mari
New Member
Posts: 13
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Post by mari on Sept 25, 2017 23:35:51 GMT -6
In Rainer Rylke's " Let This Darkness be a Bell tower," Rylke claims that darkness should be accepted as a natural part of life and should be accepted rather than be hidden. He uses the imagery of a bell tower because bell towers are easily noticeable. I also Rylke also claims that in order to get stronger, facing the darkness is required. He says " What batters you makes you stronger" batter means to strike down repeatedly or defeat. He then mimics the bell tower again and says "move back in forth into change" once again visualizing the natural aspects of life.
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Post by jordan on Sept 26, 2017 21:19:40 GMT -6
I agree. I think the voice is responding to darkness as something inevitable. The voice itself almost acts like a bell tower; in the way that a bell tower is noticeable and lets you know what time it is by how many times the clapper (the thing inside the bell) "batters" against the bell, the voice is notifying that darkness is present and it's time to move push through it. As the voice keeps speaking, it's getting stronger as the lines of the poem towards the end get shorter and suddenly stops leaving an echo of "I am". The voice in this poem is very encouraging and supporting as friend should be towards another friend in darkness. The voice is like the bell in the darkness; the voice of reason.
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Post by Queviin on Sept 28, 2017 10:43:18 GMT -6
I agree with Jordan's and Amaria's idea that the narrator of the poem is presenting the darkness is something that should be overcome and pushed through. I also think that the purpose is not just to overcome adversity or hardships, but to also have a voice and to have your voice be heard. In the ending lines "And if the world has ceased to hear you, say to the silent earth: I flow. To the rushing water, speak: I am", the narrator is basically saying to the audience that once you overcome your difficulties, it is then time to notice me once again. The use of the colon in this way tells us, the audience, that "I", or we, are the voice; we are the capable of overcoming hard times and becoming relevant. Your voice has to be heard by the world and you have to express yourself. After the fact of you overcoming depression, the next step is to manifest your strength and your power. The organization of the poem also lends credence to this idea. The whole poem leads up to this end point, a journey from battling depression, to overcoming it, and finally becoming a better person.
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Post by andrea on Sept 28, 2017 11:23:47 GMT -6
In Ranier Maria Rilke's poem "Let This Darkness Be a Belltower", the author is trying to encourage a friend who is in a dark place, possibly dealing with depression. The very first line in the poem, "Quiet friend who has come so far...", Rilke is telling his friend that, even though they are struggling at the moment, they have have grown into a much better, or a much stronger, person than they used to be. Later on, in the 3rd and 4th lines of the 1st stanza, he's trying to convince his friend to use this dark time as an opportunity to learn and grow rather than using it as an excuse to revert back to the "weaker" person they once were. In the final stanza, Rilke is once again trying to convince his friend, however this time he's convincing them to use their voice even if no one is listening because they still have a say in the things they experience in their life and how those experiences either help them grow or break them. Overall, the entire poem is meant to uplift his friend and encourage them to utilize this dark and depressing time in their life, rather than letting it consume them and break them down. Ultimately, with the belltower metaphor, he's saying that his friend has to be the light during such a dark time.
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Post by akmaples on Sept 28, 2017 11:45:40 GMT -6
In Let this Darkness be a Belltower, by Rainer Maria Rilke, she makes a claim that whenever you are grieving something or someone, you can always turn “darkness” into a belltower. In this case that darkness happens to be a void, or something that could possibly be never ending, but Rolke is trying to make the point that any type of sadness or grief can be put to an end. She begins the poem, by saying, “Quiet friend…” this is to symbolize someone that has been knocked down so many times and is not sad, depressed or even lonely, the quietness of a “friend” is symbolizing how quiet people can be when they are sad or lonely. In line 4, it states, “...and you the bell. As you ring,...”, the second person pronoun, you in this sentence symbolizes the quiet person that the author is attempting to describe in this poem. Then when she says, “as you ring”, she is symbolizing how someone can allow their sadness and sorrow to “darkness”, to soon turn into something useful and positive “bell tower.” By the author using a bell tower to symbolize something positive, allows the reader to see how good a bell tower really is in life. The bell tower is usually found in churches and at the top of important buildings. The bell tower is what tells us the hour of the day, which is a very important part of life, being because time is everything, and everything is nothing without the presence of time.
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Post by Keviana S on Sept 28, 2017 11:53:47 GMT -6
In the poem "Let this darkness be a Belltower", Ranier Maria Rilke uses "Quiet" in the first line to reference the silence of our spirit and how it should be confined or narrowed. I agree with Andrea on how the friend may be dealing with some sort of depression. However, the title is used metaphorically to compare the relationship between belltower and darkness. In the second stanza it tells how the silent "friend" to become stronger from life obstacles In the last stanza the speaker help the friend realize that the solution is not something to know or figure out with our minds, but with our spirit. To me, it suggests the meditative mind and finding the place beyond distraction to locate the answer to the problem posed to us. At its essence, the poem implores us to take the burden that weighs so heavily upon our shoulders and turn it into something constructive. We will determine what that is by locating the truth that lies at the core of our being. This truth will propel us to right action and will be the moral compass we need to confront the thing that has caused such pain. We, in fact, are the bell that rings beyond the view of the belltower.
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taj
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by taj on Sept 28, 2017 14:47:09 GMT -6
Rilke suggests to her friend that the dark period of their life is a natural event. The speaker encourages their friend to embrace their dark period to instead become "a bell tower...as you ring". This means that the friend should endure the darkness and rather than allow the darkness to consume his life. The speaker's voice acts as both a beacon of hope and as a voice of reason for their friend. Rather than over-comfort and lull their friend into a false sense of security, Rilke presents the matter to her friend that the dark time they are going through is by no means easy. The use of action verbs like "speak" imply that action must be taken to overcome their issue.
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