Decome Et Decorum
I think the author identifies “city poems” as poems about the chaos people endure in the city; that the city may not seem enjoyable to most. The chaos that the city brings can take a toll on a person and can leave them questioning their life. Lines seven to ten describe how people pray and “feel the heart beat in a handful of nothing” which I interpreted it as meaning that the city can drain people of whatever they have and leave them with nothing. When people have nothing to fall back on, faith holds a powerful connection to people who seek support to help put back the broken pieces of life and by praying, a higher power can bring an answer to their prayers.
However, Hogan seems to find the beauty and joy that the city brings and describes it in her poem, “Heartland”. I think that Hogan enjoys the city life with the detail in lines eleven to seventeen, where she describes construction workers, beggars, pigeons, and peoples’ regurgitation on metal. I interpreted the statement “human acids etching themselves into metal” as how many people travel to the city to become famous and make a name for themselves which the “human acid” being written onto the metal represents a person “writing there name in stone”.
In stanza three, line twenty, Hogan writes...
Please join StudyMode to read the full document