Poetry Explication

[(Guest)]

Anyone please help me!!! Thanks a lot!!!
The poems are from "The norton anthology of Poetry"

1. The rites for Cousin Vit
Carried her unprotesting out the door.
Kicked back the casket-stand. But it can't hold her,
That stuff and satin aiming to enfold her,
the lid's contrition nor the bolts before.
Oh oh. Too much. Too much. Even now, surmise,
She rises in the sunshine. There she goes,
Back to the bars she knew and the repose
In love-rooms and the things in people's eyes.
Too vital and too squeaking. Must emerge.
Even now she does a snake-hips with a hiss,
Slops the bad wine across here shantung, talks
Of pregnancy, guitairs and bridgeworks, walks
In parks or alleys, comes haply on the verge
Of happiness, haply hysterics. Is.

I have one more poem to do, but I'll post here soon. Thanks a lot

 

[(Guest)]

Whos the author? If you google his or her auto/bio, that'd be helpful in finding out whats his/her tendency is....
In Norton anthology, there'd also be an introduction abt the author too. Look that up before diggin into this poem

g'luck

Anyone please help me!!! Thanks a lot!!!
The poems are from "The norton anthology of Poetry"

1. The rites for Cousin Vit
Carried her unprotesting out the door.
Kicked back the casket-stand. But it can't hold her,
That stuff and satin aiming to enfold her,
the lid's contrition nor the bolts before.
Oh oh. Too much. Too much. Even now, surmise,
She rises in the sunshine. There she goes,
Back to the bars she knew and the repose
In love-rooms and the things in people's eyes.
Too vital and too squeaking. Must emerge.
Even now she does a snake-hips with a hiss,
Slops the bad wine across here shantung, talks
Of pregnancy, guitairs and bridgeworks, walks
In parks or alleys, comes haply on the verge
Of happiness, haply hysterics. Is.

I have one more poem to do, but I'll post here soon. Thanks a lot

 

[(Guest)]

Sorry, the author name is Gwendolyn Brooks. I think this is a tribute poem for her cousin name Vit. But do you guys have any ideas about this poem? What is it about? The purpose of the writer? What is the form of this poem? Italian Sonnet or Sheakespearian Sonnet? And most important, what can we see in this Cousin Vit?
This is the next poem (easier I guess)

Hanging Fire (Audre Lorde)

I am fourteen
and my skin has betrayed me
the boy I cannot live without
still sucks his thumb
in secret
hom come my knees are
always so ashy
what if I die
before morning
and momma's in the bedroom
with the door closed.

I have to learn how to dance
in time for the next party
my room is too small for me
suppose I die before graduation
they will sing sad melodies
but finally
tell the truth about me
There is nothing I want to do
and too much
that has to be done
and momma's in the bedroom
with the door closed.

Nobody even stops to think
about my side of it
I should have been on Math Team
my marks were better than his
why do I have to be
the one
wearing braces
I have nothing to wear tomorrow
will I live long enough
to grow up
and momma's in the bedroom
with the door closed


Thanks a lot!!!

 

[Nguyễn Hà Phương (phhn)]

the first poem , did you change its number of lines when doing the paste work ? for i am told that a sonnet just got 14 lines . Or is it not sơmekind of 'must follow ' rule ?

 

[Đỗ Bá Khoa (Khoa)]

Hi, I'm the topic's starter

the first poem , did you change its number of lines when doing the paste work ? for i am told that a sonnet just got 14 lines . Or is it not sơmekind of 'must follow ' rule ?

That's right. A sonnet has only 14 lines. I typed it very carefully from the book because the commas and periods are very important. I think you counted the title "The rites for Cousin Vit".

About the form, there are Italian Sonnet, Shakespearian (English) Sonnet. You can define it by looking at the rhyme or the way to divide the poem.
Italian: 4/4/6
English: 4/4/4/2
There's one more kind of sonnet but I don't remember, sorry.
Oh, I forgot a very important thing: VOCABULARY!!!
So you don't have to look up
- rite: religious ceremony
- enfold: surround, fold into
- Contrition: Feeling sorrow, guilt
- Surmise: guess or conclude based on insufficient information
- repose: to lay at rest
- haply: by chance
- Shantung: silk
- bridgework: dental replacements
- vital: full of life

 

[(Guest)]

hey, i learned the 2nd poem b4 but i hardly remember anything....okie, i will try to find my notes somewhere

Huong

 

[Đặng Thái Hằng (Thái Hằng)]

Well, i think cousin Vit is dead, just recently, that's what i strongly sensed as i read the words " rites for cousin Vit", and the whole other things like casket, stuffs, satin...blah blah can't hold her anymore, and now that she's shining in the sky....And the author, he feels bad, utterly bad, misery abt the fact that his cousin has passed away, he feels too bad he can't cry, he feels too bad he can't spout out pitious words for her, he feels too bad he only can think that she's still alive......but living somewhere and that she's doing well, she's happy now. He's consoling himself, let's say he's not paranoid, he's trying to shift his so called paradigm about the death. He really IS. I bet he loves her a lot. Just....when you love someone so much you can't accept the fact that the one dies, and you try to believe, even blindly that the one is just leaving for somewhere.....and living happily there. But it feels sad.

 

[Đặng Thái Hằng (Thái Hằng)]

The second poem.....Hanging fire.....sounds like something is not in the place it should be in....fire? hanging? why not Hanged fire? but hanging fire? At first when i saw the name of this poem, i thought it must pertain to smt dangerous, like a fire above smt...and that smt's gonna be burned. But then i read the stanzas of its, i realized it's not that. She's depressed, she doesn't accept life, she wanna change it....but it seems so much to me that she's not hopelessly incompetent like mentioned in the poem. ( well, she could write poem rite? jk) . I bet she's young, she's growing up and trying to be recognized, but she failed a few times and heck, those failures devoured her spirit and you know what, she's getting worse and worse and she kept thinking about it. Life is damn worsened in her eyes as nothing goes her way. She keeps thinking then you know what......after tons of earthy problems, she thinks abt smt unreal, let's say what if it happens, what if i die tonight, mommy in bedroom, the door is closed.....then what it'd be then....would everything be the same? or would my death is a real biggie to this world....
She must be a young girl. I guess it was written a long time ago, rite? Coz this kinda poem would be only valuable in the old time. Now girls tend to write like this a lot, the main idea is discontent. What missing here is the solution, she has no solution yet, she's still in damn misery, but poems by girls now usually contains some kinda solution there, and i bet there're a lot better than this one. I wrote some myself too. But anyway, as i said, she belongs to the old time when the prejudice, and barriers btw woman and the world were pretty strong and firm, her protesting deserves appreciation. And i don't know why....but still, i think i feel some kinda "girl-power" nuance here.

 

[Đặng Thái Hằng (Thái Hằng)]

oh yeah, and i suppose that the image of the closed door means smt...like the door is closed already, no exit now, where am I gonna go? where am I gonna do? It's hopeless. They often say they'd see the light at the end of the tunnel_ that's smt full of hope, but then she repeats it 3 times that the door is closed, i think she meant it, she meant that there's no way else.

But this girl is not gonna commit to suicide, she'd get better, sooner or later. hehe.

To Jack: yah gotta study this? that's hard work huh? but it's real fun, i'm sure you like it. That's what i think abt those 2 poems, tell us what your teachers say abt 'em, ok? I wanna know if i can really SENSE it. Thx.