Rory McGirk Biography Born October 20 1940 in Long BranchNew Jersey Father was an optician but grew up with his uncles who worked in industry Received a BA from Rutgers University Later a PhD and MA from Stanford University ID: 285467
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Slide1
Robert Pinsky
Rory McGirkSlide2
Biography
Born October 20, 1940 in Long Branch,New Jersey
Father was an optician, but grew up with his uncles who worked in industry
Received a BA from Rutgers University
Later a PhD and M.A. from Stanford University
Professional saxophonist before beginning poetry
U.S. Poet Laureate 1997-2000
Translated
Dante’s Inferno
into English
Taught at Wellesley and Berkeley, and currently at Boston University
Chief Editor of Poetry at Slate magazineSlide3
Poems
At Pleasure Bay
The Night Game
Shirt
To Television
Ode To Meaning
Poem with RefrainsThe RefineryGinza SambaDoctor FrolicJersey Rain
Glory
Poem About People
Samurai Song
The Green Piano
The Hearts
Everywhere I Go, There I Am
Street Music
Paschal
Vessel
Essay on PsychiatristsSlide4
Thesis
Robert Pinsky’s poetry is influenced by his childhood in the city, extensive amount of education, and work outside of his own writing.Slide5
To Television
Not a "window on the world"
But as we call you,
A box a tube
Terrarium of dreams and wonders.
Coffer of shades, ordained
Cotillion of phosphorsOr liquid crystalHomey miracle, tubOf acquiescence, vein of defiance.Your patron in the pantheon would be HermesRaster dance,Quick one, little thief, escortOf the dying and comfort of the sick,In a blue glow my father and little sister sat
Snuggled in one chair watching you
Their wife and mother was sick in the head
I scorned you and them as I scorned so much
Now I like you best in a hotel room,
Maybe minutes
Before I have to face an audience: behindThe doors of the armoire, boxWithin a box--Tom & Jerry, or also brilliantAnd reassuring, Oprah Winfrey.
Thank you, for I watched, I watchedSid Caesar speaking French and Japanese notThrough knowledge but imagination,His quickness, and Thank You, I watched liveJackie Robinson stealingHome, the image--O strung shell--enduringFleeter than light like these words weRemember in, they too wingedAt the helmet and ankles. Slide6
Analysis
Title:
Looking at the title of this poem it is likely an ode, specifically an ode to the television and what it has done for the world.
Paraphrase:
This poem is literally about the T.V. and what it’s done for the world. The speaker gives many examples of what they personally watched, such as “Sid Caesar speaking French and Japanese not Through knowledge but imagination,”(25-26) or “Within a box--Tom & Jerry, or also brilliant And reassuring, Oprah Winfrey.”(20-21).
Speaker:
The speaker in this poem is just a person who likes to watch, and respects T.V. It is however likely the author speaking as he talks of his family and his home.Figurative Language:
All uses of figurative language in this poem are just different ways to describe television like”Terrarium of dreams and wonders.”(4) and "window on the world"(1). The speaker uses these metaphors to show what a miracle and part of our life the television is. The former especially show a strong sense of admiration the speaker has for it.
Attitude:
The speaker has an obvious feeling of reverence for television. He speaks of it as a friend and just as a part of his life. He wouldn’t go as far to say love, however he treats it as family.
Shifts:
The only obvious shift is the speaker going from describing the television in various ways, to just the speaker listing things he/she watched on it throughout their life. Most of this poem is a list, it just changes topic.
Title:
The title of this poem was fairly self-explanatory. The speaker was giving a very heartfelt ode to something he admires and treats as a close friend.
Theme:
“To Television” is a heartfelt love letter to the television and what it has done for the rest of the world. Slide7
Shirt
The back, the yoke, the yardage. Lapped seams,
The nearly invisible stitches along the collar
Turned in a sweatshop by Koreans or Malaysians
Gossiping over tea and noodles on their break
Or talking money or politics while one fitted
This armpiece with its overseam to the bandOf cuff I button at my wrist. The presser, the cutter,The wringer, the mangle. The needle, the union,The treadle, the bobbin. The code. The infamous blazeAt the Triangle Factory in nineteen-eleven.One hundred and forty-six died in the flamesOn the ninth floor, no hydrants, no fire escapes--
The witness in a building across the street
Who watched how a young man helped a girl to step
Up to the windowsill, then held her out
Away from the masonry wall and let her drop.
And then another. As if he were helping them up
To enter a streetcar, and not eternity.A third before he dropped her put her arms
Around his neck and kissed him. Then he heldHer into space, and dropped her. Almost at onceHe stepped up to the sill himself, his jacket flaredAnd fluttered up from his shirt as he came down,Air filling up the legs of his gray trousers--Corners of both pockets, like a strict rhymeOr a major chord. Prints, plaids, checks,
Houndstooth, Tattersall, Madras. The clan tartans
Invented by mill-owners inspired by the hoax of Ossian,
To control their savage Scottish workers, tamed
By a fabricated heraldry: MacGregor,
Bailey, MacMartin. The kilt, devised for workers
to wear among the dusty clattering looms.
