essay 2

POSSIBLE PAIRINGS FOR ESSAY 2

Adelia Prado, "Pieces for a Stained-Glass Window"     and H.E.R., "Against Me"
  (love/relationship-- major difference: Prado conforms to gender stereotypes, whereas H.E.R. demands respect from men)

Jose Emilio Pacheco, "The Hour of the Children" and Rupi Kaur, "Poem"
    Both are political poems: Kaur's is a feminist critique of patriarchal ideology, whereas Pacheco's is a critique of how children are allowed to exist in desperate poverty and in turn become dangerous to other members of society.

John Ashbery, "Night Life" and Gail Tremblay, "After the Invasion"
   theme:   self-sabotage (JA)   v. the effects of the loss of tradition on individuals (GT)_
    Style:   comparison: use of pronoun to target specific audiences   & vague beginning to introduce central conflict
contrast:  different uses of personification (for diff. purposes)

Pacheco and Tremblay
Both are political poems: Pacheco's is a critique of how children are allowed to exist in desperate poverty and in turn become dangerous to other members of society, whereas Tremblay speaks of the "invasion" as causing fear of their culture being lost (for the children) and their men becoming dysfunctional.
Style: both use personification in different ways for different purposes
Different use of pronouns

Tremblay and Soyinka

Pacheco and Brooks

Dickinson and Ashbery

Ashbery and Prado

Brooks and Whitman

Shakespeare and Dickinson


ORGANIZATION (slightly less close reading than essay 1):

1. Intro-- general basis for bringing the 2 poems together
2.  Poem A-- first part
3. Poem A-- early middle part
4. Poem A-- late middle part
5.  Poem A-- last part
6.   Poem B--first part
7. Poem B-- early middle part
8.  Poem B--late middle part
9.  Poem B--last part
10.   Major aesthetic (stylistic) comparisons and/or contrasts
11.    Major thematic (content-oriented)

More difficult form of organization (with very smooth and clear transitions needed)

1. Intro--general basis for bringing the 2 poems together
2. Poem A-- first set of points of comparison or contrast (aesthetic)
3.  Poem B-- first set of points of comparison or contrast (aesthetic)
4. Poem A-- second set of points of comparison or contrast (aesthetic)
5.  Poem B-- second set of points of comparison or contrast (aesthetic)
6.  Poem A-- first set of points of comparison or contrast (thematic)
7.  Poem B-- first set of points of comparison or contrast (thematic)

8.  Poem A-- second set of points of comparison or contrast (thematic)
9.   Poem B-- second set of points of comparison or contrast (thematic)
10. Summary of comp/contrast

Note: There can be 1 set of aesthetic comp/contrast and 3 sets of thematic comp/contrast rather than 2 of each.

AESTHETIC COMPONENT

free verse:  consistency or inconsistency of line-lengths    or similarity/difference of average line-length
frequent enjambment  or frequently end-stopped lines

stanzas vs. strophes vs. lack of stanzas/strophes
(If you know the name of a kind of stanza, use it.  For example, Dickinson writes in quatrains (4). Soyinka writes "Dedication" in tercets (3)

tone   and shifts in tone

use of tropes-- some poets use personification, some use hyperbole (exaggeration), or understatement (meiosis), metaphor vs. metonymy

use of imagery--realistic, surreal,   synesthesia

use of allusion or language that is not historically or culturally specific












*****

Jose Emilio Pacheco, "The Hour of the Children"

The translation group had no problem with the word-choice, though some words in Spanish are ambiguous.

points made in low-stakes writing:

The children were in poverty, and Pacheco wanted to express how hard it was by mentioning the eating of rats.

Third-stanza: The poem in the middle strophe indicates a commonality between the children and rats, and they may be fearful in that strophe that they'll be killed the same way.  [Unless you are using the term "rats" as a trope, this is not accurate. The fear is on the part of "us," not they (the children)  and "us" (we) do not necessary include the children being represented in the poem, although the "we" in the beginning signifies the children.]

Notes by Destiny:

The poem has strophes (irregular numbers of lines)

Pacheco showed the children's extreme poverty with the eating of the rats.

The image of lobsters being ringed is ambiguous:  it could be streaks on the rats that look like rubber bands put around caught lobsters. The colors could indicate mold on the already dead rats or their natural colors of their fur.

The middle strophe presents commonality between children and rats; they probably fear being killed the same way.

Their options were extremely limited.

"The hour of the children" can signify the short time that the children could be children, because of their responsibility to take care of themselves. Their time to be children was cut very short.

In the poem, "we" as "the children" is found in the first 2 strophes; in the third, the children are "men" who are "they," and "we" are other members of Mexican society whom the former children kill.



