1) WOW...he's a dirty dirty man...I cannot believe that his poems were just so blatent. I mean..I'm not necessarily complaining, just caught off guard I guess. At this point, honestly, I have nothing in my life that could even possibly come close to reflecting the emotions of Cummings in those poems. Thankfully, his poems were very easy to read, and in turn, easy to interpret.
2) Cummings has a way of merging his content and form in various ways. The first is, that the form of the poem makes it much easier for the reader to understand how he wants the poem to sound. He writes as if he is speaking and the words and punctuation are accentuating ever fluctuation of his voice. There is also a sense that his breathing patterns are a big part in correctly understanding the point of the poem. For example, in "i like my body when it is with your" there is a line that states "and the trembling-firm-smooth ness and which i will again and again and again...". When one reads that sentence aloud you can actually feel the tensing and relaxing of the muscles, as they do during times of passion. This vivid description and visualization makes the poems less archaeic and much more relevant to the times. The poetry has a lot of more concentrated emotion in the content, making it more exciting which is what contemporary readers prefer. The content is also a lot more concise in the way it is laid out, there isn't a lot of fluff. There are more words that are understandable but at the same time profound, which I think keeps the essence and beauty of poetry.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Relationship between the two
1) These two pieces honestly don't seem related at all. On the surface, Hughes' seems like a little kid complaining about the fact that he's not included in Whitman's piece. I didn't really enjoy Whitman's poem at all, simply because it was hokey in a sense, like any other poem about America. Speaking about the hard working Americans doesn't seem like a new theme to me, and doesn't seem that riveting at all.
2) The relationship between the two poems is that of a big brother and a little brother. Whitman is the big brother that has learned to speak eloquently, as if in front of a crowd. Hughes' poem, is almost like a little brother sitting in his bedroom that night after the big brothers poem. The little brother is making his remarks partly out of jealousy and partly because the big brother forgot some things. "I am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes..." when Hughes' makes this remark, it's almost as if he is reminding Whitman of the fact that he is still there, and that his role in the family--America--is just as important as the others, just simply overlooked. Hughes responds to Whitman's conception of America, by challenging the idea that everything has to be hard. There is a sense in Hughes' poem that at some point, life will get easier, that at some point there will be a greatness of America that was never expected of it before. A point of greatness that will be so great, that whomever looked down their nose at us before will come around to see the greatness that lies within. I think that the two poems are related, but that Hughes', though shorter, has more of an impact.
2) The relationship between the two poems is that of a big brother and a little brother. Whitman is the big brother that has learned to speak eloquently, as if in front of a crowd. Hughes' poem, is almost like a little brother sitting in his bedroom that night after the big brothers poem. The little brother is making his remarks partly out of jealousy and partly because the big brother forgot some things. "I am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes..." when Hughes' makes this remark, it's almost as if he is reminding Whitman of the fact that he is still there, and that his role in the family--America--is just as important as the others, just simply overlooked. Hughes responds to Whitman's conception of America, by challenging the idea that everything has to be hard. There is a sense in Hughes' poem that at some point, life will get easier, that at some point there will be a greatness of America that was never expected of it before. A point of greatness that will be so great, that whomever looked down their nose at us before will come around to see the greatness that lies within. I think that the two poems are related, but that Hughes', though shorter, has more of an impact.
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