Poetry. What is it really?

What is poetry? Poetry is words; no it is so much more than that. Poetry is self-expression through depictions of situations and emotions by a writer. Yes, but what about the reader; what is poetry to the reader? Poetry is given value and meaning by the reader and the personal experiences and point of view brought to the poem by the reader. All of these things are true and fine but really what is poetry? According to Webster poetry is “metrical writing or the productions of a poet or a writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm or something likened to poetry especially in beauty of expression.” Thanks Webster but what is poetry in and of its self. What is the heart of poetry and how do I define it? 

That has been the guiding question for me this semester as I work through English 210 Intro to Literature: Poetry. I thought I understood poetry when I started this endeavored and described it as being the use of language in means of rhetoric and syntax to present an idea in a new creative or abstract manner. The literary style that is poetry is less about what is being said and more about how it is said, in other words a poem is a performance; because of this the interpretation of each poem becomes dependent on each member of the audience.  Sure I still agree with this but I think that poetry can do more than just be a performance and I believe that each poem has its own meaning and value without any input from the reader.

Looking at each aspect of poetry separately I think is the best way to understand that poetry is like a puzzle in that it is several pieces that must be worked together to give the full picture of what the poet is trying to get across and what the reader is trying to discover. Form first, there are limitless forms from imagery and shape poetry to the very formal sonnet to blank verse to haiku the form and style is endless but as Audre Lorde says of her poetry, “I feel I have a duty to speak the truth as I see it and to share not just my triumphs, not just the things that felt good, but the pain, the intense, often unmitigated pain,” (Kulii). While each poet’s personal reason for writing poetry may differ they all do have some type of reason or purpose behind it, the value of understanding the different forms can help to give light to this meaning. 

A poet’s view of poetry is different from that of the reader. The poet may view it as a form of fun or as an ink wasting toy. The responsibility of the reader is to know enough about the poet and the context of the poem to understand the message that the poem is trying to give. There is the direct message that is the words on the page but there is a sub message if you will that is in every poem. This is the implied and inferred message that is read into by the reader and is different for each person. Peter Fallon, an Irish poet who visited class stated that he asks himself, “Do I trust this poem?” That is the best question that a reader can ask of a poem, does what the direct content state agree with the implied meaning of the reader. If not why and where does the content differ? One example of this idea of form is seen in Irena Klepfisz’s poem Bashert, as she creates two smaller poems and constructs them in mirroring ways; aligning the messages to be parallel so that there is a direct conflict between the two while still giving the poem a kind of stability as it pulls the reader through.

Poetry acting as a form of self-expression for the poet can also mean acting as a way for the poet to voice ideas of political or social injustices of inequalities, in general just opinions that the poet may be uncomfortable to openly state so they place them into a poem; causing the audience to reflect upon the situation and dray their own conclusions and opinions. In the anthology Against Forgetting:  Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness by Carolyn Forche, Forche states "the space between the state and the supposedly safe haven of the personal," (Forche 31), implying the poetry is that space and saying that it is a safe place for these conflicting ideas or opinions.  An example of a poet doing this is in the poem September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden. Auden does not come out and openly describe the events implied but rather makes implications and parallels. Kate Stoltzfus described Auden’s poem as, “comparing  the human heart to a mad man writing about his lover - that humans have the ability to love in spite of imperfections with complicated, messy relationships,” (Stoltzfus).

To the reader these ideas or opinions may be accepted or denied. The function of poetry is to provide a means for the poet to invoke emotion in the reader about a particular idea/event/situation. As Emily Dickenson put it, “it [poetry] makes my whole body so cold no fire ever can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only way I know it.  Is there any other way," (Ryan).

Poetry is more than just any one of the parts mentioned in this reflection and so many more but it is important to understand the poetry is never just one of these pieces. Poetry at its heart is the act of a poet forming a message in some way for a reader to share or describe an emotion and reaction to that message. The poet does this through form, style, content, implied meaning, by invoking the emotions of the reader and as a form of self-expression or reflection.

Works Cited

Forche, Carolyn. Against Forgetting: Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness. New York City: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993. 170-73. Print.

