Small Changes Can Make Great Impact

The meaning of Alvarez’s “Sometimes the Words are So Close” of what it means to be a writer is altered by demonstrating the multiple changes and transitions she did in earlier drafts of the poem. Her earlier drafts demonstrate those moments writers have when they are in the process of writing something. Alvarez proves that sometimes writing can be simply done quickly, but other times to share a meaning with more creativity a little more or a lot more critical thinking may be necessary. This is what I noticed as a reader; she was attempting to find the best way to express herself to her readers. How do I know? Reading through her earlier drafts, I noticed that her poem was much shorter and the untraditional sonnet structure was kept, but more words were added for the final version. For her final, Alvarez made sure to create a 14-line sonnet. Her earlier draft was 11 lines and was untitled. In her earlier drafts, she begins the poem like the first stating, “Sometimes the words are so close, I am more who I am when I’m down on paper than anything else, as if my life were a practice for the real me-” (Alvarez, Lines 1-4). There is a small detail that was changed. The final adds, “As if my life were practicing for the real me-” Small punctuation changes were made, but what’s interesting was the final was written in progressive verb tense, meaning that she changed it to make that message more direct towards the reader that “this is something I am still going through.” This demonstrates how such a small change can make a big impact when you’re expressing yourself in writing.

The earlier drafts and final show that this poem is about writing and what it means to be a writer, however, she assures that her final draft makes it obvious that she is a female writer and she adds, “you”. Her earlier drafts didn’t focus on that. This is precisely why her earlier drafts were shorter. The final states, “I was once in as many drafts as you. But briefly, essentially, here I am: Who touches this poem touches a woman.” (Alvarez, Lines 12-14). In her previous drafts, she wrote, “My flood comes through in so many drafts, But briefly, essentially, here I am. who touches these words touches myself.” What is the difference between both, how does this enhance the whole meaning of her poem? Well, in general, this poem has to do with Alvarez and who she is. Her final draft makes sure that the readers get that message. She makes that more direct by adding “you” within her poem. This is what her early drafts lack; directness. They do prove how expressing oneself can be complicated sometimes and can be easier to express on paper over speaking, but her final not only demonstrates who she is as a writer but brings confidence to others who are possibly struggling to express themselves as well.

This is how her earlier drafts alter the overall meaning of her poem. Her earlier drafts are a literal example of, “I was once in as many drafts as you.” (Alvarez, Line 11). Even without the drafts, her message could be received, but by having access to those drafts, we get to actually see what she means.

Enhanced and Altered

“Sometimes the Words Are So Close” by Julia Alvarez improved really well from her drafts. Alvarez was inspired to write this sonnet because of the “33” Sonnet Sequence. The “33” Sonnet Sequence focused on a man and his love towards another man, while Alvarez used this to focus her sonnet on a woman’s love towards reading. In her interview, she mentioned how she felt connected to one of Whitman’s line in his book and she borrowed then altered it to her own to conclude her sonnet. She did mention how she wants the speaker to be a women which means that this poem is representing a woman. So when you are reading the poem, you are basically connecting to a woman’s perspective.

I’m going to be honest, I couldn’t really understand what she was writing in cursive, but from what I can see, she did revise and alter it a lot on certain parts, taking out chunks and lines then adding more lines. We can see that she went from “words” to “poem” then back to “words” in the first line. I would say she did this because she wants to focus in depth and not the whole situation. Not every poem can relate to someone, but we can relate to words. In her draft, we can see there are many places where Alvarez made it seem that the speaker was directing it to herself (“I”, “my”, “me”). There were a lot of parts directed to the speaker herself, but Alvarez changed it and focused more on the context. There are a lot of “you” in the poem. Alvarez wrote her final draft with the speaker talking directly to the reader, then ending it with saying to the reader that when you read and analyze this poem, you the reader are connecting to a woman. Julia Alvarez altered and enhanced her poem based off her drafts. She focused more on connecting the speaker herself to the reader giving more meaning to the context of her poem.

