Silence, A Commentary written by Caibre Stinnissen
“Language as an Escape from the Discrete” is a poem written in 1995 by Josephine Jacobson and published in a collection titled “In the Crevice of Time.” Overall this poem has a tone that is of isolation and fear; it expresses the author’s fear of the unknown and uncertainty, but also the author’s deeper fear of being unable to communicate. Jacobson uses analogies, repetition, a strong diction and imagery to convey the importance of language in everyday life, and how it can help us escape isolation. By using such strong language and techniques, Jacobson allows the reader to form a connection and truly understand the emotions and understanding that she is trying to portray, the fact that society …show more content…
Every example that she provides, from the wasps, to the cat and finally the small child is easy to connect with the larger meaning that she is trying to get across, by providing us with convincing examples it is that much easier to put yourself in the place of the author and understand what she is trying to convey. When faced with the two wasps, Jacobson describes the animals and compares them to her own personal life. “If it was news communicated, or if they mated or fought.” This analogy helps to delineate the importance of communication in everyday relationships. She feels that without language and the ability to communicate, it is difficult for anyone to have an understanding relationship. It is further elaborated through “and a cold fear because I did not know struck me apart from them.” To Jacobson the inability to communicate made it difficult to tell the true intentions of the wasps, but what about humans who lack healthy communication in a relationship. If a lack of communications was all it took for the intentions of wasps to become skewed or misinterpreted, then what about our own relationships. This analogy is carried on throughout the poem. Jacobson goes on to compare and contrast this feeling of silence with that of a cat. “When the cat puts it furred illiterate paw on my page and makes a starfish, the space between us drains my morrow like a roofs edge.” Jacobson continues her repetition of illiteracy and the comparison of a being that is incapable of communication. To a human a being that relies on communication for their very survival; we are unable to understand such creatures as wasps and cats. So it presents an area of unknown information, one that in humans leads to distance or detachment from one another. Through the use of such language as “drains my morrow like a roofs edge” we can establish that Jacobson feels that a lack of
“Language as an Escape from the Discrete” is a poem written in 1995 by Josephine Jacobson and published in a collection titled “In the Crevice of Time.” Overall this poem has a tone that is of isolation and fear; it expresses the author’s fear of the unknown and uncertainty, but also the author’s deeper fear of being unable to communicate. Jacobson uses analogies, repetition, a strong diction and imagery to convey the importance of language in everyday life, and how it can help us escape isolation. By using such strong language and techniques, Jacobson allows the reader to form a connection and truly understand the emotions and understanding that she is trying to portray, the fact that society …show more content…
Every example that she provides, from the wasps, to the cat and finally the small child is easy to connect with the larger meaning that she is trying to get across, by providing us with convincing examples it is that much easier to put yourself in the place of the author and understand what she is trying to convey. When faced with the two wasps, Jacobson describes the animals and compares them to her own personal life. “If it was news communicated, or if they mated or fought.” This analogy helps to delineate the importance of communication in everyday relationships. She feels that without language and the ability to communicate, it is difficult for anyone to have an understanding relationship. It is further elaborated through “and a cold fear because I did not know struck me apart from them.” To Jacobson the inability to communicate made it difficult to tell the true intentions of the wasps, but what about humans who lack healthy communication in a relationship. If a lack of communications was all it took for the intentions of wasps to become skewed or misinterpreted, then what about our own relationships. This analogy is carried on throughout the poem. Jacobson goes on to compare and contrast this feeling of silence with that of a cat. “When the cat puts it furred illiterate paw on my page and makes a starfish, the space between us drains my morrow like a roofs edge.” Jacobson continues her repetition of illiteracy and the comparison of a being that is incapable of communication. To a human a being that relies on communication for their very survival; we are unable to understand such creatures as wasps and cats. So it presents an area of unknown information, one that in humans leads to distance or detachment from one another. Through the use of such language as “drains my morrow like a roofs edge” we can establish that Jacobson feels that a lack of