Free Verse

"This is a Photograph of Me" by Margaret Atwood.

It was taken some time ago.
At first it seems to be
a smeared
print: blurred lines and grey flecks
blended with the paper;

then, as you scan
it, you see in the left-hand corner
a thing that is like a branch: part of a tree
(balsam or spruce) emerging
and, to the right, halfway up
what ought to be a gentle
slope, a small frame house.

In the background there is a lake,
and beyond that, some low hills.

(The photograph was taken
the day after I drowned.

I am in the lake, in the center
of the picture, just under the surface.

It is difficult to say where
precisely, or to say
how large or small I am:
the effect of water
on light is a distortion

but if you look long enough,
eventually
you will be able to see me.)

Free Verse is probably the closest poetry gets to becoming prose before crossing over the line. It is a form of poetry with no rules or restrictions nor anything that must be done to classify it. In most free verse poems there is a story being told. In "This is a Photograph of Me" the speaker describes a photograph and in turn tells a story. The first image revealed about the photograph appears to be nothing more than a landscape. Through the first half of the poem we find ourselves questioning the connection of the title until we come to the parentheses.

The sudden shift in the poem, specifically distinguished by the punctuation, is suprising and shocking. The speaker has a non-chalant tone to his/her voice when stating "The photograph was taken/the day after I drowned." Suddenly, the poem is no longer peaceful but almost terrifying. Suddenly we realize that amidst this beautiful landscape with the hills and lake is a tragic story of someone's death. The free verse of the poem also contributes to the non-chalant tone of the speaker. With no specific structure to the poem it feels as if the speaker is casually telling this story that would otherwise be horrific.

In this poem the author uses enjambement to give a flowing feeling to the poem. Again, this contributes to the storytelling aspect of the poem. Since this is free verse, the author is not restrained to ending each line with a period or some type of punctuation. Instead, she is able to continue thoughts through multiple lines and even stanzas.

Imagism

"In a Station of the Metro" by Ezra Pound.

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

The above poem is a mere two lines long, yet it is filled with perhaps more imagery than a poem sixty lines long. After writing this poem Ezra Pound said, "I wrote a thirty-line poem, and destroyed it because it was what we call work 'of second intensity.' Six months later I made a poem half that length; a year later I made the following hokku-like sentence..." In other words, Pound discovered that sometimes one sentence can be ever more meaningful that thirty lines of poetry.

The essence of imagism is just that; say only what you need to say and be sure it presents the reader with an image. In "In a Station of the Metro" Pound almost paints a picture with only 14 words and two lines of poetry. The image of "apparition" is one of swift disappearance of one into another. Joined with the words "faces in the crowd" it seems that each person disappears into another and they appear to be one blur. I can picture a bustling Metro Station in which hundreds of people pass by, yet not one has any individual appearance. Each person's appearance blends into another creating everyone as equal.

The second line "Petals on a wet, black bough" presents a darkness to the poem. In cohesion with the idea of the faces blending into one another, they almost become a coating as water is on a bough after a rainstorm. The color black carries with it a negative connotation suggesting that there is some kind of darkness in this Metro Station.

In a way, Pound uses euphony in this poem in that he studies the beauty of the scene and the words. While he isn't directly talking about beauty itself, through the usage of Imagist poetry Pound is automatically appreciating the beauty of the English Language and the power it holds in presenting images to a reader.

In the end, there is quite an amount of analysis that can be done one two simple lines of poetry. That is the purpose of Imagism--achieve a purpose through a joining of words and images.

Haiku

The Rose by Donna Brock.

The red blossom bends
and drips its dew to the ground.
Like a tear it falls

This haiku presents quite a bit of imagery. In reading it, I saw a bright red rose bending toward the group after a cold, damp night. However, the final line "Like a tear it falls" gives the overall poem a depressing tone. Instead of this flower blooming in the early morning sun after a night of rain, the author seems to be saying that this flower is sad. In cohesion with the final line, I think the author's purpose is for the reader to consider the sadness of nature. This blossom is weighed down by the rain and has had enough and therfore begins to cry. The image reminds me of myself in the past few weeks--as if I have made it through a rough storm and cannot seem to find the strength to get up again.

In addition, the image of a red blossom covered in dew is beautiful. However, juxtaposed with the idea of a tear, a different image is presented. Instead of viewing this flower as beautiful and sparkling, we see it as being weighed down and slowly getting rid of the weight by crying. I think the author did a lovely job juxtaposing the first two lines with the final line to achieve her purpose.

Slam Poetry

"On What Teachers Make" by Taylor Mali. It can be found here.
DEFINITELY LISTEN TO IT =)

To begin, I think it's very important that slam poetry be listened to, as it IS called spoken word. To read a splam poem is nothing compared to hearing the author recite it because much of the importance is in the tone and delivery. The art of spoken word is so greatly dependent on the presentation.

