Kalamarka “Mamita”

The sun rises from the frozen plateau

with its dress worn by the years

The air of the wind of the plateau

direct little sheep to the mountain range

To fight against this though life

the coca foliage solely helps you

Beautiful mother your eye pouches are a pride of the motherearth.

Mother, you pray for the earth,

even the moon stays silent.

It doesn’t speak of the neither the sun nor the rain.

Where could your lost dreams be?

A callus sole has form

On your grounds, dust by the frost

Your womb, you breast wrinkled

Just like the earth that has given plenty of fruits.

Even though this life is hard,

Your body radiates of this love.

You leave dancing on your plateau

Like the star wara warita

The moon reflects you black locks

Woven with silver threat

Kalamarka is a band from Bolivia that plays lainamerican music, this song in particular I think is directed towards the Andean women of Bolivia. The original song is in Spanish but I was able to find its translation. I think it’s not literary talking about mothers, rather, I think it is a word that describes women of the Bolivian plateau.

            I would consider the song to be almost poetry because for example they used personification when they described the frozen plateau to have a dress worn by the years. It could also be a metaphor, for saying that the land has been used to plant crops for many years.

            Another personification and metaphor can be found, “Even the moon stays silent. It doesn’t speak of the neither of the sun or the rain.” The moon does not speak so this is definitely a personification. Furthermore, I think it is a metaphor for saying that it doesn’t rain or shine on the Bolivian plateau.

            I think the whole song creates a visual imagery on the listeners mind. It creates an image of the hard working Andean women of Bolivia. We can clearly image these women to be hard working women, and even though “life is hard,” they still radiate with love.

            I personally love the last line, where they say ‘You leave dancing on you plateau Like the star wara warita The moon reflects your black locks Woven with silver threat,” This creates an imagery in my head of a woman dancing her way home after a longs day of work.

here a link to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwH7dhQeQSk

Spring Snow by Arthur Sze

A spring snow coincides with plum blossoms.

In a month, you will forget, then remember

when nine ravens perched in the elm sway in wind.

I will remember when I brake to a stop,

and a hubcap rolls through the intersection.

An angry man grinds pepper onto his salad;

it is how you nail a tin amulet ear

into the lintel. If, in deep emotion, we are

possessed by the idea of possession,

we can never lose to recover what is ours.

Sounds of an abacus are amplified and condensed

to resemble sounds of hail on a tin roof,

but mind opens to the smell of lightening.

Bodies were vaporized to shadows by intense heat;

in memory people outline bodies on walls.

            This poem caught my attention because when I say Spring and Snow together it just didn’t seem like they would go together, because you usually see snow in the winter not spring. Furthermore, there is a big contrast in the title because when I think of snow I think of cold, winter, discomfort, and when I think of spring, I think of water, green mountain hills, dancing, laughing, rebirth and many other happy things that do not associate itself with snow. 

Pablo Neruda's Ode to Sadness

            I thought ode to sadness would be interesting to read because all of us have faced sadness some time in our life. I thought the poem was semi clear, meaning that it was hardly ambiguous. When he says “scarab with seven crippled feet, spiderweb egg, scramble-brained rat, bitch's skeleton,” I think he is trying to describe what sadness is, and at the same time create an image of how horrendous sadness is to him. Which I would consider to be a hyperbole, an exaggeration of what sadness really is or could be. Neruda also uses emphasis when he tells sadness more than three times to go away. He uses words to convey an image that he does not want sadness to enter his thoughts. Some of the words portray a grotesque image (i.e. “bitch’s skeleton”, “I will wring your neck,” “I will stitch your eyelids shut”) So we clearly get an image of this person who does not want sadness to enter his/her thoughts, and he/she will do anything to keep it away his/her thoughts. 

The Vantage Point by Robert Frost

I chose this poem because the title gave me an imagery of a person standing at one particular spot and having accessibility to all that is in front of him without any constrains or impediments. I don’t mean this in a literal way. I am referring to an imagery of the imagery within the poem. A person is standing on a plateau type of lieu, where everything is plane and flat; where trees and hills don’t block the visual ahead. Think of person who is walking a path on this plateau facing down the entire time, if he wishes to see what is ahead of him, then trees and hills will not be in the way to block his visual of what is ahead. Therefore, he doesn’t have to walk facing down; instead, he has the advantage to see what is preceding his path and can walk it facing up without barriers.

IF tired of trees I seek again mankind,

Well I know where to hie me—in the dawn,

To a slope where the cattle keep the lawn.

There amid lolling juniper reclined,

Myself unseen, I see in white defined

Far off the homes of men, and farther still,

The graves of men on an opposing hill,

Living or dead, whichever are to mind.

And if by moon I have too much of these,

I have but to turn on my arm, and lo,

The sun-burned hillside sets my face aglow,

My breathing shakes the bluet like a breeze,

I smell the earth, I smell the bruisèd plant,

I look into the crater of the ant.

Literary Devices used:

Persona:

1.      The author takes the persona of a man who has chosen to isolate himself from society.

Ambiguity:

1.      “I look into the crater of the ant”  

Personification:

1.      “Cattle keep the lawn” he gave a cattle a human characteristic.

2.      “Lolling juniper”, trees that hang in a relaxed manner.

3.      “Bruised plant”, the plant was described as bruised so that we can have an image of a beat up plant.

Visual Imagery:

1.      “Far off the homes of men, and farther still” The imagery is that this person is in a location very distant from society. Maybe that place is the vantage point.

2.      “The Graves of men on an opposing hill”. I think she says graces of men to refer to houses, because houses are like graves in a certain sense.

3.      “To a slope where the cattle keep the lawn.” I think Frost used the word slope, which means a “not flat” surface, a “rising or falling ground,” to convey an image of a place that one would one want to be in.

Round Character:

1.      The author gives the character emotions and they show in the poem. The poem in general depicts an individual who may be going through a process of realization, he is one with his surroundings. He can even smell the earth and smell the plants around him. \

Static Character:

~the character didn’t seem to change at all throughout the poem, but the character may be consider to be a dynamic character because he is willing to change his circumstances in a necessary case, so in that sense he is possibly dynamic.