Dear Students,
Your teacher just told me, off the record, that you were specially eager to show how much you've learned about the analysis of poetry in this course! So... here's the chance you were waiting for... By midnight Monday 13th (that's the DEADLINE!) you are expected to post your response to the following questions in this blog:
1.- Provide 4 specific features (two foe each) that lead us to state that "This is just to say" (William Carlos Williams) and "[my sweet old etcetera]" (e. e. cummings) ARE poems.
2.- How does "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" (Randall Jarrell) show the inteaction and relationship between culture, language and literature?
Don't forget to support your answer on information you've gathered during the course as well as evidence from the cited poems.
So... thanks for your attention, see you next term, enjoy yourselves and READ!!!
prof. D Durán
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Part I
ReplyDeleteAlthough “This is Just to Say” seems to be just a little note, it may be considered a poem because the writer found the appropriate words and arranged them in the right order. The author’s word selection and the way the “note” was written help to create a poetic sensation in the readers. Besides that, this particular “note” may have different interpretations that lead us to literary analysis: a good poem is often argumentative or controversial. In this case, many interpretations can be made to try to answer what this poem is about or what it may imply beyond a literal interpretation.
In My Sweet Old Etcetera by E.E. Cummings, the word etcetera may be used as a substitute of the actual words the writer could use. The use of allusions: “your smile eyes knees and of your Etcetera” are characteristic in poetry. The arrangement of the words leads to think that Cummings was an unconventional poet. He wanted to create a poem different from others. That’s probably why he broke certain rules in layout and typography in order to appeal the non conventional part of the readers.
Part II
The poem “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” is an allusion to the events that took place during War World II and its consequences: “I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters”. In that sense, the author wrote this piece of literature is relation to a specific event that affected his own culture and views towards his own society. The author is using written language (poetic) to criticize an historical event: “When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose”. In this poem literature and poetic language were used as a way to describe culture.
In order to analyze “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” one needs to research about history. The history of a place is related to very specific events which by themselves show us a part of that society, its language and its culture. History tells us that ball turrets were used in World War II (they were mounted in aircraft in the belly of the plane). This poem is telling us about something that happened in the past and its effects in a particular place. In that sense, the speaker is critical about the effects of wars in society: “when I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose”
David Duque
Question I:
ReplyDeleteIn order to identify “[my sweet old etcetera]” by E.E. Cummings as a poem it is important to mention that the creativity of the author is self- evidence in this text, the use of literary devices such as the repetition of the word “etcetera” the use of visual imagery “… self etcetera lay quietly in the deep mud...” can be observed throughout the poem. Another important detail to take into account is the way in which the author portrays an aspect of his life through the text, which represents two specific features of literature, the representation on real life in a creative way.
In the case if “This is just to say” by William Carlos Williams, even though no evidence of rhythmical patterns and/or literary devices are found, one could say that this is a poem just because of the fact that, again, creativity is being used to describe a feeling that someone has towards someone else.
Quesion II:
In order to illustrate the relationship between this three elements, it is worthy to mention that if the reader does not has some knowledge about war, guns, soldiers, for example”…Ball Turret Gunner…” he/she will not be able to understand it. it is also important to mention that the effect that the poem can cause will differ depending on the community to which the reader belongs, meaning this that it would not be that same if “From my mother`s sleep I feel into the State…” is read by a Venezuelan, than if it would be read by an American, taking into account that the USA is a country that historically has been involved in wars (the opposite to Venezuela, this is the perfect example of how language culture and literature are linked with each other.
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ReplyDeleteMaria Flores Treco
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1
This is Just to Say and [my sweet old etcetera] are poems because when you look at the fist time these pieces of literature you can notice the way in which the words are arranged to form verses and verses form stanzas, although in the case of [my sweet old etcetera] the author did not follow the traditional patterns.
