This week, as I was reading “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by W. B. Yeats, I made the mistake of assuming that the poem could mean anything readers wanted it to mean. I felt a connection to my own experience and thought that the poem might refer to isolation and escape from the surrounding world. As an example, when reading the lines:“Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee;and live alone in the bee-loud glade.”This occurs, in my opinion, when you read a poem and interpret it as being about your own desires and centered on your own perspective.However, as I was reading this line: “And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings.”I believe Yeats is expressing his longing for a simpler, more peaceful life in a specific location, which may resonate with different readers in different ways. This made me realize that it can differ in certain ways depending on the mood of each reader, which helped me fully understand the poem’s message and enjoy it.
Daily Archives: April 22, 2023
For this discussion, I’ve chosen the poem, “We Real Cool,” by Gwendolyn Brooks. Of the three prior assumptions readers tend to make when approaching a poem, I believe I made the mistake of assuming that the poem can mean anything readers want it to mean. I actually read the poem once to myself, read it a second time out loud and then listened to Gwendolyn speak about and then read the poem on my third attempt. I did get the sense that it was about a group of kids who were supposed to be in school, but were instead playing pool, but I questioned the point of the poem. After listening to the audio attached, she explains that the idea for the poem came from her passing a group of schoolboys at the pool hall in her community, and instead of asking why they weren’t in school, she asked herself, “I wonder how they feel about themselves?” With this question, she explained the line in the poem “We Jazz June,” as a representation of the contempt they might feel toward school which also coincides with the lines, “We Real Cool. We Left School.” Also, when listening to her read the poem aloud, she gave it a different kind of energy as opposed to the way I was reading it myself; I ended up very much enjoying this poem, the energy and the meaning behind it.
The assumptions and mistakes when first time reading a poem, as described by Edward Hirsch were very relatable to what I go through when attempting to understand a poem. Throughout this week’s reading, I have found myself making the first wrong assumption. “The first is assuming that they should understand what they encounter on the first reading, and if they don’t, that something is wrong with them or with the poem”. This resonated with me deeply as when I don’t understand something after a few times, I tend to get frustrated. However, with poems I realize and understand that they can be tricky, so I prepare myself to read it many times throughout. In addition, I found myself making the second wrong assumption as well. Thinking that each line connects to each other, or there is some sort of code to figure out. I tend to overthink what the poem is really trying to illustrate. For instance, this week’s poem, “White Lies” by Natasha Trethewey was challenging to understand at the first and second attempt at reading it. This poem is rich in imagery and definition, so therefore I got a little intimidated. I also thought that some lines interconnected ideas to each other. This made paying attention to important or big details difficult and so I skipped over them.
“Reading a poem is part attitude and part technique.” Restate this in quote in your own words. When reading poems, we must embrace the words, examine each element, and decipher the author’s intentions to unpack and discover its meaning entirely. With specific reference to one of the week’s sonnets, discuss your personal experience with these two components of reading poetry. Be sure to support your response with a short quote from the poem you are discussing. In Sonnet 130, “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun” by Williams Shakespeare, the author highlights the beauty of his mistress, “If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.” Him comparing her to things to show that she is imperfect would not stop him from loving her. Not too often do we read poems as such where the lady is not elegant or beautiful; she is just an ordinary person. But that did not stop him from appreciating her for who she was and how she looked. Women are often idolized for their beauty, but we can see in this poem that there is genuine love.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” and the greeting card lyric “Why Do I Love You So Much?” convey love in similar ways but contain different literary aspects. Both pieces convey a strong love and devotion for the subject. The poem by Browning emphasizes on the depth and intensity of love, whilst the card talks of trust and emotional support. The card refers to recollections and dreams, and Browning’s poem makes use of natural images to depict the wide nature of love. Both pieces use imagery to convey their emotions. The way the two pieces use rhyme and meter is the primary difference between them. The card isn’t bound to any particular meter or rhyme scheme, unlike Browning’s sonnet, which adopts the standard rhyme pattern. This shows the differences between a sonnet’s organized shape and a greeting card’s free-verse style. Browning’s poem has the well-known phrase “How do I love thee? “Let me count the ways,” she says, emphasizing how extensive her devotion is. The card, on the other hand, emphasizes the value of trust in a relationship by stating, “Because I trust you more than anyone in the world,” which communicates affection.
