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= Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Literary Text: = = Introduction to Literature Hypertext Project = = = = Evan Facinger = = "My Father's Song" by Simon J. Ortiz = = First Impressions Engaging with Text =

= Vertical Thinking: = = Close Readings & Interpretations of the Text = = Horizontal Thinking = = Connecting the Text to Its Contexts =

= = = Unifying Interpretation =

"My Father's Song"
by: Simon J. Ortiz (1976)

Wanting to say things, I miss my father tonight. His voice, the slight catch, the depth from his thin chest, the tremble of emotion in something he has just said to his son, his song:

We planted corn one Spring at Acu- we planted several times but this one particular time I remember the soft damp sand in my hand.

My father had stopped at one point to show me an overturned furrow; the plowshare had unearthed the burrow nest of a mouse in the soft moist sand.

Very gently, he scooped tiny pink animals into the palm of his hand and told me to touch them. We took them to the edge of the field and put them in the shade of a sand moist clod.

I remember the very softness of a cool and warm sand and tiny alive mice and my father saying things. = = =**Way 1: First Impressions**= My first impression while reading the text led me to believe this poem was about a son missing his father who I assume is deceased. I came to this conclusion with the second line from the text "I miss my father tonight" (2). The poem goes on to describe a particular afternoon that the son shared with his father, and an experience he will always remember during that time. This was particularly important to me because when people are gone from life my experience has been that one does remember particular experiences of happiness with the person in order to help them cope with the loss. During my first reading I was confused by the symbolism of the father placing the found tiny pink mice in the sons hand. This seemed important at the time while reading the text, however after my first read I was still unable to actually identify with the true meaning behind it.

=Way 2: Engaging with the Text= While typing the text, I was able to identify more closely with the meaning of the words in the poem, such as the symbolism for the mice. I believe it was to represent the detail of the memory about the experience with his father. The author explains the actual feeling of the mice in the son's hands, "I remember the very softness" (24). This is relevant to the story because a typical memory is vague however the importance shown to the detail of this memory shows the actual importance of the memory itself to the son.

While reading the poem aloud I was particularly interested in the way the rhyming scheme was placed. I did not notice the inside rhyme lines during my first read. At times the rhymes would be separated by lines. For example "to show me an overturned furrow; the plowshare had unearthed the burrow nest of a mouse" (14-16). I believe this was put in place to help with the flow of the read and to keep the reader remembering the previous lines. Much like the son is remembering his father.

The sentences are long however they are broken up in between several lines. This relates to the poem because it reads much like ones memory works. The memories seem to be choppy and fragmented, even though details are remembered.

=Vertical Thinking: Close Readings and Interpretations of the Text=

Way 3: Vertical Comment 1:
The text appears to be an Elegy. It follows no formal rhyming scheme but has a serious theme, the theme being a son missing his father and remembering the times they have shared. At first I considered this poem to possibly be a dramatic monologue because it is revealing the thoughts of the speaker who I assume is different from the poet. But I was unable to identify the setting of the speech and also there seemed to me no hidden clues throughout the text as would be typical for a dramatic monologue.

Way 3: Vertical Comment 2:
The text consists of 5 stanzas with different line amounts. The amount of lines the stanza consists of are in order as follows: 7, 5, 5, 6, 3. The poem follows no formal rhyming scheme, although there is some rhyming in the middle of the rhymes they do not follow any sort of patter. This is what initially made me believe it to be a free verse but the separated stanzas do not represent that type of poem.

Way 4: Vertical Comment 3:
The figurative language used in this piece of poetry is symbolism, the narrator using dramatic imagery to tell a story that he remembers about a cherished time he spent with his father. The story the narrator tells is symbolic for his relationship with his father who is no longer around. Remembering and expressing this story that is of importance to a son missing his father. Speaking of the physical feelings he experienced with his father on what at that time was just a typical day, "I remember the very softness of a cool and warm sand and tiny alive mice" (24, 25). The story is being compared to a song, his father's song. According to http://www.dictionary.com, a song is defined as a brief composition, written or adapted for singing. The song of the father however is not something that could sang. However the narrator of the story repeats this brief passage to himself with loving remembrance and repetition that one would typically expect with a song.

Way 5: Vertical Comment 4:
The setting of this poem is in a field during spring at Acu, this can be told by the author referring to where him and his father are, "we planted corn one Spring at Acu-"(8). The author uses this setting to create the element of verisimilitude, it is realistic that everything that went on during the story actually took place. The author uses what would normally be a typical setting to the narrator, to show the importance of this particular event with his father. "We planted several times but this one particular time I remember the soft damp sand in my hand" shows how this time in the field stuck out to him (9-12).

Way 6: Vertical Comment 5:
The poem is written in first person point of view. We can understand this to be true by observing the way the text is written, such as using I to refer to the narrator. This can be seen early in poem "I miss my father tonight" clearly shows the point of view of narrator in the story (2). This point of view enables the poem to have a deeper meaning, it is actually the narrator that is missing his father. The reader is able to to see the deep feelings attached with the narrator's story. With this view point we are unable to know how his father felt during the story, or know the perception of an onlooker. However being written in first person the reader is better able to understand the deep emotional impact that this story had the narrator, thus giving the poem an increased amount of meaning.

