On October 20, 1940, Sylvia and Milford Simon Pinsky welcomed their son, Robert Pinsky, into a war-torn world. At a young age Pinsky began pondering over the pronunciation, emphasis, and history of words. To quench his thirst of etymology, he started reading the dictionary, which kindled his interest in the power of words. Foreshadowing Pinsky's bright future with words, his love of words helps shape modern American poetry through his unique style of writing. Robert Pinsky, a member of the Symbolism Movement, writes an acclaimed poem, "Samurai Song," which embodies his unique style of writing.
Although Pinsky's high school years were difficult because of school suspensions and being in dumb classes, he persevered by playing the saxophone,
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which continues to influence his poetry today. After high school Pinsky began to distance himself from music. He attended Rutgers University and Stanford University, where he earned his master's degree in Philosophy and began to explore the art based on the sounds of speech. However, as time progressed he began to appreciate the artistic fusion of poetry and music. Drawing upon major influences of his such as Robert Frost, T.S. Elliot, and William Carlos Williams, Pinsky honed his style of writing, which pushed the boundaries on poetic writing by attempting to create new verses and rhythms. Pinsky is one of last of the civic poets, one who attempts to speak to American readers with strength and compassion in their common language and to show how essential literature as citizens. Furthermore, he is part of the Symbolism Movement, which progressed from Romanticism to Surrealism and favored feelings over reason. Additionally, Pinsky believes that the reader should freely interpret his poems based on personal subjectivity. In 1997 Pinsky was selected as the thirty-ninth United States Poet Laureate, which he held for three consecutive years. During his time as Poet Laureate, he established the Favorite Poem Project, which encouraged Americans that poetry was a part of everyday life. To incorporate multiple forms of art, Pinsky began to embrace his love for jazz, which began with his passion for playing the saxophone, with his poems. In his poem "Samurai Song," Pinsky not only depicts his Symbolist style of writing but also performs this poem with jazz musicians. In Pinsky renown poem "Samurai Song" from his collection Selected Poems, he eloquently structures the poem in seven stanzas.
He writes in a solemn yet hopeful tone, allowing the reader to sympathize with the losses of the samurai yet acknowledges his strength and perseverance. Pinsky uses anaphora in lines one through thirteen to introduce the lacking of ordinary necessities. Each object symbolizes what the reader assumes to be required to survive life, yet Pinsky strips the samurai to his essence to portray that the samurai can provide all that he needs to survive. He attempts to illustrate the minimum, which humans need to endure with self-mastery over one's mind and body. For example, Pinsky writes, "When I had no friend I made / Quiet my friend" (10-11). The reader pities the samurai for his lack of companionship; nevertheless, the samurai disregards his emptiness and replaces it with another option to continue his life. Additionally, Pinsky notes that the samurai "had / No priest, [his] tongue was [his] choir" (14-15). Symbolizing the samurai's lack of spiritual guidance, the absence of a priest forces the samurai to explore spirituality himself. Moreover, because the samurai lacks a temple for his prayers, he makes his voice his temple. The reader sensed the loneliness of the samurai because not only does no not have any secular guidance but also no spiritual guidance. One may think of the samurai's independence from with Emily Dickinson's poem "Some keep the …show more content…
Sabbath going to Church," by which she connects with God through the beauty of his creations. Because of the its vague meaning, "Samurai Song" reflects Pinksy's unique style of writing because it allows the reader to openly interpret his poem. The poem reflects the Symbolism Movement style of writing because Pinsky focuses more on the emotions that the reader feels for the samurai. In addition to offering hope in the darkest time, "Samurai Song" portrays that man can survive life with the only bare minimum through self-discipline. Robert Pinsky's "Samurai Song" is among my most favorite poems because of the sense of desperateness the samurai faces, yet he endures by finding alternative substances.
Because Pinsky is the last civic poet, I believe that the samurai can be replaced with a New Orleanian, changing the title to "New Orleans Song." By changing the title I interpret the poem as depicting the resilience that the people of New Orleans displayed after Hurricane Katrine, in which many lost all that belonged to them. Nevertheless, New Orleans did not let adversities hinder their life and replaced what they did not have with other possessions. Some New Orleanian found faith in God, others used "detachment / as [their] strategy" and never returned to New Orleans, forgetting all their memories and possessions (19-20). Americans have a "run to" rather than a "run from" mindset, and Pinsky truly embodies that mentality through the samurai's perseverance. In my opinion, Pinsky is the foremost modern poet for his beautiful works of American poetry that emphasizes American
culture. Growing up in New Jersey, Pinsky persevered through adversities in high school and rose from the status of the "music boy" in high school to U.S. Poet Laureate in America. Connecting Pinsky's perseverance with the samurai's perseverance one can truly appreciate the practicality and truth behind the "Samurai Song," which offers hope in the darkest time.
