Past, Present and Future

"Burnt Norton"

I love the way this poem begins

 

“Time Presents and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future,

And time future contained in time past”.

As the minutes and days pass, it turns into the past and all we have are the moments we are in at this very moment and the future.  We need to focus on the present moment because the present turns into the past and “All time is unredeemable”. 

“Footfalls echo in the memory

Down the passage which we did not take”

This part reminds me of Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken”.  We have had many times in our lives, more than we can count where we have taken different passages that had changed the lives we live now.

The last lines are perfect and well said,

“Time past and time future

What might have been and what has been

Point to one end, which is always present”

We have a past and a future but we will always be stuck in the present.    

Reading about time and how precious it is in our lives was an eye opener.  It is true we should live life to the fullest we can make it because we would look at time negatively and say we are prisoners to the ticking clock because we will forever be forced to move forward in time to have a past and future so make it the best it can be. 

I wonder however, what the nature and the rest of the poem are saying.  I will not be in class and I wish I could hear the thoughts on this poem and The Wasteland.  They are good poems but I’m lost in a lot of areas.  

Response to my blog

       I’m glad that we are able to comment on our own blog because I post my blog and I have many questions about the reading.  There are times when I feel I have posted so far off the topic of what the story is about and then when we are in class having a discussion I feel a little better but now know how to answer my questions or would like to elaborate on my blog. 

        After class I can now say that I do believe the grasshoppers represent people.  Scott asks do I see any connection between the way the hoppers are used in the story and how an infantry man in WWI might feel?  I do, I would say the back grasshoppers represent the time when he is in the war.  It is not the same, things have changed and now he is in a war filled with destruction and change, just like the grasshoppers.  When he gets to his camping spot the river is beautiful and the view is amazing.  Nick says, “They were good grasshoppers.”  Is he saying the men he served with were good as well or are the grasshoppers that were black, represent the time when he was in the war and the green ones are like his present life? 

          I could be way off but when Nick finds hundreds of hoppers by a log is that a reminder when the troops were under attack and there was nothing they could do?    

          There is a time when Nick takes the grasshoppers and uses them for fishing and it is very descriptive about how he gets them on the hook.   Again is this talking about the war, after the war, or his life now?  I said earlier that I believe the green grasshoppers represent his life in the land of beauty but as they are talked about more in the story I believe them to have more to do with the war more and more.  I believe they are him and the people he served with while in the war and just like the grasshoppers life was not always easy and death was all around.  

"Big Two-Hearted River

Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River”

I enjoyed reading this story.  Hemingway made me feel as if I was the one writing the story because it felt as if I were actually there describing Nick’s every move.  He was so descriptive throughout the story.  For example when Nick “broke off some springs of the heathery sweet fern, and put them under his pack straps. The chafing crushed it and he smelled it as he walked”.  I could almost smell the fern as he walked.  I could have done without the description when Nick pulled out his knife and grabbed one of the trout while holding on to it and whacked it on the log.  Yuck! I cannot even do that when I catch a fish.  It was hard to read the first time.

I know the story has more to it besides Nick getting off a train in a burnt city and carrying his heavy pack to find the river to go fishing.  Is Nick escaping life?  When he gets off the train he sees Seney burnt.  My first thoughts were this story is going to be a disaster or sad story?  However, the story is quite lively with Nick’s happiness and his enjoyment with nature.   I’m just not sure what the hidden meaning is with Nick and his fishing trip.  I’m excited to see where this will go if we discuss this story in class.  I would love to dig deeper and see what it is that Hemingway really wanted us to get out of the story.

While reading the story I found myself pondering on the many different things in the story.  Do they have all have meaning or am I just way off the mark?  The big one would be Nick’s fishing experience but I want to dive into two different questions.  My first is the river.  It flows though the burnt town of Seney and through the pine plain.  The title of the story is “Big Two Hearted River” is one heart the sadness of the brunt town and the other heart dealing with exploration and new beginnings?  At the end the river is a swamp.  I have no clue what the swamp represents. The last line in the book says “There were plenty of days coming when he could fish the swamp”.  The swap was past the river but he does not want to go there now.  Why?  Again is there a hidden meaning?

My other pondering question is the grasshoppers.  What do the grasshoppers represent? In the beginning he is stretching his legs and having a smoke when he sees a grasshopper but it’s black.  He picks it up and inspects the grasshopper and it has absolutely no color.  Later he walks on and when he sets up camp he goes and gets grasshoppers so he can use them as bait.  Was he just inspecting them for bait or do they have some symbolic reason for the description and how much detail Hemingway goes into when he is fishing?  Nick goes to get the grasshoppers and they are cold and the dew is still on the grass so he is grabbing them and putting them into a bottle.  Nick finds a log and there is a grasshopper lodge where there are hundreds.    

I could go on with much more until I could ask every question imaginable but I will leave it with the rivers and the grasshoppers.