Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Post for Jan 28

Hello All,

For this blog, you are going to write one entry for the anthology that is due on the day of the final.

Go to the Academy of American Poets website, and find one poem that you like. Then write a paragraph (4-8 sentences) explaining why you find that poem meaningful: you could discuss its theme, its use of literary devices, or how it relates to something you've experienced. Be sure to give your name in the post as well as the name of the poet and the title of the poem.

40 comments:

  1. In the poem "A Blessing" by James Wright I like the theme of friendship expressed when nature and humans join together by affection. I noticed the strong connection between the two characters with the "two Indian ponies" (3)signifyng the idea that every one human has one friend in nature. The vivid imagery helped me visualize the excitement the ponies felt from the visit as they" ripple tensely" (9) at the presence of mankind.In the simile, "They bow shyly as wet swans" (11), Wright compares how animals share common gestures to show affection that as humans we take for granted.

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  2. Renelle Gisyer

    In the poem "She Walks in Beauty" by George Gordon Byron he expresses his innocent love for a women using different poetry techniques. Byron uses imagery to help describe the features on her face, like her eyes for example, "She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies; and all that's best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes..." I also enjoyed how Byron also used rhyme. He did this by alternating each word at the end of every line to rhyme; this help gave it a certain flow, and maybe the flow of the poem was also aided in describing the woman.

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  3. The poem "How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is written with so much passion and love. Browning uses beautiful language to express the love she has for her lover. This poem made me invision the future that most girls might dream of having: a life filled with love for the man she has given herself to. Browning uses a ryming throughout this poem and that helps me follow the words easier. Browning expresses her love by giving her whole self, soul included, to the man she loves. The poem is sweet, tender, and sensitive whereas man kind is pushing to survive with or without others.
    -Joni Lagerstrom

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  4. In the poem "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelo was a very optimistic poem. She describes how
    "You may shoot me with your words,
    You may cut me with your eyes,
    You may kill me with your hatefulness,
    But still, like air, I'll rise."
    She is expressing how no matter what happens or what people say or do she will always look at the good things and stay positive.She uses similes and metaphors in this poem "Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room." I like how she uses alot of visual imagery in her poem, you can almost see it in your mind. She uses alot of questions both rhetorical and literal "Did you want to see me broken?"

    Jaime Nelson

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  6. "The Bells", by Edgar Allan Poe has always captured me. I really like Poe’s use of auditory imagery. The rhyme scheme he employs gives the reader a sense of rhythm as they read; the words move with each type of bell. The sledge bells are short, youthful beats. The marriage bells, robust golden bells but light and cheerful. Alarum bells are described in a chaotic fit of words. The tolling of iron bells at the end reflect the weight and solemn sound of such bells. All of this rhythm is supported throughout the poem by word repetition.

    Katie Reed

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  7. The poem "A Hand" by Jane Hirshfield, has a theme relating to the body and how certain parts function and what they represent. This poem starts off with a use of imagery that helps the reader imagine what the hand looks like, but then also makes the reader realize that the hand isn't just some object attached to our arm, but is also a figure that helps out others and has a deeper meaning. Hirshfield ends the poem with, "A hand turned upward holds only a single, transparent question. Unanswerable, humming like bees, it rises, swarms, departs." After reading this line a few times I thought of Hirshfield trying to explain that when people really think about the purpose of the hand, they do not really have a valid understanding of what exactly the hand means or represents.

    Sharena Gonder

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  8. "True Love" by Robert Penn Warren
    I really liked the poem because the theme was about true love. The author is talking about love at first sight, where he first see the girl and he feels as though his heart will stop. "Beauty. It stops your heart. It Thickens your blood. It stops your breath" (3.8-9). Not wanting her to see him he hides and watches her. Then two years later she smiles at him and says his name, but he is to shy to talk to her. Then he goes off talking about her family and how her dad doesn't come out until the day of her wedding. Then he goes to her wedding and although he loves her and he is watching her get married to another man, he is happy for her. "But I know she is beautiful forever, and lives In a beautiful house, far away" (2.34-35). This to me shows how it was true love, he loved her and although he loved her he let her get married to another man. It reminded me of the saying 'if you love something, let it go...if it comes back then it was yours, if it doesn't then it never was.' I really thought it was romantic how he lets her be happy even though he loved her. He was to shy to talk to her so he doesn't interfer with her life. I enjoyed this poem because it shows you the true meaning or true love.

