The title of the poem makes you think that the poem is about women, and as soon as you read the first line you know this is true. The first line straight out tells you that a woman is speaking. This is totally my own analysis, but I say what I see in the first stanza: The lady says the men make the women sing over and over to other men (almost like bragging), even the the women really don't have any ambition to, but still do it for the men. Finally the speaker says that men should allow the ladies to brag of what they'd want to, and to not have to brag in front of the men's friends to make him look good.
All I have for now, if someone sees anything more or anything different please post!!!!
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19 comments:
It's not about singing actually. It's that guys want a girl to 'sing her own praises'. This just means that the guy wants his girlfriend or wife to brag about herself infront of his friends and other people so that he looks good. He wants to show off his 'trophy wife'.
This is spoken from a woman’s perspective, and in the first stanza I think that the woman is tired of having to show off in front of her husband’s/boyfriend’s friends for their entertainment. The second stanza has the woman saying that is she searched hard and long enough she may be able to find a man that won’t treat her like a “trophy wife.” And the last stanza all I got was she was comparing herself to precious artwork, I’m sure there’s probably a deeper meaning to that I just haven’t figured it out.
That’s how I read the poem, and it’s probably wrong.
Just to elaborate on the final stanza, I think that the woman speaking is actually comparing herself to an artist rather than a piece of art. She talks about how the artist gets more pleasure out of creating a new piece rather than dwelling on one he has already created. This is much like how the woman is sick of bragging about herself just to make her man look good, and how she would rather go out and accomplish something else to stand by.
I don't think that this poem is hard to interpret but that it could have a few differnt meanings that are right in their own sense. Here is what i took out of it. The woman are tired of singing to their husband's friends about themselves and how good they are. It makes them seem like an object instead of a free thinking individual. The woman wants to sing praises about her husband and be able to show off what she got.
They say to their man that they could find a man after conducting a thorough search who is just as good as them. THe man is not safe or has security with his wife. THey will find one who's good enough to sing praises of.
The painter takes more pleasure out of the creation and thought process of one of his creations rather than seeing it finished. This is an analogy for the women to describe their feelings towards their men about talking about themselves. The women, like the painter, find it more interesting creating their husband in the minds of others rather than make themselves an extension of thier husbands. So after they are done doing this they want to go out and use these creative juices to do something productive and find something else to conquer.
The way I interpret this is that it's speaking from the perspective of women to men. The first stanza is saying almost what RJ said. Except that I feel that its the women telling the men to STOP treating them as trophy wives or making them brag. And it goes on to say that women have wits and fancies too, so its suggested that the women should brag of the men instead. Which makes sense if you look back @ equality back then. Women were looked down upon, so basically it's saying that maybe women should be allowed to talk about their men the way men can talk about their women. It's like the early stages of girl power .. by a guy.
The second stanza talks about how women should be able to search and find a good man. One good enough to be "sung" about.
The third stanza compares artwork done by a great painter and men. This stanza is basically saying that women should be able to find a man and be proud of him to the point that a painter would be proud of his own artwork.
Okay, and also something I noticed that I don't think anyone said. Some words are capitalized? And I can't figure out why. At first when I saw "The Fools, or Tyrants with your Friends", I thought the men were being titled with these names. As if they were specific groups with names. But then I get all sorts of confused when I see that Praises, Ends, Wits and Fancies are all capitalized. Then it continues with Man, Strain, Songs, Painter, Piece and Art.
I should do my homework earlier.
To me the capitalization seems to be some sort of stressor, meaning those works are of further importance. Just a thought, but when you look at which words are being capitalized it seems to make sense.
It seems as though with this poem once you understand what the first stanza is saying you can get ona roll. Upon figuring out that the first stanza was about the lady bragging just to make her husband look good, it made stanzas 2 and 3 much easier to figure out because the main idea has been set in place.
You would assume that those capitalized words have some type of significance, but they are not actually of any importance to the understanding of the poem. They are simplpy put in the poem to draw attention to certain words, but not to express any hidden meanings behind them. No secret messages -- bummer
Having a man speak on a womans point of view is very daring. I believe Jonson has done a very good job and figuring out the minds of some women. He captures the perspective of a man as well as a woman in this poem. The one part of the poem that I didn't quite understand was, why is part of the title, ' A SONG Apologetick'?
I think that this poem was written to help men realize what women actually do for them on regualar bases. Women praise their men even if do not really mean what they say. So I think this poem helps men open their eyes and pay closer attention to a woman's truthful opinions.
Giuseppina ScottoDiCarlo
i was wondering the same thing but the only thing i could come up with is that the poem is an apology by jonson on behalf of men for the way they expect women to bahave. It's more of a recognition than an apology, but i guess since it was written by a man about men it could be taken as a form of an apology.
that last post was jon pelosi by the way
I also believe that when looking at the time period we're speaking of that the idea of equality plays a major factor. Men at this time were superior to woman, the women pretty much had to do as the men asked them to do whatever it maybe. So if the men asked of the women to brag of themselves then that is what they will do. But then the arguement comes in which women kind of state that they will stand up for themselves......This shows that Jonson sees the inequality between men and women and understands that women should be given more rights.
MATTHEW NEAL-MINK
This peom is strange because the peom isn't about actual singing, but about a women singing praises about herself to make her man look good. It's funny how Ben Johnson is making fun of men, when he himself is a man.
- YA DIGG
i really liked the comparison in the third stanza of the painter and a woman with the search of the man rather than the final product. woman are really like that and its crazy how jonson understood that. i wouldn't have thought anyone could have figured that out back then.
Jonson's poem from a woman's perspective seems to be one that could potentially be very accurate. He talks about how women praise themselves, which actually make their men look better because they only praise the qualities that men find important. He then says that women may be able to find one good thing in each man and put them together to make one good man. Finally, it seems like Jonson is saying that women find more pleasure in the search for a good man then actually finding a perfect one.
I thought that the last part in the second stanza was sort of funny.
... If we would search with care and pain,
Find some one good, in some one Man;
So going thorow all your Strain,
We shall at last, of parcels make
One good enough for a songs sake.
Jonson is talking as a woman character and in this part of the poem the woman is saying that if we(women) could take all the good parts from every man, it would only be enough to build one awesome guy that they like and that man would be the only one worthy singing about. I thought that was harsh, but funny at the same time.
The last stanza I really agree with. Jonson compares the search of a man process, to painting a painting. The search and painting are fun, but once you have obtained what you want in both situations, then you have succeeded with nothing left to do but hang up the painting which isn't as fun or exciting. As much as I like looking at my own artwork, I have more fun making decisions during the process and I really understand what Jonson was saying.
- ERICA SPAIN!
This poem actually shows one of the disadvantages of Petrarchan sonnets, where the poet would glorify the beauty of the woman of his desire in extreme terms. Jonson had a strong dislike towards Petrarchan sonnets, where the woman was often subjected to the capricious intentions of the poet. This was the dynamic of love politics that Ben Jonson opposes. And the fact that he uses a woman's voice to show the injustice they suffer at the hands of Petrarchan sonneteers just adds that heightened sense of irony.
my niggas im lookin at this shit in 2016 using this for a homeworrk assignment thanks my bros
same ^
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