Another distinction between these works and prose is how the sender use specific words on propose to give a message for a receiver and in order to condense a big message in only few words. For example: In the last stanza of This is Just To Say the sender used specific words to state a message that is implicit in that words and it is open to some interpretation:
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
The sender is trying to apologize because he ( the sender is probably he because men are always hungry and eat everything in the fridge without taking into account that someone else wanted to eat plums too) ate the plums and he probably is showing his gratitude to his couple because she choose not any plums but the best, the sweetest, the more delicious for him and that demonstrated she loved him and he was happy for that.
Another interpretation could be that these verses are elaborated by the sender in a very ironical way. He probably knew that the fact that he ate that plums turned her angry and he could be describing how sweet and cold were the plums.
In the case of [my sweet old etcetera] the word etcetera has a lot of meanings depends on the context the sender used this word. E.g.
my sweet old etcetera
aunt lucy during the recent
In this context the word etcetera takes part of the description of his aunt Lucy that is a sweet, old and etcetera could mean special, cute, wise or maybe intelligent. But in the lasts five verses the word etcetera appears twice and means different things:
(dreaming,
et
cetera, of
Your smile
eyes knees and of your Etcetera)
In the first case the word etcetera could mean thinking, having an illusion or maybe remember the smile of a person who is very important for him( his couple), her eyes, her knees and the sender mention the word etcetera that is capitalized once again. It is probably the part of the body that he liked the most of her body maybe her breast, her buttocks or her genitals.
Question 2
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner is related to the Second War World and the participation of the United States in that war.
Of course this poem shows an interaction between culture, language and literature because in the 40´s the most important fact was the war and people in the United States dedicated their time, technology, armaments even their lives in order to “win” the war. People in the government took that war as a business and they are not interested in how many lives the U.S lost in those days. One example in the poem is the last verse:
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
This verse maybe means that the soldier was not important for them he was a thing that controlled the ball turret or any other weapon and if he/she was dead is not government’s problem they only give a compensation to the family ( clean the turret) and that’s it.
The relationship with this fact (that take part in the United States culture) and language is that people like Jarrell took the theme of the war and develop all the criticism that some people in the U.S had against the war through language using a poem. The connection to literature is not only that poems are part of literature but this kind of poem remember us that poetry is not only related to love, hate or feelings but it could be associated to real facts although they might be harsh.
Answer I
ReplyDeleteWe can consider "This is just to say a poem since it is divided into stanzas and also because it seems to be written in black verse, that is, that it follows a regular metrical pattern without rhyme, and those mentioned are characterics of poetry.
In the case of "my sweet al etcetera", we can observe that there is disrespect of the language rules, such as the use of mechanics and the unusual divition or rupture in some verses,that unusual way of writing which characterises the writer of the poem is called creativity and that is feature of literature works,and even though he disrespect language rules it (the poem) continues being divided into stanzas, and that is a feature of poetry.Amother aspect that has to be mentioned is the use of the word etcetera to make allution to some other things which have to be infered by the reader.
Answer II
In the poem " The death of Ball Turret Gunner", we can perceive clearly the relationship among culture, language and literature since the writer uses language to transmit a message related to an event which forms part of USA culture (World War II)and also he expresses how the speaker(who is already dead, maybe he is an apostrophe)perceive the war and critizise it. Besides, The speaker seems to be addressing this poem to soldiers who as well as he participate in wars and who are the most prejudiced, also we can pressume that,it is addressed to goverments who are in charged to organized these kind of events.
María Castilla
In the first poem, we can not only visually see the division into stanzas but also the connotation of the message. Is not jus any message but one to apologize, to show sensibleness towards someone near. Language is not so lyrical, but the intention lying behind gives you a hint that what you are reading is a poem.
ReplyDeleteIn the second poem, the speaker adressess someone who is very close to him (We know its a HIM, given the context:War, proud family and the tone of the piece of writing). Poetry not only plays with sound but also with words, in this case, "Etcetera" might be a good example of alliteration; which is common in literature.
