Keat's analysis

Keat’s Analysis

To Autumn

This is yet another poem about the seasons that we encounter.  I like the spring and summer.  I am not a fan of winter and love the colors of autumn.  I liked to pick out lines or words that really struck home when Keat’s describes the feeling of Autumn.  I will describe my analysis of the words that I find have strong meaning.

“Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;”

*this could imply a flower or plant that has already bloomed and has been in the sun for quite some time.  The sun is mature and the blossom is closed and ready for the winter.

“And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells”

*This stanza suggests that it is at the end of the growing season as the fruit is ripe to the core.  It implies the gourd is swollen and will start its decay as the colder winter sets in.

“And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,”

*The last flowers are blooming and the bees are still out gathering nectar.  They are out until the weather gets colder and they have to hibernate.

“Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,---
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;”

*The author is asking where the spring went as he sees winter quickly approaching.  It seems that Keats listens to the music of the springtime with the birds chirping, the bugs buzzing, and the newness of plants emerging from their sleep.  He also talks about the setting clouds that are dying for the day.  The sky turns from its cool colors to warm colors as the sun goes down.

“Then in a wailful choir, the small gnats mourn…
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,”

*I think the Keates saved the best for last in this poem.  I love the way he describes all the animals and insects.  When someone thinks of autumn in a country, they associate the sounds of the animals with the setting.  I can hear the lambs, crickets, and birds on an autumn twilight settling in for the winter.

A Song About Myself

What I found fascinating about this poem is that the word song is in the title.  I read through it once then went back and tried to sing the poem.  I liked the repetition of the line “There was a naughty boy, and a naughty boy was he….”.  It seems like a nursery rhyme like Mary Had a Little Lamb.

I also visualized this boy, like a lot of boys, on an adventure.  He would not stay at home and would not be quiet.  He took a backpack filled with clothes, towels, brushes, socks, and a cap.  He liked to write poetry and run through the mountains pretending there were witches and ghosts.  He would keep little fishes that he would use for bait and wake up early in the morning to fish.

The poem ends with the boy running away from Scottland to discover life.  He sings and looks at nature as he strolls around the countryside.  He is left to wonder about life.  I thought “What would he be wondering about?” and then I tried to see the world as a boy would.  I think he would start to feel lonely and hungry and start to head back home.  Along the way, he would collect more little boy materials like rocks, sticks, and maybe a lizard or two.

Endymion

But this is human life:  the war, the deeds,
The disappointment, the anxiety,
Imagination's struggles, far and nigh,
All human; bearing in themselves this good,
That they are still the air, the subtle food,
To make us feel existence, and to shew
How quiet death is.
from Endymion, Book II, l.153-159.

This yet another one of Keat’s poems that is profound and striking with just a few sentences.  Each sentence has a major impact on the perception of human life.  The first line “But this is human life: the war, the deed, the disappointment, the anxiety” grabs our attention as most humans can relate to what is being said.  Humans experience war either through the television or someone in one of the military branches.  The deed refers to work and we all do work of some sort.  Everyone will face disappointment eventually as well as getting upset and feeling stress.  The next line states “Imagination’s struggles, far and nigh, all human bearing in themselves this good, that they are still the air, the subtle food” which shows the technological changes I believe.  “Imagination struggles” which means to me that everything is done for us.  A computer makes it possible to get all of our spelling correct, cell phones take away any meeting of our friends face to face, and video games are already full of violent imagination.  “All human; bearing in themselves this good” refers to either the goodness all humans have in them or the conceited nature thinking we have no faults. The ending gives us all a wakeup call as it acknowledges our existence, our sins and ultimately our death.  It has a powerful ending which is expected for such a powerful poem by Keat’s.

Ode on a Grecian Urn

Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
    Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
    A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring'd legend haunt about thy shape
    Of deities or mortals, or of both,
        In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
    What men or gods are these?  What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit?  What struggle to escape?
        What pipes and timbrels?  What wild ecstasy?

