Last year in french class, I had to read a book in french and present a book report on it. I decided to read "Les Fleurs du Mal" by Charles Baudelaire which is a collection of poetry witch six thematically different sections. Reading the poem in french was very difficult for me, especially since my french wasn't the best (I had to spend a lot of time flipping through french to English dictionaries) and it was hard for me to pick up on metaphors. However, I still think that, for poetry, a bit of the poem is a loss in translation and there's a beauty to reading a poem in its original language. I did not have enough time to finish reading "Les Fleurs du Mal" so I focus on reading a section of the book called Tableaux Parisiens which described the Paris of Baudelaire's time and also gave some insight on critiques Baudelaire had with France. One of my favorite poems in this section was "le Cygne" (https://fleursdumal.org/poem/220). In this poem, the author wanders around Paris and sees a swan. Suddenly the speaker is struck with grief and nostalgia over how much Paris has changed and begins to compare his experience with that of other exiled figures in literature/mythology such as Andromanche (Hector's wife in greek mythology who mourned the death of her husband and loss of Troy in the Trojan war).
Here is my favorite stanza from the poem:
"Paris changes! but naught in my melancholy
Has stirred! New palaces, scaffolding, blocks of stone,
Old quarters, all become for me an allegory,
And my dear memories are heavier than rocks."
I got a deep sense of nostalgic yearning for the "old" Paris in this line as well a sense of regret for how fast time passes. Considering that Baudelaire wrote "Le Cygne" during the rebuilding of Paris after the revolution of 1848, many aspects of the city that he was once familiar with have drastically changed. In addition, I get the impression that the speaker seems to feel like he's "in exile" even though he is still in Paris, a city he should be familiar with. The speaker wanders through Paris but is constantly weighed down by his past memories of the old Paris. He feels a strong sense of disconnect in a familiar place. I've always thought of Paris as "the city of love" and a tourist destination, so it was interesting, and a little sad, to see Baudelaire's perspective. I haven't experience the exact feelings of Baudelaire yet, but I wonder if I will experience this feeling when I get older and visit places I frequent during my childhood.
Friday, May 15, 2020
Thursday, May 14, 2020
god I hate corn
I've had a strong dislike of cornfields for the past four years. Before, I was mostly indifferent to cornfields, whenever I drove past any cornfields I would always just ignore them. To me, the cornfields of Illinois always looked kind of ugly, especially when compared to the ocean or to the mountains. But lately, I think my relationship with corn has grown a bit more complex. I may joke about cornfields being ugly, but I've always associated the thought of my hometown with corn. I associated corn with central Illinois, so I suspect that in 20 years the thought of corn might make me feels a little nostalgic. So I think I'll leave Ode to Maize by Pablo Neruda in my time capsule (https://www.poemhunter.com/poems/ode/page-1/29283/). Although my experience with corn may be different than Neruda's, I can still appreciate and relate to his appreciation for maize.
"Then the husks parted
and fruitfulness burst its veils
of pale papyrus
that grains of laughter
might fall upon the earth."
This was one of my favorite stanzas in Neruda's poem because of how vividly descriptive it was. I just like how Neruda makes corn feel so joyful.
"Oh, to bite into
the steaming ear beside the sea
of distant song and deepest waltz.
To boil you
As your aroma
spreads through
blue sierras."
I'll admit that while I find cornfields a little ugly I really like eating corn. In that respect, I thought that the above stanza from Neruda's poem conjured up a lot of childhood memories for me. I can clearly remember the feeling of biting a still steaming ear of waxy corn my mother just made, or the smell of corn cooking, or the experience of eating sweet corn at Urbana's annual sweet corn festival.
So while my experience with corn isn't exactly the same as Neruda's, (It's awfully hard to "bite into the steaming ear beside the sea" when you live in landlocked Illinois) I think this poem would still instill a sense of nostalgia in me for Central Illinois and my youth.
"Then the husks parted
and fruitfulness burst its veils
of pale papyrus
that grains of laughter
might fall upon the earth."
This was one of my favorite stanzas in Neruda's poem because of how vividly descriptive it was. I just like how Neruda makes corn feel so joyful.
