Not an Orrdinary Love Poem (Poetry Reaction #5)

 

 

 Not an Ordinary Love Poem

For this poetry reaction I asked a very good friend of mine to tell me one of her favorite poems, since I had already used my favorite ones. She had told me to read “Having A Coke With You” By Frank O’Hara was a great poem to read, and so before I started my search for this poem, I thought about  what the poem could possibly be about. I thought it was possible that it could be about a son wanting to share a coke with his father, or vise versa. Sharing a coke with someone doesnt seem intimate so I was surprised when I actually read the poem and found that it wasn’t like that. Its actually a very funny type of love poem.

The tone of the poem is very lighthearted, the speaker is describing his love for someone by using words that usually wouldn’t be found in a love poem. He doesn't describe this person as someone that is extremely perfect, he tells them that there is one painting that is beautifuler then them. “I look at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world except possibly for the Polish Rider occasionally.” Its quite different from other love poems, especially love poe Shakespeare has written. He compares people to the sun, the speaker in O’Hara’s poem is more realistic and it shows, they are just a normal person that has love for another person.

The true meaning of this poem, I believe is not the thing that you are doing, its the people you are doing it with. Something as little as drinking a coke can be so enjoyable as long as you're with the one person you love.  Its about how it doesn’t matter what you do in your life, just who you do with it. I also like the fact that he mentions how he hopes to go see his favorite poem with this loved one. “ Anyway it's in the Frick which thank heavens you haven't gone to yet so we can go together the first time” It just something as small as going to a museum to see paintings, can be very enjoyable, if your with the right person. I wouldn’t want to go to something like a concert, which is usually very enjoyable for people, if I was alone, I would want to be with my friends. I would probably even enjoy going somewhere as boring as a waiting room if I was with my friends.

“Not going to go wasted on me which is why I am telling you about it” This line truly confused me at first. I believe now he is saying that he is trying to say that he has not made a mistake in choosing the person he wants to ‘share a coke with’ unlike the artists who picked the wrong person to pose for their art. They could have picked more suitable people, people that would have made the painting even better, but instead they rushed into it and didn't take their time in choosing, and they were stuck with someone. The speaker is trying to say that you can't rush into things like love, you’ll soon realize that you aren’t truly happy with them

. Its actually quite funny that my friend had picked this poem, she doesn’t seem like someone to read love poems. Its possible that she relates to it, she must realize that the poem is about someone that loves another person, but isn't over the moon for that person. They love them for their small things, like their love for yogurt, which is a strange reason to love someone for. The speaker seems really laid back a lot like my friend. The speaker likes this person for the little things they do, but realizes they aren’t perfect, or extremely amazing. He wanted to express to his readers that it is possible to love someone that isn’t extraordinary.

From His Sons Idol, To a Terror (Reaction #5)

                                      From His Sons Idol, To a Terror

 

Playwright Arthur Miller wrote his second play -of many- in 1949, titled “Death Of A Salesman.”  The play sets us in Brooklyn, New York, in a small apartment where an older couple lives. At this time their two sons have come to visit, and the readers learn about the tension between everyone. Arthur Miller uses characterization of his protagonists to show the  readers how he has become who he is in the play, from a loving caring father, to a crazy over worked grump.  Arthur Miller also gives his readers  a sense of their past by creating flashbacks in a very unique way.

The play starts off with an introduction into the play, it states how the actors and actresses would perform on the stage. Since, technically it was set in two different times, present and past, Miller needed a way to show his audience that they were in the past, without outright saying so. He created fluent transitions into the past and ‘present.’  It was very unique way to show a flashback, the actors didn't even have to step off stage, they would just be in the past and the audience would know. The actors would step through the non-existing walls in the past, but only step through the doors in the present. Miller must have realized his audience would have gotten bored of the play if they had to fade the lights each time he wanted to show a flashback.

Millers characters made me feel so many emotions, I felt hatred but also sorry for the father figure Willy Loman. He actually reminded me of my own dad at times in the play, he's a hard person to like.  Willy, like my father complains a lot! Less than 5 pages into the book he is already complaining about something stupid, that annoys him.  “The street is lined with cars” this sentence has come out of both my fathers and Willys mouth. In my father’s case we live on a generally empty block, so to have more than one car for each house on our block at anytime is torture to him. Its crazy that Willy’s wife puts up with him, she cares so much about him! She’s such a sweet lady, who tries to care for everyone, not just her husband, but her two sons who are never around, and don't have jobs. She’s a lot like my mother honestly, very caring, and puts up with a lot of stuff. Its easy to sympathise with Biff, the eldest son, he was put so much pressure on him as a child to be great that now, anything he does is seen as horrible.

Biff is just trying to find his way in the world and it seems like the one person that he ever idolized, his own dad, is no longer supportive of him.  Although Biff did grow up with everything handed to him, such as test answers from his cousin, and he would steal sporting equipment to stealing lumber from construction sites.  His charm was the only reason he got any where in life, every girl loved him for his looks, and people trusted him because of his appearance, he grew up thinking he was so great, because everyone told him so. As he grew up he realized he didn't know where he was going, he was lost. I often feel like this as well. I feel very lost, I don't know what I want to be when I grow up, or if I even have a future in anything.

Miller created characters that people can really connect to, they might even find themselves in the characters.  Everyone knows that extremely nice person, that does everything for everyone, and puts up with a lot. Then theres people that complain about everything and expect everything to just be handed to them and be perfect. They expect everyone else to be just like them, perfect, flawless. Except no one is like them because they are the most imperfect people there are. Lastly there are those people that are just lost, they don’t know what to do with their life, they think they’ve come to a dead end. They don't know where else to go. I wonder where Miller would have put himself.

King of All Kings (Poetry Reaction #4)

 

The poem “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley describes to its reader a far away antique land. A  traveler visiting a new land finds an ear to listen to him, the traveler tells this person of a statue of a King, who is long gone. Although the statue was created by a distinguished sculptor, all features sticking out, so much so that the traveller can remember them all and describe it to the listener, it now lays cracked open and in ruins. This poem shows how even a very powerful leader can be forgotten, no matter how long they ruled for, how large their kingdom was, and if they have statues created for them or not, for the most part they are forgotten.

The speaker calls the land that the traveller is from an antique land, it gives off the imagery of an old antique vase to me. One that sits on a shelf high above everything else, far away. Its dusty because no one touches it, afraid it might break. No one really thinks about it, but it still sits there and once and a while there is talk about it and what is painted on it, and how interesting it is. The statue that sticks out of the sand “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone/ Stand in the desert.” that’s the painting thats on the vase. The statue just stands there in this land that no one seems to visit anymore because its so antique, the only person that talks about is the traveller.

        The statue itself is now surrounded by nothing and yet the pedestal still reads “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!” Its almost Ironic. The King, Ozymandias, the great and powerful, king of kings no longer matters, his whole kingdom is just surrounded by remains that once were probably his kingdom. All thats left is lone and level sand. There is no longer anything thats mighty about this king and yet the statue is still there, like a mockery.

        This king probably deserves what has come to him “sneer of cold command” He was probably one of those kings that let all the power go to his head. He may have even been the reason for his kingdoms downfall. The traveller speaks of this statue like he’s telling him a lesson, or warning. Although you may feel great and powerful at one point in your life, all of that power will one day mean nothing. Even if your name was written on a statue, written on a book,  or even written in stone, one day none of that will matter. Your whole kingdom you have created wont matter, because life goes on around you, present or not. When the humans one day die out, the earth will continue to turn, the plant life will continue to grow, animals will continue to live, because even though we have so much power, it will one day not matter.