#6 Poem

"As I Walked Out One Evening"

W. H. Auden

As I walked out one evening,

Walking down Bristol Street,

The crowds upon the pavement

Were fields of harvest wheat.

And down by the brimming river

I heard a lover sing

Under an arch of the railway:

'Love has no ending.

'I'll love you, dear, I'll love you

Till China and Africa meet,

And the river jumps over the mountain

And the salmon sing in the street,

'I'll love you till the ocean

Is folded and hung up to dry

And the seven stars go squawking

Like geese about the sky.

'The years shall run like rabbits,

For in my arms I hold

The Flower of the Ages,

And the first love of the world.'

But all the clocks in the city

Began to whirr and chime:

'O let not Time deceive you,

You cannot conquer Time.

'In the burrows of the Nightmare

Where Justice naked is,

Time watches from the shadow

And coughs when you would kiss.

'In headaches and in worry

Vaguely life leaks away,

And Time will have his fancy

To-morrow or to-day.

'Into many a green valley

Drifts the appalling snow;

Time breaks the threaded dances

And the diver's brilliant bow.

'O plunge your hands in water,

Plunge them in up to the wrist;

Stare, stare in the basin

And wonder what you've missed.

'The glacier knocks in the cupboard,

The desert sighs in the bed,

And the crack in the tea-cup opens

A lane to the land of the dead.

'O look, look in the mirror,

O look in your distress:

Life remains a blessing

Although you cannot bless.

'O stand, stand at the window

As the tears scald and start;

You shall love your crooked neighbour

With your crooked heart.'

It was late, late in the evening,

The lovers they were gone;

The clocks had ceased their chiming,

And the deep river ran on.

Close Reading
The first half of the poem shows us a couple of lovers, one of which is professing the extent of his or her love for the other. It is very straightforward and is a simple, innocent illustration of love, using multiple hyperboles and impossibilities, such as “till China and Africa meet” or “till the ocean is folded and hung up to dry.” They are blatant exaggerations typical of young lovers caught up in the rush of emotions. It seems the poet takes it to an even more exaggerated level than people would in reality, not to show that the lover is exceptionally in love, but to emphasize the lover’s innocence and (for lack of a kinder word,) ignorance.

The poems changes its tone from lighthearted, bubbly love language to a more dark and serious voice in the sixth stanza. Here, the perspective changes from the voice of the lover to the voice of the clocks chiming in the city. The clocks tell them that they cannot conquer Time. The rest of the poem is of the clock lecturing the two lovers about the futility of their love in the face of Time. The seventh stanza tells us that in the shadows, where also Justice dwells naked, Time watches the lovers and coughs when they kiss. The author is saying that the harsh reality of time dispels the magic of young, innocent love, because that love will not only eventually fade and grow old, but that the lovers themselves will ultimately die. Justice is present as well, because this is the law of time, and as timeless as young love may feel, it is subjected to the law of time without exception. Ultimately, time is in control, or “will have his fancy, tomorrow or today,” and the lovers can do nothing about it. Over time, all things decay, such as the green valley becoming covered in snow, or the dancers and divers eventually becoming too old and weak to perform at the same level. Time kills the beauty they produced, just like the love the couple shares.

The poem ends with this: “the clocks had ceased their chiming, and the deep river ran on.” The river was present in the second stanza at the initial meeting of the lovers, and I believe it represents timelessness, or eternity. The lovers were experiencing something timeless, something a part of nature. The clocks however, being a part of the city, try to tell them something otherwise. The city represents modernity and man’s departure from nature and spirituality. Estranged from those things, love becomes something useless because it dies eventually. However, when the clocks ceased their chiming, the river ran on. The pattern of renewal found in nature reflects a glimpse into eternity, and love, though it may change over time, is still tapping into that timelessness that is embodied by the river, which the city and its clocks can’t grasp.

#5 Dark Knight

I don't really know what to do with the article "The Exceptional Darkness of The Dark Knight" by Todd McGowan. I have trouble agreeing with everything being said, not necessarily because I’m against it in principle, but the article just doesn’t make total sense to me. It just makes me question and really think about the concept of evil. I understand that in order for Batman to handle the crime problem in Gotham and ultimately the Joker, he needs to become an exception, because the only way to deal with the deviants who break the rules is to become a deviant oneself. But I don’t understand why we would call that evil. The way the “law” is discussed in the article seems to hold it as our standard of morality, that if it’s broken then the offender has become immoral. If that’s all it takes to be evil, then I don’t see why the system doesn’t just change the rules as to allow a figure like Batman to exist. What makes a policeman NOT an exception? He is allowed privileges considered illegal for regular citizens, for the sake of public safety. I think this article doesn’t make sense because its understanding of the law and morality is flawed. The law doesn’t define morality, it just attempts to reflect it. He deems Batman evil by technicality according to his system of defining evil, which is silly. Batman is a hero, period.

