comparison

Death By Lipstick- Navneeth Perumal

Navneeth Perumal Leave a comment

 

Everyone In Me is A Bird

Melissa Studdard

Mind was a prison, ruby lined
in its lipstick noir—everything woman
I was expected to be, trapped between
papered walls. What they said to do, I did not
but only levitated at the burning,
the body a water in which I drowned, the life
a windshield dirty with love. What they
said to think, I thought not but instead made
my mind into a birdcage with wings

The poem I chose is “Everyone in Me is a Bird”, by Melissa Studdard. To me this  poem felt similar to one that we read at the beginning of the year, “Lady Lazarus”, by Sylvia Plath. Both of the poems focus on the internal anguish felt by its narrators.  The struggles of both center around the feeling of confinement. In Lady Lazarus, the narrator was trapped by time. In this poem, the narrator feels trapped by her own mind. A final similarity is that both emphasized the narrator’s femininity. In lady Lazarus, the narrator specifically mentions how being a woman has contributed to her anguish, and this work has a similar theme. This is demonstrated with the line, “Mind was a prison, ruby line in its lipstick noir- everything woman.” In class we talked about how the structure of a poem could engender a specific feeling in the reader’s mind. I think this poem is a perfect example of that.  The poem is very short. This adds to the intensity of the work, as each words takes on added significance. Furthermore some of the lines create a confusion in the reader, like, “What they said to do, I did not/ but only levitated at the burning”. This confusion is probably analogous to the narrator’s own confusion. We also discussed  how imagery affects a poem. In this poem, the imagery reflects the narrator’s internal emotional state. The line “trapped between paper walls” really creates a sense of suffocation. One can understand her pain through this imagery. We also discussed how the visual form of a poem creates meaning. The work’s uniform creates a rigid structure. This rigid structure is exactly what the narrator feels trapped against. Finally, in class we discussed poetry concerning water.  This poem also has that theme, with its emphasis on the narrator’s drowning. Like in the other poem, it serves as a symbol for the loss of self.

