Both of these articles relate a lot to what I wrote about last week. Hamill discusses how we tend to forget about prisoners once they are incarcerated. This appied very well to Jimmy Santiago Baca’s poem “Immigrants in Our Own Land,” I like that he feels that not only should we care what happens to the victim but also what happens to the perpetrator. He also addresses that most soldiers don’t talk about what they have experienced in war and why it is important to know what they are feeling to prevent the same events from repeating. When he was talking about this it made me think of the other poem that I wrote about in my paper, Kevin C. Powers poem, “Letter Composed During a Lull in Fighting.” This poem gives us a soldier’s perspective on war and that is the most important perspective we can get. Both of these articles discuss how Poetry of Witness is essential to help give a first hand testimony of what someone goes through in extenuating circumstances. Both of these writers agree that poems express the raw emotions that go with these life experiences and the fact that poetry can’t be summed up in two categories. Honestly after reading both of these articles I agree with both of them. There was really nothing that stood out in my mind that I really disagreed with. The part of both of these articles that really stood out in my mind is the story of the Hungarian poet Miklós Radnóti. This story has really affected me and it is one that I won’t soon forget. After all of the reading we have done on Poetry of Witness it has really changed how I look at poetry as a whole. There is so much more than meets the eye.Sunday, July 3, 2011
Sam Hamill and Carolyn Forche
Both of these articles relate a lot to what I wrote about last week. Hamill discusses how we tend to forget about prisoners once they are incarcerated. This appied very well to Jimmy Santiago Baca’s poem “Immigrants in Our Own Land,” I like that he feels that not only should we care what happens to the victim but also what happens to the perpetrator. He also addresses that most soldiers don’t talk about what they have experienced in war and why it is important to know what they are feeling to prevent the same events from repeating. When he was talking about this it made me think of the other poem that I wrote about in my paper, Kevin C. Powers poem, “Letter Composed During a Lull in Fighting.” This poem gives us a soldier’s perspective on war and that is the most important perspective we can get. Both of these articles discuss how Poetry of Witness is essential to help give a first hand testimony of what someone goes through in extenuating circumstances. Both of these writers agree that poems express the raw emotions that go with these life experiences and the fact that poetry can’t be summed up in two categories. Honestly after reading both of these articles I agree with both of them. There was really nothing that stood out in my mind that I really disagreed with. The part of both of these articles that really stood out in my mind is the story of the Hungarian poet Miklós Radnóti. This story has really affected me and it is one that I won’t soon forget. After all of the reading we have done on Poetry of Witness it has really changed how I look at poetry as a whole. There is so much more than meets the eye.
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Hello Noel,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I must say, you have done a great job on your Blog. It looks very crisp and professional. I noticed you tend to favor black and white or muted tone graphics/photos which look really nice with the background and colors you chose. Some fonts can be hard to read, but on this latest post, it looks really nice.
With regards to the actual text of your post, it is well written, and cited, and unlike most of us who automatically think to focus the photos/images on the authors, you chose to be re-refreshingly different and use an image of Miklós Radnóti instead. However, I didn't see a link to anything else besides where you got the photo/image from. An interesting link and more information regarding the impact Miklós Radnóti's story made on you would have been nice additions.
I liked how you used the information from the article and the essay to reflect upon your own previous writing assignments. I also agree that both writers had a lot of good information on Poetry of Witness, what it is, and how as you said, “poems express the raw emotions that go with these life experiences and the fact that poetry can’t be summed up in two categories.” I must have missed this part. I didn't pick up that anyone was trying to sum poetry up into two categories. I'll have to go back and give it a re-read. However, with all the negativity and the accusing tone of Sam Hamill's writing I'm surprised that you wrote, “Honestly after reading both of these articles I agree with both of them. There was really nothing that stood out in my mind that I really disagreed with.” It seemed to me that Hamill was blaming just about everyone on the planet for something that's wrong in this world – everything from teen pregnancy and emotional constipation to soldiers and acts of war.
I too have had my eyes opened with relation to poetry. I totally agree with your statement, “After all of the reading we have done on Poetry of Witness it has really changed how I look at poetry as a whole. There is so much more than meets the eye.” Everything in a poem has meaning, not only the deeper or multiple meanings of individual lines in a poem, but also the things that I previously thought were just clerical errors were done intentionally in many poems.
Good post.
Thanks,
Shellie H.
Noel,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post.
We both agreed or talked about similar ideas. I personally like the Sam Hamill writing better because he talked more about more powerful poem writing, instead of Forche who wanted to talk about political poetry. I enjoyed reading your post though.
Good Work
Sean
Hi Noel, I completely agree with you on concerns with a Poetry of Witness. I think its important as well to be able to have a first hand experience as we read a poem, that way it leads us to the authors feelings. I too wrote about "Letter Composed in the Lull of Fighting" I thought that was such an amazing poem, and a strong one at that! I don't think the poem would of had much meaning behind it if it wasn't someone actually there first hand if that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteGood work :)
Riley