A Vast Confusion
Long long I lay in the sandsRespond to this poem. If you need a question to answer, try these: What does the poem make you think of? Is this a poem about things falling apart or being put back together? Is it about the future or the past?
Sounds of trains in the surf
in subways of the sea
And an even greater undersound
of a vast confusion in the universe
a rumbling and a roaring
as of some enormous creature turning
under sea and earth
a billion sotto voices murmuring
a vast muttering
a swelling stuttering
in ocean's speakers
world's voice-box heard with ear to sand
a shocked echoing
a shocking shouting
of all life's voices lost in night
And the tape of it
somehow running backwards now
through the Moog Synthesizer of time
Chaos unscrambled
back to the first
harmonies
And the first light
Your response should be about 100 words long and include a reference to at least one other person's response. Those who post early, come back later to respond to a post.
27 comments:
I liked the poem and the way it was written. It seemed to reveal a way that chaos in the world is not really chaos and how it all fits together somehow. The sounds of the waves are like the sounds of an urban city, with all its bad traits and good ones. The ocean is the "world's voice box" and it amplifies sounds. I connected that to the way that wavelengths travel in water from physics. The tape running backwards seemed to bring up somekind of omnicient being playing the tape so that they can understand it. It is an interesting theory. Backward chaos equals harmony and light.
I absolutely love this poem! I could totally picture myself on a beach, at night, super dark, and loud waves. The image of the trains in the surf makes me think of all of the times I’ve been at the beach and the waves just keep rolling… just like trains. I love how the waves and the beach keep being compared to city life, like voices murmuring together. The voice- box is a cool image because it’s like the universe is speaking to us, we just have to listen. I liked Allicia’s comment on how “backwards chaos equals harmony and light” because it makes me think of things that are so messy, when they’re finally fixed, become amazing.
I disagree with Allicia when she says, "the world is not really chaos." I think the author is saying the opposite. He refers to the current state of the universe as a "vast confusion," and relates the concepts of "trains in the surf" and "subways of the sea" to suggest that the world is in disarray. It seems as though he was trying to escape the chaos by laying in the sand beside the ocean, but realizes that it is impossible to escape the boisterousness of modern life. Even nature is contaminated by the chaos. The ocean is supposed to be pristine/natural and free of urban disruption. He goes on to describe the rumbling and roaring as an "enormous creature" suggesting that this state of chaos is frightening--shocking: "a shocked echoing/a shocking shouting." The world is only quiet, at peace, and in harmony when the "tape of it" is "running backwards through the Moog Synthesizer of time." The author suggests that the past was orderly and harmonious, unlike its current state which he seems to resent.
The poem leaves me with vivid images of the beach life. I see the beach very well in the poem and the creature that inhabit the ocean. It seems to me that the creatures are not fighting or any thing. their just going about doing their own thing as life intends them to do. I agree with what allicia said about how chaos in the world all fits together. Every thing always find a way to work itself out no matter what. "Harmonies" is what is stated at the end. and thats the simplest way to discribe the world and it chaos.
I think the poem is trying to tell us that the chaos in the world is being played back to us through mother earth. I think that the poem is trying to communicate that the earth is a reflection of what confusion is going on. The image of the ocean being the "worlds voice box" really proves my point. I think the poem is saying that the world has had problems since the beginning of time. I agree with Allicia when she says that the world somehow all fits together, and that there is some sort of harmony with chaos.
I believe this poem is about a man laying on a beach, relating the ocean to the chaos of the urban life, or perhaps the world. He hears "trains in the surf" and "vast muttering" in the waves. He can feel the disorganized, chaotic presence of reality as he lay in the most natural and beautiful location, in the warm sand on a beach. I agree with Libby's argument on how chaos in the world is present everywhere, even in the most pristine places such as a beach or ocean. Lawrence Ferlinghetti refers to the sound of the ocean as a "vast confusion in the universe." He obviously believes there is a greater confusion in the world, so his solution is to think of the beginning, back to the, "first
harmonies and the first light." The poem suggests that the chaos never existed in the beginning of time/ existence; nevertheless, it thrives in the modern era.