Adelia Prado, "Pieces for a Stained Glass Window"

points made in low-stakes writing:
The poem had a spiritual feel. Her poem was low-key about her undying love for Jesus (see lines 10-15). The title includes "stained glass window" because there are biblical scenes from the New Testament on them.

After the reference to Japan, which is small on the map, she talks about her lover, as she wants to be noticed by him. She thinks that if she dressed more provocatively, her lover would notice her more.

Notes by Ronise:

Pieces For a Stained Glass Window by Adelia Prado

-low-stakes writing

-She questions if the country exist

-It's not obvious to her, but it is to everyone else as it's "public to the mind"

-What she wants is "not obvious"

-The trope of "heart" is the feeling of love

-"depth of your eyes" meaning non verbal communication

- "If you look at me in Spanish" a connection between a man and a woman

- Red - trope for passionate love

- This is a sign for communication with depth

- "When I close my eyes to the sun" portrays an image for perfection

- The pun for sun and son is a trope that God is a perfect human

- She could be referring to her lover as a perfect image and imagines a future w/ him

- "sun" - trope for perfection

- love relationship - when surface of physical passion and the depth of emotions and feelings come together

" His unspeakable seductive power" in relation to God is a jarring juxtaposition; this indicates that this poem uses religious imagery to treat the theme of romantic love and not the other way around.

- One reading is that she's comparing God as he gives power in religion with the fact that God was married to the virgin Mary as opposed to Jesus and His purity. Another reading is that she's expressing the ability of Christianity to convince ordinary people to have faith when they cannot receive direct communication from God.

- The flashback at the end of the poem hasn't changed since she was a kid when her sexual desires first came

- the images are thrown over the reader's heads

- The creation of the domestic scene of her mom making coffee and her dad waiting for it was mixing that up for love and passion w/ God and religion

- She's asking for depth instead of reviewing it; she wants something that is not easy to get

John Ashbery, "Night Life"

Notes by Alex:

“Night Life” by John Ashbery Notes

Title: Possible meanings: The night means hidden, so it represents the authors hidden personality, or homosexuality.

The setting is in the city at night

The poem speaks about accepting people, including the sins they usually do at night to keep it hidden

Ashbery’s pronouns can be switched around. He could be talking about anyone; himself, a friend, or even the readers.

Theme: People should be be able to be individuals (themselves) around others and not be afraid being judged for doing sinful things. We should all accept each other for who we are.

Line 2-4: Everyone wants to do good and meet new people and be liked by others, but people get in the way of their own desires by being too focused on what they want and too judgmental on anyone that goes against their ideal image. They can’t get over how different people are, because their ideal images of a friend are “set in stone”, or unchangeable.

“Blocking the mouth of the cave” (Line 5) - The cave is deep and it can represent the depth of our personalities, yet people’s judgemental behaviors make us block ourselves from truly getting to know others because of our ideas of perfection.

In a sexual manner, the cave can also represent a female genital

Lines 6-7: people are represented by hair. We are all different, and we all love our differences, yet we are all together as friends.

Line 8: It’s ok to be human and do wrong things such as smoking.

It could also mean something orally sexual

3rd stanza - The speaker is asking if love and individuality is just a delusion. Even if it is, he likes it and wants to get lost in that wonderful delusion.

“Husky fragrance” (Line 13) - Synesthesia - When our senses are combined. For example, “I hear a smell”. The speaker shows this by being able to smell a husky (manly, deep, cracking) voice.

Ashbery thinks that it’s easy for people to encourage everyone to be themselves, and be happy, yet they do not realize that it is hard to do so because anyone seen as “different” is persecuted.

“Your hair cropped, it’s important” (Line 14) - Differences among people are important.

Line 14-15: As one person is talking to a friend about traffic near his/her home, the friend is on his or her phone while listening until he interrupts the speaker suddenly with his husky voice. This shows individuality in a friendship. One person may be the talkative type, while the other person is more quiet and sometimes seem to be distracted when s/he is actually listening. Though they are individuals, they get along.

“Thin Ice” (Line 16) - In trouble.

The cars are smiling (Line 16) - When the sunlight directly hits the windows on cars in traffic.

Group findings:

The title can tie into his sexuality and how he had to keep it hidden. The poem talks about individuality.
The trope of the "stone/ Blocking the mouth of a cave" suggests how one's stereotypes of a person block him/her from getting to know them.
The image of being together and smoking cigarettes conveys that it's ok not to be perfect and to be an individual because that's what makes us human.
In the 3rd quatrain, there is the possibility of a facade in contrast with individuality and the issue of freedom being an illusion.


points made in low-stakes writing:
I know there's a story here; I just don't know what. I think he talks about the difficult process to like someone and although it is difficult, he doesn't mind it.
[One student wondered about the use of pronouns, especially "you."]


