Poetry and New Criticism - Essay Example

Poetry and New Criticism When interpreting literature excerpts such as poems, New Critics evaluate how the elements of the text produce meanings and how the meanings those elements produce support the text’s main theme (Tyson). This essay uses New Criticism to analyze two poems, namely, Threshing by Louise Gluck and Skull Trees, South Sudan by Adrie Kusserow from Close Reading packet 8: Best American Poetry. Threshing, by Louise Gluck, has an iambic rhythm, with one unstressed syllable that is followed by a stressed syllable. For instance, ligh-T, s-KY, be-HIND, and Mount-AIN denote that the first syllable is unstressed while the second syllable is stressed in the words of the poem. The poem is also a tetrameter because the iambic rhythm repeats itself four times in each line of the poem. The poem is both narrative and descriptive. This is because it tells a story and, at the same time, explains the world that surrounded the subjects of the poem. The speaker in this poem explains the situation surrounding the subjects, just the way s/he perceived it. Threshing is rich of assonance. For instance, the - i - sound is repeated in the first stanza three times, that is, l-i-ght, beh-i-nd the mounta-i-n. The sound is also repeated in most of the lines of this poem. Alteration is also evident in the poem Threshing. For example, is like the sun’s shadow, the bread, if there’s bread, the leaves darken a little. To emphasize and stress on an issue or point, the poet has used consonance. For example, in the line, they lie in the shade, waiting, resting; the poet has repeated the consonant sound, -ng to emphasize on the activity that the subjects of the poem were engaged in. also, in the line, beyond the fields, the river’s soundless, motionless, the –ss consonant sound has been repeated to explain the status of environment surrounding the subjects of the poem. Onomatopoeic words have also been used in the poem to describe the environment surrounding the subjects of this poem. For example in the line, no talk, just the leaves rustling in the heat, the word rustling has been used to describe the only sound that could be heard. Therefore, this explains that it was only the sound of leaves could be heard, as they rustled in the heat. Also, the explanation of the river’s soundless, motionless scum mottling the surface, symbolizes the oppression. The poem is rich of imagery in that there are similes, metaphors and symbols have been used in the poem. For instance, the light behind the mountain has been liked to the sun’s shadow passing over the earth. Also, the cool environment under the trees has been liked to the flask of water that gets passed around. In the poem, the sun has been personified. In the line, the sun’s moving again, taking the men along, the sun has been given human attributes. For instance it said that the sun moves, and at the same time, it takes men along. This personification stresses emphasizes on the effect that the hot sun has on the subjects of the poem in terms of doing their work, and how it determines their fate because it marks movement in time. There is irony in the poem too. Men are sad to enjoy the hours when the sun is hot and their women are far way, but the work has not been done. It is therefore, ironical to enjoy a tie of the day when a lot of work still awaits to be done. Also, the poems states that the flask is put away, the bread, if there is bread, in one of its lines. It is ironical for people to lack bread, yet the main activity revolving in the poem is threshing of wheat. It is expected that with the activity of harvesting wheat, bread is supposed to be available in plenty. Nature has been used by the speaker of the poem to explain the surrounding the subjects of the poem. For instance, the hot weather characterized with the scorching sun emphasizes on the type of environment that the subjects of the poem dwell in, in that point of time. Nature also explains the oppression that the subjects of the poem face. The explanation that under the trees it is cool, and that the under the canopy is where men rest, shows that it is the place where men seek relief from the hard work of the day. The leaves have also been used to explain a change of time. It has stated in the poem that the leaves darken a little, the shadows change. This explanation of nature marks a change in the time of the day. As the men walk through the fields towards their homes, they regard the time of the day when they were working as the best time that they have to forget. On the other hand when they reach home, a place where they expect to relax with their women, they are unable to sleep. As a result, they view the time they are their homes as a dream, and the time they are working as a dream, which is ironical. The poem, Skull