I see a few things in this poem. One thing is the author as “city dweller” rediscovering primeval nature. Listening through the sand he hears shouts, echoes, all life’s voices lost in the night. All those who died at sea in the night are shouting. The author is confronting the dark unknown of the afterlife that he so fears. The nature that he is discovering is not comforting, rather it is chaotic, confusing and hence frightening.
Where is there hope in the author’s world? Here we see symbols of birth. The first light that a baby sees. The first sounds the baby hears. Working backwards now from the end of the poem to the beginning it is all about the womb. In the darkness of the womb an unborn baby is surrounded by an “ocean” of water. He/she hears muffled, confused voices and sounds of life outside the womb. Inside is harmony outside chaos.
The baby has his ear to the sand, the thick skin of the mother’s belly. The enormous creature turning…. The pregnant mother turning from side to side.
I like what Allicia said “Backward chaos equals harmony and light”. Out of chaos, God said “let there be light”. But before that “the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep”. This poem is about creation whether it be a newborn baby or the light of God. It is the contrast of the chaotic urban environment or the wild abandon of nature to the peace of God or an unborn holy infant still in the womb.
I really liked the poem and the way it gives its message. I believe Ferlinghetti suggests that there is too much confusion due to man with cities, pollution, society, etc. I think Ferlinghetti is suggesting that the earth is making gradual changes due to all of this. Ferlinghetti says that the voices (symbolic of the life course of earth) are playing in reverse on a tape through the moog synthesizer back to the beginning. These voices sound like "swelling stuttering" because the tape is going in reverse; therefore the life of earth is going back to the way it began. To humans, we cannot make sense of it because we are accustomed to hearing lyrics in a linear-progression fashion. Everything we do revolves around progression, even if it involves hurting nature or others. I agree with Libby that the beginning of Earth was much more serene and peaceful but what happens when Earth is gets back to this beginning, despite humans efforts to keep it under control? Will the same tape play over again? Has this tape with humans and all of earth been replayed over and over again because we cannot evolve past greed and lack of compassion for earth and each other? Or is this generation of humanity the first anomaly that can change this sad monotony?
I like Beau's questions. I hadn't thought of the poem as call for change at all, but it seems to make sense.
I liked this poem. I think being from Hawaii we can all relate to this poem and the images in it. I agree with what Janoah said and how the author is relating the the ocean to the chaos of urban life. I see it in a little different aspect though. The ocean is chaotic in its own way,but it is in no way related to the chaos of urban life. Even though they are not connected in this sense, I agree with allicia that all fits together in confusing fashion. I think the author uses the ocean as a means to reflect the image of chaotic human life back onto the reader.
To me in this poem the author seems to be saying that there is chaos in all things. It made me think about big waves and how chaotic they can be, and this seems to be related to the chaos of the city. I would have to agree with nicole and allcia in that backwards chaos equals harmony and light. to me this seems to mean that the chaos exists everywhere but we perceive the chaos of the ocean as relaxing whereas we perceive the chaos of the city as annoying and unsettling, in the last line he seems to be saying that the chaos of the sea is the same as the chaos of the ocean just in a simpler form.
The author challenges the reader to realize the grandiose essence of earth, that is, natural force. Whereas nature and its counter, technology, the mellifluous ocean and the subway, blend in the author's ears as he lays at first, soon after he hears "enormous creature turning" and feels the grandeur of natural force over the life technology pervades. It is neither a prediction of future calamity nor an equation for harmony and light; more simply, the author is experiencing awe over the earth's liveliness beneath the supposed powerful above: the human power. He has a growing attentiveness to the voices of nature under him and in doing so expresses the smallness of human compared to the animal of earth below. The confusion, he suggests, is not the disarray of society or technology, but more specifically, he reverses the idea that humankind is larger than the powers of this planet; that somehow utilities and governance has ceased to see the wild life rumbling under. The author also conveys ascending suspense: he feels the approach of some swinging change bringing the world back to its "harmonious" place, this, however, is his experience with nature, not a calculation for the future.
