My Alexandria is the first book of poetry we have read in class. It's time to move beyond the individual poem to start looking at how a poet assembles a collection. I have randomly assigned each of you a poem from My Alexandria, which you'll examine keeping in mind its larger context (because there are more students than poems, a few of you will double up).
Please answer the following in your response:
1)How does the poem fit into My Alexandria as a whole? Think about common themes and imagery, and be as specific as possible. For example, does the poem feature a word, phrase, or image shared by another poem in the book? If so, why does Doty use it? In addition, given there are three sections to the book, reflect on the poem's placement. (ie, Why is "Lament-Heaven" the closing poem?)
2)After you have answered question #1, think about the poem in terms of the Cavafy we read. How is the Doty poem influenced by Cavafy? Which Cavafy poem does it most remind you of, and why?
Andrew, Mike L: "Demolition"
Aaron: "Heaven"
Demarcus: "Days of 1981"
Ashley: "Human Figures"
April: "Almost Blue"
Chris: "Esta Noche"
Tina: "Broadway"
Jen, Lindsey: "Chanteuse"
Liz, Scott: "Fog"
Logan: "The Ware Collection of Glass Flowers and Fruit, Harvard Museum"
Sarah, Mo: "The Wings"
Jillian: "Difference"
Jeff: "The Advent Calendars"
Andrea: "To Bessie Drennan"
Steven: "No"
Alexa: "Brilliance"
Jenna: "Bill's Story"
Nicole: "Night Ferry"
Charlie: "Becoming a Meadow"
Tenya: "With Animals"
Ellen, Pat: "Lament-Heaven"
Here are some resources you might find useful:
Mark Doty's website
His personal blog which he updates frequently
His Poets.org page
Alexa Fontana
ReplyDeleteBrilliance- Mark Doty
In Brilliance, A girl, Maggie, is taking care of a man who has been sick and who is dying. This fits with the other poems of My Alexandria because many of them deal with the death that is looming over. The man is squaring away his past, taking care of everything and making sure that each part of his life has a place to go after he is gone. She asks him if he would like a gold fish, because he had to get rid of his other pets and find them new homes after he got sick. He decides that a gold fish might be a nice thing to have. The gold fish could be a symbol of friendship before he dies.
I think that this poem is places where it is in the book because it deals with death, but he has not reached that point quite yet. He is at a transitional stage where he is not yet a death but knows that it is looming over him. The image that this poem gives off to me is a person who knows that their journey in life is almost over, but they do not want to be a burden after death so they are trying to take care of all of the things that they have started in life and trying to square them away so those that they love will not have to worry about it after they are gone. I thought that the words that Doty used to describe the features of the gold fish were really useful in painting a picture of an object that held the mans attention. He used very detailed deceptions to illustrate the tail of the gold fish and I thought that this could be a link to looking back on the mans life, because of its movement.
I think that Mark Doty uses Cavafy as a major influence in his poetry. They both similarly deal with the death of a loved one and they both talk about love in a way that I had no previously associated with other poetry. Doty’s poem reminded me of the Cavafy poem “The Old Man” because in Cavafy’s poem, an old man is sitting down, and realizes that he does not have as much time left in life as he expected he would. He thinks back to his past and realizes that he always told himself that there would always be tomorrow to accomplish the things in life that he wanted to get done. He is realizing, however, that one day he will wake up and there will not be tomorrow, that someday he will not have any days left.
I think that these 2 poems have a lot in common. Even though Doty’s poem does not specify that age of the man, I think that there are similarities between the men in both poems. They are both at stages in their life when they realize that time may be running out and that there are things that need to be dealt with and done before their time on earth is over.
“Human Figures” is a particularly interesting poem to me. It has a truthfulness that most of the time is not easily worded or adequately described. This poem in particular fit really beautifully into My Alexandria as a whole. The entire book feels like Mark Doty looking back on his life or realizations that he’s faced along the way. Things that though he may not have personally experienced he understands implicitly. It fits into the section so well it’s a bit amazing to me. The first time I read through the section I saw similarities in his work, but it wasn’t until I looked over it a second time that I really realized how connected they were. In the first section, the section in which “Human Figures” is in, there’s a feeling of looking back (like most of the book,) but it is kind of like looking back at a car crash. They are things you should not be looking at because they are too dreadful or too personal and yet, when some crushing thing happens we ALL put our faces to the windows and watch in anticipation anyways. “Human Figures” is something you shouldn’t be looking at because you know better, but inevitably there is no way to completely avert your eyes. There are many poems that “Human Figures” reminds me of. One in particular is “Demolition.” One line in “Demolition” actually struck me as the theme of this section, “We love disasters that have nothing to do with us…” This line reminded me of many lines in “Human Figures” as well, for example, on page 12 Doty writes, “I didn’t want to be like them, didn’t want to look…” and earlier, “I think he’s seen me watching and I try not to look as he keeps rolling faster…” In “Human Figures” there is mention of blood as well which I think is carried out through most of Doty’s work, especially the last section when most of his work seems to be tinged with a red glaze. It may have been his intention to tie the first section with the last section or with the rest of the book by adding blood to everything, but it may also have been the coincidence that his partner was dieing of AIDS, a blood-based virus, among other things, or possibly both. I am sure a skilled poet like Doty did it at least somewhat intentionally. In many ways do I think that Cavafy and Doty are similar in their writing. It seems like Doty was very influenced by Cavafy’s writing just by how many times he mentions the other poet alone. Also, they both seem to use blood a lot in their work and both of their poetry is looking back on their own lives with a reminiscence that is refreshing. I do not know if there is a specific poem of Cavafy’s that reminds me of “Human Figures,” but some come close. A lot of Cavafy’s poems have a car crash quality to them and many of them have things that are being hidden. In “Lovely White Flowers,” Cavafy tells a very personal story of two men who loved each other but where split a part by money problems. As the reader, you can tell it is not going to turn out well, but I know I was still surprised when we find out one of the men is dead without ever becoming happier for having chosen money. It was a cheap funeral with lovely white flowers. I think the two poems have a similar quality. Also I thought it was a bit like “Myris: Alexandria, A.D. 340” because the narrator goes to his friends home to say his last respects and to better understand his friend (or possibly compare how much better he knew his friend than these people,) but I almost feel like he also went to inspect this religion he didn’t really understand and see something that he may have no right to be a part of. He is looking in on this awkward and personal mourning only to be overcome with the idea that he may not have ever really known his friend. He flees, which is a bit like watching a car crash. Some people stare and stare hoping to see something only to be driven off by the very thing they were searching for. Myris was driven off by the reality of his friends faith, and car crash onlookers are often driven off by the repulsion of seeing mangled bodies. I also think “Human Figures” is a bit like “The Bandaged Shoulder” because in “The Bandaged Shoulder” the reader is the onlooker and I felt very awkward reading the poem. It was a moment too private, even in words meant for millions to look in upon. In “Human Figures” I believe the narrator feels similarly about the man making the paper dolls, though in the end his curiosity wins out.
