The Blue Rim Memory And A Tree Telling Of Orpheus

Among the various structural and thematic elements, Debora Greger’s “West of Myself” provides a sense of nostalgia and reminiscence of the past. The poem illustrates how life and memory are not so easily remembered or taken. The speaker of the poem is dramatizing her inner conflict and chastising herself for the direction her life has taken and where she believes it will befall. The compelling force for the creation of the work might have been to express memories of living a life and reflection, looking at life from hindsight. The poem reveals where she once thought the right way in life was to go and where she now thinks the right way would have been.

The awareness we have of our own mortality, the limitations of our flesh, bound only to our nature through subjective perceptions of value and worth has thus far been the driving force behind philosophy and its exploration of the human experience. My interpretation of Gwen Harwood’s poetry, through the two examples ‘Triste, Triste’ and ‘At Mornington’, is that it appeals to the key concepts of existentialism, namely Despair, and ‘the Other’. Through addressing these key concepts, Harwood’s poetry contends the notions of existential nihilism. In turn, the human experiences of loss and consolation are authenticated through her poetic exploration of the concrete and the abstract realms within those key concepts. Although the statement concerning

Three poems written by Harwood that emphasise the idea of memory’s importance and its ability to alter and determine perceptions are ‘Father and Child’, ‘The Violets’ and ‘At Mornington’. Each of these poems reminisces on pivotal experiences that modify one’s assessment

BibliographyRomantic Writings: An Anthology, edited by W.R. Owens and Hamish Johnson (1998), The Open UniversityApproaching Poetry, Sue Asbee (2001), The Open UniversityRomantic Writings, edited by Stephen Bygrave (1996), The Open University

The books and reading materials we read and encounter can have an impact in our education and in who we are. This is because our ideas, beliefs, imaginations and way of thinking can change based off how we react to the material. In Julia Alvarez’s poem “On Not Shoplifting Louise Bogan’s The Blue Estuaries” the author uses various literary devices, such as tone, imagery and selection of detail to convey the speaker’s intriguing and suspenseful discoveries of her voice and her talents.

Memorable ideas are evident in Harwood’s poetry. In her poem, “At Mornington”, she considers the philosophical idea that the passing of time leads to gaining of wisdom. Harwood shows that growth and development are a critical part of defining our individuality. She has effectively used poetic techniques such as construction; vivid imagery and the context of her own life to explore this idea and contributed to the textual integrity of the piece. External contextual readings and values of the poem have illuminated the significance of the piece in asserting the value of friendship and relationships, and presented various ideas such as the inevitability of death, the significance that past events and memories play in shaping present perception as well as the defining of individuality through growth and development. Together, this contributes to the memorability of the poem.

Where water hid its cerulean complexion, and as the sound eloped with the obfuscated sky that effigy betrayed our delineated senses and lent my heart to the arid stars. Since when did the jade expire for the passers-by who grazed her persecuted lines? This way, nevertheless, exposes our day to a place whence the letters won't beseech their words.

In Terrance Hayes’s book of poetry, Wind in a Box, one can see that the poems are written like a personal narrative using rhythmic phrasing to help one understand how their identity is formed. The blue poems in particular, are ones that use the word “blue” to contribute to the poems in different aspects. Using the word “blue”, Hayes shows blue as a color usually defined by sadness, blue as in the musical genre which usually sings about troubled times, and blue as in another word for feeling bad or depressed. It is obvious to see the significance the word “blue” plays throughout the Wind in a Box poetry collection. Hayes poems “The Blue Suess” and Booker’s Tomb” from the collection Upright Blues emphasize the themes of race, tradition, and freedom in the most interesting ways.

Historians have often described the reconciliation between northerners and southerners after the Civil War as a process of selective forgetting. The shared Union and Confederate experience of courage-under-fire quickly supplanted the root causes of the war and the longstanding sectional acrimony between North and South in the public memory. As Michael Kammen suggested in his 1991 book Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformation of Tradition in American Culture historical meaning is imbued with concern for the present. For many Americans, North and South in the late nineteenth-century, “present” concerns were economic progress and stability. Sectional discord and enmity stood in the way of rebuilding the nation, and prosperity required letting bygones-be-bygones. New narratives sutured from selected historical memories were crafted to expedite the national healing process and to appeal to the sentiments of northerners who romanticized the bucolic Old South and its aristocratic order. Although nostalgia for a pre-industrial past played its part in fostering reunion, Reiko Hillyer, in Designing Dixie: Tourism, Memory, and Urban Space, argues that it was the mutual economic interests of northern capitalists and southern boosters that were central to reconciliation, and shaping the development of the New South.

Ukrainian, Elena Grigorievna Ponomarenko and Russian Vera Ivanovna Malakhova shared one inevitable thing in common and that was the USSR, formally known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This spread of communism would take a place in these women’s lives affecting their ideology. Elena allowed communism to be the foundation of her life, while Vera used to advance in the education system and become a physician. Despite the views these women had on communism, communism helped both Elena and Vera achieve their social status as well as privileges.

As October is the month of remembrance, one can only make sure to make a personal connection by first knowing what the word means. Remembrance means to account what happened in the past as well as embracing the past for it shapes their lives in present. As connections start to be made, people only know that most ancient, classical books are filled with that theme of remembrance. As one spends their time reading one of the most ancient and best epic poems of all time titled The Odyssey by Homer, the theme of remembrance not only recounts the lives of the Ancient Greeks, but also the history of Ancient Greece as a whole. The Odyssey mostly centers on the protagonist, Odysseus, and his journey home after the Trojan War, while facing many obstacles,

Major events in a person’s life have a long lasting impact on them and help them to become the person they are today. These events help provide them with inspiration for their art. Artists and poets alike use their own lives as inspiration for their works. Sharon Olds is no exception to this statement. Sharon Olds is one of the nation’s finest contemporary poets, and in order to see why Sharon Olds’s poetry is so profound, it is necessary to understand the events that shaped Sharon Olds as a person herself. These events are all featured in the majority of her writings. Sharon Olds’s strong Calvinist upbringing, her divorce, and her alcoholic father are all mirrored in her poetry.

Memories can in a way define who we are and how we progress through life. Memories can be a pathway to either follow the straight and narrow or to have us decide which fork of the road to take. Past memories can help to identify a person and can effect the future that follows. Through the journy of self discovery, Marshall’s Praisesong for the Widow and Danticat’s Breath, Eyes, Memory suggest one must relive past and present memories to find their true identity in the future.

“Everything is Plundered,” “I Am Not One of Those Who Left the Land,” and “Midnight Verses” are prime examples of Akhmatova’s symbolic literature. Akhmatova used poetry to help her overcome difficulties in life; it was a way of expressing and setting her feelings free. All of Anna Akhmatova’s poems contain a common theme that connects to her real life: though life can be rough, it is important to deal with problems and work towards acceptance.

“I was treading where academics cannot go because of the rigour of their discipline” (p. 10, l. 260-262). This combination of two such different ways to write allows her to bring back the voices of those who were left out of the historical texts.