My Father and the Figtree is a more simple and lighthearted poem compared to the others in Section 1 of the book. The poem has a specific subject a father and his obsession with fig trees. In the poem you can also identify a mother character along with the person telling the ‘story’. The dialogue is actually in quotations in the poem, which is formatted into four block paragraphs. I like this poem simply because it is a nice poem recalling happy memories, it actually made me laugh; “ ‘Plant one!” my mother said, but my father never did. He tended garden half-heartedly, forgot to water, let the okra get too big. ‘What a dreamer he is. Look how many things he starts and doesn’t finish.’” Both the first and second comments that the mother makes were the things that I laughed at. The second comment, about what a dreamer he is, was funny to me because it was so true, people can really be like that in real life.
Passing the Refugee Camp was written in a different, darker light than My Father and the Figtree. The paragraphs made of only two lines (with the exception of two paragraphs) make the words stand out more and make them more profound. “In suits the color of olive trees soldiers stand and stand.” (p. 30) The simple description of the soldiers was enough to create a strong image in my mind. This poem isn’t about any one person, but more about a feeling, something a group of people had to go through.
I too enjoyed the colors and the format of the second poem. One thing I did notice frequently in the poems is the use of colors to describe people and important images of the poem. I also wonder what the significance of olives, figs, and the dark olive green color is symbolic of? These too are seen in many of the poems in section 1.
ReplyDeleteDefinately yes to the detail of color in the poems, especially after reading the rest of the poems in section two. There is alot of mention of figs and fig trees, if not that then some mention of a fruiting tree.
DeleteAnalyzing the construction of the poems sheds a lot of light. I subconsciously noticed how the poems were visually constructed but for the most part it is something that I tended to look over when reading the selections in Nye.
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