Read this poem by Carruth and post comments regarding what you think Carruth is saying about poetry (because he really is talking about poetry):
Endnote
by Hayden Carruth
The great poems of
our elders in many
tongues we struggled
to comprehend who
are now content with
mystery simple
and profound you
in the night your
breath your body
orbit of time and
the moment you
Phosphorus and
Hesper a dark circle
of fertility so
bloodthirsty for us
you in the world
the night breathing
asleep and alive.
Then follow this link to read about Hayden Carruth and be ready for a quiz on this remarkable poet (you will have to copy/paste the link into your browser's address bar):
http://poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/232
P. S. Three followers! Yeah! That may be more than I've ever had . . .
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I believe that he is saying that poetry can be difficult to understand due to the simple mindedness of the readers. He mentions that some are content with a simple mystery, whereas the elders produced complex and intricate poems.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Carruth is trying to say that many people will read a peom and be frustrated by the fact that it is truley difficult to understand. They want straightforward answers. Now days, and forever, many want the world, knowledge, power, ect. handed to them and don't want to spend time "thinking." I believe that is one of the true faults of man.
ReplyDeleteI think that Hayden Carruth is talking about how poetry that was written a long time ago is a lot harder to understand then the poems we read today. I think that he is saying that the poems then had some kind of mystery to it that you really have to sit down and think about. But thats all i got from it...
ReplyDeleteThe concept of this poem is that readers and lovers of poetry vary. readers do just simply that, they read a poem and may never grasp the true meaning or intent that the author is trying to convey. Lovers of poetry go more in depth to disect and differenciate the meaning behind the poets words of choice. Through the generations the choices of discriptive words have lost some of their meaning, because young students are not educated in this choice of language. How can one love a poem when the meaning of the words may not have as great of an importance as they once held years ago. Many readers today observe these words of choice as a foriegn language and never pick up a dictionary to inhance their understanding of new words that could be added to their vocabulary.When you wrap your mind around new words and gain an understanding then the whole poem displays a new meaning even if the meaning is seen in a new context by each individual. Kaycia
ReplyDeleteI think the author is trying to potray that poetry is an art that in simple hard to understand due to the lack of attention readers have when first reading a poem. He mentions that some are content with the mystery of never completely understanding it, whereas the older generation realize and understand the complexity and know how to comprehend a poem more.
ReplyDelete