WASHINGTON—The National Endowment for the Arts announced Monday that it has begun construction on a $1.3 billion, 14-line lyric poem—its largest investment in the nation's aesthetic- industrial complex since the $850 million interpretive-dance budget of 1985. [more]
What is being made fun of here, and why?
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This probably isn't a very good start to my blogging career...but I'm a tad computer illiterate and can't figure out how to post on this blog. The only solution I have found is to leave my post in the form of a comment. Thank you for being understanding.
An Interpretation of "Upon a Spider Catching a Fly"
Take any mathematical function, and there will inevitably be a right and wrong answer. Poetry, however, is not defined by right or wrong. I believe poetry is defined by interpretation. The poet does not state fact, he begins an open-ended argument for the reader to complete. Therefore, poetry requires an act of creativity not only on the part of the poet, but also of the reader. This essentially gives the reader a license to interpret a poem in any way, given the reader can accompany the interpretation with a reasonable argument.
To prove my point, I, as the reader, will interpret “Upon a Spider Catching a Fly.” It can be said that Edward Taylor was a deeply religious man, and that this particular poem preaches the need for a sin-free existence, but I care to disagree.
Taylor lived in a puritan society in Massachusetts during the late 17th century and early 18th century, where only Puritans could participate and belong in the community. It is possible for Taylor to have been a non-religious man, yet put on a façade of religiousness so he could survive in the harsh environment (Bear in mind he was a colonial American with no hope of survival without the support of a religious community). If said statements are correct, this poem begs for a completely different interpretation.
To begin, I will describe to you the roles of each character in the poem. The spider and the wasp are both manifestations of sin, the fly is a weak being, and the nightingale is a servant of God. Please observe lines 39 and 40: “By venom things,/ Damned sins.” This is obviously a reference to the spider, but it is also a more subtle reference to the wasp, as he mentions the wasp’s “Sting” earlier in the poem. The fly is weak, of course, because he cannot break the spider’s web and escape. He must therefore rely on the strength of God to break free, and become like the nightingale. But in return, he will be put “In glory’s cage.” In this poem, Taylor presents three outcomes of getting stuck in a web of sin. One is to die, falling prey to “Hell’s spider.” Another option is to become a caged servant of God. But the last, more implicit message is that if you are inherently sinful, like the wasp, you will not fall prey to other’s sins.
In this poem, Taylor presents his view of sin and religion. He describes both religious fly and the sinful wasp as safe, whereas only the wasp is truly free, since the fly is caged. The poem relates to his life because in order to survive, Taylor looked to religion for help and guidance. Therefore, like the fly, he rests “In glory’s cage.” In the poem, however, he hints at his envy of the wasp, longing for freedom from the rigors of the Puritan society. The great realization he documents in this poem is that sin would liberate him from religious slavery, if only he weren’t a weak fly.
There you have it: my interpretation of the poem “Upon a Spider Catching a Fly.” It might be the complete opposite of your interpretation, but in my mind, both interpretations are equally valid. Feel free to leave a comment and disagree with me.
Harry, go to http://blogger.com. Log in with your username and password. There should be a "new post" button.
I think they are making fun of the poem writing process. They are saying that poets/people focus too much on the syntax and stucture of a poem and not enough on the content and that there is no difference between tomorrow and to-morrow or whether there is a dash at the end of the line or not.
PS this is what I think, I'm not completely sure.
I don't think the poem writing process is being made fun of here; when I read the article, images started flashing through my head of all the financial scandals the government (both state and federal), and banking institutions have been plagued with over the past few years. The article is blowing the monetary waste way out of proportion, of course, but the general tone is ironic and at times even sarcastic.
The scandals of today all seem to involve such instances of overinflated budgets and bad management. The article plays on America's lack of a solid mission plan, or end-goal, when it talks about how $x amount will be spent on the hyphen at the end of the sentence, etc., etc. Where is the construction going? Why is it so expensive? Who will it help? What is the point? Those are the questions raised, and it seems oddly coincidental that those same questions are raised with ever increasing frequency about the current administration, America's financial institutions, and our country's long-term economic and social vision in general.
I’m not too sure what is being made fun of here, but I thought it was interesting as I read it because I actually recognized several terms found scattered throughout the article. “Three- quatrain-and-a-couplet framework” in “an iambic meter for increased stability and symmetry.” I’m really curious as to know if this is a “real” article or not. I just have this feeling that this isn’t but it could possibly be, I have no idea. Does anyone else think so?
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