Dear Mr. Li-Young,
As
I was reading your book, Behind my Eyes, I
came across the poem, “Standard Checklist for Amateur Mystics” and had a
question about the reasoning and mechanics through the speaker’s use of tone
and diction. In contrast to much of your poetry, this poem seems to be highly
simplistic and straightforward, and I must admit, this nature of the poem is
what really interested me. At first I thought the speaker was simply listing
items, qualities, or skills needed for what one might deem an actual “mystic”
to be, but then it became evident as to why the speaker most likely chose to
describe mystics in your title as “amateur”. I feel as though the speaker’s aim suddenly
became derogatory towards them as he or she used such modern terms and
expressions such as “shit” to describe stuff or belongings or “filch” to represent
beg, steal, or attain.
This brings me to
the question of why the speaker might be talking about such an old and ancient
figure in such a modern way. I couldn’t possibly see why he or she might have
such a dislike for these people, but is it possibly because the speaker feels
that the entire idea and existence of mystics themselves is just ludicrous? And
did you possibly make this poem so list-like and simple because of this
supposed derogatory tone towards them? Lastly, the speaker notes that in order
for a mystic to “see the all-in-one”, he needs seven eyes; what exactly is
meant by this? Possibly (and honestly just a complete, but educated guess)
seven eyes because in many cultures, the number seven is believed to be a theoretical
“magic” number which could correlate with the “magic” mystic, and which in turn
mocks them?
With Regards,
Ashton Woodall
Ashton,
ReplyDeleteI definitely believe that your questioning of the word choice and putting your before and after thoughts was a good move in terms of your analysis, showing how your opinion of the poem changed as the word choice transitioned. Perhaps develop the idea that the words used to list the things a mystic needs might have an impact on the title, and why "amateur" seems to fit, instead of maybe something even more degrading. Additionally, another proposition as to why the list may be so derogatory may be due to the fact that the speaker might have been scammed by a mystic in some way, so they might use the list in retaliation. Just a suggestion, but overall, some pretty good analysis.