#4 I Speak of the City

Octavio Paz’s poem “I Speak of the City” is a beautiful illustration of an unnamed city. I think he keeps it that way because it’s meant to be personal and familiar, the way two friends would talk about their hometown. He intertwines language of objective description, specific experiences, and pure abstract poetry as if the three were naturally inseparable, fused in essence, a three-in-one trinity of its own. He paints more than just pictures of a city, but evokes participation, bringing the reader to feel its life beyond cold, static cognitive images of its elements. I think that’s the appeal of this poem, as well as its power (and purpose). It brings us into the moment, to feel like we understand it and are a part of it and share in its significance, as opposed to observing it from the outside. That feeling of estrangement and dislocation from the living moment is what Paz touches on in his speech titled “In Search of the Present.” The “present” lives; it embodies the presence of reality—not reality in its technical sense, but referring to the place where significance and life flow. To be found in the present is to feel a part of that place, to feel alive and significant. Paz takes us there, into its city.

#3 Spirited Away

One very interesting thing about Spirited Away is its play on the traditional theme of good vs. evil. As the movie begins, it seems that there is a definite line between who is good and who is evil, as well as the neutral characters. However, as the movie progresses, different characters change face, going from good to evil or vice versa, especially through the influence of Chihiro. One example is No-Face, who seems to be pretty neutral and innocent at first, but gradually, through interaction with Chihiro, becomes more and more malicious. However, as Chihiro grows and becomes less and less self-centered and learns to love others, she shows compassion to No-Face, which brings him back to into a good nature. This touches on another theme in Spirited Away, which is the power of love to overcome evil, or perhaps cleanse evil. There seems to be no true evil character in the movie, they just happen to be distracted or tainted by something, such as greed or selfishness. The article “Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki’s Anime Film Spirited Away” sheds light on this idea. The characters aren’t necessarily evil, but are polluted and need to undergo cleansing in order to cultivate a sincere heart, which is what we all need to come back to get back in touch with to experience life fully and correctly.

#2 Charles Wallace: Yay or Nay?

Yaaaaay for Charles Wallace! I don't know why on earth people were hating on him so much in class.. I liked him a lot. People were saying how he’s unrealistic, but of course he’s not. We have to remember that this is a children’s book.. I’m sure that Madeleine L’Engle is very aware of reality and the fact that this kind of character is impossible and fantastic, but I think that she’s being deliberate in her portrayal of the Charles Wallace. Not that she’s deliberately making him unrealistic because whether or he’s plausible or not isn’t the point, but that she chooses to make him the way he is knowing that it’s not reasonable or realistic. The circumstances that arise in the story are best played out by these extreme, clear cut, fantastic characters and they serve to best communicate the themes and messages of the book. The characters are there to tell a story, and I’m okay with that. Also, I don’t think believability and plausibility are directly connected, because belief is ultimately a choice we make to surrender to the story and its players. We don’t have to judge and question the characters all the time.. they are who they, so we should let them be that way.

Oh.. and I like Charles Wallace because he’s a very spiritual boy. Usually intelligent people become extremely disconnected with their spirituality because of the conditioning that society and modern education do to our thinking and perception, but I like that he is so smart and yet so in touch with the spiritual reality of things, not because he “discovered” it like some weird adults do but because it’s natural to him. Yet, like many humans, he still makes mistakes and doesn’t know how to properly discern things. And in the end, even though he did make some stupid decisions, even those were out of love, though maybe mixed with his pride as well.

#1: My Life with the Wave

I'm actually pretty shocked as to how good this short story was and how well it used a man's affairs with a wave to paint a potrait of being in a relationship with a self-centered, emotionally volative, needy, insecure, normal woman. (Hahaha I swear that was a joke. Seriously..) At first I was somewhat annoyed at how difficult it was to imagine this overblown personification of a wave in any kind of plausible way, even though I take myself to be a pretty cooperative reader. What frustrated me most was that I could never quite grasp WHERE the heck they were. Sometimes it seemed like he was talking as if he was in his physical apartment, other times at the beach, and almost all the time both, at the same time, in some hyperpoetic, surreal way. But as I gave up trying to make sense of it, I began to appreciate it. I think Paz intentionally blurs our perception of location because he wants us to focus on how it all feels--he intentionally blurs the line between concrete reality and emotion because in any real relationship there's oftentimes an indistinction between the two. And the feelings and emotions Paz communicates through his chaotic whirl of imagery perfectly captures what it's like to be in (a unhealthily attached and sinfully carnal version of) love.