Trees, South Sudan by Adrie Kusserow is characterized by two syllables, in which the first syllable is stressed while the second syllable is not stressed. For instance, LE-gs, NU-mb, and MOU-th are some of the words with syllables connoting that the poem is a trochee. It is a pentameter because the trochee rhythm repeats itself five times in each line of the poem. The poem is a narrative one because it tells a story about the subject, and at the same time it is also a descriptive one. This is because it explains the environment surrounding the subject of the poem comprehensively. The poem has a rhyme scheme, where the end sound of the lines of the poem’s stanzas is repeated. For instance, then s sound in trees and hands has been repeated. The same sound has also been repeated in the ending words of other lines of the poem that is, holes, lips, bombs, bones, and boys. Assonance is also evident in the poem. For instance, the (i) vowel sound has been repeated many times throughout the poem. There is onomatopoeia in the poem. For example, ‘mosquitoes swarmed’ is a phrase that has been used to explain the sound that was associated with the mosquitoes flying. The phrase ‘he shinnied down’ explains the expected sound, as the one waded through mud. The hot wind is also said to whistle through the people as they struggled to escape danger. In this poem, Skull Trees, South Sudan, imagery has been used. For instance, the bodies that settled limp have liked to petals under the trees. The subject of the poem is also said to have slid like a snake. The lost boys’ escape to Ethiopia has been liked to the roving of hyenas. Their tongues have said to be as big as toads, as the tongues swelled in the boys’ mouths. Hallucinations have been also explained to float like kites among the victims as they escaped. Also, the poet has used metaphors such as skull trees with their necklaces of bones, symbolizing the mass killings that were witnessed. Also, the phrase “until the blanched bones lay scattered in a ring around the tree, tiny ribs, skulls, hip bones” symbolizes mass deaths (Tyson 1). Skies have been personified in the poem in that it has been said to pour its relentless bombs of fire. The iron in the poem is that of the escapees resolving into lying down for a moment to seek a shade from a tree which has been said to have a barely shared. This means that the conditions were grave, but the subjects of the poem could perceive the shade that never was as a place to shelter. The escapees were also exhausted but, they could still move on as the temperatures cooled. Nature has been used to explain the situation that surrounded the subjects of the poem. For instance, the mud, the hot winds, the trees with no canopy to provide shelter, meaning they are on a dry area and the bones all symbolize the effects of the war in Southern Sudan. Explanation of these aspects of nature portrays the real situation that people of South Sudan were facing. According to New criticism, the poem and its contents are used for analysis to come up with interpretations. The critical interpretations that are arrived may differ from what the author intended to mean. This is because as an author composes a poem, s/he could be having own intentions to achieve, but in the end, when readers evaluate and analyze the poem, they might arrive at meanings and interpretations, which are different from the initial intentions of the author (Tyson 141). For instance, it has been established from the analysis of the two poems, Threshing by Louise Gluck and Skull Trees, South Sudan by Adrie Kusserow, that both poems use tension in a similar manner. For example, from the poem, Threshing, tension is evident when the machines are said to be still standing where they are left. This means that the men who are said to have been exhausted from work and the unfavorable weather, still had to continue with work because there was still a long way to go. Separately, the poem, Skull Trees, South Sudan by Adrie Kusserow, uses tension in more than one instance. First, tension looms when the poet says that mosquitoes must have been biting other people’s lips, and the persona dared not to look. This means that the victims of war were undergoing a very hard time. Also, it is said, in the poem, that Sudan was pockmarked with bombs. An area that is pockmarked with bombs is an area with imminent danger. This is also augmented with by the statement that the sky was pouring relentless bombs of fire. Finally, the two poems use nature and images of people to portray deeper meanings. For instance, the bones have been used to symbolize the consequences of war while the scorching sun has been used to symbolize the burden of oppression. Work Cited Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. Madison: Taylor and Francis Press, 2006. Print. Read More