Andrew Stukalin

Close Reading Exercise 2: Poetry Artifacts

Vocabulary Defined:

Warp: to bend or twist out of shape

Weft: a woven fabric or garment

Fringe: a decorative border of thread, cord, or the like, usually

hanging loosely from a raveled edge or separate strip.

Forefoot: A front foot

Dewdrops: Drops of Dew

Distaff: the sphere of work by women

Moft: most

Group A:
From the three poems there are many conclusions that can be drawn about the
cultures in which they were made. From the Song of the Sky Loom there are a few
conclusions that can be made. One is that the Earth is considered the parents and the
people its children. This parent to child aspect can be shown from the first line (which is
repeated at the end of the poem) in which the Earth is “our mother…our father”. (1)
Another conclusion is that these people give the Earth “gifts”. These gifts might be not
even just gifts but sacrifices for the Earth. It is clear the Earth is a major point of
emphasis for these people similar to Native Americans as these people give the Earth
gifts. These people then hope that their sacrifices are re-paid with a garment made of
fringes, warps, and even weft. This garment (or metaphorically) will bring the things
these people like listed at the end of lines 5-8 including rain and rainbow. Overall it is
clear these people view Earth as valuable and that they hope through sacrifice or gifts the
Earth will repay them with what they love.
The Corn Grows Up also allows conclusions to be drawn. One conclusion is corn
is an important part of these people’s society as they write poems about them. The poet
repeats the first and third lines “The corn grows up” and “The rain descends” twice. (1, 3)
This it seems to show the cycle of water coming down and corn growing. The people also
need the corn to grow as with the growing “dark mists drop” or disappear. This shows
that when corn grows the depression and problems disappear meaning the corn is key for
these people whether it is for survival (eating it) or happiness (for instance if the grown
corn is used to make some object or thing). The second poem also alludes to sinners and
saints as well as heaven showing these people believe in heaven and that there are good
and bad people in their culture.
The Hunting Song just as the other two poems have done adds insight to this
culture of people. The poem is about the “chase” or hunting for deer. It is clear that deer
are a valuable resource for these people as they will travel from “summit(s)” to “trail(s)”
to get deer. (8-9) The line “comes the deer to my singing” is repeated five times
throughout the poem reiterating that the deer through their hunting techniques come to
them showing they have relatively un-primitive ways of hunting.
Overall from the three poems it is clear the Earth, corn, and deer are important to
this culture.

Group B:
From the three poems in this group there are many conclusions that can be drawn
about the cultures in which they were made. In the first poem Huswifery it is clear that
the people worship a “lord” as they say that this figure has “holy word” and is the “holy
spirit”. This first poem also is about a woman as it says “distaff” which means by
definition work by women. The women in this poem ask this “lord” to make her have
great “holy” attributes such as memory, understanding, and affections. It is clear the
attributes listed in lines 14 and 15 are things this culture admires and wants as this lady
begs “lord” for it. She attributes these attributes to the metaphoric “holy robe” of glory
showing that these attributes are ones sacred to the people. It is clear this isn’t a primitive
culture as they have a spinning wheel in which they can make clothes such as garments.
They also have fulling mills which are used for cleansing clothing and are a technology
that only appeared in the 16th century.
The second poem, To My Dear and Loving Husband, allows multiple conclusions
to be made about this culture. One is that love is valued as the author says about his/her
husband that, “I prize thy love”. (5) Gold is also prized as it is not worth as much as love
but is compared as a second but still valued object. Another secondary object to love is
all the riches of the East. This shows that east of this people is a territory rich in
something of value whether it is resources or even economy (we don’t know what exactly
from the poem). There is also a clear reference to heavens which shows these people
believe in heaven and later the author says they will love after “we live no more”, which
shows these people believe in an afterlife. (12)
The third poem, Comet, also allows us to draw conclusions about these people.
This poem references the years 1554 and 1759 which shows that these people have a
system for years. The poem also references “G-d” which seems to be a figure of all
mighty power to these people as they say this figure “laid Earth’s foundation”. Many
words in this poem are hard to depict but it is clear that comets are not understood by this
culture as they say they are g-d’s wrath when they are scientifically relatively small
extraterrestrial body. This shows these people understanding of science is still primitive
but the picture shows some form of telescopes which shows science for this culture is on
a climb. The fact the poem doesn’t involve science but dogma shows that this culture
might have two points of view that are opposing and foes of one each other in dogma and
science (but that may be too big of an assumption!).
Overall these poems show that these people have technology, believe in a “lord/g-
d”, value certain attributes like understanding/love, and do not fully understand space and
attribute it to dogma more then reason and science.