Final Portfolio: Poem Analysis

Final Portfolio I’ve selected four of my favorite poems for more in depth editing and revision because I feel all these poems can benefit from a second look. Overall, I’ve tried to instill more rhyme within these poems and clearer situations for ease on the reader. Throughout this workshop, I’ve come to see that the greatest complaint with my work is that it eschews traditional poetic traits. But my subject matter is usually a topic of key interest and enjoyment. To mix violent themes such as cannibalism, murder, and self mutilation with blatant rhyme creates this amusing atmosphere that I want the reader to ponder. This is also why I’ve revised most of these poems with others in mind. Each poem should be read with consideration of the previous

I loved this poem because of the fixed form the class was assigned to work with. The sestina presented some great challenges, but overall I found the form to be rather flexible. I reworked areas of odd tonal shifts to keep in line with the character of the speaker. Since it is a persona poem, something I find to be a strength in it’s portrayal of tainted love, any moments out of character will hinder the reader’s understanding of the situation and character. Mostly, these shifts in tonality occurred for the sake of keeping in form with the sestina. I applied pressure to troublesome end words and began to use variations of my original six words to create a clear tone throughout. But the greatest changes occurred in the first stanza. Because it is the foundation for the rest of the poem, I wanted to clearly detail a situation of the speaker’s idea of love at first sight. This also gives the reader a clear setting to envision and work with throughout the rest of the

And maybe they will never be exactly how I imagine, but I still want to work on them further. By focusing on the situation for all these poems and what work the rhyme scheme is doing, I feel all these poems are miles above where they once were. The next step I wish to take is focusing on the meter of individual lines. I have great difficulty with meter, hence why I didn’t want to risk trying something so new at this particular time, but I do feel that the majority of my poems would be more enjoyable with a somewhat musical effect contrasting the intense subject matter. This might also mitigate the audience’s initial response to the innate violence of my poetry. Rather than taking these situations of cannibalistic lovers and self mutilated patients as metaphorical, the reader can take the situations for what they are. They can begin to question the darker side of humanity and then critically think about their own views regarding