In today's class, we discussed Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale" and his picture of a happy world of senses. In the poem, Keats is listening to an unseen bird whose presence cannot be located but can only be "heard." The sense of sight must yield to other senses--the senses of smell, taste, and hearing. In stanza 5, the poet writes:
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
Fast fading violets covered up in leaves;
And mid-May's eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.
Here we are first introduced with the sense of smell, in the form of "soft incense." In darkness, the poet cannot identify the flowers, but the darkness is "embalmed," which means "fragrant," and the seasonable fragrance helps Keats guessing the identity of each odor. As the lines continue, the poet anticipates the tasting of the "dewy wine" coming from the musk-rose, which also attracts the insects, whose "murmurous" sound suggests the sense of hearing.
From what has been analyzed above, you can see that the sense of vision is dethroned from its privileged dominance in the hierarchical realm of the senses. What have been given a priority are the senses that used to be subordinated to the predominant sense of seeing. Why does the poet debase the sense of "sight" and elevate other senses? In today's culture in which the sense of the visual dominates (as manifested in the ubiquity of TV screens,advertisements, neon signs, photographs, visual images) and eclipses other senses, can we say that we modern people have somehow lost our ancient capacity of hearing and smelling? Which sense do you trust the most? Do you believe that "seeing is believing"? or do you mistrust the sense of sight and, instead, favor other bodily perceptions such as touch, taste, smell,or hearing, by which you navigate the world?
29 comments:
I think I don't totally trust my sight, because it is really possible that I just see the surface. I feel modern people lose our senses, for we just use our organs to do what we have to do or want to do. I consider that we need to use our heart to experience things around us. No matter when you meet people or see something, such as trees, flowers and so on. I think we must cherish everything we posses or meet right now. And they will become our memories one day.
In my opinion, who say that we should use eyes to feel world. All we can see is surface if we don't want to realize it. For example, you never know how a dish tastes like if you didn't have it. Although "to see is to belive" that it makes sense, but things always cannot be as simple as we think. The sense of sight restricts our imagination so that we cannot boraden our mind. Therefore, i like to hear for keeping the melody aruond me in my mind.
I don't believe my eyes, really. The advertise could lie. Seeing things so fabulous on the Internet, I couldn't help but purchase it. After receiving the commodity, I found out that it was not as good as it looked on the Internet. Of course, this kind of event also related to other technology, such as camera and softwares which are used to fix photos. So, I think seeing doesn't equal believing, there are many means to see and experience the world too. However, I think it is undeniable that visual ability has its importance in our lives. After all, it is the most ordinary way we use to understand the world.
There's an old saying "seeing is believing",but sometimes what you have seen is far more different from the truth. There's always misunderstanding. I do trust my eyes most of the time. However, in this colorful society, we need to learn how to distinguish the truth from the scenes we see. As a result, we also need to rely on other senses. I think "experience" is the best one. We have to open our mind and absorb different things or facts.
There is a saying that “Seeing is believing.”, however; there is also a saying that “Never judge by appearances.” Nowadays, there are too many things that can cheat our eyes. The thing we see is just its surface. For example, when I go shopping, I always attracted by those delicate packing products, but they don’t taste as good as they looks. We should use all our senses to feel it, and then make a conclusion. Most importantly, we should use our heart to feel it. It is so difficult to tell whether he is a good person or not. People can well package themselves, but if we feel carefully, we can see the real person inside his body. Trust yourself ,and let all your senses guide you.
The perception is important to us, and I don’t think I can lose any of them. My life won’t complete if one of them were taken away. Nowadays, our lives full of screens such as TVs, computers…etc. and we can’t trust them absolutely. The stimulation of sight of TV makes us simplify because we seldom think when we watch. We need to touch, smell, hear and see our beautiful world and soak in it. It is too pity if we just “see” our world.