ReplyDeleteI was asked to look at the last poem of the collection entitled “Lament-Heaven.” I think that this poem is a great last poem for the book, because I believe the overall message to be about living our lives to the fullest. Doty is so eager in displaying this throughout all of him poems in My Alexandria, because of the pervasive metaphors of doom, death, and AIDS. I truly believe that Mark Doty is trying to tell his readers to live their lives to the fullest, because they are the most treasured and real things that we have. I think that this poem ties into the rest of the novel by talking about death in a true sense now. The earlier poems that Doty displays are metaphors for death and dying, but now Doty is discussing death directly. This poem ties everything together in the book as a whole, and it has similar imagery and metaphors as in some of the early poems of the book. Most evident is Doty’s frequent reference to fog. He uses words like “hazed,” “spring fog,” “fog-haloed,” and “spirit.” I think that these phrases refer to God being all around us. He then goes on to talk about music and sound at the end, and this is another thing that surrounds us, much like God does. This connects to Doty’s poem “Fog”, which is displayed earlier in the book. In “Fog” Doty uses the fog to represent God being all around us. The spirit, which can be felt in fog and sound and everything else, shows the readers what is really around us in a mortal life. Also, a connection between “Fog” and “Lament-Heaven,” is the reoccurring Ouija’s board. This is a metaphor for the connection of the dead spirits to mortal life, because an Ouija Board’s purpose is to contact dead spirits. One thing about all of Doty’s poems is that they have a lot of pastoral imagery or nature. I think that this is because nature is living around us, and nature (especially plants) do not have to protect their lives, so they always live out their lives to the best of their abilities because that’s what they know how to do. “Lament-Heaven” was the best poem to end with because it fully summarizes what we all should be doing in our lives everyday. After I thought about it for a while, I decided to connect “Lament-Heaven” to one of Mark Jarman’s sonnets (which was authorized through email). In the third section of the poem Doty begins to discuss God’s presence directly being around people. No longer is it a fog or mist, but Doty primarily discusses it as sound. I am connecting this with Jarman’s Sonnet #11 because this deals with God’s presence around him as well, and Jarman ends his sonnet with him being dissatisfied by it. Doty says a similar thing in “Lament-Heaven,” especially when he talks about the canal workers. He does not know how such a job can promote the feeling of God all around oneself. Next Doty discusses sound being all around him, which is where he felt the presence of God. Like in Jarman’s sonnet, the character is filled with this “overwhelming joy” that God wrapped him up in, but in the end he was still unsatisfied. In Doty, the music gives him an overwhelming feeling of joy that God is all around him, but still this feeling was inconsolable by the power of God in his life. For Doty, death is still just a natural part of his life, and it does not matter if he is prepared for it or not, he is still going to live his life to the fullest because the sound is a human made thing, and not really from God.
ReplyDeleteThe poem “Days of 1981” fits My Alexandria as a whole by it’s description of the scenery and the way he describes the things he sees. Also by some of the things he does and talks about. When I say some of the things he does and talks about I mean when he is describing how he feels when they guy doesn’t return his calls. Also when I said the way he describes the description of scenery and the things he sees I was referring a part in the poem were Doty says “ to the blue black sky rinsed at the rim with the blazing city lights, then down to him: relentless, dazzling, anyone.” All of these things go in to My Alexandria as a whole because the whole book is full of description of what went on in the past and the things that happened in the past. Also great images scenery of what went on the past. So the poem “Days of 1981” fit because it is just another story about somethings that happened in the past and also a story with great description and scenery. There is one word in the poem “Days of 1981” that is used in another poem called “Almost Blue”. The word that is described in both poems is the word dazzling. The reason I think Doty uses this word dazzling is because it is a good word that paints a good picture in the readers mind. The reason I think the poem “Lament-Heaven” is the closing poem is because it talked about death,life,spirits and ghost. This just reminded me about how in the bible revelations is last book of the bible and it talks about the world coming to and end. It also talks about death and life and what’s going to happen to us. So in Doty poem “Lament-Heaven” it just reminded me of how revelations was the closing in the bible and how Doty was trying to close his poem’s.
ReplyDeleteDoty poems are influenced by Cavafy poems by, the are some what similar. The reason I say that is because in both books they both have two men always doing something together which leads me to believe that are gay. The other reason is because they both have really good imagery and description. These are the things that I think Doty poems are influenced by Cavafy. The Cavafy poem that reminds me of one of Doty poem is “ Two Young Men, 23 To 24 Years Old.” The reason it reminds me of one of Doty poem is because it talks about a man waiting for another man to come and when he gets there they talk. After they are done, instead of going to back home to there families they go to the house of debauchery and drink. Then at the end of the poem it says “they gave themselves to love.” This leads me to believe that they were gay just like in Doty poem “Days of 1981.”
Demolition is the starting poem of the book and I think Doty chose this poem to begin My Alexandria for a reason. In this book, Doty seems to create poems that give a shape to something that cannot be held or seen and what disappears or does not seem very important about the environment or objects. The little things, like the oldest home in New England that is being torn down in “Demolition”, are what makes Doty’s poems great and allow the reader to actually get this type of imagery that gives it a human feeling and consciousness to something that if put in regular context would not seem very important at all. “Demolition” I feel, takes the reader out of their own consciousness, and allows one to see something that is great and unique, such as this marvelous old building, and then suddenly slams the reader back to their original state of consciousness. Doty makes it known, in this poem that we love disasters that have absolutely nothing to do with us; like the fall of Oscar Wilde, a British poet who was imprisoned for his homosexuality, Robert Lowell, and war.
ReplyDeleteMy Alexandria is divided into three sections which at the same time describe a movement away from something and towards another even as they all circle around each other throughout the poem. Homosexuality, the AIDS epidemic, the poems about his encounters with his male lovers, and the destruction in which all of this causes all seem like evident themes throughout the book. The first section deals with various cities as the backdrop, along with their particular landmarks such as sculptors and monuments, or bars and train stations. The thing is though, is that these various backdrops and cities never become the focal point of the poem itself. The environment in which Doty’s poems take place are very dismal and full of darkness and I think he does this on purpose because he wants the reader to realize that the freedom of an individual’s rights and beliefs, and the connection that one has with others around him is constantly broken by the everyday struggles of just actually living.
I feel that Doty put this poem at the very beginning of the book because he wanted the reader to realize that for him, everything was constantly being destroy and demolished by the everyday struggles of living not only for a normal person, but also as a homosexual in a time where AIDS was making headline news and first being discovered. It seems, like the building that was being destroyed, was in some type like the lives of certain individuals. Possibly, Doty felt that homosexuality and AIDS were a disaster that many people in America not necessarily loved, but enjoyed hearing about on the news because it gave them something to talk about and focus their attention on even if it did not affect their own personal lives. Like Doty said, “We love disasters that have nothing to do with us.”
One phrase in “Demolition” that was shared by another poem in the book was “a wingless angel”. I thought that it was somewhat ironic that in “Demolition” he talks about an angel being wingless, and then he titles another poem later on in the book “Wings”. Although I am not too sure about this, I think Doty may have put this phrase in “Demolition” because when he first started writing My Alexandria he may have felt somewhat depressed and felt that there was no hope, whereas later on in the book he might have found some type of inner strength or something that changed his mind.
I think that “Demolition” was influenced Cavafy because both of these great poets lived homosexual lives in which they were constantly being looked down upon by society because of their love was different than many others. I feel the demolition that was going on was the demolition of these two poets’ souls by society. The poem which “Demolition” most reminded me of in terms of Cavafy was “Days of 1896”. The building which is being torn down in “Demolition” reminds me of the man in “Days of 1896”. The man in this poem was completely degraded by society and had lost his money, social standing, and reputation. Society had not treated this man well he struggled to make it because of this. For me, the building somewhat represents this man. A great building which was the oldest in New England was all of the sudden looked down upon by society and torn down because it was too old. It seems like nobody really ever took the time to realize how important of a structure the building was and like the man, the building slowly dwindled down to nothing and society completely pushed it aside.
It would seem that Mark Doty is entirely fearless in his production. His poems scream: LOUD, emotion, real, feel, never, always, and love. My Alexandria chronicles not only the struggle of Doty’s partner’s battle with HIV, but the epidemic on a universal scale.
ReplyDeleteNamely, “No” is another supplement to the memorial theme of My Alexandria. On a whole, the poem reflects largely on the idea of age—be it wisdom, piety, and inherent reverence. Having read through the piece a number of times I cannot help but imagine a university setting stocked full of impressionable youth, aspiring students, and venerable guests. I envision such an aged guest welcomed on campus with esteem from admiring students—students who wish to exploit the humbled man or woman’s words, and works. The “turtle” strikes me as a metaphor for the modesty of the said guest. Upon arrival the guest is made uncomfortable, as they find themselves in a league of their own. The guest appears to be broken, tired, and worn with age as the speaker describes the turtle with “plummy leather” skin the color of “ruined wallpaper.” The students are expectant, expectant of some preconceived notion that their guest will provide unknown insight, some valuable and applicable knowledge unbeknown to the eager students.
