Hey everyone!
During our recent lectures we analyzed some Lyric Poetry, which I found quite interesting to learn about. We read five poems, but the ones that caught my attention the most were The Names, by Billy Collins, and September 1, 1939, by W. H. Auden. Both lyric poems have been connected to the 9/11 terrorist attack, however they touched people’s in different ways. The second one was written long before the attack in NY of 2001 and it described the period in between World War I and World War II. What made it a very popular poem, after the attack, was the fact that people could relate with the emotions expressed by the speaker, W.H. Auden. Because anger, pain, grief, and fear have always been felt throughout history, people can always find themselves somewhat represented in poems. Especially the line “Those to whom evil is done, Do evil in return” could reflect the feelings of revenge that was deeply rooted into people’s minds after 9/11. I found this quote fitting perfectly the mentality of that time period, however as we discussed in class, people did not value this poem for its actual meaning. They only took sections of it, and they adapted them to what they were experiencing, without taking into account the real intentions of the speaker.
Another lyric poem that spoke to me was The Names by Billy Collins. This was actually written after the terrorist attack, therefore it was meant to reflect those feelings felt by the public. What interested me the most about this poem, was the fact that the speaker listed all the names that started with each letter of the alphabet. By doing so, Collins made me picture this poem as a memorial for all who have died during the attack, without being exposed as something heroic and great, but more personal and quite. The line that most stood out to me was “Let X stand, if it can, for all of the ones unfound”. What I got from it was his intention of including as many people as he could even those that are “unfound”, because no one is excluded by grief therefore also our society should not exclude somebody.
I find amazing how people are so eager in trying to find something or someone that they can relate with, and poems fulfill all of these requirements. Although many novels have been written about this traumatic event, individuals could not feel as related and touched by the story because there is only one interpretation of it. However, with poems, everyone can identify with it because the speaker would put on paper just feelings, confessional and personal messages that are written in a way which leaves a gap big enough to host many interpretations.
This being said, I still have a question about what is it that brings all of us together during a period of grief, anger and pain. I also find amazing how can poems have such a wide range of interpretations when describing the speaker’s feelings and thoughts about an event.
