In Wallace Steven's poem "The Snow Man," the narrator writes of what may truly be a snow man and how he views beauty of winter and quiet aloneness.
The first stanza says that one must have a mind literally of winter in order to watch the frost and the snow-covered boughs of the pine trees. The second tells that a person must be in the cold for an extended time in order to see the junipers crusted in ice and the spruces blinking in a haze of the precipitation stuck to them.
The speaker doesn't seem to mind being alone either as he speaks of January sun passing and that he finds no misery in a few dead leaves floating by. He apparently likes solitude. In the fourth stanza, he tells of the wind and says it is the sound of the land, or the sound of everything. And it blows everywhere in that "bare" place. Again reinforcing that he doesn't mind the thought of being alone.
The last stanza describes the person in the snow that listens. It says he is made of nothing which may be referring to the fact that he is not truly human. He may be nothing and observing alone, but that doesn't mean that just because someone cannot see the beauty of the landscape does it doesn't exist.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Tying It Back Home
I grew up in a mostly working-class community. People went into work at eight and came back home at five in the afternoon. State park jobs, construction, and anything that had to deal in home improvement seemed to be the common methods of gathering income. At the center of the county was a lake where a fair bit of camping and sightseeing was done over the summers. Restaurant and boating jobs always opened up more around that time of year. Honda’s factories were pretty much the life-blood of the nearby towns though.
One of my friends in high school once said Springsteen’s “The River” was like a theme of his life. He was a few years older than me, didn’t go to college, and ended up marrying his high school sweetheart since they’d had the baby. After looking closer at the lyrics, I think I have a better idea of what my friend meant.
The first stanza of the poem explains that the speaker came from an area where you were pretty much destined to do as your father did. This makes the audience wonder if it was the same for his grandfather and so forth.
Later on it explains how the speaker and the girl met in high school and would leave their home to see some green fields and a river. Green fields could be taken as a universal symbol picturing a life of plenty. The river may represent a dream of freedom because the young couple seems to dive into it to get away from the troubles of a working-class life.
As the song progresses, the girl, Mary, gets pregnant and the pair marry. The young man only gets a union card and a wedding coat for his birthday because he now has to take on the responsibility of raising a family. Their trip to the courthouse is just as inglorious because there are no smiles or walks down the aisle. This makes us wonder if the family did not support what had just happened between the two or if maybe everyone is simply too poor to afford the costs of a traditional wedding.
The speaker gets a job with a construction company and mentions that times are hard because of the economy and not having much work. He reminisces about old dreams he had as a younger man but acts as if they don’t exist and even his wife “acts” as if she shares the opinion. Yet even as their chances for dreams have seemed to pass away, the man remembers a time when the two would go on car rides and lie next to each other beside the river. These memories trouble his mind like a curse. This grants us an image that these thoughts have apparently been stuck with him for some time and maybe even indefinitely. The man regrets not being able to have lived his dreams and despite his river dream being “dry” he still thinks about it.
One of my friends in high school once said Springsteen’s “The River” was like a theme of his life. He was a few years older than me, didn’t go to college, and ended up marrying his high school sweetheart since they’d had the baby. After looking closer at the lyrics, I think I have a better idea of what my friend meant.
The first stanza of the poem explains that the speaker came from an area where you were pretty much destined to do as your father did. This makes the audience wonder if it was the same for his grandfather and so forth.
Later on it explains how the speaker and the girl met in high school and would leave their home to see some green fields and a river. Green fields could be taken as a universal symbol picturing a life of plenty. The river may represent a dream of freedom because the young couple seems to dive into it to get away from the troubles of a working-class life.
As the song progresses, the girl, Mary, gets pregnant and the pair marry. The young man only gets a union card and a wedding coat for his birthday because he now has to take on the responsibility of raising a family. Their trip to the courthouse is just as inglorious because there are no smiles or walks down the aisle. This makes us wonder if the family did not support what had just happened between the two or if maybe everyone is simply too poor to afford the costs of a traditional wedding.
The speaker gets a job with a construction company and mentions that times are hard because of the economy and not having much work. He reminisces about old dreams he had as a younger man but acts as if they don’t exist and even his wife “acts” as if she shares the opinion. Yet even as their chances for dreams have seemed to pass away, the man remembers a time when the two would go on car rides and lie next to each other beside the river. These memories trouble his mind like a curse. This grants us an image that these thoughts have apparently been stuck with him for some time and maybe even indefinitely. The man regrets not being able to have lived his dreams and despite his river dream being “dry” he still thinks about it.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Looking Back...
The poem "On Turning Ten" is written from the point of view of a boy just turning, of course, ten. Interestingly, between Billy Collin's birth and the year the poem was published he would be 57 years old.
The text can carry almost two different meanings. The literal reading of the poem speaks of a small boy finally hitting a point in his life where all the things he enjoyed while young have to be left behind as he ages. The second and maybe implied meaning of the piece might be a commentary about how humans can feel a pleasant nostalgia about our younger years in general, seeing as how Collin published the writing when he was quite a bit older.
In the first stanza, we see the boy speak of his coming age as if it's a sickness of the soul. Phrases like "mumps of the psyche" and "chicken pox of the soul" conjur an image that the child may be stressed so much about his turning ten that he could be feeling actual physical symptoms.
The second stanza seems to have the speaker addressing adults as his audience. He tells them that despite being so young and having maybe many more in his life he still feels a longing for the games and imaginary play. Older people have forgotten what it was like to live as an Arabian wizard, a soldier, or prince. He alludes to life being so much more complex than the vivid memories he has of being a toddler.
A third stanza gives us a picture of him sitting at home by a window in the fading afternoon light on the side of his tree house, a representation of childhood's fading glory. The boy's bike's dark blue speed is drained and somehow lifeless.
The last stanza concludes by telling us the sadness felt by the speaker as he continues to walk through life. Saying goodbye to imaginary friends and the carefree attitude of a youth, he "falls" upon the troubles and pain of pre-adolescence pictured as one falling upon a sidewalk and bleeding.
The text can carry almost two different meanings. The literal reading of the poem speaks of a small boy finally hitting a point in his life where all the things he enjoyed while young have to be left behind as he ages. The second and maybe implied meaning of the piece might be a commentary about how humans can feel a pleasant nostalgia about our younger years in general, seeing as how Collin published the writing when he was quite a bit older.
In the first stanza, we see the boy speak of his coming age as if it's a sickness of the soul. Phrases like "mumps of the psyche" and "chicken pox of the soul" conjur an image that the child may be stressed so much about his turning ten that he could be feeling actual physical symptoms.
The second stanza seems to have the speaker addressing adults as his audience. He tells them that despite being so young and having maybe many more in his life he still feels a longing for the games and imaginary play. Older people have forgotten what it was like to live as an Arabian wizard, a soldier, or prince. He alludes to life being so much more complex than the vivid memories he has of being a toddler.
A third stanza gives us a picture of him sitting at home by a window in the fading afternoon light on the side of his tree house, a representation of childhood's fading glory. The boy's bike's dark blue speed is drained and somehow lifeless.
The last stanza concludes by telling us the sadness felt by the speaker as he continues to walk through life. Saying goodbye to imaginary friends and the carefree attitude of a youth, he "falls" upon the troubles and pain of pre-adolescence pictured as one falling upon a sidewalk and bleeding.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Day One
So, hello everyone in textual analysis. This would be the blog of Dean Wright. I've got nothing too interesting to report right now, but will soon in the future. I can't say I've got much experience with poems so most of what I'm going to be putting on here will likely be a shot in the dark.
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