Read the following poem and in no more then three sentences identify what you think
the essence of this poem is. After you explain what you believe the essence of this poem is, identify 3 lines in the poem that are particularly potent towards offering you the meaning of this poem. PLEASE do not just say what other people have said. BE original. Also, if you are one of the later people posting, cite other students' interpretations with whom you agree with/agree with.
Entanglement (by Marion Goldstein)
"Where particles remain entangled light years apart"
I am searching
for an image
that will form itself
the way molten glass
responds to the glassblowers' breath
and becomes
the crystal container for claret
My amorphous thought
is wobbling in dark matter
an alternate universe
curled in ten dimensions
where no-thing is every-thing
blocked by light's limitation
where it doesn't matter
that there is no matter
and particles can not be detected
only known
in the wake of their effect
like God
bumping into this three dimensional universe
of spinning neutrinos
and warped time.
What magnificient symphony
of chemistry
plays itself out in the moments of belief
as if the wild field of chaos
a butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo
and rain cascades from New York skies
possibility is infinite
they say
every action has a reaction
I think of J
her sudden death, cremation, gravesite service
finis
the one Mass card
making its way through the mail
how the family came
that cold January morning
and the stranger priest on the altar
reconstructed from the blueprint of faces
in the wooden pews
the architecture of her life
and gave her back to them
like light escaping from the black hole
of a collapsed star.
the essence of this poem is. After you explain what you believe the essence of this poem is, identify 3 lines in the poem that are particularly potent towards offering you the meaning of this poem. PLEASE do not just say what other people have said. BE original. Also, if you are one of the later people posting, cite other students' interpretations with whom you agree with/agree with.
Entanglement (by Marion Goldstein)
"Where particles remain entangled light years apart"
I am searching
for an image
that will form itself
the way molten glass
responds to the glassblowers' breath
and becomes
the crystal container for claret
My amorphous thought
is wobbling in dark matter
an alternate universe
curled in ten dimensions
where no-thing is every-thing
blocked by light's limitation
where it doesn't matter
that there is no matter
and particles can not be detected
only known
in the wake of their effect
like God
bumping into this three dimensional universe
of spinning neutrinos
and warped time.
What magnificient symphony
of chemistry
plays itself out in the moments of belief
as if the wild field of chaos
a butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo
and rain cascades from New York skies
possibility is infinite
they say
every action has a reaction
I think of J
her sudden death, cremation, gravesite service
finis
the one Mass card
making its way through the mail
how the family came
that cold January morning
and the stranger priest on the altar
reconstructed from the blueprint of faces
in the wooden pews
the architecture of her life
and gave her back to them
like light escaping from the black hole
of a collapsed star.
52 comments:
The speaker of this poem wants to believe in something. A fundamental message in this poem is that the world has meaning and seems extraordinary when there is something good to believe in. It is always possible for something unexplainable to happen and this is what tests the happiness felt when we do feel the beauty of our faith.
“My amorphous thought is wobbling in dark matter”
“What magnificent symphony/ of chemistry/ plays itself out in the moments of belief”
“and gave her back to them/ like light escaping from the black hole/ of a collapsed star”
the speaker has lost someone dear to him and is searching for meaning in life. the essence of the poem is that there is meaning all around us, but we tend not to see it in times of despair.
"the architecture of her life/and gave her back to them/like light escaping from the black hole/of a collapsed star."
"where no-thing is every-thing/blocked by light's limitation/where it doesn't matter/that there is no matter"
"I am searching/for an image/that will form itself/the way molten glass/responds to the glassblowers' breath"
I believe that the essence of this poem is that when you have someone or something in your life that you love and care for so deeply then that is what makes your life meaningful to you. In the poem the speaker lost all the good in his life. He lost his wife or friend, J. The loss of his beloved J was very unexpected and heart breaking. I agree with Madeline when she said that the loss of J was a test for happiness when something so unexplainable happens. When you lose someone so valuable in your life it is easy to lose the beauty and faith in your life.
"they say every action has a reaction, I think of J her sudden death, cremation, gravesite service
finis"
"My amorphous thought is wobbling in dark matter an alternate universe curled in ten dimensions
where no-thing is every-thing blocked by light's limitation where it doesn't matter
that there is no matter"
"the architecture of her life
and gave her back to them like light escaping from the black hole
of a collapsed star."
