Elegy #6

In the poem "You Were You Are Elegy," Mary Jo Bang Reveals that her son had a drug problem and that may have been the cause of his death.  She never directly confesses to how he died but we are able to make assumptions through her writings.  In the poem she writes, "How drugs when drugs were/ Undid the good almost entirely/ But not entirely"(11-13).  She writes how drugs had ruined her sons life.  She also writes however, that they did not ruin him completely.  She is a mother and she will love her child no matter what.  She will never stop loving him and never stop seeing the good in him.  She continues to write, "Everything Was My Fault/ Has been the theme of the song/ I've been singing"(34-36).  She believes that it was her fault her son had become addicted and possibly that it is her fault he is dead.  She blames herself because she is the mother and children have to be raised properly by their parents.  Mary Jo Bang reveals her sons addiction and choices in life through her poem.

In the poem "One Thing,' Mary Jo Bang writes how she saw her son to be.  She loved her son deeply and couldn't let go of him.  She writes, "The one thing he was/ Not was an object. The other thing/ He was not dead"(1-3).  She says that she never took her son for granted or forgot about him or mistreated him.  She also will never forget him and remember him as if his spirit were still alive.  She continues to write, "Disquiet acutely attended./ Not dead. Not over"(6-7).  She continues to claim that his spirit will live on and that she will never forget about her son.  She also adds that he was never neglected and never mistreated.  Mary Jo Bang had a close, loving relationship with her son that she will never forget, not even for a day.

Elegy # 5

In the poem "Warped and Twisted," the author describes how although they seem pleasant on the outside, on the inside they're pessimistic and disturbed.  They have a very bleak and negative outlook on life and other people.  He talks about how he sees others when he writes, "Nobody's special, nobody's gifted,/ I'm just me, warped and twisted"(9-10).  He hates everyone else and feels that no one is blessed or unique.  There is no individualism and he is not preoccupied with anybody's life but his own.  His own life, in fact, is very depressing and disturbed.  He continues to rant about the terribleness of his life.  He writes, "Burnt out, wasted, empty, and hollow,/ Today is just yesterday's tomorrow./ The sun dried out, the ashes sifted,/ I'm still here, warped and twisted"(18-22).  He describes how life is meaningless and routine.  Nothing is left, everything has been used up, like happiness excitement, etc.  Then after everything has died out, he'd remain his same old self.  He is unchangeable.   This is one of my favorite poems because it is sincerely dark and uses end rhymes that fit flawlessly.  It's a one-of-a-kind poem and it's perfect.

In the poem "March Elegy," the author writes about her fulfillment in life and how there is nothing left to live for.  She laments her empty life because she should be satisfied but she is not.  She writes, "I have enough treasures from the past/ to last me longer than I need, or want"(1-2). Her opening explains the poem's contents.  She has many things, memories, keepsakes, but she doesn't really want them or need them. However, she cannot get rid of them.  She continues her feelings with, "a tiny rowboat that comes drifting out/ of somebody's dreams, slowly foundering"(11-12).  She insinuates the the rowboat is everyone's hopes and dreams, but that they struggle to come true.  Sometimes they never do.  She believes that no one can ever be truly happy and says so by saying that all dreams drown in sadness.  It's a bleak outlook on life and an interesting metaphor for ambitions. 

Elegy # 4

In the poem "There Is Only This," Mary Jo Bang recalls her memory of the death of her son.  She tells the story of how she witnessed his death in the hospital.  She remembers the exact time of death as well as his exit.  She writes, " Now, 12:31 turning over in its bed,/ Its head to the feet of another, shrouded/ In a body bag"(1-3).  The time was 12:31 when he had died and she watched the hospital workers take him away in a body bag.  He was shrouded, as if he were erased from the world and never to be seen again, maybe even forgotten.  After his removal, she sees herself in the third person.  She describes, "A woman dead centered/ Is saying something/ It takes great patience to hear"(8-10).  She describes how she must've looked and sounded.  She stands motionless in the center of the room.  She also must be at a loss for words, or else speaking incoherently or incessantly.  Mary shows death to be a shaking event.

In the poem, "The Essence," Mary Jo Bang describes the world as something hidden to the senses.  She depicts the world as something outside of our grasp.  She writes, "The world behind the mirror/ Was heartrendingly beautiful/ And convulsively sad"(1-3).  The mirror suggests that she believes most people are self-centered and preoccupied with their own lives.  So behind the mirror, or selfishness, is beauty and heartbreak.  She must have spent a lot of time in the mirror before realizing the problems and needs of others.  She continues to write, "In it, the almost-gone beloved was always turning/ A corner. His back in an overcoat"(4-5).  She writes how her relationships and aspirations were always too far out of her reach.  They were hard to distinguish before they disappeared.  Mary Jo Bang's take on life is hauntingly bleak.  She sees beauty in it, yet she does not enjoy it.   