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
    Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
    Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
    Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
        Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal - yet, do not grieve;
        She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
    For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
    Your leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
    For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
    For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
        For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
    That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
        A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
    To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
    And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
    Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
        Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
    Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
        Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.

O Attic shape!  Fair attitude! with brede
    Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
    Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
    When old age shall this generation waste,
        Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
    Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all
        Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

     Being an artist myself, I pulled up images in my head when it referenced a Grecian Urn.  The first stanza talks about the way in which Keat’s sees the urn with “Flowery tale” and “deities or mortals or both”.  Grecians used their gods on the outside painting of the urn as well as others that tell a story of sorts.  In this stanza he is asking “what men or gods are these? What maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild extasy?”.  He clearly sees a story unfolding and wonders what is happening.  Who are these people?  What are they doing?

     He ends the poem with a thought provoking statement “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”.  I think what this is saying is that how can someone look at the vase and see anything but beauty.  “Beauty is truth” in the sense that it is in front of you and it is true to life.  Look at the beauty… look at the truth…..how can you miss either in this urn?  It reminds me of looking at a rose.  Who can say “That is ugly!”?  I don’t think many people would.  It is the truth and there is no denying it.  Just as anyone would look at it and question the story behind it.  Humans are the same and he ends with “Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”.  I think what he is implying is look for the beauty…. What more do you need to know?

where did all the cowboys go?

Where Did All The Real Cowboys Go?

A cowboys’ life is unpredictable.  In the novel The Brave Cowboy by Edward Abbey an old fashioned cowboy named Jack Burns finds trouble without even looking for it.  He is a loner and his greatest confidant in life is a horse named Whiskey.  Together they run from the law and modern civilization.  Jack wants a life of an old fashioned cowboy as society edges toward the advancement of modernization.  Abbey adequately shows these extremes by comparing and contrasting various subjects in each chapter.

The ironic symbolism I found in The Brave Cowboy seemed to repeat in each of the chapters.  Extreme opposites like: the soft soil and the hard pavement, a loner being chased by a horde of lawmen, the flames from a campfire and the smoke from automobiles, the love/hate relationship he has with his horse, basic human needs as compared to overindulgence, and the set boundaries and wide open spaces.  I believe Abbey used these extremes to drive home a definite point.  Where there is one opinion, there will always be another on the opposite side.    

Jack Burns is an old fashioned cowboy and doesn’t believe the ways of the old    West need any change.  He is disgusted by the removal of beautiful grazing lands to be replaced by buildings and highways.  He travels around on a horse named Whiskey and carries only the essential utensils in his saddlebag.  “The man reached out toward the juniper and pulled a wrinkled beaten old cavalry saddlebag close to his heel, unbuckled its one remaining strap and removed from the interior a black skillet, battered and ancient, then a cylindrical tin labeled Handyman Tube Patching Kit, a can of pork and beans, a punch-type can opener and a slab of salted mutton wrapped in a greasy back copy of the Duke City Journal.” (Abbey 4)

Now days comfort is important to most when approaching an outdoor adventure.  It seems when people camp in the wilderness they take the comforts of modern society like blow up mattress, port a potty, cooler filled with prepared meats, an I-pod, and even a microwave.  As seen earlier, a true cowboy lives off the land and few modern materials.  I am sure one wouldn’t find a wire cutter, rope, or a can of baked beans in a typical R.V. campsite.

Jack Burns is a gentle man with a good heart and mistrust for the law.  He has many strengths and weaknesses in his character (like we all do).  Being a loner may be considered to be a weakness to some and strength to others so the question is two sided in some cases.  Maybe another weakness he faces is mistrust in modern society and the people who abide by the law and its enforcers.  He can’t relate to their way of life but can relate to his horse and his own instincts.  It seems ironic that a cowboy would prefer to hang out with another loner, being his horse, than to trust a group of men supporting the law. I think Burns would have respected the lawmen more if they chased him on horseback rather than in jeeps or in a helicopter. 

