"preface to a twenty volume suicide note"
Sep. 29th, 2013 03:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rimbaud by Amiri Baraka.
1. what is the mood of the speaker in the opening lines? what images suggest his feeling?
the speaker introduces the opening lines in a depressing, resigned manner. the images that suggest these mood can be seen from the line "The ground opens up and envelopes me" which signifies the speaker's lost of hope in his life.
2. what is the significance of the daughter's gesture of peeking into "her own clasped hands"?
the significance of the daughter's gesture of peeking into her clasped hands signals the speaker's own detachment against the act of praying; hence the physical description of peeking instead of the direct act of praying itself. however this gesture as a whole could also signifies the speaker's hope for others to have their own faith still in tact; especially younger generation of his children.
3. what does the title mean? how does it explain the closing line?
the title suggests the speaker's resignation on his life but yet, he has so many depressively repressed feelings that he had to label it as a preface. the closing lines of "Only she on her knees, peeking into [space break] Her own clasped hands" justifies the titles in a way that his notes will always be on-going so long as little flickers of faith albeit not present in him personally keep moving the volumes so as to the twentieth.
4. why does Baraka have three short lines, separated as stanzas? how do they convey the message of the poem?
the three short lines separating the stanzas serves as the studded voice of clarity, which they convey the messages of the poem in an on-point, direct bullet of sudden emphasis in between slow-paced stanzas. they sway the readers melancholically but yet still gripping them right on focus.
5. why does Baraka begins stanzas with "Lately," "And now," and "And then"? what do these transition words accomplish?
these transition words are believed to set the pace of its proceeding stanza; capturing and resetting readers' attention to its following verses as well as serving as a sort of timeline to his narration progress.
6. how does the speaker feel about his daughter? what does she represent to him?
it can be said that the speaker holds his daughter in a careful, precious regard judging from the line of "And then last night I tiptoed up [space break] To my daughter’s room" on how he still feel the need to check up on her despite spending his day wallowing in depression. she represents the beacon of hope for life in general even though he may not believe in them personally for him. in this regard he probably sees whatever faith that he's losing being transferred and striving in his daughter, he's still standing there stuck in his unfinished woes of solemn notes.
Lately, I've become accustomed to the way
The ground opens up and envelopes me
Each time I go out to walk the dog.
Or the broad edged silly music the wind
Makes when I run for a bus...
Things have come to that.
And now, each night I count the stars.
And each night I get the same number.
And when they will not come to be counted,
I count the holes they leave.
Nobody sings anymore.
And then last night I tiptoed up
To my daughter's room and heard her
Talking to someone, and when I opened
The door, there was no one there...
Only she on her knees, peeking into
Her own clasped hands
copyright; LeRoi Jones.
explorations of the text
copyright; LeRoi Jones.
explorations of the text
1. what is the mood of the speaker in the opening lines? what images suggest his feeling?
the speaker introduces the opening lines in a depressing, resigned manner. the images that suggest these mood can be seen from the line "The ground opens up and envelopes me" which signifies the speaker's lost of hope in his life.
2. what is the significance of the daughter's gesture of peeking into "her own clasped hands"?
the significance of the daughter's gesture of peeking into her clasped hands signals the speaker's own detachment against the act of praying; hence the physical description of peeking instead of the direct act of praying itself. however this gesture as a whole could also signifies the speaker's hope for others to have their own faith still in tact; especially younger generation of his children.
3. what does the title mean? how does it explain the closing line?
the title suggests the speaker's resignation on his life but yet, he has so many depressively repressed feelings that he had to label it as a preface. the closing lines of "Only she on her knees, peeking into [space break] Her own clasped hands" justifies the titles in a way that his notes will always be on-going so long as little flickers of faith albeit not present in him personally keep moving the volumes so as to the twentieth.
4. why does Baraka have three short lines, separated as stanzas? how do they convey the message of the poem?
the three short lines separating the stanzas serves as the studded voice of clarity, which they convey the messages of the poem in an on-point, direct bullet of sudden emphasis in between slow-paced stanzas. they sway the readers melancholically but yet still gripping them right on focus.
5. why does Baraka begins stanzas with "Lately," "And now," and "And then"? what do these transition words accomplish?
these transition words are believed to set the pace of its proceeding stanza; capturing and resetting readers' attention to its following verses as well as serving as a sort of timeline to his narration progress.
6. how does the speaker feel about his daughter? what does she represent to him?
it can be said that the speaker holds his daughter in a careful, precious regard judging from the line of "And then last night I tiptoed up [space break] To my daughter’s room" on how he still feel the need to check up on her despite spending his day wallowing in depression. she represents the beacon of hope for life in general even though he may not believe in them personally for him. in this regard he probably sees whatever faith that he's losing being transferred and striving in his daughter, he's still standing there stuck in his unfinished woes of solemn notes.
