Poetry Response #7

The Coming of Wisdom with Time
William Butler Yeats
(1865 – 1939)

Though leaves are many, the root is one;
Through all the lying days of my youth
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun;
Now I may wither into the truth.


“The Coming of Wisdom with Time” by William Butler Yeats is about a person gaining knowledge as time progresses. The poem itself is like the cycle of life; it begins talking about life and ending it in death. It also has an array of emotions from happiness, to sadness, and grief.

In the first line of the poem Yeats states, “Through leaves are many, the root is one”. A tree is a metaphor for life; it has the ability to live for hundreds of years, surviving on its roots for water and nutrients. As time passes, a tree grows leaves that fall off the limbs in the fall and ultimately wither away in the winter.

The second and third lines of the poem, “Through all the lying days of my youth/ I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun,” relate to a person’s youth. Children do not give much of a care in the world and do as they please; they are set on having fun and don’t figure out (well the majority of children don’t figure out) what death is until they grow older. When Yeats says, “Lying days of my youth” it illustrates knowledge. We know now what we believed in when we were younger was fabricated and realize we were basically lying to ourselves/being lied to.

I enjoyed reading this poem because it was simple and very true. As the years go on a person gets older, their knowledge grows with them. They aren’t seeing the pretend world they saw when they were younger; they are seeing the world for what is really is and that can wither away a person.

Poetry Response #6

For the Sleepwalkers

Edward Hirsch
(b. 1950)

Tonight I want to say something wonderful
for the sleepwalkers who have so much faith
in their legs, so much faith in the invisible

arrow carved into the carpet, the worn path
that leads to the stairs instead of the window,
the gaping doorway instead of the seamless mirror.

I love the way that sleepwalkers are willing
to step out of their bodies into the night,
to raise their arms and welcome the darkness,

palming the blank spaces, touching everything.
Always they return home safely, like blind men
who know it is morning by feeling shadows.

And always they wake up as themselves again.
That’s why I want to say something astonishing
like: Our hearts are leaving our bodies.

Our hearts are thirsty black handkerchiefs
flying through the trees at night, soaking up
the darkest beams of moonlight, the music

of owls, the motion of wind-torn branches.
And now our hearts are thick black fists
flying back to the glove of our chests.

We have to learn to trust our hearts like that.
We have to learn the desperate faith of sleep-
walkers who rise out of their calm beds

and walk through the skin of another life.
We have to drink the stupefying cup of darkness
and wake up to ourselves, nourished and surprised.


“For the Sleepwalkers” by Edward Hirsh is a poem about when people are sleepwalking, their hearts are leaving their bodies to go on some adventure. It describes how amazing it is your heart and body can leave your mind in it’s unconscious state, and always come back.

This poem grabbed my attention immediately as I felt I could relate to the Hirsh’s first line in the stanza. He wants to say something astonishing and wonderful for the sleepwalkers about the invisible faith they have in their legs is. I myself have wanted to say something “profound” and have not been able to grasp the right words. Hirsh does a great job writing the poem.

A reason I also liked this poem was how it utilized the use of imagery. It was used to describe how the sleepwalkers are walking around, and how they are not entirely certain where they are going to end up. In the first stanza Hirsh states, “…For the sleepwalkers who have…/so much faith in the invisible/arrow carved into the carpet…” (Lines 4 and 5). He does this to show that even though they are not awake, the sleepwalker still seems to trust where their bodies take them. Hirsh also uses sensory images in a variety of stanzas to create a vivid picture of the night and what it sounds and feels like for the reader.

“For the Sleepwalkers” by Edward Hirsh has a theme of the body and heart leaving the mind on its own. It’s an engaging theme, one that I don’t seem to find too often. It causes the reader to keep on reading until the end when they find out what really happens, when the sleepwalker returns back to bed. All together, the sensory images, the theme, the diction, and word play are utilized in a great way to ‘walk the reader’ through what’s going on in the poem; I really liked it because of that.

The Awakening, Ch. 35-39

Oh Edna. You exhaust me.

Seriously reading this book was exasperating. I wanted to shake Edna most of the time and get her to 1) wake up and 2) stop being so confused and make a damn decision! While I’ll admit I did enjoy this book most of the time, however her views on what she thinks is freedom, her children, marriage, the three men she became involved with, and the sea just became too much. It was a nebulous book of her whole life.

To talk about the last couple chapters, Edna basically drowns herself in the ocean and that is that. There are many instances of the sea and the word “awakened” is heavily repeated. Edna is so selfish and does whatever she wants, when she wants to. I mean, she is completely not admirable. She see’s her children when she wants, she throws a party when she wants, and hell, she even dies when she wants. Edna really just needed to get help because she has no structure to fall on other than the Creole society that was imposed upon her. She became the opposite of what she was supposed to be and broke all the rules.

This entire book was about feminism and not conforming to what society wants you to be. Edna did not represent feminism very well as she got gratification from breaking the rules. It’s not that she did anything better after she moved out: she hooked up with other men and became very ignorant to herself. When she doesn’t get the reactions she wants, Edna can’t take it and thus, dies of her own fault. And that was The Awakening.

