Thursday, March 17, 2011

"Notes on Poverty," Hayden Carruth

"Notes on Poverty," Hayden Carruth

Was I so poor
in those damned days
that I went in the dark
in torn shoes
and furtiveness
to steal fat ears
of cattle corn
from the good cows
and pound them
like hard maize
on my worn Aztec
stone? I was.

3 comments:

  1. The poem's theme is obviously poverty. I believe the poem's main message is to show people exactly what is truely consider porr by giving the question "was i so poor." The author implies that a person is truely poor when they are forced to steal and committted crimes. The narrators only source of food was the "fat ears of cattle corn" that he stole.

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  2. I love how this poem is a question and at the end it is answered so simply. This poem makes you think what desperate people have to go through just to get the simple things of life. Even though the poem is short it holds a lot of meaning.

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  3. Carruth's depressing, basal diction in this poem conveys a sense of pity for all people living in destitute. The speaker was in trouble as he or she "went in the dark in torn shoes." The speaker obviously shows a distaste for his or her misfortune. Obviously, people can be born into poverty in the world. Carruth's somber language projects an apathy towards all of the people whom are directly born into an impoverished situation.

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