My Reflections on the Poetry from Week 10
For the poetry assignment this week, I chose four poems from Emily Dickinson and one poem from Robert Frost. The poems I choose were: “If I shouldn’t be alive,” “Water, is taught by thirst,” “I felt a cleaving in my mind,” and “The Bustle in the House,” by Emily Dickinson. The poem I chose by Robert Frost was “Fire and Ice.”
“If I shouldn’t be alive,” by Emily Dickinson is one of the poems I chose. This poem is a short poem with a message about dying. Dying seems to be a common theme among poets. This poem seems to be about if she should die, she will still be thinking of someone. It sounds like it could be someone she loves. If she doesn’t get to thank them while she is still alive, she will be thanking them from her grave. The last phrase about her granite lip seems to represent the silence that comes with death as the body that was once alive turns into a hardened, stiff corpse. The last phrase seemed to say that even though the lips will be sealed, the person she wanted to thank should know that she would be thanking them if she could.
“Water, is taught by thirst,” by Emily Dickinson is the next poem I chose. I found this poem interesting. It mentions a word and then what teaches the word to mean something. I thought the phrase about peace is taught by battle stories was a powerful statement that stood out. Without battle times, peace times would not feel as nice. The same is true about peace time. Without it, battle time would not be known. When the current time is plagued by battle or war, everyone longs for peace time to come again. No one wants to see people dying. No one wants to see families lose loved ones. It is definitely heartbreaking to see children lose a parent as well.
“I felt a cleaving in my mind” by Emily Dickinson is another poem I chose. It is also a short poem. The speaker in the poem seems to be struggling with the thoughts of something. It is not clear what has confused the speaker of the poem. It seems like the speaker is really trying to understand what is going on, but just can’t wrap their brain around the concept. In this poem, every other line rhymes, and that type of poem has a nice flow to it. Many things could be on the speaker’s mind. They could be confused on how their lover is acting. They could be confused about the problems in the world. I have often felt that way when hearing a child has been harmed, especially when it is a child harmed by their mother.
“The Bustle in the House,” by Emily Dickinson is the last poem I chose by this author. Love and death are mentioned in this poem. There is a different feeling in the house the morning after someone dies. Everyone is solemn as sadness overcomes the house. The speaker mentions cleaning up and putting away the heart like someone would clean the house. When a spouse dies, the one left behind does feel like their heart has been broken. So when the poem mentions packing up the heart and not using again until eternity, it sounds like how someone feels when their spouse or loved one dies. Some people feel like they will never love again. They also look forward to the day they will see that person again.
“Fire and Ice,” by Robert Frost is the last poem I chose. This poem is also a short poem. The theme of this poem is the end of the world. The speaker of the poem mentions he would like to agree with the ones who say the world will end in fire. The speaker seems to enjoy a life of desire and associates more with those who favor the fire theory. Then, the poem shifts and goes on to say if the speaker should die twice, he would pick the other way. I thought this may mean that if he could do things over, he would live his life a different way. He would live a better life not associated with fire. The last line of the poem seems to say it would be okay if the world ended in ice, but it wouldn’t be as good as fire. It would just suffice.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Poetry for Week 9
My Reflections on the Poetry from Week 9
In choosing the poems from week nine, I choose the following poems: “My Papa’s Waltz,” “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun,” “Do not go gentile into that Good Night,” “Lonely Hearts,” and “Death Be Not Proud.” I liked the poems from this week also. My favorite among them was “Lonely Hearts.”
In “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, alcoholism seemed to be the current theme of the poem. The title of the poem seemed to represent the battle with alcohol that plagued the father of the poem. In the beginning of the poem, it feels like the boy or speaker of the poem is speaking of the father. The poem also mentions the mother’s disapproval of what is going on. It also felt like the son spent a lot of time with his father in a drunken state. The boys sounds small in the last verse of the poem when it mentions he is sent to bed clinging to his father.
In “My Mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun,” by William Shakespeare, it does not sound like the speaker of the poem thinks highly of the mistress at all. The poem seems to paint the mistress in a very unflattering light. The poem even mentions the breath of the mistress is foul. Even though the speaker likes to hear the mistress speak, her voice seems to have an unpleasant sound as well. The idea of the mistress in the poem is not a good one. Maybe the author is trying to paint adultery in a disgusting way by the description of the mistress.
In “Do Not Go Gentle Into The Night” by Dylan Thomas, death seems to be the theme of the poem. In the beginning of the poem, it seemed like the speaker of the poem was telling someone to fight dying. The poem mentions that one should live to old age. The light mentioned in the poem seems to represent life. The speaker wants the dying person to keep the light and stay away from light’s disappearance. During the time of the poem, the author’s father was dying. So towards the end of the poem, it felt like the author was speaking to his father. He wants his father to fight death and to not go out gently. He wants death to not have an easy fight with his father. After experiencing my mother pass away from a dreadful disease of ALS, I can echo his pleas for his father to fight against death.
