Chapter 13 Sound and Sense

I felt the poem "Blackberry Eating" would be an interesting poem to explicate in contrast to the poem on blackberries we wrote an in-class essay on. In Galway Kinnel's poem, "Blackberry Eating" he describes the joys of eating ripe blackberries and connects sounds and meanings throughout the poem.Throughout the poem Galway is able to illustrate the richness of language by comparing it to blackberries. He says the words "strengths" or "squinching" are like blackberries because they have many letters but only one syllable. Just like a blackberry is made up of many little clusters, but only one blackberry. However, the blackberries are tangible while the words are not. Galway is able to describe all the pleasures of eating blackberries, the way in which they fall to his tongue, how they feel in his hands, and how they feel to eat. All of this is a very enjoyable experience that Galway seems to wish he could have with words. However, through sound Galway almost does achieve this tangibility. In the very end of the poem Galway repeats the s sound "squeeze" "splinch" "surge" and so on. These s sounds are very pleasing to the ear and emphasize how pleasing the experience is of eating blackberries. This poem follows the patterns of a sonnet and this further adds to the enjoyment of the poem. At some points, Galway creates lists within a line of the poem. The lists within the lines are kind of like the shape of a blackberry, small clusters that create a blackberry. I believe the comparison between the berries and the "peculiar words" is appropriate. Reading/writing and eating are two things that people tend to do naturally and can miss the enjoyment in. Sometimes we read to pass time or to pass classes, while really we could be missing the true beauty of the language. Similarly, eating we do to stay alive and often miss all the beautiful flavors and colors.

Chapter 12: Sound and Sense

In Sylvia Plath's poem "Old Ladies Home" she uses a omnipresent speaker to portray death through a journey in the home of  elderly women.  The poem slowly leads up to the concept of death. In the first stanza, the speaker observes what the surroundings. Most of the words she uses to describe the house relate to nature like "beetles," "earthenware," "sun," "rocks," and "heat." I think this is to show how connected to the earth the elderly women are. In a really dark way....they will soon be in the earth, but on a lighter note they are so old and distracted by so little. Plath even writes that the pictures of their grandchildren are distant, showing they dont care so much about things anymore.Also, the pieces of nature she chooses to describe seem to be very frail like the breath and the beetles. If someone just steps on a beetle it will die and that echoes the condition the women could be in.  Next, the speaker observes what they are doing like knitting and the different sounds of their voices. I think this is a retirement home where maybe a funeral is taking place. She uses the word black a lot and writes about bonneted ladies, which makes me picture a funeral. One of the questions pointed me to the last line of the poem in which there are only 6 syllables in the last line. Throughout the poem each stanza is 7 lines with 7 syllables in each line, except for the last line of the last stanza. This represents death. It is all of a sudden and goes along with a line that talks about a shortening of breath. I really liked how Plath did this because it made me appreciate how rythm and meter can do more than just make the poem sound pleasing to the ear, but they can really have a deep meaning.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez: The Third Resignation

After reading some of Marquez's work it became clear to me he has a fascination with death. I still don't know much about his personal background, but if I had to guess he must have had a very interesting life. Maybe a conflict with religion or maybe many family members dead. In the Eyes of a Blue Dog, the story begins with the description of a man struggling to move. He writes how he wants to squeeze his temples and how he wishes he could catch a cat. The language is very descriptive and vivid. It was kind of hard to decipher that the person being described was dead for a while. At first, it is clear there is some sort of paralysis holding the person back but its not that clear whether it is physical or mental. While the narrator of the story is seemingly dead, he seems to have a grip on everything going around him. He mentions the stench of the rotting corpse and the sounds of the dishwasher. The boys mother orders him an extra large coffin for him to "grow" into. I don't know if maybe this is a cultural or a religious tradition, but I found this part hard to understand. I took it literally at first thinking maybe the boy was on some sort of life support and wasn't actually dead, then i thought that maybe he is dead and his mother bought a large coffin to take away the pain of  small boy dying...Not really sure. Then, the last paragraph of the story changed everything for me. I thought that maybe the narrator was someone looking at a coffin realizing that could be them. The story was complicated and hold deep meaning. I believe that after more research on Marquez and applying his life to this story will make it easier to understand and help me derive more meaning from it.

