Why Explicate A Poem?

Since we are on the verge of writing an explication of a poem that is in the Pulitzer Prize winning Native Guard, I figured I would do a little bit of research on what it exactly means to “explicate” a poem!

First off, explicating a poem means to explain, interpret or analyze a poem. You have to know the form, type of rhyme scheme and themes or symbols that are used in the poem. There are also various literary techniques one can’t forget which can always contribute to the poem at large!

Now, once you have read the poem, one has to identify with the actual situation in the poem. What is the poem telling us? Is it written in first person or second person? What is the typical mood of the poem? Next is the structure. How many lines are there in the poem? Is that significant? How are the images and ideas developed? Is the diction and syntax complicated for the reader to be able to understand immediately?

Never overlook a title because it may be significant and it can relate to the poem. This takes you back to the language or diction. Within language, there are allusions or references to the text and also imagery which focuses on the figurative language and meaning of the poem.

At times, there may also be devices such as rhyme scheme or meter present in the poem. Overall, what I have discussed here are just some basic components one may want to include if explicating a poem. Hopefully, when you read a poem it will create a change in your attitude!

On Photograph: Ice Storm 1971

Untitled
by Lola Song

I do not know what makes people recall
Their sealed memories. But I know
for Natasha Trethewey, a simple photograph
of a woman will do:
A picture
taken on a morning of 1971,
when there was a woman standing inside
a clean yet plain house looking at the camera frowning,
and when behind her there was a big window,
showing a glimpse of the outside world.
A storm just passed
Or still passing.


Introduction
This poem describes a picture in which a woman stands inside the house and outside there is an ice storm. When I first read the poem, “1971” as specific information attracted my eyes. I realized it might not be an appropriate approach to do a research about the author before reading and analyzing a poem. However, since Native Guard is a collective work of autobiographical poems by Natasha Trethewey, I felt compelled to have several important facts about the poet and her mother (one of the most repetitive figures that shows up in Native Guard) at hand before getting started to read the poem.

Here I did my little calculation: Natasha Trethewey was born in 1966, so by the year the photograph was taken, she was only five years old. And since her mother remarried her stepfather before she went to grade school, this picture was taken not long after the remarriage. This stepfather killed her mother fifteen years later. Bearing those facts in mind, when I read the poem, I imagined that I was listening to a CD of memories that had been recorded by a five-year-old girl. That helped me to stand in five-year-old Natasha Trethewey’s shoes and feel the way she felt.

Estrangement

Why the rough edge of beauty? Why
the tired face of a woman, suffering,
made luminous by the camera's eye?
(1-3)

At the very beginning, Natasha Trethewey is very careful to guard her feelings. She is going to talk about her dead mother, whose death seems to be a grief that she will take forever get over. Saving the emotion for the rest of the poem, Natasha starts the lines in a quite unattached way, instead of pointing out that the tired and suffering person in the photo was her mother, she simply puts “rough edge of beauty”, “a woman”(1-2). This seems simple and normal.

Later in the poem, we still can see her purposeful usage of this estrangement. For example, in the forth triplet, when she is giving the setting information—the front yard, she describes it as “a beautiful, strange place” (12).

An Equivoque-- Ice Storm

Or [why] the storm that drives us inside
for days, power lines down, food rotting
in the refrigerator…
(4-6)

The ice storm does not arrive until the second triplet, following the image of the middle-aged woman. Literally, it was a real storm swept the whole area. The storm was severe since evidence such as “drive us inside for days”, “power lines down”, and “food rotting in the refrigerator” (4-6) are provided. But not only that. To the five-year-old Natasha Trethewey, the storm meant something more terrible, a storm inside the house—the family violence. Since the storm kept them inside, there was no running away from that.

Outside, everything seemed to be coated with ice.
the landscape glistens beneath a glaze
of ice[…]
the iced trees, each leaf in its glassy case
(7-10)

Words and phrases such as “glaze of ice”, “iced trees” and “leaf in glassy case” (7-10) are delicately used. All together they contribute to a picture that everything has a slim layer of ice over it. This gave me a cold and fragile feeling. Since ice is everywhere, everything then is so easy to break. Does that also point out the chronic angers of her stepfather? In that sense, the storm will be a real disaster for the girl and her mother: it bring the “‘mother” and the “stepfather’s fist” closer.