In “Lonely Hearts” by Wendy Cope, it sounded like singles ads to me. Many of the entries sounded as if the people were lonely and looking for love. The setting of the poem seems to take place in North London. Several types of people looking for love are listed in the poem. There is a male biker, gay vegetarian, bisexual executive, Jewish single mom, and Libran non-smoker. All of these characters mentioned are looking for love and have certain requirements that interest them. The poem sounds like it is several voices speaking from several characters throughout the poem. Each of them making their bid for love because they are lonely.
In “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne, once again the theme of death is being visited. The speaker in the poem seems to be mocking death at first. The tone is slightly aggressive as the speaker is giving the feeling of not being scared of death. As the poem goes on, the author seems to be telling the more valiant ways of death. Some die in their sleep. Some die in war. Some die of sickness. Some people die of poisons. Eventually, everyone will die. When that happens, death can no longer frighten or chase the person around. If they are not living, the death is dead.
In choosing the poems from week nine, I choose the following poems: “My Papa’s Waltz,” “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun,” “Do not go gentile into that Good Night,” “Lonely Hearts,” and “Death Be Not Proud.” I liked the poems from this week also. My favorite among them was “Lonely Hearts.”
In “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, alcoholism seemed to be the current theme of the poem. The title of the poem seemed to represent the battle with alcohol that plagued the father of the poem. In the beginning of the poem, it feels like the boy or speaker of the poem is speaking of the father. The poem also mentions the mother’s disapproval of what is going on. It also felt like the son spent a lot of time with his father in a drunken state. The boys sounds small in the last verse of the poem when it mentions he is sent to bed clinging to his father.
In “My Mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun,” by William Shakespeare, it does not sound like the speaker of the poem thinks highly of the mistress at all. The poem seems to paint the mistress in a very unflattering light. The poem even mentions the breath of the mistress is foul. Even though the speaker likes to hear the mistress speak, her voice seems to have an unpleasant sound as well. The idea of the mistress in the poem is not a good one. Maybe the author is trying to paint adultery in a disgusting way by the description of the mistress.
In “Do Not Go Gentle Into The Night” by Dylan Thomas, death seems to be the theme of the poem. In the beginning of the poem, it seemed like the speaker of the poem was telling someone to fight dying. The poem mentions that one should live to old age. The light mentioned in the poem seems to represent life. The speaker wants the dying person to keep the light and stay away from light’s disappearance. During the time of the poem, the author’s father was dying. So towards the end of the poem, it felt like the author was speaking to his father. He wants his father to fight death and to not go out gently. He wants death to not have an easy fight with his father. After experiencing my mother pass away from a dreadful disease of ALS, I can echo his pleas for his father to fight against death.
In “Lonely Hearts” by Wendy Cope, it sounded like singles ads to me. Many of the entries sounded as if the people were lonely and looking for love. The setting of the poem seems to take place in North London. Several types of people looking for love are listed in the poem. There is a male biker, gay vegetarian, bisexual executive, Jewish single mom, and Libran non-smoker. All of these characters mentioned are looking for love and have certain requirements that interest them. The poem sounds like it is several voices speaking from several characters throughout the poem. Each of them making their bid for love because they are lonely.
In “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne, once again the theme of death is being visited. The speaker in the poem seems to be mocking death at first. The tone is slightly aggressive as the speaker is giving the feeling of not being scared of death. As the poem goes on, the author seems to be telling the more valiant ways of death. Some die in their sleep. Some die in war. Some die of sickness. Some people die of poisons. Eventually, everyone will die. When that happens, death can no longer frighten or chase the person around. If they are not living, the death is dead.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Poetry for Week 8
Reflecting on Poetry
Week 8
This week, I choose five poems to Blog about from the list of the required reading. The five poems I chose were: “We Real Cool,” “We Old Dudes,” “ Mirror,” “Richard Cory, “ and “ A Man Said to the Universe.” Most of the poems were very short this week. The reader had to look further into the work that they were trying to convey to the reader.
“We Real Close” by Gwendolyn Brooks was a short poem. In the beginning of the poem, a setting is placed regarding playing pool. The poem seems to depict young people who skip school to go the pool hall. They always seem to think that is so cool. The author seems to be saying that the pool players think they are cool, but their excesses in life will catch up with them. The author explains that young people will most likely die soon.
“We Old Dudes” by Joan Murray depicts an old retired man with white hair who likes to go play golf. The habits, the way he chooses to dress, the way he votes, and when he will help seems to describe that someone will die soon as well. This kind of reminded me of my father. He is always going to play golf. When you spouse dies, you are left with a lot of hobby time.
