“Ma Rainey”
Ma Rainey was one of the first profession African-American blues singers, so centralizing the poem around her conjures a motif of black culture and the way that her music becomes distributed and commodified throughout the country. This also calls back the idea of the "black artist" and their purpose and identity.
An de dog went on a bayin’ Some po’ devil’s track.
I feel as though this poem would seem less accessible to those who were "upper class" and majority white. The way the poem is written lends itself to being read out loud to mimics the way a common person may sound like, which completely rejects the strict form of the poem resulting in a appropriated new concept similar to the way Gertrude Stein defamiliarizes the form.
When Ma hits Anywheres aroun’.
The use of dialect seems to reflect the idea that meaningful art coming from a black-american perspective is not inferior to Nordic "proper" English. Rather, the use of culture and dialect without having to modify the work to fit in with white standards helps to differentiate the poem and make it more authentic.
Does it dry up
With regards to a dream deferred, the first suggestion of it being "dry" engages the modernist motif of "wet/dry". In this case, it may suggest that perhaps a dream simply becomes a memory when it is deferred and can no longer lead to progress by "drying up".
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
Keeping in line with the modernist motif of time, it's interesting that this engages both "wet" and "time". The mention of the Nile suggests life and when paired with the pyramids evoke a sense of progress and growth. Similarly, the Mississippi is also "wet" and the line also conflates time with the jump to Abraham Lincoln-- which also suggests progress when linked to the end of slavery.
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
The rhyme scheme with tune / croon as well as the continuing pattern give the poem a lyrical attribute that pairs well with the musical imagery,
The tom-tom cries and the tom-tom laughs.
This part intrigues me because I'm not quite sure what the historical and cultural context is for referencing a tom-tom drum in this section-- let alone what constitutes a drum crying or laughing.
Yet the Philadelphia clubwoman is ashamed to say that her race created it and she does not like me to write about it, The old subconscious “white is best” runs through her mind.
Calling black to Du Bois, this line follows suit with reaffirming that black consciousness should not be ashamed of.
And the Negro dancers who will dance like flame and the singers who will continue to carry our songs to all who listen-they will be with us in even greater numbers tomorrow.
This calls to mind the popularity of contemporary songs and dance styles that are dominating American culture today. Constantly, black artists are dominating the charts and starting to gain more deserved recognition for films.
begging to state alright
When I was younger I used to play this board game called "Mad Gab". Basically, you would read a card with gibberish on it out loud. The spellings and words never made sense when you were reading it, but to your teammates listening to you say it out loud sometimes the phrase was discernible. For whatever reason, this phrase sounds like "begging to stay the night" .
Sew grate
This sounds like she's saying "So great" rather than sew grate (whatever that means). After this line, it reads, "Not a spell nicely", is she talking about spelling "so great" wrong?
Cauliflower.
I find this mention of Cauliflower to be extremely funny. There's no indication as to why it's being said, and as far as vegetables go it's not necessarily the most common thing that would come to someone's mind. The fact that it's stated twice makes me think that there should be meaning attributed to it, but I'm not sure if there is.
Cousin tip
This phrase is striking to me almost purely for the fact that I have no idea what it means. Is it a direction for the cousin to tip over? What cousin is being spoken about? Is this about tipping someone after a service, like at a restaurant?
her great ungainly hips and flopping breasts
Just as F.T Marinetti describes Modernist work, the imagery presented goes against Victorian era modesty by describing nudity in a flippant manner.
One by one objects are defined— It quickens: clarity, outline of leaf
This seems to connect with Victor Shklovsky's belief that that Modernist art blurs our perception and makes the images more difficult to immediately discern. In this moment, the poem walks the reader through a focusing of perception to draw to the final point.
They enter the new world naked, cold, uncertain of all save that they enter.
This seems to relate to Marshall Bermans quote, hinting at the chaos that characterizes modern work. At this point, the imagery of spring coming into focus is still hazy...
“Mr. Flood’s Party” (1920)
Robinson responded to a confused reader by telling them that they should read his poetry out loud "one word at a time". Edwin Arlington Robinson looked for the musical quality of poetry and was very concerned with the way his work sounded. Reading the poem out loud is the way Robinson intended his work to be understood.
http://faculty.georgetown.edu/bassr/heath/syllabuild/iguide/robinson.html
And there was nothing in the town below–Where strangers would have shut the many doors
For soon among the silver lonelinessOf night he lifted up his voice and sang,
Then, as a mother lays her sleeping childDown tenderly, fearing it may awake,
“Well, Mr. Flood, we have the harvest moonAgain, and we may not have many more;
In 1925, Harriet Monroe reviewed some of Robinson's work. In her analysis of his poetry she found that dialog plays an incredibly important part in understanding his poetry. She lauds him for his skill and interest in psycho-analysis, and comments that his methodology for finding truth in his characters is similar to the way a therapist might coax the truth out from a patient. This is done through "confessional monologues" and dialog. She believes that paying attention to the dialog is a way to push past the superficial and expose the truth in the work.