This poem seems to reflect a lot of the chaos in life today, exempli gratia, the subways under the ocean, the undersound of confusion in the universe, etcetera. Ferlinghetti suggests the only solution to rid the world of this plight and confusion is to revert the world back from one, to zero. For there can be no such thing as one without zero, because zero is where everything begins, the source of all chaos; It is with the apparition of one that this chaos comes to form order. More logically, Ferlinghetti probably wants to reset everything back to zero, in order to create a better world from that. This of course arguably means that Ferlinghetti was one of the pioneers of the principles of Anarchy. I now realize that my explanation is like Beau's explanation, ergo, I agree with Beau's explanation completely.
This poem was very loud. It gave me a feeling of being somewhere very loud where ambient noises are obnoxious and annoying.
I am surprised that so many people enjoyed this poem. It used simple metaphors, and the language resembled that produced by an eighth grader. For all I know, it could have been written by an actual eighth grader, or by Mr. Ferlinghetti while he was in eighth grade.
The metaphors were simple, as stated above. They were either too typical, or too technical, as in the case of the "Moog Synthesizer of time."
It was less of a poem and more of a short, run-on story split by line breaks.
But hey, I'm glad everyone else seemed to enjoy it!
I'd have to say that I agree with Libby. I felt as if the author, while escaping the havoc of our world on the serene beach, was commenting on our current chaotic state. He contrasts the images of the train and subway with the natural images of the surf and sea to integrate the idea that nature is being overshadowed by the emerging city life. As he mentioned the tape running backwards, an image I believe to symbolize the turning back of time, the author says to experience an unscrambling of chaos which brought back “the first harmonies and the first light.” This statement gave the impression that the world was most harmonious in the past and contrasts with the present day "vast confusion".
I believe that this poem is a representation of the stark contrast between our modern perception of nature and its underlying omnipotence. In the modern sense, when one thinks of listening to the ocean they think of peace and tranquility, while in the poem Ferlinghetti depicts a more foreboding power that the ocean posses. Like chad said, this poem is not related to city life; the reference to the subway is instead used to challenge the reader’s own views by comparing the tranquility of nature with the raucous of the subways. Hidden beneath normal perception of nature is a sense of chaos "and vast confusion in the universe”. The author even goes on to sate that the ocean possesses a window to the past all the way up to the beginning of existance. I think, in this poem, Ferlinghetti was really trying to portray the deeper meaning of ordinary things in life that normally go overlooked.
Yes... i went there
This poem truly exemplifies the chaotic world we live in today. In the beginning, Ferlinghetti views the ocean as a tranquil force, calming him with every soothing wave. But as he gets deeper, under the outer layers of the ocean, he realizes that it is a whirlwind of chaos below. This exemplifies the modern day world in which we live today. It keeps a calm mask surrounding, while a mess of life rumbles beneath. I agree with Libby's comment in that the author thought that he could escape the chaos of the world by getting closer to something that looked calming. Only to realize that nature is just as chaotic as the world that surrounds us.
I found it interesting that the Author relates sounds of the ocean to the chaos of the world. I like that he made what we usually think as calm and peaceful connect to loud urban life. I agree with Nicole that in a way the Universe is trying to speak to us. I think the poet is trying to say that all the chaos makes sense. I agree with what stacy says about Ferlinghetti looking at the ocean on the outside and seeing a tranquil sea. But when you look in the depths of the ocean you see the chaos of undersea life. Which can be connected to how we view ourselves. Most of the time our outside appearance is calm or some other controlled emotion. However, if we look at our thoughts they are just a bunch of chaos. There are so many factors that we have to calculate in a split second in order to even take a step. Yet on the outside we appear so calm and unaffected by the chaos in our minds.
