3/28/2017 4 Comments Poetry of The Past #11619: “How Many Paltry, Foolish, Painted Things” by Michael Drayton
Link: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44155 Hello lovelies! Today I’m gonna start a new series (or at least a potential new series…)! When I first read through the sonnet (Remember sonnets? 14 lines, alternating rhyme scheme with a rhyming couplet at the end!) “How Many Paltry, Foolish, Painted Things”, I was a bit confused about the actual subject of the poem. And so I went back and stared at the title for a while, breaking it down into its individual segments, and then bringing it together as a whole: Something that is “paltry” has little meaning, importance, or worth. “Foolish” is self-explanatory: lacking good judgment! “Painted Things” are… hmm…art related maybe? Or perhaps about women “painted” in makeup? This part is where I have trouble determining Drayton’s attitude. Is he referring to artwork in general as a “thing” because he doesn’t see any true masterful qualities about it? Or is he being derogatory towards women in referencing them as “things”? To try to find some clarity, I read through the first four lines of the piece. From there, I was able to tentatively conclude that this poem is about women. The first line brings about an insulting, degrading, salty tone that hovers over the lines, with the constant punctuation adding a suffocating density to it. The next two lines add a new puzzling element to my quest to figure out who or what this poem is truly about: “That now in coaches trouble every street,/ Shall be forgotten…” At first (don’t judge), I sincerely thought that this poem was about prostitutes. The “now in coaches trouble every street” led me imagine that Drayton was possibly annoyed that the buggies (a new invention) were improving access to prostitutes and making them more “visible” on the street. The “shall be forgotten” bit also made me think this way. But then I questioned whether or not Drayton was just misogynistic about all “types” of women during that time period: dainty women next-door, rich noble ladies, etc. The second half of line 3 and line 4, “whom no poet sings,/ Ere they be well wrapp'd in their winding-sheet?”, and the subsequent stanzas completely reverted my interpretation of the work as a whole. Drayton metaphorically compares the occupation of poet to that of a singer, and for the rest of the poem uses this comparison to glorify the “song” he plans to write about the subject woman. Line 5 marks a shift from the bitterness of the first stanza to a more lighthearted and optimistic tone. Drayton chooses to write an “immortal song” (line 14) for the subject woman, so that young girls, women, and mothers in the future will read the “lyrics” and envy her, “[grieving] they liv’d not in these times/ To have seen [her], their sex’s only glory” (lines 11 – 12). Here, Drayton places the subject woman on a pedestal of grandeur, which leads me to believe that the subject woman is someone close to Drayton’s heart. This mysterious lady is in fact so important that he blatantly places all other women on an abysmal level below her, forcing them, when “nothing else remaineth” (line 6), to be forgotten in time… Well, that was a rollercoaster…that’s it for now! Leave a comment below about your interpretation of the piece. Who (or what) do you think is the subject of this poem? Is Drayton misogynistic, or is he uplifting the forgotten women of the Elizabethan era?
