"The Boatman" Analysis

The title of the poem is "The Boatman" and it is most likely pertaining to a boatman or have been acquainted with one.

We were thirty-one souls all, he said, on the gray-sick of sea

in a cold rubber boat, rising and falling in our filth.

We were 31 people on sea in a cold rubber boat that is rising and falling on the waves that carry our 

filth.

By morning this didn’t matter, no land was in sight,

all were soaked to the bone, living and dead.

By the morning this didn't matter because there was no land in sight and all of us, both living and 

dead, were soaked to the bone.

We could still float, we said, from war to war.

We could still float, from a war between enemies to a war between nature.

What lay behind us but ruins of stone piled on ruins of stone?

What did we leave behind but ruins of buildings piled on ruins of stone.

City called “mother of the poor” surrounded by fields

of cotton and millet, city of jewelers and cloak-makers,

with the oldest church in Christendom and the Sword of Allah.

The city called "mother of the poor" was richly surrounded by fields of cotton and millet, city of 

jewelers and cloak-makers, with the oldest church in Christendom and the Sword of Allah.

If anyone remains there now, he assures, they would be utterly alone.

If anyone remained in the city now, they would be the only ones left for all have fled.

There is a hotel named for it in Rome two hundred meters

from the Piazza di Spagna, where you can have breakfast under

the portraits of film stars. There the staff cannot do enough for you.

There is a hotel in Rome, named for it. It is two hundred meters from the Piazza di Spagna, where 
you can have breakfast under the portraits of film stars. There the staff does more than enough for 
you.

But I am talking nonsense again, as I have since that night

we fetched a child, not ours, from the sea, drifting face-

down in a life vest, its eyes taken by fish or the birds above us.

But I digress, I am talking nonsense as I have since that night we fetched a child, not from our boat, 
from the sea, drifting face-down in a life vest, its eyes were taken by either the fish or the birds 
above us.

After that, Aleppo went up in smoke, and Raqqa came under a rain

of leaflets warning everyone to go. Leave, yes, but go where?

After that, Aleppo (a city in Syria) went up in smoke, and Raqqa (another city in Syria) came under a 
rain of leaflets warning everyone to go. Leave, yes, but go where?

We lived through the Americans and Russians, through Americans

again, many nights of death from the clouds, mornings surprised

to be waking from the sleep of death, still unburied and alive

but with no safe place. Leave, yes, we obey the leaflets, but go where?

We lived through wars with the Americans and Russians, and through Americans again, many nights 
of death from the missiles dropped from above, mornings surprised to be waking from the sleep that 
we though would be our last, we live still unburied and alive but with no safe place. Leave, yes, we 
obey the leaflets, but go where?

To the sea to be eaten, to the shores of Europe to be caged?

Do we go to the sea to be eaten, or to the shores of Europe to be jailed?

To camp misery and camp remain here. I ask you then, where?

To camp misery and camp remain here. I ask you then, where?

You tell me you are a poet. If so, our destination is the same.

You tell me you are a poet. If so, our destination is the same.

I find myself now the boatman, driving a taxi at the end of the world.

I find myself now to be the boatman, driving a taxi at the end of the world.

I will see that you arrive safely, my friend, I will get you there.

I will see that you arrive at your destination safely, my friend, I will get you there.

In this poem the author utilized a multitude of figurative language in her poem, including: anaphora,
allusion, idiom. An example of anaphora is near the end when she says, "To the sea to be eaten, to 
the shores of Europe to be caged?" She is repeating the beginning phrase of "To the..." She used 
allusion when she stated, "To camp misery and camp remain here." If one has studied history then 
one would know of concentration camps, this is what she was referring to when she wrote the line 
above. An idiom that was incorporated in the text was in the beginning of the poem when she wrote, 
"... all were soaked to the bone..." meaning that every passenger aboard the boat was drenched.   

The tone of the author was sentimental, gloomy, distressed. The tone was very somber and 
sentimental in the beginning of the poem as the author began to describe the trip on the boat. As the 
poem progresses, the tone still remains somber, however the mood begins to decline and get even 
gloomier as well as distressed. It gets more distressed because there were warnings, telling people to 
leave their homes and flee, but they didn't know where to go. They didn't know whether to risk their 
lives staying, or leaving because both of the choices are uncertain and negative. 

The tone of the poem is very gloomy and somber, however it begins to shift slightly or rather, it adds 
on the feeling of distress. This can be seen in the poem as people are deciding whether or not to 
leave their war-ridden land and to brave a trip that may or may not be better than staying. 

