Below is the first section of Ridge's "The Ghetto."
Note that the setting--Hester Street--was considered a hub of
Jewish culture in NYC.
Read quickly through this first section and do a notice/focus---
what aspects of this world stick out? How does it differ/compare
to Cahan's Ghetto?
THE GHETTO
I
Cool, inaccessible air
Is floating in velvety blackness shot with steel-blue lights,
But no breath stirs the heat
Leaning its ponderous bulk upon the Ghetto
And most on Hester street...
The heat...
Nosing in the body's overflow,
Like a beast pressing its great steaming belly close,
Covering all avenues of air...
The heat in Hester street,
Heaped like a dray
With the garbage of the world.
Bodies dangle from the fire escapes
Or sprawl over the stoops...
Upturned faces glimmer pallidly -
Herring-yellow faces, spotted as with a mold,
And moist faces of girls
Like dank white lilies,
And infants' faces with open parched mouths that suck at the air
as at empty teats.
Young women pass in groups,
Converging to the forums and meeting halls,
Surging indomitable, slow
Through the gross underbrush of heat.
Their heads are uncovered to the stars,
And they call to the young men and to one another
With a free camaraderie.
Only their eyes are ancient and alone...
The street crawls undulant,
Like a river addled
With its hot tide of flesh
That ever thickens.
Heavy surges of flesh
Break over the pavements,
Clavering like a surf -
Flesh of this abiding
Brood of those ancient mothers who saw the dawn break over Egypt...
And turned their cakes upon the dry hot stones
And went on
Till the gold of the Egyptians fell down off their arms...
Fasting and athirst...
And yet on...
Did they vision - with those eyes darkly clear,
That looked the sun in the face and were not blinded -
Across the centuries
The march of their enduring flesh?
Did they hear -
Under the molten silence
Of the desert like a stopped wheel -
(And the scorpions tick-ticking on the sand...)
The infinite procession of those feet?
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Poetry of Hester Street
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From the first three lines, I get a vibe that the narrator, Ridge, sets herself apart from the Ghetto, possibly within her own mindset as a thinker/poet. I – the first line, stands alone. Considering the second and third lines, she figuratively peers down from the night sky, at the Jews on Hester Street as she says Cool, inaccessible air – we know was nowhere to be found in the Ghetto, so must be from the sky– velvety blackness shot with steel- blue lights, a.k.a. the stars? Does she actually discriminate/look down-upon the Jews, I’m not sure, but she does call them garbage later on; garbage, of the world, though, possibly she doesn’t think they’re garbage but discarded/unwanted people from various countries. Ridge then says: no breath stirs the heat, where the reader is introduced to the hot stagnant feeling native to the over-crowded ghetto-y mix of breathing humans, like that of Yekl. Leaning its ponderous bulk – the heat of the ghetto is personified as burdensome, heavy, and thinking? Ponderous may be referring to their deep-rooted ancestral histories; that the Hester street Jews are people heavily soaked in heritage, some that want to preserve it and some that want to escape? I think the narrative here differs from Cahan’s Ghetto because it is seen through the eyes of an outsider; perhaps a non-Jewish person? B. Taylor
ReplyDeleteWhen reading the first part of Lola Ridge's poem the last half of the sixth stanza and the seventh stanza really stood out to me. "Those ancient mothers who saw the dawn break over Egypt" is obviously a reference to when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt before Moses was sent by God to free them from bondage. I wonder if "fasting and athirst" is talking about when they were still in bondage, or when they were traveling through the wilderness for many years after they gained their freedom. What grabs my attention the most is the seventh stanza when Ridge asks if these slaves of Egypt ever thought about what life would be like for those of the present day. She does not give the impression that what is happening presently is either positive or negative, however. It feels as though Ridge is contemplating whether or not the ancestors of these people would be proud or disappointed with what is happening in the Ghetto. If the turmoil they suffered through was still respected by those who are now free? Or are they really free?
ReplyDeleteIn the first section of this poem, the first thing I notice are the lines “And moist faces of girls, Like dank white lilies.” This reminds me of the painting we viewed in class, “Canyon Dwellers.” The imagery used, reminds me of sad, empty faces, lost in a place that they can not get out of. Like “Yekl” it’s as if they’re trying to find their place in a big city. Also, “Flesh of this abiding Brood of those ancient mothers who saw the dawn break over Egypt…” gives the reader a sense of immigration, which was especially common in New York. This line has great significance because it begins to describe the cultural differences surrounding each other. This is also a common theme in “Yekl,” which culture and diversity is greatly stressed throughout the story. The last stanza especially, seems to feed off of those cultural differences. It seems that there is an almost acceptance of identity, or at least a knowledge of the fact that to embrace one’s heritage is not necessarily a negative thing. For example, take the lines “Did they vision - with those eyes darkly clear, That looked the sun in the face and were not blinded - Across the centuries.” It appears that there is an understanding of said heritage ‘across the centuries.’