In The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, a young man is thrown from his established world, left in a new, confusing realm that holds more than meets the eye. In the midst of a violent and ferocious war between the Chinese and Japanese in mid 1937, this young man, Stephen, contracts tuberculosis, and is sent to his family’s summer house in Japan. There he meets the house’s caretaker, Matsu, a simple and reserved man who holds back all but the most necessary speech. This meeting will come to define many of Stephen’s interactions with others throughout the novel: reserved and limited. In this odd land filled with subtle secrets and unspoken uncomfortability, Stephen is prepared for a very quiet and restful period, marked with healing and growth.
Have you ever thought that the Samurai warriors and the Medieval Knights had something in common? The Samurai and Knights fought in war, and they had to honor their code of conduct. So do samurai warriors and Medieval Knights have anything in common? The similarities between Samurai and Knights were greater than the differences. This can be seen from three important areas; social position, training and armour, and honor and death.
Mori, Taisanboku, et al. Poets Behind Barbed Wire. Eds. Jiro Nakano and Kav Nakano. Honolulu: Bamboo Ridge Press, 1983.
Shel Silverstein is highly regarded as one of the best poets and authors of the 20th century. As a child, Silverstein had no poetic role model, hence he created his own form of writing; Free Verse. Although, he had no basic knowledge of poetry and his foundation was based purely on free verse, he later quickly became an outstanding poet and even a song composer. “Silverstein grew up in Chicago, and began writing and drawing at a young age” (poets.org). During his military career, Mr. Silverstein began making cartoons for the military’s magazine: Stars and stripes. Later on his early life, Shel Silverstein began to work for Playboy, where his poetry career started to blossom (Shel Silverstein: Biography). Mr. Silverstein made many poems and then was introduced to children’s writing. Here Silverstein’s popularity grew and became well recognized. The Giving Tree was an outstanding innovation of his and is still one of the best books to this day (Biography Channel). His creativity didn’t stop there, he began to compose songs. One exquisite song of Shel Silverstein is The Boy Named Sue. Silverstein even got Johnny Cash to sing it (Shel Silverstein: Biography). Even to an old age, Shel Silverstein continued to write poems and songs; increasing his popularity. Since Shel Silverstein was was a master of free verse, he made poems that equated to most people and became a favorite poet to America and to the World. Though a master of free verse, Silverstein’s diverse talents are evident is his expertise in writing poems, such as the poem, “Where the Sidewalk Ends”
The Dave Matthews Band has been a musical power house for years. They have meshed together almost every type of music together to create their extremely unique sounds and attractiveness towards their music. Dave Matthews, lead singer and guitarist from South Africa has put together a band that no one will ever be able to create again. Dave picked four extremely talented and unique sounding men to join his band and together they have created some amazing music. The members of the band include Stefan Lessard on bass, Boyd Tinsley on violin, Leroi Moore on saxophone and one of the best drummers in the world, Carter Beauford. Together these men will one day leave behind a similar reputation as one of the all time greatest "jam" bands of time.
Short stories like Hisaye Yamamoto’s Seventeen Syllables, reveals something about the time period and how the author lived; we recognize these connotations in her essay “Seventeen Syllables” -- A Symbolic Haiku, through her logical outlook of everything. Yamamoto wants to educate American readers of the multicultural struggles that are brought upon by the immigrated, (mostly women), to America for freedom. She shows her purpose of everything through her special attention, the roles in woman, both Japanese and American, the metaphorical meaning of haikus, the seasons figurative meanings, the number three and seventeen and finally, the social obstacles between both the West and eastern hemispheres.