The guest, overwhelmed by the present atmosphere, prefers the security of their “shell.” To me, the shell illustrates a silence, or vagueness—the turtle is reluctant to open up to his audience. The speaker tells us that the turtle is in a “room” that no one present resides in except for him/her. The students seem to think they are entitled to the reverence that the “turtle” has earned.
In terms of the rest of the collection, “No” seems to be a further memory of Doty’s relived. In terms of theme, it relates to overarching subject of independence from others. The clandestine nature of the piece could relate to Doty’s struggle with sexual identity and the sense of remaining private therein. The turtle in “No” hides his identity, thoughts, and wisdom from his impatient audience lest he reveal his true self. As the poem draws to a close, the “turtle” is overcome with such emotion that he shuts himself off entirely with “his prayer” of “no.”
In consideration of the Cavafy collection, “No” most reminds me of “On the Stairs,” in which two persons “hid themselves” from one another; perhaps, for fear of revealing too much to the other. Just as the “turtle” seeks the security of his shell, so do the characters in “On the Stairs” head their separate directions at the end of the piece, lest they breach the barrier of unfamiliarity. Both poems are relevant to the reader as they exemplify the human proclivity to conceal personality and self-distinctiveness from those that one is not familiar with. Oftentimes we close ourselves off to new acquaintances that pose questions that we deem “too-personal,” or “too-presumptuous.”
Though one of Doty’s shortest poems in the collection, the magnitude of reality in “No” outweighs that of a number of his longer poems.
In My Alexandria, Mark Doty captures the beauty of the world by using his gift for imagery in order to describe the world around him. Doty does not try to embellish what he sees, but he simply uses his language to portray his fascination with the world as he sees it. In Doty’s poem, “Difference,” Doty describes a swarm of jellyfish using metaphorical language that is commonly encountered in the other poems in the book. Throughout the book, Doty uses allegorical language relating objects to flowers, hearts, and other symbols of love/beauty. These are common metaphors and symbols that appear throughout My Alexandria. One poem that has strong references to flowers is “Chanteuse” where Doty speaks of “light stained by the skin of flowers” and “the frothing pink evidence of tulips beheaded in the Garden.” As Doty was writing Alexandria, his lover was dying of HIV/AIDs, thus I feel as though Doty feels the love of his partner leaving him and is displaying his passion for his lover by invoking metaphors and symbols of love in nearly every poem of the book. While I have a hard time completely following what Doty is describing or suggesting through his poems, I feel as though in “Difference” he is stating that we often restrict what we see and do not know by interpreting it using knowledge that we already do know. Thus, we create metaphors for objects and images that may restrict us from seeing the true potential of the object or image.
ReplyDelete“Difference” is placed near the middle of the book, which I feel is appropriate since it is precisely what the title infers… different. While reading “Difference,” I felt as though Doty was trying to get people to take a step back and reflect on how we see the world. The poem parts from Doty’s usual description of the city and his time with his partner as he takes a moment to recognize the way that humans restrict their understanding of the world by describing their surroundings using preconceived knowledge.
The poem, “Difference” reminds me of Cavafy’s poem “Waiting for the Barbarians.” Though the relationship of these two poems may seem like a far stretch, I believe that they relate because they both share the overall theme of self-identification through establishing an “us” versus “them.” In Doty’s poem, he distinguishes the “us” from jellyfish and shows how we (humans) are superior to these creatures due to our ability to form connections between objects in the world and our capacity to reflect on our experiences. The poem makes “us” seem like a more desirable creature to be than “them” (the jellyfish). In Cavafy’s “Waiting for the Barbarians,” Cavafy distinguishes the “us” as being distinct from the “barbarians” who become the “them.” By establishing the differences between the narrator’s people and the barbarians, Cavafy unites the narrator’s people by creating a common enemy. The people would rather bond with their own people and believe themselves to be better people than the barbarians and create a self-identification through establishing the “us” versus the “them.” In both of the poems, we are left to reflect on who we really are… How are we different than the jellyfish? How are we different than the barbarians? For me, the poems lead me to reflect on my place in the world, as a human, as a creature that could reflect on the lives of other animals and the world around me, and as a creature who often found comfort conforming to an “us” in the midst of a world of “thems.”
“Chanteuse” begins talking about a painting of a city by Prendergast. In Doty’s description he notes the setting of the painting, the colors, the streets and houses and all the details the city brings out. He then introduces the black drag queen playing the piano. Doty describes that how she sings defines them and their city. The word chanteuse means a woman singer, especially one who plays in a nightclub or the like, and it is referring to the queen playing the piano.
ReplyDeleteI did not recall any particular word, phrase or image shared by another Doty poem, but “Esta Noche” is also about drag queens. I feel like both poems have a character, Lola in “Esta Noche” and the piano player in “Chanteuse” that have very different lives from most, but they fit into their city. I think Doty is trying to show a connection between the speaker of the poems and the drag queens. The speaker and characters are marked by differences of race and other things, but they have points in common with their environment. I think Doty brings up this topic in more than one poem because he himself is gay, and writing about it may help him come to terms with it. He also might be trying to shed some light on drag queens, writing about them as people that have things in common with others in the same environment. Later on in the book, Doty has a poem addressed to a painter, and he also writes about a painter in “Chanteuse.” “Chanteuse” is the last poem in section one, and the poem about Bessie Drennan, the other painter, is the last poem of section two. If he often writes about paintings, I think Doty may feel a connection between his writing and their paintings. He also might just have a great appreciation for the arts.
As stated before, “Chanteuse” is the last poem of the first section of Doty’s book. I think the first and last poems in each section have a purpose for being put there. This one is of the importance of Cavafy to Doty, and showing similar themes that relate to them as they were both gay.
This poem is very influenced by Cavafy. Doty actually brings up Cavafy in the poem and has lines of Cavafy’s in his. Like Cavafy, Doty is linking the power of the city to relationships and memories. Doty makes sure to point out Cavafy’s common theme of “memory’s erotics,” and he also recognizes Cavafy as writing with “ashen atmosphere.” I was not reminded of any poem in Cavafy though after reading. We were not assigned the poem in Cavafy that was written about in “Chanteuse,” but I read it and it is probably most similar to Doty’s poem. It is called “In the Evening,” and it tells of a man thinking of a past lover so he reads a letter from him. He is sad, so he looks outside at the city he loves to be reminded that life is still going on. Doty also writes of the drag queen as a memory and how the city remains unchanged, beautiful in all its details.
The poem I was given to examine is entitled “The Ware Collection of Glass Flowers and Fruit, Harvard Museum." One of the shorter, simpler works in My Alexandria, the poem shares many common themes and images with the other pieces in the collection.
ReplyDeleteThe central images of the poem, the glass flowers, immediately register as a familiar image. Indeed, Doty seems to be particularly fond of flowers, which are rather ubiquitous within the collection. The poem preceding mine, “Fog,” makes reference to a garden that contains a wide variety of flowers, including peonies, irises, and tulips. Some other examples are the magnolias in “Chanteuse,” the black tulips in “Esta Noche,” the delphiniums in “Days of 1981,” and the chrysanthemums in “Brilliance.”
I think Doty makes use of flower imagery for a number of reasons. In the simplest sense, their exotic names and vivid descriptions help make Doty’s poetry an enjoyable read. But beyond such simple explanation, I think the poet uses flowers because of the fragile beauty they embody so well. Even for something as perfect and pretty as a flower, impermanence and decay is always just around the corner. This fact ties in, of course, to Doty’s reflections on impermanence, mortality, AIDS infection, and his dying partner.
Of these themes, the poem I’m examining focuses mostly on impermanence, with Doty using both glass and flowers to represent the similar fragility of the human form. But, like most of the poet’s work, the piece ends on a strange but powerful note of hope, with Doty marveling at “how soft things are, how good, before they disappear.”
