http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/james-schuyler
We made the point that Elizabeth's Bishops poems seek to map the mind as it works (indeed the map is one of her favorite tropes). James Schuyler takes this imulse to a more intense level in his discursive poems that seem to work as the mind works, shifting from one idea to the next.
But Schuyler's pomes are craftier than they look and the best ones are anything but loosely structured. The best way to find the underlying structure is to look for motifs and think about how they mean in the larger context of the poem.
Reading Dining Out Doung and Frank (page 692) and write about 500 words in which you find one motif that interests you. Tie it into your reading of the poem's theme. Cut and paste your response inot the comment column below. Limit to 4000 characters.
The biggest motif that jumps out at me is the strong tie-in to thresholds. While the river is primarily the setting, it also provides for an interesting look into the narrator’s life. He eats and relaxes and spends time with past lovers on the ferries and the river. The river and ferries are likely part of a joint metaphor for crossing a barrier. This crossing motif is also shown in discussing the Terminal Hotel. The narrator seems to view life as a process of breaking boundaries and extending yourself further and further. Possibilities for his personal barriers seem to be related to his sexuality. He also reflects on the distant, ultimate barrier, death. When he questions the length of the poem and the death it is wrought with, he poses a problem of connecting the two. Death is far off isn’t it? Why do we worry about that which is pages of stanzas away? Perhaps the narrator sees death as just one more challenge to conquer in life, and it will be no less disastrous than any one we have already faced; no less routine than riding a ferry across the river.
ReplyDeleteBryce Bailey
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteA particular motif interested me in this poem. Obviously, there is a motif regarding death. However, I noticed that there is a more specific death motif, a death with which one can do nothing about. An inescapable death. The poet seems to have a demented outlook towards death. One man he knew was mugged and died of an apparent head injury. His first lover died of Leukemia. He went so far as to laugh at two people that died who she hated. I do not think that the poet fears death else, he would not be writing about it so nonchalantly. Rather, he sees death as the next step and that we will all die our own ways. The ferries the poet brings up so often are transportation. They bridge the gap of life and death that every human one day must cross. Another motif that stood out to me is one of self-reflection. The poet contemplates “Mirrors: are the decorations on them cut or etched?” He then states “Beautiful lettering, but nothing to what lurks within.” By this thought the poet is asking if we choose our destiny, or is it already established.
ReplyDeleteJoseph Drought