Military Academy**We aren't endorsed by this school
Course
NR 402
Subject
Arts & Humanities
Date
Dec 19, 2024
Pages
8
Uploaded by LieutenantJumong
1Week 5 Assignment: Art Creation – PoetryFar MotherNerison MirandaChamberlain UniversityHUMN 303N: Introduction to HumanitiesFrank PisanoFebruary 6, 2022
2PoetryA poem is a literary work categorized by the illustration of emotions and thoughts and theuse of distinctive style and rhythm. Today, poetry is divvied into different categories or genres, such as epic, narrative, lyric, satirical, or prose (Chamberlain University, 2022). Poetry has been one of the most classic forms of art that draw the image with literature for your imagination. For this week’s assignment, I have chosen a poem by American poet Billy Collins, The Lanyard. This poem is featured in Collins’ book titled “The Trouble with Poetry”.The Lanyard – Billy Collins, 2005“The other day I was ricocheting slowlyoff the blue walls of this room,moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,when I found myself in the L section of the dictionarywhere my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.No cookie nibbled by a French novelistcould send one into the past more suddenlya past where I sat at a workbench at a campby a deep Adirondack lakelearning how to braid long thin plastic stripsinto a lanyard, a gift for my mother.I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
3or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,but that did not keep me from crossingstrand over strand again and againuntil I had made a boxyred and white lanyard for my mother.She gave me life and milk from her breasts,and I gave her a lanyard.She nursed me in many a sick room,lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,and then led me out into the airy lightand taught me to walk and swim,and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.Here are thousands of meals, she said,and here is clothing and a good education.And here is your lanyard, I replied,which I made with a little help from a counselor.Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,strong legs, bones and teeth,and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
4and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.And here, I wish to say to her now,is a smaller gift—not the worn truththat you can never repay your mother,but the rueful admission that when she tookthe two-tone lanyard from my hand,I was as sure as a boy could bethat this useless, worthless thing I woveout of boredom would be enough to make us even” (Collins, 2005).The Lanyardfalls under the narrative genre, as Billy Collins wrote it in a way that the poem tells a story. He wrote this poem in such a manner that tells a story of a child trying to figure out a gift for his mother but reaches an emotional understanding that the kindness of a mother cannot be repaid adequately (Heller, n.d.). I believe that Collins’ The Lanyardis very thoughtful, kindhearted, and lovely work.Reading the poem “The Lanyard”, it seems that Billy Collins used the lanyard as a metaphor. Martin and Jacobus (2018) stated that metaphor is a contrast labeled to amplify our insight of the things being paralleled. In the poem, the lanyard symbolizes a gift that children give to their mother to express appreciation and gratitude for all the things she has done for them.As the poem concluded as the boy realizes that the lanyard will never be enough, but it's the thought that meant more for his mother.
5Far Mother – Nerison Miranda, 2022“As I look at my surroundingsI always try to find somethingIt is an unfair feelingAs if something is missingAs I compare my lifeTo everyone’s lifeThey often have someoneBut I am left with no oneAs a boy, I always wonderWhy is life good to others?As a man, I always ponderWhy do others say I’m stronger?Growing up I have no guidanceAlways felt that I’m a nuisanceFor life has no assuranceNot everyone is afforded insuranceMy life was never easyOne has to be gutsy
6Just to remain steadyAnd not to be wobblyA mother may not be presentBut it does not mean she’s absentIt takes one to be a motherBut it takes all to love from afar as a motherAs a mother who is absentMay love more than who is presentFor a boy who felt he has no motherTo realize he is strong because of his far mother”My poem “Far Mother” is inspired by Collins “The Lanyard”, as he delivered a message of gratitude and love. I was trying to write the poem through the eye of a little boy. Although it may have started as it was filled with resentments, towards the end, it portrayed gratitude. The story I was trying to relay is how my sister and I are mended throughout our childhood, as our mother was not present during that stage of our life, but this was due to her hustle of trying to provide us a better life. That her absence was not abandonment. However, her absence also gifted us the strength, to be able to fend for ourselves because she could not be there, physically. Hopefully, my poem portrayed that even though a mother is far, such as in my situation, she doesnot lose any credits and that she can be equally as loving as someone who is present, physically.
7ConnectionThe connection between Billy Collins’ “The Lanyard” and my “Far Mother" is the love between a boy and his mother. Although, each poem took a different approach and a different turn of events. Towards the end, I believe both poems portrayed how loving all mothers are. Collin's portrayed that no matter what the boy gifts his mother, it would never be enough to repay his mother's gift of life. While in my poem, I used her absence as her sacrifice in an attempt to provide us a better life, a different approach but a similar message. Overall, both poems revolve around the love between a child and a mother. That both poems are trying to capture the hearts of the reader with the use of metaphors that symbolizes the meaning of love in both scenarios.
8ReferencesChamberlain University. (2022). HUMN 303N: Introduction to Humanities - Week 5 Lesson. https://chamberlain.instructure.com/courses/93834/pages/week-5-lesson-poetry?module_item_id=13654413#nav-sec-4-link. Collins, B. (2005). The Lanyard. The Trouble with Poetry: and other Poems. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50975/the-lanyard. Heller, P. (n.d.). Lesson on Poetry in the Works of American Poet: Billy Collins. https://ferris.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=2397&item_no=1&attribute_id=19&file_no=1. Martin, F. D., & Jacobus, L. A. (2018). The Humanities Through the Arts(10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.