Monthly Archives: November 2015

Poetry

“she being brand” by e.e cummings is a poem about a man describing his experience driving his new car for the first time, which he metaphorically compares it to his sexual experience with a woman and being new could mean she’s a virgin.  By “having throughly oiled the universal/ joint tested my gas felt of her/ radiator made sure her springs were O./ K.)i went right to it flooded-the-carburetor cranked her,” the man make sure that he’ll be gentle with her as he doesn’t want to damage her on his first attempt. The tone of the poem seems that the speaker is excited about the ride as it says that “it was the first ride and believe I we was/ happy to see how nice and acted right up to/ the last minute coming back down.”

 

“Coming Home, Detroit, 1968” by Phillip Levine is a poem that has a dark tone that talks about a man driving home to Detroit, he witness the industrial negativity that has hit his hometown. Because “we burn this city every day,” we have damage the environment as “the charred faces, the eyes/ boarded up, the rubble of innards, the cry/ of wet smoke hanging in your throat,/ the twisted river stopped at the colour of iron.”

 

RR4-Vanitas

In this style of painting it uses vibrant colored objects like fresh fruits nice and shiny to show life. then you have decaying plants and other objects to show the process of death. For example insects normally are associated with the process of decay so by him adding them to the painting the help get the message across. Its not too heavy handed because for the most part the image is bright and vibrant and there is still nice fruits in it the bugs and decay is pretty subtle. – Randall

RR5-POETRY

In the poem “SHE BEING BRAND” BY E.E Cummings E.E is referring to the car in a very sexual dame nor. he is having fun almost being playful and metaphoric like when he says (having throughly oiled the universal  joint tested my gas felt of he radiator made sure her springs were 0.k) almost reminded me of when men name there cars and refer to them as the woman . i thing he was almost trying to seduce us to by the car almost making it seem like having the car will bring sexual desire. In the “COMING HOME DTROIT 1969″by Phillip Levine painted a picture of almost global warming and how maybe the gas is polluting the air  like when he says ( the charred faces ,the eyes boarded up ,the rubble of innards, the cry of wet smoke hanging in your throat. he paints a gloomy winter Tuesday afternoon with fire in the air stuck in traffic almots like having to beat the concreate everyday.

RR5-Poetry

In “she being Brand”  the poet is using the “brand new car” he is driving to refer to the woman he is sleeping with. he uses terms like “oiled the universal joints” and “tested my gas and felt her radiator” to refer to them getting ready for sex. Then you have “Coming Home” where the poet is speaking about fire bodies and everything harmful and disgusting. He says ” one brown child stares and stares into your frozen eyes until the lights change and you go forward to work” showing they thing he has to go to daily on his drive pretty much comparing his drive to almost a walk in a warren

Poems

Both poem author used a car to convey a specific meaning but, each authors was talking about something different. The one by E.E. Cumming, he used a car to convey a sexual message. Car in general is fast, it’s energetic, it’s gets you from one place to the next. The way he incorporated that into a sexual meaning because he wanted to emphasis the excitement of sexual interaction. He quoted that “what the hell next minute i was back in neutral tried and again slowly, barely, nudging”. Generally when a car failed to work, a person have to start again but more slowly and gradually. So what Cumming is trying to say is that during his time with the person, it didn’t start off perfectly. So he slowly gave it a go again with the person like how a person will restart their car if it didn’t start up the first time to well. The one by Levine is more darker than Cumming. He incorporated the used of car as a metaphor to convey the harsh environment he was living in during his time.  Him driving down the street while using car as a metaphor is a way for him to describe the negativity of the industrial era that is effecting the city.

Poetry

In both e.e cummings, he is describing the car as he;s driving as like having sex with a female companion while in Philip Levine’s poetry he’s describing the environment in Detroit as he’s driving by in his car. In e.e cummings, he’s describing every motion he’s doing to the car such as “having thoroughly oiled the universal…” in reference to what would he sexually do to a woman. In Philip Levine’s, he’s describing the the condition of Detroit during that time period and as he drives by watching cars being built and people covered in black powder and sweat mix together everyday. “The charred faces, the eyes boarded up…” shows the condition working in Detroit.

Poetry

In the poem “she being brand” by e.e. cummings is more a pleasure/ sex poem between the writer and the car and in the poem “coming home, Detroit, 1968” by Phillip Levine, show more of a dark, gloomy poem. While both writers are in the car driving, both writers are having  different experiences in their day.

“Just as we turned the corner of Divinity

avenue i touch the accelerator and give

her the juice, good”

In this part of the poem it shows that the writer is really enjoying his ride in his car. Rather than in “coming home, Detroit,1968”  “We burn this city everyday.”

 

Poetry

After reading both poems about a guy riding a car we can tell the difference in tones and how they used metaphors to communicate us a message about what is going on. In the poem by e.e Cummings, its all about excitement , thrill and being happy. The emotion he is having with this woman in the car and being the fact that it is her first time. We can tell this poem is very sexual because in the poem we see metaphors such as “Slipped the clutch” meaning that there is something going on in the car and boy is he happy about it and very aroused. This poem has very positive and good thoughts going in this scene. However the poem by Phillip Levine, the tone of this poem is quite opposite. Very harsh, cold, dark and just a devastated tone and feel to it. In his poem the guy is going to work in his car and thinking how life is and why it is the way it is. An example from the poem that shows this, is “Near the freeway you stop and wonder what came off, recall the snowstorm where you lost it all”. You have a feeling of something unpleasant. We can picture it in our minds that he isn’t happy or excited but the opposite of it. The difference in these poems, is that one shows happiness and having a great time with a partner, while the other is very cold and dark where the feeling is down and this guy is thinking about why his life has to be the way it is. Although they both using a car we can easily see the difference between them, and the way the poem is written.

Car Poems

The poem by e.e. comings brings a sexual connotation in the use of his words. In his poem he speaks about gears and car parts as doing love to a virgin woman and lets the reader feel the urge or thrill that comes with it. while Phillip Levine’s poem concentrates in the industrial dark side of looking through the window of an expensive car. As people pass by working and getting dirty with charred faces staring at the person inside the vehicle.

Cars and metaphors

In the poems “she being brand” and the poem “Coming home, Detroit” both do use car metaphors, but use them differently to achieve them in their own way. In the poem “she being brand” the poet decides to use getting a brand new car as a metaphor for sex to describe the bewilderment of actually getting a new car. Especially how the poet describes the whole endeavor, using innuendos to try to communicate to the audience without bluntly saying it.

In the poem “Coming home, Detroit” the poet uses the car as a metaphor of traveling. of vacuuming space in order for us to take a look at the visual details and not entirely the sound. I believe the poet does accomplish his ideas across. He is also describing what industry has done to the city of Detroit, where the pollution is at an all time high, how other people are being effected and how the car that you are using to go to work is also at fault, its the character’s fault as well.