The theme of this poem is of war and refugees. This poem is of a narrator retelling a person's war 
with themselves to decide whether to escape their war-ridden country or not. But even if they escape, 
they would still be at war. War with nature, war with themselves. War is something that they have 
lived through for so long, and they continue to do so. However, for those that are able to escape and 
embark on new lives, imprinted in their minds are the knowledge of death. They know of it in depth, 
and they also know that, no matter the race, ethnicity, job, we all end up in the same place in the 
afterlife. We will be guided by a boatman, transported by one, to our afterlife. 







Works Cited:
Forché, Carolyn. “The Boatman by Carolyn Forché.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation,     
             www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/90646/the-boatman.

"Mourning" Analysis

The title of the poem is "Mourning," and it is most likely about someone mourning a death.

A peacock on an olive branch looks beyond
the grove to the road, beyond the road to the sea,
blank-lit, where a sailboat anchors to a cove.
A peacock sitting on an olive branch looks beyond what's ahead of itself to see a sailboat anchored to a cove.
As it is morning, below deck a man is pouring water into a cup,
listening to the radio-talk of the ships: barges dead
in the calms awaiting port call, pleasure boats whose lights
hours ago went out, fishermen setting their nets for mullet,
Because it is morning, a man below deck is pouring water into the cup while listening to the radio talk of the ships: flat-bottomed boats are awaiting calmly the port call, pleasure boats whose lights went out hours ago, fishermen setting their nets for mullet,
as summer tavernas hang octopus to dry on their lines,
whisper smoke into wood ovens, sweep the terraces
clear of night, putting the music out with morning
light, and for the breath of an hour it is possible
to consider the waters of this sea wine-dark, to remember
that there was no word for blue among the ancients,
as summer Greek restaurants and cafes hang octopus to dry on their lines, make fire in the wood ovens, sweep the terraces at night, turning off the music as morning arrives, and for an hour the waters of the sea is wine-dark, describing it so because in ancient times there was no word for blue
but there was the whirring sound before the oars
of the great triremes sang out of the seam of world,
but there was the whirring sound before the oars of the great Greek/Roman warship sang out of the seam of the world,
through pine-sieved winds silvered by salt flats until
they were light enough to pass for breath from the heavens,
through pine sifted winds silvered by salt flats until they were light enough to pass as breaths from the heavens,
troubled enough to fell ships and darken thought — 
then as now the clouds pass, roosters sleep in their huts,
the winds are strong enough to sink ships and darken thought - and now as the clouds pass, roosters sleep in their huts,
the sea flattens under glass air, but there is nothing to hold us there:
not the quiet of marble nor the luff of sail, fields of thyme,
the sea is flat under the air, but there is nothing to hold it there: not the quiet of marble nor the wind steering by blowing against the sail, fields of thyme,
a vineyard at harvest, and the sea filled with the bones of those
in flight from wars east and south, our wars, their remains
scavenged on the seafloor and in its caves, belongings now
a flotsam washed to the rocks. Stand here and look
into the distant haze, there where the holy mountain
with its thousand monks wraps itself in shawls of rain,
a vineyard at harvest, and the sea filled with the bones of those fleeing from wars east and south, our wars, their remains scavenged on the seafloor and in its caves, their belongings now washed up to the rocks. Stand here and look into the distant mist, there where the holy mountain with its thousand monks is being rained upon
then look to the west, where the rubber boats tipped
into the tough waves. Rest your eyes there, remembering the words
of Anacreon, himself a refugee of war, who appears
in the writings of Herodotus:
I love and do not love, I am mad and I am not mad.
Like you he thought himself not better,
nor worse than anyone else.

then look to the west, where the inflatable boats sank into the tough waves. Keep your eyes there, remember the words of Anacreon, the Greek lyric poet, himself a refuge of war, who appears in the writings of Herodotus, the "Father of History": I love and do not love, I am mad and I am not mad. Similar to you, he did not think of himself as better or worse than anyone else.

In this poem, the author utilized symbolism (peacock represents vision and watchfulness), personification, metaphor (pine-sieved). She used symbolism in the first few lines of the poem by starting out with a peacock looking into the distance. Peacocks symbolize vision and watchfulness as if it is seeing a scene unfold or watching over someone. There was a lot of personification utilized in this poem. One was "... the holy mountain... wraps itself in shawls of rain..." This line is personifying the mountain, making it seem as it is wrapping itself in rain because there is so much rain. She also used a metaphor as she stated "pine-sieved." Sieves are used to sift to remove anything large from whatever is being sifted through. Pine-sieved meant that the pines were sifting the wind through, making the scent smell like pine and the wind smooth and light. 

