Philosophical Bases of Literature Mid-Term Test
Analyze, Paraphrase and Comment
1.
What Is A Friend by Barbara M. Zellner : http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/a-good-friend
This
poem talks about the characteristics of a good friend, of how a good friend
should be: someone who is always there for us and someone who is willing to
help us with anything. We can find it through the stanzas that say “someone who
cares about you”, “someone who’s willing to help you”, “someone who you can
talk to and trust with your problems…”, and “someone who will come to and stop
you from taking your life and sit down to show you all all of the good things
to live for”. We can relate this poem to one of Kahlil Gibran’s quote saying
that “Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never and opportunity,” in
which I agree. At first, this poem seems hollow at the surface, since all it’s
talking about is someone who basically willing, or “must” to be exact,
available for us. Personally, I think it sounds selfish, and that’s why I can
see why Kahlil Gibran said that it is a responsibility, rather than
opportunity. Because, when we develop a relationship, there are
responsibilities that we have to do in order to make it works.
1.
Broken Friendship by Anonymous : https://www.poemhunter.com/poems/friendship/page-1/7455268/
It
tells the feeling of someone when their (it could be a male or a female,
therefore I’m using a more general term) friend got a new lover and left them.
Two people became close and make a friendship within a year as we can see on
the 22nd stanza, “It amazes me how I felt so close to you in only
one year.” But suddenly when the other person got a new significant other, the
other one left is being left alone, which is portrayed on the last stanza, “But
then you fell in love and left me behind.” The persona, who is the one who is
being left cannot help but feeling hurt and angry afterwards, and we can see it
on many stanzas, but specifically on the 11th and 12th
stanzas, “I do not want to go through the pain again”, “I have not recovered
from you.” But still, the persona tells that they want to be friend again,
which is written on the 31st-33rd stanzas saying that,
“Because I truly do miss you”, “You are always on my mind no matter what time”,
“I want to make up for everything.” I think we can relate this poem to Kahlil
Gibran’s quote, “But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds
of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love:
let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.” The poem tells
about a relationship where it may seems that one person is to possessive over
the other person, and I personally think that it is not a healthy relationship.
I personally think that relationships should also mean freedom, besides
loyalty. If we are being honest and loyal enough to each other, I think that a
relationship will works just fine, just like a moving sea between the shores.
Intertextuality
The two poems entitled What Is a Friend by Barbara M. Zellner
and Broken Friendship by Shiny Shine
are telling the same topic which is friendship but on two different context.
The first one is all about the characteristics of a good friend and the latter
is the feeling when a friend left because of another person. Actually, I found
more differences rather than similarities, and from here we can see the
intertextuality. The second poem, if we compare to the first poem is like the
antonym. The first-fourth stanzas on the first poem says that “A good friend is
someone who cares about you they are someone who will be there when you’re
down”, also the 9th-11th stanzas saying that a good
friend is someone that we can trust and talk to. Meanwhile, the second poem
tells the contra on the 11th-15th stanzas, “I do not want
to go through the pain again I have not recovered from you It angers me when I
think of how much I trusted you.” It is implicitly stated that rather than
being with their friend, the other person is the one who hurt them, therefore
they couldn’t trust them anymore. Another thing is from the last seven stanzas
saying that, “A good friend is someone who will come and stop you from taking
your life and sit down to show you all of the good things,” in which we can
find the contradiction on the second poem’s last paragraph, “But then you fell
in love and left me behind.” From the evidences through stanzas, it is clear
enough that (implicitly stated) the person is not a good friend, since they
don’t have the characteristics of a friend should be, according and comparing to the first poem.
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