For Tuesday we will start reading and talking about poems by Robert
Creeley. Reading poems is different from other kinds of reading: you
have to be paying thoughtful attention as you read, and just plowing
through doesn't really work. I'll be perfectly honest -- I'd rather you
read just one or two of his poems thoughtfully than skim over the whole
assignment. (But I do want you to read them all!) Slow down, take your
time. Believe it or not, reading poems should be fun!
Your assignment for Monday as you read is to pick out
one poem, or even just a passage, or just a line,
that you think is really cool. Whatever you connect to, even the author
photo on the back of the book. Then, post a comment below sharing your
enthusiasm. Tell us about what you found, and tell us why you think it's
interesting. Use the "Poem Profiler" (on Moodle) or the brief sections
from Terry Eagleton (How to Read a Poem) to help give you a
vocabulary for describing things. Be ready in class to share your find
and talk through what you like about it. Focus on describing the poem. Tell us what it's like.
In class, I will be asking you to pick one of Creeley's poems to
read aloud with conviction. You don't have to memorize the poem. But I
want you to practice reading it aloud again and again. Get your mouth around the
words... and the line breaks. Really listen to the poem. Practice the
poem and be prepared to read it aloud for us in class. Don't shyly
mumble the poem into your desk. Own it. Make it yours.
Your assignment for each week should be 250-300 words.
(Be sure to read the other materials for class posted on Moodle.)
I enjoyed "The Lover" on page 58, particularly the last three sentences: "Were/ proud? Of what? To buy/ a thing like that." My initial response after reading, before I did any research on words I hadn't encountered before, was that the young man was buying a sex doll and was a bit of a creeper. After I looked up my main confusion, Modess, I thought that the universal subjectivity of the text was kind of cool, since at one point or another, a lot of guys will probably end up in the same situation for either their friends or their family members at some point. The historical allusion to the Modess company was neat--especially since I had no clue what it was until I read up on it, making my first thoughts at least three times funnier--while at the same time keeping the poem and it's subject matter discreet to an unwitting audience. While I usually enjoy enjambment, it felt a little distracting to me until read aloud, and even then I felt that it didn't flow off the tongue as well as I was hoping until I had done so a few times. As for the title, while it may be most suited to this young man's situation, I think it leaves out the idea that a man might purchase something like Modess-related products for a sister, or a mother, or even a daughter or best friend. In a way, it feels like the title limits itself to only heterosexual males in a relationship and doesn't broaden itself enough.
ReplyDeleteI really love the poem "Ballad of the Despairing Husband." I love the rhyme scheme and stupidly prosy language in this poem because both make this poem so silly. I especially love the way the end stops start to get more erratic at the end, and the language even crazier, giving way to an even more BS atmosphere. I think my favorite stanza would have to be when the narrator mimics the wife in a sort of childish tone: "And I will wear what dresses I choose! And I will dance, and what's to lose!" These lines contain the first break from the commas and periods that were prevalent in the beginning, so they come as a shock which makes me love this stanza the most.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the poem "Love Comes Quietly". Although it is short, it is filled with so much emotion. There is no evident rhyme scheme. In the first stanza there is punctuation on every line making you speak these lines very slowly but smoothly. It is as if the speaker is having a realization in the most humbling way of how love has overwhelmed him and how it has affected his life. He says the words, " Love comes quietly, / finally, drops / about me, on me," and we feel the weight of the words like "drops" and "on". The ending of this poem and last stanza there is no punctuation except for a period at the end. It as if the speaker quickly goes through these words. This poem feels like a painful memory of love that was lost and someone who is realizing the feeling of being alone. The personification of love coming quietly and dropping on and all about him is moving in a way that we can feel. I think this is a poem of the speaker thinking back on a memory of love at first and then in the second stanza he finishes up with him aware of his loneliness with a tone of regret and sadness. I think it is a great poem full of lessons of how we should appreciate the ones who love us while they are still around.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading "Please," on page 64, how unsettled I was struck me with an amazing force. Even before I quite understood what it said, I could feel the emotion and dread and honest hurt in every line. In the poem, he mentions two other poets who were both beat poets and wrote against war. He writes the poems to them because they have inspired him and angered him against war. He writes, in lines 4 and 5, that "everywhere there are people shooting people \ People people people people" his repetition of the word "people" acts as a reminder to him and the audience that those affected by war are real people. This line, though looking at it alone may seem silly, was one of the most influential lines of the entire poem. He shows conviction in what he is saying and anguish for these hurting people. He also, like his fellow poets, speaks out against the government and their repressive qualities in line 14 when he says "If only they'd stay still and let me." This shows his frustration of not being able to hold onto his idea because the government is constantly using techniques to distract their people. One of the most chilling lines is the final one, calling to everyone begging them to see the truth.