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  9. "For the Union Dead" by Robert Lowell accentuates the idea of losing history. This poem describes how society feels the need to get rid of everything old, regardless of its significance. The old Colonel Shaw monument "sticks like a fishbone/in the city's throat"(29-30). This unfeeling progressive society only cares about building and re-building:"steamshovels were grunting/ as they cropped up tons of mush and grass/ to gouge their underworld garage"(14-16). The monument for Colonel Shaw will disappear, along with the memory of what he had done. As this continues, the past will eventually be forgotten.

    Dakota Warren

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  10. Kristina Rios
    "Text Messages" by Jordan Davis

    I like how Davis describes the cell phone. I think it's amazing how he describes and gives qualities to the text messages people send. It changed my perspective on a text message now, but I agree with him because everything he says is true; we do treat a text message like it has so much meaning when a simple text message is so hallow and plain, most of the time it's truly meaningless.
    "I will reach out my hand to you in the noise of carhorns and merengue and pull you close by the waist" this verse really stood out to me because this clearly gives the reader that this poem is an ode. Throughout the poem, the author uses extended metaphor and apostrophe. These literary devices the author uses gives the audience a clear idea on how people value text messages.

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  11. In Edgar Allan Poe's poem "Annabel Lee," he strongly expresses his love towards this woman by the name of Annabel Lee. Poe uses some literary devices such as: persona, rhyme, imagery, and alliteration to describe the endless emotions he has towards this woman. With the use of imagery, as when he says, "That the wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee," (4) he lets us imagine how his true love passes on. The rhyme scheme he uses through out the poem attracts the mind and keeps you reading. Poe also uses persona to describe his emotions towards her, as when he addresses her by "my Annabel Lee" through out the poem. Through the entirety of the poem he also alliterates, "In this kingdom by the sea;" this lets the reader imagine the setting of the poem and surely keeps him/her there. What essentially caught my attention about this poem is the rhyme scheme and alliteration utilized through out, it attracted my mind; but the emotion Poe describes towards his lost love is honest and phenomenal.

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  14. -Kamice
    "WHAT DO WOMEN WANT?" by Kim Addonizio

    I really like the tone of this poem first and foremost. The attitude of the charater is so amazing. I enjoy the idea of feeling like the only girl and the very thought that you are untouchable. Most women today do not feel as though their opinions matter in some situations. The red dress definitely is a symbol of love and power. In this case, the dress is a symbol of power. For once, it is about what a lady wants and not what people want for her. She finally gets to voice her opinion. The red dress is making a statment that there is more than just a red dress that makes that woman who people portray her as. She will do whatever she pleases with her dress and whatever else she wants to change about herself. She could care less what the next person has to say about her. Basically, she wants to do as she pleases without hearing other peoples' opinions about every move she makes. The end of the poem caps off the mood most importantly because that same attitude is carried throughout the whole poem. Other peoples' opinions still would not change the person she is. It is like til' death do her part from that dress.

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  15. Grae Vega
    In the poem "When you are old" by W.B. Yeats, he explains how a couple is growing old, age shows on her face, and yet he still adores her. He then leaves and goes into the sky. This poem reminds me of my grandparents, and how my grandpa adored my grandma always, and he left her first before she left, and he "hid his face amid a crowd of stars."

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  16. "We Have Been Friends Together" by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
    In the poem "We Have Been Friends Together" by Caroline Norton she speaks of an everlasting friendship. Caroline mentions bad and good times that happen in a friendship. She doesn't hide any feelings that are shared between two best friends. I think that a friendship should be just as this poem describes one to be. "We have been friends together, In sunshine and in shade", although she is speaking of a friendship that might end because a point in their lives it is still an unforgettable relationship.
    Briana Palma

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  17. Jevan Lane
    “Alone” Maya Angelou
    At first thought (prior to reading), I believed the poem entitled “Alone,” by Maya Angelou was referring to living life alone. However, after reading, I realized, it’s referring to the endeavors in which we embark upon such as secondary schooling, career selection, or simply life’s decisions. For this reason, I found this poem insightful as it covers many, if not all, the important realms in life and reassures me personally, that as much as I’d like to conquer life’s challenges independently, I’ll always need someone at some step of the way. I also found this poem interesting because of the use of literary devices utilized throughout such as rhythmic patterns and repetition of works and lines.

