Explication
The poem “Yesterday” by W.S. Merwin is basically
around a son clarifying his association with his guardians. He feels that his
relation with his father is not that much strong and it should be strengthened.
Be that as it may, he considers himself the reason for that weak bond. The poem
is actually composed in a way of discussion. The son is informing an individual
concerning the way his association was with his guardians. Additionally, he is
informing the individual why the relationship is weak. In this poem, the
individual dependably reacts to the depressing words from son.
The son appears to lament that his
relation is not solid with his guardians. He is by all accounts thinking once
again on his association with his guardians and feels terrible in light of the
fact that he was fundamentally the reason there was not a solid relation there
whatsoever. He constantly appeared to be too occupied and constantly appeared
to have superior stuff to do which was generally not the case. Moreover, he was
ignoring what was imperative in life and now realizing his mistakes as it is
visible in his words when he says that he could have gone to his parents “once"
in a month (8).
These kinds of words from the poet
clarify how the son did not set aside a few minutes to see his guardians. The
son never appeared to identify a necessity to have a solid association with his
guardians. He is now thinking over on his earlier periods of life and is
realizing that he ought to have utilized his leisure time, astutely. It was not
because of his busy schedule of life but because the son simply never put
emphasis on essential matters of life. As the son realized his blunder, he is
essentially vexing himself on the grounds that he can't about-face in time and
fix his mix-ups. When the poet says that he had to go “nowhere”, it clearly
demonstrates that the son was never excessively occupied to see his guardians
(42). Every time, the father used to ask the son to stay and converse, the son
simply run away by making excuses.
Theme
The theme of this poem is to regret. Basically, the
theme of this poetry is to adore everyone near us, in our surrounding as we are
meeting them for the last time because we really cannot imagine how rapidly
things change and man passes away. The companion in the poem is greatly
attempting to make the poet feel good by letting him know his awful association
with his father by stating that “my friend says I was not a good son” (1). He
excused his father that he couldn't stay because he had a lot of things to do
whereas; in reality he was not busy in any kind of activity.
Merwin
utilizes a huge number of scholarly gadgets in this piece of poetry; with a
specific end goal to both elevate its motivation and to its meaningfulness, for
instance, the utilization of anaphora and the redundancy of the words "I
say" (3-31). The thinking for the anaphora may be to create a feeling of
discussion. Merwin likewise utilizes enjambment, apostrophe, caesura, and
envoi. These gadgets help the sonnets stream and style. The envoi and apostrophe
make the feeling that an individual is addressing reader, while enjambment and
caesura help the poetry in its style and stream.
There's a level of importance in
this poetry to the majority of our lives. We try hard to stay in contact and to
hold our relations together, yet now and then, by our own particular
activities, relation becomes rotted. It is the way that the son recognizes his
own particular acts but decides to see his relationship rot exacerbates
everything.
personal connection
I
chose the poem "Yesterday" by W.S. Merwin on the grounds that it
truly addresses the theme of regretting. Despite the fact that the poetry
appears to be befuddling, it realized me that families ought not to be taken as
granted because we never know about their final day in this universe. The poem
leaves me with the sentiments of sympathy, even edginess. Explaining of his
father's association is something positive by the son. The son is recognizing
his disappointments to stay in contact, yet does zilch about it. He realizes
that he could improve, possibly by going to his parents once in a month yet decides to insouciance
his commitments as a son. Be that as it may, what is most upsetting to me about
this piece of poetry, is not the rotted association amid a son and the father,
but instead the nonchalance of son towards his father. 
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYou are overly harsh with the son, who by narrating this account is repenting and making
ReplyDeleteamends for any past slights. It is the prerogative of a son to take his father for granted
just as it is the friend's prerogative to neglect his friend. With his narration and his
restrospective analysis of the situation, the narrator-son redeems both himself and, by
recounting his friend's intervention, the friend.
The narrator's friend, who is older than the narrator--probably the father's friend--is
also confessing to having neglected "my" father, despite having nothing else to do or
nowhere else to go (in a line that is reminiscent of that other great American poet, Robert
Frost). The beauty of the poem is in the ambiguity of the attribution of the pronouns so
that not only are both the narrator and the friend neglectful to the narrator's father, but
the friend is guilty of the same towards his "own" (i.e. my) father. Both interpretations
are true. That realization and that confession and that redemption are the necessary phases
we must pass through in this life of mistakes on our way to the wisdom of old age -- when
it is too late for us, but not too late to warn the young so that they do not make the same
mistakes. Unfortunately, the young--who are only too quick to find fault with others --
cannot understand their own folly until it is too late for them. The ambiguity of whose
father is being neglected and who is doing the neglecting should alert us to the
universality of the problem. In the words of another great poet: "I am he as you are he
and we are all together." (John Lennon). But that is the human condition. That is why
this is a masterpiece. Thank you, Mr. Merwin.
Posted on http://reviewinaflash.blogspot.ca/2014/12/critical-perspectives-on-yesterday-
by.html
On November 25, 2015 at 20h46 EDT
Robert Romano
You are overly harsh with the son, who by narrating this account is repenting and making
ReplyDeleteamends for any past slights. It is the prerogative of a son to take his father for granted
just as it is the friend's prerogative to neglect his friend. With his narration and his
restrospective analysis of the situation, the narrator-son redeems both himself and, by
recounting his friend's intervention, the friend.
The narrator's friend, who is older than the narrator--probably the father's friend--is
also confessing to having neglected "my" father, despite having nothing else to do or
nowhere else to go (in a line that is reminiscent of that other great American poet, Robert
Frost). The beauty of the poem is in the ambiguity of the attribution of the pronouns so
that not only are both the narrator and the friend neglectful to the narrator's father, but
the friend is guilty of the same towards his "own" (i.e. my) father. Both interpretations
are true. That realization and that confession and that redemption are the necessary phases
we must pass through in this life of mistakes on our way to the wisdom of old age -- when
it is too late for us, but not too late to warn the young so that they do not make the same
mistakes. Unfortunately, the young--who are only too quick to find fault with others --
cannot understand their own folly until it is too late for them. The ambiguity of whose
father is being neglected and who is doing the neglecting should alert us to the
universality of the problem. In the words of another great poet: "I am he as you are he
and we are all together." (John Lennon). But that is the human condition. That is why
this is a masterpiece. Thank you, Mr. Merwin.
Posted on http://reviewinaflash.blogspot.ca/2014/12/critical-perspectives-on-yesterday-
by.html
On November 25, 2015 at 20h46 EDT
Robert Romano