The Wild Cherry

The Wild Cherry- Malcolm Lowry

We put a prop beneath the sagging bough
That yearned over the beach, setting four stones
Cairn-like against it, but we thought our groans
Were the wild cherry’s, for it was as though
Utterly set with broken seams on doom
It listed wilfully down like a mast,
Stubborn as some smashed recalcitrant boom
That will neither be cut loose nor made fast.
Going-going- it was yet no bidder
For life, whether for such sober healing
We left its dead branches to consider
Until its sunward pulse renewed, feeling
The passionate hatred of that tree
Whose longing was to wash away to sea.

This poem caught my eye because it seemed so story-like in its free verse form. It really could be argued, perhaps, that this poem may just be prose in disguise, but I am definitely not a mastered critique, and would not myself make that argument. I found it really interesting that this poem only had two end-stopped lines, and the rest flows with enjambment. This is obviously why is has such a narrative feel to it. I enjoyed how the cherry tree was personified, and described as being "stubborn" and that it "listed wilfully". The images used to describe the tree as interesting, although I’m not sure if I fully understand them. The phrase "for it was as though utterly set with broken seams on doom" caused some confusion for me as to what this really means in relation to the poem. I interpreted this as the roots being the broken seams that perhaps are uprooted, causing potential doom for the life of the tree. Yet, in response, the tree "listed wilfully down like a mast". This simile seems very realistic, and painted the image of a tree that is awkwardly grown in an unsymmetrical position. I enjoyed the "Going-going" movement of the poem that was ironic, as it is clear that the tree is not moving . What I was truly unclear about, however, was the speakers "passionate hatred of that tree", perhaps because it was not fully upright, nor gone, rather, "whose longing was to wash away to sea". I really didn’t get the overall significance of this poem, however, it was the free verse and imagery of the tree that caught my attention. Perhaps someone can give me a clearer analysis of this poem if you happen to read this blog, because I’m out of ideas!

Distortion of Atwood

This is a Photograph of Me- Margaret Atwood

It was taken some time ago.
At first it seems to be
a smeared
print: blurred line and gray flecks
blended with the paper;

then, as you scan
it, you see in the left-hand corner
a thing that is like a branch: part of a tree
(balsam or spruce) emerging
and, to the right, halfway up
what ought to be a gentle
slope, a small frame house.

In the background there is lake,
and beyond that, some low hills.

(The photograph was taken
the day after I drowned.
I am in the lake, in the center
of the picture, just under the surface.

It is difficult to say where
precisely, or to say
how large or small I am:

the effect of water
on light is a distortion

but if you look long enough,
eventually
you will be able to see me.)


This poem caught my eye because of its shape on the page. Its theme is distortion, and similarly, so is its structure. The most interesting thing is that half the poem is in parentheses, giving the impression that it is less important that the other information given, yet this is where truth is revealed. The image of the photograph is described as being "smeared" and "blurred" , and in fact, so is the poem as a whole. The first line is very factual, perhaps contextualizing the poem: "It was taken some time ago" , straight away giving the picture an ancient, mysterious feel that is further emphasized by the description of distortion. The free verse of this poem gives it a strong narrative feel of the speaker in private conversation with the reader. The poem is broken up into stanzas that include breaks on the page that add to this conversational feel as though the speaker was taking a break and allowing the reader to take it all in. Finally, the poem gives an eerie feeling when the reader realizes that the speaker is dead, and is speaking from what seems to be from ‘beyond the grave’. This is mentioned off-handedly in parenthesis, as if it makes no difference in the description of the picture, yet obviously, has a large impact on the poem as well as the reader. The speaker says" the effect of water on light is a distortion", yet the poem as a whole is a distortion as well.

The Wasteland and Chaucer

During one of my other lectures in English, it was pointed out to me that Eliot's "The Wasteland" alludes to Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales". I found this comparison truly interesting, and thought it would make a good blog, so here it is!

"The Wasteland" by Eliot

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.....
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water...

From the Canterbury Tales "The General Prologue" by Chaucer

What that April with his showres soote
The droughte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed ever viene in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendered is the flowr;
What Zephyrus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
the tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath the Ram his halve cour yronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye
That sleepen al the night with open ye-
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgramages...

Both poems examine the month of April, however, Eliot’s poem distorts the images that Chaucer examines. April, for Eliot, is a cruel month, a painful reminder of infertility, while Chaucer’s April is a lusty, fertile rebirth of animal and man. Eliot uses images of decay, analyzing a "dead land" that includes "dull roots" and "roots that clutch" out of "stony rubbish". His view is menacing and pessimistic, a "heap of broken images" that uses fragmentation and discord. The overall feeling of this passage in "The Wasteland" is dismal and hopeless, summed up in the line "and the dead tree gives no shelter". Chaucer, on the other hand, paints a portrait of April that is filled with unity and wholeness. His April his inspired by Zephyrus’ sweet breath, and has power to regenerate. The birds sing in melodious tones, and the overall feeling is optimism and rebirth.
The comparison of the two solely relies on the idea of April and spring, yet their ideas are so starkly contrasted. Eliot takes the images of rebirth found in Chaucer’s poem and shatters their images, causing a drastically different view of the world during a change of season. Rather than "April with his showers sweet with fruit" as with Chaucer, Eliot states that "April is the cruellest month".

Yeat's Utopia

The Lake Isle of Innisfree- William Buttler Yeats

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the mourning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day,
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

Yeats provides beautiful images of peace and serenity in this poem. Reading it, you cannot escape this overall sense of calm and wish that you yourself could visit a place as beautiful as this. By his use of personal pronouns, Yeats takes the reader to his innermost thoughts and dreams, almost to a point were I felt like I was intruding into a personal diary and stealing its secrets. Yeats juxtaposes so realistically escape vs. reality by informing the reader of his real surroundings on the roadway, and pavements grey. He seems to be influenced by the Romantics in that he rejects the urban in this poem and embraces nature by idealizing it and making it a pure, safe place, one that is to be aspired to. The overall tone is gentility and tranquil that seems to use Innisfree as a metaphor for Yeats’ own personal utopia. The repetition of the word ‘go’ really creates a sense of escape and movement to a place of harmony and balance of nature. Yeats also puts all of the readers senses to work while reading this poem. Not only can the reader visualize this cabin by the lake, but you can also hear the honeybee in the "bee-loud glade" and the veils "where the cricket sings". Yeats also masters alliteration in this poem. The phrase "lake water lapping with low sounds" really captures the sound of the water itself. Finally, what makes this poem so wonderful, is this natural haven in contrast to Yeats’ urban reality. It creates a stark contrast to the greyness of the pavement, and a realization that Innisfree is merely in Yeats’ "deep heat’s core".