in A Part
by Wendell Berry
In a dream I meet
my dead friend. He has,
I know, gone long and far,
and yet he is the same
for the dead are changeless.
They grow no older.
It is I who have changed,
grown strange to what I was.
Yet I, the changed one,
ask: "How you been?"
He grins and looks at me.
"I been eating peaches
off some mighty fine trees."
I rediscovered this poem tonight. It just struck me for many reasons, I'll share only a couple: One, it is so true. We remember those who have died as they were in our own personal memories - sometimes they are accurate, sometimes they are not - but this is still how they stay suspended in our memory. Second, the peaches comment at the end reminds me of two students back in the States. We loved the quote by Alice Walker: "Life is so much better than death if only for two reasons, it is less boring, and there are fresh peaches in it!" So, though this poem has a somewhat sad tone, it brings a smile to my face.
4 comments:
That is an absolutely amazing piece! More than anything else, the tone of the poem...really like of a bittersweet, cozy(?) kind of atmosphere really captures my attention. Also the fact the poem is called "A Meeting" when it seems to be about a parting is just great.
This poem gave me another point of view of how we are the ones changing theses days when its seems like the world around us has changed. We always complain about how cruel and fast the world is changing around us. But when I thought about that over again I started to realize that it was us making the world change with technology and many inventions. I'm not saying their bad, but it is that we tend to forget what we have now instead of what we are trying to make futher in the future. (I had to really focus on the poem. It is very deep.)
I had a trouble finding a poem to analyze. But after I read this poem, I decided to pick a poem that Wendell Berry wrote because I liked his short, concise style of writing, and mostly because I loved the message he was conveying through his poem. That's why I chose The Want of Peace by Wendell Berry for my third poem to analyze. Like what Esther pointed out, I also totally agree on the author's point that we are the ones changed through time. I sometimes complain how life is just being cruel to me when it's actually what I deserve.
In addition, I loved how the author compared himself to a dead person because you don't usually compare a person to a dead person. I liked the creative perspective. Like I said before, I love how he directly says that, "it is I who have changed," because that gives an emphasis on his point, I think. Moreover, the fact that he realized a big lesson in a dream kind of makes me think that important things aren't learned from school. Random thoughts can be important too! (sorry i couldnt leave a comment till now because of soccer. sorry sorry X 999 times) :)
This poem makes me feel that how people change a lot as the time goes on. In this poem, Once a person dies, the memories of the people does not move on after the death does not change, they grow no older but people who is still alive changes as the time passes.
When 'I' met the friend in his dream, he would be gald to meet him again. I really do not know what the last two lines are meaning,(but I think that it would be an allusion of some other stories.I guess;;) I think the mood or the tone is not sad that much, but it gave me deep impresion.
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