Free Union by Andrea Breton
The poem Free Union by Andre Breton has used the imagery in a manner that seems they do not relate. But the imagery looks deeper into mental conscience which rational conventionality may not interpret. Breton who is the speaker addresses a woman addressed as my wife. The poem celebrates feminism beauty by comparing the imagery person to flowers, the stars, precious stones, and animals among other imagery used (Thompson, 2010).
The poem widely used subjectivity in describing the images of the persona. This is because, from how the persona presents the ideas, they refer to his opinions concerning the lady. For example, the speaker refers to the wife’s mouth as a “bright cockade with the fragrance of a star of the first magnitude.” This description follows the opinions of the speaker concerning the lady. Throughout the poem, the speaker likens the feminist features of the wife to some physical and imaginary items. Therefore since it depends greatly on the opinion and thoughts of the speaker, the poem is exclusively subjective.
It is apparent that Breton uses subjectivity to praise the feminism features of the connecting device of the poem, my wife. The use of metaphors and similes in the imagery serves the purpose of mainly bringing out the mental activity of the speaker. It conveys what the speaker is thinking. Even though the images do not appear coherent, Bretons tries to illustrate the freedom of using any imagery even those not within our environment. For example, the phrase, “like the unfolding fan of days” and “like a giant claw” may bring controversy. This was to bring a distinct from other literary works and express the use of freedom in poetry. Thus the subjectivity of this poem served to illustrate a break from the normal imagery used by the majority of the poet.
A Haiku by Basho, Buson, or Issa
A Haiku is a traditional poem of the Japanese origins having a series of poems mainly from three poets; Basho, Buson and Issa. The poem illustrates more of the physical world through the use of imagery (Sakanoto, 2015). It consists of three lines in every stanza, and the lines do not rhyme. The first and the last lines consist of five moras while the middle line consists of seven moras. The first verse sets the mood for the rest of the poem. The poem by the three poets correlate.
The poem uses the imagery in an objective way. Basho describes an evening encounter where the sun is setting, and the moon is coming up. He also describes creatures going back to their habitats. The phrase “A frog jump into the pond, splash!” is objective as it the lash gives evidence of the jumping frog. He describes what exactly is happening, “a worm digs silently” is an actual activity that is happening. Since he is describing the happenings in the physical world, the poem then is subjective.
Buson describes what seems like him going back home. He describes himself crossing the river and says it is pleasing. I this poem, Buson uses both subjectivities in the images. The phrase “Light of the moon Moves west, flower’ shadows Creep eastwards” describes what seems to be the thoughts of the speaker. This phrase follows the thoughts of the speaker that the moonlight is moving and the shadows of the flowers creeping, therefore, it is subjective.
The poem by Isa also seems subjective. He describes the passing of the year and the New Year coming. He likens it the snail climbing the Mountain Fuji. It is subjective because of the phrase “everything I touch… pricks” is from his feelings which are subject to his opinion. The importance of the use of subjectivity and objectivity in these poems is to bring out the way of looking at the physical world from their personal experiences and the existence of beauty in nature.
Wei River Farmhouse
This is a descriptive poem illustrating the return of farmers in the evening from their work on the farm. The speaker seems to be reflecting on his thoughts towards these hardworking people concerning the idleness and the leisure of the personas in the poem (Wang et al., 2016).
The poem uses objectivity in its images. The speaker describes the return of the farmers and their livestock in the evening. The phrase “The light at dust cast shadows on the old gravestones” is subjective since the effect of the light is evidenced by the shadows which can be seen. The other phrase which describes the objectivity of the poem is “And farmers return with hoes on their shoulders” is something that can be seen. This image has been used to show that the day’s activities have ended and the farmers are returning to their homes.
The significance of the images is to bring out the vividly the activities that happen in the evening when the farmers come from their farms. The beauty of the preceding verses gives the reasons for the envy of the speaker against those who idle and leisure. It is apparent that the speaker is one of the farmers and thus describes his feelings towards the idle in comparison to him who has been working throughout the day.
Bibliography
Thompson Z. B. “The Midnight Heart”. Warwick. Retrieved from https://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/zoebrigley/entry/a_poem_free/, 2019
Wang, Zhe, Wei He, Hua Wu, Haiyang Wu, Wei Li, Haifeng Wang, and Enhong Chen. “Chinese poetry generation with planning based neural network.” arXiv preprint arXiv:1610.09889 (2016).
Sakamoto, Kiyo. “Translation of Japanese poems into English: Literature in the first language as a motive to communicate in a second language.” In Literature and language learning in the EFL classroom, pp. 197-211. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2015.