Responding to Readings by Coolbrith and London

 

One thing that stood out to me after reading some of these two authors’ works was how strongly their depictions of life contrasted with each other. Take Coolbrith’s “Retrospect”—as I read through the beautiful imagery: “A breath of balm—an orange bloom!” and, “As dreamy as the dying day, / Comes the soft coo of mourning doves” I found myself transported into a world of bliss. How could there be any trouble in this beautiful place of sunsets, fragrant flowers, and mourning doves? In her final lines she even states how in this beautiful world she is a happy child playing in the flowers. Perhaps she is making a point here of how childhood is comparable to the happiest things in life, as they do not know yet of the “pangs of life” London refers to as he ends his chapter from Martin Eden. Contrastingly, this text made me cringe at the thought of life, or at least at Martin’s life. London does an incredible job at pointing out misery. Particularly, the arguably more realistic aspect of life is depicted in Martin’s struggle not only to make a living, but also to maintain a will to live. Wretchedly, London points out how life is not so dandy as flowers and doves. The contrast of these two texts brings to light how perhaps the world is only truly kind in regards to the innocent—the natural world, and children. However to those that have lived long and partaken in unpleasant, resentful things (like Martin’s hatred towards his bully Cheese-Face), the world responds by bringing suffering.

Hass & Zapruder Poetry Reading Response

As I came into the reading with a preoccupied mind of the day’s commitments, I had planned to simply go to the event, take notes, and quickly attend to the next task of the day. However, for the first time that day, my mind had finally slowed down as a result of being immersed in the readings Zapruder and Hass gave. From these readings, I observed how poems, with a just a few words arranged in a certain way, conveys so much more than what each of those words mean. There is something much deeper conveyed in just a few lines of poetry that cannot be expressed in any other way. With this one can understand that poetry is something people should not (and probably cannot) live without. Poetry can take the mundane, day-to-day experience and turn it into the most important thing in the world for that moment. For instance from “Musee des Beaux Arts,” Zapruder noted how that poem was about, “how real suffering is not dramatic, but takes place in ordinary life, ‘while somebody else is eating or opening a window.’” I found it fascinating how this truth about real suffering is so apparent in the poem, but simply reading the words cannot make the reader feel the meaning, this only comes from the experience of reading the poetry itself—one needs the careful crafting of words, rhythm, and emotion to make the art affecting. From this one can understand how important poetry can be for pointing out these significant truths in our lives that we often overlook. Hass’s reading about form I also found significant. He made a great point—about how the subtle combination of words and structuring of sentences in particular ways can make up something powerfully beautiful and artistic, like in many of the short poems he sampled. Because of the way in which the poem is formed, it can be more meaningful and artistic than another simple text lacking any of this carefully constructed rhythm.