Poem Commentary On Continuum By Allen Curnow

by alejandrazimm (student)

Alejandra Zimmermann November 5, 2012 Period 1 “Continuum” By: Allen Curnow 1. The poem is about the thoughts of a writer trying to go to sleep but having trouble being able to. His references to the bed and the moon make you think it about him literally wants to sleep, but it is back his lack of inspiration to write, in which compares in to not being able to sleep as well. 2. The narrator is speaking to himself because in the third line of the poem, the author reveals to the reader that, “I am talking about myself,” in two ways in which he compares him self to the falling moon and that he, him self, is whom he is speaking to. The poet suggests through the poem that he views his thoughts as two different personas, his own and that of “the author”, his “cringing demiurge”; the creative side of the persona and he is in an inner-conflict because one side of him wants to sleep the other one wants to write a poem. 3. A.) The poem conveys this message by describing some actions that he does in order to get some inspiration to write, even though he is sleepy, tired and bored, “It is not possible to get off to sleep.” What I notice about the appearance, just by looking at the poem, is that it is to be read straight through, sort of like a rambling. The shape is straight, having all beginning of lines on top of another and separating when going into another thought. The poet uses long, drawn out sentences split apart by continuation into next line, commas and conjunctions. The shortest sentence in the poem states: “a long moment stretches, and the next one is not/ on time.” Its length, in contrast to what it tells us, is ironic because it talks of a great length of time, yet the

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sentence itself is so short in comparison to others throughout the poem. “The moon rolls over the roof and falls behind my house and the moon does neither of these things, I am talking about myself,” This use of imagery makes the reader imagine the moon is falling behind the house but it is described to be interrupted as if he was falling because he was not getting any inspiration, he is felling restless and trying to find ideas. It is a metaphor. The first two lines are personification because moon personifies the situation of the poet. The poet states that “it’s not possible to get off to sleep or/ the subject or the planet, nor think thoughts”, as if rambling on, letting is thoughts trail. This gives the reader a sense of restlessness the narrator is experiencing. “Better barefoot it out the front/ door and lean from the porch across the privets/ and the palms”, it is like the narrator is thinking of what he will do. It is as if he is just letting his mind wander hoping to get to sleep. A “washed-out creation” puts forward the idea of something faded, something old; it presents an image of something that has lost its luster. The narrator talks of “two particular/ bright clouds”, even stating that one is his and “the other’s an adversary, which may depend/ on the wind, / or something”. This further implies the idea that he has let his mind drift in his effort to sleep. The poet personifies the cloud as being his “adversary”, possibly hinting at his struggle for sleep. “A long moment stretches, the next one is not/ on time,” this presents us with an impression of boredom, a sense that he is waiting for something. We then get a personification of the night sky emptying “the whole of its contents down”. It presents an image of rain suddenly gushing down from the heavens. The narrator then closes “the door behind/ on the author”, “who picks up/ his litter and his tools and paces me back/ to bed”. The image of the “cringing demiurge” portrays the narrator’s writer/creator persona shrinking back; it is as if the narrator is putting this persona and all the thoughts linked with it away in order to go to bed. The poet’s use of much diction conveys the poet’s thoughts and thought pattern. “It’s not possible to get off to sleep or/ the subject or the planet, nor to think thoughts”, this use of listing and the use of the word “or” suggests the narrator is moving from one thought to another; rambling in his own head. It also presents how he thinks it is almost impossible to sleep as he can’t “get off… the planet”. The narrator then tells us “better barefoot it out the front/ door”; it is as if he has made some sort of judgment. The poet portrays a sense of questioning by placing “(query)” in the middle of the first line in the fourth stanza. This could indicate the narrator puzzling over something, as the reader also puzzles about its placement. The poet mentions how “a long moment stretches” and “the next one is not on time”. This suggests the length of time the narrator has been waiting to fall asleep, or his boredom. The narrator tells us that “the next one is not on time” proposing that he is following a schedule, or is to early for him to sleep. “Turn on bare heel, close the door behind/ on the author, cringing demiurge…” these are all incomplete expressions separated by commas. This suggests the narrator is jumping from thought to thought, not even finishing one and moving to another. It is almost inconsistent, especially because of the narrator's lack of references to himself, though it isn’t necessary. The poem seems like this because of the narrator mentioning himself in the first, third and last stanzas. There is one minor alliteration in the line 5, “think thoughts,” but there isn’t anymore use of repeated words or vowels to create anything in the poem. The tense is presented as being present because the poet is talking about himself not being able to work properly at the moment. There is nothing that gives some hints of neither past or about something to come to the future. The poem seems to move as a rambling thought, I will explain this with the punctuation. There is no rhyme throughout the poem. The punctuation in the poem adds greater effect to the views he presents. The lack of periods confuses the reader to how they should read the poem and what idea to get from each line and stanza. His use of continuation onto the next lines adds greater meaning to the poem’s title and once again further implies the idea of the narrator rambling in his own thoughts. “It’s not possible to get off to sleep or the subject or the planet, or to think thoughts.” This is describing how it is sleepless night and the poet is not able to sleep as he does not get any idea he is trying hard but for some reasons he was not getting those idea and he is also not able leave that subject as he is in a creative mood. He is also unable to stop thinking. He is conflicted with his own thoughts and feelings. 4. I think the poet has written this poem to perhaps explain his difficultly with getting inspiration for his writing. Since he is talking to himself, this is all thoughts and ones own experience, so the reader can not make a general statement to why the poet has written this poem. I am not being asked anything personal nor pleaded at. It seems like the poet is trying to entertain me by describing his thoughts through rambling and his comparisons to the moon and him wanting to be part of nature, “Better bare-foot it out the front.” I think the poet feels very frustrated about the subject of the poem because he really wants to write and get inspired but nothing is occurring to him. There is no message he is trying to tell me. The title helps a lot because Continuum is about insomnia, writers' block and the continuation of poetic inspiration with using a lot of continuing into next lines, which is what the word continuum defines as. 5. My reaction to the poem was at first every lost because the punctuation did not help me connect things together but at the end, I felt for the poet because as a daily writer my self, I can get frustrated and ramble on with my thoughts when wanting to come up with something. It did not move me because since the poem doesn’t give out a general message, there is nothing I can say really hit me deep. The poem is too filled with personal thoughts and comparisons that I can’t sense that move in me. It did make me feel like I share s similar frustration with the poet because, as I said before, I struggle the same way the poet was struggling when wanting to write or find an inspiration for something. I don’t think the poem was effective to the general readers,; it would only variety on the person reading and their views on the process of getting motivated.