Poetry Blog 4

"The trees in the garden" by Stephen Crane is essentially an extended metaphor that highlights the down side of the core of American economics: capitalism. In this poem, the flowers the children collect symbolize money. Crane states that "the trees... rained flowers" to imply abundance, and yet the children seem to collect flowers "each to himself," and sharing is never mentioned. At only the end of the fourth line of the poem, it already reminds the reader of the capitalist world. Next Crane begins describing the nature of the children: those who collect many flowers, as opposed to those who do not: "Now there were some/ Who gathered great heaps--/ --Having opportunity and skill-- /Until, only chance blossoms/ Remained for the feeble." Obviously, Crane is now commenting on the opportunity that children of wealthier families often have that those of less fortunate backgrounds do not. The "spindling tutor" he mentions is the liberal or socialist; often seen as weak in the face of thriving capitalism in the western world, especially in the United States. The father who replies to the tutor's question of justice is the embodiment of the general public's perspective of capitalism. He says, "Are not they who possess the flowers/ Stronger, bolder, and shrewder/ Than they who have none?" The purpose of Crane's poem is to emphasize what the father has overlooked: the presence of opportunity in one's life that determines skill, skill which then determines success--or in the language of Crane's metaphor, who can gather the most flowers. Capitalism is not necessarily as fair as we like to think because not everyone has the same opportunities.

Poetry Blog 3

After reading "It was a dream," I noticed that the untitled poem by Stephen Crane had a very similar theme. Crane sets his poem "In the desert" which I thought meant in his mind: blank, like a desert, and maybe not (pun intended) in a very good place. The creature he comes upon seemed to be his subconscious, eating what is both his heart and Crane's heart. The creature eating his heart symbolizes self destructiveness, which is what Crane may feel like he is doing to himself; he is possibly becoming cold and introverted, or in other words eating his own heart. When the narrator asks, "Is it good, friend?" it is his conscious questioning if "eating his own heart" is really a good thing to be doing. But, his subconscious continues to eat his heart and says "It is bitter--bitter," as if to mean that he is not happy with his heart, and this is why he eats it. The next lines, "But I like it/ Because it is bitter,/ And because it is my heart," provide further evidence for this. Crane is saying because his heart is bitter it is better to eat it, and he likes it because it is his own heart and not someone else's. This poem, like "It was a dream," has a feeling of regret that reminds the reader of the importance of listening to your subconscious. However, the untitled poem was much more difficult to analyze, and I am still not convinced I analyzed it correctly or deeply enough. This could have been purposeful, as it points out that the subconscious should still be listened to, whether it is easy to discern what it is saying or not.

Poetry Blog 2

Sorry this one is late again! I keep forgetting to do blogs for some reason.

The poem "It was a dream" by Lucille Clifton really spoke to me. In it, Clifton describes a dream with which she decodes some of her inner most thoughts and feelings. The poem initially intrigued me because I feel like I have lots of dreams similar to this. Clifton speaks with her "greater self," which I took to mean her subconscious--the more introspective and pensive part of a person. Clifton says she is being "accused of her life" by her "greater self," which sounds mysterious and poetic, but I think it's just a mysterious and poetic way of saying the way she has lived her life, and I didn't read very deeply into it. I read more deeply into the next line in which Clifton says "with her extra finger." This I took to mean the sixth sense the subconscious has that the conscious mind does not: what allows the human subconscious to be more in tune with one's mental and emotional needs. This "extra finger" I suppose is why Clifton's "greater self" had an answer for her when she asked, "what could I have done?" Showing Clifton's inner wild side with her "wild hair" and "wild eyes," her "greater self" replies in a scream, "This. This. This." This last line was very impactful to me. At first, I didn't know what Clifton meant. But by reading it in the context of the few preceding lines, I realized that Clifton meant to say her "greater self" was screaming, and by "This" she meant "you could have screamed and been heard." Clifton could have spoken her mind and spoken up for what she believed in and been heard, and it would have changed her life. Because I have dreams that I think explain some of my underlying subconscious feelings, to me this poem was a very powerful way of influencing people to speak up for what they believe in. It makes me want to voice an opinion if I have one, and want to listen to what my subconscious tells me, because it has an "extra finger" that I do not.

Poetry Blog 1

"The Cat," by Miroslav Holub is a very relatable poem, which I think is the poem's point. The first stanza describes the almost blank darkness of nighttime beyond a city window, the stars swallowed by the glow of urban light; or as Holub puts it, "And the eternal dark/ dripped to the stars through the sieve of the/ city." This imagery creates the poem's setting; one that is widely know by modern day humans. With the next stanza, Holub's story begins. The narrator warns whichever "she" he is referring to not to go into the dark. he reasons with her, "why want/ nothing?" This dialogue creates foreshadowing for what happens in the next few stanzas: a "black cat," who is probably the previously titled "she," "dissolves" into the blackness outside, and disappears forever. This poem seems to be straightforward, but I don't think it's really about a cat. The cat seems to symbolize someone in Holub's life, or even himself, who seems to have disappeared into nothingness. It could even symbolize a part of himself that he has lost; maybe dreams that he has lost to the nothingness that is the real world. The relatable part of this poem returns with the last stanza, where Holub says, "But you can hear her/ sometimes,... and you listen intently/ to your own self." This is where the reader relates to Holub: Everyone has lost a part of themself--be it a person or a relationship or a dream--that sometimes echoes when you are in touch with yourself.