Thursday, April 21, 2011

sesTINA


The best poem I read from the past year, “Sestina” by Ciara Shuttleworth, made it to the top of my list for a few solid reasons. The most obviously and evidently the best reason comes from the title of the poem, which includes my name, sesTINA. I believe the poem especially targeted those with the beautiful name of Tina to tell them to use love well, because it is fleeting. Let us touch on the subject of names for a brief moment.  Many a time people have told me, “[Tina] suits you perfectly. It is a divine name. It has a music of its own. Its produces vibrations” (Wilde 11). I sometimes ask what if I went by another name, such as my middle name Patrice. Those same persons remark “[Patrice]?...No, there is very little music in the name [Patrice], if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations…I have known several [ Patrices], and they all, without exception, were more than usually plain .Besides, [Patrice] is a notorious domesticity for [Patricia]! And I pity any woman who is married to a man called [Patrice]” (Wilde 11). Also, my procrastination of this blog entry leads me to another great word which contains my name, procrasTINAtion. Coincidence… I think not!! There those who question my name, Mary Beth, but I say to the disbelievers “But my name certainly is [Tina]. It has been [Tina] for years” (Wilde 39).  Back to my favorite poem, the sestina tells the tale of a sad romance, over and leaving one of the romantics in depression. I enjoy this poem because the arrangement of the same six words, you, used, to, love, me, well, allows one to fully express their feelings. My first introduction to a sestina style poem captivated me, and led me to appreciate poetry great deal more. The idea that one can use the repetition of words to create an entire story makes me realize the great variety of poems past mere rhyme schemes.  

3 comments:

  1. Tina this was a fantastic blog! It was so enjoyable to read, simply ridiculous. The various famous pictures of Tinas really added to your overall blog, especially the llama, what a blast from the past. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post, mostly because you deviated from the norm and took the prompt in a new, witty direction.

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  2. Tina I enjoyed your pictures as well, I thought they were very funny. Interestingly enough, I also wrote about a sestina, although a different one. I like your various allusions to your name throughout the blog, that was very creative. I also like your view towards the interesting style of the sestina. I took a slightly different approach in my blog.

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  3. Congratulations on making it to Bobbie's Blog Banter! You were FINALLY funny. Well done. It was very clever for you to pick this poem because it included your name in it. I wish there was a poem titled "Seshaley." I may need to start that. I like the way you incorporated a very funny scene from The Importance of Being Earnest into your own life. I would really like to re-enact the scene in Napoleon Dynamite when Tina is fed her food (you're the llama, obviously).

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