Figurative Language

This week's selection of poems focuses on the Black Arts Movement as well as the Harlem Renaissance Era. I particularly enjoyed reading the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes. His entire poem is focused on metaphors, however he clearly gets his point across to the reader. Hughes poem focuses on the definition of a dream in his perspective. He writes,
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
In this line Hughes is comparing a deferred dream to a raisin in the sun by asking the question if it dwindles and becomes smaller over time. It is as if he is saying that a dream deferred will over time become less and less of a dream and not be as big of a dream if it continues to be deferred and not followed through with.
He then compares a deferred dream to a sore that festers and then runs. By this I think he is directly comparing the deferred dream to something that worsens or becomes more aggravated over time and then suddenly takes off.
Hughes asks, Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over - like a syrupy sweet? Hughes gives the upside to a deferred dream by comparing it to a syrupy sweet which the reader can interpret to be a positive ending to a deferred dream or a dream accomplished. His previous comparison followed by the "syrupy sweet" is that of rotten meat. I believe that Hughes views a deferred dream as either a positive obsession in which you can make the best out of by following through with it or a negative obsession in which the dream will continue to be just a dream that is never fulfilled.

The Influence of Others

I believe many poets obtain their ideas and thoughts from previous poetry. Many literature pieces today are "inspired" or "influenced" by literature of the past. In reading the poems of this week, I focused much attention to Robert Frost and his theme of "Nature." In his poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," he references nature indirectly throughout the entire poem. He writes about the frozen lake, the woods filling up with snow, a house in the village. All of these references are directly related to the theme of nature. Much like that of Blake from the previous poems we read such as, "From Songs of Experience," where Blake writes about evening dew, dewy grass, ancient trees, "O Earth O Earth return!" Frost like Blake express their writings and thoughts with reference to nature and the "natural world." I think Frost like other peots realized the effectiveness of previous poets works and was directly influenced by it.
Another poet who seems to reference the theme of nature in his poem is E.E. Cummings in "All in Green Went My Love Riding." Cummings writes of the silver dawn, white water, a gold valley, riding the mountain down and a green mountain. I noticed when reading this poem that Cummings referenced the "silver dawn" more so than any other thought of nature. The last line of the first, fifth, ninth, and thirteenth stanza reads, "into the silver dawn." It is a direct reference to the theme of nature once again. I think Cummings like Frost was influenced by previous poets writings of nature. The nature theme seemed to be popular in poetry and many poets from the later years were able to pick up on the popularity of this "natural world" theme and started to write about it after seeing its effectiveness.
I think in all writing it is hard not to be influenced by the writings of others. I first became interested in writing because of authors I have been fascinated with. To say a poet or a writer becomes a writer/poet just because they feel like it, is injust. Most thoughts and ambitions come from somewhere and for writers, in my opinion, it is safe to say they are definitely influenced by the works and writings of others.

Interpretation of The Snow Man by Stevens

The poem I chose to write about this week is “The Snow Man” by Wallace Stevens. The audience is specifically directed to the cold-hearted individuals who tend to focus on the outside beauty rather than the beauty that lies within.

The language is casual which makes it easier for the audience to understand and interpret. I think the tone of the poem is rather melancholy. The writer focuses on the beautiful aspects of winter that the naked eye tends to view and pay attention to rather than the underlying pain of the damage caused to the land. The poet seems to be writing in the midst of emotion rather than at some distance. It seems as if he is angry with those who look at winter and see nothing but the images of frost and trees crusted with snow rather than the underlying hurt of it all. It is as if he has a personal vendetta against those who focus on the outside rather than the inside. I don’t think the poem warrants two readings. It is well written and one reading is enough to understand the content of the poem, however a second reading might help the reader understand the true meaning a little more.

The images truly advance the meaning of the poem. When the poet writes the descriptive details of the images of the pine-trees crusted with snow as well as the junipers shagged with ice and spruces rough in the distant glitter, it gives the reader a sense of being a part of the poem. It helps the reader visualize the beauty of winter and nature. At the end of the poem, the poet explains how all of the visions he previously described are just images alone. He writes of how images of beauty are just that, images of beauty but they do not show the underlying truth of it all and the sorrow that lies underneath.

