Thursday, May 7, 2009

Chapter 20 - ... So Does Season

Find a poem in your text book which mentions a specific season. Then discuss how the poet uses the season in a meaningful, traditional, or unusual way. (Include the title, author, and page number with your analysis.)

17 comments:

Grey_spear said...

The season is very important to establish mood or theme in literature, especially in shorter works such as poems. Season can even be used to describe characters, revealing their personality. I chose the traditional Scottish ballad "Bonny Barbra Allan" for my example. It is in our text books on page 1151. In this poem, the season is stated quite blatantly in the first line. This poem takes place in autumn, more specifically around November 11. Usually autumn is represents a time of harvest and rest, however, in this poem autumn is more literally the combination of summer and winter. In the second line of the poem it talks about green leaves falling. It is almost as if autumn was skipped all together with the trees going from green and lush strait to barren, skipping the beautiful orange and red stage. Also, the characters in the poem experience this also. It seems that they were young and very much in love, such as summer would resemble. However, suddenly the man becomes ill and dies. This fills the woman with grief enough to think of taking her own life. Skipping from the young and romantic theme of summer strait to the sorrowful decaying theme of winter is quite interesting. It is even more entertaining because the the story takes place in the absent season, autumn.

sschwegman said...

I walk in the old street
to hear the beloved songs
afresh
this spring night
like the leaves--my loves wake--
not to be the same
or look tireless to the stars
and a ripped doorbell.

In the poem "I Walk in the Old Street" by Louis Zukofsky on page 771 the spring season is mentioned in the fourth line. Seasons are mentioned in literary works because a certain season sets a certain mood and creates a specific setting and feeling. When a person thinks of winter they feel cold, barren, and somewhat deserted. Fall may mean harvest time and set the mood of dreariness . Summer makes people feel warm and free, and spring represents new birth, freshness, etc. But of course all of these feelings vary from person to person. In the poem I chose, spring is setting the mood of frshness. The adjective afresh is even used in the poem. The purpose of the poem is to talk about love traditionally. This is compared to springtime giving it a crisp, new, fresh outlook to the reader. Although the idea of writing a poem about love is very traditional, the unique twist was comparing love to spring and not making it an epic love story.

Giesting said...

Season's differ as much in climate as they do in literature. Having a specific season introduced in a piece of literature creates a mood for the piece. Summer is joyous and vibrant, while winter is harsh and bitter. Donald Justice in his poem, School Letting Out (pg 1206) uses winter in a less than traditional way. Winter is cold with nasty weather. Donald uses it to add peace and joy to his poem. He is describing the feeling of school being let out for the day, and he uses a winter term to aid in his description. I found it unusual to use the season winter to describe happiness. Some people could agree with him on the idea of winter being peaceful though. I find it to cold for my likings.

Haddison said...

The poem, “Desert Places" by Robert Frost,(pg. 1189) uses the season of winter to enhance the loneliness of the narrator. Winter is often times seen as the time of death, bitterness, and dullness. Frost describes how everything is covered in a blanket of never ending white snow and how everything seems dead and quite monotonous. He sees nothing for miles except for snow, no people or blustering wildlife, which makes him feel all alone and separated from the world. He feels deserted (hence the title, Desert Places) as if it is only him and the infinite miles of snow.

lclifton said...

Every season is different not only because of their weather, but their significance in literature is different. To demonstrate how seasons’ have significance, I chose the poem “Try to Praise the Mutilated World” by Adam Zagajewski on page 842. This is a poem about a mutilated world that still has hope for people. The two seasons he used were summer, the season of passion, excitement, and fulfillment, and autumn, the season of age, decline, tiredness, and harvest. Summer is mentioned when Zagajewski writes, “Remember June’s long days.” Summer is used to illustrate the growth of life and the stirring nature that is going on around people. Summer is also the days of joyful memories for people. Zagajewski wanted to mention that their have been happy times before, so there was still a little hope for the future. In the poem, autumn illustrates harvest, hope, and age. Zagajewski writes, “and leaves eddied over the earth’s scars.” The scars are an indication of aging. The world has been hurt and damaged by people over time which gave the earth scars. It talks about you or someone gathering acorns which is definitely a symbol of harvesting. I sense Zagajewski is explaining that the acorns symbolize peoples’ problems that they have gathered during their lifetime. At the end, Zagajewski writes about the sun seeming to vanish, yet then it returns. The sun represents the hope that appears to fade away but always returns. Adam Zagajewski did a wonderful job incorporating seasons' significance in a meaningful approach.

holly_2313 said...

I chose the poem Birches by Robert Frost which can be found on pages 1188-1189. In this poem Frost mentions two seasons, summer and winter, but his main focus is the summer time. I believe Robert Frost was trying to convey how easy-going life is as a child by talking about a young boy who spends his time swinging on the branches of a birch tree. He misses the innocence of childhood. As we grow older and experience more things, we also experience more pain and suffering. He wishes that he could peel back his years to that of a child (only temporarily) much like the ice and snow fall from the birches every year when spring arrives. I believe his use of season is more unusual. Typically in a poem that is reminiscent of childhood and the innocence of childhood I would think the author would want to use spring as the season. Here, however, Frost chose to jump straight over spring to summer. Especially with his mention of baseball in line 25 (baseball season normally starts in the spring).

h_mckinney said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
h_mckinney said...

