“There's nothing that won't fit under it:
fountains clogged with mud and leaves,
the houses of my childhood.”
This line from the poem “Pillow” troubles me because I cannot figure out what the deeper meaning behind it is. I’m not the best at deciphering poetry to begin with, so when I read even the slightest abstract poem, I usually don’t understand it at all. I didn’t even realize until we discussed the poem in class that it talks about when you try to fall asleep, but your mind races like crazy and it just seems impossible to do so –“Voices in the trees, the missing pages of the sea. Everything but sleep.”
We learned a bit about Li-Young Lee in class on Tuesday, and it was interesting to see all of the correlations between his past and his writing. I wonder if “fountains clogged with mud and leaves” could represent steadiness throughout his life. His biography stated that as a child, he moved around often and his father seemed to have many professions. Maybe the fountain’s steady stream represents his life and the mud and leaves represent the trials or busyness of his childhood. Or maybe the fountain represents the presence of his father throughout Lee’s childhood. His biography also stated that his father spent two years in jail because of political reasons. The “mud and leaves” could represent Lee’s father’s time spent in jail and how that affected the steady presence of a father figure in Lee’s childhood.
I know for sure if my father had to spend two years in jail for political reasons during my childhood, it would affect my life permanently. I understand what it means to have faith now, as a 21 year old, but as a child I really didn’t understand what it meant to have faith. I didn’t understand that all things work together for those that love God and are called according to His purpose. I would definitely view the absence of my father as a bunch of mud and leaves obstructing the steady flow of the fountain of my youth. It’s difficult to understand why bad/sad things happen when we’re children. I believe this “mud and leaves” reference in Lee’s poem has a much deeper meaning than the reader would notice at first glance. I think Lee put that line in this poem purposefully, and the line is meant to leave some interpretation up to the reader.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Harrison Bergeron-Reflective.
I have to be honest, the first time I read Harrison Bergeron I was pretty confused. After discussing some of the satire and irony throughout the text in class, I understood the meaning more thoroughly, but I still couldn’t help asking myself many questions.
I truly feel sad for the characters in this story, and if I had to choose a character that I most relate to, it would definitely be Harrison Bergeron. I’m the type of person that tries to stand up for what I believe to be true as greatly as I can, and I can completely understand Harrison’s behavior. When reading the story, I felt like it was sort of as if Harrison was the only one who truly saw how much oppression (maybe with the exception of the ballerina too) everyone was under. Everyone else just seemed to sort of accept it and think it was actually better than what life was before. Harrison’s father actually said to his wife as they were discussing some of the handicaps they had on them, “…and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn't like that, would you?" –in reference to if he were to take any of the sand bags off of him. It’s as if he believes that life was actually WORSE than what it is like now. They definitely confuse the meanings of freedom and equality. I thought this to be a little bit of reverse dramatic irony because I felt myself wanting to explain to Harrison’s parents how confused they were, and how they weren’t made “free” because everyone was “equal”, but they were actually under a terrible oppression.
This story made me think about the possibility of this ever actually happening to society, and while my immediate response would be “of course not, that would be insanity”, there was still a small part of me that thought there was a slight possibility. I’m reading a book right now that talks about truly loving God with all our minds, and how society today is incredibly intellectually lazy. Harrison Bergeron’s situation could very well happen to our society if we continue to not logically and intellectually think situations through. If we are not capable of truly defending what we believe in with more than just sappy feelings and sincerity, then our society could end up like the one in Harrison Bergeron. My desire as a future teacher is to really teach my students how to reason with not just their emotions but with intellect and absolute truth. If our society would stop being intellectually lazy, and capable of explaining why they do the things they do and believe the things they believe, hopefully we won’t ever end up like Harrison Bergeron’s society.
I truly feel sad for the characters in this story, and if I had to choose a character that I most relate to, it would definitely be Harrison Bergeron. I’m the type of person that tries to stand up for what I believe to be true as greatly as I can, and I can completely understand Harrison’s behavior. When reading the story, I felt like it was sort of as if Harrison was the only one who truly saw how much oppression (maybe with the exception of the ballerina too) everyone was under. Everyone else just seemed to sort of accept it and think it was actually better than what life was before. Harrison’s father actually said to his wife as they were discussing some of the handicaps they had on them, “…and pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else. You wouldn't like that, would you?" –in reference to if he were to take any of the sand bags off of him. It’s as if he believes that life was actually WORSE than what it is like now. They definitely confuse the meanings of freedom and equality. I thought this to be a little bit of reverse dramatic irony because I felt myself wanting to explain to Harrison’s parents how confused they were, and how they weren’t made “free” because everyone was “equal”, but they were actually under a terrible oppression.
This story made me think about the possibility of this ever actually happening to society, and while my immediate response would be “of course not, that would be insanity”, there was still a small part of me that thought there was a slight possibility. I’m reading a book right now that talks about truly loving God with all our minds, and how society today is incredibly intellectually lazy. Harrison Bergeron’s situation could very well happen to our society if we continue to not logically and intellectually think situations through. If we are not capable of truly defending what we believe in with more than just sappy feelings and sincerity, then our society could end up like the one in Harrison Bergeron. My desire as a future teacher is to really teach my students how to reason with not just their emotions but with intellect and absolute truth. If our society would stop being intellectually lazy, and capable of explaining why they do the things they do and believe the things they believe, hopefully we won’t ever end up like Harrison Bergeron’s society.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
problematized.
