The Answer
Then what is the answer?- Not to be deluded by dreams.
To know that great civilizations have broken down into violence,
and their tyrants come, many times before.
When open violence appears, to avoid it with honor or choose
the least ugly faction; these evils are essential.
To keep one's own integrity, be merciful and uncorrupted
and not wish for evil; and not be duped
By dreams of universal justice or happiness. These dreams will
not be fulfilled.
To know this, and know that however ugly the parts appear
the whole remains beautiful. A severed hand
Is an ugly thing and man dissevered from the earth and stars
and his history... for contemplation or in fact...
Often appears atrociously ugly. Integrity is wholeness,
the greatest beauty is
Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty
of the universe. Love that, not man
Apart from that, or else you will share man's pitiful confusions,
or drown in despair when his days darken.
About the author
Thesis: Jeffers uses symbolism, imagery, and different situations and looks at what is going on to attempt to provide answers.
Questions:
1. What answer do you think Jeffers is looking for?
2. What do you feel the overall theme of the poem is?
3. Do you feel that there is an answer to everything?
4. Looking at a part in the first line “Not to be deluded by dreams”, do you feel that after thinking about your dreams, your answer to a question might change? Why?
5. What kind of image does this poem create?
6. “Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty of the universe. Love that, not man.” Why do you feel the author’s answer to this is to love that, not man?
I think that this poem was one of the more difficult poems to interperet. I think you did a good job though :)
ReplyDeleteSociety is taught to be good and virtuous when in reality this is simply a set of ideals and values passed down throughout the generations. People who follow the ways of this "good" ideology are simply followers of a set of rules created by pompous people who believe they are god. These supposed "evil" people are the unique individuals that this world needs to progress to a level where new gods can be created to pass down knowledge to future generations of human kind.
ReplyDeleteGreat job Ali <:-), great choice of poem!!
ReplyDeleteA very thought-provoking post, Mark. I'm not sure that I buy that people who establish rules and order of law are pompous, with god complexes.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, your post does have the potential to provoke us into questioning from where we derive our values and, ultimately, who is best served by them. This really makes me wish we (as a class) had another semester together so we could dive headlong into existentialism and philosophy in general.
It was not my intention to state that evil individuals should be praised for their actions. I merely attempted to highlight the fact that evil people are some of the most unique individuals because they go against the rules given to us by society, rules that have been with us for generations.
ReplyDeleteGreat choice for a poem, Ali!~ :)
ReplyDelete"Do you feel that there is an answer to everything?"
I do believe that there is an answer to everything. Although the answer you find may not be the answer you were initially looking for, an answer is an answer. It also depends on how hard you look for that answer. It can be standing right in front of you or it may be hidden among other thoughts but the important thing is that if you never look, you'll never have the chance to seek out an answer.