Tyler Herzog’s “We Sing Songs by Neil Young” captures the emotions associated with reminiscing a loved one through stanzas exuding specificity, grace, and poignancy. The first line of the poem is captivating: “You always hated”. She uses enjambment here in a very affective way as the next line starts with the word “flowers”. I was anticipating it to be something less picturesque, however flowers is popularly an embodiment of beauty and a medium in which to express emotion. The speaker goes on to say that the lover thought that flowers reminded him of funerals, but there are carnations (wallpaper) that lines the walls and floors. The last line of the first stanza initiates the specificity that ensues in the following stanzas: “They smell like the month of May/ And remembrance”. I enjoyed how the thoughts attached to “remembrance” started with a new stanza. I loved the image of the lover wrapper in satin sheets like a cocoon as it exemplified a sense of purity with the satin and assurity/safety/security with the image of the cocoon. Aside from the first stanza and the third, each concludes with lyrics from Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold”. The second stanza ends with the lines, “I want to live/ I want to give”. These lines tie in perfectly with the entirety of the second stanza. The speaker uses personification in the third stanza to emphasize the disconnect and absence of her lover by personifying the speaker, saying that they sing the sing now instead of him. The fourth stanza is a mere three lines followed by the line “But everything breaks, eventually”, indicting a shift in tone: “I did/You did/”And I’m Getting Old””. The speaker’s tonality becomes more matter-of-fact and distasteful towards her lover here and the next two stanzas support this claim. The speaker says she watched him “crumble” and that her safe house was overrun with “poison ivy”. That last lines of the poem are gorgeous: “And now the room smells of May/And I smoke your last pack of Virginia Slims/And say/”You Keep Me Searching/For a Heart of Gold””. I love the image of the cigarettes and I got the inclination that the smoke symbolized the lover and how he has ultimately vanished from sight. Also, I love how the Neil Young lyrics are molded into the speaker’s own words, essentially reading: “You keep me searching for you”.
The only criticism I have to offer is for the lines, “Flowers, they reminded you/Of funerals”, perhaps you could put of on the line before funerals and have funerals on its own line which would evoke more of an emphasis on a deceased relationship and loneliness. Aside from that: amazing.
Andrew, very nice work in all three responses so far! Thanks for integrating quotations from the poems to support your points.