Oranges by Garry Soto and Oranges by Ronald Wallace - Essay Example

Compare and contrast ‘Oranges’ by Garry Soto and ‘Oranges’ by Ronald Wallace The colour Orange is associated with passion, fire and energy. It is also known as the autumnal hue in the western countries. Garry Soto’s poem is simply about a promenade with his girl, on one cold December day. He gives a visual detail of the scenery as he remembers the unforgettable emotional experience he had a long time back. The poem by Wallace is more of a sensual nature- it is a physical experience of a couple in love. They share their love and get intimate; the poet uses imagery and symbolism to express the heat of desire and the physical attraction of his lover. Soto’s poem is just a narrative of his first adolescent love. ‘The first time I walked with a girl, I was twelve.’(Soto,72) Soto’s poem is about love at a tender age- the girl seems very innocent and young. The innocence of the two young people in love is emphasized in the poem by Soto in a very subtle manner. They don’t have any physical contact other than when he touches her shoulder and when they hold hands later, while walking together. The mentioning of ‘nickel’, ‘dime’, ‘candies’, and ‘chocolates’ point to the fact how innocent both lovers are. The boy is also innocent, yet confident because he offers an orange to the saleslady since he was short of money. He didn’t want to refuse his girlfriend anything, even if he could not afford it. It was perhaps the innocence in his eyes that forces the saleslady to accept his orange instead of more money. O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence. Love takes the meaning in Love’s conference. (Shakespeare, 29) Wallace’s poem is about a real date, with fiery narrative of their intimacy; the girl is mature and sexy. She initiates the intimacy: “You are friendly as a fruit-seller”; “we peel off your clothes”; “When I lift my fingers to your lips: Oranges”.(Wallace,116). He explains beautifully the sex appeal of the girl and how the poet responds to it. This is an adult love as opposed to the innocent adolescent love in ‘Oranges’ by Garry Soto. Soto’s poem is more about an understated love and desire;. Wallace’s poem is a mutual sensuality felt by both the partners. Both depict the winter season, and both poets have used strong contrasts to accentuate the symbolism of oranges. ‘Outside it is cold’; ‘My mustache and eyelashes freeze’.(Wallace,116). Soto uses different words to refer to the cold climate like ‘frost’, ‘fog’, ‘gray of December’. The only people in Wallace’s poem are the Ice fishermen; in Soto’s poem there is a detailed sketching of the scenery, movement of cars, etc. There is a lot of sound imagery in Soto’s poem: ‘Frost cracking’, ‘dog barked’, ‘tiny bell bringing a saleslady’, ‘cars hissing past’. The visual imagery in Soto’s poem is given by alluding to a lot of things to create a vivid atmosphere of his first romantic walk with his girlfriend. Moreover, the tempo of this poem is very slow as compared with that of “Oranges” by Wallace, who has given a brief description of the fishermen catching orange coloured fishes. One can notice the alacrity of the fishermen and the progression of day. ‘The sun ripens in the sky. The wind turns thin and citrus, The day precise, fragile.’(Wallace,116) Both the poems are about a sojourn- a lover makes for his girlfriend. Soto has described the outer journey of two souls in love. The two poems are different in a way because Soto’s poem is about a first time love; while that of Wallace is mature love, which culminates in sex. Soto’s sojourn is longer than Wallace and it takes place in two segments: first, he goes to his girl friend’s house; then takes her out to buy chocolate; and then they further walk two blocks while she eats chocolate and he peels his orange. He is constantly aware of the passion and desire of love raging in his heart. ‘Someone might have thought I was making a fire with my hands.’(Soto,74) The setting of both the poems is different. Though both are written against the backdrop of a very cold season; Wallace’s poem is set around a lake, while that of Soto’s poem revolves around a residential area with a drug store, parking lot, line of planted trees, and roads. Soto narrates his perspective by using a lot of body language of the characters and observation of the poet himself. ‘I fingered a nickel in my pocket’; ‘set them quietly on the counter.’(Soto,73). He is successful in sketching the complete picture of the girl by the way she smiles; and pulls on her gloves. Light in her eyes, a smile Starting at the corners Of her mouth.(Soto,73) There is absolutely no conversation in both the poems. Feelings are conveyed through gestures only. ‘He remembered you as ‘light’, that was what he said, I heard it from him. But even without words I knew that you were light for him.’