Now, regarding the poem by R. Jarrell, it is interesting how the author makes allusion to the country (the State) and how language is used to get feelings across to receivers, in order to depict the horror of war. language and literature have been used as vehicles to convey features of a culture like that of the U.S
BTW its david Zerpa
ReplyDelete1: As we have learned this semester, there is nothing written about poetry, that is to say, there are no specific rules when talking about poetry. However, there are some patterns that are very common in poems; one of them is the organization in verses and stanzas. However, there are some aspects that can allow the reader to classify “This Is Just To Say” and “[my sweet old etcetera]” as poems.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of “This Is Just To Say” by William Carlos Williams, the absence of punctuation marks and the uncommon use of capital letters (in order to create some effects in the reader) are some of the aspects that a reader will not find in another literary text, at least not as usual as in poetry.
Another important characteristic for this text to be a poem is the way the message is expressed. Although this poem seems to be a simple note, it expresses too many things like the care and love the speaker wants to show to the receiver.
Regarding “[my sweet old etcetera] by E. E. Cummings the use of only three commas, two capital letters and the separation of some words (et/cetera), as well as the organization, produces some changes in the typography of the poem which was also similar in the poetry of that moment and the writer’s style. Besides, the use of simple and unelaborated language is very common the poetry that was being developed at that moment.
2: There are some aspects in history that identify a country, and war is one of them. "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" (1941) provides the reader with images related to war, possibly the WWII (this can be concluded from the time the poem was written, probably it was the attack on Pearl Harbor), an event that has influenced the American culture. The poem reflects the way American people used to see wars and soldiers’ lives (as expressed with the use of irony in the final verse: “When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose”). In addition to this, the tone and the selection of words provide evidences of how language conveys not only meaning but message. In other words, this literary text portraits a historical moment and gives cultural information through language.
Johann Stoll
ReplyDelete(Hello! this message is published by me but belongs to Johann Stoll).
“That is just to say” can be said to be a poem because of the way the text is structured. The text instead of being presented in lines, as following, “I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox,” it is split up: I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
Also, it is can be noticed that poems do not make use of fully detailed descriptions, therefore, naturally, tending to be shorter than most of the other texts studied in class. The text, could have been more detailed if it were a prose, but, then again, it would have been, undoubtedly, longer. In this moment it would be convenient to take into consideration Poe’s words when stating “a long poem does not exist”.
In the case of “[my sweet old etcetera]”, it is observable how E. E. Cummings makes use of the poetic license in many ways. However, just as to exemplify, Cummings does not capitalize “i” when used as the subject nor capitalized when starting the poem. Moreover, when reading this literary text it is hard not to perceive the musicality contained within. In some parts rhyming can be found and in others the rhythm.
“The death of the ball turret gunner” (1941), is fine literary work where the language was exploited to present cultural aspects from a perspective. The language is used to present a situation which is, probably, The Second World War. Due to the fact that the author uses words that were common to those days shows how culture and language go hand in hand. If the author had not used the word “States”, for example, then possibly it would be natural for someone to think that the speaker is from one of the countries involved in the war and used machinery of that kind. An F16, in example, would not have been associated to that event, but to a more recent event. What is more interesting is the representation made by the author of a probable, well-known historical event by means of the language to create an artistic literary work.
In “This Is Just To Say”, one could assume that the text is a piece of writing from someone whose intention is to apologize. The phrase “Forgive me” carries a connotation that makes the difference in the whole poem. Although there is no specific metrical device, alliteration, or any other, the poem is recognizable as such not only for its structure of stanzas but the connotation of words in order to convey a subtle message. In the case of “my sweet old etcetera”, there is presence of alliteration which helps the reader to grasp the “feeling” that he/she is reading a poem. Besides, the speaker lets his own reflections come out through a thoughtful recount of what war is for him. (one could hardly assume that the speaker is merely telling his story)
ReplyDelete“The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” offers a terrible sight of war by making use of language to portray the crudeness with which men had to cope during this time. Now, it is interesting to notice how the poem shows part of the bellicose culture of U.S by stating allusions to the country and the vivid sensation of “being there”. Poems like this show us that literature is an important pathway that leads people to relate to different cultures.
