Park 1 Jack Park Mr.

Damaso Honors English II, Period 3 6 May 2012 Accepting the Flaws You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give. Eleanor Roosevelt On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as the first president of the United States. After centuries of racial prejudice and hatred, Barack Obama, among other figures like Marin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, stands as a symbol of the progress that the United States has made in accepting people of varied races. But without racism and segregation, the courageous acts that these, and a great many other people, have made could never exist. People fight and struggle with this concept of accepting both the fault and the beauty in life. This search for closure permeates all levels of our society. In art, Michael Jackson in his song Man in the Mirror, decides that one must accept their flaws by looking in the mirror and act to make a positive change. Similarly, the concept of Realism in the visual arts finds the beauty and grace in depicting the world for what it is, with all of its imperfection and asymmetry. However, this idea is not confined to only the visual or musical arts. It also extends into the vast field of the literary arts. One group of literary artists in particular, poets, seek to find a solution to how one should accept life. While several poets scratch the surface of this question, Linda Pastan cuts through

Park 2 the outer membrane of simple platitudes to find a deeper meaning through her poetry. Linda Pastan is an American poet who is famous for her extensive use of symbolism. Born in 1932, she currently lives in Potomac, Maryland. She has often been considered for the national poet laureate of America, and has served as the poet laureate of Maryland. Her poems are often referred to as both deep and meaningful through her extensive use of imagery. While Linda Pastan has written many wonderful poems, her poems Grudnow, I am Learning to Abandon the World, and To a Daughter Leaving Home most directly seek the answer to the meaning of life. These three poems share a theme of accepting both the good and the bad or imperfect in life. While one is tempted to dive directly into the deep imagery and precise diction of Linda Pastans poems, it is equally important to observe the author herself. She was born in New York City in the year of 1932, and she still lives to this day (Linda Pastan). Mrs. Pastan graduated from Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts with a B.A. degree. She graduated from Simmons College in Boston with an M.L.S. degree. Finally, she graduated from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts with a M.A degree (Linda Pastan). Linda Pastan married Ira Pastan and become a housewife which made her very unhappy (Linda Pastan). Her husband, noticing her unhappiness, encouraged her to return to poetry. This unhappiness shaped some of Linda Pastans poetry (Linda Pastan). Linda Pastans struggles within her life mirror her interesting and unique style. Considered a master of imagery, Mrs. Pastan ignores the traditions of both meter and rhythm. This leads her to write almost entirely in free verse, a form that is not confined by meter, rhythm, rhyme scheme, or any other constraints, save for the ones the poet chooses for him or herself. In order to compensate for her seeming lack of order, Pastan makes use of very specific diction, pursuing her subject with a needle-thin precision (Franklin). She uses imagery to examine the

Park 3 difficult themes of morality, love, the inevitability of death, and the meaning of life. One of the greatest influences to Pastans poetry was the interruption of her literary career when she assumed the role of housewife (Franklin). Pastan defends her lifestyle as a housewife, saying that a housewife experiences both great joy and great sacrifice. The historical era and events that raged about Linda Pastans head as she wrote also played a large influence on her poetry. Linda Pastan lived through multiple periods of great turmoil as well as growth. She was born in the early 20th century, just before the rise of industrialism and the dawn of globalization. She also lived through WWII and saw the rise of domesticity. Clearly one of the most prominent of the events she witnessed was World War II. Linda Pastan is Jewish and the anti-Semitic Nazi movement had a large impact on her poetry. During the Nazi regime, the German people wanted legal discrimination and action taken against the Jewish people (Hartman). Rather than shying away, Linda Pastan accepts the terrible atrocities of the Nazi regime and courageously expresses the fear it caused in her poetry. Not many poets, or people for that matter, are comfortable expressing their fears for the world to see. Another important historical event that added context to her poetry was the decline of the classic humanitarian education. People had lost sight of the value of humanities and the arts. They did not realize that true humanities promote many positive values, including integrity and honesty. They help us to become less and less like animals, and more civilized (Hintz). Pastan realized the need for the humanities to re-inspire people and is one of the reasons that her poems are so meaningful. While Linda Pastans body of work expresses themes of morality, love, the inevitability of death, and the meaning of life, the poems Grudnow, I am Learning to Abandon the World, and To a Daughter Leaving Home specifically deal with accepting the beauty in the flawed nature of life. These poems express an acceptance of hardship, of loss, and of change.

