Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Riprap by Gary Snyder
I have just finished reading "Riprap" by Gary Snyder. Snyder seems to be describing life and how we somewhat rush life by without really taking time to observe our actions and make conscious efforts, rather we just follow our instinct and what's said is done. As shown through the very first two lines in the poem "Lay down these words Before your mind like rocks" Snider demonstrates his stand point on how we just rush life by. Snider uses rocks as a simile to represent immobility. These "rocks" placed before our minds through our words and actions act as an obstacle that prevent us from accepting new ways of acting and feeling. We must chisel these rocks and break our obstacles to recognize the world for what it really is, the ever changing reality around us.
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I agree with you. I definitly understand the poem more when you explain it like that. Life is crazy when you have school and work alone. The day goes by so quick by the time we are able to just relax or even take it slow the day is over and we have to do it again
ReplyDeleteIt's very true that te poem suggests that we need to be very deliberate and careful in the way we put words together. But why? Try thinking of the rocks not as obstacles, but as a metaphor for words, which, in the context of a poem, can be a way of building open-ended pathways for the mind/imagination; look at the full context of the poem, the way the line breaks and visual placement on thepage, work as a kind of riprap--which, in the literal sense, is a zigzag mountain trail...follow the poem's imagery... see my comments of other blogs, and review the study sheet/exercise in Blackboard...
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