4 Comments
"Maine Coast"
Link (With reading - 0:00 – 1:08): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/90623 Hey everyone! For this installment of “Contemporary Poets: Lillian-Yvonne Bertram,” we’re going to do something a little…different. This time, I urge you to first read and mentally analyze the poem text, and then listen to Bertram read her piece via one of the audio links. I found that it completely altered my understanding of the work. Just in case the Poetry Foundation link doesn’t work right, as I had some trouble with a bad gateway earlier, here is the poem (don’t sue me!) and the same audio recording from a different, but affiliated, site: “ for Dylan I watch the ocean square into a turning Burn. Burning, my holes glass over. Lightning Hits the beach, melts me shut. I’ve drowned Before, in the bye along a row of shored Rocks. From the barrel chest butcher I buy Tight roasts. This year’s man, his clownish dog walks me In the park until I die on his leash and domestic Night’s sticky seizures. I thumb and ♥ it Like liking a million times. The rich own long Lighthouses to show us how away from them We are. Past waiting for the press of his chest To my back, I hobby along to the next hem’s Promise. Again I straddle the blade thinking This is the time it will fill the gash. ” Audio: http://www.wnyc.org/story/maine-coast/ (0:35 – 1:42) For context, Bertram wrote this poem to discuss conflicting emotions she experienced during what was designed to be a romantic summer in Maine. The first thing that stands out to me that emphasizes this topic is the enjambment. The first sentence sets into motion the pacing of the piece: “I watch the ocean square into a turning/Burn.” The ocean is in turmoil, the speaker’s mind is in turmoil, but the speaker watches the ocean “square,” which indicates that they are in a fixed position spatially. To me, this creates an image of the world spiraling and revolving around a fixed point. It illustrates an internal struggle that the speaker has to unwillingly experience, the resolution of which could impact their future and all subsequent interactions with those around them. The last line serves as closure for the flow as it is the only end-stopped line. The final sentence, “Again I straddle the blade thinking/This is the time it will fill the gash,” indicating a bleak submission to the status quo. Many of the stylistic choices Bertram makes add a certain personality, a feel, to the piece that provides depth to the motifs and themes being alluded to. I think that the sentence “I thumb and [heart] it/Like liking a million times” represents an obsession with maintaining what may be a damaged relationship for the sake of holding on to that social media status. On the other hand, the lines “Past waiting for the press of his chest/To my back, I hobby along to the next hem’s/Promise” signify that the speaker may be bored or annoyed by the repetitive nature of their relationship, or tired of exchanging blank promises and feeling hurt when they go unfulfilled. What are your thoughts about this piece? Did the audio alter your interpretation at all? Comment below! "Clinical Therapy"
Here's the Link: http://vinylpoetryandprose.com/volume-4/page-14/ Happy February, everyone! The poem “Clinical Therapy” by contemporary poet Lillian - Yvonne Bertram discusses some pretty touchy subjects while chronicling her personal endeavor towards maturity. She examines how past influences along with societal pushes impact the way one discovers their place in the social order. The poem opens with Bertram reminiscing about her childhood, with imagery of her playing pirate alongside her brother with “a plastic orange sword” (line 3); all the while, they envision their future, wondering “who [their] father will teach to drive first” (lines 7-9). Some of the lines throughout the poem are distinctly italicized (lines 5, 6, 9, 10, and 23); in the first two instances of this, these lines represent positive and playful childhood interactions that add a personal touch to the memories she’s described. The last emphasized line holds the negative tone of societal repression. The two gaze up at the clouds and identify shapes and objects, and it seems that immediately afterward, Bertram is removed from her nostalgic revere when “All that wasn’t allowed comes back again” (lines 12 -13). I interpreted these thoughts that aren’t “allowed” as bad memories or punishments that were beginning to resurface from the back of Bertram’s mind. This line also marks an important perspective shift from the past to the present. In this new “section” of the poem, Bertram introduces the impact that social pressures have had on her self-esteem and awareness. Lines 14 – 18, “It’s the year I repeat haircuts from the year/I wanted to be a boy./No thought to what I could become: cagey”, can be construed in many different ways. I took these lines to mean the struggles of pubescent development in regards to gender stereotyping and identity (which may be a bit too literal of an interpretation…any other ideas? Comment below!). Bertram describes being tired of living the routine course set for her by society’s expectations for young women. She is weary of having to constantly think of what she wants to do in life, and being let down when they are not traditional “women’s roles” or when she is berated for not conducting herself “like a woman.” She wants to “be a boy,” which could either mean that she wants the opportunity to enjoy the freedoms that men experience, or simply that she is not comfortable identifying as a woman (I may need to dig deeper into her background to see if these thoughts are or are not true…). These few lines carry the bulk of the tension that manifested itself following the poetic shift. The last 5 lines help to support my interpretation, as they address the female expectation of perfection being something that needs to be obtained through constant practice, and the “bearing down” pressure many women face to look good and aesthetically pleasing those around them. Make sure you take a look at my other installments in the Contemporary Poets: Lillian – Yvonne Bertram series and post your thoughts below. I’m actively trying to find trends in Bertram’s writing style, but to no avail…perhaps you all can help out! Take note of any trends you see in her themes, word choice, syntax, etc. She has a lot of published pieces, so I’ll have many more analyses in the future! “Homo Narrans” (One of many)
