Monday, January 10, 2011
Blog 1
We didn't really get a chance to talk about Victor Montejo's "Sculpted Stones" in class this week. There is an overall sense of hope in this poem. It goes through how the Mayans were lost in time and "forgotten by men" but that "after thousands of years...[they're] still on [their] feet." They're still here, proud of who they are even through all that has happened. It seems to me that the tone might not only be hopeful but defiant as well. Even though they were forgotten, they've always been here, alert and "vigilant among the silken cobwebs of time" as if waiting for the day they were to make their move. People have made the assumptions that these ancient people have become "extinct" but they have been here all along and have made it through everything thrown at them.
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I definitely agree with your interpretation of the poem and I am sad that we didn't get to talk about it in class. Another line that I found to be very powerful was "The Maya and their glyphs stand as one like fathers and sons..." (Montejo). Their glyphs are their pictographs and hieroglyphs and this line is saying that the discovery of the glyphs signifies the discovery of the Mayan culture and the Mayan people. By studying their glyphs, we learn about the history of the Mayan people and therefore, the glyphs and the Mayans are intertwined as one.
ReplyDeleteI was also disappointed that we did not discuss "Sculpted Stones" in class, as it was my favorite of the poems we read. I feel it emanates a certain pride for the Mayan culture, and even if they have been gone for a long time they aren't any less strong or victorious. I loved the imagery of the glyph baring its teeth at the onlooker.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your interpretation. I myself have made that same mistake people make by believing they were people of the past when the truth it they are still alive in the things they left behind, in the blood of their decent, even if they are not full blooded they are here among us, they are us. i love how you were able to interpret the quote "vigilant among the silken cobwebs of time" as them waiting to make their move, it actually makes more sense than my original interpretation.
ReplyDeletewe can always go back to previous readings. Remind me and we will go over this poem in class when we read El Q'anil.
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