who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy
I realized that this is the first poem I've read where it has a good amount of sexual references. When was it considered "okay" to include sexual references in your poems? How did readers interpret that?
yacketayakking screaming vomiting whispering facts and memories and anecdotes and eyeball kicks and shocks of hospitals and jails and wars,
Thus line feels I'm literally vomiting word after word until sentences form. The pace also adds to the illusion of spitting out words. Did Ginsberg purposely do this or was it by chance that he somehow made this line sound so uppity?
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
I find these lines to be very mentally enticing, yet so vivid and visceral.
That’s what they done to this shine, ain’t it? Bottled him.
Maybe somehow suppressed his shine up until he was immersed in the jazz? or was that the people suppressed his shine? Reverting back to the internal vs. external conflict.
The crowd kept yellin’ but he didn’t hear, Just kept on dancin’ and twirlin’ that cane And yellin’ out loud every once in a while. I know the crowd thought he was coo-coo.
Showcases some internal vs. external conflicts. The jazz participant has been taken over by the music and is dancing to the beats; in his head he finds the music to be soothing and relaxing. On the outside perspective, he is also seen as a little weird based in his physical actions.
With understanding come to know What laughing lips will never show: How tears and torturing distress May masquerade as happiness
Looks past the "mask" metaphor to explore the truest feelings within a character or a real person.
Don’t knock at my heart, little one, I cannot bear the pain
Symbolize's the intricacies of pregnancy from all sides of the spectrum, mentally or physically.
Curving arms, encircling a world of love, You! Stirring the depths of passionate desire!
Imagery of love and warmth that ties the end of the poem so well.
It stifles me—God, must I sit and sew?
From the beginning the speaker describes a task that feels a bit "useless" and how they feel they could do more. But instead they are isolated from doing a repetitive burden, a burden that does nothing more than prolong the feeling of uselessness.
I want to feel the surging Of my sad people’s soul Hidden by a minstrel-smile.
Wants to feel the pain of her own people and at the same time wants to cover the pain for them. This stanza portrays strong imagery of helplessness.
My song has the lush sweetness Of moist, dark lips Where hymns keep company With old forgotten banjo songs.
Showcases different aspects of said song that is being explained. A song that has a hint of softness while retaining an element of heaviness.
Let us be still
Something about the word, "still" pulls at my strings. To me, it gives of a sense of isolation and since this piece starts as "Let us be still" it tells me that there is some sort of scene that involves being alone.
De Devil looked up Wid a sickly grin.
Describing a racist as a devil? As something as evil? Wicked imagery.
They dragged you from homeland, They chained you in coffles, They huddled you spoon-fashion in filthy hatches, They sold you to give a few gentlemen ease.
Details the history of the slave movement for African Americans. Showcases that even the slightest of liberties that was easily stripped from future slaves and start a life of extreme oppression.
Dey comes to hear Ma Rainey from de little river settlements, From blackbottorn cornrows and from lumber camps; Dey stumble in de hall, jes a-laughin’ an’ a-cacklin’, Cheerin’ lak roarin’ water, lak wind in river swamps.
The language resembles that of old slang that people used back in the day. Sort of mimics a southern accent mixed in street talk. Emphasizes how the author was somehow influenced by other cultures.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
Hughes feels a deep connection to the rivers that remind him of his homeland
He did a lazy sway . . . He did a lazy sway . . . To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.
the lines, "he did a lazy sway/ he did a lazy sway/ to the tune o'those Weary Blues refers to the artwork of Aaron Douglas. Hughes talks of a person who has been taken away by the sound of music and is mesmerized by it. Douglas's painting showcases the scenario that Hughes is speaking of. There are multiple musicians playing music while audience members are enjoying themselves.
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat?
These lines are reminiscent to one of the painting in Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series. The line refers to how dreams would be if it were to be put off, as if the dreams were left to rot in a wasteland, much like the imagery on Jacob Lawrence painting. In Lawrence's painting, the imagery showcases dying land and the hands of the glowing sun. There is no trace of lively crops because it is dying out, much like how Hughes describes it as "does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?/ and then run?/ does it stink like rotten meat?