Park 4 Speaking generally, critics say that the poem Grudnow is about a grandfather and his description of his hometown, Grudnow, before immigrating, and a view of Grudnow, through the eyes of his granddaughter as well as her idea of what life in Grudnow would be like for her (Constantakis 72). Likewise, the poem, I am Learning to Abandon the World is about the slow and inevitable approach of death, and accepting this fact. (Overview). Finally, the poem To a Child Leaving Home is about a childs future adulthood and her departure from the mothers life (Greenbaum). These are scholars and critics didnt seem to exhibit any sort of ulterior motives or bias beyond personal preference. Rather, they sought to critically analyze and review her poetry and create accurate and reliable articles to be used in research. While the general ideas within the poems are great, the deeper ideas unearthed by analysis are even better. For example, Linda Pastans poem "Grudnow", is about accepting the hardships of life while also cherishing the joy in it. Constantakis believes the poem is about how acknowledging both the painful and the pleasant moments of the past are equally important to remembering it (Constantakis 76). The critic goes on to observe that one cannot truly recall a memory without accepting all facets of it. If one only chooses to remember the good times and ignore the hardships, then one warps and twists the past, making it less than it was before. Therefore, one must accept the entirety of their past, both the ease and the struggles, in order to respect its memory and pay it homage. In the text itself, the speaker recalls her grandfather saying He left because there was nothing there (Appendix A Lines 8-9). This excerpt from the poem expresses the hardship of Grudnow, prompting her grandfather to leave and immigrate to America. However, it is important to note that he still recalls the hardships endured there. Later, the poem depicts the people as standing/ against a landscape emptied/ of crops and trees, scraped raw/ by winter (Appendix A Lines 12-15). This also expresses the hardships in

Park 5 Grudnow. It emphasizes the burden of winter. Finally, the speaker recalls that her grandfather always/ sipped his tea through a cube of sugar/ clenched in his teeth, the way/ he sipped his life here, noisily,/ through all he remembered/ that might have been sweet in Grudnow (Appendix A Lines 31-36). While his grandfather did recount the difficulties and hardship of Grudnow, symbolized by the bitter tea, he also remembered the joy and happiness that may have been in Grudnow, symbolized by the sugar cube. The fact that the grandfather lived life noisily implies that he embraced his life, and that he enjoyed the sweet and good as much as possible. However, his acceptance of the hardship of his life is symbolized by the fact that he drinks the bitter tea in the first place. Rather than disregarding the tea and eating only the sugar cube, he accepts both the struggles and the joy in life and combines the two in order to attain a full flavor and an honest memory of his past. While this poem discusses accepting the hardships in life, the next poem emphasizes accepting loss in life. The poem I am Learning to Abandon the World outlines the acceptance of loss throughout the course of life. One critic says that one of Pastans themes is that life is able to temporarily defeat death and it is too good to give up (Overview). There is too much joy in life to surrender each time one encounters the loss that death symbolizes; therefore, one must accept it. In the poem, the speaker notes how the world has taken/ my father, my friends (Appendix B Lines 6-7). This implies how her friends and father have either died or are no longer estranged. The idea of losing ones friends and family also symbolizes the loss that one will experience through the course of life. Further into the poem, And every night I give my body up/ limb by limb, working upwards/ across bone, towards the heart (Appendix B Lines 10-12). This excerpt communicates the desolation felt in the face of inevitable death, and ultimately, more loss. The speaker knows that death is inevitable and acquiesces to it. However, at the end of the poem, the

Park 6 speaker says that I [the speaker] take my body back/ the sun lays its warm muzzle on my lap/ as if to make amends (Appendix B Lines 19-21). The speaker accepts loss and the inevitability of death and decides to continue to live her life. Similar to accepting life despite painful losses, the next poem is about accepting unwanted change in life. The poem To a Daughter Leaving Home expresses a need to accept the unwanted and unforeseen changes in life. Greenbaum, a critic, says that the poem is about a childs future adulthood and departure from the mothers life (Greenbaum). The mother in the poem has yet to let go of her child and she does not desire the change in her lifestyle or in her childs lifestyle. Set in the pretense of a bicycle lesson, when the daughter pulls away from the speaker, she talks about my [the speaker] own mouth rounding/ in surprise when you pulled/ ahead down the curved/ path of the park (Appendix C Lines 7-10). This excerpt shows the unexpected nature of the change. The mother was expecting to continue teaching her child about riding bikes and how to live life. After the daughter pulled away, the mother noted that you [the daughter] grew/ smaller, more breakable/ with distance (Appendix C 15-17). Mrs. Pastan describes the great amount of fear that the speaker felt with the change and the need to let go. She does not desire to see her daughter hurt and wants to protect her child. The mother never wants the bike lesson, being a metaphor for learning about life, to end. The final line of the poem consists of one word, Goodbye (Appendix C Line 24). This emphasizes the acceptance of the mother. While this was part of a larger sentence comparing her daughters hair to a handkerchief waving goodbye, the only reason for the line break was to emphasize the closure that the poet wanted to bring to the reader. The mother accepts the change that her daughter is undergoing, however unwanted or unexpected.