ReplyDelete"The Death of Venus" on page 58 was a nice bit of reading. The title is an allusion to a goddess of beauty, an embodiment of pleasure and carnal sexy stuff. But within the poem, she is transformed into a "sea-beast rising lucid from the mist". (Not only is this is a allusion to Greek Mythology, but Botticelli's Birth Of Venus as well.) We see this adored and "sensual" woman reveal a monster beneath her skin. Being seen as an object to lust over, Venus is unfairly seen as a pushover. But underneath it all she's powerful as hell. The contrast of "of my own" and "of hers" following the speaker's are hints at just how alienated from each other the speaker and the woman/sea-beast must feel. The language used towards the end gives a tone of realization of who this woman/sea beast was. The ending line of "there I saw her" is enjambment that is simple and short how the speaker's finally putting the pieces on just who/what this woman was.
ReplyDeleteCorrection: The contrast of "of my own" and "of hers" following the speaker's (failed gestures)
DeleteIn my opinion, “The Flower” on page sixty-six was an amazing poem. Even though it was short it really plucked at my heart strings. The way I understood the poem was that the speaker was describing the unseen wounds that he feels inside him. I really appreciated the way that he combined something beautiful, like flowers with something as gruesome as pain. The first stanza says, “I think I grow tensions/ like flowers/ in a wood where/ nobody goes” the first time I read it, it sounded very light. However the more I read it the darker I understood it to be. Sometimes when I’m reading poetry if the first stanza doesn’t catch my attention, or something else doesn’t pop out at me I just won’t want to continue reading. Every bit of “The Flower” caught my attention, I appreciated that it brought light to the situation of unseen wounds and pain. I also enjoyed the way the third stanza was written, “Pain is a flower like that one,/like this one,/ like that one,/ like this one”. It seemed to allude to the idea of picking the petals off of a flower saying, “He likes me, he likes me not, he likes me, he likes me not…” the way that the lines go back and forth just seem so similar.
ReplyDeleteThe poem "Oh No" on page 65 really resonated with me. Although it is extremely short in length and almost vague in content, it seems to speak a lot more than the simple words that are written. There is something very fluid about the poem even with the slight enjambment. The rhyme is simple; as is the rest of the poem, but when spoken it creates a feeling of ease and comfort. It holds a definite dreaminess and yet also a strong sense of sincerity, like when you wake up from a good dream and you know that something good happened but you just can’t quite remember the details. The sensation of comfort that this poem is giving off is not necessarily rooted in happiness; it is more of a calm and meditative feeling. The fact that the title is “Oh No” definitely threw me off because I expected the poem to hold something bad or depressing, but instead I was pleasantly surprised by the feeling of relief it provides. Since there is only two stanzas, with four lines each stanza, it is definitely one of the shorter poems in this book. Despite this fact, the poem seems to take a journey. The first line, “If you wander far enough”, caught my eye at first because I immediately imagined an endless Lord of the Rings type journey. Having pictured that in my head, when I read the last line of the first stanza, “they will give you a place to sit”, I felt as if I had traveled a lifetime and was finally given a place to settle down with my companions. I think it was this little journey and then comfort the poem provided that really made “Oh No” stick with me.
ReplyDeleteI really liked reading the poem “Mind’s Heart” on page 81. The thought that my mind could falsify what my heart wants is something I have not thought about at all. To me the poem asks an interesting question, is what our mind says we want what the heart desires? If it is not what we truly desire, how are we then able to trust in our own minds. The thought that our minds could convincingly and consistently lie to our hearts is frightening. I would like to think that eventually we would figure out that our minds were lying to us if we took the time to think. The problem though is that sometimes we don’t think before we act and then we get stuck with the action. The stanza “Or else lies, lies, all / lies, and no man / true enough to know / the difference” tells us that if our mind lies to us then we are doomed to never know what is true and what really is a lie. This stanza also emphasizes our reliance on our mind and heart being in sync, as there is no other way to get what we truly want rather than what we intellectually desire. I’ve never actually thought that my mind would lie to myself about what I want in this world. I guess though, that if the mind needs something to survive then it would and could fool the heart. Although short in length, this poem communicates powerful ideas. These ideas are worth considering, assuming we have not already considered them.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed "The Form Of Women". It took me multiple readings to really understand what's happening here, which is part of the reason I liked it so much. This poem is about being in a state of love and the fear that comes with it, that fear of the life sapping darkness that might come if love crashes and burns. The poet had always deep down wanted to feel these raw emotions, but had not allowed himself to or never had the chance to. "I have come far enough, from where I was not before, to have seen the things, looking in at me from through the open door." This stanza lets us know that the poet has come a long way from where he/she was before and that all this new discovered feelings were there all long. We see also how this love has taken its toll on the poet with this stanza: "My face is my own, I thought. But you have seen it, turn into a thousand years. I watched you cry." His face has aged a thousand years throughout this love venture and that closing note 'I watched you cry' emphasizes that this particular love has been tough on both parties. My favorite part of the poem is when the poet admits that after love you aren't just your own person, you are now also part of someone else. "My face is my own. My hands are my own. My mouth is my own, but I am not." The poem gives me a "I will follow you into the dark" sort of feeling as well, regardless of how bad the situation might get, the poet still expresses his love and ends the poem asking if the love he feels is reciprocated. I feel like these are relatable emotions to those that have been in love and even to those who haven't been specifically in love with a person, but simply fallen in love with something.