“…the bound feet, the crippled brain, the hair in curlers, the hands you love to touch.”
The last line of this poem puzzles me. The first time I read “A Work of Artifice” I thought I understood what it was trying to say, or what it was about. I understood that it was about the oppression of women, especially when I read the line, “the bound feet” reminding me of foot binding in China. But the last line challenges me. Who is “you” and why do they love to touch the woman/tree’s hands?
After discussing the poem more in depth during class, my eyes were opened slightly and I understood a few more details within the poem. I’d known what a bonsai tree looked like because they used to sell them out of a small booth in the mall back at home. Before class, I didn’t know bonsai trees could grow to get so big! I’d automatically thought they just grew tiny like I’d seen in the mall. I didn’t know someone had to “prune” them to make smaller. This helped me better understand the line where it said “in the attractive pot” a bit more. To me it seemed like the author portrayed the woman being stunted and controlled in her “pot” as being attractive –at least according to men.
I had to look up what the word “croon” meant while reading this poem because I didn’t know what it meant. Even after looking up its definition, I still didn’t have the imagery in my mind until we discussed that line in class. After Dr. DeBorde hummed the lines following the word “croons” in class, I could picture a man humming and singing to the small bonsai tree, actually enjoying what he was doing. This made me think about how men might enjoy having control over their women [wives]. I can picture in my head a man saying things like, “you should be THANKFUL or LUCKY to work for me” to their woman –sort of in a weird, deceptive like tone. I can hear him say it in a loving voice, but in all actuality being demeaning.
To my understanding, I would say the “you” in the last line of this poem is a man –either the woman’s husband (maybe even owner) or the male gender as a whole. Maybe the author is saying that the man (or men) loves to be in control of the woman and feels as if that’s the way it SHOULD be. It’s just so odd to me to have that tagged on at the end of this poem. It doesn’t feel like it should be there. I question why the author chose to end the poem with such a line.
As a whole, I feel like the author is trying to show through this poem that men like it when a woman is under their control, and follows everything they tell them to do –sort of like a slave. The bonsai tree is a perfect representation of how the woman is pruned by the man. I think our culture has come a long way from the time around when this poem was written. It seems especially evident to me here at SEU, seeing as the Assemblies of God is very pro-women in leadership. I don’t think they’d like this poem very much! It’s interesting to think that only approximately 50+ years ago women were still looked down upon and somewhat controlled by men. I was shocked to hear that foot binding was only outlawed in the 80’s! I hope our culture can continue to respect women and admire how far we’ve come in such a short period of time.
The last line of this poem puzzles me. The first time I read “A Work of Artifice” I thought I understood what it was trying to say, or what it was about. I understood that it was about the oppression of women, especially when I read the line, “the bound feet” reminding me of foot binding in China. But the last line challenges me. Who is “you” and why do they love to touch the woman/tree’s hands?
After discussing the poem more in depth during class, my eyes were opened slightly and I understood a few more details within the poem. I’d known what a bonsai tree looked like because they used to sell them out of a small booth in the mall back at home. Before class, I didn’t know bonsai trees could grow to get so big! I’d automatically thought they just grew tiny like I’d seen in the mall. I didn’t know someone had to “prune” them to make smaller. This helped me better understand the line where it said “in the attractive pot” a bit more. To me it seemed like the author portrayed the woman being stunted and controlled in her “pot” as being attractive –at least according to men.
I had to look up what the word “croon” meant while reading this poem because I didn’t know what it meant. Even after looking up its definition, I still didn’t have the imagery in my mind until we discussed that line in class. After Dr. DeBorde hummed the lines following the word “croons” in class, I could picture a man humming and singing to the small bonsai tree, actually enjoying what he was doing. This made me think about how men might enjoy having control over their women [wives]. I can picture in my head a man saying things like, “you should be THANKFUL or LUCKY to work for me” to their woman –sort of in a weird, deceptive like tone. I can hear him say it in a loving voice, but in all actuality being demeaning.
To my understanding, I would say the “you” in the last line of this poem is a man –either the woman’s husband (maybe even owner) or the male gender as a whole. Maybe the author is saying that the man (or men) loves to be in control of the woman and feels as if that’s the way it SHOULD be. It’s just so odd to me to have that tagged on at the end of this poem. It doesn’t feel like it should be there. I question why the author chose to end the poem with such a line.
As a whole, I feel like the author is trying to show through this poem that men like it when a woman is under their control, and follows everything they tell them to do –sort of like a slave. The bonsai tree is a perfect representation of how the woman is pruned by the man. I think our culture has come a long way from the time around when this poem was written. It seems especially evident to me here at SEU, seeing as the Assemblies of God is very pro-women in leadership. I don’t think they’d like this poem very much! It’s interesting to think that only approximately 50+ years ago women were still looked down upon and somewhat controlled by men. I was shocked to hear that foot binding was only outlawed in the 80’s! I hope our culture can continue to respect women and admire how far we’ve come in such a short period of time.
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