“Mirror” by Sylvia Plath seems to depict a woman’s plight as she notices she is aging. There’s no hiding from a mirror. Once the woman in the poem was young with a beautiful young face. Now as the woman looks in the mirror, she sees things she can’t change. This is harder to swallow. It is harder to look in the mirror and not see a young face anymore. How does that happen?
“Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson depicts how a wealthy man is viewed by his peers/acquaintances. Everyone seems to idolize someone like Richard Cory. No one thinks someone like him could have any type of problems. It seemed like Richard had everything a person could ever want. It appeared as though he was not as happy and lucky as everyone thought. Richard Cory killed himself and no one knew he was suicidal or needed help. We see a lot of these situations these days in the media. A lot of the time drugs are a reason behind a person dying too young.
“A Man Said to the Universe” by Stephan Crane depicts the plight many humans may feel sometimes. The world is such a big place. Sometimes an individual struggles to find their place in this world. The poem could be saying if that the world didn’t expect much of the person and his ability to reach his full potential in the poem. It also seems like the person is shouting to the world not to forget about him.
Once again, I enjoyed reading the poetry for this week’s assignment. With most of the poems being so short, I had to think over what they might be trying to say.
Week 8
This week, I choose five poems to Blog about from the list of the required reading. The five poems I chose were: “We Real Cool,” “We Old Dudes,” “ Mirror,” “Richard Cory, “ and “ A Man Said to the Universe.” Most of the poems were very short this week. The reader had to look further into the work that they were trying to convey to the reader.
“We Real Close” by Gwendolyn Brooks was a short poem. In the beginning of the poem, a setting is placed regarding playing pool. The poem seems to depict young people who skip school to go the pool hall. They always seem to think that is so cool. The author seems to be saying that the pool players think they are cool, but their excesses in life will catch up with them. The author explains that young people will most likely die soon.
“We Old Dudes” by Joan Murray depicts an old retired man with white hair who likes to go play golf. The habits, the way he chooses to dress, the way he votes, and when he will help seems to describe that someone will die soon as well. This kind of reminded me of my father. He is always going to play golf. When you spouse dies, you are left with a lot of hobby time.
“Mirror” by Sylvia Plath seems to depict a woman’s plight as she notices she is aging. There’s no hiding from a mirror. Once the woman in the poem was young with a beautiful young face. Now as the woman looks in the mirror, she sees things she can’t change. This is harder to swallow. It is harder to look in the mirror and not see a young face anymore. How does that happen?
“Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson depicts how a wealthy man is viewed by his peers/acquaintances. Everyone seems to idolize someone like Richard Cory. No one thinks someone like him could have any type of problems. It seemed like Richard had everything a person could ever want. It appeared as though he was not as happy and lucky as everyone thought. Richard Cory killed himself and no one knew he was suicidal or needed help. We see a lot of these situations these days in the media. A lot of the time drugs are a reason behind a person dying too young.
“A Man Said to the Universe” by Stephan Crane depicts the plight many humans may feel sometimes. The world is such a big place. Sometimes an individual struggles to find their place in this world. The poem could be saying if that the world didn’t expect much of the person and his ability to reach his full potential in the poem. It also seems like the person is shouting to the world not to forget about him.
Once again, I enjoyed reading the poetry for this week’s assignment. With most of the poems being so short, I had to think over what they might be trying to say.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Poetry
Reflecting on the Poetry
I enjoyed reading the poetry from this week. In choosing five poems, I decided to choose: “The Secretary Chant,” “Those Winter Sundays,” “Dog’s Death,” “Introduction to Poetry,” and “Titanic.”
“The Secretary Chant” by Marge Pierce sounded like a humorous take on secretarial duties in an office. Many items plagued the mind of this secretary. She compared parts of her body to parts of the office supplies and equipment. It does appear from the reference of once being a woman, that a secretary may feel overwhelmed by the amount of work she does or even dehumanized. From the poem, it also feels like the secretary’s head is filled with all the things she must do each day. The poem does have a humorous tone on what it feels like to work as a secretary.
In “Those Winter Sundays,” written by Robert Hayden, it reminds the reader of Sundays. That day of the week has a different feel to it than other days of the week. For instance, Mondays bring a dreadful feeling. Fridays bring and excitement feeling and anticipation. The poem felt like it had a female tone while speaking of the father throughout it. The father took care of the family by getting up early and warming the house up before his family arose. The poem also felt like maybe it was just a girl and her father in the home. When angers of that house was mentioned, it felt like other members of the family, perhaps the mother, may have died leaving just the father and the young girl. The child character in the poem should feel thankful that the father cut wood and warmed the house up while she slept. No one wants to get out of the covers in a cold house!
