Did you guess our latest poet is a chain-smoking Russian? Ms. Kapovich and her poet husband emigrated to the U.S. in 1990. They live in the Boston area.Ms. Kapovich is a totally bilingual poet; she writes her poems in both Russian and English. Kapovich said, "My soul speaks in Russian, but I can write about some things more easily in English. It gives me distance. It's important for a writer to have distance. You can't write about something and be in it at the same time. It's like being underwater. Reality has qualities of salt water. It pinches our pupils and makes our eyes red. We need a mask in order to see clearly."
Blog Directions:
Her poem, "Painting a Room" is filled with allusions to important events/experiences in Soviet history.
Ask your history teachers to tell you about historical event(s) in March 1989 and to explain her references to bread.
Blog about those allusions and other literary elements in the poem.
Consider how her quote above connects to this poem. She said, "We need a mask to see clearly." Do you agree with this statement?
Socratic Seminar Questions (Due Block the week of February 19th):
1) How do the images of a painted room, a window and bread act as symbols? What do they symbolize? How do they advance the theme?
2) The character's emotional state in this poem is ambiguous. In what ways is this ambiguous? (How do you know she has conflicting emotions?) Cite quotes from the poem to support your inference.
3) Discuss the literary elements of imagery and metaphor and how they effectively communicate theme.
4) Write a question and response of your own addressing sights, sounds, diction, theme or any of the parts of explication flower...
56 comments:
this poem sounds like a lady is saying everything about her life and how its not interesting or exciting. i dont understand the part where it says "i say to the glass but thanks for being transparent, seamless, wide and stretching perspective across the size of the visible"
This poem shows a woman who sounds depressed about her life and how it is not exciting.I think someone had died in her life and this will be the last time she lives in the house she had for so many years. She is fixing the house up as a new home for a new family.It seems like she has no money and very little belongings.
it is about a lady who is despressed and have a bad lif
this poem is very sad and has a depressing feeling. this women has not had an easy life. she was either hurt or something horrible has happened to her such as a lossing a family member or friend and its hard to see past it.
she is wrriting abouthow she feels about painting and how she feels about wanting to paint and what she did to paint.
the poem's mood was depress and sad...the author has hurtful memories about this house or some one who lived in the house that now is gone...
This poem is about a women that is very sad that she has to move out of the apartment. and spending her last night there she cries and thinks about the little things in her apartment like the smell, the paint, the hard wood floor, and the stain glass windows....yee yee yee
The theme of this poem is sad and depressing. The women tells of her unintresting life. I believe that the glass represents her as a person (see through). The women seems as if she has lost everything. She has nothing exept her little bit of belongings.
I think this poem is about a lady who is sad and depressed and she uses a diffrent way to express herself its a little confusing though.
Even though i couldnt find a definite theme, i think that this poem is about a younger woman who is leaving her home in Russia to go to a different country. At first i thought she was going back to the country she came from, but then when i read about her I thought that she has to leave. Im not sure about the references to bread, but when people normally eat only bread its becuase they're in a tough financial situation.
the poet is leaving her home in russia. and before leaving she is painting her small apartment, where she spend 10years and she is free from disappointments not from the pain.she spend 10years with tears, unrequited loves, and odd jobs.she thinks her life is in dark. the poet is in sadmoood. this poem shows the attraction between a person and apartman.
"Painting a Room" by katia kapovich, is about a Russian lady who is moving and who is noticing her past and what it led up to. I think its representing her leaving her past and starting a new future.
This poem on my opinion shows a mixture of emotions. She feels sad and depressed because she is moving out of her house she lived so long. Also it showed that she loved the house in which she lived, but now somebody is kicking her out of there, she has to move.
This poem is about a woman from Russia who is looking back on all her memories of her appartment. SHe cries when she thinks of them because she is moving out.
Amanda Pray 5th
i think that the poet is talking about moving on and how she has had bad memories were she was so she has to get away.
this poem is about a women who is very sad and like some people died in her house and she jusss wants to get out of theree
Russian Communist Government collapsed in 1989 ending the Cold War.
It seems that she like millions of other Russians had a hard time during this era.
