In Sharon Olds' "Silver Spoon Ode," she writes a clever poem about her
own wealthy upbringing and her consequent feelings of guilt. She invents
a character near the end, Miss Lucille, who tells her, "And now /
enough, Shar [Sharon], now a little decent silence" (75). This new
character, for me as a reader, created a bit of ambiguity. However,
after reading the autobiographical statement in the back, I felt like I
got a better hang on the poem.
This week, I'd like you to read one or two of the poems that I assigned
you along with the autobiographical statement in the back. How does this
writing about the poem help you understand the poem better? How is it
similar to the author's notes I'm asking you to write each week?
Welcome to the blog for Prof. John Talbird's English 102 class. The purpose of this site is two-fold: 1) to continue the conversations we start in class (or to start conversations before we get to class) and 2) to practice our writing, reading, and thinking on a weekly basis in an informal setting.
It gives the reader a better understanding of what the writer is trying to portray in their writing. It can also give insight as to what the writer was thinking or feeling while writing. These are some of the qualities that our author's notes should also include.
ReplyDeleteThe statement in the back was helpful to understand the poem and its similar cause help to have better idea of the authors botes activity .
ReplyDeleteThe more you read poetry, I feel the better of an understanding you can get. Poetry is the hardest for of text to interpret. When writing poetry you can not write down every thought. You can only write down certain ideas in every line of every stanza and in the end it can be all connected in one way or another. Reading many poems can help you to in the end effectively write your own poem.
ReplyDeleteThe writer of the poem "Silver Spoon Ode," uses a story telling style to write the poem. This style makes it easier to interpret what is being said. I am not certain what the question is asking, but the author's notes provides questions that asks the reader to address certain issues being told in the poem. The reader therefore has to do some interpretation. In the "Silver Spoon Ode" poem, however, interpreting is probably mot as difficult since the poem is written as a story except for the ending.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the autobiographical I was able to understand the poem a bit better. I was able to know that she grew up in California. Of course, poverty lies in each state and country but, when I think of California I look at it as a wealthy state, as many may look at New York. the statement in the back also helps have a geographical idea of where she is talking about and why she included mountains in her poem, it helps me imagine the location. It is similar to our authors notes because we are also supposed to give a bit of background information for our readers at the end, just like they do.
ReplyDeleteNice response, Suzette!
DeleteAfter reading the poem "B.F.F" by Hieu Minh Nguyen (on pg 68) I can see that he was very frustrated dealing with the girl he describes as Amanda. He says that he would analyze basically. her every mood and was aggravated because he felt she was ungrateful. After reading the statement, I was able to understand that Nguyen says that we was always after the things that he could not have which frustrated him a lot.
ReplyDeleteThe poem seems to be about gender identity, doesn't it?
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