Another one of the samples of extremes is the love/hate relationship with his horse Whiskey.  Most of the time he is irritated by the animal and the reader thinks he should find another mode of transportation.  In one part of the story though, Jack has a chance to escape without his horse and decides not to.  I believe it is then that he realizes how important the horse is.  He is not just for transportation but for companionship as well.  The horse is stubborn yet relies on Jack for all the needs in his life.  Jack is upset by the horse yet he doesn’t want to leave him behind.  He finally realizes that he too relies on the companionship of the horse. They share a love hate relationship in which both drink from the fountain of stubbornness just like they drank from the same stream.

     Jack is used to the open spaces where fences are hardly ever seen.  He thinks back to the days where he would go miles and miles without ever seeing a fence.  This is a time when people relied on horses for transportation and wild animals to eat.  The rivers were clean and if followed for a period of time would lead travelers to a large ocean.

     Now, Jack sees signs as he travels along on his horse saying “keep out” or “no trespassing”.  It seems the once open trails are now closed by those with land deeds.  People could buy space to own only to cut out the trees; destroying the dreams for the real cowboys.  The ranchers, essential to the cowboy way of life, eventually ran out of money, and even though wildly opposed to commercialism sold parts of their land to pay for taxes.

     Abbey also introduces a character sporadically throughout the book named Hinton.  Hinton is a semi truck driver and his load contains new bathroom fixtures.  He is headed from the East to the Southwest with the side of his semi declaring “America builds for tomorrow”. (Abbey 41)  He is sick from cancer and lives in his rig.  He stops frequently in cafes and lives a sedentary lifestyle.  His life is composed of living on a paved highway and is probably grateful for newer roads and faster rigs. 

     In one paragraph of the book Abbey brilliantly contrasts the beauty of the land covered by the rotten sound of city noises. 

“Blowing smoke, he watched the blue fumes twist in the downdraft over the water, diffuse and vanish in the cooler air. From where he waited he could see nothing of the city; the heart of it was two or three miles to the south, beyond the trees, fields, ditches and suburbs.  On the opposite bank was a solid growth of willows and beyond that a grove of cottonwoods with golden leaves; nothing more was visible.  But he had left the zone of silence; though he could not see the city he could hear it; a continuous droning roar, the commingled vibrations of ten thousand automobiles, trucks, tractors, airplanes, locomotives, the hum and whine of fifty thousand radios, telephones, television receivers, the vast murmur of a hundred thousand human voices, the great massive muttering of friction and busyness and mechanical agitation.” (Abbey 15)

     Abbey uses words like droning roar, commingled vibrations, hum, whine, murmur, muttering of friction, busyness and mechanical agitation.  The words he uses prior to the plethora of negative connotations is ones from nature like water, diffuse, cooler air, trees, fields, willows, cottonwoods, golden, nothing and silence  To me he paints a frank picture of heaven and hell.

     Jack isn’t the only one that mistrusts the development (or destruction) of the land around him.  His faithful sidekick Whiskey acts up when cars approach and the asphalt is hot and slippery.  She tries to turn back to the calmness of nature.  “The mare spun completely around, a full circle, while the man prodded her with the spurs, flicked her with the loose slack of the reins, and talked to her quietly and urgently.  She tried to turn again, eyes wild and rolling, nostrils flared, slipped and almost fell, finally leaping forward again and off the road to safety.” (Abbey 19)

     So far we have seen the attitude that Jack and his horse Whiskey have toward modern development.  Each has expressed their displeasure in a variety of ways.  Jack mistrusts the law and brakes out of jail trying to save a friend.  He decides to run toward the mountains on his horse where there is a world without boundaries.  He believes that there is a place still untouched by civilization.  Little did he know that running from paved roads, bars in jail, the law, cars and buildings they would face their last days.

       Whether we relate more toward those like Jack (nature lover, humorous, romantic, old fashion, etc) or those like the truck driver named Hinton who drives a semi (sells the newest bathroom product, and drives on a paved high way eating at diners on the way) we are faced with the realities of the two extremes.  Do you like modernization with its fast paced, instant gratification, and confusing ways or do lean toward the old fashioned times of living off the land, long talks, no schedule, and simple ways of life?

