According to the dictionary, “to bewilder is ‘to cause to lose
one's sense of where one is.’”. Fanny Howe explains to the reader how
bewilderment is important in poetry. She provides several problems with poetry
and how bewilderment is the answer to understand them. She explains how
bewilderment is formed when trying to express the simultaneousness of a
situation. Bewilderment is “more than an attitude--but an actual approach, a way--to
resolve the unresolvable”. After reading “Bewilderment” by Fanny Howe, I have
concurred my own understanding of the meaning of bewilderment. As far as
poetry, I believe that it means to accept more than one understanding of the
poem; to not bind yourself to one view of what the author of the poem is trying
to say. In my opinion, bewilderment is an internal struggle you have with
yourself while trying to understand a poem.
Fanny Howe finds beauty in the uncertainty of poems. Along with
bewilderment, uncertainty is an important part of reading poetry. Even though
you think you may have understood a poem, the author could have had a
completely different meaning. Like poems, bewilderment and uncertainty are necessary
for life. We try to find a meaning for life the same way we try to find a
meaning for a poem. According to Fanny Howe, “The actual theological meaning of
the word ‘salvation’ is meaning. To seek salvation is to seek a sense of meaning to the world, one's life”. If we
didn’t use bewilderment and uncertainty as a means of finding our salvation for
life, we would end up feeling great amounts of pain.
In Fanny Howe`s essay, “Bewilderment”, this four syllabled word is proven to have a very complex definition. According to dictionary.com being bewildered is a state of puzzlement or confusion, however according to Howe to bewilder is “to cause to lose one`s sense of where one is”. It is through both of these definitions that my own interpretation of the word was created. In my opinion Bewilderment is general state of confusion. In relation to our everyday lives I believe bewilderment is necessary. It is this constant state of uncertainty and confusion that makes life exciting. Imagine if we went through life knowing everything that was going to happen, we would just be going through the motions of life and not really living. Therefore just like Howe I believe there is an understated beauty in the uncertainty life holds and is reflected in poetry and literature. I do see why people would want complete certainty in their lives though. It would take a lot of the thinking out of life and make our lives easier to deal with. However, according to Howe this is not the way to live. We must live life as it was meant to be lived, as art shows us it should be lived, “ by showing that it isn’t”.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading Bewilderment by Fanny Howe she describes bewilderment in characters she wrote, bewilderment in poems, and bewilderment in dreams. She says about the characters she tried it with that “these characters remained as uncertain in the end as they were in the beginning, though both author and reader could place them within a pattern of casualties.” When I read this it made me think that maybe she is saying that the bewilderment is the uncertainty in our lives and we will remain uncertain, but from and outside perspective we are fixed and certain. What I mean by that is that we are uncertain of ourselves but when others look at each other they see a fixed “pattern of casualties” that we are certain that we know everything that will happen with them or at least for the moment. So I think her definition of bewilderment is the uncertainty of things. Dreams are uncertain “Bewilderment is like a dream” nothing makes sense in a dream really but sometimes they stick with you and become something else. These next parts I am not sure about I don’t know whether we should have certainty or bewilderment in our lives. I don’t think we can have one without the other and we cannot understand thing without each of them. Certainty of things is a perspective even when I think I am certain of something I am not really. Because my views change. Just like a poem because though the words are certain and set in stone my perspective of it will change and I will become uncertain of an actual meaning. It will become much like what she said when trying to depict a poem or a reading that it is “an actual approach. A way—to settle with the unresolvable.” Our way of comprehending something that has many meanings. So it is important to have both not just one or the other.
ReplyDeleteI believe bewilderment is to be accepting of many meanings to not just be set to see one and be narrow minded the only reason we should need certainty is to be sure at how something will happen, with bewilderment it is better to live that way because it gives us different ways to look at situations instead of our usual way of thinking. in bewilderment we find different solutions to problems and if we can live with a different look at everything we can be more open to interpretations.
ReplyDeleteReading Fanny Howe’s bewilderment truly left me bewildered. Howe defines bewilderment as a thing “to cause to lose one`s sense of where one is”, where as the vocabulary.com defines bewilderment as “a state of being confused and puzzled. Bewilderment means not understanding, but it goes beyond that — it implies a state of complete mystification.” The common thread throughout both definitions is the puzzlement, completely losing yourself somewhere. Howe talks about bewilderment in poetry and gives examples. Although Howe tries to explain her ideas on bewilderment, I fount this reading extremely hard to grasp, and because of this I’m finding it hard to blog about. I’m looking forward to discussing the reading in class today and finally understanding Howe’s ideas of bewilderment.
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