The poem appears about halfway through the collection, right after “Fog,” in which Doty discovers that his partner has tested positive for HIV. This placement, to me, is not simply an arbitrary thing. Rather, by following the news of the HIV test, “The Ware Collection of Glass Flowers and Fruit, Harvard Museum" represents Doty’s first attempt to find something in the world to help him make sense of and cope with the issues of his dying lover.
In all honesty, the poem I examined is one in which I feel Cavafry’s influence is not terribly obvious, at least in the way that it is in, say, “Days of 1981.” In a strictly individual context, the poem does not deal with homosexuality, relationships, or remembrance, but I must say that the imagery within the poem clearly reminded me of the Cavafry poem “For the Shop,” which also contains descriptions of ornate glass flowers. The two poems make use of the glass flower image, however, in very different ways. As was previously said, Doty focuses on the glass flowers as a way of reflecting on the impermanence of life, while Cavafry uses the image to make a point about the personal nature of art. Despite the very different purpose of the imagery, I would claim that “For the Shop” influenced Doty’s poem. Glass flowers are, after all, a specific enough image to side against the notion of coincidence.
“The Wings”
ReplyDeleteIn My Alexandria, Doty explores the common theme of mortality and the impending loss of his partner who died from AIDS. The theme of Aids and homosexuality is a strong theme throughout most the poems. The poems' expressions of grief are quiet, intimate, and angry, but also graceful."The Wings" is a long poem that moves from a simple scene of the auction where the treasures of the dead are sold, to a heart-wrenching scene where the speaker tenderly describes the ghosts that make up an AIDS quilt. Near the end, the poem takes on a prayerful tone and the speaker calls for "the encompassing wings of the one called unharmed" to surround his dying lover. Doty writes poems of extravagant detail and imagery while at the same time embracing emotionally raw subjects such as homosexuality, mortality and loss. His poems also explore art, beauty, and beauty's surface, as well as the flaw, the wound, and life’s limits.
Placing this poem in the center of the poem I think is very significant because this poem sort of reflects the stage he is at with dealing with the loss of his friend to AIDS. I think the start of the book is probably more about the suddenness of the death or right after the death occurred and having to deal with the beginning stage of suffering. The middle section would then be about him starting to come to terms with it and starting to understand it. Therefore, the last section of the book would be his resolution stage when he finally understands his loss and can move on better.
My Alexandria speaks directly to Cavafy (for example, in the poem "Days of 1981" which explicitly echoes Cavafy’s "Days of..." poems) and mirrors Cavafy's own concern with memory and simply stated style. Cavafy also explores homosexual themes as well throughout all his poems. One poem in particular that I found to have a similar theme to Mark Doty’s poem “The Wings” is the poem “Understanding” by Cavafy. In the poem Understanding Cavafy is reflecting on his youth and the innocence and how now that he is older he understands things better and realizes grandiosity of life and how complex the world really is. In the poem The Wings, Doty is reflecting on death and ultimately life itself. He is also beginning to comprehend the complexity of life and death and he thinks about the victims of AIDS. To me it seems like both Cavafy and Doty are trying to find comfort and understanding to help deal with everyday suffering. One way they develop comfort is by reflecting on the way things are in order to develop greater meaning for their lives and those they have lost in life. Another one of Cavafy’s poems that has a similar theme to The Wings by Doty is the poem Lovely White Flowers. Both these poems start off talking about a simple story but then intertwines the theme of death with rest of the poem almost as though they are reflecting on deaths involvement in the way we view life.
Well, I was assigned to read “Fog” for my poem. I have noticed after reading some of his other poems that he does use a lot of the same types of words and phrases, and usually the tone is the same for majority of them. Many of his poems seem to be a little depressing to me. In “Fog,” he starts by writing about a flower, and he describes how “a little blood-color will ruffle at the heart…,” and then begins talking about this garden, which seems to come up a lot throughout his other poems. He seems to write about things that he has been able to experience firsthand. The one thing that caught me off guard was when he was describing this Ouija board, which really made me think about why he would have this in the poem. He seems a little mysterious once he starts writing about these children talking to dead people on the phone. I have noticed that he uses very descriptive words, which sometimes makes it easier to read since I can picture it.
ReplyDeleteI think this poem just fits in with the rest of My Alexandria because they all have the same types of visuals and descriptive language. Many of these poems relate to God in some way, which I like how he has a religious side to him even after all the terrible things he has written about like AIDS. Just seems like they all have this dreary side, and in “Fog,” he talks about these three different tests, which after looking them up have to do with immunology and antibodies. I believe that this is talking about getting tested for HIV/AIDS, and after talking with Rebecca, I know understand that the fog is describing the state that he’s in right now: acceptance and denial. The Ouija board in the poem also hints towards this because it is how we can connect to the other side. The one that really got me was “Maybe the blood in the flower is a god’s,” because it seems as if he’s comparing the blood in the flower to possibly blood of God. Now, on the other hand, I can see it being referenced to the blood of our body, which deals with HIV, and the tests that are being used to test them for HIV. I feel as though Doty and Cavafy do write very similar to each other. They both incorporate a great amount of detail and description for each poem. They each seem to use a lot of nature in their poems, as in the “Fog,” when he describes the delphinium again. This just shows how much nature is a part of his life and feels it is necessary for us to really grasp this. The garden which is described in this poem is probably the only thing that he and his lover can both share together without having a care in the world. It is their own little get a way and nobody can take that away from them. After getting Rebecca’s opinion on this poem, it really made it a lot easier to understand and really grasp what was going on.
Heaven is a deep and essential poem thatgoes in and out of understanding to me. Their seems to be alot of backdraft to this poem in general. This poem is about two homeless people one a guy and one a girl. It opens talking about how ironic it was that a mirror had been on the cathedral steps, where i would assume the person had been sleeping the night before. The author thinks of it as a work of art meaning he feels maybe it was put there to show the beauty of the person when they had awoke that night. It goes on to talk about how they see the searchlights in the night. At the beginning of stanza four, I believe that it is portraying a rain and maybe some thunder in the mix which might symbolize that trouble lies ahead and that the person should move on. Then the author goes on to taalking about his friend, a woman, that said she saw heaven when she was laying with a stranger and his dog in the park. This is ironic in that people's version of heaven usually is having the unthinkable things or holding an unreal imagination. But the woman's version makes me think that she doesn't know what heaven is in the first place. This goes with My Alexandria because it makes me feel as though death is coming to this person or the person is in the midst of feeling as low as he can possibly feel. My Alexandria deals alot with trying to even out before you hit the death wall and i think that is very ironic in this poem maybe one day changed this person's life forever. Seeing the mirror might make him think he is still worth something to at least one person in the world. I also am presuming that the woman had some sort of the same life that the author had for him to sort of look up to her in that sense. I can also relate to that in that sometimes at look at people from my school kind of comparing myself to them and their fame and fortune. I consider myself greedy when I do that though so maybe he is feelng greedy inside or jealous in a sense that he can't move away and live in a better life or outcome. As i said their are a couple things that can come from this poem it does not have one meaning in my mind. As I said I personally can see myself in this poem as looking at people pass me by and thinking how many oppurtunities I have passed by in my mind.
ReplyDeleteDoty I feel was influenced by Cavafy in alot of his poems, but this one seems to run from Cavafy's intake. Cavafy's poems deal alot with death also of someone close to him. This poem seems to bring more to the light instead of the darkness lingering. I feel as though Doty and Cavafy would be considered total opposites if i tried to make this poem seem influenced by Cavafy. So I try to look at ths poem as different from his mindset in My Alexandria. Cavafy and Doty have same styles and same poet transitions.