Stoltsfuz, Kate. "Notes by Niginsky." Word. Blogger.com, 03 Oct 2011. Web. 6 Dec. 2011. <http://inspiirator.blogspot.com/2011/10/notes-by-nijinsky.html>.

Ryan, Michael. "My Favorite Poet: Emily Dickinson." Poets.org. The Acadamy of American Poets, 1997. Web. 6 Dec 2011. <http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19269>.

What Does Bashert Really Mean?

An analysis of Irena Klepfisz's poem "Bashert"

Bashert is a Yiddish term meaning to be predestined, fated, inevitable, randomly selected to live or die or sole mate. This is used as the title for two smaller poems entitled "These words are dedicated to those who died" and "these words are dedicated to those who survived."

Irena Klepfisz a Jewish feminist poet who wrote as a form of remembrance and activism. Klepfisz born in April 1941 in the Warsaw Ghetto, draws inspiration and evidence for her political activism through her traumatic childhood. her poems are a way of defining and expanding upon that through definition of actions. "Bashert" is featuring in the World War II section of Against Forgetting:Twentieth century Poetry for Witness by Carolyn Forche, is dedicated as being "for those who died and those who survived." The dedication of this anthology mirrors the dedication of Klepfisz's poems, as they are all encompassing. The fact that "Bashert" is featured in the World War II section allows the reader to draw the conclusion that it is a reflection or comment on the events of or aftermath of the Holocaust. 

Nancy J. Peterson author of Against Amnesia, Contemporary Women Writers and the Crises of Historical Memory wrote that Klepfisz witnessed the death of her father during the Uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943 (Peterson). The Norton Anthology on Jewish American Literature by Jules Chametcky noted that after his death, Klepfisz and her mother escaped to the Polish countryside and were hidden through World War II by non-Jewish peasants, before moving to the United States in 1949.Klepfisz's mother taught her only Polish as that she could pass of Aryan and escape the concentration camps (Chametcky 181).

"Bashert" is written in third person, with the speaker or poet addressing the reader directly. The speaker is explaining to the audience why specific people deserved to die or live through reasons the speaker sees fit and just. The first section of the poem is "These Words are Dedicated to Those Who Died" and is composed of seven stanzas. It is arranged as a repetitive argument, as each stanza, save for stanza five, begins with the line "These words are dedicated to those who died" (Forche 393). Each line following it starts "because" and then some reason of justification is given. the poem can be seem as justification for the actions resulting in the deaths of the victims being implied by the speaker, a form of survivor's guilt. There is no end rhyme present in the poem; the structure instead has a foothold in repetition and content/argument reinforcement that is common through all stanzas.

The second part of the poem, "These Words are Dedicated to Those Who Survived," is made of five stanzas and again has the same structural patterns, no end rhyme but rather the repetition of the line "These words are dedicated to those who survived" followed by lines beginning with "because" and the speaker's justification. Through both sections of the poem only the word "these" is capitalized. The two sections are separated by the phrase "Bashert" as well as the poem as a whole being completed with it.

The outline of the poem is much like the construction of a Big Mac. "Bashert" is the bottom bun and beginning. "These words are dedicated to those who died" is the first layer of meet cheese lettuce and special sauce. The Phase "Bashert" appears again as the middle bun separating the two sections of meat/cheese/lettuce/ sauce goodness. "These words are dedicated to those who survived" is the second layer of meat/cheese/lettuce and special sauce. Finally the top bun to complete the sandwich is the final phrase "Bashert."

The poem goes full circle concluding in it's opening as well as making two claims and supporting them. This argumentative structure gives rise to the claim of the poem being persuasive. There is no punctuation in the poem whatsoever, enjambment is present yet only forceful between the repetition of the central line for the section of the poem. The reasons for each claim being pushed together as though a list. Each stanza is repeated as: claim, because reason, because reason, because reason, because reason, and so on and so forth.

