Reading Housman (9/11/7)

Posted by John S., Block 3

The day began as usual for the students of Mr. B’s 3rd block Language Arts Lab with the 16 or so creative-students scattered about the room, having multiple private conversations that, in all probability, had very little to do with the classes they were attending. Then, Mr. B called us all to attention and the day began.
The day’s lesson was primarily centered around A.E. Housman’s poem, “To an Athlete Dying Young” (see tviewlalabplus.blogspot.com) and how authors make very active, very deliberate choices in their work.

Stoney asked a rather nice question involving literary works in general, he asked if it was wrong to misinterpret what the author said in his work. Mr.B replied that sometimes it’s impossible not to misinterpret the message, but we always learn more if we look for and try to recognize the choices that the author made when trying to send his or her message. If we do not look for and seek to understand the choices that the author made, we can’t possibly understand all the author tries to communicate. Or at least we cannot understand as completely.

Mr. Benton was also accused of booby-trapping students with his questions in order to lead to certain responses that he had already planned for. He said no, he doesn’t try to control what we are saying, purposely steering us to say one exact thing for him to lecture about. He doesn’t know what we are going to say, but he doesn’t leave the subject entirely alone either. He presents us with information to think about, questions to consider. He stated that he is not merely random but purposefully random, leading the class to hunt down that wild geese that come up in conversation in ways that address the basic understandings he is teaching us.

After a quick lesson about how to read poetry:
Step 1 – Read the whole thing aloud uncritically, without analysis, getting acquainted with its sound and with any emotions or connections it evokes.
(repeat)
Step 2 – Read again very carefully (sentence by sentence, not line by line) being certain to identify its literal meaning, checking the meaning of words, clarifying sentence structures, and so forth.
Step 3 – Read again raising questions, possibilities, and connections, looking for figurative meanings and implied connections. Ask what the author has accomplished by choosing this word (this image, this structure, this order, this syntax, etc.) over other possibilities,

For instance, when, the market-place that the athlete was “chaired” through came up, Amanda mentioned that the market place was always crowded. Like the funeral he was soon to go to, the market-place was crowded with buyer and sellers, and the funeral was crowded with mourners. (lines 1-2)

In response to Housman’s choosing to have his young athlete carried through the marketplace and on to home, (line 4) Nana mentioned that in Ghana, when you die, the people take you to the place where you were born to be buried. Associations of going home, eternal home, and others are brought to mind by the action, and it serves as a foreshadowing of the other home to which he is to be brought in the second stanza.

As for the runner’s being cheered by man and boy, (line 3) Amanda asked what about the girls? I do not believe that question was effectively answered, (if I am inaccurate please correct). [Editor’s note: In the reading of poetry or observing of visual art, there are always questions that cannot be answered satisfactorily. It can be no other way.] Sierra noted that men and boys are the runner’s peers, that, perhaps, identifying them as cheering brought a strength to the celebration. It was noted that choosing “man and boy” instead of “men and boys” accomplished an individualizing, personalizing sense of the crowd.

Mr. Benton called attention to the uncomfortable fact that “To-day” was spelled with a hyphen instead of being written normally, and he did not have a satisfactory explanation of what Housman might have achieved by choosing this spelling.

The repetition of also mentioned “shoulder-high” in lines 4 and 6 serves to connect the two processions toward different homes and is just one of several reinforcements of the parallel events.

Kalish opined that line 9 (“Smart lad, to slip betimes away”) literally meant, “Good thinking, Dude! Dying early saves a lot of heartache.”

As for "laurel" (line 11) Jaime notes that the plant that the wreaths placed on the heads of winners in ancient times (probably in Greece and Rome) were made of laurel. Eric sparks a conversation about peaks (in response to stanza four’s suggestion that dying at the peak of one’s success might be a good thing) suggesting that a longer life may offer many peaks. Mr. B argues the point with a story about high school football players’ never again being so glorified and successful as when they won a state championship.

Where the laurel which “withers quicker than the rose” is associated with victory, it was noted that the rose is often what is placed on the coffin of the deceased.

When Mr. B. confessed some discomfort with the poem’s structure completing a sentence (of complete idea) in each stanza, Stoney revealed to the class the meaning of “enjambment,” – the carryover of an idea from one line to the next - and it is revealed that there is no enjambment in the poem.

Amanda suggests that lines 13-14 may mean that athletes die before they’re famous, before their record is preserved, etched in history. Mr. B recognizes this possibility says that it makes him think of dying before the athlete’s record was beaten. Perhaps by choosing this language, Housman gave the reader access to both interpretations.

When we got to lines 15-16 (And silence sounds no worse than cheers / After earth has stopped the ears part) your present author stated that it meant you don’t really care what people think of you when you’re dead. This reading brings more than just the deafness of the dead into play.

Mr. B noted his fondness for the sound of line 19 (Runners whom renown outran). Amanda observes that Housman’s choice of “wore their honours out” brought the notion of boasting runners and how they “wore” their renown outwardly in the form of medals and ribbons as well as using them up.

Near the end, Mr. B says that even though the author might not have thought of all the things the reader might see when examining his poem, that looking for messages and choices leads to understanding the poem more accurately and completely.

At the end of class Mr. B improvises a poem involving cows and bells just before the school bell rings, and then all of third block left for 4th block (I hope they did anyway).