I think that Kapovich is so disgusted with the government and her allusions and lit element contributed to this by giving an insight of what her life has become. It also appears that she has writen this poem as if it a new start of terrible loss and odd old life, especially when she says,"Ten years of fears, unrequited loves, odd jobs/,of night phone callls. Now they've disconnected the line(lines14-15)
well it think that since russia was having such a difficult time the people were probabaly doing the same and since they felt the affects of being captured and hrt during this time i think that the women might feel that since most of the cold war is over its time to move on and forget everything that has been going on in her past and she talks about her windows probably because through them she could see clearly what went on outside but she never felt anything because of those windows protecting her from all that went on around her. she might be painting because she is tring to cover up everything that has gone on in her life
Well in 1989, the Cold War had just ended, which also meant the end of the Soviet Union in Russia. For many years, Russians had gone through terrible treatment and life was very difficult. As for this poem, this event must've just happened which is why she is moving and feels free, though the memories of the past will stay with her.
this poem is about a woman from Russia that seems upset about leaving her home, but understands that it'll be better for her in the long run and that in the united states she would have more freedom. she will keep her memories with her forever.
i liked the poem
but i didnt really get it
the woman was just paintigna room.
this poem shows that the author
is depressed and not had a interesting life.
this poem is mainly about a women that is depressed about something and she cant go on with it, or she is writing about some painting or how she feels about it.
the poem iS about a lady that iS So depreSSed about her life and how boring it iS... She iS tring to Start a new Life
the protagonist, the woman is very depressed & un-optimistic in this poem. Although, most of the wordds are kind of like russian
the poet knows that she has to leave even though it kills her inside and I think that she had a lot of pain to deal with.
This peom talks about how Ms. Kapovich and her husband emigrated to the U.S. She talks about how she is selling her furniture and how she is re-painting her apartment walls. So that when another person moves in, it is already painted. Basically she is depressed in this situation because this is going to be her last night in Russia. And will start a new life with her husband in America.
sshes painting. when someone paints something like a housse and has gotten ready to leave like that is shows theres a new chapter to their lives. Kapovich has had a bad chapter lasting ten years and the new chapter she hopes to be better. the bread reference has to do with starvation in russia. in the past it as played a huge role in russian lives.
as for the quote with the mask. Kapovich had been talking about how you nned to wear a mask to see the clear picture of things. and i agree. you need a mask to take away the bias of everyting the mask just gives you the third erson perspective.
i think this poem is showing how the character has been doing the same thing for 10 years, and is deciding to change. start a new life.
i think this poem is showing how the character has been doing the same thing over and over again in her life for 10 years, and is deciding there is going to be change in her life. start a new life.
I think that she's seeing this picture of a house later, after the earthquake heppened, and when she thanks for the cristal being transparent is thanking for being able to see the life now how it is, obviously is depressed, or maybe she's just watching her deression of a past life, the melancoholia felt for leaving so many memories of life.
this poem is about a woman spending the last night in Russia before moving abroad. She had a depressing life. I think she is not only sad, but also expecting a better and more exciting future. It seemed to me that she liked her apartment. probably she spent a lot of time watching outside through the window, because she thanks it in the poem.
The mood of this poem is dispair.
The character seems to be in a big trouble for ten years,and paints her apartament to look a little more happy,so she can forget the problems.
She seems totally alone whe seh says "what more can I say to the glass but thanks
for being transparent, seamless, wide
and stretching perspective across the size
of the visible."
The glass is the only thing in the room.
This poem sounds like this woman is very depressing about her life.
It seems like someone important died in her life, and now she feels lonely, without anybody, and that is why she feel pain. This is because when she says "I sit on the last chair in the empty kitchen, smoke a cigarettee and wipe my tears".
I also think that this poem is about a woman who is in jail, and she have alot of pain.
to me this poem is about a lady who immigrated 10 years ago and lived in a small apartment with barely any food to try and make a better life, and it hurts her inside because of the odd stuff she did to make a living. Now she's moving out ang has more than what she did when she first immigrated and life is getting better for her. The theme is that you shouldn't give up and believe in yourself.
I think the poet is sad because she is moving from her house. And she was living in that house from a long time and her emotion is connected with the house.