In "On What Teachers Make", Taylor Mali presents an entirely different definition for the phrase "what do teachers make"? He focuses on the teaching, inspiration, and hardwork that teachers instill in their students, instead of focusing on the money. Mali brings to our attention the important role that a good teacher can play in a kid's life. I know, personally, that I have had very few teachers whom I will always remember. I won't remember the ones who made it easy, or the ones who simply made it fun. I will remember the teachers that made me work and made a difference; the ones who truly cared.

Mali brings up a great point--someone who has not had the opportunity to teach will never understand a teacher. To have the ability to affect hundreds of students' lives is a great responsibility. What you instill in them could possibly be one of the greatest lessons of their lives. Mali's passion and delivery of this idea and this entire poem truly show that he takes pride in being a teacher. He isn't simply trying to stand up for himself, but he is standing up for teachers everywhere who are not appreciated nearly enough for what they do.

In this slam poem, Mali uses the literary device of apostrophe in which he talks about someone who is not present. He is telling a story and mentions the CEO who began this conversation at dinner. As a result, the CEO is merely a character in his story who is not present at the time. In addition, he talks about his students are not present either, neither at the dinner table or the presentation.

Dramatic Monologue

"The Chimney Sweeper" by William Blake

When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue,
Could scarcely cry weep weep weep weep.
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.

Theres little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head
That curl’s like a lambs back, was shav’d, so I said,
Hush Tom never mind it, for when your head’s bare,
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.

And so he was quiet, & that very night,
As Tom was a sleeping he had such a sight,
That thousands of sweepers Dick, Joe, Ned & Jack
Were all of them lock’d up in coffins of black,

And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he open’d the coffins & set them all free.
Then down a green plain leaping laughing they run
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy,
He’d have God for his father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke and we rose in the dark
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Tho’ the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm.
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.


A dramatic monologue is a type of poem in which the speaker appears to be talking to an unseen audience. It is a way of telling a story through the words of poetry.

In this dramatic monologue the speaker is a "Chimney Sweep". He tells his story of his mother's death and father's having "sold [him] while yet [his] tongue, Could scarcely cry weep weep weep weep." The speaker, however, does not stay on the subject of his own life for long. Instead, he talks about Tom Dacre who is a new child just sold to be a new chimney sweeper. When he "cried when his head That curl’s like a lambs back, was shav’d" his innocence is shown. He is unaware of what is to come for him and the speaker acts as a guide for him.

The dream that Tom has is significant to the conditions of chimney sweeps at this time in history. They were forced to live in terrible conditions, sleeping on the bags of soot that they had swept that day--shown in the phrase "in soot I sleep." However, Tom dreams of the young chimney sweeps locked in black coffins which are symbolic for the suppression of these boys. When the angel comes to free them from their coffins, Tom is dreaming of being released to freedom along with the other chimney sweeps. He has an innocent view of the situation he is in.

In having this dream, Tom is able to realize that one day he will be freed from the situation he is now in. The "Angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy, /He’d have God for his father & never want joy." In otherwords, if Tom has faith in God then he will be rewarded some day. Therefore, Tom wakes up the next morning happy to do his work along with the other chimney sweeps.

COMMENT ON THESE QUESTIONS! =)
Do you guys think this is a political statement in any way? What could William Blake be commenting on? Does it go further than simply chimney sweepers? How does he view religion as a force in one's life?

Spenserian Sonnet

"Sonnet LIV" by Edmund Spenser
Of this World's theatre in which we stay,
My love like the Spectator idly sits,
Beholding me, that all the pageants play,
Disguising diversely my troubled wits.
Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits,
And mask in mirth like to a Comedy;
Soon after when my joy to sorrow flits,
I wail and make my woes a Tragedy.
Yet she, beholding me with constant eye,
Delights not in my mirth nor rues my smart;
But when I laugh, she mocks: and when I cry
She laughs and hardens evermore her heart.
What then can move her? If nor mirth nor moan,
She is no woman, but a senseless stone.

The Spenserian sonnet is made up of three quatrains and a couplet. The quatrains are connected through the rhyme scheme abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee. The rhyme scheme is a suggestion toward terza rima but it is not exact.

In this sonnet, Spenser relates his life to to a play. In a way, he is alluding to Shakespeare's "All the World's a Stage" but for a different purpose. He personifies the different aspects of life such as sadness, happiness, and love as actual beings in his life. In capitalizing words such as Comedy and Tragedy, Spenser is making them proper nouns.

He mentions how his "love like the Spectator idly sits" suggesting that his love for the woman he speaks of is never active. It simply sits and observes his relationship with this woman, never fully emerging from the depths within him. In addition, the speaker resents the woman in his life. "She laughs and hardens evermore her heart" when the speaker cries, and finds disgust in his happiness. To the speaker, the woman is nothing more than "senseless stone" meaning that she is inept to understanding the speaker's feelings. In reality, it is she who does not have feelings and because the speaker has these feelings and experiences these roles throughout life, she mocks him.

This may be a stretch, but it is possible that the woman compared to "senseless stone" can be an allusion to the story of the woman who turned to stone when she looked back after being told not to. Perhaps Spenser is suggesting that women are weak and incapable of having such strong serious feelings. Again, it may be a stretch but I thought I would bring up the idea!

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

ELEGY--> "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is by Thomas Gray. It can be found here.
You can also listen to it here.

Thomas Gray writes his elegy in the same manner of the common elegy--honoring the dead. His elegy consists of four-line stanzas in the rhyme scheme ABAB, CDCD, EFEF etc.

In the first three stanzas of the poem, Gray sets a very somber tone. He describes how he is left with the darkness of the world while almost meditating in this churchyard. He refers to how the "moping owl does to the moon complain" suggesting that the owl is sad as well, affected by the darkness and somber mood of the world around him. While the speaker never directly mentions a funeral or death he suggests it through his diction and tone.

It is not until the fourth stanza where the speaker finally mentions the rows of graves, or "cells for ever laid." In this stanza, the speaker inverts the word order to parallel with what he is saying of the earth around the grave. He says "Where heaves the turf " instead of "Where the turf heaves." In doing this, Gray is providing the image of the overturned earth as a result of digging the grave.

In the next stanzas, the speaker goes on the speak about class and its effectiveness in the afterlife. He warns the rich not to look down on the poor in life because the afterlife does not discriminate according to class. Despite wealth and beauty, everyone dies. So he encourages all of us to live life as a good person. The speaker then talks about all of the things that the poor missed out on in life because of a lack of money and education.

The speaker also reasons that perhaps because he is recognizing the poor people and writing this poem about death and the losses people experience, someone will remember him after he dies. He imagines an old man remembering him. In the end, he wishes to be buried with the common people no matter how famous or rich he may end up being. He is quite aware of his place on the earth and definitely recongizes that no one person is better than another.


Gray uses enjambment many times throughout this elegy. Enjambment is the continuation of a single idea from one line to another. I would not have recongized that this literary device had a specific name if I hadn't looked up the meaning of this word. Gray uses them quite often-for example in the third stanza he says:
"Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower/ The moping owl does to the moon complain,/ Of such, as wandering near her secret bower, /Molest her ancient solitary reign."
Gray continues one idea across four lines, especially between lines one and two where he puts no grammatical symbols. This literary device pushes the reader to continue from line to line, making the idea flow across the entire stanza.

Intimations of Immortality

ODE--> "Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" by William Wordsworth...found on page 57 of the Survey of English Poetry book

Wordsworth's "Intimations of Immortality" is seen as perhaps one of his greatest poems. It is split up into 11 stanzas in which Wordsworth discusses his connection to nature and his confusion with humans' disconnect from the natural world and the afterlife.

In the first stanza, the speaker says that at one time in his life the earth and "every common sight" was mystical and quite dreamlike--"appareled in celestial light". However, now, as hard as he may try the speaker can no longer see that mysticism. He goes on in the second stanza he says that while he can still see beautiful wonders such as "the sunshine [with] a glorious birth" there is something missing. There is no longer "a glory from the earth."

While the speaker is saddened by the birds singing "a joyous song" he chooses not be to depressed. Instead, he decides to embrace the beauty of the season because everything on the earth is happy. However, the speaker finds it hard to enjoy the beatuy of the earth because he still feels that something is mission as "the same tale repeats....Whither is fled the visionary gleam?..."

In the fifth stanza, the speaker recognizes that "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting" in that we are born with the knowledge of heaven and God but as we grow into adulthood we loose this knowledge. The connection of heaven "fade[s] into the light of common day" as we grow into adulthood and begin losing that love and connection with nature. In the sixth stanza he simply states that everything on earth, from our birth, is conspiring against us to make us forget of heaven or "that imperial place whence he came."

Next, the speaker imagines a young boy, perhaps himself, making his journey through life. He becomes a "little actor [who] cons another part" throughout his whole life. His efforts will simply consist of "endless imitation" becoming someone who he was not meant to be. He goes on to confront this child in the next stanza, asking him why he wishes to rush into adulthood so strongly and bring on the "blindness" it accompanies. As a child, he is so close to heaven and yet he rushes to get away from it.

In the ninth stanza the speaker has a bit of a revelation. He realizes that he and all humans will be connected to nature: "Our soulds have sight of that immortal sea." He means that because of our souls and memories, we will always connect with our childhood and therefore with nature and heaven. Therefore he rejoices in the tenth stanza asking all of the animals which earlier made him sad, to "sing a joyous song!" He knows that because he has memories of his childhood he will always be able to connect with it, and therefore with nature.