Park 7 The messages about accepting the flaws in life that Pastan communicates are similarly expressed in modern works of art. One group of artworks in specific, Project Err, deals directly with the idea of greatness in flaws. Project Err prompted the laborers of mass production facilities to produce an artistically flawed unit. The man who was the impetus for the project, Jeremy Hutchison, is rather obscure, only claiming to be based out of London. It is apparent, however, that he is still alive today, as he has a Twitter account. Jeremy Hutchison gathered the artworks during the year of 2011 requesting flawed products to be used in an artistic function. The Project Err includes things ranging from a backwards shovel, a toothless comb, and a mangled chair. While there is a bit of humor or a satirical aura about the artworks, there is a deeper message being communicated by them. The whole of Project Err is based around the idea that there is still artistry and beauty in the flawed objects in life. Jeremy Hutchisons other works also are designed to make people think. His art varies in style and doesnt even seem to fall into a single specific style. Project Err is an outcry for individualism in a world where the goal is to be identical. Almost all of the works of Jeremy Hutchison praise the beauty of a flawed work. He takes the mistakes made by workers and raises them up on a pedestal, praising their uniqueness. Jeremy Hutchison and Linda Pastan both note the imperfections of the world. Similarly to Linda Pastan, Jeremy Hutchison also recognizes that there is good in the world as well through the original design of the item. In the end, Jeremy Hutchison and Linda Pastan both decide that life is better with both the good and the bad. Just as Linda Pastans message draws parallels to the visual arts, it also finds several similarities in the literary arts. One book in particular, Jigsaw Soul by Mr. Scott Middlemist finds a connection to Mrs. Pastans message as the main character struggles to accept the mistakes and

Park 8 tragedies of his life. In writing the novel, Mr. Middlemist draws primarily upon his experiences as an infantry officer, but he also is influenced by his job as an English teacher. The novel is formed upon pretense of PTSD, a disorder often witnessed in people who have served in the armed forces. In addition, Mr. Middlemist uses many classical stories and mythologies, reflecting his employment as an English teacher. The work mainly takes place in the present in Iraq and an American mental ward, but it also takes place in during the events of November 11 in New York City and in San Francisco. Additionally, the book also takes place in the mythical places of Camelot and Nordic Valhalla, as well as the burning inferno of hell. The main character, Arthur Logan commits and witnesses terrible atrocities while serving in the field. When he returns home, the trauma leads him to cause an accident killing hundreds of innocent civilians. After being placed in a mental ward, Arthur Logan has to embark quests to recover the lost parts of his soul and to accept the mistakes. Scott Middlemists novel, similar to Linda Pastans poetry, communicates the need for one to accept both their own mistakes and failings and to also accept their own positive traits and successes they have made. During his quests, Arthur Logan receive help from George Patton. However, Patton also has his own personal problems. Towards the end of the book Patton says that Theyve [his troops] been with me this whole time in The Scale. In my mind. In my heart. Tonight, for the first time, I feel forgiven (Middlemist 342). George Patton feels serious regret for sending his troops to their death as well as for slapping and insulting some of his troops. He regrets the shame he caused the troops he slapped, and he feels guilty for the men who died under his command. However, he lets go of this guilt and shame and forgives himself, and through this, opens himself up to being forgiven by the ghosts of his troops. Arthur Logan also meets with his father who is good friends with Frank Lloyd Wright in the book. His father recalls

Park 9 how Frank told me he wanted to go to his family. We came up several times, but he couldnt bring himself to go. He told me his biggest fear was facing his children (Middlemist 356). Frank Lloyd Wright was unsure and fearful of whether his children would forgive his mistakes. He, with the help of Arthur and his father, comes to terms with this fear and moves on to the next world. Finally, Arthurs therapist, Dr. Simon, affirms that he should be released from mental care at the end of the novel. She says that Arthur Logan succeeded because he didnt run from responsibility. He carried it, came to terms with it, and was rewarded with the healing of his psyche (Middlemist 366). She tried to understand the burden of guilt and intense sadness that Arthur had carried for the last two years. She aptly realized that Arthur had found peace with himself, his flaws, his mistakes, and his shortcomings and accepted them. The characters in Mr. Scott Middlemists book find and accept their flaws and become better and stronger people because of this. The literary arts, the visual arts, and above all poetry, have recognized the need for a greater depth in education and within the arts. All of these different mediums have found the same message they want to express; that life includes the bad, the flaws, the pain, and the sorrow or the good, the perfections, the happiness, and the joy. Man has witnessed and experienced some terrible things, but he has accepted these and decided to make a change for the better. Similarly, people today need to realize that there is value in the bad in life. People struggle to accept this fact, and they live much poorer lives because of it. This idea shapes everyones lives and makes them stronger and more unique people. Linda Pastans work will be inspiring, leading people to not only live better lives, but also to produce better art and literature to share with the world.

