I Knew a Woman- Roethke

I really enjoyed this poem. It was extremely uplifting and beautifully written. Roethke's observations of this woman's body are very graceful. To write about someone and say that they are beautiful in their bones is very loving. Roethke noticed everything about this woman that no one else did. The way she sighed in relation to the outside world, the way she moved, even down to compairing her voice to the voice of a goddess or a singing tone. I was interested in the very last line " These old bones live to learn her wanton ways." Now is Roethke speaking of himself or the woman. I can see both or maybe I am completely off. I'll explain; If Roethke is speaking of himself I imagine he is comparing every inch of himself down to his bones to this woman. If this is the case he wants to be everything she is in order to keep up or in other words be good enough for her. If he is speaking of the woman does he mean that eventually this beauty and grace that she embraces will fade? Or that eventually his love for her will wither? If he measures time by how a body sways is he speaking of youth?
I can understand that point as well...if he is speaking of youth I don't feel he is speaking about the outside perspective of a being. At one point in this poem he says " My eyes they dazzled at her flowing knees..." I don't believe he literally means he can see her knees but he can see how they let her move. He can see beneath her clothes, beneath her skin, beneath everything right down to the beauty of her bones. Everything only gets more beautiful from there.

"Wasteland Tie Together"

Wasteland really seemed like quite a few different poems sort of put together to create a "wasteland." After discussing this in class and learning more on T.S. Eliot I was able to derive a few ideas of my own. I see a lot of death in Wasteland and I see how it ties a lot of things together. One specific point that was extremely interesting was how Tiresias was tied into other areas of the work. From Part Three " I Tiresias though blind, throbbing, between two lives, Old man with wrinkled female breasts, can see at the violet hour the evening hour that strives Homeward and brings the sailor home from the sea." From Part Four " Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead, forgot the cry of gulls and the deep sea swell and the profit and loss." A Phoenician was a sailor that used the sea in order to transport a certain purple cloth now I see the relation between the profit and loss of the phoenician and the profit and loss of Tiresias. All in all the ending result was death.
The goal in life is to live long enough to die. I see these in all parts of this work. No matter what the path death is always the ending goal. T.S. Eliot included many things and it is so interesting to see him use history and knowledge to tell his stories. I also see a lot of "death by water". I can also link this to maybe a feeling of being overwhelmed or even giving up and letting death take over. Because when death arrives everyone must give up at some point and let go in order to die. I think Wasteland is sort of a middle grey area between what some people consider heaven and hell. Wasteland is everything in between.

Feminist Manifesto

At times throughout this manifesto I found things that were some what confusing and maybe even offensive at times. After reading this over numerous times I believe I have seen the relativeness to the work. Mina Loy is a modern feminist. I understand where she is coming from. A line I really enjoyed was this, "Leave off looking to men to find out what you are NOT- seek within yourselves to find out what you ARE." I can completely see what this means to me. Women are constantly comparing themselves to men in all areas. Don't get me wrong I do believe women and men should have equal opportunities but all in all women and men are not ever going to be completely equal. This is why we are different. Men are men and women are women. I think what Loy is trying to say is is this...Don't worry about trying to become what powerful and successful men are, worry about becoming what you are and finding your own strengths and unique attributes. Competition is always good between anyone and everyone however coaching yourselves to be equal isn't right. Be what you are.
To go on women have been given stereotypes according to their actions and their characteristics of everyday life that men have not. Loy brings this up when she says it is basically consituted to be a Parasite, or a Prostitute. What I repeatedly take from this manifesto are the labels put on women and the women just going along with those labels because it has been given to them. Loy says that men and women act as enemies until the interest of sex emerges and a sexual embrace results. Loy has a voice in this manifesto it is powerful and it is good. Regardless of this manifest being "right" or "wrong" it has a strong opinion which is something that I respect.
Now when Loy goes on to discuss the mistress, and the mother. Usually when I think about feminism I reflect on reform and equality. Loy continually throws feminism back onto women. Instead of it being the outside world it is a woman's choice to truly live her life and find out who she is. I am enjoying viewing feminism this way instead. I have always had strong values and beliefs about knowing who I am and loving myself first...this is what I like to see feminism as. Feminism should be what females make it! Not what the rest of the world thinks. Not a comparison. Not an equality to men.