Pretty Poems

Margaret Atwood
迷失. This "word / in a foreign language" (Atwood, 19-20) means lost, which is how, I believe, the speaker in Margaret Atwood's "Disembarking at Quebec" felt. I like this poem very much. Although I would be exaggerating my own experience if I say that I felt the same when I "disembarked" at Victoria, the sense of loneliness and not fitting in that Atwood so precisely describes have definitely came across me.  I am also quite fond of the way Atwood arranges the poem's structure. For example, creating spaces for the line "this space cannot hear" stresses the feeling of isolation. Likewise, aligning the word "Freedom!" in the middle of a new paragraph of its own also adds to its emphasis.

Stevie Smith
As a city dweller, I have no problem acknowledging that nature is not so "pretty" all the time - I'm not exactly a huge fan of mushy earth, decaying leaves, or basically any kind of insects. But for some so-called nature lovers, Smith's sarcastic poem "Pretty" may be a heads up for the fact that there are times of inevitable cruelty in nature. We cannot turn a blind eye on things that would destroy our version of nature where there is no hunting, killing, and dying. If we allow ourselves to avoid accepting the whole of nature, soon we will not even recognize our indifference.  

Edward Kamau Brathwaite
Ah, the sea, we meet again. Brathwaite discusses the disparity between White people and Black people. There are a number of good use of colour words in the poem. For instance, the "blue stares" represents how the rich look down on the poor. Brathwaite also captures the visual beauty of the coin as it falls through the water - "now black/ now bright, now black, now bright" (Brathwaite, 14-15). This can also be interpreted as the integration of the Black people's struggle of poverty and the White's "bright" and prosperous life.

The Dying of the Light

Death has appeared as the theme of a poem a several times in this journal now. No doubt that "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," considered as one of Dylan Thomas's finest works, is a wonderful addition. However, I started to wonder: with so little experience in life, how much of the poet's message and feelings can I really understand? The message of this poem seems pretty straightforward. Even when we're old and weak, we should still fight death to the last moment instead of going gentle and giving in. Makes sense, doesn't it? But if death is a choice, a relief, is it still the right thing to do to "rage against the dying of the light" (3)? If death is near anyway, is it absolutely wrong, especially for the family and friends that would be witnessing the death and left behind grieving, to go gentle and hope that their loved one is really going into a good night?

Hollow Men, Stuffed Men

T.S. Eliot uses a lot of imagery in "The Hollow Men" to criticize certain members of the modern civilization who are "hollow" (1) in terms of personal thoughts and passion, yet "stuffed" (2) in a way that they don't have room to accept anything new. Imagery like "broken glass" (9), "dead land" (40), and "broken jaw of our lost kingdoms" (56) provide a strong sense of lifelessness in the world that is filled with hollow men. They live in the "Shadow" (76) that comes between ideas and acts. I like how the poem ends: "This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper" (97-98). The world is so lack of substances and meanings that it doesn't even cause a "bang" when it ends. Also, I think the drawing Men of Straw in the book goes very well with the context of the poem, and really helps with the readers' visualization.

Things Fall Apart; My Memory Cannot Hold

I think it is fair to say that I have a pretty good memory, but when I looked at the title of William Yeats' poem "The Second Coming," nothing came up my mind. So I opened the textbook, revisited the poem, and I knew why: I don't really understand it. I got frustrated until reading what SparkNotes says:

Because of its stunning, violent imagery and terrifying ritualistic language, “The Second Coming” is one of Yeats’s most famous and most anthologized poems; it is also one of the most thematically obscure and difficult to understand. (It is safe to say that very few people who love this poem could paraphrase its meaning to satisfaction.)

Yeats believes that history occur in two-thousand-year cycles. After the period of Christianity which was marked off with the birth of Christ, a new era would be inaugurated by another figure. A "rough beast" (21) with "lion body and the head of a man" (14), perhaps? If his beliefs are true, then the second coming should have happened by now. Who is the beast?

A possible answer below...?
http://www.cartoonink.com/2008/12/02/what-rough-beast/

War

Nobody likes war. Many start wars, fight them, or even want them for what they believe will come at the end (if they win) but nobody likes war itself. Therefore it is important to know as Wilfred Owen suggests in "Dulce et Decorum Est" that the old saying in the title is a lie. It is not sweet to die for one's country; Nothing is proper about hurting someone and getting hurt in wars. The imagery of desolate battlefields and torturing deaths act as an effective wake up call for people who holds a heroic view of war as glory, conveying the message that wars should be avoided, not encouraged.

However, it is a painful fact that wars do happen, and people do need to fight. Rupert Brooke's "The Soldier" offers an entirely different view on war which can somewhat consulate the soldiers going to war, especially for those who are conscripted there, not by choice. The pastoral imagery of England shows Brooke's patriotism and pride in his country, and also serves as a temporary distraction from the nasty images that are to be seen on the battlefields. His idea that if soldiers (from England in this case) die, "there's some corner of a foreign field / That is forever England" (2-3) gives their death a meaning, as if they will be more than just another corpse lying on the ground.

Fact, Fact, Fact!

"Instruments that record analyses summarize organize debate and explain information which are illustrative non-illustrative hardbound paperback jacketed non-jacketed with forward introduction, table of contents, index that are indented for the englightnment, understanding enrichment enhancement and education of the human brain thru sensory root of vision... sometimes touch"

If you have seen the award-winning movie "3 Idiots," you would know that this 47-word definition can be easily simplified into one word, books.

And after reading excerpts from Charles Dickens' Hard Times, we now know that "Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy countries, sheds hoofs, too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in mouth" is the definition of a horse.

I can already hear you asking: why would we need to know the "facts", the definition? What is the problem of knowing things simply by their names? These are exactly the questions that both the novel and the movie are trying to evoke as a comical way to criticize the educational theory that focuses solely on "facts" instead of critical thinking, creativity, or other things that are actually useful. In the novel, Dickens' use of caricature is also a very effective way to further exemplifies his criticism.

Emily & Emily

"Song" by Emily Bronte and "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson are so far my two favourite poems about death. In their words, death is gentle, death is courteous, death is not scary.

Bronte's "Song" not only describes death as a "tranquil sleep" (23), but also as I imagine, a sleep on a bed of flowers in a Eden-like forest with "wild deer" (5) and "wild birds" (6) gathering around - just like a scene from a Disney movie. It is such a beautiful idea to think that the constant blow of "west wind"  (25) and "murmur [of] summer streams" (26) will replace the temperamental weeps and sighs. I think this is a very lovely poem that can provide some consolation to people who has lost their loved ones. 

Although we are all aware that it is only a poem, Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" provides a rather favourable suggestion of how one's encounter with Death could be like. Words and phrases like "kindly" (2), "he knew no haste" (5), and "civility" (8) set the tone of the poem and the gentleman-like characteristics of Death.