Kay+Ryan-Perez

"Why We Must Struggle" by Kay Ryan
If we have not struggled as hard as we can at our strongest how will we sense the shape of our losses or know what sustains us longest or name what changes costs us saying how strange it is that one sector of the self can step in for another in trouble how loss activates a latent double how we can feed as upon nectar upon need?

Ryan initiates “Why Must We Struggle” by proclaiming a question that immediately plants the reader into the topic of struggles in life. The first line of the poem begins with the word ‘if’ to foreshadow the tone and content to continue. All lines of the poem could be read as if there was a question mark at the end of the sentence. The poem contains no punctuation until the end to depict the continuous questions one has about their struggles throughout their life. There is no other punctuation used at the ends of lines to show that we are all together in our struggles and aren’t separated. is organized in single compact stanzas that are rich in content along with thought provoking and relatable situations. Pronouns such as “we” and “our” are used throughout the poem to make the situations relatable and something concrete. The repetition of the pronouns emphasizes the idea that we all struggle and have questions about the struggles we are experiencing. This style of writing portrays Ryan’s indefinite and unsure attitude about struggles and the way it influences life. The tone compares and contrasts struggles ranging from strong to weak mental states in our lives. She also has the tones fluctuating from anxious to confident. The shift moves from independence and focus on the self, in the beginning, to helping others with their struggles as well. She uses words such as ‘if’ and ‘how’ or ‘not’ to depict the sense of self-doubt in the beginning. While there is an obvious transformation of tone additionally there is transformation in confidence and word choice. After the transformation words such as ‘can’, ‘feed upon’, and ‘activates’ replace the words that represent negativity and insecurities. The turns in the tone and thoughts lead to many different interpretations and are rooted through emotion.

While reading this poem about struggles and sacrifice, I couldn’t stop thinking about the cross and that sacrifice, so this gave me a visual for this poem. []

"Carrying a Ladder" by Kay Ryan We are always really carrying a ladder, but it’s invisible. We only know something’s the matter: something precious crashes; easy doors prove impassable. Or, in the body, there’s too much swing or off- center gravity. And, in the mind, a drunken capacity, access to out-of-range apples. As though one had a way to climb out of the damage and apology.

Kay Ryan starts “Carrying a Ladder” with the pronoun we to emphasize and illustrate that everyone carries a ladder and has the same set of circumstances. This poems main focus is on the ladder which Ryan uses as a metaphor for human capacity. This metaphor represents the idea that everyone has an invisible ladder that opens doors for them, it just depends on if advantage is taken of this ladder that’s being carried. This can either be a burden on life or can be a doorway to an abundance of opportunities and assist in pushing closer to dreams. The detail of this ‘invisible’ ladder is extremely vivid and illustrates an exceedingly rich image. Ryan views this ladder as something that we only recognize when ‘something precious crashes’ or ‘easy doors prove impassable’. Through this invisible ladder, we are able to ‘access out of range apples’ and excel to levels we could have alone. The organization of the poem is one long stanza that is in the form of a ladder. The lines are very short, making the poem into an elongated column which instills the image of a ladder into one’s mind. The tone that Ryan uses begins with a positive outlook and views the ladder as help and shifts to a different state of mind. The state of mind towards the end shifts to viewing the opportunities the ladder brings as a dream rather than reality. Phrases such as ‘in the mind/ a drunken capacity’ points to the conclusion that everything the ladder is taking you to isn’t reality and the ladder will never get you there because the end is invisible. The use of punctuation in this poem greatly impacts one’s opinion on the meaning of the poem. It’s choppy sentence structure helps to depict a visual of the stairs the we battle in our invisible ladder through life.

