Please select ONE of the prompts below and comment on it thoughtfully and mindfully.
1.On pages 36-37 of the text you will find the poem from which the book's title is culled. Kindly interpret the final three lines in the context of the poem, and, therefore, from their speaker's perspective; what do the lines mean literally? What is the speaker saying?
After doing this, please write another reading of the final three lines in terms of the poem's narrator. What could and do these lines mean to the narrator of the poem, given the rest of the poem and what you learn about the narrator? Finally, think about these final three lines in terms of the poet, given that she used words from these lines to title her book.
Why is the book titled Words Under the Words? How does this title work (or not work for this text)? How does this title illuminate other topics we have discussed in this course?
2. What do you learn about this Palestinian-American poet from reading this text? How is this work relevant to the issues of our class? Cite evidence from the poems for your answer.
I feel like the final three lines of the poem literally mean that the world is a rough place in general, so unless we can train ourselves to listen for the words unspoken and the messages within the things and actions of those around us, life will weigh us down and we will die unhappy
ReplyDelete(thus the part about the stones in the speakers pocket, slowing us as we walk). People in general have to remember that god, Allah, or whomever it is we worship is all around us in order to keep going and persevering. Even in death, we are not abandoned from His grace.
In the poems context and from the perspective of the narrator, I felt a lot of pain in the poem, especially about the part that talks about her son never writing and the letters never coming. Even though the grandmother says nothing can surprise her, the narrator knows that underneath her “words” are feelings of loneliness and perhaps a sense of being lost. These words under the words are the true meaning behind her grandmothers actions after years of hardship and growth. Because of the experiences she has had, the grandmother seems to be finally at peace with her life. When her son's letter do arrive in the mail, she treats them like a miracle instead of dwelling on the fact that it took so long to hear from him. The grandmother cherishes all- the words under the words. The meaning behind all actions.
I think that Words Under The Words is a good title for the book because it illuminates the idea of things unspoken. The words under the words are those that reveal what we really mean when we say something. I picture it like when somebody tells their friend that they are “alright” when they really arent. Or like the phrase “I love you”, it implies and connotates much more than emotions. Almost like Nye's poem about only knowing true kindness after you have lost all, words under the words is very self reflective. Don't let the words be lost in the mundane of everyday life. There is more to life than death and destruction. Nye's poetry is very gentle and observant of this fact.
After reviewing the poems in the text, I feel that Nye’s poems are a guide to life. There are many important life lessons in her poems. She teaches us that humans are not the most important creatures. We cannot control everything and it is important that we realize that. This message is evident in the poem “Negotiations with a Volcano”. Nye speaks to the volcano and says “Please think of us as we are, tiny, with skins that burn easily./…It is not easy to be this small and live in your shadow” (3). Nye points out the fact that humans are unimportant compared to the rest of the world. In her other poems she goes on to say that although we are somewhat unimportant, we all have a purpose and a reason for being here. In her poem “Biography of an Armenian Schoolgirl” she writes “They teach physics, chemistry. I throw my book out the window,/watch the pages scatter like the wind./I stitch the professor’s jacket to the back of his chair./There is something else we were born for” (26,27).
ReplyDeleteAnother important message in this text is that humans have no control over time, so it is important not to waste it. This idea that time does not stop is evident in many of the poems in this text. In the poem “You Know Who You Are”, Nye writes “Light in a world that rushes forward with us or without us/… You keep walking, lifting one foot, then the other,/saying ‘This is what I need to remember’/and then hoping you can” (22). Another poem which touches upon this subject is “Madison Street”. Nye writes, “The street a hundred years old I tell myself/ I am young I was not here when all this started/still there is some larger belonging leaves falling/ I could have planted those trees” (16). I found the fact that Nye decided not to use punctuation very interesting. Instead of using a comma or period, she uses large spaces where she wants the reader to pause. I came to the conclusion that she uses this technique because it serves as a visual of time passing during a pause.