I saw a movie called “love is not all around” when I was in high school, and the dialogue “the thing you see maybe not the true, and you always not luck enough to see the true” become popular in our school for times. The movie is talking about the misunderstanding between loves. We always think “seeing is believing”, so we seldom asked for detail and keep a mistrust in heart. So I don’t trust my eyes all the time.
I think every senses are important. They have varied functions and every of them matters a lot which I do not think I can lose any of them. However, if I had to choose one, I would pick the sense of my eyes. It is not about "seeing is believing" but I don't think I can live without my sight. Hearing, touching, smelling, they're all prominent but I can not live my life by those. Try to listen the sounds around me and protray the world? I am not Dare Devil. Smell hard so I can know what it's like? I don't think so. Not even to mention to touch everything so I can understand the surroundings. These are the reasons I hold to say sense of seeing is the most important to me. And by the way, I don't agree with "seeing is believing" cause sometimes, we don't even believe what we see if something is too amazing.
I don’t believe that "seeing is believing," because I think the scene we see can be incorrect. The thing we can only see through our eyes is just the surface. The more important parts be often hidden under the surface, and we can hardly use our eyes to discover them. I am often cheated by the sight. If I trust my eyes too much, often I will be confused and can’t distinguish a truth from illusion. So I don’t trust my sight all the time.
I think that every senses is important; however, people used to use the sense of sight to "see" the world. People seldom use other senses to feel this lovely world; they never experience things by heart. They forget how happy they are when smell fragment flowers; they forget how touching they feel when music plays. We rely on our sight to think things frequently. Because most people take sense for granted, and they think they wouldn't lose them. That is why some people who can't hear or see cherish what they have more than we normal people do. I don't believe that "to see is to believe" because what you see might be true. You have to do something to prove it.
From my point of view, the poem emphasizes on the other senses rather than the sense of vision because Keats wants to let the readers realize that we usually depend upon the sense of vision to look on our surroundings, and we gradually ignore use the other senses. In today’s society, we use lots of media to acquire the latest knowledge or relax ourselves, such as TV, internet. When I utilize these media, I usually focus on what I see instead of what I hear. For example, after I see a movie, I can often memorize some plots in the film but I seldom recall what I hear in the movie, and it’s no deny to say that take advantage of smelling, tasting and touching. Besides, I can’t approve “seeing is believing “because sometimes you might be cheated on what you see on the surface. It doesn’t mean that I think that the sense of vision isn’t important; nevertheless, what I want to say is that we should not only utilize our “seeing” but also manage to use other senses. You might discover something beautiful or amazing as using hearing, tasting or toching.
I guess I do not believe that seeing is beliving. Because we could find that things is not true though we saw it. For instance, someone will not really kind of us, but he or she pretended kind of you. Nowadays, most of us ignore our natural senses since we just watch television, listening radio, read newspaper, and so on. Therefore, we forgot how to distinguish what is true or false, and be a follower of this mass media.
From my point of view, I don’t believe that seeing is believing, because I think there still are fake things in the true world. Using my sight, I only can sense something in superficial way; however, this is the simple and unconscious process to perceive something with no doubt. I consider that why the poet debases the sense of sight is because the vision of the world makes our brains blunt. We always rely on exterior instead of interior, for the sight retards our minds and ideas to operate in the impartial mode. On account of failure to explore the intrinsic quality of something, we should admit that seeing sometimes is kind of deception. It can easily lead us to use our judgments or conceptions to determine matters, but maybe it’s too rough and stiff. To think about this, I confess I often let the seeing to dominate my sentiment and notion. This is a common failing of human nature. In recent society, it’s true that the visual images control our thought. The colorful appearances fill this world, yet we lose the compasses to navigate our souls, right? Not long since we could wander in the essence of spirit, the poet who elevates other senses wants us to draw back to the veritable varicolored world. To consider the feeling till now, I feel happy that I can study in Hualien, because I can balance my senses in this beautiful paradise. To listen to the birds singing on the tree, to smell the transition of the seasonal aroma, to touch the fiery soil and fresh stream and to taste the sunshine and rain, can you feel that? How wonderful they arel!
