Poetry Week 10

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.