Thomas Nashe
In this poem, the author is speaking as a person that has died from the plague. The speaker takes on a role of telling others that they will also die. Mentioning the rich, the well-known, the brave, and the beautiful, the speaker is able to make the reader feel as if all those that have died throughout history are all grouped together now in one place. Regardless of the status or life a person lives, this poem reminds us that we are not able to carry that along with us in the afterlife. Returning to the same lines “I am sick, I must die. Lord, have mercy on us!” reaffirms that death is coming and will happen no matter how hard we try to fight it. It seems as if in this poem, the speaker is trying to capture the idea that death does not play favorites and that each person will meet the same fate, death. However, the way in which the author phrases each stanza, the reader is left with a feeling of acceptance about death, rather than fear. In the fourth stanza, the speaker talks about the Earth holding her gates open and crying out for someone to come. This can be perceived as Earth welcoming the next person into the gates of Heaven and to resolve people’s fears of what comes after you die. The way in which Nashe mentions so many different types of people makes the reader feel like death is not as grim and unhappy as it is normally mentioned. Although the title brings about the plague epidemic, the actual plague is only brought up in one line and is gone again. This could be symbolic of the way in which a plague comes through, wiping out entire populations in certain areas, then is gone again. It becomes a distant memory that is just a period in time, but only a brief period. Also, the plague is commonly referred to as an epidemic. Another way of looking at it is that death, itself, is an epidemic. It spares no one. Finally, the poem closes with the idea of welcoming destiny. Part of the last stanza reads:
“Heaven is our heritage,
Earth but a player’s stage;
Mount we unto the sky.”
These three lines seem to help capture the main idea of the entire poem, in that death is not to be feared to put off. We are all going to experience it one day, and our time on Earth is nothing more than God’s play that we are all acting out.
Each stanza is broken down into a “a-a-b-b-c-c-d” rhyme scheme. This consistency throughout the poem makes the flow run smoothly. It also seems to be another reminder that, like the returning of the rhyme scheme, death will too return. Repeating the same pattern removes any attempt at individuality. This removal of being an individual is critical to the message in the poem. Death sees no single person; it seems nothing but the same destiny for all. There is no need for the author to break the repetition. If that would have happened, it would have meant that somewhere, there is someone different. Someone that might not die, or that might not have the same destiny as everyone else does. For this, the repeating “a-a-b-b-c-c-d” pattern reassures everyone that we are not alone and are all going to the same place, regardless of where we are in the world right now.
Nashe also chose to use fairly simple language. Although the poem was written between 1567-1601, the words used are easy for everyone to understand. This, once again, goes back to the idea that the poem has a message intended for everyone. It is not meant to single out people by education or class, but rather to be appealing for all types of people. The choices of words are simple and easy to understand. This is much like the idea that death is simple and easy to understand. It is going to happen, regardless of the barriers put up or position in society. The common words give off Nashe’s idea that dying is common and intended for everyone.
Each line of the poem is very short and to the point. They do not leave much room for interpretation or argument. They tell a story, an exact story that cannot be changed. This is very similar to the overall theme that death is finite. With each line being so short and concise, it is almost like each line is a life. It is short and meaningless, but when put together with other lives (or lines), a broader picture is painted. They come together to tell an overall story or to span the overall time of Earth. The lines are the lives of young, fair Queens, of brave Hector. The lines are the small pieces that construct the poem as a whole. Individually, they have no meaning or thought, but when put together, they give the reader a whole new outlook on life, and death.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Lyric Theory Debate
Propositions:
Resolved: In order to appreciate a lyric poem fully, a reader must become the speaker of the poem, temporarily adopting all aspects of the speaker’s individual and social identity.
Resolved: It is ethically suspect for a poet to write in the voice of a person with a radically different social identity.
Group 1 (argues for proposition 1): Quinn, Kristina, Danielle, Jane, Josh, Rebecca, Daniel, Jonathan Young
Group 2 (argues against proposition 1): Jon Achorn, Andy, Nathan, Jacinda, Scott, Bethany, Brent, Emanuela
Group 3 (argues for proposition 2): Sarah Hogshire, Chris, Sarah Phillips, Jon Poplin, Zoey, Jamison, Kimberly
Group 4 (argues against proposition 2): Mattisha, Leslie, Elizabeth, Cierra, Kevin, Noah, Victoria
Resolved: In order to appreciate a lyric poem fully, a reader must become the speaker of the poem, temporarily adopting all aspects of the speaker’s individual and social identity.
Resolved: It is ethically suspect for a poet to write in the voice of a person with a radically different social identity.
