Comparing "Constantly Risking Absurdity," by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and "Betting on the Muse," by Charles Bukowski
Poetry is the most compressed form of literature, which should be read slowly and savored attentively. Poets employ different poetic techniques to convey their ideas, opinions, and express their feelings. Some poems can be understood easily while others seam vague. But whatever they are, they all contain some common elements of poetry such as theme, figurative language, and tone, etc. ¡§Constantly risking absurdity and death¡¨ and ¡§betting on the muse¡¨ are two poems which are written by two different poets. By comparing and contrasting these two poems, the full beauty of the poems can be greatly appreciated and their theme can be deeply explored.
¡§Constantly risking absurdity and death¡¨ by Lawrence Ferlinghetti talks about what a poet is. The author compares poet to acrobat to reveal the difficulty and complexity of being a poet, because sometimes the poet has to take the risk of failure (another form of death) and of being absurdity just like the acrobat.
In the poem, the author does not describe the difficulty and complexity of being a poet directly. Instead, he uses numerous vivid languages to describe what the acrobats do to convey the underlying theme. ¡§he performs above the heads of his audience¡¨, ¡§the poet like an acrobat climbs on rime to a high wire¡K on eyebeams above a sea of faces¡¨. The author uses metaphor, and even makes up new word ¡§...
A superb author will immortalize with his or her works no matter how old. In the poem "Betting on the Muse" written by Charles Bukowski, Jimmy Foxx and Beau Jack were splendid athletes and had millions of followers when they are young and energetic. Athletes like them will become very popular after winning the competitions and they will find themselves on "the yellowing/ pages"(stanza 2) with victorious smile. Moreover, they are living like a king who can have as much as parties they want and be surrounded by beautiful young girls. However, as their ages rise up, they become obtuse and useless; they cannot bring honours for their countries anymore. Then they will be "replaced by others" and "no longer be/ recognized"; some of them will end
The poetry by these two poets creates several different images, both overall, each with a different goal, have achieved their purposes. Though from slightly different times, they can both be recognized and appreciated as poets who did not fear the outside, and were willing to put themselves out there to create both truth and beauty.
He uses powerful imagery and onomatopoeia to achieve the desired effects that make the poem more realistic. All this combined together produces effective thought provoking ideas and with each read, I gradually get an improved understanding and appreciation of the poem.
Despite the differences between the characters in the poems, I will also go on to say how the preoccupation with death and violence all seem to stem from the apparently unstable minds of the characters; from the instability brought on by varying emotions such as grief, jealousy, resentment, guilt and madness, and the fact that these emotions may lead to paranoia.
Most of students who study literature have experienced a trouble when they understand poetry. There are many genres in literature; poem, novel, drama, myth and so on. Generally, people do not have a difficult comprehension of a variety of literary genres except poem. In case of poem, even people read a poem, they do not understand what that means perfectly. Because, unlike other genres of literature, poetry consists of short sentences. Some of poems are not made up of grammatically correct sentences. Also, poetry has implications. Sometimes, the words a poet use have a different meaning, unlike original meaning. A figure of speech helps expression of topic of a poem more effectually. Theme relates to a mood and is an important clue what the poet want to say. Both “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” and “Because I Not Stop for Death” have a theme of death. Compare and contrast the figure of speech and the theme of death in the poem Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” and Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could Not Stop for Death” in this research paper.
Our world is not a pleasant one. Our everyday lives are punctured with graphic images of sex, violence and apathy. Unfortunately, people tend to ignore the holes in the social fabric all around them. As Bukowski wrote the poems that were compiled into Betting on the Muse, he realized this, and incorporated it into his poetry. In his narrative works he creates a living, breathing world. He tends to concentrate on the low points of life, though. The world is a dark one, where personal rotting begins with an all-too-early maturation. Bukowski's collection should be read by those who want to experience the lives of people in a decaying, violent world.
Love is one of the main sources that move the world, and poetry is not an exception, this shows completely the feelings of someone. In “Litany” written by Billy Collins, “Love Poem” by John Frederick Nims, “Song” by John Donne, “Love” by Matthew Dickman and “Last Night” by Sharon Olds navigate around the same theme. Nevertheless, they differ in formats and figurative language that would be compared. For this reason, the rhetoric figures used in the poems will conduct us to understand the insights thought of the authors and the arguments they want to support.
