It is not uncommon for people to love something that could destroy them. Many people harbor dangerous vices. These vices are always double-edged swords, for they deceive people into feeling comfortable and euphoric, yet in reality, they corrupt. In the poem "Thou Blind Man's Mark," Sir Philip Sidney characterizes desire as the double-edged sword: it is something people seek, yet a vice that destroys those who seek it.
Sidney starts by comparing desire, an intangible feeling, to something tangible, such as a "blind man's mark" (1), "snare" (1), and "scum" (2). These objects, which convey feelings of fear, dislike, and banality, make desire seem more substantial, like any object that people might desire. He builds upon this metaphor by describing it starkly, claiming that desire has a price of a "mangled mind" (6). This image makes desire seem as something that twists and kills reason. Perhaps that is why many people desire desire - their sense of logic is diminished, and their wanting has driven then to sleep (7). Sidney reuses the imagery of death, seeded by the use of the word 'mangled,' by ending the poem with a confession that he "[desires] naught but how to kill desire" (14). Similarly, Sidney links the image of sleep to the bigger picture: the title of the poem. Those who are asleep cannot see, just like a blind man cannot see. Desire, he complains, makes us all blind. It forces the mind to prepare for "higher things" (8). Sleep and death are two symbols Sidney uses to describe desire's effects.
On a broader scale, his word choice throughout is purposefully chosen, powerful. Sidney describes his pursuit of desire as "vain," as his "ruin" (9), bringing forward archetypal images of downfall. He strengthens this subtle allusion by bringing up virtue as his savior. Virtue taught him his lesson. The biblical allusions here are strong and give the poem a nearly uncomfortable intensity that matches the intensity of Sidney's feelings. The equally strong image of killing serves to augment this emotion.
Beyond the imagery and feel of the poem, Sidney keeps a fast-paced rhythm to the poem by utilizing a alternating rhyme scheme and keeping the entire poem one compact stanza. The end of each phrase lead into the next, keeping the pace urgent and flowing to parallel the frustrations Sidney feels towards desire. Coupled with frequent alliteration at the beginning, the poem moves quickly and angrily. Within the brevity of the poem, Sidney incorporates repetition for significant words and inverts his phrases to make every statement he makes more heartfelt. Only two words are repeated back-to-back for emphasis: one is "desire" (5), the exact feeling Sidney is lamenting about; the other is "too long" (7), to indicate that desire has ensnared Sidney himself for a period of time.
The overall structure of the poem juxtaposes the two contradictory feelings Sidney has toward desire. Yes, the poem is sufficiently punctuated, using commas and semicolons rather than enjambment. Perhaps this is to make Sidney's thought process seem more logical and smooth to balance out the passion of his statements. Yet he only uses two periods. The poem consists only of two complete thoughts. Sidney presents his frustration and dislike of desire in the first eight lines, ending this outpouring by stating, "[A]sleep though hast me brought, / Who should my mind to higher things prepare" (7-8). He then very quickly transitions to a deceptively hopeful tone, using a quick "but" to switch the direction of the poem. In the very last line, Sidney declares his vengeance toward desire. He wants nothing more but to end it.
"Thou Blind Man's Mark" is a multi-faceted poem that elaborates on the irony of Sidney's feelings on every level. The overall structure of the poem builds on the comparison of the two feelings, and more intimately, to show the passion of Sidney's overall attitude. The complexity is completed by using overarching motifs such as death and blindness that span the entire poem.
Reflection:
My poetry essay is far from perfect, but I honestly think I did a much better job with it than my prose essays. Perhaps this is because poems are generally shorter than prose passages, yet I had about the same amount of time to analyze and repeatedly comb through the poem before I began reading. Perhaps this is because poetry reads more like music to me, and music is familiar, an old friend. (I was rereading my biography and realized that I wrote that I'm "always open to discussing the intricacies of compositions." I suppose this holds true for poetry too!) My thesis was complex enough and strayed from the typical "Author ____ shows ___ through ___, ___, and ___." I had a good understanding of the complexity of Sir Philip Sidney's own feelings towards desire. He is vitriolic at first. The name-calling shifts into a personal concession: he has been the victim of desire himself. The poem ends with the ironic statement that he desires nothing except to kill desire. I recognized all of these aspects of the poem and mentioned them in my essay. I analyzed the structure of the poem thoroughly, even though I didn’t drop any good poetic terms. My analysis of Sidney’s word choice and symbolism was lengthy and detailed as well, and I took the time to make sure I noted and elaborated on Sidney’s reasons for using particular symbols. However, despite my seemingly better grasp on writing poetry essays, I know there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Obviously, I don't know poetic forms well. I never recognized that
the poem was a sonnet, which in retrospect is quite embarrassing, since 1) look
at the time period 2) and then at the poet himself (Sir Philip Sydney certainly wasn't a
20th century modernist) and 3) and then the fact that I basically listed
structural characteristics of a sonnet but never went and said it. That's
something I need to improve on if I want to demonstrate my technical competency.
My first goal, then, will be to
familiarize myself with poetic forms and technical terms over the next month. The glossary of the 5 Steps book has every type of form that
could be encountered on the AP exam. As long as I memorize how each form is structured
and can identify poems in this way soon, I will be available to show a deeper
understanding of future poems in the technical parts of my analysis. I will
work on this goal by memorizing the definitions of each poetic form through
Quizlet and actively searching out examples of each form. Hopefully I will
be able to read a poem and immediately think, “Oh, this is a ____!” soon.
Another part of my essay that bothered me upon rereading were my
weak transitions. When I was writing, I had this grand idea what I would start
by analyzing the poem on a small-scale (individual words and phrases and the
importance of specific words and phrases) and back further away from the text
until I was analyzing at a broad, overall, structural level, a gradually
zooming-out of sorts. Naturally, I decided that using quick turnabout phrases
such as “on a broader scale” and “beyond” would be sufficient, since the
structure of analysis would glide my essay forward. In retrospect, my transitions
are still a bit hurried and the way I wrote my essay contributed to the overall
cohesiveness, but left some parts bumpy and awkward. My second goal will be to be more thoughtful with transitions so
my future essays are more fluid. This is more difficult to concretely
measure. I think I will have to rely on my own intuition that yes, this flows
much more smoothly, as well as the critiques of my teachers and peers on future
essays.
Lastly, I want to incorporate
direct quotes from the selected text more efficiently. In my prose essays,
I lacked in direct quotations, mostly because I didn’t want to copy a whole
sentence from the passage and waste space. However, I quoted much more from the
poem to support my analysis. I feel like some of my citations were unnecessary –
I should probably start by clarifying if I need to cite after every word I take
directly from the text or if I can simplify it by doing something like “___,” “___,”
“___” (1-2). Every textual reference I make needs to be "apt and specific." I don’t think this can be accurately measured by setting a number
of direct quotes to incorporate and sticking to that to the best of my ability.
Like my second goal, this is also more subjective. I will have to measure my
improvement with intuition and peer and teacher feedback as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment