Jorji, Justin and Jolene

on

"The Chimney Sweeper"

Transcript coming soon.

angelina samantha danna

on insomniac

click here.

rahman vanessa joshua

on RUSSIANS.

click here.

TRANSCRIPT

Rahman: This song, Russians, by Gordon Summers (more commonly known by his stage name, Sting, was written in 1985, during the Cold War.

Rahman: Why did we choose the poem?

Vanessa: We chose it mainly for the Cold War aspect of the poem, something that our group takes great interest in. Furthermore, the themes are similar to our literature text, 1984, and we hope that through this pod cast experience, we can refine our understanding of it.

Joshua: The main themes in the poem are the emptiness of words, the divisiveness of ideology and the sanctity of human life.

Rahman: First off, the emptiness of words can be seen through Summer’s use of political imagery and diction. For example, “We will bury you,” is an allusion to a comment made by Krushchev with reference to triumph of communism over capitalism as an economic system, which was an inaccurate assessment by Krushchev.

Joshua: Krushchev was attempting to intimidate and impress the President of the United States when he made the comment. The comment was largely unfounded as the Soviet Union was lagging behind the United States already by a great amount.

Vanessa: This would show that the statement was completely baseless and contributes to Summers’ theme of the emptiness of words as after all, Krushchev’s prophecy proved to be far from the reality and it was the United States that eventually buried the Soviet Union.

Rahman: Also, the mention of “no such thing as a winnable war” shows the oversimplification of the consequences of war, that there is a clearly defined boundary between winning and losing. This is to say that Summers’ intention was to show that in war, neither side ever has a clean victory.

Vanessa: This is also irony in the choice of words, since neither side has a clear victory yet he uses ‘winnable’ instead of an alternative.

Joshua: Next, the danger of political divisiveness is portrayed by Summers through the use of war imagery.

Rahman: One example would be in the line, “How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer’s deadly toy”. Oppenheimer’s deadly toy is a reference to the nuclear bomb. Let’s pass our time to our History associate.

Joshua*: Oppenheimer was a scientist involved in the creation of the nuclear bomb in World War 2. Thus, his deadly toy would refer to the nuclear bombs created in the aftermath of World War 2 and during the course of the Cold War.

Rahman: Thank you, Professor Munk. From this, we are able to see that the associations with Oppenheimer’s deadly toy are nuclear holocaust. Through this, Summers states that the danger of political divisiveness is in essence, the end of the world.

Vanessa: Further elaborating on this particular line, it also shows the sanctity of human life, through the use of diction. The desperation of the persona can be seen through the word, ‘save’.

Joshua: The word, ‘save’ carries with it the connotation of the imminent danger, which the persona foresees but feels helpless to forestall. This in turn, displays the extent of the persona’s concern for the child.

Vanessa: Then, one must look at what the little boy represents. The little boy represents life and the future of the human race. As such, the concern of the persona for the little boy translates to a deeper fear of the end of humanity. The implication that we are all in danger of a nuclear holocaust is brought out here.

Joshua* I would like to point out at this juncture that the little boy, also carries a significance in its name as it plays on the association of the nuclear bomb as well. Little boy was one of the two atomic bombs that ended World War 2. I will now pass the time over to fat man, RAHMAN!

Rahman: Thank you, Professor Munk. Though I must insist on professionalism here. The significance of this second association with little boy, is an ironic play on words. Although the toy and the boy seem completely separate at first glance, they are on another level the exact same thing. This would contribute to the idea of the emptiness of words, as the interpretation of little boy alone is open to two completely separate meanings

Vanessa: Another theme which is prevalent in this poem is the illusion of division which ideologies perpetrate. This is seen by the symbolism in the poem. For instance, the Russians are juxtaposed with Europe and America. In essence, the Russians are the representation of a foreign entity, while Europe and America represent the norm, or that which is familiar.

Joshua: This is due to the context of the symbols. Russians bring forth the ideas of communism and the Soviet Union. This association, in Summer’s Westernised background is therefore a negative one, due to inherent biases within the capitalist democracies towards communism. Similarly, being raised in the West, Summers gave the persona a Western perspective, which viewed itself as the norm, in essence, Europe and America.

