Why the bloody hell do I have to study this.....

[DanTrentfield]

Ever heard of a poem called May Magnificat by Gerard Manley Hopkins? It was stuck to the side of a religious statue at the college he went to along with many other poems in honor of a tradition of students at that university in honor of Mary. Well it's frankly childish banter that is obviously very vague on the symbology, For example there is a line, " When Drop of blood and foam dapple, bloom lights the orchard apple " What the hell is this symbology...... It's unlike any of his other poetry, and the drop of blood in that line is obviously supposed to be indicative of the death of christ, but what the hell is the foam.... It's supposedly sea foam because Mary is patron of the seas or something like that. Whatever the case I'm not a religious nut so I don't get half the s*** in this poem. Seriously. Can I just have an education that f***ing doesn't require me to have a bachelor's degree in theology? I'm sorry for my profanity but this is frustrating as HELL. I love poetry but that's in leisure reading, which is how poems are supposed to be enjoyed, The moment you expect specific answers out of someone that reads a poem you ruin the poem because you take away their own perspective on it.

[Delta1212]

The more background and context you have for something, the more nuanced an understanding you are going to be able to have on it and the better you you will be able to appreciate it.

 

Animal Farm is a fine story on its own, but you lose a heck of a lot if you read it without ever having heard of the Russian Revolution.

[CharonY]

As an exercise, it forces you to read up on concepts that you are completely unaware of. While it is a struggle, especially at the beginning, it does train you to gather such information effectively. After all you are unlikely to be familiar or even interested in all questions and tasks you may face later in life.

[Phi for All]

The more background and context you have for something, the more nuanced an understanding you are going to be able to have on it and the better you you will be able to appreciate it.

 

Animal Farm is a fine story on its own, but you lose a heck of a lot if you read it without ever having heard of the Russian Revolution.

 

All learning is like this. Tiny layers of understanding building to form a more comprehensive whole. How can we know which bits led to our most profound realizations?

 

If we look instead at a sensory mechanism like hearing or smell, and the much larger layer of detail and understanding you would miss without it, we can more easily see how important it all is.

[DanTrentfield]

The more background and context you have for something, the more nuanced an understanding you are going to be able to have on it and the better you you will be able to appreciate it.

 

Animal Farm is a fine story on its own, but you lose a heck of a lot if you read it without ever having heard of the Russian Revolution.

Ha. That is true. I loved reading that book.

As an exercise, it forces you to read up on concepts that you are completely unaware of. While it is a struggle, especially at the beginning, it does train you to gather such information effectively. After all you are unlikely to be familiar or even interested in all questions and tasks you may face later in life.

Very good point. I need to work on my poetry skills most definitely.... Especially since I love making music so much.

 

All learning is like this. Tiny layers of understanding building to form a more comprehensive whole. How can we know which bits led to our most profound realizations?

 

If we look instead at a sensory mechanism like hearing or smell, and the much larger layer of detail and understanding you would miss without it, we can more easily see how important it all is.

That shuts me the hell up. I've never looked at it that way, thank you for pointing that out.

[uncool]

As a note, without having read the poem myself, "drop of blood on the seafoam" makes me think of the birth of Aphrodite, not Christian mythology.

[DanTrentfield]

As a note, without having read the poem myself, "drop of blood on the seafoam" makes me think of the birth of Aphrodite, not Christian mythology.

Interesting take on it.

[DrKrettin]

As a note, without having read the poem myself, "drop of blood on the seafoam" makes me think of the birth of Aphrodite, not Christian mythology.

 

 

Well, he was a classics scholar, and the imagery in the first nine verses seems to be taken from Greek mythology, which is hardly surprising. As I see it, he is saying this is not enough (Well but there was more than this...) so then launches into his non sequitur about Christianity.