Kim Addonizio: The Story

My initial reaction to the poem was that it was a narrative about a casual normal family, but boy was I wrong. This poem makes many twists and turns. It starts of gradually and then spirals into what seems to be hate towards a person, and then into an erotic description of two lovers. She mentions religious symbols various times. It is hard to exactly pin point what this poem is about because of the numerous twists and turns it makes. I needed some additional help in understanding what the poem actually meant. There actually wasnt much help on the internet so I researched her writing style. She tends to write about her observations and her portrayal of sensual love, filial feeling, death or loss.This kind of explains why her poem was all over the place. She basically includes all 3 in the poem. I also found out that she likes to write about couples, particularly  young couples and about their love and sensual experiences. The poem was in her publication of "Tell Me." That publication frequently depicts couples in doomed relationships which explains the stanza about her hate for a man. I also read that she likes to actually speak to her readers directly through her poetry. Which kind of explains why she wrote about the normal family and then turned the poem into chaos, so that the reader could relate to what she was writing. To have some evidence to my theory, she once stated in an interview that,"I like poems that address the reader…Poetry isn’t necessarily about communication, but that element is important to me. I go back to someone like Whitman who knew I would be here even though he didn’t know me. He thought about the people who would be coming after him—and he acknowledged them and spoke to them! And I feel that he is speaking to me, he knew I’d be here someday! I love the concept of speaking to people who aren’t even born yet." (Source: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/kim-addonizio) That quote gives me another reason to believe why she has so many unorthodox twists and turns in her work. So that she will be remembered after she has gone,

Walt Whitman: Leaves Of Grass

I first heard of this poem in the popular TV drama "Breaking Bad". I have always wondered what the actual poem about and this project gives me a chance to read it and analyze it. Them poem is very short and descriptive. It seems as if he is praising himself, and finding himself as as person. He mentions his soul telling him to,"come." This gives me the impression that he is very self-conscience. I had to use the help of Cliff Notes to fully understand the poem. They pointed out some key themes in the poem. One was "The Body and the Soul" which he thought that we could comprehend the soul only through the connection of the body. To Whitman, all matter is as divine as the soul. Another theme is Nature. Whitman shares the Romantic poet's relationship with nature. To him nature is divine and an emblem of God. A last theme I want to touch on is the theme of Death. Whitman deals with death as a fact of life. Death in life is a fact, but life in death is a truth for Whitman. My first reaction when I read the poem though, was that , for some reason, he was writing about a connection that he has with another woman. I believe that I conceived that thought because when many people think about loving another person, they call them their "soul mate." I do see where the poem is relating to the connection of the body and the soul. Whitmans poem is very deep and provokes thought of the reader. I really enjoyed the overrall theme of the poem which is" Finding ones true self." because I think that in order to really enjoy life, you must find who you really are and what makes you happy.