ReplyDeleteOne thing I noticed upon the first reading of this stanza was the first line in the fourth stanza “bodies dangle from the fire escapes.” At first, I visualized this as dead bodies hanging (not sure why), and then quickly refuted my thinking because I realized they were just people who were sweltering. Going back to the original way I thought about it, however, it almost makes me realize that these people, metaphorically, are not living. They are trapped in their Ghetto with no way out, doomed to the lives that their ancestors have created for them. I also really like the imagery in the sixth stanza. The image of waves that are crashing without clear thought creates an image of complete chaos, which is what all of the sweating people sprawled out in the street must look like. The painting “Canyon Dwellers” really gave me a good reference to this stanza. The painting is exactly how I pictured the ghetto streets to look like on a hot and humid day in the summer. This poem really helps me to picture the ghetto, which greatly enhances my understanding of the time period and what like for these Yiddish people was like.
ReplyDeleteSome very interesting close readings here....especially the focus on "heritage" across the ages....
ReplyDeleteWhat does it mean to be "doomed to live the life that their ancestors created for them"?? sounds very naturalistic---darwinian---to me... Anybody else want to debate that point? Is the ghetto a place of slavery? Is humanity predestined, in a sense, by our impulses (Yekl) and our past....or does Ridge imagine possible freedom?
Or is Ridge more interested simply in our sense of the past...?, and how it lives in us...as noted above:
Perhaps she asks "If the turmoil the Jews suffered through was still respected by those who are now free? Or are they really free?"
To me the phrase “doomed to live the life our ancestors created for them” comes across as very “evolutionary stuck.” By this I mean that I think Ridge see herself as trapped, as if she is unable to escape her heritage. One’s heritage can be as much of an influence in one’s life, or as little as one deems it to be; it is entirely up to the individual. While I believe that my heritage has helped shape me, not everyone views their heritage as such. Some may even go as far as to state that their heritage has trapped them and made them a slave. Personally, I think Ridge’s poem The Ghetto shows both views, that heritage does help shape individual, but in a way it can also contain and trap them. It is clear that Ridge knows the vast biblical history of the Jewish people, for she discusses in length slavery in Egypt and the feelings that must have arose then. However, it is also apparent that Ridge feels trapped in Hester Street because of her heritage through her vivid imagery and choice of words. For instance, Ridge uses the word “garbage” to describe the heat that is trapped in Hester Street. For me, this alludes to the fact about how she feels trapped in Hester Street, much like the Israelites were trapped in Egypt, or how maybe she feels trapped through her heritage.
ReplyDeleteAny thoughts?
- Megan B
The first section of the poem paints a very dark and depressing scene that is full of doom and gloom. When the poem talks about the idea of life "doomed to live the life that their ancestors created for them," the poet is saying that the culture and traditions that the first imagrents had, are supposed to be followed from generation to generation. However, the idea of progress is trying to be shown throughout NYC at this time and it is hard to keep old traditions alive, especially when those old traditions are holding back so many people.
ReplyDeleteThe imagery Ridge uses in this section of the poem seems to subvert the crowded aspect of the community. Using the words "garbage" and "bodies" that "dangle" from the fixtures of the city, Ridge conveys a depressing ambiance-particularly in regard to the swarming and naturally "undulant" manner of the city. In comparison to Cahan, Ridge seems more scathing in her critique of the Ghetto. Cahan emphasizes the duality of sacrificing and adapting culture in the midst of the New York Ghetto. Ridge's use of the eye in this section also very descriptive; first she mentions their eyes as being "ancient and alone," though they "call to the men and to one another / with a free camaraderie." They are paradoxically "alone" in that they are simultaneously immersed in and isolated from the society they belong. Later in the section she again employs the eyes to reference the "ancient" connections of the migrated peoples: "Did they vision - with those eyes darkly clear, / That looked the sun in the face and were not blinded - /Across the centuries / The march of their enduring flesh?" The "vision" here is a reference to the old world, and to whose subsequent generations, there lacked a means of predicting the mass migration. "Across the centuries" is an obvious reference to the history of the immigrant; it is not only brought to America, but refined and amalgamated.
ReplyDelete