Un-knowing by andrya

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Submission Name: Un-knowing dots

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Author:	andrya
Elite Ratio:	4.87 - 508/419/62
Words:	75

Class/Type:	Poetry/Serious
Total Views:	202
Average Vote:	5.0000
Bytes:	525

Description:
There was some confusion over what I was talking about when I compared an ivory swan to the "shattering of naivete". I was making reference to Al Purdys poem, "Lament for the Dorsets."
Hope you enjoy.

Un-knowing dots

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No longer naïve to the pretense.
Shattering,
Like an ivory swan, that once told a story
About a culture, a people created from knowledge.
Overcome by the thirst for sophistication,
The need to know more-
Selfish and desperate-I am sojourned here.
This once unperceived location
Is where I shall stay, and yet, being here is a lie in itself.
luring you in, unknowing,
captive in its awe-inspiring familiarity,
Bars unconfined
For eternity.

Submitted on 2006-03-27 15:49:08 Terms of Service / Copyright Rules
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1: >_<
2: I dunno...
3: meh!
4: Pretty cool
5: Wow!

||| Comments |||
  I figured I'd start at your featured poem.

But, I don't know how well I will be able to start. It seems interpretation is something I was never that good at.

I do try, though. I do try.

Anyway, the first thing I want to mention is your title, and the way you hyphenated it. Obviously your Un-knowing has a different meaning than your unknowing, so this is a point I am going to try to keep in mind while going through this. This said, it is only natural that it will probably slip my mind at some crucial point of analysis. Hopefully it won't.

So your first line sets up a theme. You are, in some sense, enlightened, no longer naive. And using this, you then delve into more abstract ideas. Right after this first line, though, there is some vagueness in your terms, and you seem to know this because you address it in your description, but I am still unsure of how to read, and in my view, there are distinct readings that lead to two distinct interpretations. I am going to go with my gut instinct and focus on my original reading.

My interpretation is that your shattering of naivete has to do with the realization that your efforts for knowledge and for truth are nothing but "selfish and desperate" acts, and that you are stuck in a society motivated by such things when society should, in fact, be giving up in order to shake their ignorance. This might mean that your enlightenment has to do with learning the fact that enlightenment is not an enlightened goal to reach. A contradictory statement in itself, but very profound.

That didn't sound as clear as I would have liked.

And there is one line that seems to punch a whole in this interpretation.
This once unperceived location

I think my interpretation relies on the fact that you are still in the same location but just looking at it from a different prespective.

So this brings up the other interpretation that came to my mind. Maybe it means that you are looking at this society of striving, selfish intellects from your current perception, that you were striving to reach this society, this state of being, when you realized that this state is not desirable at all. It is selfish and desperate. But you further realized that once you have shattered your naivete and broken into this state, you have doomed yourself to be in it. It is impossible to regain ignorance. It is impossible to unsee what has been seen. And this is where the title comes into play, I think. It's not about being unknowing, but about Un-knowing what is known. This, too, is very profound. You spend a life of ignorance wanting to learn, but once you've learned, all you want to be is ignorant. It's like telling someone "You really don't want to know." They then will want nothing more in the world than to be able to know what it is they don't want to know, and once they do know they realize that they really didn't want to know.

I'm beginning to confuse myself.

Anyway, I thought it was fantastic. Personally, I can't write such vague ideas, but the fog shrouding the meaning lended to interesting thoughts, whether you intended it to be vague or you did not.

The only thing I would change is the phrase, luring you in
When I first read the 'you', I thought it was a personal 'you' when it is in fact a general 'you'. I would use more general terms, like 'people' except more poetic. Maybe 'souls' or 'minds' or something.

I don't know.

I still have to read some more.
| Posted on 2006-04-08 00:00:00 | by Eggman | [ Reply to This ]
  It is always strange and relieving when you see how things in life really work and you are no longer a fool to the lie. I'm not sure what the person has been aware of, but is clear they reacehed some form of clarity. This was a very vague poem to me. It was not clear to me, what was brought to light and why others will join you in that sate of clarity, even unkowningly as you stated. This was good, but to vague for my understanding.

Maggie
| Posted on 2006-04-03 00:00:00 | by Magnolia Steele | [ Reply to This ]
  Its very interesting, a unique way of looking at loosing innocence. I like how you realized that what you've gained is false as well, but you accept that. It reminded me vaguely of something I wrote a few months ago in the basic theme of loosing innocence, although mine took a far different turn. I enjoyed it!
Nik
| Posted on 2006-03-28 00:00:00 | by Siberianhearts | [ Reply to This ]
  Wow! I gave it a five. I may be way off on this one, but my interpretation was a little more broad. I felt it was about humanity, societies, especially ours, and how we can never get enough out of life. We are greedy for new advances and always want to be better than our predecessors. The poem then ends with acceptance because it is our human nature and purpose. If that's not the meaning than great write anyways.
| Posted on 2006-03-27 00:00:00 | by softspoken | [ Reply to This ]
  This is a very interesting write
I take this write as meaning one is starting to feel comfortable where they are at and feel they have gained all the knowledge they need in life
It isnt until someone important steps into there life that they feel they have much more knowledge to gain
I really liked this
God Bless
Ron
| Posted on 2006-03-27 00:00:00 | by Ronswords | [ Reply to This ]
  Ah. The pursuit of knowledge and the stealing of ones naivette always makes great writes. I like the way you make the person naivette sort of float around and then disappear.
Loveage,
Mike
| Posted on 2006-04-06 00:00:00 | by sageeriol | [ Reply to This ]

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