My initial reaction to the poem was confusing at first because I was so intrigued by the beginning descriptions and images that started off the poem and then turned to such melancholy when I realized the message the writer was trying to convey. I was able to completely understand the poem without having to re-read it, however I was taken aback by the ending and the overall meaning. I think the writer did a very good job in connecting with the reader.

The Interpretation of Poetry ("This Living Hand" and "Adam's Curse"

John Keats was one of the famous poets of the English Romantic movement. Keats wrote with an elaborate choice of words and used sensual imagery to express his thoughts to the reader. One of his poems that particularly interested me the most was “This Living Hand” due to the language and use of imagery by Keats. William Yeats was a modernist poet who experimented with free verse as well as traditional verse forms in which he mastered. A particular poem of Yeats that drew my attention most vigorously was “Adam’s Curse,” particularly because of its reference to the bible along with the use of imagery Yeats was able to convey.

In “This Living Hand” as well as in “Adam’s Curse” the speaker is a reliable source who supports his ideas and beliefs of romanticism and modernism with each line of poetry. In both poems the audience is not directed at a particular person. Although, in “Adam’s Curse,” Yeats uses a biblical reference but the reference is so broad that the reader does not have to be one of a religious background to understand the reference. On the other hand, Keats’ relationship with the reader to endings is a major theme in “This Living Hand.” Usually an end is viewed as a finale or a death even but as Keats expresses, a poetic work is a beginning for a reader and the final death for the poet. Keats contemplates on the integral part of literature, the relationship between the writer and reader to a piece of literature and to each other. In Keats’ understanding it is almost as if he believes, for a writer, the finishing of a piece of literature is similar to death, death of the piece and the writer writing that particular piece. In reference to the reader, it’s as if Keats believes the end of a piece of literature is the beginning, the beginning of their interpretation and thought. Keats tries to express the relationship between the reader and writer as the basis of literatures appeal to the grasping for expression and understanding.

In “Adam’s Curse,” lies a great deal of hard work and structure which Yeats says must be true of poetry. One of the most interesting aspects of this poem is its mirroring of the artistic principles laid out by the speaker in the first stanza.

The speaker of “This Living Hand,” uses more of a casual diction than that of “Adam’s Curse” who uses more of a mixed diction with some elevated as well as casual parts to the poem. The use of word choice for both poems reveals many indirect meanings of the literature. In “Adam’s Curse” when Yeats states, “beautiful mild woman” in the first stanza, he is implying that to be born a woman is to know that one must work at being beautiful but not to the extent of exaggeration as one would expect. Even the very title of the poem illustrates indirect meaning of Adam’s Curse in the biblical sense. As Yeats describes an evening spent with his beloved and her friend, he frames a philosophical argument that because of the curse of labor that God placed upon Adam when he expelled him from the Garden of Eden, every worthwhile human achievement requires hard work. Especially those aimed at achieving beauty, whether in poetry, physical appearance, or love. It is as if the simple speech-like rhythms of iambic pentameter fulfill the poet’s dictate that a poetic line should seem like a moments thought. The bittersweet emotional tone appears entirely natural because it is a natural result of the recollection.

In “This Living Hand,” Keats addresses more of a tone of melancholy. He is writing of an ending to him and a beginning to the reader. He is sad in a way that no other person, especially the reader, will be able to understand or sympathize with because Keats’ addresses his poem as if it is the beginning of a journey for the reader. Other writers can somewhat empathize with Keats in this poem, however Keats wrote the poem for the specific purpose of describing what writing is like for him. Both poets address a sad-like tone. In Yeats’ poem, the sadness is thought of as bittersweet because there is some happiness expressed by the characters of the poem. The happiness of being in love is created by Yeats when describing the scene of the poem, but quickly turned around at the end of the poem describing their hearts to be as weary as shells worn by the waters of time.

