I analyzed both poems them I compared and contrast them.
Phillip Levine’s “Coming Home, Detroit”
Levin’s poem uses the city, and the events that are happening in that particular moment as the main protagonist of the poem. There is a politic tone in his words; riots, chaos and destruction, what did make this happen? We also feel the survivor in the middle of the anarchic situation. People that are not involve but are witnesses and victims of such society disparity.
As we know Detroit, the poet speaks of the dead-end era. A period of transitions where he remarks his respect for those who do not give up and whom hold out faith, a distant but constant belief that could be a better society.
He points to the demonstrations and responses against an industrial city, with its dirt and surrounded with smoke, from people that experience it every day.
E.E. Cumming’s “she being Brand”
E.E. Cummings’ poem “she has being Brand” a metaphoric description of a man having a sexual experience with a first timer woman, refers to this mas who is about to drive a new brand car.
The description and the metaphor could be associated to the 1920’s idea of sexual liberation and changes in morality.
The poem describe, in an intimacy description and clear knowledge of a car parts and its function, an intimate moment of a man about to drive a new car.
The presence of the metaphor is not only in the poem’s meaning but also in the broken-condense syntax: putting words together as one, breaks with lines and illustrating beats with the description. We notice the use, or not, of periods and commas to emphasizes the metaphoric context of the poem and to sublime the assessment to which the metaphor refers.
The poem could be seeing as incongruous as humorous. But the metaphor is clear and direct, despite the techniques used by the poet.
Compare / Contrast
After analyzing and comparing-contrasting the poems of E.E. Cumming’s “she being Brand” and Phillip Levine’s “Coming Home, Detroit”, I can say that there is a strong social presence in their meanings. Cumming’s poem could refer to the American sexual liberation of the 20s, and Levine’s poem could refers to social changes that affect labor and workers. Both poems are told from a male narrator point of view.
Beside the social references of both poems, there is a politic tone involve in Levin’s poem that contrast with a more intimate experience in Cumming’s. But what is clear is the strong presence of technology.
This technology reference, that is a subtle reference because it is not in the poem itself, refers to the car industry revolution and how these revolutionary changes affect society behavior, as well the way societies looks and sense the world.
Both poems, which were writing in two different American history moments, involve cars or refer to the car industry; this is a way for the poets to tell us about that particular moment in history. We experience an array of feelings and experiences reading the poems but at the end we understand that both poems have a sense of hope.
About the Shoot for Monday October 30th.
“Change” “Passion” “Move Forward” “Hope” that will be the cue words to be considered for the shooting. The challenge is to portrait a metaphoric meaning of the poems using a toy car model from one of the two history moments when the poems were writing, 1926 or 1967.
I will try to bring a model of one of the most classic cars in the car industry, a car that shaped an entire generation; the 1967 Chevy Camaro.
I want it red because that color could be a representation of both moments: in Cumming’s poem the color will refers to the passion and love, as well as to sex and liberation. In Levine’s will represent the burst of a tired society against harsh work and living conditions and the progress and their consequences, in addition it could represent as a whole, car model plus color, a society moving forward as the main character in Levine’s poem does, despite the turbulent moments that Detroit society is leaving.
The shooting style is a big challenge. I would like to create an atmosphere that could be read as a romantic as well as a chaotic, depending the poem that represents. I would like a spot light in the car with all the surroundings blur with point of out of focus lights. I will use gels to create the different tonalities aside from the areas of high contrast using a ratio of 4 to 1 or 8 to 1. The car does not necessary be all inside the frame.
The ee cummings poem might be considered hopeful but I think it was more that the author was enjoying himself drawing such a clear picture with his choice of phrases and yet never once using a word that was explicit. I am sure you are right that social and sexual mores were changing at the time. And cars with the mobility and privacy they offer were a big part of that.
I don’t think there is anything hopeful about the Levine poem. And with his last line, I think he points to the audience as sharing the blame.
To get something to be out of focus, you will have to shoot with continuous lights as strobe lights are just too bright to use a wide aperture. bring some lights like fairy lights or something that could work as headlights. I will bring a small flashlight that maybe you could use to light up the inside of the car.