The first thing that I may highlight before to analyze the poems is that all of them belong to modern poetry. So they gather especial characteristics that make quiet different from old and classic poems. Indeed, a poem has a number of features that identify it, but time has provoked some changes in the way of writing and, of course, in the form of how poets express themselves, thus the patterns in poetry have changed. Nowadays, poets can express using any kind of language and show us any kind of subject. That is why poetry can exist everywhere.
ReplyDeleteQuestion I
Despite “This Is Just To Say” by William Carlos Williams looks like a simple note left by someone and the simplicity of the language used in it this literary work is loaded with a great poetic content that invites us to explore and analyze the potential meaning that its words enclose by themselves giving to the readers a wide range of possible interpretations, for instance, the meaning of the word “plums” in the context; and the way the author refers to them “they were delicious, so sweet and so cold”. Additionally, the beauty of language, the appropriate word order to express the message and its division into stanzas allow me to conclude, finally, that "This is just to say" is definitely a poem.
Regarding to “My Sweet Old Etcetera” by e.e. cummings the word that contents the poet’s inspiration is “etcetera”, which was used in the poem to add a number of unspecified information, to add additional things or persons or maybe specific items that the author could not express through words but the reader could infer in his/her literary analysis. In this particular work some literary devices are used to fill the magic behind the poet’s words. For instance, the alliteration or repetition creates a sensation of security in what is said and the author wants the readers are aware of the importance of it. Allusion is other literary device use in the poem “your smile eyes knees and of your etcetera” that leads the readers towards sexual connotations, but presented in a very elegant and well built language.
Question 2
Literature is the way how people can draw throw words the relevant events within a society and allows the writers to keep alive important facts that time cannot change. Despite the fact that a specific poem was written many years ago readers could feel identify with the historical, political or social events that is happening in this moment. So language plays an important role in societies since it implies cultural aspects of them.
Here e.e. cummings is expressing feelings, ideas and sensations that a formed soldier as a human being could express in the battlefield, for example “When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose”. This could mean, no matter what I do or did I will finish my live like any other soldier.
Raúl Álvarez Palacio
Section 002
1) These two pieces of writing are poems due to the fact that they have been written in order to express much more than simple words on a sheet of paper. In one hand “This is just to say” by William Carlos Williams is divided in three stanzas made with very short verses but, it still has the distinctive structure of a poem, three stanzas with four verses each one of them. In addition to this W.C. Williams use what seems to be a simple note to let us go beyond this few lines and infer about where this message is placed, who wrote it, why it was written, to whom it was written and so on. But more significant than all these aspects the author let us to appreciate, in its last stanza in which the word “Forgive” is capitalized making emphasis in some emotions related to this note which is a very important element of any poem. On the other “[my sweet old etcetera]” by Edward Estalin Cummings has an unusual way to be structured; nevertheless it is charged of creativity to express those feelings in which death “my self etcetera lay quietly in the deep mud etcetera” and love “(dreaming, et cetera, of Your smile eyes knees and of your Etcetera)”, taking part in the scene. We may say this is a poem because of the use of different literary devices such as images, or the repetition to describe one simple moment in the life of a person, maybe the moment of his death. The artistic way of using punctuation marks to give us some kind of sensation or highlight an important element of the written piece of art, the unusual arrangement of the verses to denote some kind of social criticism.
ReplyDelete2) Randal Jarrel through his poem “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” is using the language to criticize American society or American leaders behavior toward people who offer their lives for his country and it may be easily depicted from the first verse “from my mother’s sleep I feel into the State” in which the word “State” is capitalized maybe to let us know that he is talking about the United States of America, and in the same sense, the mother he is referring to, is the mother land. Then, the speaker is telling us that he felt the call of duty of serving his country and that was the reason why he was fighting inside that Ball Turret without fear to death “…loosed from its dream of life,”. But then this heroic action has not a real importance for these leaders once this person has died and he is just washed out of the turret with a hose. Then it is a poem in which may be seen somehow the North American culture described, due to the fact that war always has been part of their culture, also the poem was written in 1941, the year in which the second world war was starting. To conclude, the literature is used through this poem to describe and criticize the American culture during the war.
