StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Terman's Torah Garden - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
However to the poet PhillipTerman, the two words show case creative tension. Torah is the first five books of the bible which form the foundation Judaism. The books are to large extent commandments…
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER96% of users find it useful
Termans Torah Garden
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Terman's Torah Garden"

Institute Termans The Torah Garden Torah and garden are two words rarely used together within the same sentence. However to the poet PhillipTerman, the two words show case creative tension. Torah is the first five books of the bible which form the foundation Judaism. The books are to large extent commandments which Terman juxtaposes with unregulated existence, nature and wildness. Terman presses two things together which normally would not go together and is able to arrive at something rarely achieved in poetry; peace coupled with joy, sense of homeland and contentment.

Unlike many other Jewish poets, Terman places Jewishness at the centre of his work in the book. Throughout the book, Terman makes reference to Jewish traditions, customs and way of life. From the poem “The Torah Garden”, Terman makes reference to a tradition performed among the Jews on the turn of every New Year “I sound the shofar for the New Year and in this suspended time, my life is focused in my mouth, lips on the ram’s horn I purchased in Jerusalem,”(p. 20). Terman like so many other Jewish writers longs to be back in Jerusalem, to the cradle of the Jewish people.

His longing is further demonstrated in the poem “Among the Unspoken Names” stating that “we would be like them, we would turn into the book completely, we would walk around the garden seven time, out of some obscure longing,”(p. 23). Though a third generation Jew, Terman is able to experience Judaism without really living it and by writing about Judaism he is able to feel the power of it. Apart from the sadness that comes from being away from his homeland, Terman is faced with other challenges and calamities.

The second section of the book titled “to A Scientist Dying Young” talks about his late brother. From the books, the reader gathers that Bruce, Terman brother, was a talented scientist killed one day as he went for morning run by an oncoming vehicle. A poem like “To The Woman Who Killed My Brother” is heart wrenching and brave as he tries to make sense of it all and move past the pain. However, Terman has found a way of escaping the torment that life deal people. The only place that one can find peace, content and a feel of home is in the mind.

In the mind, a verbal garden complete with plum blackberries, fresh corn and ripe red tomatoes can exist. In the poem “the torah garden”, the speaker awakens the city through the sound of the shofar, to rise up and create a kingdom in their mind and open themselves to the possibilities that life holds for them. Like the New Year, the speaker is calling people to a renewal which arises from the dream, darkness and night soil. Despite the pain, longing or suffering that people may endure, they should open up themselves within their mind, create a paradise and enjoy the peace that comes with it.

He calls the audience to “ open your eyes up to the only moment there is, this stillness, their garden hanging like the last blast of its bellowing breath”(p. 20). Good sumacs by Jeff Grieneisens compares to the torah garden in that the themes focus on elements of nature, religion,, family and personal growth. Through imagism, the writer aims to express his opinion of the circumstances of his life. Like Terman, Grieneisens longs for his hometown in Pennsylvania. He has moved to Florida because of his career.

Florida is nothing like his home city saying “here the dirt is sand….lakes teem with anhinga that do not sing”(p. 56) from the poem “The Distance Is Debilitating”. Being away from Pennsylvania has even made it hard for him to write and he would rather be back home where he is able to stare at the stars that his great grandparents looked at. In the poem “Momento Mori” , the speaker would like to find a man that would write down what he really feels that though he is happy to be alive, it should not be in Florida.

