Cesar Vallejo-Gloomy Topics

Cesar Vallejo's poems are very sad and discuss very gloomy topics. For example, in the poem The Black Messengers, the first line states that "there are some blows in life so hard..." That line sets the mood and the tone for the reader. By just reading the first line, one could say that the rest of the poem is going to be just as gloomy as that first line. As the poem continues, the poem states that the "blows" that come in life come from "God's hatred." We haven't really seen God mentioned in Marti and Dario's poems, except in Dario's poem To Roosevelt. In this poem, it is interesting to note that God is associated with "hatred." I always thought that God was known to love, not hate. Vallejo also states that the blows in life were sent by "black messengers sent us by Death." When I was reading this line, I wondered whether Vallejo used the adjective "black" to describe the messengers. Was it during the time period that Vallejo wrote this poem that people believed that "black" was bad? I'm not really sure, but that was a question that popped up in my head as I was reading the poem. Finally, the poem Black Stone Lying on a White Stone is a gloomy poem because the poem discusses Vallejo's death. Vallejo states: "I will die in Paris, on a rainy day...". In this line, Vallejo, once again, sets the mood for the rest of the poem by stating that he will die "on a rainy day." It is a sunny day or a hot day, but a rainy day, setting a gloomy mood and tone. According to the life story of Cesar Vallejo on page 95 of the poetry book, Vallejo lived the last three years of his life in Paris and he was often poor and ill, so it makes sense that he says that he will die in Paris....but he may not have been living in Paris at the time that the poem was written. Hmmm...but if he did write the poem in Paris, then it makes sense that he says that he will die in Paris. Vallejo also states that he will die in autumn. Autumn is the season before winter and winter is symbolic for old age and death because everything dies in the wintertime. I think that autumn represents adulthood and Vallejo is stating that death is soon to come because it is autumn. At the end of the poem, Vallejo states that he has died and everyone has "beaten him." I'm not really sure what that really means. I thought that maybe Vallejo is looking for pathos? maybe...I'm not really sure. Overall, Vallejo definitely, without any doubt, writes his poems with a sense of doom. I was curious as to know why he writes his poems this way, and I was reading the life story of Cesar Vallejo, and it stated that Vallejo was committed to "the agonies of humankind that Vallejo seems to make himself a pure voice of suffering and grace" (95). So, according to the life story on page 95, Vallejo wanted to make himself a spokesperson for anguish and in my opinion, Vallejo did that well.

Dario's Poems

Dario's poems are very interesting. As said in class, his poems are filled with allusions. For example, Dario makes allusions to Greek and Roman mythology. In the last stanza of his poem, Springtime, he makes a reference to the Ancient Romans when he states that "My sweet muse Delicia/brought me a Greek amphora/carved out of alabaster" (33). An amphora is a storage used by the Ancient Greeks and Romans to carry wine and oil to the winner of the Panathenaic games. The Panathenaic games was part of a festival to honor the Greek goddess Athena, the wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice and skill. This is one allusion to Greek mythology. Another allusion is that in this quote, Dario uses the word "muse" as an allusion to the nine daughters of Zeus that provided inspiration for different areas. I think that by saying the "muse Delicia" he is referring to the wine that he continues to discuss in the last stanza. The wine that Dario discusses in the last stanza is "Naxos wine" (33). Naxos is a Greek island that was famous, in the ancient times, as a center of Dionysian worship. Dionysus was the Greek god of wine, agriculture, and fertility of nature. Therefore, it makes sense that the wine would named after the island Naxos and the island would be place of worship to the god Dionysus. In addition, Dario makes a reference to the Roman goddess Diana when he states in his poem Springtime, "Diana is on the amphora,/regally proud and tall/" (33). Diana was the goddess of nature, fertility and childbirth and is portrayed as a huntress being accompanied by a deer and Dario states that Diana has a "stance of a huntress"(33). Dario's poem, It was a Gentle Air, is filled with allusions to Greek and Roman mythology. On page 35, Philomel is a nightingale and is a reference to the Greek mythology tale of Philomela and Procne. Procne, Philomela's sister, was married to King Tereus of Thrace, who is one of the sons of Ares, and they had a son named Itys. Tereus raped Procne's sister Philomela and then cut her tongue and imprisoned her so that she couldn't tell anyone of what he had done to her. Philomela managed to weave a tapestry to tell her sister Procne what Tereus had done. In revenge, Procne killed and cooked Itys, her son, so that Tereus could eat his son for dinner. When Tereus found out what Procne had done, he chased the two women and tried to kill them, but before he could, Tereus was turned into a hoopoe (a bird similar to the kingfisher), Procne was turned into a swallow, and Philomela was turned into a nightingale, hence why a nightingale is called a Philomel in poetry. I think that the grief that the nightingale may be singing is the grief of being raped. I think that Dario uses so many allusions in his poetry to make his poetry more elaborate. Instead of writing his poetry short, concise, and to the point, Dario writes with classical allusions to provide imagery for the reader. In addition, I think that Dario is showing how much his literary knowledge he has. His literary knowledge came from his studies in Europe and the books he read in French and Castilian literature. Although the poetry makes Dario look extremely intelligent, it is more complicated for the reader to understand. For the average John and/or Jane Doe who doesn't know too much about Greek and Roman mythology, Dario's poems are really hard to understand. I know that I had a hard time understanding his poems and I had to look up the classical allusions.

