And+the+Unclean+Spirits...

=And the Unclean Spirits Went Out of the Man, and Entered into the Swine= Hannah Johlas, Brendan Morales-Doyle, Ryosuke Minami By David Wojahn Terrible to dwell within the body of a man who squats in his own shit among the tombs. Terrible his raiment, hair matted wild. Terrible the man who wails his sorrow, scuttling in the grime & litter of necropolis bone. O better instead to scurry on these cloven feet, our tusks ashimmer, better even this trance, this slither toward the sea, the cliff where we hurl ourselves upon the breakers, For we had tired of the ways of men & sought again the Temple of the Four-Legged Thing, nave of sow-teat, altar of snout & tusk, sacrament of bristle-hair, of penis bone & musk gland. Here was our repose. But this God we bargained with, as Gods will do, had tricked us all. & to the precipice we came. We the exiled, We the betrayed. We whose name is Legion.
 * And the Unclean Spirits Went Out of the Man, and Entered into the Swine**

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Poet Information:
David Wojahn was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1953. He is a professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University and a contemporary American poet. He writes in both rhyme and free verse and usually deals with political or social issues, considering himself an activist. He has written six books.

Group Notes:
>> who lies in his own crap among the dead. >> His clothes and hair are messed up. The man is terrible >> as he cries, moving around in the filth and >> garbage of the graveyard. It is better to scurry >> with the body of a pig, or even better to go, lowly, >> towards the sea, and commit suicide in the waves. >> We do this because we are tired of the ways of men and want to go back >> to the church that is of the beast, where the center of the church is the teat, >> the altar is a tusk, the sacraments are the fur, penis-bone, >> and sweat glands. This was our rest. But God tricked us >> and we came to the edge, >> as the exiled, the betrayed, as the Legion.
 * Paraphrase:
 * It is terrible to be a human,
 * Vocab- raiment: clothing, outfit; necropolis: graveyard; nave: main room in a church; repose: temporary rest from work
 * Title is very relevant b/c clears some ambiguity from the rest of the poem by giving the reader the subject of the poem, as well as contrast to informal rest of poem.
 * Historical allusions: The poem is based on a bible verse, so it is based on the event mentioned in that Bible verse.
 * Bible lines this poem is based on (Mark 5:2-13)-- The poem claims to only be from line 13, but more background is shown.
 * "When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!" Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them." He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned."
 * Patterns, sounds, and devices:
 * Repition ties poem together w/ different words at beginning and end
 * repetition of "Terrible" in beginning; repetition of "We" at the end
 * Also, repeats the temple-pig imagery
 * Repeats about cliff and sea, also helps tie together.
 * In a form of free verse: very informal
 * no real pattern in number of syllables, varying from line to line
 * stressing pattern seems like unstressed stressed; seems like is only there to make it a poem.
 * no rhyming scheme, sort of works with informal sentences to make demons look less intelligent. But it is in contrast to the fancier, more descriptive words used. Maybe suggesting that on outside demons look stupid but are really smart?
 * not really complete sentences, although capitalized and with punctuation, pretty graphic language, use of "&" sign instead of "and"
 * Imagery of "good" temples in contrast to the usually repelling imagery of swine
 * normally good humans in contrast to negative words
 * Is "Temple of the Four-Legged Thing" a reference to something? Possibly metaphor not only praising animals indirectly, it might be a reference to a Christian belief that the human body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Human body is temple to good side vs. animal body is temple to demons.
 * Varying Interpretations of lines:
 * "trance" means both pigs and demons are forced by Jesus, against their will, to death OR "trance" means demons are controlling pigs.
 * "the cliff where we hurl ourselves off the breakers" could mean: a) demons would rather kill themselves than live in humans; b) demons just enjoy mischief so much they kill their hosts; or c) "we" and "ourselves" refers to pigs, not demons, so is still Jesus' fault.
 * The tone is resentful, vulgar, bitter, and possibly mocking.
 * Ideas of theses:
 * shows how everyone takes Bible at face value, never considers it from evil's perspective
 * shows evil's cunning b/c tries to make you see evil's version of story, except tweaked to make them look good.

Storyboard Ideas:

 * Still, photo-shopped images with voice-over of choral reading of poem
 * Image ideas: Normal human changed to something repulsive; creepy graveyard vs. pretty, stormy sea; cross inside human vs. cool demons inside pig; possibly change pig to look like a temple/church; "bad" Jesus pointing to cliff with sea; black screen
 * Sound ideas: voice-over arranged as seen in the discussion "Ideas for Choral Reading"

Links:
Poetry Explication page Links to individual explications: Hannah's Explication; Brendan's Explication; Ryosuke's Explication

"David Wojahn." //Wikipedia//. 5 Sept. 2009. Web. 3 Dec. 2009. <[]>.
 * Bibliography**

"Mark 5: New International Version." //BibleGateway.com//. Biblica, 1984. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. <[]>.

"Nave." Def. 2. //Oxford English Dictionary Online//. Oxford University Press, Sept. 2009. Web. 17 Nov. 2009. .

"Necropolis." Def. 1. //Oxford English Dictionary Online//. Oxford University Press, Sept. 2009. Web. 17 Nov. 2009. .

"Raiment." Def. 1. //Oxford English Dictionary Online//. Oxford University Press, Sept. 2009. Web. 17 Nov. 2009. .

"Repose." Def. 1a. //Oxford English Dictionary Online//. Oxford University Press, Sept. 2009. Web. 17 Nov. 2009. .

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 * Websites for the pictures in the video:**