Poem of the Day

So, here we are. You've survived this long, but you've got one more semester ahead of you. In order to bolster your poetry skills, there will be a poem of the day (actually it will most likely be every other day) that you will be required to respond to. You must respond to one a week. You can always dissect more (and when you miss classes will be required to!).

Below will be an example of a poem and student responses. Notice how the first one is not as in depth as the following--this is the advantage of first come first served. I expect the responses not to be repetitive. You may respond to what someone else has said and comment, but no "I agree with so-and-so. They said what I wanted to say." Tough. You need to find more because there will always be more to say.

Here's the example poem:

"You Who Never Arrived" by Ranier Maria Rilke

You who never arrived
in my arms, Beloved, who were lost
from the start,
I don't even know what songs
would please you. I have given up trying
to recognize you in the surging wave of the next
moment. All the immense
images in me-- the far-off, deeply-felt landscape,
cities, towers, and bridges, and unsuspected
turns in the path,
and those powerful lands that were once
pulsing with the life of the gods-
all rise within me to mean
you, who forever elude me.

You, Beloved, who are all
the gardens I have ever gazed at,
longing. An open window
in a country house--, and you almost
stepped out, pensive, to meet me.
Streets that I chanced upon,--
you had just walked down them and vanished.
And sometimes, in a shop, the mirrors
were still dizzy with your presence and, startled,
gave back my too-sudden image. Who knows?
perhaps the same bird echoed through both of us
yesterday, seperate, in the evening...

And here are some sample responses:

"To me this poem seems to be about a parent, who is speaking to their child, who was never born, perhaps the child died before it was born, or perhaps there never was a child, and this is the parent longing for a child. The fact that the poet is saying how they saw them everywhere and how they would imagine how they would feel about certain things such as songs. It seems that the speaker is desperate for some sign or some indication that the child can communicate with them, and that they are with them, however realistically, they know this not to be true, and are realizing that they may have to learn to live life without the child and move on."

and another:

"I understand the parent approach. Yet I see it as a widow from a arranged marriage with a soldier killed in war. The Beloved is an idea of what could have been. The speaker has an image in her mind of all she hoped for in this beloved; "in the open window,garden, stepped out"all indicate her hope of settling down. Yet that image changes constantly, "surging wave of the next moment" The author plays on your conception of sight with using words like "immense images, vanishing, mirrors, unsuspected" to describe the Beloved then describes herself as too-sudden meaning that his was just an illusion.She is chasing the image of what she thinks it would have been like."

and one more:

"I disagree with the idea of the poem evoking the emotions of a parent for a child. It seems to me to be much more of a romantic narrative, since many of the images and hopes are not for the other figure, but as a part of the speaker and the speaker's experiences. It is beautiful in this way, as the speaker characterizes an unnamed, hopeful future love as everything beautiful in the world, "all/
the gardens I have ever gazed at,/
longing." In this way it seems similar to Whitman's "stranger" poem, in that the speaker is searching for someone who could be anyone and who may have been anywhere, at every time. 'Who knows?/
perhaps the same bird echoed through both of us/
yesterday, seperate, in the evening....'"

Notice how the responses become a conversation and collaboration. That is the goal. Also notice the use of proper, standard English. Please don't post material that employs text-talk and re-read and revise your statements. Ultimately, this is supposed to simulate the college experience with online components (as more and more colleges have); so let's practice.

Once the poem is posted, you just need to hit the 'Comment' link below and type away. It might be best to set up an account so we can all know who's doing the writing.