Abbey uses the extreme examples to illuminate a part of human nature which is to resist change; although men throughout history embrace change and then complain that life is too fast paced.  Is it better that we are able to surf the internet, microwave a bag of popcorn, or eat a meal from a drive through at high speeds?  Or is it better to travel around on a horse, hunt for food, and carry the bare minimum of essentials in a small pack?  If you read the book The Brave Cowboy the author gives us these extreme opposites but leans heavier on the old ways of life, like those of a real cowboy.

Sky City

Sky City: Myth, Truth, or Allegory

There is a place found in the desert of New Mexico called Sky City.  This spiritual place is found high atop a bluff and is still inhabited by Native American Indians.  Sky City is the central theme in Willa Cather’s The Enchanted Bluff short story written in 1909 for Harper’s Magazine.  One of the central characters named Tip tells a story about Sky City and its native habitants.  Is the story told in The Enchanted Bluff actually based on realistic facts, just made up myths, is it or is an allegory to the boys’ lives?

Sky city, or Acoma pueblo, is located 60 miles west of Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Acoma is the oldest inhabited settlement in the United States.  It is believed that the first Native Americans that settled there were from the 12^th century.  They chose to settle on top of a bluff that extends upward 357 feet in the desert of New Mexico.  This location made it possible to see enemies approaching from all directions. The natives would use the river below for farming and drinking water for the tribe.  It is said that the only way to the top of the bluff in early times was the use of a hand cut staircase which the hunters would climb to return home.

In the story The Enchanted Bluff one of the characters is recalling a camping trip that himself and 5 other boys were taking at the end of summer.  The river swelled up and made a moat around a higher patch of ground thus creating an island get away.  The narrator’s good friend was named Tip, the son of a grocery store owner.  He worked hard before and after school in the store.  Tip started telling a group of his friends a story his Uncle Bill had told him about an amazing bluff.  The other boys who hung on his every word were named Percy, Fritz,Otto, and Arthur.  The bluff, Tip told his friends, was only accessed by a wooden stepped, rope ladder that overhung from the top.  It is not known if this ladder is actually a true and accurate item used in early times but the hand cut staircase is certainly a fact.  Another part of the story that doesn’t quite match the historical records is the size of the bluff.  Tip told his friends an exaggeration of the real fact. “There’s a big red rock there that goes right up out of the sand for about 900 feet.”  In actuality the cliff is almost 2/3 shorter than Tips version.

          A man named Don Juan Onate, who was a Spanish conquistador, invaded the pueblo in 1598.  The tribes men retaliated and a war began.  It is said that the Spaniards were larger and more equipped for battle then the Indians.  The Spaniards had brought a cannon (a weapon the natives had never before encountered) and had no defense prepared. The power of the cannon and range of the conquistadors muskets quickly dwindled the native population to only a few hundred people.  The remaining Indians were sold as slaves or taken to be reformed to Catholicism.

     One tale Tip recalled in the story was about a violent storm that came when the Indians were off hunting.  When they came back the only access to the bluffs top, the staircase, was severely damaged.  The women and children watched from atop the cliff as their tribal men were killed by a traveling war party that came along shortly after the damage to the staircase.  The people left in the village could not get down where there was food and water.  Tip said “they starved to death up there, and when the war party came back on their way north, they could hear the children crying from the edge of the bluff where they had crawled out, but they didn’t see a sign of a grown Indian, and nobody has ever been up there since.”

               In one tribal story that has been handed down through the generations is of a large storm.  This particular storm stranded elderly women tending the crops (not hunters like Tip had been told) and the survivors on the top of the cliff starved or jumped to their death.  The tribe relocated to another spot on the mesa.  In 1897 a professor named William Libbey is said to have looked for habitation evidence.  He said he found no such evidence.  Shortly after a man named Frederick Webb Hodge made another exploration and did find arrowheads, pottery shards and other native inhabitants’ possessions.  Thus, the great storm talked about in tribal folklore, was proven true.