Superficial Happiness
(a comparison of inside storm and outside storm)

Another thing I thought would be interesting was the different emotional colorings of the inside and outside world. Let us compare these two descriptions:

Or the storm that drives us inside
for days, power lines down, food rotting
in the refrigerator, while outside

the landscape glistens beneath a glaze
of ice? Why remember anything
but the wonder of those few days,

the iced trees, each leaf in its glassy case?
(4-10)

When picturing the inside, all words indicate a sick feeling: “drive us inside”, “power lines down”, and “food rotting”(4-6), while talking about the outside, scenes turn out to be much prettier and more decent: “landscape glistens beneath a glaze of ice” (8-9). Why is there such a huge shift? Why is there such a wonderful outside when there is an ugly inside?

We probably will get a close answer if we would like to compare it with the other storm happening in this house—the family violence.

why on the back has someone made a list
of our names, the date, the event: nothing
of what's inside—mother, stepfather's fist?
(13-15)

In this in-house storm, “the list of our names, the date, and the event” written by “someone” (13-14) are all false, nothing real in them. The superficial happiness is a lie, a lie that hurts mom and “I”, and a lie that “we” did not dare to debunk.

Just to make this statement more fully developed. Here I reference Nadi Nuhu’ idea about extending this theory to a larger sense: superficial happiness or peacefulness is not enough for understanding history. For example, in African American history, the most famous picture of the five men standing together representing first Louisiana Native Guard does not tell anything about the cruelty of discrimination they faced. When we want to really know the history for sure, we will have to go inside the storm and see what was going on there.

In Terms of Rhyme
The poem is made up of five triplets, with each following an aba scheme. One of the interesting things I came up with was that all the central lines end up with ing. It made me feel that her painful feelings towards her mother were still ongoing. The story happened in the past is still happening. I guessed that it could be related to Natasha Trethewey’s time and space theories, that there will always be a piece of memory that is hard to forget, and it will stay no matter what.

Someone will take your picture:
The photograph—who you were—
Will be waiting you when you return
(18-21, Theories of Time and Space, Native Guard)

An Analysis of Trethewey's "Photograph: Ice Storm, 1971" (H) Class Post. 1/28/2010

Natasha Trethewey’s “Photograph: Ice Storm, 1971” reminded me somewhat of how I feel while I am looking at a photograph. Not only am I literally looking at the picture and reminded of what was going on, that photograph also takes me back to that particular time in my life. I will further explore what I believe are Trethewey’s conscious thoughts while looking at the photograph, and the various themes throughout the poem.

One of the things that I immediately notice the first time that I read the poem was Trethewey’s interesting rhyme scheme. In each tercet the middle line has the same rhyme scheme which seems to suggest to me a meaning of things changing around someone but there always is always a consistency factor.

I also immediately notice the way the poem seems to contradict everything that someone typically thinks about what talking about a photograph and a home. Normally photographs are thought of as something that captures the good times and great memories. Also, when someone normally looks back at a photograph it almost makes you smile and remember good times. However, it seems that as Trethewey looks back at this particular photograph of her lost mother she seems to be reminded of the days of emotional highs and lows. She seems to think about watching her mother suffer, and how the photograph seems to capture and remind her of more bad than good. Also, it captures everything except for the fact that her stepfather used to physically abuse her mother. This also ties in with Trethewey’s theme of home in this poem and “Theories of Time and Space.” Most people think that home is the one place that you should be able to go and feel safe and happy. However, Trethewey refers to her front yard as “a beautiful, strange place.”

The theme of preservation, the way that things appear and the way that they actually are, also seems to be a big theme to me. Trethewey constantly mentions things that seem preserved and how they look from the outside. For example, she mentions the “food rotting in the refrigerator” which suggests to me that if you just looked at the refrigerator by itself you would not see anything wrong, however the food inside of it is rotting. This could be a metaphor for the way her home was. She also talks about the landscape that “glistens beneath a glaze of ice” and “each leaf in its glassy case.” All these different pictures that she paints remind us of things that look great on the outside but might not be that way at all. However, she brings this preservation theme to a close when she notes that someone was making a list of their names and the date and what was going on but they don’t note” what’s inside-mother, stepfather’s fist.” All that seems to be captured in the photograph is this ice storm but not what was going home at home.

