I just finished reading the second part of ch.5 of HTRAP. There were so many observations and connections with the poems we read today, that I decided to share them. Plus, it was pointed out that making connections to other literature or even our observations to other literature helps us develop a clearer understanding:
"Syntax is pressed into the service of a tenacious commitment to truth, as each proposition threatens to cancel out the previous claim in a dogged struggle to pin down just what the speaker feels." This reminded me a lot of Dream Song 29. We discussed how Berryman began sentences with prepositions and ordered the words of this poem in a strange, and unusual way. Not the same kind of way that we would read a poem by Keats. Authors all have their own way of formulating a thought similar to the way we formulate our word choice in conversations. It's important to understand syntactical differences to develop a flexibility in conversations as well as reading literature. Where some authors are fluid and rich in language others "left the untidy stitches on his tapestry visible."
This portion of the chapter also discussed the "doubts, shifts of viewpoint" that occur in a poem. One Art was a clear example of this because the casual tone at the beginning changed to a scattered and almost defeated one at the end when the speaker had to force herself to "(write it!)." When I read this I couldn't help but think about the "full circle" endings we so often witness in literature. Maybe the poem starts off in one way, but goes through a transformation rapidly and builds toward the end. This isn't to say that ALL poems do this, but it is another way which sets poetry aside from the prose of a novel. The shifts in viewpoint take a faster risk in poetry.
The shifts in viewpoint correspond to the paradoxes and ambiguity that is often present in poetry. Since poems "do not come readily equipped with material contexts" to define a certain "meaning," we have to be open observers of irony and tonal changes within the language. "The split between how you are and how you appear" also reminded me of One Art. The speaker attempts to appear to be fine and dandy, but what she is...is not.
Another interesting element of this chapter was about rhyme. Too often I end up writing poems that rhyme because of that "sense of security." Not that anything is wrong with rhyme, but it is important to know when to use it. For instance, if one was going to write of feelings about disassociation, alienation, disconnection, failure, the feeling that everything is falling apart....one might want to write with that style. Perfect rhyme endings can give that aura of truth and perfection, but "para-rhymes" can also change the atmosphere of a poem as demonstrated by the "eerie quality" of Wilfred Owen's poem.
1 comment:
I loved reading your comments and being reminded of the discussion in class, and the chapter, but more importantly I like how you blended everything together to make it very clear how they all fit together. I think Chapter was my favorite chapter, because it addressed so many things that I struggle with in poetry. I also tend to write poems that rhyme, simply as an element of security. To myself that has always been the way I know its a poem. I never gave other forms much thought.
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