My Papa's Waltz

My Papa's Waltz is a poem by Theodore Roethke can be intureperated in many ways. Some people see it as abuse, the dad is an alcoholic, they argue that even though he was not in his right mind at the time he was still purposefully physicly harming his son. others argue that he was simply waltz that got a little rough.

For me it depends on how you choose to see it, how do you know why the mother was frowning, was it because of her dissaproval towards the fathers actions with the child. Did she think that his roughhousing ad gone to far? Or was it because she was mad that their wlzing had caused her pots and pans to fall.

There is plenty of evidence that points in either direction; you beat time on my head implies a beating harsher than tapping. We romped until the pans/slid from the kitchen shelf romping, as we know (thank you Charlie) means to have "lively play" there is no note of sadness they are in the boys words, playing!

By no means does he meantion pain, or acual assalt. But then again we are missing some crucial information. First of all how old was this kid, did he understand what was happening; and if it was abuse, is he old enough to tell that it was wrong?

Was this an often affair for the father? Is the boy describing something that happened once? or something that happened many times? For me when /I had first read this poem I had no idea what it was about. People around me kept speaking about what a sad poem it is; and all I could think of was, why?

The more I read it the more I saw, the subtle referances to the waltz, the beating. But as I examined it more, I saw that in fact it could be different. It could have been one night in many and the father truely tried to waltz, it might have been a drunk waltz, but not abuse.

The more I read it the less is clear. Poems always seem to be that way, you think you've figured them out, that you've got all of their secretes. And then you find out. You don't.

narrative poem

they thought I was French
when they took him away
I sat on that bench
he had been my finance

I cried when they took him
to the deep dark place
where he lost limbs
where he lost face

we all lose ourselves down there
were the sun don't shine
they don't care
and it ain't fine
and it ain't fine

I miss him sometimes
when sitting in the park
and I fear the days spent, dimes
nickels, quarters wasted trying to make my mark

I try to show the world
that I'm here for a reason
and that reason will unfurl
rolling out to greet the warmth of the season

and that is why I'm here
and that is why I'm gone
one day spent sitting on a bench
forever in a con

lost

helpless
is what you are
blinded by trees
and a winding path,
that becons

circles
turn you around
spinning so fast
in fear, for all of the
wrong reasons

swirrling features
blend together
in this forest of green
were the river runs slow and steady
and the birds never make a peep

unable to find your way
unable to just simply
turn around
anymore

there's no other way
but to follow the path
deeper
maybe 
one day
if you stop and wait
and listen
someone will come
to get you out

Oh Starry Starry Night

Oh starry starry night, is poem about the painting starry night by van Gogh, and it tells the story of van Gogh's painting through the eyes of a mentally depressed, suicidal woman. In my opinion I feel as though when she wrote this she was empathisising with van Gogh write then.

When van Gogh wrote this, he was in an asylum, and I think that the poet Anne Sexton, felt like she knew his pain; she felt like she knew what he was thinking when he saw those stars, and painted them carefully that night.

She does more then just describe the poem, she goes past that, at first describing what she sees in the poem, she goes past that and describes her reaction to the poem. And she does it with beautiful craft, until your not sure where the painting stops and her own thoughts begin.

"into that rushing beast of the night,   

sucked up by that great dragon, to split   

from my life with no flag,

no belly,

no cry."

 

This is my favorite part of the poem, it is the last stanza, and this is the stanza where her true voice shines through; in fact, if you saw this stanza on its own you probably wouldn't know that it was about Starry Night.

 

The line that confuses me the most is the second. "sucked up by that dragon, to split," and I know that "to split" is not the end of the sentance, but but what I don't understand the dragon. Sure she mention that the night is a beast so we must assume that she is referencing that point, but is it safe to assume that in the nexzt lines she is talking about death, dying alone, and dying painlessly.

As was her death.

Interperating Art

Keith haring is well known for his comic like characters he creates. For my home work, i chose to write about one of my favorite pieces by him.

Observations:
Puzzle like, falling down with confusion. You can't see any true end, it reminds me of find waldo.
Like many of his works this piece is colorless, and like ALL of his other art works it has no shading any where on it. (style choice)
All in the form of simple shapes, contained within a circle.
Confusion, its hard to see what is what in the picture. includes random shapes, that make it harder to see the true shape of the objects in the picture.
The "people " are running in a circle on the inside of the circle.



Inferences:
Mixed and jumbled beyond recognition, complexity mixed with simplicity. (the simplicity of the colors, and the objects on their own, vs. the way they mixed together)
Blends together in a way that sometimes you cannot tell one line from the next.
The people inside the picture seem to not be connected, it is like they are in their own little world that is different then the one of the person next to them.
The dotted lines appear to be roads of a sort.

Interperatation:
The outer circle in my opinion is earths outline, in other words I think that this picture represents the earth.
The people represent people from aoll over the world; their busy lives, and whats indide their crazy minds.
How they can be so close to one another and not know that the other one exists.
I think that the random lines in this picture, represents what s going on in their lives, and whats going on in their heads.
This picture is showing their fears, their likes, and their hates; all in the form of a flat two dimensional colorless picture.

http://oneartworld.com/artists/K/Keith+Haring.html?atab=works&image=60

Keith Haring