The Sunset Limited

Cormac McCarthy's The Sunset Limited illustrates the difficult truth of humanity; namely that we are often not sure of what we believe. It is as if we do not have full assurance in our own convictions.  When we come across difficulties in life, we tend to be shaky in what we hold most dear. The character named Black asks White a number of questions that center around topics like religion and family history. White almost always answers with uncertainty: "I don't know. Maybe. I'm not sure."  He isn't sure if the Bible is as credible a book as other literature and whether or not he is guilty of not seeing his father die of cancer.  But after Black's persistent questions, he finally takes a stance as to how he feels. One would think that he has low self-esteem.  White even asks Black about what the most horrible thing he ever did was. Black refuses to elaborate on his "jailhouse story." Both men have their convictions, but when they are put to the test, they seem to become two conflicted characters. Black feels frustrated at God for not giving him the words to say after White reveals his desire for death.  Both the men are trapped by the mysteries of life and cannot find simple solutions to their problems. What the reader expects about traditional values regarding what is good or evil is turned on its head; things are not what they seem to connotate. This conclusion from  McCarthy illustrates a common thread with writers from the twentieth century: truth is not as easily discerned as we would like.          

Death Be Not Proud

John Donne is one interesting poet. I always like how he fuses religion with deep issues such a death and sex. In his famous "Death be not proud," he mocks the efforts of death to be so domineering in life. People generally, and naturally, feel like, since death is the inevitable thing we must face in the end, we should do it homage. Donne disagrees heavily. He believes death to be futile in stopping people's eternal destinies. This eternal perspective is highlighted in lines 3 and 4: "For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow/ Die not , poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me." I have to admit, he is quite bold to view death this way, with such a cocky attitude.  Christianity is the religious basis for this ideal; Christians believe that because Christ rose from the dead, then they, too, will rise and conquer death itself. I love how Donne uses alliteration and repetition in this poem; the last line is one of the most memorable I know.  The line is number 14: "And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die." Death is personified as a being who is just as mortal as humans.  The letter d gets special emphasis to where the line has a special style to it. This one, along with "Batter my heart Three-Personed God," is definitely one of my favorite poems of all time.      

   Works Cited: Donne, John "Death be not proud." The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. 10th ed. New York, London: W.W. Norton and Company, 2011. 669

The Raven

Most poems that are written contain musical qualities. In Edgar Allan Poe's, "The Raven," the speaker recounts what he experiences one late night; a raven flies in through his window and constantly repeats the phrase "nevermore" to each of the man's questions. The speaker has lost a woman, Lenore, to death, and suffers from the burden of her lost presence. The bird's responses only serve to increase the speaker's feelings of melancholy. Throughout the stanzas, Poe uses sound effects to enhance the dark and gloomy tone of the poem itself.

 

Baby Villon

Devin Stevens

Lit. 240

Blog Paper

10/23/12

A Dual Speaker in Philip Levine’s “Baby Villon.”

            In poetry, speakers often use cunning ways to reveal themselves.  Philip Levine’s poem, “Baby Villon,” exemplifies this technique of slowly revealing oneself to the auditor. The poem tells of the experiences of the speaker’s cousin and how he has dealt with war and prejudice throughout his life.  Throughout the stanzas, the speaker and the subject of his thoughts share a dual relationship.

            The speaker, like his cousin, has a history of pain in that he fights those who rally against him.  The cousin encourages the speaker to never “disparage/ the stiff bristles that guard the head of the fighter” (lines 19-20). The cousin says this while he is caressing the speaker’s hair. Suddenly, the subject of the poem centers on the speaker rather than the cousin’s history.  They both share the same kinds of suffering in the world such as being “robbed” (line 1).  This allows them to relate to one another in their harsh past experiences.  The “fighter” in question is the speaker himself, who remembers the people he has lost in his life and how he has slowly moved on with it.    

            But what if the speaker isn’t merely a complimentary character to the cousin but the cousin himself? That would be an entirely different matter altogether.  In the last stanza, the speaker calls the cousin “imaginary” (line 27).  If the cousin is only a part of the speaker’s imagination, then the speaker has been talking about himself all along. And the reason that the dual personality exists is that he is merely reflecting on himself and not discussing his past with an outside person.  His other personality exists due to “all his pain” (line 28).  The difficulties of life have given him a split personality, reflecting on itself.  It has been the speaker’s intent from the beginning to slowly reveal himself as the only one who is actually suffering from the wounds of the past.  By distancing himself by talking of a third-person character, he can more easily look at his anguish from a more objective perspective.  

            From the evidence of the speaker talking about himself, the auditor can infer that the speaker is going through some kind of traumatic experience from the past battles he has undergone.  Soldiers from every war seem to struggle with some form of depression or another, so the only way to deal with it is to somehow distance oneself from the reality of the situation. But even though the speaker has invented someone to share in his difficulties, he cannot escape from the reality of the situation. After all, the cousin is only “imaginary.”       

