who passed through universities with radiant eyes hallucinating Arkansas and Blake-light tragedy among the scholars of war, who were expelled from the academies for crazy & publishing obscene odes on the windows of the skull,
He is calling out school for their colonized, and a creator of war. "who passed through universities with radiant eyes" tells us that he does not see school as a good thing and questions how absurd the whole institution is.
Visions! omens! hallucinations! miracles! ecstacies! gone down the American river! Dreams! adorations! illuminations! religions! the whole boatload of sensitive bullshit!
The American river is full of evil-- America is a fast flowing current of bad things. Even though there are a couple things on there that are listed that arent bad, they are drowned by evil/bad.
Peyote solidities of halls, backyard green tree cemetery dawns, wine drunkenness over the rooftops, storefront boroughs of teahead joyride neon blinking traffic light, sun and moon and tree vibrations in the roaring winter dusks of Brooklyn, ashcan rantings and kind king light of mind,
This is what he sees in America, and it is all about partying. From drinking to neon traffic lights.
Although she feeds me bread of bitterness, And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth, Stealing my breath of life, I will confess I love this cultured hell that tests my youth.
He is describing his love hate relationship with America. A place that is infested with evil racism but somehow he still loves its. everything that he takes into himself about America is painful; but there is so much that America has to offer he cannot help but take in more (giving me strength). This echoes the still very alive hypocrisies of America, that they are a land of the free but also oppression.
I shall return, I shall return again, To ease my mind of long, long years of pain.
His repetition of saying that he will return echoes that he is trying to clam his anxieties about leaving him home; "to ease my mind of long, long years in pain." from this last sentence is that leaving him homeland is something that he doesn't really want to do, but something that he need to do.
I hear the halting footsteps of a lass In Negro Harlem when the night lets fall Its veil. I see the shapes of girls who pass To bend and barter at desire’s call. Ah, little dark girls who in slippered feet Go prowling through the night from street to street!
this was a depiction of how AA women are scared and have to walk very carefully within this community. What is more is that the girls are not seen by features but instead are positioned as figures and are defined by their movements-- what this means is that, regardless of the girls looks, they are ALL going through the same fear. What is more, these girls only come out at night which tells me that they are probably not little girls as he is saying-- instead, they are women who are experiencing childlike fears as they go "from street to street" to "bend and barter at desire's call. (prostitute?)
With old forgotten banjo songs.
This connects with lost of tradition, Banjos were often played with in the African community. They were racialize but what is more significant is that they were reestablished as an instrument used by white Americas (now we see it mostly connected with "hillbillies") this was just one of the many things that was stolen from African Americans.
I want to feel the surging Of my sad people’s soul
What is being articulated in this poem is the longing for her heritage. As the poem by Hughs mentioned, in order to be (somewhat) accepted by a predominately white community that they lived in, AA must drop their traditions and ways of being and conform to what is viewed as acceptable.
And let us be contained By entities of Self …
This depicts how African Americans were controlled and restrained by "entities of Self" which means by who they were. In being Black, AA weren't able to do or speak how they wished as the rest of society. What is strong about this passage is that she does not say that it is society itself that does this, but their very existence-- this exemplifies who racist beliefs have been internalized by the members of the black community.
What happens to a dream deferred?
It is amazing that he brings up having a dream, this reminds me of MLK's "i have a dream speech." In this context however, the dream isn't something that is just born as it was with MLK but instead its something that has been long lived. Moreover, he is articulating what happens when a dream has longed for but never progresses further than just a fantasy-- it dies.
“Ain’t got nobody in all this world, Ain’t got nobody but ma self. I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’ And put ma troubles on the shelf.
This passage is clearly about how painful and difficult it is for a person of color to coexist in a white community. However, the narrator is going to push off of this side (on a shelf) have just live through it in silence.
Besides, They’ll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed— I, too, am America.
very hopeful and optimistic, I believe the use of "i" is the embodiment of African American community. The poem shows that one day his people will be treated and seen as equal to whites.
