In the poem The Clarinettist, Ruth Fainlight describes a moment, a very special moment

Transcription

1 The Clarinettist - Ruth Fainlight Pg. 154 In the poem The Clarinettist, Ruth Fainlight describes a moment, a very special moment that not everyone sees. Fainlight describes the moment just before the Clarinettist plays her first note in the performance. She uses imagery from other moments that are hard to see unless you are accustomed to seeing or making note of them. The moment where the conductor will raise his hands, hold, and then drop for the cue. She compares this moment to other moments or events to really visualize what is happening. She describes the clarinettist and he posture, Pale round arms raising her clarinet at the exact angle, she sways, then halts, poised for the music. Here she describes the clarinettist herself. How she prepares herself and positions herself. She then compares the poise of the clarinettist to the moment a horse is ready to clear a jump, like a horse that gathers itself up before the leap with the awkward, perfect, only possible movement. Here describing what you donʼt really see when you watch a horse clear a jump, unless you pay close attention to the horse, itʼs preparation, and maybe even the riderʼs preparation and how they keep the horse on track, how they count the strides, and how they lean forward and prepare to clear that jump with the horse. Fainlight uses other images such as an alto singer in a quattrocento chorus, and how he prepares himself to open wide and sing hallelujah.

2 Common Ground - Judith Ortiz Cofer (pg. 76) " In the poem Common Ground written by Judith Ortiz Cofer, Cofer tells a poem of a young woman who talks about how with every feature of you, there is something from your roots. Where it be your personality or looks. Blood tells the story of your life in heartbeats as you live it; bones speak in the language of death, and flesh thins with age when up through your pores rises the stuff or your origin. This is the first stanza of the poem. Here she talks about the anatomical features of your body that explain your life. Like when she mentions that flesh thins with age, how as you get older your skin gets thinner, it gets softer, it gets itʼs defined wrinkles. It shows a sign of aging, but as you age you also become more wise and knowledgeable. Through the rest of the poem she discusses the very distinct details of her image that reflect her bloodline, her roots. Such as her grandmotherʼs stern lips how they are very thin, and spoke words that were stern and scolding. She mentions her fatherʼs brows arching in disdain how the certain way they arch shows a certain attitude, thought, or feeling, similar to the ones that he father used to give, and then her motherʼs nervous hands smoothing lines just appearing on my skin how she notices wrinkles and how she is beginning to look like her older mother. Everything about Coferʼs poem talks about your lifeline and your connections to the ones that you love, and those that are important to you in your life. The last statement in the last stanza of this poem, like arrows pointing downward to our common ground was a statement showing that everything and every part of you that seems similar to that of someone in the your family, comes from your roots, it is something inherited, that you get from your bloodline.

3 Hazel Tells LaVerne - Katharyn Howd Machan (pg. 77) " In the poem Hazel Tells Laverne Machan uses a certain dialect and humor to tell a story. She directly relates this story to a few things such as the old tale The Princess and the Frog, and the belief of the American Dream. but sohelpmegod he starts talkin bout a golden ball an how i can be a princess, me a princess This quote not only talks about how the frog tried to persuade the young lady that she could be anything, even a princess, and as you might know, the story goes that if you kiss the frog heʼll turn into a prince and you would be a princess. But to the woman in the poem this was also a disbelief to her, and that he was nothing more than a pervert. She didnʼt believe that she could be a princess. It was an outrageous thought. Which for those who didnʼt believe in the American Dream - if you work hard enough you can have whatever you want, you can be whatever you want - and so the fact that some frog is telling her to kiss him and that sheʼll turn into a princess is just doubtful. Machan uses the old fable and the belief to really amplify the poem and give it some kind of distinct meaning.

4 Scarborough Fair - Anonymous (pg. 190) This poem is like a ballad, which is a type of song that is usually about something tragic or heart-breaking full of irony in someoneʼs life. The poet tells a story that has an underlying meaning to it. The man in the poem describes all the things that if done, would make this lady a true lover of his. In the opening stanza the last line says, for once she was a true lover of mine. (Anonymous 190) But in the last line of the last stanza he says, and then she shall be a true lover of mine. (191) As you read through the poem you get a sense of all these impossible tasks that the gentleman is asking to be done. To me there is this a feeling of bitterness and sweet revenge. As if this gentleman has been betrayed, and in order for him to even consider this woman to ever be a lover of his she would have to fulfill these impossible demands. In the first stanza, Where are you going? To Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, Remember me to a bonny lass there, For once she was a lover of mine. (p. 190) Through the poem he continues to use the same format and mentions the same herbs in the same order over and over again. To me it seems as though the herbs have a kind of meaning that they were a major part of the past relationship, whether it was her favorite herbs, or ones that they used to grow. Something that was distinct about their relationship. To end the last stanza, Tell her to gather it all in a sack, Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, And carry it home on a butterflyʼs back, And then she shall be a true lover of mine. (p. 191) This last stanza seems to conclude the poem, by saying that if she can do all the tasks, handle it with care and gentleness, that she could finally be a true lover of his again.

5 Player Piano - John Updike Pg. 191 The poem Player Piano by John Updike is a poem with words that are used to closely describe the Player Piano and the player that is non-existent in reality. As a musician myself, I could tell that this poem had a lot of sound, and that as I read it I could put a beat and a sound and I found a rhythm to it. The poem describes the clicking the keys played by the imaginary fingers, and the feelers inside the piano that creates the music. It talks about how no man or hand plays the music for it, but it plays the music itself. At times Iʼm a jumble of rumbles, At others Iʼm light like the moon, But never my numb plunker fumbles, Misstrums me, or tries a new tune. (Updike p. 192) This stanza of the poem talks about how the Player Piano plays the music itself. It rolls the paper lines itself, and the keys, and it plays itʼs tunes. It says how perfect it is, and that no oneʼs fingers stumbles or fumbles across the keys. Like someone who is drunk and when they try to play a tune it comes out as nothing but a bunch of random keys being hit, or by someone who clearly doesnʼt know how to play the piano. The Player Piano is a poem that definitely has itʼs own sound, itʼs own rhythm and has itʼs own music.

6 All-American Sestina - Florence Cassen Mayers (pg. 254) " To begin the poem by Florence Cassen Mayers poem is about the All-American lifestyle, or the stereotypical lifestyle of the All-American life. The poem is a sestina which means that it has 39 lines that are divided into 6 6 lines stanzas that has a 3 line envoy (concluding stanza). Within this poem there is a repeating of the first word of each line the stanza. In this poem it was the numbers one through six. four-wheel drive five-and-dime hole in one three-alarm fire sweet sixteen two-wheeler (Mayers pg. 255) In Mayers poem she uses a sestina style of writing to describe the stereotypical All- American life. In the poem she talks about the common home of an American, baseball the nationʼs favorite past-time, the famous six-string guitar, and Bud Light beer. Some things that are just common characteristics of the All-American lifestyle. She describes about the popular cars like Chevy, every girl who ever turnʼs sixteen. Mayers talks about the different types of dining and lounging that we have here in America everything from three to five stars. five-course meal three sheets to the wind two bits six-shooter one-armed bandit four-poster