In this poem, the author is seeking reality, or a way to explain the strange realities he observes. Clearly, as the other people mentioned, the author has lost someone, and in the death of dear J he has lost his own form of reality. It is hard for him to explain anything in the world without her presence because a world without J is a different world.
"reconstructed from the blueprint of faces/in the wooden pews"
"possibility is infinite"
"where nothing is everything/blocked by light's limitation"
i believe the essence of this poem is how one mans world is comming to a screeching halt. He mentions how he lost a loved one and that can be enough for one's life to end, even if it isnt physical. when we put our heart and soul into something but then have that leave, so will our heart and soul.
"I am searching
for an image
that will form itself"
"My amorphous thought
is wobbling in dark matter
an alternate universe
curled in ten dimensions
where no-thing is every-thing
blocked by light's limitation
where it doesn't matter
that there is no matter"
"...and warped time."
I believe the speaker is trying to convey the idea that God is everywhere and can be found in all things. God is always surrounding us though we may not be able to see Him. The way we know of His presence is through His responses through the natural world.
"and particles can not be detected/only known"
"What magnificient symphony/of chemistry/plays itself out in the moments of belief"
"every action has a reaction"
I think the essence of this poem is trying to find faith, even when tragedy happens. Like Serrantos said, the author has suffered from the great loss of dear J and now she is confused. She is not sure what is real and true anymore, and so she must search for answers and believe based on experiences in the world.
possibility is infinite
My amorphous thought
is wobbling in dark matter
an alternate universe
…where no-thing is every-thing
and particles can not be detected
only known
in the wake of their effect
When the author is searching for an image that will form itself, I think he is referring TO him self and how difficult it is to pretend everything is alright when in reality it is not. We take living with the people we love for granted and do not realize how much of an impact they have on us until they are no longer there. As he starts to notice J's absence he realizes how hard just living is and wants his life to go back to how it use to be; effortless.
"I am searching for an image that will form itself the way molten glass"
"My amorphous thought is wobbling in dark matter"
"I think of J her sudden death, cremation, gravesite service finis"
The essence of this poem is that everything in life is interconnected. A single persons life affects many people. We are all part of a bigger process that is determined by the universal law.
I agree with francesca that when you have someone in your life that you care for it creates meaning in your life.
"particles can not be detected only known in the wake of their effect"
"a butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo and rain cascades from New York skies.
"Where it doesn't matter that there is no matter"
The author is looking for an image. He lost a loved one and needs something to look to. He uses science to express his feelings about how everything is connected.
"I am searching
for an image
that will form itself
the way molten glass
responds to the glassblowers' breath..."
"What magnificent symphony
of chemistry
plays itself out in the moments of belief..."
"they say
every action has a reaction..."
This poem is about some one who has lost a loved one, and how that has changed his perspective on life. His life now has meaning, and he is able to see meaning in other things.
"Possibility is infinite."
"Every Action has a reaction."
"I think of J her sudden death."
The essence of the poem is the human search for meaning...
"in the wooden pews
the architecture of her life"
- her whole life adds up to nothing...
"a butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo and rain cascades from New York skies"
- saying life goes on no matter what... you have no impact
"My amorphous thought
is wobbling...,...where no-thing is every-thing
blocked by light's limitation
where it doesn't matter
that there is no matter"
-if that doesnt show a lost soul looking for meaning, what does
In my opinion the essence of this poem is an exercise in popular misinterpretation of scientific work . Because the author cannot find a sufficient explanation for the death of "J", he views the universe as chaotic, borrowing liberally from the language of "chaos theory" in science. But chaos theory is not evidence that, due to the limitations of human knowledge and the vastness of information in the universe, the labors of scientists are in vain, but rather a profound understanding of the interconnectedness of elements in large systems, which is knowledge in itself(For instance, that "possibility is infinite" is not a tenet of chaos theory. Chaos theory actually holds that outcomes are predictably limited but dramatically affected by minute changes in relevant variables. It is a theory of immense change for seemingly small reasons, not one of unpredicability. It actually very well confirms my theory that all moments are significant and that we lose perspective when we isolate certain incidents as "important"(The Road
Less Traveled Fallacy). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory).
particles cannot be detected, only known in the wake of of their effect.
a butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo and rain casades from the NY skies
they say every action has a reaction
It seems that there is a sudden change in the speaker’s life when J passes away and that leads to his searching for something more in his life. The speaker feels that when something tragic happens in his life like losing someone close, these are the only times when he experiences God. It may be that what he is searching for is to feel God’s grace at all times instead of always being entangled in science.
