Each of the poems that we read discuss some sort of nature - be it the trees and the sun or the nature of getting old. Both speak of life and half-hearted responses and wasting life. So my questions are:
Which would you choose, the old lady or the Rembrandt (and you can't make the lady choose) and why? Furthermore, what can we, as readers, take from this question in relation to this unit's theme of "Getting By"?
What affect does the color imagery (bronze butterfly, black trunk, green shadow, golden stones) have on James Wright's poem?
Enjoy!
7 comments:
I think that I would choose the old lady. The old lady is so much more precious and valuable than the Rembrandt.
The color imagery brings a certain "personality" to the object. For instance, the green shadow may be described as green because when we think of the color green, we think of life.
Definitely I will save the old lady because a person is always going to be more important than any material thing.
I think he refers to the cycle of life because he starts with bronze, then black, then green and then gold, and this can be understood as good and bad aspects that can happen in life for example bronze will be like a balanced state, then black a sort of evil or bad situations people face during their life and green when things start getting better and gold at the end because it can be when everything seems to be perfect.
I would agree with Carla and Amy that choosing the old woman is always a better choice, yet Carla's post made me start thinking... Is the old lady a better "thing" to save than the painting on a purely material bases? What about the painting's non-material value-can it compete with the old lady's non-material value? Of course I'd still choose the old lady when considering the question either way, but Carla made me think. ^_^
In a decision on whether to choose an old lady or the Rembrant paiting, hands down, i would choose the old lady. Because like the other response a human being is more important than any object, whatever it may be. In response to the idea of the Units theme "Getting By", it seems to me as if the students give half hearted answers, never fully commiting to a response. This unsureness in their answers, makes me wonder if they give these answers just to please the professor. Continually, it makes me wonder about how many times a day do we, as people, do just enough to get by rather than strive for the best. So do we all really truly live life to the fullest or rather just put in enough effort to get by, such as the students in the poetry?
I guess you can call me unoriginal, but I would save the lady as well. A work of art does not, and never will, possess the same value as a human life.
I would also choose the old lady and for the same reasons.. a human life is more valuable than a painting no matter the price tag. The use of color imagery made me think of the seasons... bronze would be fall when the leaves are turning brown and orange, the black would be winter when all is dark and cold, the geen would be srping the color of new life, and the gold would be summer because of the sun and its rays.
Even though I know the value of the Rembrandt, I would have to go with the same choice as everyone else. No one, with a conscience, standing in a burning museum would look at an immobile old lady and decide to save a painting and allow the old woman to burn to death.
Also, I believe that the point of the imagery in Wright's poem was to offer a stark contrast to his last line. You start getting a beautiful, colorful image and then all of the sudden, it is taken away. This is more to create a shock at the end
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