ReplyDeleteFrom the poem "America" (Vietnam era, political commentary):
ReplyDelete"People are your own word, you
invented that locus and term."
I always appreciate poems of political commentary because I believe this is one of the best ways to approach the subject. For one thing, though few people read poetry, those who do are likely to eke every ounce of meaning from the words. They will pay attention and give the idea represented their full attention. It is when a reader/listener is in this state of mind that the poet can provoke thought. Thought leads to insight and, possibly, a changed attitude towards the subject. The two lines above illustrate this point and more. No matter what one thinks about America’s role in world politics, the assertion that it creates its own problems is going to provoke thought. Beyond the obvious message, though, there is more. There is emotion in these words. Creeley uses the word locus, an often biblical term to indicate a plague on people who’ve done wrong. Typically this sort of plague gets sent by a wrathful god. There is also ‘visible’ emotion when he says, “people are your own word”. In other words, America is dictating (by ‘word’) what people are. Well, that isn’t right, no one should dictate who someone else is. Cue righteous outrage.
This combination of an idea to provoke thought and an emotional appeal is what makes political poetry - or most any poetry for that matter - powerful.
Note: I still haven't received my Creeley book from Amazon, so I sourced this from the internet (poemhunter.com).
The poem "Going To Bed" on page 72 resonated with me immediately, the first stanza describes an all too familiar scene which was incredibly engaging; the feeling of failing nerves in an otherwise presumably comfortable situation. It is this inopportune emergence of fear which brings with it a sense of foreboding personal uncomfortability. The darkness seems to draw in the senses, tempting them with ethereal stimuli which, when investigated, means nothing. The poem continues on to lend blame, at least in part, to corporate pressures in the external world, and the way that these pressures bear down upon the individual, who is filled to the brim with thoughts and beliefs of others every single day. Flowing into the second stanza there is a surreal sensation as if the author knows the type of individual who will resonate with their work, acting as a humbling entity, the reader is called out for their fear, and in this flurry of emotion and realism, the tone begins to pick up pace as it enters the thirds stanza. Fear of nothing but fear itself is introduced as the author invites the ironic imagery of propulsion in a fit of stasis, where the individuals feet are glued to the floor, and perhaps inner resolution has determined that they will not be moving, while the head does the dangerous work of gazing for danger, though having no power to defend on its own. The final stanzas of the poem are more kinetic, quick phrases with abrupt punctuation makes each a stab at the readers eyes, as well as providing imagery of the human body sneaking carefully and quietly, in order to discover the truth.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite poem in the reading was The Whip on page 61. My favorite stanzas are 2 and 3. I think the style of the poem is interesting because the lines are written with enjambment. The poem is definitely more rough than smooth because of all the sudden stops in the middle of the lines. The Whip had a lot of fragment thoughts, or incomplete thoughts. I could picture the author very confused on things such as relationships and what he really wants at the time. At first he discusses being in love with 2 different women but then talks about being lonely in the latter part of the poem. I love the lines I stated earlier because those were some of the only lines that rhymed in the entire poem. Another line that stuck out was “my love was a feather.” Now everyone knows that this cannot be true but it made me think the authors love was light but it was there. It is light, airy, uplifting, free love and it sways back and forth meaning this why the author is in love with multiple women. The poem is abstract but very relatable and visible with the lines. It is an intelligent poem because of how simple it is and not very wordy, but expresses a lot at the same time. The poem has short lines and that’s how he accomplishes the intelligence. Overall the poem is really well written and I commend it!