“only known in the wake of their effect like God bumping into this three dimensional universe of spinning neutrinos and warped time”
“I am searching for an image that will form itself the way molten glass responds to the glassblowers' breath and becomes the crystal container for claret”
“the wild field of chaos a butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo and rain cascades from New York skies possibility is infinite” (God’s grace)
The speaker in the poem is searching for a image that is in the darkness, and the image slowly comes into the light/reality.The image is of the speakers friend J who died suddenly.The speaker talks about, how at the service he finally got his friend back, because of how the priest described J's life. Even though he got his friend back for a only little while, his faith in God grew.
"I am searching for an image that will form itself."
"and particles can not be detected only known in the wake of thier effect like God bumping into this three dimensional universe of spinning neutrinos and warped time."
"and the stranger priest on the altar reconstructed from the blueprint of faces in the wooden pews the architecture of her life."
This poem is about the significance of life and how someone never truly dies. The author the universe to God, and how everything is a part of something bigger. Although J dies, she brought back to everyone through an "explosion," which is the author's way of illustrating how she will never truly leave her loved one.
"particles can not be detected/only known/in teh wake of their effect/ like God"
"they say/every action has a reaction/I think of J/her sudden death"
"the stranger priest on the altar/reconstructed from the blueprint of faces...the architecture of her life/ and gave her back to them/like light escaping from the black hole/of a collapsed star."
The essence of this poem is that there are some events in our lives where nothing in the material world can offer us answers, especially when it comes to losing someone. Even something like theoretical science and the seemingly limitless possibilities involved with something like science cannot provide solace for someone who is looking for comfort. The last part of the poem however I think the poem reflects a lot of the thoughts expressed by both Marilynn Robinson and James Polkinghorne in their respective articles as the poet recognizes the limits of science yet the depth and complexity of words, especially those spoken by a clergyman, reflecting on the life of another, almost reanimating the person.
"an alternate universe
curled in ten dimensions
where no-thing is every-thing"
"What magnificient symphony
of chemistry
plays itself out in the moments of belief
as if the wild field of chaos"
"reconstructed from the blueprint of faces
in the wooden pews
the architecture of her life
and gave her back to them"
In this poem, the speaker reflects on how people impact other's lives. Even though his friend J has passed away, she still continues to impact his life even though she is no where near him. I agree with Angela when she says that the author is seeking for a way to explain the strange realities because I got the impresson that he was searching for a way to make sense of her death.
"Every action has a reaction"
"My amorphous thought is wobbling in dark matter"
"possibility is infinite"
I thought the essence of this poem was one of wonder and awe. The speaker comments on the wonders of God and the universe, and even how things we can see limit our thought on other mysteries. He also thinks that J's eulogy was a miracle in itself, and like Cody said, uses science to describe mysteries of life.
"where no-thing is every-thing
blocked by light's limitation"
"and the stranger priest on the altar
reconstructed from the blueprint of faces
in the wooden pews
the architecture of her life"
"and gave her back to them
like light escaping from the black hole
of a collapsed star."
The author is searching for something lost, to make up for the lose the author desires something meaningful. The lose of "dear J" has weakened the author but perserverence is needed. But with the searching that the author is doing, for the object, I believe she is really looking for God and God is not easily seen but can be seen in the underlying truths of the things around us.
"I am searching for an image that will form itself, the way molten glass responds to glassblowers' breath."
"...like God....the architecture of her life
and gave her back to them like light escaping from the black hole
of a collapsed star."
