A Response to the Poems of Chino and Jane

First up, we have a response to Chino's poem:

Chino's Blog:  http://totheenderstronghold.blogspot.com/

First of all, I really enjoyed your use of a modernist poem, it is from a period I am rather fond of, and because I don’t believe I have the same knack for analyzing them that you seem to possess, I found your analysis very interesting.  The really amazing thing, for me at least, with modernist poems, is that you can be absolutely sure that every single word means something, and that something is debatable, which can lead to several different meanings for different people.

The people in the crowds of the metro have indeed lost the life in themselves, because life isn't supposed to be a set routine, it needs to be changing and always varied, such repetition is suited only for machines at best, and that is what these people are becoming.  No, wait, they’re becoming less than that, they are the shades of the people that once were, and that must mean that they were once alive.  And the only thing that’s sadder than not having something as valuable as life is having that life and then losing it.  And yes, while I believe that the water is this poem serves more to enhance the melancholy of the scene, I still find it refreshing because it is nature, even if it is a dismal presentation of one.  Though the bough too has lost its life, much like the people in the station once had and lost their own.  It contrasts the philosophical loss of life that the people experience with the near actual loss of life of the branch itself.

Overall, I found the poem and your analysis of it fascinating, and moreover, it reminded me of why I like modernist works so much, because of the value of every word and the variable presentations they can make to different individuals.

And now to Jane:

http://clippyscorner.blogspot.com/

I think you sell yourself a bit short when you say that you have found no deeper meaning of the poem, sure, there’s no great metaphysical ideology, but I think that’s the point of the work.  The words tell of the cat’s actions, but it is really the cadence of the poem that fully envelopes you into the situation. 

Through the cadence and the rhythm of the of the poem you get a sense of not just the bland actions of the cat, but a feel for the actual movements in a way that is often understood only by those who have been around cats for a great while.  While I can say that I share no great love for cats (I fear that they and I are doomed forever at an impasse resulting in mutual respect at best), I feel that this, and not prose, best captures the actual movements of a cat, though your description of the grandiosity of their movements comes close.

And I, too, found it interesting that the cat would step into a flowerpot on its way to the pantry.  I am just wondering, why, when there is perfectly good found just round the corner, but an empty flower pot becomes more interesting to the cat   And by the way, a jamcloset is a cellar used in Victorian times to store foodstuffs such as jam that needed the cool and couldn’t be kept in the main kitchen area, not necessarily a pantry, and I think it makes it more interesting visualizing the cat sneaking into the cellar, rather than a door in the kitchen, even if it doesn’t change the meaning of the poem.