Looking at Senior ‘s poesy at first glimpse one will instantly recognize that her signifier of poesy is clearly different from other modern-day West Indian poesy. The major difference lies in her determination to abandon conventions. The term wantonness means to abandon or reject. Poetic conventions are used to depict a pattern or device which is accepted as a necessary, utile, or given characteristic of poesy. Detriment refers to loss, harm or disadvantage. Thus the moot can be restated to intend that be taking to abandon or reject necessary characteristics of poesy Senior ‘s plant has be disadvantaged. The group strongly opposes this statement as we see Senior ‘s work as merely extraordinary and the avenue through which she brings to the bow all the elements of the Caribbean and its people.
The chief purpose or intent of poesy is to foreground or show certain subjects concerns and feelings. Had diverting been to Senior ‘s hurt her intent would non hold been achieved. Throughout all her verse forms legion subjects and issues are dealt with. Her verse forms are brooding of Caribbean life experiences and assorted ways in which the Caribbean subjects strive to get the better of or excel the challenges they face on a day-to-day footing. The verse form ‘Tropic Love ‘ explores love and relationships and the function played by each gender. It deals with the hard determinations adult females must do as it regards to relationships and the consequence it will hold her household. ‘Pineapple ‘ expressions at the development of the Aboriginal peoples and how trust can easy be abused. Senior through ‘Amazon Women ‘ celebrates the strength of adult females and their battles to happen their individuality. How can one, after reading these verse forms conclude that her plants were damaging?
Poetry is non merely for aesthetic pleasance but to show existent state of affairss and Senior ‘s verse forms can certify to that. It is rather possible that had Senior relied on the stiff poetic conventions the really kernel of her work would hold been lost as they likely would hold prevented her from showing her feelings and ideas. These very conventions would hold most decidedly led to the hurt of her work. Senior does non necessitate to trust on flowery or luxuriant linguistic communication to show her concerns. The issue she nowadayss are existent life issues therefore to be efficaciously communicated they need to be presented in a simple, easy mode. However, with conventional poesy merely the personal feelings and desires of the poets are depicted rendering them unrelatable. There is no point in composing a verse form if at the terminal the reader is left inquiring about what was merely read. As a consequence Senior ‘s poesy is frequently deemed to be of more substance. Her poems papers existent life state of affairss and each leaves the reader chew overing about these concerns and most times lessons are learnt. It is as though by diverting Senior is allowed more flexibleness and freedom and therefore she is able O use her artistic licence to pull strings the experiences she encounters daily into interesting, self gratifying and of import verse forms.
Senior uses the Grecian mythology of Amazon adult females to exemplify the strength, bravery, courage, independency and resiliency of adult females. In ‘Hurricane Story 1903, 1951, 1988 ‘ , Senior presents life styles of different households and how a catastrophe peculiarly hurricanes can hold changing effects on each. Senior, in ‘Tropic Love ‘ uses a simple duologue between a adult male and a adult female to foreground the features of a typical ‘tropical ‘ relationship and the issues that adult females face in these relationships. Man wants sex and company but hesitates to offer committedness. In these three verse forms there is small or no grounds of conventional manners, signifiers and elements of poesy nevertheless, issues and concerns are presented and the reader is able to understand and hold on them. Therefore, Senior ‘s intent is achieved and so clearly disputes the moot.
Olive Senior does non pass extra clip guaranting that the lines in her verse forms follow a peculiar rime strategy or contains a set figure of lines. Neither is her poesy encumbered by images, nonliteral devices or complex or elaborate constructions. I can conceive of, had Senior made these conventions her precedence the chief purpose of her work would hold died. Thus it must be re-emphasized that her determination to be different produced more good than injury. Senior ‘s intent is to guarantee that when individuals read her verse forms they are able to associate to the state of affairss and be able to understand them. How so can that be possible if one has no thought as to what the topic of the verse form is? Senior utilizations certain characteristics which some poets would jeer at such as storytelling narrative, gossip Creole slang. However, these characteristics make her verse forms relatable, reviewing and they pull readers. These are the characteristics which are common to her readers rendering her verse forms apprehensible.
One could state that Olive Senior divergence from poetic conventions works to demo grasp to life and that there is more to poetry than merely giving rime, but to admit the of import things and battles in life with each line or stanza. The manner in which Senior writes the stanzas in her verse form is besides a divergence from poetic convention but it aids in doing her work more originative as in the verse form ‘Yemoja ‘ where the stanzas are created as such where it resembles the dorsum and forth motion of the ocean moving ridges. The verse form outlines how nature is closely linked and the decease or discontinue of the H2O rhythm would ensue in the decease of life itself as outlined in her verse form. The verse form ‘Yemoja ‘ shows how nature ( the H2O ) nurtures the land as a female parent would foster her kid and can be linked to the fact that the life of a kid depends on the female parent and the life of the land depends entirely on H2O.
Senior chooses to divert from the conventional manner of composing poesy with an penetration of phantasy as she sees poetry more than merely an look of oneself but besides to convey visible radiation to the battles of life as displayed in another of her verse forms ‘Hurricane Narrative 1903 ‘ where the support of the people depended on their farm animal and is a contemplation of the lives of most Caribbean people and how they survive off their farm animal and if suck a catastrophe like the hurricane. Senior besides deviates to sketch the male and female relationship in the verse form as it display how the function of the grandma was to foster while the gramps took on undertakings which demanded musculus which could be noted besides as a characteristic of households in the Caribbean. Through her divergence she besides portrays how worlds and nature are closely linked and at times sends a warning as shown in ‘Hurricane narrative 1903 ‘ .
“ But he was the 7th boy of a 7th boy and could read marks and interpret admirations so when the sups flew below the roof line, when the sky took on a particular Prunus persica freshness, when flocks f birds sailed west over the hill. When clouds banked at the far side and the air was still, he knew it was clip to secure down. ”
Therefore she shows that nature and serves as an betrayer to adult male and a development or the changeless usage of engineering diverts our attending from nature.
Olive Senior is a station colonial author and it is typical of her to divert from poetic conventions. By making so Senior is proposing that poesy can still be as effectual or even more effectual even if one does non conform to poetic conventions. Senior may hold seen conventions as a modern twenty-four hours signifier of bondage and therefore was wishful of interrupting free of all the elements that tried to suppress her. Through making so she besides highlights or brings to the head the right of freedom of look, a right to which the enslaved had been deprived. Senior ‘s poesy celebrates her individuality and lineage ; it provides her and her reader with a renewed sense of pride. In order to accomplish this senior had to make off with the conventional ways of composing poesy. Thus she produced an art uniquely Caribbean, an art which reflects her determination to interrupt away.
Olive Senior ‘s determination to divert has in no manner had a negative impact on the response of her work. Without her dare to be different at that place would non hold been the realisation that being different does non intend losing.
