Part one:
Mary Oliver offered a lot of good advice in her Poetry Handbook, so it was hard to pick just two ideas to focus on. My first takeaway was from the Imagery chapter, under the 'some cautions' section where she talks about the purpose of literature. She describes in a beautiful way, "Literature is the apparatus through which the world tries to keep intact it's important ideas and feelings" (108). She took a huge concept and boiled it down to one simple and strong sentence here. The reason we read literature is because it holds something that we want to experience, we can live a million lives through literature. We can understand important ideas through literature and we can feel different ways though literature. Literature gives us an opportunity to learn more about ourselves and more about the world, it's a beautiful thing and Mary Oliver understands this and brings it to life in this section.
My second takeaway was from The Workshops and Solitude chapter, under the section of 'solitude'. This is where she expresses the importance of the working in solitude, "The poem requires of the writer not society or instruction, but a patch of profound and unbroken solitude" (117). This tuck out to me because I feel like it shows the importance of the relationship between a writer and his/her pen and paper. We always stress the importance of Workshops and building the relationships in the writers community, but we must also remember the importance of the writer in solitude. Sometimes it's hard and challenging to be alone with your thoughts and the pen and the paper but that's where the magic happens.
Part two:
I thought it was interesting how Sharon Old's received a lot of criticism for her poems because people thought she was 'too selfish'. I have no problem with the fact that she only writes about her experiences and thoughts. Poetry is for readers, but first it is for yourself. I enjoy reading her thoughts and how she expresses her experiences, sometimes you can learn more about yourself based on your actions to different poems. She really remind me a lot of Cheryl Strayed who starts one of her stories called "The Love of My Life" with the the line, "The first time I cheated on my husband...". It has the shock value and it's a story about her experiences but it provokes several different reactions from readers. If you liked Sharon Olds, I suggest you read it!
The poem, "Sex Without Love" really caught my attention. I think it addressed a subject that needs talking about, especially in our generation. The everlasting fight between lust and love. We've all felt that fight and I like how Sharon Olds just addressed it with no regrets. It was a beautiful poem about a grotesque subject.
I really like the second part of your takeaway from the book about 'writing in solitude.' I am a big believer that our best thoughts and ideas can happen when we are left with just our thoughts and a way to write them down. I just watched a documentary on Netflix called 'Abstract' that follows a very successful abstract artist who designs the cover of The New Yorker magazine. He spends 10 hours a day staring at a blank sheet of paper in silence and most days he walks away with nothing on the sheet of paper. But occasionally, he will have a special idea or design and create something magical. I think poetry can be approached in this same fashion, most of the time our poems are doozies, but every once in a while something special can happen.
ReplyDeleteI loved your take on Olivers Imagery section. How you said "The reason we read literature is because it holds something that we want to experience, we can live a million lives through literature." really helped me sum up the section more and understand it more clearly. Also how you said "Literature gives us an opportunity to learn more about ourselves and more about the world.." really stuck out to me and it is so true!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your takeaway on solitude because I always feel like I never have enough time alone to write what I feel, and writing in a public place feels forced and fake. I'm always trying to carve out more time for writing.
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