In the poem the speaker tells the reason for the outcomes of victims of the Holocaust, death and life respectively. The speaker claims those who died did so because they were stubborn and refused to give up/ because they asked for too much." The diction used here implies that will to live and the determination that is usually associated with the victims of the Holocaust, yet there is also a negative connotation used in that the speaker says, "They asked for too much." In the second par of the poem, the speaker claims those who survived did so "because they had no principles..because they were angry. because they could ask/ because they mooched off other and saved their strength." Again the diction here gives a distinctive negative tone in that the survivors lived only because they used others. The idea of the dead asking for too much is in the direct conflict with the reason that those who lived did so "because they could ask." This is justified through the implied political injustices if on has money and/or power one could ask or use others, whereas the average person did no have that choice. it seems as though the speaker is implying that those who survived did so only through the abuse of others and did so unfairly. The speaker holds more pity and sympathy for those who died and implies that whose who lived should not have because they went about it in the wrong manner commenting that those who lived did so "because they were lucky." This could be a comment on the unfair death of Klepfisz's father. The speaker does not that those who died are not without blame in that "because they were stubborn," suggesting that their stubbornness was unwillingness cost them their lives in the end, another example of Klepfisz's implied survivor's guilt.

Klepfisz makes note of God in "Bashert" in that those who died did so "because they left things to God" and those who survived did so "because they too had faith and trusted God." This implies that God is the one to make the final call on who lives and dies according to His will. Her final stanzas in both sections of the poem, offering closure to the argument presented in the sections, death and life respectively. In "These words are dedicated to those who died" she closes speaking about death as a punishment, reward, final rest and final rage. This oxymoron phrasing makes the reader pause and think that death is a way of peace and relief yet brought about because of the actions of those who died. In the same way Klepfisz ends "These words are dedicated to those who survived" calling life a wilderness and [those who survived] savage, life flowering and those living blossoms and life a gift and those who survived "free to accept it." The idea that of the life imagery as positive shows that the speaker does value life over death seeing its profit. The idea of the people being :"free to accept" the fist implies that those who died were not free to accept the gift, and could conclude that this is a religious reference to Jesus Christ and the spiritual gift of salvation because it deals in free will and freedom of second life, an interesting metaphor when remembering that Klepfisz is Jewish and does not embrace Jesus as the Christ. 

This freedom imagery is also important because it is in reference to the holocaust and the freedom from the oppression and judgment of those who were not of the Jewish faith. Viewing this poem as one of Klepfisz's political works it is important to note her belief that there is no need for a Holocaust to justify political action. She claims that mass genocide is not required to bring about the attention of the world of suffering individuals but this far that is what it has taken and she is working to charge that through her writing.

Finding Light in Audre Lorde's Coal

Audre Lorde organized Coal  into five separate sections. Each section emphasizes an aspect of race and gender, which Lorde's poem “Coal” demonstrates. The book as a whole carries Audre Lorde's perspective and experience as a black lesbian as she works for political equality. 

Part one begins in the young years of life and introduces the idea of separation because of race as well as establishing the poet's voice. Lorde's poetry provides the imagery for an understanding of the context of the book. “A Family Resemblance” works to mention similarities between the poet and others around her grounding her in a sense of belonging and acceptance. According to Beverly Threatt Kulii, author of The Oxford Companion to African American Literature, “Many of her [Lorde's] poems in Coal are also an indictment of an unjust society that allows women to be treated unfairly, sometimes brutally, and this acknowledgment by Lorde intensifies her plea for cooperation and sisterhood among women,” (Kulii). Upon seeing this acceptance, the reader now has something to compare later poems to, in which Lorde gives stark examples of differences. In “Father Son and Holy Ghost,” the poet speaks directly to the audience giving a story of how she never knew her father but still sought after that father role model. She makes a note to say that her father was judgmental, giving the base that that is where she learned her need for acceptance. Lorde states, “He lived still judgments on familiar things and died,” in “Father Son and Holy Ghost.” Lorde captured the perspective of the speaker's conscious needs as well as her unconscious. The namesake of the book, “Coal,” offers the speaker's wisdom and focus of the book, “Now take my word for jewel in the open light.”

In part two, Lorde moves to the next phase of her life, one with children; this section of the book most reflects Lorde's experience of having two children and her marriage to Edward Ashley Rollins in 1962 (Kulii). Because Coal was published in 1968 before her second child and her divorce, Lorde speaks on the experiences of a first pregnancy and its mysteries and miracles.

