Revised Poem Essay :)

The poems “A valediction” by John Donne and “Conjoined” by Judith Minty revolve around the different perspectives of love, and the nature of relationships. The authors employ the use of metaphors, similes, and symbolism to express their opposing viewpoints. Judith Minty believes marriage is an unnatural thing, and along with the extremely close bond comes a draining, hindering component. John Donne shows love to be a purely unbreakable bond compared to a celestial connection, the highest of all relationships.

Minty utilizes metaphors to show the twisted, awkward relationship of marriage and the struggle that comes along with it. She compares marriage to, “An accident, like the two-headed calf-rooted in one body, fighting to suck at its mother’s teats.” This line creates a vivid image in the reader’s mind. The idea of a two-headed calf is an accident, something that is not belonging to our world. The calf is also fighting to suck at its mother’s teats; this shows the pain and suffering the author believes a marriage to be. Also, like a true marriage, you are not supposed to get a divorce and separate from each other. Marriage is supposed to be a permanent relationship, one you cannot escape from; just as the two heads of the calves cannot be separated. In addition, Minty uses another effective simile saying marriage is, “like those other freaks, Chang and Eng, twins joined at the chest by skin and muscle, doomed to live, even make love, together for sixty years.” Marriage is conveyed to be a freak of nature, and the obvious pessimistic outlook shows the belief that marriage is just a setup for failure. What is worse is the idea that they must “even make love” together. Making love is supposed to be an intimate and emotional act between two people, the strongest display of affection. Minty includes this to show that marriage is not an intimate connection that is needed to grow closer to a person, but rather a hindrance and eventually a burden.

In addition, Minty uses the symbol of an unusual onion to convey her point about marriage. She writes, “The onion in my cupboard, a monster; actually two joined under one transparent skin: each half-round, then flat and deformed where it pressed and grew against the other.” Again, Minty has an opposing view to Donne, she sees love and relationships to be a “monster” and uncontrollable trouble that is not meant to be. It is a transparent skin because although on the outside they are combined as one by the title of marriage, where it is evident by through problems unhappy both sides are.


On the other hand, John Donne uses a metaphor to explain the incomprehensible beauty and power of love. He writes, “as virtuous men pass mildly away, and whisper to their souls to go, whilst some of their sad friends do say, the breath goes now, and some say, no.” Donne is actually comparing the connection of love to something that can never be forgotten. Although the person you love may not be with you physically, love in a relationship is so strong that it can endure through time in hearts and minds. The author clearly shows his belief that love is a strong bond that is meant to withstand the test of time. Also, Donne say, “So let us melt, and make no noise, no tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move, twere profanation of our joys to tell the laity of our love.” The couple is so close they become one and melt together. Although they are still separate physically they are no longer separate emotionally. He goes on to say that the love between the couple is so pure and perfect that it is above the religious influence of the laity. As the poem continues Donne goes on to the point of comparing love to a perfect, celestial relationship. He says, “Trepidation of the spheres, though greater far, is innocent. Dull sublunary lovers’ love cannot admit absence because it doth remove those things which elemented it”. He says love is so powerful that it is able to make the heavens tremble. The use of these metaphors express the view that love is not a dull, common thing; but instead, a special work of art that is longed for.

Finally, Donne uses similes to complete his views on relationships and love. In Donne’s poem he compares the two lovers to gold, “Our two souls therefore, which are one, though I must go, endure not yet a breach, but an expansion like gold to airy thinness beat.” Donne views a loving relationship as pure gold that is flexible and malleable. When gold is pulled apart it does not break right away but instead becomes thinner and thinner.

Both authors utilize figurative language to express their different views on relationships and love. Donne believes marriage to be a special connection, a spiritual-like bond between two people that everyone longs for. To the contrary, Minty sees marriage to be a painful process, inescapable and unnatural.

poems..

