Walcott’s poem begins with a group of men, presumably of Western culture, asking “Where are your monuments, your battles, martyrs?/Where is your tribal memory?”. The speaker of the poem answers “in the sea”. Unlike Joaquin in Gonzales’ poem, whose words contain a summary of Mexico’s history, Walcott’s speaker denies any working “tribal memory”. He goes through the history that derives from both the Old Testament and the New Testament but says “…that was not History,/that was only faith”. It is possible that the speaker ironically tells the “sirs”, probably the colonizers, that the reason they have no tribal memory is because the colonizers have washed it away and replaced it with their own religion. Their “history” only began when “each rock broke into its own nation”- modern history post colonization (and independence?). Gonzales’ Joaquin makes it very clear what group he is speaking of, mentioning Mexico by name as well as recounting its history. Because Walcott’s speaker does not recount his country’s history that he claims has been washed away, it is unsurprising that the reader has no knowledge of what group is being discussed. Also, while Joaquin incorporates Christianity into his history, Walcott’s speaker allows religion to replace his early history.
We know that in Walcott's poem, we simply don't know their country's history since it has been washed away. Therefore, we as reader, have no clue what type of history are they talking about. Since in the beginning, we see that he asks, "Where are your monuments, your battles, martyrs?/Where is your tribal memory?” The speaker replies that its "in the sea." However, it is clear in Joaquin's poem since he makes it clear that what group he is particularly talking about. We see that he mentions Mexico as he was reccounting its history. Another interesting thing that I noticed is that Joaquin includes religion of Christianity into his history while in Walcott's poem, we see that the early history is simply replaced with religious beliefs. In Joaquin's poem we see that it is tracing Mexico's history, while Walcott goes ahead with the history that comes from both the Old Testament and as well as the New Testament but we also see that the speaker says “…that was not History,/that was only faith.” Both poems are talking about history, but one includes Chritianity in the history while the other one is completely replaced by the religion itself, so therefore, there is no history.
Walcott uses his treatment of history by referencing biblical events. Gonzales also takes a similar approach to his poem by speaking of the Virgen de Guadalupe which is a mexican religious figure. Walcott treatment of history gives the poem background of how people lived before and what history is the "new History" that everyone should expect. Gonzales goes into a time machine and relives Mexican history in his poem. The Treatment of history in Gonzales is more depth. Joaquin the speaker in the poem travels to the past and walks with important Mexican figures of the time. Joaquin fights for his county and land, he is very prideful of his culture and the history figures that are mention on the poem all seem to have the same characteristics. All of these people are important Mexican figures that contribute to Mexico's independence and freedom in one way or another. Ithink the treatment of history is used well on both poems, Gonzales actually uses the history of Mexico from its early days to present time, while Walcott's history is more of an "open" one, one that anyone could relate to as early human life.
In both poems there is something being destroyed. In the poem “I am Joaquin” Joaquin feels “destroyed by modern society.” This implies that Joaquin can not be himself. Trying hard to conform in society, he becomes confused from the rules, and standards society creates. In Walcott’s poem, “The sea is history” the sea is the destroyer. It keeps history “locked up.” Those that try to find their history are unable to locate it because of the destruction the sea caused. The sea is considered the history, which saddens the people trying to find it. This brings “lamentation” (great grief). Also, similar to Walcott’s poem, Joaquin feels that his history was lost. “In a country that has wiped out all my history…”Although the poems share similarities, they do obtain differences. Joaquin fights this battle of feeling destroyed, and confused on his own. In Walcott’s poem, there is no individual that addresses a single problem. Instead the poem is spoken from the voices of people as a whole, searching for the history that has been lost.
While history emerges as a major theme in both Gonzales’ “I am Joaquin” and Walcott’s “The Sea is History,” it functions differently in each poem. In “I am Joaquin,” Gonzales demonstrates how history is intertwined with the speaker’s identity. It therefore emerges as the source of the numerous paradoxes in Joaquin’s character, causing him to embody the identity of his people’s heroes as well as their oppressors: “I am the despots Diaz/ And Huerta/ And the apostle of democracy,/ Francisco Madero.” By presenting himself as an amalgamation of famous figures both good and bad, Joaquin reveals how history shaped the individual he has become. But rather than succumbing to his oppressors, he chooses to confront the inconsistencies in his identity, proclaiming that, “I am the masses of my people and/ I refuse to be absorbed.” Ultimately, this knowledge of his people’s history is what fuels Joaquin’s resistance.