Gurranvir Kaur

Insight within the foundation

Julia Alvarez’s poem “Sometimes the words are so close”, tells us of a speaker who finds it easier to communicate through stanzas than through spoken words. Depicting that life is ultimately just a necessary step before being able to write down poetry. Alvarez writes that true freedom is achievable and that one can find it even if it is for a mere moment, once one’s pen touches paper. Allowing for one to fully present themselves as one “Who touches this poem touches a woman.” (14). This idea of showcasing yourself fully through poetry is extended by looking through Alvarez’s earlier drafts of the poem. Looking at the drafts one recognizes the humanity within the writing process, seeing lines that were changed or completely removed. As the poem goes through further revision it feels almost like seeing human growth, as the foundation of the first drafts is expanded upon and becomes more detailed, more intricate. Ironically however one can also argue that looking at the drafting process takes away from Alvarez’s intention, when a poem dedicates itself to showing itself through stanzas looking at edits almost makes the final work feel dishonest. As if one created a carefully constructed persona to showcase to the world, rather than their true self. Finally looking at Alvarez’s 2006 reflection and explanation of her work gives us insight on those changes and drafts. Looking at the inspiration found within other poets and literary works we see the foundation and reasoning for the poem’s existence, and the drafts and revisions become the blueprint that allowed her to deliver such an intricate and caring message within 14 stanzas. The idea of a speaker presenting themselves through poetry is enhanced, into the belief that true and intimate connections can and are made with poetry, and naturally, this connection is destined to make us respond through poetry of our own. 

– Eduardo Ojeda Jr

Expressing One’s Self

When first drafting any piece of literature there is always revisions to make, just as Alvarez’s “Sometimes the Words Are So Close” was thoroughly revised. The poem itself shares to us readers how Alvarez holds the English language so close to her as a form to express herself. In a way, she explains how when writing her life experiences, they also come to life and she feels liberated. She feels that she can write anything down on paper and not be judged by anyone. She states how when writing a poem she feels as if she is writing the truth and every line holds a different emotion or life event. These emotions that anyone could understand even a child, like herself when she began writing. Therefore, she asks the question to us readers, why is it so difficult for her to live through her life that she is writing for us to read? Maybe for her writing is an escape or pause from reality. A moment in which she can relax and thoroughly rethink or relive her life events. For her, words are so close to her heart that they can bring peace and she would rather write them down than live through the events. This is something that a lot of people deal with, the anxiety and stress of life, so they find an escape.

Through Alvarez’s earlier drafts of the poem, for me, it has enhanced the meaning that she is trying for us readers to understand. In the last five lines of her poem, she speaks to us readers who want to follow the same path and feel words close to us. She states how she was once also in drafts as us, which is why her earlier drafts are so important because she shows us the reader’s actual evidence. Evidence that she too also drafts her poems and that they’re not perfect the first time. Yet, the word draft almost holds a symbolism for something else. The word drafts almost mean a rough time in one’s life. Therefore, she encourages future poets to not get discouraged and to continue their journey with the English language. She then states that through this poem we revive her emotions briefly and by briefly understanding her emotions we touch her. Hence, she states that she too was attempting to discover her potential in writing but was challenged with identifying her voice. Through these last two lines, she encourages the readers who are undergoing the same difficulties as her to take reassurance from her works. Through the poem drafts, she depicts a situation in which she is discovering her voice as an individual.

~Jeshua Rocha

Expressing All Parts Of Me

Julia Alverez’s “Sometimes the Words are so Close” is enhanced by earlier poem drafts. Why? Her whole point was getting at what it means to be a writer. It’s not as simple as writing something down once and automatically having a complete poem. It enhances by showing her creative side and ability to express the many thoughts inside her head. She was filled with ideas, writing drafts down and editing as she went along. Lines 5- 6, “unbuttoned from the anecdotal and /unnecessary and undressed down,” In terms of wanting the readers to see her as a woman writer, I think these lines highlight it in a great ordeal, covering the sexualization of women and show her raw self, filled with emotions as some would say woman are “too emotional.” She shows readers her authentic and genuine side by tapping into her feelings in writing. She was vulnerable to express that her language barrier, due to English not being her first language at times, it could be difficult, but her dream was to be a writer. Showing her drafts leads me to the idea that she wanted it to be just right. Although, overall, comparing the draft to the finalized thing, I didn’t find much change in the drafts; maybe it could’ve been. However, she got rid of certain parts and had different punctuation.

I noticed the word “woman—” in her final draft, but it was changed to “woman.” This shows confidence and an ending; without the pause, it almost creates certainty. I had to reread and put some drafts side by side with the final poem, and as I was reading it, it was nearly like she dialed back on the tone. I wouldn’t say it’s completely altered, but her tone has lost some passion. An example is “Those of you, lost and yearning to be free, / who hear these words.” This was one of her drafts; Butcher initially lost the comma after “those of you.” Although it depicts the same idea, it seems to have less emotion. But this alos brings to light it enhances her mind beyond just thinking but getting a particular point across… SHE IS  A WRITER, and it’s not something smooth sailing but an awakening process with constant shifts in ideas while trying to appeal to emotion while expressing the fact that it could be challenging at times with a language barrier, but she perceived it.

