An Explication of Jorge Luis Borges's "Shinto" by Sunshine Belio
Shinto by Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)
When sorrow lays us low for a second we are saved
by humble windfalls of the mindfulness or memory:
the taste of a fruit, the taste of water,
that face given back to us by a dream,
the first jasmine of November,
the endless yearning of the compass,
a book we thought was lost,
the throb of a hexameter,
the slight key that opens a house to us,
the smell of a library, or of sandalwood,
the former name of a street,
the colors of a map,
an unforeseen etymology,
the smoothness of a filed fingernail,
the date we were looking for,
the twelve dark bell-strokes, tolling as we count,
a sudden physical pain.
Eight million Shinto deities
travel secretly throughout the earth.
Those modest gods touch us--
touch us and move on.
I have chosen to explicate the poem Shinto by Argentine poet, Jorge Luis Borges. Jorge Luis Borges writes poem Shinto to express and share his passion of delighted encounters. Shinto is a poem about the precious triumphs given to people of Earth by the Shinto gods. When we grow with sorrow, the Shinto’s good grace warms us with blissful sentiments. The poet goes on to explain the different forms of sentiments that we receive every day.
This poem is designed as a dejection-to-elate. The poem opens with a distraught feeling and then is late overcome by harmonious remnants. In the twelfth line of Shinto, “The smell of a library, or of
sandalwood,”< http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/jorge-luis-borges/shinto/>sets the language of imagery in the poem. Shinto gives the audience several different images and senses throughout the poem. Reading through the lines, one can visualize all the great sensations we as humans experience on a day to day basis.
The poet seems to embellish on satisfying the human pleasures and desires. “The taste of fruit,
the taste of water”, < http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/jorge-luis-borges/shinto/> refers to the want and needs that we crave. These rhythms of images help keep the audience’s attention on the cheerful memories. The syntax in line nine “A book we thought we lost”< http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/jorge-luis-borges/shinto/ doesn’t refer to truly finding a book but rather the feeling you got from finding it, the thrill. I think this poem relates to the Argentine culture because many of the Argentine people are familiar with heartache and sorrow and I believe this poem speaks of their sorrows. At the end of the poem, the poet leaves his audience with the final belief that no one can see the deities travel through Earth. The poem concludes:
Eight million Shinto deities travel secretly throughout the earth. Those modest gods touch us—touch us and move on. <http://www.poemhunter.com/bestpoems/jorge-luis-borges/shinto/>.
Works Cited
Borges, Jorge. "PoemHunter.com." . N.p.. Web. 9 Feb
2013.http://www.poemhunter.com/bestpoems/jorge-luis-borges/shinto/.
. "FlashFlashRevolution.com." . Zythus, 29 04 2008. Web. 10 Feb
2013.http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/vbz/showthread.php?t=90225.
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by humble windfalls of the mindfulness or memory:
the taste of a fruit, the taste of water,
that face given back to us by a dream,
the first jasmine of November,
the endless yearning of the compass,
a book we thought was lost,
the throb of a hexameter,
the slight key that opens a house to us,
the smell of a library, or of sandalwood,
the former name of a street,
the colors of a map,
an unforeseen etymology,
the smoothness of a filed fingernail,
the date we were looking for,
the twelve dark bell-strokes, tolling as we count,
a sudden physical pain.
Eight million Shinto deities
travel secretly throughout the earth.
Those modest gods touch us--
touch us and move on.
I have chosen to explicate the poem Shinto by Argentine poet, Jorge Luis Borges. Jorge Luis Borges writes poem Shinto to express and share his passion of delighted encounters. Shinto is a poem about the precious triumphs given to people of Earth by the Shinto gods. When we grow with sorrow, the Shinto’s good grace warms us with blissful sentiments. The poet goes on to explain the different forms of sentiments that we receive every day.
