Cooper Essay #22
Everything is beautiful, and "nothing in this world is ugly just because the world [says] so", are the themes Ms. Nye uses this theme throughout her poem "Valentine for Ernest Mann". She describes an instance when a man she knew once "gave his wife two skunks for a valentine". The man did not care one bit that they smelled abominable(apt thesaurus word), for he thought their eyes were beautiful. He "reinvented" them as something elegant(apt thesaurus word), and they were, "at least to him". Ms. Nye later says that "maybe if we reinvent whatever our lives give us, we find poems". I perceive that poems can symbolize beauty in this context. She says we can find poems, or loveliness, "in [our] garage[s]", or in "the odd sock in [our] drawer", two places usually overlooked when on a search for majesty or artistry(purposeful repetition). When we find beauty from an unusual place in our lives, Ms. Nye says, we will find poems.
English 8
Mr. Salsich
May 6, 2010
In Naomi Shihab Nye's poem, Valentine for Ernest Mann, she says that "nothing in this world is ugly just because the world says so". This is true, for at first glance, many of the things that the world offers us are ugly. If we look into the face of ugliness long enough, though, beauty will expose itself. To Ms. Nye and I, beauty is limitless.
In Naomi Shihab Nye's poem, Valentine for Ernest Mann, she says that "nothing in this world is ugly just because the world says so". This is true, for at first glance, many of the things that the world offers us are ugly. If we look into the face of ugliness long enough, though, beauty will expose itself. To Ms. Nye and I, beauty is limitless.
Everything is beautiful, and "nothing in this world is ugly just because the world [says] so", are the themes Ms. Nye uses this theme throughout her poem "Valentine for Ernest Mann". She describes an instance when a man she knew once "gave his wife two skunks for a valentine". The man did not care one bit that they smelled abominable(apt thesaurus word), for he thought their eyes were beautiful. He "reinvented" them as something elegant(apt thesaurus word), and they were, "at least to him". Ms. Nye later says that "maybe if we reinvent whatever our lives give us, we find poems". I perceive that poems can symbolize beauty in this context. She says we can find poems, or loveliness, "in [our] garage[s]", or in "the odd sock in [our] drawer", two places usually overlooked when on a search for majesty or artistry(purposeful repetition). When we find beauty from an unusual place in our lives, Ms. Nye says, we will find poems.
Though they may be only beautiful to me, my life is full of beautiful things. For example, I took weeds, like crab grass and dandelions, and recreated them. Before, they were a pestilence(apt thesaurus word) that destroyed a perfectly good garden or lawn. Now, I view them as what they are; beautiful plants that are a blessing to the universe. On a similar note, I see mistakes as a gift. Mistakes are a comparison between actions you are proud of, and actions that you wish you could have taken back. If we have no mistakes, how can we define a good action, for we would have nothing bad to compare it to? I suppose, instead of weeds, grass can be thought of as a mistake in nature’s world of wonders. Humans like to see crisp lines and clean surfaces; we show that in our lawns, filled with a bounty of cleanly cut and fresh grass. I also see the weed as a reminder that nature does not like that. Nature battles with the organized lawn, and wins, to reclaim what was once hers, and though the rough, disorderly(apt thesaurus word) texture of the weeds may not be beautiful to most humans, they are beautiful to nature, and therefore, to me (purposeful repetition).
Weeds may be a flaw to any garden, but they are, after all, beautiful. Anything and everything we see has a beauty, whether or not we see it immediately. Spiders, for example, have eight legs, and when closely studied, have many eyes, and some are even covered with stiff hairs. (extra commentary) Isn't it marvelous that nature can create something with such foreign features, that they are seemingly hideous to our eyes? Why should spiders or weeds be "ugly just because the world says so"?
Weeds may be a flaw to any garden, but they are, after all, beautiful. Anything and everything we see has a beauty, whether or not we see it immediately. Spiders, for example, have eight legs, and when closely studied, have many eyes, and some are even covered with stiff hairs. (extra commentary) Isn't it marvelous that nature can create something with such foreign features, that they are seemingly hideous to our eyes? Why should spiders or weeds be "ugly just because the world says so"?
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