The emotional distance of both poems is extremely alike. The writers of both poems connect to the reader as if they are directly reciting the poem to the reader. The readers can recognize that the writers had a direct connection to what they are writing and were both emotionally drawn to their writings. After reading both poems, I felt as though both poets experienced an event in their lives which caused them to write about the experiences and directly connect to the reader in doing so. It seems as if they wrote the poems in the midst of their emotions and knew first hand of every sensation described in the poems. I believe Yeats fell in love with a beautiful woman yet still felt an emotional withdrawal from her and he wrote “Adam’s Curse” in the midst of all the passion he felt from the relationship. This helps connect to the reader more because if a reader can relate to the writer, the literature has more meaning. “This Living Hand” was such a short poem but it warrants more than two close readings to quite understand the intensity of the writers words. The reader has to differentiate between if the writer has a literal meaning in what he writes or if he is trying to convey something completely different. Keats writes of a living hand which a reader can interpret to mean a living being or any living thing, although Keats has a literal meaning to a living hand in which he uses to write as he used to write the poem in itself. Most importantly the living hand can also symbolize the poem itself.

The images used in “This Living Hand” advance the meaning of the poem in many ways. The living hand symbolizes life and when Keats writes the hand is living and “capable of earnest grasping,” he is describing the writing process in which a poet grasps for sufficient wording. This is the point when the work is alive in a reader. However, when the work, or on a larger scale, life, is over, that tool (the hand used to write)is turned cold, “in the icy silence of the tomb.” A writer is that hand “earnestly grasping” as he or she tries to express himself through words, “grasping” for a way to release the ideas and feelings in word form on paper. For most poets only writing can grant the release. There is a relationship between death and birth in which Keats conveys through the image of “so haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights.” His effect on the reader is in describing how the poem lives with, haunting the reader night and day although it is dead to the poet. Keats in a way gives the poem to the reader because it is already dead in the “silent tomb.” At the end of the report, Keats writes, “I hold it towards you” which emphasizes the idea that Keats is giving the poem to the reader because it is now dead to him. The image of Keats actually handing the poem over to the reader is very literal and prevalent to the meaning of the poem being dead. All the images in Keats’ poem are directly connected to one another because they support Keats’ belief of the dying hand of the poet and the beginning of the reading for the reader.

The images used in “Adam’s Curse” somewhat advance the meaning of the poem. I thought Yeats painted a beautiful scene in some stanzas but contradicted it with the melancholy and bittersweet tone. The image of the beautiful woman that Yeats mentions throughout the poem helps set the foundation of the poem. I think most of the images such as the beautiful woman are purely decorative to describe the scene and exactly what Yeats is trying to convey to the reader of the love between this beautiful woman and man. Yeats jumps from one image to the next but I was confused how the uses of images jumped from one scene to another scene so quickly. I think Yeats had a lifetime of personal experience to convey in a short poem so he quickly tried to describe different images to relate them to specific scenes.

Yeats and Keats both write of personal experiences which helps convey the literal meaning of their poetry. Yeats writes of a passionate relationship with a woman he deeply loved and Keats writes of his feelings of death as his writing approaches its end. Both writers convey personal experiences and are able to directly relate to the reader in doing so. In “This Living Hand” Keats writes of death and relates it to the writing of poetry. Every poet has his or her own death after the completion of a poem, but it is bittersweet because it is only the beginning for the reader. The poets convey their purpose for writing the poems through the use of language as well images and symbolism. It makes it easier for the reader to understand the purpose and meaning of a poem if they can understand the use of language patterns as well as the use of images.

I chose to write about both of these poems because they particularly interested me for two completely different reasons. Keats’ poem was more literal for me and I enjoyed connecting with Keats and understanding the sadness behind the end and the death of something important to you but the beginning of a journey to another person. I felt as though when reading the poem I was just beginning an expedition yet I felt somewhat distressed for the writer because it was his death. As for Yeats’ poem he wrote of love and the triumph of loving and being in love. It was of interest to me because I was able to connect with Yeats and understand his purpose for describing his love with a beautiful woman but to be so sad still. My own experiences with love helped me to interpret the poem because I directly connected with Yeats’ idea of love being a happy and joyous experience along with a sad and more melancholy-like feeling because it cannot always be strictly about happiness.