Here is no water
Reminds me of that episode of Spongebob where he goes in Sandy's underwater dome and being a "sea creature", he starts to dry out and slowly becomes crusty just as Eliot describes this certain scenario with "here is no water".
Where the hermit-thrush sings in the pine trees Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop But there is no water
the imagery in this these lines showcases of trees and no water relates D. Putnam Brinley's painting in the 1913 Armory Show. The painting encapsulates beautiful landscape with a house in the distance and trees in the background. Despite having such an image that sees serene, there is no water to be found; an absence of water.
Death by Water
What in interesting way to name a title. Langston Hughes and his poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" is what came to mind when I came across this poem. Respectively, both poems deal with a body of water that symbolize major significance. Hughes states, "My soul has grown deep like the rivers" showcases his connection to the river, going far as saying he has become one with it.
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, I had not thought death had undone so many.
Images of death becomes apparent.
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.
Showcases scenes of fragility in nature.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
A feeling of excitement and exhilaration.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Contrasting line compared to the first three; this line gives a sense of hope and offers peace.
April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring
Right off the bat it starts off very intense and vivid. And the tonality fits the sort of visceral atmosphere as well as the imagery with only the first three lines.
The way to say. Patter. Deal own a. Robber.
As if these lines are random thoughts that occur in Stein's head. This entire poem for that matter.
Leave us mass leave us. Leave us pass. Leave us. Leave us pass leave us.
A play on words that convey the same meaning. It also sounds like a line out of a song.
Please repeat.
What do you think I've been doing?
Curls. Curls.
The various repetition adds to the abstract that is Gertrude Stein. Any repeated lines changes the way I read this poem; it sort of adds depth to it therefore changing whatever meaning it has to a completely new one.
devil-may-care men who have taken to railroading out of sheer lust of adventure—
Describing to Elsie that these "men" are adventure seekers. But to my thought, to what extent? And would they do anything to obtain it?
isolate lakes and valleys, its deaf-mutes, thieves old names and promiscuity between
More than meets the eye. The author gives an impression that things aren't always as seemingly as they appear.
brought their hatred down on him.
Branding an idea to these children(?) and how these children are succumbing to what they are being fed.
Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold
Contrasting words between "forgive" and "cold." "Forgive" gives off the notion of sorrow and disdain, whereas "cold" gives off a feeling of stillness and fragility.
“This is just to say”
Gives off a sense of honesty and pure intentions. Sure enough, the poem itself is an honest way of communicating words and emotions.
products of America
Something about these words give off the notion of a having a mindset of viewing America as a place of national gain.
There has been so much scribbling about a new fashion in poetry, that I may perhaps be pardoned this brief recapitulation and retrospect
Believes that poetry has taken a different perspective
The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.
Short but elegant.
The coarse defeats the twice-refined, Is food for thought, but not despair:
Even the innocent gets overlooked and eventually it becomes apparent.
That heaven itself in arms could not persuade
Even the mightiest could not show any love towards something so appalling.
And rise and sink and rise and sink again
According to the author love is something of insanity; it can be repeated over and over but sometimes it can be grueling.
battling for the control of their mutual body, were Freddie Drummond, the sane and conservative sociologist, and Bill Totts, the class-conscious and bellicose union workingman
Double consciousness
Drummond believed in law and order and the maintenance of the established, but this riotous savage within him would have none of it
Despite switching between Freddie and Bill both characters hold true to their own beliefs.
end in one only of two ways: either he must become wholly Bill Totts and be married to Mary Condon, or he must remain wholly Freddie Drummond and be married to Catherine Van Vorst
Internal and external conflict.
Freddie Drummond could not quite shake off the call of the underworld, the lure of the free and open, of the unhampered, irresponsible life South of the Slot
Having an internal crisis between Freddie and Bill. Freddie could not ignore certain aspects when it comes to Bill.
Freddie Drummond accepted the doctrine of evolution because it was quite universally accepted by college men, and he flatly believed that man had climbed up the ladder of life out of the weltering muck and mess of lower and monstrous organic things
No matter the cost, the struggles of overcoming an obstacle can be obtained.
“Big” Bill Totts was so very big, and so very able, that it was “Big” Bill to the front when trouble was brewing.
The "better" alter ego?