The third part of this book expresses more of Lorde's feeling of inadequacies and her fears as she begins to express the idea of separation from her husband and children. This is seen as Lorde again coming to terms with herself and her sexuality as she had done before at National University of Mexico in 1955 (Kulii).

Following this time line progression of the book, section four is comprised of a single poem that is broken down into five parts. This poem is “Martha” and is written about Frances Clayton, Lorde's life partner whom she met in Tougaloo University (Trapasso). The repetition of the number five is significant throughout the book in that there are five sections and “Martha,” the first poem in which Lorde expresses her desires for another woman is in five sections. “Martha” was written and published before Lorde's divorce and while there were never accusations of an affair, it raises the question of when and how long Lorde and Clayton were involved.

The final section of the book is a section dedicated to mourning and remembrance. The poems in this section are laments of lost and unrequited love. In “The Songless Lark,” the poet mourns the departure of a loved one, stating, “Sun shines so brightly on the hill/ before you went away.” Again in “Memorial II” the poet openly longs “I wish I could see you again.”

“Coal,” the poem that lends itself to the book’s title, is a reflection of Audre Lorde's personal relationship with society and herself as she understands them. This poem is from later in her life. The idea of the title is a reflection of the imagery of the poem.

“Coal” is one of Lorde’s less formulaic poems. The poem is written in first person, free verse and spoken in the voice of the poet. The racial context and content of this poem as well as the personal pleas found throughout make it reflect more of that of a prayer than a dramatic monologue. This poem's purpose is to create the image of the progression from the darkness of the coal to the illumination of the diamond that is held within. This also shows Lorde's life story as she struggles with her own self-image and discovers her power within her. The poem is composed of three stanzas, much like the body of a standard letter. It contains a short opening and conclusion, and the focus or the discovery occurs in the body or middle stanza.

In the poem, the speaker creates an extended metaphor of herself as a piece of coal, also establishing herself in the power of love and self-acceptance, which is portrayed as openness and diamonds. The speaker states, “Some words are open like a diamond/ on glass windows.” Furthermore, the speaker describes her passions and emotions, “Other know sun/ seeking like gypsies over my tongue/ to explode through my lips.” The idea of the coal/ diamond relationship becomes clear with the illusion to creation in that “I am Black because I come from the earth’s inside/ now take my word for jewel in the open light.” While this line supports the creation of diamonds through fire and coal, it also reinforces the metaphor of the coal as darkness in that it references the coal coming from inside the earth, while reinforcing the light and pure imagery that is found in the diamond.

This poem functions much like the book as a whole. It uses perspective to create a better understanding of an individual and that individual's growth and realizations of self-worth: in this poem’s case, the poet and her realization that she and her works are worth something because they are true and pure and should not be discounted because of her color. The book as a whole, the struggle with social acceptance and self-value is portrayed.

Finding Diamonds among the "Coal"

Coal is a reflection of Audre Lorde's personal relationship with society and herself as she understands it. This poem is from later in her life, published in 1976 as part of a larger collection called “Coal”. The idea of the title is a reflection of the imagery of the poem. It is written in free verse form.

The poem is written in first person and spoken in the voice of the poet. The racial context and content of this poem as well as the personal pleas found through out make it reflect more of that of a prayer than a dramatic monologue. This poem's purpose is to create the image of the progression from the darkness of the coal to the illumination of the demand that is held within. This also shows Lorde's life story as she struggles with her own self image and discovers her power within her. The poem is composed of three stanzas, much like the body of a standard letter with a short opening and conclusion and the focus or the discovery occurring in the body or middle stanza.

In the poem, the speaker creates an extended metaphor of herself as a piece of coal, also establishing herself and her power in the power of love and self acceptance that is portrayed as openness and diamonds. “Some words are open like a diamond/ on glass windows.” Furthermore, the speaker describes her passions and emotions, “Other know sun/ seeking like gypsies over my tongue/ to explode through my lips.” The idea of the coal/ diamond relationship becomes clear with the illusion to creation in that “I am Black because I come from the earth's inside/ now take my word for jewel in the open light.” While this line supports the creation of diamonds through fire and coal it also reenforces the metaphor of the coal as darkness in that it references the coal coming from inside the earth.