Continued …
ReplyDeleteNye points out that everything comes to an end and moving on is not a bad thing. In the poem “Adios” she writes “If you are known for anything,/let it be the way you rise out of sight/when your work is finished” (46). She also stresses the importance of connecting with people. In her poem, “Eye-to-Eye”, she describes how we walk by people every day with “our famous street faces, anonymous as trees” (11). She describes the brief moment when two people make eye contact with one another and she describes this as her “career”, which she takes seriously. Instead of going through life aimlessly it is important to connect with people. In the poem “Remembered” she writes how a man gave away material possessions in order to make an impact on the lives around him. One of the lines that touched me is “When we left he’d say “’Don’t forget me! You won’t forget me now, will you?’ as if our remembering could lengthen his life” (7). This highlights the man’s struggle of making an impact on the lives around him. He was scared to be forgotten and this made me feel sad. Lastly, Nye points out that we must take responsibility for our actions and try to correct our mistakes before it is too late. In “The Little Brother Poem” she apologizes for the things she did in the past that hurt her brother. At the end of the poem she includes “It’s a large order I know, dumping out a whole drawer at once,/fingering receipts and stubs, trying to put them back/in some kind of shape so you’ll be able to find everything later,/when you need it, and you don’t have so much time” (15). Through these lines she tells the readers that it is important to deal with your mistakes sooner rather than later. If your life is in order you will have nothing to hold you back from becoming who you are meant to be.
This text is relevant to the issues in our class because a lot of our class discussions revolve around the search for a person’s identity. Nye’s poems are filled with important life lessons. Readers who are able to take these lessons and apply them to their own lives will benefit. Through each poem I was able to gain a better understanding of the author. These poems illustrate the journey of Nye’s discovery of her own personal identity.
The last three lines of this poem literally mean that the world is tough survive on all levels. In the context of the poem the speaker's grandmother does not have many things in her life. She is not very wealthy. She sits at home and bakes bread and watches the outdoors all day. With all these small things she can still appreciate the good in life even though she struggles with little.
ReplyDeleteAnother way to interpret the last three lines is the narrator is comparing life to the stones being in pockets- weighing the person down at time yet they still manage to get through even though it is quite difficult. In terms of the title I believe it means that if you dont see the good in life "words under the words" you will forever struggle through life with the little you have and be weighed down by it.
The book is titled Words Under the Words because throughout all of the poems in this book there is a message that the author is trying to uncover to the readers. The message is if you don't see another way to view life such as in the authors situation then you will have a difficult time being able to survive. In this course we have talked about finding ones true identity. This title illuminates finding ones identity because you have to endure the hardships and struggles just like the characters in the poems had to. They come to terms with the struggles and find a way to get around it. They eventually come to terms with who they are as well.
1. On pages 36 -37, I believe that the last three lines symbolize to listen closely to the words that are being spoken and what the words actually refer to in a deeper meaning because the world is a tough place to live and very difficult to move forward in life without fully understanding what is being said. Throughout the poem, the speaker mentions incidents referring to the grandmother and the occurrences happening in her world around her family. The speaker also mentions the grandmother’s experience through life dealing with the spaces she travels to, the unwritten messages she cannot send, the death of her husband, and the eyes of the grandmother meaning that Allah is everywhere. From the speaker’s point of view literally means that Allah is the center of everything no matter how one can try to stop this. The speaker shows pain in the beginning of the poem by towards the end gains a sense of strength and uplifting spirit. By understanding the words within the words, one can move forward in life with a happy death rather than die a slow and painful death. The words are symbolizing the obstacles of life and understanding and worshiping the power of Allah or God. The speaker is showing that life is not perfect and contains pain by praying to Allah or God. By doing this one will gain the strength to understand life and nature as the speaker does in this poem. These three lines mean to the narrator a lesson to life and how one should live his/her life or the world will swallow you whole and be very difficult to live in. What I learn from the narrator is he/she looks at life in a different perspective that others do. The narrator focuses on nature around him/her and uses his/her grandmother experiences as an example of living life the correct way by believing and worshiping Allah or God. I learn from the narrator that in life there is pain, but pain can make one stronger and wiser. I also learned to look at life in a different perspective and dig into the words deeper to understand the full concept of what is being mentioned. I think the poet used part of the three lines of Words Under the Words as the title of the book to show that in each poem shows a different aspect of life and underneath the words is a deeper meaning rather than just looking at the words literally. The words itself has a deeper understanding which connects the speaker within the poems in the book. This title works for this text because all the poems make the reader look closely to the text and the words being said in a different way because of the title. The title itself makes the reader focus on what the speaker in the poems are actually trying to say rather than just reading the obvious. The title illuminates other topics discussed in class for instance the word gay which has different meanings. Gay can mean being happy or carefree spirit or sexually attracted to the same sex. By looking at the word closely can change a person perspective of what one is actually talking about rather than the obvious. In class we learned that words can mean different things and can have an effect on others, which can cause the way one chooses to live.
