Comments for lucianadearaujo's Blog

Comment on To Counter Malthus by lucianadearaujo

lucianadearaujo — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:17:28 +0000

Historically, the social classe that suffers and dies from famine and disease is the poor class. So, in this view the highest social classes decides which class has to disapear and, for sure, will not be the rich one. They think poor people are too many (and it really is – the proportion between rich and poor people is extremely unequal). And, according to Avison, we can not decide who is too many or who must die, because we do not even know how to live.

This Presence or, divine existence, stays at the verb “sting us alive”, showing the way world is. It is just like our popular idiom: “to write in mysterious ways”. God, in Avison’s view, makes us suffer with all the ills of the world, while we are still here. And we have to keep on living, daily, on this hard fight.

There is a migratory movement from South Hemisphere to North. So, territories and seashores like the big cities on USA, Canada, England or other “rich” countries are “suffering” a great growth of population. So, natives of theses places keep on receiving them , considered as strangers.

People in general has the habit of remembering God when passing hard moments. So, the Presence is brought to ease the dilemma of Quantity. We can see that it happens on the poorest countries: the use of faith to overcome the dificulties, hopping peace after death.

Comment on To Counter Malthus by dilysrees

dilysrees — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:33:05 +0000

In the first verse, she is criticizing Malthus who argued that famine and disease was a form of controlling the population growth. But what social class died (and still dies) from famine and disease? So in this view, who decides who is too many? But to Avison can we decide who is ‘too many’?

The word presence used with a capital P, certainly seems to refer to the ‘divine presence’. And what does this presence do in the verb ‘sting alive’? How does the divine presence ‘sting’ us and what does it mean to be ‘alive’?

Nowadays, where is there a great population growth? On what seashores and in what lands, what hemispheres?

In the final stanza, how can we bring ‘the Presence’ to a world of hunger?

Comment on A Thunderstorm by dilysrees

dilysrees — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:12:03 +0000

Well, the rhyme scheme is abba acca de ff de

Comment on A Thunderstorm by lucianadearaujo

lucianadearaujo — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:26:47 +0000

On the first fours lines, the poet describes the beginning of a storm. The swallows take flight on the middle of the wind, compared with leaves, due to the strength of the wind. The leaves (real leaves) stand still. On these lines, the senses noted are sight and hearing as the poet describes the transformation on the sky, the flight od the swallows and the leaves. But, there is also the hearing because of the noise cause by the wind.
The lines 5 to 8 refers to the storm being formed. But, there is still a “strange twilight”, which means the sunset still happening. The poet describes, basically, the sky, using the sight again. We can imagine a dark sky, but still with the few shafts of sun. The main key words here are “strange twilight”, “spreading”, “rolling fringe”.
The lines 8 to 14 describes the storm and the strength basically on the woods and fields, causing a sensible effect on the plains and trees. It is showed by kew words like “plain”, “elm trees”, “fields” and “gardens”. The power of the storm is reinforced by expressions like “from heaven’s height”, “swept and swayed”, “pelted waters”, “vanished plain”. Here, the senses used are the sight again (the lights coming from the thunder crash) and hearing (long roar of the wind, the thunder).

Correct rhyme scheme: abbacddcefggef

Comment on A Thunderstorm by dilysrees

dilysrees — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:32:12 +0000

You have read the first quatrain incorrectly. There are no leaves. There is just a simile “swallows…like”. Re-interpret.
Lines 5 – 8 are not referring to rain yet. What is it referring to and describing?
From lines 8 to 14, we can see the effects of the storm – where? In what place?
The rhyme scheme is abba in the first quatrain. But in the second quatrain, there are not 2 a rhymes following each other because unite does not rhyme with fringe.

Re-do the interpretation.

Comment on First Poem – Welsh History – R.S.Thomas by dilysrees

dilysrees — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:29:42 +0000

‘Gnawing the bones of a dead culture’ – dead because it is located in the past. Culture changes, moves on, it is not static, so it is necessary to stop obsessing with the past and create the present for the future. Check out John Cesar’s blog on this. He had some very good ideas.

Comment on First Poem – Welsh History – R.S.Thomas by luciana de araujo

luciana de araujo — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:00:50 +0000

They consider their culture is dead and compares it to remains of somebody dead. They also consider the customs of the past as brave, gnawing, agressive. So, they will try to build something different for the future, with more peace, avoiding what they did on the past

Comment on First Poem – Welsh History – R.S.Thomas by dilysrees

dilysrees — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:37:41 +0000

Well, actually, there are at least 2 moments of the past referred to in the poem: the distant and glorious Celtic past, filled with battles, bards, legendary kings and retreat to the hills of wild Wales, and the more recent past, of battles for their masters, colonial battles of the British Empire, in India, Ceylon, etc. Their identity became their past. And what about their future? What does ‘gnawing the bones of a dead culture’ refer to? What attitude?

Comment on First Poem – Welsh History – R.S.Thomas by luciana de araujo

luciana de araujo — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:54:36 +0000

The line “clinging stubbornly to the proud tree of blood and birth” shows that, in sucha way, the Welsh felt ashamed about their past, full or blood. And, after all this past, they “were born”, completely unprepared to face that past.
“The ineptitude for life” shows how unprepared and unused with an era in peace the Welsh were.
The author shows his disbelief in war on the sentence “fruitless battles fou our masters”, beacause he did not see proud on it. At the same time, he considers the identity lost after that past (“we were a people, and are so yet?”). They used to fight for their identity, but they lost it with the years.
Being a people, for him, means be unique, proud and united. For him and in my opinion, they have to recover the proud they had on the past, but not with the same war.

Comment on First Poem – Welsh History – R.S.Thomas by dilysrees

dilysrees — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:09:56 +0000

And what does the line ‘clinging stubbornly to the proud tree of blood and birth’ show about how the Welsh lived in modern times after the ancient past? What proof does the poet show of their ‘ineptitude for life’? What could be the ‘fruitless battles for our masters’? And why does the poet say ‘we were a people, and are so yet’? What does it mean to be ‘a people’? What do they have to do to have the noble future you mention?