(The first Homo Narrans you see!) Link: http://bodyliterature.com/lillian-yvonne-bertram/ Happy New Year everyone! This next poem by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram is quite intriguing. Bertram has written and released a series of poems she calls “Homo Narrans,” which roughly translates to “storytelling person.” This immediately made me think of Homo sapiens, which means “the wise ape” (in Latin) or “knowing person.” As I read through several of the poems, I found that many of them were structured like vignettes or cameos of various mini-tales, each having their own meanings and lessons. The Homo Narran I chose to analyze opens with the speaker fervently searching for their mother and father. A “librarian” approaches them and says that their parents have boarded another “plane” that has taken off. Bertram offers some explanation for this unusual conversation in the 5th line: “This library is an airplane.” The speaker expresses that they don’t want to be on this plane, but the librarian states that the library they’re in has already taken off. It seems like these first few lines may be alluding to a child who has been dropped off at a school, or some other learning center similar to a library, by their parents. The child has been placed on a “plane” and sent away on a trip towards the acquisition of knowledge and personal development, and the parents have boarded a separate “plane” that is heading towards “real world” and occupational experiences. The remainder of the poem (following line 12) introduces a significant amount of imagery, and changes the mood of the piece from the unsettling hopelessness of a child facing separation anxiety to the curiosity one gets when the are left to explore to their own devices. The librarian is shown to widely smile as the child looks out the window and sees what I can only assume to be the cornfields of their home drift out of view. At the same time, books begin to slip off of their shelves; the librarian instructs the speaker and other people on the plane to “look forward, [and] hold [their] arms overhead like children on a roller coaster” (lines 21-24). The librarian’s smile expands to an exaggerated “forehead to jaw” length (lines 25-26) as she demonstrates the motion. This definitely led me to imagine the librarian as a teacher or instructor, specifically of naïve young children. To me, the overall tone of the poem is quite a bit hostile. The speaker cannot escape the library, and is being told by a complete stranger, who’s little too nice, how to behave on the plane. The librarian is trying very hard to distract from the situation, and it seems to be working! Bertram could possibly be recounting her experiences with the American education system, and pointing out the manipulation many students are exposed to from a very young age… What are your thoughts? Comment below! :) "Account of the Apparitions" Link (Scroll!): http://www.thefeministwire.com/2011/06/featured-poet-lillian-yvonne-bertram/ Hey, everyone! The third Lillian-Yvonne Bertram poem I want to discuss with you guys is called “Account of the Apparitions,” and details the beginning of what seems to be an economic recession in the speaker’s life. When I was reading this poem, I found that the tone and themes were starkly intense and dark throughout, with imagery depicting the emptiness and sorrow that can come with sudden poverty. The poem begins with the speaker announcing that the “billion dollar days” were over, and that the “old times” had returned. What the billion dollar days consisted of can be interpreted in a number of ways: the days could've been a period of time where the speaker was living in luxury and opulence, or it could've been a time where the speaker was simply living comfortably, with a sustainable income and living situation. The manner in which Bertram describes the old times implies that the current generation of youth being discussed had never lived through a time of economic hardship until now, and probably couldn't believe that such hardship could exist in modern times. Bertram establishes a tone of recollection by describing a memory of her “old man,” her father, sitting by a lamp in their home, which has become dusty and stale from the sudden decline in activity and liveliness. She calls the period of their misfortune the “Summer of Sorrow” and “The Fall of Painted Statues with Paint Worn Off,” which provides a window into how long the family has been living in that situation (Two whole seasons!). The poem suddenly becomes more intense as she describes how the remnants of the billion dollar days have to be aborted in order to make way for the new old times. I’m not quite sure if Bertram is speaking figuratively or literally when she describes how “every girl and friend”, including herself, needed an abortion. The way she goes on to talk about the occurrence as “a hip kind of cruel” makes me think about the influence of the economy on people’s home-lives and prospects (kids are expensive!). I think that Bertram is...valiant...for successfully taking on what many people considers a taboo topic to write about. She also includes a bit where she describes how their shawls and blankets were “sewn with thinning economic plans,” which practically embodies poverty in America. She uses symbolism in talking about the tattoos behind each of their ears, of dollar signs and the Eye of Horus, which are both considered symbols of stability and protection. Bertram’s poetry never disappoints. She is able to describe her experiences in life and thoughts she’s had beautifully using poetry as her artistic medium. "Statement"
