Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Reading Response-The Guttural Muse
The Guttural Muse is a piece of poetry that transcends the meaning one can ascertain by looking up the encyclopedia worthy words in it's lines. Seamus Heaney "muses" (I'm sorry for that) on the meaning of nostalgia and youth, especially for someone who's on the last half of their life. The Guttural Muse begins by deftly painting a detailed scene of youthful souls leaving a dance club and heading home for the night. Then, the poem compares Heaney (who I am assuming as the narrator) to an "old pike all badged with sores" desperate to be healed by the slimy tench of youth. The Guttural Muse is less about Heaney's desire to dance among the youth outside his window, and more about a longing for the simplicity of the extended adolescence that comes with being someone in their 20s. Even though I haven't reached that period in my life yet, anyone can relate to the desire of wanting to go back, whether is to one's childhood, adolescence, or any other time where life was just a little more simple.
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I think your interpretation is interesting. The direction of youthfulness compared to loneliness (we mentioned in class) is what caught my attention. And there is truth to your last sentence. I haven't reached that part of my life either, but I can relate to the desire of wanting to go back to a simpler time too.
ReplyDeleteSkylar, I think you're right -- there's a sadness here, a longing, for something out of reach: the past. Heaney (if we assume is the narrator) was only in his late 30s when this poem was written, so he's not an aged, decrepit man. But there is a split between him and the people in the parking lot. What is making that split so vivid to him at this moment?
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