Michael Hakim Week 6 - “So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye” - Sam Sax

      In, “So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye” by Sam Sax, Sax says goodbye to what the reader assumes is his home city in an interesting, emotional way. The poem perfectly captures the good, the bad, and the ugly about today’s big cities through a unique perspective. Rather than just describing his opinion on the matter, Sax does so by first saying goodbye to the city, and then transitioning into why the city isn’t a good thing to begin with, due to the negative impact of humans on the environment.

     Though his views may be controversial to some, Sax argues his point here very well, and in a way that really sticks with the reader. I really appreciated the sort of ‘all-over-the-place’ nature of the poem. I loved how the poem kept me engaged, as I sometimes have trouble focusing on things that aren’t mentally stimulating. I really related to and loved the language used here.

     I really related to this poem. In the beginning, when Sax was saying goodbye, I truly felt it. I feel that Sax and I are very similar as people - we are both very emotions-based, which is why I think I am so easily able to relate to the language he uses here. My favorite line from the poem was when Sax said, “i’m beguiled by & guided by goodbyes : meaning go ye with god : meaning ghost-flushed & godless : meaning guided by some guy away.”

     Overall, I don’t know whether to agree or disagree with this poem. On one hand, I completely understand Sax’s arguments here, but at the same time, I don’t know what to think because all I know is modern-day life in modern-day cities, most of which are, unfortunately, not environmentally friendly. However, I think that this poem can inspire change, which, if enacted, can allow cities to exist and not be environmentally taxing.

Poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/148391/so-long-farewell-auf-wiedersehen-goodbye



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Leah Nagle - Week 4 - College is Stressing Me Out

Image
I feel like the second we started this school year, everyone (including myself) started freaking out about college. It’s funny to me that everyone talks about how stressful junior year is and how senior year is super chill, because that has definitely not been my experience. For me, in junior year, college was only a distant thought and my workload was manageable, but now, in senior year, I am so incredibly stressed with school, the SAT, and college applications.  Although I know that I am up to date with my college application work, it always feels like I’m behind because I’ll hear from a friend that they’re ahead of me. It makes me so stressed and I hate it, so I try to not compare myself to others, but it’s hard, ya know? There really is so much that goes into college applications that I didn’t even realize until now and that stresses me out.  On top of the actual work that has to be done in order to apply to college, another thing that’s stressful about the process is deciding whic
Read more

Rosalie Weiss- Week 1- “The Hermit Crab” by Mary Oliver

Image
The Hermit Crab is a poem by Mary Oliver in which she reflects on an encounter she had with a hermit crab and the observations she made while watching it find a new home.  I believe that the ocean, which Oliver describes as always “shouting and hissing toward the future,” every wave “leaving the shore littered” with “ornaments of death,” is a symbol for time. (lines 19-25) The hermit crab fights against the ocean by making a home out of the old shells it had discarded. This “rebellion” is also a way of fighting against time, “connecting everything, the past to the future.” (lines 29-33) I interpret this part of the poem to be a metaphor for remembering and learning from our past, as by holding on to our memories, we are effectively rebelling against time and its efforts to wash the past away.   In the first stanza of poem, Oliver writes, “Once I looked inside the darkness of a shell folded like a pastry and there was a fancy face.” (lines 1-4) Upon reading this, I thought, “what a fun
Read more

Jack Yesner Week 10 - The Imposter Syndrome

Image
  The end of the first semester of senior year is quickly approaching. This semester has been the root cause of my stress for the past few months, and I am glad it is nearly over. I tell myself that next semester will be less stressful because college applications are complete and schoolwork will be more relaxed, and I hope I am buying into it. But in reality, I know that I have told myself the future won’t be strenuous multiple times, and I end up regretting my past reassurances.  Throughout my life, I have strived for perfection. I could never start an assignment without a clear plan of what the finished product will look like, I had to rehearse anything spoken, and I never settled for less than 100% effort. But as I am approaching my final semester of school, I am starting to recognize that this is abnormal behavior.  I unfortunately believe that I have developed some form of the Imposter Syndrome. The Imposter Syndrome, which is also known as perceived fraudulence, occurs whe
Read more