The end of a semester is the most stressful time for students because of those dreaded finals. Anyone who lived through the 1990s should know the song a young lion and his pals sang after meeting for the first time. However, as the years pass by, society forgets the simple pleasures of youth and the two words that can make all troubles go away. “Hakuna Matata” was a song written by Tim Rice with music by Elton John. This song is also a story about a warthog before he discovered this amazing expression. However, the biggest part of the song is about being carefree and forgetting any troubles that may arise. As finals approach, a student needs to revisit their childhood past and recall the “wonderful phrase:”
I found there is a consistent theme of the being the "other" and never being fully accepted into mainstream society. Hongo said: “My project as a poet has been motivated by a search for origins of various kinds, a quest for ethnic and familial roots, cultural identity, and poetic inspiration—all ultimately connected to my need for an active imaginative and spiritual life. I write to be a voice that I can listen to, one that makes sense and raises my own consciousness.” Hongo uses descriptive lists and repetitious word order and phrasing. His language is elegant and lyrical. “Something Whispered in the Shakuhachi”in Yellow Light in 1982 by Garrett Hongo. It is an intimate poem. In its focus on one elderly and enfeebled man, Hongo is able to show a strength of spirit that can transcend the most challenging and demeaning of conditions. In that poem, Hongo talks about an old man hanging over his sleep, a metaphor for his own Japanese origins, which live in his heart. The old man delights in his talent for carving Shakuhachi. Rather than have his precious flutes destroyed, he burns them himself, but even after they are gone, he can hear their “wail like fists of wind whistling through the barracks.” After the war, when he returns home, the memory of the flutes and their
The two characters currently used for the word “Shinto” are “god” (shin) and “way” or “road” (to). In this way, Shinto can be defined as either “the way of the gods” or “the path to the gods” (b2). This definition presents Shintoism as a way of life with a set of customs that are followed. Several of these customs are regular festivals or ceremonies celebrating or honoring different deities. The dancing and music that can be found at all of these events are collectively referred to as kagura, the music of Shinto.
In the first stanza, Emily Dickinson describes emotional turmoil as a precedent to physical numbness. Dickinson implies how someone can feel that all days are the same when they are overwhelmed with emotions, especially dismal and grueling ones. This imagery can best be seen when she relates the feeling of loneliness and isolation to being concealed “like Tombs”. The speaker 's emotional numbness slowly infects the heart and causes it to become distant and hardened toward
'Twilight Samurai" is situated in Japan throughout the time of the Meiji Restoration, circa 1868 - the same period as Kurosawa's incredible "The Seven Samurai" and Edward Zwick's exquisite "The Last Samurai." The three movies bargain in distinctive routes with a period when samurai still attempted to live by the Code of Bushido, even as they confronted destitution or unemployment in an evolving pop culture. "The Last Samurai" is about samurai contradicting the head's moves to modernize Japan; unexpectedly, we discover that the saint of "Sundown Samurai" battled and kicked the bucket in that insubordination - after the story of this film is over.
The song that I choose to do this assignment on is Fight the Power by Public Enemy. Fight the Power was written in 1989 and quickly became a street anthem for millions of youths. It reflects with issues dealing with both the Civil Rights Movement and to remind everyone that they too have Constitutional Rights. This particular song is about empowerment but also fighting the abuse of power that is given to the law enforcement agencies. It gave citizens of the U.S a more modern outlook on the many struggles that not only the African American community is up against but the other minority groups as well. The song’s message was eventually supposed to bring people together and make the world a better place, even though some teens saw it as a way
In order to understand how this poem represents Modernism, it is important to first understand just what Modernism was, and what exactly Modernists believe in. In order to understand this we must turn to Michael Borshuk’s essay Swinging The Vernacular: Jazz and African American Modernist Literature. According to Borshuk’s essay there are several major ideas that Modernists hold dear to them. The first of these ideas is there must be individuality in an artist’s work. Borshuk begins his article by describing the opening scene of Episode Three of Ken Burn’s documentary on the history of Jazz. He writes that “Burns takes us indoors, into a cabaret... We see African American patrons in a cabaret, smoking and drinking while a small jazz combo performs onstage. The drummer juggles his sticks while he keeps time, all maverick style and undaunted poise” (Borshuk 1). It is this drummer that Borshuk seems particularly interested in as the essa...
Blues, a genre of music originated by African Americans around the end of the 19th century. This genre used many musical aspects from African-American work songs, African musical traditions and folk music. In order to determine what characteristically is deemed a ‘blues song’, stylistic components of blues as well as mood or emotion are the main corresponding influential factors to illustrate the blues musical genre. Blues form is also characterised by call-and response, meaningful lyrics of hurt or sorrow and a specific chord progression known as the 12-bar blues. Solomon Burke’s live performance of “If you need me”, a song originally written by Wilson Pickett and popularised by Solomon Burke, has definitively captivated the blues musical
Emily Dickinson was known well for her solitude nature to the point of never leaving her house after dropping out of Mount Holyoke College. She was never fond of being out in the public light and at one point in her life even stated she thought it was ridiculous to have her poems published. This feeling of wanting to not be famous and enjoying the solitude is emphasized in her poem “I’m Nobody! Who are you? (260)” published in 1891. Using similes and pronouns Dickinson gives a sense of talking to a dear friend, the reader, on why she is happy to be nobody.