User Comments - bill

bill

Posted on: Dreams of the Departed 陇西行

February 25, 2009 at 1:05 AM

tommaz,

Still, all that Blyth says is extremely interesting. This idea of the fusion of thought processes via language with our external input by the means of our senses can lead to hours of discussion. The healing of the disputes our thoughts create is there on the page in a poem.

One begins to wonder about the limits of a particular language, and thus, we find ourselves delving into Chinese which, at least for me, minimizes the distance between thoughts and reality.

A Chinese poem seems to say something by its appearance on the page, its form visually fuses with its substance.

It would be super to have these poems written in Chinese calligraphy on rice paper. One could then almost sense from the impressions of the brush strokes, from the amount the ink that is layed down per character, what the poet was feeling ...

Bill

Posted on: Dreams of the Departed 陇西行

February 24, 2009 at 9:08 PM

In the spirit of Keats the following occurs to me. Sorry for any grammatical weirdness:

今天的茶是茉莉花的
是冬天闻到春天
窗口上有蝴蝶 ...

Bill

Posted on: Dreams of the Departed 陇西行

February 24, 2009 at 8:50 PM

tommaz,

In "O for a beaker full of the warm South," I think the line between "metaphor" and "metonymy" blurred.

To me "warm South" is an image, a metaphor for all you say it represents, and even more, since it is for each of us to his or hers experiences ...

In either case it is a beautiful line of poetry.

Bill

Posted on: Dreams of the Departed 陇西行

February 24, 2009 at 7:07 PM

While metonymy or a figure of speech like "head count" or "brown shirt," is the appropriate grammatical definition that pete desired, I will argue that like "brown shirt," 貂锦 originated poetically as a metaphor or image, and in the latter case for soldier in the poet's mind's eye. One can easily imagine 五千貂锦 charging. What an image !

As I see it, the touchstones of poetry are music, image and metaphor, and the poets that pete is introducing to us like all great poets tend to eschew cliches or to use them ironically, for example. A metonymy is usually a cliche.

By the way I really do enjoy all of the analysis and am just coming at this from a different direction.

I think it is interesting to discuss how to read or listen to a poem. When linda33 says, "the Cantonese poems sound really cool!", ah, that's it. She doesn't understand Cantonese but the musicality of the poem struck her in this way.

To me It is best to initially approach a poem with an innocent mind, and let it play with one's being like a cat plays with a ball of yarn. What images, feelings, etc. does it conjure? And, always remember that language and song preceded grammar and analysis. In this way we can more closely experience what the poet intended for us, and I don't believe that is to leap into the poet's mind but rather to discover something in ourselves with the poem as a vehicle.

To this end I'll close by writing a little poem. Something new a fresh. It will be in English (I could write it in French) because it is my maternal language. Here goes - what will I write ...

When we make love

her surges steal the sunset

Like two white cranes

wandering, lost

Together we steal the moon 月.

Not bad ... where did that come from? Beats me ... but then again my wife might know (-:

Bill

Posted on: Dreams of the Departed 陇西行

February 24, 2009 at 6:59 AM

Hi Pete,

Perhaps the answer is a poetic "image."

Bill

Posted on: Finance Segment on TV

February 24, 2009 at 1:36 AM

tvar,

"(You're too young to remember)"

我记得因为我六十八岁 ...

Bill

Posted on: Finance Segment on TV

February 23, 2009 at 4:40 PM

tvan,

我卖证券和基金. 现在要小心点儿. 但是还有些证券是便宜货.

Essentially, as I see it, many excellent stocks are way undervalued. If you are patient, and invest carefully now, I think in about 3-5 years you'll really see a gain.

Bill