...images, but with extremely unlike moods. Society often depicts many things in a different light. They may describe something as the new and adventurous thing everybody should try, but doesn’t include the effects. Often people are tricked by their means of persuasion without acknowledging the facts. The key thing these poets were trying to explain was that there is no way of knowing how something will be unless you try it. They are not saying to go out and try everything but that you can’t believe everything that people say.
For some individuals, poetry is a form of freedom and expression. It is one of the many creative ways to release feelings of anger and happiness from the human mind. The intensity of every rhythm and word, and style of each poem allows readers to uncover deeper significance to the context. The rich variety achieved by mixing a combination of human imagination and reality to tell a story with deeper meaning is remarkable. This concept of combining poems and human imagination together was popularized by Edgar Allan Poe. Living an impoverished life, Poe penned stories of horror and mystery into collections of poems and short stories. He expressed his thoughts on paper with great thrill and excitement. Known for his wild imagination that included suspenseful, dark tales, he posed as a literary figure and inspired many across the world.
...vocal statement about the ?organic? possibilities of poetry than optimistic readers might have expected. ?Mayflies? forces us to complicate Randall Jarrell?s neat formulation. Here Wilbur has not just seen and shown ?the bright underside of? a ?dark thing.? In a poem where the speaker stands in darkness looking at what ?animate[s] a ragged patch of glow? (l.4), we are left finally in a kind of grayness. We look from darkness into light and entertain an enchanting faith that we belong over there, in the immortal dance, but we aren?t there now. We are in the machine-shop of poetry. Its own fiat will not let us out completely.
Both poems represent the despairs and failures of the love they hone for their beloved, with brings a touch of sadness to the poems. From this the reader can feel almost sympathetic to the unrequited lovers, and gain an understanding of the perils and repercussions of love.
I intend to demonstrate that both poems largely follow the rules of haiku. However, they achieve their effects by using different techniques. Despite the fact that the contexts of the two poems set them apart, both poems can be thought of as having similar meanings.
Although difficult and challenging, I have compared and contrasted the works of two American Poets, Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickinson, based on literary elements used in their writings. Their differences both in style and subject are contradictory to the fact that both Poe and Dickinson are writers/poets of the same personal nature. The use of literary elements showcase the iconic statuses of the writings created by such reserved yet fame dependent poets such as Poe and Dickinson. To an extent, their chosen elements are what create their uniqueness. Further, it establishes a uniform perception that they are similar yet different poets of the personal essence. Through their writings, readers are able to grasp the concept that they are rarely drawn to the fact their lives were perfect. Dickinson seemed to be a writer of distinct but subtle characteristics. Poe, on the other hand, was considered to be a writer filled with a dependancy on fame and fortune.
Restlessness is the main focus of Phillips’ article, it is the title of his article and in his opinion it is the reason why poems exist at all. “Poetry is the results of a generative restlessness of imagination… uncertainties become obsessions to be wrestled with, and with luck, the result is poetry…” (Phillips 132) Phillips, in summary of his article, claims uncertainties in life trouble our minds until the uncertainties become obsessions. We become restless in our quest to understand the uncertainties we face and by writing poems we can organize our thoughts and try to understand the things we do not. Phillips furthers his explains his claim by admitting “ I write poetry for the same reason that I read it, both as a way of being alive and as a way of trying to understand what it means—how it feels—to be alive.” (Phillips 133).
Anxiety is our body’s reaction to stressful dangerous or unfamiliar situations (“What is Anxiety,” n.d.). Everyone has anxiety at times and this is necessary in human beings but some people have it much worse than others. Anxiety disorder makes life more difficult to cope with, it keeps people from sleeping, socializing with their peers and it makes it hard to concentrate (“What is Anxiety,”n.d.). So, what is the cause of anxiety? How can we tell if a person is suffering from an anxiety disorder? What are the different types of anxiety disorders around us?