Andrea Larkin
ReplyDeleteTo Bessie Drennan – Mark Doty
In To Bessie Drennan, Mark Doty writes about the work of Bessie Drennan. This whole poem is a reflection on a piece of artwork she painted. In the beginning I was not sure of the tone of the poem so I first thought that he was almost criticizing her by saying, “Bessie you’ve made space dizzy with your perfected technique for snow: white spatter and a dry brush feathering everything in the world.” This to me was almost insulting because most painted do not like to have their work thought of as spatter and making anything dizzy. After reading the poem, I realized that this poem is nothing but flattering because of how much detail he cares to write about in the poem.
This poem (To Bessie Drennan) is also the last one in the second section. When looking at the other two ending poems of the other two sections, something stood out to me. The last poem of the first section (Chanteuse) is mainly about hearing, or the woman’s voice. The last poem of the second section (To Bessie Drennan) is all about seeing or color and the last poem in the third section (Lament-Heaven) is all about feeling. Maybe it is a coincidence. However, it stood out to me. This is a good way to let everybody get involved in his poems because they can affect people differently.
I also feel that he placed this poem here because it is one that he wants people to reflect on it more than the others. Maybe to even take more of what the poem means than just understanding it to be about a painting. He could also have felt that this poem has a deeper meaning. This poem fits into My Alexandria as a whole because it is one large metaphor or description for the world. There are a lot of metaphors in My Alexandria. Also, many colors are used throughout each poem which allows the whole book to fit together. I feel that he wants his readers to think that even though what people think about certain situations or things might seem one way, but might be completely the opposite. He writes about certain aspects in her paining to be blurred. He also mentions many colors. For example, colors that are used include, white spatters, white and yellow houses, yellow dogs, birches are golden and red scarf.
Because of this color usage and attention to detail, this poem reminds me of Cavafy’s Morning Sea. This is mainly because I am a visual person. When I read Cavafy’s Morning Sea poem, I wrote down on it that it was colorful, and that is why it stood out. This is because he writes about “brilliant blue of the morning sea” and a yellow shore. This whole poem really created a visual image for me. The same thing happened when I read the Doty’s poem. Of course it is about a painting. However, I really was able to visualize the different aspects of the painting that Doty described.
I was required to read the poem “The Wings.” In this poem I was having some trouble finding the meaning or so called plot Doty is trying to create in writing this poem. However it was a very interesting poem. Doty’s strong word usage enabled the reader to identify what kind of imagine he is trying to create in certain stanzas throughout the poem. I feel that the poem is placed in the second section of this book because of it seems as if the poet is coming to terms with some issue and is trying to deal with it perhaps. The poem itself uses very strong detail and goes in depth when trying to get a message across to the reader.
ReplyDeleteAfter going over the notes in class and remembering the lecture, I realized that the motive of the poem is speaking of an AIDs quilt. I come to the conclusion that Doty has lost a lover or some type of companion to the unfortunate disease of AIDs and thus becomes part of the AIDs quilt. Nearing the end of the poem, I like how the poet uses the word Angel a lot. It seems as if the poet wants to incorporate some type of religious affiliation with the situation. A prayer of some sort is what comes to mind when I see the use of the word Angel. I also was interested in how the poem started off as a little boy who was at a auction with his family then goes into a story of a person dealing with the loss of another. It almost portrays the living of one’s life today. By this I mean that when we are young, we do not have much to worry about. We are more concerned about reading, drawing, playing with our material objects that which we have been given. But as live goes on, things start to change. Because of this we are put into situations that we have no say in what the outcome is going to be. As a result we are forced to deal with an unfortunate situation and thus only pray that things turn out ok or we pray for the loved one that we have lost.
After reading Cavafy and Doty, I see some similarities in both of their writings. They both highlight some of the common themes that can be found in poetry. For example, the loss of a loved one. It seems as if both of the poets are experiencing the loss of a close companion and they are describing the world that which they live in and how they are forced to cope with the situation. I like the poem titled “Understanding” by Cavafy. In this poem it seemed the poet was at a young stage in his life not really knowing what is going on around him. Just like younger individuals. But as time passes and the poet matures, he comes to realize that life isn’t as simple as it was when he was younger. He realizes there are many more complexities in life that require one’s attention. Therefore I feel both authors do a fine job in portraying the imagery and giving the detail when highlighting the theme that which they intend to be known.
In Fog we get a grim description of a situation where Mark Doty is dealing with AIDS, and in particular the testing. He is now reminded of the blood being drawn in everyday situations and sees blood everywhere. The common word or theme in this piece is the blood. This fits into the book as a whole because as in many of the other pieces Doty is writing about the past. He is capturing one period time in his life. But instead of describing one moment, he uses images from a span of time to focus on one person that was important in his journey, and often the journey is a struggle. One thing I noticed that came up in this poem and many other in this book is the use of flowers. He describes specific flowers and their colors often. I think the flowers are used as a symbol of life in a way. A flower is beautiful but delicate, and it must grow and open up to have life. This may be a way for Doty to describe his feelings on the life of someone battling AIDS. Fog is the first poem of the second section. The one thing that comes to mind immediately is that because it is first, it must have some importance as starting something new, or beginning a new period. After reading about the testing and the blood, I feel that maybe this poem is placed where it is to begin the period where his friend finds out he has AIDS and begins his struggle with the disease.
ReplyDeleteI can see a lot of similarities between Cavafy and Doty. It is clear that Doty was heavily influenced and moved by Cavafy’s writing. The one thing that stands out to me is the way in which both writers often focus on a person. This is someone who is of significant importance in the life. By giving details of a stretch of time and experiences they had with that person or that remind them of that person, we get a sense of the writers feelings, personality and the meaningful relationships they had. Often other poets focus on one moment in time and give every detail from that scene, but Doty and Cavafy seem to focus more on a period of time and give descriptions of images that have meaning pertinent to their feelins during that period of time. Another similarity I see is that each writer is very romantic in the way he writes about the people in his past. I often get a feeling of the love each writer has for the people they are focusing on. One poem that parallels this is the Cavafy’s The Bandaged Shoulder. In both poems the authors focus on the blood. With blood at its theme, they describe one specific person. They both love each of these people and they are very important to them. Although each reflection has a sense of love, they are both grim in a way. Because the focus is on blood we get a different feeling than if the poets were to describe the person’s looks or clothing or voice. With blood at the center it gives an uneasy feeling, but we still know that the author loves this person.
I like this poem in My Alexandria because it opens the book well. I think it gives you a great idea on how Mark Doty likes to use imagery to engage his reader. All of his poems give a very specific detail about something that is happening in the story he is telling through his poetry. In the poem Demolition which I read there were a lot of things going on to represent each individual idea about the falling of a building in a city. A few of my favorite lines that gave me good imagery in my head were “We love disasters that have nothing to do with us: the metal scoop seems shy, tentative, a Japanese monster tilting its yellow head and considering what to topple next.” This line brings up a lot of different thoughts, first would be the idea that people really do seem to be more interested in other peoples disasters, even on the news you see more about people misfortune than things that are going positive. The second thing that I like about this is that he uses a Monster to describe the destruction of the building and I think it's cool because I think everyone can sort of connect to a Godzilla or Cloverfield type monster. The other line that gives me a good idea of the type of poet Mark Doty will be in the book is “It’s strange how much more beautiful the sky is to us when it’s framed by these columned openings someone meant us to take for stone.” I also think this give the reader a great idea on how Doty will use visual things to open your eyes to things you may not think about in normal day life. When I read this I started thinking about some of my favorite places to go and how buildings or trees or even hills shape the sky that you are seeing.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know why he put my poem as the first poem however, in the first section of the book the poems are talk and describing different places such as this city in Demolition, heaven, Cambridge street, and number fifteen bus to name a few. He may have put this poem first because destroying buildings is not usually a good thing so he might be foreshadowing on some of the other poems about how not everything in your life will be good, and you will have to overcome obstacles.
I think Cavafy and Doty have a very similar writing style in the way that they use so much imagery. They also have poems that are about a lover that the poet has or someone that they have been attached to in some way. I think the poem The City has a connection in the way that in both poems there is really no hope, but you just have to take what life gives you and try your best to get make the best of it.