The author's tone was somber and gloomy because the poem is about the ships that sank, the refugees fleeing from wars whom all ended up dying and littering the sea with their bones. The author starts the poem as a viewer from the distance and soon immerses into the news on the radio which is all about tragedies at sea. Although the sea can be calm at times, it has brought down many ships and along with them, many lives. The tone in the line "... and the sea filled with the bones of those in flight from wars east and south, our wars, their remains scavenged on the seafloor and in its caves, belongings now a flotsam washed to the rocks." is as if the author is mourning over the losses of lives of those who fled war, only to be taken by the sea. 

The tone in the beginning of the poem was vigilant as represented through the peacock gazing through the distance. Then later, as the poem focuses on the news from the radio, the tone changes to somber and gloomy as it talks about the deaths of those fleeing from wars.

The title is "Mourning" and now that I have a more in-depth perspective of the poem, I can see that the title is for the refugees that fled from the war. She is mourning the losses of those trying to escape in order to preserve their lives, only to have been departed from the world, with their remains on the sea floor or washed up on a shore. 

The theme of the poem is of war and the situation in which one is in. The war that resulted in lives taken from those in the front lines and those fleeing. The second theme is that, people are not better nor are they worse than anyone else because in the end they are people. In the end, if there is war, they either fight or flee. The situations in which one is put through is a situation of their own that is incomparable with another person's because to them, their hard times are terrible to themselves although it may not seem so compared to others. 











Works Cited

Forché, Carolyn. “Mourning by Carolyn Forché.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation,     
        www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/90645/mourning-57d18c2f7cfb2.

"The Memory of Elena" Analysis

The title is "The Memory of Elena" and this poem is most likely about the memories of a woman named Elena.

We spend our morning
in the flower stalls counting
the dark tongues of bells
that hang from ropes waiting 
for the silence of an hour.
We spend our morning in the flower stalls counting the stamen of the flowers hanging from ropes waiting for an hour of silence.
We find a table, ask for paella,
cold soup and wine, where a calm 
light trembles years behind us.
We find a table, ask for paella which is the national dish of Spain, cold soup and wine, where years ago, lights were on behind us.
In Buenos Aires only three
years ago, it was the last time his hand 
slipped into her dress, with pearls 
cooling her throat and bells like
these, chipping at the night—
Three years ago, in Buenos Aires, it was the last time his hand slipped into her dress, she was wearing pearls around her throat and the wedding bells were ringing.

As she talks, the hollow
clopping of a horse, the sound 
of bones touched together.
As she talks, the sound of the horses clopping blends in with her voice as well as those of bones touching together.

The paella comes, a bed of rice 
and camarones, fingers and shells, 
the lips of those whose lips
have been removed, mussels
the soft blue of a leg socket.
The paella has: rice, camarones (shrimp), the shells of shrimps and fingers, and lipis of those whose lips have been removed, mussels and leg sockets.

This is not paella, this is what
has become of those who remained 
in Buenos Aires. This is the ring 
of a rifle report on the stones, 
her hand over her mouth,
her husband falling against her.
This is not the dish paella, but rather what has become of the people who remained in Buenos Aires. This is the barrel of the rifle on top of the stones, her hand over her mouth, her husband falling against her because he got shot.

These are the flowers we bought 
this morning, the dahlias tossed
on his grave and bells
waiting with their tongues cut out 
for this particular silence.

The dahlias are the flowers we brought this morning are tossed on his grave and bells waiting to ring but they cannot.

In this poem, the author utilizes personification, imagery, and symbolism. The author personifies the bells in the last stanza, "... and bells waiting with their tongues cut out..." Bells do not wait, only humans wait and they do not have tongues. The bells in the line mentioned above is also a symbol. It is a symbol of silence, which is also ironic because bells are not usually silence; however these have had their tongues cut out. Therefore, they were forcefully quieted. The author used imagery throughout the poem to paint a picture of the paella dish and her husband being shot. "The paella comes, a bed of rice and camarones, fingers and shells, the lips of those whose lips have been removed, mussels the soft blue of a leg socket." This line gives the readers an image in their minds as to what the dish looks like and the significance it holds to the author.

