The speaker is emphasizing the importance of poetry in order to conserve the eternal truths
Poem: Lawrence Ferlinghetti – Great Oracle
Great Oracle, why are you staring at me,
do I baffle you, do I make you despair?
I, Americus, the American,
wrought from the dark in my mother long ago,
from the dark of ancient Europa--
Why are you staring at me now
in the dusk of our civilization--
Why are you staring at me
as if I were America itself
the new Empire
vaster than any in ancient days
with its electronic highways
carrying its corporate monoculture
around the world
And English the Latin of our days--
Great Oracle, sleeping through the centuries,
Awaken now at last
And tell us how to save us from ourselves
and how to survive our own rulers
who would make a plutocracy of our democracy
in the Great Divide
between the rich and the poor
in whom Walt Whitman heard America singing
O long-silent Sybil,
you of the winged dreams,
Speak out from your temple of light
as the serious constellations
with Greek names
still stare down on us
as a lighthouse moves its megaphone
over the sea
Speak out and shine upon us
the sea-light of Greece
the diamond light of Greece
Far-seeing Sybil, forever hidden,
Come out of your cave at last
And speak to us in the poet’s voice
the voice of the fourth person singular
the voice of the inscrutable future
the voice of the people mixed
with a wild soft laughter--
And give us new dreams to dream,
Give us new myths to live by!
During the last century, society, especially that American one received a lot of criticism for its lifestyle and its strange attitudes towards art and other eternal truths. But we should not judge the society only from that point of view. Even though many of antic ideals are gone, there is still poetry to keep spirituality within people. In this way, I would like to show how Ferlinghetti’s understanding of poetry could bring the peace and equality to all people of the world. So I would like to support the idea that speaker is emphasizing the importance of poetry to conserve the eternal truths.
Just in the first paragraph of the poem, he expresses without any shame that he is American. He feels no guilt for bad things happening around in the world and also on the American background, because as he says he is not America itself and what is more he stands just for the poetry. He wants us to see how the materialistic world is decaying and European countries are no exception, as he suggests about “that boring American corporate monoculture that is sweeping the world.”1 Maybe America should mean more than just the technical Empire.
Poetry is a need in this world to makes the people see and live in peace. According to how he speaks for his people (“tell us...”), it must be something full of power, intelligence, wisdom, something mythical and spiritual , just like an idol for us today, must “save us from ourselves”, must inspire us not to lose a part of our identity. In this way, he addresses not only his people, Americans, but the whole world to fight against prejudice and for tolerance.
Poetry should be spoken and heard at the same time, it is just demanded by the phrase: ”speak to us”. Here he expresses the desire for the poetry that is true and worthy with all the power and grace it has. Phrases “speak out” and “shine upon us” remind me words of Koďchiro Matsuura in his message on the occasion of World Poetry Day (21 march 2003): “ Poetry is a major cultural factor, a total language that constitutes the expression of a deep-seated desire to live with others and hence an essential instrument for bringing peoples closer together”. Again he must be addressing people and he wants them to turn to the poetry that has the power to defend them, to bring the liberty, equality, justice and peace to them (“speak of your temple of light”) and to break borders.
I think a human soul is also being addressed. It should listen to the poet’s voice, “just as the voice of the poet is rarely heard in the world these days”2. Also “today in the United States, the poet has no real place or status”3
That far-seeing Sybil must be a symbol of something really strong and attractive for what people would show a great respect these days, and so he desires that poetry would mean the same for them.
I really liked the way he is not trying to be idealistic. The basic importance of poetry in his words comes to me as its power to enlighten the minds of people and make them live according to those real worthies. I think he really practices that”far-seeing “poetry. His desire for the ancient lyricism (“give us new myths to live by”) perfectly fits into that materialistic confusion expressed at the beginning.
1
The people’s poet laureate, San Francisco Chronicle, April 18, 1999(http://www.citylights.com/poetrynews)2
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, ‘Can poetry really change the world?’(http://corpse.org/issue_5/critical_urgencies/ferlingh.htm)
3
The people’s poet laureate, San Francisco Chronicle, April 18,1999 (http://www.citylights.com/poetrynews)
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