The Negro artist works against an undertow of sharp criticism and misunderstanding from his own group and unintentional bribes from the whites.
This reminds me or artist like Sor Juana and Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot) having to hide their identity in order to be heard and save their work from ridicule.
He is taught rather not to see it, or if he does, to be ashamed of it when it is not according to Caucasian patterns.
This fact hit home for me. In being a first generation latina, I saw how the drive to be more "American" and less what we really were, which was different. It a common event that Mexican-American people are not seen as truly Mexican in the eyes of the people who actually live in Mexico. Even my mother and father made the assessment that they have lost some of their own heritage in order to conform into American life-style.
“I want to write like a white poet”; meaning subconsciously, “I would like to be a white poet”; meaning behind that, “I would like to be white.” And I was sorry the
If I heard this from a fellow poet, I wouldn't take it as him saying that he wished that he was white. I would believe that he meant was that he wished that race was completely omitted when looking at a poet. Not seeing a poets skin but just their work. of course, this was from a much different time, therefore, my assessment is probably wrong. However, I still feel that this needed to be said.
And I Tiresias have foresuffered all Enacted on this same divan or bed; I who have sat by Thebes below the wall And walked among the lowest of the dead.)
according to Greek mythology, Tiresias was a a blind prophet who was said to be the most wise of all and was also transformed into a women for seven years. in this case, he has experienced "foresuffered" this sexual experience between the woman and the clerk since he has been both genders before. again another element of neither this or that but both. We also have echoes of zombies where he says that he has walked among the lowest of the dead; Tiresias is also neither dead or alive.
Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand If there were only water amongst the rock Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit
"sweat is dry" is an oxymoron-- sweat is precipitation whereas dry is lack of just that. This could be an element on being both and neither at the same time (zombie?) The voice of this poem is constantly talking about the dying land they are exploring, but what is more, they are illustrating a desire that is frustrated-- they are thirsty but there is no water just rocks. The last time of where I have highlighted echos exile. Where a person cannot "stand, nor lie, nor sit" leaving the only possible option which is to keep moving, to leave--exile.
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, And the dry stone no sound of water.
Yet another series of depressing images. death and nature are constantly coupled within this poem. Could he they be talking about a land that is dying because of war? Where the land is "broken" by acts of war, battles that leave the land with dead trees and no water; ultimately a land death, both of people and nature.
Winter kept us warm,
I feel that this line shows us how depressed our narrator is, or how depressing the environment he is describing is. Where winter, the coldest season, is actually the season that kept them warm. Moreover, i believe that them feeling warmer in the winter illustrates how people who are depressed feel more comfortable/ in place when the weather assimilates how they feel inside.
April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain.
April is know as being the rainy season "April showers brings May flowers" but here the production of beautiful flowers is tainted with images of "dead land[s]" but then tied them together with memory and desire, which I feel represents life and sex. overall, this poems opening is pretty depressing.
the plums
It is interesting that the plums are constantly the point of reference in every stanza, when and where they were eaten, by whom they were eaten by, and how they tasted. Even what their initial purpose was before being stolen away. But what does this mean? As I explain the nature of the poem, i hear an underlining issues what was caused by someone else eating the plums--- their initial purpose was never accomplished. They were suppose to be eaten for breakfast by the person who got them, but were stolen; thus, not fulfilling their initial purpose. Could this poem be alluding to death before achieving ones on purpose?
No one to witness and adjust, no one to drive the car
This poem is clearly an enjambment poem, what does this does for the poem overall is that it just us the sense that this poem is illustrating a live stream of thought. As we follow this train of thought, from the last lines we see our narrator coming to a final judgement of the society depicted, a providence: they are all fucked. no one can see all the thing that are depleting our culture, therefore we are doomed. "No one to witness and adjust" and with everyone being blinds there is no one to take us to a better future "no one to drive the car"
her great ungainly hips and flopping breasts addressed to cheap jewelry and rich young men with fine eyes
Williams is framing the dehumanization society does to work; Elsie's body is "addressed", that is, belongs or is situated for the purchasing of cheap knick knacks from men who can afford them. These cheap purchases are payments for a woman's body, something a man can buy.