The tone is nostalgic throughout as the author reminisces about Buenos Aires, paella, her husband, their memories, and his death. "In Buenos Aires three years ago, it was the last time..." She is remembering the events of what happened: the dish she ordered, the last time her husband slipped his hand in her dress, the rifle, and her husband falling against her. The tone is nostalgic and mourning... Mourning over the loss of her husband who was killed in Buenos Aires.

In the beginning, the tone was very nostalgic as she says "In Buenos Aires, only three years ago..." However, as the poem progressed, it began to grow gloomy and morbid as she describes that it is the last time. When she begins to describe the paella, the tone shifts to a morbid atmosphere. "The paella comes, a bed of rice and camarones, fingers and shells, the lips of those whose lips have been removed, mussels the soft blue of a leg socket." It begins with her describing the dish, but further along the sentence, there is a darker tone as she includes "fingers" , "lips" , and "leg socket." Even without knowing anything about the dish, we can assume that those are not the ingredients that is used. They are human parts that she adds into this line to give it a morbid mood.

The title is "The Memory of Elena," and it is about the memory of a woman named Elena whose husband died in Buenos Aires. The poem is to being attention to the violence in Buenos Aires because a result of it was the death of someone's loved one.

The poem is about Elena's recollection of Buenos Aires. The theme is violence and silence. The theme that the author is conveying in this poem is about the violence within cities and countries and how people who witnessed it are silenced, but they shouldn't be. Witnesses of tragedies should have a chance to speak of their experiences in order to bring into light, a larger issue. Such as this poem is about the experience of Elena, whose husband died. This brings forth light onto the subject of violence within cities.







Works Cited:

Forché, Carolyn. “The Memory of Elena by Carolyn Forché.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation,
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47217/the-memory-of-elena.

"The Garden Shukkei-En" Analysis

The title of the poem is"The Garden Shukkei-En" and the poem is probably regarding the garden.

"By way of a vanished bridge we cross this river
as a cloud of lifted snow would ascend a mountain."
We will use a bridge that has disappeared in order to cross this river just like a cloud with snow would climb a mountain.

"She has always been afraid to come here."
She was always afraid to come here.

"It is the river she most
remembers, the living
and the dead both crying for help."
She remembers the river the most. The living and the dead are crying for help.

"A world that allowed neither tears nor lamentation."
A world that does not allow tears nor weeping.

"The matsu trees brush her hair as she passes
beneath them, as do the shining strands of barbed wire."
Her hair is caught in the tree and barbed wire as she walks by.

"Where this lake is, there was a lake,
where these black pine grow, there grew black pine."
There is a lake here and black pine grows here.

"Where there is no teahouse I see a wooden teahouse
and the corpses of those who slept in it."
I see a teahouse where there is none, with the dead who are sleeping in it.

"On the opposite bank of the Ota, a weeping willow
etches its memory of their faces into the water."
On the river, the weeping willow reflects their faces onto the water.

"Where light touches the face, the character for heart is written."
When the light is on your face, the word heart is there.

"She strokes a burnt trunk wrapped in straw:
I was weak and my skin hung from my fingertips like cloth"
She touches a part of the burnt trunk that is wrapped in straw. My hand was weak and my skin felt like it was going to fall off.

"Do you think for a moment we were human beings to them?"
Do you think for a moment that they considered us, equally, as human beings?

"She comes to the stone angel holding paper cranes.
Not an angel, but a woman where she once had been,
who walks through the garden Shukkei-en
calling the carp to the surface by clapping her hands."
She goes to the statue of the stone angel holding paper cranes. The angel is not an angel, but it was a person who was there before. Who walked through the garden calling the fish to the surface by clapping her hands.

"Do Americans think of us?"
Do the Americans think of us?

"So she began as we squatted over the toilets:
If you want, I'll tell you, but nothing I say will be enough."
As we squatted over the toilets, she began to talk. She said, "If you want, I'll tell you, but nothing I say will be enough."

"We tried to dress our burns with vegetable oil."
We are using vegetable oil to dress our burns.

"Her hair is the white froth of rice rising up kettlesides, her mind also.
In the postwar years she thought deeply about how to live."
Her hair is white and her mind is foggy. After the war, she thinks about how to proceed with life.

"The common greeting dozo-yiroshku is please take care of me.
All hibakusha still alive were children then."
The common greeting is please take care of me. All hibakusha, those who survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, were children when it happened.

