Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Post #4: A Sampling of Other European Poets

Find one poem from "A Sampling of Other European Poets" (294-305), and write a short response explaining how and why it speaks to you.

45 comments:

  1. One poem that interested me was "Encounter" by Czeslaw Milosz. This poem spoke to me because Milosz wonders what happens to someone or something after they die and where do they go, which is the same question I have all the time. He also talks about how he vividly remembers what they were doing before they were gone which to me comes off as surprised and confusion because they were just right there infront of him and now he has no clue as to where they went. Also, when he asks where did they go after death, it's not out of sadness but out of wonder which is the same with me. I am also very curious to where everyone and everything goes after death.

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  2. I found " A kind of loss" by Ingeborg Bachmann, to be the one I liked the most. To me the poem talks about the many feelings he goes through when the seasons come and go. For example " I've fallen in love with winter, with a Viennese septet, with summer". To that describes his overall joy for the cold and the bundling up opposed to summer, where he feels more secluded.

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  3. The poem that I found most interesting was "Under A Certain Little Star" by Wislawa Syzmborska. My understanding of the poem is that no matter the mistakes you make in life you will never receive forgiveness from everyone. In life everyone makes choices and decisions that either benefit themselves or others. In the poem there is a lot of anaphora being used. The anaphora being used is to emphasize that the person in the poem is asking for forgiveness for her mistakes and that she apologizes for what she has done.

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  4. The poem called "Under a Certain Little Star" by Wislaw Szymborska spoke to me the most out of this section on the book. This poem is about an individual who feels they have failed themselves and so many other people, animals, and things around them. They continually apologize for the may things that they could have done but did not do. This particular poem spoke to me because of how the poet continually feels that they could have done more. I feel sometimes when I see other people fail that I could have done more to help them. I feel like this best relates to a certain quote within this poem, "And you, O falcon, the same these many years, in that same cage, forever staring motionless at that self-same spot, absolve me, even though you are but a stuffed bird." The poet feels bad for not giving the bird more because it was stuck in the same cage for so many years and noticed it but never helped. I can relate to this quote because, sometimes we see things that we know we can help with but we just continue on with our day without trying to make a difference. This makes me want to apologize to all of the people, animals, and things that I could have helped which is exactly what the poet is doing.

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  5. The poem that stood out the most to me was 'Encounter' by the polish poet Czeslaw Milosz. The message I got from this was we should never take moments with loved ones for granted as I get the feeling the person in the poem is reminiscing about a time with a friend or even a loved one and they are wishing they lived in the moment more and took more time to appreciate their company. Life is too short and a lot of us take moments for granted as things can change in 'the flash of a hand'.

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  6. Jocelyne RodriguezApril 13, 2016 at 7:14 PM

    The poem I found that spoke to me the most was titled, "A Kind Of Loss" by Ingeborg Bachmann. When first reading the poem, I wasn't able to understand what the main concept of the poem was because of the specific wording the author used. It starts off by the author listing objects such as "The keys, teacups, bread basket, sheets and a bed." It then transitions to concepts that involve feelings, locations and various actions. The last few words of the poem, "It's not you I've lost, but the world" is what I believe made me realize the main idea of the poem. Which is how these concepts and object are all different but at the same time all relate to one another as they have to do with life and the madness of the world and how easily lost you can get in it.

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  7. The poem that I found most meaningful in this section is “Encounter” by Czeslaw Milosz. In my understanding, this poem talks about the fugacity of time and the memories it leaves behind. Lines 9-11, “The flash of a hand, streak of movements, rustle of/ pebbles./ I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder.” are the ones that transmitted this particular meaning to me. Just like the wagon riding through the frozen field, the red wing that rose in the darkness, and the hare that ran across the road; time passes by and we grow old but an abundant amount of memories are left behind and never die.
    -Marlene Herrera

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  8. The poem that spoke to me the most was 'The Book, For Growing Old'. The reason why this poem spoke to me was because i believed it meant that life is like a book , a book has a beginning and an end to it and thats exactly how life is. I also liked this poem because it was descriptive and shows how we as humans grow with nature and how we change in the way we look and act over time so does nature with its different seasons. I felt as if the poet was refering ' the book' to our own lives and i liked that. The part that grabbed my attention was where it says ' You will grow old, and faiding into the color of the trees, and making a slower shadow on the wall' because the older you get the slower you start to walk.

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  9. The poem that I enjoy the most is "Encounter" by Czeslaw Milosz. I believe the poem is about how you meet so many people in life, whether it's a friend or someone you come across on the bus and just say a few words to. You know little to nothing about these people, and you will probably never encounter them again. It makes me curious about all of the people that I have met, where they are now, what their life is like. I think the author is saying that moments go by so quickly; the people you meet are gone in the "streak of movements". The poem encourages me to pay more attention to everyone I encounter in life, it makes me more curious about them and wonder if they're curious about me too.

