Audre Lorde's "Echoes"

Audre Lorde’s works were very interesting to me. In particular, the poem “Echoes” stood out to me. In this piece, Lorde uses the metaphor of an echo to compare his life or possible his soul to. The first stanza is very powerful in describing the type of echo Lorde feels a connection with. “There is a timbre of voice that comes from not being heard and knowing you are not being heard…” says to me that Lorde, or possible black society in general, in speaking out but not being accepted clearly and audible. There voices are bounding off the backs of alleys and around street corners instead of in the courtrooms or business halls. Instead, they are heard and remembered for their transgressions (lines 30-32) “being caught making love to a woman I do not know”. One of my favorite lines in in stanza 2, lines 17 & 18, “I am listening in that fine space between desire and always”. The truth and insight behind these words crosses all racial and prestigious boundaries. Every person on earth is searching for the smallest grain of truth between what they want and what they know is eternal. We all are wanting to find ourselves in entirety by seeing something real for the first time. Lorde was trying to say this out loud for the black community. Little did he know that it would one day, 14 years later, be speaking vivdly to all of us. Audre Lorde was highly educated and worked hard to make her place among New Yorks highest intellectuals. It was strange to me that she would write something that had flavors of suffering and being stiffled for so long. Was her voice ever heard clearly? Maybe she could not hear her own voice well enough? That would explain her struggles with her sexual identity.

Creative Influences

Dylan Thomas writes a powerful truth in his poem, “In My Craft or Sullen Art”. There is a rawness present as well as a sense of sincerity toward the art of poetry and its impact on our lives. This style and tone reminded me of the Romantice poets we studied earlier. Not because they are so similar im imagery or rhyme scheme, but rather their underlying meanings are connected. The Romantics were extremely moved by nature and faith. These are things they believed in and needed for inspiration. Then, when they wrote, they wrote from their souls. Dylan Thomas did that as well. “In My Craft” is a song of his soul. And just like the Romantics had nature for inspiration, Thomas has that secret place, that moment in the night when it is just him and and his pen. He wrote for the glory of what he say in front of him. Not for anyone’s approval or grace, but rather for those that were not looking for the art. He wrote from the strongest thing around him at the time, his heart…just like the Romantics did with nature. His craft and art is what he looked to in order to give back to nature. The way he is moved so much by poetry and creativity reminds me of “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer”, by John Keats. Both of these poems and their poets love poetry so much that the sight of another great poem excites them. They wrote to better the world of literature. Also, Robert Frost’s themes and references to nature reminded me of many poets from earlier studies…Coleridge, Byron, Yeats…all of which had a great respect for what inspired them everyday.

"Piano"-D.H. Lawrence

I chose to address the sounds and rhythms of D.H. Lawrence’s poem, "Piano". Right at the start, the title itself is a strong source of imagery for our senses. We know what a piano sounds like, what it looks like, and mostly what it feels like. I am a pianist and I understand what Lawrence is talking about here. The piano has the power to take you back to a special moment in your past. It can also propell you into the uture causeing you to dream about things you wish you had or are working for. A well-played piano can invoke the mind to engage in the musice or wander amelessly and pleasureably through a daydream. There are a few rhetorical devices in use. An occurance of consonance can be found in line 3, “tingling strings”, which expresses a sense of the sounds a piano makes. Not only to the strings inside the instrument vibreate or “tingle”, but the music is sometimes so beautiful that the listener begins to tingle as well. I appreciate that the lines are written in sentences. They are almost like phrases of music that can rap around in to the next measure. The lyrics of this poem do not stop at the end of the line, but rather with the punctuation given. As in music, vocal or instrumental, you breathe where the music tells to breathe, you pause or continue as the music fortells. Every beat is accounted for along the bars and staffs. I like the AABB rhyme scheme. It makes the piece easy to delve into. Some people find it difficult to read poems that should be read using the punctuation for breaks. But with a generally easy rhyme scheme, like Lawrence has used here, the rhyme is natural and flowing. Lastly, I think the poems rhythm is important to its tone. Like I said, the lines read like a song…a song of rememberence. The speaker is looking back onto an easier time, a fonder moment than wherever he is now. Since the rhythm is melodic, it brings a sense of longing and desire.

