The Broken Tower -- Hart Crane

This poem is full of symbolism. I took notes on the presentation and discussion that we had in class. This is what I got from it:

- Important images:
- Bells, dawn, choir, cathedral
- Dawn: symbolic of purity, newness, rebirth
- Tower – symbol of masculinity
- Church as a social institution
-People live their lives with religion in the back of their minds in the form of social standards.
-Significant to Crane because he is operating in a society that looks down upon gay men, like himself.
- Crane as a Dionysian poet
-The sublime: extreme emotional states—achieved thru crane’s ability to “overwhelm” the mind by using “language’s infinite ocean of meaning”

Proem to Brooklyn Bridge -- Hart Crane

This poem is chocked full of Christian words and images. There are also a lot of references to advances in technology and gives off a feel of the cold steel of the bridge. I don't really get many of the metaphors he uses (again, what a surprise) and I felt that the rest of the poem kind of flew over my head. =\

Voyages -- Hart Crane

Of course, this poem is too obscure for me to fully comprehend. There is a lot of reference to the sea, since Crane loves the sea, just as his role model, Melville did. He speaks of the sea and the tides in terms of love, as if it were a woman (or man, in Crane's case).

Paraphrase -- Hart Crane

There is a lot of imagery in this poem to do with a bed and a bedroom. This might hint at his sexuality again, but when I read it first I thought it had to do with death. It just gave me the impression that the speakers life is coming to an end. "The light that shll not rouse," makes me think of the sun shining on a dead man in his bed. Even thought the sunlight hits his face, he will not wake.

Posessions -- Hart Crane

This poem contains a lot of objectionable language, considering Crane's sexual identity. He puts masculine verbs and words next to feminine ones. "As quiet as you can make a man..." hints that the poet is seeking a mate, referncing the old saying "on the make."

At Melville's Tomb -- Hart Crane

I did my presentation on this poem and have published it via Google Docs. Click here to view it: http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dddm3cfb_0fhx8c8fj .

Black Tambourine -- Hart Crane

I'm not quite sure what Crane is meaning in this poem (surprise, surprise!). I know that Crane wrote this poem when he was in the cellar with his fathers black workers in the candy mill. Crane would sneak down there to be with them rather than working. I suppose Crane means to speak against the treatment of black men compared to white workers. The mention to Aesop threw me a little. It could mean that even black men (because Aesop was black) can be great writers and find solace in the same thing he does. Talent does not discriminate, even if people do.

Legend -- Hart Crane

The first two lines in this poem seem to me to be talking about memories. "As silent as a mirror is believed / Realities plunge in silence by..." A mirror reflects images, so the image is real, but is not really there, since it is a reflection. In the same way, memories are real but are really just reflections of times past. Crane spends a lot of time talking about the past, reflecting on previous events and memories, much like Eliot. Although Crane does not rely on other people's literature to get him noticed, as Eliot does. He makes his own "legend" if you will.

Kimiko Hahn

We didn't spend much time talking about Hahn, but I do know that she was greatly influenced by William Carlos Williams. She takes his imagist influence and mixes it with her Japanese heritage (in the form of haiku and tanka) and gets her own style. Kimiko Hahn's style consists of a collage/fragmented form and contains many ironies that only Hahn herself can explain. She creates another life for herself in her poetry, so it can be read as fictional instead of personal.

As a woman, Hahn points out many sexist themes in society. There are many references to how women are treated, etc.

Cassandra -- Jeffers

There must be something that I am not getting. I do not know if there is any significance in the woman's name, Cassandra, but I'm guessing there is. I do like the passage about men hating the truth, Jeffers even says that they would rather "meet a tiger on the road." This amused me, especially thinking back on how Jeffers cheated on his wife and probably knew a lot of men who did the same.

Love the Wild Swan -- Jeffers

I'm not really sure what the meaning behind this poem is. It could be that he hates himself for what he did to Una; hates the darkness of humans. The only thing that one should love about humans is their ability to love nature. Love the senses because they can observe and worship the sublime.

Literary Vocab

Memetic (memesis): imitation or reproduction of the supposed words of another, as in order to represent his or her character.