This picture was exactly what I picture when I’m reading this poem. []

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Ryan begins the poem with “we” to show that collectively as a society or group experiences this pinhole in our life that proves there is an outside world besides our own lives. This pinhole in all lives is one that allows people to witness and clearly get a glimpse of the world outside of our own personal lives and what is in our direct line of vision. This pinhole enables light to break through into dark when Ryan states “pin hole of light”. Ryan refers to the night sky when she states “the way this [pinhole] defeats night”. This pinhole allows us to see things outside of our personal worlds and gives a minute image of the beings existing beyond ones sight. This pinhole is viewed as a negative action that one couldn’t even imagine doing “such a small act to vanquish blackness”. This block of our vision into the outside world forces one to question reality, what is beyond our sight, and actual truth. Not being able to perceive the entire world beyond the light and the pinhole forces one to realize that this pinhole restricts ones sight, thoughts, and memories. This pinhole is similar to a picture that captures an image but doesn’t allow one to see an entire image. One cannot know the full situation and feelings behind the image that the picture has captured. It leads to a false and not factual truth and leaves room for interpretation and imagination. Ryan uses an elongated structure along with choppy sentences. The first eight lines all have two stressed syllables and then are followed by a line with one stress. She then places two sentences with one stressed syllable to end the poem and to demonstrate their great importance. Lines such as “the way” and “to vanquish/blackness” are all one syllable describing the actual pinhole and the impact that it has on life. =====

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=fisheye+photography&um=1&hl=en&biw=1265&bih=585&tbm=isch&tbnid=27SYLoBTGgjYwM:&imgrefurl=http://www.footootjes.nl/Photography_Fisheye/Photography_Fisheye.html&docid=gEfN0P6V61VZVM&imgurl=http://www.footootjes.nl/Photography_Fisheye/028_Athens_Hephaestus_PICT0028_1600x1163SS_sh0.7-100.jpg&w=1600&h=1163&ei=N3-HT9TgLqGc8AGBpIC2CA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=347&sig=111286376542907465302&page=1&tbnh=107&tbnw=147&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:19,s:0,i:173&tx=59&ty=69

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creeps across  =====

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with trees, a color  =====

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passed from one  =====

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to another, a  =====

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to which they  =====

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submit unflinchingly  =====

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like soldiers or  =====

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brave people  =====

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getting older. =====

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Then the sun  =====

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comes back and  =====

it’s totally over.
Kay Ryan’s poems, such as this one, tend to deal with real life situations that occur in one’s life on a daily basis. The words used places the reader in the real setting and situation that is being depicted. She uses simple images that appear in everyday life and transforms them into meaningful symbols that are life lessons that relate to lessons in life. She uses words that are powerful yet understandable to reader’s of any age, allowing all to be influenced by her poetry. In her poem “Cloud” she instills the idea that the clouds are “a blue stain” that resides above the clouds. Her imagery represents common scenes in life and allows readers to have an image of the trees implanted into their minds allowing them to relate this familiar image to their own life. She describes to the reader that the clouds and the trees interacting are a dark nothingness with a background of blue sky. The cloud is related to a “requirement to which they submit unflinchingly like soldiers or brave people getting older”. The cloud symbolizes the darkness in life that comes and goes. General knowledge instills in society the knowledge that the sun will eventually come back out from behind the clouds. When the sun comes out of hiding behind the clouds allows the true shapes and colors of the evergreen trees to be revealed to those viewing from down below. She uses a dark tone when she describes the cloud coming over the trees and relates it to soldiers and war as they progress in time. Her way of using words really allows readers to connect with the message she is portraying and instills a pristine image of the scene and meaning in ones mind instead of leaving the message and situation up for interpretation. I really enjoyed how Ryan took such a simple object that we interact with daily and made it into something meaningful and that relates to life.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=cloud+above+trees&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&biw=1265&bih=585&tbm=isch&tbnid=dHRR_AY2QM9icM:&imgrefurl=http://footage.shutterstock.com/clip-1772768-stock-footage-clouds-framed-by-pine-trees-move-slowly-against-blue-sky-on-warm-summers-day.html&docid=avsfeD_Lz5CE2M&imgurl=http://ak.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/854641/preview/stock-footage-time-lapse-of-clouds-above-tree-tops.jpg&w=400&h=224&ei=jn-HT8beNsiL8gHsranDCA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=712&vpy=191&dur=58&hovh=168&hovw=300&tx=190&ty=90&sig=111286376542907465302&page=2&tbnh=99&tbnw=177&start=21&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:21,i:125