Elegy # 3

In the poem "Let's Go Back," Mary Jo Bang uses imagery to demonstrate her pain over the loss of her son.  She asks to go back in time to when her son was first born.  She remembers his birthday and how happy of an occasion it was.  She writes, "And now July, that ladder half-/ Birthday that marks nothing but a rake/ that pushes back the pack of wild dogs into a cage"(5-7).  The image of wild dogs being put away suggests that his birthday was one of the only times that her troubles in life were pushed away.  She valued his birthday as a pleasant break from life, but that was while he was alive.  She then changes to a scene where he dies.  She writes, "There is no worse/ Than this last act where you disappear/ Behind the curtain of addiction and catastrophe"(9-11).  She relates his death to the final act of a play where he is hidden behind a curtain; stricken from the play entirely.  The curtain of addiction and catastrophe suggests that his death was drug related.  Mary Jo Bang's use of imagery suggests the idea that life is only pleasant when you are young and innocent.

In the poem "Guilt," Mary Jo Bang uses tone to express the idea that death is an inevitable tragedy.  She tells how her sons death weighs on her mind, even though there was nothing she could do to help him.  Sh writes, "And him, perched in her mind,/ Never to be unbalanced again"(11-12).  She cannot stop thinking about her son.  He will be stuck in her mind and nothing will ever be able to take him out.  She continues to write about his death in the hospital.  She writes,"Never to be hospital bedded, mother loved./ Oh, he's peaceful now, they told her"(13-14).  She continues the dark tone by using the cliche of people being at peace.  She establishes a sad, hopeless tone by saying he will never be mother loved.  She's lost her son and is lamenting him.  Mary Jo Bang uses tone to establish the theme that death is an inevitable tragedy.

Elegy # 2

In her poem "Ode to History," Mary Jo bang uses repetition to show how giving up your memories to feel better would take away your best memories as well.  She writes about lying in bed with her son and how close she felt to him.  The title, "Ode to History" uses the word "history" that suggests the past and thus, her poem is written about her memories.  She writes how she would love to rid herself of her painful memories, but she realizes she would lose everything she's learned.  She writes, "I would know nothing/ of mothering. I would know nothing/ of death. I would know nothing/ of love"(4-7).  She realizes that by giving up her painful memories, she would give up everything she had learned in her life.  She would lose her motherly habits, and all that she loved.  By the end of the poem, she feels like her whole life will have been darkened by his death.  

In another poem, "Hell," she writes about her sons death and insinuates his afterlife.  She writes, "A murder of craven angels appeared"(8-9).  This is the most interesting line in the poem.  A "murder" is used to describe a group of crows, which are associated with scavengers, shamelessness, and death, but it is used to describe the angels which are generally associated with light, singing, and glorious afterlives.  Mary Jo Bang expresses her contempt of any kind of death and the feeling that she didn't want her son to die, even if he went to heaven, the angels stole him away.  This poem is my favorite so far of all her poems; it gives the freshest perspective on death.  I've also noticed how almost all of her poems are memories of her child when he was young.

Outside Reading #1 Elegy

For my outside reading book, I chose Elegy; A book of poems by Mary Jo Bang.  As the title states, this collection of poems were written to lament the death of her son.  Each poem is a different description of her emotions of her loss.  I chose to read this book because i enjoyed analyzing poetry in class; before then i believed that all poetry that didn't rhyme was artsy garbage.  This will also help me in analyzing shakespeare in the future and perhaps help me to enjoy a wider range of poetry as well.  

In the poem "Once," Mary Jo Bang uses imagery to bring back an old memory of her son under miserable circumstances.  She thinks back on how her life used to be, difficult yet satisfying, and compares it to how it is now; miserable.  She looks on an urn and remembers when her son was so young he believed she saved him from monsters.  She writes, "let's go back/ To the beginning."(9-10)  She means go back to a time when they were together; in her memory of the past when he was young.  By saying "let's go back," she informs the reader that they are indeed going to read about a past memory.  She then writes the memory, "You keep reminding me/ That I said I would never leave you to the monster"(10-11).  Only children believe in monsters, so we can assume this is an early memory of her son.  She brings the image of an innocent, sweet little kid walking through the woods and completely trusting his mother to protect him from evil.  Mary Jo uses imagery to show us how innocent children are and how sweet life used to be in our childhood.

Audacity of Hope number four

Our officially new president is a strong leader with many priorities and aspirations.  He is also one of the most selfless people in terms of his way of thinking.  He is a man who's fighting for what America stands for- equality.  He writes in his auto-biography, "I am angry about policies that consistently favor the wealthy and powerful over average Americans, and insist that government has a important role in opening up opportunity to all. I believe in evolution, scientific inquiry, and global warming; I believe in free speech, whether politically correct or politically incorrect, and I am suspicious of using government to impose anybody's religious beliefs---including my own---on nonbelievers." (Page 10)  Barack considers the needs of others before himself, especially those with the most needs.  His goal is to change our society for the better; give everyone a fair chance at the American dream.  However, Obama is as realistic as he is idealistic.  He writes,"... another tradition to politics, a tradition that stretched from the days of the country's founding to the glory of the civil rights movement, a tradition based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one another, and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and that if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done." (Page 2)  He believes that we can all help to make a difference in our country, even if it doesn't solve the entire problem it will still help to make our nation a greater place for everyone.

The entire country believes that Obama will make many amazing changes.  I know he will.  Not only does he have the support of every American, but also a great sense of determination.  He has everyone chanting "yes we can!"  It's the simplest, most optimistic motto a president has ever used and it does its job; motivates everyone to do the unthinkable.  I believe in Obama because his idealism is held in check with his awareness of reality, and that's as efficient is they get.  He's determined to change our country, and quite possibly, the world.