I. Literal level analysis
A. The poem
I Could Not See Pleasure
By Maria Porges
I could not see pleasure
But only dark sorrow
In living alone
From today to tomorrow
To wind wool alone
Share laughter with walls,
Is hard to accomplish
From winter to fall
And to fry one chop
Bake one potato
Lock two doors
Slice one tomato
Turn out the light
Sleep cold-alone
And wake cheerless in silence
With only the moan
Of wind to keep you---
I would not live.
I fade in quiet,
In darkness, in dryness,
in unnourished earth
without kisses and kindness---
I could not see pleasure
But only dark sorrow
In living alone
From today to tomorrow
B. Theme
The theme of the poem is “solitary”. The writer asks the reader to feel her sadness of being alone. She is all alone in the world without friends to talk. Only the emptiness is her friend
C. Main idea
This poem talks about the sadness of being alone. The writer realizes how hard life without friends to share, moreover the loneliness happens for a long time. It seems the loneliness will remain until tomorrow. She can not see the joy outside as her life is empty.
D. Poem interpretation
The poem is uncomplicated as the writer states clearly the feel she wants to share. Here, the poet is gloomy. It states in the first and second lines of the first stanza. Also, she feels hopeless as she said from today to tomorrow. The loneliness makes her desperate.
E. Tone
The tone of the poem is solitary and it is soo clear as the writer states from the first to the final stanza. The last stanza, which is repetition of the first, makes the tone of the poem more clearly. The poet invites the reader to feel her sorrow of being alone in this world.
F. Biography of Maria Porges
| Biography & Links |
| Maria Porges Biography | ||
| 1954 | | Born in Oakland, California |
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| 1975 | | BA, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut |
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| 1979 | | MFA, University of Chicago |
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| | Also attended Grinnell College and the San Francisco Art Institute |
| Selected Exhibitions | ||
| 2003 | | Bombast Return to Dr. Strangelove, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco CA (solo) |
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| 2002 | | Bedtime Stories, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago IL (solo) Plotting: Artist's Studies, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL Wunderkammer Redux, Palo Alto Art Centerm, Palo Alto, CA |
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| 2001 | | “Tall tales & short stories”, Sculpture & Monoprints, James Harris Gallery, Seattle, WA (solo) Objects Considered, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA Witcherina Pixerina, University Art Gallery, Illinois State U., Bloomington IL (catalogue) Amused, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago IL (catalogue) |
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| 2000 | | Acts of Deception, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco (solo) Miraculous Vessels, David Beitzel Gallery, New York (solo) The Great Novel Exhibition, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto CA Bluer, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago IL (catalogue) The Ray Graham Collection, Albuquerque Museum of Art, Albuquerque NM (catalogue) American Art Today: Fantasies and Curiosities, The Art Museum at Florida Int'l University, Miami FL (catalogue) |
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| 1999 | | Hand Signals, Gallery A, Chicago (solo) (S)light of hand, Allene LaPides Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (solo) Art + Magic, James Harris Gallery, Seattle 1999 What is Art For?, Oakland Museum (Museum of California), Oakland Looking at Ourselves: Works by Women Artists from the Logan Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Recent Acquisitions, Scottsdale Museum of Art, Scottsdale, AZ Still Life Infinitely Moving, Contemporary Art Center, Virginia Beach, VA (catalogue) Museum Pieces: Artists Look at the DeYoung, M.H.DeYoung Memorial Museum, San Francisco CA (catalogue) |
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| 1998 | | Lost Language, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans Four California Conceptualists, B & D Studio Contemporanea, Milan Art Around the Bay: Recent Acquisitions, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Wild Things: Artists’ Views of the Animal World, John Berggruen Gallery San Francisco House of Wax, The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio Posters, DBL00 Gallery, Albuquerque NM |
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| 1997 | | History Lessons, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco Read Text and Visual, Gallery A, Chicago John Berggruen Gallery, Friesen Gallery Fine Art, Second Annual Collaboration, Friesen Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho Office Art, University Art Gallery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM Spring Fever, Crown Point Press Gallery, San Francisco CA |
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| 1996 | | Anodyne, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans John Berggruen Gallery, Friesen Gallery Fine Art, A Collaboration, Friesen Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho Figuratively Speaking, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco The Robert Arneson Tribute Exhibition, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco Matters of the Heart, Haines Gallery, San Francisco Objects Transcended, Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania Glass Linking Art and Science, MIT Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts |
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| 1995 | | Twenty Questions: Museum of the Mind, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco XXV Years, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco The Art of Light and Glass, Bedford Gallery, Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, California Sex Sells, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco |
II. Analyzing the poem (elements of poetry)
1. Setting
The poet places her house or room as the setting in the poem. It is mentioned in the second line of the second stanza and in the third stanza.
2. Diction
a. Repetition
The writer uses the whole lines of the first stanza in the last stanza to emphasize her no ending tragedy. She does not tell exactly what makes him being alone but the effect of loneliness is expressed several times.
b. Denotation
The poet makes her poem easy to understand for she gives the exact meaning of the words in her poem.
3. Figures of speech
a. Personification
In the second line of the second stanza
“Share laughter with walls”
The poet gave the wall the ability of human that is the ability to hear and feel the writer’s sorrow
In the third and fourth lines of the third stanza
“With only the moan
Of wind to keep you”
The poet personalize the wind for the wind does like human. It is moan and keep or guard human.
4. Rhyme schemes and verse form
5.
III.
Hi! Maria Porges here. Where did you find my poem? Thanks, MP
BalasHapus