For no man else in Tilbury Town to hear:
Tilbury Town is a recurring location in Robinson's work. Although the name is fictionalized, the town in Robinson's work is based off of Gardiner, Maine. Robinson moved to Gardiner when he was a year old, and spent most of his unhappy childhood there. Throughout his poetry, there is a negative connotation attached with his view of the "Town" which permeates his work.
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/edwin-arlington-robinson
That held as much as he should ever knowOn earth again of home, paused warily.
Nancy Carol Joy believes that Robinson is a "romantic existentialist", meaning that he writes about personal and interpersonal relations through downtrodden characters written with a sense of compassion. Rather than searching for themes in the over-arching story, she would suggest that the meaning is derived from the way Robinson expresses his own life through the way his characters interact with the world around them.
http://faculty.georgetown.edu/bassr/heath/syllabuild/iguide/robinson.html
Old Eben Flood
Writer Max Loges suggests that the name Eben is critical for setting up the way the story unfolds. He relates the name Eben as being short for Ebenezer, a Hebrew name meaning "Rock of Help". In the bible, the prophet Samuel asks the Lord for help and the Lord sends a thunderstorm to help the Jews achieve victory. A monument is raised to commemorate the victory won by the grace of God and is named Ebenezer. Loges argues that Eben is like a monument to watch over "hollowed ground" and triumphs of his past. Loges also believes that the name being shortened to Eben could possibly symbolize he is no longer a "rock of help", but simply a "stone".
Like Roland’s ghost winding a silent horn.
French epic poem, "The Song of Roland", tells the tale of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. The protagonist Roland has a hunting horn that can be used to summon help, however he initially refuses to use it. When he is finally convinced to use it, their defeat was already inevitable. Roland, as a final act, blows the horn so loud and with so much conviction his head bursts. He is then taken away by angels. When Mr. Flood raises his jug like a horn, something else is conjured.
auld lang syne
The song "Auld Lang Syne" is Scottish poem by Robert Burns written in 1788. The phrase roughly translates to "old times" and is usually sung at funerals or at the closing of a function. Evoking the song at the end of the poem may signify the end of more than just one thing for Mr. Flood.
The weary throat gave out,The last word wavered, and the song was done.
In the last section the rhyme scheme breaks. Prior to this point it follows the pattern of abcbdefe, but at the close of the poem none of the lines rhyme. As the chain is broken, Mr. Flood is left alone again with the voices dispersed.
emotional complex
It comes from the writer’s not realizing that the natural object is always the adequate symbol.
All will be easier when the mind To meet the brutal age has grown An iron cortex of its own
Earlier in the poem it is asked, "does the rose regret / The day she did her armour on?" This question brings up the concern if whether or not the mind will regret crowing an armor of its own.
That falls incessant on the empty shore,
As the sea mourns the deceased man, does it do so constantly for an empty audience? If that's the case, then how do we know that the sea is mourning the "Most various Man"? Does an individual or item that is not acknowledged still exist?
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Commonly love is described as shelter or rest, often falling on a trope of love being a protector against negative emotions however Millay disputes that. Moreover, it also follows the line of thinking that love is a force that cannot be solidified as an object because like everything else, only the effects can be observed rather than its true nature.
Too many fall from great and good For you to doubt the likelihood.
Similar to Robinson's "The Clerks", the Hollywood artist aches to be "sublime" yet there is this grim prophecy that those who try to become greater end up being the same as those who did not try at all.
white,
Less about this word I highlighted and more about the white/blight/right/kite-- this contradicts with Masters' Petit, The Poet which speaks about how form constrains the poet. While Masters describes Whitman's poetry as a "roar through the pines" what would that make Frost's poetry?
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though;
In this stanza the "village" appears, however it differs from the way it is used in Robinson's poems. Whereas Robinson uses the village to represent rural life, Frost detaches the village from nature; though, he acknowledges the connection between the two through noting the ownership of the woods.
And the forsaken upland hermitage That held as much as he should ever know
Hermitage being a "place of religious seclusion" is fitting of a man who has been forgotten by the town below him. More interesting is the line that reads "that held as much as he should ever know" evokes a melancholic feeling of isolation and reverence.
Where strangers would have shut the many doors That many friends had opened long ago.
Similar to his name Eben Flood (his name possibly being a reference to the way water ebbs and flows), he has lived long enough to see the town below him cycle through people and change. From a time where he was friends with many of the townsfolk to a time where he no longer knows the people below him.
All in the loom, and oh what patterns!
This line draws the parallel between weaving a poem and weaving a piece of fabric. From this line we might be able to assume that Masters views the art of poetry to be organized in the same way as fabric weaving; the overall beauty of the finished piece can be attributed to the smaller patterns that come together to form something greater.