This poem raises a lot of questions for me such as: What is home? Where is home? Do we subconsciously accept whatever looks good on the outside instead of looking deeper?

David Orr lecture critique

David Orr, author of Down to the Wire, gave a lecture on the climate collapse at Agnes Scott College Tuesday, January 26, 2010. His main focus was on how human’s caused the demise of our environment followed by the efforts society can make to alleviate these self-created issues. He proposes, in order to change into becoming more sustainable, people need to be educated and aware of how the ecosystem has changed and how we caused it. The beginning of the presentation consisted of facts about the rising temperature (which is up 1.8 degrees Celsius), the population increase, and the escalation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (which has increased up to 100 ppm in the last century). Once Orr informed the audience of the statistical data involving environmental changes, he states the flaws in the economic system, as well as provides solutions. He provides hope to the audience by planning to become energy efficient, using renewable energy resources, such as solar and wind, more homegrown businesses, improving the agricultural and food economy, educating, and researching alternative methods. David Orr convinced me of the severity of the “climate collapse” through the well-researched facts and persuasive presentation. I found the numbers regarding the carbon dioxide increase impossible to dispute. The examples he used to support his thesis were hauntingly true to society, how we have functioned and wasted resources once assumed limitless. When he reached the point of his presentation involving all of the efforts in motion to improve the current and future problems our environment needs, it displayed how many actions are being taken to accomplish this goal. Although his ideas seem to have distant deadlines for the work needed to restore, and ultimately reverse, the damage our culture has inflicted on the ecosystem, he swayed me to believe it is a feasible and necessary task at hand. Orr’s lecture provoked a mixture of skeptical questions and practical ideas that people can participate to help the environmental crisis. For instance, what is the rest of the world doing to carry weight in their part of the global reform of nature? How much do I recycling a can or pop enhance the environment? Does it really make a difference? What are viable ways I can help? Is turning down the heat that meaningful of a step of using energy more efficiently? What if Orr’s message and the facts fail to reach a broader audience? How do people still not believe the climate calamity? Though I am unacquainted with the answers of most of these questions, I still agree with Orr’s plan of amending the way we use resources. The most important aspect of David Orr’s presentation that struck home was when he began speaking of posterity, displaying photographs of his grandchildren, and including the preamble of the Declaration of Independence. If the wellbeing of our children and grandchildren is not a sufficient enough reason to change, I do not know what is.

A Deeper Look Into Trethewey's "After your Death" (H) – Class Post 01/26/2010

The poem I have chosen to look at in more depth is “After your Death” an assigned poem for class. I will explore the moods, symbolism, and sounds in the poem that I noticed both in my initial reading of the poem and after careful analysis. I will also take a look at how the poem related to life even now, not only in the times of the Civil War.

Immediately while reading the poem I noticed the changing moods of the poem indicated in the different stanzas. The title instantly puts a mood of sadness to the poem, which is continued in the first stanza, although the narrator is very matter-of-fact about what must be done. However, with words like “emptied,” and phrases such as “bruised from your touch,” it is easy to feel the depression of the speaker and the true emptiness they must feel from the death of the loved one they have lost. In the second stanza, there is a more hopeful feeling in the words. The narrator talks of things being “preserved” as though there is still hope. Also, he speaks of another day and a later time to come, indicating that all is not lost and there is still life in his emotions. The third and forth stanzas took me back to a sad and depressed feeling using wording such as “rotting,” “split,” “swarm” and “hollowing.” It also brought back the theme of emptiness and loss. Nevertheless, in the last line of the poem we are taken aback by the hopeful voice that comes through speaking of the possibilities of tomorrow.

Although the speaker uses symbolism throughout the poem to represent how she is feeling, I noticed the greatest amount of symbolism in the third stanza of this poem. I saw this particularly in the figs that were picked by the narrator. I find that the first fig being already half-eaten and partially rotting symbolized the type of emotions she could have been feeling. Her feelings are symbolized even more so in the second fig. The fact that it was “being taken from the inside” represented the pain she felt that must have been tearing her apart from the inside, although it wasn’t always obvious to an outsider.