"A cemetery seen from the air is a child's city."
A cemetery seen from up high is like a child's city because it is so small.

"I don't like this particular red flower because
it reminds me of a woman's brain crushed under a roof."
I don't like this red flower because it reminds me of a woman's brain, who was crushed under a roof.

"Perhaps my language is too precise, and therefore difficult to understand?"
Perhaps I am too detailed, which could be making it difficult for you to comprehend.

"We have not, all these years, felt what you call happiness.
But at times, with good fortune, we experience something close.
As our life resembles life, and this garden the garden.
And in the silence surrounding what happened to us"
Through all these years, we have not felt happiness. However, there are times of good fortune in which we experience something close to happiness. Our life resembles life and this garden resembles a garden. The silence about the details of what happened to us

"it is the bell to awaken God that we've heard ringing."
is the bell ringing to awaken God.

The author uses personification and imagery throughout the poem. An example would be the first 2 lines when she is personifying the cloud and describing it in order to convey to the audience the image of it ascending a mountain. "... as a cloud of lifted snow would ascend a mountain." Alliteration is used in part of the poem to emphasize her remembering the past while incorporating it into the future. "Where this is... Where there is..." She also uses rhetorical questions to invoke in the readers, guilt, and sympathy as they too try to answer the question. "Do you think for a moment we are human beings to them?"

The tone of the poem was heavy-hearted. Her diction conveyed a dark mood throughout the poem. She uses words such as "dead", "crying", "tears", "corpses" in her poem in order to the emphasize the negativity and distress of the experience that the person who is telling the story, went through. The mood is also gloomy and nostalgic as she remembers of how the garden used to be before, but because it is incorporated in the future as well, she knows that what was, is no longer, and what shall be, is her future. She remembers of the places and people that used to be there, and she knows of where they are now. Gone. That is her future. One without the teahouse, or the people who would sit in there. "Where there is no teahouse I see a wooden teahouse and the corpses of those who slept in it."

At the end of the poem, her language shifted. Throughout the poem, she provided concrete language to describe the bombing and her experience; however, at the end, when she is asked to describe how she is after the bombing, she provides a vague description. "We have not, all these years, felt what you call happiness. But at times, with good fortune, we experience something close."

"The Garden of Shukkei-En" The title is about the historic Japanese garden in Hiroshima, Japan. Hiroshima was bombed by the United States and this park was collateral damage.

The themes of this poem are violence, inhumanity, and memories. "Do you think for a moment we were human beings to them?" Because of the atomic bombing, many people died and those who survived will forever contain in their memories the tragic incident. There will be millions of innocent lives that are lost forever, some just born to those who have lived a long life. The inhumanity of the people who decided to bomb the innocent civilians is questioned.They may have ended a war, but lost millions of lives as well as caused in those who survived, PTSD.





Works Cited:

Forché, Carolyn. “The Garden Shukkei-En.” PoemHunter.com, 13 Jan. 2003,
      www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-garden-shukkei-en/.

Biography

Carolyn Forché was born in Detroit, Michigan on April 28, 1950. She is a poet, teacher, activist, translator, teacher, political poet, human rights advocate. She calls herself a "poet of witness" because she "... has witnessed, thought about, and put into poetry some of the most devastating events of the twentieth-century world history." (Poetry foundation) She advocates the importance of human rights within her poems. Carolyn Forché has won many awards and grants and is currently "...director of the Lannan Center for Poetry and Poetics and holds the Lannan Chair in Poetry at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C." (poet.org)


Sources Cited:

Brunner, Eric. "Carolyn Forché's Life and Career." Modern American Poetry. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept.     2017. <http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/forche/life.htm>.

"Carolyn Forché." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2017.
    <https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/carolyn-forche>.

"Carolyn Forché." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 29 Apr. 2016. Web. 24 Sept. 2017.    
    <https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/carolyn-forch%C3%A9>.

Introduction

My name is Duyen Huynh and the poet I chose is Carolyn Forché. I chose her because she raises awareness towards the problems that are around us through her poems which gives the readers a first-person perspective of an event. We are able to view events that happened even before we were born, and we get to experience the emotions and thoughts of a person who lived through it. The themes of her poems center around humanity and human rights; as well as the lives of immigrants living among us and how they are affected by problems from their homeland or place of current residency.

Usner, Don J. "Courtesy of Blue Flower Arts." Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/carolyn-forche.