Skrzynecki - In the Folk Museum - question! (1 Viewer)

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I'm a bit confused about the 4th stanza:

In the Town Hall next door
They sing to Christ -
Of the Sabbath Day and the Future of Man.
I try to memorize
The titles of books
While "Eternity, Eternity"
Is repeated from a reader's text.

What is that stanza supposed to mean?

My ideas (grasping at straws) are:

• "next door They sing..." - pronoun "they" shows his detachment
• "Of the Sabbath Day and the Future of Man" - others are concerned about the future, whilst he is still trying to reconcile his past.
• "try to memorize..." - his connection to the past is forced and nothing but rote memory.

Am I right? Any other ideas?

 

[Empyrean444]

I'm a bit confused about the 4th stanza:

In the Town Hall next door
They sing to Christ -
Of the Sabbath Day and the Future of Man.
I try to memorize
The titles of books
While "Eternity, Eternity"
Is repeated from a reader's text.

What is that stanza supposed to mean?

My ideas (grasping at straws) are:

• "next door They sing..." - pronoun "they" shows his detachment
• "Of the Sabbath Day and the Future of Man" - others are concerned about the future, whilst he is still trying to reconcile his past.
• "try to memorize..." - his connection to the past is forced and nothing but rote memory.

Am I right? Any other ideas?

Hmm - don't know why you would study this, because it (don't know how this could be possible) it is even worse than all his other poems. However:

• The detachment resultant from "they". Considering the religious undertones of these lines, I would suggest that he is feeling detached and alienated from Christianity. This is also suggested by the general hollowness of meaning in these lines, and his detachment and resultant isolation from the religion is backed up by the fact that he does not use emotive language t describe it.
• I think the second pt is pretty much there
• I would expand the third pt - not so much his connexion to 'the' past but to the history around him in the museum - ie that of Australian culture. His knowledge of this past is but a form of surrogacy, as it is meaningless to him and it is not truly his.

 

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Hmm - don't know why you would study this, because it (don't know how this could be possible) it is even worse than all his other poems. However:

• The detachment resultant from "they". Considering the religious undertones of these lines, I would suggest that he is feeling detached and alienated from Christianity. This is also suggested by the general hollowness of meaning in these lines, and his detachment and resultant isolation from the religion is backed up by the fact that he does not use emotive language t describe it.
• I think the second pt is pretty much there
• I would expand the third pt - not so much his connexion to 'the' past but to the history around him in the museum - ie that of Australian culture. His knowledge of this past is but a form of surrogacy, as it is meaningless to him and it is not truly his.

Thanks - yeah, this and St Patrick's College are my weakest.

Good idea about the detachment from Christianity and the surrogacy of Australian culture!

 

[liangson]

Hmm - don't know why you would study this, because it (don't know how this could be possible) it is even worse than all his other poems. However:

• The detachment resultant from "they". Considering the religious undertones of these lines, I would suggest that he is feeling detached and alienated from Christianity. This is also suggested by the general hollowness of meaning in these lines, and his detachment and resultant isolation from the religion is backed up by the fact that he does not use emotive language t describe it.
• I think the second pt is pretty much there
• I would expand the third pt - not so much his connexion to 'the' past but to the history around him in the museum - ie that of Australian culture. His knowledge of this past is but a form of surrogacy, as it is meaningless to him and it is not truly his.

thank you so much too, im looking for this one

 

[fipassmore]

The detachment resultant from "they". Considering the religious undertones of these lines, I would suggest that he is feeling detached and alienated from Christianity. This is also suggested by the general hollowness of meaning in these lines, and his detachment and resultant isolation from the religion is backed up by the fact that he does not use emotive language t describe it.


Be careful with this assumption; Skrzynecki was a teacher in the Catholic system and had articles published in The Catholic Leader, hardly the domain of a detached agnostic. The use of capital letters gives significance to the religious words and phrases. The poet can associate with the religious text more readily than the books of a past not his. This stanza contrasts or juxtaposes Eternity, or the universality of religion with the limited heritage exhibited in the museum. While the poet may experience some distance from the richness of his Polish heritage, as seen in Feliks and Post Card, this poem suggests an unwillingness to succumb to Australia's grey, drab past.

The other points are well considered, just be careful not to allow personal dislike of the poem to colour your analysis.