Katherine’s Blog

I have not had a lot of experience with Emily Dickinson before this class, so it has been interesting to read some of her poems for the first time. One of my favorites is her “My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun—”. I am most intrigued by the poem’s central metaphor of women being guns. It encapsulates the oppression of women that is still prevalent in today’s world. Like when the gun is “identified— / And carried…away” (3-4), women are seen as worthless objects until someone, a man, decides to put value into them. At a quick glance, the speaker might seem to thrive in this role of submission. When she “speak[s] for Him— / The Mountains straight reply—” (7-8), meaning that the gun-owner, the man, wields her power to his own advantage. He does not need to talk while hunting or being out in the world because he has this forceful power that “talks” when it is shot. By evoking the image of wilderness with “Sovereign Woods” (5) and “Mountains” (8), a similar idea is presented that her compliance

Of all the poems we have read, Philip Larkin’s “Church Going” is among my favorites. The structure, conversational tone, and imagery all facilitate the questions the speaker poses about religion.  As we discussed in class, the poem has a formal construction with seven stanzas, nine lines each, all in iambic pentameter. This strict format is interesting because it reflects the traditional, stateliness of churches themselves; just as the stanzas are solemn, so too are churches a place of stiff dignity (at least that is how we feel about them, or are told to respect them as). The contrast of the speaker’s relaxed tone is therefore emphasized and made even more humorous. He kind of knows what objects in the church are significant but does not respect them: he just walks up to the lectern and quotes a Bible verse louder than necessary. This was startling to read—you don’t just walk up there so casually! Even the echos that “snigger briefly” (16) seem to agree that he is not meant up there.

When I first read Seamus Heaney’s poem “Digging,” I didn’t really have any strong feelings about it. But, after our discussion in class I have a new appreciation for it. One of the things that struck me the most is the admiration the speaker has for his father and grandfather and the manual labor they do. It is by no means easy work, and it takes a lot of discipline and strength to do it. It’s interesting, then, that Heaney equates that work to his own as a poet. If the poet’s job is to reveal, examine, poke at humanity, then he is speaking to how demanding human nature is—especially how demanding it is to understand human nature. Humans aren’t what they are on the surface, you have to dig in for the truth, like you have to dig into turf to get to the good stuff.  As we talked about in class, I think the sound and diction of the poem is very fitting for the topic. Heaney is describing working Irishmen and the hard sounds of the words themselves are a “clean rasping sound”: “sinks,” “co