The Awakening, Ch. 30-34

The next chapters of The Awakening, Edna hosts a farewell party before she moves into the “pigeon house”. Edna wears an elaborate yellow dress and a diamond tiara, given by her husband for her birthday. Leonce showers Edna in gifts and pays for the party, however he does not come. Without her materialist husband around, Edna’s mind wonders and she gets bored. Her emotions get stirred soon in when Victor, a young adult, starts singing Edna’s and Robert’s song. She gets very upset and the party ends.

Edna closes out the large house and moves into the smaller, “pigeon house”. This scene holds significance as it leads to an actual affair at the new home. Edna holds a sense of hopelessness and feels it’s something outside of her. She doesn’t really know what to do with her and the three men she is messing around with. Edna continues to be a very unstable character, and I have a strong feeling Edna won’t make it through the rest of the novel.

The Awakening, Ch. 25-29

In the next few chapters, Edna has an affair. And the affair, while wrong, it represents the extent of Edna being trapped in a life she doesn’t want. We can pull from the last few sections, when Edna became awakened by the feelings she gets from Robert. Now, Edna isn’t able to figure out what exactly she wants and is in a plateau, confused state of mind.

Edna just wants to have this “freedom” to be independent and do the things she wants, like painting, but she doesn’t know how to have freedom without having everything she wants. She does have all the jewelry and luxuries she could ever want, but she doesn’t able the freedom of her own mind. Edna isn’t able to live with just physical freedoms.

One example of Edna not knowing how to balance her life is when she learns Robert is coming back home she still kisses the other guy. Her actions do not align with what she wants. Edna wants to move to her own little house and be independent, yet before she leaves she goes and has a dinner party, and furthermore bills the cost to her husband. Also when she has thoughts of moving, she wants to take the maids with her. She is back and forth, and cannot make up her mind.

I mean really, Edna has no idea what she wants; all she knows is that she doesn’t want what she currently has. It causes her to be in a very confused state of mind in these sections. She wants to be rich and well respected, while doing what she wants. And she wants her kids to adore her, while she doesn’t pay attention to them.

Edna is doing all right now, but we can foreshadow it won’t last long.

The Awakening, Ch. 20-24

In the next couple chapters of The Awakening, Edna becomes obsessed with Robert and her husband, Leonce, expresses his concern about Edna to their family doctor, Dr. Mandelet. Edna is continuing to mope around the house and has lots of mood swings. Leonce confides they are not sleeping together anymore to Dr. Mandelet.

It’s kind of bizarre actually, because Leonce says one of her symptoms is an interest in internal rights of women. They then have a good laugh about it; they don’t take it seriously. The doctor is very interesting character. He does grasp what’s wrong with Edna, but at the same time he doesn’t take it very seriously. He even goes as far to ask if there is a history of insanity.

Another thing that occurs is Edna’s father, a former colonel, comes to visit in New Orleans. He comes to shop for a wedding dress and ring for Edna’s sister, Janet. The relationship between Edna and her father have is a bit distant, however they are companionable and enjoy each other’s company. In the beginning of The Awakening, Edna was very excited about the wedding and now, she does not want to attend it at all. She doesn’t want to go because she feels marriage is a ridiculous thing, and tells Leonce their marriage is failing apart.

What do you even say to that? Edna is changing, awakening, and quite possibly is going crazy.

The Awakening, Ch. 15-19

In this section of The Awakening, Edna is starting to go through the process of change more and more. Robert leaves for Mexico and doesn’t care to tell Edna. This upsets her, particularly when he wrote to his mother and not her.

Back at their home in New Orleans Edna doesn’t do very much, she just draws and paints and sings all day long. She isn’t doing her duties as a wife and is trying to show her husband he doesn’t control her. His opinion of this is he feels she isn’t acting like her self, but what she is really doing is discovering her real self. Edna is tired of her life and is trying to make a new one. Edna is at her breaking point.

I don’t see this as Edna being crazy, she is just trying to get away from life. Edna doesn’t really know where she is going or a plan; she is just aware that is tired of what she has. Edna is still in the process of awakening compared to where she was before.

Also in this section, Edna discuses the relationship she holds with her children. She talks to Adele about never scarifying herself for her children. Edna states she would give up the “unessential’s” for her children, like money or her life, but not her self. This is really interesting to read as it signifies Edna awakening. I mean, before she had children she never had to give up her passions, such as the act of painting.

Edna now realizes that it’s wrong she changed herself and stopped painting after having kids. She is making realizations about her life and she wants to pass on things that make her, her. This shows a great progression of Edna and she is finally able to come to terms with who she is.

The Awakening, Ch. 10-14

In the next four chapters of The Awakening, we see how Edna becomes “awakened”, although no fully. She begins to rebel against her husband and become independent. Edna is not sure what direction she is moving toward, but she knows she’s going somewhere. She is also looking at things in a different way, although she doesn’t understand why things have changed. For example, Edna is unable to relate to her former self submitting to her husband. She also has a vision of death in the ocean and is unable to sleep at night.

Robert triggers Edna beginning to become awaken. She begins to fall for him and enjoys the attention he gives her. Because of her previous romantic history of people not being interested in her who she likes, this mutual attraction is very new to her. She now feels Robert is interested in her – and this is totally unlike her husband. What I mean by that is while her husband does give her gifts and care for her, he is not really interested in spending time with Edna. (Neither of them are at fault, though, as they simply don’t have that kind of relationship.) And so, because of the chemistry Edna and Robert have together he entrances her.