It has dried
like raisins
that are in
the sun
and festered
like a wound
which
then ran.
It sags
like a load
so heavy
it just explodes.
My poem is a mockery of Williams' This Is Just To Say. I used the same form of This Is Just To Say to convey the message of the dream in Harlem. My poem contains the same number of words per line as Williams', but is more saddened than sarcastic about destruction. The speaker in Williams' poem destroyed something that belonged to someone else just as the speaker of Langston Hughes' Harlem dream got destroyed or postponed by someone else. The plum had been just sitting there like the dream, they were both inactive and somewhat of a burden to someone. Williams' poem is about an action that had occured and the speaker was sarcastically remorseful for while the Harlem is about a dream that has not yet been turned into action and distress that the dream for a community may have died.
Almost none of the lines have the same number of syllables as Williams poem even though they have the same amount of words. I thought that a period was needed at the end of the send stanza and the end of the poem to show that it was the end of a sentence or idea and the very end of the poem unlike Williams' poem which abruptly stops.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Beauty is in the Eye of Keats
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ode on a Grecian Urn, John Keats.
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.' Like most of the literature of the Romantic period, Keats′s poetry mirrors the tension between actuality and ideal perfection, always trying to reach it.
Keats, in the poem Ode Upon a Grecian Urn, turns the traditional understanding of physical objects on its head, and uses them not solid tangible articles, but instead as metaphors for and connections to abstract concepts, such as truth and eternity. In the poem, Keats dismisses the value of physical things as only corporeal for what he feels is more substantial and lasting, the indefinite and abstruse concepts behind them.
Obviously, the urn is beauty (as is the scene), and the urn is art. Truth, on a superficial level, is the answers to Keats' questions about the scene on the urn, but truth is also the truth about all the "big" questions, questions about life and eternity (which he has just mentioned) - Truth with a big "T." The pursuit of this Truth does "tease us out of thought," usually with no satisfaction. However, the emotions that beauty and art evoke and the heights to which they stimulate our imagination are very real. They do bring satisfaction and pleasure. In my opinion, Keats is saying that beauty, whether the beauty of art or nature, and our emotions and imaginative reaction to them are all we can know on earth and all we need to know. This is truth. The wordless emotion itself is Truth.
As in "Ode to a Nightingale," the poet wants to create a world of pure joy, but in this poem the world of fantasy is the life of the people on the urn. Keats sees them, simultaneously, as carved figures on the marble vase and live people in ancient Greece. Existing in a frozen or suspended time, they cannot move or change, nor can their feelings change, yet the unknown sculptor has succeeded in creating a sense of living passion and turbulent action. As in "Ode to a Nightingale," the real world of pain contrasts with the fantasy world of joy. Initially, this poem does not connect joy and pain.
Ode on a Grecian Urn, John Keats.
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.' Like most of the literature of the Romantic period, Keats′s poetry mirrors the tension between actuality and ideal perfection, always trying to reach it.
Keats, in the poem Ode Upon a Grecian Urn, turns the traditional understanding of physical objects on its head, and uses them not solid tangible articles, but instead as metaphors for and connections to abstract concepts, such as truth and eternity. In the poem, Keats dismisses the value of physical things as only corporeal for what he feels is more substantial and lasting, the indefinite and abstruse concepts behind them.
Obviously, the urn is beauty (as is the scene), and the urn is art. Truth, on a superficial level, is the answers to Keats' questions about the scene on the urn, but truth is also the truth about all the "big" questions, questions about life and eternity (which he has just mentioned) - Truth with a big "T." The pursuit of this Truth does "tease us out of thought," usually with no satisfaction. However, the emotions that beauty and art evoke and the heights to which they stimulate our imagination are very real. They do bring satisfaction and pleasure. In my opinion, Keats is saying that beauty, whether the beauty of art or nature, and our emotions and imaginative reaction to them are all we can know on earth and all we need to know. This is truth. The wordless emotion itself is Truth.
As in "Ode to a Nightingale," the poet wants to create a world of pure joy, but in this poem the world of fantasy is the life of the people on the urn. Keats sees them, simultaneously, as carved figures on the marble vase and live people in ancient Greece. Existing in a frozen or suspended time, they cannot move or change, nor can their feelings change, yet the unknown sculptor has succeeded in creating a sense of living passion and turbulent action. As in "Ode to a Nightingale," the real world of pain contrasts with the fantasy world of joy. Initially, this poem does not connect joy and pain.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Creamy, Dreamy Dulce de Leche
www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2005/11/
The dulce de leche is a metaphor for, "a dream deferred." It is something that will not change with time, but may be out of reach at the moment if one is out of town or on a diet. The dream does not get lost, but set back. It is hard to forget the deep tan color and the thick gooeyness of dulce de leche. It will not dry up, but may change color in the sun, thus altering its characteristics like a raisin to make it applicable for a different use in a different period of time. Dulce de leche is probably not one of the things you think about when you have an oozing sore unless it helps to alleviate the pain, but it can be similar to the fluids that ooze out of the sore. As the fluids run out, a dream may lose its impact, its primary intent or the strength of the idea behind the dream as time goes on. The smell of dulce de leche is the opposite of the smell of rotten meat, but the smells both leave constant reminders of the dream that is being put off. I do not think that dulce de leche can crust and sugar over, but its texture can change when cooked just as the emotions left by the dream can change over time. It is a syrupy sweet hopefully similar to the deferred dream. Dulce de leche tends to be fairly heavy and it makes things sag, but it is a sweet positive burden like the impending dream. Explosive dulce de leche would leave a mess, which sounds more like a nightmare than a dream.
