Learning Meter and How I Struggled

 

Learning Meter and How I Struggled... 

Analyzing meter in poetry is difficult. There is no need to beat around the bush for that one. This was my first time doing it, hopeful my last, but I am doubtful. What made it difficult is the fact that poetry is already difficult to understand, but now there has been math thrown into it. I think Ill try it in my poetry, but it won’t be a mainstay for me anytime soon. For example, I read Dylan Thomas, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night". That poem was a difficult read until I finally figured out it was a Villanelle, which is a fixed-form poem that consist of 19 lines, and they are organized into 3-line stanzas (five tercets) and end in a four-line stanza (a quatrain). I won’t sit here and lie and say I fully understand the meter.  My mind just doesn’t register it. Regardless, I did like the theme of the poem, though it sounds rough, the theme is about dying; dying in a sense you will not be forgotten. I rather liked the theme. I think this is the first poem I’ve read that has had something profound over me and I cannot place it. Moreover, I also read One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop, she also adheres to the villanelle structure. I think out of all the structures, this one gave me the most difficulty and I cannot place why fully, but I will say though that I found the repetitive nature in Thomas's poem to emphasize the inevitability of death, making it resonate with me more strongly than Bishop’s theme of loss in 'One Art.'"

"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night"
by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Source:

Thomas, Dylan. “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43118/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"One Hour", by Dashiell Hammet, Reflection Summary

  “One Hour” , By Dashiell Hammett, is a short story about the relationship between police corruption and white-collar crime, set in a gritty, almost modern western tale. At the surface, the story gives the impression to be about a detective who is running around and trying to figure out who committed vehicular manslaughter and grand theft auto, but in actuality the narrative is about the conspiracy to produce counterfeit money by a bunch of weird and seedy people who are all interlinked in some capacity. It all starts out by introducing The Detective , the protagonist and a person who is trying to see who ran over John Newhouse with the car of Mr. Chrostwaite, a drunk who could care less about the situation. Like all good police noir stories though, there is a person in the background, calling the shots and creating a web of lies; and when someone uncovers the truth, they get neutralized to protect cash assets. This narrative sets up the path for someone to bring down the undergro...
Read more

The Poetry of John Updike, "Winter Ocean".

  The poem I chose to analyze was “Winter Ocean”, by John Updike. When I first read the poem, it made me think of a commercial that you would here to advertise some sort of travel; but if the traveling was on a 1800s whaling vessel that had to fight whales for their lantern oil. I've always thought those old fisherman stories where interesting, because they paint the ocean like it's a portal to fight water demons! That's why this poem is really interesting to me. Though this poem is short, it is complex. It’s quite free form and doesn’t adhere to a metric pattern. For instance, Updike uses verbiage such as “Portly pusher of waves, wind-slave,” though the rhymes are not consistent with the rest of the poem. Furthermore, Updike uses strong and heavy imagery that is layered in its meanings. I think the poem is about the sea and how rough it can be. On the surface, the poem looks innocent, but when you read deep into it, it’s very harsh, almost like a paradox of two completely ...
Read more

Viewpoint

  “Obst Vw” by Sharon Solwitz is an interesting read where the viewpoint of the story is in this Third-Person Limited Viewpoint but is written in a way that recalls a very important memory between the main character, Demian, and his father because Demian must write a college essay. The story starts out with introducing Demian, a teenage boy of about 17 years of age (who is also the narrator of the story) and his girlfriend. They’re upstairs in Rachels room, fooling around while her parents are downstairs arguing. This leads to Demian being late coming home and him and his father having a blow up over it because Demian was grounded. Demian reflects on these sorts of moments between the two as to why he hates his father so much, even on his death bed! As if recalling the memory, he describes the day-to-day life he once had to justify the one he wants to have. This story is long and drawn out to describe small details of the setting and plot. For instance, at the end of the story Dem...
Read more