In the Comments section below, please post a response of at least one full paragraph (min. 5 sentences). Your assignment is twofold: 1) you are to demonstrate a clear understanding of the text by attempting to summarize the text's argument as precisely as possible, and 2) you are to use your comment to ask the text (or ask your peers) at least one thoughtful question.
Remember: your comment can respond directly to other students' posts on this text. The goal of this forum is to offer an opportunity for intelligent dialogue related to the works we are studying in class. Respectful debate is always welcome.
In the "Anecdote of the Jar," the jar seems to be the looking glass which Stevens sees the area around him. It seems as though he places a jar upon a hill, as he stated in the poem, and he begins to observe his surroundings from different directions through the jar. He claims, "It made the slovenly wilderness
ReplyDeleteSurround that hill," which only happens when the jar bends the objects he is looking at until things surround the hill. In the end he makes his claim that "The jar was gray and bare.
It did not give of bird or bush,
Like nothing else in Tennessee." Why does he use a "jar" or even place it on a hill?
Folarin,
ReplyDeleteIn answer to your question, I don't really think that it matters what he places on the hill. It doesn't have to be a jar, but he chooses a jar for some reason. What Stevens is really trying to say is that one thing gives meaning to another. Out of all the hills in Tennessee, there was only one that was set apart: the hill with the jar. Before Stevens placed that jar on the hill, it was just a normal hill covered in "slovenly wilderness" but after Stevens put the jar on the hill, the wilderness no longer covered the hill, but surrounded the jar. The jar changed the meaning of the hill and the area around it. My question is what does the phrase "And tall and of a port in air" mean?
Mike Lentz
I think that the jar has a significance of an almost god-like character. It is gray and bare which might mean that he is unbiased and perhaps not bothered by what he sees on top of the mountain. The poem says that the wilderness rose up to it and sprawled around it, no longer wild. This could mean that the jar's surroundings had a type of awe and respect for him and behaved themselves. It also says that it took dominion everywhere, could this mean that it has a god-like superiority?
ReplyDeleteI dont think that stevens was trying to say that the jar has a Godlike superiority. I think that instead, the jar has no real importance in the forming of the wilderness around it at all. The wilderness was going to grow up around the hill whether or not the jar was on top of the hill. I think that stevens is trying to say that we put to much thought and importance into objects, when they are really of no importance at all. My questionn for this poem is what importance does the location of tennessee have in this poem?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mike's statement about the jar giving meaning to the hill and all the surrounding area. Also, the fact that this object was a jar does not hold significant meaning other than to portray the idea that anything is meaningful and has the ability to pass on this meaning. Evidence for this is shown in the statement "It made the slovenly wilderness Surround the hill". By placing the jar on the hill, the area around hill gains meaning; that is,it is now able to be used as a description for the jar. This idea culminates in the thought that this jar, "gray and bare", brought the surrounding hills to life by giving them purpose.
ReplyDeleteIn this poem, i think that the relationship between the jar and the wilderness symbolizes that of humans and nature, the jar being human. Like it said in the poem, "the jar was gray in bare." We are so insignificant and bare compared to nature and the rest of the world, yet we have the power to change it. In the poem it also said, "It made the slovenly wilderness surround that hill." An object as small and insignificant as a jar was able to transform and change the world around it. My question is, why does Wallace describe the jars appearance? Does it have significance or just make the poem better?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mike's point in that the hill is still a hill, regardless of the jar. Although it sets it apart from other hills, it is distinguished by the jar on top of it. I don't agree with Adam when he says a jar was able to transform and change the world around it. All the jar did was change the appearance of the hill and made the slovenly wilderness surround that hill. My question is what did Stevens mean bythe jar did not give bird or bush like nothing else in Tennessee?
ReplyDeleteI think that in the poem the " Anecdote of the Jar" Stevens is saying that this jar on top of the hill changes or transforms everything around the hill. In respons to Folarin's question I think their is importance in the fact that Stevens chose a jar and not some other object. A jar is somewhat insignificant because it is just a hallow, empty container. The jar does no good until something is put in it or until it receives meaning of some sort. The hill is insignificant because it is just a plain hill until the jar gets placed on the hill and suddenly the surroundings are transformed for the better. I think by choosing a simple jar Stevens is saying that simple things can have meaning too or significance, because the hill has no meaning until the jar gives it meaning. This would go with the Modernist idea that things can have meaning. My question is what does the sentence givee bird or bush like nothing else in Tenesse mean and how does that connect with the jar?
ReplyDeleteWell what about the hill then? if the jar can be so simple and still have meaning why cant the hill have meaning too? isnt it simple? I mean i see his point of how the jar gives the hill meaning but i dont understand why the hill cant have meaning too. But I do like the idea of the jar being hallow and still giving somthing else meaning. But if its not on the hill isnt it just a jar? just like the hill is just a hill? So i think they mutualy give eachother meaning. What i dont understadnd is what the significance of it being in Tennessee is
ReplyDeleteKelly, from what I've read online about the poem, it seems that Stevens chose Tennessee because it's as ordinary as any other place.
ReplyDeleteI think that the poem is about how in human nature we try to catagorize things on their importance. The jar can be seen as a symbol for humans and the hill as the rest of the world. By itself, the hill is meaningless and provides nothing. Although, when the jar (humans) is placed on the hill, it earns a role in life and is now seen as the hill with the jar on top. What I want to know is, what does Stevens mean by, "It does not give of bird nor bush," (line 11)?
This poem seems to be talking about perspective. It talks about the appearance of the jar and how it fits into its environment. The environment changes when the jar is placed on the hill, and it seems like there is a lot of symbolism for both the jar and the things that the poem describes. The hill compliments the jar, but the jar seems to also give the hill meaning. The fact that the subject of the poem is the jar leads to the conclusion that the jar is the symbolic center of the poem, and everything else around it is the backdrop for the jar. Not the other way around.
ReplyDelete