Poems: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.

 

As the world turns on, things like culture, language, people, and other factors are constantly changing. This is also no exception when it comes to poetry. Many years ago, when people spoke in "old english", works that were in forms of 'sonnets' were frequently written. Nowadays, contemporary poets will use the same type of writing style or sequence, but the language is very different. You also see the context of poems changing with time. During specific periods of what a country is going through, you will hear and read poems reflecting its time. It is very interested to compare all these different types of poems as they paint a bigger poem refelecting an ever-changing world.

"Not waving, but revolving"

People suffer from severe depression and mental disease every day. It is so hard to cope with depression, and some people end up feeling totally lost and infatuated with trying to make everyone believe they are actually happy. The poem “Not Waving But Drowning” by Stevie Smith' s overall theme is that the dead man was lost his entire life. As he waved his arms around, struggling between life and death, death was ultimately what he chose as long as people still believed that the reason he died was not because he was depressed, he simply drowned. He was never waving to the people the people that passed in and out of his life, but crying for help all along. 30 Seconds To Mars's song, Revolve, also portrays a similar theme.

"To find yourself just look inside the wreckage of your past
To lose it all you have to do is lie
The policy is set and we are never turning back
It’s time for execution; time to execute
Time for execution; time to execute!"

These lyrics could explain just how the person in the poem was feeling. People sometimes overlook suffering, and this poem and song emphasize the fact that many people may seem cheerful on the outside, but on the inside they are truly depressed.


Revolve - 30 Seconds to Mars

America, I am Waiting..

It is sometimes difficult to live in a country filled with racism, or a country where one may feel like there is nothing left to be discovered. During the 1920's and on, our country continued to go through series of  oppression, renaissance, and other new beginnings. Claude McKay's poem,  "America" as well as Lawrence Ferlinghetti's, "I Am Waiting" show just how people may have reacted to all of these changes. McKay's speaker, who could be an immigrant, or some type of minority clearly still loves America because it makes him grow to be a stronger person. He explains how his dramatic hate for the country gives him strength. He believes that although america is a huge country, he is still willing to put up a fight against it like "a rebel fronts a king in a state." He is not afraid of it and simply looks toward the future. He sees how strong and great America is and he appreciates it for all its beauty, knowing that with hard work comes great benefits. Ferlinghetti's poem is very powerful, using sarcasm and a re-occurance of the phrase, "I am Waiting", to illustrate its message. "I am Waiting" talks about social and historical issues that may concern people in America. The speaker in the poem very casually mentions that he is "waiting for the Second Coming." Christians have been expecting the Second Coming for many centuries, so this might suggest that  the Second Coming will never come. Examples like this show that the speaker clearly does not have faith that many things will happen, or perhaps has lost faith in America. The two poems give great insight to two somewhat similar viewpoints of an ever-changing America. Different people may experience America through struggles, hope, or just living the unexpected. 

Just to say, to my hips...

Being rebellious can be defined or seen as going against what other people think, or speaking out on a topic that may make other people feel uncomfortable. Williams Carlos Williams's “This Is Just To Say” and  Lucille Clifton’s “Homage To My Hips” are both poems that can absolutely be described as "rebellious", and it shows in the lines of their rebellious poems.


 Williams's poem can be interpreted in so many different ways, teetering around the team of dysfunctional relationship.   The words “Forgive me,” written as a command, shows that the speaker may be regretful, however he is not sorry. The graphic imagery of the plums suggests innapropriate sexual desires. These are all very deep interpretations, but one can also take it in all its literal terms in that the speaker just happened to have eaten his wive's plums. This, as well, shows an untrustworthy relationship with hopes for forgiveness. Maybe the speaker in the poem just ate her plums from the ice box and wanted to write a small apology. Rebellious is written all over this poem as there is not one answer to what this poem is about, and its content can be very sexual which some may define as rebellious. 


"Homage To My Hips” uses the metaphor “hips” to represent a woman's characteristics. She has powerful, mighty, magic hips and is proud of her body. She is an independent woman not to enslave to anyone even her husband. The whole idea of the poem is based around independence and loving your body, no matter what others think of you. She stands strong and doesn't let anyone tell her about her own body, or spend time worrying about what other people think of her appearance. This is a great example of rebelling against society and realizing that we all are different and pure beauty is not measured by anyone but yourself.