Not a very clever title, but this post is a cop-out anyway. I recently had an English assignment that I utterly loathed to the point where not only did I write it a week late; I wrote it in the 2 hours I had between when I woke up and when class started the absolute LAST day the professor would take it. The prompt was to take a difficult line from three separate poems that we had read in class and respond to them(why they were difficult,what they mean,etc.) and I'm pretty damn proud of the amount of sass I could crap out for it. So, here ya'll can my A+(minus 11 points due to lateness so it's technically a B+) paper.
The Hardest Lines
“Puzzling lines puzzle us precisely because they have so much to teach us.” Reading poetry is hard. Analyzing poetry is even harder. Most people, pardon, most sane people avoid poetry like the plague. I really can’t say I blame them. It’s chock-full of words no one uses anymore; or that just plain don’t exist, and it has metaphors that could be interpreted endlessly. Not to mention, the poem could have more than one theme or message entirely. The problem with most peoples’ relationship with poetry is that they feel like the author isn’t speaking to them, but rather, those fancy-pants guys in the corner that mock you every time you speak. If people just took the time to break the poems down, word by word if necessary, they can just as easily understand a poem as those jerks I mentioned earlier.
“I’m a riddle in nine syllables/An elephant, a ponderous house”
Metaphors confuse people, plain and simple. Without the inclusion of “like” or “as”(because then it’d be a simile) we never really know how exactly the author wants us to interpret their statement, and we all know a lack of definition makes people think and nobody likes that. Not to mention a lot of people tend to forget their primary school teachings and have to brush back the cobwebs and look behind the trunk full of great—grandma’s moth-eaten doilies to have a connection with the word “syllable”. It’s that term where your teachers would make you clap along with the sounding out of a word, if you must be reminded. So now that we’ve got all the hard stuff out of the way, we can move on to what this seemingly ridiculous and nonsense bit of what poetry is really about. The first part of the line, “I’m a riddle in nine syllables” is, actually, nine syllables when tested; if we dig deeper, though, we recognize the number nine as something significant to every person out there. Nine is the gestation period for a human. Ah, now we’re getting somewhere! The rest is cake, I swear! How would you feel if you were pregnant? Like a house or elephant perhaps? Ah, but what is this ponderous word? When we examine that portion a little further, we begin to really concentrate on the word “ponderous” and what elephant could possibly stand for other than just feeling fat. Ponderous means thinking, okay, we’ve got that; elephants are known for their memory and intelligence. This line is conveying to the reader that this is a decision the author feels the full weight of and keeps trying to remember why she made it, and if it was the right one.
“Constantly risking absurdity/and death/wherever he performs/above the heads of his audience”
Honestly, most poets are pretentious. Or at least project that kind of air about them. Luckily, this particular author recognizes that that’s a common problem with poetry, for both the reader and the author. Let’s be honest, writing poetry is hard. Everyone’s had to do it at some point in time, and it really isn’t for everyone. Slapping down a few lines that rhyme, announcing them to the class and then sitting down in shame and embarrassment is something every kid these days has gone through. I’d say that a poet is “constantly risking absurdity” every time they write a poem. They could either sound like they’ve written a deep and profound masterpiece, or a Lady Gaga song. Hopefully they’ve created the former, because the world really doesn’t need more of latter. Once they do decide to introduce the world to their supposed masterpiece, they “perform above the heads of [their] audience”, because if they just give away the message in the beginning, there won’t be anyone clamoring for depth and meaning in the end.
“And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain/For unremembered lads that not again/Will turn to me at midnight with a cry”
I’m sure if you’re a modern lady, this one isn’t the least bit tough. I mean, most every girl has had to deal with the trial and tribulations of “spring flings” and summer romances at least once in their lifetimes. Many people read this poem and assume the author is a working gal because of when this poem was written. Sure, it was the early 20th century and usually the only women who had a plethora of suitor like our narrator were “women of the night”, but there isn’t much evidence to support it. No, this poem instead tells the tale of an unconventional woman. She can’t be tied down to one man because heck, there could be someone even better around the bend for all she knows. As much as it “pains” her to leave one lover, she realizes that once the next is in her life, she’s utterly consumed with them and she’ll have completely forgotten the former. Unfortunately, the lads she tends to find herself with just don’t get her progressive way of thinking about love and intimacy and find themselves head over heels in love with her, only to be scorned at the stroke of midnight.
In conclusion, reading and analyzing poetry really isn’t as hard as it seems. All one really had to do is break it down into simple, understandable fragments and use that as a jumping off point. Once one does that, the rest comes quick and easy. The reader just needs to get beyond getting their feet wet and dive right in. Come on, give it a go, it won’t bite!
Cheating at the internet.
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Happy winter and all the holidays this encompasses. My holidays have been
spent being insanely ill and dreading the surgey i get to have on my bum
because ...
3 hours ago