Poetry Analysis 2

 Poets may arrange their material to encourage the reader to move rapidly through the lines or in a
way that encourages reflection. In the work of at least two poets you have studied, consider how
the pace of poems is created and its relation to the way meaning is delivered.

Emily Dickinson created poetry that included punctuation that was different and new. She used a lot of dashes instead of commas, when dashes were not grammatically correct at the time. As a person, Dickinson had no desire to live in the world around her. While alone, she could create her own boundaries of writing, and explore ideas that had not been discovered. Dickinson became an extremely well known poet for the risks she took in her writing, and the barriers she broke to make authentic works. 

One of the largest and obvious aspects of why Dickinson's pieces are so successful is her meticulous grammar and word choices. She took time to make sure her poems sounded a certain way when they were read. Certain lines had to end with a specific letter, or certain words have to rhyme in specific places. All of the factors that play a part in her poems is what makes Dickinson so special. When people read her poems, they recognize where the dashes and commas are being placed throughout the piece. How the poem is read plays a huge role in how the meaning or story gets across. The dashes slow down the reader, so when there are no dashes or commas, readers tend to speak a line much faster. I have read her poems aloud pretending that there are no dashes, and the meaning/mood of the poem completely changed for me. 

When reading "Hope" is the Thing with Feathers the first time without recognizing the dashes, I thought the poem meant that the author had heard of hope and had never experienced it. Even though the poem could have a happier/more upbeat air about it while reading it faster without pause, it seemed almost cynical. "I've heard it in the chillest land and on the strangest sea yet never in extremity it asked a crumb of me." When reading that whole stanza without any of Dickinson's grammar, I saw a darker, more cloudy vision of hope and how it could let someone down. I thought it was depressing. I said to myself "Wow. This woman has never experienced hope." When I read it again with the dashes I was shocked. The pauses made me stop and digest the poem in a different way. 

When I read the poem with pauses, I was slowed down and calm. Reading it aloud, I sense a more uplifting and hopeful feeling. (Which was probably the goal of Dickinson.) The poem seemed less like "Ring Around the Rosie," and more like a children's rhyming story. I do not feel that this poem is childish in any sense, but I do believe that it is elegant in its own simplicity. To fully grasp and understand the poem it took me a few tries, but I certainly needed the specific pauses to get the full picture. "I've heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, it asked a crumb - of me." When I read "never" with the dashes, I understood how I judged the poem wrongly the first time around. Never had hope asked anything of Dickinson, even though it has brought her through so many tribulations. When there is a pause in that moment, it brings a different meaning to the word. 

I feel that Dickinson really knew what she was doing with her grammar and word choice. She understood the idea that in order to get a specific meaning across to an audience, the piece has to be delivered in a very specific way. She used all writing mechanics to her advantage when creating her work. Readers cannot have the author read a poem to them in the exact tone intended with the exact length of pauses intended by the poet. This is the closest Dickinson could get to reading her poems aloud, and I believe that this is the reason her legacy has lived on for so long. It is almost like she is reading her poems to us through her mechanics, grammar, and word choice. 

Poetry Analysis

“Poets often withhold certitude, which can at the same time empower readers to think creatively.”
Consider the works of at least two poets you have studied in which ambiguity has enabled readers
to reach their own conclusions about meaning and implications.

Naomi Shihab Nye creates poetry that is able to capture an audience and peak their interest. She is inspires curiosity by telling stories in pieces, stringing them together by her own experiences and inner thoughts. She gives enough information and detail that her readers can understand the aura and meaning behind her ideas, but does not lay out a story perfectly. Readers have room to use their imaginations about her past and present self. The small moments she gives in detail are just a few pieces in the puzzle of her life and full testimony. When  I read Nye's poetry I see each moment she describes as a flash. As I read, I see each stanza as a singular moment, movement, idea, or thought that Nye has experienced. Her writing is personal and real. She is an author who writes with metaphors to bring imagination and creativity into her work. Nye does not try to cover up or protect her hardships with a whimsical or distracting air, but instead uses vocabulary to her advantage to allow the issue she is discussing to be front and center. She works with and around her hardship so that it is the main focus of her piece. 

Throughout Nye's work she shows clear small moments, but never gives a full picture or complete background information. Because she writes this way, readers become more drawn in to dissect and depict each word choice, as if there are clues to her life hidden in the structure of her work. It is easy to get pulled into a curious state, hoping for more clues about her past. Nye causes readers to use their imagination and search for more. A good example of this is in her poem The Words Under the Words. In this poem Nye speaks of her grandmother, introducing readers to who she is and what she represents to her. In this poem it is difficult to tell how close Nye is to her grandmother, but readers can easily understand that she cares deeply for her wisdom. There are certain aspects of this poem that can be easily received by readers, such as the fact that her grandmother is very caring. Nye depicts this through describing her grandmother's concerns in life, as well as how she spends her time. When Nye writes "She knows the spaces we travel through, the messages we cannot send - our voices are short and would get lost on the journey," it causes readers to think about how her grandmother lives, and how she treats relationships. When I read this, I initially thought that Nye was trying to say that her grandmother does not take all of her relationships seriously because she knows they will end. That was my thought process while quickly reading the poem for the overall picture. I soon learned that her writing requires complete attention and focus to fully grasp the ideas and purpose. I now see that part of the poem as another way that Nye views her Grandmother as knowledgable and wise. After reading the poem a few times I came to my own conclusion that Nye did not get to be with her grandmother often, but she was inspired by her older wisdom and simple yet strong ideals. I was able to pick this idea up by really dissecting the way that Nye writes. Even though Nye describes specific moments with her grandmother, when she speaks of her singularly, it is always in a vast way. 