Way 7: Vertical Comment 6:
The ambiguity provided in this poem is shown early. "To his son, his song" songs are generally speaking, something that can be harmonized to a beat with blatant rhymes throughout (7). This poem however is not a song in its traditional meaning, it is purely a story of remembrance of a time once shared between a father and son. The difference between the definition of the word song and the way it is used in this poem gives deeper meaning to the content of the poetry. It leads the reader to look differently at the words, even though it can not be sung in traditional form, the usage of the word provides another layer to poem.

=Horizontal Thinking: Connecting the Text to It's Contents=

Way 8: Considering Canonicity:
This poem does not represent any particular part in time, but it represents everyone's need/want for their father, "I miss my father tonight" (2). Memories shared of loved ones lost and the feelings they may bring about like in this poem will never change. This poem captures human emotions of love and is deeply portrayed in story the narrator tells. Even if the reader is not picturing their father, the story is still meaningful and can be applied to any love one who is now gone, with only their memories remaining.

Way 9: Connecting the Work to It's Biographical Context:
The poem "My Father's Song" by Simon J. Ortiz is about a son missing his father. Upon reading the biography of Simon J. Ortiz at Contemporary Authors Online, I have come to believe that my earlier interpretations of his father being deceased may be incorrect. The biography states that he had to spend much of his time away from home at boarding schools during his middle and high school years, so he would have been away from his father long periods of time during a time that a son needs his father the most. The biography also gave insight into this being described as a song. I was unable to see this poem as a song because I did not see how it would be able to flow into a harmony. The biography states that Ortiz is Native American, and according to Bert Almon in Twentieth-Century Western Writers, Ortiz "is aware of a tenacious traditional culture which uses language as a song" this brings more meaning to Ortiz referring to this story as "My Father's Song".

Way 10: Connecting the Text to its Historical Context:
The poem "My Father's Song" by Simon J. Ortiz was written in 1976. According to Facts on File, during this time there was a lot going on with the Native Americans residing in the United States. In this time frame the American Indian Movement (AIM) was developed and showing strong signs of defiance against the government of the United States. The group was modeled after the Black Panthers and reflected its militancy with in the group. This information can relate to a new meaning behind the text, instead of the story that was told by the narrator being a lovely memory shared between the father and son, it may be a story from the father regarding the freedom that was once theirs and the freedom that they must again achieve. The tiny alive mice that the narrator describes holding may instead be the symbol of the freedoms his people once had.

Way 11: Connecting the Text to its Critical Context:
The critical context that be associated with this poem give the ability to heighten the meaning. New Historicism would focus on the history of Native Americans in relation to the poem (since the author is Native American). Asking how the song of the father can be associated with the struggles of the Native Americans in the United States. The new Historicism may ask how the mice in the authors hand are directly related to the freedom once had by the Native Americans in the United States. This approach can open up a different meaning to the entire poem as described in Way 10. New Criticism would focus more on the meaning of the poem's structure, along with the specific words of the poem. An example of this would be to ask how the word "song" in the poem defines the poem itself and how it is read.

Way 12: Connecting the Text to its Theoretical Context:
A Psychoanalytical Criticism approach would focus on the aspect of the story told by the father and its relation to the son. "I remember the very softness" the Psychoanalytical Criticism approach would ask what the softness of the mice and the memory of the father have to do with the son's relationship to his now gone father (24). This type of theoretical criticism takes into account every type of psychological aspect of piece of literature. It offers a deeper meaning to the poem by going well beyond how the poem is read and into its message that was delivered from the author's psyche.

Unifying Interpretation:
The overall theme of this poem is in regard to the father and son relationship. The narrator in this story is the son, and is telling an account of a time once shared with his father. The poem is written in such a style that the it is clear the father is not around, either deceased or is away somewhere else. The Setting is given vividly to the reading with every detail of the event portrayed, showing the deepness of the story being told. Even by just reading the story once for enjoyment the reader will be able to feel the emotion of loss, and how the son truly does miss his father.

Upon further evaluation of the poem, it is clear the specific choice the author made for calling this poem a song is symbolic. With research it was found the author is Native American and language was used as song to them. The use of the word song also employs that this story is a sort of rhythmic anthem of the father, being told boisterously to his son. A seemingly ordinary event becomes something that the son will hold with him throughout his life.

Works Cited:
__American Indian History Online__. 2008. Facts On File Online Databases. 3 Dec. 2008 .

__Sleep Definition__. Dictionary.com. 2008. 18 Nov. 2008 .

Thomson Gale. "Simon J. Ortiz, in Contemporary Authors Online. (A profile of the author's life and works)" __Contemporary Authors Online__. GaleNet. 26 Nov. 2008. .