THREADED DISCUSSION

Student Experts and Connections to Another Class

(Note: Although the content of the texts is unchanged, I replaced names with non-identifying initials to protect student identity.)

Prompt 2: In "Living Like Weasels," Dillard revels in the animal part of our human selves. Compare and contrast that with the sense of "man" in Strindberg's poem. (You'll find the Strindberg poem as a link from Content.)

1 - the song of the winds - R ( Mar 14, 2006 8:02 PM )—SWEDISH STUDENT: HELPS UNDERSTAND STRINDBERG

I really appreciate that we got Strindberg involved in this course. I tried for a long time to figure him out and understand him but gave up - since then I've loved his work:)

I must say though that the link in Content didn't give me the whole picture of "The Song of the Winds". To me the poem makes more sense when you read the parts before and after the passage quoted in Content (unfortunately I don't have an English translation of A Dream Play to quote from). Then we learn that the winds come down from the sky to the earth. There they pass through the lungs of humans. They carry with them the painful cries from people in battlefields and hospitals and from newborns. The pain of being alive and exist.

I'm not sure if this makes any difference in the comparison with Dillard's text but I just wanted to mention it. Knowing that men have feelings in Strindberg's poem does change the tone of it I think.

However, to me the most important difference between Strindberg and Dillard is "the dust". Dillard says "I would like to learn, or remember, how to live". It's like the narrator wants to return to some sort of original state. Strindberg on the other hand says "The sons of dust in dust must wander". I interpret that as traces of history, that humans are products of their own history and time. They are where they are, and are what they are, and can't go back.

One thing they have in common is the question of guilt and sin. Both Strindberg and Dillard free their characters from it. Strindberg's states that the world exists only through sin so humans are not the ones to blame and Dillard means that a weasel lives in necessity as he's meant to.

I hope this didn't sound too confusing??? I love these prompts that produce more questions than answers:)

2 - Re: the song of the winds - B ( Mar 15, 2006 1:53 AM )—SWEDISH STUDENT

This was exactly what I thought about, how Strindberg frees us from guilt!!! what a good prompt!!

3 - Re: the song of the winds--READ R's post - Kimberly Lynch ( Mar 15, 2006 4:23 PM )

Thanks R for an extremely helpful posting. I didn't realize that I'd pulled the poem away from important context. If I use it in the future, I will at least include your explanation because it does help understand the poem.

4 - Re: the song of the winds--READ R's post - Q ( Mar 15, 2006 10:57 PM )—CONNECTIONS TO OTHER CLASS

When I read Strindberg, it brought to mind my World Religions class!!  We have studying eastern religions and it brought to light the feeling that I get from Hinduism as well as all the others that the gods (or God) are continually fighting for us as the same time that they set pitfalls in front of us.  It also made me think of that movie "Troy" (my son likes the flaming fireballs and runs around yelling he is Achilles) there is a quote in there that IS actually in the original work that has Achilles saying that the gods are jealous of man becuase he is mortal.  Doesn't this poem kind of run across those same lines to you?  Let me know if I am little off kilter on that one.

5 - Re: the song of the winds--READ R's post - Johny Kronwall ( Mar 16, 2006 4:55 AM )

Absolutely! "A Dreamplay" was very much influenced by hindu(istic) ideas and was written at a period in Strindberg's life when he was seriously interested (as with everything) in Indian cosmology etc. And of course, as Kim's already pointed out, R's comment is useful if one is to understand the context. But from a purely text-critical angle you could say that the poem rests safely in itself. It seems this week's questions have really made us think hard.