The Night Ferry fits into My Alexandria as if another life story or hidden message that has to be figured out. Doty seems to like the use of metaphors to try to figure out what he is exactly talking about. He wants you to think and then analyze the poems. At first, it was very frustrating to understand some of the meaning in My Alexandria. The Night Ferry is put into a some what gloomy atmosphere of curiosity as to what is happening. I do believe that my chosen poem in some way corresponded to Fog. The garden is compared to his blood, as I believe the person is on the brink of death, and in some type of cross way between worlds. Doty in Night Ferry is also comparing life between the water that the boat travels on to a parallel of life. Questioning of what life holds and how a person can be stuck between problems, which are the water that is being troubled due to the traveling on the boat. And the decision making of what is right which life is or what the ultimate is death. The crossway is the middle of the two islands.
ReplyDeleteI really do not see how Doty’s poems influenced Cavafy’s poems. I do see a resemblance between the poems and how they might relate to each other, but not fully. In most of Cavafy’s poems, it seems that sex is the main topic and reason. Though in the poem Since Nine O’ Clock has the same time notation where is says, “Half past twelve. How the time has gone by.” Doty mentions the word twelve twice in Night Ferry, “Twelve minutes, precisely, the night ferry hurries across the lake. Twelve dark minutes.” Though each mentions the word twelve they both have different meanings. Cavafy’s use of the word twelve is the brink of death, meaning that his time is coming to an end. He man started to do things at nine o’ clock, meaning his youth and acknowledging all the things that he has done including having sexual relations, which brought back more memories. Then as the time grew closer he realizes that he is becoming old and his body is not how it use to be. Doty’s use of the word twelve the first time is just used for time, no underlining meaning. That is the time when the ferry actually leaves from the dock. His second use of the word twelve has a different meaning because the word dark is added. When noticed dark is used as a fear, it makes think of black. Since the boat is leaving a fear of the next twelve minutes is in anticipating. A lot can happen within those minutes, in which relates to life that at any moment it can become dark and you will have to face it. And when it does become rough and dark just do the best that can be done and stick it out; life will just pass without knowing it.
Bill’s Story
ReplyDeleteIn Bill’s Story, Bill the narrator is telling a story about his sister Annie, who seems to have been diagnosed with Dementia. Something he says that they didn’t even have a name for back then in 1978. His sister had been in Africa for a while and when she came home he noticed things weren’t just right. She began to buy men’s and boy’s clothes in all sizes, and also filled her closet with things she never could wear or fit into. Things looked to be really bad when she began to buy out whole stores, and began to dress up Bill like they were little kids playing dress up. He even says, “It was like we could go back to playing together again, and get it right.” He then goes on to explain how she finally arrived in the hospital and began to deteriorate. His mother, whom felt she needed to help his sister all she could began to read a book called Deathing to her daily. She would tell her to look into the light, the white light. Basically his mother was trying to help her to die, guiding her in what to look for and expect. But it seemed like Annie wasn’t quite ready to die, since she did not listen to her mother’s instructions and continued to lie there in her bed. Eventually, Annie does die, which was what his mother seemed to be dreading the whole time.
I feel that this poem fits in with all the other poems of My Alexandria because they all seem to deal with some type of death, be it evident or just lingering. A lot of Doty’s poems center around the subject of death, whether it be something that is happening at the moment or is foreseen in the future, and he gives many interesting perspectives on death throughout his collection of poems. Annie was a woman who was diagnosed with a deteriorating disease and seemed to brace the idea of death so much so that she didn’t see the need to worry about it unlike her mother. The worry that her mother shows throughout the poem could symbolize the mother’s fear of death because she spends her time trying to tell her daughter what to look for when she is dying. Maybe this could mean that the mother might have had a terrifying near death experience and doesn’t want her daughter’s experience to be horrible.
I feel that this poem is placed perfectly in the book, right at the end where it belongs. Even though this book was hard for me to grasp I did understand the common theme of death that is presented throughout the book. I felt like the first section of the book danced around the subject of death in that it is not quite apparent yet but it is in the back of his mind. The second section of the book deals with death as well, but it seems that the actual act of dying has not reached him yet. Its almost like he is at a point were he knows death is coming, and that his path in life is almost over. In the third section I feel like Doty shows that he had finally accepted the fact that he is going to die, and he embraces it with open yet hesitant arms. For me, Bill’s Story symbolizes the way that mothers think about death for their child. Nobody wants his or her child to have a painful suffering death. In a sense I feel that mothers want their child to have a peaceful, painless, enjoyable experience. Hence why Annie’s mother, although it may have seemed unnecessary at the time, tried to help coax her daughter into a peaceful death, and make the experience as comfortable as possible. Nobody wants to lose a child, but if one has to, I believe one will do all they can to make them as comfortable as possible through the whole experience. I think that Cavafy has a huge influence in Mark Doty’s poems. Both men write about love, death, and struggles that they have had to overcome. They have spoken about death and love in ways that I have never heard before. Although I cannot pin point a specific poem of Cavafy’s that reminds me of Doty’s Bill’s Story, I do however understand the relationship and connection between both the men’s writing.
The poem "Chanteuse" by Mark Doty references the beautiful colors of a city's atmosphere, possibly Dover, New Jersey, with the implication of the Dover Station's pagoda. Dover, a city west of New York City, occupies a historic transit rail. Also, frequently mentioned is Prendergast's paintings of Public Garden, where Doty remarks on the brilliance of the city's colors, houses, streets, gardens, and further lush details. Prednergast (1858-1924) was a US post impressionist artist who worked with mediums such as oil and watercolor.
ReplyDeleteThe strong image, referencing the title "Chanteuse," of a night bar singer, is located at the Doty’s sparkling, Spanish inspired, image of a "beautiful black drag queen." This poem is similar to Doty's earlier poem in this first section, "Esta Noche," which is about a Latin drag club performer called Lola. Both poems mention the physical beauty in the performer's attire either sparklingly or with a black sheen, and represent the magnificence in each person (not enitirely their physical being, but the beauty within themselves). This poem's location is important to the arrangement of My Alexandria, because it coordinates with Doty's response about his sexuality.
The first section of My Alexandria, which includes both "Esta Noche" and "Chanteuse” unveils Doty’s homosexuality with some hesitation, yet distinct references to Cavafy. Later, his poems become more accurate with his sexuality, especially in the second section as the poems begin to understand the struggles with homosexuality (testing) and dying, along with the third section’s notion of the acceptance of death. By this third section, these poems recognize the struggle with death and the decaying process (not merely death, more of decay in living life day to day).
Doty casually mentions Cavafy a few times in his poetry by saying Cavafy’s only theme was "regret and desire," and the erotic memory of the past; which is frequently mentioned in the poems represented by the past with his lovers. Doty does reach further in context of his poetry, by occupying both the beauty of his sexuality in more than a lover. He finds the importance in life, death, and acceptance; the three sections of My Alexandria. Doty uses Cavafy's usual theme and extends on his idea of a city's atmosphere.
A poem, from Cavafy’s collection, that parallels well with "Chanteuse” is "The God Abandon's Atony." Cavafy’s poem reference the exquisite beauty of the city, Alexandria, similar to Doty’s tribute to his own city’s unique flavor. Like “Chanteuse,” Cavafy references the delight in the voice of the city. More than the visual beauty, both poets aim to correlate the beauties and struggles of the city with their personal lives. Finding the details of their own city, allows them to accept and respect the differences within their life, and sharing those instances of uncertainty. As referenced earlier, this first section deals with the subtle struggle of revealing the imperfections. In Cavafy’s poem, letting go of Alexandria demonstrates releasing the blinded veil of protection. Doty is more open with accepting his city of both its generally accepted details of the parks and gardens, as well as, a lesser accepted cross dressing bar, the Chanteuse.