"where nothing is everything/blocked by light's limitation"
To me the essence of the poem is of the twist and turns of life. In the midst of our lives we don't comprehend the "messages of life"that life gives us. Once something precious is gone, everything gets blown out of proportion. In the poem the speaker lost J someone dear to him. If life couldnt get any more confusing it did when he starts to search of not only the meaning of life, but the meaning of why someone he loved was taken away from him. I agree with what George said about how the speaker couldn't find a good explaination as to why J died. In result he takes the world in as some chaotic mess.
"I am searching
for an image
that will form itself"
"possibility is infinite...
they say
every action has a reaction"
"the architecture of her life
and gave her back to them"
The speaker in this poem has lost someone very close to him and he wants to bring this person back. I agree with Francesca that your life losses meaning when a person you love so deeply leaves so unexpectadly. The speaker lost this person that meant so much to him and he is searching for something that he can reconstruct to, in a way, bring J back to life.
"I am searching for an image that will form itself the way molten glass responds to the glassblowers' breath"
"I think of J her sudden death, cremation, gravesite service"
"the one Mass card making its way through the mail how the family came that cold January morning"
I believe that the essence of this poem is the existence of things such as God, which can't be seen. The speaker lost his beloved "J" and now has to deal with her death. He is searching for God, but realizes that he can't see him and must simply believe that he exists. The speaker in the poem is having a hard time dealing with the death of "J" and is struggling to find God again.
"I am searching/for an image/that will form itself"
"My amorphous thought/is wobbling in dark matter"
"that there is no matter/and particles can not be detected/only known/in the wake of their effect/like God"
The essence of this poem is about a person who is trying to make sense of a death of a loved one. The speaker is trying to find his faith through finding God and finding something that will replace or redefine his life. "J" defined his life, and without her, he does not know how to live.
"I am searching for an image that will form itself"
"My amorphous thought is wobbling in dark matter"
"I think of J her sudden death, cremation, gravesite service finis"
I believe the author is looking for a meaning in his life. since he lost someone he needs soemthing else to believe in and he needs his own way to understand God. He needs something solid and reliable that is not fleeting like human life, but constant and strong. After losing a loved one people tend to have doubt and he wants to find God to be the strong constant in his life.
I am searching
for an image
that will form itself
where no-thing is every-thing
like light escaping from the black hole
of a collapsed star.
I think the essence of this poem is the pain and heartbreak of losing someone. The loss of the narrator seems to cause great pain and confusion. I like how mike v explains “there are some events in our lives where nothing in the material world can offer us answers” The narrator does not seem to know where to turn but instead becomes lost in his thoughts – or God.
“My amorphous thought
is wobbling in dark matter”
“and particles can not be detected
only known
in the wake of their effect
like God”
“they say
every action has a reaction
I think of J
her sudden death, cremation, gravesite service”
God's presence is known but cannot be proven in life. Through death we see the life of the person as a whole to give us some kind of closure. The things in life that seem to be nothing can be something much greater than we'd ever have expected.
"and particles can not be detected
only known in the wake of their effect"
"the stranger priest on the altar
reconstructed from the blueprint of facesin the wooden pews the architecture of her life and gave her back to them"
"an alternate universe curled in ten dimensions where no-thing is every-thing"
The author is lost and confused and is looking for answers to why "every action has a reaction." He describes being confused as "amorphous thought wobbling in dark matter." The author shows, very bluntly, that he is looking for an answer that "will form itself the way molten glass responds to the glassblowers' breath." He is wondering what the connections are between objects and events and why these affect one another.
"where no-thing is every-thing"
"they say
every action has a reaction"
"possibility is infinite"
This poem is trying to find a reason for why things happen and why they happen in a particular way.
I agree with what Angela said, the meaning of the poem is the importance of those things in life, such as God, that cannot be seen. It says that you always should have faith and believe in the extraordinary. This faith may be hard to have in the presence of a tragedy such as death, but it is essential to finding meaning and having a purpose in life.