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  10. The poem that speaks to me is “Encounter” by Czeslaw Milosz. I like how the poem questions death. The poem shows this in the line “where are they, and where are they going.” The poem also ends with the line “I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder” to show that the narrator questions what happens after death. The poem makes me question my own beliefs of life and death.

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  11. The poem, "A kind of Loss" by Ingeborg Bachmann, spoke to me the most. While I'm still not exactly clear on the meaning behind this poem I like the way he wrote it. For example, "By the chimney fire, in safety, my hair took on its deepest hues." I am assuming he meant he spent so much time indoors with his nice cozy fire his hair darkened because he rarely would venture outside. The line "From my balcony I greeted entire people, my neighbors" also gives me the impression that he did not go outside of his house often. The way the author wrote and described things gave imagery that spoke to me.

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  12. The poem that sparked my interest was "Encounter" by Czeslaw Milosz. His poem is about he was going about his day when a hare unexpectedly runs into the path he's taking. The hare could be a symbol of the unexpected things in life. Sometimes unexpected things happen in my life and I don't necessarily like that because I like everything nice, neat, and planned out. This poem is giving me a different perspective, where unplanned isn't necessarily a bad thing.

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  13. The poem that spoke to me was "Encounter" by Czeslaw Milosz. I liked how the author said "The flash of a hand, streak of movements, rustle of pebbles." Because it sounds so descriptive that I can easily imagine it. I can imagine the rustle of the pebbles and seeing the man point with his hand, and the streak movements it is so visual. Also it was interesting to me because, death doesn't give you a warning for when it's coming. It just comes like a flash of lightning. Death leaves us wondering why, how, and where are they now.

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  14. The poem that spoke to me was “Encounter” by Czelaw Milosz. It is saying how people come and go because it is a part of life and there are times where we wonder where they are or how they are doing. I can relate because there have been times where I come across and meet new people or old friends that I used to be friends with, and I sometimes stop and wonder how life is going for them or where are they now at this very moment. At the end of the day, all we have is memories of those who we used to talk to. Sometimes we need to live at the moment when we are spending time with close friends, family members, or anyone in general because we never know what will happen to them.

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  15. Jacqueline CardenasApril 13, 2016 at 8:52 PM

    The poem that stood out to me was "Avignon" by Remco Campert. In the poem, Campert uses a poetic tone and wording to describe something so upsetting such as a miscarriage. In lines 15-16, "Your belly rounded paler than lamplight under your blouses", imagery is seen and used to describe the tragic loss that has occurred. Also in line 22, "someone can die before he knows that he lives" the author once again mentions the sadness that correlates with such loss and how this baby died before it got to experience life and acknowledge the world.

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  16. The poem I found interesting was "The Book, For Growing Old", by Yves Bonneyfoy. The poem to me symbolizes pleasures of life that is often taken for granite, as time passes by. Which the author uses the progression of reading a good book as a representation for time. This poem gives me a new perspective, because life as a comparison to reading a good book should be something to enjoy.

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  17. The poem that stood out most to me was "The Book, For Growing Old" by Yves Bonnefoy. The reason why I liked this poem is because the author is very descriptive and it helps the reader have a vivid image in their head. What I understand from this poem is that our life is pretty much like a book. As time goes on, so does the book. The book has a beginning and an end just like our lives. It is a very short poem, but very interesting.

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  18. The poem I enjoyed the most was "Blue" by Rafael Alberti. It was very relaxing to read because the word "blue" was repeated over and over and I feel that this color is very serene and calming. There were many descriptive and detailed metaphors for "blue" and it gave it so much more meaning. The poet took this one color and transformed it into more by describing different kinds of blues. Blue brings joy and happiness to the speaker that he wants to become the color by changing his name after it. Over all, the poem brings a calming effect to the reader and invites him or her to, in a way, become a color.

    -Emily Leyva

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  19. The poem that spoke to me was "Encounter" by Czelaw Milosz. I believe he is trying to convey us how we shouldn't take anyone for granted. His poem describes how you meet people and get to know them but you don't really appreciate them as much as you're supposed to until it is too late. In his poem, it describes how we can be talking to a friend and the next day, death could come and that friend can no longer be here. This is why we need to appreciate everyone around us because we don't know when death could approach.

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  20. The poem, “Encounter”, written by Czeslaw Milosz spoke to me after having read it more once. Although the meaning of the entire poem is still unclear to me, I took the poem to mean that life is too short. Life is too short meaning that one should appreciate their time here on earth, even if it is as minuscule as seeing a hare run across the road, because once you’re gone, you become only mere thoughts in the minds of others.

