I took an honors English class last year. I analyzed, translated, and paraphrased poems all year long. I probably went through 50 poems or more by the end of the year. We did it ALL the time, and discuss them, and research what other people, scholars, think they would mean. I learned that poems are not always meant to be about what they seem to be about but many other things as well!! So that is where my idea of abstract thinking in poetry came from...
The first time I read "Tying the Knot" I thought of it as a car accident. A bloody, horrible car accident, but as I read it I didn't think that the ending of it made sense to the rest of the poem. It seemed like a really big shift to take place. After reading it again, I though of it as a relationship. Not necessarily a marriage, but just a relationship. I thought that it showed signs of a relationship throughout the whole poem. "I think we married at the hospital in Elko," "Always, you promised," and the whole last stanza. Both of these things I thought of things you would say to a boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife.
I decided that the poem is about rough times in a relationship, you start out a relationship and it has its highs, and good times, and it has its very very bad times as well. I thought about a couple who just rip each other to pieces, not only mentally but also physically. In the end everything is ok, and you can 'forgive and forget' everything that happened. After you realize its not worth fighting over, you can make it all ok.
I thought a lot of this poem was very graphic, and had a lot of imagery, the diction in it was also really good. "Blood, leecheed, salty red" are all words that I thought were very strong in the poem. The diction here, shows a lot of pain and hurt with whatever had happened between them. I also thought that the tone in the poem shifted in the last stanza. It became a lot less 'pain' and more comforting and relaxed. In the first two stanzas it feels like the speaker has a lot of tension in his/her voice, and in the last stanza it changed.
So... I actually thought it was an interesting poem. I didn't like it very much, but I thought it was well written, with a lot of detail, and imagery.
Let me know waht you think...
