Context Of The Poem example essay topic

"Poetry exists to disrupt habitual perception". Discuss with reference to at least two poems, one of which has been studied in seminar, the other chosen by yourself. "Language must be investigated in all the variety of its functions. Before discussing the poetic function we must define its place among the other functions of language". (Jakobson linguistics and poetics / p 34). Jakobson based his theories upon language and what can effect it.

Code - The language variety. Context - Where you would come across the poem. Contact - A physical and psychological connection between the sender and receiver. All of these factors will contribute to the language we interpretated.

The message requires code, context and contact but more importantly a sender and a receiver which all determine a different function of language. This brings in Saussure's theory of how the language can be interpretated by individual and social experiences and the different interpretations that can evolve from these. "Defamiliarization is the usual English translation of ostranenie (literally "making strange"). In a famous essay first published in 1917, Victor Shlovsky argued that the essential purpose of art is to overcome the deadening effects of habit by representing things in unfamiliar ways".

This is another theory that I will be taking into consideration when discussing the poems I have chosen. The first poem I have looked at is Innocent's Song by Charles Causey. This poem is combined with extracts from other texts such as the bible, children's stories, nursery rhymes and cultural beliefs. "Some theorists believe that intertextuality is the very condition of literature, that all texts are woven from the tissues of other texts, whether their authors know it or not". (D. Lodge / Art of Fiction / p 98/99).

Because of this aspect the way in which the text is interpretated can alter. If the reader is not familiar with the children's stories or is from a different religious background it would not be understood in the same that I have read and interpretated it. The first verse sounds like a nursery rhyme or an innocent childlike type of questioning. We begin to assume that the person being described is Santa, but know that he wouldn't be knocking on the window or standing by the door. It then mentions that the presents are on the kitchen floor, almost like they have been dropped out of fright.

Cultural knowledge triggers thoughts in our minds that presents are usually kept under a Christmas tree which is not ordinarily kept in the kitchen. By the second verse there is a lack of innocence due to the times we are living in and what we know. His hair being described as white as gin is very sinister as gin is associated with abortion. The question "What is he doing with the children?" automatically brings pedophiles to mind, again due to the lack of innocence we have as adults because of what we know through the times we are living in. In the third verse blood appears in the form of rubies on his fingers and salty snow running red which suggests a lot of blood which could mean a massacre. The cawing of his carols signifies a raven, which is associated with death.

It goes on to describe the likeness of this person to a spider which is something most people are afraid of. How his fingers are made of fuses which is what sets bombs off before they kill innocent people and that his tongue is made of gingerbread which could indicate that he's a sweet talker and that's how he has managed to get inside the house. It is also an association with the Hansel and Greta l story that, in the original story, involved the children getting killed. The physical thought of someone having a gingerbread tongue is quite frightening also. In the fifth verse the mention of the world melting in a million suns sounds like there is no future because he has killed the children. Then in the last verse he appears in the fire, which most people have in the heart of their homes, but fire is also associated with hell so you definitely know he is a bad person.

The last line is then separated from the last verse for emphasis as we find out it is Herod who has been described. The second poem I have chosen is Digging by Seamus Heaney. This poem is about memories of the poets past and how it has effected him. The first three verses give description of his father ploughing and the admiration he held for him and his work, which required so much skill. The opening lines he describes his pen being as "snug as a gun". A gun is a powerful weapon so he could be comparing his words to be as equally powerful.

You get another sense or power from the poet when in verse two it ends with "I look down". He is looking down because now that his father is older and not the workman he used to be he feels powerful with the words he can write. This poem is very visual as it gives lots of description as to the work they do and the skill that they have to do it. It also uses lots of sounds such as "rasping" and "gravelly" which I think make the poem very earthy.

Further through the poem it describes his admiration for physical labour in the past, but how he doesn't want to do this or that he is even capable of doing it. He describes how he once took milk to his father which had been "corked sloppily" and in verse eight how he has "no spade to follow men like them" also suggests he was no good at doing what they did. He "digs" with his pen. Something useful and valuable and compares hard labour to writing, both of which are demanding jobs.

The last verse is a repetition of the first, which emphasizes the fact he feels his work is just as important as the work his family has done. Throughout these two poems you can see where poetic theory has been used. In Innocent's Song the use of intertexuality is used throughout but also using Shlovsky's theory of defamiliarization we are seeing innocent children's stories loose their innocence by the way that it has been incorporated into the poem. Words that we would use in everyday conversation re made unfamiliar in a sinister way because of the context of the poem.

This poem I feel does disrupt habitual perception because of these factors. Seamus Heaney's poem is based upon his memories as a child remembering his father. Although this poem is not as disrupting as the first it still contains material that makes us look twice as the text as it has been de familiarized. The images he creates are strong and very visual.

"Poetic imagery is a means of creating the strongest possible impression". (D. Lodge / Art as technique / p 18) Innocent's song. Who's that knocking on the window, Who's that standing at the door, What are all those presents Lying on the kitchen floor? Who is the smiling stranger With hair as white as gin, What is he doing with the children And who could have let him in? Why has he rubies on his fingers, A cold, cold crown on his head, Why, when he caws his carol, Does the salty snow run red? Why does he ferry my fireside As a spider on a thread, His fingers made of fuses And his tongue of gingerbread? Why does the world before him Melt in a million suns, Why do his yellow, yearning eyes Burn like saffron buns?

Watch out where he comes walking Out of the Christmas flame, Dancing, double-talking: Herod is his name. Digging. Between my finger and thumb The squat pen rests; snug as a gun. Under my window, a clean rasping sound When the spade sinks into gravelly ground: My father, digging. I look down Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds Bends low, comes up twenty years away Stooping in rhythm through potato drills Where he was digging. The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft Against the inside knee was levered firmly.

He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep To scatter new potatoes that we picked, Loving their cool hardness in our hands. By God, the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man. My grandfather cut more turf in a day Than any other man on Toner's bog. Once I carried him milk in a bottle Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up To drink it, then fell to right away Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods Over his shoulder, going down and down For the good turf.

Digging. The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge Through living roots awaken in my head. But I've no spade to follow men like them. Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests.