Reading poetry

Today we will be taking a closer look at a couple of the poems we listened to on Monday, and exploring ways to write and talk about poetry.

My first piece of advice is to remember that poetry is often ambiguous (it can mean different things) and paradoxical (it expresses ideas or emotions that seem to contradict  each other). So when you are reading, if you come across a word or line or whole verse that seems a little confusing, don’t worry too much about pinning down exactly what it really means. Weirdness, ambivalence, mixed emotions, might have been exactly what the author was aiming for.

Bukowski, Style

style is the answer to everything —
a fresh way to approach a dull or a
dangerous thing.
to do a dull thing with style
is preferable to doing a dangerous thing
without it.

Joan of Arc had style
John the Baptist
Christ
Socrates
Caesar,
Garcia Lorca.

style is the difference,
a way of doing,
a way of being done.

6 herons standing quietly in a pool of water
or you walking out of the bathroom naked
without seeing
me.

Bukowski performing the poem

Manliness, braveness self respect. Style is a way for men (even dogs) to show their manliness, braveness and being the one they want without fearing it.

  • Jesper H

Dylan Thomas, Fern Hill

Text of the poem

Swedish translation

Thomas performing the poem

It is said to be a farm where apples and different kinds of crops(barley and hay) grow. There is also a hint of there being many houses there when he said ”chimneys”(plural). There seems to have been ”golden children”(angels?) that lived there. To me this seems like the description of the garden that god gave to Adam and Eve. The day turning to night after apples where involved, like Eve eating the apple of knowledge. After that the birth of light is also mentioned, but that should already have happened but it could be Jesus being born and the light returning. The golden children also followed ”him”(god?) and then he said that ”I was allowed to be golden in his mercy”, saying that he became an angel(?). This is what I think it is about and that it is his relation and idea of god.

Aaron

 

Fern hill is a warm place in a beautiful area. With apples trees, wagons, rivers and a little house. A peaceful place, with lots of animals and nature. Fern Hill is a place of imaginary dreams, a place where one can get raised, get older and die happy. For the poet it’s something like a wonderland, a place that he can look to in his dreams. I feel like he is talking about some parts of his life that are dear to him. In Fern Hill there are foxes, owls and lots of other animals. The poet talks about Fern Hill as the place he grew up in. He continues to use the phrase ”I was green”. Which can be linked to being new and naive. This means that Fern Hill holds a deep spot in the poets heart. The poet describes a couple of days or years in Fern Hill. How Fern Hill is really peaceful and how beautiful the sunrise is. It can also be interpreted as a place he was working at, a place where he was a slave. And that the sunrise was the only thing that kept him alive. Fern Hill is a place of sorrow and horror and the poet got tricked by this place. He was green and naive so he got stuck as a slave for some elderman that owned Fern Hill.

Mahdi

 

Fern Hill is where the poet grew up. There he spent time in nature, by a barn where there were apple trees, animals and green. Time let him play as he grew up and only night kept him away from having fun. There he grew old and that place became childless. Filled with his memories.

Samuel

 

15 reaktioner till “Reading poetry”

  1. To messy and hard to understand his thoughts about style. We think the opposite of what Bukowski thinks about style.

    Gilla

  2. No, because masculinity can be shown in a different way, it doesn’t have to be shown doing dull actions. Style can be shown on the way you dress or the way you act.

    Gilla

  3. I do not agree with his way of style. Not only is it kind of hard to understand his way of thinking but also he is pretty obsessed with style, whilst I am not. If I would sit down to think about what style is, my conclusion would be a way of looks and acting, which is different from his idea of style.

    Gilla

  4. Mahdi, Linus, Adam
    Mahdi: I agree with this because it reminds me of how I am. I interpret it the same way Jesper does, to have self respect and do what you want even if it goes against the flow of society.
    We: It’s right in a way but there’s a big flaw in his theory. According to him manliness is style and that is hinting that only men can have style. Which history has proved us wrong of. For example women like: Elizabeth the first and Cleopatra. But we deem his theory to be right in a way people that have self respect(which is a manly thing?) gives you respect and you influence society around you.

    Gilla

  5. While I do not agree with him, I can’t see him being wrong either. Simply because in my opinion ”Style” has different meanings depending on the situation.

    Style when it comes to clothing might mean something, and when it comes to, something else it means something entirely different.

    Gilla

  6. We agree with the idea that jesper had about style except that we think it doesn’t only applies to men.

    Gilla

  7. His way of seeing style is quite weird, I don’t really understand what he thinks style is. I don’t really think of it so much, But I think style is if you execute something or wear something that makes everyone else say WOW. xzZ1337topkekmlg420Zzx

    Gilla

  8. I think women can be stylish too, style is not exclusive to a gender. I think style and class is closely related. Suits, long dresses and expensive accessories are all stylish.

    Gilla

  9. We agree with his idea of style. His idea of style is an interesting one, they stood against the masses and changed the course of history and died for what they thought. Style is not about the looks, its a feeling a way of acting, something that stands out in a good way.

    Gilla

  10. No. We don’t think that style has anything to do with doing a dangerous or dull thing. Style is a way of existing. A way of being.

    Robert and Johan.

    Gilla

  11. Noh And Jesper k

    We don’t like the idéa about Style because it shows that only those who have made big things in history can have style.

    Gilla

  12. i don’t agree with him about what he thinks style is because i think style is more about how you dress.

    Gilla

  13. We agree with Bukowski. We think that style is something that you are remembered of and something that you get noticed of.

    Gilla

  14. We believe that his way of describing style is very interesting but we disagree on his way of thinking. Because that style in the way that he describes is not really true anymore because the general idea of style has changed a lot through the years. Nowadays it is more who you are than how you look, it is not the same hierarchy between ”hot” and”ugly” people anymore.

    Gilla

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