[NOTE: The questions for Tuesday's class are below this one]
Next Reading/Discussion Questions for Songs
For The Open Road: Part II, "Sea,
Rail and Sky"
Read the following poems:
Dickinson, "Exultation is
in the Going" (20)
Longfellow, "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls"
(28)
Millay, "Exiled"
(22-23) & "Travel" (35)
Sandburg, "From the
Shore" (28-29) & "Window" (38)
Dunbar, "Ships That
Pass in the Night" (30) & "Sympathy” (35)
Hughes, "Pennsylvania
Station" (38)
Magee
Jr., “High Flight” (41)
Bevington,
“The Journey is Everything” (44)
Answer
TWO of the following questions
- How do one or more of the poems above develop the sea as a metaphor about life, love, death, etc? Be sure to quote/examine individual lines so we can see what the poet is comparing the sea to (is the sea life, love, adventure, dreams, etc.)?
- How does one or more of the poems above
develop railroads as a metaphor
about life, love, death, etc?
- How does one or more of the poems develop flying as a metaphor about life,
love, death, etc.? Be sure to
quote/examine individual lines so we can see what the poet is comparing
the sea to (is the sea life, love, adventure, dreams, etc.)?
Elyse Marquardt
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1: In "Exiled," Edna St. Vincent Millay states that she wishes she were back with the sea again, out of the noises and crowded busyness of the city. In lines 13-16, she says, "Always I climbed the wave at morning/ Shook the sand from my shoes at night/ That now am caught beneath great buildings/ Stricken with noise, confused with light." She very obviously is used to a quieter, calmer way of life, a life that did not rush haphazardly with no order, a life that had a soothing rhythm that never faltered. Millay is indicating that the life she leads now is suffocating her. Her previous home was full of soft, pastel dreams; this new home is wild, harsh, and nightmarish. Her previous home embodies everything that she wishes she could have in life: a gentle order and routine.
Question 3: Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote the poem "Sympathy." In it, he conveys his own emotions by comparing them to those which must be felt by the caged bird when the outside world is so tantalizingly close, yet still so far through the bars. Lines 8-11 portray this feeling very well: "I know why the caged bird beats his wing/ Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;/ For he must fly back to his perch and cling/ When he fain would be on the bough a-swing." Dunbar longs for adventure; he desires to take off across the fields and streams and disappear into the hills beyond. However, like the bird, he feels caged in -- whether by his home, the city, a relationship he is in, or what have you. Whatever the case, Dunbar does an excellent job comparing his feelings of helplessness and intense longing with those similar feelings experienced by an imprisoned bird.
Great responses...it's easy to see the plight of a caged bird as a symbol for someone trapped in a world that seems to have bars, rules, impediments. This metaphor grows larger when we remember that Dunbar was one of the first successful African American poets, writing in the late 19th early 20th century, at a time when slavery was still a familiar memory. Another way to read this poem is through the metaphor "being black in America is like being a caged bird."
DeleteAndrew Jordan Nickell
ReplyDeleteQ1
In "Exultation Is In The Going", she takes about how dying is a joyous adventure. It is almost like a whole new life. She even questions whether a sailor can understand the "divine intoxication of the first league out to the sea". It is basically saying dying is a good thing. It is a relief and is loads better than being inland. It also uses a metaphor to say that the ocean is our "deep eternity". This insists that when you die, the ocean is your new forever home.
Q2
In the beginning of "Travel" it says that "The railroad track is miles away" but, "Yet there isn't a train goes by all day, But I hear it's whistle steaming". It seems to me she is pondering death. It seems so far away, but fear is a constant reminder that it is drawing closer with every second. This poem is a reminder that no matter your age, death can come swiftly and silently.
Great responses--and yes, dying becomes the ultimate journey for her, when she can finally escape her "landlocked" state and swim in the ocean. The ocean becomes a metaphor for death because it is (seemingly) endless, boundless, and full of beauty for her. It changes how we see/experience a sense of "the end." It's just another adventure.
DeleteQ1. In Exiled by Millay, She is in love with the sea. She expresses her longing to return to her old home throughout the poem. Such as line 4 where she says “Sick on the city, wanting the sea.” She misses the calm soothing sounds of the wild sea and she loathes the sounds of the human city. She misses everything of the sea where she hates and everything about the city. She regrets her move saying she should have been happy with her bored calm life instead of trying to change where she was. Like in The road not taken by Frost, she regrets her new path and wishes she stayed on the last one.
ReplyDeleteQ2. In High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr he imagines his own death by “(slipping) the surly bonds of earth.” He then sees his own soul with silver wings and flying high into the sky soring high into the sky “where never lark, even eagle, flew;” till he finally reaches his final resting place and is able to touch Gods face with his own (souls) hands.
