Perhaps the dogs in the neighborhood are disturbed from their sleep because of the wailing of the sirens of police and ambulances, due to violence and death in the speaker's area. That may link with the lines of 'the news, always of death'. The dogs may also howl because of death, or because they see death coming.
I can't help feeling that the water and the cocoon refer to the protection of the womb.
Last edited by Silas Thorne; 10-19-2010 at 06:37 PM.
The dogs remimded me of the "dogs of war" - the ageing process - the body at war with itself - the reflection providing the sudden evidence of ageing and mortality to which it is referring.
Yes I agree.Originally Posted by Scheherazade
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
When I read the section about the dogs it reminded my of mythology, the idea of hell's hounds. It was presumed that you heard them howling before you died, they were hunting after souls to feed on and send to Hades.....maybe it is just another reference to the end (namely death and specifically what comes after)?
"O reason, reason, abstract phantom of the waking state, I had already expelled you from my dreams, now I have reached a point where those dreams are about to become fused with apparent realities: now there is only room here for myself. "
-Louis Aragon
I view the poem as the cycles we go through in our experiences. “I thought it was time to grow wings -- It was a cocoon” We dive into new fields of study, work or social groups, expecting the flamboyant fun and challenges, but then we realize there is always a lot to learn, just as the caterpillar needs to remain in the cocoon for so long before it can fly. We often misjudge and take offence, when in fact we’re just stepping into water; we’re not being burned. We feel like children having to learn complicated new words, even though we are old in the mirror. After the honeymoon, there is always disappointment, the novelty wears off and we face problem after problem, sometimes it feels like death and howling, noisy dogs. But, that’s not it. There is a wonder in life, which makes us want to do it all over again when the struggle is at an end, because after the word flows through the glass towards me I have grown as a person.
Sorry I've been really busy of late. I'd read the poems, but not had much time to post.
I agree with what is said about the poem, in regards to viewing death as a potential new beginning and the obvious religious significance of that. I can't help but thinking however, that there are a few terms that aren't particularly fresh - it doesn't seem a very original piece and the ending for me seems a little abrupt.
I thought I was growing wings—
it was a cocoon.
I thought, now is the time to step
into the fire—
it was deep water.
I see this as representing worldly pursuits - that they are deceptive. Wings - freedom?
Fire - intoxication/ passion/ emotion
Both of these stifled by the reality represented by the water and cocoon.
I agree with the religious symbolism, a reflection upon a life, and a new start - religious and also poetic.
Incidentlly, I like the word eschatology - I used to keep a tally of how many times one of my lecturers used to use it - well, overuse it.
I agree it's not particularly fresh in places. It does start with a cliche. I happen to like the ending. I think that's the most original part of the poem:
As too abrubt, what else did you feel she needed to say? She's capturing a moment facing a mirror and looking into her life and beyond.Word after word
floats through the glass.
Towards me.
Really? What kind of classes were they? Maybe the teacher was implying the end of your school, like failing out.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
I like the ending too.I agree it's not particularly fresh in places. It does start with a cliche. I happen to like the ending. I think that's the most original part of the poem:
As too abrubt, what else did you feel she needed to say? She's capturing a moment facing a mirror and looking into her life and beyond.
Really? What kind of classes were they? Maybe the teacher was implying the end of your school, like failing out.
He was a lecturer in The new testament. It was part of my Englsh Literature and Religion Combined Arts Degree. It was a great course. He may well have been looking at me too!
Hmm, maybe, maybe it was just the way I read it at the time?As too abrubt, what else did you feel she needed to say? She's capturing a moment facing a mirror and looking into her life and beyond.
New poem then?
I'll stick something up shortly if that is OK?
OK, how about "The Thought Fox" by Ted Hughes?
http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems...e-thought-fox/
The Thought-Fox
I imagine this midnight moment's forest:
Something else is alive
Beside the clock's loneliness
And this blank page where my fingers move.
Through the window I see no star:
Something more near
Though deeper within darkness
Is entering the loneliness:
Cold, delicately as the dark snow
A fox's nose touches twig, leaf;
Two eyes serve a movement, that now
And again now, and now, and now
Sets neat prints into the snow
Between trees, and warily a lame
Shadow lags by stump and in hollow
Of a body that is bold to come
Across clearings, an eye,
A widening deepening greenness,
Brilliantly, concentratedly,
Coming about its own business
Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox
It enters the dark hole of the head.
The window is starless still; the clock ticks,
The page is printed.
A brilliant poem about poetic inspiration. I read this first whilst doing my A'Levels, and it stayed with me until I came back to it years later.
I like the fox as a metaphor for inspiration - that seems to have a life of its own within the poet's own head. It hints at some nature muse that may or not appear. Apparently Hughes had had writer's block and this poem broke it.
Oh I have really grown to admire Ted Hughes. I can't help but feel that D.H. Lawrence would have loved Hughes's work. This is not complicated, but it's nicely done. This really grabs me: "Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox/It enters the dark hole of the head." That phrasing "of fox" is brilliant because the "real" fox has morphed into the poetic inspiriation.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
I've not read that much of Hughes, but I think I might have to read a few this week - Hughes week?! It's interested how he uses animal metaphors within his work like with the crow, the fox here etc. I really get the quietness in this poem, perhaps because he references the clock twice which gives this poem its sense of peace. The fox is brilliantly drawn too: "A fox's nose touches twig, leaf;/Two eyes serve a movement, that now/And again now, and now, and now". I like the sense of movement which contrasts with the inner peace and calm of the figure inside. More to come at a later stage.
An interesting poem and I like the imagery provided.
How do you interpret these lines?
Sets neat prints into the snow
Between trees, and warily a lame
Shadow lags by stump and in hollow
Of a body that is bold to come
~
"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
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