The poems “A valediction” by John Donne and “Conjoined” by Judith Minty revolve around the different perspectives of love, and the nature of relationships. The authors employ the use of metaphors, similes, and symbolism to express their opposing viewpoints. Judith Minty believes marriage is an unnatural thing, and along with the extremely close bond comes a draining, hindering component. John Donne shows love to be a purely unbreakable bond compared to a celestial connection, the highest of all relationships.

Minty utilizes metaphors to show the twisted, awkward relationship of marriage and the struggle that comes along with it. She compares marriage to, “An accident, like the two-headed calf-rooted in one body, fighting to suck at its mother’s teats.” This line creates a vivid image in the reader’s mind. The idea of a two-headed calf is an accident, something that is not belonging to our world. The calf is also fighting to suck at its mother’s teats; this shows the pain and suffering the author believes a marriage to be. Also, like a true marriage, you are not supposed to get a divorce and separate from each other. Marriage is supposed to be a permanent relationship, one you cannot escape from; just as the two heads of the calves cannot be separated. In addition, Minty uses another effective simile saying marriage is, “like those other freaks, Chang and Eng, twins joined at the chest by skin and muscle, doomed to live, even make love, together for sixty years.” Marriage is conveyed to be a freak of nature, and the obvious pessimistic outlook shows the belief that marriage is just a setup for failure. What is worse is the idea that they must “even make love” together. Making love is supposed to be an intimate and emotional act between two people, the strongest display of affection. Minty includes this to show that marriage is not an intimate connection that is needed to grow closer to a person, but rather a hindrance and eventually a burden.

On the other hand, John Donne uses a metaphor to explain the incomprehensible beauty and power of love. He writes, “as virtuous men pass mildly away, and whisper to their souls to go, whilst some of their sad friends do say, the breath goes now, and some say, no.” Donne is actually comparing the connection of love to something that can never be forgotten. Although the person you love may not be with you physically, love in a relationship is so strong that it can endure through time in hearts and minds. The author clearly shows his belief that love is a strong bond that is meant to withstand the test of time. Also, Donne say, “So let us melt, and make no noise, no tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move, twere profanation of our joys to tell the laity of our love.” The couple is so close they become one and melt together. Although they are still separate physically they are no longer separate emotionally. He goes on to say that the love between the couple is so pure and perfect that it is above the religious influence of the laity. As the poem continues Donne goes on to the point of comparing love to a perfect, celestial relationship. He says, “Trepidation of the spheres, though greater far, is innocent. Dull sublunary lovers’ love cannot admit absence because it doth remove those things which elemented it”. He says love is so powerful that it is able to make the heavens tremble. The use of these metaphors express the view that love is not a dull, common thing; but instead, a special work of art that is longed for.


Finally, the use symbolism or similes to complete their view on relationships and love. In Donne’s poem he uses a simile to compare the lovers to gold, “Our two souls therefore, which are one, though I must go, endure not yet a breach, but an expansion like gold to airy thinness beat.” Donne views a loving relationship as pure gold that is flexible and malleable. When gold is pulled apart it does not break right away but instead becomes thinner and thinner. Minty uses the symbol of an unusual onion to convey her point about marriage. She writes, “The onion in my cupboard, a monster; actually two joined under one transparent skin: each half-round, then flat and deformed where it pressed and grew against the other.” Again, Minty has an opposing view to Donne, she sees love and relationships to be a “monster” and uncontrollable trouble that is not meant to be. It is a transparent skin because although on the outside they are combined as one by the title of marriage, where it is evident by through problems unhappy both sides are.

Both authors utilize figurative language to express their different views on relationships and love. Donne believes marriage to be a special connection, a spiritual-like bond between two people that everyone longs for. To the contrary, Minty sees marriage to be a painful process, inescapable and unnatural.