ReplyDeleteOn pages 36-37 of the poem "The Words Under The Word," the last 3 lines are important because they summerize all of the poems as a whole. As i was reading Nye's poems, i noticed that there was some sort of struggle she was facing in each poem. For example the last 3 lines of her poem "Words Under The Words" Nye states "Answer if you hear the words" (38) meaning we should face our struggles other wise we will never mover forward in life. ( "just a world with a lot of rough edges, difficult to get through, and ur pockets full of stones "(38). In another one of Nye's poems such as "kindness" she states " Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness, you must see a dead person lying on the side of the road" (42). Nye is bringing in elements of her life and struggle to every readers attention. Nye is letting the readers know in this poem that before you know kindness you must know struggle. The last three lines of the poem Nye states " It is you i have been looking for" (43) (meaning kindness.) Once you have dealt with your struggles kindness will go everywhere with you. For example Nye states "And then goes with you everywhere like a shadow or a friend." (43) As i was reading these poems I connected that Nye has gone through many struggles in her life. Even though these collection of poems have struggles and obstacles, i felt she wrote them with such compassion.
ReplyDeletethe title of Nyes book Words Under The Words fits her stories very well. Nye uses such beautiful diction in her poems that have such a strong meaning and they can actually impact a human beings life. Throughout the poems Nye is going through everyday struggles that many other human beings go through. She is finding herself throughout the poems. readers can learn many lessons from this book as she writes about her travels, struggles, family and love.
Jessica points out that the book “Words Under the Words” by Naomi Shihab Nye is a guide to life. I would agree with this concept. Each poem that Nye writes has a lesson or a concept that the reader can take away. On page 10, the poem Minnows includes this line “I say YES too much, I say YES when I mean NO and the wrinkle grows”. This is a tiny bit of advice that Nye writes, a reminder to stand up and do only the things you believe in. Another quote by Nye that includes is the concept of death: we see this on page 17 in The World in Translation “If she were to have anything to do with the world, these would be her translators, through these she would learn the secrets of dying, how to do it as gracefully as the peach, softening in silence, or the mango, finely tuned to its own skin”. One of my favorite quotes from the poems was “When someone recognizes you at the grocery store nod briefly and become a cabbage” (29). I thought that Nye was able to pin point an interesting habit that humans do, many times we are inclined to take the easy path and not get into a conversation. Making conversation in public places can be hard because we tend to keep to ourselves. I love that Nye points out how we become cabbage if we mind our own business. All of Nye’s poems were like capsules of unique new ideas. I believe that these poems go beyond her ethnicity and touch on the human condition, this correlates with many of the works we have read. People want to go beyond a religion or a race and write about what it means to be human.
ReplyDeleteFirst off the quote is very strong; “the words under the words” have a lot of meaning and dept., that alone is basically saying that the words are continuous in a sense. I interpret it as saying there is always more meaning or more to say about a subject. The next two lines say to the speaker basically that the world and being alive is “rough” or hard. The term “our pockets full of stones” says that not only is life and living in this world hard but we are constantly being weighed down. In reality if one’s pockets were full with stones it would make them very tired and unable to walk. These lines basically say to the rest of the book that in anyone’s position life can and at times is hard. In one poem she speaks about Allah, but with this life I feel as if there is inevitably going to be a struggle, but its how we ultimately get through the situation to be able to grow.
ReplyDelete(continued) Through reading these few lines its easy to notice that the author has a sort bad out take on life yes its easy to notice that life at times can be hard, but her way through reading her poems her view on life isn’t very bright. This hold weight to her ethnicity, it was harder in her shoes than it is in mines obviously. The title words under words is just so deep and meaningful to me there are different way to express, as already stated in my previous post
ReplyDeleteFrom the text it seems that author Naomi Shihab Nye has many similarities to some of the other authors we have read in this course. The most notable comparison would be religious quarrels. It seems as if everybody is judged by their religion no matter what they believe. That is why I like the view her grandfather gives in “Grandfather’s Heaven”. He basically says “up or down”, an obvious reference to Heaven and Hell. It shows that he is tolerant of other people’s beliefs because he does not care about any specific religion. He believes it is as simple as choosing whether you want to live a life of good or a life of evil.
