Great Works of Literature II, Fall 2019 (hybrid) HTA

How does Walcott depict the tension between Shabine’s love of home and his wife and other pursuits, e.g. sailing, diving, writing poetry?

In the poem “The Schooner Flight“ by Derek Walcott, the author uses the main character Shabine, who was one of mixed racial ancestry, to express his own life experiences. Shabine is torn between remaining on the island and not exploring the ocean or leaving the people he loves such as his wife and family because of his love for the sea. However, he is unable to love his family because it reminds him of how unaccepted he is in the world. Due to his disappointment with post-colonialism on the island and his inability to love his home without disgust, Shabine journeys to the Carribean in search of his identity. Walcott uses metaphors and imagery to add depth to his work and convey how the speaker feels when he leaves the island and his lover behind. For example, when he is on sailing, he realizes that the sea contains a human past. While he is diving, he has a vision of God and hears a voice telling him to abandon his wife. As the water moves up and down, so does Shabine’s emotions when nostalgia and memories are recollected which causes him to struggle throughout his whole journey.

In the poem, The Fist by Derek Walcott, he depicts love as a strong feeling plunging into his physical self. He describes it as being a “strong clench”  and that he is “gripping to the edge of unreason” (Walcott,3). With these short stanzas, Walcott expresses the feelings of losing someone so important. His words reflect the exact emotions that people go through in a short but strong manner. When reading his poem, it brings back memories of past heartbreak which is an emotion he intends to reach for. However, he does acknowledge that this is a way to recover from heartache. He states that “This way at least you live” which is somewhat relieving because the reader then can assume that the poet is going through the steps of grief (Walcott,3). This summarizes that in the end, the experience of getting through hardships is what allows one to grow and live on.

How does the poet bear witness to tragedy or more difficult aspects of human life? 

How does the poet bear witness to tragedy or more difficult aspects of human life? E.g. in Amichai’s case, the most obvious example is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; in Walcott’s, it’s the long aftermath of imperialism, colonialism, and racism on the Caribbean.

In Yehuda Amichai’s poems, Amichai highlights his journey through difficult experiences faced. Amichai focuses on the theme of nostalgia and losing loved ones. In his poems, “The School Where I Studied” and “Try to Remember Some Details”, Amichai focuses on the past and theme of nostalgia by making us experience his past through vivid descriptions such as “Try to remember some details. Remember the clothing of the one you love” and “I’m still studying it, I’ll go on studying till the day I die. I stood near the school building and looked in. This is the room where we sat and learned. ” These poems focused on the theme of nostalgia but aimed at reminding us that the past is the past and we should continue on with our lives to create new memories. Also in his poem, “What Kind of a Person Are You”, Amichai says the phrase “Arrows do not direct me. I conduct My business carefully and quietly Like a long will that began to be written The moment I was born” which aims to send a message that life shouldn’t be followed with strict directions, you should follow your own path and create your own trail.

In “An Arab Shepherd Is searching for his Goat on Mount Zion,” there are two main characters, the Arab shepherd and a Jewish father. The poem revolves around both characters experiencing a tragedy; the Arab searching for his goat, and the Jew looking for his son. Both climb two hills, hearing each other at the top. The climbing of the hills suggests the struggle each man is willing to go through in order to find their loved one. Although the author suggests the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is present during this poem, both men choose not to fight, but rather work together to find their loved ones, even laughing and crying once they were found. This shows that while there can a major cultural conflict, it can be disregarded if a personal tragedy is also occurring.

How does the poet bear witness to tragedy or more difficult aspects of human life?

In “God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children”, Yehuda Amichai first starts off by making a claim that God does not pity adults, rather god pities children. This can be very synonymous to how children are not exposed to the cruel harsh world until they are adults. The poet believes that god only cares for some, but not for others. Here, the poet is relating it to his personal life. He has witnesses a war and questions how God can care for one side but not the other. In the end, Amichai says ” their own happiness will protect us” implying that the side that God does not pity will have to survive using their own happiness.

How does the poet bear witness to tragedy or more difficult aspects of human life?

The speaker states that adults are left without someone to look after them. He wants to indicate that Jews had gone through many hardships, e.g.,  the Holocaust. The poem is cynical at first. God turns his back on adults, unlike children.  This suggests that God is only benevolent toward the innocent. The adults that truly need the help may not receive it. The poem takes a more positive turn after the second stanza. He suggests that God does want to help his people. As long as grown-ups truly love him, God will lend out his helping hand. Love is the only way to reach euphoria.

How does the poet bear witness to tragedy or more difficult aspects of human life? 

In “The Diameter of the bomb” Yehuda Amichai explained the specific tragedy that has happened and he was present there. At the beginning of the poem, he mentioned how far and how it affected people by using numbers to make us see a clear picture of that moment. He also mentioned specific numbers of dead and wounded people to let us know that this was a hard life for many people because they were losing people from their families. He also mentioned a woman who was buried in her city. In this part of the poem he wants us to see that Instead of feeling safe and protected in their city. They are buried one after another in their own city because of these tragedies. At the end of the poem, he mentions the crying of the orphans. Where he said, “ And I won’t even mention the crying of orphans that reaches up to the throne of God and beyond”. Here, he describes the pain that the orphans were feeling, a feeling of knowing that they would not be able to see their parents anymore. He ended by saying “ no end no god” which means that this tragedy was causing a lot of pain to people to the point that made people feel that it will never be an end to this tragedy and there is no god to make it end. 

How does the poet bear witness to tragedy or more difficult aspects of human life? E.g. in Amichai’s case, the most obvious example is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; in Walcott’s, it’s the long aftermath of imperialism, colonialism, and racism on the Caribbean.

In the poem “The Diameter of the Bomb,” Yehuda Amichai expresses the impact of war. War may be a temporary event that takes place for a certain time period, but Amichai observes the it is an endless impact that affects humanity. At the beginning of the poem, Amichai simply describes a bomb in a detached, mechanical manner by stating the statistics of the bomb being “thirty centimeters” with a range of about “seven meters/with four dead and eleven wounded.” These statistics undermines the capacity of the bomb and makes it seem almost harmless as it further elaborates the limited casualties that it caused. However, Amichai’s past experience with war gives him a deeper perspective of what the true aftermath is. The poem then proceed to talk  about a young woman being killed despite being “more than a hundred kilometers” away. The extensive impact of the bomb is not what it seems and extends further than expected. This seemingly implies that the circle of impact is gradually expanding, further spreading the grieving and pain caused by the war. This implies that people and places are connected and it will impact everyone in some way. Amichai also present the harsh facts and the paints the heart wrenching situation that is caused by the war with descriptions of the emotional loss of the man and the cries of orphans. In addition, the constant repetition of the word “circles” emphasizes the ongoing, endless cycle of pain and suffering from the war. With the description of the horrific aftermath derived from the actions of humankind, Amichai brings up the question of whether war is really worth the pain and loss that consumes the living.