Criticism is not a circumscription or a set of prohibitions. It provides fixed points of departure.
I find these two lines to be misleading; they say that criticism isn't restrictive but yet it "provides FIXED point." Fixed is a term use for item that are not changeable, or cannot be bended. therefore, I personally fail to see how something can be fixed but not restrictive.
It comes from the writer’s not realizing that the natural object is always the adequate symbol.
Not only are these guidelines strict but they seem to favor a specific type of writing, this explicit way to teaching poetry, i fear will limit creativity all together.
To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation.
This echos an idea that I always keep in mind when I write poems, "less is more, the best poems don't explain they paint." I understand that these rules are for imagism poem--- right?
It well may be. I do not think I would.
Here she is showing us how powerful love is; this emotion that does nothing for our survival somehow is more powerful than our drive for survival. That may not make sense so let me put it this way, she is depicting a situation where if she needed food or water, if she was deprived of the human necessities to live, she would at the end of the day never trade her memories of "love."
Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain; Nor yet a floating spar to men that sin
What I believe Millay is going to be saying in this poem is that love is not the most important thing in life. Society puts a lot of pressure on women and men to "find the love of their lives." Our world revolves around the idea that love is the most important things to have; Millay is criticizing this notion. Love, alone, will not satisfy you need for food or water, it will not supply you shelter; all in all, love does nothing for the basic needs for survival.
here where it is we do not need the wall: He is all pine and I am apple orchard. My apple trees will never get across And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. He only says, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
I believe that is being articulated here is how we value separation from one another. A wall is a barrier, it divides and hides us from one another; the apples and pines are metaphors for our stuff vs their stuff.
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
What draws me most about the like is the play with senses, "seen them made or heard them made." I can't think of a found that portrays a creation of something. I feel that Frost is speaking about nature for sure, but even with that, what sound can nature make when creating something?
I have come after them and made repair Where they have left not one stone on a stone
I believe this is a call out for human patterns in which we take all we can get. Even with people who try to make amends to the planet we take for granted, with the amount of taking other have done, there is almost no hope. (this is probably far fetched)
Below him, in the town among the trees, Where friends of other days had honored him,
Below him are his friends that are now dead, this supports that he is writing a poem of loneliness. BUT, what I find from this poem is that, even thought dying is undeniably depressing, NOT dying is even MORE depressing when you are of a certain age. This is almost reassuring, for no one like to think about when they are going to leave this planet, worried that we will kicking and screaming as death takes us away; but here we get a sense that this feared experience may never come. This poem is of a man that is depressed not because death is near, but because death has yet to come.
Alone, as if enduring to the end
This is a strong depiction of what he is feeling, and where in his life maybe happening. Not only is he alone, but he is forever alone, a long-lasting loneliness that will follow him to the "end"-- one can assume the "end" could be the end of his life. so he is going to kill himself? Is he an old man whose family has died and is now alone?
Who knows not what is evil; And no one knows what is true Who knows not what is false
What he is saying is that no matter how much you "know" something, you never really know it for sure. This is a powerful message, look at everything that has been deemed as "knowledge." The bible has revisions, scholarly theories, the "best" way to raise your children, the "best" way to rap, knowledge is not set in stone, it grows, adapts, and dies; taken over by new "truths." Lee Masters positions himself as knowledge, where when he dies he is taken over by a new knowledge but he feels could be as wrong and or right as his own.
Blind to all of it all my life long. Triolets, villanelles, rondels, rondeaus, Seeds in a dry pod, tick, tick, tick, Tick, tick, tick, what little iambics,
What I think he is saying is that nature makes for better poetry than the other humanistic elements that are traditionally written on (the elements mentioned a couple lines above).
