Reader Response to a Poem:
Select one of the poems in "Thomas and Beulah". How does the poem make you feel? In what ways can you relate to the poem? What has Rita Dove done with imagery, form, theme, rhythm, language, etc. to make this poem work? Any lines that particularly strike you as interesting or powerful? Think about poetic technique: enjambment, caesura, metaphor, simile, alliteration, assonance, consonance, linebreaking, stanzaic form, apostrophe, onomatopeaia, etc.
Post your response
Begin working on Poetry Cycle assignment:
Similar to Thomas and Beulah, consider some characters in your own life, imagined characters, or actual historical characters. Imagine the significant chronological dates in their lilves--high points and low points. consider how to construct a series of 8-10 (preferably more) poems that tell a story (narrative poetry) and explore these key moments and occasions.
- a. Your poetry cycle should consist of 8-10 poems
- b. Your poetry cycle should be accompanied by a chronology to support the key dates and occasions you chose to write about.
- c. At least two of the poems should explore the same event from two different perspectives or viewpoints (like "Courtship" in Thomas and Beulah). These poems can have the same title.
- d. Place one poem per page, single-spaced, 12 point type in a clean font and be sure to title each poem. you may want to title the entire cycle as well. Use italics for dialogue, songs, memories, etc as you observe in Rita Dove's work. Experiment with different stanzaic forms and poetic styles.
- e. Poems can, of course, be narrative or lyric, but remember that the overall cycle is a narrative and must tell a story of a life or lives although we only see "fragments" or moments/snapshots of those lives.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI chose the poem "Courtship". Cliche' as it may be, I love a little unexpected love poem. This struck me because of it's real-ness. Rita Dove's poetry is often very wordy and hard to understand. Courtship is simple. It's what she really thought of him, how she wasn't going to give in to his romance without knowing it was real. She almost was laughing at how hard he was trying, and wasn't having any of it.
ReplyDelete- Savannah Goole
One of the most striking poems for me was "Refrain." I suppose, simply, I enjoyed the story of it: a man singing the blues. The man was "inside the mandolin," which is an interesting description of the performance. It brings Lem's death back to Thomas in an interesting way because of the inclusion of the "song." There are also three verses of the song that he played, which give me personally an image all their own. These verses support my mental picture of a down-and-out bluesman and the down-and-out lyrics that they sang. I also find the extended "sailing" metaphor a clever supplement, conveying Thomas's emotion and character development.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the line, "There was a needle/In his head but nothing/Fit through it," from "Variation on Pain."
Amane Amireh
ReplyDeleteI chose Straw Hat because it makes me feel better about the fact that no one is perfect. I like the nature imagery of the oak tree and different kinds of grasses. It also makes me think of the fact that I’m not the only one who has been through a loss that’s unforgettable. Not just a loss from death but a loss from leaving or something being taken from me. In the poem it talked about how music reached into his chest and spread it around. It shows his love for music. But since he has to work to support himself and he is so exhausted from all the long shifts, he hasn’t had enough time for the thing that he truly treasures. So he has to sacrifice to become successful. I can relate to that. I had to sacrifice my Internet and my TV and my video games to get all my school work done and now its like I have no life, but the school life, and that life pretty much sucks. It made me sad and tired. Like music and work did for Thomas. I particularly like the last stanza because it characterizes the music as "she", and the visualization of Thomas tipping his hat says something to me. It says sorrow. It makes it known how much music means to him and what it does to him when its gone or leaving.
I chose the poem "Variation on Gaining a Son" because the poem moved me. I feel I can relate to this poem because I have also had a moment that has made me look at someone in a new light, as Thomas does in this poem with his daughter's groom. Rita Dove uses imagery to allow the reader to feel what Thomas is feeling, especially in the lines "The shy angle of his daughters head," "Her soldier at tender attention," and "For the first time Thomas felt like calling him son."
ReplyDeleteI really liked the poem "Straw Hat". The thing that really stood out for me was the one line "He used to sleep like a glass of water/ held up in the hand of a very young girl." This image just really struck me. It was one of those that made me think about things in a completely different way than I had ever thought about it before. Also, I think that poem is universal, because we all come to that realization that no one is perfect, although maybe not to the extent and severity with which Thomas realized it.
ReplyDeleteThe poem that struck me the most was "Compendium" because it shows the transformation of Thomas from a cool cat Southern mandolin player to a singer in the gospel choir. He desperately wanted a son, but instead got four daughters, which Dove shows through a couplet saying:
ReplyDelete"Girl girl
girl girl"
Beulla pays more attention to the canary than to Thomas and he is outnumbered by the women in his family. Although it wasn't the life he necessarily wanted, he is somewhat softened by the effect of the four daughters.
I like the poem "Jiving" because it has a lot of images that describes this character. It is able to explain things about the character without saying it directly and the rhythm of the poem itself seems to have a "moving" feel to it, which reflects the idea of the poem-- a character who "jives."
ReplyDeleteThe stanzas are very short with allows the reader to look carefully at each phrase and take individual meaning from each one.