Rahman: However, following this symbolism, the repeated chorus of “We share the same biology/regardless of ideology” is a direct criticism of this illusion of difference. Similar comparisons, such as Mr Krushchev against Mr Reagan are debunked by this statement.

Vanessa: In conclusion, Summers’ Russians amplifies the problems of society during the cold war, and the ways in which politics and words can obscure the fact that we are all human, and depend on the same things for survival. Russians is a poignant reminder of the danger we face with political rhetoric and the nuclear threat which gripped the world during the Cold War. It’s impact can be felt even today, even with the War but a distant memory for some, and already an event in modern history.

Joshua*: This is Professor Munk, for the last time, thank you, and goodbye!

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BEN

"The Chimney Sweeper"

Hey. This is the podcast done by me, Jorji, with Justin and Jolene. I just uploaded it, so I don't know if it'll work, but I'll just dump in the embed code. So here goes.



All I see is... Oh well. It better work by tomorrow.

"Do not go gentle into the good night"

hey there 08a07 lit knights!!

do enjoy...and consider the following questions as you do:

1-How is "good night" a pun?

2-What other reason, other than the one we have already given in the podcast, would the persona call his father to "curse, bless me with your fierce tears"?

3-Consider an imagery used in this poem, one you find most striking.

(Btw, when you comment, comment here- at this bl0g- and not on livevideo.com itself. Thanks. This is so that we do not have to sieve through all the comments for your precious ones! HAHA)

Once again,

Have fun!!

ps. Don't leave until you have heard Samuel's rendition!!! It's utterly hilarious!

Benedict, Asyraf and Samuel

Transcript:

Rationale for choice of poem:
Hm. There are probably two reasons why we chose this poem- a moral one, and a literary one. Let’s start with the moral one. The poem starts with an impassioned plea, “Do not go gentle into the goodnight”- which is also the theme of the poem. Without going into too much detail now, it is safe to say that it inspires those whose lives are not up to live their lives with a bang, and not go “gently” into the “night”- which is death- as all of us inevitably moving towards death. Another of its favourite cry is “Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.” This is an encouragement to those who are facing death to fight for their lives and to resist death’s course. Moreover, the fact that the poet wrote this poem for his father, whom he encouraged with both of these declarations to hold onto the struggle against death’s pull, increases the intimacy that the poet has towards the subject matter- that is in one sense, the value of life. Therefore, we chose this poem, firstly, because it flows on a good moral line.

Now, onto the literary reason, we knew we needed a poem that reflects good diction and imagery- and “Do not gentle into the good night” is simply an unavoidable choice, if you have come across it. Firstly, the diction is fantastic. Words like “rage”, “rave”, and “blaze” are carefully chosen and contain depth of meaning in this poem. Secondly, the metaphors of “night” and “light” are brilliant. Thirdly, the oxymoronic phrases stand out to bring even greater clarity to the poet’s thoughts. Therefore, this poem suits our literary taste buds very well.

Themes and concerns:
This poem visits the theme of living- the process, and in the face of death. Dylan Thomas is concerned with the way we should lead our lives. He challenges us to passionate living, and to value life- and not to surrender it up even in the face of death.
He is concerned with the attitudes that different people hold towards living- and challenges us all to make a same resolution, i.e. not to “go gentle into the good night”. This means a refusal to simply be carried by life to its end, but to consciously live life to the fullest.
An intimate concern of the poet is the condition of his father, who was deathly ill, as he wrote the poem to encourage the latter to display the strength he had shown throughout his life to resist death’s pull.

Effects:
The poet, firstly, uses striking diction to communicate the need for us to live life fully- and even not to give up the fight in the face of death. The stereotypical idea of people in their old age is that they are despairing and carrying the mindset that there is nothing for them to look forward to- but death. Yet, the poet advocates a life that would “burn and rave” even at face of death. “Burn” tells us of something aflame, and consumed by heat, and therefore speaks of passion- an ingredient in living life to the full. “Rave” suggests a wild display of anger- and the poet could be advocating the need for discontentment with the stereotypical old age living and to expect more in life. In the famous quote in the poem, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”, “rage” is brilliantly used in this context. “Rage” connotes an element of anger and a spirit of battle- that Dylan Thomas feels should constitute our struggle against death.

