Robert Hass in Meditation at Lagunitas
expresses the loss of language as somewhat of a helpful thing. Robert could not
empress the way he felt about the woman he loved, solely with the language we
have. “I felt a
violent wonder at her presence like a thirst for salt, for my childhood river,”
he says, after talking about making love to a woman, this is how he remembered.
Hass did not remember by words that were said, he associated the feeling he got
from this woman with the feelings he got from fishing as a young man. In this
instance the loss of language was what was best for this situation. Had Hass
used actual language, the feelings would not be the same, language would have
deprived him. Yes, Hass used language to explain his feelings to us, but his
initial feelings did not come from language. Earlier on in the poem, Hass talks
about how language is old, “All the new thinking is about loss in this it
resembles all the old thinking,” and thinking about language is just looking at
the past.
For Ildefonso however, the loss of language did not affect him until
after he acquired language. Ildefonso was content with his life, not knowing
what language was, he communicated with his deaf peers just as if nothing was
different, because to them, nothing was different. It was not until years later
that the loss of language affected Ildefonso. After learning actual language
and being able to communicate with non-deaf people, he realized he could no
longer communicate the way he had with other deaf people. His language was
lost, gone forever. However, Ildefonso did not seem too upset about this loss;
he felt that though he lost a language, he gained a much more beneficial
language and the ability to understand and actually communicate with others around
him.
I would just like to first say that I completely agree with your statement and view toward the article. I believe that the way Hass described the use of language, most of it as unnecessary. In today’s world somewhat might agree that language is outdated. In terms of showing how you feel about something or someone language can simply get in the way. Illdefonso experienced language for the first time and was amazed at the world he was missing. However, at the same time he loses any type of communication toward his peers. Can he fully acknowledge that it was worth it?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your statement and view towards loss of language could be beneficial. The loss of language effected Robert by he could still express himself and his emotions without language which is very I beneficial because he didn't need a language. Because language does change things and makes things different to when there is no language. In Addition, Ildefonso didn't even know was language was at first, he was still able to communicate with his peers and I do agree nothing was different with or without language.
ReplyDeleteBrennan, this interpretation of the poem is by far my favorite of all the other posts. I feel like you have the best understanding of how Hass views the loss of language, but i think you glanced over one part in particular that I feel really adds to the understanding of his views. In lines 12-16 he tells of talking to a friend the night before this was written, and says that everything can dissolve, making the notion that when explaining something there is a 'common' form of speaking. "justice, pine, hair, woman, you and I." this list is saying that at the base, each of these have one meaning. What Hass is making apparent to me is that each of these words also have a very personal meaning to everybody as an individual. Nobody else thinks of "Timothy Fuller" when they say "I", justice is hardly ever black and white, to me it can mean someone losing the 20$ they stole, whereas to others it means that same person gets 40$ stolen so they can truely understand their loss.
ReplyDeleteother than this, i do believe your interpretation is the best one for me to be able to comment on. :)
I agree with your analysis that Robert Hass was conflicted throughout his poem with the inability to place certain experiences with words – or language. However, you entered in to his paradoxical theme of the excerpt, which will trap and displace your understanding of what the speaker was actually trying to convey. By reviewing Hass’s structuring of this piece, it becomes obvious that to get his meaning across he uses a plethora of imagery and emotionally driven metaphors, which is initially counter-intuitive to his higher placement of experience over the language used to describe it, but makes sense when considering the two lines, “There are moments when the body is as numinous as words, days that are the good flesh continuing”, where he introduces the variable of time into his problem. By comparing the body to words and days to ‘good flesh continuing’, he’s stating the only true difference between experience and description – time. While it’s almost impossible to imagine a year and comprehend it based solely on words, a mere few seconds of an event can be easily described and understood if done properly, which relates back to the more introspective idea that human experience is done through so many senses, and can be absorbed so well, while communicating to any other person the same thing becomes almost impossible because the relation of perception to words is equivalent to exponential and linear. All-in-all, Robert Hass is sorely struck by his realization, but surrounds himself with imagery concluding to tranquility and overall indifference to the conundrum, which can only mean that although language is limited in its effectiveness, it must do to satisfy the infinite amount of experiences that we are exposed to.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis, I believe however that language succeeds and fails, depending on the person. Each person has their own unique perspective of the world and their own experiences, creating different meanings of language. Even if every single person spoke the same exact language, the words won’t always have the same meaning. For others, language has no real attachment to our emotions like our body language does like it did for Robert Hass as he stated, “There are moments when the body is as numinous as words, days that are the good flesh continuing”. For example, Ildefonso went 27 years without knowing there was a such thing as a language. He understood the world in his own unique way, when he did discover language, his world became more clear than it had before, he was able to communicate with others as it allowed him to finally connect to the outside world. In order cases like the Tower of Babel, where everyone spoke the same language, it failed them when they lost their power of communication since God had damned them with all different tongues. Language fails us but however when we learn our own form of communication, it succeeds in allowing us to see the world in our own way.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement about the article. The use of language is not able to express feelings as well as actions. The author would most likely agree with the cliché; “Actions speak louder than words” which he very clearly expressed throughout this poem. However I do believe that language can be greatly used to express feelings and most definitely capture a moment beautifully. Being a music major, I sing plenty of songs and although music is already beautiful to me, there have been numerous times where the text of the song speaks to me so deeply and causes me to fully understand and cherish the beauty of the song. Therefore, I believe language is very important.
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis, I completely agree Robert Hass is expressing his feelings as best as he can but our language simply cannot express every interaction in the detail of living it. Which in turn must mean that you cannot understand any feeling with language alone you must live you life and feel these feelings yourself. Language hasn't necessarily failed or succeeded in this regard. IIdefonso went an entire 27 years without language and he was fine with it. It was only till he attained language did he have any realization of what he was missing in life. It's the same with this if you've never felt something how can you ever understand it, much less feel it. Lamguage is just an interpretation of experiences it may fail us in the communicative regard but that just because how we interact with the owrld is so much more advanced.
ReplyDeleteYou say that Hass’ feelings were not initially expressed in language, but his conveyance was. I agree, and would also like to add that Hass uses imagery and metaphors to express his initial feelings in both anecdotes regarding his friend and his former lover. You mentioned that Hass used his memories as a young fisherman to describe his feelings with his former lover. This ties to what you say Hass experiences a loss of language. Rather, I believe that this is more relatable to the situation of the mouse and the white room. Because there is no connection between language and the emotion experience, Hass has difficulty expressing his initial feelings into the structure of language.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do not agree that Ildefonso is a case of loss of language. Ildefonso, born deaf and dumb, was oblivious to the idea and presence of language. From his exposure as a student to Susan Schaller, he gained language and became able to connect to the real world. In the situations of his friends that were also deaf and mute, they had a form of language that was used to communicate amongst themselves. The former friends of Ildefonso created a language similar to the way that the Nicaraguan children did.