About Audre

Audre Lorde, a self proclaimed feminist, lesbian , mother and poet wrote poems and speeches crying out against inequalities between blacks and whites as well as men and women. Her passion for reform stemmed from her need for freedom. Lorde was quoting as saying, “I feel I have a duty to speak the truth as I see it and to share not just my triumphs, not just the things that felt good, but the pain, the intense, often unmitigated pain,” (Kulii).

Lorde was born the youngest of three sisters to West Indies immigrants, Linda Gertrude Belmar and Frederic Byron Lorde on February 18, 1924. Her first poem was a love poem, a rebellion against her parents in the eighth grade. It was later published in “Seventeen” magazine (Trapasso). After graduating in 1954, from Hunter High School where she was the editor of the school's literary arts magazine she continued on to Hunter College; spending her first year at the National University of Mexico. A year spend confirming and renewing herself and her identity both personally and artistically, it was here that she proclaimed herself as a lesbian and poet (Kulii). Returning to New York Lorde studied Library Science and worked to put herself through school by working in odd jobs such as a factory worker, ghost writer, social worker, X-ray technician, medical clerk and arts and crafts supervisor (Kulii). After receiving her bachelors degree, Lorde began work as a librarian at the Mount Vernon Public Library and pursued her master's degree of Library Science at Colombia University, from which she earned her degree in 1961. During her time at Colombia Lorde became increasingly involved in the gay community and culture of Greenwich Village. In 1962, Audre Lorde became the wife of Edward Ashley Rollins;whom with she had two children, Elizabeth and Johnathan, she later divorced Rollins in 1970 (Kulii). During her marriage Lorde became head librarian of Town School Library of New York City. Having been awarded the National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1968 she became the resident poet at Tougaloo where she later met her life long partner, Frances Clayton (Trapasso).

Lorde's first book of poetry The First Cities was published in 1968 by Poet's Press and edited by Diane diPrima (Kulii). The First Cities does not openly speak about Lorde's blackness but rather innovates the form and tone that is present in African American literature of the time. Following only two years later was Cables to Rage. This volume written during Lorde's first years at Tougaloo speaks on motherhood, love, loss and is the first of her works of openly address her homosexuality (Kulii). Cables to Rage also set the general tone of rage and angry at inequalities that would follow through most of Lorde's later works (Reuman). Three years after Cables to Rage was published Broadside Press released From A Land Where Other People Live. This volume was nominated for the National Book Award for poetry in 1973 and addressed as a personal reflection the growth Lorde had experienced. Only a year later New York Head Shop and Museum was published, this book taking the proud rebellious tone coined by the African American poets of the 1960's as Lorde shares visual images of her home city in such a way as to call to attention the decay, neglect and poverty that was an everyday norm for her during childhood (Kulii).

Coal Lorde's first book to be published by a major publishing house, W. W. Norton, opened her writing to a much larger audience. While the poems of Coal mirror those of The First Cities and Cables to Rage in that the relationship of Lord and Adrienne Rich (Kulii) the themes of Coal are closer to those of New York Head Shop and Museum. Lorde also openly addresses her blackness and calls into open her feeling of inadequacy (Kulii). According to Beverly Threatt Kulii, author of The Oxford Companion to African American Literature, “Many of her [Lorde's] poems in Coal are also an indictment of an unjust society that allows women to be treated unfairly, sometimes brutally, and this acknowledgment boy Lorde intensifies her plea for cooperation and sisterhood among women,” (Kulii).