(Dostoevsky, 474) Both the poems are pure action and what follows as a result of it. Soto buys a chocolate for his girlfriend, and he is enjoying the divine silence of their walk. He is immersed in the wonderful feeling called love. Wallace is a bit brief, straightforward, frank, open and quick in narrating his episode with his girlfriend. He leaves much of it to the imagination of the readers. He just gives them a cue as to what might/shall happen next and ends his narrative. But there is more energy in his poem because of stronger emotions and feelings enhanced by the sexual attractiveness of his girlfriend. They both know what is going to happen next. He refers to the cold wind outside and warms himself in the sun of love and passion. On the other hand, the warmth is felt only in the heart of Soto, or when he watches his breath gone in the cold of December. He enjoys the warmth of holding her hand but his heart desires for something fiery- which is what he refers to at the end of the poem. Fire is fanned by the wind until it leaps up fiercely. So is desire like fire. It is fanned, as by a wind, by sight of the thing desired, or by a new and luring description or comprehension of the thing desired. (London, 440) Colour contrasts are obvious in both the poems. Smell of oranges is profound in Wallace’s version. He tastes orange in the morning, and predicts that his ‘mouth will tingle all day’; he smells orange in his hands; he feels the wind getting citrus; he sees the orange color on the fishing rods of the fishermen; peels off his clothes like peeling oranges; ‘wordy rind’; and he touches the orange lips of his lover. He completes a whole cycle of the ‘orange phenomenon’. His poem is complete in every sense of the word: he ends at the point from where he had begun. He first felt the taste of an orange in his mouth; and the poem ends on this very note- he touching the lips of his lover, that are just like orange in color and feeling. Both the poets have related the scenery and their experiences in love with the qualities of Oranges. The poem by Ronald Wallace has the essence of Oranges in every sense of the word: taste, feel, texture, warmth. Soto doesn’t view his lover as an object of his sexual desire. The reason being that he is too young- only 12 years old. He only sees the orange rouge in her cheeks and then he mentions her eyes, mouth and hands in a matter-of-fact way. Though there are underlying tones of desire, but at such a tender age, he is only suffused with the feelings of love and warmth emanating from the company of his girlfriend. He observes everything around him: he does not transcend in an imaginary world, neither does Wallace. Both are very practical in their relationship with their respective girlfriends, according to their respective age groups. Their actions are natural and spontaneous. Soto skillfully represents the observations of a growing kid. Children pay attention to all the minor details of an incident they cherish. Another reason why he remembers all these details of his first walk with his girlfriend is because it means so much to him. First Love is never forgotten- that seems to be the message of the poem. Soto is particular about the dressing of the characters. He draws comparison of the dense fog in December in the following manner: Fog hanging like old Coats between the trees.(Soto,73) He refers to the gloves that the girl pulls on when she comes out of her house. He mentions his own jacket; and the pockets where he has stuffed two oranges. Both couples act differently from one another. In Wallace’s ‘Oranges’ the couple peel off their clothes; while in Soto’s ‘oranges’ the boy peels his orange and the girl unwraps her chocolate. There is a prominent difference in the attitude of the lovers in both poems. It probably comes from the difference in the ages of the lovers in the respective poems. Soto’s characters are subconsciously doing the same thing as those of Wallace. The difference is that Wallace’s characters are doing it consciously; while Soto’s characters are going through the same sensation on the sub-conscious level. Wallace only uses one colour throughout the poem: Orange. Everything has an orange tinge to it. The orange he ate; the sun ripening in the sky; the fishermen catching fishes like ‘orange slices’ and the lips of the girl he touches. Soto on the other hand, uses three colours: orange; yellow and gray. He paints the picture in three tones to define the strong contrast between the depressingly cold and foggy season and the warmth and colour of his emotions and love. Soto mentions light and fire every now and then in his poem. He sees the light in the eyes of his girl. The other bright thing he mentions is the color of the oranges. He also mentions the yellow porch light that burnt day and night in all weather. He mentions the fire in his hands at the end of the poem. So we find constant and continuous references to light and fire which give the underlying meanings of his burning emotions and desires. Wallace mentions only the light of the sun as it ripens in the sky. Both the poems open in the first person voice: ‘This morning I eat an orange’ (Wallace,116); ‘The first time I walked with a girl’ (Soto,72). Soto is very precise about the timings and the numerical statistics of the event. He says he has two oranges; he was twelve; he had ‘a nickel’; the chocolate was for ‘a dime’; they ‘walked for two blocks’. He has a very calculated tone in his poem, which is reminiscent of childhood. Wallace simply alludes to the timings of the day and the weather. He suggest that the ‘trees do not anticipate their leaves’; and ‘the day precise, fragile’. (116) But it is amazing that two different poets who have written their poems in entirely different places can have so much in common. Work Cited Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Idiot. 2nd ed. Trans. Henry and Olga Carlissle. New York: Signet Classic, 2002. London, Jack. The Sea Wolf. Kaydreams, 1967. Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Ed. Russ Mcdonald. New York: Penguin Books, 2000. Soto, Garry. New and Selected Poems. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1995. Wallace, Ronald. Vital signs: contemporary American poetry from the university presses. United States: Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1989. Read More

