The Life and Work of Milton Acorn

ByJeff Wo

Patrick Allaby

Biography• Born 30 March, 1923, in Charlottetown• He is often called Canada’s national poet.• Acorn began focusing on writing poetry seriously in 1950.• He published his first poetry book in 1956 called “In Love

and Anger”• Milton Acorn moved around a lot during his writing career.• He moved to Montreal, to Toronto, to Vancouver, back to

Toronto, then settled in PEI.• His writing was likely influenced by the many places he

lived and visited.• Acorn helped established the alternative newspaper called

“The Georgia Strait”

Biography (Continued…)• Deeply involved in many poetry

scenes, but left once they started flourish.

• Acorn disliked popularity and fame.• He was named the “People’s Poet” by

a group of his peers.• He was awarded the Canadian Poets

Award in 1970.• Acorn was also honored with the

Governor General’s Award in 1975. • Acorn died in 1986, from heart

disease and diabetes.• Two films were made on Acorn’s life

and works.

Poem Samples

What I Know of God is ThisThe IslandI’ve Tasted My BloodLive With Me On Earth Under the Invisible

Daylight MoonThe Natural History of Elephants

What I Know Of God is This

What I know of God is this:That He has hands, for He touches me.I can testify to nothing else;Living among many unseen beingsLike the whippoorwill I'm constantly hearingBut was pointed out to me just once.

Last of our hopes when all hope's pastGod, never let me call on TheeDistracting myself from a last chanceWhich goes just as quick as it comes;And I have doubts of Your omnipotence.All I ask is... Keep on existingKeeping Your hands. Continue to touch me.

The IslandSince I'm Island-born home's as preciseas if a mumbly old carpenter,shoulder-straps crossed wrong,laid it out, refiguredto the last three-eighths of shingle.

Nowhere that plowcut wormsheal themselves in red loam; spruces squat, skirts in sandor the stones of a river rattle its darktunnel under the elms,is there a spot not measured by hands;no direction I couldn't walkto the wave-lined edge of home.

Quiet shores -- beaches that roarbut walk two thousand paces and the seabecomes an odd shiningglimpse among the jeweledzigzag low hills. Any wonderyour eyelashes are wingsto fly your look both in and out?In the coves of the land all things are discussed.

In the ranged jaws of the Gulf,a red tongue.Indians say a musical Godtook up his brush and painted it,named it in His own language"The Island".

Live With Me On Earth Under the Invisible

Daylight MoonLive with me on Earth among red berries and the bluebirdsAnd leafy young twigs whisperingWithin such little spaces, between such floors of green, such     figures in the cloudsThat two of us could fill our lives with delicate wanting:

Where stars past the spruce copse mingle with firefliesOr the dayscape flings a thousand tones of light back at the     sun—Be any one of the colours of an Earth lover;Walk with me and sometimes cover your shadow with mine.

The Natural History Of ElephantsIn the elephant's five-pound brain

The whole world's both table and shithouseWhere he wanders seeking viandes, exchanging great farts For compliments. The rumble of his belly Is like the contortions of a crumpling planetary system.Long has he roved, his tongue longing to press the juices From the ultimate berry, large as But tenderer and sweeter than a watermelon; And he leaves such signs in his wake that pygmies have fallenAnd drowned in his great fragrant marshes of turds.

In the elephant's five-pound brainThe wind is diverted by the draughts of his breath,Rivers are sweet gulps, and the ocean After a certain distance is too deep for wading.The earth is trivial, it has the shakes And must be severely tested, else It'll crumble into unsteppable clumps and scatter offLeaving the great beast bellowing among the stars.

In the elephant's five-pound brainDwarves have an incredible vicious sincerity, A persistent will to undo things. The beast cannot graspThe convolutions of destructqon, always his mindTurns to other things - the vastness of green And of frangibility of forest. If only once he could descendTo trivialities he'd sweep the whole earth clean of his tormentors In one sneeze so mighty as to be observed from Mars.

In the elephant's five-pound brainSun and moon are the pieces in a delightfully complex ballgame That have to do with him...never does he doubt The sky has opened and rain and thunder descend For his special ministration. He dreams of mastodons And mammoths and still his pride beatsLike the heart of the world, he knows he could reachTo the end of space if he stood still and imagined the effort.