This poem is designed as a dejection-to-elate. The poem opens with a distraught feeling and then is late overcome by harmonious remnants. In the twelfth line of Shinto, “The smell of a library, or of
sandalwood,”< http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/jorge-luis-borges/shinto/>sets the language of imagery in the poem. Shinto gives the audience several different images and senses throughout the poem. Reading through the lines, one can visualize all the great sensations we as humans experience on a day to day basis.
The poet seems to embellish on satisfying the human pleasures and desires. “The taste of fruit,
the taste of water”, < http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/jorge-luis-borges/shinto/> refers to the want and needs that we crave. These rhythms of images help keep the audience’s attention on the cheerful memories. The syntax in line nine “A book we thought we lost”< http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/jorge-luis-borges/shinto/ doesn’t refer to truly finding a book but rather the feeling you got from finding it, the thrill. I think this poem relates to the Argentine culture because many of the Argentine people are familiar with heartache and sorrow and I believe this poem speaks of their sorrows. At the end of the poem, the poet leaves his audience with the final belief that no one can see the deities travel through Earth. The poem concludes:
Eight million Shinto deities travel secretly throughout the earth. Those modest gods touch us—touch us and move on. <http://www.poemhunter.com/bestpoems/jorge-luis-borges/shinto/>.
Works Cited
Borges, Jorge. "PoemHunter.com." . N.p.. Web. 9 Feb
2013.http://www.poemhunter.com/bestpoems/jorge-luis-borges/shinto/.
. "FlashFlashRevolution.com." . Zythus, 29 04 2008. Web. 10 Feb
2013.http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/vbz/showthread.php?t=90225.
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An Explication of Dina Grutzendeler's "Cruzade" by Ivan Felix
Cruzade by Dina Grutzendeler (1948-)
The crusader brandished his stiff sword sharpened
didn´t want but beheaded idolsto liberate his inner temple
swift and passionate was his riding saturated
didn´t want but unpaved the temples
to remember the first stone and had peace
on the way he clashed spades bled
sparked spades was blinded by light
floated in the void and saw colors earthly shades
and then kinetic spatial explosion of unknown prisms
crossing cross crusaders irreligious and revering
For this assignment I have chosen the poem “Crusade” by Dina Grutzendler, a Colombian poet. The poem itself is difficult to follow but I liked the challenge. I had to read it over several times to comprehend it better. There’s something about this poem that lures me in… it’s quite enticing.
The poem depicts a crusader who is in battle and the occurrences’ that take place. He is on his way to a location which is not named and along the way he has a battle. The poem goes on to say, “And the kinetic spatial explosion, of unknown prisms,” <http://www.voicesnet.org/poetrydisplay.aspx?poemid=162418 this leads me to believe that he got severely injured or perhaps put into a comma. One thing that confuses me about this poem is the viewpoint of which it’s told. I can’t figure out whether it’s told from the crusaders point of view or the person he’s attacking point of view (it can be perceived as either one). There really isn’t any cultural connection between the author of the poem and my assigned immigrant other than the fact they’re both from Colombia…unless there was a crusade in Colombia that I’m unaware of. Maybe there’s a little connection there if you look at it from a problematic vantage. Both my immigrant and the crusader have adversities they need to overcome, but at least I know what happens to the immigrant whereas the poem leaves me to my questions.
When it comes to the structure of this poem one can say it’s pretty awkward. The flow of it is unnatural and far from organic. For instance when the author writes the lines, “Saturated", didn´t want, but unpaved the temples,” <http://www.voicesnet.org/poetrydisplay.aspx?poemid=162418> it just doesn’t seem natural but almost forced. The
events in the poem are formed in a chronological order. Some of the lines contain words that are very similar to each other so it forms tongue twisters. Another thing that troubled me was that several of the lines felt incomplete. I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but whatever it was it confused me. I found this difficult to read as I mentioned earlier I had to reread it several times to grasp it better. The true concept behind it is very elusive and in a sense taunting. Perhaps I’m over thinking this and it’s all very simplistic, odds are I’m not though. With all that said I still like the poem,
it’s very intriguing.
