The Legend's Unfamiliarity
My goal for this poetry assignment about the unfamiliar was to find something religious for me to look at, and I began looking up said poetry. However, I came across this incredible poem I have to share that does qualify as something unfamiliar to me. Not only have I not read this poem before, but it has both Chinese Mythical elements and a situation that I am unfamiliar with.
The Legend by Garrett Hongo is a poem that takes you by surprise, and I really recommend you read it before continuing onward reading this blog post.
Okay, now that I assume you have read it- it is not very long- let's dive into the interesting aspects of this poem. Right off the bat, there is a sense of connection to the man with the laundry, lines like: "and, for a moment, enjoys ; the feel of warm laundry and crinkled paper," You feel for the man in the poem, and the usage of words like, "twilight of early evening" and "Rembrandt glow on his face" paint a beautiful scene. I felt a sense of warmth reading these lines.
Then, the poem describes as a boy runs by, and out of no where shoots the man. It all seems so sudden, as the switch from flowery pretty language describing the man and the scenery changes to: "as a boy—that’s all he was—; backs from the corner package store; shooting a pistol, firing it ; once, ; at the dumbfounded man; who falls forward; grabbing at his chest." Hongo was inspired to write this poem because he had read a news story about this man, and, as he describes in the poem, "I am ashamed." of his mundane reaction to the story. How he felt so unnerved by it and disconnected.
I have never been shot, and I have never witnessed a shooting- it is unfamiliar to me. As it is unfamiliar to me to read about them in the news all the time (Urbana is not a big city and has less crime than New York), this truly gave me a new kind of empathy and understanding/perspective of shootings like this, and I think this is entirely intentional by Hongo. The poem even seems to slightly criticize the mundane apathetic response of the public with lines like: "as people surround him; bewildered at his speech; The noises he makes are nothing to them. "
Then, at the end, even more unfamiliarity is unearthed when he talks about the Weaver Girl. A Chinese folktale I had to actually look up to figure out its meaning. The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is a story about two people whos love was banned, so they held hands over the river in heaven. I find it very heartwarming that Hongo thinks that the man who was killed will have a happy ending like this, even though it was a horrible thing to pass away the way he did.
The Legend by Garrett Hongo is a poem that takes you by surprise, and I really recommend you read it before continuing onward reading this blog post.
Okay, now that I assume you have read it- it is not very long- let's dive into the interesting aspects of this poem. Right off the bat, there is a sense of connection to the man with the laundry, lines like: "and, for a moment, enjoys ; the feel of warm laundry and crinkled paper," You feel for the man in the poem, and the usage of words like, "twilight of early evening" and "Rembrandt glow on his face" paint a beautiful scene. I felt a sense of warmth reading these lines.
Then, the poem describes as a boy runs by, and out of no where shoots the man. It all seems so sudden, as the switch from flowery pretty language describing the man and the scenery changes to: "as a boy—that’s all he was—; backs from the corner package store; shooting a pistol, firing it ; once, ; at the dumbfounded man; who falls forward; grabbing at his chest." Hongo was inspired to write this poem because he had read a news story about this man, and, as he describes in the poem, "I am ashamed." of his mundane reaction to the story. How he felt so unnerved by it and disconnected.
I have never been shot, and I have never witnessed a shooting- it is unfamiliar to me. As it is unfamiliar to me to read about them in the news all the time (Urbana is not a big city and has less crime than New York), this truly gave me a new kind of empathy and understanding/perspective of shootings like this, and I think this is entirely intentional by Hongo. The poem even seems to slightly criticize the mundane apathetic response of the public with lines like: "as people surround him; bewildered at his speech; The noises he makes are nothing to them. "
Then, at the end, even more unfamiliarity is unearthed when he talks about the Weaver Girl. A Chinese folktale I had to actually look up to figure out its meaning. The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is a story about two people whos love was banned, so they held hands over the river in heaven. I find it very heartwarming that Hongo thinks that the man who was killed will have a happy ending like this, even though it was a horrible thing to pass away the way he did.
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