An Epistle to Hopelessness

I'd figured I'd follow in Jared's footsteps and post my own poetry too. Just for fun, I reckon.

"An Epistle to Hopelessness."

Dear Hopelessness,

You often boast that you,
And you alone,
Rule the earth.

Stars die out in time.
Black holes suck away light.
Floating rocks explode
In the endless night.
Hurricanes rip elder trees from the ground.
Tornadoes steal homes in a weeping whirlwind.
Earthquakes crack sure foundations.
Politicians smile and lie.
Fanatical men murder in love.
Sickness flies through the air
And lodges itself under a child's hair.

But I would have you know,
Short-sighted thought,
That your days are numbered.
You have a contender.

For the diamonds of destiny
Are still breathed in majestic breaths.
And though the gaps in space vacuum the white flares,
They cannot diminish their radiances.
All of Nature's rages
Rage against a rage of faith
Led by each generation of man.
Those campaigners on the tube
Are found out,
And fanaticism is murdered
In sweet, forgiving love.
Even the cancer child smiles.

So do not forget,
My ever present and persistent foe,
You will be struck down,
Swiftly, in woe.

Sincerely,
Hope

Slim Cunning Hands

Walter de la Mare has something negative to say about a certain girl.  His poem, "Slim Cunning Hands," contains four lines that slowly reveal the speaker's view of a woman he is talking about.  The object of the speaker is dead and lying in her grave. At first glance, since the poem is quite short, it would seem that that is all the poem is essentially about. Yet the speaker wishes the reader to know that the lady hasn't really lived a saint-like life (though he does not elaborate as to what she did).  The first line describes the woman's hands how they are "cunning." The word "cunning" conjures up this image of a thief slowly trying to break his way into a house. One has to be sneaky and stealthy in order to obtain their coveted prize.  They also have to be deceptive and calculating.  The second line speaks of her grave and how she "loved too wildly lies." Instead of saying "she loved lies too wildly" he says it in a different way. I learned from the textbook's examples that poets don't change word order just for the heck of it.  If the speaker loved "too wildly" her deceits, then she must've have gotten out of control when it came to pulling people on a leash.  The third line implies that her falsity was so profound that not even the grave could express it: "How false she was, no granite could declare."  "Granite" is a type of rock that is used to make tombstones (I believe).  The last line states: "Nor all earth's flowers, how fair."  How is it that flowers symbolize deceit? We normally associate flowers with innocence. Mare is stating that flowers can be a symbol of deception; the woman probably put up a sweet front in order to lure others into her traps.  The speaker may even be going beyond this revelation by saying that the beautiful things in life are deceitful themselves.

Works Cited: de la Mare, Walter. "Slim Cunning Hands." The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. 10th ed. New York, London: W.W. Norton and Company, 2011. 548-549

Dover Beach

In the Victorian era of literature, writers struggled with the place of God in the world. Due to some of the new scientific theories floating around (such as Charles Darwin's On the Origin of the Species), people began to see humans as animals rather than significant bearers of God's image.  Science seemed to be replacing religion as the answer to all of man's problems. In Matthew Arnold's famous poem, "Dover Beach," this conflict between faith and doubt is fleshed out.
   Arnold uses the imagery of a calm sea in the first stanza to symbolize a mind that is at ease with itself: "The sea is calm tonight" (line 1). Yet the tone of the poem begins to slowly change; the sea begins to struggle: "Listen! you hear the grating roar/Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling" (lines 9-10).  The tone is now one of conflict rather than peace. But what exactly is the issue? "The Sea of Faith/Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore/Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled/But now I hear/Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar" (lines 21-25). There was once a time, according to Arnold, in which religion had a considerable hold on people. But now doubt is beginning to replace faith; what if God does not exist? And if it turns out that God is not plausible, then the result is depressing instead of encouraging. Without God, people have no ultimate hope in the end. Everything that they place their hope in in this life ultimately fades in time.
Arnold's conclusion seems to be that we must be "true to one another" (lines 29-30). We should be honest with one another as to the cruel realities of life and not try to shy away from it in the name of faith. Optimism ultimately fails, for you can't deny that life is hard.  Yet if being true to one another entitles only showing how messed up life is, then how do we endure as humans? Why is life worth living in the end? I personally believe that we should still hope for the best, for that is certainly better than being a cynic. For me, the "best" is the unmerited kindness of God, shown in Christ and in the general blessings of life.  That's what helps me endure each day's toils and troubles. Yet I have had battles with doubt before and the battle is most certainly not pretty; its like a sea raging...

    Works Cited: Arnold, Matthew. "Dover Beach." The Norton Introduction to Literature. Eds. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. 10th ed. New York, London: W.W. Norton and Company, 2011. 517-518