So thoroughly was Bill Totts himself, so thoroughly a workman, a genuine denizen of South of the Slot, that he was as class-conscious as the average of his kind, and his hatred for a scab even exceeded that of the average loyal union man
Bill seems like a man of man of many faces and is able to adapt quickly to his surroundings.
And he often found himself waiting with anticipation for the dreamy time to pass when he could cross the Slot and cut loose and play the devil
Often times Freddie finds himself eager to immerse himself with the other side of the Slot.
Somewhere in his make-up there was a strange twist or quirk.
Fully understands both sides of the spectrum.
As time went by, Freddie Drummond found himself more frequently crossing the Slot and losing himself in South of Market
Beginning to realize that there are two sides to the coin.
He was not a deep thinker. He had no faith in new theories. All his norms and criteria were conventional
Very self sustained in own way of thinking.
“The Toiler,” he endeavored really to know the working people, and the only possible way to achieve this was to work beside them, eat their food, sleep in their beds, be amused with their amusements, think their thoughts, and feel their feelings.
Freddie wants to be immersed in a life where he has to be mirror images of those he's trying to reflect.
Some have relied on what they knew; Others on simply being true. What worked for them might work for you.
Following the crowd; following the same footsteps as others did in the past. Speaks in the past tense.
Make the whole stock exchange your own! If need be occupy a throne, Where nobody can call you crone.
The idea of "power" is emphasized in this stanza. The author makes a point that if you can obtain some sort of influence over an audience, there would be no one or nothing to overpower.
Die early and avoid the fate. Or if predestined to die late, Make up your mind to die in state.
Facing inevitable death. The author reiterates this concept through repetition to have this idea enGRAVEd into the readers' mind. (Pun intended).
Whose woods these are I think I know
Unfamiliarity? Uncertainty?
And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth
To be able to predict outcomes would be very handy, but difficult at the same time.
Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim
I come to this predicament almost everyday. Taking a certain path may seem the right choice but sometimes it doesn't always pam out the way we imagined it to be.
The snows and the roses of yesterday are vanished; And what is love but a rose that fades?
Despite love being a powerful thing to obtain, over time it can also wither away
Tragedy, comedy, valor and truth, Courage, constancy, heroism, failure–
The play on words showcases different aspects of different scenarios.
Clipping the same sad alnage of the years.
To write about an experience that left a deep impact?
Poets and kings are but the clerks of Time, Tiering the same dull webs of discontent,
Poets are the ones who are essentially retelling of a past experience? To be able to recall a certain part of history and then write about it?
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.
Implies how John tends to brush off his wife's condition as something minuscule though she feels at fault for thinking/feeling the way she does; adds to the over bearing weight of not being able to find comfort from her own husband while coping with her situation at hand.
With other black boys the strife was not so fiercely sunny: their youth shrunk into tasteless sycophancy, or into silent hatred of the pale world about them and mocking distrust of everything white; or wasted itself in a bitter cry
The 'Black Boys' that DuBois refers to showcases how it is to live in a world that's molded for a certain audience other than their own (in regards to the 'other black boys'). Du Bois notices how the world he lives in isn't catered to his specifics and so he has to adjust to this current state.
The exchange was merry, till one girl, a tall newcomer, refused my card,—refused it peremptorily, with a glance. Then it dawned upon me with a certain suddenness that I was different from the others; or like, mayhap, in heart and life and longing, but shut out from their world by a vast veil
This was rather a striking passage to come across. Du Bois shares his experience of a time where he felt casted out after an exchange when no words were used but gestures. That gesture was enough to make Du Bois feel a certain way, and to him it had acted like a 'veil' that separated him from a world that he was rightfully in.
In these seven years man had translated himself into a new universe which had no common scale of measurement with the old.
According to Adams, the world has remained stagnant in regards to methods of achieving mental progression
Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.
Knowledge has become something of a contradictory
Earth is eating trees, fence posts, Gutted cars, earth is calling in her little ones
Sort of gives into the notion of "we are our own demise." Earth has become personified and has become its own savior, in a way, by seeking answers as to why it would harm itself.
They feed they Lion and he comes.
Signifying the harsh reality of survival from using the words, "feed," "sins," and "inherit," in the last stanza. This stanza alone stands out as the last act of an extreme ending. An ending that carries an ominous feeling.