Group 1 (argues for proposition 1): Quinn, Kristina, Danielle, Jane, Josh, Rebecca, Daniel, Jonathan Young
Group 2 (argues against proposition 1): Jon Achorn, Andy, Nathan, Jacinda, Scott, Bethany, Brent, Emanuela
Group 3 (argues for proposition 2): Sarah Hogshire, Chris, Sarah Phillips, Jon Poplin, Zoey, Jamison, Kimberly
Group 4 (argues against proposition 2): Mattisha, Leslie, Elizabeth, Cierra, Kevin, Noah, Victoria
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Emanuela Kucik "The Little Black Boy"
William Blake “The Little Black Boy”
In this poem, William Blake assumes the identity of a young black boy telling his story. The poem is spoken through the mouth of the child and conveys the pain of being black in an era in which white supremacy reigns. The poem sees the child through a journey of struggling to accept himself and his race; through his Mother’s lessons, the child learns that God loves not only white children, but black children as well and that once they die and go to heaven, the racial stigma and problems disappear for they become souls. This message brings the little boy great hopefulness and happiness. Based on a shallow surface reading of the poem, it seems as though the little boy is depressed at the beginning of the poem and by the end of the poem he is hopeful and happier. However, upon closer analysis, particularly of the last stanza, it is evident that the little boy is indeed hopeful and happier at the end, but not because his mother’s message makes him feel as though he, as a black boy, is equal to an English white boy. Instead, he is hopeful because he feels that when he dies and is nothing but a soul, he will be equal with the white boy because he too will be a soul. This conclusion is disturbing because from it we infer that the little boy is still not satisfied in his own skin, for it is only with the hope of shedding that skin that he feels hope and happiness at the prospect of being loved by a white boy. Furthermore, it does not strike the child that true love does not love because of similarities, but in spite of differences. However, we as readers, being presumably older and wiser than the child, pick up on this underlying dark theme in what originally appears to be a happy ending.
The main formal feature of this poem is its seven stanzas, each line containing four lines of 10 syllables and an abab rhyme scheme. While the poem does not have any striking formal features, such as a line standing on its own, or a sudden stanza with only three lines, the importance of the form is found in its childlike narration and its constancy. The simple, formulaic abab rhyme scheme presented in the first stanza fits in with the simple speech of children, speech that often tends to be uncomplicated and straightforward. Throughout the entire poem, the form never changes, drawing a parallel with the little boy’s inability to change his view of himself as inferior to whites due to the color of his skin. The significance of the form in relation to the boy’s mental journey throughout the poem is evident in a stanza by stanza analysis.
From the title, we presume that the speaker of this poem is a young black boy; a child. While some of the poem’s words, such as “bereav’d,” do not sound like the words of a child, but rather the words of an educated poet such as William Blake, the easy, flowing rhyme scheme still makes it easy to imagine a child narrating the poem. In this first stanza, the child introduces his plight: he is black, but with a “white” soul, thus indicating that although he is cursed with black skin in a world that views white skin as purity, he has a pure, good soul. The four lines with 10 syllables each and the abab rhyme scheme make the poem seem as though it is a nursery rhyme, almost making one forget the depth and pain within the words. On a deeper level, the first stanza is obviously the first place the form is introduced, and with it, as I mentioned, the child’s plight is introduced as well. The lack of a change in form throughout the rest of the poem indicates a lack of an ultimate change in the child’s inferiority complex.
In the next four stanzas, the strict form and rhythmic patterns continue, as does the child’s story, combining to illustrate the boy’s inability to escape from his childlike mindset that he is, and always will be, inferior because of his skin color. In these stanzas, the child discusses how his mother tries to teach him about God’s love for all life, including blacks, and how once they die, they will be stripped of their burden of black skin and just be souls in heaven. The formulaic form works with these stanzas as well because it continues in its nursery rhyme way to make readers listen and engage in the writing. This nursery rhyme feel also effectively communicates the voice of a young child remembering comforting words his mother spoke to him. Many of us know the feeling of having a parent comfort us as a small child about an issue we were worried about, and many of us can relate to relaying the story in our heads over and over again to comfort ourselves. These four stanzas have the feel of the child relaying the story to an invisible audience, attempting to comfort himself about the grievances he faces as a black boy. Since the form, rhyme scheme, and subsequent nursery rhyme feel do not change within these stanzas, the parallel is still being drawn between the unchanging form and the child’s inability to truly change how he feels about himself, albeit a subconscious inability.
