My favorite poem from the reading was “The
Language of the Brag” by Sharon Olds. When first reading this poem, it seems
like it’s about a man boasting about his strong body. In the last stanza I realized
the speaker was a woman and when I read the poem a second time everything made
sense. The speaker is a woman who is pregnant and describing and bragging about
qualities of her body. I enjoyed this poem and I liked how she viewed birth as
an American achievement and exceptional act. One thing I was confused of with
this poem is the last stanza. The speaker says that she has done what Walt
Whitman and Allen Ginsburg have wanted to do. I know that both of these other
poets were very into sex and homosexuality so I was wondering if her last
stanza was a bragging that Whitman and Ginsberg weren’t able to conceive but
maybe wished they could? Is birth something they would have wanted to
experience? Were they jealous of other women being able to give birth? Her final
stanza is a boast itself because the speaker is saying “Ha!” to Whitman and
Ginsberg. The speaker is saying that birth is an excellent use for her body. A woman’s
body is specifically formulated for carrying a child and giving birth and she
sees it as heroic. Another thing that confused me in this poem is when the
speaker says that the baby has been “free of that language of blood like praise
all over the body.” What is the language of blood and what did she mean by
this?
One technique that Olds used in
this poem was repetition. She repeated “I have wanted…” or “I have…” in the
beginning of almost every stanza. The only two exceptions are in the stanza
where the woman is giving birth and the final stanza where she writes “I have
done…” This is a great final stanza because she no longer is wanting but she
has achieved what she wanted. Another technique that Olds used in this poem was
enjambment in stanza three. She continues stanza two into three by describing
her big belly. Olds also does a great job with imagery in this poem. She describes
various features of her body so well that you can picture it. In the beginning
of the poem, if the reader had not immediately pictured a strong, muscular man,
you would then picture a strong and pregnant woman. She would have swollen
hands and toes and a big belly. The birthing scene in the fourth stanza also
brings forth strong images.
I'm feeling you on most of these things, though I don't know if Walt Whitman and Alan Ginsberg wanted to have children and would have been jealous of Susan Olds... I guess I don't want to think that Whitman and Alan longed to birth children... but Sharon Olds clearly (except it's poetry so maybe the "clearly" isn't so clear at all) says "I have done what you wanted to do ... this giving birth." I think the only other option for what she's talking about when discussing what Ginsberg and Whitman wanted is that she was able to use her "exceptional heroic body" to then put herself on the map of strong American things, thus her "epic use for [her] excellent body," provided for her "some heroism, some American achievement."
ReplyDeleteI don't really see why you would have thought that the speaker of the poem was a man, other than the use of the word cock in the first stanza. Maybe that, plus the expectations for men to be American heroes formed your image of the speaker. Which is fine, whatever, you were just being honest. I would however like to bring your attention to one major clue in the second stanza that could have triggered the thought of "oh, that's a lady" for you: "I have stood by the sandlot and watched the boys play." Now, unless that's some creepy man... the speaker is a girl who either grew up watching boys play or she is now watching boys play because she's pregnant (woah it's that one)! I think that I can say with certainty that if I had stopped reading the poem at the end of the second stanza, I would have known that the speaker was a girl. Mainly because she didn't use the word 'other' to describe the boys. It would have been a world of difference if the phrase read: "I have stood by the sandlot and watched the other boys play." Another thing, I'm not sure that her descriptions of her body were out of this world. Legs swelling, hand swelling, face swelling... lying down and sweating while giving birth... I think she's relying at least a little bit on the probability that everyone has seen a pregnant woman before. But I'm with you on the fact that a lot of Susan Olds imagery is really awesome! Especially things like, "my inner sex stabbed again and again with terrible pain like a knife," as well as her contemplations on becoming an American hero by birthing a child.