Walcott’s poem, however, engenders a search for history. Although the title, “The Sea is History,” suggests that this quest is a simple one, the speaker nevertheless continues to repeat that what he finds “was not History,” only “Lamentations” or “faith.” This consistent rejection of his own discoveries indicates that the history he is searching for is not among the objects he finds at the bottom of the sea, not the “ivory bracelets” or “Bones ground by windmills.” These artifacts belong to an understanding of history that Walcott refuses to accept. Instead, the history he validates comes from the sounds of the creatures in the sea: “the bullfrog bellowing for a vote/ fireflies with bright ideas,” “and the mantis, like khaki police.” As a result, the history we discover is a living one, a history that is not dead, but only “beginning.”
In “The Sea is History” Derek Walcott presents a vision of history that does not seem to be tied to a definite geographic space or chronology of time. He begins his poem with a series of questions that already suggests that the history that he is trying to write about is elusive and already half lost. He asks: “Where are your monuments, your battles, martyrs? / Where is your tribal memory? Sirs, / in that gray vault. The sea.” It is unclear who Walcott is exactly addressing but the image of the “gray vault” suggests that the history of these people has been drowned and locked away forever. Throughout the poem there are references to both the Old and New Testament, versions of biblical history that Walcott suggests are threatening to stamp out “tribal memory.” He asserts: “where is our Renaissance? / Sir it is locked in them sea sands.” We gain the sense that the “Sir” refers to colonized peoples whose histories were forcibly submerged in watery depths, supplanted by the colonizer’s biblical accounts of history. Walcott states, “I’ll guide you there myself,” encouraging the “Sirs” to recover their own cultural legacies, to understand that the religion imposed upon them “was not History / …only faith.”
As some of my classmates suggested, Gonzales’ poem “I am Joaquin” seems to present a more localized and specific vision of history as connected with Mexican civilization. There are, however, moments when the speaker connects Latino oppression to a more universal account of colonial oppression. He asserts for example: “My blood runs pure on the ice-caked / Hills of the Alaskan isles / On the corpse-strewn beach of Normandy.” But whereas Walcott feels that the history of colonized people were completely obliterated through religious colonization, Joaquin seems to suggest that a richer history was created through the sustained encounter between the colonizer and the colonized. The “Virgen de Guadalupe,” for example, is a native adaptation of the Virgin Mary.
In “The Sea is History,” the religion brought by the colonizing country should be discarded and the post-colonial people should make a new history. In Neruda’s poem, the history of encounters between the native peoples and the Spanish are to be taken into account in contributing to their identity. One poem promotes completely erasing the colonizer’s influence and the other accepts it and takes it into account, taking pride in success and acknowledging the necessity of rebuilding after defeat.
Walcott’s “The Sea is History” and Gonzalez’s “I Am Joaquin” both deal with the subject of history. The speaker in Walcott’s poem suggests that the native tribal history has been lost in the sea, which is a metaphor for colonization, while the speaker in Gonzalez’s poem uses history as a way to remember ties to his culture and empower the colonized subject. The primary difference between the poems is that Walcott’s speaker denies the memory of history, while Gonzalez’s speaker embraces it. Walcott’s speaker asks, “Where are your monuments, your battles, martyrs?/Where is your tribal memory?” only to learn that “The sea has locked them up.” The poem goes through various allusions to Christianity such as “The Ark of the Covenant” to illustrate how the colonizer’s historical traditions have superseded tribal history. In contrast, Gonzalez’s poem alludes to his own Mexican history. He says “I rode with Pancho Villa” and “I am Netzahualcoyotl/Great leader of the Chichimecas.” Rather than accepting the history of the colonizers as their own, the colonized subject in Gonzalez’s poem immerses himself in history and actually embodies it in order to inhabit his own traditions.
