"Here I Am" is found on page 1046 of the Norton.
The brevity of the line "Here I am" at the beginning of the poem voices McGough's unhappiness with the emptiness of his life. The messiness of the first eight lines of the poem show that McGough is confused and has a lot of thoughts regarded his inaction in life. Lines 9-14 in line with each other shows all he wished he had accomplished. On line 15, he repeats the line "Here I am." It shows that after all the oppurtunities he has missed, his is accepting of the life he has chosen. The two separate lines of "here I am" act as a belt to the bulging thoughts of his missed oppurtunities. At the end of the poem, McGough admits his life is "pretty dull" with a humorous tone. This shows that although he was not able to live his life to the fullest, he is still happy with himself. Although he may not have been able to do everything, he can still dream it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
I'm curious as to what everyone thought about the shape of the poem. To me, the top almost looked like an arrow, giving direction to life but then there's one line that destroys that perception. The bottom of the poem also expands again. Maybe the varying lengths of lines suggests the poet is taking a chance while he still can.
Charlie, I think the shape is of a trophy. It as though he is awarding himself with these awards of sorrow and regret. He writes as though he has lived this mundane life without any freedom, yet he is awarding himself from breaking away from the life of a poet. This is the contrast. He feels awful at first, but then praises his uniqueness.
I wrote on this poem as well. I like your interpretation of the repetition of the line "Here I am." It seems like even though he's speaking of his regrets, he's not going to apologize for his life. Nice.
Personally I thought the poem resembled the silhouette of a woman. He speaks of women a lot, but that aside, I felt it represents a provocative sense of excitement and adventure that comes with youth and vitality, something he feels like he missed out on.
I couldn't really figure out what the shape was..it's hard to look at it on two pages. But I think I most agree with Chris. The shape does kind of look like a trophy. Oddly, it makes sense to the meaning of the poem. It's as if he's saying, "Yeah, I didn't do all these things, but I still made it through life and I will give myself a trophy for it."
I think I agree with Lauren's visualization of the poem as a hourglass. And with this in mind, I think his time has only half run out as implied by "that awkward age now between birth and death". It's as if McGough is making a to-do list for himself and realizing his missed opportunities. However, he still has time to accomplish what he wants.
I agree with Lauren that the shape is supposed to be an hour glass. The whole poem is about life and time that has gone by. With the loss of time, the speaker realizes that there are opportunities that have been missed. He also realizes that the time, and hour glass, have not run out and that there is still time to complete his list.
It took me way too long to find this blog. Anyway...
I also agree with Lauren in that I believe that the shape of this poem is reminiscent of an hourglass. The poem is about time, what the author hasn't done and essentially everything he wishes he had done. But his hourglass isn't empty and as opposed to rewarding himself for his shortcomings I think that he is trying to make up for lost time. I think that the "here I am" that is repeated is definitely a sign of acceptance but I don't think he is accepting what his life is. Rather, I think he is accepting his losses as losses and saying that he is still there and still able to do those things.
I think the shape is important to the meaning of the poem. The lines about what he never did "The dragons unchased, the maidens unkissed" are short and clustered. This gave me the impression that McGough is trying to say they really aren't that important. He titles the poem, "Here I Am" and repeats it throughout because he is satisfied, essentially with who he is as a person.
I also feel that the last line is funny because he is acknowledging he could have been more interesting. If he did "run naked at night in the rain" but, he didn't. McGough just says "Here I Am" not as an excuse but as a statement.
Post a Comment