KellyC

Hi peeps!

I'm doing an analysis essay on this poem and how it deals with double consciousness. Well I get what the first part the speaker is talking about in the first half of the poem but the second half, which starts at "I start like ice, my finger to my ear, my ear" leaves me baffled. I've been wracking my brains out for the past weekend trying to make some sense out of it but got nothing. This is probably the 3rd time I've ever read poems so I'm having a tough time understanding it, if y'all could lend a helping hand, I really appreciate it. Thanks.

Some questions I'm asked to consider while reading and analyzing the poem:
How does O’hara express his position regarding transcending double consciousness? ? That is, what technique, imagery, etc. does he use to fully illustrate his “solution” for an individual attempting to transcend double consciousness?

Here's the poem

----------------
Homosexuality
Frank O'Hara
So we are taking off our masks, are we, and keeping
our mouths shut? as if we'd been pierced by a glance!

The song of an old cow is not more full of judgment
than the vapors which escape one's soul when one is sick;

so I pull the shadows around me like a puff
and crinkle my eyes as if at the most exquisite moment

of a very long opera, and then we are off!
without reproach and without hope that our delicate feet

will touch the earth again, let alone "very soon."
It is the law of my own voice I shall investigate.

I start like ice, my finger to my ear, my ear
to my heart, that proud cur at the garbage can

in the rain. It's wonderful to admire oneself
with complete candor, tallying up the merits of each

of the latrines. 14th Street is drunken and credulous,
53 rd tries to tremble but is too at rest. The good

love a park and the inept a railway station,
and there are the divine ones who drag themselves up

and down the lengthening shadow of an Abyssinian head
in the dust, trailing their long elegant heels of hot air

crying to confuse the brave "It's a summer day,
and I want to be wanted more than anything else in the world."

__________________
Him: Ok, I have to ask, what do you believe?
Me: Shit happens.

shipofshame

I wish I could help.

This is the best I can do for you.
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/calebcrain/fired

Good luck!

Slavakion

This is why I hate poetry. I think the second half is about being proud of yourself (as a gay person). But I'm not sure, given those (random) metaphors/images. WTF?

Mephisto2

Personally I love poety, but I find this turgid.

Mr Mephisto

zen_tom

Sorry, can't help untill you explain what this "double consciousness" actually means.

Pip

Not my cup of tea really, I think the finger in my ear, ear to my heart thing means he's blocking out the sounds of the outside world and listens to himself, and kind of sees himself as a city???

KellyC

Doudle Conciousness is how others view you based on outer apearance vs. how you view yourself and how you act with the mindset of BOTH point of view. Hope that helps...

__________________
Him: Ok, I have to ask, what do you believe?
Me: Shit happens.

Coppertop

I think this sounds about right.

macmanmike6100

<i>I start like ice, my finger to my ear, my ear
to my heart, that proud cur at the garbage can

in the rain.</i>

Actually, the part is in question is a sentence fragment, which is why you can't understand it. In non-poetic formatting, this is the line:
"I start like ice, my finger to my ear, my ear to my heart, that proud cur [inferior mutt, in this case referring to a homeless man] at the garbage can in the rain."

So yes, he is blocking the world's perception of himself and listening solely to his heart. His true self, it seems, is the proud cur.