Reading Myself
by Robert Lowell
[Note: Parnassus is a
mountain in Greece and, according to Greek myth, the seat of music and poetry.]
Like thousands, I took pride and more than just,
struck matches that brought my blood to a boil;
I memorized the tricks to set the river on fire—
Somehow never wrote something to go back to.
Can I suppose I am finished with wax flowers
And have earned my grass on the minor slopes of Parnassus. . .
No honeycomb is built without a bee
adding circle to circle, cell to cell,
the wax and honey of a mausoleum—
this round dome proves its maker is alive;
the corpse of the insect lives embalmed in honey,
prays that its perishable work lives long
enough for the sweet-tooth bear to desecrate—
this open book . . . my coffin.
I think that Lowell was trying to use the metaphor of bees to show that he wants to be remembered through his poetry. I see this from the line, "the corpse of the insect lives embalmed in honey, prays that its perishable work lives long". He understands that over time, literature eventually becomes forgotten, so he is just expressing his desire for his work to live on beyond him.
ReplyDeleteI thought the metaphor of the bee and the imagery that surrounded it were beautifully written and show a connection between life and death through art. Although the honeycomb was described first as "a mausoleum"--a place for death--it is also called "a round dome [that] proves its maker is alive." Although seemingly contradictory, the speaker took this metaphor further and clarified it in the two lines immediately following: "the corpse of the insect lives embalmed in honey, / prays that its perishable work lives long." Just as before when the honeycomb was described as a place for both life and death, here, the "corpse" of the bee "prays." The active, present tense of this verb seemS to indicate that the bee is alive, despite the fact that it was already called a "corpse." Instead of looking at this surprising personification of death as a contradiction, I think that it is the speaker's way of saying that the dead are not gone. Since the bee itself is dead, it can only be remembered and preserved by what it left behind: its honeycomb, or the "perishable work" that it prays will "live long." As long as the comb survives and is appreciated, the spirit of the bee is not truly gone from the face of the earth. Thus, it seems the speaker believes that we will never be truly gone if we create something of value to leave behind. Specifically, a form of art. The speaker drives this point home in the last line of the poem when he calls "this open book... my coffin." The book that he wrote will outlast him. The metaphor between the book and his coffin show that even after he dies, the book will contain his spirit, just as a coffin would contain his body. As long as the book survives, he will not be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteBy naming his poem "Reading Myself", I thought Robert Lowell gave his audience a direct clue to the fact that the poem is indeed about himself. By assuming the poem is about Lowell and his own works as an author one could infer that the metaphor about a bees work is a direct comparison to him and his works. Lowell writes, "the corpse of the insect live embalmed in honey" the insect he is speaking of is the bee and the work a bee spends its life building is it's honey, this idea of a bee being "embalmed" in it's life work is what Lowell is trying to compare his life's writing to, him being completely embalmed in it as well. Lowell goes on to write, "prays its perishable work lives long/ enough for the sweet tooth bear to desecrate--" Again this metaphor of a bee is describing how he feels about his own works. He calls the work "perishable" suggesting that it won't be around forever, but only wishes it "lives long enough" to be recognized by a bear. What honey is to a bear, Lowell hopes his writing will be to an audience, proving once again that this poem is a direct reflection of his life and the influence he hopes all his work will have on the world.
ReplyDeleteI think that all of us are saying similar things, that the speaker hopes to both inspire the future and be preserved through his writing. This was seen, in addition to the bee metaphor, in the line, "And have earned my grass on the minor slopes of Parnassus. . ." Since Parnassus is the seat of music and poetry, the speaker's attention seems to be drawn to an afterlife full of art. Whether this refers to his actual image of Heaven or simply a metaphorical location representing how he wants to be pictured after his death--as an artist--it shows that he hopes his writing will be enough to have earned him, figuratively, a place in this mythical place of poetry and that he will be remembered eternally amongst other great musicians, artists, and writers. Thus, this adds support to the bee metaphor that the speaker hopes his memory will be preserved and idealized by his writing, post-mortem.
ReplyDeleteI saw the purpose of the poem a little differently than what you guys are saying. As well as hoping that that his works live on to keep him alive in a sense, I thought that the speaker sees all the actions in his life to be almost a waste of time because they left no everlasting results. In the beginning of the poem he says, “Somehow never wrote something to go back on” which I interpreted as he was just going through the motions of life without considering what the future would hold for him. These actions he made that he cannot look back to were useless to him because they left no bearing and no direction for his future. By saying that he is “finished with the wax flowers” shows that he has spent his time attaining to things that are a waste for him to tend to. Caring for wax flowers has no result because they are not living and will reap no benefits for taking good care of them, so therefore are a waste to tend to. I also would like the consider the line that everyone has been analyzing most, “this round dome proves its maker is alive; the corpse of the insect lives embalmed in honey, prays that its perishable work lives long.” The line “this round dome proves its make is alive” shows what I believed to be a main idea; someone can only really live on when they have continuous work to represent them. The speaker even says that the work is “perishable” so it will not live on forever without someone or something keeping it renewed. I also saw the speaker trying ignore the fact that themselves, along with their work will not live on forever, and that they were trying to distort that reality in the part saying “ the corpse of the insect lives embalmed in honey, prays that its perishable work lives long.” I saw being “embalmed in honey” as a metaphor of the person distorting their perception of reality, because looking through honey would distort an image, because they know that everything that they have done in life was a waste, and they are trying to change that by praying that the work will live on.