Park 10 Appendix A Grudnow, Linda Pastan (1986) When he spoke of where he came from, my grandfather could have been clearing his throat of that name, that town sometimes Poland, sometimes Russia. the borders pencilled in with a hand as shaky as his. He left, I heard him say, because there was nothing there. 5

I understood what he meant when I saw the photograph of his people standing against a landscape emptied of crops and trees, scraped raw by winter. Everything 15

10

was in sepia, as if the brown earth had stained the faces, stained even the air.

I would have died there, I think

Park 11 in childhood maybe of some fever, my face pressed for warmth against a cow with flanks like those of the great aunts in the picture. Or later I would have died of history like the others, who dug 25 20

their stubborn heels into that earth, heels as hard as the heels of the bread my grandfather tore from the loaf at supper. He always sipped his tea through a cube of sugar clenched in his teeth, the way he sipped his life here, noisily, through all he remembered 35 30

that might have been sweet in Grudnow.

Park 12 Appendix B I Am Learning To Abandon the World, Linda Pastan (1981) I am learning to abandon the world before it can abandon me. Already I have given up the moon and snow, closing my shades against the claims of white. And the world has taken my father, my friends. I have given up melodic lines of hills, moving to a flat, tuneless landscape. And every night I give my body up limb by limb, working upwards across bone, towards the heart. But morning comes with small reprieves of coffee and birdsong. A tree outside the window 15 10 5

which was simply shadow moments ago takes back its branches twig by leafy twig. And as I take my body back the sun lays its warm muzzle on my lap as if to make amends. 20

Park 13 Appendix C To A Daughter Leaving Home, Linda Pastan (1988) When I taught you at eight to ride a bicycle, loping along beside you as you wobbled away on two round wheels, my own mouth rounding in surprise when you pulled ahead down the curved path of the park, I kept waiting for the thud of your crash as I sprinted to catch up, while you grew smaller, more breakable with distance, pumping, pumping for your life, screaming with laughter, the hair flapping

Park 14 behind you like a handkerchief waving goodbye.

Park 15 Appendix D

Park 16

Park 17 Appendix E

Park 18

Park 19

Park 20 Appendix F Project Err, Jeremy Hutchison 2011

Park 21 Works Cited Bennes, Crystal. "Err." Icon Magazine. Icon Eye. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. Franklin, Benjamin, V. "Linda (Olenik) Pastan." American Poets Since World War II. Ed. Donald J. Greiner. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 5. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 Apr. 2012. Greenbaum, Jessica. "Family Albums." The Women's Review of Books 6.1 (1988): 19.JSTOR. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. "Grudnow." Poetry for Students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 32. Detroit: Gale, 2010. 72-90. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 Apr. 2012. "Linda Pastan." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 Apr. 2012. Hartman, Dieter D. "Anti-Semitism and the Appeal of Nazism." Political Psychology 5.4 (1984): 635-42. JSTOR. Web. 1 Apr. 2012. Hintz, Howard W. "The Humanities in American Culture." Prairie Schooner 27.2 (1953): 12735. JSTOR. Web. 1 Apr. 2012. Hutchison, Jeremy. "Project Err." Jeremy Hutchison. 2011. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://jeremyhutchison.com/work/project2.html>. Kronen, Steve. "The Imperfect Paradise." Prairie Schooner 65.1 (1991): 130-33. JSTOR. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. "Linda Pastan." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 Apr. 2012. Middlemist, Scott. Jigsaw Soul. Scott Middlemist. Print.

Park 22 Moreno, J. L. "American Culture-in-Transition." Sociometry 18.4 (1955): 95-99. JSTOR. Web. 1 Apr. 2012. "Overview: 'I Am Learning to Abandon the World'." Poetry for Students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 40. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 Apr. 2012. Pastan, Linda. "Grudnow." Poetry 149.1 (1986): 1-2. JSTOR. Web. 1 May 2012. Pastan, Linda. "I Am Learning To Abandon the World." Poetry (1981). Poetry Foundation. Web. 5 Apr. 2012. Pritchard, William H. "Poetry Chronicle." Poetry 143.4 (1984): 234-35. JSTOR. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. Williams, Eliza. "CR Blog." Creative Review. Creative Review, 29 June 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. <http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2011/june/jeremy-hutchinson>.