Tragedy, comedy, valor and truth, Courage, constancy, heroism, failure–
When listing these thematic elements it may be important noting that he both starts and ends with negatives. Tragedy and failure both are used to frame all of the positive themes within them-- which may be saying something about where goodness can sometimes be found.
From the ferocity of pig driven to holiness,
Original Annotation was deleted?
Philip Levine uses pigs to symbolize something specific in his other poems. Are pigs used the same way in "They Feed They Lion"? What does the pig symbolize?
They feed they Lion and he comes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv74LqiumXE
This relatively new movie supposedly depicts the Detroit Riots, and centers upon this notion of unrest finally boiling over into conflict and action.
out of stumps
Pictured is an example of deforestation in 1892. Practices continued onward and may serve as imagery for the way nature is disregarded in the name of "progress".
pig balls
Contextually, this is likely in reference to pig balls as food. This would make sense with the next line serving as juxtaposition with imagery of a pig fighting back rather than being turned into a meal.
They Lion grow.
Philip Levine for a while was a teacher, and one of his students wrote a piece describing the experience. A little gem here- [excerpt] One student turned in a poem that used the word “lion” a single time, to symbolize power. Levine almost blew up. “Goddamn it,” he shouted, “if you’re going to put a poor lion in your poem, I want that lion to be there.”
Out of the gray hills
In a less literal interpretation, gray hills could refer to hills seen through air pollution like smog from factories?
The first decade was merely a prolongation of the vain search for freedom, the boon that seemed ever barely to elude their grasp,—like a tantalizing will-o’-the-wisp, maddening and misleading the headless host.
The visualization of the search for freedom as following a will-o'-the-wisp is particularly strong image for me. It presents the idea of danger arising from blindly following the ideal.
He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.
This section resonated with me very well. Du Bois explains that the goal is not assimilation or a cultural takeover of America, rather than the opportunity to exist as a being that can draw from both facets of their identity since the two are entwined indefinitely. To me, asking to simply exist is not an unrealistic request, yet to this very day it is something that still has not come to fruition.
the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,—a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world.
This passage calls back the dissonance between reality and what is perceived. Within regards to this piece it is a comment upon the way black people are viewed under a lens colored by prejudice. However, because of that, in America especially, they are afforded a perspective that is inaccessible to others. Rather than being able to define themselves upon their own terms, they are relegated an identity that has been constructed through the biased view of others.
The repose of the hung belly, from the purpose
"Repose" sticks out to me among the toxic and gritty descriptions prior to it. I believe the tranquility and rest of the pig's "hung belly" indicates the pig as exempt from the oppression of the wasteland of oil and tar. It could also possibly represent how they're content within the filth and chaos.
From the ferocity of pig driven to holiness,
The ferocity mentioned brings to mind images of dangerous wild boars and an insatiable hunger. For me, the pig does not take an innocent role in the poem, rather it seems as if it symbolizes how capitalistic greed is rewarded. As the wealth equates to power over the lives of other people, the one who accrues the most material wealth is pushed to a state of pseudo-godhood or "holiness".
When Adams was a boy in Boston, the best chemist in the place had probably never heard of Venus except by way of scandal, or of the Virgin except as idolatry; neither had he heard of dynamos or automobiles or radium; yet his mind was ready to feel the force of all, though the rays were unborn and the women were dead.
This is the first time in the piece that the Dynamo and the Virgin are drawn together. Both are presented as distant notions that are elevated to a sense of godliness through comparisons and connections to faith. The second part is particularly interesting because it comments upon the desire for knowledge as well as the difficulty of creation and ingenuity.
Before the end, one began to pray to it; inherited instinct taught the natural expression of man before silent and infinite force
Just as the sentence before this one, the dynamo is elevated to a deity-like position by the narrator. More interestingly, it comments upon human nature and the tendency for reverence in the face of power.
From the ferocity of pig driven to holiness,
My take on this is that it might be a play upon how pigs are usually used to represent those who are gluttonous and greedy. Maybe it's a reference to how material wealth is worshiped in a way, and how those who obtain money through capitalistic methods of oppression are able to achieve high levels of "power" in our country and can be perceived as gods with the influence they have.
They feed they Lion and he comes.
For me this line is particularly powerful because it makes me wonder who is the "they" that is referred to. Previously, it would makes sense to attribute "they" to the oppressed class experiencing the hardship that is being described, but in this last line it feels as if "they" refers to the oppressor. It is as if at the end "they" finally face the consequences of the injustice they've nurtured.
They Lion, from my children inherit,
There's a debate within the scientific community whether or not guilt and trauma can be ingrained into our biological make-up. Regardless of whether or not that's true, this evokes a similar idea that history and struggle does not end with a single person, rather it is something that is passed down from generation to generation to bear.