(I love this reader response criticism.)I agree with Chad when he said that we all can easily relate to the poem because we live in Hawaii. However, I think that relating to the sounds of the ocean is easier than the sounds of the city-life, given that we probably don't make those kinds of connections when we're at the beach. (Example: “sounds of trains in the surf,” or “subways of the sea,” etc)We probably just enjoy the sun, swim, and relax, without really paying attention to how the ocean sounds…When I read the poem, I thought about an uptight employee who has just gone on a vacation at the beach, but keeps thinking of his job and home in the city.
Was this your own poem? i really enjoyed it. Allicia comment i agree with . how chaos is in the world but sometimes it all comes together as one to be peaceful. the image of the subway in the sea was what really got my thinking. i could just image myself riding in a subway in the ocean looking at all the sea creature swimming by and see the beautiful coral and lush colors of the ocean all through a man made ride. and i could also see how huiman civilization has taken over nature, but you wont expect a subway in a ocean but if peoiple continue as we are , we might just have subways throuhg sea because there wont be water left. i also could totally picture the beauty of the beach and how is in harmony with the ocean and life. and the trains in the surf that was neat. the enormous creature was really interesting to think about. over all this poem was very good and i loved getting interesting images in my mind while reading it.
Wow I really enjoyed this poem. I pictured myself at a beach watching a sunset as the waves crashed onto the shoreline. Like Noe said, it is easy to relate to this poem, given our general location. this poem reminded me of a beach in japan that my frind visited. He told me that he had to take a train to get to the beach. It alos reminds me of how we as humans tend to always rush around with things and that we never really stop and settle down once in a while. We can dream about relaxing but we are always rudely awakened by some outside force.
I thoroughly enjoyed this poem because of the vivid symbols. The poem places the reader into a common place and connects it to real life. I believe the poet is referring to the society we live in today and how we have lost meaning. It seems like he is saying that all these voices (individuals) are not heard in the chaotic world. I like how the images of the sea and city seem to be contrasts, but in the poem they are similar. The poet is really good at comparing the confusion found in the ocean to our society today. I agree with Janoah and Libby’s comment about how the presence of chaos can be found everywhere. The ocean may seem peaceful but if you go to Ho’okipa you can feel the same powerless force you get in a large city. The poem suggests that one can find chaos and the feeling of being inferior in both the ocean and modern society.
This poem extracted the various sounds that are heard when at the beach or in the subway or anywhere. the strong use of metaphoric description in the poem allows the reader to make connections which relate to the readers feelings about certain things. For example, when reading this poem, I personally can relate to being at the beach as described in this poem. I enjoy laying on the sand and listening to the waves as they crash on the shore. However, I have never thought of the sound of waves to be trains. I can now make that connection and have a greater comprehension of the mysterious things in which metaphors can extract.
I really enjoyed this poem and its relation between nature and city. The "subways of the sea" truly brings me into the moment and it feels as if I am at the beach looking into the sea. I strongly agree with Janoah's comment about the urban life. This poem truly depicts the ocean and how it is a great metaphor for the chaotic city life. Today we are all caught up in technology and we are not able to look at nature the same way Lawrence Ferlinghetti is able to. Living on Maui, the opportunity to appreciate nature and its beauty is common compared to L.A and New York. As we move on in life, the pieces of the puzzle begin to dissipate and we are able to hear the oceans sounds. The poem really opened my eye to the city life especially because I have been living on an island my entire life.
The author's use of the ocean helped me to understand what he was trying to say in an easier way. I say that becaue it is really easy to relate to the ocean and its sounds. I agree with beau-"It is time for a change" I think that the author was trying to convey a message of both falling apart and putting things back together again. Before people are able to put things together again. Things need to fall apart. That meeans that it talks about both the past and the future. The things that happened in the past led to things falling apart. The future means that people will be putting things back together again later on.
Post a Comment