Amanda Jernigan’s collection of poems, “Groundwork”, expertly blends a wide array of structured imagery with a variety of cultural topics that usually follow a pattern of simplicity directed straight at the reader. A carefully selected order of poems and references to history and mythology along with a handful of common themes are present, especially in the opening section of poems, “Excavations”. This is the most crucial sequence of the book as it opens the mind of the reader to Jernigan’s work. To construct the intended experience for the reader, Jernigan builds an important foundation in “Excavations” for her collection by engaging in figurative “digging” and reconnecting humanity with the natural world. “Groundwork”’s organization reveals Jernigan’s intent to elaborate on both the literal and the ulterior. “Excavations” is the platform on which “Groundwork” is constructed and provides a point of …show more content…
This first section revolves around a description of an archaeological dig site through eight voices who give their authentic thoughts on unearthing the remnants of a past civilization. These narrators only explicitly talk about previous poems in the section and give implicit hints about the subsequent ones. Each presents a connection between the actual event of an excavation and Jernigan’s “dig” for a deeper meaning. Artifacts, notably pieces of pottery or tesserae, are unsuccessfully smuggled in “The Smuggler” but also happen to be representative of broken pacts: “the mosaic these belonged to long ago / was smashed by Vandals, or lifted by collectors, / or rucked up by the farmers hoe” (Jernigan 4-6). The artifacts in “The Physical Anthropologist” are also utilized to further discuss change in human behaviour in which “The living have quarried the bricks of the dead” (11). Recurring images of the tesserae resurface throughout “Excavations” to tie the eight poems or voices together as one foundation. When the speaker is talking about “plant[ing] tomatoes in
Breen, T. H., and Stephen Innes. Myne Owne Ground: Race and Freedom on Virginia 's Eastern Shore, 1640-1676. 25th anniversary ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. 142 pages (kindle edition).
Persoon, James, and Robert R. Watson. "'Digging'." The Facts On File Companion to British Poetry, 1900 to Present. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 23 Apr. 2014 .
The struggles that many face while experiencing poverty are not like any other. When a person is experiencing poverty, they deal with unbearable hardships as well as numerous tragic events. Diane Gilliam Fisher’s collection of poems teaches readers about labor battles within West Virginian territories, at the beginning of the twentieth century. Some of these battles include the Battle of Matewan and Battle of Blair Mountain. The collection of poems is presented in many different manners, ranging from diary entries to letters to journal entries. These various structures of writing introduce the reader to contrasting images and concepts in an artistic fashion. The reader is able to witness firsthand the hardships and the light and dark times of impoverished people’s lives. He or she also learns about the effects of birth and death on poverty stricken communities. In the collection of poems in Kettle Bottom, Fisher uses imagery and concepts to convey contrast between the positive and negative aspects of the lives of people living in poverty.
When reading the name of the poem "Digging", it seems like it will be about nothing at all. Digging is a basic and ordinary activity and the reader does not expect anything meaningful when reading the poem. This is deceptive, because the first two lines present readers with a sense of choice. Heaney immediately makes them aware of the deeper issue of the subject he is about to explore and therefore creates an alertness in them.
When sorting through the Poems of Dorothy Parker you will seldom find a poem tha¬t you could describe as uplifting or cheerful. She speaks with a voice that doesn’t romanticize reality and some may even call her as pessimistic. Though she doesn’t have a buoyant writing style, I can empathize with her views on the challenges of life and love. We have all had experiences where a first bad impression can change how we view an opportunity to do the same thing again. Parker mostly writes in a satirical or sarcastic tone, which can be very entertaining to read and analyze.
The first images of the garden are seen through the exaggerated imagination of a young child. “” are as “ as flowers on Mars,” and cockscombs “ the deep red fringe of theater curtains.” Fr...
Childs-Johnson, Elizabeth, Joan Lebold Cohen, and Lawerence R. Sullivan. (1996, November-December). Race against time. Archaeology.
The Farming of Bones is not only an amazing work of literature, but a wonderful example of post-colonial literature. It has all the classic experiential images; dualism, confrontation, liberation, and identity.
The places in which we live are an integral and inescapable aspect of who we are, as they largely determine culture, community, and determine the outlook that one has on the rest of the world. In the American South, physical and cultural geography has played a particularly important role in the historical and modern contexts of racial relations. The dynamic between enslaved peoples and the natural landscape is a complex one that offers innumerable interpretations, but inarguably serves as a marker of the wounds created by institutional racism and human enslavement. In her collection of poems entitled Native Guard, Natasha Trethewey utilizes external features of the natural environment in the South in order to communicate the repressed grief, both personal and collective, which can arise as a result of inflicted systemic violence. Through comparing part one of Native Guard, which focuses on
It is divided into five parts ‘The Encounter’, ‘Philemon’, ‘The Shore’, ‘The Woods’, and ‘The Lost Children’, These profoundly crafted rhythmic lines will endure and resonate forever in the souls who read it. Rarely does a reader encounter such sheer beauty of timeless and compelling imagery in her debut book to stand apart as foremost publication in English literature.
The poet in her writing used the language tools of symbolism, images, metaphor and nature to illustrate her poetic ideas. The writer, used the word ‘’Hunters’’ in the first line which indicates an imagery of man in existence, example
In Natasha Trethewey’s poetry collection “Native Guard”, the reader is exposed to the story of Trethewey’s growing up in the southern United States and the tragedy which she encountered during her younger years, in addition to her experiences with prejudice. Throughout this work, Trethewey often refers to graves and provides compelling imagery regarding the burial of the dead. Within Trethewey’s work, the recurring imagery surrounding graves evolves from the graves simply serving as a personal reminder of the past to a statement on the collective memory of society and comments on what society chooses to remember and that which it chooses to let go of.
"Behind the tractor rolled the shining disks, cutting the earth with blades-not plowing but surgery, pushing the cut earth to the right where the second row of disks cut it and pushed it to the left; slicing blades shining, polished by the cut earth. And pulled behind the disks, the harrows combing with iron teeth so that the little clods broke up and the earth lay smooth. Behind the harrows, the long seeders- twelve curved iron penes erected in the foundry, orgasms set...
In Issa’s poem the transition from the image of melting snow to that of children falling on the village is abrupt and jarring. In Muldoon’s poem, the transition is smoo...
I shall gather various types of archaeological publications dealing with deviant burial. It is important to include differing types of publications to see if it affects the way in which deviancy is dealt with. I will then determine if any common patterns are apparent within the study of deviant burial. If common patterns are found, each one will be explored individually. Searching for specific statements within the texts, I will attempt to determine how the patterns relate to the interpretation of deviant burial. As I have not previously dealt with deviant burials, I will also briefly convey my interpretations – as a simulated intended audience reader – of the way in which deviancy is conveyed through the material. This will give a distinctive perspective as to how the true intended audience of the publications may view the evidence as presented by the archaeologists. A discourse analysis is never complete as there are too many aspects to ever fully dissect a subject (Dijk 2001; Phillips and Hardy 2002). However, it is my intent to try to examine deviant burial as thoroughly as this thesis permits, as well as to bring a unique point of view to the