March 8, 2009
English 3
Mr. Fiorini
Charles Simic- Fork
1. Charles Simic was born on May 9th 1838 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. His childhood was during World War 2. He didn’t speak English until he was fifteen years old. In 1958 he and his family moves to Chicago. He began to make himself noticed in the 70s. He has published over sixty books, twenty of which we wrote himself. “Critics have often referred to Simic poems as ‘tightly constructed Chinese puzzle boxes’”. During his career he wont the MacArthur Fellowship Award, The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, The Wallace Stevens Award and more.
2. This poem was difficult to understand at first. However, after closely reading it I realized that Simic is comparing a form to a bird. You stab your food with a fork, and a bird that is a cannibal, catches their prey with their claws on their feet. This poem has no rhyme scheme but still flows. This poem is short, but very descriptive. It is confusing to read because at first, you don’t know if Simic is talking about a bird or about a fork. After you realize he is talking about how a fork resembles a bird, it makes a lot more sense.
3. Simic’s poem, “Old Couple” was much easier to understand. It is describing how an older couple feels like it’s the end of the world for them and all they have is each other. They sit at home and wait for something bad to happen to them while they stare out the window. Then they go to sleep for another night, not knowing if it will be their last.
Another poem by Simic is called “The Wooden Toy”. It is separated into five parts. The first part is describing what the wooden toy looks like. It is a horse with a string and four wheels that a child could be pulled on. The second part is about a kid who finds the toy and thinks that it is a great treasure. The third part is about how the toy has hurt someone. The fourth part is about how the toy is missed and the last toy is saying that the toy is sitting there so quietly. This poem was also a little difficult for me to understand.
4. “Fork” can distinctly be an American poem because the bald eagle sounds like the bird that the fork was being compared to. A bald eagle is the bird of America. “Old Couple” is American because a lot of Americans have bad attitudes. The old couple mentioned in the poem is sitting there waiting for something bad to happen to them, instead of just being happy to still be alive and together. “The Wooden Toy” is American because a lot of American children like toys and use them until they get hurt, although this is probably true in other countries as well.
Fork- http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=171686
Old Couple- http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=171688
The Wooden Toy- http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=29294
Fork
This strange thing must have crept
Right out of hell.
It resembles a bird’s foot
Worn around the cannibal’s neck.
As you hold it in your hand,
As you stab with it into a piece of meat,
It is possible to imagine the rest of the bird:
Its head which like your fist
Is large, bald, beakless, and blind.
Old Couple
They’re waiting to be murdered,
Or evicted. Soon
They expect to have nothing to eat.
In the meantime, they sit.
A violent pain is coming, they think.
It will start in the heart
And climb into the mouth.
They’ll be carried off in stretchers, howling.
Tonight they watch the window
Without exchanging a word.
It has rained, and now it looks
Like it’s going to snow a little.
I see him get up to lower the shades.
If their window stays dark,
I know his hand has reached hers
Just as she was about to turn on the lights.
The Wooden Toy
1
The brightly-painted horse
Had a boy’s face,
And four small wheels
Under his feet,
Plus a long string
To pull him by this way and that
Across the floor,
Should you care to.
A string in-waiting
That slipped away
In many wiles
From each and every try.
2
Knock and they’ll answer,
Mother told me.
So I climbed four flights of stairs
And went in unannounced.
And found a small wooden toy
For the taking
In the ensuing emptiness
And the fading daylight
That still gives me a shudder
As if I held the key to mysteries in my hand.
3
Where’s the Lost and Found Department,
And the quiet entry,
The undeveloped film
Of the few clear moments
Of our blurred lives?
Where’s the drop of blood
And the teeny nail
That pricked my finger
As I bent down to touch the toy
And caught its eye?
4
Evening light,
Make me a Sunday
Go-to meeting shadow
For my toy.
My dearest memories are
Steep stair-wells
In dusty buildings
On dead-end streets,
Where I talk to the walls
And closed doors
As if they understood me.
5
The wooden toy sitting pretty.
No, quieter than that.
Like the sound of eyebrows
Raised by a villain
In a silent movie.
Psst, someone said behind my back.
Your post was long but surely worth it...this was a difficult assignment but u attacked it head on and did a great job at doing so. I enjoyed reading your post and learning about your author because prior to reading this i knew nothing about your author. The poems you choose to read were great choices and i enjoyed reading them! Great job and keep up the good work!!
ReplyDeleteYou wrote alot but it was good and well put. you definently got your point across. there was alot toread but most of it was very necessary. good job
ReplyDelete