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Motif: Madness
At first, I thought this poem chronicled one’s journey to death caused by suicide. However, I find that the “great minds” continuously take part in extremely destructive behavior. Really, this poem seems to chronicle great minds under the influence of all types of drugs and who make harmful decisions in hopes of rejecting society.
Ginsberg’s first line says, “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness…” So, he is saying madness destroyed them but I wonder, what or whose madness destroyed them? Is it the madness of society and institutions that bring them into rebellion? At first, I believed the madness they experience was their own… that their great minds were too much to handle. But, after reading it from a different point of view, I can see that the madness is society’s madness and the rules of society destroyed them. However, blaming society’s madness for the destructive behavior and downfall of these great minds seems passive… like a drug addict who doesn’t understand he/she has a choice and blames everything on the drug. I think we can read this poem from one of two perspectives: Society is what is “mad” therefore making the great minds sane or the great minds are “mad” and society is sane. I believe Ginsberg is trying to illustrate the former.
In my opinion, the beginning of Ginsberg’s poem illustrates the onset of madness. It seems as though he describes college students who just came to the realization that society and institutions hold them in a box and in some way corrupt their minds. This is when the great minds decided to say, “fuck you” to the world. Their behavior is destructive but it is merely their first relationship with drugs and carelessness; they are new to this world. So, they travel around and “lit cigarettes in boxcars boxcars boxcars” and “jumped in limousines with the Chinaman of Oklahoma on the impulse of winter…”. They act on impulse and that is something new to them.
As the poem goes on the destructive behavior seems to be directed more toward government. Ginsberg says, “…who reappeared on the West Coast investigating the F.B.I.,” “…who burned cigarette holes in their arms protesting the narcotic tobacco haze of Capitalism,” etc. In my opinion, their paranoia is growing and growing but I suspect Ginsberg would say they are becoming more and more sane and society is becoming more mad.
Once Ginsberg addresses the direct rebellion toward government I feel as though these great minds, who at one time may have had a purpose for what they were doing, no longer do. I get a sense that these people are now trapped in depression. They have sex with anyone and everyone which is described for about half a page. But, after their escapades with sex Ginsberg describes them walking “all night with their shoes full of blood…” and creating “suicidal dramas on the apartment cliff-banks…”. At this point it seems the only thing these great minds strive for is death or in their case, freedom. There is a lot of mention of time and rejecting it, and searching for eternity. Consequently, their search for eternity leads them to institutions (jail and psychiatric wards) where they are treated as madmen. Also, Part II of the poem references “Moloch” which means something or someone that demands costly sacrifice. I believe these great minds are young minds sacrificing themseleves to this symbolic figure.
By Part III of the poem, Ginsberg refers to the men, not society, as mad. He is in a psychiatric institution speaking to another man, Carl Solomon who is described as crazy and mad. Carl Solomon, and the other madmen, were great minds on a quest for freedom but ended up being locked up. The madness of society drove them to be the madmen.
“What makes this stuff modern?” Modern art follows no rules and nothing is off limits. One can argue modern artists distort reality but perhaps they just create art that challenges one’s views of reality. The Armory Show is a collection of brilliant artists who go against the norms. These artists require their audiences to pick their brains and search for a deeper understanding and interpretation. It is as if these artists look at something on its surface but they create what exists beneath it. Modernists do not depict reality and the world, they depict the mind and introduce alternate realities.
Abastenia St. Leger Eberle created a statuette entitled White Slave. This piece of art depicts a man as angry, powerful, and controlling. The white girl stands naked with her arms behind her back as if she is being held in custody by this man; she is his victim. Eberle brings to light a major issue, human trafficking. Though this was an issue well known, it was never well depicted. She brings to life the nature of men in this line of work and the pain of the young girls. This honest representation of that world was controversial because of its honesty and provocativeness; she said what others would not say.
Agnes Pelton dug deep into her imagination in order to paint mythical worlds. Though paintings like this are more common today, years ago this art defied the odds. Her art was spiritual and not religious. She did not depict God or any monotheistic religion. Instead, she focused on nature and mysticism. Her painting Vine Wood looks as though it depicts a goddess in the nature. She is surrounded by green and animals and looks extremely peaceful. This painting takes viewers into an alternate world and personally, it provokes really peaceful feelings and allows me to escape.
Modern art also includes abstract paintings. Francis Picabia painted Dances At The Spring and it was part of a collection known as the cubist movement. He created images of people dancing by painting different shapes in different colors. All of these shapes come together to project people dancing. The image is not clear at first and it requires people to look at it piece by piece until they can see all the pieces come together to form an image.
These artists were a success because they did not play by the rules. They dared to go deep into their minds and create images and pieces of art that express imagination and different ways of thinking about the world. Modern art pushes us to think outside the box and to open our minds to new perspectives.
The victory for the narrator comes when her husband faints. The man who imprisons her for her weaknesses now shows his weakness. In the end, she is the one still standing (literally and figuratively). However, the defeat is illustrated by the fact that she is still trapped in that room. The room which symbolizes her illness is now what traps her. She has the freedom to escape but doesn’t. She tip toes around her husband. But the victory is still significant because she is still alive; her husband is the one who ultimately was affected by her illness… it brought him to his end.
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant – -
Tell the truth but don’t tell it all. Maybe tell white lies or lie by omission. Truth is capitalized which indicates she is speaking about it as though it is a person. The dashes are like colon. Her first line is the message and then the dashes work as a way to introduce why her message is what it is.
