For Thursday (11/19):
Read 10 Poems from The Spirit Level including “Mint” (p.9) and “A Sofa in the Forties” (p. 10). Make sure you look up and note any vocabulary words or allusions that are unfamiliar.
Make a QUICK post telling me a top 5 hits of others you decide to read. Thanks!
Here’s a link to geocaching:
http://www.geocaching.com/
Advertisement
November 20, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Anahorish:
“place of clear water”/”first hill”= simplicity, purity, innocence safety, first hill= first challenge
“soft gradient of consonant, vowel-meadow”= comforting, vivid image, consonant/vowel contrast
all very smooth, very pure, intimacy , community oriented, homey
“pails and barrows”, “mound-dwellers” mundane
playing with sounds…light, ice. Vowel, meadows. Wells, dunghills.
education vs. agriculture?
The Rain Stick:
Again, certain innocence…elementary school, rainstick
Really cool language: “cactus stalk, sluice-rush, spillage, backwash, diminuendo, trickling, glitter-drizzle, fall of grit, ear of a raindrop.” Very peaceful, tranquil, carefree…”who cares if…” perhaps similar to an elementary school experience.
-Music references…diminuendo, scales, pipe, music
November 20, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Curtis, Gordie, and Kenny
Anahorish
We found it interesting that Heaney would devote to his elementary school, he obviously had attachment to it and misses it as well. It is also interesting that “place of clear water” is in quotes because that means its not his own. We also think that “first hill in world” is a metaphor because elementary school is the first “hill” or challenge that one faces. The enjambment from the first and second stanzas are characterized by the pleasant language, probably meaning that he looks upon his time at Anahorish favorably. At the end of the second stanza with “consonant, vollow-meadow”, this refers to his learning at Anahorish. It shows a weird compariosn between nature and school; he is using landscapes to describe his experience. The third stanza shows Heaney walking home from school in the winter. The mound dwellers are some kind of worker, it is a little bit unclear. There is a signifiant contrast between him as a schoolboy and them as the working class. Overall, there is a volta between the two stanzas. He transitions from talking about his school to talking about walking and working. It also occurs in the middle of a sentence, creating a small sense of chaos in the wording.
The Rain Stick
The “music that you would never listen for” refers to the fact that the rain stick is made of “cactus stalk”, because one would not really think of making noise with a cactus. The “downpur, sluice-rush, spillage…” are all rain words and they use onomatopoeia and alliteration to create the illusion within the words themselves. The rest of the second stanza and start of third stanza describe a person just listening to the rain stick making noise, entranced by its musical sounds. The poem continues with more rain images and expands it to more of a symbol that refers to nature. The second to last stanza refers to the endless enjoyment of the rainstick – he always enjoys hearing its sounds and music. Finally, the poem ends with him questioning how it makes its wonderful sound. There is a contrast between “dry” and “wet”.
November 20, 2009 at 11:01 AM
“Anahorish”
• About Seamus Heaney’s elementary school
• The “first hill in the world” is the first obstacle Heaney had to overcome
• The rest of the first stanza is just a description of the school
• The mound-dwellers were ancient druid people that lived in the hills.
• “pails and barrows” could relate to kids playing
• “consonant, vowel-meadow”
“The Rain Stick”
• second stanza, images of stuff flowing, “spillage”, “backwash”, “flowing”
• “upend the rain stick” and what happens next is just a description
• personification of drizzle “almost-breaths”
November 20, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Anahorish
Childhood vs. Adulthood
Enlightenment and Education vs. Farmer lifetyle
Innocence – “clear water” – pure
What he did in elementary school. A FIRST TIME
Inside of school
Darkened cobbles – opposite of clear water – darkness (Maybe where the parents are)
Outside of school
Back to inside- soft gradient of consonant, vowel-meadow
Yards on winter evenings – agricultural
Pails and barrows – working on the farm
Mound dwellers stanza: people working on the farm. First two stanzas about the school, enlighten. Last two stanzas are about the farm. Different aspects of his life.
The Rain Stick
Describes the sounds as the grits/seeds fall down through the cactus shell bouncing off little sticks inside.
“a music the you never would have known/to listen for”—taking things for granted
the seeds/grits fall down is like the downpour sound on a tin roof
diminuendo—as the seeds stop falling to slow down and finally stop
describes the sounds of real rain outside—the gutter, fresh leaves, grass/daisies
the stick is turned upside down again—starts all over again, never gets old even though it’s happened thousands of times before (like actual rain.)
doesn’t matter that it is only seeds falling inside a cactus
“rich man” because “you” actually appreciate the music that you wouldn’t have thought to listen for.
November 20, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Dorothy, Laura, Scott
November 20, 2009
Poetry
Ms. Coon
Anahorish:
Contrasts
-Water/Hills
Landscape is up and down
-Swooping
-Undulating
Why is “place of clear water” in quotes?
-School mission
What does Anahorish mean?
Last three stanzas mention something with currents
First is just natural
Rad Smith like -> naturey
Mound dwellers?
More town like
Less nature
Dunghills -> as dirty as it gets
Narrower and narrower view
More obscure, less pure
“Anahorish” is Gaelic for “place of clear water”
Rain Stick:
Opposites
-Cactus/downpours
Finding the good in being upending
Lots of “S” sounds
Who is the “you”?
Instructions on using rain stick?
Goes away from rain stick to nature
-Then middle two stanzas are nature
-Then goes back to rain stick
He feels blessed to have this rain stick
-“rich man entereing heaven”
November 20, 2009 at 12:13 AM
“St. Kevin and the Blackbird” (p.24)
“An Architect” pg 69
“Postscript” (p. 82)
“The Walk” (p. 74)
“The Gravel Walks” (p. 48)
November 19, 2009 at 11:10 AM
“Whitby-sur-Moyola” pg 50
“Remembered Columns” pg 54
“M.” pg 68
“An Architect” pg 69
“The Butter-Print” 53
November 19, 2009 at 9:32 AM
The poplar (61)
M. (68)
The Thimble (51)
Cassandra (36)
Two Lorries (17)
November 19, 2009 at 7:22 AM
1. The First Words (47)
2. The Lorries (17)
3. A Brigid’s Girdle (8)
4. The Flight Path (26)
5. A call (64)
November 19, 2009 at 12:05 AM
My top five in no particular order:
“The Swing” p.58
“The Butter-Print” p. 53
“Two Stick Drawings” p. 62
“A Call” p. 64
“M.” p. 68
I enjoyed Heaney’s perception of childhood and relationships. In reality, there is a particular order to my top five: “The Swing,” as of now, is my number one. Besides this there is no rank to my other favorites.
November 18, 2009 at 10:30 PM
Top five:
1. “Cassandra” (p. 36)
2. “The Poplar” (p. 61)
3. “His Dawn Vision” (p. 40)
4. “The First Words” (p. 47)
5. “The Butter Print” (p. 53)
November 18, 2009 at 10:28 PM
“An Architect” (69)
“St. Kevin and the Blackbird” (24)
“The Butter-print” (53)
“Remembered Columns” (54)
“Whitby-sur-Moyola” (50)
November 18, 2009 at 10:12 PM
My Top 5:
“The Rain Stick” (p.3)
“Remembered Columns” (p.54)
“Postscript” (p.82)
“Weighing In” (p.21)
“The Gravel Walks” (p.48)
November 18, 2009 at 9:46 PM
My top five poems were:
“The Errand” – pg. 65
“Remembered Columns” – pg. 54
“Postscript” – pg. 82
“The First Words” – pg. 47
“Whitby-sur-Moyola” – pg. 50
November 18, 2009 at 9:32 PM
My top 5:
“A call” (64)
“An architect” (69)
“Tollund” (80)
“The swing” (58)
“Weighing in” (21)
November 18, 2009 at 9:13 PM
My Top 5:
“The Butter-Print” (53)
“St. Kevin and the Blackbird” (24)
“M.” (68)
“To a Dutch Potter in Ireland” (4)
“The Poplar” (61)
If I had to pick a favorite it would be “St. Kevin and the Blackbird.” I liked the the story-telling aspect of it and its informal language.
November 18, 2009 at 8:54 PM
“A Call” (p.64)
“Two Stick Drawings” (p.62)
“The Gravel Walks” (p.48)
“St. Kevin and the Blackbird” (p.24)
“Weighing In” (p.21)
“Weighing In” was my favorite poem. “The scales ride steady and the angels’ strain/Prolongs itself at an unearthly pitch”. Very cool imagery.
November 18, 2009 at 8:20 PM
The five poems that I found especially interesting were:
“The Rain Stick” (p. 3)
“The First Words” (p. 47)
“The Gravel Walks” (p. 48)
“The Walk” (p. 74)
“Postscript” (p. 82)
November 18, 2009 at 8:03 PM
My top five were:
“Postscript” (p. 82)
“A Dog was crying Tonight in Wicklow Also” (p. 66)
“The Butter-Print” (p. 53)
“Remembered Columns” (p. 54)
“The Gravel Walks” (p. 48)
I especially liked the sudden, unexpected change in moods and image in “Postscript.”