ReplyDeleteThe poem “Biography of an Armenian Schoolgirl” reminded me a lot of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Nye asks the reader “What is the history of Europe to us if we cannot choose our own husband? (26)” She is referring to her father arranging her marriage, which is an obstacle Ali also encountered when trying to find herself. Neither of the authors wanted to embrace this part of their religion. They wanted to choose who they would marry, and to marry for their own reasons instead of their father’s.
Words Under Words is relevant to the issues we discuss in our class because it shows what the author believes to be the obstacles she faced and encountered while growing up. All of these incidents helped to determine how her life would turn out, therefore contributing to her personality. This is part of identifying a person’s identity. The book addresses views on religion, marriage, family values, and also points out some random memories which all helped contribute to the person Nye has become.
When Nye says, 'the words under the words', I believe her to mean a different meaning that what is said. For instance, one interpretation put on paper may mean something else to another person reading it. It may be taken literally to one person but have a completely different figuerative meaning to someone else. I think Nye is trying to convey a message that a person must look beyond what is presented in front of them and look for a deeper meaning to things in life. People must learn to look for an abstract meaning of things, and not to be so black and white in their everyday perspectives. I think this helps in the course as well because it teaches our class to look beyond a persons' outward appearences and accept them for who they really are; look for the deeper meaning in people. If we judge people based upon first impressions we haven't had time to get to know them as people. We must find the words under the words as human beings. This will in turn help us to develop our own identites and character.
ReplyDeletei can see from the peot Nye that she is a stong person and believer. She has alot of life lessons and I like how she shares them. What i noticed from the author is her passion for religion and its very similiar to the other books we read in class. Almost eveybody had been judged because of their religious beliefs. I feel like everyone has the right to belive in whatever they want to believe in. I like how she stays true to herself and her religion.
ReplyDeleteIn the final three lines of Naomi Shihab Nye's poem "The Words Under The Words" the narrator is literally quoting the speaker, her grandmother's strong belief in God or Allah. The grandmother is saying without hearing the words of Allah under the words of man the world is just a difficult place which one must make their way through burdened by useless baggage. The narrator utilizies this quote to enhance the idea of her grandmother's divine attitude towards life and its endeavors. The grandmother "knows the spaces we travel through" because of her faith and is shocked by nothing and yet is aware of death and the frailty of people.
ReplyDeleteIn context of this poem by the title poem, its quite apparent that this poem was chosen as the title selection because as you read Nye's poetry she focuses on the idea of hidden meanings and things left unsaid despite being felt anyway. In "The Little Brother Poem" she says that "if (he) were here today we wouldnt say this," which signifies that not everything we want or need to say gets said, at least explicitly. I think the idea of words under words was chosen because it is a main underpinning of Nye's poetry adn life experience, and it is expressive of her regret and appreciation for the things left unsaid.
In the Poem, The Words under The Words, I found that the author's undertone and her words were a powerful metaphor to something greater. Many of her words were meant to be literal, but every now and then she includes a certain visual or item that is meant to stand in for something else.
ReplyDeleteThe final three lines express the fact that she wants her readers to dig deeper into the surface meaning of her words. To see what is hidden beneath the initial meaning of the words. To read between the lines. She sees her grandmother as an ever-present force, a force which I believe shapes her and imbeds her own wisdom in the author. In the end I even got a sense of the grandmother being possessed by Allah. I got the visual of a being so filled with wisdom that she radiates Allah's presence. It seems she, as a beacon for others like her, calls out for others who share this vision, who share the ability to see words under the words. Those who cannot, the author seems to pity, saying that they are being 'weighed' down by their inability to see the deeper meaning in life, and that only they have the ability to free themselves and transcend the materialistic aspects of the earth, to become wiser by their circumstances are be crippled by them.
I see the title as an ode to being able to see the deeper meaning in life. Everything in this course seems to point back to forging one's own individuality despite their circumstances. Circumstances can shape a person, and it seems that "words under words" can be used as a parallel for anything that one must look deeper at. An aspect of personality, a circumstance, or a seemingly meaningless interaction or instance.