While the poems suggest different conclusions about one’s own history as a colonized subject, they are mediating the same predicament of living with a hybrid identity after colonization. Gonzalez’s poem contains English and Spanish, a way the speaker occupies both the colonial and native traditions. The third to last line of “I Am Joaquin” says, “I am Aztec Prince and Christian Christ.” This statement shows that even Gonzalez’s speaker, who drapes himself in native history, must struggle with a hybrid identity. Just as Walcott’s speaker sees the Christianizing forces of colonialism as imprinted on the colonized identity, Gonzalez also recognizes the effects of colonization.
There are many differences and similarities between the poems "I am Joaquin" and "The Sea is History". Both poems addresses the subject of history but through different techniques. "I am Joaquin" addresses the importance of history through personal thoughts and poetic devices. Therefore, inevitably history is portrayed on a more personal and specific level. History like the old poets and the flood is still a present issue.
However, on the contrary, "The Sea is History" is much less personal and a present issue. The poem is more directly talking about the historical events that had already happened. Although this poem is less poetic and personal, it is much more religious and spiritual. There are many biblical references such as Jonah and the birth of Jesus Christ. These two poems both revolve around the subject on history but very differently.
Derek Walcott’s “The Sea is History” and Rodolfo Corky Gonzales’ “I am Joaquin” speak of the intermixing of religion and politics in the history of colonization with European conquest as a driving force, and a legacy of cultural confusion. Walcott references biblical stories and likens religious institutions to the elements contained in the seas changing waters. Gonzales uses the history of his conquered people to introduce the adoptive processes of religion into his culture, despite the price of destruction it cost them. Walcott ties the history of his culture with metaphors of the sea, for the metaphors aid in telling the story of his land’s religious takeover, political establishment and beginnings of social consciousness. Gonzales points out the social and cultural confusion caused by the usurping of ancient leaders, which was symbolic of the Europeans incomplete task of eliminating the native culture, and their implementation of foreign practices. Both poets tell their histories in with different approaches by way of metaphor or direct recanting only to reveal their shared cultural concerns.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWalcott’s poem begins with a group of men, presumably of Western culture, asking “Where are your monuments, your battles, martyrs?/Where is your tribal memory?”. The speaker of the poem answers “in the sea”. Unlike Joaquin in Gonzales’ poem, whose words contain a summary of Mexico’s history, Walcott’s speaker denies any working “tribal memory”. He goes through the history that derives from both the Old Testament and the New Testament but says “…that was not History,/that was only faith”. It is possible that the speaker ironically tells the “sirs”, probably the colonizers, that the reason they have no tribal memory is because the colonizers have washed it away and replaced it with their own religion. Their “history” only began when “each rock broke into its own nation”- modern history post colonization (and independence?).
ReplyDeleteGonzales’ Joaquin makes it very clear what group he is speaking of, mentioning Mexico by name as well as recounting its history. Because Walcott’s speaker does not recount his country’s history that he claims has been washed away, it is unsurprising that the reader has no knowledge of what group is being discussed. Also, while Joaquin incorporates Christianity into his history, Walcott’s speaker allows religion to replace his early history.
We know that in Walcott's poem, we simply don't know their country's history since it has been washed away. Therefore, we as reader, have no clue what type of history are they talking about. Since in the beginning, we see that he asks, "Where are your monuments, your battles, martyrs?/Where is your tribal memory?” The speaker replies that its "in the sea." However, it is clear in Joaquin's poem since he makes it clear that what group he is particularly talking about. We see that he mentions Mexico as he was reccounting its history. Another interesting thing that I noticed is that Joaquin includes religion of Christianity into his history while in Walcott's poem, we see that the early history is simply replaced with religious beliefs. In Joaquin's poem we see that it is tracing Mexico's history, while Walcott goes ahead with the history that comes from both the Old Testament and as well as the New Testament but we also see that the speaker says “…that was not History,/that was only faith.” Both poems are talking about history, but one includes Chritianity in the history while the other one is completely replaced by the religion itself, so therefore, there is no history.
