society to place this insecurity on only girls. Personally I don't think that this idea is portrayed correctly. Both boys and girls have problems with self-image. But of course I only have my own experience to work with. I want to hear other people's opinion.

Even in his heart the devil has to know the water level...

I was going to present Bjork's "Wanderlust," but ever since we first picked our songs, Sufjan Stevens became my hero, so I thought I'd try analyzing one of his songs.

Here's an excerpt from "Come on! Feel the Illinoise!", the title track on Sufjan's Illinois album. These lines are from the song's second half, entitled "Part 2: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream."

I cried myself to sleep last night
And the ghost of Carl, he approached my window
I was hypnotized, I was asked
To improvise
On the attitude, the regret
Of a thousand centuries of death

Even with the heart of terror and the superstitious wearer
I am riding all alone
I am writing all alone

Even in my best condition, counting all the superstition
I am riding all alone
I am running all alone

And we laughed at the beatitudes of a thousand lines
We were asked at the attitudes
They reminded us of death

Even with the rest belated, everything is antiquated
Are you writing from the heart?
Are you writing from the heart?

Even in his heart the Devil has to know the water level
Are you writing from the heart?
Are you writing from the heart?

And I cried myself to sleep last night
For the Earth, and materials, they may sound just right to me

Even with the rest belated, everything is antiquated
Are you writing from the heart?
Are you writing from the heart?

Even in his heart the Devil has to know the water level
Are you writing from the heart?
Are you writing from the heart?

First, some background. The Illinois album is inspired by all sorts of events and characters in the state's history. "Carl" in the second line is an allusion to Carl Sandburg, a famed American writer. Stevens uses all manner of allusions (historical, biblical, and otherwise) throughout Illinois in order to enrich songs about otherwise unrelated subjects. In other words, the songs aren't necessarily limited to one historical person or place. Instead, he uses the allusions to draw connections between his own fictional characters (Sufjan often sings from a third-person point of view), the listener's everyday experiences, and years of history.

These lines seem to address the subject of writing and creating. The narrator is asked to "improvise"... to create his own works. At the same time, he is inspired by history, that is, the "attitude" and "regret" "of a thousand centuries of death."

I get the sense that these lines are something of a declaration about the album to follow. Stevens states his purpose, his motivation for writing, and the difficulties of balancing the weight of history with the value of his own stories.

At the same time, I have a lot of trouble with several lines, which may simply be allusions that I'm unfamiliar with. Does anyone have any ideas about the "heart of terror" and the "superstitious wearer?" In fact, why the repeated references to superstition?

Overall, I think this song is dripping with poetic devices. The repetition of "Are you writing from the heart?" reminds me of the villanelles that we're working on now (That is, a key phrase keeps returning to give a sense of overarching meaning). Then there are striking lines, like "Even in his heart the devil has to know the water level" (Is this a reference to the narrator and his need to be true to himself and his vision? Even the devil can know what's inside himself, so should we be able too as well?). Then there are the allusions, both historical (Carl Sandburg) and (possibly) biblical.

Anyways, long story short, if you get a chance, listen to this song: it's incredible. If anyone has any ideas about those lines that I mentioned, or has any thoughts about the song in general, let me know.

Hip Hop As Poetry

I've been listening to a lot of hip hop lately, and I've been noticing that much of hip hop sounds as much like poetry as do many of the poems in sound and sense. Hip hop uses literary devices more often than many of the poems we've read. I decided to look around on the internet and I found this cool website which has many examples of some great hip hop lines.

Check it out
poetry + hip hop
Let me know what you think or if you've got some good examples.

Poetry Geeks, Unite!

Yes, I like poetry. There, I said it. I don't like it all, but when its good, its good!
Because I'm so cool, I want to spread the love. Here are links to some favorites of mine. Read them or don't.

Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing by Margaret Atwood (My poetess crush...)

The Light Wraps You by Pablo Neruda

The Terms in Which I Think of Reality by Allen Ginsberg

Daughter by Gertrude Stein

Like them, hate them. I just hope they make you feel something.

When In Rome

While flipping through Perrine like so many people do, I found a poem that I can't seem to figure out. It's on page 34, and it is called When in Rome. It seems like a sort of stream of conciousness type poem. The connection between the title, last line, and rest of the poem seems to be absent.

The poem seems to be the narrator going on a picnic or going shopping.

He/she says...

• "take whatever you like to eat" (line 3-5)
• "there ain't no meat" (line 8)
• "get my anchovies" (line 18)

I don't see how this poem has larger significance, though it's suggested by the title. If anyone has any thoughts, please let me know

Taking Inspiration from Pain

I did my poetry explication on the poem "I Go Back to May 1937" (384-385). This poem was so complex, you really should see my Perrine, I have scribbles and blue highlighter all over it. The poem is basically about this person who is imagining what her parents were like before they became parents and through this imagination, she shows just what they did that went wrong.

The poem has no line breaks, but I divided it into about four sections. The first section seems more innocent and the narrator just seems to set up the scene. You see the father and the mother and nothing seems really all that bad. Even in this illusion of innocence, there is a sense of violence lurking in the background. She sees her father beneath the archway with

"red tiles glinting like bent/ plates of blood behind his head" (4-5).

In the next section, the author refers back to the future, well not the present future, but I'm guessing her childhood. She talks to her parents directly and warns them that they will do

"bad things to children/ suffer in ways [they] never heard of / [they] are going to want to die" (17-19)

The poet shows the reality of what they end up becoming, monsters. The narrator wants to go up to them and tell them to stop before they become parents, but in the end of the poem, she comes to the realization that without their coming together, she would not be alive.

What I enjoy most about this poem is that the author comes to realize that even though her childhood probably sucked, she does not want to change anything because her childhood is her inspiration for her work. She faces her past head on and turns it into something beautiful-poetry.

Knocked Up

I am a sucker for riddles, so Sylvia Path's "Metaphors" on page 81 definitely caught my attention. "A riddle in nine syllables"? [notice there are nine syllables in every line] Is this really a poem? And as I read, I... was thoroughly confused. Random metaphors: "a melon on two tendrils", "a cow in calf", "a ponderous house". When the woman says she "boarded the train there's no getting off", she actually means pregnancy- it lasts approximately nine months.

I just thought this poem was really cool and really different, and it's one poem I didn't mind reading again, and again, and again, until I got it.

Cross

I was really shocked by the poem cross on page 48 of Perrine. The emotion this poem envokes is amazing. Of course, Langston Hughes is a master of this. This poem rhymes, and I feel as if that is what really give the lines feeling. The motifs of the poem seem to be forgiving both his dead parents, his black slave mother and his white slavemaster father, for their sins in life. He also seems to be searching for his identity being half white and half white. However, instead of referring to himself has both white and black, Hughes describes himself as neither wlhite nor black. This is because he is not accepted by either race.

Dream Deferred

While reading through Perrine's Sound and Sense, I was very confused by a lot of the poetry. I am not very good at analyzing poetry and was feeling at least somewhat overwhelmed. That is why when I came upon "Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes, it left like a breath of fresh air.
The idea of the poem is very straight forward, but the imagery is absolutely amazing. My favorite line has to be line seven. The poem opens with the question "What happens to a dream deferred?" And line seven asks if it "crust[s] and sugars over--like a syrupy sweet?" I really like this beceause I can really picture the crystillzation of an old fashioned candy.
This is not something that I would normally associate with an ignored dream, but it really adds to the poem. It is this kind of originality that makes poetry interesting not, the repetition of cliched imagery, but the use of fresh, new, and even strange ways to describe ordinary things to emphasize the extraordinary in them.