Great responses...she regrets her choice because she needs to be near "water," which for her is probably also a metaphor for home. She needs to hear the old sounds and impressions which she cannot do in the city.
DeletePriscilla Texter
ReplyDelete2.) In the poem "Travel" by Edna St. Vincent Millay, the train represents the journey you take throughout life. It talks of "And the day is loud with voices speaking,/ Yet there isn't a train goes by all day" (2-3) saying that the people you meet are your journey and it is forever moving forward like a train. Even though there may not be a literal train life is about the people you meet. Like the ones you would meet if you were on a train.
3.) In the poem, "High Flight" by "John Gillespie Magee, Jr., the poem has a very vibrant view on leaving this world. The "High Flight" is a metaphor for death. The speaker says, "Put out my hand, and touched the face of God" (14) saying that he has left this world and entered into a new realm. This is a beautiful metaphor because it makes us feel something of a future after death, like there is always something to look forward to.
Great responses...for Millay, travel is not a destination, but a condition. She would take any "train" because that would mean she was moving rather than standing still. She needs to be seeking rather than standing. So the train's whistle becomes the cry of her heart, beckoning her to a new adventure.
Delete1. "Exultation is in the going" I believe that it talks about the after life and the vastness of it. When it states "past the houses-past the headlands- into deep eternity." I think it is referring to the life's possessions and going past that, where worldly possessions aren't relevant.
ReplyDelete2. Travel speaks of the desire to speed up life, and to have an adventure. He is not interested in being apart of a sleepy town, but is seeking adventure
Angel Wade
Amber Simpson
ReplyDelete2.) “Window” uses a railroad car window as a metaphor about seeing something that is usually seen as scary, to something beautiful. In this poem, Sandburg wants the reader to see the beauty of night. He calls it a “great, dark, soft thing.” These descriptions make the reader picture something comforting rather than something scary, and we learn to appreciate and look at night differently.
3.) “From the Shore” uses flying as a metaphor about life. It talks about a bird just kind of soaring through the air. It mainly goes on about the atmosphere the bird is flying in, suggesting there is so much out there to experience. And although it may be soaring through darkness, gloom, wind, and rain, there is a “love of mist and rapture of flight.” Basically saying, if you’re just going through the motions, or if you feel alone in a dark world, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel; things will get better.
Faith Armstrong
ReplyDelete1. "Exulatation is in the Going" uses the sea as a metaphor for life. It talks about taking that first step from the shore and the feelings behind it. She uses the sea as a metaphor for carrying you new and different places.
3. "High Flight" is a poem that uses the metaphor of flying. It talks about the way you feel whenever you achieve something that was difficult or that you feel like was the absolute best you could do. It compares flying to the way you feel in your life at that moment. You feel like you're flying high above everyone else.
1. I think a great example of the sea being alive is from the poem "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls." In it he talks about a traveler that starts at the sea then hastens into the town. Darkness falls and the seas "little waves, with their soft, white hands, Efface the footprints in the sand" while the tide rises and falls. Morning comes up, the traveler never returns, but still the tide rises and falls. This poem shows us that even when our life ends, the sea (metaphorically speaking) continues to live and move, rising and falling.
ReplyDelete3. In the poem "High Flight" he makes many references to the sky as a living, breathing, being. He talks about how he "danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings" and "climbed and joined the tumbling mirth." He goes on telling his experiences of being sky high, "Put out my hand, and touched the face of God." All of this, pointing right back to an inanimate object being alive and breathing.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1
In the poem “the tide rises, the tide falls” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow it is said that the traveler goes to the town with the tides but the tides remove his foot prints. I believe this is saying that the sea is like death. The man goes about his life with the tide sometimes rising and getting closer (dangerous situations) and sometimes falling and keeping a distance (times of peace and safety) but sooner or later the man will vanish, “but nevermore returns the traveler to the shore,” and death will have claimed him and his footprints will disappear and the things he did in life will not be remembered.
Question 2
Flying is a metaphor for life in “The Journey Is Everything” by Helen Bevington. In this poem a traveler is on a plane flight thinking about how someone told him that “the journey, it itself, was the idea.” The author then begins to think about how to him the destination is what he focuses on, the passing clouds change as does the sky but it doesn't matter, “ Not with the clouds about me (what of them?)” After thought he realizes that the journey is himself and that the flight is his life, and no matter where he goes or how the skies change he is who he is and his heart will stay the same. “The sky is changed. I have not changed my heart.”
