Open, he says. This complex sense of erasure experienced by the speaker sheds a great deal of light on why he finds salvation in the body, which unifies the various identities that lead to his societal rejection. Please check your inbox to confirm. In Aubade With a Burning City, he contrasts a scene of two lovers with one of bombing and destruction while Irving Berlins White Christmas plays in the background. OCEAN VUONG, Author, "Night Sky With Exit Wounds": Sometimes, people say, well, how does it feel to be the first poet? Web[POEM] Aubade with Burning City - Ocean Vuong South Vietnam, April 29, 1975: Armed Forces Radio played Irving Berlins White Christmas as a code to begin Operation Frequent Wind, the ultimate evacuation of American civilians and Vietnamese refugees by helicopter during the fall of Saigon. (No Ratings Yet) In a poem under the same title, he refers to Telemachus, the son of Odysseus in Greek mythology who travels far and wide to trace news of his father, as a metaphor for his own efforts in constructing a father figure from imagination through writing. All Rights Reserved. out of reasons. The first of these is unstressed, and the second is stressed. South Vietnam, 29 April 1975: Armed Forces Radio played IrvingBerlins White Christmasas a code to begin Operation Frequent Wind,theultimate evacuation of American civilians and Vietnamese refugees by helicopter during the fall of Saigon. In addition to a close relationship with Buddhism, Night Sky with Exit Wounds also contains abundant biblical allusions and Christian references. That state of being is incredibly intimidating. In Someday Ill Love Ocean Vuong, the penultimate poem of the collection, Vuong has a monologue about letting go of his obsession with the father and coming to terms with his manhood. Snow shredded. Im haunted by the idea of snow and that white Christmas we say we dream of in the U.S., but in South Vietnam, its different:Snow shredded / with gunfire. Appearances of "god" in Night Sky with Exit Wounds. Much like the poem's portrayal of the divine, however, these profane and worldly encounters are coded in a relatively negative light with the only exception coming in the form of the "sprig of magnolia expand[ing]." The sacred and the profane meet in the body as the devotional act of prayer is commingled with devotional acts of sex and physical passion (Devotion). The city in Vuongs poetry is an eternal battlefield, a site of war rife with helicopter[s] in April 1975 that forced his family out of their home country. WebBy Ocean Vuong. The Japanese have a word for it: yugen, when you have so little you have to imagine it.". That the sacred and the profane themselves become confused as ideas is especially reinforced by the same language of resignation being used to describe both the lovers and the nun: "Open, he says. Moreover, the invocation of the aubade in this poem is unusual insofar as there is no clear first-person speaker ("I") in the text, but rather a third-person narrative style. When the dust rises, a black dog lies panting in the road. On the bed stand, a sprig of magnolia expands like a secret heard for the first time. It takes shape around him while outside people go about their lives, each one with the knowledge of death in the corner of their eye. "A bicycle hurled through a store window. newsletter for analysis you wont find anywhereelse. This confusion and general disarray in the poem's images and tone is also mirrored by the poem's form, which flows freely across the page in stanzas of irregular length. Anne Azzi Davenport In this stanza, the speaker notes how that fear lives just on the edge of vision. Like Homer, I felt Id better make it up. But I digress. Look it up. WebAubade with Burning City South Vietnam , April 29, #975: Armed Forces Radio played Irving Berlin's" White Christmas " as a code to begin Operation Frequent Wind, the Subscribe to Here's the Deal, our politics newsletter. like pieces of a girls dress. It really is that good. Night Sky with Exit Wounds study guide contains a biography of Ocean Vuong, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. "A bicycle hurled through a store window. Not in remorse. By understanding what brings them together so intimately, we are even more taken aback by the knowledge that their relationship is doomed to fail, giving us more personal investment in their relationship and placing us in the position of the speaker. We have a habit of thinking things will be more difficult than they are, and when it comes to finding excellent poetry, I feel this is especially true. In this case, the poem sending me into hyperbolic raptures is Aubade With Burning City by Ocean Vuong, a Vietnamese-American poet. The Question and Answer section for Night Sky with Exit Wounds is a great Once there, we shall be lost in that blackness always. The city so white it is ready for ink. Murky and dreamlike narratives in the first section constitutes a sharp contrast against the second section, where Vuong moves away from the family theme to discuss coming of sexuality, love, and his American life. Diction trend in this section reveals a more personal aspect of the diasporic authors identity. Aubade with Burning City by Ocean Vuong The writer has