The poem I chose is “That time of year though mayst in me behold” by William Shakespeare on page 771. At the beginning of the poem it is easy to see that this poem takes place in the fall as it edges and creeps towards the inevitable winter. The reader knows this because of the “yellow leaves,” the “boughs that shake against the cold that are “bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang,” and “the ashes of his youth.” This suggests that the poem’s two lovers who have come to a point in their relationship where though they still love and passion of each other (“in me thou see’st the glowing of such fire”) the elements around them as well as the simple fact that they too have aged can’t fully hold and is too frail to support the love the two have for one other. Their realization of this leads them to the knowledge that death in the coming winter is the only way that their love can grow stronger fore in death they can rid themselves of all that has aged in them and around them to live within a love that is stronger, sound, and fulfilled.

James A. Call said...

I selected “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” by Robert Frost (pages 1191-1192).

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and down flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

In this poem, the narrator tells of when he was out and about during a winter night, probably running some sort of errand. He passes by the woods, which, it being winter, are gradually being covered with snow. He stops to watch for a little while, and though he enjoys the scene, he realizes that he can’t stay because he has other commitments that need to be fulfilled before he rests. Frost’s story is emphasized by the fact that it’s winter. The woods look picturesque in the soft, silent, drifting snow. Winter is also the period in which hibernation occurs, so when Frost mentions resting, it fits like a hand to a glove in this poem of winter. This poem expresses fatigue, and because of that fatigue, it also expresses the sense of duty the narrator feels to whatever ‘quest’ he happens to be on.

tnunlist said...

The poem I chose is "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" by William Shakespeare on page 431. In this poem Shakespeare compares the woman he loves to a summer's day. Summer is generally a very positive season in stories/poems. It is one of love, of hope, and happiness. In this one it is no different. He points out the beauty of a summer's day, then he says that she is more lovely and beautiful, which helps to add to the effect of the poem. He also acknowledges the limits of summer, and how it must dim and then come to an eventual end. Shakespeare uses this and says that there love will never dim or come to an end, much unlike summer. I believe he used the season of summer very effectively to show his love for this woman.

cpaul said...

The poem I found in the book was rather blunt about it’s season. It is very easy to convey which season this author is talking about. It is called Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden (pg 780). If you couldn’t already tell this poem is about winter. It is a traditional poem that talks about the hard times winter brings. The man in the poem is working hard and does this with no thanks from anyone. The poem simply informs people of the harsh winter cold and how hard fathers work to prepare their families for it. Winter brings about bad times and this poem focuses on those hard times.

Garret said...

The Poem I chose from our book is pretty straightforward about which season it is about. I chose “Spring and All” by William Carlos Williams, which starts on page 1001. Williams uses spring in a meaningful way. He starts off the poem by talking about going to a hospital where a lot of sick people are. He also mentions that there is a cold wind. These things make sense because it is the start of spring, and winter has just passed. He then talks about how there are patches of standing water. He also mentions that there are a lot of dead bushes and dead leaves under trees. This also makes sense because winter has just passed when plants are dead. The standing water could be from melted snow, or from the rains that are usually associated with spring. He goes on to talk about how all the plants are dead, but they are starting to grow or, “awaken” as he says in the poem. The whole poem makes sense because the reader know that Williams is talking about spring and the fact that winter has just passed. This poem is meaningful because it makes you think of every aspect of spring, and even some of winter.

J_Espin said...

Depending upon the season, certain poems can have created different feelings. For example spring has the feeling of growth while winter has the feeling of death or hibernation. The poem I chose is "Sestina" by Elizabeth Bishop on page 487 of the compact version of the book. This poem takes place in September meaning it is in the season of fall. It discusses the season in a traditional way. It is raining, typical of the season. The poem also shows the boredom that is typically associated with the autumn. The grandmother is clearly sad about something but she manages to conceal this from her grandchild. I think that this poem is a great example of the season of fall because it possesses the stereotypical feeling in which fall has.

__jgarcia said...

Everyone associates seasons with feelings. In Sherod Santos’s poem, Spring Elegy, he uses spring to bring forth irony. Spring is usually one of the best seasons. When people think of spring, offspring of all species come to mind. This elegy, however, is about Santos’s student who died. The title of the poem caught my attention. From a project in English Honors last year, I know that elegies are depressing stories usually about death. From my own personal knowledge, I know that spring is usually associated with new life, not the end of life. As I read the poem, I noticed how Santos twisted the traditional association of spring and twisted it to point out how truly depressing a death is, especially in spring.

__jgarcia said...

*Spring Elegy by Sherod Santos is on page 941.

CKoury said...

The poem "Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-Second Year" by Raymond Carver (pg.777) is about autumn. The poem starts out with the father being a young man looking strong and lively. As the poem enters the final third, the picture of the father changes. He is no longer young, but now older. He is no longer strong and lively, but fading in strength and memory. Just as autumn is the changing and falling of the leaves, the father is changing and slowly fading away.

lkarbowski said...

The poem "Spring" by Charles Simic (page 1235) illustrates a rather different view on spring. Simic begins the poem by describing the old snow on the ground and the blackbirds preening themselves. A neighbor woman steps out to hang clothes on the clothes line in her night gown. The spring wind sweeps the dress high above her knees. She stops what she is doing and laughs as she covers herself. When I think of the seasons I normally do not imagine people, but rather the trees and wildlife. Simic made a great relation to spring by using this woman. She was a symbol of the new spring air because she did not become mad when her night gown flew up; instead she laughed and was care free. Seasons are used in literature to set the mood in the story and move the plot along. If Simic been describing winter the woman probably would not have laughed if a cold wind had caused her night gown to go awry.