Love, desire and impotence

Meng Zhao Leave a comment

The Disappointment

1
ONE Day the Amarous Lisander,
By an impatient Passion sway’d,
Surpris’d fair Cloris, that lov’d Maid,
Who cou’d defend her self no longer ;
All things did with his Love conspire,
The gilded Planet of the Day,
In his gay Chariot, drawn by Fire,
Was now descending to the Sea,
And left no Light to guide the World,
But what from Cloris brighter Eyes was hurl’d.
2
In alone Thicket, made for Love,
Silent as yielding Maids Consent,
She with a charming Languishment
Permits his force, yet gently strove ?
Her Hands his Bosom softly meet,
But not to put him back design’d,
Rather to draw him on inclin’d,
Whilst he lay trembling at her feet;
Resistance ’tis to late to shew,
She wants the pow’r to say — Ah!what do you do?
3
Her bright Eyes sweat, and yet Severe,
Where Love and Shame confus’dly strive,
Fresh Vigor to Lisander give :
And whispring softly in his Ear,
She Cry’d — Cease — cease — your vain desire,
Or I’ll call out — What wou’d you do ?
My dearer Honour, ev’n to you,
I cannot — must not give — retire,
Or take that Life whose chiefest part
I gave you with the Conquest of my Heart.
4
But he as much unus’d to fear,
As he was capable of Love,
The blessed Minutes to improve,
Kisses her Lips, her Neck, her Hair !
Each touch her new Desires alarms !
His burning trembling Hand he prest
Upon her melting Snowy Breast,
While she lay panting in his Arms !
All her unguarded Beauties lie
The Spoils and Trophies of the Enemy.
5
And now, without Respect or Fear,
He seeks the Objects of his Vows ;
His Love no Modesty allows :
By swift degrees advancing where
His daring Hand that Alter seiz’d,
Where Gods of Love do Sacrifice ;
That awful Throne, that Paradise,
Where Rage is tam’d, and Anger pleas’d ;
That Living Fountain, from whose Trills
The melted Soul in liquid Drops distils.
6
Her balmy Lips encountring his,
Their Bodies as their Souls are joyn’d,
Where both in Transports were confin’d,
Extend themselves upon the Moss.
Cloris half dead and breathless lay,
Her Eyes appear’d like humid Light,
Such as divides the Day and Night;
Or falling Stars, whose Fires decay ;
And now no signs of Life she shows,
But what in short-breath-sighs returns and goes.
7
He saw how at her length she lay,
He saw her rising Bosom bare,
Her loose thin Robes, through which appear
A Shape design’d for Love and Play;
Abandon’d by her Pride and Shame,
She do’s her softest Sweets dispence,
Offring her Virgin-Innocence
A Victim to Loves Sacred Flame ;
Whilst th’ or’e ravish’d Shepherd lies,
Unable to perform the Sacrifice.
8
Ready to taste a Thousand Joys,
Thee too transported hapless Swain,
Found the vast Pleasure turn’d to Pain :
Pleasure, which too much Love destroys !
The willing Garments by he laid,
And Heav’n all open to his view ;
Mad to possess, himself he threw
On the defenceless lovely Maid.
But oh ! what envious Gods conspire
To snatch his Pow’r, yet leave him the Desire !
9
Natures support, without whose Aid
She can no humane Being give,
It self now wants the Art to live,
Faintness it slacken’d Nerves invade :
In vain th’ enraged Youth assaid
To call his fleeting Vigour back,
No Motion ’twill from Motion take,
Excess of Love his Love betray’d ;
In vain he Toils, in vain Commands,
Th’ Insensible fell weeping in his Hands.
10
In this so Am’rous cruel strife,
Where Love and Fate were too severe,
The poor Lisander in Despair,
Renounc’d his Reason with his Life.
Now all the Brisk and Active Fire
That should the Nobler Part inflame,
Unactive Frigid, Dull became,
And left no Spark for new Desire ;
Not all her Naked Charms cou’d move,
Or calm that Rage that had debauch’d his Love.
11
Cloris returning from the Trance
Which Love and soft Desire had bred,
Her tim’rous Hand she gently laid,
Or guided by Design or Chance,
Upon that Fabulous Priapus,
That Potent God (as Poets feign.)
But never did young Shepherdess
(Gath’ring of Fern upon the Plain)
More nimbly draw her Fingers back,
Finding beneath the Verdant Leaves a Snake.
12
Then Cloris her fair Hand withdrew,
Finding that God of her Desires
Disarm’d of all his pow’rful Fires,
And cold as Flow’rs bath’d in the Morning-dew.
Who can the Nymphs Confusion guess ?
The Blood forsook the kinder place,
And strew’d with Blushes all her Face,
Which both Disdain and Shame express ;
And from Lisanders Arms she fled,
Leaving him fainting on the gloomy Bed.
13
Like Lightning through the Grove she hies,
Or Daphne from the Delphick God ;
No Print upon the Grassie Road
She leaves, t’ instruct pursuing Eyes.
The Wind that wanton’d in her Hair,
And with her ruffled Garments plaid,
Discover’d in the flying Maid
All that the Gods e’re made of Fair.
So Venus, when her Love was Slain,
With fear and haste flew o’re the fatal Plain.
14
The Nymphs resentments, none but I
Can well imagin, and Condole ;
But none can guess Lisander‘s Soul,
But those who sway’d his Destiny :
His silent Griefs, swell up to Storms,
And not one God, his Fury spares,
He Curst his Birth, his Fate, his Stars,
But more the Shepherdesses Charms ;
Whose soft bewitching influence,
Had Damn’d him to the Hell of Impotence.

In “The Disappointment,” Aphra Behn explores an intimate encounter between  Cloris and Lysander. I chose this poem as it reminds me of Andrew Marvell’s poem “To His Coy Mistress”.  While Marvell uses love and desire as an expression of the theme ‘carpe diem’, Behn uses the term ‘love’ to help the readers compare and contrast ‘love’ with physical sensations.

the speaker describes Lysander as swayed “by an impatient passion” to initiate a sexual encounter with Cloris. we get the sense that Lysander’s desire lies on momentary desire. The term phrase “impatient passion” evokes an image of Lysander in desperation of sexual contact. Moreover. ‘impatient’ not only emphasizes Lysander’s lust but also the ingenuity of his love for Cloris. By describing Lysander as impatient, the speaker shows us that Lysander is far more interested in the physical dimensions of his relationship with Cloris than the emotional ones.

