Postcard from the Order at Key West

When we were all given Wallace Stevens' poem "The Idea of Order at Key West", i was given another poem of his that Dr. Sexon handed out as an extra little gift, the poem was titled "A Postcard from the Volcano". And i sort of stored it away in my notebook until we began to get deeper into Wallace's poem. When i pulled it out and read it, it was obvious that the same artist composed both pieces of work. While both pieces of work have multitudes of aspects that could be examined and analysed , there was one aspect that seemed to stick out to me more than the rest, the aspect was the parallel between hearing and seeing. In the Idea of Order, there is an obvious emphasis on hearing the singer's song, where as similarly in the the Postcard there seems to be an emhasis on seeing things.

A Postcard from the Volcano

And least will guess that with our bones

We left much more, left what still is

The look of things, left what we felt

At what we saw. The spring clouds blow

Above the shuttered mansion house,

Beyond our gate and the windy sky

Cries out a literate despair.

We knew for long the mansion's look

And what we said of it became

The Idea of Order at Key West

The sea was not a mask. No more was she.
The song and water were not medleyed sound
Even if what she sang was what she heard,
Since what she sang was uttered word by word.
It may be that in all her phrases stirred
The grinding water and the gasping wind;
But it was she and not the sea we heard.

I would like to believe that Wallece Stevens knew something that we still try to grasp in regards to poerty and literary critisism. he seemed to know there is so much more than reading the piece of literature. One must hear it and see it with poery seeing eyes and poetry hearing ears. and in that i would like to think poetry takes on another form, maybe even a form removed from critisism. maybe...

Alright so here it goes...

i have written many post in my notebook, but have yet to transfer them onto my blog...so that is what i am going to do...it may take a long time but that is what i get for being procrastinator extraordinaire, what can i say...i mean i am an English major for crying out loud! so here is where i will begin to expose the thoughts i have had all semester

this one was hard...

but for a few reasons this piece of poetry has proven time and time again to be a touchstone
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

ok and then i thought i would throw this song on here as well because it has been a major touchstone in my life for many years now...even though there are no lyrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kp3XLRC9Gw

this helps me understand things a little more...

Definition from Wiki

• metonymy — a trope through proximity or correspondence, for example referring to actions of the U.S. President as "actions of the White House."

My definition-
"Back to the grind stone" in reference to getting back to work.

Definition from Wiki

• irony — creating a trope through implying the opposite of the standard meaning, such as describing poverty as "good times."

My example
-as trust worthy as a politician

Definition from Wiki

• metaphor — an explanation of an object or idea through juxtaposition of disparate things with a similar characteristic, such as describing a courageous person as having a "heart of a lion."

My definition
-"they have the voice of an angel" when talking about someone who sings well.

Definition from Wiki

• synecdoche — related to metonymy and metaphor, creates a play on words by referring to something with a related concept: for example, referring to the whole with the name of a part, such as "hired hands" for workers; a part with the name of the whole, such as "the law" for police officers; the general with the specific, such as "bread" for food; the specific with the general, such as "cat" for a lion; or an object with the material it is made from, such as "bricks and mortar" for a building.

My example
-"Nice ink" said when commenting on someones tattoo.