Also published by W. W. Norton was Lorde's 7^th book of poetry, The Black Unicorn Lorde works to incorporate African mythology as justification and support for her ideas on motherhood, women and racial pride. Having been diagnosed with breast cancer Lorde started journaling and after her last and final surgary in overcoming the cancer she published The Cancer Journals published by Spinsters Ink, in which she made “visible the viewpoint of a lesbian of color. Challenging traditional Western notions of illness and advocated women's ability, responsibility and right to make decisions about their health,” said Ann Reuman author of The Oxford Companion to African American Literature. In 1981, The Cancer Journals won the American Library Association Gay Caucus Book Award (Reuman) which Lorde celebrated by releasing Zami: A New Spelling of My Name. In 1988 Lorde published A Burst of Light in which she talked about her fight with liver cancer, which she was diagnosed with only six years after her mastectomy.

Audre Lorde had this to say of her own Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches published in 1984 by Crossing Press, “When I say I am a Black feminist, I mean I recognize that my power as well as my primary oppressions come as a result of my Blackness as well as my womanness, and therefore my struggles on both of these fronts are inseparable.” Gloria Hull in her essay “Living on the Line: Audre Lorde and Our Dead Behind Us," in Changing Our Own Words: Essays on Criticism, Theory, and Writing by Black Women comments that Lorde's poetry is “basically a traditional kind of modernist free verse- laced with equivocation and allegory,” (Hull). Hull goes on to comment about Lorde's Our Dead Behind Us which was published in 1986 saying “Readers who by whatever means of experience, empathy, imagination or intelligence – are best capable to approximate Lorde's own positionality most appreciate her work.” (Hull). In a book review by “The Literary Times Supplement” Lorde's work is said to have described her as “a mature poet in full command of her craft,” (Phillips).

Lorde died on November 17, 1992 in Saint Croix (Trapasso). Before she died she participated in an African naming ceremony and was named Gambda Adisa, meaning Warrior: She Who Makes her Meaning Know (Reuman).

Bibliography of Audre Lorde

(in Alphabetical order)

A Burst of Light

Between Ourselves

Cables to Rage

Coal

From A Land Where Other People Live

I Am Your Sister: Black Women organizing Across Sexualities

Lesbian Party: An Anthology

Need: A Chorale For Black Women Voices

Our Dead Behind Us: Poems

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches

The Black Unicorn

The Cancer Journals

The First Cities

The New York Head Shop and Museum

The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance: Poems

Undersong: Chosen Poems Old and New

Uses of The Erotic: The Erotic ad Power

Women Poet- The East

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

Works Cited

Hull, Gloria. "Living on the Line: Audre Lorde and Our Dead Behind Us." Changing Our Own Words:

Essays on Criticism, Theory, and Writing by Black Women. Rutgers University Press, 1989.

150-72. Print.

Kulii, Beverly Threatt, Ann Reuman, and Ann Trapasso. "Audre Lorde's Life and Career." Modern American Poetry. University of Illinois, n.d. Web. 19 Nov 2011. <www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/lorde/life.htm>.

Lorde, Audre, and Joan Wylie Hall. Conversations With Audre Lorde. Jackson, MI: Univ Pr of

Mississippi, 2004. Print.

Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider, Essays And Speeches. Trumanburg, NY: Crossing Pr, 1984. Print.

Lorde, Audre. Zami, A New Spelling Of My Name. Trumanburg, NY: Crossing Pr, 1982. Print.

Phillips. "Book Review of "Our Dead Behind Us"." Times Literary Supplement. Apr 1988: n. page.

Web. 19 Nov. 2011.

Veaux, Alexis De. Warrior Poet, A Biography Of Audre Lorde. London: W. W. Norton & Company,

2006. Print.

Individual Poetry Study

The next few posts will be reflections and essays as I work through an individual poetry study on "Coal" the seventh book of poetry by the late African American feminist poet Audre Lorde. These following writings will be my observations, opinions and collections of information as it relates to my study. I hope you find it interesting.

Wasteland?

Have you ever had one of those nights when you know you have a paper due the next morning and your mind is nothing more then a blank, void wasteland? No, maybe I'm alone in that, but I doubt it.

You don't have to admit to waiting to the last minute to write your paper but I found a great source that is very helpful for writing tips and ideas.

I thought I'd be nice and share it with everyone, I promise this is not another attempt to procrastinate on that paper previously mentioned. (Well, maybe it is but this is a nice product of procrastination.)

The Norton Field Guide to Writing