In the elephant's five-pound brainPoems are composed as a silent substitute for laughter,His thoughts while resting in the shadeAre long and solemn as novels and he knows his companionsBy names differing for each quality of morning.Noon and evening are ruminated on and each overlaidWith the taste of night. He loves his horny perambulating hideAs other tribes love their houses, and remembersHe's left flakes of skin and his smellAs a sign and permanent stamp on wherever he has been.

In the elephant's five-pound brainThe entire Oxford dictionary'ld be too smallTo contain all the concepts which after all are too weightyEach individually ever to be mentioned;Thus of course the beast has no languageOnly an eternal pondering hesitation.

In the elephant's five-pound brainPoems are composed as a silent substitute for laughter,His thoughts while resting in the shadeAre long and solemn as novels and he knows his companionsBy names differing for each quality of morning.Noon and evening are ruminated on and each overlaidWith the taste of night. He loves his horny perambulating hideAs other tribes love their houses, and remembersHe's left flakes of skin and his smellAs a sign and permanent stamp on wherever he has been.

In the elephant's five-pound brainThe entire Oxford dictionary'ld be too smallTo contain all the concepts which after all are too weightyEach individually ever to be mentioned;Thus of course the beast has no languageOnly an eternal pondering hesitation.

In the elephant's five-pound brainThe pliable trunk's a continuous diversionThat in his great innocence he never thinks of as perverse,The pieces of the world are handled with such a thrillingTenderness that all his hoursAre consummated and exhausted with love.Not slow to mate every female bull and babyIs blessed with a gesture grandly gracious and felt lovelyDown to the sensitive great elephant toenails.

And when his more urgent pricking memberStabs him on its horrifying season he becomesA blundering mass of bewilderment .... No thoughtBut twenty tons of lust he fishes madly for whalesAnd spiders for copulation. Sperm falls in great goutsAnd the whole forest is sticky, colonies of antsAre nourished for generations on dried elephant semen.

In the elephant's five-pound brainDeath is accorded no belief and old friendsAre continually expected, patienceIs longer than the lives of glaciers and the centuries

Are rattled like toy drums. A life is plannedLike a brushstroke on the canvas of eternity,And the beginning of a damnation is handledWith great thought as to its middle and its end.

I’ve Tasted My BloodIf this brain's over-temperedconsider that the fire was wantand the hammers were fists.I've tasted my blood too muchto love what I was born to.

But my mother's lookwas a field of brown oats, soft-bearded;her voice rain and air rich with lilacs:and I loved her too much to likehow she dragged her days like a sled over gravel.

Playmates? I remember where their skulls roll!One died hungry, gnawing grey porch-planks;one fell, and landed so hard he splashed;and many and manycome up atom by atomin the worm-casts of Europe.

My deep prayer a curse.My deep prayer the promise that this won't be.My deep prayer my cunning,my love, my anger,and often even my forgivenessthat this won't be and be.I've tasted my blood too muchto abide what I was born to.

QuestionsQuestions:

What do you perceive in Milton Acorn’s writing? Does it give an eerie morbid effect in the poem?

What do you think the theme in the poem is?

In your opinion, what does the title “I’ve Tasted my Blood” tell you?

I Shout LoveI shout love in a blizzard'sscarf of curling cold,for my heart's a furred sharp-toothed thingthat rushes out whimperingwhen pain cries the sign writ on it.

I shout love into your painwhen skies crack and falllike slivers of mirrors,and rounded fingers, blued as a great rake,pluck the balled yarn of your brain.

I shout love at petals peeled openby stern nurse fusion-bomb sun,terribly like an adhesive bandage,for love and pain, love and painare companions in this age.

Poem Analysis:I Shout Love

“I Shout Love” is one of the many poems written by Milton Acorn. I believe this poem means the character telling the poem is someone who has broken someone’s heart by lying, or cheating.

He who shouts love states his or her heart is a “furred sharp-toothed thing” that rushes out when pain cries. He also feels bad for shouting love into people’s pains.

In the end he realizes that love and pain always come together during his age. Assuming he is a person with tight affairs either with family, or a deep relationship. It comes to show you love and pain always comes together.