Success in Circuit lies
Success comes if one lies a little bit when telling the truth. Circuit is capitalized, why?
Too bright for our infirm Delight
Success is so bright, it is too bright for us to even fathom. Why is Delight capitalized? It could be another indication of giving an identity to it.
The Truth’s superb surprise
Truth holds a surprise. So, there is a reward which Truth holds.
As lightning to the Children eased
Children find lightning fascinating and maybe scary….
With explanation kind
but that fascination or fear is subdued with a truthful explanation. These two lines kind of serve as her example of what she is trying to say.
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Truth and explanation needs to come with time. Dazzle indicates that the truth may be remarkable.
Or every man be blind- -
Perhaps if every man knew the truth then his imagination would be blind. The truth doesn’t leave room for our minds to wander and ponder different things.
I think the last line is the most interesting. I find that the poem can only be understood if read as one complete sentence and the last line shone a light on the meaning of the poem for me. I think normally one would consider someone blind if he or she did not know the truth; what I took from the last line is that the truth is blinding.
While crossing in the ferry Whitman is in one sense face to face with nature and in the other he is face to face with society. Honestly, I have no idea how this poses a problem for Whitman. Perhaps he is just conflicted with being amongst society in all their “costumes” in the midst of nature which represents being stripped of everything. He does not sense any unity amongst him and nature and everyone else. At the end of the poem he unites his present and his future and nature.
I thought the assignment was interesting and I enjoyed it. I really like using photography to illustrate a person’s words. All the different pictures showed different ways in which people interpreted the writing.
The pictures really give a vibe to the poem. The parts I kind of interpreted as maybe lonely are portrayed as really happy, free, and liberating. So, all the pictures open the poem up for multiple interpretations and feelings.
I have no complaints about the assignment. Maybe next time we could take our own photos.
Whitman’s Conflict »« “Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems.”
The text I chose from Whitman is:
“Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems.” I felt as though Whitman was trying to invite his readers to stop for a moment and take a journey. I imagined the journey would be one best taken alone so I chose the picture of a man walking by himself on a road surrounded by trees on one side and water on the other side. I imagine this man to be embarking on a journey of self discovery.
I chose this quote because I highly believe that people learn things best on their own and through self exploration. A poem or a book means nothing unless the readers can somehow relate to it; the only way to relate to it is if the readers have their own experiences. In relation to my life, I find this section of Whitman’s work very touching. Granted I am young but I have faced plenty of challenging experiences. Until recently, I looked toward anyone for the answers I needed but never to myself. I have spent the past three years really exploring who I am down to the core and during this time, reading and writing have been of huge importance to me. It’s because of my experiences I can read something and feel moved because I can relate. A lot of Whitman’s work thus far has had that effect on me. Without experience, the words of writers and the emotions expressed through their writing would have no meaning.
At first read, I hated this speech. However, after learning about Emerson and dissecting what his work really meant I am a huge fan. Emerson writes, “Colleges and books only copy the language which the field and the work-yard made” (8). Based on the rest of his work in this reading it is very clear that Emerson emphasizes the importance of experiencing life in order to write about it. His quote refers to the idea that institutions and books feed us information and experiences that people came across because they lived, they experienced, they searched their minds, and they wrote about it.
It is great that these books pull us in but institutions teach us that these great authors were the greatest and no one like them will exist again. They teach us about life based on the books other people wrote leaving us no room to experience and reflect on life on our own. This is what limits students’ creative experiences, creative thinking, and creative writing; we are being taught to model “the greats” rather than become great.
“Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems.” »« Previous Post
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I walked with haste through the unfamiliar woods. With my head down and hands in their pockets I dragged my feet along this frightening path. I must admit I shuttered at the little sounds throughout the woods, even the twigs I heard break beneath my feet caught me off guard. So, I trotted on with a bit more caution. I looked behind my shoulder to investigate if some evil lurked behind me and as I slowly turned my head back to position I could make out the figure of a man sitting at the foot of tree. My heart beat quickly for I knew this was the man expecting me. I did not let my nerves get the best of me, oh no, I welcomed his company and graciously accepted him as my guide. This man seemed wise and I feared his wisdom a bit… I suspected he may know my inner secrets. His staff resembled something dark and dangerous and the strange noises in the woods seemed to grow louder and closer. I was all too of aware the danger lurking in the woods so I stopped dead in my path. I could no longer walk side by side with this peculiar man for associating with such an odd person was not in my character.
When first reading Poe’s story I clung to the idea that the narrator was a man desperate to read people and discover their secrets. I believed the man of the crowd was a man so intriguing that the narrator just felt driven to know who he was and what he was about. Just through observation he concluded that this man was one who possessed intense and somewhat dangerous or evil emotion. Since our discussion in class, I agree with the notion that the narrator has an obsession with order and since the man in the crowd represents disorder he becomes equally obsessed with “figuring him out.” However, I also speculated that the narrator, who is recovering from illness, maybe felt he had been close to death in his sick state. The introduction speaks about the secrets men die holding and perhaps the narrator had spent some time examining what his secrets were. Thus, his journey inward also turned outward; it seems as though he is trying to find himself and for some reason knowing about the lives of others comforts him. If he is all knowing he feels in control. I believe his interest in the man is purely driven by his need to feel in control and therfore safe; the lesson he learns, however, is that some secrets, some stories, are not meant to be shared.
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