used plenty of rhetorical techniques in this poem. Because the butterflys yellow wing. The irregular stanzas are scattered all over the page, like a bomb has exploded within the poem. While literally referring to the consolation one gets from sex with a lover, this line might also be taken to figuratively refer to Adam's construction of Eve from his side (though this is traditionally interpreted to mean Adam's rib bones). In Newport I Watch My Father Lay His Cheek to a Beached Dolphins Wet Back, Untitled (Blue, Green and Brown): Oil on canvas : Mark Rothko : 1952, Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus, Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines. Their shadows, two wicks. Audio recordings of classic and contemporary poems read by poets and actors, delivered every day. That's at PBS.org/NewsHour/poetry. The idea of his death is not unusual for him. 4336052. To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum. The truth of the matter is there is so much great poetry out there, its a wonder were not stumbling over it more often than we are. The first of these, enjambment, is a common literary device that is seen in the transition from one line to the next. Poems from Nance Van Winckel, Ocean Vuong, and a soundscape from Matthea Harvey. Only in "Untitled," where 9/11 commingles with the loss of a friend of the speaker's, do we really get any sympathy on the speaker's part for America; however, even this sympathy is conditioned by the fact that it is for the experience of loss or sorrow, rather than anything intrinsically linked to America. Slowly light strengthens, and the room takes shape. The most frequent words are father, open, city, inside, water, Lan (Vuongs mothers name), woman, son. Prevalence of words like father, Lan, woman, and son demonstrates the family theme that echoes throughout the first section of the collection. GradeSaver, "Untitled (Blue, Green, and Brown): oil on canvas: Mark Rothko: 1952", Ocean Vuong and the Influence of Religion, Read the Study Guide for Night Sky with Exit Wounds, Introduction to Night Sky with Exit Wounds, View the lesson plan for Night Sky with Exit Wounds. Christianity is a quintessential feature of the American identity, the identity which Vuong has internalized as a part of his own and projected back into his writings. Though it might seem odd for a child to fixate on his parents sex lives, doing so renders his father as a more sympathetic character and also allows the conflict between his parents to be incorporated into his broader exploration of sex and the body. Wherever one looks in the collection, they see along with the speaker that the body is central in unifying all these disparate and opposite experiences simply because it is the physical material that underpins life, which itself is so curious and strange so as to connect things that otherwise would seem totally unrelated. Lyrics of the song White Christmas drift through the staggered stanzas, the words which fall like snow, like debris scattered across a field of battle, and add a surreal touch to the absolutely fantastic imagery Vuong employs so masterfully, again and again. Thus my mother exists. Need a transcript of this episode? He compares it to a type of anaesthesia that takes over everything and no one wakes up from. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/vietnamese-american-poet-contemplates-his-personal-ties-to-the-war, Relatives of Western jihadist fighters go public, hoping to stop others, Secretary John King on raising education standards and changing the college admissions caste system, Hoosier primary results could shape the rest of the White House race. Urban Exploration in the February 2014 Poetry. Snow shredded. When the dust rises, a black dog, On the bed stand. / Yikes. The fact that, even amidst a backdrop of war and destruction, there is tenderness and love that is so personal and significant for the speaker is a central theme that runs throughout the collection insofar as it ties in with the collections larger project of exploring duality. In his poems, he often explores transformation, desire, and violent loss. Click on image to enlarge. Enter your email address: Tweets by @StructurexStyle!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)? Their shadows: two wicks. Heres a brief paragraph where I should offer my apologies for being away so long, but I dont know that anything matters so much as the poems themselves and the words about them, when they appear. On most occasions that Vuong writes city, he is referring to Saigon, his birth place. This is not an unusual start to an aubade but what comes next is. Crossing the border into America when he was merely two years old, Vuongs upbringing was, for the most part, an American experience. asthe traffic guard unstraps his holster. WebNaturally Aristocratic Singapore 11 subscribers Interpretations of Ocean Vuong's poems "Aubade with Burning City" & "Torso of Air" in the collection "Night Sky with Exit The poem concludes with the speaker describing the first rays of light that make their way into his room. Copyright 2023 All rights reserved. