In First Fight. Then Fiddle. the author
describes making beautiful music, like magic, and then talks about the bloody
wars. The music on the fiddle comes first in the poem, while the fighting comes
first in the title, it is ordered that way because Gwendolyn Brooks uses the
music to describe how the fighting overpowers the beauty of music, and only
after, when there is harmony, is the music heard; you have to establish war to
find peace.
In line 2-3, she says "muzzle the note / with
hurting love," what I understood from this line is that they are restraining
the note with damaged, painful, love. Something has gone wrong and it isn’t the
same. When you are making music, especially on the violin, you don’t want to suppress
a note. You want it to ring out and fill the empty space. If you muzzle it, it
sounds scratchy and ugly. The line before (lines 1-2) it says, “Ply the
slipping string / With feathery sorcery.” The word ply makes it sound forceful,
especially if the string is slipping because when you are playing and the
string slips out from under your bow it’s a very rough sound, but “With
feathery sorcery,” makes it seem light and magical, as if under some sort of
playful charm. The two lines clash together, and the rough sound will always
overpower the softer. Without one, would you really be able to understand the
beauty of the other?
“Devote / The bow to silks and honey. Be remote / A
while from malice and from murdering.” (Lines 9-9) Again, “Be remote / A
while..” suggests that they had this malice and murdering before they could
enjoy the sweet sounds they made by the fiddle. If they hadn’t experience such
a tragedy as war, would it have the same effect? Does there really need war for
the lovely sounds to be heard and enjoyed? The poem would agree. It says “Carry
hate / In front of you and harmony behind. / Be deaf to music and to beauty
blind. / Win war. Rise bloody, maybe not too late / For having first to civilize
a space / Wherein to play your violin with grace.” (Lines 9-14) The very last
two lines agree that they have to first win war, and have a place to play. A
place conquered with blood, that finally has peace.
I really didn't understand this poem untill I read your post! When I first read it I was just like this a jumble of words, I didn't find any sense in it. Then I read through your post re-read the poem and it just dawned on me. I love music, and I believe that it can bring people of total different backgrounds together. I really liked how you talked about the people fighting the war were not able to hear the music because their fighting was too loud, but after the music hit their hearts, they were in harmony. They no longer fought. Music is really very powerful, I play no instruments myself, but you being a musician, it gave me an insight into what it is like. I think me, not having a background in music was the reason I did not understand this poem at first, so thanks for your response! It really opened my eyes! :)
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read this sonnet (and even in subsequent readings), my initial reaction and understanding was that the "fight" had already taken place within the poem. This, to be fair, is not that unbelievable of an assumption, given the opening line: "First fight, then fiddle...." I also assumed that the "fight" was learning the instrument. Somehow, I follow this train of thought every time I read it, and never learn.
ReplyDeleteHowever, that makes the second half (the return to the "fight") that much more impactful. It surprises me every time. "But first to arms, to armor. Carry hate/In front of you and harmony behind." Powerful, loaded words when you assume you're reading a poem solely about the beauty of a fiddle. I read them as being written with bitterness and sarcasm, rather than with conviction. Contrasted with the opening "fiddle" section, I interpreted the reflections on the "fight" as showing that we do horrible things for the sake of beauty that should not be done, and then try to ignore that they were hateful and bloody in the beauty of the music: overall, a sonnet criticizing a means-justify-the-cause mentality.
Let me just say how jealous I was of you for grabbing this peom. I even had it starred in my book! I was thinking this was a wonderful story, the terror of war and fighting those battles and then music this beautiful powerful thing that strengthens those who hear it, I just thought this was really a great peom. I never got that this was a symbolic fight but an actually war going on and this man having to leave his true love behind and pick up arms to defend his life and land. There was a sweet tone at the beginning of this sonnet and then about the middle it all changed into the malic it really was.
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