Hey look, I'm cool and I finally put all my Kenyon writing into a Google doc so that you can enjoy/despise it. I put a lot in there, so feel free not to read the whole thing!
Ok. This might not be what you had in mind at all, but literary critics have been killing authors for a while now, so I think it's ok.
So the way I see it, the whole poem is about purposelessness and modernity.
Setting: I imagined an American-revolutianry-era city that's in the midst of some horrific fire that's destroying everything. The fact that the fire is destroying everything is kind of crucial. It represents drastic change.
I'll do this, more or less, line by line.
1. Ben Franklin: He can't find his printing press and, therefore, can't do what he wants to do or is famous for doing. Perhaps, this printing press has been replaced by more advanced technology. Since TV's exist in this reality, I thought that a computer might also exist. He can't fulfill his purpose because he either forgot where the printing press is or he does not know how to proceed with newer technology. Drastic change prevents him from progressing.
2. Burnt Socks: I imagined that the socks had been used by a firefighter when he was trying to stop everything from burning up. For some reason, this sock got harmed in the blaze and is now considered useless. It can't fulfill its purpose because of something that's been imposed on him and harmed him (the fire).
3. Lightbulb: the lightbulb tries to explain what is wrong, but it is cut off mid-sentence. I took this to mean that Ben had switched it off. The lightbulb can't fulfill its purpose because someone else's will has been imposed on it.
4. The dragon: my favorite character. So when Ben Franklin was alive, people were beginning to shift from mysticism and blind dogmatism to things like deism and just trying to define the world for yourself(i.e. Franklin's 13 virtues). Well, at least Franklin was doing that. The dragon is a symbol for the mystical kind of worldview that was fading out. Of course he's sad, if no one acknowledges him or believes in him, he ceases to exist because he is not actually real. He can only fulfill his purpose for as long as people believe in him and let him keep existing.
5. "I am tired of democracy and light switches. I can't make decisions anymore." = being confused about how to proceed in this modern and drastically changing world. I think, in this piece, Ben feels like it would be easier if someone just directed him.
6. The door slamming line: Ok, this is pretty interesting. So think about this sock. If it's so useless, why is someone keeping it around? If the person who stormed out was so mad, why didn't he/she slam the door and cut off all ties? The socks is frustrated that people don't know what to do. I think it's also interesting that this line comes right after the indecisive Franklin line. The sock wants someone to just make up their mind already and actually do something.
7. obviously, the lightbulb is sad about being replaced.
8. see line 4. Personally, I don't believe the dragon actually started the fire. I think he might be being wrongly blamed.
I think it's supposed to be scatter-brained and kind of confusing. That's how the modern world--the world that is changing beneath these character--is.
Also, I think the light switch line highlights the unfortunate state of American politics. People essentially have to choose between two parties, between two evils. That's not how most decision are/should be structured.
Wow, yeah, my ideas about the poem are way more ambiguous than yours are, but I'm certainly flattered that you saw all that :D.
Your interpretations are in every way correct because they are yours and they make wonderful sense. I'm going to tell you what I was thinking when I wrote it just for interest's sake.
1. Franklin's obsession with the printing press is actually about how people often pay attention to unnecessary things during a crisis/drastic change. There's a fire burning down the city but all he cares about is printing the news of the fire in his glossy little newspaper (and/or confirming that there actually is a fire and his world as he knows it is ending). This will do him no good. He needs to get out so that he doesn't burn to death. I.e., intellectual strength can't save you all the time.
2. I definitely intended for the socks to be experiencing a loss of purpose. I imagined them as strewn on the floor, left beside someone's bed in a house that got burned down. I.e. they were forgotten and no one cares about them so they feel really abandoned. Poor socks :(
3. Yep, everyone's blaming the poor lightbulb but obviously it has no control over its power so it did nothing wrong. Nice touch with the being cut off mid-sentence meaning that it was switched off. All I intended that to do was imply that the the lightbulb "saw DRAGON", which is what it meant to say ("I saw the dragon! It's his fault! I didn't do it!"), but the dragon interrupted it, 'cause HELL NO he doesn't wanna be blamed either. The lightbulb and the socks are both supposed to be these innocent/powerless...things.
4. The dragon is the only one that can see what’s really going on. Since he doesn’t actually exist (or, rather, he only exists in people’s minds) he’s the only one unaffected by the fire. So perhaps people’s imaginations/creativity/passion, all things which could be represented by a dragon, do not die out because of a catastrophe. Also, by saying he cried last night, it’s just doing the unexpected – emitting water rather than fire. So obviously he couldn’t have started the fire because his tears are huge-ass dragon tears and would have put the fire out immediately. So I guess sometimes it’s okay to just let yourself cry, ie let it out before it burns you down. Also, he’s being quite vulnerable in his attempt to get people to believe him. Which is just like, important in general for people to do.