"I am searching
for an image"
"there is no matter
and particles can not be detected
only known"
"What magnificient symphony
of chemistry
plays itself out in the moments of belief"
The speaker struck me as someone searching for a creative outlet that would be effective and beneficial. He or she seems feel essentially lost. I don't think that mourning was the essence of the poem, as many people have mentioned. The death seemed to be something on the speaker's mind, but not the focal point. The speaker also makes a reference to the oddities of some of our customs. I loved the following quote in particular:
"and the stranger priest on the altar
reconstructed from the blueprint of faces
in the wooden pews
the architecture of her life"
The speaker of the poem is searching for his meaning in life. He realizes that each of us are doing the same -- looking for our purpose. The essence of the poem is that there are so many meanings out there for different people and we are all entangled but we must untangle to find our specific meaning.
"possibility is infinite"
"curled in 10 dimensions where no-thing is everything"
"every action has a reaction"
I think that the speaker of this poem is talking about different in ways God in our reality or our dimension. The speaker loses of a dear friendand tries to understand the meaning of her loss. Through his difficulties, it seems that he learns that God is always with us and in everything in the world. He seems to realize an understanding of God when he attends the funeral of his friend, J, knowing that God is with J and her family and himself, with everything.
"I am searcging for an image that will form itself"
"My amorphous thought is wobbling...that there is no matter"
"the architecture of her life and gave her back to them like light escaping from the black hole of a collapsed star"
I think that the author of this poem is in a very dark place in his life. He has just lost a close friend, wife, or relative, J and he thinks that these are dark times. However he knows that there is good out there and he is willing to break through the darkness to find it.
“My amorphous thought
is wobbling in dark matter
an alternate universe
curled in ten dimensions
where no-thing is every-thing
blocked by light's limitation”
“…a butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo
and rain cascades from New York skies
possibility is infinite”
“…like light escaping from the black hole
of a collapsed star.”
The speaker in this poem is grieving over his wife's passing. He seems to be lost and does not want to even make an attempt to find himself. This one event in his life has shattered his whole life to come and to him nothing really matters anymore. i agree with madeline that it is always possible for something unexplainable to happen and this tests happiness, because i can definitely relate to that.
"where it doesn't matter
that there is no matter
and particles can not be detected"
"every action has a reaction"
"her sudden death, cremation, gravesite service"
i think this poem is about life and how it can not accurately described by science but the real meaning is underneath all that. and although their are moments that are memorable we tend not to see them and it is something greater if we take time to look beyond what can be explained.
"a butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo
and rain cascades from New York skies"
"where it doesn't matter
that there is no matter"
"possibility is infinite"
The speaker in the poem has lost someone, almost evreyone has said this but I think that is the biggest part of the poem. I think the essence of the poem revolves around the speaker trying to search for the posotive meaning of life. I agree with Serrantos that we sometimes miss these meanings during hard times.
"I am searching
for an image
that will form itself"
"they say
every action has a reaction"
"the architecture of her life
and gave her back to them
like light escaping from the black hole
of a collapsed star."
The speaker in the poem has lost someone, almost everyone has said this but I think that is the biggest part of the poem. I think the essence of the poem revolves around the speaker trying to search for the posotive meaning of life. I agree with Serrantos that we sometimes miss these meanings during hard times.
"I am searching
for an image
that will form itself"
"they say
every action has a reaction"
"the architecture of her life
and gave her back to them
like light escaping from the black hole
of a collapsed star."
To me the speaker in the poem is depressed for some reason and is looking for something to give him a reason to live. He wants something that will just happen and turn up. He also wants it to be something that people only can know it is there but not touch it or see it. what it is that he finds does not matter and he is not chosing just looking.
"where no-thing is every-thing,
blocked by light's limitation, where it doesn't matter, that there is no matter"
"and particles can not be detected, only known, in the wake of their effect
Like God."
"possibility is infinite"
What I reveieved from the poem is was a man/woman that wwas in search for something that corresponded with their own life. "I am searching for an image that will form itself the way molten glass responds to the glassblowers' breath"
That quote perfectly portrayed my perspective on the writer's "search for connection". I did not understand the butterflies in Tokyo or the rainfall in New York though...I know it is symbolic of soemthing but I dont know what.
I think the author is trying to make a blatent point and say that everything happens for a reason. There are many actions that occur in our lives that we see as "pointless", but are they really? When he talks about the death of "J", i think he was trying to say taht even though she died, she will still be remembered thoroughly because of the "stranger priest" giving his blueprints of the architecture of her life.
