In the first couple of stanzas Hass has a feeling of "grief" and talks about "loss." In line twenty-three Hass says "it hardly had to do with her. Longing, we say, because desire is full of endless distances." From my understanding I believe that he is saying that you must lose something in order to move on. In line three he says "the idea, for example, that each particular erases the luminous clarity of a general idea." This also relates to Ildefonso and his situation. He was deaf for twenty-seven years and did not know it. He didn't know that language existed. Once he started learning language he became more aware of what was going on in the world. Just like Hass lost something so did Ildefonso, he lost his friends (who were also unable to speak) and found himself and a new community to belong to.
Towards the end of the poem the whole mood shifts completely. Hass begins to have memories of this woman he used to be with and his feelings towards her. "But I remember so much, the way her hands dismantled bread." Personally, I think Robert Hass succeeded at effectively communicating. He made his feeling of grief clear by the way he spoke about his love for this woman. Although each individual may have a different definition of a certain word we can all make clear of what they mean.
I truly, honestly do not understand this assignment. I sat through and read every blog post, what exactly am I supposed to be making an argument out of? “Think about the success or failure of language to effectively communicate.” When I read this piece I’m not thinking about effective communication. I’m thinking about a man remembering someone of something he has lost, I’m not thinking about why used the words he used to describe his experience. I’m just trying to understand his experience. Communication is communication; I do not care how it is done. We are going in circles with these discussions in my opinion and I do not see a purpose. Trying to figure out the purpose was frustrating for me. Repetitiveness infuriates me. And that is what all this is to repition I am ready to get to the point. If someone would explain everything to me, as of what this is and why we are doing it I would be completely grateful. I know I probably seem like a huge prick right now but I truly do not understand. Roberts’s poem was beautiful; I really liked his connections with nature. I just do not get how it relates to effective communication.
ReplyDeleteMarina I agree with you completely. I truly believe that the meaning of a word is not always universally known and it subject to other meanings in different context and by the different people who are using it. This is something that Robert Hass as you also stated has pretty much perfected. In the poem he uses vivid words to describe his love for the woman such as "a thirst for salt" and how he talks of "the way her hands dismantle bread". Small things like this tell so much about a person and it takes an intelligent mind to interpret what they mean to the person. Paris I do understand what you are saying too though, It took me a few times to even grasp a little bit about what he was saying and what made it important.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you Marina and how we have talked about different words being significant and meaning other things to you such as the word used in the poem "Meditation at the lagunitas " when he mentions the word "Blackberry " which to my knowledge he is describing his time spent and feelings for the woman he mentioned that he "the way her hands dismantled bread," to show that he is reminiscing about the times spent with her as where the word blackberry to us may mean a phone or a fruit or smell or a few other things ..I'm not sure what the author was trying to say, but we have Spoke about language being needed or not needed in the past to communicate so.
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