Representational Art: means that the work depicts something easily recognized by most people (i.e. portraits, landscapes, still life).

Nonrepresentational Art: art that is not meant to represent something in real life. More like abstract art or patterned art.

The Sublime: a greatness with which nothing else can be compared and which is beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement or imitation.


Dionysian:
1. in Greek Mythology: Of or relating to Dionysus.
2. Of an ecstatic, orgiastic, or irrational nature; frenzied or undisciplined
3. In the philosophy of Nietzsche, of or displaying creative-intuitive power as opposed to critical-rational power.

Apollonian: displaying reason, culture, harmony, and restraint

Roan Stallion -- Jeffers

This poem is kind of creepy, in its erotic relationship between a woman and a horse. The horse clearly represents the wildness of nature, its unpredictability and grandeur. The woman, California, basically falls in love with the horse because of its wild nature, but must kill it in the end. It is a tragic story (go figure!).

For Una -- Jeffers

Knowing Jeffers' past and the fact that his wife, Una, tried to kill herself, makes this poem extremely sad. We know that Jeffers was unfaithful, and that he did not treat Una right at all. I'm not sure when this was written, but I would guess it was written after Una died, or when she was sick. This poem is not just about Una and the love he had for her, or the guilt he felt for cheating on her. Jeffers uses the poem to make many political references and share his opinion quite strongly. There are parts I don't quite understand, of course, but mostly, Jeffers talks about how the world is doomed, destined to fail.

The Purse-Seine -- Jeffers

This poem too, is quite tragic in the sense that the people of the city are being drawn in just like the sardines in the purse-seine that is the American government. They don't know it, but because Jeffers is on the outside looking in, he can see what the ordinary citizens cannot.

Apology for Bad Dreams -- Jeffers

I took notes on this poem in class. Here are some of them:

- Like many of Jeffers’ poems, Aplogy for Bad Dreams is filled with sorrow, woe, and tragedy.
- Says that the Big Sur coast “calls out for tragedy like all beautiful places”
- Has to do with the sublime. This beautiful landscape is almost like a religious experience because of the beauty. It’s sublime, therefore tragic.
- Because of his beliefs, this rock formation and coastline is a miracle. This experience of connection to nature in which you are diminished as a human will clear your mind and allow you to EXPAND YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS.
- This is a selfless state of being in which your ego is not in control.
- If we cannot reach this state, we will live lives of tragedy.

Tragedy, in this sense, is the effect that we can never equal the beauty of the rocks, the beauty of nature in itself.

Continent's End -- Jeffers

This poem contains much about the sublime. Every word that Jeffers writes is about the power and magnificence of nature. Also, in this poem is the idea of the poet as God, which is another common theme in Jeffers' poems. Jeffers' language is very different from of both Stevens and Williams. He uses verbs such as "veiled" and "wreathed" and "gazing" etc. which are all to do with the idea of the sublime in nature.

Shine, Perishing Republic -- Robinson Jeffers

In many of Jeffers' poems, we see a reference to nature. In this one, Jeffers compares America to a rotting plant/fruit. He believes that America was going down, because it was becoming an empire, slowly but surely. Jeffers is a pessimist, as we see in so many of his poems, including this one. He does not want to associate himself with this nation that is going to fail and become compost for the world.

The Course of a Particular -- Wallace Stevens

I think that Stevens thinks that leaves are sad, hence the crying. Sad that they cannot live the lives they see below them, and eventually above them (when they fall). It's kind of a sad poem. In the last stanza, Stevens expresses how sad life without thought and imagination would surely be. The leaf is just a leaf, it cannot imagine or fantasize, which would be terrible to Stevens.

Of Mere Being -- Wallace Stevens

Again, because Stevens is so abstract, the poem could be read in a number of ways. Personally, I believe the bird that he mentions symbolizes the meaning of life. I think he is making a statement about death and once you are dead, you realize what every living person wants to know: the meaning of life. Knowing what it is will not make you happy or unhappy, a thought to the philosophers who spend their life trying to figure it out. Like the last poem, I could be totally misreading these poems, but oh well.

