I’ve learnt so much about poetry over the course of us going through the different types of poems etc. Therefore, my ability to read and understand poetry has increased. I’d rate myself a 6. Even though it’s seemingly low, before we started this topic, I would’ve rated myself a 3. I realized that poets use the different times of day or seasons to represent time or age. Like in the poem “What my lips have kissed, and where, and why” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. She wrote, “Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree” (Millay). The term winter can convey that a lot of time has passed or now she’s older. This shows that you need critical thinking, creative interpretation and sometimes a little research to figure out what the poet is trying to convey. Just like in Oedipus the king, we are provided with interpretations for the language used. But without these interpretations I would’ve been confused about some of the references. For example, where it says, “You may see them one with another, like birds swift on the wing, quicker than fire unmastered, speeding away to the coast of the Western god” (Grene 3). At first read, the meaning behind this is hard to understand so I had to research It to realize that the western God refers to “the god of night, or Death” which tells me that this means the women were dying quickly.
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2 thoughts on “Keona Lewis Discussion 7”
Hey Keona, I definitely agree with you. Ironically, I rated myself a 6 as well when it comes to the capability of reading poetry you really have to try to interpret what the speaker is writing about because they can say a word but in all reality they’re using that word to describe something else that can be an emotion or a coming of age. Furthermore, just like you said if you don’t have the knowledge of creative interpretation or even knowing how to utilize imagery you can definitely feel stuck reading some of the poems. Nevertheless, that’s why I really appreciate Professor Conway and how she takes the time out to read the readings with us in class as well as continuously asking us questions because if I may not have the answer I know that someone else in our class will and it helps me understand and I may be able to add to whatever that person has said.
Keona, I love the examples you present here. A lot of students miss that very central season imagery in the St. Vincent Millay poem. Some students think the speaker is regretting having been promiscuous, but if you understand the image of the tree in wintertime, that simplistic interpretation no longer works. The metaphor from Oedipus that you mention is also a great example of how figurative language adds emotional resonance. (And I love how your self-rating has gone up. I think a 6 is pretty good compared to a 3).