The Advent Calendars is a poem in which Mark Doty uses an advent calendar as a metaphor for Gods presence in the world around us. He describes the advent calendar as a façade hiding “charms in concealment.” The idea of an advent calendar is to count down to the birth of Christ and Doty questions this idea because he challenges that God is everywhere. For each day of the advent calendar there is a little door with a piece of chocolate behind it and each door has a scene associated with it. The catch is that you must search for each day among all of the scenes on the calendar. Eventually, when you get to the twenty fifth, there is always a scene of the nativity, for Jesus’ birth.
ReplyDeleteThis is where Doty finds fault with the advent calendar. He speaks of going on a walk and wonders why God is not everywhere, even in the lack of detail. With an advent calendar you find God only in the window of the calendar, when in reality God is everywhere.
The Advent Calendars seems to be one of the more uplifting poems in My Alexandria. For the most part this collection of poems seems to have very dark overtones and a somber mood throughout. Yet the message that God is everywhere is a comforting message and seems to give a much more positive outlook than some of the other poems.
To me this poem shares some of the imagery from the poem Demolition. In both Doty uses the imagery of windows and uses the metaphor of a façade of buildings hiding a deeper meaning. In Demolition, Doty uses windows to frame and enhance the beauty of the sky, as well as a synecdoche for the rooms and businesses that once inhabited the old building. Although Doty uses windows in a different manner in The Advent Calendars they are still an important image to the poem. Doty also uses the word façade to describe both the old building and the advent calendar. He suggest in these two as well as other poems that his surroundings and objects he describes have an underlying meaning or something more than just face value. In Demolition the building is a façade for the history of the town whereas the advent calendar is a façade for Gods presence.
When looking back through the Cavafy poems I could not really find a poem that The Advent Calendars reminded me of. The style and tone of the poem is somewhat reminiscent of Cavafy, but I would not really say this poem was very heavily influenced by him as far as content. The Cavafy poems that we discussed primarily spoke of past events and dealt with his memories. The Advent Calendars doesn’t discuss any event or deal with a time in Dot’s life. Instead The Advent Calendars is about God and his presence in the world. This also differs from Cavafy in that most of the poems we read did not discuss God.
My Alexandria was a fantastic book to read and superbly crafted. Mark Doty broke up his book into three sections and each section featured different poems that all fell under the same realm of characteristics within the section. In the first section the first poem is destruction which sets the mindset that the rest of the poems in the section are going to be about humanity and destruction. The second section of the book is about the good in life. The third section of the book is more about understanding why and understanding the human condition in a way and that’s why I feel “Becoming a Meadow” was placed in this section of the book. “Becoming a Meadow” is a very dream like poem. The meadow consumes the person’s thoughts and actions. The authors and the book titles begin to represent aspects of the meadow. Even though the poem is in a very surreal tone the meaning strikes deeper than the appearance. The fact that the meadow represents a continuous and constant force is significant in a way that, the whole world is always swaying and always a mess, but the meadow even with its individualistic points it remains consistent. He states that “A meadow accepts itself as various,…” He further goes on to say that the meadow allows some of it to be blown away and I think this is a representation of the individualistic ideas of human society that he talks about in the first section of his book. He mentions the word “brilliance” in this poem and that word is the title of his second poem in the third section of the book. I also have noticed that Doty italicizes specific words and phrases throughout his different poems in the book. I feel that he does this because he wants the reader to pause and put him or herself in the position of the narrator or the main subject of the poem and really understand and put a climatic element on that section of the poem. The italics cause the words that he is using to have added significance in the poem and he chooses to use words and phrases at key parts throughout his poems to keep his readers interested and focused on the real meaning of his poem. Doty’s poems reminded me of Cavfy because of how both their poems reflections of their personal lives and the thoughts that their own lives caused their minds to have and further cause them to write it down in beautiful words. I also feel that just by the simple fact of how many times Doty mentions Cavfy is significance of the influence that has on Doty. Doty and Cavfy both write their poems with the understanding of philosophy and because of that their poems are imaginative and yet face problems with morality and common facets of society. One of Cavfy's poems that we read that I feel is comparable to this poem is “Lovely White Flowers” in this poem Cavfy talks about two men, who love each other, and yet are separated by money problems. I believe that the consistency of love but the swaying of the money problems is equated to “Becoming a Meadow” because the meadow is consistent, yet the grass is swaying. Meaning that even though everything in the world might be changing, there is always one thing that remains consistent, whether it is love or the meadow, life in times of uncertainty always has certainties.
ReplyDeleteWITH ANIMALS
ReplyDeleteWhile reading My Alexandria by Mark Doty, I noticed that all poems include some type of problem the poet has pointed out. The poem I read was With Animals, which had many comparisons to other poems within the book. With Animals was an intriguing and sad poem. I must say that in the beginning I was a little lost, but as I kept reading it I got the jest of what the Doty was trying to get across. There was something about this poem that caught my attention. Many of the poems in this book are about problems in ones life, but also ultimately about the issue of death and how it is different for everyone.
In the With Animals, we come to a point where we can imagine the imagery in the poem. The animals helping lead the woman through fog by sound to the dog\, and dragging itself on its back, constantly fighting for its life gave me a good mental picture of what was going on. The struggle made me sympathize for the dog. Even when the woman was trying to help it die, telling it, it was ok to go. The dog was fighting not matter what. It was not going to give into the maliciousness of its owner and turn over and die. One may think it wasn’t just the dog fighting for its life but something else was giving it the will to continue (God maybe), even though it was shot in the eye. There were four lines in the poem I really liked: “the life needed to continue, the life was larger than cruelty, the life denied the obliterating gesture.” This brings me to some comparisons from the book.
In the poem Bill’s Story the mother was trying to help the daughter die, saying, look into the white light. Annie the daughter was going to go on her terms not her mothers. So when the time came when she got a promise from her brother that he would always be able to reach her. Another comparison I saw was with the poem fog. In this poem There were other poems in this book that included the word Fog and I thought it have significance. When I was thinking about the poem words like: unseen, lost, hidden, and invisible came to mind. The inability to find your way or the possible of having to look twice as hard for what you are looking for is interesting. There are many lines in this poem where Doty uses the word fog. When reading this poem I saw the parallel to humans in this world.
I understood what Doty was trying to say. In life we always have obstacles to overcome and challenges that are hard to deal with. There may be people that may try to interfere with dreams or anything you may plan for yourself. Those individuals who, against all odds, no matter what has happen to them still fight to get what they want and survive this world. The decision of not given up is so inspirational to me. There is so much more to life other than malicious behavior. In comparison to Cavafy’s poems, there is the issue of some type of struggle and the ability to overcome the challenges. They both depict struggles faced in the past, which can be compared to life today. It has the issue of a choice to make. We all know death is inevitable, but those who fight for life, in my opinion are stronger mentally and spiritually.
WITH ANIMALS
ReplyDeleteWhile reading My Alexandria by Mark Doty, I noticed that all poems include some type of problem the poet has pointed out. The poem I read was With Animals, which had many comparisons to other poems within the book. With Animals was an intriguing and sad poem. I must say that in the beginning I was a little lost, but as I kept reading it I got the jest of what the Doty was trying to get across. There was something about this poem that caught my attention. Many of the poems in this book are about problems in ones life, but also ultimately about the issue of death and how it is different for everyone.
In the With Animals, we come to a point where we can imagine the imagery in the poem. The animals helping lead the woman through fog by sound to the dog\, and dragging itself on its back, constantly fighting for its life gave me a good mental picture of what was going on. The struggle made me sympathize for the dog. Even when the woman was trying to help it die, telling it, it was ok to go. The dog was fighting not matter what. It was not going to give into the maliciousness of its owner and turn over and die. One may think it wasn’t just the dog fighting for its life but something else was giving it the will to continue (God maybe), even though it was shot in the eye. There were four lines in the poem I really liked: “the life needed to continue, the life was larger than cruelty, the life denied the obliterating gesture.” This brings me to some comparisons from the book.
