A New Understanding Of My Confusion

October, 20 2008

“In Broken Images”

by Robert Graves

He is quick, thinking in clear images;
I am slow, thinking in broken images.

He becomes dull, trusting to his clear images;
I become sharp, mistrusting my broken images.

Trusting his images, he assumes their relevance;
Mistrusting my images, I question their relevance.

Assuming their relevance, he assumes the fact;
Questioning their relevance, I question the fact.

When the fact fails him, he questions his senses;
When the fact fails me, I approve my senses.

He continues quick and dull in his clear images;
I continue slow and sharp in my broken images.

He in a new confusion of his understanding;
I in a new understanding of my confusion.

In this poem, Graves describes the way in which he thinks.  He compares his reasoning to that of another person.  He says that the other person is able to solve problems faster than he is able to, however, he regards this as a weakness.  It is a weakness to Graves because there is too much trust placed on the so called “facts.”  I understand what Graves means by this because I also think in “broken images.”  In school, they often teach rules that students use without even thinking.  The rules become second nature to the students, and the students succeed as a result.  However, the important thing is to actually be able to understand why something is a rule or a “fact” because many rules have exceptions to them.  I didn’t like school very much for this reason because I would often see people succeed without ever really learning anything.  They just followed the rules.  School was mostly memorization and nothing more. Thats why I like this poem.  Graves highlights the point that eventually the rules you were taught or the “facts” you were taught will fail and that is when it will have paid off to have analyzed every piece of information that was received.   It will have paid to have been critical and to have analyzed everything piece by piece.  It will have paid to have thought in “broken images.”

Hypocrisy

The Lie

by: Sir Walter Raleigh

•  

  Go, Soul, the body’s guest,

  Upon a thankless arrant!

  Fear not to touch the best;

  The truth shall be thy warrant:

  Go, since I needs must die,

  And give the world the lie.

   

  Say to the court it glows

  And shines like rotten wood;

  Say to the church it shows

  What’s good, and doth no good:

  If court and church reply,

  Then give them both the lie.

   

  Tell potentates they live

  Acting by others’ action,

  Not loved unless they give,

  Not strong but by a faction.

  If potentates reply,

  Give potentates the lie.

   

  Tell men of high condition

  That manage the estate,

  Their purpose is ambition,

  Their practice only hate:

  And if they make reply,

  Then give them all the lie.

   

  Tell them that brave it most,

  They beg for more by spending,

  Who, in their greatest cost,

  Seek nothing but commending:

  And if they make reply,

  Then give them all the lie.

   

  Tell zeal it wants devotion;

  Tell love it is but lust;

  Tell time it is but motion;

  Tell flesh it is but dust:

  And wish them not reply,

  For thou must give the lie.

   

  Tell age it daily wasteth;

  Tell honor how it alters;

  Tell beauty how she blasteth;

  Tell favor how she falters:

  And as they shall reply,

  Give every one the lie.

   

  Tell wit how much it wrangles

  In tickle points of niceness;

  Tell wisdom she entangles

  Herself in over-wiseness:

  And when they do reply,

  Straight give them both the lie.

   

  Tell physic of her boldness;

  Tell skill it is pretension;

  Tell charity of coldness;

  Tell law it is contention:

  And as they do reply,

  So give them still the lie.

   

  Tell fortune of her blindness;

  Tell nature of decay;

  Tell friendship of unkindness;

  Tell justice of delay:

  And if they will reply,

  Then give them all the lie.

   

  Tell arts they have no soundness,

  But vary by esteeming;

  Tell schools they want profoundness,

  And stand too much on seeming:

  If arts and school reply,

  Give arts and school the lie.

   

  Tell faith it fled the city;

  Tell how the country erreth;

  Tell manhood shakes off pity;

  Tell virtue least preferreth:

  And if they do reply,

  Spare not to give the lie.

   

  So when thou hast, as I

  Commanded thee, done blabbing,–

  Although to give the lie

  Deserves no less than stabbing,–

  Stab at thee, he that will,

  No stab the soul can kill.  

   I think this poem is about hypocrisy:  “Say to the court it glows and shines like rotten wood; Say to the church it shows what’s good, and doth no good.”  Since “rotten wood” does not glow, I think Raleigh is saying that the court is not as upright as it portrays itself to be.  He also says that the church tells everyone what is good but doesn’t do any good itself.  It doesn’t listen to its own advice according to Raleigh.  This idea of hypocrisy is illustrated over and over again throughout the poem.  He says love is lust and time is just motion etc.  The interesting thing is the way he chooses to expose these hidden ills of society.  He has his soul tell everyone because “no stab the soul can kill.”  Since a soul cannot be killed,  he sends out his soul to tell these lies. 

   I really like this poem because Raleigh puts everything in its place.  My favorite line is, “Tell zeal it wants devotion; Tell love it is but lust: Tell time it is but motion; Tell flesh it is but dust.”  I have never been in love but i definetly have been in lust.  I think a lot of people confuse the two so I have to agree with Raleigh on this point.  When he refers to flesh as dust, I think he is bashing lust.  When we die we will eventually turn into dust, so I think hes saying that its kind of crazy to be goo goo eyed over skin.  Skin turns to dust.  I agree with Raleigh.  Looks aren’t everything.  When we get older, everything starts sagging!  So why do we put such a high value on skin in this country?  Whats the big deal?

Last Words

“His Elegy” by Chidiock Tichborne

 

My Prime of youth is but a frost of cares;

My feast of joy is but a dish of pain;

My crop of corn is but a field of tares;

And all my good is but vain hope of gain:

The day is past, and yet I saw no sun;

And now I live, and now my life is done.

 

My tale was heard, and it was not told;

My fruit is fall’n, and yet my leaves are green;

My youth is spent, and yet I am not old;

I saw the world, and yet I was not seen:

My thread is cut, and yet it is not spun;

And now I live, and now my life is done.

 

I sought my death, and found it in my womb;

I looked for life, and saw it was a shade;

I trod the earth, and knew it was my tomb;

And now I die, and now I was but made:

My glass is full, and now my glass is run;

And now I live, and now my life is done.

 

This poem was written by Chidiock Tichborne. Tichborne was executed on September 20, 1586 because he was a conspirator in the plot to kill Queen Elizabeth.  He wrote this poem to his wife, Agnes, on September 19, 1586, the night before we was executed.  He was only twenty-eight years old at the time.  (http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/144.html)

 

When I first read this poem, I put myself in Tichborne’s place.  I looked back on my life and I asked myself, “What if I were to die tomorow?”  Would I have any regrets?  Would I feel as though I hadn’t served a purpose? I think these are the questions that the poem proposes to its reader.  Tichborne continually states that his life has just begun and now it’s ending: “And now I live, and now my life is done.”  This possibly signifies that he has a new value for life and would have lived it more fully if he had the chance to.  This is a sentiment of many people who discover that their days are limited.  They suddenly treasure every breathe of air they take and enjoy life more fully.  Tichborne says that he has seen the world but has not been seen.  This line conveys that Tichborne feels as though he has not left  much of an impact upon the world.  He has not left his mark on the world: He will not be remembered.  I think this is what most people dread to think of when they die because we usually want to leave behind something of value to the world when we part.  I hope I don’t feel the same way as Tichborne when I die.