My Grandmother in the Stars is another one of Nye's poems that discusses her grandmother and their relationship. This poem is much different than The Words Under the Words, but there is a strong connection between the two pieces. I feel that each poem helps readers to piece together who Nye's grandmother was, since they each describe and depict different aspects of her. While reading My Grandmother in the Stars I saw how strongly sentimental Nye is towards her grandmother. This poem solidified my thoughts that Nye and her grandmother are far apart. I get a sense that she sees strength in her grandmother because of the amount of wisdom in years she possesses. When Nye writes, "Just now the neighbor’s horse must be standing patiently, hoof on stone, waiting for his day to open. What you think of him, and the village’s one heroic cow, is the knowledge I wish to gather." I think about how vague yet specific those lines are. Nye does not explain in detail why she wishes to gather that specific part of her grandmother's knowledge, but as I reader I can piece together what the reasoning is based on the author's word choice. With parts of Nye's writing like this quote, I like to think that maybe she wants her ideas to be vague, but only so that they can be thought about in depth and be questioned by her audience. If readers think closely and carefully about what Nye is saying, they can use their imagination to come up with conclusions that make sense to the context of her ideas.

Staging proposal

Since My Love My Love has already been adapted into a musical, I would want my version of the story to be unique and interpretive to the authors ideas. It is important to respect the main ideals and goals throughout the story, but my version would showcase metaphors and keep the audience invested with an opportunity to have things left to the imagination. I appreciate the whimsical aspect of the story and how it hones in on how the gods affect the lives of who believe in them. I believe that there are many important details in the story that can be looked over if not carefully analyzed. I would want to adapt a more vague, creative performance that brings to light those details, and leaves room for many questions or ideas from the audience that I personally had while reading the book.

My performance would be held in a black box theatre and would have a more interpretive feeling, as there would be a nararator. None of the characters would speak, except maybe Desiree. The narorator would be very detailed, but allow the characters to explain most of the more vague ideas throughout the story. There would be a lot of dancing and the characters would have to be over the top with their facial expressions and movements since they are not speaking. Lights and props will set the stage for where the characters are during each scene, and backdrops will change quickly throughout the show. Colors in costuming will differentiate between characters. Peasants will be in certain clothing and rich people will be in another. At first I was hoping for everyone except Desiree would be wearing a mask, but I feel that it would be too difficult to show emotion. I feel that the route of the performance could go either way though. If everyone was wearing a a mask though, I feel like it would help to emphasize how alone Desiree really is throughout the story. Either way there would still be a narrorator and a lot of strong and large movements.

The gods in my performance would be represented by large cape-like pieces of fabric. They would be attached to string and move accordingly throughout the different scenes. It would take a lot of technologically savvy materials and people to bring this idea to life. Each fabric would be a different color to represent each god. In the scenes when Papa Ge is depicted as "dripping in blood,"  there will be blood splatter on the dark colored fabric, and if there was a way to achieve the look of blood coming off of the fabric I would love that as well. I feel that if the characters are not speaking the performance has to be extremely detailed in all other aspects. Movements have to be big, lights need to be complicated, and props need to be used efficiently and vastly.

Notes Poem Set 1

My Father and The Fig Tree
-Father loves figs
-Daughter eats figs
-Fig --> gift of allah
-Father never planted figtrees
-Father speaks arabic
-The last time the father moved to Dallas, Texas
--> Huge fig trees

Blood 
-Arabic themed poems?
-About her father?
-Father told her who she really was
-"when we die, we give it back"
-True arab actions
-"Today the headlines clot my blood"
-Fig theme
-Waving of flags --> cultural
-What news does she speak of?

The Words Under the Words
-Grandmother
--> Grapes when sick
-Grandmother's son lost to America
-Grandmother is humbled and used to chaos
-Allah is everywhere
-"Pocket's full of stones"

Two Countries 
-Poem about loneliness?
-Skin lonely and drab from not being touched/lost
-Could easily be a spoken word poem
-Rhythm and flow
-Metaphors that relate skin to life

Class Post -Costumes

How would you costume the role of Desiree to show that she lives in the Village but she's "different"?