In the last two stanzas the poem’s form does not alter nor change, signifying the ultimate message of the poem: despite the child’s apparent happiness at the end of the poem, it is a happiness rooted in a sense of insecurity and inferiority that refuse to budge. In these two stanzas the child conveys how he told a white English boy the story his mother told him. However, the child concludes the poem by saying that since he and the white boy will both be souls, the white boy will then love him because the black boy will “be like him.” This assertion makes the reader realize that the black child’s inferiority complex is so deeply rooted that the only way he sees hope for himself as equal to the white child is when he is stripped of his black skin. It is critical that the form does not change in this stanza because it goes with the idea of the child’s unwavering inferiority complex. The constant form mimics the child’s one-minded train of thought: that no matter what, black is inferior to white and therefore, he is inferior to the white boy. The last line, greatly indicative of the child’s low self-esteem, shows that the child is in the same frame of mind by the end of the poem as he was at the beginning of the poem when he stated he was “bereav’d of light.” Thus, having the poem’s formal features remain constant parallels the boy’s thought process, which, by the end of the poem, we realize has, at heart, also remained constant.
In this poem, William Blake assumes the identity of a young black boy telling his story. The poem is spoken through the mouth of the child and conveys the pain of being black in an era in which white supremacy reigns. The poem sees the child through a journey of struggling to accept himself and his race; through his Mother’s lessons, the child learns that God loves not only white children, but black children as well and that once they die and go to heaven, the racial stigma and problems disappear for they become souls. This message brings the little boy great hopefulness and happiness. Based on a shallow surface reading of the poem, it seems as though the little boy is depressed at the beginning of the poem and by the end of the poem he is hopeful and happier. However, upon closer analysis, particularly of the last stanza, it is evident that the little boy is indeed hopeful and happier at the end, but not because his mother’s message makes him feel as though he, as a black boy, is equal to an English white boy. Instead, he is hopeful because he feels that when he dies and is nothing but a soul, he will be equal with the white boy because he too will be a soul. This conclusion is disturbing because from it we infer that the little boy is still not satisfied in his own skin, for it is only with the hope of shedding that skin that he feels hope and happiness at the prospect of being loved by a white boy. Furthermore, it does not strike the child that true love does not love because of similarities, but in spite of differences. However, we as readers, being presumably older and wiser than the child, pick up on this underlying dark theme in what originally appears to be a happy ending.
The main formal feature of this poem is its seven stanzas, each line containing four lines of 10 syllables and an abab rhyme scheme. While the poem does not have any striking formal features, such as a line standing on its own, or a sudden stanza with only three lines, the importance of the form is found in its childlike narration and its constancy. The simple, formulaic abab rhyme scheme presented in the first stanza fits in with the simple speech of children, speech that often tends to be uncomplicated and straightforward. Throughout the entire poem, the form never changes, drawing a parallel with the little boy’s inability to change his view of himself as inferior to whites due to the color of his skin. The significance of the form in relation to the boy’s mental journey throughout the poem is evident in a stanza by stanza analysis.
From the title, we presume that the speaker of this poem is a young black boy; a child. While some of the poem’s words, such as “bereav’d,” do not sound like the words of a child, but rather the words of an educated poet such as William Blake, the easy, flowing rhyme scheme still makes it easy to imagine a child narrating the poem. In this first stanza, the child introduces his plight: he is black, but with a “white” soul, thus indicating that although he is cursed with black skin in a world that views white skin as purity, he has a pure, good soul. The four lines with 10 syllables each and the abab rhyme scheme make the poem seem as though it is a nursery rhyme, almost making one forget the depth and pain within the words. On a deeper level, the first stanza is obviously the first place the form is introduced, and with it, as I mentioned, the child’s plight is introduced as well. The lack of a change in form throughout the rest of the poem indicates a lack of an ultimate change in the child’s inferiority complex.
In the next four stanzas, the strict form and rhythmic patterns continue, as does the child’s story, combining to illustrate the boy’s inability to escape from his childlike mindset that he is, and always will be, inferior because of his skin color. In these stanzas, the child discusses how his mother tries to teach him about God’s love for all life, including blacks, and how once they die, they will be stripped of their burden of black skin and just be souls in heaven. The formulaic form works with these stanzas as well because it continues in its nursery rhyme way to make readers listen and engage in the writing. This nursery rhyme feel also effectively communicates the voice of a young child remembering comforting words his mother spoke to him. Many of us know the feeling of having a parent comfort us as a small child about an issue we were worried about, and many of us can relate to relaying the story in our heads over and over again to comfort ourselves. These four stanzas have the feel of the child relaying the story to an invisible audience, attempting to comfort himself about the grievances he faces as a black boy. Since the form, rhyme scheme, and subsequent nursery rhyme feel do not change within these stanzas, the parallel is still being drawn between the unchanging form and the child’s inability to truly change how he feels about himself, albeit a subconscious inability.
