Poetry Blog

1. Research Atwood, Plath and Dickinson and find the poet you are most like (your similarities could be based on personality traits or on issues you are both interested in, or on themes emerging from the poet’s work and how those speak to you. Write about what you feel is common between you and the poet you have chosen.

I think I am most similar with Atwood, although I don’t think my personality is particularly similar to any of these three poets. Atwood seemed to be a very quiet and thoughtful but still extremely determined and strong-willed about her opinions and thoughts on society. While watching the youtube video of Atwood’s interview, I realized that she sounded a bit bitter and defensive from time to time whenever her ideas presented in her book seemed “challenged” or “questioned.” I found that particular personality trait very similar to mine because I often times find myself being very defensive about my own ideas and if anyone tries to question it or challenge it, I get into my “defensive mode” and talk a bit bitterly. Also, when I present my ideas, I try to say it in a bit of an abstract way because I can view an idea from different perspectives and I don’t want to linger on one particular idea that seems too narrow for me. I try to put myself in a neutral position where it is hard to argue my point or I would just accept the argument and Atwood seemed as if she was trying to put herself in a safe zone of not accusing anyone of anything but only implying it in a very subtle way. I think this was evident when she was talking about many people who accused her of criticizing Christians in her novel. She seemed very determined about her message and theme in the novel and I felt that she did not want others to misinterpret her ideas but still let them perceive some interpretations in the novel on their own (leaving room for different analysis of the text). I think our strong-willed and determined nature is similar and we’re very defensive about our ideas (stubborn, in a way?).

2. TPCASTT one poem and discover what it really says to you. Write about the poem and its theme, especially about how the poem’s message sheds light on the universal human condition/experience.

I think the poem “I meant to have but modest needs” by Emily Dickinson contains a message about the frustration pertaining to faith when faced with life’s hardships. In this poem, the speaker had some sense of beauty of heaven and felt that God has responded to his or her prayer but later grows suspicious of God because of the disappointment he or she feels. I think it is this central message that life is full of adversity, which can lead to loss of faith and perhaps a feeling of bitterness and betrayal that makes this poem significant. This poem reveals the human’s tendency to blame God for all the hardships and disappointment in life, and how fragile our faith can be. We find it easy to be thankful and full of joy when there is happiness in life and we feel as if our prayers have been answered, but when things do not happen the way we want them to, we easily turn away from God, saying that he has disappointed us. We often times fail to understand that God works in mysterious ways and that he has his own plans for our lives, but if God “answers” our prayers in a way that we did not expect or want, we tend to think that God has rejected our prayer and he is not a loving God. We fail to understand the greater meaning in the things that happen in our lives because God’s plans for us are too big for us to fully fathom. (Of course, this is all from a very…Christian perspective). So, I think this poem reveals how as humans grow up, we experience more disappointment and failure in life than when we were younger and were less “shrewd”. This leads to our rejection of God and for our “faith”, however you would define it, to be challenged.

3. Think about hamartia: find one poem that displays a tragic flaw in human nature (either human nature in general or in one human, as expressed in the poem). Write about whether or not the poem’s message is enhanced for you, as a reader, as you contemplate hamartia as it relates to the text.

I think the poem “In the Secular Night” written by Atwood reveals a tragic flaw in human nature. Human’s tendency to feel lonely, whether you are in a large crowd or alone at home, is portrayed in the poem and I feel that this is a universal truth, or experience, that everyone goes through. Humans are all traveling on a journey of their own that no one else can comprehend or truly understand, and this particular path of life that one must take seems sad and lonely to everyone at some point. One may feel this way all the time, which is why they appear depressed or gloomy, and one may feel this only when they are left alone, apart from the people. The reason for being lonely may differ for everyone, as everyone experiences different things, and the reasons may pertain to religion, relationships, a particular experience, personality, and the environment. As “night” is thought of as a dark and lonely period of time, I think this poem suggests to the reader of the fact that everyone is in fact, alone all the time inside, feeling dark and lost without guidance. Also, especially as this poem refers to religion through words like “secular” and “God”, I think this shows the human tendency to look for a source of dependence like religion. I believe that some people use religion as a source of strength and I do not think this is wrong, but religion can sometimes be used as a tool for an excuse for some of the bad times in life. Although I believe that this is better than being depressed and feeling like there is nowhere to depend on, this poem clearly reveals the human nature to want to depend on something. Atwood may even be saying that humans are looking for something to blame on for the bad times in life, and most of the times we find it easy to blame it all on God.