Pentachrome - Julia de Burgos

Pentachrome follows a similar theme to other poems that we have already read.  It talks about how a poet can be what they want to be when they are writing.  This goes along with Ars Poetica in that a poet can create what they want to create.  When I wrote about Ars Poetica it was commented that similar situations would come as the course developed.  This is definitely the case here and I again like the poem as it is not all the hard to understand.  The first five stanzas are all relatively on the same track of a poet feeling free when they are writing and being whatever they want.  The odd part of this poem is that Julia de Burgos is talking about being a man in every one of these stanzas.  Here I get the feeling that she feels limited being a woman and would enjoy having the experiences of being a General, Hero, Bandit, or Laborer.  The last stanza is the toughest but I believe that is simply exemplifying the fact that she wishes she could have some of these experiences.  She states more exciting things that she could do if she were a man and then says that she would "rape Julia de Burgos" her current self.  This is a pretty clear statement that she thinks a lot more can be accomplished by the masculine gender and that he being female may be holding her back.

Lost love

After reading Alfonsina Storni's poems I found the repetitive theme to be a lost love.  Going back and reading the background on her it is said that at twenty years of age she moved to Bueno Aires.  She had a son but no husband at this time.  This could very well have been the source of her lost love.  Her other early poems were also written much on the female conscience and sexual injustice.  She was able to achieve recognition and was able to make plenty of money but these attributes did little to "assuage her aggrieved sense of gender injustice or her dismay over her sexual dependancy on men."  In her mid 40's Storni became depressed and was plagued by  bad health.  She "walked into the sea in October 1938."

Project

After taking forever to decide on a book for my final project, I decided to use The President by Miguel Angel Asturias.  I came to this decision after a short discussion with Mr. Cummings and reading the first bit of two different books.  The way that the book started out really caught my attention with the portrayal of the beggars and how they would rather help a stray dog than each other.  I found this to be quite interesting that even people who are stuck in the same miserable situation will not help each other out.  I am looking forward to getting farther into the book and finding what is to come.

Ars Poetica

Ars Poetica is a poem that at least seems easy to read and understand.  I could be wrong and there is really a hidden meaning but it seems to me that we are entering into a new age of poetry here. Huidobro simply states that he wants to use poetry to be his key to opportunity.  He believes that poetry can be used to "let all the eye sees be created."  He also says that word choice is of the utmost importance when he states that "the adjective, when it doesn't give life, kills it."  I found this to be a fascinating and extremely true line.  The more we read poetry the clearer it is that word choice is what makes poems and that my changing one words, such as in spain take this cup from me when a line is translated as "it is just a thought" instead of "it is just a saying."  As we saw in class changing the word thought into saying gives the poem an entirely different feel.  I also like the last line of this poem: "The poet is a little God."  While this line is left open to interpretation, I do not think that it is that hard to see what Huidobro was getting at.  He simply believes that since poets write about and create what they want, they are similar to God, only on a much smaller scale.

Stone in the middle of the road

When I first read this poem I thought of a pebble in the middle of the road. I thought that Drummond could have maybe been referring to the simple things in life, but that more I thought about it the less I liked that idea. The stone was clearly an important event as it takes up nearly the whole poem and he even states "I shall never forget that event / in the life of my so tired eyes." The stone being such a large event is more likely an obstacle that he had to overcome at some point and is now weary from it. He grew up in a mining village but got to go to pharmaceutical school which he never used. He instead ended up working for the government. This could maybe be the stone in his road, having to adapt to a completely new environment outside of his home and learning new things only not to use them. If your going to put the effort into learning something it seems that you would want to use your new skill, this would be a reason to have the "tired eyes" since he is watching his efforts go unused.

Fatality

Fatality says that "there is no pain as great as being alive, no burden heavier than that of a conscious life."  I do not see this as being true.  While if one never lived, one might not ever feel pain, but then there would also be no feeling of happiness.  If there was a feeling at all, I would presume that it would be one of emptiness.  To see what it is like to live, and see others enjoying all of the pleasures of living and not want to partake in them would be crazy.  While life does provide one with many choice, if the right ones are usually made, one can live through life without a heavy conscience and once one has lived long enough, there will be no more fear of death which Dario portrays in this poem.

This poem also reminded me of a riddle:  Those who make it don't want it, those who buy it don't use it, and those who use it don't know it.  What is it?