work

The Good Life – Tracy K. Smith – Analysis

richinaword Other words on poetry, Poetry analysis Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment 

The Good Life

When some people talk about money
They speak as if it were a mysterious lover
Who went out to buy milk and never
Came back, and it makes me nostalgic
For the years I lived on coffee and bread,
Hungry all the time, walking to work on payday
Like a woman journeying for water
From a village without a well, then living
One or two nights like everyone else
On roast chicken and red wine.

Tracy K. Smith (1972 -

.. the relationship we have with money … if money is our lover and we pander and waste our lives in this partnership then we lose ourselves … there are more things much more important than money … than the chase and desire that can tarnish our golden search

… but the poet is nostalgic for a different approach … when money was secondary … and those times when money did come through hard work and when roast chicken and wine came it was appreciated so much more … a greater celebration that warms the soul … and that may be what a good life is … a well-earned satisfying life!

… it is like working hard for something by yourself without help from others persevering and accepting the challenge and then when you have eventually completed a task the reward and joy in accomplishment is so great … this is the great negative in having things done for you in using AI the achievement can be very shallow and not the same … I guess it is a question of how much of AI went into a joint accomplishment … but it can diminish the extent of thinking required in achieving your outcome.

My advice is to think very carefully in the response from AI and be prepared for further research if you need to explore the truth behind the AI generated text. AI encourages laziness. In contrast poetry can make you think … and often gives a different perspective on life

… here is another AI poem where this diminishment in the joy of accomplishment is explored … ‘Eventually’ – the AI encroachment | my word in your ear

Tracy K. Smith (born April 16, 1972) is an American poet and educator. She served as the 22nd poet laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019 … more information on Wikipedia

Meeting at Night – Robert Browning – Analysis

richinaword Poetry analysis Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Meeting at Night

I
The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i’ the slushy sand.

II
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, thro’ its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!

Parting at Morning

Round the cape of a sudden came the sea,
And the sun looked over the mountain’s rim:
And straight was a path of gold for him,
And the need of a world of men for me.

Robert Browning (1812 – 1889)

These two poems go together. Initially, the first poem contained an extra stanza, and it was called ‘Night and Morning’ where the last stanza denoted the morning departure. Browning eventually split ‘Night and Morning’ into the above two poems.

Many have interpreted these poems in relation to Barret and Browning’s courtship. It certainly highlights an intense love affair that was highly secretive and Elizabeth Barret Browning’s father did not approve of Robert Browning or of marriage.

On the 10th of January 1845 Robert Browning wrote the following to Elizabeth in response to reading her work – ‘I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett … this great living poetry of yours … the fresh strange music, the affluent language, the exquisite pathos, and true new brave thought … I do, as I say, love these books with all my heart, and I love you too’ then followed much communication in writing not meeting in person until 20 May. They eventually married in secret on 12th of September 1846 before eloping to Italy.  (Reference – Robert Browning – his life and work by F. E. Halliday)

Clearly the sentiments expressed in ‘Meeting at Night’ parallel his personal love journey.

The poem ‘Parting at Morning’ is worthily placed as a separate entity for it expresses the need to move on from the dominant emotive love feeling to the ‘world of men’ and everyday life. Life is perhaps the mix of the mountain top and the mundane.

Robert Browning on Wikipedia.