Ángel Vásquez
Alberto Rodriguez
ReplyDelete1) Those two pieces of literature can be classified as poems because: first, both of them are organized in verses and stanzas. Second, the use of the poetical license regarding the absence of punctuation marks and the capitalization. Third, the message is not presented clearly; that is, it is not like a story or any other type of text in which the ideas are explained more clearly, but the ideas are condensed in a few verses with no punctuation so the reader has to interpret the possible meaning. Finally, the degree of musicality while readed, which is the main characteristic of a poem.
2)In this poem language in the form of literature to explain something characteristic of a culture. In this case, the speaker tells the story of his death during the World War II in a plexiglass sphere into the belly of a B-17 or B-24 American bomber. That bomber is the link we can use to relate the poem to the american culture, and the way in which Randall Jarrell (who served the American Army Air Force) percieved and presented this war issue.
1) This Is Just To Say:
ReplyDeleteThis poem has two features that lead readers to state it is a poem. One of the features is the form, since, visually speaking, in this poem you can find three little quatrains (three stanzas with 4 lines each). Besides, the use of literary devices used by the author must be taken into account since, most of the time; they are used to express many things with few words. One of the literary devices is the image; in this case, the author used plums to develop the poem. It is important to mention W. C. Williams is recognized as an imagist writer. That is why; in this poem he uses images, in this case, plums (I have eaten the plums…so delicious and so cold).
2) My sweet old etcetera.
In this poem the features are:
a) This poem is written in an unusual way, which may be confusing for readers to accept it as a poem, Nevertheless, it is under the conception of “poetic license”, which makes poets write in a free way, in order to recreate their feelings and emotions freely. That is why the organization of the verses is so different and irregular: two verses, four verses, one verse, four verses, two verses, five verses, two verses and five verses.
b) As every poem, it talks about a specific theme, in a specific time, that is, it is very precise. It does not divagate with any other theme inside the poem. For instance: it talks about war, not about war, flowers and rivers at the same time.
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
The use of literary devices such as hyperbole (And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze) and the image (from my mother’s sleep I feel into the State), to express many things with few words, makes reference to the use of language, which is well elaborated and formal. Moreover, this poem recreates what was happening in the United States of America at that time (the second world war), which brings readers the way American people used to live their lives in that moment, being this related to culture, that is, the American people’s culture. Additionally, literature is related to this because it is the expression of culture in a creative and aesthetic way. Thus, this poem recreates in just five verses, with a very good use of language and in an aesthetic way, what was happening in a specific time in United States of America.
Josefa Méndez
After having analyzed different pieces of poetry during our class sessions, we have come to the conclusion that poetry does not only have to do with, for instance, rhythmic patterns. In order to illustrate this let’s consider “This is just to say” by W.C. Williams and [my sweet old etcetera] by E.E. Cummings. If we analyze them from a superficial point of view, one could easily state that the former is just an ordinary note, still, it is not. And this is so because of the way language was used to wrote such note (the selection of words, their arrangement, etc.), because of the different interpretations the reader could get to after reading it, and also due to its structure (it is divided in stanzas) and the presence of some elements related to that intrinsic relationship between language, culture and society (e.g. “I have eaten the plums that where in the icebox” being icebox a word mostly used in British English to refer to a fridge.) In the same way there is [my sweet old etcetera], a piece of poetry which also shows the aforementioned relationship by relating the topic of the poem to an event in time and by describing it through language. Moreover, language has been arranged in a way that the reader has to solve the puzzle established by the presence of the word “etcetera” in places which could be considered odd, still, without compromising aesthetic, and creativity. All in all, it can be established that W.C. Williams’ “This Is Just To Say” and E.E. Cummings’ [my sweet old etcetera] are actually poems.