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  21. The poem that spoke out to me the most was "Under a Certain Little Star" by Wislwa Szymboska. From this poem, I understood that as humans we apologize for everything we do. We realize when we are doing something wrong but we fail to make it better. The speaker in this poem is apologizing for all that he has done. The speaker mentions that he can not be everywhere at once and he apologizes for that as well. The main theme I understood out of this was that we often take things for granted and become selfish. The speaker mentions that he's sorry for knocking down the tree that was used for the legs of the table. Often we are harming the environment to fulfill our needs. We are being selfish and ungrateful and I felt like this was one of the big themes of this poem. Then the author says, "I know that as long as I live nothing can justify me, because I myself am an obstacle to myself." which in my opinion sounds as if the author is saying that nothing or no one can explain how sorry they are because they are an obstacle to themselves. We block ourselves from ourselves from making progress. Progress to better ourselves and all that we want to do right but don't. I felt like this poem related to me because I often realize that something or someone needs help and i'm not always there to help. For example, stray dogs who needs a home and food need help and I usually drive by without trying to help it. I realize later on that I should have gave them food or took them to the shelter.. But once I come back its too late and the dog is no longer in sight.

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  23. The poem that interested me was called under a certain star by WIslawa Szymborska. The reason why this one speaks to me is because i interpret it as the poem speaking about ourselves. We all think that our matters are the most important. As humanity thinks that the solar system is the centre of the universe, everyone lives under one small star in our solar system, the sun, and everyone has their own issues going on under that same star. This poem overall is basically talking about shame and comprehension. Every person has their own universe and issues to deal with on their own.

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  24. The poem that I most connected with was A Kind Loss, a story that focuses more on imagery rather than character or narrative. The author does a good job in making a setting that vividly guides the reader in seeing the author's imaginary world. The central theme of the poem stands as a expository of someone abbreviated life, with the author giving vague glimpses of his life through possible flashback of good and bad experiences he had. What stood out the most was the writers colorful and artistic wording, It makes for a very interesting and captivating story.

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  25. The poem that spoke to me was "Encounter" by Czeslaw Milosz. The message I see being portrayed is people can come and go from one's life leaving a great impact. In line 8, "where are they, where are they going" it shows the coming and going of a person or object. I'm not sure if that is the message he is trying to give off, but that's what I interpreted from the poem.

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  26. "A Kind of Loss" by Ingeborg Bachmann was one of the poems that spoke to me the most by using language that depicts different aspects of life as a whole. Bachmann's structures "A Kind of Loss" in an interesting way by listing different objects, certain feelings and many actions to create an idea of having so many disconnected aspects as being a part of one's life. As one reads the poem, the audience can sense the fullness of life. From the most detailed objects to the most powerful feelings, the diction of the poem conveys a distinctive idea of how intertwined the most significant and insignificant details play a role in just one life. It is surprising to realize the vast amount of things that are typically overlooked in life brought into perspective through a poem.

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  27. From all the poem, the poem that spoke to me was "Encounter" by Czeslaw Milosz. What I think that the author is trying to say is basically enjoy every second because the next one is not promise especially with the people you love. I got to this conclusion in the sentence where he says, “That was long ago. Today neither of them is alive, Not the hare, nor the man who made the gesture”. We never know when someone's life is going to end it. This reminded me of some of my classmates from elementary whatever happen to them. After graduation everybody when to different middle schools, from there everyone lose contact of each other who knows maybe some maybe dead. I like the last sentence where it says “I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder” because it is true we ask not of sadness but just wondering whatever happened to them.

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  28. The poem that spoke the most to me is "Encounter" by Czeslaw Milosv the poem speaks to me because it starts off with an inspiring start speaking about the memories and how riding through the roads. At the second part of the poem the love of the their life and how life is too short and memories stay but the person wont always be there forever. What I took out of this poem is that memories are important and we should not take anything for granted because once second you have it and another second its gone.

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  29. Out of all the poems I read, "Encounter" by Czeslaw Milosv stood out the most because it describes about how memorable his or her past was. Only a true memory can be described in such detail that made an impact in their past. Everything is temporary and will eventually come to an end. The author made this poem so powerful, it captures the audiences attention filled with passion. "I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder". I think this poem is trying to tell us that instead of feeling sad or remorse, but to keep pushing forward and to be more appreciative.

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  30. Cindy Magana MaganaApril 14, 2016 at 7:43 AM

    The poem, "The Book, For Growing Old" by Yves Bonnefoy was the poem that spoke the most to me. It speaks to me because it describes how people go through life living many experiences and leave a mark in the book of life when the die. It speaks about how getting old and dying is inevitable and therefore people should not fear their death.