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window). The bed a field of ice. Indeed, the body is also a motif that echoes through Whitmans poetry. Anne Azzi Davenport. The regrets that he might have in the future dont bother him. Structure and Style is a poetry blog by two writers who love poems. Webwith gunfire. May all your Christmases be white as the traffic guard unstraps his holster, his fingers running the hem of her white dress. Request a transcript here. I say I like this, but I mean I am haunted by it. The prevalence of Christian theme in his writings is a direct reflection of the space in which he grew up and writes. ", Other aspects of the poem that warrant attention are the repeated use of the apostrophe and the appearance of moon imagery. And share it. Things are in motion. The radio saying run run run.Milkflower petals on a black dog like pieces of a girls dress. Besides this deployment of the aubade in the poem, however, there are many other figurative and thematic elements that warrant further analysis. An aubade is typically a poem that celebrates the arrival of dawn. I work all day, and get half-drunk at night. / She opens." In "Seventh Circle of Earth," for example, we see how two gay men have so internalized this frail American ideal that they are conditioned to accept their own annihilation or destruction. The radio saying run run run. Think of the poem, as Matthew Zapruder writes in the introduction to Why Poetry, as operating indream logic:its interest in the slipperiness and material qualities of language, its associative daydreaming movementis not some deliberate obfuscation, or an obstacle to communication, but essential to the very way poetry makes meaning. Think of the way the images expose the vast imperial machine that is America. When my grandmother would tell me about the collapse of Saigon, she would say, "Saigon, this sounds very strange, but I remember it fell during the snow song." Crucial context to the poem is provided at the beginning: South Vietnam, April 29, 1975: Armed Forces Radio played Irving Berlins White Christmas as a code to begin Operation Frequent Wind, the ultimate evacuation of American civilians and Vietnamese refugees by helicopter during the fall of Saigon. Not affiliated with Harvard College. In Night Sky with Exit Wounds, the idea of the American Dream is thus presented as just thata dream with little substance. You should absolutely click on that link and go over to the Poetry Foundation, however, to read this poem, which has its settingin Vietnam. When the dust rises, a black dog, sprig of magnolia expands like a secret heard. Night Sky with Exit Wounds study guide contains a biography of Ocean Vuong, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Webclub level at lumen field club level at lumen field. Unlike some, he says, he is not worried about leaving things undone. Despite the fact that even he himself faces discrimination in America on account of his race and sexuality, the speaker is able to help his parents ensure that their migration was not in vain by reenacting and making known their struggle, the immigrant struggle that is so often invisible or erased. In Threshold, the opening poem for the collection, the speaker is on his knees asking to be spared. The image of the kneeling prayer then makes another appearance in Prayer for the Newly Damned. Snow crackling against the window. Following the passing of his grandmother in 2008, Vuong wrote this poem partially as a method of preserving the memory of his grandmother and her words describing the scene of Saigon falling. hiscigarette as footsteps fill the square like stones. WebView Journal 13.docx from ENG 100 at Northern Virginia Community College. There are also a few examples of caesurae in this poem. The experience of immigration is also deeply important to Vuong and his speaker. Delving into a more personal narrative, he moves away from the influence of his family and goes on to explore the American identity that he develops as he grows up in Hartford. GradeSaver, "Untitled (Blue, Green, and Brown): oil on canvas: Mark Rothko: 1952", Ocean Vuong and the Influence of Religion, Read the Study Guide for Night Sky with Exit Wounds, Introduction to Night Sky with Exit Wounds, View the lesson plan for Night Sky with Exit Wounds. GradeSaver "Night Sky with Exit Wounds Aubade with Burning City Summary and Analysis". Hello again! Postmen like doctors go from house to house. Words such as face, eyes, hand, and body all show up in the most common words in the Whitman poetry corpus. And as a child listening to that, it was so surreal to me. The poem begins with the lovers drinking champagne, and ends with the burning nun running "silently toward her god," both of which use the same language of opening. The word god appears among the top 35 most frequent words, which is surprising considering the authors faith in Buddhism. Outside, a soldier spits out his cigarette as footsteps fill the square like stones fallen from the sky. Snow on the tanks rolling over the city walls. WebAubade with Burning City South Vietnam , April 29, #975: Armed Forces Radio played Irving Berlin's" White Christmas " as a code to begin Operation Frequent Wind, the ultimate evacuation of American civilians and Vietnamese refugees by helicopter during the fall of Saigon. The speaker also notes how