The Voice of Poetry - Essay 3 Eng 101 sec 29 Final Draft

Almost everyone reads with their own tone of voice, and speed. The way we read can affect how we interpret a reading, poem, or essay. It creates opinion and diversity as we deviate from the original meaning that the author may have intended. It’s sometimes important to hear a live reading or a recording from the original author or poet to understand the true meaning of the text. Since we generally aren’t ones who write the text, we cannot develop a full understanding of the authors’ point, since we weren’t there. However writings and recordings aren’t ever the same. Each style has its own benefits in terms of understanding the poem itself.

            In 2001 Edward Hirsch wrote a new book composed of all different styles and forms of poetry called, The Living Fire, New and Selected Poems. It has many collections of poems, all from personal experiences he has lived through. One poem titled “On the Anniversary of Joseph Brodsky’s Death” was a memory that he remembered due to the intense cold during a day five years after the death of a man named Joseph Brodsky. Eight years after writing the poem he recorded it in front of a live audience at the University of Iowa.

            In Hirsch’s reading of his poem “On the Anniversary of Joseph Brodsky’s Death” he first gave a bit of background information of why he wrote it. Hirsch was sent to Russia by the state department. It was the fifth anniversary of Joseph Brodsky’s death after his eternal exile. In his

poem, Hirsch referenced multiple times the insanely cold weather and the darkness for twenty- three hours a day in Archangelsk, Russia. He said it took him a while to figure out how to write about his experience, but finally figured it out, then went on proceeding with his reading of the poem.

            The first thing I noticed was his tone. He wasn’t monotone in his presentation, but seemed very bold and bland in his reading of the poem. His voice didn’t fluctuate much but did show emphasis on some areas. You could hear the most emphasis when he brought up the Arctic chill through a cold war that will never end. It was the strongest memory he held from the days he stayed in northern Russia and you could tell how vividly he remembered it. According to Hirsch, Soviet Russia was alive and well in Archangelsk (Archangel). His voice seemed to get lower and more silent when he recalled anything to do with the USSR, almost as if he became a coward through that aspect of his experience. As he talked about the soldiers marching in muffled boots at night he grew a sense of confidence in his voice before the sorrow of the day to come. The anniversary mourning of the morning to come set a heavy tone of intensity in his voice, out of respect. He slowed down as he read this aloud, and left it in silence. After the sounds of sorrow, he left his reading in peace, saying. “Snow occupied the city.” At the end of his reading, he paused for about ten seconds, to really let his empathy sink in. He spoke of the poem as a whole, fluently carrying on from one point to another.

            However in Hirsch’s writing, which his reading matched word for word, he broke the poem up into couplets as the topics changed. In his writing, he goes from cold and weather to statues of history, back to cold, then to living objects, pausing in between each different two line stanza. The writing doesn’t seem to flow as fluently as his recording of the poem, but in the reading you can understand more about the detail about his memory. In contrast to the reading, which you only hear once, the writing of the poem you can read over and over at your own speed, to help you understand and really feel what Hirsch is trying to describe. When we read a poem, without listening, we make our own interpretation of the idea. We analyze more of the poem and break it down trying to decipher its meaning. When you see the piece of work, the words have more meaning since they are right there in front of you. We can see more style and can read at our own speed, rather than listening to the author recite it as we try to keep up. The main difference usually is that just a poem gives us no tone and sense of feeling, while a recording or live recital of the poem itself by the author who wrote it does all that and can help us understand why the poem was written.

            In the case of “On the Anniversary of Joseph Brodsky’s death” by Edward Hirsch I could get the sense through both works of art. Hearing a recording shows the power of tone, while reading a poem yourself shows the power of words. They hold many differences, but mainly depend on how we the readers, can understand his meaning in speed. The best thing that can be done is listen to the author read it, then read the poem yourself. In Hirsch’s case he gives good background knowledge which helps us understand why he is writing the poem and why he puts emphasis on some parts more than others.

            Hirsch’s poem puts emphasis on parts in both the text and recording. Several times he references the brutal cold weather as the sun hides behind the smokestacks like a soldier frozen in place. He shows how dark and gloomy the time was both mentally and physically. It’s almost as if the day was affected by the history, both being gloomy and depressing. Death is cold and silent, much like the tone of the entirety of the poem. He reads most of it calm and silently, only emphasizing what was a direct effect on him.

After doing a bit of research on Joseph Brodsky, one could see how Edward Hirsch could relate to him. Brodsky was a Soviet- Russian- American poet who was expelled for social parasitism. That turned out to be a good thing because he became a world renowned professor at many Ivy League schools, and ended up winning a Nobel peace prize in 1987. He was clearly an inspiration to Hirsch and his work because the awards and honors through poetry and writing Brodsky had achieved. Today, Hirsch holds the great American poet title, due to great respect for Joseph Brodsky.