ReplyDeleteWalcott uses his treatment of history by referencing biblical events. Gonzales also takes a similar approach to his poem by speaking of the Virgen de Guadalupe which is a mexican religious figure. Walcott treatment of history gives the poem background of how people lived before and what history is the "new History" that everyone should expect. Gonzales goes into a time machine and relives Mexican history in his poem. The Treatment of history in Gonzales is more depth. Joaquin the speaker in the poem travels to the past and walks with important Mexican figures of the time. Joaquin fights for his county and land, he is very prideful of his culture and the history figures that are mention on the poem all seem to have the same characteristics. All of these people are important Mexican figures that contribute to Mexico's independence and freedom in one way or another. Ithink the treatment of history is used well on both poems, Gonzales actually uses the history of Mexico from its early days to present time, while Walcott's history is more of an "open" one, one that anyone could relate to as early human life.
ReplyDeleteIn both poems there is something being destroyed. In the poem “I am Joaquin” Joaquin feels “destroyed by modern society.” This implies that Joaquin can not be himself. Trying hard to conform in society, he becomes confused from the rules, and standards society creates. In Walcott’s poem, “The sea is history” the sea is the destroyer. It keeps history “locked up.” Those that try to find their history are unable to locate it because of the destruction the sea caused. The sea is considered the history, which saddens the people trying to find it. This brings “lamentation” (great grief). Also, similar to Walcott’s poem, Joaquin feels that his history was lost. “In a country that has wiped out all my history…”Although the poems share similarities, they do obtain differences. Joaquin fights this battle of feeling destroyed, and confused on his own. In Walcott’s poem, there is no individual that addresses a single problem. Instead the poem is spoken from the voices of people as a whole, searching for the history that has been lost.
ReplyDeleteWhile history emerges as a major theme in both Gonzales’ “I am Joaquin” and Walcott’s “The Sea is History,” it functions differently in each poem. In “I am Joaquin,” Gonzales demonstrates how history is intertwined with the speaker’s identity. It therefore emerges as the source of the numerous paradoxes in Joaquin’s character, causing him to embody the identity of his people’s heroes as well as their oppressors: “I am the despots Diaz/ And Huerta/ And the apostle of democracy,/ Francisco Madero.” By presenting himself as an amalgamation of famous figures both good and bad, Joaquin reveals how history shaped the individual he has become. But rather than succumbing to his oppressors, he chooses to confront the inconsistencies in his identity, proclaiming that, “I am the masses of my people and/ I refuse to be absorbed.” Ultimately, this knowledge of his people’s history is what fuels Joaquin’s resistance.
ReplyDeleteWalcott’s poem, however, engenders a search for history. Although the title, “The Sea is History,” suggests that this quest is a simple one, the speaker nevertheless continues to repeat that what he finds “was not History,” only “Lamentations” or “faith.” This consistent rejection of his own discoveries indicates that the history he is searching for is not among the objects he finds at the bottom of the sea, not the “ivory bracelets” or “Bones ground by windmills.” These artifacts belong to an understanding of history that Walcott refuses to accept. Instead, the history he validates comes from the sounds of the creatures in the sea: “the bullfrog bellowing for a vote/ fireflies with bright ideas,” “and the mantis, like khaki police.” As a result, the history we discover is a living one, a history that is not dead, but only “beginning.”
In “The Sea is History” Derek Walcott presents a vision of history that does not seem to be tied to a definite geographic space or chronology of time. He begins his poem with a series of questions that already suggests that the history that he is trying to write about is elusive and already half lost. He asks: “Where are your monuments, your battles, martyrs? / Where is your tribal memory? Sirs, / in that gray vault. The sea.” It is unclear who Walcott is exactly addressing but the image of the “gray vault” suggests that the history of these people has been drowned and locked away forever. Throughout the poem there are references to both the Old and New Testament, versions of biblical history that Walcott suggests are threatening to stamp out “tribal memory.” He asserts: “where is our Renaissance? / Sir it is locked in them sea sands.” We gain the sense that the “Sir” refers to colonized peoples whose histories were forcibly submerged in watery depths, supplanted by the colonizer’s biblical accounts of history. Walcott states, “I’ll guide you there myself,” encouraging the “Sirs” to recover their own cultural legacies, to understand that the religion imposed upon them “was not History / …only faith.”
