Silliman's Blog

The page that I chose from Silliman's blog that refers to poetry that interests me is the page that discusses History.  While browsing this topic, I saw posts made by Silliman regarding American history, such as John F. Kennedy's assassination, advocacy for human rights and famous poet Allen Ginsberg, whose poem "Howl" brought light to homosexuality in poetry.  These are all changes in history that impacted society and has given us the freedoms we have today.  I believe incorporating history into poetry is a great way to express relevant issues.

Link: http://ronsilliman.blogspot.ca/search/label/history

The Ultimate in Compact Storage Media: DNA Coding (Summary)

The article states that DNA coding is a future form of digital data storage that will be able to hold large amounts of information, and could be considered the file storage utility of the future.  While the article is a little difficult to fully understand, it states that although DNA data can be an expensive alternative, its cost is declining rapidly, which could make it even cheaper than regular file storage devices we use today.  Essentially, one gram of DNA can potentially “store up to 455bn gigabytes: the contents of more than 100bn DVDs, making it the ultimate in compact storage media.”  DNA storage has its advantages, including that it can be copied easily, and still be readable thousands of years in the future.  Unlike using standard binary coding for storing files (0 and 1), DNA coding consists of letters A, C, G and T where A and C represent 0; while G and T represent 1.  It seems as if a lot of further research is required to make this new form of technology a success, and more information and evidence will be needed to convince consumers that this new alternative is better than the existing forms of digital data storage.

Link: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2012/08/the-ultimate-in-compact-storage-media-dna-coding/?woo

Linton Kwesi Johnson

2 Poems by Linton Kwesi Johnson

1.   “Seasons of the Heart”

I loved how Johnson contrasted life with the seasons of the year in this poem.  It was very easy to understand what he was saying and the whole thing flowed very naturally and made sense.  Two lines in particular that I really liked were “life is the greatest teacher, love is the lesson to be learnt” – which shows that in order to learn things, you need to live life.  It is also important to note the structure of the poem.  Each of the four stanzas becomes bigger as the poem progresses.  I also liked Johnson’s use of adjectives to describe each season (for example, “blossoms of spring”, “autumn’s brown” and “icy arrows of winter’s sting”).  Overall, this poem was written in proper English and not in a Jamaican tone, as with Johnson’s other poems in the book. 

2.  “Inglan is a Bitch”

This is a totally different poem than “Seasons of the Heart” and contains many spelling errors that are not correct in English grammar.  It is written in a Jamaican dialogue, with “Inglan” meaning “England”, and “andahgroun” meaning “underground”.  I didn’t find this poem to be very poetic and more of Johnson describes “Inglan” as being a terrible place and describing his experiences there.  It took a while to read as some of the lines had to be reread in order to understand the strong tone of which it was written.  Johnson’s intentional use of spelling words the way he does illustrates his Jamaican heritage and linguistics. 

Susan Howe

2 Poems by Susan Howe

1.  “from Cabbage Gardens”

I found this poem very confusing and hard to understand due to the author’s choice of words, as well as its overall structure.  It made me feel depressed reading it because I found that it was a dark poem that took place near water, maybe a harbor or a lighthouse pier.  Howe writes about herons, ships, a heaving sea, and dark ripples of water which came across as describing this type of setting.  The first half of the poem is written with one to a few words in each line, whereas the second half uses staggered lines with lots of spaces in between. 

2.  “from A Bibliography of the King’s Book or, Eikon Basilike”

Once again, a very difficult poem to understand after reading it three times trying to grasp what Howe was trying to say.  It was still not clear or did not relate to me, for example:

“Election—Vocation—

Justification—

Cape of Wind wreathe   

fame out laughing”

This was one particular part of the poem which really threw me off because I did now know what the poem was about.  It made absolutely no sense.  This poem was also an excerpt of a larger poem so it could possibly make more sense if the whole thing was read.  

E.E. Cummings

2 Poems by E.E. Cummings

1.  “little tree”

This poem reminded me of my childhood, especially Christmastime, which is what the poem is about.  The last line in the fifth stanza “and there won’t be a single place dark or unhappy” reminds me about how I used to feel as a child around Christmastime, that I felt the most happy and secure.  Cummings writes about the tree being dressed up, made beautiful with decorations for all to see which also takes me back to when my mother and I would take out all the decorations on Christmas Eve, and begin decorating our own beautiful tree.

2. “hist whist”

I disliked this poem because Cummings’ choices of words for this poem were awkward.  The poem references witches, goblins, ghosts, and the devil – all which remind me of Halloween that is coming up next month.  I did not like the devil was referred to as “great” in the final lines of poem as it made it seem like the devil was being glamourized.  The devil was also referred to as green, not red like it is usually perceived.   With the final stanza only containing one word per line, it came across like this poem was supposed to be read as a chant.