Entry 7: Hounding

To hound means "to chase or follow; nag." Consider the title of this poem. What does it mean when the world hounds you? How effective is the poem's title in conveying the speaker"s attitude toward the world? How does it compare with your own point of view? How would you state the theme of the poem (remember, a theme takes a complete sentence to state)? Which words or lines convey the theme most clearly for you? What is your personal reaction to the theme? Do you agree? Disagree? If you were to write a poem on a similar topic, what would your theme be? Hmmm... Do you think you will be asked to write such a poem in the near future?

• When the world hounds you, it means that you have bad luck, and that disasters are continually happening to you. The poem's title is not really effective, I believe, because it makes me think that instead of not caring about the world hounding me, it makes me feel as if the world is hounding me and I should be very scared. However, the actual point of the view of the author is that knowledge is more important and valuable than material wealth. In a sense, this is absolutely true, and I agree with it. If one has knowledge, then one would be able to get a job and survive. However, on the other hand, minimum material wealth is still necessary and required in order for people to survive. I believe that the last line of the poem conveys that theme most clearly. "Mind is the better and the truer way; to leave the vanities of life aside, not throw my life away on vanity." If I were to write a poem on a similar topic, I would also write a similar theme. As for the last question (most likely added by our teacher to make our lives a lot, lot, more miserable and to make us suffer even more), I believe that the answer is yes, we will be asked to write such a poem, and that we will have to write such a poem as our next journal entry.