5. Yeah, poor old Ben just doesn’t want to decide. He’s also fed up with light switches, which makes the lightbulb sad . Most importantly, he’s tired of democracy, which is something that he helped to create, so he’s tired of something he has worked very hard on – so again, loss of purpose or self-worth. He doesn’t believe in what he has fought for.
6. So the socks aren’t human, and therefore cannot understand the ambiguity of human emotion. Here’s what went down in the door-slamming scene: a couple was arguing, and the female ends the argument abruptly by leaving BUT she doesn’t slam the door, which is confusing to the socks, because they were both yelling and her temper suggested that it would have been natural for her to slam the door. Therefore, she must have made a conscious decision NOT to slam the door, because we all know that takes effort when we’re mad. This is just meant to express the socks being confused and innocent. Also, it was the last thing the socks saw before the fire. So they want ANSWERS.
7. Spot-on. Everyone’s watching TV instead of reading; there is less emphasis on being intellectual; people can watch stuff about fires on TV while sitting at home eating ice cream from the container. And TV’s use electricity too…perhaps a TV was involved in the fire? (But who would blame it, because everybody loovvess TV, right?) Hm…
(My entire comment was too many characters...that's embarrassing.)
8. The dragon is very much being wrongly blamed. People are choosing to believe in him so that they can blame him for the fire, but once he becomes useless again, they will stop believing and he will cease to exist. They are using him for selfish purposes. (And the lightbulb is too, because he’s alone and has nowhere else to turn. No one pays attention to him anymore.)
Scatter-brained and confusing indeed, because the plays we read like this made no clear sense, and the characters were given to me on note cards passed around the class. The poem/play can be read as a whole, with an overarching meaning (yeah, purposelessness, loss of passion and acknowledgment, drastic change) or as little one to two line insights into what it’s like to be human. And most of this stuff wasn’t in my head when I wrote it – just the four characters and fire :D.
I’m thinking about writing some sort of story/extended play with this because I like the world. Okay I’ve written way too much…but this was really fun :D.
Also, fun fact that I didn't know but do now thanks to Wikipedia: "[Franklin] facilitated many civic organizations, including Philadelphia's *fire department* and a university."
I like The Fire the most. I can explain it if you want, but my explanation is kind of detailed and convoluted.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think it's admirable that you chose to use "chalk" as one of your sestina words.
I feel good about The Fire, so thanks. I would LOVE it if you would explain why you like it. Details and convolutions are quite welcome.
ReplyDeleteOk. This might not be what you had in mind at all, but literary critics have been killing authors for a while now, so I think it's ok.
ReplyDeleteSo the way I see it, the whole poem is about purposelessness and modernity.
Setting: I imagined an American-revolutianry-era city that's in the midst of some horrific fire that's destroying everything. The fact that the fire is destroying everything is kind of crucial. It represents drastic change.
I'll do this, more or less, line by line.
1. Ben Franklin: He can't find his printing press and, therefore, can't do what he wants to do or is famous for doing. Perhaps, this printing press has been replaced by more advanced technology. Since TV's exist in this reality, I thought that a computer might also exist. He can't fulfill his purpose because he either forgot where the printing press is or he does not know how to proceed with newer technology. Drastic change prevents him from progressing.
2. Burnt Socks: I imagined that the socks had been used by a firefighter when he was trying to stop everything from burning up. For some reason, this sock got harmed in the blaze and is now considered useless. It can't fulfill its purpose because of something that's been imposed on him and harmed him (the fire).
3. Lightbulb: the lightbulb tries to explain what is wrong, but it is cut off mid-sentence. I took this to mean that Ben had switched it off. The lightbulb can't fulfill its purpose because someone else's will has been imposed on it.
4. The dragon: my favorite character. So when Ben Franklin was alive, people were beginning to shift from mysticism and blind dogmatism to things like deism and just trying to define the world for yourself(i.e. Franklin's 13 virtues). Well, at least Franklin was doing that. The dragon is a symbol for the mystical kind of worldview that was fading out. Of course he's sad, if no one acknowledges him or believes in him, he ceases to exist because he is not actually real. He can only fulfill his purpose for as long as people believe in him and let him keep existing.
5. "I am tired of democracy and light switches. I can't make decisions anymore." = being confused about how to proceed in this modern and drastically changing world. I think, in this piece, Ben feels like it would be easier if someone just directed him.
6. The door slamming line: Ok, this is pretty interesting. So think about this sock. If it's so useless, why is someone keeping it around? If the person who stormed out was so mad, why didn't he/she slam the door and cut off all ties? The socks is frustrated that people don't know what to do. I think it's also interesting that this line comes right after the indecisive Franklin line. The sock wants someone to just make up their mind already and actually do something.
