Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Robert Hass
I enjoyed Robert Hass because he seemed to just tell it like it is. No noticeable emotion, or surprises, just saying whatever was on his mind in a plain way. And I appreciate that because frankly drama can be a little wearisome. Measure was interesting because it is a self aware piece concerning writing. I felt that Meditation at Lagunitas was a strange poem, as if he was high or something. Except when he talked about the woman, I thought that was touching. My favorite was Dragonflies Mating. I like the narrative format, when the author tells a story. I can almost imagine myself sitting there in front of him, nodding and listening. And when no one knew why the coyote peed away from people when there were no people, that made me laugh a bit. When he said that when he made the free throw it was like killing his mom, it made me feel a little sad, but also disturbed. I like the premise tho. I felt like the one about fear was very basic and simple. The one about the bird and insects was boring. Descriptive poems about nature dont do it for me i guess. Faint Music i also enjoyed. I like how he set it up, then dove into the story of his friend. I was sucked in to his story, and actually wondered why they do call it seafood. I also felt pain momentarily for him when he was getting cheated on. I feel like if the poem actually produces emotion, its done a good job. Overall, I liked reading Robert Hass.
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Robert Frost was one of my favorite readings. I found his reading to be thrilling and though provoking which made it fun to read. I agree with you on how he set's up for the story and then dove into the story with his friend that was a great way to go about it, in my opinion. The Meditation at Lagunitas was a challenging poem for me, but nonetheless very intriguing. I would have to say that was one of the poems i enjoyed most. Robert Frost is very straight forward and blunt which is really great with his work! I really enjoying reading his work. I feel some his work was basic and simple as well but he makes it his own which is very unique.
ReplyDeleteDragon flies mating was also my favorite poem out of the few we were assigned to read. The poem set up reminded me of "13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" by Wallace Stevens, and after reading I could tell it was very different from Stevens' poem, but there is a connection. In Hass' "Dragonflies Mating" I feel that instead of describing different ways to look at them in this act, he used this title because these are all things that dragonflies mating makes him think of. I do also agree that he describes things with a somewhat apathetic tone, and can seem rather emotionless, but I also feel that although he may not describe his emotion in detail, he has moments that show his emotion. When he says "If you're afraid now?/Fear is a teacher." It is obvious he is extremely afraid, but he doesn't go into deep detail. It's a weird thing to do.
ReplyDeleteThese readings were extremely fun to read but at times they were difficult to understand. I feel as if Robert Hass related to his poems, as if he once lost or thought about a previous loved one. In both Meditation at Lagunitas and Faint Music, Hass has the narrator for both poems discuss a certain woman. In Meditation at Lagunitas, the narrator has deep thoughts about a woman who he possibly loved back in the day? And for Faint Music, the narrator discusses a woman who shares love for someone else other than the narrator. This makes you think that possibly Hass had a past love, which didn't love him back. In Dragonflies Mating, it is easy to understand and follow due to the funny short stories from the poem.
ReplyDeleteSince Robert Hass's poems are just a recorded thought process, I thought it would be easy to understand. For some poems it was difficult to see how each subject related to the next. I understand that in our own minds things that don't seem to be related can still remind you if it, but I do not understand for the sake of the audience he didn't make the poems more fluid. Hass's poems went from a couple of the most enjoyable I have read, because of the absence of hidden meanings, to the hardest to understand how the subjects relate. Overall, I think it's an interesting writing style I would like to see other poets attempt.
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