ReplyDeleteRegarding “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by R. Jarrell, it can be said that it does show the intrinsic relation between language, culture and literature as well. This is due to the fact that the whole poem is an allusion to a specific historical event related to either World War I or II (an assumption based on the time the poem was written and the topic being developed through it.) Moreover, language –through personifications (e.g. “Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life...”) and apostrophes (“From my mother’s sleep I feel into the State…”), both literary devices– is being aesthetically used to describe reality which could be considered part of a cultural background.
Alejandro Valencia.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteQ1:There are several aspects that clasify poems as such (as poems)like the use of imagery and literary devices, musicality, rhythm, etc. But these characteristics are also found in other literary forms, as short stories or novels...e.g.There's obvious assonance in the short story "Werling" by Dick Skeen with the constant repetition of the semi-vowel /w/:"without worrying whether wife Wilma was working..." and the use of imagery and metaphors are also quite frequent in shorts stories like "Rope" by K.A.Porter in which a single piece of rope represented or symbolized a couple's excuse to fight, externalizing their real problems.
Nevertheles, poetry have other distinctive features which help us clasify texts; considering these are universal accepted patterns that distinguish poetry from any other genre. In "This is just to say" by William Carlos Williams we find that despite it is a note written probably in a hurry to a man's wife, the text is presented with the expected form of poems; that is, it is divided in three stanzas of four verses each. So, consequently, it can not be considered porse as in this literary genre sentences prevail, not verses or simple lines. Also, the text's lack of characters, indicate it is a poem. In short stories, two characters are at least needed but that is not the case in poetry, we don't need to have characters in poetry, althought we may find some pieces of poetry with main and secundary characters. In "This is just to say" there is only one character who performed the actions, the person who wrote the note.
On the other hand, "[my sweet old etcetera]" by e. e. cummings, a very different poem from "This is just to say", present other distintive characteristics of poetry. One of them is the unusual, creative arrangement of words; grammatical rules need not to be respected and the author is free to play with words, structures and locations in order to make the reader feel a certain way which is not only a distinctive characteristic of petry but of e.e.cummings' writing. In [my sweet old etcetera], there's clearly no respect for punctuation rules, no capitalization, unless on key or important words, e.g.:"my sweet old etcetera
aunt lucy during the recent
war could and what
is more did tell you just
what everybody was fighting
for,
my sister..."
(no capitalization of proper names, or at the beginning of the text; and absence of comas (,) in :"...and what
is more did..."
Q2: In order to fully appreciate "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" by Randall Jarrell, the reader must place him/herself on a war; as a ball turret gunner. A cultural aspect of a society is being presented in this poem; the one that has to do with the experience of war, th emachinery used in the poem that can also set a period of time, and the people's percerption (as participants or not) of the war. To convey such goal, the author uses not any king of word, but the words that will make the reader feel the experiences portrayed; the sacrifice, the effort, the expectatives, and the disappointment at the end. e.g.."...I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze..."(describing the sacrifice); "...When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose" (disapointment)and "From my mother's sleep I fell into the State...) may be from his mother's expectations towards the speaker in the war or from a comfortable, save place, like the mother's lap. Consequently, by the combination of cultural, and language elements, "The Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner" present a rich story that is not only part of a ulture and society because of the actions mentioned but also because of the language vocabulary and structures used.
1...
ReplyDeleteThis is just to say: As we studied in the course, this text can be considered a poem taking into account its length (12 lines with no more that 3 words per each), the division in stanzas (this text has 3), the absence of punctuation and capitalization (there is none, except for the pronoun “I” and Forgive me which gives importance to that word), and its arrange/layout (in a simple column instead of complete lines of a single paragraph).
I must add the text has hidden and implied things (meanings) in between the words. This works perfectly for many interpretations when making analysis. For instance, the fact that the note was left to someone, and with those careful words, could mean that he/she cares about the other one. The way the message is expressed lets open possibilities not in the words “perse”. This can be another characteristic of poetry.