I enjoyed the poem Straw Hat because of how simple and calming music seems to be for him. I can related to this. After a long day at work, he just kicks back and listens to the sounds of the music he makes and sings along. This poem struck me as powerful because it gave me a really full image. I could imagine him sitting and closing his eyes, listening.
ReplyDeleteJames Botsford
ReplyDeleteI chose "The Zeppelin Factory" because I felt sorrow and was able to visually see three men struggling for their lives in peril on a blimp. I can relate to this poem because whenever I hear about casualties in a specific event or accident, I tend to feel badly and sometimes want to cry. I get sound imagery out of the poem when Rita Dove describes Thomas as "intact, faint-hearted, hiding his heart with his hat." The very last words that say "Big boy I know you're in there", remind me of Lem.
my favorite poem was courtship because it was basically the start of Thomas and Beulah's relationship. The poem was easy to visualize beacuse of the imagery that was used. The line that most striked me was "His heart fluttering shut then slowly opening." i thought that Rita Dove was very clear with her wording in this poem. It was very easy to understand rather then any of her other poems. This poem was the most intresting that i have read so far...
ReplyDelete-Shana
By: Alicia Green
ReplyDelete"Variation on Guilt"
The poem makes me feel how thomas felt with frustation and anxiousness to know if Beulah will have a boy or girl.I can't say I cant relate to the this poem but I can understand a fathers action for his new born becase I've seen plenty of fathers do the same. Thomas just also has the guilt of his bestfriends death...it could be a little more stressful. Rita Dove shows imagery, and gives a theme. I could picture Thomas waiting in the waithing room of the hospital, while he waited to see if the baby would be a boy and he could have a little Lem or if he would have a girl. The theme played out through the whole part of Madoline.
'He doesn't feel a thing.
Weak with rage,
Thomas deals the cigars,
spits out the bitter tip in tears.'
I most enjoyed the poems "Courtship," and "Courtship, Diligence," both of which tell the story of the early days of Thomas and Beulah's relationship. These two poems, though similar in subject matter, are opposites in tone. In reading "Courtship," I saw Thomas as a cool and confident young man who felt safe in his role as "King of the Crawfish." In "Courtship, Diligence," this image is opposed by Beulah's disdain for Thomas, his over-confident attitude, and the "cigar-box music" he plays. These two poems, which oppose rather than reinforce each other, provide some conflict to the poetry and help to build a story around the poems.
ReplyDeleteIn Straw Hat, the setting is Thomas being a “working man.” Thomas was use to sleeping on grass and surrounded by nature and now he’s sleeping on a mattress that two other men have used. “The mattress ticking he shares in the work barracks is brown and smells from sweat of two other men.” You can imagine that mattress and the imagery from when he was looking over the tracks and how he layed on the grasses, under the stars. It shows you that not everyone is perfect
ReplyDeleteJerica
The poem I most enjoyed was refrain.I loved that it had both the poem and the song. I thought it added a lot to the poem and even though it did not always make sense it was beautiful. I really liked the stanza
ReplyDelete"Now he's dancing, moving
only his feet. No way
to shut him up but
roll over, scattering
ruffles and silk,
stiff with a dog's breath
among lilies
and ripening skin: "
I think this stanza was what really made this poem so beautiful to me. I also liked the story it was telling, a poem about a bad dream. Everyone can connect to that.
I really enjoyed the poem "Variation on Pain," but I liked "Courtship" a lot more. The way that Rita Dove uses enjambment in general and breaks the entire poem into two different points of veiw is really notable. This is effective because of the fact that a story doesn't only have one side but two. Also, Dove's usage of italics goes against standard grammar rules, but it is also very effective. I enjoyed seeing this rather than the usual quotation marks...
ReplyDeleteI like the poem "Variation of Guilt" because of the fact it is written from the males point of view. it reveals emotions that the typical male wouldn't openly express such as weakness. I love the line in the 1st stanza,"... cigars crackling in cellophane-." it creates wonderful imagery and symbolizes time. the author creates piercing imagery throughout the poem such as,"...a scream caught in his throat,he looks down."it shows the mans vulnerabilty and his shame as a result of it. The 3rd stanza is a bit confusing so i wouldn't really know how tointerpret but in the 4th stanza the author creates a mood of defeat. It portrays the male as inferior to women which clearly contradicts reality. The last stanza ends with Thomas finally dealing with his weakness. the only ? remaining is what is the purpose of the title. i think it is because the weakness Thomas is experiencing is a result of something he did wrong and as a result feels guilty.
ReplyDeletei liked refrain because it helped show that Thomas is not the same man he used to be, showing that he is trapped inside of the mandolin which symbolizes the experience of Lem's death.
ReplyDelete-Jonathan
ReplyDeleteThe poem Nothing Down seems the most effective to me. It seems to take all of his issues and meld them into one and you realize that this is a very troubled man. It really speaks to me because the person he's with is questioning him and bothering him, not realizing that more troubling things are going on. The fact that he remembers Lem so much int his poem also brings more insight to the relationship they shared.