An essay that analyzes two poems from an “Interactive” Reader-Response critical approach…
Poetry is a sophisticated approach of mental-freedom at which the labeling and releasing one’s feelings and emotions become adorn and respected by its readers and listeners. There is a way to get inside the mind of a poet; and that way happens to be accompanied with deep discussion, rooted with intelligence and fantasy. It really entails a high-altitude of rationalized reasoning. This is a form of literature that holds valued truth no matter how it is read or perceived. I imagine that the poets of each century, past and present, have given us the innate ability to grasp and formulate their words so that they not only affects how we think, but also the way we feel, before, during and after we have read their masterful pieces of literature.
When I think of great literature and more specifically, great poetry, two names come to mind; Sylvia Plath and Michael S. Harper. These are two poets that have really gotten my attention through their writing styles. It is through their words that I am able to express the values and accept the importance of life and living life to its fullest potential. Metaphors by Sylvia Plath, speaks of an experience of life, through a journey of always having a mindset of expecting life to be, to continue on, and to forever become great. Life itself carries such a unique characteristic and upholds a value safely deemed as being priceless. “A riddle in nine lines (Plath S. 1960 p.733),” quickly denotes a very peculiar form of poetry and it is a representation of life having unique character and color, with useful meaning and imaginative purpose. This became the theme throughout the entire poem and captivated my thoughts immediately to an optimistic alliance between my feelings and emotions. Even the positioning of her words as she wrote, “A melon strolling on two tendrils ( Plath S., 1960, p. 733),” leaves for me a sweet taste of existence and favorable positioning that can be stretched and still hold the agility of a solid foundation. I was deeply moved.
I went on to read Dear John, Dear Coltrane by Michael S. Harper. Within this poem Michael Harper expresses deep emotion and restrained comfort as he writes in the form of a letter or note, to his friend, John Coltrane. John Coltrane happens to be one of my favorite jazz musicians of that era and genre of music. I completely understood every aspect of Mr. Harper’s disposition as I continued to read this poem. It reflects John’s life and explains the rigorous values of his life and how he acknowledges its existence through the art of jazz. “His poems capture the subtleties of jazz – its capacity for allusion, for homage, for wise commentary (Manheim, J. 2002), as noted by James Manheim. I completely agree.
Every corner of John’s life became alive and in full attention, even from childhood on through his adulthood, where he was able to express life freely and admit personal “adventure” through the blowing of his “tenor love” (Harper M., 1970). “Near your father’s church in Hamlet, North Carolina,” says to me that they have history and know each other and possibly since childhood. It’s safe to say that Michael Harper, even as he expresses Mr. Coltrane’s sexual feelings, gave me understanding of where John was mentally and emotionally. He valued life and through song, he captured great experience. “Fuel the tenor sax cannibal heart, genitals and sweat that makes you clean” (Harper M., 1970), explained John dealing with life and yet he was still able to look outside of his current state of mind into giving it truth and value.
These two poems spoke volumes of the true essence of what it means to uphold a great expectancy of life and going after it with precision, determined to be understood and respected. “Boarded the train there’s no getting off” (Plath S., 1960), represents the road to success being too great to get on it only to turn around to past mistakes and misery. Just as in Harper’s poem when he writes, “You plod up into the electric city – your song now crystal and the blues” (Harper M., 1970), says to me that life is not in a position of destitute if you stay focused. It then is in a dwelling place of forever reaching for the newness of life that everyone deserves to experience. These poems have uprooted a genuine and clean foundation of what life becomes through a continuation of perseverance and diligence. Just like poetry, life’s experiences opens up the door to rationalized reasoning and really encourages a greatly respected level of thinking outside of “the box” into a more sophisticated form that values truth and unimaginative possibility.
References
Lynn S. (2004). Literature: Reading and Writing with Critical Strategies
Harper M. (1970). Dear John, Dear Coltrane: Literature: Reading and Writing with Critical Strategies (pp.714-715).
Plath S. (1960). Metaphors: Literature: Reading and Writing with Critical Strategies (p. 733).
Manheim, James. “Harper, Michael S. 1938-“. Contemporary Black Biography, 2002.