In the last two stanzas the poem’s form does not alter nor change, signifying the ultimate message of the poem: despite the child’s apparent happiness at the end of the poem, it is a happiness rooted in a sense of insecurity and inferiority that refuse to budge. In these two stanzas the child conveys how he told a white English boy the story his mother told him. However, the child concludes the poem by saying that since he and the white boy will both be souls, the white boy will then love him because the black boy will “be like him.” This assertion makes the reader realize that the black child’s inferiority complex is so deeply rooted that the only way he sees hope for himself as equal to the white child is when he is stripped of his black skin. It is critical that the form does not change in this stanza because it goes with the idea of the child’s unwavering inferiority complex. The constant form mimics the child’s one-minded train of thought: that no matter what, black is inferior to white and therefore, he is inferior to the white boy. The last line, greatly indicative of the child’s low self-esteem, shows that the child is in the same frame of mind by the end of the poem as he was at the beginning of the poem when he stated he was “bereav’d of light.” Thus, having the poem’s formal features remain constant parallels the boy’s thought process, which, by the end of the poem, we realize has, at heart, also remained constant.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Prospective Immigrants Please Note
In the poem Prospective Immigrants Please Note, author Adrienne Rich is sending out a warning to those who desire to immigrate. It seems that, the passage to a new country is one that has been misconstrued in the thoughts and imaginations of foreigners. Rich is saying, the path to immigration is a big risk to take. It is a road to travel that is long and is not always promising. This path is a sacrifice and is indubitably a life changing process. In essence, the message Rich is portraying in this poem is, “Everything that glitters isn’t gold”
What stand out in this poem was who the message was to. Being the child of two immigrant parents has given me culture and understanding of the immigrant life. More specifically, what stands out in this poem is the sixth stanza.
but much will blind you,
much will evade you,
at what cost who knows?
This stanza was particularly interesting to me because the desire for freedom is something that can blind you. When we as human beings desire something we are willing to do anything to get to it. Whether it’s to get that job you’ve always wanted or buy that house you’ve been dreaming of our desires sometimes blind us from reality. We sometimes forget our morals our values and everything that we’ve been grounded on from childhood because of desires that we have in us. In the last line of the sixth stanza, I thought of how many foreigners were willing to steal, lie, cheat and sometimes become selfish in order to gain access a new life.
In addition to the sixth stanza, the second stanza was also very intriguing to me. The line, “there is always the risk of remembering your name”, stands out to me because while searching beyond the literal meaning of that line, it reminded me of my parents. As a child growing up my parents worked very hard to provide above and beyond what we actually needed. They always wanted my siblings and I to enjoy the luxuries of life and they would always say, “Never forget where you came from.” And my parent certainly never did that. Some foreigners who made it to the New World worked hard to enjoy the luxuries and sometimes forget where they came from. It is important that you remember you culture and family history because it is your identity. It gives meaning to the purpose of life; however it is not rare that many immigrants sometimes forget where they came from.
Through this poem I was able to identify with the “door” and the risk that immigrants took and are still taking today. It is a path that had been traveled many times for many years but still runs the same risk.
What stand out in this poem was who the message was to. Being the child of two immigrant parents has given me culture and understanding of the immigrant life. More specifically, what stands out in this poem is the sixth stanza.
but much will blind you,
much will evade you,
at what cost who knows?
This stanza was particularly interesting to me because the desire for freedom is something that can blind you. When we as human beings desire something we are willing to do anything to get to it. Whether it’s to get that job you’ve always wanted or buy that house you’ve been dreaming of our desires sometimes blind us from reality. We sometimes forget our morals our values and everything that we’ve been grounded on from childhood because of desires that we have in us. In the last line of the sixth stanza, I thought of how many foreigners were willing to steal, lie, cheat and sometimes become selfish in order to gain access a new life.
In addition to the sixth stanza, the second stanza was also very intriguing to me. The line, “there is always the risk of remembering your name”, stands out to me because while searching beyond the literal meaning of that line, it reminded me of my parents. As a child growing up my parents worked very hard to provide above and beyond what we actually needed. They always wanted my siblings and I to enjoy the luxuries of life and they would always say, “Never forget where you came from.” And my parent certainly never did that. Some foreigners who made it to the New World worked hard to enjoy the luxuries and sometimes forget where they came from. It is important that you remember you culture and family history because it is your identity. It gives meaning to the purpose of life; however it is not rare that many immigrants sometimes forget where they came from.
Through this poem I was able to identify with the “door” and the risk that immigrants took and are still taking today. It is a path that had been traveled many times for many years but still runs the same risk.
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