Using the sounds of the poem when I read it out loud I noticed that the end of each line went on into the next with the exception of the last two lines. It is as if the narrator is trudging along but forcing herself to continue to the next step. I found this interesting because she is again showing her feelings through the way the poem is written.

Personally, I was especially affected by this poem because of the way it was very relatable to anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one. The mixture of feelings and the grieving process of feeling depressed and empty while also having hope for the future that you are still able to live really reminded me of my own experiences. I appreciated that the poem ended on a note of hopefulness and an optimistic look at “Tomorrow, the bowl I have yet to fill.”

An analysis of Natasha Trethewey's "Theories of Time and Space." G-Class Post 01/25/2010

While I enjoyed reading Natasha Trethewey’s “Theories of Time and Space,” I noticed how brilliantly she relates the structure of her poem to its content. At first glance the meaning of this poem centers around a simple vague trip to the unfamiliar Ship Island. However, the title of this piece forces the reader to look deeper and find how it relates to the content of this poem. Trethewey uses vivid images, and manipulates form, punctuation, and word choice-- to create a world where time and space are not really what they seem or first appear to be.

From the beginning of this poem to the very end , there is a constant tone of uncertainty. In the first stanza for example the speaker does not indicate the exact starting point:
You can get there from here, though
there’s no going home.

The word “here” could mean anywhere and not necessarily home. In the last stanza, the speaker has an ambiguous ending.

the photograph-- who you were--
will be waiting when you return.

According to the first stanza, the speaker can not return home, so this stanza leaves the reader questioning where the person is going. The ending never satisfies the desire to understand what the poem has to do with space or time. Due to the poem ending on the note about the person returning causes the reader to question the relevance of the title. From this point, I was prompted to find what other factors could help me relate the title and the content.

With a careful eye, I notice that Trethewey used ten couplets, 20 lines, in this poem. The actual gaps of space in between each couplet, made me feel- well, “spacey”- as if there was something missing. She might have used this as a visual technique to make the reader realize the significance of space and how it could relates to the content. The space contributes to one of the main themes or aspects of the poem, uncertainty. As I examine the couplets further, I greatly admire the speaker’s word choice. It conveys the overall dark and unsure mood of this poem.

The first couplet seems like a warning, because it stated that you could not go back home. The speaker continues with this careful word choice in the rest of the poem. Trethewey uses words such as “ticking off,” “dead end,” “buried,”“and “loose stitches.” Her choice of words has dark connotations and with added spaces that are in the structure of the poem makes the reader concerned with the deeper meaning of the poem. The following couplets imply a hidden meaning, which is something that may have been lost and is hard to find because it has been buried and possibly altered.

in a sky threatening rain. Cross over
the man-made beach, 26 miles of sand

dumped on the mangrove swamp--buried
terrain of the past. …

These few lines explain the actual purpose of the trip or journey to Ship Island. The covered mangrove swamp relates back to the title because it implies something is not what it seems, just like the theories of time and space.

What made me truly appreciate this poem was the line breaks and punctuation. Even if the placement of line breaks and punctuation is completely awkward, it has a purpose that contributes to the profound meaning of this literary work. For example,
…
The man-made beach, 26 miles of sand

dumped on the mangrove swamp-- buried
….
this line break, gives you a visual of sand being dumped. This is only one of many of Trethewey’s examples. The punctuation really pulls the poem together. For example, in couplets 2-9, periods are placed in the middle of some lines, instead of the end like it is in couplets 1 and 10. These periods could represent dead ends, or actual blocks. Or it could just be a continued warning sign throughout the poem. But one thing that is clear, the placement of the periods was used to convey uncertainty or randomness in the poem. The commas and periods often come after a phrase that presents some type of obstacle, which leads to concern or even doubt. This prompts the reader to refer back to the title. The placement of periods and commas relates to how time and space could be random or in this case altered. The structure and the content of the poem help the reader figure out the main idea, which is that time and space present ambiguity.

An Analysis of Symbolism in Hathaway's "Oh, Oh" (H) Class Post. Jan. 19th 2010

William Hathaway’s “Oh, Oh” is a poem that sets a picturesque scene of youthful dreams being shared between two young lovers, walking together idly, side by side, on a summer day in the country side. They are lost in their own little world, enjoying themselves and the pleasantness of their inner worlds-- until they happen upon a menacing sight. Hathaway utilizes many poetic devices that deliver his message with impact; that the passage of time often reveals a reality different from that of our dreams.