The two poems are different in a way because Soto’s poem is about a first time love; while that of Wallace is mature love, which culminates in sex. Soto’s sojourn is longer than Wallace and it takes place in two segments: first, he goes to his girl friend’s house; then takes her out to buy chocolate; and then they further walk two blocks while she eats chocolate and he peels his orange. He is constantly aware of the passion and desire of love raging in his heart. ‘Someone might have thought I was making a fire with my hands.

’(Soto,74) The setting of both the poems is different. Though both are written against the backdrop of a very cold season; Wallace’s poem is set around a lake, while that of Soto’s poem revolves around a residential area with a drug store, parking lot, line of planted trees, and roads. Soto narrates his perspective by using a lot of body language of the characters and observation of the poet himself. ‘I fingered a nickel in my pocket’; ‘set them quietly on the counter.’(Soto,73).

He is successful in sketching the complete picture of the girl by the way she smiles; and pulls on her gloves. Light in her eyes, a smile Starting at the corners Of her mouth.(Soto,73) There is absolutely no conversation in both the poems. Feelings are conveyed through gestures only. ‘He remembered you as ‘light’, that was what he said, I heard it from him. But even without words I knew that you were light for him.’(Dostoevsky, 474) Both the poems are pure action and what follows as a result of it.

Soto buys a chocolate for his girlfriend, and he is enjoying the divine silence of their walk. He is immersed in the wonderful feeling called love. Wallace is a bit brief, straightforward, frank, open and quick in narrating his episode with his girlfriend. He leaves much of it to the imagination of the readers. He just gives them a cue as to what might/shall happen next and ends his narrative. But there is more energy in his poem because of stronger emotions and feelings enhanced by the sexual attractiveness of his girlfriend.

They both know what is going to happen next. He refers to the cold wind outside and warms himself in the sun of love and passion. On the other hand, the warmth is felt only in the heart of Soto, or when he watches his breath gone in the cold of December. He enjoys the warmth of holding her hand but his heart desires for something fiery- which is what he refers to at the end of the poem. Fire is fanned by the wind until it leaps up fiercely. So is desire like fire. It is fanned, as by a wind, by sight of the thing desired, or by a new and luring description or comprehension of the thing desired.

(London, 440) Colour contrasts are obvious in both the poems. Smell of oranges is profound in Wallace’s version. He tastes orange in the morning, and predicts that his ‘mouth will tingle all day’; he smells orange in his hands; he feels the wind getting citrus; he sees the orange color on the fishing rods of the fishermen; peels off his clothes like peeling oranges; ‘wordy rind’; and he touches the orange lips of his lover. He completes a whole cycle of the ‘orange phenomenon’. His poem is complete in every sense of the word: he ends at the point from where he had begun.

He first felt the taste of an orange in his mouth; and the poem ends on this very note- he touching the lips of his lover, that are just like orange in color and feeling. Both the poets have related the scenery and their experiences in love with the qualities of Oranges. The poem by Ronald Wallace has the essence of Oranges in every sense of the word: taste, feel, texture, warmth. Soto doesn’t view his lover as an object of his sexual desire. The reason being that he is too young- only 12 years old.

He only sees the orange rouge in her cheeks and then he mentions her eyes, mouth and hands in a matter-of-fact way. Though there are underlying tones of desire, but at such a tender age, he is only suffused with the feelings of love and warmth emanating from the company of his girlfriend.

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