-Victoria Sasere

Alvarez’s Rough Draft

Julia Alvarez’s poem “Sometimes the Words are So Close”, lacks any punctuation for the first 6 lines. This creates a wordy, breathlessness for the reader. This creates a hurried tone, like if we don’t read fast the words may disappear off the page. In comparison to her original draft, Alvarez had quite a few commas in the first few lines. The creative choice to include zero punctuation until line 6, added to the title of the poem. The words feel close and almost jumble together when read aloud. This is a Petrachan sonnet, so there is a volta in line 9 which also is where the one question mark is used. Even from the original draft, Alvarez wanted to emphasize line 9 with a question mark. The question mark caused me to immediately stop reading and ponder with the speaker. The tone moved from something so hurried to something thoughtful. Alvarez mentioned how she wanted this poem to feel like a woman speaking and it really embodies what it feels like to ramble on. If Alvarez had included punctuation in the first 6 lines, there would not have been this natural thought pattern. We do not think in commas or periods. We think and move on to the next thought in a continuous pattern. Alvarez’s poem embodies how somebody may fall into a rabbit hole of their thoughts.

By: Tierney Bowden

Language Barrier

This was quite an interesting reading as a series of lines appeared to have a similar idea although the wording changed. When reading Julia Alvarez’s “Sometimes the Words Are So Close”, I felt that her earlier drafts have enhanced the meaning of her poem. Something I noticed within her earlier drafts was the way that everything was written more or less emphasizing finding herself as well as the perspective of women. Within her drafts, her thought process seemed to be very chaotic and appeared to have lots of “X’s”. Perhaps demonstrating that she is potentially very critical of herself and her ability to use English. 

Although it seems as if Alvarez initially focused more on a feminine perspective, she still wants to connect to a generalized audience. “The voice of the speaker to sound like a real woman speaking” (432), this is quite interesting as she appears to start by focusing more on feminine features but later decides to transition to a more general audience. This is something that I noticed once again within her thought process, with the scribbles. The scribbles can not only show her unsureness but also the language barrier, to some extent, where she may struggle to find the right words to describe her experiences. There may be some words that mean one thing in Spanish but cannot be accurately translated into English, which could be difficult especially when writing a poem. I found that quite a bit of her struggles were just with finding a “correct” way of portraying her story, whilst still finding a way to maintain her own culture without being too self-cautious. It definitely is difficult to tell your story in another language.

Judy Alvarez, draft against the final

Reading through Judy Alvraezs draft and final sonnet was quite interesting per se, while many parts stayed the same, specific lines and singular words from each section were removed, rather than replaced, which was already something to start with. It makes me wonder, why did she bother removing instead of just changing the wording? For one, the last line is the first thing I took notice of – in her drafts it reads. “who touches these words touches myself” (Alvarez, 11). However, the finalized version states “Who touches this poem touches a woman.” Briefly touched upon, but the context seems to have varied quite a bit. However, from a simple glance, it seems she’s deviating from utilizing herself, meaning the poem ends up deviating from the usual ‘first person’ correlation, making her seem less included in the poem, and having it seem more overall. Of course, to understand its change and how it alters the poem as a whole.

Reading through the poem as a whole, I found almost no change from the lines. However, there’s an extra 9th line in the final draft, “Those of you, lost and yearning to be free,” (Alvarez, 10), alongside “Who hear these words, take heart from me” (Alvarez, 11).” These lines replace the draft line, “My flood comes through in so many drafts,” (Alvarez, 9), and to me, these change quite a bit. In her draft. At the start, Judy Alvarez appears to be talking about how closely she is attuned with words, how words on paper make her feel more at home than anywhere else, an extension of her almost. However, the second stanza (The stanza is only apparent in the draft, it seems to be fully connected in the final, but the line is still the same) mentions how she’s confused, and confused on how she’s living her life through this paper. It seems to me, that in her final draft, she’s more so reaching out to the reader, mentioning how ‘those of you, lost and yearning,’ most likely individuals who feel comfortable on paper rather than in real life, yet lost. Once more, it’s seemingly like Alvarez decides to connect more in the finalized sonnet compared to her finalized draft, yet continues, stating (in both) that ‘but briefly, essentially, here I am’ (Alvarez, 8). It’s interesting to note here, though, that in the finalized section she includes three dots, indicating that she’s still in thought. Perhaps, in the finalized version she’s questioning herself, and if she’s still confused or not?

Overall, it seems that the general Sonnets don’t seem to deviate quite a lot from draft to final, but the main thing noticeable is the ending, the final stanza, where Alvarez seemingly attempts to reach out and find some sort of connection with anyone reading. Alvarez believes herself to be more at home on paper, in poetry, and in writing than in person, yet in the end, she seems to try and find others the same as her. However, she mentions in the last line, ‘woman’, rather than myself. Considering how Alvarez was one of the extremely rare female poets, it seems that the finalized draft correlates to that fact. She feels isolated as a result, being the only one, and reaches out to find a connection to anyone similar to her, another woman in the same profession or wonder/feeling. That’s the general alteration I believe to have changed.

