Post the short essay response here from Indivisible (250-500 words). Chose a poem and using explication, talk about the poem: form, content, themes. State at the start of the essay, what you plan to explore in the poem, that is, the question or thesis.
This is a graded assignment.
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John Sung
English 1B
Professor Sabir
10/31/12
“Spirited Away” by Ro Gunetilleke (p 100)
I will explore the imagery and content of this poem.
Writing has the power to ignite memories and imagination since the beginning of time. There are many poems consisting of daily life which most people can relate to. Although these poems have little content, each word and sentence is powerful enough to spark a memory or to take a reader to a whole different place mentally. The writer can write about his own experiences or a common experience that most people face in their life time to connect with more readers. By writing this free verse poem about a time Ro Bunetilleke spent with his grandfather, readers are allowed to relate with this specific scene which could make this poem very personal.
Ro Bunetilleke begins his poem by introducing his grandfather as he is sitting on the couch looking for the last drop in his shot glass. “the slurred words/ come/ looking for me”(lines 6-8) is the first line that readers can relate to, to have their grandparent call for them to sit down on their lap. The poem continues to remind readers of times when they used their imagination as kids when he write about the experience of listening to the radio with his grandfather. “We hear ten languages/ in one night,/ music and gibberish/ like shadow puppets,/ we make up names for the song, the tune/ that finds us,/ we make it all our own” (lines 31-38). We have all had time when we allowed our imagination take us to places where we have never been before by letting ourselves out of our daily lives to roam the world through our endless thoughts. Consistently granting the reader with their own memories and imagery throughout the poem, Ro Bunetilleke’s poem enable the reader to not only follow the story in the poem but to be reminded of special moments with their own grandparents.
Literature, music, and art all have the power to impact the viewers, listeners, and readers response. My favorite type of writing is one ignites memories of my life with just a few words. “Spirited Away” by Ro Bunetilleke is a great example of a poem which enables the reader to remember their own life experiences and to relate the story with their own life story.
Anna H.Y. Lim
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
31 October 2012
Poetry Analysis on “September 10, 2011” by Jeet Thayil
Jeet Thayil’s poem, “September 10, 2011,” spoke to me strongly. The theme of the poem is the day before the September 11 terror attacks. On September 10, 2011, no one knew what was going to happen. Only if they knew!—but nobody could.
The poet does an excellent job in describing the natural tendency that humans have in questioning what could they have done differently if they only knew before something tragic occurred, only then to realize at the end that they were helpless to prevent it from happening. The reality of facing a traumatic event exposes a person to utter helplessness. Trying desperately to change something that has already happened is like talking to “a man without hope, / or a woman bent double” (234). They could not make any difference even if they knew.
In my personal life, I relate strongly to the words written in the poem. Dealing with much trauma in my background, I often find myself questioning what I could have done differently, only to realize over and over again that trying to answer it is an impossible task. I can go over what happened countless times and how painful all of it was—it’s like bearing an “impossible burden”—but I realize that I couldn’t have done anything differently because time does not stop (234).
The fourteen lines of the poem and its unique rhyming scheme makes the words more visible on the page to the reader.
Caitlin Rockwell
Professor Sabir
English 1B
Indivisible: It’s a Young Country
In the poem “It’s a Young Country”, Reetika Vezirani describes how America is old but young and as we grow old time goes by fast. People in America are always on the move, working, going to school, traveling, going to different events and as we do these things we are constantly on the move. As we get old the country stays young is what I think the author is trying to say, as we are persistently on the move and getting older the country will always be changed into new things for the young. The author writes about her views on America and the people. People in America don’t want to get old they cannot bear it; they want to stay young like its country. Vezirani poem view on America and its people make you think about growing up and getting old faster then you can imagine.
This poem is author Vezirani’s way of showing how America was to her, fitting in moving, getting a job. I think she wanted to people to see how people move around or move to America for a better life. “ We leave for a better job cross the frontier” (13,14), this quote expresses how people move or leave where they were for a better job and a better life. Families get separated, love one leave to find a job that makes good money all for a better life. In doing this people move so fast they do not realize they are getting older not younger.
America is built on things that make this country the way it is, it is old yet it is continuously changing to be young again. People wish they could be young forever and not grow old. This poem “It’s a Young Country”, shows how America changes people, we move so fast we do not realize we are getting older, “some step forward some step back”(31). We either slow down and enjoy our lives or move to try and find a better one that’s just how America work.
Dung Le
English 1B
Professor Sabir
5 November 2012
Srikanth Reddy: Jungle Book
“Jungle Book” by Srikanth Reddy begins with talking about sadness, and then is driven by a metaphor of a jackfruit. I’d like to understand how a jackfruit is a metaphor for sadness. In the beginning lines it says “once as we scavenged in the jungle I asked my friend about sadness. ‘How will I know when it comes?’ with a reply of “First learn about jackfruit” (1-4). So how does the writer relate sadness with jackfruits?
Reddy describes a ripe jackfruit to be heavy and delicate with comparison to sadness, he said, “handing me a ripe one. It smelled heavy & delicate” (5). This is quite true, when a person is feeling down as in heavy and at the moment he/she is also feeling very delicate, very vulnerable. But then it becomes more complicated when the author writes, “Break it, What do you see?” ‘Only these seeds,’ (6-7). The author is portraying sadness as an accumulation of many other things. Perhaps a series of small problems together that create sadness.
The author goes deeper by asking the person to break open the seed, “break one,” he said. “Now what do you see?” I split open a seed with the edge of my thumbnail & cupped it in the palm of my hands & squinted under the smoky light coming down slantwise through the treetops” (11-15). By breaking a seed the person see a new plant, a metaphor that with sadness comes growth, the author writes, “”There was a glistening new plant folded up inside, with one grey leaf on a dark stem the length of an eyelash. It sprang to life & put out hundreds of jackfruit blossoms all at once but when I said your name they blew everywhere” (15-19).
In the beginning when first reading the poem, I had no idea how a jackfruit could have any coalition sadness. However, after reading how the writer describes it, I tend to agree. Sadness as the poet describes it is something very heavy and delicate. With sadness comes growth, but handle sadness with finesse because it is very delicate.
Le,
I love your choice of poem and your analysis is spot on.
Rosetta
Actually, all four of the essays on this page are great.
Rosetta
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