The creamy, ooey, gooey dulce de leche pictured is meant to signify the, "syrupy sweet", described in Hughes' Harlem. Some people dream about dulce de leche, others think it is too sweet. If you dream about it, then you probably have to postpone your dream because it is not likely that you have dulce de leche sitting on your nightstand in the middle of the night waiting for you to wake up and eat it. It is one of those things that probably does not dry up like caramel or toffee, but it might form a crust. It might remind one of the sun because of its tan, caramel color or a sore because of its tendency to ooze slowly, but smoothly. I would hate to think of dulce de leche stinking like rotten meat, but I suppose it is possible. It may sag like a heavy load and you can definitely get it to explode like they do with many desserts in The Food Network's Ace of Cakes. The primary reason that I chose this image to represent Harlem is because of the line, "like a syrupy sweet?" The first thing that comes to mind when I think of syrup is something thick and caramel-like.
The dulce de leche is a metaphor for, "a dream deferred." It is something that will not change with time, but may be out of reach at the moment if one is out of town or on a diet. The dream does not get lost, but set back. It is hard to forget the deep tan color and the thick gooeyness of dulce de leche. It will not dry up, but may change color in the sun, thus altering its characteristics like a raisin to make it applicable for a different use in a different period of time. Dulce de leche is probably not one of the things you think about when you have an oozing sore unless it helps to alleviate the pain, but it can be similar to the fluids that ooze out of the sore. As the fluids run out, a dream may lose its impact, its primary intent or the strength of the idea behind the dream as time goes on. The smell of dulce de leche is the opposite of the smell of rotten meat, but the smells both leave constant reminders of the dream that is being put off. I do not think that dulce de leche can crust and sugar over, but its texture can change when cooked just as the emotions left by the dream can change over time. It is a syrupy sweet hopefully similar to the deferred dream. Dulce de leche tends to be fairly heavy and it makes things sag, but it is a sweet positive burden like the impending dream. Explosive dulce de leche would leave a mess, which sounds more like a nightmare than a dream.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Journey Through the Streets of Eliot Land
Let us go then, you and I
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights ine one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question....
Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?'
Let us go and make our visit.
Paraphrase: Prufrock is taking someone, likely himself on a journey at night, when it is dark out. The act evokes the numbness of a dream. He travels through empty streets by buildings that make odd noises at night. They go by cheap motels in the red lamp district where there are also cheap restaurants. The streets never end ad nauseum and there is a treachous, persuasive quality behind the journey down these streets.The journey is leading him to an imminent question of 'where is death?' as he thinks he is on the edge of life and death.
T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock presents a seductive perspective on love and death. I was most captivated by the initial stanza of the poem. The speaker is inviting someone on a journey at night. The journey is compared to a numbed patient possibly in a dream or state of unconsciousness and goes through half-empty streets. The deserted streets are symbolic of his pessimisstic view on life; he sees everything as half empty. This travel through half-empty streets might imply that they were going through an area of prostitution because prostitutes are so well known for their work at night when almost everything else is closed up and empty. The idea of prostitution is taken further with a reference to one-night stands in inexpensive motels. There is imagery of a cheap bar or restaurant where the elite would never be seen and scary streets that are seductive to the speaker. Instead of just answering the person-being-taken-on-the-journey's question, the speaker draws them further into the thought about the trip. The speaker also travels these streets in a somewhat unfamiliar manner like he has never traveled them before.
Eliot's poetic form enhances the poem with simple consecutive lines rhyming and a refrain to take an idea from the beginning of the poem all the way to the end. Because the poem is about exploration, it is nice that each stanza explores something different. It would be a rather intimidating poem due to its length if it was not broken down.
The first stanza sets the adventurous tone for the rest of the poem. The rest of the poem tells of the speaker aging through baldness, bareness, and thinness. It then returns to talking about the night and sleeping, which might infer death, a final sleep. The speaker wakes up to the same boring routine everyday until death when he wakes up to change and dies at the same time.
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights ine one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question....
Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?'
Let us go and make our visit.
Paraphrase: Prufrock is taking someone, likely himself on a journey at night, when it is dark out. The act evokes the numbness of a dream. He travels through empty streets by buildings that make odd noises at night. They go by cheap motels in the red lamp district where there are also cheap restaurants. The streets never end ad nauseum and there is a treachous, persuasive quality behind the journey down these streets.The journey is leading him to an imminent question of 'where is death?' as he thinks he is on the edge of life and death.
T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock presents a seductive perspective on love and death. I was most captivated by the initial stanza of the poem. The speaker is inviting someone on a journey at night. The journey is compared to a numbed patient possibly in a dream or state of unconsciousness and goes through half-empty streets. The deserted streets are symbolic of his pessimisstic view on life; he sees everything as half empty. This travel through half-empty streets might imply that they were going through an area of prostitution because prostitutes are so well known for their work at night when almost everything else is closed up and empty. The idea of prostitution is taken further with a reference to one-night stands in inexpensive motels. There is imagery of a cheap bar or restaurant where the elite would never be seen and scary streets that are seductive to the speaker. Instead of just answering the person-being-taken-on-the-journey's question, the speaker draws them further into the thought about the trip. The speaker also travels these streets in a somewhat unfamiliar manner like he has never traveled them before.
Eliot's poetic form enhances the poem with simple consecutive lines rhyming and a refrain to take an idea from the beginning of the poem all the way to the end. Because the poem is about exploration, it is nice that each stanza explores something different. It would be a rather intimidating poem due to its length if it was not broken down.
The first stanza sets the adventurous tone for the rest of the poem. The rest of the poem tells of the speaker aging through baldness, bareness, and thinness. It then returns to talking about the night and sleeping, which might infer death, a final sleep. The speaker wakes up to the same boring routine everyday until death when he wakes up to change and dies at the same time.
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