– Edmund F. 

The Sensual Form

The meaning of Julia Alvarez’s “Sometimes the Words Are So Close” is enhanced from the drafts by showing the “many drafts” to reflect the speaker finding themselves through many trial-and-errors. This is a petrarchan sonnet, because the rhyming scheme follows that of the petrarchan rules but also the volta that occurs on line 9, “Why do I get confused living it through?” (Alvarez 9). The audience partakes in this confusion as they read through the enjambment from lines 1-8 because of its lack of punctuations, in which shifts with the rhetorical question. The speaker also mentions they are more who they are when “down on paper” (2). The drafts Alvarez made become an artform reflecting the creation of the poem, the audience can see the authentic struggle of an individual trying to seek the right words that reflects their emotions. Alvarez writes many scribbles, crosses, and self-critical comments like “pretentious” that echoes the running sentence – a running thought of a speaker whose anxieties find relief in writing.

The speaker also speaks to the audience, “I once was in many drafts as you” (12). The audience is referred to as a rough sketch of a poem where each individual is refining and editing what gives them meaning, what they want, and who they are. The speaker acknowledges this too, but the sonnet takes a form of its own by the speaker by giving it a gender; “who touches this poem touches a woman” (14). And that is seen through the edits made in the drafts, a sensual experience of a female speaker who defines themselves through the poem’s form. The edits as well enhance that meaning as she tries to find the right words that reflect the meaning of her poem. It is with certainty, especially throughout the rough drafts, that the poem’s form is a woman’s as Alveraz ensured the poem ends in this manner. Her utilization of the sonnet form could be to reflect the female speaker defining herself against the patriarchal control of the sonnet, in which she encourages her audience whose words are “close” to the audience to define themselves as well. Nonetheless, it is through the drafts that reflects a human process of understanding one’s identity and establishing it despite the odds.

Phillip Gallo

Living in These Pages

When comparing Julia Alvarez’s “Sometimes the Words are So Close” and earlier drafts of the poem, the final meaning is altered from the drafts because the missing punctuation shows the speaker’s growth as she learns she has a home in poetry. Alvarez mentioned in the interview that she learned English late and books became a “portable homeland”. This poem mirrors her own journey of growing up, learning English, and finding a home and identity in words.

In previous iterations, Alvarez incorporated punctuation into the poem. An early draft approximately reads, “Sometimes poems are close to who I am / expressed, all that I am, down on pages / feet, legs, thigh, hips, belly, breasts, arms”. Alvarez did not end up including the list of body parts in the poem, so the focus became less physical and more about words. By eliminating the need for the previous draft’s commas, she brought the words closer together (as the poem title suggests) and took enjambment to the next level. The final version still communicates the same idea that the speaker belongs in poems.

The final poem begins with, “Sometimes the words are so close I am” (line 1). This version creates more of a jumbled, confused, stream-of-consciousness feeling due to the lack of punctuation and lines that form a run-on sentence. By blurring the lines together, the speaker replicates the babbling speech patterns of a multilingual(?) child and leaves the line’s meaning more open-ended. Since “I am” doesn’t fit grammatically within the sentence, readers stumble on the words. In the beginning, the speaker does not have a home inside or outside the poem (which relates to the underlying metaphor of the speaker being the poem itself). The second line truly begins within the first, “I am / more who I am when I’m down on paper / than anywhere else” (lines 1-3). This speaker is uncertain as to where she belongs, so her thoughts are jumbled and conjoined. However, she recognizes that she has a close relationship with words and language in general (as demonstrated in the first line where she is literally close to words).

When the speaker finds her full form as a person, the poem has full sentences with proper punctuation. The stylistic change mimics her clarity concerning homeland and self. This change would have been less apparent if Alvarez had keep an earlier draft where the speaker is coherent throughout the poem. In this version, the speaker’s thoughts are less scrambled and more clearly distinct because she has found more stability with her identity. Poems have given her space to strip back her layers and translate them into words. The speaker is confidently expressing herself, so she is no longer a poem “in the drafts” (line 12). Through reflection, revision, and time, a poem with humble beginnings transforms into a masterpiece. The speaker reveals her true self to be in poems, and says, “Who touches this poem touches a woman” (line 14). This poem is a deep look into this woman’s whole life and journey with language. Her experiences influence her writing, and through poems, she reveals her innermost thoughts and struggles with identity and belonging.

~Miki Chroust