its in these moments, when there is so drink or friendly faces as distractions, that the reality of death sets in. I could talk about it all day, honestly, and I so very much want to share its many outstanding lines, but I cant be certain WordPress wont mangle them, and I dare not risk such a tragedy. WebLack of faith in organized religion is a theme in several of Larkins poems, but in Aubade, the speaker also rejects rationalism. Aubade with Burning City Related Authors Ocean Vuong Audio Poem of the Day. Its the total emptiness for ever that haunts him, not the things left undone. Nonetheless, the speakers relationships with many different men do progress, reflecting one of the many paradoxes that finds its solution in the bodydespite knowing what it may cost, the speaker and his lovers choose to love one another because of how it makes them feel or how close it brings them to the peak of life. He remarks on their physical similarity, among other things (Telemachus), but he also seems to respect and understand his father as a passionate and kind lover with a troubled past that leads him to lash out (My Father Writes from Prison). Aubade with Burning City Ocean Vuong Milkflower petals on the street like pieces of a girls dress. the Walt Whitman of Vietnamese-American literature. The song moving through the city like a widow. Words used in close vicinity with "body." He died in 1985, eight years after the publication of Aubade. This poem does a beautiful job of putting down humankinds most depressing thoughts into moving, thoughtful verse. Claiming to be a devout Buddhist in a 2013 interview, Vuong frames the religious identity in his poetry with his spiritual life. When we immigrated to America, all she had were these songs and poems. In his poems, he often explores transformation, desire, and violent loss. She is saying, somethingneither of them can hear. The song moving through the city like a widow. Click on image to enlarge. "A Little Closer to the Edge" Summary and Analysis. And in the end, after the song was broadcast and the U.S. evacuated the embassies and its people, the people of Saigon are left like the black dog wholies panting in the road. Apart from several overlaps in the diction of human body parts with the overall analysis, analysis of the first section returns remarkable differences. This means that readers should be pulled toward it and immediately realise its important. / God opens his other eye: / two moons in the lake.". WebThe poem deals with the speaker's struggle to confront traumatic wartime memories while looking at his reflection in the memorial's shiny surface and staring at the names of fallen soldiers. . Red sky. He talks about growing from a boy into a man. Someday Ill Love Ocean Vuong, the penultimate poem, is inspired by Frank OHara and devoted entirely to meditation on his name. Im dreaming to hear sleigh bells in the snow, In the square below: a nun, on fire, runs silently toward her god. The fact that these identical words bookend the poem both carries the finality of a religious incantation and gives the impression of a chance occurrence or coincidence, a complex feeling that is pulled off here to exquisite effect. He is unable to completely cut off his father in his mind, and he at times even outright refuses to confront his misdeeds (Deto(nation)). Regarding the use of lyrics from "White Christmas," a clear irony is present in that Vietnam only has snow in its cool northern region, so the use of the song in the context of Saigon in April is doubly out of place. For the speaker of this collection, however, the Vietnam War encompasses another qualityit is the event that precipitated the birth of his family line, since his origin lies with a grandfather fucking / [a] pregnant farmgirl in the back of his army jeep. Or, as rephrased more explicitly in the later poem Notebook Fragments, An American soldier fucked a Vietnamese farmgirl. Im sure you come here for poems, not personal stuff. asprig of magnolia expands like a secret heard, The treetops glisten and children listen, the chief of police. . On the side of the sacred or religious, there are each of the poem's connotations of otherworldly whiteness or purity, as well as the nun's immolation at the end of the poem. Its a poem Ill be reading again and again for years to come, and if you read it, too, Im confident youll say the same. WebSummary The poem "A Little Closer to the Edge" is the fifth poem in Ocean Vuong 's Night Sky with Exit Wounds, located in the first section. Ocean Vuong, from Night Sky with Exit Wounds (Copper Canyon Press, 2016). Along with the disappearance of the father figure in this section, Vuong relinquishes the voice of mythology in his writing. An aubade is a poem that is written to accompany the break of day, most commonly in the context of two lovers parting. I check that poets bibliography, find a title that jumps out at me, and bam, read one of the best poems Ive read all year. ultimate evacuation of American civilians and Vietnamese refugees by helicopter during the fall of Saigon. The strength that the speaker and Vuong see in poetry is unmistakable and linked to the power that they see in the body, but it is also a testament to the necessity of the father in