A Clear Midnight
Walt Whitman 

Well, the thing is, Mrs. Clinch keeps urging us to blog but my mind is so awfully crazed up right now with all the coming exams that I have absolutely NO clue what to even talk about [for the fear that my stress will overcome me - it is probably safer I keep quiet]. While pondering over what to blog about, I decided to write about some poetry, as we'll probably be encountering quite a bit of that during our exam. When I came across this poem, it was rather soothing to imagine, and I was automatically calmed down. SO now I'm rather excited to continue on with this blog! 

Here is the poem: 

THIS is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless
Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done, 
Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best.
Night, sleep, death, and the stars. 

In this poem, Walt Whitman treats his Soul as an individual; a being within himself. His soul seems to serve as a metaphor for his inner desires and longings. The speaker of this poem years to get away from "books" and "away from art." This gives the sense of separating oneself from the world, perhaps into a state of peace and contentment. I interpreted this idea of separating oneself as a period of deep reflection or thought, perhaps sleep, or even death. The inner part of the speaker years to spend time doing nothing but being silent, spending time "gazing" and "pondering" about the themes that he desires. Yet the poem has a bittersweet tone to it - perhaps the speaker is unable to do the things he desires due to his external world. "Books" and "art" can serve as metaphors for pursuing knowledge within the outer world. The speaker's life has become all about continuing his studies, pursuing knowledge, and learning "lessons" day after day - but these lessons only go to a certain depth. After a certain point, the speaker's internal self wants nothing more than to reflect on what is inside him. This whole idea of the dual nature of man is a big theme in this poem, both an intimate and personal theme, the duality in the nature of the individual is one I myself can relate to very much. Perhaps Whitman is urging the individual to find time to look within their artistic self - the part of them that is not present in their typical daily lives. 

At the same time, this poem seemed to be a very interesting metaphor in which Whitman paints a portrait of death itself. Unlike the usual picture of death being painful, sudden, sad, and cruel, Whitman depicts death as a silent parting in which the individual is at peace and fully aware of his situation. When he says "This is thy hour O Soul," the speaker makes apparent that he is at peace with this transition into death. He claims that death is a time in which his Soul can fly "free" into the "wordless." The "wordless" can describe a place where there are no such things as words, or perhaps a place words could never describe. Whatever this place may be, the speaker is at peace and content with the idea of going there. Death is not a painful parting in this short poem, but rather a time in which the individual is most himself - his artistic self. Death is a time in which the individual accepts the role of Time within his life, accepts his fate, and accepts the concept of leaving his external world, and embracing his internal self. 

Memoirs of a Geisha: First Half 

Choosing to read Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden for my lit circle this past week has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Oftentimes, I'm accustomed to reading literature concerning America or Europe, and it's usually not very difficult to visualize what is taking place in the story. Unlike most of the literature I have experienced before, this novel put me in Japan within an exotic culture - a culture clouded by wide misconceptions. I admire the author of this novel greatly because he is able to not only help me understand the customs of a completely different world, but also write in the point of view of a girl flawlessly. While reading, the main question that came up in the novel regards the nature of pursuing the path towards becoming a geisha. Is it good or is it bad? Does it help Chiyo to become Sayuri or will it simply lead to her objectification? 

In her path towards becoming a geisha, it seems that Sayuri often undergoes many moments of self reflection - obviously, that would seem like a good thing. Pursuing her path towards becoming a geisha allows Sayuri to think about her place within the world, the nature of her own destiny and fate within the grand realm of the world. Yet, there is one quote I found extremely significant in the novel. When Sayuri first gets her name change she says, "It was as if the little girl named Chiyo, running barefoot from the pond to her tipsy house, no longer existed. I felt that this new girl, Sayuri, with her gleaming white face and her red lips, had destroyed her" (Golden 167). This is one of the first descriptions that we encounter after Sayuri takes a big step towards becoming a geisha. When reading this, I thought of the whole "mask" and "veil" idea that is prevalent throughout the novel. Oftentimes, a "gleaming white face" and "red lips" are features that are prominent in a doll. A doll never changes her face and outer appearance - similar to a mask, which hides inner feelings by sticking to one outer appearance. Could pursuing this path actually be beneficial and morally sound if it strips Chiyo of her ability to express herself? Furthermore, the quote uses the word "destroyed" in it, which leads to the idea of death and loss - a negative connotation. I interpreted this as a metaphorical death of Chiyo and the birth of Sayuri - but should we be happy that Chiyo has been replaced? Not only does the transition mimic a sort of loss of innocence, but it is also presented and described in a very negative way. 

Apart from this quote, I could not help but notice the life of geisha in general. There is a quote in which Sayuri says, "I was finding it difficult to believe that these men - who has paid so considerably to be there, among women wrapped in expensive, beautiful robes - really wanted to hear the same sorts of stories children back in the pond in Yoroido might have told" (Golden 174). What really are the perks of being a geisha? Although you may be admired by the community in general, unveiling a first impression exposes the objectification that takes place. Geisha are not perceived by men to be human - they are a representation of men's wealth and power. Chiyo was always so clever - I can't imagine her truly letting this happen to herself. Are geisha ever happy? I haven't seen any geisha that are happy in this novel so far...could this be the "wrong kind of living" as Chiyo once thought of Granny's life? 

I'm definitely looking forward to completing the novel and hope to answer some of these questions in our next lit circle!