While reading “Dog Death” by John Updike, it had a sad tone to me. I thought of my family’s pet, a Yorkie named ChaCha. It would break my heart for him to get ran over. He was also a difficult puppy to train as many dogs are. It would feel sad to me to tell my children that their dog died while they were at school as well. This is how I felt reading this poem as I reflected. Maybe this scenario happened to the author of the poem. There seemed to be a love for a pet in the theme of the poem. This appeared to me by the references to taking the dog to the vet and the feelings that accompanied that. It also appeared in the reference of the puppy finally using the paper just before dying. By using the title “Dog Death,” it gave the poem a sad tone.
“Introduction to Poetry” by Billion Collins felt like directions to approaching poetry. In the beginning, it explains to look at a poem closely. Sometimes it requires reading a poem more than one time to understand what it means. Towards the middle of the poem, it felt like the author is trying to say reading poetry is open to a reader’s translation also. Readers often spend a lot of time trying to figure out and ponder about a poem’s actual meaning. More thinking about the poem than needed may often result. “Introduction to Poetry” describes the feeling that many readers get when reading a difficult or hard to interpret poem also.
When I saw the title, “Titanic” by David R. Slavitt, I wandered if this poem could be about the actual sinking Titanic. As I read the poem, that was the case. Many people go on cruises like the size of the Titanic on a seasonal basis. This poem seemed to suggest that passengers would not feel bad to go down on a ship if people were with you. The poem tells that people will be remembered by those who love and write about them and how they died. The theme of this poem seem to suggest that death wouldn’t be so bad. Dying this way would not be as terrible as one may think. People who die are remembered by their loved ones in a sad, melancholy way whether it is an accidental death or one they are prepared for.
I enjoyed reading the poetry from this week. In choosing five poems, I decided to choose: “The Secretary Chant,” “Those Winter Sundays,” “Dog’s Death,” “Introduction to Poetry,” and “Titanic.”
“The Secretary Chant” by Marge Pierce sounded like a humorous take on secretarial duties in an office. Many items plagued the mind of this secretary. She compared parts of her body to parts of the office supplies and equipment. It does appear from the reference of once being a woman, that a secretary may feel overwhelmed by the amount of work she does or even dehumanized. From the poem, it also feels like the secretary’s head is filled with all the things she must do each day. The poem does have a humorous tone on what it feels like to work as a secretary.
In “Those Winter Sundays,” written by Robert Hayden, it reminds the reader of Sundays. That day of the week has a different feel to it than other days of the week. For instance, Mondays bring a dreadful feeling. Fridays bring and excitement feeling and anticipation. The poem felt like it had a female tone while speaking of the father throughout it. The father took care of the family by getting up early and warming the house up before his family arose. The poem also felt like maybe it was just a girl and her father in the home. When angers of that house was mentioned, it felt like other members of the family, perhaps the mother, may have died leaving just the father and the young girl. The child character in the poem should feel thankful that the father cut wood and warmed the house up while she slept. No one wants to get out of the covers in a cold house!
While reading “Dog Death” by John Updike, it had a sad tone to me. I thought of my family’s pet, a Yorkie named ChaCha. It would break my heart for him to get ran over. He was also a difficult puppy to train as many dogs are. It would feel sad to me to tell my children that their dog died while they were at school as well. This is how I felt reading this poem as I reflected. Maybe this scenario happened to the author of the poem. There seemed to be a love for a pet in the theme of the poem. This appeared to me by the references to taking the dog to the vet and the feelings that accompanied that. It also appeared in the reference of the puppy finally using the paper just before dying. By using the title “Dog Death,” it gave the poem a sad tone.
“Introduction to Poetry” by Billion Collins felt like directions to approaching poetry. In the beginning, it explains to look at a poem closely. Sometimes it requires reading a poem more than one time to understand what it means. Towards the middle of the poem, it felt like the author is trying to say reading poetry is open to a reader’s translation also. Readers often spend a lot of time trying to figure out and ponder about a poem’s actual meaning. More thinking about the poem than needed may often result. “Introduction to Poetry” describes the feeling that many readers get when reading a difficult or hard to interpret poem also.
When I saw the title, “Titanic” by David R. Slavitt, I wandered if this poem could be about the actual sinking Titanic. As I read the poem, that was the case. Many people go on cruises like the size of the Titanic on a seasonal basis. This poem seemed to suggest that passengers would not feel bad to go down on a ship if people were with you. The poem tells that people will be remembered by those who love and write about them and how they died. The theme of this poem seem to suggest that death wouldn’t be so bad. Dying this way would not be as terrible as one may think. People who die are remembered by their loved ones in a sad, melancholy way whether it is an accidental death or one they are prepared for.
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