[New-Poetry] For the WEPD experiment: Houseman's Poem

[John Jeffrey]

I don't necessarily think there's a "right" on this one.  You've got good points, and I can see your reasoning, and I'm fine with it.  But I can also see mine.  And there are things to point to in the poem that give each one the lie.

Many poems are like this.  Trying to point to the "real meaning" is sort of like pointing at a cloud and saying, "Look, that one looks like a dog."  To which someone else says, "No, no, that's a barcalounger."  And a passerby says, "What the hell are you two talking about?"

Being a non-drinker, can I get a Diet Coke, or will that embarrass the rest of you?

JohnJ


--- On Tue, 2/3/09, Bob Grumman <bobgrumman at nut-n-but.net> wrote:
From: Bob Grumman <bobgrumman at nut-n-but.net>
Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] For the WEPD experiment: Houseman's Poem
To: jjeffreymail at yahoo.com, "NewPoetry: Contemporary Poetry News &Views" <new-poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu>
Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2009, 10:44 AM




  

 
John Jeffrey wrote:

  
        Bob,
        I do agree that your reading is as reasonable as mine.  And
yes, the poem talks about cherry trees in bloom--but if you're
going to be that literal (not cherry trees, but cherry trees in bloom)
then I would think that you'd stumble with "About the woodlands I will
go / To see the cherry hung with snow."  He doesn't say, "looking
as if they are hung with snow."  He specifically says "hung with snow."
 So if you're following a literal reading, then you've got a bit of a
snow problem.  But if you're going to say that the snow is metaphoric,
or symbolic, or even just an image for blooms, then that would open the
door for a less-literal reading of the rest of the poem.
        



Then what's "look at things in bloom" a metaphor for?  Actually, I take
it as a synecdoche for spring.  It doesn't work, in my view, as any
kind of trope for "the beauty of cherry trees," though the "blooms
along the bough" could.



I did see your argument before you presented it, but the opposite is
true, too: if you take "snow" as literal, you have to take "look at
things in bloom" literally by your reasoning, too, and you can't. 
Sorry, I can't get past "look at things in bloom."  Trees with snow on
them aren't in bloom.  And I have given other reasons against the
interpretation that I'll repeat when (or if) I get to my evaluation,
which I've only just sketched, so far.


  
        And if the Mole is worth 20 of me, then he's...  let me
think...  20 times... carry the 4...  hmmm.    Ah, who cares.  Math is
stupit.
        JohnJ
        

'Cause you know I'm right!



--Bob

 




      
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