The Plain Sense of Things -- Wallace Stevens

This is a totally abstract poem, but I personally thought it hinted at death. "After the leaves have fallen" makes me think of the end of life. When a leaf falls, it has died, and I think Stevens is pondering life after death. I could be way off about this, but it seems like Stevens is scared of death because he can imagine no more. Once one is dead, one cannot fantasize or dream anymore. It is over.

Again, this can be totally wrong, but since this poem is so completely abstract, it is tough to extract its true meaning.

Of Modern Poetry -- Wallace Stevens

This is an interesting concept: a poem about poetry. I think Stevens was right on in his description of poetry. He claims that poetry now has to find what will suffice, and that once it was not that way. I think it means that "poetry of the mind" now has to always find new ground, a new frontier. It makes me think of music in today's society. How every artist is hoping to create a "new sound," to find the next best thing. Artists crave to be novel, to be one of a kind, and with this poem, I believe Stevens has done just that.

Study of Two Pears -- Wallace Stevens

This poem is sectioned like "Blackbird," once again showing the Cubist in Stevens. He mentions that the pears, which are to be drawn or painted it seems, are just pears. They do not represent anything except pears. He then goes on to talk about the colors of the pear, just describing what he sees. As I was reading it, aware of the Cubist influence, I could almost picture a Cubism painting of pears. I could see the colors and the shape, but skewed a bit.

The Emporer of Ice-Cream

This poem is about a woman who has died at a party. The poem contrasts life and death. In the first stanza, the poet describes the great party preparation going on: cigars being rolled, flowers being brought in and ice cream being made. The second stanza describes the dead woman being covered by a sheet that she herself embroidered.

The poem shows the social priorities; even though a woman has died, the party still goes on.

The Snow Man -- Wallace Stevens

Reading this poem, I thought of meditation. There are references to not thinking and being nothing, which reminds me of things my yoga instructor rambles on about as we are meditating. This poem is very deep in its content and may have gone right over my head, but I did not get anything more than the meditative aspect of it.

A High-Toned Old Christian Woman -- Wallace Stevens

This poem is directed toward an old Christian woman, basically telling her how silly the narrator thinks religion is compared to poetry. I think "poetry is the supreme fiction" means that in poetry, there does not have to be a complete story with characters, climax and conclusion as fiction novels would. There are no rules and regulations in poetry; one can write whatever one wants to: supreme fiction.

Disillusionment of Ten O'clock -- Wallace Stevens

This poem is focused on imagination and/or lack thereof. The night-gowned people who haunt the house have no personality or imagination and are used to contrast with the sailor who dreams about catching tigers "In red weather."

Anecdote of the Jar -- Wallace Stevens

This poem is hard for me to understand, but I can picture the jar and the wilderness growing around it. It seems like the narrator placed the jar and attracted the wilderness to it. I really have no idea what it could mean.

Tea at the Palaz of Hoon -- Wallace Stevens

I really do not understand this poem at all. It seems like the narrator is some sort of ruler, given the purple comment. He seems to not understand the rituals taking place around him, like the ointment and the hymns. The narrator seems to not really know himself or his surroundings.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird -- Wallace Stevens

This poem is often referred to as a perfect example of Cubism in poetry by distinctively showing different perspectives. Cubism is all about perspective, which this poem clearly illustrates, even in its title. Each section of the poem has a different meaning attatched, some of which are clear and some of which are abstract. There is also a lot of imagism in this poem.

Asphodel, That Greeny Flower -- WCW

This poem is clearly about the love he has for his wife. Now that he is aging and approaching death, he really looks back at his life and what mistakes he has made. He thinks he has done her wrong, so he declares his love for her now.

A lot of people, in the last days/years of their lives, want to settle all quarrels and say the things they had not said enough in their lifetime. I believe this is what Williams is doing. He felt that he did not tell his wife he loved her enough in their life, so he took the opportunity with his poetry to say everything he could not say in life.

This is a beautiful poem, however it is read.