Weavers, carders, spinners. The loader,The docker, the navvy. The planter, the picker, the sorterSweating at her machine in a litter of cottonAs slaves in calico headrags sweated in fields:
George Herbert, your descendant is a Black
Lady in South Carolina, her name is Irma
And she inspected my shirt. Its color and fit
And feel and its clean smell have satisfied
both her and me. We have culled its cost and quality
Down to the buttons of simulated bone,
The buttonholes, the sizing, the facing, the characters
Printed in black on neckband and tail. The shape,
The label, the labor, the color, the shade. The shirt. Slide8
Analysis
Title:
The title of this poem seems very self-explanatory, it is about a shirt, maybe even multiple shirts.
Paraphrase:
Since the poem is about shirts and how they are made, a great deal of it is literal. Some of the literal phrases though instead of describing shirts paints a dark picture on how they are made like,“Turned in a sweatshop by Koreans or Malaysians”(3), and “As slaves in calico headrags sweated in fields:”(44)
Speaker:
The speaker in this poem is anyone who wears a shirt. This person however is likely a man because of the line “Of cuff I button at my wrist”(7). This does not change the poem as that is the only time gender is mentioned at all.Figurative Language:
This poem does not have much figurative language, as instead of describing events it retells them. However the events it describes could be loose allusions to events in history such as slavery of blacks and the scottish.
Attitude:
The speaker in this poem has no obvious agenda. The events he describes, as horrible as they were and still are weren’t told with any sort of conviction. Although just by talking about these things that people like to forget about it seems he wants to remind people where things come from.
Shifts:
Most shifts in this poem come from changing time and place. He moves from sweatshops in asia today, to factories in 1600’s England, to slaves in antebellum America. Though the first and last stanza move to describing shirts in general.
Title:
The title was very literal, but instead of just being about shirts it is about where they come from as well.Theme:
“Shirt” on a broad stroke is about where the things in your life come from. No matter where or when you live, there is a chance people suffered for you to own it.Slide9
Samurai Song
When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.
When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.When I had no father I madeCare my father. When I hadNo mother I embraced order.When I had no friend I madeQuiet my friend. When I had noEnemy I opposed my body.When I had no temple I madeMy voice my temple. I haveNo priest, my tongue is my choir.
When I have no means fortune
Is my means. When I have
Nothing, death will be my fortune.
Need is my tactic, detachment
Is my strategy. When I had
No lover I courted my sleep. Slide10
Analysis
Title:
The title of this poem is likely very self-explanatory, about a samurai. Knowing very little about samurai in general, this poem will be somewhat of a struggle.
Paraphrase:
Almost every other line in this poem is literal. Every single instance of them is about being lonely such as “When I had no father”(7) “When I had no friend”(10) “When I had no temple”(13)
Speaker: The speaker throughout the entirety of this poem is a samurai, as the title might suggest.
Figurative Language:
All figurative language in this poem is again about loneliness, for example ”Need is my tactic, detachment Is my strategy”, “I made Quiet my friend”, and “I have No priest, my tongue is my choir.”.The first quote is by far the strongest at showing isolation and loneliness. The last example best shows the samurai’s self-reliance.
Attitude:
It is obvious that the samurai in this poem has been doing what he does for a long time, and because of which, he treats it as a way of life. He obviously is very familiar with loneliness and knows how to deal with it. He doesn’t like it, he doesn’t hate it, it’s just part of life to him.
Shifts:
There is only one change in structure in this entire poem, and it is at the beginning of the very last stanza and is just finishing a thought. Everything else in the poem follows a very similar pattern.
Title: Again the title of this poem is very straight forward and literal. “Samurai Song” is about a samurai, and given the nature of samurai, is very lonely.
Theme:
“Samurai Song” is a poem about the isolation, loneliness, and solitude samurai must face. However it also shows the self-reliance the samurai must have to survive.Slide11
Warrior Song
When I had no family I made
My nation my family. When I had
No nation my courage whimpered.
When I had no spirit I adapted.
When I had no thoughts I waited.
When I had no time I fought.When I had no purpose I made Honor my purpose. When I hadNo allegiance I had nothing.When I had no choice I madeOrders my choice. When I hadNo will, I had no battle.
When I had no battle I made
Survival my battle. I have
No fear, enduring is my design.
When I have no ambition glory
Is my ambition.When I have my
Pride, death will be my glory.
Strength is my skill, compassionIs my creed. When I hadNo fight I made my own.Slide12
Bibliography
“Robert Pinsky”
The Poetry Foundation
: 2010. Web
“The Art of Poetry” Interview with Robert Pinsky.
Paris Review
:Downing, Ben, Fall (1997). Print”The Pursuit of Form” Singing School: Learning How to Write (and Read) Poetry by Studying with the Masters: Pinsky, Robert, 2013. Print
“Robert Pinsky Poems”
Poemhunter
: 2015. Web
”Interview with Robert Pinsky”
Bomb Magazine.
Sleigh, Tom, 1999. Print