This poem to me seems like this woman is depreesed,she's unhappy with her life.I think this woman feels lonely because someone had died and she feels like she dosen't have anyone no more.Also seems like she's saying that her life is not that interesting. And to take that saddnes or pain she has away from her she, paints a room.
asmith2cerra
This poem shows me a person who has choosen to move out of built up anger, frustration, and remorse that she is leaving, after ten years but she will miss it because its familiar.
i think that this lady is depressed because she liveing in a crapy house and the government have cut out her phone line and she is just trying to get throught it. i think that the window has a lot of symbolisim to it because it can mean that it is freedom, because the outside world is her freedom. and she talks about A freashly painted room and thats when she knows thats when shes free. the theme of this poem i think is percervierence because she is trying to be strong through the hard times and she is just waiting tell she can be free.
the author use ambiguous emotional in this poem. i think it is the literary element of this poem. at the beginning of the poem the author use sad and depress mood.such as the sadness words she used" tear" at the end of the poem the author use some postive words" freedom" maybe she thinks after she leave this house. her life will change... mabye she can forget the sad memory
i think that the person in this poem is trying move on from something. Maybe something she wanted to forget about. It sounds like she wants to start new. she says "im free from regrets, but not from pain" she is free from mregrets because she is moving on with her life or doing something that is better for her, but the part where she says not from the pain i think that means that she won't beale to forget about the memories or hard things she had to go through.
With the information from the main page, I can see that the poet wrote this poem during 1989 when she was moving to United States from Russia, although she didnt do anything special during the last 10 years, but she is really upset about moving out. I guess she is painting her room because so she can sell the house. She grown is Russia and she likes it although its not special. She is cryiing probably because she knows Russia is not belongs to her anymore, and she is wondering where she i belongs to.........That is what I think why the poet wrote the poem
I think this poem is really depressing. The women seems very hurt and unhappy. I think she is talking about how bad her life was and how shes finally free from it.
well this poem "Painting a Room" is about a lady in the time of the imigration revolution in Russia and im guessing that the enemies took everything from her now she is depressed and is telling us how its sad that she is sitting in the room that was full of life when she painted it and now its all gone and its all lonely and she is sitting there crying and smoking her life away
well this poem "Painting a Room" is about a lady in the time of the imigration revolution in Russia and im guessing that the enemies took everything from her now she is depressed and is telling us how its sad that she is sitting in the room that was full of life when she painted it and now its all gone and its all lonely and she is sitting there crying and smoking her life away
i think this poem is about a young russian woman who is leaving russia right after the collapse of the USSR and is going to america[because she has a visa]. when she says "freedom smells of a freshly painted room" i think she is alluding to the fact that she is going to america [land of the free] and in order to do that she must move out and paint the walls. i also think the bread and wine is a symbol of communion like a coming of age. but im not sure.
this poem was written most likly durring to cold war and the way she uses her allusions and lit. elements shows how deppressing the cold war is and that she had to move because of it and now that shes getting a better life (or not) she still has the terrible memories of the war in her mind and well never go away.
this poem seems to be about a woman who has imigrated over to a new country and she was a new home and she is painting the walls. Towards the end she talks about that day being the last which i think relates to her having a new start in her life
i think the author is looking back on the times she had when she was younger.
i couldn't tell what the theme was. i can see that the woman in the poem sounds sad or depressed. i think by moving, its like a brand new start for her somewhere else.
i think the mood of the poem is depress... the woman wants to show her feeling about her life and some memories of her which is sad and unhappy...she use some negative words to describe her feeling and life
this poem is about a lady her life and her bad memories which she cant forget , but she is trying to get over them.
its like this russian poet is taking things in as it comes. she seems sad because of her surroundings and because of that shes capturing certain images like the color of something because she may have sat there for so long or tried to escape in her own state of mind for so long.
i think it about a lady that comparing her life to the house she is working on
I dont agree with the statement tha says that we need a mask to see clearly and i dont think the author agrees with this because she says hat she has to say thanks to the glass for being transparent.And also i think the author is telling us that she was living depressed, that her life was not exciting; but that she is now ready for a change.
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