The Final Analysis

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds will never progress. The ability to shift ones perspective to a new is rewarding. Perspective is such an important thing - it is how we view the world. When I selected the poem Backside, my initial thoughts were much different than my current ones. My perspective changed in a sense. In my eyes, the poem was filled with pretty images of nature but the deeper meaning was not clear and I had many questions. Luckily, it is not unusual to misinterpret a poem's meaning. It usually takes extensive research and discussions along with a thorough and deep analysis in order to stumble across it's underlying meaning. It was through those means that I was able to unearth its core: the damaging acts of human existence are the cause of the destruction of nature.

A riddle can help sharpen the mind and open up new thought processes. They come in many forms whether its a puzzle, a game or in this matter, a poem. Finding Backside's meaning was much like solving a riddle: every element needed to be identified, an open-mind to a different perspective needed to be present, and the use of logic and serious thought was required. I had a question about every line. "Day falls into the leaves like sparkling fish/ And struggles, like the lowly mud."(Sagawa 3-4) - what are the struggles that she is talking about? "And the space that was chopped down/ Tickles the weeds there by its feet."(Sagawa 7-8) - what was chopped down? Why? Who is "its"? Frustration began to be the only thing I felt during this process because it felt like I would never understand its deeper meaning. The biggest question I had in the entire poem was about the last line: "And then people move forward."(Sagawa 11). Into what are the people moving forward? After reading and analyzing the poem over and over again, words like "shriveled, deridable despair."(Sagawa 6) and "writhing darkness"(Sagawa 10) became more prominent, altering the images in my mind from beaming and illuminated to dark and grim. It became clear that this is not a happy poem. The riddle had not been solved yet, but I felt I was getting closer to unlocking Sagawa's metaphors. Every word and aspect of every line had been identified, but I needed a get new perspective.

The impact another person's thoughts can have on your own thinking is incredible. After comparing and exchanging different perceptions of Backside with a wise former English teacher, the poem's meaning started to become more evident. As John Heywood said, "two heads are better than one". It seemed we had the same thoughts on several aspects of the poem such as the mood. The two of us could agree that the poem felt very melancholy. We discussed the role of symbolism and how some objects probably have a double meaning. She gave symbolism to things like colors, cigarettes and the setting of the sun; things that played a huge role in the significance of the poem. Together we united our reactions and thoughts of the poem while feeding off of each other's logic. One could feel the flow of creativity throughout the entire room as we sat for hours discussing a poem only eleven lines long. The meeting with my old teacher was the most helpful source I had throughout the entire final. With an elemental and superficial understanding of Backside when I first selected it, she helped me in continuing my understanding of a complex and deep poem.

The presence of great conflict lingers throughout the entire poem. Through extensive research on Sagawa's background and inspirations, it became clear as to why there seemed to be so much conflict between nature and urbanization. A move from her provincial home town, Hokkaido, to the metropolitan Tokyo formed her sensibility due to the extremely opposite environments. This tension in Backside is described in the means of subtle violence, as with the poem's opening line, "Night eats color,"(Sagawa 1). This is followed by a criticism of artifice - "Flower bouquets lose their fake ornaments"(Sagawa 2)- as if portraying nature's desire to free itself from the man-made. Towns are full of man-made artifacts, houses, streets, cars, lights, etc. From time to time, a tree, but trimmed into an artificial shape, or a garden, but imprisoned inside fences. Nature itself looks artificial. Tobacco, manufactured into cigarettes by man, is perceived as artificial, whereas that same drug in its authentic form would be considered natural. Mankind has transformed everything pure into a synthetic state. "Fingers stained with tar from cigarettes/ Caress the writhing darkness."(Sagawa 9-10). The human nation has created something like a cigarette, which harms the Earth and is the farthest thing from natural. The hands of humanity are now soiled with the toxicity of our harmful actions. We encourage, or caress in a sense, these noxious behaviors which we have established in the world.

The study of poetry is often a neglected aspect of literature and is stereotyped as insignificant and pointless. As I write the very last piece of my final and as the days left in this class begin to disappear, I have come to realize the purpose of this examination process and why it was so extensive. It was to show students how poetry is a work of art that isn't acknowledged enough. It was to get us out of our comfort zone by forcing us studying someone, somewhere and something we know nothing about. I read Backside over and over again, knowing it contained some secret knowledge that I had yet to discover, but never gave up. It made me think and it opened me up to wonder the astonishing possibilities of language. It re-engaged me with the world I take too much for granted. This poem has changed the way I look at and listen to the world. It compelled me to look at life through a different lens; a new perspective.