Gail Tremblay, "After the Invasion"

Group analysis:
Tremblay uses allusions throughout the poem related to Native American culture. From the beginning, she uses the image of the night and the grandmother as the moon while the women are washing others' backs. The moon is important to their culture and faith. The moon is the woman asking for faith that one day their families and culture can be remembered.

points made in low-stakes writing:


 The poem incorporates elements significant to Native American culture.
The inclusion of the moon and sky and earth as metaphors relate to tribal connections with the earth, universe, and its elements that are rare now. These natural references are just the poet's way of pointing out women's beauty--not just in appearance, but every aspect.


How does the title relate to the poem?
Tremblay displays an image of men "after the invasion" who are lost and broken: "defeat makes them forget." The women wish to believe that their families will be made whole again.

The passage, "Men brag about... movement of air" resonates with the negative impacts of heteronormativity.
This poem reflects the mere fact of women being made submissive by men who are cruelly dominant.

The poem touches on the different thought processes that men and women have about love. Men handle love in a material sense, whereas women feel that love is so sacred and precious that when it doesn't work out, there is an emptiness.

Notes by Reginald:

-When talking about the moon and the grandmother, that doesn’t mean the grandma is actually the moon, they are two separate entities. But I’m Native American culture the moon is seen as an ancestor as well.

-The Native American perspective shows that the men in the poem are definitely at fault and this also goes with the feminist perspective of this poem.

-In the poem you can see that the men aren’t inherently like the way they are portrayed in the poem and their is a switch in their actions due to the events of multiple invasions.

-Their is an implication that the nights are dark mainly because of the sorrow and turmoil of the invasions.

-The light of Native American culture was snuffed our due to the constant killing and oppression by foreigners and white culture.

-When talking about the line “There are too many mysteries men learn to ignore” it is touching on the depression and alcoholism problem within the Native American communities.

-When talking about “defeat makes them forget to see the magic when women dance” it’s speaking to the fact that because of defeat the men lose their way within their traditions and lifestyles.

-Tremblay states that the men have fallen away from their duties and obligations. And this leaves the women with the heavy load to bear. The women dream of meat, and fish because they cannot obtain such things because of the men’s lack of contribution.

-There is a constant repetition of the phrase “learned to.”

-There is a “struggle to remember” because white culture has imposed their culture on them and therefore it is hard to remember their roots.

-Tremblay doesn’t discount men as it says in the poem it states that “Men and women will come to earth who know that breath is a sacred gift.”

Kim Hyesoon,

group writing  (one-person group):

Kim is speaking about the destruction and oppression she and her people are facing. She constantly speaks about keys she is selling while describing what is around her with words like "insanity" and "trembling." It makes me think of devastating man-made disasters. The keys may symbolize a sense of peace and freedom from the time she is living in. Lines 13-20 about the pianist she is worshiping & stars falling out of his open arms make me think of death and hope. The pianist is wearing all black (death), and her use of "star" indicates hope, dreams that are limitless. The pianist welcomes her with open arms and showers her with limitless dreams. These dreams/stars cause her to worship him because they give her hope.

Notes by Shyanon:

·         The speaker lays out things in a mat to sell/give things for free (although nobody asked to buy).

·         A few flabby keys in silence that looks like birds’ tongues= Keys that are not too useful and has the shape of birds’ tongues.

·         A few pages of landscape paintings that quietly melt when your eyes open= It perhaps signifies magic? For example, when you close your eyes, you have an ideal place but when you open your eyes it’s all muddy and mess.

·         Gold, Liver, pages of faces, hordes of vagueness = Gold and liver, two different kinds put together—juxtaposition.

·         Buried in the coffin made from songs= Signifies death.

·         Churches that raise the voltage of insanity! = Trope to indicate the intensity.

·         Blessed red shops of the night trembling! = House of Prostitution.

·         Amid everything that was happening around she says that she is just selling those flabby/useless keys in front of lousy people.

·         I’m in the middle of worshipping a pianist who is dressed like an undertaker= In love with the pianist.

·         I also worship the cleats of his black shoes, When stars fall out from his open arms= Adds on how deep/magnificent is her love for the pianist and mostly when he plays the piano with open arms.

·         And caress the wheels of my mat, I even worship his bald head= sexualizing her relationship with the pianist.

·         Playing a nocturne= Night music

·         I prostrate myself under his feet and devour the commas= She worship the pianist at ever pause of his play.

