Szymborska

To me I felt like this poem went in a lot of different directions. The first being happiness. It talks about how the head was disconnected from the body and that it was happy and content because it didn’t know its situation. To me the person seems worried with what makes the dog happy. It is perfectly content but little does it know it no longer has a body. Is ignorance truly bliss? The person is frightened by what happiness is. Meaning is it better to be happy and ignorant or to have knowledge but be upset because of it? The dog is ignorant and happy but is it truly happy when it does not possess all the information?

Additionally, I thought that it may be talking about experiments and what we gain from them. Is happiness knowledge? Once we learn something are we still happy? What if what we gained no longer pleases us or upsets our outlook on life or some aspect of life? The dog with its narrow outlook is happy however if he turned around and realized he was no longer connected to a body that would probably change. I’m not exactly sure what this poem is trying to convey but to me they are questioning knowledge in relation to one’s happiness. The person is frightened after they think about happiness. They may have been evaluating things in their life where they thought they were happy but in essence really weren't  However, they may also be wondering about the cost of happiness. The experimenters may have been excited about their believed success in the experiment however, there is now a dog without a dog.

Emily Fenger