Poems by Jose Garcia Villa
Lorca’s poems
i don’t know what to make of it all. And I’m pretty sure ol’ Jose didn’t write these poems just to confuse the hair off of future generations of English students and get a kick out of it (even though that’s what he accomplished, God bless him). Nevertheless, this is my best shot at interpreting these poems:
“Lyric 17”
I like his command of poetic devices and topography. The latter reminds me of Scripture. The word “love” in the first line is conspicuously capitalized—perhaps to signify its significance? The only other capitalized word is “God.” e. e. cummings also utilized this particular topographical innovation. In his poems he often made all first-person pronoun “I”s lower-cased—implying humility and self-subjugation and awe before the divine. When Villa capitalizes “love,” he might be expressing reverence. Further evidence of Villa’s respect for Love lies in the fact that he personifies Love. He engenders Love. He denotes her female (3). He gives her lips and a voice (1-3).
“I can no more hear Love’s / Voice. No more moves / The mouth of her…”
He places her at the center of the universe and orbits her, for without love all ceases to function as they are supposed to: “…Birds / No more sing. Words / I speak return lonely… / Fire that I burn glows / Pale” (3-5, 7). It’s a good thing the poem doesn’t end in hyperbole, otherwise it might come off melodramatic (insert sarcasm). Just kidding. That line, “O my God! I am dead,” that just hits it (14). As if there is nothing worth living for more than Love. As if loneliness were a state of death, or to be alone is to be dead.
If Villa had a Xanga, i’d sure give him 2 eprops. J
“Lyric 57” and “Lyric 22”
He scatters “O” throughout “Lyric 57” and “Lyric 22,” and so they read like dirges. They read like laments. i’m not well-read enough to excavate any traces of Poe-influence in these poems, but they are undoubtedly morbid.
“Fragment”
i think Villa meant to title this poem “FragmentED.” He erects commas like stumbling blocks between words. The punctuations (are you ready for this?) fragment the poem. What was the point of this essay? This might be stretching it, but, in employing all those commas (those punctuation-hurdles), was Villa attempting to vocalize a frustration with the Philippines’ linguistic transition to English? To a new and complicated language that made the people trip over syntax and falter through diction and stumble over their sentences?
i don’t know what to make of it all. And I’m pretty sure ol’ Jose didn’t write these poems just to confuse the hair off of future generations of English students and get a kick out of it (even though that’s what he accomplished, God bless him). Nevertheless, this is my best shot at interpreting these poems:
“Lyric 17”
I like his command of poetic devices and topography. The latter reminds me of Scripture. The word “love” in the first line is conspicuously capitalized—perhaps to signify its significance? The only other capitalized word is “God.” e. e. cummings also utilized this particular topographical innovation. In his poems he often made all first-person pronoun “I”s lower-cased—implying humility and self-subjugation and awe before the divine. When Villa capitalizes “love,” he might be expressing reverence. Further evidence of Villa’s respect for Love lies in the fact that he personifies Love. He engenders Love. He denotes her female (3). He gives her lips and a voice (1-3).
“I can no more hear Love’s / Voice. No more moves / The mouth of her…”
He places her at the center of the universe and orbits her, for without love all ceases to function as they are supposed to: “…Birds / No more sing. Words / I speak return lonely… / Fire that I burn glows / Pale” (3-5, 7). It’s a good thing the poem doesn’t end in hyperbole, otherwise it might come off melodramatic (insert sarcasm). Just kidding. That line, “O my God! I am dead,” that just hits it (14). As if there is nothing worth living for more than Love. As if loneliness were a state of death, or to be alone is to be dead.
If Villa had a Xanga, i’d sure give him 2 eprops. J
“Lyric 57” and “Lyric 22”
He scatters “O” throughout “Lyric 57” and “Lyric 22,” and so they read like dirges. They read like laments. i’m not well-read enough to excavate any traces of Poe-influence in these poems, but they are undoubtedly morbid.
“Fragment”
i think Villa meant to title this poem “FragmentED.” He erects commas like stumbling blocks between words. The punctuations (are you ready for this?) fragment the poem. What was the point of this essay? This might be stretching it, but, in employing all those commas (those punctuation-hurdles), was Villa attempting to vocalize a frustration with the Philippines’ linguistic transition to English? To a new and complicated language that made the people trip over syntax and falter through diction and stumble over their sentences?
posted by The Kenneth @ 1:50 AM
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