Link (scroll down!): https://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/poetry/crossroads/new_american_poets/lillian--yvonne_bertram/ The second poetry installment from the contemporary poet Lillian-Yvonne Bertram that I want to discuss is one with a less…dramatic title. “Statement” by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram is a contemplative and moving piece that has a very blunt title to go along with it. As I got into this poem, I began to understand why she chose such a frank word: The poem opens with a brief setting description, where she recollects standing in the Colorado Desert and observing “Jupiter and the moon rise together in that triumphant way that celestial bodies come into view” (Lines 2-3). She describes the majesty of the cosmic bodies, and how observing these ethereal beings can leave someone on Earth suspended in time. Bertram laments that human language is inferior when compared to the universe, that she is unable to find enough words to describe her experience. Awareness of one’s scale in the universe is a curse in Bertram’s eyes, and until you find the right words to capture the occurrence, you are forever trapped in “a crypt so utter that language is a joke” (Line 10). I can feel the tension that Bertram may have been suffering through when she realized that the only thing keeping her from connecting with the cosmos was a thin window, a “pane of glass” (Line 8), a language barrier. She understands that she will likely never be able to break out of this rut, but she keeps trying to. This is where I think the title choice for this piece came into play; she probably came to terms with the fact that humans will likely never be able to communicate (per say) with the celestial bodies because our language has diverged from the path to enlightened speech. She decided on “Statement” for the title of this poem because all words have the same inferiority: there’s no point in creating an elaborate name for a pointless cause. What really caught my attention is the last line of this poem. She takes a step back and thinks about what a poem truly is when used in an attempt to leave the crypt of language. Bertram questions whether the poem is “the cellar, the crack permitting light, or the light” (Lines 13-14). On her first point, it can be concluded that the search for acceptable words is futile, and that she will be doomed for all eternity by continuing her search for a pure language. Her second perspective proposes that writing poetry allows the glass pane to become clearer (temporarily) until new words are formed to accommodate the cosmos’ grandeur. I believe that Bertram’s third point is what she relies on to keep her going as an artist. This point establishes that poetry is comprised of bits and pieces of the cosmos itself, and allow humans to gradually lose awareness and connect with the universe wholly. “The Body Deformed by Tidal Forces”
Link (from the Feminist Wire): http://www.thefeministwire.com/2011/06/featured-poet-lillian-yvonne-bertram/ The poem I’ve chosen to discuss today is from a true contemporary language artist: Lillian-Yvonne Bertram. “The Body Deformed by Tidal Forces,” from Bertram’s 2012 publication But a Storm is Blowing from Paradise, is a moving metaphorical piece that describes the Earth as it phases into spring. Bertram writes about the never-ending transition from winter to spring by personifying the season and planet as romantic “partners”: the Earth is a body that is loved by a passionate spring. However, the particular springtime she writes about is “uneasy” and “un-gripping;” the season is described as having “[a] Bored mouth...Bored fingers,” which indicates that the season has lost fervor over the years. She connects this decreasing passion with the modern issue of global warming. She suggests that the Earth is, in a way, impure and deformed, and she is troubled when she compares the earth to the rest of the cosmos. The final line, “All planets but this one were named after gods,” is particularly powerful, as Bertram alludes to the increasingly bleak future of planet Earth and the effects of humanity on its original divine beauty. I’m greatly intrigued by this poem’s analysis of nature as time progresses. She presents a description of the model solar system, where all planets twirl in synchronous and have a purpose in the structure of space, much like that of the connections in a spider web. With each passing season, the decreasing romanticism of springtime harms the Earth’s physique and wears it down. Environmentalism is something that I hold dear to my heart, but I’ve never seen this perspective on the consequences of human-Earth interactions before. I eagerly look forward to reading and analyzing more works from But a Storm is Blowing from Paradise, and getting to know Lillian-Yvonne through her words. |
AuthorHello everyone! My name is Alecia Guishard. Welcome to Reader's Delight, a site that fosters an open discussion on literature, as well as provides an avenue for my own thoughts on various reads. Archives
March 2017
Categories |