Chapter 10 Sound and Sense

The poem For a Lamb by Richard Eberhart has a very dark and vivid tone at the start. The poem gives a vivid image of a dead and mangled lamb lying atop daisies. Daisies are a white flower and white things often represent purity. At first I thought that maybe the lamb was tarnishing the purity and innocence, but a lamb is white also. The figure tarnishing the purity and innocence is whoever hurt the poor, sweet lamb. Eberhart notes that "the guts were out for the crows to eat" creating another disturbing image of an animal being eaten. The author tries to cover these descriptions up with the fact that the sheep is asleep. Erberhart says, "the sleep looked deep" implying that while it may sound painful, the lamb is asleep so it doesnt matter. This image immediately made me think of an image of Jesus Christ when he is on the cross. Jesus is presented with a crown of thorns around his head, like the lamb has daisies. While daisies and thorns are slightly different, I believe the image of jesus is still prevelant. The second stanza of this poem is much more ambiguous than the first. In the first stanza the reader knows exactly whats happening, but as it progresses, the lamb seems to lose its clarity. The first few words are "Where's the lamb" maybe implying that however this lamb died, it may still have an owner still looking for it. The lamb is "in the wind" showing that the owner or whoever proposed the first question could not handle hearing that it had died. The author again changes the reality of the gruesomeness by saying "there's a lamb in the daisies" in the last line.

"How to Write About Africa"

"How to Write About Africa" was a hilarious article. The authors sarcastic sense of humor made the subject much lighter, while still being able to convey his message. The idea he brings forward, that Africa is always portrayed as in need and suffering, is one I have thought about a lot. In 2012, when the KONY video went viral, a man spoke at Model UN on the African response to this video. I had seen the 30 minute KONY video and had found it inspiring and a great cause, but after learning about how the African people felt about it, I had to think again. Many people responded saying they didn't need the help and the problems caused by Josef Kony were greatly exaggerated in the video. I have never been to Africa so I don't know the truth about the video, but it was hard not to trust the words of the African people. I think as American people, we always see African in a sad and struggling light, like the author sarcastically suggested that when writing about Africa we must overlook all the natural beauty and the beauty of all the different cultures represented in one nation. The author is able to point out different flaws in literature about Africa by telling the reader what to and what not to do. Basically, everything he says not to do is pointing out what they should do and vice versa. One line that stood out to me a lot was, "animals, on the other hand, must be treated as well rounded, complex characters." I've never realized how true this is. While watching apocalypse now, I think I was the saddest when they brought the puppy into the scene. Even though its Vietnam and not Africa, it's still a similar concept. It also reminded me of the Lion King and how the animals in it are so heroic and brave, but I have never seen a movie about actual African people where this is the case.

Chapter 9 Sound and Sense (paired poems)

"My Number" and "I had heard it's a fight" are two poems that deal with the topic of death in different manners. Billy Collins' poem, "My Number" personifies death as human like. He goes through different actions that a human would do like, "breathing," "reaching," "scattering," etc. His relationship with death seems much more casual; the speaker knows that death will come, its human, but he doesnt really want it to come. The speaker in Collins' poem can be seen as cowardly. Rather than confronting death and fighting it, he hopes that death is too busy with other people to notice him. Instead of using his last bit of energy to fight off death, he hopes to "[talk his] way out of this." The speaker also seems distracted by death. He writes all about the things death has done, like "scattering cancer cells," instead of writing a poem about his life. While the speaker spends a lot of his time thinking about what death is like he is distracted from his own life.  In Edwin Denby's poem, "I had heard it's a fight" the speakers relationship with death is much more strained. He seems to be less familiar with the idea, but ready to fight it. Denby seems to have learned a lesson that Collins hasnt yet, and that is not to pay too much attention to death. Denby describes an incident where he let death come a little too close, but like a schoolboy drinking for the first time, quickly put it to an end. He uses the words "crazy" and "quick" to show how important it is to lead a meaningful life in his last two lines. Unlike Collins, he doesnt see death as devious, but something that will just happen. While Denby seems to be less scared of death, I thought that Collins poem was enjoyable also. Collins is able to make it kind of comical, despite his clearly negative view.

Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness

I watched Apocalypse Now before reading the last part of Heart of Darkness and I was able to some similarities and some differences. The most notable difference was that the first hour and a half of the movie was pure violence. It became hard to pay attention because of all the blood and gore. Also, another small difference was the way Kurtz looked. In the movie, while its clear he isnt sane, he doesnt seem unhealthy or sick. Maybe I was missing something, but in the book they seem to describe him as sickly and kind of scrawny. The first scene where we really meet Kurtz he's being carried out on a stretcher and I didn't see that side of him in the film. One scene that matched up perfectly was the skulls that Kurtz placed to intimidate people, which was seen in both the movie and book. Another difference is that the relationship between Kurtz and Marlow or captain willard in the movie is much more indirect and quiet. Right away in the book, Marlow threatens Kurtz, but in the movie I did not see this. The way the Kurtz's territory is in the movie was very similar to the description in the book. Another difference is that Captain Willard's mission is to kill Kurtz, while Marlow just has to find him. This expands the story in the book because Kurtz and Marlow develop a different bond on the steamer back home and Kurtz actually trusts Marlow with some papers. I thought it was really interesting how they kept small details from Heart of Darkness, like Kurtz saying, "the horror." While first watching the movie, it was hard to see how to two lined up because the beginning plots seem very different. In the movie, Willard is pretty much presented to us as crazy as the beginning, but I never got that from Marlow in the book. However, the biggest similarties are seen within the themes of the two, like imperialism.

"My Son the Man" Chapter 8 Sound and Sense

The poem "My Son the Man" by Sharon Olds tells the story of a mother realizing her son is becoming a man. The poem starts with the speaker reliving her sons childhood. She begins to feel nostalgic as she remembers how she would, "zip him up and toss him up and catch his weight" (6-7). Throughout the poem, the speaker refers to Houdini's great escape. She sees the way her son begins to grow as the way Houdini would expand his body when trying to get himself out of the chains. She talks about a fear of men however, I was unable to decide what she meant by this. I can't understand where her fear of men would come from? Later on she gives an almost violent description of child birth and how it was "not what [she] had in mind when he pressed up through me like a/sealed trunk through the ice of the hudson" (9-11). By using the Houdini allusion, she compares growing up to a dangerous and voluntary act, and also an admirable one. She sees her son growing up as a learning experience because she says, “he looks at me the way Houdini studied a box to learn the way out” (14-15). While this mother is sad about her son growing up, I don’t think she feels any anger.  At the end of the poem it seems that some of her son’s feelings are revealed. She writes that he, “smiled and let himself be manacled” this shows that while her son may be ready to grow up, he will let himself stay with his mother for a little while longer. The smirk may seems michevious, but I think its just that he knows he’s doing something for his mother. 

The Secret Sharer

 At the beginning of the story, the captain was a very weak man and was able to find confidence and authority in his “double.” The biggest way in which the narrator changes is in his ability to command the ship more firmly.  Although this had become somewhat noticeable in part 1 (when the captain gives his first order), it becomes much more apparent. The captain orders the men of the boat to land extremely close to shore so that Lagatt is able to swim back. This is a very risky move by the captain and could be putting the ship in danger. Before, he could hardly give a typical order. Now, he is going above the authority of a normal captain by asking them to risk the safety of the ship. Also, the captain gains some confidence in the second part. While showing other men around, he shows off all of his rooms and acts very highly. He does this to show that no one is there and that he isn’t hiding anyone. He also plays games with some of the men on his ship and people from another ship. Previously, it seemed that the captain was lacking in social skills and any sort of relationship with his men. Although that relationship still does not really exist, he still steps out of his comfort zone with them more than he ever had. Lastly (I am somewhat unsure if this is significant or not), I found it strange that the captain was willing to let his double go. I thought his attachment was too great for him to create a plan to allow Legatt to leave. His obsession may have died down a little towards the end; although I am not sure I interpreted this correctly. 

Caged Bird, Maya Angelou

While going through the poetry outloud website, I found it overwhelming to just scroll through the poems, so I entered the poets section. One of the first names I saw was Maya Angelou, so I choose it and the caged bird is her only poem on the website. Initially, I choose it because there is clearly a lot of meaning behind the bird and it was also a rhyming poem. However, as I've been practicing memorizing the poem, I enjoy myself. Although it is somewhat dark, I find that there is a lot of hope in it. Should the bird be free, it can "dip his wings in orange sun rays." The poem can be looked at in a more depressing way thinking that maybe black people will never be free, however today they are. While racism still exists, I believe many African-Americans live wonderful lives and are no longer effected by the color of their skin.I like that the poem has a historical background; it's nice to read something and understand what the author is referring to without coming up with a million options before. I also love the way the poem sounds and looks. It rhymes a lot in the second stanza and I love rhyming. Also, the poem has beautiful imagery. There was no real personal reason that I choose this poem. I wish I had picked one that I could say was personal, but the website had so many it was hard to choose!