Trent_Dutch
Really Experienced
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2004
- Posts
- 174
I've just finished a poem I believe could be quite promising, but it involves a specific situation (see the large bracketed note at the bottom of the poem) and so I'm not sure if it comes across correctly to someone unfamiliar with the subject matter. Also I'm a little worried about the ending.... there seem to be too many questions there for my liking (though one of the things I was looking for is for the reader to question their own assumptions of themselves). I would really like to know if the poem succesfully conveys the image and message of blind obedience to authority, as it is difficult for me to judge, knowing what the poem refers to (and I would like to avoid attaching the notes to the poem in order for people to understand it... that sort of thing is best suited to an essay structure, and I've written far too many of them in the past).
Any comments would be greatly appreciated, as long as they are constructive. Thanks in advance.
Milgram’s Obedience Worries Me.
He is late, and picks up his pace.
Running along those dark streets.
His pace and heart begin to race,
Footfalls mirroring his inner beat.
He comes to the ambiguous grey door,
Of Linsly-Chittenden Hall, and looks around,
First to the looming and imposing spires,
Of the Yale Episcopalian Church,
And then to the green weeds growing,
Between the paving stones beneath his feet.
He takes comfort from these things…
These certainties of existence.
As he climbs the steps, reaching for the door,
It opens before him, and a man passes him,
Red faced and crying.
He swallows hard and enters.
He is consoled at once, his payment given,
Safe in his pocket, despite what happens here,
In this place, of leaking pipes and water stained walls.
With the white coated man, and the other like he.
His part is given, though he knows not the play,
The twists and subversion that wait, he looks around.
His eyes fall on the Electric chair and its straps,
The control board, with its deaths heads and dial.
His mind races as he begins, mildly at first, but soon…
He comes to a point where he wants to stop,
But the trial requires that he continue.
So he continues, amid the mounting screams,
And his own rising laughter, escalating,
With his own guilt,
He closes his eyes and kills.
I have sat and considered the implications,
Of what went on, in that Connecticut basement,
In 1961.
It worries me not for what it says about us,
But selfishly about what I think of myself.
What control would I have over my own actions?
If forced to perform such horrid interactions,
As what was asked of the Germans in Auschwitz,
Or the young American soldiers at My Lai.
Would I have the courage to not obey?
Would I even have the strength to ask why?
Or Would I submit, conform and cowtow?
Follow blindly my orders and only ask 'how'?
(For those who are not familiar with Stanley Milgram’s experiment(s) in and aroung Yale in the summer of 1961, he set up a pseudo testing situation, where subjects believed that they where taking the place of a teacher in an experiment looking at memory. The subjects where asked to read word pairs to another ‘subject’ (actually an actor) who would repeat them. Whenever the ‘subject/actor’ got one wrong the subject had to deliver an electric shock, starting with 15v but moving up incrementally to 450v (which was labelled ‘Danger: Fatal level XXX). The ‘subject/actor’ was not actually given an electric shock, but pretended he was, screaming and thrashing about, complaining of his heart problems and asking to be released from the experiment. If the subject asked to discontinue the experiment they where simply told, “The experiment requires you to continue”. If the subject continued the experiment ended after the ‘subject/actor’ feigned death, and that subject was labelled as ‘obedient’. If the subject refused to administer high level shocks the experiment was discontinued and the subject was labelled as ‘disobedient’. The worrying statistic is that 65% percent of people when presented with a credible authority where obedient, subjecting the ‘subject/actor’ to apparent discomfort, pain and even death. Even though you tell yourself otherwise, you would more than likely behave the same way.)
Any comments would be greatly appreciated, as long as they are constructive. Thanks in advance.
Milgram’s Obedience Worries Me.
He is late, and picks up his pace.
Running along those dark streets.
His pace and heart begin to race,
Footfalls mirroring his inner beat.
He comes to the ambiguous grey door,
Of Linsly-Chittenden Hall, and looks around,
First to the looming and imposing spires,
Of the Yale Episcopalian Church,
And then to the green weeds growing,
Between the paving stones beneath his feet.
He takes comfort from these things…
These certainties of existence.
As he climbs the steps, reaching for the door,
It opens before him, and a man passes him,
Red faced and crying.
He swallows hard and enters.
He is consoled at once, his payment given,
Safe in his pocket, despite what happens here,
In this place, of leaking pipes and water stained walls.
With the white coated man, and the other like he.
His part is given, though he knows not the play,
The twists and subversion that wait, he looks around.
His eyes fall on the Electric chair and its straps,
The control board, with its deaths heads and dial.
His mind races as he begins, mildly at first, but soon…
He comes to a point where he wants to stop,
But the trial requires that he continue.
So he continues, amid the mounting screams,
And his own rising laughter, escalating,
With his own guilt,
He closes his eyes and kills.
I have sat and considered the implications,
Of what went on, in that Connecticut basement,
In 1961.
It worries me not for what it says about us,
But selfishly about what I think of myself.
What control would I have over my own actions?
If forced to perform such horrid interactions,
As what was asked of the Germans in Auschwitz,
Or the young American soldiers at My Lai.
Would I have the courage to not obey?
Would I even have the strength to ask why?
Or Would I submit, conform and cowtow?
Follow blindly my orders and only ask 'how'?
(For those who are not familiar with Stanley Milgram’s experiment(s) in and aroung Yale in the summer of 1961, he set up a pseudo testing situation, where subjects believed that they where taking the place of a teacher in an experiment looking at memory. The subjects where asked to read word pairs to another ‘subject’ (actually an actor) who would repeat them. Whenever the ‘subject/actor’ got one wrong the subject had to deliver an electric shock, starting with 15v but moving up incrementally to 450v (which was labelled ‘Danger: Fatal level XXX). The ‘subject/actor’ was not actually given an electric shock, but pretended he was, screaming and thrashing about, complaining of his heart problems and asking to be released from the experiment. If the subject asked to discontinue the experiment they where simply told, “The experiment requires you to continue”. If the subject continued the experiment ended after the ‘subject/actor’ feigned death, and that subject was labelled as ‘obedient’. If the subject refused to administer high level shocks the experiment was discontinued and the subject was labelled as ‘disobedient’. The worrying statistic is that 65% percent of people when presented with a credible authority where obedient, subjecting the ‘subject/actor’ to apparent discomfort, pain and even death. Even though you tell yourself otherwise, you would more than likely behave the same way.)