"Oh, to bite into
the steaming ear beside the sea
of distant song and deepest waltz.
To boil you
As your aroma
spreads through
blue sierras."
I'll admit that while I find cornfields a little ugly I really like eating corn. In that respect, I thought that the above stanza from Neruda's poem conjured up a lot of childhood memories for me. I can clearly remember the feeling of biting a still steaming ear of waxy corn my mother just made, or the smell of corn cooking, or the experience of eating sweet corn at Urbana's annual sweet corn festival.
So while my experience with corn isn't exactly the same as Neruda's, (It's awfully hard to "bite into the steaming ear beside the sea" when you live in landlocked Illinois) I think this poem would still instill a sense of nostalgia in me for Central Illinois and my youth.
Old People
It was hard for me to find a poem that was unfamiliar to me since usually I'm attracted to poetry that I can relate and connect to. But, for this blog post, I decided to examine a poem about aging. I'm a teenager and it's already hard enough to view the world from my parents' perspective sometimes, so I thought reading a poem about growing old would be interesting. I read "Growing Old" by Matthew Arnold" (link: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52311/growing-old)
What first struck me about this poem was the author's definition of aging. When I think about aging, I usually think about the physical effects such as the greying hair, the wrinkles, the loss of memory. When I imagine myself as an old person, I think of myself sitting by the fire muttering about how good things were back in the day. I imagine myself to be full of regrets for things I didn't try when I was younger. However, Arnold argues that aging is more than this. He writes that aging " 'tis not what in youth we dreamed 'twould be!". Instead, Arnold frames aging as an almost emotionless process -- which I personally found more frightening.
Here are some lines of Arnold's poem "Growing Old" that I found fascinating:
"It is to spend long days
And not once feel that we were ever young;"
"Deep in our hidden heart
Festers the dull remembrance of a change,
But no emotion -- none"
"It is -- the last stage of all --
When we are frozen up within, and quite
The phantom of ourselves,
To hear the world applaud the hollow ghost
Which blamed the living man."
Obviously, I can't relate to the process of growing old so I don't understand this poem entirely. However, I always imagine that the most painful thing about growing old would be the contrast with youth. You don't look the way you used to do. Your memory wasn't as good as when you were younger. Aging is scary for me because I won't be young anymore or maybe won't remember the experience of being young at all. In that respect, I can understand a little bit of the sentiment of Arnold's poem. In addition, Arnold frames the process of growing old as this utterly emotionless and hollow process. But I can't imagine how being emotionless would feel or how it would feel to be "frozen up within". In addition, although I've never experienced what it's like to be old, I don't completely agree with Arnold's depiction of aging. According to him, aging seems like such a cynical and negative process. However, I think there are probably some joyful things about aging.
I also found the last two lines to be interesting. I don't know the exact meaning of the last two lines but I interpreted as the speaker express his sorrow for the fact that people or society will acknowledge the accomplishments of your youth but the acknowledgment feels hollow because you aren't the same person anymore. My parents have always told me that you have to work hard when your younger so that you can have a more successful life when you're older. In some respects, I think that advice is valid but Arnold's poem "Growing Old" serves as a counterpoint to that idea. Would it really be worth it wait until your old to enjoy yourself when your body and mind start failing you?
What first struck me about this poem was the author's definition of aging. When I think about aging, I usually think about the physical effects such as the greying hair, the wrinkles, the loss of memory. When I imagine myself as an old person, I think of myself sitting by the fire muttering about how good things were back in the day. I imagine myself to be full of regrets for things I didn't try when I was younger. However, Arnold argues that aging is more than this. He writes that aging " 'tis not what in youth we dreamed 'twould be!". Instead, Arnold frames aging as an almost emotionless process -- which I personally found more frightening.
Here are some lines of Arnold's poem "Growing Old" that I found fascinating:
"It is to spend long days
And not once feel that we were ever young;"
"Deep in our hidden heart
Festers the dull remembrance of a change,
But no emotion -- none"
"It is -- the last stage of all --
When we are frozen up within, and quite
The phantom of ourselves,
To hear the world applaud the hollow ghost
Which blamed the living man."