The Descent -- WCW

Since this poem was written very late in Williams' life, it is safe to assume that the descent refers to death and aging, whereas the ascent could mean birth. The evening he mentions could mean the time in one's life when they are approaching death, where Williams' was when he wrote this. When one is at this stage in life, love becomes the most important thing. Material possessions mean little when one is on the verge of death, since those things will not last past death, as love will. This poem gives me a sense of finality and contemplation.

The Yachts -- WCW

This poem, unlike many of Williams' early poems, has a lot more meaning than just the stark imagism in the poem. The yachts represent the wealthy upper-class of American society, while the crews that get tossed around in the storm represent the working/lower classes of the society Williams lived in. In this poem, there are multiple layers of meaning, which we have not seen in many other Williams poems before this time. This is one of the poems that clearly defines the break between his early poems and his later poems that actually have meaning behind the words.

The Red Wheelbarrow - WCW

This poem is an exemplary example of the imagist style of poetry. You can see exactly what the image is. The poem is plain and depicts only what is real.

Supposedly, this picture was what one of William's patients could see outside her window. She was dying. Williams does not rely on his reader's ability to understand clasical references to understand his imagery. He makes it plain and simple so that everyone may read it and enjoy it. By so doing, he is "zinging" Eliot and Pound.

So when it is put into perspective, it actually makes sense! Amazing! Considering it makes no sense whatsoever on its own. Kudos, WCW, kudos!

This is Just to Say - WCW

This poem is a little funny, especially since there is no regular pattern to it. It could have just been a note left on the fridge. Maybe he really did just eat the plums. And they were delicious.

On a more serious note, there is speculation that this poem could be about temptation or the fall. Personally, I don't think so. I think that Williams ate some plums that were not his and he felt guilty about it. He wrote this poem to apologize and put his emotions into words. According to me, anyway. =D

To Elsie - WCW

This poem was not really about Elsie. It was more about the status of America and its inhabitants at this time. Williams is morally repulsed my many things that are happening in America and is publicly denouncing the society he lives in. I keep reading that the "driverless car" is the main image of this poem and is a metaphor for America.

Spring and All - WCW

Ah, this bit of the poem is beautiful. I love how Williams kind of hits you with one line, in this case it's the last of the selection, "grip down and begin to awaken." As we mentioned in class, Eliot described spring as the worst season of all, and here Williams is glorifying it. He is definitely letting his opinion of Eliot show.

The Young Housewife - WCW

This is a sweet poem, dedicated to a young, beautiful housewife.

Williams recognizes that a woman looks her most beautiful just after she has woken up and is in a sense, at her purest moment. Sweet, vulnerable, and unaware of her beauty. I really like this poem. And the footnote was entertaining, claiming that Williams said, "Whenever a man sees a beautiful woman it's an occasion for poetry," which is poetry in itself.

The Waste Land (pt. 1)- T.S. Eliot

First thing I noticed was that this poem is dedicated to Ezra Pound, who also edited it. Eliot called Pound "the best maker," taken from Dante's Inferno. Random, but it's interesting.

As for the poem itself, I found it really hard to read. I really don't know what it was about, aside from what the footnotes said. I even tried to Google it, but that did not help.

More to come on this... After class discussion of it. =D

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock - T.S. Eliot

The first thing I noticed about "Prufrock" was all the references to mythology and classic works written by Shakespeare and Dante. Of course, I would never have gotten most of the references without the help of the footnotes. By using historical and literary references, Eliot shows that he is an educated man who can quote the legends of his field.

This poem is about a man, J. Alfred Prufrock, who is a rather boring and indecisive man who does not act on his feelings. He loves women, but is afraid to approach them. He keeps repeating the phrase "there will be time," which conveys his indecisive nature and his weariness to move on. Prufrock is scared to disrupt the life he has made for himself, although it is not a life to envy, by any means.

The title of this poem is undeniably ironic, considering that this is not exactly a love song as it is a revelation that Prufrock does not love, and is, in fact, scared to love. This poem is kind of sad, in a way. I ended up feeling sad for Prufrock, the lonely, aging, balding man who is afraid to find love. He even claims that the mermaids wouldn't even sing to him. :(