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  18. Marlyce Haugen
    "Winter-Time" Robert Loues Stevenson
    I enjoy this poem mostly because of the vidvid imagery the writer uses to picture a winter day and night. He uses sight and touch imagery to describe winter as a frosty, cold day and portrays the short days and long wintery nights. Along with the imagery, Stevenson uses hyperboles, similes and allusions in this poem. I enjoyed seeing how he used the hyperbole "frozen bones" to exagerate how cold he is. Finally, in order to picture a wintery day, the writer uses the simile, "...frosted like a wedding cake," to portray the hills, lakes, trees and the house covered in snow.

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  19. Melissa Flores
    "Morning Song"- Sylvia Plath

    I really enjoyed this poem. I can relate to it because of my 5 month old daughter. When I read, "One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and floral
    In my Victorian nightgown", it made me realize that's exactly what I do. She makes one small cry and I up to see her. I think the "Morning Song" means the baby waking up and crying. And it's been five months since I've been waking up to the "morning song".

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  20. Yareli Lopez....

    "Three Airs for the Beggar’s Opera, Air XXII" by John Gay
    I really liked this poem. I enjoyed going through it and realizing how life is. Just in the first stanza the first line, “Youth’s the season made for joys” make me think about what many people say when you’re young. The usually say “have as much fun as you can right now that you are young.” It is also like a metaphor because it is comparing youth with the season. Another line that I really like was in the second stanza the second line, “Ours is not tomorrow” he is basically saying that the day of tomorrow is no assured for all of us. Therefore, you no leave for tomorrow what you can do today. =)

    -Yareli

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  21. The poem by langston hughes called dreams

    I like the poem becuase it was a short but in depth poem. She was many metaphors that she relates to the tream. She gives dream a personal quality as if a dream can die. Even though dreams are no where near alive but just like me and most other peoples are dreams are alive and kicking and we keep having that dream until we accomplish which is what I'm currently doin. Her poem on holding on to your dreams and never letting go relates to me.The poem alo inspires many to stay motivated to keep their dream,

    breane brothers

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  22. I really liked the poem "Fairy Tale" by Ron Padgett. He talks in this poem about an evil man, that actually is an elf. Padgett makes a short description about the elf, and I think that it's very interesting how he uses direct and clear adjectives to describe it, helping the reader to really make a picture of him in our minds.The poet uses different literary divices such as: connotation, metaphore, allusion, and persona. Even if the elf is an small and maybe with a funny appearance, he has a very strong behavior, because in fary tales everything is posible.

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  23. Jose Ojeda

    In the poem “Making a Fist” by Naomi Shihab Nye, the speaker is in the back seat of a car that has been driving for days. Tired of driving, the girl asks her mother, “How do you know when you are going to die?” And the mother replies, “when you can no longer make a fist.” From this little excerpt of the poem, I get a sense of the theme. Elsewhere, the speaker uses the borders passed in the car to represent obstacles in life where perseverance is necessary. I think the mother is teaching her child to continue persevering because death comes when you give up. As long as you're clenching your fist, life continues.

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  24. In the poem "A True Poem" by Lloyd Schwartz, I like this peom because it's real and very deep. He expresses how what he really feels inside but afraid to get specific because he doesn't want to cause any pain. "What I think of myself, what I think of my friends, what I think about my lover. Exactly. Parts of it might please them, some of it might scare them. Some of it might bring misery. And I don't want to hurt them, I don't want to hurt them.I don't want to hurt anybody. I want everyone to love me".This is how I feel and it hard to express your self and save feelings.

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  25. “Dreams” by Langston Hughes is a very motivating and aspiring poem. This poem is meaningful because it tells the reader to pursue their dreams and never give up on them or let them get away. Langston Hughes uses a great deal of imagery as well as a form of personification. He personifies or characterizes life as “broken-winged bird” and as a “barren field frozen with snow”. He uses this to attempt and make the reader imagine how harsh life can be if they do not pursue their dreams. I believe this poem relates not only to me but to everyone has ever had dreams. A saying that I like to live by is “reality is wrong, dreams are for real.”

    --Alejandro Morales

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  26. I picked song by Carrie Underwood " Jesus take the wheel" this song sticks out to me. It is very symbolic with lots of emotions. Imagery is portrayed as well. Metonymy the steering wheel becoming life where she can't handle life so asking God to take the wheel, very symbolic.

