Finding Literature Outside of Books and Outside of the Classroom

As we’ve talked about in class, it’s difficult now, after taking this class, to read a lot of things or watch television shows without “close reading” them and analyzing them and their meanings. I’d noticed this a few times before, but nothing really stuck out to me too much. Personally, I’ve begun to do this with music too, looking into the lyrics of the music to see if I could identify any literary devices and being critical of the writing of the song. I especially noticed this after my Joyful Noise concert last Wednesday night when I couldn’t help but notice the true poetry that is such a vital part of the music.

All of the songs from our concert told stories, as does a lot of gospel music. Also, although the songs are very personal and sung with feeling coming from the performer, they are relatable to many people. The songs are used as a type of testimony or praise outside of a church (or within some churches.) These songs are easy to catch on to because of the large amount of repetition used. The repetition is not only so that it is enjoyable to the audience, but more so that a greater amount of people can sing the songs and they are easier to remember. Even though the music sounds complicated and uses multi-part harmony in the verses and refrain, they are typically easy to catch on to after only one or two times listening to the song.

One particular song that has stayed with me is “Help Me Believe,” originally performed by Kirk Franklin. The chorus of the song is as follows:

“Help me believe, can I believe,

Let me believe, I wanna believe.

I’ve been here before

And can’t take that hurt again”

It is easy to see the repetition included here, even in just this small section of the song. The chorus itself is also repeated several times throughout the song, and the verses in between all have the same melody, only with different wording to continue the story of a man’s journey in discovering his own beliefs.

I thought this was important to share with the class because I know I’m not the only one who has begun to have a tendency to pick apart everything they read now as a critic. For me it happened with music, I think I’d be interesting to know what everyone else is learning to look at with a critical eye too!

Flowers of Flame Poetry Reading Review

I found attending Haider Al-Kabi’s poetry reading here on campus a very interesting and educating experience. Mr. Al-Kabi was born in 1954 in Basar, Iraq and was exiled to America during the first gulf war. He is now a professor of Arabic and Spanish here in the United States. He is the translator of many of the poems in the collection Flowers of Flame. Although he read about ten poems in the time he was here, one in particular stood out to me. His reading of the poem “Tomorrow the war will have a picnic” by Abdul Razaq Al-Rubaiee was powerful in a way I wasn’t quite prepared for. In reading or hearing the poem, we see through Iraqi eyes several events in the most recent war there. The combination of the way that the poem was read and the wording of the poem made it stick with me.

I found it interesting that the title was repeated several times throughout the poem to emphasize the way the Iraqi people saw the American “shock and awe” campaign in Baghdad and the effect it had on the civilian people. People knew and accepted what was going to happen and tried to prepare themselves as much as possible for what they were about to go through. The author uses phrases such as “prepare bodies for pain” to show this. There are also times in the poem where you sense almost a mocking tone to it, saddening in a way that we realize that the people knew there was no way to avoid it. I found this in the title, almost as if the “shock and awe” would just like a day in the park. The author also tells the reader to make and easy, clear, beautiful path for the bombs to make their way and to not fight it. As much as they were prepared, it would still, as it would for any human being “break mother’s hearts,” and the people would need to “empty salty streams” of tears.

This poem brought on a new perspective of the war and of this day in particular. I’ve always heard about it from the American point of view, and it brings about new feelings that I didn’t expect. Looking around the room, I could tell that I was not the only one to be experiencing these new emotions toward the subject. I was surprised to find not only my own eyes tearing up but also the eyes of everyone else listening, professors and students included. The way the poet read the poem so effectively and passionately, it was impossible to not feel for the Iraqi people, regardless of anyone’s political views.

Looking into the poet’s background really helped me to get into the poetry more because it was so personal for him and so fresh in his mind. Also, his form of reading helped because he read with emotion and an understanding that could only come from having the emotions himself. Although he was not the author of the poem, he has a similar background. His reading was powerful and definitely gave me a lot to think about.

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.”