Following our brief class discussion on voice, I leave you with this quote from Robert Pinsky. How does the poet's voice reveal something about the poem's meaning in the two poems that we started reading in class?
"If a poem is written well, it was written with the poet's voice
and for a voice. Reading a poem silently instead of saying a
poem is like the difference between staring at sheet music
and actually humming or playing the music on an instrument." R.Pinsky
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I prefered those 2 poems from those of last week. They are more descriptive and leaves us imagining the whole scene like if we’ve seen it with our own eyes.
ReplyDeleteI like to see it lap the miles:
I don’t know if it is the fact that a woman wrote this poem compared to the others, but I thought this one breathed more. It had more fluidity and was more evasive. I really loved it as a whole and for the choice of words.
To a locomotive in Winter:
I thought there was to many enumeration even if I know that was what the author wanted as an effect.
I think the line that has the most power is:
-Type of the modern! Emblem of motion and power! Pulse of the continent!
But the line that has a truly meaning for me is one about freedom, the very last line:
-To the free skies, unpent, and glad, and strong.
I think the quote about the voice is a key to understand poems. The way the teacher exagerately read it to show us the poem spoke of a rolling train made us realise we should read poems out loud to understand them better.
ReplyDeleteI prefered "I like to see it lap the Miles" by Emily Dickinson. No characters involved this week except a train. Compared to Whitman's, the way the poem is edited in Dickinson's contributes to the train's freedom. In "To a Locomotive in Winter", the lines are packed and stuck together. The train is seen as a powerfull, raging machine.
Definitely happier than the poems from last week.
Jay
Yep, definitely. I prefered the light and descriptive tone of those poems, but I really liked Penny though. At first, I haven't read the title, and I thought we were talking about a bird or about the wind or time there (In I like to see it lap the miles) I liked to re-read it having the train in mind.
ReplyDeleteIn the Walt Whitman's one, it's funny to see the language is a lot more Beowulf's like, with the "thy" an "thee" and lightly pronounced consonants. Feels like anglo-saxon poetry...
After the discussion we had in class, I looked back over the poem of Emily Dickinson “I like to see it lap the Miles”. Now I can see a total different aspect of it. At my first reading I did not understand much of the logic of what the author tried to communicate the reader, but now, reading it loud… as you said, it’s taking an other meaning.
ReplyDeleteMarie-Eve Pilote
I agree with Marie-Eve, reading the poem "I like to see it lap the miles" makes much more sense when read out loud.
ReplyDeleteBut for the writing, I prefered "To a Locomotive in Winter", because of the richness of the vocabulary and particularly the ending, which really shows the freedom.
So yeah, that's pretty much it.
Valérie Goulet Talbot
According to me, the quote from Robert Pinsky means we cannot enjoy a poem if we just read it. I like the comparison with music, I understand even more what Mr. Guy Olivier Pelletier means when he told us to read the poem out loud so we could feel it.
ReplyDelete"I like to see it lap the Miles" by Emily Dickinson is the one I prefer. The rhythm of the verses makes it more alive and when I read this poem I had the sensation I could see and hear the train.
"To a Locomotive in Winter" by Walt Whitman seemed to be an ode to trains but at the end it sounds more negative, like if the train (the technology) was in the land of nature.
The two poems were really deep. However, i prefere «To a locomotive in Winter» because it describes nature and I like the vocabulary which is used. I liked the two other poems of the other week but I prefere these ones because of the way they are written, they are most moving, according to my opinion...
ReplyDeleteCatherine Lacroix!
For sure reading the poem out loud works but you need to understand the words... Like in "I like to see it laps the miles" by Émily Dikinson there is the word "Boeanerges" which is the god of thunder which is quite cleaver to describe the sound that a train would make. The poem in general was good but in my first readings, I thought the poem was about the wind...Obvously I had mistaken.
ReplyDelete"To a Locomotive in Winter" I didn't like the style that was used. You didn't have to dissecte very far to see it was about a train!
Sam Clarke
I liked both poems, but what I especially loved about «to a locomotive in winter» was probably all the description that was used for the nature and what it can go trough with all our new technologies. But as Sam wrote, I didn't like the style of it.
ReplyDeleteI prefer I like to see it lap the miles by Emily Dickenson than to a locomotive in winter . Like maryline said I think that in "to a locomotive in winter" there are to many enumerations the poem is a little bit hard to understand .Even if the author used a rich vocabulary to decribe the train and the nature .I do think that i like to see it lap the miles is more simple and it decribe well the idea of the train .
ReplyDeletealexandra K
Those poems were definitly happier than last week. I enjoyed both of them, they were more concrete, more descriptive. That description made it easier to understand the real meaning. You need to read twice or more to really get the true meaning. The second one ''To a Locomotive in Winter'' had a quite old vocabulary. With all the ''thy'' and ''thee'' it was a bit hard to stay focused on the poem. My brain was trying to assimilate those words more than I was getting the poem. Good writers, good descriptions!
ReplyDeleteMarie-Philippe Busque
I agree with Marie-Philippe about all those "thee" and "thy". It seemed like a game to replace these words. I also thought " To a Locomotive in Winter" talked about the love of a man for his lover on my first reading because I forgot to read the title. I prefer these poems quite descriptive. It's easier to understand and imagine.
ReplyDeleteYou were right when you said to read it loud to help us!