Poetic Dissection

"Our analysis also identifies a subset of brain regions in which the activity in the listener’s brain precedes the activity in the speaker’s brain. The listener’s anticipatory responses were localized to areas known to be involved in predictions and value representation (20–23), including the striatum and medial and dorsolateral prefrontal regions (mPFC, dlPFC). The anticipatory responses may provide the listeners with more time to process an input and can compensate for problems with noisy or ambiguous input (24). This hypothesis is supported by the !nding that comprehension is facilitated by highly predictable upcoming words (25). Remarkably, the extent of the listener’s anticipatory brain responses was highly correlated with the level of understanding (Fig. 4B), indicating that successful communication requires the active engagement of the listener (26, 27)." Stephens and Hasson On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer By John Keats Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold,

And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;

Round many western islands have I been

Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.

Oft of one wide expanse had I been told

That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne;

Yet did I never breathe its pure serene

Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:

Then felt I like some watcher of the skies

When a new planet swims into his ken;

Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes

He star’d at the Pacific—and all his men

Look’d at each other with a wild surmise—

Silent, upon a peak in Darien. Handy Guide By Dean Young Avoid adjectives of scale. Dandelion broth instead of duck soup. Don’t even think you’ve seen a meadow, ever. The minor adjustments in our equations still indicate the universe is insane, when it laughs a silk dress comes out its mouth but we never put it on. Put it on. Cry often and while asleep. If it’s raw, forge it in fire. That’s not a mountain, that’s crumble. If it’s fire, swallow. The heart of a scarecrow isn’t geometrical. That’s not a diamond, it’s salt. That’s not the sky but it’s not your fault. My dragon may be your neurotoxin. Your electrocardiogram may be my fortune cookie. Once an angel has made an annunciation, it’s impossible to tell him he has the wrong address. Moonlight has its own befuddlements. The rest of us can wear the wolf mask if we want or look like reflections wandered off. Eventually armor, eventually sunk. You wanted love and expected what? A parachute? Morphine? A gold sticker star? The moment you were born— you have to trust others because you weren’t there. Ditto death. The strongest gift I was ever given was made of twigs. It didn’t matter which way it broke.             Both poems are similar in that they tell about a comment on a very real happening. The first on the translation of Homer and the other begins with a caution of some sense. However, the latter goes on to an unpredictable pattern. This is where the Stephens article becomes key. This article was a study on oral speaker-listener connection and its cognitive effects. This is interrelated to the Theory of Mind talked about in an earlier class The small excerpt brings up a very interesting point and one that relates well to these poems.            When one treats these narrators as though they are a speakers, which is indeed the case due to our theory of mind, they might in fact exhibit these same qualities. The above excerpt tells how the listeners mind in fact activates before the speakers in order to find a pattern in speech and thus in the conversation's content and timing. This can be clearly seen in Keats poem. While his colorful language is a little unpredictable, the majority of the poem is easily predictable and can be followed with ease. However, the Young poem is a contradiction to this process. It uses unpredictable sentences that lack a cohesive superficial meaning such as: "My dragon may be your neurotoxin." or "Your electrocardiogram may be my fortune cookie." Because of this unpredictability, the poem baffles the "listener" and their progression to a pattern-filled conversation. However, this makes poetry more true to its purpose of imagination and interpretation. Through this lack of pattern, one must come to conclusions through self-interpretation and possible education on topics unknown. How a dragon could be a neurotoxin is not a normal statement, but a dragon could stand for many things (like strength, mysticism, fire, evil, etc.) that could possibly correlate with neurotoxin. This allowance for variability allows for a freedom of the mind for the mind. In other words, it allows for the listener to disengage predictability and thus nonchalant care towards the poem in order to allow the full imagination and interpretation that lets the poem speak differently to each member of its audience.