Crane’s Journey For Truth Monday, Sep 29 2008

1628. The Wayfarer

By Stephen Crane

 

THE WAYFARER, Perceiving the pathway to truth, Was struck with astonishment. It was thickly grown with weeds. “Ha,” he said,         5 “I see that none has passed here In a long time.” Later he saw that each weed Was a singular knife. “Well,” he mumbled at last,         10 “Doubtless there are other roads.”

Wow! What a great poem.  In this poem the narrator tells a short story about a man and his quest for truth and how the path to gain it, is full of obstacles.  I totally agree with what the narrator is saying in this poem.  Throughout our lives, we are always on a quest for something whether it is for truth, love, money, etc…, and what we find out on our quest is that it isn’t as easy as it looks.  There are always some obstacles that we must overcome before we can obtain our goal.  If one person wants to become lawyer then he or she would have to overcome the obstacle of going through law school (not an easy task).  The man in this poem gets excited when he comes to the path that will lead him to the truth that he seeks because he sees that nobody has gone through that path in a long time.  Every human in the world gets excited when they come up with a “master plan” that they think that nobody else has ever tried and then they find out why.  ”Later he saw that each weed Was a singular knife”.  They, like the man in the poem, find out the road to their goal is not always paved for easy travel.  Then and only then do they realize that many others have had the same goal as do, but they chose to give up due to the obstacles that they would have to overcome.  The last line in this poem can clearly state this, “Doubtless there are other roads”.  If there were any other paths to take, others would have already taken them.

The definition of a wayfarer is a traveler going on a trip (often by foot). This seems to be a fitting title for a poem about a journey that many of must face at some point in our lives.

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“Mirror, mirror on the wall” Monday, Sep 22 2008

Chicago Poet by Carl Sandburg

I saluted a nobody.
I saw him in a looking-glass.
He smiled-so did I.
He crumpled the skin on his forehead,
frowning-so did I.
Everything I did he did.
I said “Hello, I know you.”
And I was a liar to say so.

Ah, this looking-glass man!
Liar, fool, dreamer, play-actor,
Soldier, dusty drinker of dust-
Ah! he will go with me
Down the dark stairway
When nobody else is looking,
When everybody else is gone.

He locks his elbow in mine,
I lose all-but not him.

 

It is easy to tell that this person that the author is speaking about is actually himself.  This is possible because the “looking-glass” that he speaks of is a mirror. You can see this in the line “I saw him in a looking-glass. He smiled-so did I”.  This was the line to me that first made me think that he was looking at his reflection in a mirror and this allowed me to enjoy the poem more because I didn’t have to go crazy at finding out what was going on in the poem.  My favorite line in this poem is, “I said “Hello, I know you.”
And I was a liar to say so”.  I like this line because of its meaning of how we truly don’t know who we are even though we say that we do.  Overall this poem was cleverly written and worded smoothly that it rolls right of your tongue when you read it out loud.

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A simple choice given by Frost Monday, Sep 15 2008

 

Fire And Ice

 by Robert Frost

 

 

 

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

 

 

This is short, but really good poem about what a person would do if they were faced with the option of chosing their own death.  It makes you think if Rober Frost ever thought about killing himself.  I don’t know if I agree with him on chosing fire before ice because I think it would hurt alot more to burn to death then to just freeze to death.  At least with freezing to death, you might get lucky and die in your sleep instead of being awake and on fire.  I like the flow of this poem with it’s ryming words like “fire” and “desire” and so on.  Even though this poem is shorter then most poems, I think that if it was any longer it wouldn’t be as good as it is, “short and sweat”.

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O Captain!, my fallen hero! Monday, Sep 15 2008

 

O Captain! My Captain!

by Walt Whitman

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
    But O heart! heart! heart!
     O the bleeding drops of red,
       Where on the deck my Captain lies,
         Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up–for you the flag is flung–for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths–for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
    Here Captain! dear father!
     This arm beneath your head!
       It is some dream that on the deck,
         You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
     Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
       But I with mournful tread,
         Walk the deck my Captain lies,
           Fallen cold and dead.

 

This poem will always make me think of that movie with Robin Williams when he gets everybody in his class to stand up on their desks and say “O Captain! My Captain”.  But with that aside, I see this poem as a great way to honer the dead by speaking about that person as they were the most influential person in their lives.  Whitman had experience with war in his life and that is probably why he chose the topic of a captain coming back from rough battle.”The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won”.

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