ReplyDeleteAs some of my classmates suggested, Gonzales’ poem “I am Joaquin” seems to present a more localized and specific vision of history as connected with Mexican civilization. There are, however, moments when the speaker connects Latino oppression to a more universal account of colonial oppression. He asserts for example: “My blood runs pure on the ice-caked / Hills of the Alaskan isles / On the corpse-strewn beach of Normandy.” But whereas Walcott feels that the history of colonized people were completely obliterated through religious colonization, Joaquin seems to suggest that a richer history was created through the sustained encounter between the colonizer and the colonized. The “Virgen de Guadalupe,” for example, is a native adaptation of the Virgin Mary.
In “The Sea is History,” the religion brought by the colonizing country should be discarded and the post-colonial people should make a new history. In Neruda’s poem, the history of encounters between the native peoples and the Spanish are to be taken into account in contributing to their identity. One poem promotes completely erasing the colonizer’s influence and the other accepts it and takes it into account, taking pride in success and acknowledging the necessity of rebuilding after defeat.
ReplyDeleteWalcott’s “The Sea is History” and Gonzalez’s “I Am Joaquin” both deal with the subject of history. The speaker in Walcott’s poem suggests that the native tribal history has been lost in the sea, which is a metaphor for colonization, while the speaker in Gonzalez’s poem uses history as a way to remember ties to his culture and empower the colonized subject. The primary difference between the poems is that Walcott’s speaker denies the memory of history, while Gonzalez’s speaker embraces it. Walcott’s speaker asks, “Where are your monuments, your battles, martyrs?/Where is your tribal memory?” only to learn that “The sea has locked them up.” The poem goes through various allusions to Christianity such as “The Ark of the Covenant” to illustrate how the colonizer’s historical traditions have superseded tribal history. In contrast, Gonzalez’s poem alludes to his own Mexican history. He says “I rode with Pancho Villa” and “I am Netzahualcoyotl/Great leader of the Chichimecas.” Rather than accepting the history of the colonizers as their own, the colonized subject in Gonzalez’s poem immerses himself in history and actually embodies it in order to inhabit his own traditions.
ReplyDeleteWhile the poems suggest different conclusions about one’s own history as a colonized subject, they are mediating the same predicament of living with a hybrid identity after colonization. Gonzalez’s poem contains English and Spanish, a way the speaker occupies both the colonial and native traditions. The third to last line of “I Am Joaquin” says, “I am Aztec Prince and Christian Christ.” This statement shows that even Gonzalez’s speaker, who drapes himself in native history, must struggle with a hybrid identity. Just as Walcott’s speaker sees the Christianizing forces of colonialism as imprinted on the colonized identity, Gonzalez also recognizes the effects of colonization.
There are many differences and similarities between the poems "I am Joaquin" and "The Sea is History". Both poems addresses the subject of history but through different techniques. "I am Joaquin" addresses the importance of history through personal thoughts and poetic devices. Therefore, inevitably history is portrayed on a more personal and specific level. History like the old poets and the flood is still a present issue.
ReplyDeleteHowever, on the contrary, "The Sea is History" is much less personal and a present issue. The poem is more directly talking about the historical events that had already happened. Although this poem is less poetic and personal, it is much more religious and spiritual. There are many biblical references such as Jonah and the birth of Jesus Christ. These two poems both revolve around the subject on history but very differently.
Derek Walcott’s “The Sea is History” and Rodolfo Corky Gonzales’ “I am Joaquin” speak of the intermixing of religion and politics in the history of colonization with European conquest as a driving force, and a legacy of cultural confusion. Walcott references biblical stories and likens religious institutions to the elements contained in the seas changing waters. Gonzales uses the history of his conquered people to introduce the adoptive processes of religion into his culture, despite the price of destruction it cost them. Walcott ties the history of his culture with metaphors of the sea, for the metaphors aid in telling the story of his land’s religious takeover, political establishment and beginnings of social consciousness. Gonzales points out the social and cultural confusion caused by the usurping of ancient leaders, which was symbolic of the Europeans incomplete task of eliminating the native culture, and their implementation of foreign practices. Both poets tell their histories in with different approaches by way of metaphor or direct recanting only to reveal their shared cultural concerns.
ReplyDelete