7. obviously, the lightbulb is sad about being replaced.
8. see line 4. Personally, I don't believe the dragon actually started the fire. I think he might be being wrongly blamed.
I think it's supposed to be scatter-brained and kind of confusing. That's how the modern world--the world that is changing beneath these character--is.
Also, I think the light switch line highlights the unfortunate state of American politics. People essentially have to choose between two parties, between two evils. That's not how most decision are/should be structured.
DeleteP.s. I am glad it's not in gabriola!
Wow, yeah, my ideas about the poem are way more ambiguous than yours are, but I'm certainly flattered that you saw all that :D.
ReplyDeleteYour interpretations are in every way correct because they are yours and they make wonderful sense. I'm going to tell you what I was thinking when I wrote it just for interest's sake.
1. Franklin's obsession with the printing press is actually about how people often pay attention to unnecessary things during a crisis/drastic change. There's a fire burning down the city but all he cares about is printing the news of the fire in his glossy little newspaper (and/or confirming that there actually is a fire and his world as he knows it is ending). This will do him no good. He needs to get out so that he doesn't burn to death. I.e., intellectual strength can't save you all the time.
2. I definitely intended for the socks to be experiencing a loss of purpose. I imagined them as strewn on the floor, left beside someone's bed in a house that got burned down. I.e. they were forgotten and no one cares about them so they feel really abandoned. Poor socks :(
3. Yep, everyone's blaming the poor lightbulb but obviously it has no control over its power so it did nothing wrong. Nice touch with the being cut off mid-sentence meaning that it was switched off. All I intended that to do was imply that the the lightbulb "saw DRAGON", which is what it meant to say ("I saw the dragon! It's his fault! I didn't do it!"), but the dragon interrupted it, 'cause HELL NO he doesn't wanna be blamed either. The lightbulb and the socks are both supposed to be these innocent/powerless...things.
4. The dragon is the only one that can see what’s really going on. Since he doesn’t actually exist (or, rather, he only exists in people’s minds) he’s the only one unaffected by the fire. So perhaps people’s imaginations/creativity/passion, all things which could be represented by a dragon, do not die out because of a catastrophe. Also, by saying he cried last night, it’s just doing the unexpected – emitting water rather than fire. So obviously he couldn’t have started the fire because his tears are huge-ass dragon tears and would have put the fire out immediately. So I guess sometimes it’s okay to just let yourself cry, ie let it out before it burns you down. Also, he’s being quite vulnerable in his attempt to get people to believe him. Which is just like, important in general for people to do.
5. Yeah, poor old Ben just doesn’t want to decide. He’s also fed up with light switches, which makes the lightbulb sad . Most importantly, he’s tired of democracy, which is something that he helped to create, so he’s tired of something he has worked very hard on – so again, loss of purpose or self-worth. He doesn’t believe in what he has fought for.
6. So the socks aren’t human, and therefore cannot understand the ambiguity of human emotion. Here’s what went down in the door-slamming scene: a couple was arguing, and the female ends the argument abruptly by leaving BUT she doesn’t slam the door, which is confusing to the socks, because they were both yelling and her temper suggested that it would have been natural for her to slam the door. Therefore, she must have made a conscious decision NOT to slam the door, because we all know that takes effort when we’re mad. This is just meant to express the socks being confused and innocent. Also, it was the last thing the socks saw before the fire. So they want ANSWERS.
7. Spot-on. Everyone’s watching TV instead of reading; there is less emphasis on being intellectual; people can watch stuff about fires on TV while sitting at home eating ice cream from the container. And TV’s use electricity too…perhaps a TV was involved in the fire? (But who would blame it, because everybody loovvess TV, right?) Hm…
(My entire comment was too many characters...that's embarrassing.)
ReplyDelete8. The dragon is very much being wrongly blamed. People are choosing to believe in him so that they can blame him for the fire, but once he becomes useless again, they will stop believing and he will cease to exist. They are using him for selfish purposes. (And the lightbulb is too, because he’s alone and has nowhere else to turn. No one pays attention to him anymore.)
Scatter-brained and confusing indeed, because the plays we read like this made no clear sense, and the characters were given to me on note cards passed around the class. The poem/play can be read as a whole, with an overarching meaning (yeah, purposelessness, loss of passion and acknowledgment, drastic change) or as little one to two line insights into what it’s like to be human. And most of this stuff wasn’t in my head when I wrote it – just the four characters and fire :D.
I’m thinking about writing some sort of story/extended play with this because I like the world. Okay I’ve written way too much…but this was really fun :D.
Also, fun fact that I didn't know but do now thanks to Wikipedia: "[Franklin] facilitated many civic organizations, including Philadelphia's *fire department* and a university."
ReplyDelete