This poem is what we call an ekphrastic poem. It's a poem inspired by art, in this case a painting. Check out the painting Resurrection that Youn refers to in the poem:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Piero_della_Francesca_-_Resurrection_-_WGA17609.jpg
Does seeing the painting help you understand the poem better? What is the connection between the ants and the painting?
Why is there no punctuation? What do the numbers do in this poem?
Welcome to the blog for Prof. John Talbird's English 220 class. The purpose of this site is two-fold: 1) to continue the conversations we start in class (or to start conversations before we get to class) and 2) to practice our writing/reading on a weekly basis in an informal forum.
The ants seem to be symbolic of those who were just following orders. I feel ants coming from the hole speaks to how the hole is their ignorance and now they are rising from that ignorance and seeing there is an unbeatable power. The lack of punctuation speaks to the words of the poem in that when she says it is a loop that the poem itself is going in a loop. Punctuation would take away from the power of her words.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the painting only helped me understand the reference in the poem. Otherwise there isn't much correlation in my opinion. Perhaps the author was suggesting as endless as a line of marching ants is, Christ too will live forever or march infinitely against evils (sleeping soldiers, war). I would assume that there is no punctuation along with the addition of the numbers, to add the effect of a continuous, non-stop march.
ReplyDeleteI can see how this poem is an interpretation of the painting as the trees sprawled on the mountains appear to be armies of spiders descending. It helps me understand the poem in a literal sense but It doesn't help me decipher a deeper meaning.
ReplyDeleteI think the lack of punctuation allows the poem to be read in a fast and almost chanting way, reminiscent of an oncoming army.
The numbers create a sort of panic, a rising tension as this army comes closer and closer.
I feel the ants are used to personify the power and intensity that Christ represents in the picture. It's one thing to describe something as powerful; The spectrum for what is powerful is very broad. Therefore, using the analogy of the ants is the authors way of trying to accurately detail the aura or quality of strength visually present in Christ within the painting.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the Painting Does Help me understand the poem better. In the Painting i see the Man Standing superior , he has a lot of strength which represents the ants. When ants are together they are strong even an ant can carry food twice its size. This painting demonstrates him not giving up his battle like the last line says "Back down to hell because there is no stopping point for what is infinite..." Also the Ants march until they reached their designated point, which is what the author is trying to say the march of the hanged men wont stop until they get what they want.
ReplyDeleteAfter viewing the painting it is easier to understand the poem and the numbering included by Youn. The author does a count down describing or focusing on different parts the painting. This enables the reader to make an immediate connection with their words and the painting, for example, the reference about Piero's eyes. The ants in the poem represent an endless opposition. Despite attempts to get over one's shortcomings they are always faced with another ongoing challenge occuring so frequently it may seem as though he'd never be able to overcome.
ReplyDeleteI love #8 b/c it creates a wonderful ambiguity. We don't think of Christ going down to hell, but why not? Why not rule over hell like he does heaven and earth too? Maybe hell should be a place like hades in the pre-monotheistic world, a place where the dead go not necessarily to suffer eternally but just b/c they have to go somewhere. A place no more nor less "evil" than the hole in the ground where all the ants spew.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say that viewing the fresco helps me to understand the poem better. However, after re-reading the poem, it is easy to see how descriptive the author is being. The lines numbered 4 and 5 really stick out to me as I look at the painting.
ReplyDeleteI can not quite grasp the correlation between the ants and the painting. I think the ants represent the people that Christ is kneeling above. Possibly meaning the men below him are headed for a path of destruction. ...
Seeing the painting does help me understand the poem a little better. The sleeping soldiers and hills in the background. With the risen Christ stepping over them. It helps me to visualize where the author is coming from in her writing. However, I still struggle with connecting the ants. I imagine it has to do with the trees and bushes that are growing out of the hills in the painting. Maybe it is something more than that.
ReplyDeletethe numbers in the poem separates the authors thoughts. I think the numbers suggest to us that the thoughts are presented to us in a particular sequence of the events that occurred.
Seeing the painting gives a better outlook on the poem. From what I can interpret, it sounds angry as Piero seems to rise. The ants and painting seem to have a connection where it's in a relation to how ants come out of a hole in the ground and when people walk the ants get stepped on. People don't look down while they're walking and as small as ants are no one thinks about that. So in relation to the painting it looks like the soldiers that are laying on the floor are the ants. Piero stomped on them as if he's resurrecting.
ReplyDeleteThe punctuation in this poem seems to be the numbers. The author used this punctuation as a sort of note guideline from what i can see. I can see rm the way this poem is written its possible that the author couldn't find a way to punctuate a poem like this with the way its written and the lines the author uses.
The picture in my opinion does not help me understand the poem on a more deeper meaning. From the picture i interpreted that the man with the flag stands superior to the rest of the men on the floor who are tired and his given up...
ReplyDeleteThe painting provided didn't really help me much at first. Now that I have a better understanding as to what the author was referring to I can better understand "without pausing or lowering his gaze for he has no regard now for human weakness since that part boiled entirely away leaving only those jointed automatic limbs" his weakness was his physical form but with his resurrection he left that all behind. "that will march forward until those bare immortal feet have pounded a path through the earth' where his walk as "man" has ended that of his soul will continue
ReplyDeleteThe numbers give you an order to follow sort of like a play from when the ants arise and commence there march into something worse
ReplyDeleteThe paintings meaning to me was that of someone with a clear objective in mind and not stopping until they get there or achieve it
Which sorta give me the sense that the whole poem was about an army marching to complete their objective even if they have to walk over other people to do it because they feel Superior and that the path they walk will either lead to glory or damnation
I didn't understand the poems before coming to class. After seeing the picture, hearing the class and professor discuss the poem I understand the poem a little more. Although the poem wasn't intriguing.Although the poem wasn't intriguing to me. I gathered that the in the ants were an army in a never ending battle. No matter how many times you attempted to destroy them they will always come back. In Piero's resurrection of Christ shows christ wounds and bare feet with humans beneath showing no weakness. Showing that he can win a battle just like the ants in the poems. Christ is immortal and will live amongst us forever just like the ants that will never die no matter how many times you try to destroy them.
ReplyDeleteThe picture helps by giving us a visual to her words. when we look at religion as whole and its blood shed it definitely pictured as graceful blood shed or meaningful death instead of what it really is which is just death . In the poem it refers to the image Christ in Pieros resurrection that was the missing puzzle piece because who would really fight for something that cannot be destroyed .then the reference to ants stood out to me because through out history mans biggest down fall is that we dont learn from our kind of like hangman.......
ReplyDeleteYes,viewing the painting did help me understand the poem better. It gave me more of a story. I was a little lost in the beginning because of the numbers it felt like i was reading random sentences but after seeing the painting it each number felt like a powerful statement. It also helped me understand some of the lines like "the way the dead-eyed Christ in Piero's Resurrection will march right over the sleeping soldiers". I feel like the author chose not add punctuation because she wanted to hit you with facts one after another without stopping which is also why she used numbers. The ants were said that they create a tape-loop vision which may be a comparison to the last line of something being infinite
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