ReplyDeleteThe Flower on page 73 resonates deeply with me. The first stanza in particular I can relate to as it speaks of letting your problems grow and fester where no one but you can see them. The fact that he is the one growing the 'tensions' is particularly important because this indicates that he is stressing himself out, possibly over problems that are minuscule, and most of that pain is him psyching himself out. The second stanza is beautiful, every single one of those pains grows into a flower, a tiny barely noticeable blossom that would get overlooked in a second except for the fact it causes the author pain. It's another small speck of pain on the field of his mind. It's a little bit like 'death by a thousand cuts' every single one of those tiny blossoms is a wound, none are very serious, but they still hurt intensely- like paper cuts- and a build of of them could be detrimental to your health. The last stanza makes you think he's actually standing in the woods somewhere and actually looking at small, tiny, imperceptible flowers. Pointing at the little things which represent so much pain to him, which represent every single type of pain felt by him.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletethe hill
ReplyDeleteWhile obviously not spontaneous, this poem feels completely natural. Creeley is the REDACTED-- the hill a REDACTED. Parts of the poem, such as "to walk away, walk away," create clear images of concrete space that represents the abstract thoughts of the poet.
The poem is well organized and coherent. Each of the four stanzas is a complete thought that is well connected to each of the other four. Each of the four lines in each of the four stanzas is necessary and flows smoothly into the next.
Creeley's character comes off as being strong-willed, self-aware, and self-regulating. He REDACTED.
As clear as much of the poem seems, there are still parts I do not understand. What is the significance of the usage of the word "saith" in the last stanza? And perhaps there is still a question as to REDACTED.
I picked the poem And which is located on page 71 in the selection of reading you had us read for class on Tuesday, Sept. 2nd. This poem's punctuation and word spacing or... gives it added drama and suspense. Also the semantics and word choice for this poem is great because its pace and meaning work together so efficiently and well. What I mean when I say semantics is the effect/affect or meaning the words have that aren't just there but are existing and drawing maybe not always a great image like now but also draw up ideas and feelings that are being spoken into the poem by the author and then from when someone not just speaks it or reads it but feels it. And what I mean by “word choice” within this poem is the choice of his sentences by the certain words he picked that help explain the tone or mood of the poem which just be looking at it and picking out words that stand out which give it a unknown sense of what's next and very emotional. But at the same time the mood can be taken as not emotional because the reader might accept the fact that “They are all dead now.” as something to meditate over and not be scared but to say possibly, giving it a meditative mood, “They are all dead now but hey I am still here...” or “They are all dead now...but life still moves on”. Another take on his poem's tone/mood because of his word choice and diction to make the poem feel like its time to go on an adventure to an unknown place but first you had to remember how you got their and it may have made you sad but now you are stronger and ready for anything to come and in one word the mood could be described as engaged or affirmative.
ReplyDeleteThe poem entitled “Jack’s Blues” on page 78 really caught my attention because of how spontaneous everything was. I was drawn in by the fact that it moved at such an incredibly fast pace. In one stanza he was talking about smoking monkeys and in the next he was saying there was nothing better than lying on your back. There was definitely a jerky sort of feel to the poem. Even from the start, the focus of the poem would jump around in ways that I wouldn’t normally expect. These jumps, however made the poem differ from the others, thus standing out even more. Each jump-around was unique and very well thought out. The first stanza really captured me, “I’m going to roll up / a monkey and smoke it, put/ an elephant in the pot. I’m going out/ and never come back.” These stanzas feel especially capturing. I think this is because it feels like the person in the poem is physically conversing with the reader. I feel like he is writing as if he had had a mental breakdown. This poem sounded as if the person was trying to disconnect from the world. However I really did enjoy how he did come back to smoking the rug. I thought it was interesting that out of everything he could’ve chosen, he chose to repeat that phrase about the rug. I feel that when he says it the second time, he means it as a possible desire to smoke a joint and kill himself by parking the car in the garage and leaving the car running. This poem was sad and intellectual which was different from his loving poems.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the poem on page 107-109 titled "the hole". I honestly have not much of an idea of what the poem itself is about. But the explicit subject matter seems to suggest that it is in some relation to Greeley's sexual discovery as he matured. He talks of such things as peeing in a public pool at a school function, an ambiguous sexual encounter that is friend had involving a bottle and his girlfriend, and also a rather explicit description of intercourse. I like to think that the hole he is trying to fill is not one in such an obvious sexual innuendo, but of a more emotion hole that he feels can only be filled by the sensual interaction with others. I am still not sure exactly what he is talking about, but it seems to be a very honest poem that not many would have the courage to write. I think Creeley talks of a personal feeling that many boys growing into their adolescence must feel at times.
ReplyDelete