     The Enchanted Bluff was written in 1909 so if the stories setting is in the same time period for the boys, the cliff has been habituated since.  In 1629 a mission church was built and a road was made to the top of the bluff.  It seems that Tip’s information was somewhat inaccurate when he said that no one had been up there since.  So far the story The Enchanted Bluff is shown to have been based on true facts that are exaggerated which are typical of high school boys.

     I would like to see a side of the story which may be an allegory to the boys’ lives.  An allegory is one which an item symbolizes a deeper spiritual meaning.  In the story The Enchanted Bluff there seemed many parallels in symbols and hidden meanings.  A couple of analogies could be made in just a few of the paragraphs.

     At the beginning of The Enchanted Bluff Cather brilliantly describes the setting of the story.  She describes the lush landscape and how the area became an island for a short period of time “every spring the swollen stream undermined a bluff to the east, or bit out a few acres of corn field to the west and whirled the soil away to deposit it in spumy mud banks somewhere else…. Sometimes these were banked so firmly that the fury of the next freshet failed to unseat them; the little willow seedlings emerged triumphantly from the yellow froth, broke into spring leaf, shot up into summer growth, and with their mesh of roots bound together in moist sand beneath them against the battering of another April.”

     This brief passage is filled with symbolism.  The first words that have a parallel to the young boys’ lives is the word “bluff” itself.  She talks how the island is made by rushing waters and how the water swells under the bluff.  This could easily symbolize the rising demands of the boys to become men.  They seem to be holding on to their youth despite the raging responsibilities that are rising as they finish high school.  The struggle to climb the sides of the bluff seems to have the connotation of pushing the boys to become men.

     Another definition of “bluff” is to lie or mislead someone.  I think Tip may have been bluffing when he said he was going to go and see this magical place.  He knew that they were in Nebraska and to make it all the way to New Mexico would be difficult.  Sometimes it is easier to imagine a place, a magical place, and keep it close in mind than to actually go and see it.  I know when I was young and was going to see the Grand Canyon. I had an idea set in my mind that it was going to be so big that I could not see the bottom.  I was disappointed when, in fact, I could see the bottom.  I believe Tip would be disappointed upon learning his imagined enchanted bluff 900 feet in the air was actually a meager 400 foot cliff instead.  Maybe he never went to see it purposely.

      I also found a parallel when Cather talked about the way the seedlings were coming up each year.  She describes the little trees emerging triumphantly and how they have a growth spurt in the summer months.  It seems to me that the little seedlings again represent the young boys and their growth that is apparent each summer.  Maybe when the boys first met, they talked about bikes or candies.  It seems like the talk they shared this particular summer was one that projected them in the future.  They seem to have shot up in maturity as they discussed distant travel and Indian folklore.

     Another allegory is the roots that seemed to bunch together.  The boys talked as if this was a typical camping trip each year.  They shared personal information and items which in turn “bound” them together.  Any gardener can tell you that the roots are the life of the plant and to try to separate their massive tangle would do damage to the plant.  It seems the boys’ friendship is the structural base for their lives.  They always have the memories they shared to carry them through their difficult times.  They have climbed the sides of the bluff together and even if they were to part ways forever they will have had their roots bound together from their summertime camping trips.

     I have thought whether the story is made up, based on factual evidence or is just an allegory to a deeper story and have come up with one conclusion.  I see the story as a mixture of all three components.  The story is actually based on facts as there is a place in Acoma, New Mexico that houses a huge bluff in which Native Americans reside.  The truth is also exaggerated somewhat as Tip tells a different version of the great storm that happened or the actual size of the bluff.  I think boys generally try and exaggerate to enhance any story being told.

     I also believe Cather was brilliant enough to add in words to prepare us for the story.  These words guided us through each page with repetition and symbology.  How wonderful is it to see her play on words.  She could have been talking about the boys camping in the forest or a cave.  Instead she gives us the parallel of a bluff.  An object that is strong and somewhat unobtainable.  The boys are definitely at a point in their life where they know change is coming and that the struggle is an inevitable part of the equation.  I think Cather purposely wrote the story in a style that makes the reader wonder what the exact meaning is.