Behn’s usage of the word “love” throughout the poem is interesting. Behn uses this term when she describes Cloris’s eyes as a place “where love and shame confusedly strive”. The phrase shows the conflict between love and shame, and it shows that Cloris feels guilty over her relationship with Lysander.  The term ‘confusedly’ shows Cloris confusion insofar as how she feels about her encounter with Lysander, and more, it shows that Cloris and Lysander have not achieved a firm emotional understanding of their relationship. However, although Cloris is ;’confused’, she still chooses to pursue her desire without taking the time to  truly establish the kind of emotional intimacy that would likely eliminate her confusion. I think Cloris characterizations are in contrast with that of the mistress’s in Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress’, as Cloris seems far more impatient and in want of sexual experience.

emphasis on physical intimacy appears again when Lysander regards Cloris’s body as a “shape designed for love and play”. The word ‘shape’ is a term more to describe an object than a person, thus it has a function of dehumanizing Cloris and classifying her as a sexual object. Consequently, the ‘love’ in the phrase refers to physical love and create a sense of irony. ‘love’ is usually used as a term to represent psychological and emotional intimacy. However, the word ‘shape’ immediately objectifies Cloris as an object, thereby contradicting with the word ‘love’ which has profound emotional implications.

Speaker then describes Lysander as having “Found the vast pleasure turned to pain;/ Pleasure which too much love destroys”.   Here the speaker implies “pleasure” destroys “love” , which immediately sets up an oppressive and dark  tone  to  the poem. thus, it is possible that the speaker is trying to imply the importance of emotional intimacy, as a relationship solely relies on ‘pleasure’ would make one to be impotent to maintain ‘love’. The speaker also sets up a distinction between ‘love’ and ‘pleasure’.

When Cloris finds “ the god of her desires/disarmed of all his awful fires,” she acknowledges that her entire relationship with Lysander was built upon his ability to give her physical pleasure.“god” and “awful fires” are imageries which create an image of Cloris loosing her innocence, and that Lysander has power over Cloris.  We begin to see the sexual encounter as destructive. Cloris was so entranced by her hope that Lysander could satisfy her desires that she was willing to allow him to sacrifice her “virgin innocence.”

While Marvell shows lovers’ pursue on physical intimacy is a means for them to take advantage of time and ‘carpe diem’, Behn reminds us that impatience to pursue sexual desires absence of love is in nature destructive and dehumanizing.  interesting!

Power of Language

Meng Zhao Leave a comment

Power of language

My  experience visiting the Beat Exhibit is intriguing. Among all the artifacts in the exhibit, two of the artifacts are particularly interesting to me. One is the propaganda ‘Black People Boycott’ and the other is a letter. Although the two artifacts display different focuses of the Beat generation, they are similar because both employ the power of language.

I will start with discussing the propaganda. The aim of the propaganda ‘Black People Boycott’ is to convince and urge the government to enrich the African-American population by providing them more education opportunities. The opening of the propaganda ‘Now Now Now’ immediately builds up a tone not only authoritatively didactic, but also an immediate urgency. The author then makes a juxtaposition between ‘Christmas and ‘Thanksgiving buying’ among American middle/high class society and ‘food and medicine’ in Philadelphia or suburbs. Christmas and Thanksgiving shopping represents American consumerism and capitalism—they are leisure activities which people do during holiday seasons. On the contrary, ‘food’ and ‘medicine’ are necessities for living. By indicating a ’No’ in front of holiday shopping, the author effectively denounces government’s ignorance, as it only cares to promote unnecessary bourgeois shopping but forgets what really matters: survival of low-class society. The action oriented verb ‘hit’ at the beginning of the last line parallels with the word ‘hurts’ in the end, which again effectively indicates the problem among black population: insufficient funds for education. I find this propaganda really effective in terms of promoting government action. Moreover, the use of word ‘hurts’ and the juxtaposition between the lives of middle to high class Americans and the black population consequently evoke a feeling of guilt/shame. Overall, the author’s usage of language and literary technique are really effective and powerful in promoting actions.