The reason for this poem to be so unique is because it not only overthrows the supremacy of sight,but also sends out a message that we should not be too reliant on our eyes.Though "seeing is believing" may be a strong saying for decades,not all the things in nature have to be viewed in such a scientific aspect.Sometimes there are just unnatural events beyond our explanation.Personally,I don't consider my sight to be the most important way to identify the surroundings,all senses are equal to me instead.They work together as a machine,using each of their own function.Unfortunately,people nowadays are so dependent on seeing,thanks to the tube,that they can be easily deceived and confused.Our eyes just show us the surface,which is why we say "appearance is skin-deep".However,with the help of other senses,we can go beneath it and understand more.
I think that the sense of sight is not so pure than other senses is the reason that make Keats did not emphasize on it. Comparing to other senses, the sense of sight is much easier to make people have misunderstanding, prejudgments and then cause them make wrong decisions and choice. I also don’t trust that “seeing is believing.” I think that realization and investigation are worthier believing than “first impression.”
I always cognize things with my eyes and I obsess with what looks gorgeous. Nevertheless, the splendid things are not that perfect after I have used or have experienced them. The proverb that seeing is believing is not quite correct in modern society, so I have to feel things not only with my sight but with other senses to know the world. Because I can see, though each of my senses is normal, seeing is the top priority for me to know things. I am not a blind person or a diability of a sense, so sight is a critical dependence for me. However, when there is something wrong, I still can conbine with other senses to clarity the fault. Therefore, every feeling organs are vital for me and I don't always take everything for granted if I see it.
I think it depends on what we access. We rely on different senses to appreciate different things in our life. For example, we feel pleasure by “seeing” beautiful natural scenery, “hearing” melodious music, and “smelling” and “tasting” the food. Besides, without touch, we would get hurt very easily because we don’t feel physical pains at first; we can’t also feel the pleasure of sex without touch. Therefore, I believe that all human senses are indispensable for appreciating all things in life, and it is really hard to think about which one is more important.
I don't believe this saying "seeing is believing" because it is so easy to cause misunderstandings by using sense of sight only. I have lot of experiences about misunderstanding, and most of them are cause by what they see. For example, when I write some angry articles on my bog, some people think I scolding them. In fact, the articles have nothing to do with them, but they think "seeing is believing." This is really a depressive thing. Sometimes I think hearing is more trustful, and using a true heart to listen others is better.
There is a famous old saying that"Seeing is believing."; however, things are not always clear as we see. Sometimes even what we see personally is not true, and I believe it is the reason god also give us human other senses. If we can not know the truth by eyes, we can use our ears to listen,use our hands to feel, use our heart to think. There is not only one way to know the world. Therefore, we should not limit our sense to sight.
If I lost my sense of seeing, I think my sense of hearing would become very sensitive. Because you can’t know what happened around you, the only sense you can use is hearing. Nowadays, mass media develop quickly and most of them need sense of seeing rather than hearing. Modern people use sense of seeing a lot but we seldom use smelling or other senses. If we don’t use other senses more often, maybe we someday will lose them and we wouldn’t have any chance to use them anymore. I trust my sense of seeing most and I also believe that “seeing is believing.” Because I think you can know something directly by seeing it yourself.
I think it is sight that controls most of people to think and face everything; in other words, people in this society always look one thing from their first connection- sight. According to this sense, people sometimes neglect some of specials they did not know. However, one sense cannot prove all of things, and people should have all the sense to experience one thing which is so special in different senses. In my opinion, Keats wants to figure out other senses can portray how different thing is, and exactly he did it successfully. The proverb “seeing is believing” maybe is correct for some events; however, it sometimes just points out the surface of the things. So, the proverb just wants to say some situation; I think that people can know more when they experience more senses. I like the sense of hearing most because sometimes the voices around the surrounding can be interesting to hear, and maybe we can find interesting secret from these voices.
