kevin
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Posts: 4 
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Post by kevin on Sept 6, 2017 7:07:26 GMT -6
The way most people would define famous as being known for doing something that no one else could, however Naomi Nye would define it as being known and never forgotten. Naomi draws upon the idea that everything is famous to something or someone saying “ the year is briefly famous to the cheek” or that “sleeping cat is famous to the birds.” I think this comes from a need by speaker to not be forgotten, I get this from the last stanza; “ I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.” I really think it boils down to the speaker not wanting to be remembered for what they have done but remembered for who they were as a person. Yet the person is not famous to themselves but to the other person that remembers them. Just as I may not be famous to the homeless man down the street but am to my family, or as she says “The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.” Or “ the idea you carry close to your bosom is famous to your bosom” but it is not, let's say famous to your leg or your arm. I don't really know why the speaker wants to define it this way but imagine that it has something to do with showing how even the little things are important in their own way.
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taj
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Posts: 14
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Post by taj on Sept 6, 2017 17:14:11 GMT -6
I think the meaning of famous in "Famous" by Naomi Nye, means that another element is brought to something that it otherwise would not have. When Nye mentions that "The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds watching him from the birdhouse." The birds are seeing a new element to their everyday watching of the fence. The use of being famous represents a want to reveal something new about the object that looks up to the "famous" thing. Nye's approach to fame is almost the antithesis of what we would generally find fame to be. Rather than the large, extravagant lifestyle that a word like "fame" would bring to mind, Nye mentions the smaller, more intimate connections between nature, and eventually between humans. The uncommon occurrences that happen that bring a deeper connection between two things is Nye's meaning of fame. When she states, "I want to be famous to shuffling men who smile while crossing streets, sticky children in grocery lines, famous as the one who smiled back.", she means that she wishes to be what makes someone's day or she wants to be an uncommon occurrence of genuine human connection to others.
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Post by jordan on Sept 6, 2017 19:01:42 GMT -6
I agree more with Kevin. I associated, or at least I think society associates, fame with how wealthy, known, and how talented you or someone is. With that in mind, I thought Nye was focused on idea of being known and remembered by something or someone else.I agree with Taj that there is a new element being introduced in each stanza, but I don't think that was the focus. Nye seems to focus on the basic need that every person desires to have and that is to be noticed and remembered for something; it doesn't has to be big and flashy like we think "fame" to be, but it can be small and intimate like Taj mentions. Nye builds up the connections to show how "fame" is viewed from macro levels. "The bent photograph" would be famous to the person who carries it because that photo holds memories of what the person pictured has done for them. The person pictured might not want to be known because the photo is bent, but that doesn't cover up what that person did to them.
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Post by Keviana S on Sept 6, 2017 21:53:07 GMT -6
I agree with Jordan, Taj, and Kevin perspective of the poem. However, We all know what famous means. Like Kevin says, it means that people care about you and what you do. People you don't know thinks about you. It means that you are important. From reading the poem one can understand that being famous can also be something that people are in need of. For example, line 1 is telling us that the river is the important thing in a fish whole life. The fosh needs the river to survive. In the 2nd stanza the loud voice is important to silence, because without a loud voice silence wouldn't exist like fish in the sea. In the third stanza the bird knows all about the cat, because it has potential to have a huge impact on their lives. Birds seem somewhat afraid of the cat, so they hide out. This makes the cat seem famous for scaring away the birds. The fourth stanza helps the reader understand that when we cry the tear falls on our cheek. So who know a cheek when there is no tear on it? Bosom is like a woman's chest, which can refer to the seat of emotions and feelings. It is the idea that is close to our heart. A boot makes me think of some kind of work is about to be done. ALso, it can be use to wear for an everyday task that will include walking around or on ground. However, dress shoes are mainly for special occasions. The whole stanza makes me think that being famous is connected with the way we interact with certain things. One can understand in the 7th stanza that the picture is much loved! It is precous to the speaker which makes it so famous. In conclusion having an impact on others can make us famous.
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Post by nayaj0nes on Sept 7, 2017 14:21:27 GMT -6
I agree with Taj and Kevin's perspective of the poem, yet I think that the poem "Famous" by Naomi Nye reveals to me that Naomi feels as though that things can only be "famous" or useful for a little while until it is no longer needed or wanted or that the most famous things come from being hospitable and kind such as "shuffling men" that "smile"while crossing streets. This poem suggests that in order for something to be known or famous, it has to be relevant and worthy of being looked up to. So, I agree with Taj’s saying that the use of being famous relates to the newness of an object to a person or animal, like the sleeping cat on the fence. In this case, the cat is an irregular object to the everyday picture of the fence, so when the birds saw the cat, it instantly became famous to them due to the fact that they had never seen it before.