Ryan Jolly
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1:
In "Ships That Pass in the Night", Dunbar says that "the ship I seek is passing, passing", which seems to be a metaphor about life, perhaps an childhood dream that is passing by. He says that he would "hail and check that ship of ships." But it seems that the sea is taking this ship away, so he will never have the chance to live his dream.
Question 2:
In Carl Sandburg's poem "Window", a the railroad car window is a metaphor for life. Life, like the window, is a "great, dark, soft thing", perhaps implying that life as a whole is a dark place that has its moments of light, since the window is "Broken across with slashes of light." It seems that Sandburg believes that life is generally bad or dark, but has some time that is like light.
1. in Longfellow's poem about the tides talks about how darkness hides the traveler from site and the tides basically wash all evidence of the traveler away. when the poem says, "the traveler hastens toward the town, ... the little waves, with their soft, white hands, efface the footprints in the sands, ... the day returns, but nevermore returns the traveler to the shore," I first think that before the dawn the traveler somehow get swept from the shore, but when I think more into it I think something different. I think that this poem is suggesting that all people are travelers on this world and at some point we will die and after a while there will not really be any evidence that we were ever here to begin with. It kind of reminds of a verse in the bible about when Jesus returns. it says " and He shall come as a thief in the night." meaning that when he come back he will not be noticed and he will just take us without leaving a trace.
ReplyDelete2. the poem window by Sandburg gives us a view of life from the perspective of someone looking out a train window. He is suggesting that night is good and light is bad. He says, "Night from a railroad car window is a great, dark, soft thing broken across with flashes of light." What I get from this is that life passes by really quickly at night and we do not really see anything except what is in a few flashes of light here and there. I also notice that it is implied that when we look into the darkness are imagination takes over and we imagine grand things. then the light basically slashes the dark like a murderous fiend and shows us a truth we might not want to see. this poem while short shows us that life is short and goes by very quickly and a lot of the time we really don't notice very much during our lives.
Savannah Lincoln
ReplyDelete(I apologize for the late response, my mom's tablet refused to let me comment on here, so I'm doing it on my phone.)
Q2.
I believe that in the poem Windows, Sandburg is referencing life in general. Life is wonderful, but there are many hard times that come over all of us. The days we may not feel like getting out of bed, days we don't want to move forward, there's reasons why we do. The dark days are, "Broken across with slashes of light." No matter how big or how small, there is always something that can bring us happiness, or something that brings us hope. No matter how few and far between, those are the reasons why we keep going.
Q3.
In Sympathy by Dunbar, I think he's making a reference to his own life. Dunbar states, "For he must fly back to his perch and cling When he fain would be on the bough a-swing." He wants to get out and do great things, but cannot because they might be out of his comfort zone. He is afraid. He is trapped only by the bars of his mind. He wants to put himself out there, but maybe just doesn't know how to do it. It's tearing him apart inside, and he is identifying with a bird that is caught. They want out, and so does he, yet they are not strong enough to do do.
clarissa martinez
ReplyDelete1. In “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, he develops the sea as a metaphor about life and love. He develops it through writing about his life style. His lifestyle revolves around the sea. In the poem he talks about going into the town from the sea but by the end “returns the traveller to the shore.” He writes “darkness settles on roofs and walls, but the sea, the sea in the darkness calls; the little waves, with their soft, white hands” describing the town he is in as “darkness” and through it all he wants to be back in the sea. Wanting his lifestyle around the sea back because of the love he has for it.
3. In “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar, he develops flying as a metaphor about life, love, and death. He develops it through writing about knowing how a caged bird feels, sings, and beat his wings symbolizing his life, death, and the love for freedom. Dunbar writes “when he beats his bars and would be free; it is not a carol of joy or glee, but a prayer that he sees from his deep heart’s core, but a plea, that upward to heaven he flings- I know why the caged bird sings!” He describes he knows how a bird feels when its caged and why it does certain thing to go back to the freedom it knew even if it has to die and go to heaven.
Jessica Olivar
ReplyDelete1. In "Exiled" by Edna St. Vincent Millay she develops a metaphor about the sea to how her lifestyle is now. She states that she is "sick on the city, wanting the sea" and "I am weary of words and people." Obviously, she hates the city. She wants to go back to where home is, which is the sea. That is where her true lifestyle is.
2. In "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar he says " I know why the caged bird beats his wing Till its blood is red on the cruel bars; For he must fly back to his perch and cling When he fain would be the bough a-wing; And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars And they pulse again with a keener sting I know why he beats his wing!" His metaphor is flying and he wants to be free. The bird beating his wing represents Dunbar trying to be free from the "cruel bars." I think he's saying that he tried to escape them before but he failed, so that's why he has "old, old scars."