My sweet old etcetera: It is a poem because (using the biographical approach) the author is well known as a poet. His poems share same characteristics as: lack of capitalization, no punctuation marks, unusual organization and eccentric use of grammar (breaking lots of traditional rules for writing literary texts and even rules of poetry).
But being a bit more analytical, the way the message is expressed and the hidden meanings can allow many interpretations in poetry design. For example: the many “etcetera’s” may be the sound of machine guns in the middle of a battle; suggesting that the narrator is being distracted with the fire shots while thinking in his home, his family and his girl. Or while shooting and being shot, he thinks of all of them but the background music is the sound of war that never stops. The last “etcetera” in capitals could be the one that kills him.
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2...
USA was living in the mist of war. The poem was written in 1941 and published in 45 (place us in world war II). The author served in the war, specifically in the air force, and specifically in WWII. This is enough cultural reference to explain the topic of the poem.
The language is quite simple and straightforward with the topic. Easily conveys the meaning of the solitary horror of one man in isolation in a Ball Turret (thanks to cultural association, we know it’s type of bomber plane; not a fighter, not a jet), plus his irrelevant death. And the author uses literary devices to send a message with pitiful, lonely tones.
“This Is Just To Say” it might be considered as a poem because of the use of the language presented for the author, the particular arrangement of specific words and ideas. As we know poetry refers to poems with or without rhyme schemes, this particular literary work is one of these cases where the poem does not follow a rhythmic pattern; also we can see lack of punctuation which is another characteristic of poetry. We need to remember that prose most often follows standard roles in grammar, punctuation, capitalization but poetry often does not.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the use of language, it might be stated that there is paradox in last four lines because the speaker is not apologizing at all, this poem suggests more than a simple note on the refrigerator, the speaker probably wants to show that even though he ate the plums he took few minutes before he goes to work for say “I love you honey” which is not in the poem but it could be at the end as a postscript perfectly.
There are some images of taste “they were delicious”; “so sweet” and touch “and so cold” that give us ideas of sensations.
In “[my sweet old etcetera]” as in the previous poem there is not rhythmic pattern as well as lack of punctuation, capitalization; just two words are capital letter “Your” “Etcetera” at the end which it might be inferred that the author made this for emphasizing those words. The phrase “during the recent war” it may be taking as an allusion of the first world war which took place for those days when the poem was written, and of course the word etcetera that has different connotation depending on the position in the text. It might work as a range of additional information that belongs to the same semantic rank, for instances in the two last lines “Your smile eyes knees and of you Etcetera”. It can be inferred that the actual meaning of etcetera there, is any part of the body between the knees, and the eyes, like the belly button, breast, hips, etc.
Answer II
If we want to analyze a poem or another literary text, it is a good idea to research about the biography of the author, as well as the historical, social, and political facts that happened when the text was written.
In “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” it be can inferred that it is about wars and probably is the second world war which was the most relevant event by the time the poem was written and because of the use of some words that are related to wars, like “Ball Turret” which are/were technological machines made for fighting and kill the enemy, also words like “Death”, “flak”, “Fighters” give us an idea of devastation, struggle, things that people live and suffer during wars.
“My wet fur froze” it might be analyzed if you know that the Second World War took place in an area in Europe which is so cold. There is an intrinsic relationship among culture, language and literature, they affect and interact to each other.
One word can have different places and culture. I remembered one class last term when prof. Duran told us that Eskimos have many different terms for snow, and for us, snow is just snow, there is no difference. On the other way around, for Venezuelan people there are many terms for bananas, like platanos, titiaros, lochos, etc. and for them (North American) are just bananas.
Ernesto Velásquez
Gabriela Rincon :)
ReplyDeleteGood Night!!!...
I.- Poems.. be or not to be...
