Sierra- History of the Night.
Borges uses a lot of history in this poem, not specifically Argentine culture; but French, European, Greek, etc. In the line, "The Chaldeans assigned to her twelve houses," I think he is referring to Greek Gods. Each god was given a month out of the year, or one of the 'twelve houses,' to be in control of or watch over. He also mentions Zeno, a Greek Philosopher, and Pascal, a French philosopher. Borges talks about sacrifices made to the gods, another piece of historical information. The people sacrificed things like food, animals, and even their life for the gods to be happy with them. One of the gods was night, which is why he is saying that they "sacrificed black ewes to her, and the cock who crows his own death." This is meaning that they sacrificed wood and animals for the night's approval. Luis de Leon was a Spanish poet and governor of New Spain from 1527-1591. This is a reflection of Spanish culture because another Spanish poet used his analogy of the night to his emotions.
Amy- We are the time. We are the Famous.
In the poem We are the time, We are the Famous is expressing both Argentine and European culture, just like Borges, Argentina was largely influenced by Europe as well. So this poem's culture is largely off of the Greeks. And on the second line of the poem it states a phrase “Metaphor from Heraclitus the Obscure.” Jorge is referring to Heraclitus the Greek philosopher, who was called the obscure because of his contempt for humankind and difficulty of understanding. There is also another line that says “We are the river and we are that Greek” that phrase can be told in many different ways; it can be talking about a Greek culture, myth, or the water, but I think it's talking about the famous quote by Heraclitus, "You can never step twice into the same river." Because it is referring to the Greeks who Heraclitus was a famous and respected man there. This is all a reflection/reaction to the culture, because it talks about Greek in general, like the famous people who contributed a lot to it's history making it culture. Also the message of the poem can say a lot about what cultures may take their time/life as. In this poem Jorge might have implied the people of Argentina and Greece may look at life that way. Since the idea of this poem is even when your time is gone, fame will remember you since fame makes you a legend.
5 Poetic Devices:
Metaphor: "Into the crystal that changes like the fire" compares crystal and fire
Refrain: "We are the... " and "However"
Symbolism: "We are the water, not the hard diamond" water can stand for flowly as in time, time keeps going like water keeps flowing
Theme/message: Even when someone is gone, time will remember them
Tone/Mood: A bittersweet ending
Uma- The Art of Poetry
This poem is a reflection and reaction of art that comes from Argentina since it was written by Jorge Luis Borges who is from Argentina. This poem is basically about the art of poetry which explains what poetry and art is through the eyes of the poet who is from Argentina therefore it shows how art and poetry from Argentina is. For example this poem commonly refers to seeing, feeling, or grazing which shows that art from Argentina gives you the effect that you are there, especially in poetry. Those examples also indicate that poetry and other literature from Argentina is very descriptive to give you a visual. Not only does this poem tell us what kind of art and poetry is found in Argentina but also that they take their art and poetry very seriously, we know this because this poem is very descriptive about how art and poetry should be. Lastly, from the poem we can tell that art and poetry is commonly associated with nature because the poet refers to things like rivers, water, and a sunset multiple times. So in the end this poem is a reflection and reaction of art that comes from Argentina because it was written by Jorge Luis Borges who is from Argentina, and with the support of the examples like art/poetry from Argentina gives you the effect that you are at the setting and gives you a visual to imagine, art and poetry from Argentina is taken very seriously, and art/poetry is commonly associated with nature we can get a pretty good idea of what art and poetry from Argentina is like.