·         Fish= Trope for Jesus

·         Would you like to buy a flower pin for fastening the ribbon onto your heart? = Violent. Related with blood and death.

·         Roe=eggs of fish

·         Two black butterflies used as a blanket for the eyes= Eye mask

·         Replica lips with burns from all the questions= burning questions

·         A pour of dark wine when uncorked pours out doubts you detest hearing= It is a metonymy which basically says people express doubts that might lead to hurting others.

·         A hoarse-throated-scream-basket= symbolizes mind

·         A pair of fish-bone-shoes you can slip onto bare feet= Uncomfortable/painful shoes

·         Ends with Rhetorical question.

Notes by Alegna:

DEDICATION FROM MOREMI 

By: Wole Sonyinka 

The title of the poem addresses “Moremi” who was a Princess of the Europa tribe in West Africa.  This is a great way to represent the Princess is narrating the poem. The tone of the poem is active directive, solemn because she speaks of nature in a calm tone. Soyinka also uses tercets throughout the poem. The long free-verse lines might show the influence of Walt Whitman.

In the first line in the first stanza, the word “Rafter” is used to represent something Earth wishes to not share. Followed by “Dung floors Break” being expressed as an active verb and shit floors. The reference of “slight skin” meaning weak. “Taste this spoil for death and plumb her deep for life” is a command given by the princess.                                                                       Throughout the first stanza, the Princess speaks about her point of view on earth.  

In the second stanza, the word “Yams” is a referred to an African Potatoe but different from American.  It is then followed by “tuber” which mean anything that grows underground. Sonyikna is addressing her readers/ elders/citizens/ tribal members and commanding them to do something collectively. The last line in the second stanza uses words like “roots”, “baobab” and “hearth”; “roots” meaning the earth has powerful extensive roots, “baobab” representing a kind of fat and large tree in Africa, and “heath” meaning warmth and fire. The Princess must be commanding someone of her tribe to put in work towards the ground because that is where their life is, their roots and even food source.  

The third stanza presents an animism, “The air will not deny you.” referring to not worry, they will be safe, and no obstacle of nature will stop them from what she commands them to do. Storms are known to be dangerous but, in this case, one would be able to ride and be in harmony with the wind because no elements of nature will harm them.  

By the forth stanza, there is are many imagery elements to represent nature. The word “peat” which is used for gardening – ecological sound. Personification is also used to represent raindrops touching you the way fingers do, “Rain’s Fingers”. It is then followed by “may wash you over.” promoting rain may wash over you but to be careful because it can kill you or make you sick. In Africa there are some places where monsoons occur; in this case can be harmful if not carful. The final line of stanza four speaks of “sun shadows” in a way to represent the afternoon, or its literal meaning saying not to stay out in the sun too much because you can have a heat stroke/ dehydrate. Just because they live in a hot environment does not make them immune to environmental conditions. There is a contrast with the mention of night, “run naked to the night” which means to be free in your consciousness and embrace the night time too not just the sun. The sun a moon are also elements of nature so don’t take advantage of one but to act consciously to avoid being harmed.  

Skipping to stanza eight, “Earths honeyed milk” means all the good things and earths nutrients placed at their fingertips but they must learn how to use it. A sensual pleasure is mentioned by the Princess, “Now roll your tongue in honey till your cheeks are swarming honeycombs”. This reference expresses how one must work hard in their tribes but to also not forget the “good” things of life, “Your world needs sweetening, child”. A political statement is mentioned as well with the mention of “your world needs sweetening, child”, this is a mention of colonial and post colonialism to enjoy the land they have because the Europeans tried to take over. It is important for them to take advantage because it will give them the power to fight back. The word “child” can describe the Princess as an ancestor speaking to her children/ tribal members. The mention of cultural elements is mentioned in the stanza as well as questioning African beliefs of mythology, “like a goddess”.  Could the Princess be referring to herself as a goddess, or representing herself as an ancestor? The mention of “child” earlier in the stanza supports this questioning because as an ancestor she is speaking to her people and guiding them down the right path.  

Jumping over to the final stanza, “haste to repay the debt of birth “represents the debts of life you have for your parents. Man must go through labor (blood, sweat, water) in order to repay a long line of ancestors. The nature that sustains the people comes from the gods. There is mention of the word “man” in “man-tides”. Could this gender specific be referring to human tides or man tides? The words “man-tides" can also mean a human energy and what is left behind before and after death. To finalize this poem yields towards death and leaving a meaning by making your mark in life “leave a meaning of the fossil led sands.” The word “sand” symbolizes the fossils and remains we leave on earth.