Here Itis

Neilson’s article, Personal Trauma As Historical Amnesia in The Things They Carried provides an interesting criticism of the novel by specifically examining the death of Kiowa. Neilson explains how The Things They Carried is postmodern and because of that its contents should not be taken as a reality, or an actually feeling of what could have taken place. He closes by saying, "O'Brien's imagination is virtually the only reality. O'Brien does not contextualize his experience, does not provide us with any deeper understanding of the causes and consequences of this war, and does not see beyond his individual experience to document the vastly greater suffering of the Vietnamese. In so doing, O'Brien has constructed a text that, despite its radical aesthetic, largely reaffirms the prevailing ethnocentric conception of the war." Although this interpretation could be taken from O’Brien’s work I think that in a way this is the effect he was going for. In an interview with Martin Narparsteck in Contemporary Literature, O'Brien explains: “Literature should be looked at not for its literal truth but for its emotional qualities. What matters in literature, I think, are the pretty simple things--whether it moves me or not. Whether it feels true. The actual literal truth should be superfluous." What made The Things They Carried so remarkable is in fact the feeling O’Brien gives. Being able to somewhat feel the experiences of the war goes way beyond just O’Brien’s imagination. By demonstrating the extent to which stories and experience are all just a stretch of the imagination, O'Brien actually finds the most significant and important meaning of his time in Vietnam.

Goodnight

Okay so I am finally almost caught up on the reading and have thoroughly enjoyed The Things They Carried so far. This is by far my favorite novel we have read this year, or actually short stories. Many themes have come to my attention as I have been reading. One of the most obvious themes is O’Briens blending of the real and unreal, the tangible and the imaginative. This is most evident in the chapter How to Tell a True War Story. Constantly in the chapter O’Brien contradicts himself in an effort to convey the reason why soldiers need to tell their stories. O’Brien says, “And then afterward, when you go to tell about it, there is always that surreal seemingness, which makes the story seem untrue, but which in fact represents the hard and exact truth as it seemed”. “In other cases you can’t even tell a true war story. Sometimes it’s just beyond telling”. O'Brien's point in this story is that the real connection is between war and love. Something you would not exactly hear in your average war story. This theme is also evident in an earlier story. Lt. Cross believes that because he loves Martha, he does not fulfill his duty toward his men. He literally thinks that because he chose love over war, Ted Lavender is dead. O'Brien believes, however, that love comes with the territory of war. As we are reading the stories its hard to remember the work is a collection of fiction. I struggle as I want to believe the stories are true.. I feel for the soldiers and the pain of war and suffering. This is exactly what O’Brien wants to accomplish in writing these stories. He wants others to understand what its like to go through a war. And that’s what telling a True War Story is all about.

So tired..

Okay so I’m going do my best to sum up Postmodernism and tell you what I believe it means. Postmodernism is a complicated term, or set of ideas, and is difficult to define because there is not one perfect “truth” answer. Postmodernism is really an interesting concept and It's hard to locate it temporally or historically, because it's not clear exactly when postmodernism began. Postmodernism is based on objectivity, as small narratives are brought together to form a sort of ultimate truth. Hartman describes postmodernism as, “It rejects the modernist ideals of rationality, virility, artistic genius, and individualism, in favor of being anti-capitalist, contemptuous of traditional morality, and committed to radical egalitarianism. The most recent feature of Postmodernism is the rise of Political Correctness and the attempt to purge dissenting opinion from the ranks of the academic/artistic/professional brahmin caste, together with a systematic attack on excellence in all fields. Now that’s a mouthful but I believe it sums it up perfectly. Postmodernists are inclined to see the world as a kind of collection of cultures postmodern people embrace the differences between cultures, and see such variety as a unique thing of beauty. The postmodernist way of thinking is not easily accepted or easy to understand. Of course as humans we would like to believe there is a life a purpose, and ultimate truth we can conquer and achieve.. Something that makes our life more meaningful. The thing is that this truth is not the same for everyone. Depending on a person’s discourse, from their experiences and environment, their idea on what the ultimate truth will vary.
It was interesting to see postmodernism views throughout the books we have read this year. It made understanding the difficult concept of postmodernism that much easier.