Poetry and Such Response

In this past week of class, the style of “literature” we are reading changed significantly, in concurrence with this change we, the readers, have had to change our mode of reading (critical eye).  While our readings in Cold War contained much more straightforward, concrete information, the poetry we have read in class relies much more on images/vehicles/figures through which a certain sentiment or feeling is expressed. As we learned, the latter mode of writing is known as figurative expression. Although such a style of writing would seem hard to find in a biographical writing style such as Lowell’s, he implements images/vehicles gracefully and subtly into some of his poems to express a sentiment that may be very close to his heart. An example of Lowell’s use of this style comes in his poem, “The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket.” Although the poem is biographical (about a cousin that died at sea), Lowell is still able to produce a sentiment/notion/tenor that is universal, through the used of such images/vehicles as captain Ahab and the Pequod.  Both of these images come from Moby Dick, a novel that explores the struggles between man and the sea. Lowell uses theses images not to call attention to the plot or story of Moby Dick, but rather to create a mood/tenor similar to his own regarding the death of the main character of the poem. Through the use of this indirect mode of writing, Lowell never implies a myth regarding the death of the sailor (death of man at sea), rather he simply leads the reader to explore or look at certain idea that exists in his head. This idea/sentiment is the gap between man’s belief in the myth of its dominion over the see and the reality of man’s actual interaction with sea/mother nature. This sentiment is hinted at before the poem even starts: “Let man have dominion over the fishes of the sea and fowls of the air and the beasts of the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon this earth“ (Genesis 1.26). Through the use of vehicles/figures, Lowell creates a tenor that allows the reader to explore feelings, rather than cornering the reader into the belief of a certain myth or consensus.

 

An example of a “consensus at work” that came from this week’s reading in Cold War is the polarizing affects nuclear technology (or lack of the US’s compared to Russia) had on the 1960 presidential election. As the reading discussed, there was a consensus/myth in America that the communist movement (specifically Russia) could take over the world at any point. Through this irrational fear of the far reaches of communism, a myth/consensus was created that Russia was winning the arms race dramatically. As we discussed school/family/pop culture help create these myths that we buy into. As we have discussed a consensus entails, and “fenced-in” style of thinking in which a certain opinion bought into. In contrast we see that figurative expression leads us into more productive thinking in which there are no opinions, or fences. Often figurative expression is used simply express a notion/or sentiment, one that often explores the gap between consensus/doxa/an ideal and reality.