Since we started discussing some of the Dickey poems in class, I decided to give another one a shot, and to try to interpret it on my own once again. Though my interpretations of my poems thus far have not been completely correct, I figure that practice makes perfect. So here goes nothing…
After I read the poem “Sun” by James Dickey, I almost felt the pain of getting sun burnt in the summer. When reading about this couple going out sun tanning (and I am assuming on a beach) and getting badly burnt to the point where it hurt, I felt a lot of sympathy for them. Being that I am very pale skinned and often have experienced becoming white as a ghost as it is said that the “winter had caught her and whipped her,” I have experienced the wrath of a brutal sun burn at least once a summer. I also laughed because they obviously were not smart enough to put very much sun screen on. The woman’s nose is described as “still clownish” meaning that she only placed sun block on her nose, which caused it to be the only place on her body, except for where her bathing suit had covered her, that was white.
I also found it comical that the man was described as being “red as iron glowing blazing up anew with each bad breath from the bellowing curtains.” I recalled summers where my dad had looked like a lobster because he did not protect himself from the sun. He had such heat radiating off of him, even hours after he was exposed to the sun, that the sun burn would hurt even more any time the wind blew or something touched him. Although it was complete agony for him, as kids my brother and I used to draw things on his back or arms and watch it slowly fade away, back into the redness. I also can relate to seeing whiteness all over and having your eyesight slightly altered after being in the bright sun all day, as described in the passage: “And in the mirror saw whiteness run from my eyes like tears…”
I enjoyed reading this poem, because it not only was easy to understand (at least I think it was, if I got the meaning of it) but it also was simple enough to relate to. At the end of the day when I spent the entire day at the beach, and I can not move for I am burnt to a crisp, the first thing I want to do is lie down and go to sleep as this couple did. “Sun” was a very slow-moving poem, where you just take in all of the senses described, and just the love that the couple has for one another. They just comfort each other as they help their spouse get ready for bed. I really took pleasure in reading about the sweet and tender aspect of this poem, plus the thought of summer soon coming and the days at the beach soon to come. J
2 comments:
I enjoyed reading this poem too for the fact that summer is almost here and it made me think of going to the beach and set the mood for summer! I didn't understand this poem at first but I got the same idea that you did, that the couple was just enjoying each others company and love that they shared in the summer sun, which was a comforting feeling to get from a poem written by Dickey.
I don't know if anything gets me as excited as the approach of summer and warm weather. Something about absorbing those skin-cancer causing rays really gives me an awesome energy that is lacking during the dreary winter. Like you, and Dickey apparently, I can identify with getting some really vicius sunburn--those damn Irish genes (which also contribute to passing out in the sun). This poem, while containing the common Dickey theme of dark vs. light, wasn't that interesting for me to analyze on a very deep level because all it made me want to was go to a pool or beach.
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