Recommended: Understanding the poem "Gentle and Want Wear
Maddie Kresevic English 102 October 21, 2015 Dr. Whitton A mothers love is simple: caring, forgiving, and unconditional. This is shown in Billy Collins poem “The Lanyard”, which starts out with the narrator reflecting on a lanyard that gives him memory of back when he would go to summer camp. This is because he made a lanyard out of boredom and brought it home to give to him mother. The narrator thinks as a young boy that this can thank his mom for all she has done, but then he realizes once he gets older that nothing he can do will repay his mothers efforts. After reading the poem “The Lanyard, I believe that the narrator feels as if he will never be able to give back to his mother what she has given to him in his life, however, what he does not realize is that his mothers view could be completely different.
‘For What It’s Worth’ by Buffalo Springfield has a logical message because it is referring to the Sunset Strip Riots that took place in Hollywood during the 1960’s. People protested when they lost their civil rights due to a curfew law that was put into place. The song says, “Stop, children, what’s that sound. Everybody look- what’s going down?”
Poetry Analysis Once the poem “History Lesson” was written numerous poetry foundations celebrated it for many reasons. “History Lesson” not only makes an impact on literature today it has also impacted people also. This poem inspires people and moves them to the point to where they can find a personal connection to the poem itself and to the writer. Not only does it hold emotional value for those who were victimized and those whose family were victimized by the laws of segregation, but the poem is also celebrated for its complexity. The poem uses many techniques to appeal to the reader.
Injustice is appeared through the writing styles of the poems as both poets emphasize points with different approaches to demonstrate the injustice that has appeared. Long soldier’s narrative approach within her poem puts emphasis unintentionally on certain history events. She states “In the preceding sentence, the word “starved” does not need italics for emphasis.” (Page 5). This narration is a suggestion of the way we should read the line.
The poem I will be analyzing will be “Uncoiling” by Pat Mora. The theme the author is portraying is the personification of a tornado . It has a dark/fearful/grim tone as she describes the storm that is accruing. The author is using similes, and personification to convey the theme. The very first figurative language used in the poem is personification.
One aspect of writing and language that the author says is important is poetry. Lorde explains how poetry is, “illumination” because through it you can voice your thoughts with words that have deeper meanings, which stimulate people to feel. When voices can be heard, changes can be made. For Lorde, once voices are heard people’s reactions result in change, towards a more equal world for women, especially women of color. The title of the essay, “Poetry is not a Luxury” is meant to abolish the belief that poetry is only for the privileged, but for the people who have been continually oppressed.
Much of the strength of the first poem of this book rises out of its steady beat plus light variation, almost the “blood beat” of the poem with a flutter of the pulse as danger and fear threaten. Although the poem carries such a steady four beat line that the accentual meter of the Germanic poetries, almost the Old English Alliterative beat, comes to mind, this is an example not of Jennings’ usual “loose iambic” meter but of the “strict iambic” which has been termed accentual-syllable”(Fussell 11). There are eight syllables per line through-out, and Jennings appears to adapt a Romantic subject, great fear and feeling, into an eighteenth century mold. Though she has obviously reached poetic maturity, her own comment of stages of poetic growth fits into the present discussion “I believe most profoundly that all poets, good and bad, major and minor, pass, in their youth, through most of the stages in the history of English poetry itself. This is certainly so in my case” (Jennings, Let’s Have Some Poetry 46).
Rina Morooka Mr Valera Language Arts Compare and Contrast essay on “The poet’s obligation”, “When I have fears that I may cease to be”, and “In my craft of sullen art” The three poems, “The poet’s obligation” by Neruda, “when I have fears that I may cease to be” by Keats, and “In my craft of sullen art” by Thomas, all share the similarity that they describe poets’ relationships with their poems. However, the three speakers in the three poems shared different views on their poetry; the speaker in Neruda’s poem believes that his poems which were born out of him stored creativity to people who lead busy and tiring life, and are in need of creativity, while the speaker in Keats’ poem believes that his poems are like tools to write down what
The poem A Step Away From Them by Frank O’Hara has five stanzas written in a free verse format with no distinguishable rhyme scheme or meter. The poem uses the following asymmetrical line structure “14-10-9-13-3” while using poetic devices such as enjambment, imagery, and allusion to create each stanza. A Step Away From Them occurs in one place, New York City. We know this because of the lines, “On/ to Times Square, / where the sign/blows smoke over my head” (13-14) and “the Manhattan Storage Warehouse.”
They say that you, a road builder Had such love for our country You rushed out and waved your torch To call the bombs down on yourself And save the road for the troops As my unit passed on that worn road The bomb crater reminded us of your story Your grave is radiant with bright-colored stones Piled high with love for you, a young girl As I looked in the bomb crater where you died
John Greenleaf Whittier, born on December 17, 1807, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Whittier experienced childhood with a ranch and had small tutoring. Subsequent to distribute one lyric, he went to Haverhill Academy and was a shoemaker and teacher. When he was 20, he sufficiently composed to get the consideration of book lovers and editors in the abolitionist cause. He was a Quaker, gave to social causes and change.
The poem begins with the persona expressing his desire to take both roads by saying: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood /And sorry I could not travel both” (Frost 1-2). The persona then moves forward to describe each path. Peering down each path as far as he could, in the hopes of finding a hint towards which is better, before realizing there was no hint to be found. The
The poem "Kindness" by Naomi Shihab Nye speaks about how you experience kindness and what it really is. The main point in this poem is that in order to experience people's kindness you need to experience hurt, sorrow, and loneliness. The author says that when you loose everything and have no one or thing that when kindness comes along it lifts you up "and then goes with you everywhere/ like a shadow or a friend" (33-34). When portraying this message the author uses a sad but hopeful tone to send the message she wants to say. This tone helps portray the message because you can feel how sad someone is when they are lonely and they have nothing.
“Warming Her Pearls” is a poem about the love and intimacy being shared between a mistress and her maiden. The pearls are a representation of the mistress and the maiden’s attempt to show her mistress love and compassion. There seems to be a little sexual tension between the maid and the mistress that the maid takes care of every day. This poem is written in a way that confuses the reader, this represents the uncertainty inherent in homosexual relationships that must be kept secret. Carol Ann Duffy utilizes alliteration, oxymoron and word choices to show the sexual tension that takes place between the two women.
In “The Road Not Taken” a traveler goes to the woods to find himself and make a decision based on self-reliance. The setting of the poem relays this overall message. Providing the mood of the poem, the setting of nature brings a tense feeling to “The Road Not Taken”. With yellow woods in the midst of the forest, the setting “combines a sense of wonder at the beauty of the natural world with a sense of frustration as the individual tries to find a place for himself within nature’s complexity” (“The Road Not Taken”). The setting is further evidence signifying the tense and meditative mood of the poem as well as in making choices.