            Through inspiration and dedication alike, Edward Hirsch has become the ideal American poet for the present day. His writings present so much tone and passion, that many recordings and readings of his work are not necessary. However, once you hear his slight southern accent and slur on words, it adds emphasis to the lyrical analogies he presents us with. He writes his poetry all from memories he holds, and reads them with intense passion and structure, that make times once can feel like we were actually there.

            Passion creates emphasis, and Edward Hirsch is passionate about his work. “On the Anniversary of
Joseph Brodsky’s Death” Hirsch wrote his poem through every feeling, sense, and emotion he had. He felt cold and could hear nothing around him but pure silence. He saw children throwing snowballs at a Soviet
statue almost as if it were a rebellion against the government of Russia. He could taste the salty air, as he
would vanish from humanity in the thick cover of darkness. He references Brodsky in his poem when he
says, “his love for watery ports and stubborn cats.” This references that they knew each other on a personal
level, but even in his recording, he never admitted to knowing Brodsky on a personal level. His writing and
recording are very similar in structure in pace. Hirsch elaborates on each of his ideas, explaining why in his
recording, and giving more detail in his poem. Together, in turn they complete one another elevating each
idea, detail, reference, and thought. Two different forms of expression, over one work of art by the same
author provides a full understanding of the text through emotion, detail, passion, sense, and empathy.

Annotated Bibliography

Brodsky, Joseph M. "Joseph Brodsky - Biography." Nobelprize.org. Les Prix Nobel. Web. 05 Nov. 2010
This is a source about the life in entirety of Joseph Brodsky. It talks about his style and influence of  writing, but most importantly it talks about Brodsky’s expulsion from Soviet Russia. It speaks of his achievements and works, and about his journey of life. Its useful for me to assess the points about his expulsion and death, because those are the two key points that Edward Hirsch writes his poem “On the Anniversary of Joseph Brodsky’s death. Its factual and leads to conclusions without allotting for assumptions to be made.

Dizard, Robert. "Death of a Poet Laureate- Library of Congress Information Bulliten." 05 Feb 1996. Library of Congress.
This piece is important because it focus’s on the key points of Joseph Brodsky’s life. You learn more about his childhood and what led to his expulsion from Soviet Russia. Conspiracy theories are a strong matter through the Library of Congress. It is much like the previous source, but gives more details about Brodsky’s expulsion and death, while the other focused more on achievements. This was a good source to help me find out more background information.

Hirsch, Edward. Live Recording September, 2001. http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/vwu&CISOPTR=1599&CISOBOX=1&REC=1
This source is the actual reading and recording of Edward Hirsch’s poem “On the anniversary of Joseph Brodsky’s death. You can see that Hirsch is trained to be a writer, not necessarily a reader of poetry. Its important to hear him read however because it illustrates and gives his words more of a true voice and meaning. It presents us with speed and emotion, and emphasizes key components to the poem by Hirsch. He gives background information on why he wrote the poem, and reads it flawlessly in his own tempo to help us understand a memory he remembers vividly. Since it’s a direct source it is very reliable.

Hirsch, Edward. The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems. On the Anniversary of Joseph Brodsky's Death. Random House INC, Alfred Knopf. Janurary 2001.
This is my primary source, and is where I found the actual poem, “On the Anniversary of Joseph Brodsky’s Death”. It is very important to the sources used in my essay because the words Hirsch uses in his poem directly affect my essay. He vaguely brushes upon his own history and influences and through this book of collected poems by Edward Hirsch, I found out that Joseph Brodsky was one of his direct influences. The poem itself is very important because it allots us to read in detail the entire poem and make our own opinion of his writing. Still we can understand his point and meaning and we can see the direct emphasis on certain parts of the original poem.
McQuade, Donald. McQuade, Christine. Seeing and Writing 4. On reading Visual and Verbal Text; Reading a Poem. Boston, MA. Deford St. Martin's Publisher. 2010. 4 Nov, 2010
Seeing and writing 4 , is a very important source which helped me analyze and understand both the vocal recording and writing of the poem by Hirsch. It helped me focus on key points and areas about tone image speed and emphasis. Many parts can be useful, however I only used the parts in the back that would help me analyze and break down a poem. It shows key points and tells us the details to look at so that we may understand the point that the author is trying to make. This source wasn’t directly related to the poem or essay, except for the fact that it pointed out key details to me as I listen to the recording and read Hirsch’s poem thoroughly.

** Note: I apologize for the style of the last paragraph. I cant figure out why it is copying and pasting that way. It happens I guess, and Have a Happy Thanksgiving Professor Scott. :)