constructing a personal mythos. Further, in "Of Thee I Sing," Jackie Kennedy is able to rationalize the death of her husband only in the context or service of her love for her country and her love of god. The body in passion met with the body experiencing struggle and difficulty give rise to the speakers family line (Self Portrait as Exit Wounds). He knows and has always known that hed eventually die, but the idea of being dead comes upon him to hold and horrify. Click on image to enlarge. There are also several examples of similes in Aubade. Expressions sharing a common theme of maturity and looking ahead, such as future and growing, are used in close proximity to the term father in this section. He doesnt believe that any argument or state of mind can dispel the solid, inescapable fear thats at his heart and the heart of every other living, sentient thing. In this case, the poem Were always adding to the Poetry Archive so sign up to our newsletter to keep up to date with the latest archive news, events and releases. I could write a lot more about all of the other haunting lines, but Im out of practice. In the case of this poem, then, it is particularly interesting that the morning scene between the two lovers is vastly overshadowed both formally and imaginatively by the imagery of Saigon's destruction. WebQuotes and Analysis Summary And Analysis "Threshold" "Telemachus" "Aubade with Burning City" "A Little Closer to the Edge" "My Father Writes from Prison" "Self-Portrait as Exit Wounds" "Homewrecker" "Of Thee I Sing" "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" "Eurydice" "Untitled (Blue, Green, and Brown): oil on canvas: Mark Rothko: 1952" Trang Minh Le, Lafayette College '21 This project was based on the research paper found here. Regarding the former, the speaker struggles to reconcile his distance from his estranged father, as well as the abuse he knows his mother has suffered at his hands, with the closeness he feels to his father. Rather, our attention is directed to all those who are victimized in its name but who paradoxically look to it for relief and safety. Click on image to enlarge. Nevertheless, the invasion of Christianity in Vuongs literary schema is not entirely an inscrutable phenomenon. And I say, I'm not the first poet. Aubade with Burning City Lyrics South Vietnam, April 29, 1975: Armed Forces Radio played Irving Berlins White Christmas as a code to begin Operation Vuong grew up having had no patriarchal figure in his vicinity. Instead, he tackles the narrative with his own worldview, a worldview assembled from real memory fragments in a Homeric approach. Hes a whole day nearer to his own death than he was yesterday. Similes, unlike metaphors, use like or as to compare one thing to another. Its hard to comprehend as human beings what it will be like to Not be here or be anywhere. Since shes been gone, S has gotten a collection of poems accepted by Sibling Rivalry Press (which will be out in 2019), and she has opened Brier Books, an independent bookstore in Lexington, KY, with Jay, who has written for us. On the side of the profane, then we have the encounter between the lovers, the dog being smashed into the road, the soldier "spit[ting] out / his cigarette," and the fallen chief of police. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Our work is created by a team of talented poetry experts, to provide an in-depth look into poetry, like no other. May your days be merry and bright. In the future, we all enter into a state of being in which there is no touch or taste or smell, nothing to think with, / Nothing to love or link with. In Immigrant Haibun, the body is a mystery forever unfathomable: Maybe the body is the only question an answer cant extinguish. The body then turns sinful, bearing the crime of living in My Father Writes from Prison. Subscribe. Need a transcript of this episode? Considering the complexity and ambiguity of this past is one thing that gets the speaker thinking about his own ability to act violently and tenderly in the present. More Episodes from Audio Poem of the Day. Unfortunately for him, his thoughts are consumed in this strikingly depressing way rather than with a loved one. Moving on, the speaker says that the fear of death is special. Readers should make sure to take note of line nine of this stanza. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. This pairing of beats is known as an anapaestic foot. Audio recordings of classic and contemporary poems read by poets and actors, delivered every day. Additionally, the moon itself is used as a recurring image throughout the collectionfor example, in the haiku that closes "Immigrant Haibun," where it also serves to link the divine and the civilian (by comparing the two migrants to God's eyes): "Summer in the mind. He sees the suggestion that one shouldnt fear death because we cant feel it as absurd because to him, that lack of feeling is exactly whats so terrifying about it. Thus no bombs = no family = no me. Correspondence concerning this project should be addressed to: letm@lafayette.edu, The Religious Fusion of Buddhism and Christianity, Interlacing the Family and the Individual Self, The Hypothetical Father Figure: Mythology Makes Up for What Reality Lacks.