Did you want to talk about Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird? >> Well I was hoping you were going to talk about it then I would >> You know. >> Okay. >> Say something. >> [LAUGH] >> That's so great. These [INAUDIBLE] people are fantastic. We're going to talk about the poem briefly, and then you can respond to it either by making a comment or asking the question. Does that sound like a good process? >> Sounds like it's a fine process. >> Okay. All right, Allie, we're going to go to you and to Anne Marie. Just say anything you want about the Blackbird poem. And then, we'll come back into the room here. And why don't you give the mic to Andrea, we'll put Andrea on the spot, she can say something about it too. Allie, your thought on the Blackbird poem? >> Well, I mean, I love this poem. This is one of my favorite poems in the course. And I think probably the most obvious thing to say about it is just to look at it's kind of prismatic quality. Because it's of course, the central object, the blackbird is the easiest thing to say it is about but each different facet really does invoke something else, where the resident image. To get back to another Williams poem depends upon to some extent the blackbird but isn't entirely the blackbird. >> That's a great reading of Depends Upon. So much depends upon the blackbird that we can generate not 13 but infinite prismatic instances. Well said, Allie, given how early in the morning it is in particular. Ann Maurice what do you think? >> Yeah, I really like the word that Allie used, prismatic. I think the poem really talks about perspective and perception. And prismatic seems to have sort of a rigid, frozen quality to it. But what I really liked is the movement that goes through this poem, particularly in the stanza that says when the blackbirds flew out of sight. It marked the edge of one of many circles. And then further down, the river's moving, the blackbird must be flying. But the idea that no perspective is fixed and it's constantly shifting and it's a matter of how you view and interpret the foreground and background is a product of. One of the maybe eye of the blackbird, of course the eye of the poem, the subject. >> Well said Ann Maurice. Thank you. Andrea, your thought on this poem? >> I loved this poem. This was new this year. >> New this year, yeah one of the new poems. >> Yeah, it was great to see something new and to get a chance to kind of unpack it. My favorite part is actually in the fifth stanza. I do not know which to prefer, the beauty of inflections or the beauty of innuendos. The blackbird was whistling just after. >> Or just after, just after what? >> Yeah, well, and that's what I kind of took from that was bouncing back to all of these other things. Was the beauty of inflections or the beauty of innuendos in all of the things that we've been reading, and it's, you know, you dont know what to prefer and you're looking at all of these different aspects of things. And the imagists just really kind of whittling down to the essence of what is. And so I just like that there's this sort of conflict between the, not conflict, there can be a confluence between the inflections and the innuendos in the blackbird whistling or just after. I just think that's- >> All right Andrea, hold the mike, stay on there, Julie. Julie are you still with us? >> I'm still with you. >> Okay, Steve bring her up a little on the volume. Julie, do you want to ask a question or make a comment based on what you heard from Allie, Ann Maurice, and Andrea? >> Well you know, they all had wonderful things to say. I really like the word, as everyone else did, the prismatic word that Allie used, I think it was Allie. Whoever used it that was great. >> It was Allie, she's smart. >> And just now someone spoke about number five with the blackbird whistling and it really is one to love and my personal backyard blackbird whistles starting smack on the hour of 5:00 AM when he's doing his whistling. >> So you don't have a rooster, you have a blackbird? >> We have a blackbird and it sings to us in those three months when they do and he starts smack on 5 AM every morning. >> That's weird, what does it sound like? What's the blackbird sound like? >> It sounds like High Noon, the music from High Noon. >> Really? Wow, I didn't expect that answer. >> [LAUGH] >> Is the sound of the blackbird- >> For those of you who don't know it, it's the [MUSIC] >> Nice. [CROSSTALK] >> We also have a nightingale that appears occasionally but the blackbird is a far better singer. >> Let's talk about the end of that section, okay? I don't know which to prefer, we're going to skip the two next lines, and assume that the ambiguity of preference continues to the end. I don't know which to prefer, do I prefer the blackbird whistling, or do I prefer just after the whistle? Can you translate that, and can you paraphrase that? What's the difference between the whistling and the- >> Well, there's many things one could say it seems to me that Sort of like reading a poem. First you're actively doing it. >> Yes. >> And there after there's a time will percolates and you begin to understand- >> That's such a high level answer. >> [LAUGH] >> I mean, really great high level answers. That's like a graduate seminar answer. Can we do the sophomore class answer that is to say- >> Well- >> Whistling and just after. >> Voices, and then there's silence. >> Right. Sound and silence. I don't know which to prefer? Do I prefer the sound of something, or do I prefer the silence that comes just after? Dave Poplar, what's the difference between silence that's not preceded by sound, I know that's theoretically impossible but, what's the difference between just plain silence and the silence that occurs after a sound? What's the difference? >> The impact of an event lingers and that lingering is what happens when the silence is right after the event that preceded it so- >> Which do you prefer, the sip of the coffee or the taste of it just after? Well right now I appreciate the effect of the coffee. >> [LAUGH] >> But I guess the lingering part is really what you savor out of the experience. It's not just imbibing it, it's the whole experience that comes after it. >> Let's think of some, can someone give Steve McLaughlin the mike? Because he's thought a lot about sound. In a minute Steve, I'm going to ask you to say something about sound and the quality of the silence right after a sound, as distinct from just plain silence. But while he's thinking of something to say, lets think of some other words for that silence just after a sound, any synonyms? I'll throw one out, resonance. Anything else? >> Trace. >> Trace. Anything else? >> Echo. >> Echo. >> Echo. >> Or- >> Yep. Anna, anything else? How do you describe the silence right after the sound. You know that. A room fills with sound. If I say Anna, and stop. What happens after I stop? She's silent. >> [LAUGH] >> Anna happens after that. Let's give Steve the mic. Steve, what are your thoughts? Say something brilliant about Sam. >> Well, I mean, this is paraphrasing of this. But I mean, I never heard any sound, just the sound of the mind. So the moment right after it sound in is, in some ways more real than the experience of the sound itself because- >> It's more real? >> The brain turns on it starts processing. >> So the ears take it in and then the brain is processing the sound partly on like delayed. >> Yeah party 30 seconds delayed. Something like that. >> Yeah >> So this is actually a physiological thing. Steve, Andrea still has the mic. That's the same mic. Steve, Andrea, and or Julie, let's say one more thing about this. What does this stuff about silence, I don't know if I prefer the sound or the effect of the sound. The after effect is Steven saying. What does it have to do with this whole project of prismatic seemingly infinite or at least thirteen cubist tries attempts. What is it, any of the three of you. What does it have to do with his overall project that he doesn't know which to prefer. Andrea give it a try, this is hard. I'm putting you on the spot. >> Well I was thinking as he was talking I was thinking that the just after is memory, really, and that is when you own it. >> Memory. >> That's when you possess whatever it is that you've just heard or read and you're free to go in any direction that you want. And so that's another piece of the prism. It's not just the thing, it's the memory of it that changes. >> I think we want to, Andrea that was brilliant.