ReplyDeleteThis also goes along with the idea of absurdism which we are looking at with Camus, because Robert Lowell’s message from the poem was that what is done in life is useless once we die, which is basically the main idea of absurdism: everything is a waste and there is no point to life that we can attain.
I agree with the general idea that everyone is saying the poem is indeed a self- reflection. Lowell uses metaphors to express the different ideas he brings up. One metaphor that stands out to me as we have focused on it in different contexts through out the semester is the fire. I agree with Amanda as she stated that through his metaphors he is comparing the outside world to his actual writing. He initially states that he " memorizes the tricks to set the river on fire". One can imply from this line that Lowell has gathered all the intelligence to create a good piece of work and eventually created amazing art. The metaphor of "setting the river on fire," suggests that this masterpiece he created is not only good, but possibly a very popular and widely known piece once can infer this because he uses a river which in itself is large. The other major metaphor he uses is the bee building the beehive. In essence, he is saying that a writer must have all the different aspects in order to create a piece of work. He stated "No honeycomb is built without a bee" which essentially is backing up this idea that you need all the aspects. He continues on with this metaphor by saying the bee " prays that its perishable work lives long". He is using the metaphor of his bee hoping that this hard work he has done will live on as a parallel to himself. As I previously stated the poem itself is about Lowell, so I think he is trying to say that he himself wants his work to live on and not die, just as the bee wishes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Emma said about art outliving people and how that is what is a true reflection of a person's life. But I also think he is making a commentary that the art he strives to make is similar to that of a beehive "No honeycomb is built without a bee/adding circle to circle, cell to cell." Lowell uses the metaphor of a beehive to show that art is meticulous and takes a long time to create. He looks back on his life and feels that it is wasted, but there is no way to make good art quickly. I think the wax flowers are a symbol of the things in life that are material and leave no lasting effect, only fleeting happiness. He is saying that he doesn't know if he is ready to give up these material things and try to earn his spot with artists who have made authentic contributions on the "slopes of Parnassus". Overall, I see his message as he has spent his life focusing on material things and now he wants to leave a contribution to be remembered by, but he is questioning if he has the time.
ReplyDeleteAlso with the poem having no particular rhyming structure, I think Lowell is trying to show that there is no direct or simple way to make art.
Another major theme Lowell makes clear in his poem is basically you can never take back what is already done or in his case written. Whereas I see what you're saying Ally, I I think the purpose of the line "Somehow never wrote something to go back to," is to show that you cannot go back on what you have said, done. or written. It is almost at if it is permanent and Lowell is showing that he is well aware of this. Throughout the poem he is used the bee metaphor and the fire to reflect on his own work as a writer as i previously stated, and I think that in his time as a writer he discovered that he can never take back what he has published. This ties in to the last line where he states "my coffin". He says that the bee hopes that his work lives long and then ends the poem with "my coffin". I took this as him saying that he is taking everything he has written or said to his grave. Basically he wants his legacy of writing to live on, just as the bee does, and even when he is going to his "coffin" he will not regret anything he has done!
ReplyDeleteI agree alot with the idea of Lowell wanting his work to live on after his death or post morrteum, which is something I didn't give much thought to the first time reading the poem. But because, like people mentioned in previous comments, Lowell writes, "And have earned my grass on the minor slopes of Parnassus" it gives the audience the idea that Parnassus is a final resting place for Lowell, somewhere he gets to go because he has written what he needed to in order to get to his final destination. Another idea that suggests Lowell is alluding to his works living on not just in general but more specifically after he dies is the fact that he ends the poem with the phrase, "...my coffin" Suggesting not only a tone of passing on but an actual symbol of death, in this case the coffin. This alludes to the fact that Lowell hops his works don't just get acknowledged while he is alive but continue to live on when he is dead.
ReplyDeleteI think the line you first brought up, Angela, about how the narrator "Somehow never wrote something to go back to" actually has the opposite meaning than what you wrote. I think it actually ties in with the ideas Emma and Amanda mentioned about the way the bee "prays that its perishable work lives long enough for the sweet-tooth bear." In this metaphor, all the bee's work is essentially completed with the hopes that one day it will be met by a bear - or Lowell's work has all been written in the hopes that someone else will appreciate it. In that mindset, nothing he wrote is for HIM to go back to - it is all for others to come across and read. So, he seems to be saying that the driving force behind the creation of art is its audience, and he wonders if that is enough for a person to be remembered, such as on the "minor slopes of Parnassus."