Possible Paper Topics on Sab

A possible paper topic would be what symbols or ideas Avellaneda uses to relate to Sab's unclear character and how she uses these symbols or ideas. In the previous post, I state that Avellaneda uses the garden, race, and his heritage or background. I think that could make a possible paper topic, but I am not sure whether that particular paper topic will be long enough or not. It would also be interesting to do a paper on race. But, I am not sure how exactly to narrow down that topic or write a paper on this topic without repeating what was already discussed in class.

Thoughts on Sab

Avellaneda uses three ideas to show Sab as an unclear character; she uses the ideas of race, heritage or background, and the garden. Avellaneda also uses the garden to symbolize Sab's unclear character. The garden is unidentified and its location is unclear just like Sab's character. The way Sab views race is very interesting. Sab's views on raceare unclear. When he was describing his mother, he said that she was an African princess and was "born in a country in where her color was not a mark of slavery"(31). In this quote, Sab knows that race does not matter in the land that his mother came from. In this quote, he views slavery as something that is not important because his mother was born "free and a princess"(31). But, Sab is an educated man and knows that in Cuba, where he lives, that race was an important issue and determined your place in society and how you were treated. Sab knew that the reason why he could not be with Carlota was for two reasons: money and race. He knew that if he were white, he woudl not have as much trouble telling Carlota his feelings for her. Sab's unclear views on race match well with his character. Again, when Sab is first introduced, he does not have any clear heritage or background. He is said to have a face "which revealed a mingling of two distonct races, an amalgam...of the features of the African and the European yet without being the perfect mulatto" (28). Once again, Sab's heritage is unclear and is a symbol as to how Sab's character is unclear.

Sab Discussion Question

In Sab, each of the four main characters, Sab, Enrique,Carlota, and Teresa, are described differently. Enrique is the first main character to be described and Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda describes him as traveler who had fair, rosy skin, blue eyes, and golder hair. All of these features indicated that he was not a native to Cuba and of some "northern region" (27). Because Enrique was stopping several times to observe the scenery, he could not be poor. Whereas Enrique had the classic blond hair and blue eye characteristics, Sab was described as "a tall young man of average build but with striking features" (28). He was a mulatto who had yellowish white skin and black, lustrous, curly hair ("as lustrous and black as the wings of the raven"-28) and thick lips, showing his African heritage. In Chapter Two, Carlota is described as gentle with parted chestnut hair in ringlets framing a 17-year-old face. She was said to have the "model of perfection" because of her delicate features and the soulful gaze of her large eyes. She had a certain angelic and poignant air around her and she was wearing a dress of pure white when she is first introduced to the reader. Teresa, however, is described to have an ordinary face with neither repugnant nor beautiful features. Her face was so devoid of emotion that it seemed to inspire hate instead of love. She had dark green eyes that always "had a cold, indifferent look which held neither the fascination of sadness nor the charm gaiety" (35). Her eyes always stayed the same with that particular look whether she laughed, or cried because her features did not show any emotion. When Teresa did show emotion, which was scarce, she looked alive and energetic and only then did her eyes change from that cold and indifferent look that she usually held. Carlota and Enrique are described to have perfect or near perfect features, whereas Sab and Teresa are said to have "average" or "ordinary" features. I'm not exactly sure why Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda did this, but I think that Carlota and Enrique were the ideal man and woman. Although Sab and Teresa are clearly not the ideal man and woman, I think that both of these characters are happier than Carlota and Enrique. Sab is happy just being with Carlota; Teresa is happy after she goes to the convent, although that does not occur until towards the end of the book. Carlota and Enrique appear happy with each other, but Carlota is always trying to decide whether Enrique truly loves her or her land and money. Enrique is undecided as to whether he truly loves Carlota or her money.