Monday, September 5, 2016
“At the Un-National Monument Along the Canadian Border”
William E. Stafford uses satire and a peaceful tone to write about the Canadian border in his poem, “At the Un-National Monument Along the Canadian Border”. The first two lines are extremely ironic and basically say that this is the field that nothing happened in. There was no battle and no one died. Nothing heroic happened as the sky, normally a silent onlooker, is now the heroic figure by giving life to the field. Everything is quiet and “birds fly here without any sound.” This seems like William Stafford is describing a pretty clearing with flowers and so deep in the forest that “people celebrate it by forgetting its name.” It is one of those places that are so tranquil that they are hallowed because g-d had to have been there. William Stafford’s satire here is showing that not all borders have to be fought about and no one has to die. He is not satirizing the Canadian border but he is satirizing all other borders that people are fighting over.
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You're an amazing writer. Wow. Give me some of your skills, please? Anyways, stop summarizing and focus on a central theme. The central theme is trying to show that although nothing took place on this field, it should still be acknowledged for its beauty and peace. Also, once you begin writing about one technique, make sure you are able to prove it throughout the poem and continue using different quotes to prove your point. Try and stick with one idea instead of hopping from one thing to the next (that is more of a summarizing technique - you also did this in the other one..).
ReplyDeleteBut really, you're an amazing writer!!Keep up the amazing work :))))
I agree with Batya about the summarizing and the hopping around. Also, I'm not sure you proved that the poem was satiric. The examples you gave don't seem satiric to me.
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