Cezanne's ports- Allen Ginserg

I got about halfway through the poem before I realized that it was actually about the painting.

I found the poem to be a little too literal for my taste, making sound less poetic. The painting is very saturated and textured and beautiful, but the text just seemed to be bland and lifeless to me. It didn't feel like the painting at all. Besides the title, I would not have put these two art pieces together on my own.

I normally appreciate Ginsberg's work, but I must say that I don't enjoy this piece one bit. I didn't find it to be imaginative in any way. It was very left-to-right literal. It didn't have a very strong insight either. It seems as if the insight was supposed to be in the line "for the other side of the bay is Heaven and Eternity," but it's a very very weak insight. The poem feels like it's trying to rely on the imagery of the painting, but the poem isn't successful by itself- it can't stand up on it's own, or even be an equal accompaniment to the painting.

The Man With the Hoe- Edwin Markham

I found this to metaphorical for humans as a whole, rather than this poem being about just an individual man. The way that the poem describes the man, I picture him as somewhat of a zombie- his body dying and decaying, with no hope or feelings, jaded by the world.
I feel as if Edwin was making a remark about the direction the world is going. In saying that, I would have to also say that this poem is very dark and pessimistic, insisting that this man (if not all humans) are essentially useless.
With that said, I do find this poem very interesting and engaging. I like it along with the painting, which reinforces my zombie-like assumptions. I feel the anger and frustration in the questions, almost as if the author was spitting the words out. Insight, imagery, imagination- this poem has it all.

The Man With the Blue Guitar- Wallace Stevens

I really enjoyed this poem. I liked the language and the structure, but also that it wasn't too structured by rhyme or rhythm. The arrangement of words was beautiful. I read a few of the sections over a few more times after reading it because I found them particularly fascinating or wonderful in some way. I read the first sections a few extra times, and also XXXI and XXXII because for some reason I feel as if they go together better that any other sections in the poem.
It was quite long, and I'm not too fond of extremely long poems, but I found this one interesting enough to read all the way through.
I fell in love with the quirkiness of the man, and the importance of his guitar. The use of color in this poem is really successful in that the colors really set the mood, and put more of a visual aspect into the words.
Overall, I would have to say that this is one of my favorite poems that we've read this semester.

procrastination