    Jesus take the wheel
    take it from my hands
    cause I can't do this on my own

    I'm letting go
    so give me one more chance
    to save me from this road im on
    Jesus, take the wheel

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  27. Daniel Vaughn
    I decided to write from the poem The White Rose by John Boyle O Relly. This poem resembles a man being a red rose and a women being a white rose, and the women misinterprets his passion that he is giving for love but all he wants is passion not in love. I liked this one because it happens in real life. People mistake passion for love. The falcon was defining the guy and the dove was the women. He still likes her but leaves her with a kiss, he likes her but doesn't love her yet.

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  28. O Captain! My Captain!
    by Walt Whitman

    I chose this poem because it took me completely by surprise. I read it thinking it was just about a captain but upon further research ive come to realize the captain and father is Abraham Lincoln. Abraham was called captain because he was seen as a military leader during the civil war but a father of change towards slavery. Whitman was a huge admirer of Lincoln I believe and I thought this was a very creative and thoughtful poem.

    Manuel Gutierrez

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  29. Spring and All
    by William Carlos Williams

    I specifically picked this poem because it's about spring and it correctly depicts how I feel about the seasons. Winter is cold and dead but spring comes and 'awakens' nature as Williams describes in his personification of spring when he states, "Lifeless in appearance, sluggish
    dazed spring approaches-". Plants seem lifeless during the winter season and spring comes and awakens these plants and fills them with life again. Williams also personifies the plants themselves when he states, "the profound change has come upon them: rooted, they grip down and begin to awaken". Williams does a good job at describing the changing of the seasons in his poem "Spring and All".

    -Elizabeth Fernandez

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  30. "Man and Wife" by Robert Lowell

    I see this poem as a man suffering through the severe depression of his wife. He claims they are "tamed by Miltown" in the opening line which is a drug to treat anxiety. He comments on the way she once was when they met, she seemed to be vibrant yet abrasive, perhaps the alpha. He was shy to approach her, intimidation may have played a role. Now twelve years later we have this image of her in bed, clutching her pillows with the feeling of emptiness. He doesn't know what to do for her but be there. The anxiety of not being able to help her mixed with the memories of what she once was "breaks like the Atlantic Ocean on my head".

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  31. I, Too, Sing America
    Langston Hughes

    I, Too, Sing America, written by Langston Hughes, illustrates the life of a slave who remains resilient when his owners refuse to let him eat at the table when company is present. Langston express, "They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes, but I laugh, and eat well, and grow strong." The poet shows a couple of different themes such as; slavery, resilience, and courage. Langston again repeats the phrase that company will come, he states that he will sit at the table and nobody will dare him to eat it the kitchen. In this part of the poem the theme of courage is present. Langston Hughes proves that people ignorance can be changed, "...they'll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed-- I, too, am America." This poem does not need any form of rhyme scheme to attract and audience because the power of the message the poem has, is all it needs.

    -Daisy Gonzalez

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  32. Ants and Sharks by Tomasz Rózycki.
    This poem is meaningful because of its use of God in a literary sense. The poet shows from ant, to child, to shark, the cycle of who will consume the other, and above everything, God will grab the shark for eating the child. But then, the poet will eat God, as the poet is the ultimate voice. To me this is a poem that shows the dark side of a poet, he consumes what is holy, and "grows pasty flesh, poisonous fur", the poet will do what needs to be done in order to satisfy their own creative minds.
    -Bryan Lainez

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  33. Maria G.
    Why should a foolish marriage vow
    By John Dryden
    I think I choose to write about this poem because I strongly believe that when love is lost in a marriage that marriage is no longer valid. He states, “We loved, and we loved, as long as we could,” and when they couldn’t love anymore then it was just a foolish marriage. No marriage should be forced to stay alive because it is old and this poem says it well.

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  34. At Thirty
    by Lynda Hull

    This poem stood out to me for the reason that she spoke about how she is looking back at her life so far and how she is trying to figure out if she is satisfied with it at this point in her life and me i sometimes wonder is im satisfied with my self once in a while even tho i doe consider myself old i still like reflecting back at my life.

    Alfredo Moreno

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  35. I Love You
    by Sara Teasdale


    When April bends above me
    And finds me fast asleep,
    Dust need not keep the secret
    A live heart died to keep.

