The poem “White Lies” by Natasha Trethewey made me fall into the first and second assumptions Edward Hirsch discusses in his article “How to Read a Poem.” From the title, I expected the poem to be about one subject, lies that were not too grandiose. But it is not solely about lying, and each detail does not correspond to only one thing, like I originally thought. It took me three times to read it to understand it is more so about the experience of a young girl of African and European descent than about small fibs. The use of color in the first stanza of the poem is very powerful.
“The lies I could tell,
when I was growing up
light-bright, near-white,
high-yellow, red-boned
in a black place,
were just white lies.” (Trethewey, lines 1-6)
I did not immediately understand the perspective of the narrator and it took me multiple times to read to fully digest the true nature of the poem, and the use of color in the first stanza. These exercises are definitely teaching me to read poetry with a more open mind, without expectations, to completely understand the message the author is conveying.
2 thoughts on “Victoria Santagato Discussion 13”
Victoria, thanks for taking us on your mental tour of your reading of “White Lies.” I like your description of how the title took on new meaning once you understood the color imagery in the poem and what it points to.
Thank you, Victoria for a very valuable discussion. I like that you started to analyse this wonderful poem from its title. Sometimes it can “hide” many interesting facts and play many important roles in a poem. And it’s very nice that you have felt the image of that poem. I fully agree with you that it’s important to read the poem several times to start the communication with it and begin to understand its deeper essence.