Stanza 1
Summary
In the first stanza Cummings describes two aspects of his love. Firstly, he depicts the effect of looking into her eyes. Secondly, he speaks about the impact of her delicate and fragile gestures. In both cases we have the impression that he is captivated by them or drawn into them.
Paraphrase
In a place where I have never been before, happily a long way from, anything I have ever experienced, your eyes don't have any noise.
I find within your most fragile expressive movements that there are things that envelope me,
or there are things that I cannot really have contact with because they are excessively close to me or perhaps too intimate.
Notes
By far the most difficult line in this poem is the opening line, and most of all the last phrase of that line: ...your eyes have their silence. It suggests that sound is generated in our minds by what we see and there is a very intimate place where this does not occur, 'where the eyes are quiet'.
The notion of visual stimuli being interpreted by the brain as sound is reminiscent of the medical condition of synaesthesia. This is due to cross-wiring between two specialised regions of the brain , one that deals with colour the other sound (Ramachandran and Hubbard, 2001). Ramachandran and Hubbard also talk about instances where visual stimulation can trigger sensations not known to have been prevously experienced. Here they allude to the ancient and ongoing philosophical debate about the mind being or not being a blank slate or tabla rasa. In this enigmatic first line of his poem Cummings may be referring to the same debate. For example, ...your eyes have their silence ...suggests the complete newness of his love. That is, he is experiencing something for which there is no precedent, or reference (cf Elaine Scarry's analysis of beauty as something that commands a search for a precedent). He seems to be saying that the visual information does not trigger any sound because no association exists. For the poet his love is an absolutely novel experience.
References
Ramachandran, V.S. & Hubbard, E.M (2001). Pyschophysical Investigations into the Neural Basis of Synaesthesia. Proceeding of the Royal Society of London. pp 979-984.
Scarry, E. On Beauty and Being Just (1999). Princeton University Press
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Sunday, November 05, 2006
In the eighteenth century haiku On the one-ton temple bell by Taniguchi Buson (1716 – 1783), we can perceive an immense array of messages.
On the one-ton temple bell
A moon moth folded into sleep
Sits still
We know the approximate time of day, season and the weather. For example, the key to understanding the time and season are the words ‘moon moth’ and ‘sleep’. A moth is nocturnal butterfly, and is active at night and during the warmer months of the year, in spring or summer.
Given that it is a ‘moon moth’ it is probably reputed to be particularly active during a full moon, and we could speculate that it sleeps or rests once the moon has set. We presume such an insect would go to sleep at or before dawn.
The setting of the haiku is a Japanese temple, probably Buddhist, very early in the morning. There is a strong sense of anticipation. This is because monks get up extremely early to engage in prayer or meditation, and they are awoken by the ringing of a bell. In this case it is an enormous bell that weighs a thousand kilograms, that is one ton. We know therefore that the moth is going to be disturbed and fly away.
As for the theme, it is simply a sentiment that nature is very fragile in the face of civilization. We have this through two impressions: the visual image of a rather delicate moth on the metal surface of the bell, and the strong feeling of apprehension of the bell about to ring.
Although succinct it is still serial and not as effective as a picture. With a painting we receive the information as reflected light in one moment and there is no possibility of misinterpretation. Our opinion of what we see is based on the ‘shape’ of our brains and how it has been colored by our experience. No-one can gainsay our impression of a painting.
The written word however is open to misinterpretation, especially for language students. In the above haiku very often ESL students confuse the word 'ton' with 'tone'‚ altering the meaning.
Retrun to Imagery:Poetry
Return to Table of Contents
On the one-ton temple bell
A moon moth folded into sleep
Sits still
We know the approximate time of day, season and the weather. For example, the key to understanding the time and season are the words ‘moon moth’ and ‘sleep’. A moth is nocturnal butterfly, and is active at night and during the warmer months of the year, in spring or summer.
Given that it is a ‘moon moth’ it is probably reputed to be particularly active during a full moon, and we could speculate that it sleeps or rests once the moon has set. We presume such an insect would go to sleep at or before dawn.
The setting of the haiku is a Japanese temple, probably Buddhist, very early in the morning. There is a strong sense of anticipation. This is because monks get up extremely early to engage in prayer or meditation, and they are awoken by the ringing of a bell. In this case it is an enormous bell that weighs a thousand kilograms, that is one ton. We know therefore that the moth is going to be disturbed and fly away.
As for the theme, it is simply a sentiment that nature is very fragile in the face of civilization. We have this through two impressions: the visual image of a rather delicate moth on the metal surface of the bell, and the strong feeling of apprehension of the bell about to ring.
Although succinct it is still serial and not as effective as a picture. With a painting we receive the information as reflected light in one moment and there is no possibility of misinterpretation. Our opinion of what we see is based on the ‘shape’ of our brains and how it has been colored by our experience. No-one can gainsay our impression of a painting.
The written word however is open to misinterpretation, especially for language students. In the above haiku very often ESL students confuse the word 'ton' with 'tone'‚ altering the meaning.
Retrun to Imagery:Poetry
Return to Table of Contents
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)