The rhetoric was lacking in one way but in another it was present. I say that because the poem was impressive due to the fact that it resonated with me, but at the same time it wasn’t persuasive. The syntax is a completely different story though. The arrangement of the words felt out of order as if they were not cohesive. This bothered me quite a bit because I prefer when my readings are united in unison. I did however enjoy the vocabulary, mainly because I had to look some words up. “Revering” and “brandished” were the two words formerly unbeknownst to me. I learned some new words after reading this and I like anything that expands my knowledge.
Even though I have mixed emotions about this reading I still enjoyed it and the entertainment it brought me. I had to decipher some things here and there, but that’s what made it fun. If it was too easy I would have just shrugged it off, but that’s not my cup of tea. When it comes down to it Dina Grutzendler is an admirable writer with poetic aptitude.
Works Cited
http://www.poetrysoup.com/poems_poets/poems_by_poet.aspx?ID=19561
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didn´t want but beheaded idolsto liberate his inner temple
swift and passionate was his riding saturated
didn´t want but unpaved the temples
to remember the first stone and had peace
on the way he clashed spades bled
sparked spades was blinded by light
floated in the void and saw colors earthly shades
and then kinetic spatial explosion of unknown prisms
crossing cross crusaders irreligious and revering
For this assignment I have chosen the poem “Crusade” by Dina Grutzendler, a Colombian poet. The poem itself is difficult to follow but I liked the challenge. I had to read it over several times to comprehend it better. There’s something about this poem that lures me in… it’s quite enticing.
The poem depicts a crusader who is in battle and the occurrences’ that take place. He is on his way to a location which is not named and along the way he has a battle. The poem goes on to say, “And the kinetic spatial explosion, of unknown prisms,” <http://www.voicesnet.org/poetrydisplay.aspx?poemid=162418 this leads me to believe that he got severely injured or perhaps put into a comma. One thing that confuses me about this poem is the viewpoint of which it’s told. I can’t figure out whether it’s told from the crusaders point of view or the person he’s attacking point of view (it can be perceived as either one). There really isn’t any cultural connection between the author of the poem and my assigned immigrant other than the fact they’re both from Colombia…unless there was a crusade in Colombia that I’m unaware of. Maybe there’s a little connection there if you look at it from a problematic vantage. Both my immigrant and the crusader have adversities they need to overcome, but at least I know what happens to the immigrant whereas the poem leaves me to my questions.
When it comes to the structure of this poem one can say it’s pretty awkward. The flow of it is unnatural and far from organic. For instance when the author writes the lines, “Saturated", didn´t want, but unpaved the temples,” <http://www.voicesnet.org/poetrydisplay.aspx?poemid=162418> it just doesn’t seem natural but almost forced. The
events in the poem are formed in a chronological order. Some of the lines contain words that are very similar to each other so it forms tongue twisters. Another thing that troubled me was that several of the lines felt incomplete. I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but whatever it was it confused me. I found this difficult to read as I mentioned earlier I had to reread it several times to grasp it better. The true concept behind it is very elusive and in a sense taunting. Perhaps I’m over thinking this and it’s all very simplistic, odds are I’m not though. With all that said I still like the poem,
it’s very intriguing.
The rhetoric was lacking in one way but in another it was present. I say that because the poem was impressive due to the fact that it resonated with me, but at the same time it wasn’t persuasive. The syntax is a completely different story though. The arrangement of the words felt out of order as if they were not cohesive. This bothered me quite a bit because I prefer when my readings are united in unison. I did however enjoy the vocabulary, mainly because I had to look some words up. “Revering” and “brandished” were the two words formerly unbeknownst to me. I learned some new words after reading this and I like anything that expands my knowledge.
Even though I have mixed emotions about this reading I still enjoyed it and the entertainment it brought me. I had to decipher some things here and there, but that’s what made it fun. If it was too easy I would have just shrugged it off, but that’s not my cup of tea. When it comes down to it Dina Grutzendler is an admirable writer with poetic aptitude.
Works Cited
http://www.poetrysoup.com/poems_poets/poems_by_poet.aspx?ID=19561
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