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A Critical Analysis of The Poem ‘from Dissolve’

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Words: 1309 |

Pages: 3|

7 min read

Published: Aug 16, 2019

Words: 1309|Pages: 3|7 min read

Published: Aug 16, 2019

Sherwin Bitsui is a Diné from the Navajo reservation in White Cone, Arizona. The poem ‘From Dissolve’ is an excerpt taken from his collection “From dissolve”. According to Cambridge Advanced Learner Dictionary ‘dissolve’ is define as to be absorbed by a liquid, especially when mixed, or (of a liquid) to absorb by a solid. This essay has an analysis of the work on ‘From Dissolve” by Sherwin Bitsui. His poem is interlocked with the description of Native American tradition situation against contemporary urban life. It also has a tendency to dwell in the line of modernity style of writing. He has a writing style of creating images and is varied in the usage of figurative devices such as juxtaposition, hieroglyptic writing and metaphorical language.

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Most of the Native American writer has the theme of their culture situation against the contemporary urban life of America. It has become difficult situation for the Native American since the Anglo American has encroached in their territory. “Among the many cultures around the world, the Native American community is one of the many minorities who have gone through horrid times and still struggle to preserve their traditions. To this day and age, Native American tribes are segregated from the rest of the community with Reserves and Preservation camps, where they can do their way of life but only to a limit of their former cultural potential.” (Fulford & Hutchings, (2009). Their cultural resources left are limited even more each passing day and they are forced to cope with the mainstream American civilization. Native American children were educated like Americans and they had to change their native ways to be more like whites (Jenkins, 2005). In the poem ‘From Dissolve’; the poet has expressed his feeling of suppression by the Anglo-American. The title itself speaks more. “From Dissolve”; it may mean that the lost art and culture of Navajo tribe which once was a strong is now regaining its momentum. The poet wants to keep his culture diversity alive. In one of Bitsui’s interview by Staff (2013), he states, “In our cultural climate we are witnessing—we are present in the era where a lot of our languages are going- are disappearing. And I think poetry is one way that we could find a moment where some of those languages surface and regenerate a poem in English. Or maybe confront the English language.” Therefore, the poet in the opening line of the poem ‘Floodsong’ uses the Navajo word for water and it is repeated seven times. “tó tó tó… tó tó” (Bitsui, 2003).

Modern writers break all the convention of traditional writing. They do not follow the standard and structured sets of writing. They write in incoherent manner. The tendency to change from one topic to another in the course of writing is the prominent features of the modern writers. Stream of Consciousness refers to a style of writing that is organized around the interior flow of thoughts of the narrator. Just as our thoughts flow, unconnected and sometimes disorganized, stream of consciousness writing is often disjointed, and often lacks traditional sentence structure and punctuation. Similarly, the poet has written the poem without any connection to the preceding stanzas.

Juxtaposition is another prominent characteristic in the writing of Bitsui. Juxtaposition is a literary technique in which two or more ideas, places, characters, and their actions are placed side by side in a narrative or a poem, for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts (Abrams, 2004). The poet uses the techniques of juxtaposition in the poem by comparing the nature versus industrialization. The impact of industrialization on the environment has led the way with certain positive and large negative outcomes, with progressive rates and inventions. There are quite a number of resourceful natural elements like, water, air, soil and fisheries, which are considered to be positive and fertile assets. The pollution of water, soil and air, are defined as the by-product of economical development in industry and city life. Global warming and greenhouse effects are the result, which is a massive impact of industrialization on the environment. The degradation of the entire environment and ecological system is inclined to become permanent and tends to cause several negative effects on the economy, by causing human losses, ill health of the employee’s at large costs to governments, manufacturing and society. Similarly, the poet emphasizes on the pristine beauty of nature being carried out by the notion of earning financial benefits. The cedar tree is fell down and taken by the lorry for the sale. Industrialization needs people to work in factories. So, people move from rural agricultural areas that are spread out, to industrialized cities, which are concentrated. A higher population puts added pressure on the local environment.

Written in free verse form, the poet uses symbolic, metaphorical language to emphasize his point. Free verse is sometimes referred to as open form verse or by the French term Vers Libre. Like traditional verse, it is printed in short lines instead of with the continuity of prose, but it differs from such verse by the fact that its rhythmic pattern is not organized into a regular metrical form (Baldick, 2006). The first line in the first stanza is written in dimeter, the second line in iambic pentameter, the third line in octameter and the fourth in iambic pentameter. It is clearly seen that each line in a stanza is different in metrical line. “Metrical line is named according to the number of feet in it” (Bauraj, 2018). “There’s a way out—/ /walk the dirt road into cerulean dawn,/ /tap the windows of cars and trucks / /rattling down highway 77 ” (Bitsui, 2018).Since, it is a free verse; it does not have a rhyming pattern. Rhyme scheme is a pattern in which the rhymed line-endings are arranged in a poem or stanza (Baldick, 2006). In the above extract from the poem, it is clearly visible that the words do not rhyme.

Bitsui’s poem mostly center on the uses of imagery, surreal, and rich details of the landscape of the southwest. In this poem, he has used the vivid imagery to give the reader a clear picture of the scene. "Imagery" (that is, "images" taken collectively) is used to signify all the objects and qualities of sense perception referred to in a poem or other work of literature, whether by literal description, by allusion, or in the vehicles (the secondary references) of its similes and metaphors ( Abrams,2004). In the second line of the first stanza visual imagery is expressed with the use of phrase ‘dirt road’. Similarly, whirlwind, cars rattling down the highway 77, and fingerprint all depicts the wide use of imagery in the poem. The poet has created a sensory image with the profound depiction of sugared melody. “Sensory imagery is any description that involves one or more of the five senses -- touch, sight, taste, smell and sound. Poetry that is rich in sensory detail helps the reader perfectly envision the scene the poet is describing” (Thompson, 2017).

In the poem, the poet has the description of the every sensory detail of the landscape where the people out of greediness exploit the nature, which in turn has the adverse consequences. In the second stanza of the poem, the poet has made a comparison of knife to the human being; who exploits nature for purpose but nature; whirlwind, is caused by the human error which is the consequences. The nature does not have any purpose but it is forced by the action of the people. Human being have to face the calamities aroused by the greed and the

wickedness.

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In this regard, the poem ‘From Dissolve’ has been approached by the Native American writer in the distinctive description of landscape and juxtaposition of practical world. Bitsui splendidly portrayed the hieroglyptic style of depicting writing and the profound uses of ornamental decorative language of writing.

Cite this Essay

A Critical Analysis of the Poem ‘from Dissolve’. (2019, August 08). GradesFixer. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/a-critical-analysis-of-the-poem-from-dissolve/
“A Critical Analysis of the Poem ‘from Dissolve’.” GradesFixer, 08 Aug. 2019, gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/a-critical-analysis-of-the-poem-from-dissolve/
A Critical Analysis of the Poem ‘from Dissolve’. [online]. Available at: <https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/a-critical-analysis-of-the-poem-from-dissolve/> [Accessed 28 Mar. 2024].
A Critical Analysis of the Poem ‘from Dissolve’ [Internet]. GradesFixer. 2019 Aug 08 [cited 2024 Mar 28]. Available from: https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/a-critical-analysis-of-the-poem-from-dissolve/
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