In the poem Bill’s Story the mother was trying to help the daughter die, saying, look into the white light. Annie the daughter was going to go on her terms not her mothers. So when the time came when she got a promise from her brother that he would always be able to reach her. Another comparison I saw was with the poem fog. In this poem There were other poems in this book that included the word Fog and I thought it have significance. When I was thinking about the poem words like: unseen, lost, hidden, and invisible came to mind. The inability to find your way or the possible of having to look twice as hard for what you are looking for is interesting. There are many lines in this poem where Doty uses the word fog. When reading this poem I saw the parallel to humans in this world.
I understood what Doty was trying to say. In life we always have obstacles to overcome and challenges that are hard to deal with. There may be people that may try to interfere with dreams or anything you may plan for yourself. Those individuals who, against all odds, no matter what has happen to them still fight to get what they want and survive this world. The decision of not given up is so inspirational to me. There is so much more to life other than malicious behavior. In comparison to Cavafy’s poems, there is the issue of some type of struggle and the ability to overcome the challenges. They both depict struggles faced in the past, which can be compared to life today. It has the issue of a choice to make. We all know death is inevitable, but those who fight for life, in my opinion are stronger mentally and spiritually.
"Almost Blue" -Mark Doty
ReplyDeleteI will admit, at first I was quite disappointed when I was randomly assigned Mark Doty's poem “Almost Blue.” I found many of Doty's poems from My Alexandria to be inspiring and marvelously written, however “Almost Blue” did not strike me like some of the others. In fact, I even wrote “dislike” at the end of the poem. However, upon examining the poem more deeply, the true beauty of “Almost Blue” started to show.
For starters, I had no idea who Chet Baker was; I probably should have looked him up the first time I read through “Almost Blue.” Chet Baker was an outstanding American jazz trumpeter and singer. Unfortunately, drugs consumed Baker's life in the 1960's and ultimately led to his tragic death in 1988. He fell from the window of his hotel in Amsterdam; heroine and cocaine were found in his system at the autopsy. Though some people speculate that Baker's death was an accident, others believe it was completely intentional.
In Doty's poem “Almost Blue,” it is apparent that Doty was one of the many people convinced that Baker's death was a suicide. Doty even compares Baker to Hart Crane, who was a famous poet who committed suicide as well.
My Alexandria is dominantly a hopeful collection of poems. Doty finds beauty in every day things, such as the building of “Demolition” and the snow shoes of “The Wings.” It's almost as if Doty uses these objects to find hope, or to heal the wounds of his past. He uses the physical world of objects (music, art, architecture, etc.) to decipher what is really meaningful in life. I admire the fact that he did not blatantly come out and describe the horrors of AIDs but rather uses these material objects as self-meditation. He found the delightfulness in the smallest objects or insignificant situations and turned them into almost sublime feelings.
On that note, “Almost Blue” seems more pessimistic than the other poems of My Alexandria. Instead of ending on insight, it simply ends with a death/release. Depending on which angle one looks at death, “Almost Blue” could be considered optimistic if one believes death is a marker of final peace, or it could be seen as tragic like Baker gave up all hope for life or anything thereafter. I believe that “Almost Blue” is placed in the first section of My Alexandria because it sets the lachrymose yet slightly hopeful tone for the rest of the book.
“My Funny Valentine” was Baker's most famous piece. Each time he played the song, he supposedly recreated it. The line “singing stay little valentine” is a lyric from Baker's song. The other italicized portion of “Almost Blue” are lyrics from a different Baker song titled “Every Time We Say Goodbye.” It is said that Baker was at his musical peak when he died in 1988.
Perhaps Doty was passively comparing Baker to himself. In “Almost Blue” it seems as though Baker was reflecting upon his past and using his music as a means of healing... “two weeks before the end, Chet, / and you're playing like anything, / singing stay little valentine / stay.” Doty channels his pain of memories through his poetry... “even the emblems of our own embarrassment / become acceptable to us, after a while.” In this sense, they are very similar.
Indeed “Almost Blue” has a different feel than many poems of My Alexandria, but it does include some of the same repeated words and ideas. For example, line 8 reads “to the city of you, sleep's hellgate.” Doty often refers to his city, as it gives him some kind of sense of belonging. The image of the city has a great influence in Doty's poem “Chanteuse.” Doty also repeatedly mentions colors in his poems like “Chanteuse,” more than not the color blue. Blue can symbolize calm and peace, which I believe is what “Almost Blue” tries to achieve. Lines 57 and 58 demonstrate this, “one note held almost impossibly / almost blue and the lyric takes so long.” By Doty saying the phrase “almost blue” he's alluding to the fact that Baker was almost at peace in death.
Doty often uses the imagery of an object “blooming” as well. In lines 59 and 60 of “Almost Blue” it reads “to open, a little blood / blooming...” To me, I believe this symbolizes some kind of rebirth or comfort, like what Baker found in death. The idea of “blooming” or the image of flowers is seen in Doty's “The Wings,” “Brilliance,” “Chanteuse,” and more.
“Almost Blue” reminds me of C.P. Cavafy's poem “Days of 1909, '10, and '11.” The boy mentioned in “Days of 1909, '10, and '11” resembles Chet Baker. Baker was a hard worker, who strained to perfect his music, much like the boy who worked and toiled for the blacksmith. The thought of longing or craving is present in both stories. Baker desires more out of life and masks it with his use of drugs, while the worker boy would do anything for what he wants... “or if he saw and coveted / a beautiful blue shirt in some store window, / he'd sell his body for a dollar or two.” Immediately upon reading that line I thought of a drug addicts intense need for a high, and the length they will go to get it. Since the boy was overworked and “soon used up” I related this to Baker who seemed to wear himself out with his endless drug use and musical perfection. Both of the males from “Almost Blue” and “Days of 1909, '10, and '11” had seen the hardships of life, like Doty himself. The love for a city is also an obvious reflection Doty recreates from Cavafy.
“Broadway”
ReplyDeleteBy Mark Doty
This poem deals with the stories of the speaker’s encounters with two strangers, framed by sensual details of the beauty of New York City. It is similar to the rest of Doty’s poems in that it focuses on individual people and their stories—and especially in the fact that it ties two stories together; finishing the first after the second one has been told. In doing this, Doty is able to show how two seemingly random occasions share similar themes of humanity. In the first story, the speaker reaches out and touches a homeless woman named Carlotta who begged for change. The second story quotes a poet randomly reading his insightful poem to complete strangers, and how it moved them. The poet, also moved, vowed to write another poem about the kindness of strangers and the mutual feelings of humanity. Both of the individuals in these occasions were moved by the intimacy of a stranger, forcing them to reconsider their positions in life. Mark Doty uses this method of combining two stories to convey his message in the poem “Human Figures” as well. This poem also touches on the lives of individuals which express the deeper hopes and fears of humanity. He chooses to write in this way because he is able to relate completely random and differing experiences, in order to express a larger sense of his message. In “Human Figures”, the message dealt with the fragility of life in that one story was about a homeless person bleeding—invading the speaker’s everyday life—while the other story described a man creating secret, paper people on a train. “Broadway” was chosen for the first section of My Alexandria because these poems all display themes of humanity and innocence. They all include detailed descriptions of a city which functions like an axis around which all these stories and individuals revolve. While the cities described in these poems may differ (as well as the individual people’s experiences), they share similar details and themes. Doty excels at describing the intricate details of people and cities and his use of quotations feels as entirely natural as in barely-conscious thoughts. The voices of each individual in “Broadway”, as described by Doty, are distinct and human. This gives Mark Doty credibility in his writing and helps to better drive his message home. Because Doty was influenced heavily by Cavafy’s poems, he makes several references to him in his own poetry. In the poem “Broadway”, however, no direct references were made to Cavafy’s poetry or themes. Both men were highly passionate about their homosexuality, which is reflected in their poetry—although Doty focuses more on history and Doty focuses more on a variety of themes. Perhaps Doty’s speaker was so moved by the poet Ezekiel because of his reflections on love, which Cavafy also shares. The two also share a sense that the city (which is, more often than not, the location of the poems) influences and is influenced by the individual stories that occur within it.