Another artifact is Richardson’s let to Laura Ulewicz. this is a letter about Ulewicz work being included in Penguin poetry anthology. However, Laura Ulewiz’s work did not make to publication because the editors concluded that a volume featuring female writers would not be sufficiently profitable. An offensive rejection to the female writers, it must be hard for Richardson to tell Laura Ulewicz that the rejection of her writings was merely because of her gender. However, Richardson still manages to deliver his implicit message considerably yet effectively to Laura without sounding offensive. The letter begins with using a numerical hyperbole ‘thirty million apologies’ which quantifies his feeling of guilt and apology for failing to respond her question within suitable time frame. The hyperbole effectively conveys Richardson’s guilt, and displays his full respect to Ulewicz. Richardson then states that he has to reject Ulewiz writing, but tried his best to accommodate the language so it sounds less offensive. He first generalizes the rejection, indicating that ‘all female volume has collapsed’, implying that it is not due to Ulewiz poor personal performance. He then indicates that he has to think in ‘mixed terms’, which involves a ‘larger’ number of male writers in the Penguine series. The words ‘mix’ and ‘larger’ are all terms which show some degree of inclusiveness. ‘Mix’ suggests a diverse state which involves two genders: although the proportions of male and female writers was not stated, he does imply that the writers they selected were a mixture of both genders. Similarly, the word ‘larger’ also indicates that he does not completely ignore them, thereby showing his respect to women and his efforts of being inclusive. What I want to argue is, although the basis of the rejection is offensive to female gender, Richardson makes the rejection sounds much less offensive and acceptable by his employment of language.

The two artifacts make me in awe of how powerful language could be. From the propaganda ‘Black People Boycott’, we get a glimpse of how language is a powerful tool in exposing the ugliness and ignorance and cruelty of inequality.  Yet, from the letter, we sense that language is equally powerful in disguising/undermining the potential discomforts fostered by inequality.

 

Appreciating Absurdity-Katie Flaherty

Katelyn Elizabeth Flaherty Leave a comment

I’ve chosen the case containing Jack Spicer’s mimeographed newsletter “What to do with the Boston Newsletter” and Bob Kaufman’s “Abomunist Manifesto”. As its title suggests, Jack Spicer’s work is a faded list of ways to handle the Boston Newsletter. He proclaims that readers must share or destroy the newsletter; they mustn’t keep it. Considering that many people collect newsletters, these clear instructions seem almost ridiculous. Continuing on the theme of absurdity, Bob Kaufman’s “Abomunist Manifesto” demonstrates how “abomunists” reject conformity and normalcy of all kinds including pain and debts. Together, these works show a clear refusal to accept convention, habit, and commonness.

I was initially drawn to this case for 2 primary reasons. The first being that I grew up in Boston and enjoy literature like “What to do with the Boston Newsletter” that references my beloved city. Additionally, I immediately drew a comparison between the “Abomunist Manifesto” and my favorite book: George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”. Bob Kaufman’s list resembles the seven commandments put forth by the pigs in “Animal Farm”, which are based upon the Communist Manifesto. All three possess an odd and somewhat ridiculous sense of confidence and authority.

Furthermore, this case reminds me of our class conversation around line, syntax, spacing, and how poems appear on the page. Jack Spicer’s publication consists of numbered items separated by large spaces. I believe that Jack Spicer chose this format in an effort to represent his opinions as definite instructions, similar to those included in every game box. Readers are accustomed to following numbered steps and therefore Jack Spicer’s numbering provides authority. Similarly, Bob Kaufman demands authority through the use of capitalization in the first section of the “Abomunist Manifesto”. In this section, every letter of every word is capitalized to call attention to its importance. Also, Bob Kaufman writes the capitalized lines in parallel structure so that the content is easily accessible to the ordinary reader. The coupling of these structurally authoritative poems inspires me to organize my final project by unspoken content and themes.

My inspection of “What to do with the Boston Newsletter” and the “Abomunist Manifesto” leads me to question how these publications were initially received. Nowadays these works seem rather absurd, but were they ridiculous in their own time? Were these writers appreciated or shunned? To answer these questions I must garner a greater understanding of the political climate of the late 1950s. By understanding the parties, conflicts, and priorities of the time, I would be able to discern how these works fit into 1950s culture.