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Post by akmaples on Sept 7, 2017 17:05:08 GMT -6
In the poem, “Famous” by Naomi Shihab Nye is about the importance of everything in your specific environment. The opening line of this poem is “The river is famous to the fish.” With that line Nye sets the tone of the whole poem. A fish lives in and needs the river to survive. The river is familiar to the fish, because it is the environment in which it spends its entire life. Watching a television program brings about familiarity to a person. After seeing a person or place repeatedly on television, they become familiar to the viewer. Just as “The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds watching him from the birdhouse.” The cat is familiar to birds. The birds constantly watch the cat, so it becomes famous to them. Famous in the same way a television star becomes famous to a viewer. Articles of clothing can also be famous. A tie is famous to a suit because it is worn and associated with a suit. It is not famous to a dress because it is not associated with it. This gives the implied definition another point. Footwear can also be famous; just as, “. . . the dress shoe, which is famous only to floors” does. The shoe is associated with the surface which it comes into contact with. A dress shoe is more familiar to covered surfaces rather than the earth's surface. It is not associated with grass, dirt, gravel, or other things on the earth's surface.
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Post by andrea on Sept 7, 2017 17:14:58 GMT -6
I feel like the poem Famous by Naomi Nye is talking about how everything is famous, in a sense, to someone or something. Small rivers, loud voices, and sleeping cats are seen as insignificant to most people since it's not as if these things are new to us. But if all a fish has ever known is the small river its lived in its entire life, then of course it would seem mysterious and magical, possibly even beautiful, to them. We could easily be compared to the fish, while the small river they consider to be their entire world can be compared to our entire world, Earth. To us, a river is just a river, but that river has so much left to be explored by the fish and Earth is just a small ball of rock and grass and water, in comparison to everything else in space, that still has areas we've yet to discover or explore. Basically, like I mentioned earlier, this entire poem is based around the idea that everything, no matter how small, is seen as famous and important or something.
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Post by nikymbaw on Sept 7, 2017 18:43:38 GMT -6
I agree with Kevin about this poem, Naomi is definetely remarking on how being famous is defined as being known and never forgotten. However, it is important to understand that the connotation of "famous" in this sense doesn't just mean popular or wealthy. Really it banks on how that person had an effect on the community around them, as Alyiah pointed out in her explaination. The poem itself is making the reader see past the societal perception of what being famous means. It's worth being famous not because of the benefits that come with it but the pride that comes with how a person can have a major effect on someone, or some place. As pointed out in the last stanza, "I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,// or a butthole, not because it did anything spectacular, but because it never forgot what it could do//" people who become famous these days lose the real reason they wanted to be famous in the first place. Naomi wants to remind they can be remembered solley because of some revolutionary effect the world, much like the pulley-system, which despite it's age, is famous because of how important it was in societal development.
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mari
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Posts: 13 
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Post by mari on Sept 15, 2017 18:51:10 GMT -6
I agree with Kevin. I understood that in the poem by famous for all of the simple subjects, she meant it as a necessity. "The river( a simple subject) is famous to the fish( who needs the rivers water in order to live)." even when she states "The loud voice is famous to silence," Silence is necessary in order for there to have been loud noises. She herself claims eventually that she wants to be useful enough and for her usefulness to be remembered.
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Post by kristin18 on Sept 17, 2017 13:58:36 GMT -6
In "Famous" by Naomi Shihbab Nye, she takes on an indirect "They say, I say" through an arrangement of metaphors on one topic of being famous. Being famous is usually related to someone or something that is well known or habitually continues to be good at something that interests a body of people. I understood the poem to be a well thought exemplified definition that ended in her actually saying that the true definition of being famous is "not because it did anything spectacular.." (They say) "but because it never forgot what it could do" (I say)
I think that she defined it that way to put less value on becoming famous and more value of what it means to be famous. The importance of being famous is the unforgettable gifts that people remember you from. Just as the ocean is always remembered to the fish because of its great deed of giving them a place to live. Her examples give the bigger meaning of anything can be remembered because everyone has a specific role to a bigger web of life.
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