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  31. The poem that spoke to me was "Encounter" by Czeslaw Milosz. This poem was different because it started out reminiscing about a time with a friend just driving through the fields and then it talks about how a hare suddenly runs across the road. Then a few lines down it suddenly says that the hare and his friend are both not alive anymore. It showed how quickly someone or something can be removed from your life. He asks where they went because he was curious. I think this is very common to wonder where someone goes after they die especially if it happens so suddenly and there is so much going through your mind.

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  32. I found "Encounter" by Czeslaw Milosz to be interesting and meaningful to me. When someone we love or simply know passes away, we always will wonder if they are in a happier place and what has become of them. We hope that they are at peace looking down upon us, yet we will always wonder because we will never know for sure. As time passes, we stop hurting and mourning their deaths, yet our wonder of how they are only gets deeper.

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  33. The poem "The Book for Growing Old" spoke to me because I just recently had my grandma pass away and it helps me realize that as each day or season goes by that we all will grow old. Also, that there will come a time that our flesh will no longer walk the earth but that is not the end of our life.

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  34. Yes Bonnefoy's "The Book, For Growing Old" stood out to me because it described death as a beautiful thing instead of some of the darker poems we have read. Death should be seen as beautiful and peaceful instead of dark and sad.

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  35. The poem that stood out to me the most in this section was "The Book, For Growing Old" by Yves Bonnefoy. Bonnefoy in this poem os very descriptive in this poem as he describes how the Earth recycles every year while one continues to age. In this poem Bonnefoy describes how growing old is somewhat graceful. What I really appreciate about this poem is how the theme is the about how growing old can be graceful. In our modern society we are so obsessed with being young. However this poem sort of challenges that by describing how graceful and wonderful it is.

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  36. The poem that spoke out to me the most was "The Book, For Growing Old", because it describes how we see death coming. At first we are enjoying our lives through out the seasons without a care in the world, but time continues to pass on. Then it will come that day when we realized that we've gotten older and how much time we really have left.

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  37. Encounter (A sample of other European poets) by Czeslaw Milosz
    As the poet remembers a memory shared with another man and a hare. It wasn't because he misses them , but because he wonders of the afterlife. There are many that do believe in it and many that don't. Who really knows of the afterlife other than the people who are already there.
    Jasmin Lopez

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  38. "The Book,For Growing Old" spoke out because everyone knows death is the end of all living things. But it also brings up feelings of living life to the fullest since all good things must come to an end.

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  39. The poem that stood out to me was "the book, for growing old" because it reminded me of a park. Something smoothing and relaxing. Looking up at the sky while time passes as joyful moments of relaxation. It also stood out because we are to busy living in the moment having a great time that we don't realize we are getting older, and before you know it, we are going to die.

    Stephanie Hurtado

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  40. The poem "The book for growing old" which was a poem for me that felt with the key simplicity of relaxation. Although at the same time to enjoy life, and despite the horrible outcome of death that is inevitable one can still enjoy their life. The seasons set a mood of peaceful times and different environments in which someone can still live a fulling life.

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  41. The poem that spoke to me the most "The Book, For Growing Old." This poem stood out to me because I was able to understand the clear message that it is speaking about. How we all grow old and seem to fade season by season. How things die in order to be reborn or how things are born and then die. Bonnefoy does a good job writting this poem with great detail about life and death but more importantly age.

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  42. The poem that spoke to me was "I Give You Thanks My God" because the author is being optimistic about being born black. He gives thanks to God for creating him the way he is and that message speaks to me because I should love the way I am.

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  43. One Night at Victoria Beach
    I picked this poem because it makes me reminisce on the times where all I have to remember of doing is eating. I can fill in the rest of the time with what ever I wanted to. Yet there I would be at the beach and think about everything that have done in life how it's helped and how it's made things worst. In that moment, the scenery helps me to know that where I am made everything in the past help where I've gotten.
    Jasmin Lopez

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  44. Blue, by Spanish Poet Rafael Alberti, was an enjoyable read because of the visual imagery the speaker describes using the color blue. This poem had a personal reflective quality to it because I could picture most of the references to from my travels and life in general. The first line, “blue arrived. And it was painted”, is such a simple, yet visually powerful line. The blues described from: the Mediterranean, Greece, various famous artists, life and death itself, really made me appreciate the color I have taken for granted most of my life. The poem’s last line “One day blue said:-Today I have a new name. They call me: Blue Pablo Ruiz Blue Picasso”, left me smiling and wanting to read more references because Starry Nights is one of my favorite pieces of art.

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  45. I really enjoyed "Blue" by Spanish poet Rafael Alberti because the poet gives visual imagery of the color blue and the color blue just so happens to be my favorite color. So I really enjoyed visualizing all of the images he talked about.

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