In my opinon these two pieces of writing are Poems first, because of their layout, I mean, the apperance and the organization (or sometimes disorganization) of verses and stanzas. At first sight these poems can make you think of poems, poetry, etc. (It happend to me) they look like poems. Second, there percibo is creativity in both text to represent a specific reality in each poem and musicality, what makes a diference between other creative writings. It is, when you read this two texts there is a conection between sound that moves like waves while you are reading. Third, the use of literary devices like the word etcetera in the poem [my sweet old etcetera] which implies that there is more information besides the word itself and as it is repeated, it is also used to catch and keep the readers attention and finally; the implicit meaning of not only some words but complete stanzas and even verses. These words or prases can be understood as literal or figurative even sarcastic depending on the reader’s creativity. For example, the prhase “Forgive me” in “This is just to say” first verse, last stanza can be considered sincere or ironic and both are possible options. Futhermore, the prhase “myself etcetera lay quietly..” in “[my sweet old etcetera]” it can be considered sincere but as the speaker may be in the middle of a battle it also can be ironic.
II.-
Authors write most of the time to represent reality. In this sense, they can critize wether they agree or disagree with this reality. In the poem “The Deth of the Ball Turret Gunner” there is a mix between reality of war in the United States and its culture, what makes different this from other wars and is stated in the poem in verses like “when I died they washed me out of the turrent with a hose” this was common in North America’s culture during World War II. The use of the language in this poem is also important because the words are the appropriate to describe not only the setting but the emotions.
"this is just to say" by William Williams could be considered a peice of poem due to the use of literary language and just because of teh tile. the tilte "this is just to say" gives the reader enough evidence to understand that is just a note. it is a prose because contains: lack of rhyme, there is a topic and the use of figuartive language. furthemore, this poem lets the readers interpret the poem in different literal aspects, what leads us to analyze this prose as controversial.
ReplyDelete"My Sweet Old Etcetera" by e.e. cummings, the word etcetera is a substitution of many adjectives "perhaps" sweet and nice and infinite that describe the characters of the poem. furthemore, the word etcetera is a collocation. the use of allusions: "your smile eyes and knees and of your Etcetera" are typcal in poetry. cummnings was a writer that used to disrespect language rules, that is why, the arrangement of certaind odd words and also the use of non capital words.
the poem "the death of the ball turret gunner" is an allusion and it is a poem about war. in this poem the speaker is criticizing about how wars affeted his life style of his/her family and the land she/he used to live when says:"from my mother´s sleep i feel into the state", which refers to his/her land. Additionally, when saying the writer is criticying is well exemplified when says: "when i died they washed me out of the turret with a hose", this shows the use o fliterary language and demostrates the importance of his/her culture.
First answer
ReplyDeleteIf we consider the definition of Poe regarding poetry, it is possible to say that both pieces of literature are poems, not only because of the length but also because of their consistency. If we take into account Dickinson’s point of view both pieces of literature are also poetry, because both transmit feelings. The first one transmits humor, a sensation of commonness that makes the reader feel familiar with the poem. The second transmit in some way sadness because it shows the way of thinking of a society in a complicated circumstance as it is war. On the other hand, if we take into consideration the definition made by Frost regarding poetry, both cases fix as poetry because of the fact that they have musicality in their own particularly way. Even more, both poems express situations that are closely involve with the things that defined our society, our culture, our way of living and thinking. In short, both poems show in some way our humanity. Of course there are other characteristics that help us to see and define these two pieces of literature as poetry. Both are divided in stanzas and verse and also both have musicality. Another detail can be the style in which the poems are written (using symbols, ambiguity, etc) also fit in the pattern of poetry.
Second answer
The speaker is using the language to express what he thinks about the war, what he has seen and lived and uses this experience to criticize a fact that he knows is an abomination: the lack of importance that human life has during a war, any war. Human beings become dispensable, only important for a specific purpose. When that life has extinguished, it does not matter, the fight continues because there are more important things that a person, or hundreds of people; the war needs a winner and that it is all that matters. And in some way this fact represents the American culture, they have to win, not matter what.