Dickinson's poem: http://www.earlywomenmasters.net/dickinson/ed_1463/index.htm
Toomer's poem: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/reapers/
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
BA 6
I chose the two poems "A Route of Evanescence," by Emily Dickinson, and "Reapers," by Jean Toomer to look at for the sixth blog assignment. The first poem describes a "resonance" and "rush" of colors as flowers die, signifying death. The first line, "A route of evanescence (line 1)," is a reference to the path of dying, with evanescence meaning "soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence; quickly fading or disappearing (American Heritage)." The symbolism all involves the end of something, flowers wilting, colors reaching the end of a resonance, except the spinning wheel, which symbolizes the circle of life. Because of all of these things, I believe this poem is about the path of death, and how it is natural and a part of existence. The second poem, "Reapers," Addresses death through metaphors, telling the story of "reapers" who sharpen their scythes to begin "their silent swinging (line 4)." While cutting grass, they hit a field rat and continue, ignoring it and moving on. This poem describes death as a way of making the earth cleaner. The poem is different from the first because it does not describe death as a path, instead as an action. You do not journey to death, you just die by the hands of another. These poems compare different beliefs on dying.
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BA 6
I enjoyed your interpretation of the poem “Reaper” by Jean Toomer. I see how the is insignificant however, I am not seeing how its death shows that it is a form of cleansing the earth. The act of reaping and mowing in the poem seem to be cleansing the earth but the image of the rat could be a metaphor of sorts. The rat’s insignificant death could be another way of stating that an individual’s death could also be insignificant – that the world continues even after the death without little notice.
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