    When April tells the thrushes,
    The meadow-larks will know,
    And pipe the three words lightly
    To all the winds that blow.

    Above his roof the swallows,
    In notes like far-blown rain,
    Will tell the little sparrow
    Beside his window-pane.

    O sparrow, little sparrow,
    When I am fast asleep,
    Then tell my love the secret
    That I have died to keep.

    I Picked this poem and I feel that connotation is being used as death when " I am fast asleep" seems a secret has been kept that someone is loved but they take the secret to thier grave.
    Parallelism the two lines have a similarity
    "Dust need not keep the secret
    A live heart died to keep"
    these two lines are talking about the secret that is being kept. the heart died kept the secret while alive and the dust (ground) will not keep the secret.

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  36. Anne Sexton - Her Kind

    In the first stanza of poem "Her Kind" the speaker does things different from others and has beliefs that go against what society dictates. In the second Stanza the speaker is a woman who stays at home and has a loss of independence. In the last stanza the speaker finds acceptance in her. Throughout the poem she relates to the different type of women described until she finally accepts the woman that she is. I like this poem because most can relate to it, not only with the idea of woman being looked at differently, but anyone who does something that others do not accept or agree with. People go through phases in their life when trying to find themselves and in the end they realize that they cant please everyone so they learn to live and accept themselves for who they are, not caring what others assume. We all can relate to eachother through our experiences.

    -V. Zamago

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  37. Chipmunk and Chris Brown - Champion

    [Chris Brown]
    I’m always pushing myself to the limit
    making sure I stay ahead
    you made me who I am, from the words you said
    Some people have to learn
    some people wait there turn
    some people but not me
    I was born a champion
    Some people have to fight
    some people give their lives
    some people don’t believe
    I was born a champion
    but I was born a champion
    but I was born a champion
    [Chris Brown - Verse 2]
    This gon’ be the realest s*** I ever wrote
    off the record, no camera’s, forget a quote
    some of my family doing good, most doing dope
    I from Virginia where they hang the n***** by a rope
    I used to see my momma getting beat down!
    Is that the real definition of me now?
    I fell off, back on my feet now
    headed to the sky, can’t even see down
    award shows, I poured my heart out
    and people still steady trynna point my flaws out
    and I’d be lying if I said it ain’t get to me
    but I’m a champion, legend, history

    I chose a song by Chipmunk and Chris Brown called Champion because I love the message it sends. People commit mistakes and try to do everything possible to fix what was done in the past, but because of those mistakes people have their opinions about you and once that opinion is there, there is nothing you can do to change it because people hold on to others flaws and try to hold you back by not letting go of whatever the mistake was. They classify you as the mistake, for example, Chris Brown physically abused Rihanna and after a year people still hate him for what he did, anything he does is not good and every other mistake he commits is added to what was previously done and is now known as a woman beater. This song can relate to other mistakes as well. People dwell on the past and will not let you move on because you’ll always be “The bad guy.” The words used against you soon become you because you start to believe it and give up with attempting overcoming the struggle. But you should take your mistakes to do better and not give in to those who do not believe in you or want to break you down. You have to put a fight and block all the negativity that is thrown your way. In the second verse he mentions a personal aspect in his life and compares it with the mistake he committed. He questions himself, if he became what he always said he was not going to be. You just have to believe in yourself and fight for what you want.
    He also uses end rhyme in the second stanza.

    -V. Zamago

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  39. Brandi Woolsey
    I enjoyed the short and sweet yet meaningful poem Dreams by Langston Hughes. Hughes uses metaphors such as "life is a broken-winged bird" and "life is a barren field" to describe what life can be like without dreams. He is explaining that life is pointless and unbeneficial without dreams and goals to strive for in our lives day to day. By using metaphors Hughes is able to get across how dry life can be without dreams. A birds wings are pointless unless he can do something with them, and a frozen field is worthless without the ability to produce crops. These examples, Hughes exclaims, are equivalent to life without dreams and aspirations.

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  40. I enjoyed the poem "Do Not Go Gently Into that Good Night" by Dylan Thomas. In this poet, he uses the meaning of not going gently into the light as a meaning of dead. In this poem, meaning that dead a natural even and also to not give up on life even if you are told that is no hope. This poem meant a lot since i am always losing hope on stuff and this poem tells me the to do the opposite when all hope is lost.

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