However, as the book ends, the reader is taken through a journey where he or she finds themselves. Through the journey with the book, the reader gets to understand that no one knows what tomorrow looks like through such poems as “Back to Dust”. Like Terman, Grieneisens observes that all we have is now and hence we should be able to enjoy it and eventually one will find the answers they are looking for. Works cited Terman, Philip. The Torah Garden. Pittsburgh, PA: Autumn House Press, 2011. Print.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(Terman's Torah Garden Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words, n.d.)
Terman's Torah Garden Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words. https://studentshare.org/literature/1776753-termans-torah-garden
(Terman'S Torah Garden Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
Terman'S Torah Garden Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words. https://studentshare.org/literature/1776753-termans-torah-garden.
“Terman'S Torah Garden Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”. https://studentshare.org/literature/1776753-termans-torah-garden.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Terman's Torah Garden

Viewpoints of Judaism by Abraham Geiger and Samuel Raphael Hirsch

He grew up in a strong Jew foundation, his father who was Staunch Jew and his grandfather founded Talmud torah in Hamburg.... They believe the torah is verbal communication between Moses and God on Mount Sinai, in 1312 BC.... However, Reform Judaism does not believe in torah divinity.... It views torah divinity as infallible (Neusner, 5) Function and status of women differs in both branches of Judaism....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The problem of snails in a suburban garden

When I started my organic garden in the suburb, it was a barren wilderness.... hellip; I put all the kitchen and garden waste in the pit and covered it with soil, turning it occasionally.... n three years, the garden had become green and luscious.... Birds like the robin, the hummingbird the barbet,and the crow pheasant were constant visitors to the garden besides the honey bees, and chipmunks.... Running Head THE PROBLEM OF SNAILS The Problem of Snails in a Suburban garden The Problem of Snails in a Suburban garden When I started my organic garden in the suburb, it was a barren wilderness....
2 Pages (500 words) Case Study

Fieldnotes: Solano Canyon Garden

In the paper “Fieldnotes: Solano Canyon garden” the author describes his visit to Solano Canyon garden in downtown LA.... Second, they kept going around several garden plots while the rest are focused on just a few.... Besides, the history of the place may be important, but what I am more interested in is the history that these new people are doing for the Solano Canyon garden....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

The role of Botanical gardens in climate change

The botanists study them to determine their reaction to the climate in the garden.... For example, some of the beautiful plants growing in several front door and towns were once grown in a botanical garden.... Botanical gardens have specific and unique resources which aid in the study of Phenology....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Operation MARKET GARDEN - September 1944

This led to what became know as Operation Market garden.... The fact that there are numerous approaches and systems to the Operation Market garden means that it could be evaluated and... The inherent nature of the war meant that Nazi Germany invaded the entire Europe and fortified their frontiers to prevent the intrusion of the Allies into what they had… After the Nazi military prowesses waxed weaker, the Allies got ready to invade the German fatherland. The Allied leaders had numerous discussions about how to invade Germany because their major frontiers along the border between France, the Low Nations and the With a lot of American, Commonwealth and British troops stationed in London, the unified Anglo-American command sought to find a way of entering Germany....
23 Pages (5750 words) Essay

Banana Garden Poetry Club

Even with the… Husbands in elite families spent a big part of their lifetime on the road travelling, and that was the reason poems written by most Banana garden Poetry Club Presented By Presented To Lecturer Banana garden Poetry Club Gu Zhiqiong was the founder of the Banana garden Poetry Club, although she is not listed formally as a member of the club.... Even with the restrictions, the Banana garden Poetry Club members wrote poems to console their husbands, brothers and male relatives who had repeatedly failed exams....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

DIY garden marketing plan

The company is going to provide a variety of services including: perfect raised bed, that would be ideal for parsley and lettuce; Small-space box for growing vegetable for salad; Votive chandelier; one pot vegetable garden; DIY outdoor shower; flagstone paths; Vertical garden… These products will be beneficial for anyone who wants to add a little more class to their home gardens....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The Amazonian Rain Forest Called Devils Gardens

schumanni ant defense keeps other plants out of the garden by increasing leaf damage to cedar saplings.... Cedar saplings planted inside the garden (ants present) A No B No Cedar saplings planted outside the garden (ants not present) C No D No An alternate testable hypothesis is that Duroia (the genus of tree in the study) allelopathy accounts for the formation of 'devil's gardens', independent of ant defense....
2 Pages (500 words) Assignment
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us