Obviously, I can't relate to the process of growing old so I don't understand this poem entirely. However, I always imagine that the most painful thing about growing old would be the contrast with youth. You don't look the way you used to do. Your memory wasn't as good as when you were younger. Aging is scary for me because I won't be young anymore or maybe won't remember the experience of being young at all. In that respect, I can understand a little bit of the sentiment of Arnold's poem. In addition, Arnold frames the process of growing old as this utterly emotionless and hollow process. But I can't imagine how being emotionless would feel or how it would feel to be "frozen up within". In addition, although I've never experienced what it's like to be old, I don't completely agree with Arnold's depiction of aging. According to him, aging seems like such a cynical and negative process. However, I think there are probably some joyful things about aging.
I also found the last two lines to be interesting. I don't know the exact meaning of the last two lines but I interpreted as the speaker express his sorrow for the fact that people or society will acknowledge the accomplishments of your youth but the acknowledgment feels hollow because you aren't the same person anymore. My parents have always told me that you have to work hard when your younger so that you can have a more successful life when you're older. In some respects, I think that advice is valid but Arnold's poem "Growing Old" serves as a counterpoint to that idea. Would it really be worth it wait until your old to enjoy yourself when your body and mind start failing you?
Friday, April 17, 2020
Sijo
"I will break the back of this long midwinter night,
folding it double, cold beneath my spring quilt,
that I may draw out the night, should my love return."
-Hwang Chin-I
The above poem is an example of a sijo poem, which a type of Korean traditional poetry. I first encountered the sijo form through an agora class and ever since then, the form has piqued my interest. I love how the sijo form manages to be so brief yet insightful at the same time. The sijo was initially meant to be a song, thus the poetic form is very lyrical.
If you like haikus, I have good news for you! The structure of a sijo is similar to that of a haiku. It is a very brief poem. The sijo is composed of just three lines that are between fourteen to sixteen syllables. From there, each line is then separated into groups of syllables. The first line has a syllable grouping of 3-4-4-4 and the second line echoes this format. However, the final line breaks this pattern. The first half of the final line (the countertheme) has a 3-5 grouping and the latter half (the conclusion) has a 4-3 grouping. Although some liberties can be taken in regards to the syllable groups as the total syllable count in each line is kept. The Sijo should have around forty-four to forty-six syllables in total. The syllables in the above poem are a little off but that's probably because it was translated from Korean to English. One of the most interesting aspects of the Sijo form (or well one of the most interesting aspects in my opinion), is how each line has a designated purpose. The first line is supposed to set up the theme of the poem. The second line develops and elaborates on the theme from the first line. Finally, the third line concludes the theme. However, there is a twist, literally. The first half of the final line should introduce some sort of countertheme. The twist can either be a thematic twist or a lyrical one.
I'll try to explain how the sijo form applies to the poem I shared above. The translation messed up some of the syllable groupings but I think the thematic structure of the three lines remained intact.
The first line of the poem introduces the subject of the poem while also setting up the mood of the poem. The phrase "break the back" gives this line a violent feeling while the phrase "long midwinter night" exudes a sense of coldness and loneliness.
The second line builds on the first line both thematically and by providing a little more context. The phrase "cold beneath my spring quilt" continues on the themes from the first line.
Here, "that I may draw out the night" represents the counter-theme. This phrase represents the twists. While the other two lines give off a feeling of loneliness, this phrase gives off a feeling of hope or longing. In the first two lines, the speaker seems to be sitting alone and outside at night, feeling miserable. However, the countertheme establishes that the speaker is actually waiting for something.
The phrase "should my love return" is the conclusion of the sijo. We now know that the speaker is actually waiting out the night to see their love again. By the end of the poem, I just feel warm and fuzzy. In contrast to the coldness of the first line of the poem, the conclusion is really sweet.
And that concludes my blog post on the Sijo form! If you have any thoughts feel free to leave a comment.
folding it double, cold beneath my spring quilt,
that I may draw out the night, should my love return."
