Meru

Of all the poems that we've read this year, I liked this one the most.  I think because to me it really hit on what humanity is and does.  "man's life is thought,/And he, despite his terror, cannot cease/ Ravening through century after century."  I think what Yeats says, in a much more eloquent way, is that despite the fact that humanity is pretty aware of the damage it does onto itself, "Egypt and Greece, good-bye, and good-bye, Rome!" it continues along its destructive path.  Of course he could just be mentioning history but I'd like to think that what he is saying one of two things: 1) we have yet to learn from the mistakes made in the past that caused the "Ravening, raging, and uprooting" or 2) we have yet to appreciate the past.  Either way, the last few lines of the poem bring in the image of a forgotten destination.  Bringing in Mount Meru gives the poem a religious aspect and so the snow that covers the mountains and naked bodies through night and day shows that the final destination of humanity has been forgotten.  Maybe I'm completely off here, but thats what I thought.

W.B. Yeats' "Meru"

This poem seems to represent an exploration of anarchist theory. Of course, this is not the wanton violence or destruction, nor the disguised dictatorships, which seem to come to mind when one considers the nature of "anarchy." Rather, it is a more "natural" and poetic meditation on anarchy. To paraphrase the American historian Howard Zinn, those things that we fear most of anarchy (namely, violence, death, destruction, upheaval, etc.) have ben brought about not by any "anarchist" group, but rather by the imperial nation states of the modern world. Poets and artists alike have long noticed that the so-called "order" that is protected so dearly by civilization is merely a guise by which certain functions of human nature (greed, violence) may be furthered by the subjugation of others. Thus, Yeats laments the notion of civilization "...brought /Under a rule, under the semblance of peace..." This civilization has failed in its promises of peace, of its destruction of suffering. Humanity, still unable to escape a life, "Where but to think is to be full of sorrow," raves and rages through the centuries, never surrendering the ideal of immortality or peace. Meanwhile, the pursuit of that ideal further extends the reach of the so-called "civilization, and thus furthers the suffering and alienation of modern humanity. Yeats goes on to ponder the existence of hermits. Setting them upon Meru, the "center of the world," Yeats places them closer to the elemental, the "desolation of reality," into which both man and civilization inevitably plunge. They are living in the present with its constant necessities, and are not focused on the "monuments" of peace that will pass "before dawn." However, Yeats does not seem to praise these "hermits." they instead seem beyond praise, they simply are. Any monument of glory or praise to their lives will pass, as will the snow that "beat down upon their naked bodies."

Meru

I thought this poem was speaking of the inherit desire for knowledge that is possessed by man and man kinds yearning to understand everything that is going on around us. Civilization is brought together by its unanimous ignorance in understanding the ways of the universe. Man fears what he may learn by delving into such a question, however he cannot stop himself from frantically looking for the answer everywhere he goes. The desire for knowledge and curiosity out weighs the fear. However just as "day brings round the night," life brings round death. Time will take away everything that humanity has earned and there will be nothing left to even prove that it ever existed in the first place.

last 14 lines in Bishop's poem

The last fourteen lines of Bishop’s poem describe the salty ocean that is a “transmutation of fire.” Bishop equates “knowledge” with this acidic like water. Bishop explains “what we imagine knowledge to be” through opposites. For example, she describes knowledge and the ocean as both “dark” and clear.” I thought these were rather opposite words to be listed in the same line together. I think the author does this because just as the ocean is not stagnant, knowledge is forever “moving” and “utterly free” to change. Our perception of truths is constantly in flux. Also, knowledge can be “bitter” and “burn” just as the salt from the ocean stings the skin. The last line of the poem couples nature and knowledge through “our knowledge is historical, flowing, and flown” because obviously water flows but knowledge flows too through generations and perhaps the “flowing” refers to blood flow and the idea that knowledge grows and moves through human beings. The tense of flow starts as the present tense; “flowing” because living and carrying knowledge is present but knowledge is also “flown” because in a “historical” sense knowledge has been previously attained; therefore, Bishop uses first present tense, then past tense to reveal knowledge as existing through time and society.

Night, Death, Mississippi

I found this poem incredibly scary.  I thought the the first part of the poem seemed like it was the voice of a white person aware that a lynching is taking place.  Hayden uses phrase such as "Screech-owl?/ Or one of them?" to identify to the reader that the speaker does not identify with whatever is making the noise he hears.  The section continue to tell how the listeners stay as if entertained by what they hear, and that could they, they would be there to witness it.  Along with the clue that this is  a KKK lynching "White robes like moonlight/ In the sweetgum dark," we are also given an incredibly gruesome depiction of what happened and the reward, a bottle of beer, for the boy who participated.  The second section is told from the point of view of the boy who participated in the lynch.  He is much more descriptive as a speaker because he was actually in the action or the lynch.  I think it is really creepy how this poem shows how accepted and even encouraged lynching was as a practice. The only kind of redeeming feature of the poem are the lines in italics which seem to know how immoral lynching is.

Heaney

To me the most striking parts of this poem are the ones in which obedience is spoken of. Heaney forcefully recalls both self loathing an self pity in speaker's acquiescence to the military order and protocol, " little emptier, a little spent/as always by that quiver in the self, /subjugated, yes, and obedient." This point is again powerfully produced in the ending of the poem where one might expect that writing would be a source of encouragement and freedom. Instead the reader only knows " Anonymous submission. " During his experience "behind a waterfall" the speaker not only lost his power but his individuality.

Night, Death, Mississippi

I was a little shocked after reading this poem to see that it was written in the point of view of a former member of the ku Klux clan, as I was expecting from the title to read a heartbreaking poem about a victim of lynching. This gave the poem a chilling and haunting feel, whereas if it were written in the point of view of the victim it would have been heartbreaking but would have lacked the new edge that this unique angle provides. I liked how Hayden played with the lighting of the poem in the first few stanzas to make the contrast between light and dark even more apparent. The old man “turns out the kitchen lamp” and goes into the “windowless night.” And according to the old man, the white robes are “like moonlight in the sweetgum dark” indicating that they are the shining light in the otherwise complete darkness.