Writing about Poetry: Anne Sexton

The Starry Night, a poem by Anne Sexton has an intricate meaning based off of the painting by Vincent Van Gogh. Her poem identifies with Van Gogh's message. 

Anne Sexton amplifies Van Gogh's work with beautiful, flowing words and vivid imagery. She uses unique verbs and adjectives to portray a surreal feeling, much like the one Van Gogh portrays in his work. Sexton's writing absorbs the images of the painting, "It moves. They are all alive.\ Even the moon bulges in it's orange irons\ to push children, like a god, from it's eye." (7-9) I notice how Sexton uses alliteration, personification, and simile constantly throughout her piece- and in that way, she achieves an image of the poem- a message that is resistant to a final understanding. 

Sexton uses repetition in the poem. She ends two of the three stanzas with: "Oh starry starry night! This is how\ I want to die." (5-6, 11-12) I feel that she relates to Van Gogh, or at least to how she perceives him. Both Sexton and Van Gogh show a similar thought- while morbid, that death is upon them, and that to embrace the heavens is to embrace reality, religion, and serenity. 

Anne Sexton conceals a beauty within her words that enhance the message of Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night. I love how a surreal aspect of her poem is completely relatable. I wonder if Anne Sexton's work usually carries this emotion.           

Sonnet: The Realm

A light caresses objects in a space
flimsy pictures tell an old story
and while my stories never wear a face
I live in this room to bethink my glory

From a secret realm, from a sacred dream
it formed a world into infinity
it crossed the border of our earth to gleam
in a new realm a baby world can be

The end of this world was quick and corrupt
the pure dream sputtered away like a light
and when the vibe was gone the realm would erupt
the world would fall into an endless night

The fake love saved what remained: a crescent
but the synthetic moon shined florescent

3 Poems

Poetry is:

A plain of barren grass
icy mountains look like broken glass
but to love this land is to amass
a crystal breeze and golden trash

A foggy, dream-like shower
that grows in your mind like a rising flower
and to love this touch is a soaring power
that feeds your mind and makes it grow louder

An underwater sound
that makes your body race and pound
and to abandon this light is to die on the ground
so travel through sleep and write to be found

Question format in response to Harlem by Langston Hughes

Where did a dream go?
it died and was forgotten
six feet under,
but with no cross to mark it's slumber

Where did a night go?
dawn was always seeping at the corners
it dissolved into the universe,
stealing secrets from a broken curse

Where did a life go?
it was thrown into a cycle
it followed every other road
a substantial place but nothing to show

Reaction to Art: The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali

The memories are persistent
a sour thought
and then you've been caught
in a paradox remaining resistant

The time is limp and lame
a trapped sensation
is still and surreal occasion
in a world that feels like sharp shame

The shadows are fundamental
a space wrapped with mystery
a face warped through history
in a night that is stained sentimental.

Writing About Art: Salvador Dalí

When I read Duma Key, by Stephen King, the name Salvador Dalí passed by my gaze unrecognized. King made many allusions to Dalí throughout the novel. Now that I am learning about Dalí and his surreal style, I notice how his work is meaningful and interesting. The book Duma Key wade many references to Dalí, "Uh-huh. In any case, I tell no lie about Dalí. He stayed in your house for three weeks in nineteen eighty-one."(122) Further in the book, they continue to refer to Salvador Dalí. I think they do this because the work of Dalí was surreal and scrambled, many components stitched together to create one immortal image.    

The picture on the book jacket of Duma Key, by Stephen King     

                                                     

                                       

        "The Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dalí 

       

This piece was so intriguing to me. In this picture, I notice the theme of death, just transparent enough to be hidden under the surface. I see that everything is enveloped in shadow, and that time is on top of and dominates the picture. The painting was created in 1931.

I feel that the title, "The Persistence of Memory" refers to how time can melt away when your thoughts are elsewhere. When you can close your eyes, and for moments, your mind separates from your body and you are completely alone. I move how the surreal aspect of the painting makes me think of my thoughts- where the mystery of the human brain presents itself and reviews the world in a dream-like and liquid matter.

The memories are persistent
a sour thought
and then you've been caught
in a paradox remaining resistant

The time is limp and lame
a trapped sensation
is still a surreal occasion
in a world that feels like sharp shame

The shadows are fundamental
a space draped in mystery
a face warped through history
in a night that is stained sentimental


I think that surrealism is an interesting image to capture. I like the idea of tweaking a realistic picture to create something that is surprisingly human. Dalí's work is very dream-like, and dreams are so mysterious. Looking into one on Dalí's paintings is like looking into an alternate universe, where an expression fills up a picture with intricate details.