-Hwang Chin-I
The above poem is an example of a sijo poem, which a type of Korean traditional poetry. I first encountered the sijo form through an agora class and ever since then, the form has piqued my interest. I love how the sijo form manages to be so brief yet insightful at the same time. The sijo was initially meant to be a song, thus the poetic form is very lyrical.
If you like haikus, I have good news for you! The structure of a sijo is similar to that of a haiku. It is a very brief poem. The sijo is composed of just three lines that are between fourteen to sixteen syllables. From there, each line is then separated into groups of syllables. The first line has a syllable grouping of 3-4-4-4 and the second line echoes this format. However, the final line breaks this pattern. The first half of the final line (the countertheme) has a 3-5 grouping and the latter half (the conclusion) has a 4-3 grouping. Although some liberties can be taken in regards to the syllable groups as the total syllable count in each line is kept. The Sijo should have around forty-four to forty-six syllables in total. The syllables in the above poem are a little off but that's probably because it was translated from Korean to English. One of the most interesting aspects of the Sijo form (or well one of the most interesting aspects in my opinion), is how each line has a designated purpose. The first line is supposed to set up the theme of the poem. The second line develops and elaborates on the theme from the first line. Finally, the third line concludes the theme. However, there is a twist, literally. The first half of the final line should introduce some sort of countertheme. The twist can either be a thematic twist or a lyrical one.
I'll try to explain how the sijo form applies to the poem I shared above. The translation messed up some of the syllable groupings but I think the thematic structure of the three lines remained intact.
First Line
"I will break the back of this long midwinter night," (12 syllables)The first line of the poem introduces the subject of the poem while also setting up the mood of the poem. The phrase "break the back" gives this line a violent feeling while the phrase "long midwinter night" exudes a sense of coldness and loneliness.
Second Line
"folding it double, cold beneath my spring quilt" (11 syllables)The second line builds on the first line both thematically and by providing a little more context. The phrase "cold beneath my spring quilt" continues on the themes from the first line.
Third Line
"that I may draw out the night, should my love return." (12 syllables)Here, "that I may draw out the night" represents the counter-theme. This phrase represents the twists. While the other two lines give off a feeling of loneliness, this phrase gives off a feeling of hope or longing. In the first two lines, the speaker seems to be sitting alone and outside at night, feeling miserable. However, the countertheme establishes that the speaker is actually waiting for something.
The phrase "should my love return" is the conclusion of the sijo. We now know that the speaker is actually waiting out the night to see their love again. By the end of the poem, I just feel warm and fuzzy. In contrast to the coldness of the first line of the poem, the conclusion is really sweet.
And that concludes my blog post on the Sijo form! If you have any thoughts feel free to leave a comment.
Bonus!
Here's a sijo poem a wrote two years ago in the agora days class. It's semi-autobiographical since this was written back when I played an unhealthy amount of Tetris.
Working Title: Stop playing tetris, this is why you never get anything done
Keyboard clicks, the block falls down, cleanly placed, no holes in the tower
Speed increase, but hands remain sure, the fruits of hours of practice
Finally, the long block appears but I misplace it. Hours wasted.
Friday, April 10, 2020
My Favorite Poem
Whenever anyone asks for my favorite poem or poet I always struggled to pick just one poem or poet. If I had to pick out a handful of my favorite poets or poetry though, I think that Sylvia Plath and her poetry would definitely be on that list. The vivid imagery, complexity, and generally disturbing vibe of some of her poems have always fascinated me. I was first introduced to Plath last year, in Mitchell's Coming of Age Novel Class where I read The Bell Jar, which was an amazing novel. But I think my favorite Plath poems would have to be "Nick and the Candlestick". Seriously, if you haven't read it yet you should. Here's the link: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49006/nick-and-the-candlestick. But honestly, this is one of those poems that I think sounds better when read aloud. I remember watching this video in a previous English class where a man read aloud his favorite poem (which was "Nick and the Candlestick") and explained why he liked it. And I don't know, but something about the way he read the poem just elevated it to the next level for me. I've tracked down the link if you want to watch the video: https://youtu.be/uKCVsUIWLrQ . Here's also a video of Slyvia Plath reading her poem aloud too: https://youtu.be/yHJsJBm413U .
