Poet Laureate _ Kay Ryan

Kay Ryan

Biography

Born on September 21, 1945, in California, Kay Ryan majorly studied English and continued her connection with English by teaching English at College of Marin after graduating from graduate school in 1971. Ryan first privately published his collection, Dragon Acts to Dragon Ends in 1983; however, until mid-1990s, her work was not so recognized. In 2004, Kay Ryan received Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, and she published The Niagara River, her sixth collection of poetry, in 2005. Since so, she served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, and in July 2008, Ryan was announced by the U.S. Library of Congress to be the 16th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She served two year as a Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, until 2010. Her best work The Best of It: New and Selected Poems won her the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2010. Kay Ryan is acknowledged as one of the most original voices in the contemporary landscape of Poetry.

Poem Analysis

Why We Must Struggle

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 change costs us 

saying how strange

it is that one sector

of the self can step in 

for another activates

a latent double how 

we can feed 

as upon nectar

upon need?

Looking at the title, I would predict that the poem is about advising people how to take in the struggles in our lives. All people encounter hardships which hinders them from progressing in lives and people often regard the events as “needless unfortunate accident.” Therefore, people try to escape the struggle and want it to flow away as quickly as possible. However, Kay Ryan, through the poem, wants to suggest the reasons why the struggles are actually huge part of our lives.  The poem states that because we struggle and we feel the preciousness of the values around us, that is what making lives so beautiful. If we would not encounter the hardships, there would be no ways of realizing the values that are sustaining us. Though the poem is created with a single sentence, every line seems to question the audiences.  The tone of the poem is positive and didactic. It is trying to suggest a thoughtful truth that many people would not be realizing. The shift of the poem exist in the middle of the poem, in which Ryan focus more about stating her thoughts to suggesting her thoughts. Overall, the poem suggests Kay Ryan’s opinion in regards of why people would have to struggle and take it naturally as part of life.

Album

Death has a life

of its own. See

how its album

has grown in

a year and how 

the sharp blot of it

has softened

till those could 

almost be shadows

behind the 

cherry blossoms

in this shot.

In fact you

couldn’t prove

they’re not.

Album is a symbol of memory. It involves from birth to death, the sceneries and pictures of lives. The poem focus on not the typical album we would imagine, but the album of the death. Time creates the cycle of lives and though it spills like an ink drop, it will fade away, just like how cherry blossom wither away as time passes. Time brings “forgetfulness” and though we try to remember and keep them under our thoughts, it will fade away. The poem utilizes metaphors along with imagery descriptions, such as “sharp blots,” “cheery blossoms” to parallel the meaning of remembrance of death with its ephemeral nature. Ryan also uses “sharp blot” and “softened” as oxymoron to present her ideas. The tone of the poem is dark and even convey some sense of wistfulness. As the poem deals with death and the fading memories, it would suggest the ephemeral nature in which people cannot arrest. The fact that people cannot grasp to arrest no matter how hard they attempt conveys wistfulness. The shift seems to be present right before the last sentence, in which Ryan uses strong language to point out the truth that people would reject to recognize. The poem also presents Kay Ryan’s point of view in regards of roles of time and memory of death. 

The Best of It

However carved up

or pared down we get

we keep on making

the best of it as through

it doesn’t matter that 

our acre’s down to 

a square foot.

As through our garden 

could be one bean

and we’d rejoice if

it flourishes, as 

though one bean 

could nourish us.

The poem talks about the what is it best part of life is. Kay Ryan again talks about hardships in lives. She claims that how hard the obstacles is robust and how much people have to get down by them, we can start again, just like the one bean can flourish the garden. Ryan uses metaphors to illustrate what it means to “keep on making the best of it” by using bean and garden; image is also created by the metaphor. The poem have warm and hopeful tone that allows the audience to have positive expectation on the future. Ryan tries to make the poem to serve as a hopeful means of people to live through and remind them that the best could be made all the time. I think there is a little shift when the metaphor comes in place; the metaphor takes a roe in creating the definite warm tone of the poem.The poem is again, a suggestive poem about life–how to live a best life. 

Kay Ryan, who is she as a Poet

Kay Ryan, looking at the three poems, especially focuses on the theme “life.” Most of her poem is about life and usually have hopeful tone. She, through her poem, tries to suggest advices that she would like to give to people in regards of how to live life. In terms of style, she utilizes short lines and her poem is usually formed as one stanza. I believe Ryan wants to focus on one specific point that she wants to make instead of involving diverse topics. In addition, common literary technique she utilizes is metaphor. She likes to visualize her point using real life–especially nature elements–to create an image of her poem. 

Bibliography

"Kay Ryan." : The Poetry Foundation. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.

The Biography of Kay Ryan." Poemhunter.com. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.

"Poetry Magazine." April 2004. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.

"Poetry Magazine." Album by Kay Ryan. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.

"Menu." Rethink. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.

"Wedding Photo Albums ~ Wedding Ideas and Collections." Wedding Photo Albums ~ Wedding Ideas          and Collections. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.

"How To Create The Best Life." WHATS THE POINT OF LIVING AVERAGE. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.

"Budding Poet? Foyles Young Poet Award Opens Its Doors." Theguardian.com. Guardian News and           Media, 13 Mar. 2012. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.