The place in this poem is a city, any city really, it doesn’t matter which one you pick; crowded New York, sprawling LA or our-roads-make-no-sense Boston, all of them are the same. By not naming any particular city, Gunn can talk about all of them at once.
With his vantage point “upon a hill,” Gunn casts his judgment upon the concrete, luminous jungle that lay before him. He sees the drunks, the transients, and the web of fire escapes. From his view, he can see the entire city in its entirety. Because of his love of chance, he loves the potentiality of the city’s randomness and its mix of danger. He loves the crowded, broken, and unfinished nature of the city, always under construction because he loves the risk it brings.
sestina: six words
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Six Words
by Lloyd Schwartz
yes
no
maybe
sometimes
always
never
Never?
Yes.
Always?
No.
Sometimes?
Maybe—
maybe
never
sometimes.
Yes—
no
always:
always
...
15 years ago
10 comments:
I agree with you completely. The use of the city feel without a definite city shows the situation of the city. The chaos and the romance of city life is depicted in this poem. But, since he stands "upon a hill", I feel that maybe he is comparing cities. He can see everything from up above. He mentions a "luminous country". I feel that maybe he is mentioning multiple cities. Do you agree?
I agree that he does not name the city because all cities can relate. Gunn enjoys the emotions of cities, seeing the full potential that they possess. He describes the city as "luminous" and having "endless potentiality" even though he is watching at night. The light that he relates to the city also represents his "love of chance". In the city, anything can happen at any time, which is why he loves them. Chris, I agree that by saying "luminous country" he is speaking about multiple cities.
I agree that he uses a city to present his ideas of adventure/danger/audacity. His words really illustrate any city and the ideals it represents. I think we can relate the line "By the recurrent lights I see Endless potentiality" since we're almost at that next big stage in our lives. In a way I feel he is a bit selfish saying "every shape defined by the light Is mine". Or maybe he is just referring to taking advantage of the endless possibilities?
I believe that it is the latter Tommy, that "he is just referring to taking advantage of the endless possibilities". I feel that this poem uses the setting of the vast and diverse city as a macrocosm, showing a magnified version of Gunn's own world. He is showing, through the web of fire escapes etc., how varied the options in life are. I also found his use of irony within the setting to be very useful, saying that the city is best discernable at night, when logically it would seem to be that way during the day.
This poem is all about the love of how cities are completely what you make them. He is talking about getting lost in the "web of fire-escapes" and like Nabeel stated, I believe that he is going to take advantage of the possibilities.
I think he's kind of saying something like, there are people who know a city and then there are people who really know a city. They are able to take advantage of "every shape" and make it their own experience. He really wants to show that a city isn't just a city, it is an experience.
A Map of the City by Thom Gunn
A map of the city is a poem that uses the settings and situation to impasses the idea that a city has many changes and randomness. Gunn uses imagery to represent the situation. He also uses metaphoric meanings. And use rhythmic pattern in every lines of the stanza. The poem is in free- verse. And the structure has five stanza and four lines and every stanza. He also use some figure of speech like apostrophe and synecdoche.
The place in this poem is a city.All of them are the same by not naming any particular city, Gunn can talk about all of them at once.
With his vantage point “upon a hill,” that’s mean an elevated place that he can see the whole city .Gunn casts his judgment upon the concrete, luminous jungle that lay before him. He sees the drunks, the transients, and the web of fire escapes. From his view, he can see the entire city in its entirety. Because of his love of chance, he loves the potentiality of the city’s randomness and its mix of danger. He loves the crowded, broken, and unfinished nature of the city, always under construction because he loves the risk it brings.
The use of the city feel without a definite city shows the situation of the city. The chaos and the romance of city life are depicted in this poem. But, since he stands "upon a hill"; it means that he is comparing cities. He can see everything from up above. He mentions a "luminous country". It means that he is mentioning multiple cities. Gunn enjoys the emotions of cities, seeing the full potential that they possess.
He describes the city as "luminous" and having "endless potentiality" even though he is watching at night. The light that he relates to the city also represents his "love of chance". In the city, anything can happen at any time, which is why he loves them. The "luminous country" he is speaking about multiple cities His words really illustrate any city and the ideals it represents. He relate the line "By the recurrent lights I see Endless potentiality" since we're almost at that next big stage in our lives. This poem uses the setting of the vast and diverse city. He is showing, through the web of fire escapes etc., how varied the options in life are. his use of irony within the setting to be very useful, saying that the city is best discernable at night, when logically it would seem to be that way during the day. This poem is all about the love of how cities are completely what you make them.
This poem show that there are people who know a city and then there are people who really know a city. They are able to take advantage of "every shape" and make it their own experience. Gunn really wants to show that a city isn't just a city, it is an experience.
Great discussion. But I am not sure what malady's advance is. My professor thinks that it gestures at the then unidentified disease AIDS and the speaker is looking for a gay partner. Is there any ground for this interpretation?
Thorn has used the magic of words here to make the poem sonorous. the couplet rhymingand the lexical cohesion have , in fact enriched the matrix of the poem. Tn the illuminated city where different people reside enjoying the flickering light is the saalient feature of cityscapes. the unbound potentiality of beauty of the city is adorable whereas ugliness can not be diminished. the inclusive narrative has brought realism but indeed the poem is surrealist.
Love of chance is the malady because it implies danger. But he can't help loving it because that is also where he sees the city's potencial.
The poem is all about self discovery within a maze of distractions , failures, and hazards. That's what I think.
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