Praise in Summer
Richard Wilbur
Obscurely yet most surely called to praise,
As sometimes summer calls us all, I said
The hills are heavens full of branching ways
Where star-nosed moles fly overhead the dead;
I said the trees are mines in air. I said
See how the sparrow burrows in the sky!
And then I wondered why this mad instead
Perverts our praise to uncreation, why
Such savor’s in this wrenching things awry.
Does sense so stale that it must needs derange
The world to know it? To a praiseful eye
Should it not be enough of fresh and strange
That trees grow green, and moles can course in clay,
And sparrows sweep the ceiling of our day?
To be honest, the only reason I chose this poem was because I miss summer...a lot. When I read it through it had very beautiful imagery and I thought it kind of reminded me of Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay." I'm not exactly sure why...maybe the imagery...maybe the mood...the bittersweet undertone?...maybe some hidden meaning I subconsciously understand...I don't know!
I don't really understand this poem and it is driving me crazy because I feel like I can relate to it when I don't even know what it means! I understand the first part, but is the second really simple, am I over analyzing it? I am guessing that it is about people not appreciating nature as they should...
Well, I guess one thing that I am sure about this poem is that it is a sonnet. Hopefully we will go over this in class(:
Did we do this one in class? I can't remember. I get my classes mixed up. Second or third hour? Who know?!
ReplyDeleteI feel like I have a preconceived notion when I read this one. I always miss summer and I feel like this should be more overtly about summer, but it's not really. It creates a disconnect for me as a reader and I have to look a little more closely. That's all I've got. :)