I think in today's world, the saying of ''seeing is believing'' cannot fit. We can't actually trust those things we see on the surface.The internet dating is one of the good examples to explain. We can't really get to know a person if we simply look at the pictures of the internet friends. Neither can we understand someone by talking on the phone.
Personally I think it is sight that most people use to navigate this world in today’s world. Affect by media such as TV or newspaper. People tend to believe what present on the screen. Take the Apple Daily for example; they like to use big and straightforward diagrams or bloody photos to let their reader understand the news. More and more people just see those main pictures and they don’t read the topic. In this way, they don’t even think twice and just blindly believe what they have seen. To be honest, I also use my eyes to navigate the world. Sometimes I can’t distinguish a food only from its’ taste and favor, but I have to have a look to know what that food truly is. It impossible for me to observe this world by hear the sense of hearing or smelling for the environment around me is usually full of bustle and hustle. Maybe I can think deeply with heart in a quiet and peaceful environment.
Each of the sense is unique, but I still agree with the statement “we are too depending on our eyes”. Not many people will admit that they belief in their eyes even if they do, it is just human nature to look not that shallow. But the fact is our whole society base judgments on visual content. I, myself, with no exception took sight as a strong sense, but less important as my glasses got thicker. Now I had learn to cope with hearing and touching as a sense with importance rising. Seeing is not believing, but they do have a very close relationship.
Yes, I agree that we modern people have somehow lost our ancient capacity of hearing and smelling.
We trust in vision too desperate that we sometimes usually twist the truth because of "seeing is believing." In my opinion, I trust my feeling which is neither vision, hearing, smelling nor taste the most, for I do not think only one sense can be just in knowing the truth. I think that we have to find various aspects of one thing so that we must use all the senses that we have.
From what has been analyzed above, the speaker says that he cannot see the flowers in the glade, but can guess them "in embalmed darkness"-white hawthorn, eglantine, violets, the musk-rose, and the murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves. Above all are Keats’ fascinated inspirations of other senses (except vision) match the endless creative rapture of the nightingale's music and lets him imagine with the bird in the darkened forest.
Actually, I also rely on what I can see (my vision) instead of other senses. It is a habit or preference from my daily life that is rooted in my mind. John Keats’ unique sense of creativity reminds me of the writer of “Perfume”-Patick Susk who also use the sense of smell to portray the world. Although the beauty in sight is charming, the descriptions of smell and hearing are also inspiring.
In nowadays situation , there seems no feelings is royal enough to trust at all . we are always told to believe what you see . However it cannot work now . Everything is possible to replace with wrong imagination if you want . Without anything you can really believe for , make yourself in a uncertain , mystic world and sink ioto destructive vibration towards life . Maybe it will do some good in consequence . John Keats writes the poem “ Ode to a Nightingale ” . Put a wonderful world thought in the nightingale singing . It has no disappointment , despair , suffer sadness or fleeting love in here. People listen to it and enjoy in the fantastic atmosphere . Immediately everything becomes meaningless . You can easily throw it out . Then even to need to face the death , you will not be afraid to face .
As the huge progress of techonology improve ourlife, we are easy to be attracted by glamorous advertisments, TV shows, and something pretty but they are all not naturual. Because these things are created to make people to spend their money. Sometimes those things do entertain us, and we can’t live without them. However, life can be interesting if we awake our feelings which is almost numb. Since we are live in a place full of natural bueaty, it gives us a chance to experience something different to live in the city. Go to the sea side, lying on the stones, counting shooting stars, and after a few hours seeing the comes up. It’s kind of stupid, but it is definetely unforgettable especially if it is in winter. At least you don’t have to spend another night, watching TV and smiling alone.
I think most people used to believe what they saw. There's a saying that "Seeing is believing." We all sometimes bigotry of what we deem. I think I agree Jessica, we need to use our heart to feel this world.What we saw is not always so correct.
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