Inspired by Byron and Keats

The Romantic poets left a mark on literary history that is extraordinary and frightening all at once. Its extravagence is obvious; their works are amazing. Yet, as a poet myself, I fear their greatness. They wrote with such depth and precision. But anyone who reads those delicately strong words from the Romantic era is able to grasp with ease the joy, sorrow, pain, or intelligence that was initially intended by the author. How can something to intricate and powerful be received with such grace? The words seem to dance off the pages of my anthology…not scream. And still, within the choreography of rhythm and style, these poems reveal a place shaded by glory in our very souls.
I believe that is what poetry does. It allows us to reach a place that is otherwise unreachable. Through the eyes of a poem and the voice its author, we are brought to a new understanding of life. Rarely do I find a poem that catches my attention so much that I have to read it again and again. Fortunately, I have recently been so lucky. Lord Byron wrote a beautiful piece entitled, She Walks in Beauty. I had actually read this poem prior to taking this course, but it had never grabbed me quite like this before. Reading it alongside Byron’s other works and that of the other Romantics made it stand out. I think of a glowing angel when I read this poem. I recently acquired some information from my creative writing teacher about this poem. Strangely enough, She Walks in Beauty was apparenty written about Byron’s cousin. Even though I do not believe anyone would read this to their cousin at a family reuinion or picnic, it still has a lovely purpose and spirit. I believe it symbolizes true friendship and care for another person, be it a family member, lover, friend, or role model. It is also very different in tone than many of Byron’s other works. For instance, When We Two Parted, is sad and uses phrases like, “silence and tears”, “half broken-hearted”, and “chill on my brow”. Where as in Beauty, Byron describes his heroin with softer diction, “starry skies”, “tender light”, “serenely sweet express”, and “a mind at peace”. Beauty is written in an ABAB rhyme scheme that suits its romance and fluidness. I enjoy the use of nature as imagery. Byron includes the night, the clouds, starry skies, heaven, the raven, and more. He also makes a few references to the theme of light and darkness. He says that her eyes hold the best of what is “dark and bright”. He remarks on a “tender light”, a shade and a ray, and “the tints that glow”. This theme brings relevence to the poem and its subject as well. With out knowing that she had some hint of darkness in her, even if it was the best aspects, she is now capable of being real in our minds. No one is all light and sparkle, each of us have shadows and dimly lit corners of our personalities. Seeing these references and understanding them we are able to relate to Beauty better and possible apply it to someone we know.
Another poem that spoke to me was by John Keats, “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer”. The inspiring tone and allusions that lay behind these words are truly enlightening. Keats is writing about a poet’s interpretation of another poet’s epic. How confusing, right? Keats has undoubtedly gotten his hands on George Chapman’s book translating Homer’s Odyssey. He claims in this poem to have visited breathtaking places that help open the soul and mind to poetic excellence. Alluding to Apollo, the Greek and Roman god of poetic inspiration, lets us know that Keats has researched and tried to educate himself to the fullest on poetry. Then, in lines seven and eight he says brillianlty, “Yet did I never breathe its pure serene till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold”. He then felt like he had discovered a new atmosphere, a new world or literature and creativity. His next allusion is to Cortez, a Mexican conqueror and discoverer from our world’s great history. Keats was relating his sense of wonder and new found power to Cortez’s and his men seeing the Pacific from Darien. Keats also uses great imagery from nature to tell his story. He talks of traveling ro great places, islands, the skies, planets, eagles eyes, and the Pacific ocean. As I stated earlier, he alludes to mythological gds, great poets of the past, and explorers that bring truth and relevence to this piece. I can honestly say that with out these references and allusions, this piece would not mean anything to me. The tie-ins and pictures painted in my mind help me to understand its greatness. This poems strucure is a bit unique. There are two sets of ABBA rhyming and six lines of ABABAB to end the piece. In my mind it can be read like a journal entry. But it is still powerful. Chapman’s Homer reminds me of one of my favorite poems, Ulysses, by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Ulysses has the same tone and feel of inpiration and the wonder of life itself. The title itself being a direct allusion to Homer’s work, it shares important some similiarities to Keats poem. If only we took such inspiration from poems we read or people we admired, then maybe we would be able to write like Keats.
These poems together may not look like much, but I chose to look closer. Both of these poems stand out with brightness and color in the grey fog that sometimes hovers over the Romantics. With all of their wonderings about gods and mortality and love, these two pieces shined with freshness and hope. Byron and Keat’s poems are adventurous. They both leave you wanting more, curious of chapter two. Does Byron ever see the girl again? Does she love him? Did Keats unviel some hidden truths from the Odyssey or Illiad? We don’t really know, but we surely want to know. I believe their stuctures are similar, although quite clearly not identical. The rhyme scheme and rhythm and pleasant and easy to follow. Rhyme scheme and structure have always amazed me. They wholly define the poem. Pieces that bring light or happiness or expectaion, like Beauty and Chapman’s Homer, should be read like a ballet. The story is being told through movement and syncronization. Each turn and lift triggers an emotional intent beyond what we naturally recognize. Then there is choppy poetry with rigid line breaks and unclear rhythm. Both types tell a story. Both types are beautiful. But both types also allow us to understand different things. It reminds me of theatre and great playwrights. Some playwrights wrote soft plays about romance and youthfullness and serenity. For instance, take Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It has a common rhyming pattern in iambic pentameter that almost leaves us singing a song. Works like that remind me of ribbon-like poetry that sticks in your head smoothly. Then, on the other hand, look at Clifford Odetts’ Golden Boy, or Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. These realists taught us about love affairs, life, and pain. Their plays remind me of poems that are choppy and structured with purpose to make us stop and think. No fluff, just pure reality.
Lastly, the two poets use of nature and vivid imagery help to link them together. I would venture to say that both Keats and Byron were in touch with natur and used it regularly to gleen from in their writing. The poems do differ in topic and purpose. Lord Byron’s is obviously about a woman whom he loves deeply and admires. While John Keats takes us on an adventure of inspiration and knowledge. Yet, isn’t that what love is? It should inspire us. It should help us to see new plains of life and reason. All in all, love, life, exploration, and poetry need each other to survive. And we, in turn, need them also. Keats and Byron did a phenomenal job of showing us just that.



Works Cited
Gordon, George, Lord Byron. "She Walks in Beauty." 1970. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. 5th ed.
London : W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 2005. 834.
Gordon, George, Lord Byron. "When We Two Parted." 1970. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. 5th ed.
London : W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 2005. 835.
Keats, John. "On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer." 1970. The Norton Anthology of Poetry. 5th ed.
London : W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 2005. 905.