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree with most of what has been said so far, I believe Lowell was attempting to make a more general statement than what some of you are saying. Seeing as Parnassus is considered the mountain of all poetry and music I believe that he was referencing all artists and poets in this piece, not just himself. In the very beginning of the poem he also states "Like thousands", so again one can see that this poem is not only about his troubles but those of all artists. Lowell uses the bee metaphor to express his desire and the desire of every other poet and musician. The bee "prays that its perishable work lives long enough for the sweet-tooth bear to desecrate", just as an artist prays that his/her work will live long enough for future generations to see and hear. -Jackson J
ReplyDeleteSomething interesting that I noticed while reading this poem is Lowell comparing himself and his own personal goals to that of a bee. A bee whose sole existence is to build this magnificent "mausoleum." And as it turns out; its final resting place. "This round dome proves its maker is alive, the corpse of the insect lives embalmed in honey, prays that its perishable work live long". Just like the bee, Lowell hopes that his life will be memorable. That as mentioned before, will be met by a bear, by someone or something that truly appreciates his work. Yet we find that no matter what these insects do, their nest, their hard work and experience; are worthless. This entity that they are building will eventually become desecrated, destroyed, and eventually forgotten. Therefore leading to all actions of building this nest useless. However, perhaps that is what Lowell wants. He wants to be like the bees "embalmed in honey", somehow distorted from the truth that all actions are worthless, because he wants to live in the moment. The act of building this "mausoleum", this final resting place, is what "proves its maker is alive". For Lowell this poem is not an attempt to make sure that his work gets remembered when hes dead and forgotten, but its his way of living. just as the bees honeycomb is only temporal, so too is his life. No matter how many times he "set the river on fire" or "struck matches" he will realize that all those actions really served no purpose. Those actions have passed, the only reminisce left are memories that will be forgotten. The only notion of him really being alive is the promise of his own work, that like the bees, are actions that will go to waste.
ReplyDeleteI think that the speaker does earnestly hope that if he makes a lasting work of art, that he will be noticed for it, because it seems to me that he has a need for validation from the world. The line "This round dome proves its maker alive" to me reveals a thought by the speaker that he has to create something else to prove that he truly exists, or in the future to prove he ever existed. The speaker seems to have a earnestness (like that of a busy working bee) with which he goes about this creation, "[striking] macthes" and "memoriz[ing] tricks" all in an effort to create something to prove he exists. And who is he proving this to? Other people of course, and I think Karen was onto something when she said the speaker wonders if audience's recognition is enough for a person to be remembered. Yet I don't think he just wonders, he hopes, he prays that it is enough, that his audience (the world) will fulfill his need for confirmation, now and even after death. When talking about his work's survival after death, the speaker seems desperate yet hopeful. Emma said that the speaker hopes that his/her spirit will live on eternally to be remembered with the great musicians, artists, and writers. However, the speaker seems dubious that his work will last that long, he seems desperate, hoping that it will survive even just a little while after his death, s/he "prays" that his/her "perishable work" will live just "long enough", not expecting more that that. But still, I bet, surely hoping that, by a stroke of luck, or the strike of one of his matches that had brought the blood to a boil,that his work will be forver preserved, "embalmed".
ReplyDelete-Brianna Ma.
I understand and see where most of you are coming from, in fact i must credit some of you for venturing far deeper than i can even hope to see. Although i saw this in a different sense. From the lines "I took pride and more than just,struck matches that brought my blood to a boil" i feel as though Lowell is a conqueror or rather warrior in a way. -this is just my interpretation- From "took pride and more than just" i felt as though his was a man who was too arrogant and self confident, and from "struck matches that brought my blood to a boil" he is talking about the fights he has caused. Then to blend into what everyone is saying, those fights and quarrels were purposefully made because he wanted to be remembered through history, just that what actually happened was that those quarrels and fights were not noteworthy to be recorded and that is what i interpreted from "somehow never wrote something to go back to" and the remaining lines of the poem.
ReplyDeleteBrianna, I agree with what you are saying and see it as a commentary on conformity because in the beginning of the poem it seems like Lowell is trying very hard to be "like thousands" but then he realizes that this does not make him a memorable person and he will not make his mark by trying to fit in so he realizes "somehow [he] never wrote something to go back to" as if nothing he has done has defined him or showed him that his life has been worthwhile. Then he realizes that in order to earn his spot with the other great artists he must do something great where I mentioned earlier the bee who creates its ornate hive spends a long time on it and now he is worried that his time has been wasted.
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