Poetry Assignment #1

Cathy Corker
Dr. James Hepworth
English 150-61 Intro/Literature Fall '09
19 Nov. 2009

Poetry Assignment #1

The following writings are responses from selected poems in the text by Kennedy and Gioia, Chapter 14.

A. Luke Havergal by Edwin Arlington Robinson

1. Who is the speaker of the poem? What specific details does the author reveal about the speaker?

At first I thought the speaker may have been God. After re-reading this poem, I believe the speaker is Luke Havergal's inner self; his subconscious. Luke's subconscious has been slowly dying since the death of his love, falling deeper and deeper into oblivion. Luke's persona is splitting in two - a dying inner self (his soul) and a shell of the man he once was. As a last effort, Luke's inner self reveals a way for him to become whole again; to find his love once more; to reunite his soul with his body.

One of the most specific details that the author uses to reveal the speaker is the stanza that states, "Out of a grave, I come to tell you this..." To me, this signifies Luke's dead or dying soul. The author speaks of God as being different from the speaker. Robinson also reveals that Luke's love will call. These two revelations indicate that the speaker is neither Luke's love nor God, but someone or something else. Only Luke's soul or inner self could know so much about his pain.

2. What does the speaker ask Luke Havergal to do?

The speaker is asking Luke to trust his faith. Instead of allowing his soul to suffer a slow death by mourning the loss of his love, the speaker asks for total surrender of life. This surrender is offered as a way for Luke to unite his own soul and his body with that of his lost love. In surrendering his life with the faith that he will be re-united with his love, Luke will be able to live on in heaven. To continue his suffering will surely mean the death of his soul and ensure his arrival in hell.

3. What do you understand "the western gate" to be?

I understand the "western gate" to mean the pearly gate, the entrance to heaven. The western gate is opposite of the eastern sky - hell.

4. Would you advise Luke Havergal to follow the speaker's advice? Why or why not?

I would advise Luke to follow the speaker's advice. Without a soul a person is just a shell. Dying inside is the worst sort of death there is. Obviously, Luke is dying inside and is trusting in faith that he can live in the afterlife with his one true love, but only after the death of his body. It is far better to live in heaven than die in hell.

B. Monologue for an onion by Suji Kwock Kim

1. How would you characterize the speaker's tone in this poem? What attitudes and judgments lie behind that tone?

The speaker's tone in this poem is condescending with sarcasm toward humankind. Suji blatantly calls the reader a "poor deluded human" and an "idiot". The writer makes the judgment that believing in truth is merely a fantasy and that the search for truth, love, and the meaning of life is a waste of time. In the search for truth and by believing in love and life, Suji accuses mankind of being shallow, desperate, and self-destructive.

2. "I mean nothing" (line 2) might be seen as a play on two senses of mean - "intend" and "signify." Is the statement true in both senses?

The word "mean" in this poem can be interpreted as true to both senses - "intend" and "signify". The onion, like the search for truth, has no significance in relation to life. The onion, (symbolic of the search), will only cause misery. No matter how hard you try, how deep you look, or how much you wish to learn of worldly things, you will never succeed - you will never find - you will never understand. The onion is multilayered but has no heart - no core. Its intention is not to harm or to cause misery, but the fact remains that harm will be caused and misery will be experienced if the attempt is made to find the heart or understand the meaning of life.

3. Suppose someone said to you, "The whole point of the poem is that vegetables have rights and feelings too, and humanity is being rebuked for its arrogance and insensitivity toward other species." How would you argue against that view?

This poem has nothing to do with vegetables or arrogance and insensitivity toward other species. The onion is merely being used as a symbolism of life and the quest for understanding. The onion is, in the writer's mind, a perfect comparison to the many layers of human existence without any heart or soul. To attempt to find truth and understanding requires searching the soul, like peeling the layers, is futile and will only cause anguish.

4. The speaker is obviously one tough onion, cutting humanity little or no slack. To what degree do you think the speaker represents the author's view? Explain your response.

The onion, as the speaker, is mimicking the author's view entirely. It's ridiculous to expect that an onion could think or feel. On the other hand, it's easy to relate the layering of the onion and the tears that peeling it causes to the layering of human feelings. Like the burning, tearful sensation a human feels when chopping and peeling onions, he or she will also suffer the anguish of discovering the innermost feelings of hopelessness when searching deep within the soul - past the outer layers of denial or ignorance.

C. A Glass of Beer by James Stephens

1. Whom do you take to be the speaker? Is it the poet? The speaker may be angry, but what is the tone of this poem?

The poet could very well be the speaker as it sounds as if he has firsthand knowledge of the turn of events. Certainly the writer harbors resentment and ill-will toward the innkeeper but doesn't appear to be directing these feelings to her. Instead, the writer is relaying the message to the reader. This reader interprets some satiric aspects in this poem in that there is humor - despite the fact that the subject feels no humor in his situation. The subject's ire is directed only to the innkeeper and not her master.

2. Would you agree with a commentator who said, "To berate anyone in truly memorable language is practically a lost art in America?" How well does the speaker (an Irishman) succeed? Which of the epithets and curses strike you as particularly imaginative?

I would agree with the commentator who believes the art of using language to berate is a lost art here in America. The use of proper vocabulary, let alone a variety of descriptors, has declined in our country over the years. The decline has given way to more violence and/or explicit cursing rather than real words. The description of the innkeeper as a "whey-faced slut" is particularly imaginative and struck me as the most amusing. Although I do not condone the use of the word "slut", to infer she is "whey-faced" is humorous. I can almost visualize the watery whiteness of her skin blotched with red as she rages at the beggar poet.