Assignment 5 – Attached below as well
Josh K.
Tyler
Rose (Yoon)
Joseph
[A pine is standing alone]
“lonely” – Lonely means to be without company. However connotatively, the word “lonely” elicits feelings of sadness and sympathy from the reader.
“mourning” – Mourning is expressing sorrow for one’s death and it also expresses ideas of both despair and loneliness.
“bare” – To be exposed and not covered initiates feelings of insecurity and isolation.
“enshrouds” – Enshrouds mean to cover or conceal and it can be seen as method of seeking protection.
“dreaming” – A succession of images, thoughts or emotions that pass through the mind initiates feelings of desire and yearning for something that one wants to attain.
“plateau” – A plateau is a large flat area of land that is higher than other areas of land that surround it and the ups and downs of plateaus represent obstacles that must be overcome.
Analyzing specific words in this poem certainly helps construct the overall interpretation of the poem. Through the poem “A pine is standing alone”, Heinrich Heine portrays that situations may not always be as good as they seem. The pine tree in the snow seemed to have it rough, but as he, the pine tree, “dreams” of a palm tree by the beach, we see that the palm tree is also lonely on its hot, rocky terrain. The pine tree desires to be in the position of the palm tree because as a person it has a tendency to view or imagine itself in its favorable light. However, the pine tree is not aware of the palm tree’s suffering: it only sees the situation in his perspective. In reality, it is yearning to be in a similar unfortunate situation that it is in already. It is difficult to view the world from a perspective that is outside one’s own but individuals must learn how to put themselves into another person’s shoes in order to make right decisions and have reasonable goals.
Our interpretation that people have a tendency to try to wish better for themselves despite not knowing the circumstances of other situations is a huge issue today. People need to learn to be happy in their own shoes. If something is making them unhappy, they should work hard to fix the problem instead of simply wishing the problem would go away. A quick example would be the people today who are unemployed and depending on the taxes of the wealthy to live. Although these people were brought up with difficult circumstances, there are still numerous jobs available in the country that could provide them with a living. Our complementary interpretation that people should try to put themselves in another person’s shoes before making judgments about them is also significant in today’s society. As human beings we tend to evaluate people and their character based on the first impression we have of them. This is a major problem in society. Humans need to learn to look deeper into others and try to see the best in other people rather than assuming they already know everything. Both interpretations show the significance in the problems with human reasoning.
2 responses so far ↓
JMERLE // Oct 17th 2015 at 1:16 pm
Tyler, Josh, Joseph, Rose,
This is a very thoughtful response. Well done! I quite like your initial definitions, and I find it very interesting that most of your connotative descriptions lead you to loneliness (or to a way to relieve loneliness). I love your interpretation of the poem, too, because it seems to me that you have all reached deeper into this rather abstract poem, to find that it is truly difficult to reach out of oneself and become something (or someone) else.
I like, as well, both of your interpretations as to the relevance to our world. Trying to be something one is not, will never end happily, and contrarily, in order to really know if we want to be like someone else, we need to look much deeper than the surface.
Nice job!
Grade: 10/10.
Brandon Andujar // Oct 17th 2015 at 6:11 pm
Your interpretation of the poem was very well laid out. Each of the definitions were clearly defined and could be easily applied to overall thoughtfulness of the poem. The overarching theme of loneliness is made very apparent through not only the definitions, but also in your analysis. Your interpretation aligns with a moral value, which also makes the piece easier to understand and apply to different works of literature. Your way of relating the piece back to actual society was cleverly done. Good job!