I Shout Love (Continued…)Imagery in the Poem:

• “my heart’s a furred sharp-toothed thing”

This line presents a metaphor which represents the viciousness of love, with the heart.

• “when skies crack and fall like slivers of mirrors,”

A simile describing love when, lying or cheating has already been executed.

• “rounded fingers, blued as a great rake,”

Another metaphor, to add an effect of how emotion are hidden while the truth is revealed.

• “terribly like an adhesive bandage,”

Another simile used to describe the pain in love.

• “I shout love in a blizzard’s scarf of curling cold,

Metaphor, describing and helping the reader to understand the harsh and brutal conditions of a blizzard.

I Shout Love (Continued…)

The theme of this poem can be:

Love: The character in the story shouts love to broken hearts.

Forgive: He seeks forgiveness for his lying or cheats.

Pain: The pain of someone’s broken heart.

I Shout Love (Continued…)

I personally enjoyed this poem. I understood for once the deep meaning of this poem Milton Acorn tried to get across. His message is also true, because love usually comes with pain. It just made sense to me, I think. I don’t know about you, but the poem fits with my brain and this analysis.

Poem AnalysisHummingbird

One day in a lifetimeI saw one with wings a pipesmoke blurshaped like half a kissand its raspberry-stoneheart winked fastin a thumbnail of a breast.

In that blink itwas around a briarand out of sight, butI caught a flashof its brainwhere flowers swingudders of sweet cider;and we pass as thunderclouds or,dangers like death, earthquake, and war,ignored because it's no use worrying ....

Hummingbird (Continued…)

In that blink itwas around a briarand out of sight, butI caught a flashof its brainwhere flowers swingudders of sweet cider;and we pass as thunderclouds or,dangers like death, earthquake, and war,ignored because it's no use worrying ....

By him I mean. ResponsibilityAgainst the threat of terminationby war or other thingsis given us as by a deity.

Hummingbird (Continued…)

In Milton Acorn’s “Hummingbird,” he tells the a story of a sighting of a hummingbird he had one day. He sees how if rushes quickly in and out of sight and how the Hummingbirds get by fine without worrying about things that humans have no control over. The poem is about people who worry about things that are completely beyond their control and spend all their time worrying about things that can only be controlled by a higher power. Perhaps Acorn thought he was a Hummingbird and this was a poem about how he lived his life.

Hummingbird (Continued…)

Imagery in the poem:

• “ a pipesmoke blur” this line is a metaphor comparing the Hummingbird to smoke coming from a pipe because of its speed.

• “Shaped like half” this simile continues describing the appearance of the Hummingbird.

• Raspberry-stone heart” This is another metaphor describing the bird and it’s continuously beating heart.

• “Caught a flash of its brain” In this synecdoche, the brain stands for his way of life, and Acorn is gaining insight into the birds lifestyle.

• “pass as thunderclouds” this simile works as excellent imagery.

Hummingbird (Continued...)

Freedom: Acorn talks about how Hummingbirds are free to do as they like and they don’t worry about a thing they can’t control, that’s the business of higher powers. This enables the Hummingbird’s to be free from distracting thoughts and lets them go on without a worry their life.

Anxiety: This poem seems to be a commentary on the anxiety that people get around things like “death, earthquake, and war” and how it’s no good to worry about something that is beyond your control.

Theme:

Hummingbird (Continued…)

I thought this was a good poem. Acorn gives a beautiful description of a wonderful bird, but he takes it and uses his poem as much more. I also thought the way Acorn transitions between stanzas and his structure of the poem is enthralling. It is a short, cute poem but at the same time, Hummingbird has weight and depth in it and makes for an intriguing poem.

My Opinion:

Hummingbird (Continued…)

Why does Acorn’s idea of Hummingbirds ignoring dangers they have no control over seem right or wrong to you?

Why do you think Acorn chose to write this about a hummingbird and not some other animal like a bee or a cat?

What are some dangers that are beyond your control that you spend endless amounts of time worrying about?

Questions:

Work Cited Pagehttp://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/acorn/poem1.htm

http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/acorn/index.htm

http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Acorn_Milton.html

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0000026

Images:

http://www.primegallery.ca/dynamic/artist_artwork.asp?ArtistID=63