The first thing that caught my attention in this poem was its use of casual, and at times even outright childish language. Cows become “moo cows,” trains “choo-choos.” In the first sentence, the speaker says “My girl and I amble down a country lane,” so this, along with the simple, childish language, creates the scenery of a young couple spending a lazy summer day together, completely at ease with each other— perhaps a very young pair of teenagers in love, or a pair of adults so completely unguarded, they’re indulging in childish speak together. Their "own sweet saliva green with grass stems" relates closely to the imagery of the "moo cows chomping daisies," perhaps to signify their unawareness and blissful ignorance as they meander along in their own little world. Other language the writer uses to this point to describe the interactions between the two are words such as “funny,” “gaily,” “dreamily,” “loyally,” all of which have connotations of youthful naïveté.

The second thing that I noticed was the use of a train as a motif. Trains are a symbol for time, transformation, or progress. In this poem, the train is a symbol for time, in particular. As they take notice of the “choo-choo,” with its headlight mistakenly shining in the summer sun, the narrator mentions his dream of being president, to which his young love responds, “And me first lady,”—A response typical of a very young girl in love with her head in the clouds, willing to devote the rest of her life and sign away personal aspirations to follow her beau to the end of the earth. This wishful dialogue between the two young lovers reinforces the theme of youthful naïveté, willfully ignorant of the more unpleasant sides of life. It is not a coincidence that these dreams coincide with the passing of “the last boxcars,/ named after wonderful, far away places” (such as the ones in our dreams.) When the boxcars disappear, the two lovebird’s daydreams are suddenly burst by the sight of fifty menacing Hell’s Angels appearing, leaving the reader to wonder, What will happen to them now?

The headlight seemed to symbolize something about the couple to me as well. Perhaps the conductor's careless act of leaving the train light on during daylight symbolizes that they are plowing on full speed ahead carelessly, without taking time to contemplate their actions or surroundings, both immediate and long-term. Another thing the headlights could represent is the oncoming of night, and its darkness, an image that may reflect the transition of our lives from carefree youth to jaded and wizened elders.

Whether the Hell's Angels leave the two alone, give them some trouble, or worse, their appearance certainly makes the poem’s message clear: our innocent wishes and dreams are all too often dashed by life’s uglier realities. I think this poem certainly makes a statement about how such dreams can be crushed by the passage of time, as we face and witness more and more obstacles and evils in our lifetime. Commonly, we begin to lower our standards or develop a thick skin as we mature in order to protect ourselves from such unavoidable experiences. For better or for worse, we cannot allow ourselves to be caught off guard, as these two young lovers are, to find the many variations of the life’s Hell’s Angels, “poised and growling,” waiting to pray upon us.

The Problem with Prizes (or, Who Cares About the International Booker?)

This is a great article about the prizes we award literature (and how silly some of them are).  It really fits with one of the main questions about our course - that is, who gets to pick what is "great" literature.

Here is a quotation from the article:

"[W]e Americans respond to prizes. In the best cases, as when the Nobel alerts us to a Herta Müeller or an Imre Kertész, a worthy author immediately finds a broader audience. In other cases – the Pulitzer, most years – an author of whom people were already aware gets a dispensation to stop worrying about whether her next book will sell. It will."

Feel free to comment and let me know what you think!

From:   http://www.themillions.com/2010/01/the-problem-with-prizes-or-who-cares-about-the-international-booker.html  (accessed 01.19.2010)

Welcome to our course blog!

Welcome to our course blog.  This will be a forum for us all to post short pieces of writing on subjects relevant to our course topic. I will explain to you all next week how the posting schedule will work, but basically you will all be required to post at least three times over the course of the semester.  But, of course, you are welcome to post at any time, as long as your post is relevant and appropriate for our course.  For example, you could post a review (positive or negative) of a book you have just read or add a link to a website discussing the latest award winning novels/poetry.  Posting on our blog will count towards your participation credit so feel free to contribute.  However, posts must be thoughtful and carefully written, and any links or embedded videos you use must have accompanying text explaining their relevance to our class and anything taken from another author or source must give full credit to the original source.

I look forward to reading your ideas and arguments about classic and contemporary texts.  Let's start blogging!