All in the loom, and oh what patterns!
I understand that he is comparing the patterns of nature and the patterns of humans. Loom is "an apparatus for making fabric by weaving yarn or thread." (google definition) so, is he saying that tragedy, comedy, valor and truth etc are not the patterns but structure that holds the patterns together. Are these elements what hold a "village"--a society.
In the daytime it is tiresome and perplexing.
its interesting that daytime is tiresome but at night when its dark and harder to see the world around her, is when everything makes more sense.
At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candle light, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars!
Okay, its obvious that these become bars because of the shadows from the window bars--however, its interesting that she becomes aware of these at night, when her husband is home. Therefore, I believe the bars symbolizes the prison she feels she is in--the prison her husband put her into with this oppressive manner.
I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more.
This passage articulates the argument that i made in the earlier entry. Her "prescription" is much more than medicine but its the very thing shes allowed to do--- her husband control everything she does and calls it a "prescription." posing that this control he has over her is for her own good--something she needs. Whats powerful is that these are her words, so its an assessment that we have to make for ourselves/
There is a DELICIOUS garden! I never saw such a garden—large and shady, full
"delicious" is such a weird word to use to a garden.
I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus—but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad.
We are constantly told about her being in some "condition"--- but what is her condition? I have read this story many times and every time, whenever I heard how her husband treats her, strikes a nerve with me. I believe that her oppression is a condition that puts her in this mysterious "condition"
To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.
This is such a strong comparison! Putting into perspective that even when it comes to being poor, individuals of color face an even harder time.
All life long crying without avail,
I find this line to be so strong! Crying is one of the most cathartic experiences a person can experience. After crying you eyes out for a couple minutes, a person is almost always washed over with relief, but when they are actually in the middle of the act (crying) you feel pain, helplessness, trapped by your emotions. In this passage, this person is stuck in this aggravating emotional state with NO relief "avail." As a reader I can only imagine how awful this would be.
And the fire of the end begin to burn in the west;
When I first read this, imagined him talking about Hell "the fire of the end" and by saying it begins in the west makes me think that maybe Bois is depicting the west as a place that is so bad that it is almost like Hell.
he Virgin, the Woman
On a personal note, I feel that whenever there is mention of religion the idealism of "Virgin" women comes along. Queen Elizabeth for example, was know of the Virgin Queen.
he planet itself seemed less impressive, in its old-fashioned, deliberate, annual or daily revolution,
This reminds me of the idea that we humans, as we learn more and advance in technology begin to become bored with life.
Adams had looked at most of the accumulations of art in the storehouses called Art Museums; yet he did not know how to look at the art exhibits of 1900.
I believe that Adam writing in the third person is very powerful because it colors how different he is now from how he was then. Referring to himself as another person all together, although, the ambiguity with the different type of "look[ing]" he is talking about is a bit ambiguous
From the ferocity of pig driven to holiness,
As mentioned in my first assessment, I belive he is talking about the turning of humanity, how they are becoming more cruel and or violent (ferocious) and all of this is educed by our "pig to holiness" which is weird because in the bible pigs were considered to be unclean animals (had to use google to back me up) therefore, their drive tainted by greed (this is pulling from calling them a pig; when you call someone a pig you usually mean they are greedy and unpleasant)
Lion
I am a little interested in why he chose to use Lion, and to first mention it in this grammatically horrendous sentence. "They Lion grow" can allude that they grow alike to a lion? and a Lion is a ferocious animal, therefore maybe the "lion" is referring to the people's inner animal growing---dehumanizing? are people becoming ruthless like lions?
West Virginia to Kiss My Ass,
This gives the poem and even harsher tone, but also this could mean that this whole time the unappealing depiction he has been creating is of West Virginia; Moreover, the location that they are heading too is "Kiss My Ass" which i believe tells us that it doesn't matter because they are going to hate it just as much?