"every action has a reaction"
"an image
that will form itself
the way molten glass
responds to the glassblowers' breath"
"particles can not be detected
only known
in the wake of their effect"
The speaker is seeking meaning in his life because he has lost something that means so mcuh to him. He lost his wife and he now has to seek the meaning in life. I believe that the essence of this poem is that when you lose something that means so much to you it basically takes you with them. He became so close to her and gave his heart to her and then she took it when she left.
"every action has a reaction"
"My amorphous thought is wobbling in dark matter"
"and the stranger priest on the altar
reconstructed from the blueprint of faces
in the wooden pews
the architecture of her life"
I disagree with those who think the poem is about mourning. Goldstein lost someone but that is not the focus. He foucuses on uncertainty, science, and mystery that is found around him.
"particles can not be detected
only known
in the wake of their effect
like God"
"where no-thing is every-thing
blocked by light's limitation"
"What magnificient symphony
of chemistry
plays itself out in the moments of belief"
Throughout this poem, the author is telling the reader that he is searching for somehting. To him there is no place to look because everything is dark and complicated. He is struggling to to find what he is looking for after the death of a loved one, and will and compares it to objects in space.
"I am searching
for an image
that will form itself
the way molten glass
responds to the glassblowers' breath"
"where it doesn't matter
that there is no matter
and particles can not be detected
only known
in the wake of their effect"
"the architecture of her life
and gave her back to them
like light escaping from the black hole
of a collapsed star."
The author is trying to come up with an original thought. He says this is like God creating everything. He thinks that God created the world in much the same way a real original thought would be created in his mind.
"I am searching/for an image/that will form itself/the way molten glass/responds to the glassblowers' breath"
“My amorphous thought is wobbling in dark matter”
"Where it doesn't matter that there is no matter"
I believe that the essence of the poem is finding life after a loss. The speaker of this poem has obviously lost someone, J, and now he has lost himself. The essence of the poem is living life after a death, feeling pain but to keep on going, finding yourself with out J, or with out a loved one.
"I am searching
for an image
that will form itself
the way molten glass
responds to the glassblowers' breath
and becomes
the crystal container for claret"
"blocked by light's limitation
where it doesn't matter
that there is no matter"
"I think of J her sudden death."
I agree with a lot of what others have said, especially madeline when she said the speaker wants to believe in something. I also agree with steven that it is the search for meaning that all humans feel. I don't think the poem is focusing too much on just the death of a friend. I think it is more about how deep and complicated life is, and how anything can affect everything. It's also about how confusing, paradoxical, and difficult life is, about how we often don't know what to do and want someone or something to show us.
"I am searching for an image that will form itself"
"My amorphous thought is wobbling in dark matter"
"like God bumping into this three dimensional universe of spinning neutrinos and warped time."
The speaker in this poem is trying to find his true sense of self. He searches the world trying to answer his questions. He believes they are hidden out there waiting to be found. I agree with Alex when he talks about how the reader is searching for something, maybe someone.
"I am searching/for an image/that will form itself/the way molten glass/responds to the glassblowers' breath"
"and particles can not be detected/only known"
"an alternate universe curled in ten dimensions where no-thing is every-thing"
The whole point of this peopm seems to be one huge allusion to the teachings of Plato as being equivalent with a higher level theoretical physics. Basically both subject are just people "sitting around and thinking really hard about something". The references to dark matter and the alternate unvierse are simple concepts of physics whether they be well known or not so it isn't too hard to wrap one's head around the poem if you're simply well read; a frequent reader of Time Magazine couldn't written this poem. These examples of "the huge" and "the big" are contrasted with a personal life and the emothions of the speaker/author to create the sense of "I know idealism is right but I wish it weren't seeing as my life is completely pointless if I accept the truths of such philosophies."
I am searching for an image
that will form itself
the way molten glass
responds to the glassblowers' breath
and becomes the crystal container for claret
These words were the ones that really spoke to me... I really like this introduction to the poem because it expresses the authors desire to be understood as he understands himself. This crystal container is made of a fine material and it houses a fine material(claret). This is a metaphor for the author wanting his inner qualities to be seen through an image that enhances those qualities.
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