The peasants in my performance would be wearing all black with Voodoo looking masks covering their faces. I would want the masks to be made with straw and have a blank expression. To contrast the idea that they are peasants, maybe there would be a few rips in their all black attire, but for the most part they would be bland and would not wear shoes. The rich would contrast by wearing all black as well, but instead wearing large and heavy pieces of jewelry. Their masks would have a blank expression as well, but also be made out of similar material as the peasants, just better kept. The peasants would have straw spewing out of the mask, whereas the rich would look cleaner cut. Desiree would look the same as all the other peasants, wearing the same black tattered clothes, except her face would be out without a mask. I want to do this to show symbolically that the Gods have lifted this 'sameness' out of her that her world encompasses. I would want Desiree to have a chance to be free and have many different emotions and see things that others can't (since they are blinded and stuck in their old ways with the masks.) I would want her to interact with everyone else through movements, and similar to my idea for the last quiz, I would want the gods to not be portrayed as people, but by drapes/sheets. Since the gods seem to fixate/control Desiree's fate throughout the story, I want it to seem like they are almost living in/as her. It is interesting to combat the idea that the gods do not have bodies to posses, but allow Desiree to have a face. I feel like this will add a very complex and new layer to the story. At the end of the story before Desiree dies, I would have Papa Ge go through her and knock her out of the room to the outside, and as he goes through her, a mask would end up on her face, with all of the colors of the different gods, OR I would have Desiree get kicked out of the Hotel and be behind the gates, and when she dies and the 'butterflies' come off her she would have the mask on.

Things to think about:
-Would anyone be able to talk but Desiree??

Chapters 10-16 Notes

Chapter 10:
-Desiree gets into the city
--> Surprised/awed by all of the sights and people
-Sees that everyone is wearing shoes
-->Gets scared and has anxiety attack
-->starts running, trips on the concrete, gets bruised up
-Desiree falls asleep with women on the street
-->she gets to the hotel the next day, beautiful/large
-Desiree saw vendors waiting to get through the gates, tried to reason with each one for her to pass through, they each gave her a hard time
-->Patience
-She was embarrassed, ran from the hotel back to water
-Found fruit
--> tried to sell for shoes
--> woman selling dresses was kind, fond of gods, gave her shoes and dress and comb

Chapter 11:
-With new confidence, she went back up to the hotel
-->She went to the gate and saw Daniel and his father in a car
-->French vs. creole (understanding)
-->Father did not approve of her
-->Daniel inquired
-Desiree entered the gates and spent a long time outside waiting and watching Daniel
-Daniel comes outside and lays with Desiree, she sings to him (he speaks creole)
-->brought him back inside, he falls asleep on her

Chapter 12:
-Desiree wakes up in Daniels room
-His godmother/nurse tells he to leave
-->Desiree and Daniel say no
-->Nurse reasons with them
--> Father comes in, argues, doesn't want Desiree there
-Father does not believe in gods
-->Nurse convinces him to let her stay (kinda) and she does
-Desiree soon believes she is meant to be Daniel's wife
-With all the strength Desiree was putting into Daniel, she grew weaker
--> He began to comfort her some nights
-The two fell in love
-The butterflies in Desiree's cage tried to keep escaping, she wouldn't let them
-->Held on to crippled Daniel and his love
-Nurse tells Desiree she has to go
-->Daniel says that he will go ill if she goes
--> Nurse claims the gods entrapped her
-->Daniel told the nurse to make her into a beautiful girl so his father won't say no to her
-->People gossiped, spoke of how dark Desiree was
-Desiree saw Papa Ge, got scared

Chapter 13:
-Daniel decides to unveil Desiree at a grand ball for his father's return from France
-All of the people at the party showered her in compliments
-Daniel's father would not look at her
-->Desiree danced for everyone at the party
-After the party Desiree was blinded by happiness, but snakey things started happening around her
(naive)
-The nurse told her to choose a suitor and leave Daniel but Desiree refused
-Desiree ran outside out of fear, saw papa ge in the guard, and could not catch a butterfly

Chapter 14:
-Daniel goes to Andrea's house constantly
-->leaves Desiree all by herself
-He speaks of how perfect Andrea is and Desiree laughs and agrees
-The nurse does not approve of anything and grows weary
-Daniel's father hosts a party for Andrea's return, Desiree is not invited
-Desiree witnesses Andrea's beauty, is astonished and numb
-Andrea and Daniel go to meet Desiree, and Andrea asked to "keep her"
-Desiree got put into a separate room

Chapter 15:
-Desiree grows weak and lonely
-Daniel goes south
-Nurse comes to comfort and explain that Andrea and Daniel are getting married
-Daniel comes back, explains to Desiree that he still 'loves her' and he and Andrea want to keep her
-Papa Ge shows up
-->All the gods speak through papa ge and he tells her to use the knife on Daniel
-->enraged, Desiree leaves to Daniel's room
-->Tries to kill him can't, ends up in a trap, Lucius throws her out
-->Desiree speaks to the other peasants about her story, they explain that 'thats is life'

Chapter 16:
-Desiree waits and waits for two weeks outside the gait
-She doesn't eat or sleep, only awaits Daniel
-->watches the wedding being planned/taking place
-Waves to nurse and Daniel, neither notice or respond
-Thunder roars over the island
-The two get married, and leave together
-Desiree stays there until she is dead
-Butterflies surround her, until they leave her body there dead and lifeless
-Her dead body stays until Daniel's father tell Lucius to take it away
-Her body is thrown and it starts to rain, resembling tears on her dead face