Remaining Notes on Poetry

I have decided to give them all, in one blog posting. Here goes:

Dickinson

We shall begin with biographical notes. Dickinson may well have been agoraphobic. Almost all of her poems were published after she died. Stylistically, note the following in her works: (a) irregular capitalization – mostly nouns, but some verbs and adjectives; (b) irregular punctuation – particularly the many dashes; (c) subject matter which often relates to death, though it sometimes alludes to her father; (d) use of the first line of the poem as the title of the poem. A few comments on the specific readings follow, below:

(1) "The Soul selects her own Society" – Why is the soul female? Does it refer to Dickinson? her mother? perhaps even sexual imagery??

(2) "I heard a Fly buzz – when I died" – The speaker is already dead! But note the last two lines, which are clearly magnificent; she "could not see to see"!

(3) "Because I could not stop for Death" – Note how at ease the speaker appears with Death. There are two wonderful concepts here: (a) Lines 12-13 raise the question of whether time moves, or whether the mortal mind moves through time. (b) The last stanza notes how time gets shorter (i. e., seems ever shorter) as we get older, so that when we die, perhaps we are simply on the "time continuum," and centuries may indeed feel shorter than the last day of our lives.
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Frost

Though not as obsessed with death as Dickinson, Frost nevertheless gives us ample opportunity to reflect upon depression. Stylistically: (a) He enjoys the use of iambic pentameter, whether in sonnet or blank verse. (b) He often repeats a line within his text. Always look for a different meaning when you see such repetition.

"Mending Wall" -- Line 1 is repeated on line 35, as is the phrase that "Good fences make good neighbors" (27 and 45). Note the symbolism of the wall – the barriers between us; perhaps the boundaries we require. Note the irony, also: The wall which separates them is also precisely what brings them together once a year!

"The Road Not Taken" – Making one choice precludes the other. There is no way to tell anything about the decision to which the speaker may (or may not) refer. Note also that line 10 contradicts line 8; there really wasn't much difference, so perhaps it didn't matter. The title is itself ironic, since the text is about the road he presumably did take. Is the entire last stanza also intended ironically?? Was it just a meaningless walk in the woods, or does the road symbolize a major decision in the speaker's life?

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" – Is the speaker a returning traveler? a depressed insomniac (much like Frost!)? an artist? Santa Claus?? All interpretations are reasonable. Again, note the repetitions.

"Acquainted with the Night" – 14 lines, iambic pentameter: This is a 20th century sonnet, not truly Shakespearean because the last line is a repetition of the first! The poem suggests insomnia, loneliness, isolation, coldness, darkness, death, fear, alienation . . . Is the "night" at the end the literal night or the "night" in the speaker's mind (or soul)??
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POLITICAL POEMS:

Baraka's "A Poem for Black Hearts" is interesting; the speaker (or the poet) sounds a little like Malcolm X, but he makes a strange historical mistake. Lines 1-2: Malcolm's eyes "broke the face of some dumb white man" by challenging his authority. However, in line 9, there is an error: "for this he was killed" -- but by whom? (Black men, and many have speculated that they might have been sent by Elijah Muhammad!). Thereafter, the poem is both a eulogy ("black god of our time) and an exhortation ("until we avenge ourselves for his death"), coupled with a curse if we fail ([may] "white men call us faggots till the end of the earth").

Baca's poem display's irony, beginning right with the title: "So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs From Americans" (since they are not!) He depicts the class struggle; the "haves" vs. "have-nots," or perhaps in today's idiom, the one percent vs. the rest of us. The poor are underwater, "hold[ing] their breath for years trying to [get out of] poverty." The "clean-suited farmers" (line 26) are the big corporations -- again, today's "one percent"!

Alexie's "Evolution" alludes to Buffalo Bill Cody, who exploited the Indians (the former in his "Wild West shows." Alcohol is, of course, a tool of the whites to suppress Indians. Buffalo Bill takes everything, even their souls ("hearts"), and then closes the door of hope -- of either repossession or redemption. Note also the thumbs, symbolizing the last vestige of their humanity.

The same poet's "On the Amtrak . . ." is a scathing indictment of the Eurocentric view. The Indian more or less has to "assimilate" (or else live on the reservation). The Indian speaker knows about more than one hundred "Walden Ponds," and adds that if the white people hadn't come in the first place, they wouldn't have needed to worry about "saving it" (i. e., "saving" Walden Pond) in the first place. Thus, the speaker could have told the white woman, "I don't give a shit." Instead, he reports, "But I didn't say a word."
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Eliot – "Prufrock"

This is another very difficult poem, and lends itself to a research project! Note that we never really get to the destination, and we never know what that "overwhelming question" actually is. The beginning is from Dante's Inferno; Prufrock, himself, is in a Hell of sorts (though still alive).

There are many possible interpretations. The poem may be viewed in sexual terms; also, as an expression of social alienation. It certainly addresses aging (sexually and otherwise!). The allusions to suicide cannot be overlooked, either; nor can mention of Hamlet. Artistic exhaustion figures prominently as well; he has "seen the moment of [his] greatness flicker" and is truly afraid!!

Regardless of which explanation one may try, it is imperative that the three climactic lines (84-86) can work their way into that interpretation.