So the man from the video described "Nick and the Candlestick" as crazy and I would 100% agree with his description. I'll confess that this poem confuses me and I don't fully know what the poem is about (if anyone has any interpretations of the poem feel free to comment them!) but the raw, almost brutal, emotion in the poem really gripped me. "Nick and the Candlestick" has some of my favorite lines in poetry, so this blog post is mostly going to focus on individual lines or stanzas that I felt were powerful. Because so much of Plath's work is confessional and based on her life, I think it's important to consider what was going on in Plath's life when she wrote this poem. Plath actually has a son named Nicholas so it's highly likely that this poem is addressed to him. This poem was written shortly after Plath separated from her husband, Ted Hughes. At the time, she lived alone with her two children a house that Hughes originally bought.
Honestly, if you want a deeper understanding of this poem I would read this essay on poetry foundation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/143643/sylvia-plath-nick-and-the-candlestick.
Here are some of my favorite stanzas in Plath's poem:
If I'm going to write about this poem, I have to talk about the ending. The ending is such a gut punch for me. I just absolutely love it.
If you've read "Nick and the Candlestick" and have a favorite line or stanza, feel free to mention them in the comments!
So the man from the video described "Nick and the Candlestick" as crazy and I would 100% agree with his description. I'll confess that this poem confuses me and I don't fully know what the poem is about (if anyone has any interpretations of the poem feel free to comment them!) but the raw, almost brutal, emotion in the poem really gripped me. "Nick and the Candlestick" has some of my favorite lines in poetry, so this blog post is mostly going to focus on individual lines or stanzas that I felt were powerful. Because so much of Plath's work is confessional and based on her life, I think it's important to consider what was going on in Plath's life when she wrote this poem. Plath actually has a son named Nicholas so it's highly likely that this poem is addressed to him. This poem was written shortly after Plath separated from her husband, Ted Hughes. At the time, she lived alone with her two children a house that Hughes originally bought.
Honestly, if you want a deeper understanding of this poem I would read this essay on poetry foundation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/143643/sylvia-plath-nick-and-the-candlestick.
Here are some of my favorite stanzas in Plath's poem:
"A vice of knives,
A piranha
Religion, drinking
Its first communion out of my live toes.
The candle
Gulps and recovers its small altitude"
These stanzas emphasize one of my favorite features of this poem -- its fluidity. The poem transactions from one brutal image to another, which gives the entire poem a chaotic feeling. Yet at the same time, the transitions feel natural and kind of make sense. For me, I just felt like the image of "a piranha religion" was powerfully horrifying. Some aspects of these lines were fascinatingly paradoxical to me. Normally, I would think of religion or communion to be uplifting things but in "Nick and the Candlestick" creates this almost-parallel world that subverts that expectation. Here communion becomes this nightmare-ish act. The poetry article I read also mentioned how these lines symbolized both life and death. The article mentioned how these lines could be referring both to the way nutrients are passed from the mother to an embryo and to the martyrdom of Christ.
If I'm going to write about this poem, I have to talk about the ending. The ending is such a gut punch for me. I just absolutely love it.
"You are the one
Solid the spaces lean on, envious.
You are the baby in the barn."
Again, I mostly love this stanza because of how paradoxical it is. Take the phrase "the one solid the spaces lean on". On one hand, this line conveys a feeling of strength and reliability. According to this line, the baby is literally the only solid thing who is supporting the "spaces". One the other hand, this line conveys a feeling of vulnerability. If the baby is the only solid the spaces are lean on, then that situation must be pretty precarious. And of course, all of this is being addressed toward a baby which adds another layer of complexity to the lines. I wonder what makes this baby so important to the extent that it is the only "solid" and the spaces lean on him. And then there's the last line. Honestly, I don't know what to make of the allusion to Christ's birth. I don't know, this last line felt like a satisfying ending for me but I can't quite make sense of it.
If you've read "Nick and the Candlestick" and have a favorite line or stanza, feel free to mention them in the comments!
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