In the second stanza, the poet used the word “forked” to describe making impact. The word is poignant because a fork is often applied with effort and force when digging at food, but wise men realized that words by themselves do not involve effort or force, therefore making no significant impact. Therefore, the poet could be challenging us to a life of more than just words- i.e. with actions- in order that our lives would be impactful, and not go “gentle”, without anyone noticing our lives.

In the third stanza, the poet decides to show the contrast between the value of the good deeds when the doers are living and when they are at the face of death. He uses the word “frail” poignantly to show that at death’s face, these deeds are weak and even powerless to turn the inevitable around- yet he uses the word “danced” to show how these good men would have celebrated these deeds and derived joy from them. Again, this contrast challenges us that the only way to face death is to put up a fierce struggle- as joy is at stake.
In the fifth stanza, the word “blaze” is aptly used to suggest the intensity of the flame that would exist in the eyes of a person who has hope.

Secondly, the imageries used in this poem are vivid- to bring out the immediacy of the poet’s ideas. Consider the imagery of lightning: just as lightning lights flashes across the sky and illuminates, so does an exemplary life guides others. The green bay is an image of the land of the living- the color of green symbolising life and progress- it is a picture of growth and is in contrast with death where growth stops. Meteors are a great imagery when talking about hope- because their flame is all-consuming, just as a life lived with hope is one that is consumed with a zeal for life. This is in contrast with “blind eyes” that tend to be expressionless, void of excitement.

Thirdly, the straightforward metaphors used by the poet emphasize the fact that death is natural- and inevitable. Dylan Thomas calls death “night”. Night is the absence of light- which represents the land of the living- therefore it is associated with death. However, the fact that “night” is a natural phenomenon highlights that death- at the end of life- is “right”, i.e. proper. Again, when speaking of death, the poet uses a metaphor of “the last wave”- a wave is something that undoubtedly sweeps up the shore and is unstoppable.
In the fourth stanza, the metaphor of wild men “sang the sun in flight” is easily alluded to idle living- while time passes by. The sun in motion again is an inevitable occurrence- similar to the fact that the pass of time brings us closer to death.

Next, the poet employs oxymoronic phrases- perhaps to suggest that death can be an awakener of the preciousness of time to someone, who has been wasting it away or not living it to the full, yet taking away the time to do otherwise- it causes people to “learn, too late”. Examples of oxymoron include “good night”, “blinding sight” and “sad height”. As explained, “good night” is used- as death can be good and bad at the same time. The second oxymoron explains the fact that this “sight”- perhaps a revelation of truth- is so stunning to the extent that, as the poet declares, it could blind the seer...who was ironically blinded to the truth before the revelation. Now, though their natural sight might have faltered, their eyes of understanding have never been brighter. “Sad height” is oxymoronic as “height” is often associated with success- how high someone has climbed- and yet it is “sad” for the father as the higher he has climbed, the closer it has brought him to death’s door.

Moreover, there seems to be a very staccatoish feeling about the poem as the rhythm is constantly interrupted by punctuations. This may be because the poet is trying to show that something is not as it usually is, hence is trying to show the disturbance in the usual routine of the persona. This is supported by the fact that the title of the poem, “Do not go…” is emphasised constantly throughout the poem that highlights certain stubbornness about going into the “good night” meaning affirming life up until the last breath, rather than learning to accept death quietly.

Finally, in the last stanza, the poet might be suggesting that his father might be all of the above men at different stages of his life- since he gave the father both the challenges- “Do not go gentle into the good night” and “rage, rage with the dying of the light”. The poet juxtaposes the idea of cursing and blessing in fighting on for his father’s own life. This may be because he feels it’s a curse if his father continues fighting on because it might give the poet a false hope that he’ll come around. It could also be a blessing in that his father might come through- if he showed the strength he had shown throughout his life. However, he makes it known that he rather have his father go down fighting rather than give in.

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