Finally, in the eleventh stanza, he says that he believes that everything in his life grows from nature. His memories and belief in heaven and immortality relies greatly on the beauty and faith in nature.

Blog Presentation: [l(a]

e.e. cummings…
· Edward Estlin Cummings was born on October 14, 1894 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
· Son of Edward and Rebecca Haswell Clarke Cummings
· American poet, painter, essayist, playwright, and author
· Received B.A. and Masters from Harvard University between 1911-1916
· Wrote both untraditional and traditional (sonnets) forms of poetry
· Interesting Fact: Despite popular belief, he did not, according to his widow, legally change his name to “e e cummings.” He actually never specified whether he preferred the lowercase or uppercase version of his name.

Paintings by e. e. cummings


[l(a] by e.e. cummings

l(a

le
af
fa

ll

s)
one
l

iness

Analysis:
· separation of the words "loneliness" and "a leaf falls" as the basis of the poem. The poem seems to be mainly about just that--loneliness. Cummings is comparing a leaf falling from a tree to loneliness, which, I believe, is quite a valid metaphor. The image of a single leaf falling from a tree in the fall gives a feeling of loneliness and emptiness.
· Cummings begins by separating the word loneliness from the beginning to the end of the poem. He is conveying that loneliness is separation and that it's both physical and mental. While we may feel mentally lonely (as represented in the metaphor of the leaf falling) we can also be physically lonely as represented by the spacing of the word.
· the letters "la" and "le", the first two lines of the poem, are the feminine and masculine forms of the word "the" in French. In putting such a large gap between the two, he may be suggesting the separation of men and women. He is saying that without a companion or lover, humans feel the ultimate separation and loneliness.
· The 5th line is simply two lowercase L's next to each other: "ll". These L's can be looked at as "ones" when they are viewed as a single line in a poem. In putting them together, Cummings is saying that in the middle of loneliness, that the root of loneliness is one on one contact. Humans simply want one person to attach to and then loneliness is demolished. This can be further supported by his putting the letters O, N, and E on a line together spelling out the word "one." This seems intentional because it is one of the only lines with more than two letters on it.

Blog Presentation: Woodchucks

Maxine Kumin…
· Born on June 6, 1925 in Philadelphia
· Daughter of Jewish parents
· Received her Bachelors and Masters from Radcliffe college
· Wrote poems, essays, short stories, children’s books, and novels
· Won Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1973 for Up Country
· She was a poetry consultant for the Library of Congress and Poet Laureate of New Hampshire
· Interesting Fact: In 1995, Kumin became a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets but resigned four years later, along with Carolyn Kizer, in protest over the board's reluctance to admit poets of color. This act led to an entire reconstruction of the institution's bylaws.

A PIECE OF THIS ARTICLE- From One Poet's Notes
Friday, June 6, 2008
When encountering Maxine Kumin’s poetry one can sometimes become lulled by the steady and resolute direction of her unpretentious sentences. Whether guided by traditional forms and a regular rhyme or filled with the more relaxed sense of free verse, Kumin’s work normally ends up engaging the reader as she steers the content toward a determined end. Even the patterns in her poems, deliberate meditations on nature or mortality and dramatic pieces reflecting personal or political perspectives, rarely seem very surprising and are hardly suspenseful. Yet, this poet’s usually careful control of language and overriding tone frequently prove persuasive enough to enlighten and enrich.

"Woodchucks" by Maxine Kumin

Gassing the woodchucks didn't turn out right.
The knockout bomb from the Feed and Grain Exchange
was featured as merciful, quick at the bone
and the case we had against them was airtight,
both exits shoehorned shut with puddingstone,
but they had a sub-sub-basement out of range.

Next morning they turned up again, no worse
for the cyanide than we for our cigarettes
and state-store Scotch, all of us up to scratch.
They brought down the marigolds as a matter of course
and then took over the vegetable patch
nipping the broccoli shoots, beheading the carrots.

The food from our mouths, I said, righteously thrilling
to the feel of the .22, the bullets' neat noses.
I, a lapsed pacifist fallen from grace
puffed with Darwinian pieties for killing,
now drew a bead on the little woodchuck's face.
He died down in the ever-bearing roses.

Ten minutes later I dropped the mother. She
flip flopped in the air and fell, her needle teeth
still hooked in a leaf of early Swiss chard.
Another baby next. One-two-three
the murderer inside me rose up hard,
the hawk eye killer came on stage forthwith.

There's one chuck left. Old wily fellow, he keeps
me cocked and ready day after day after day.
All night I hunt his humped-up form. I dream
I sight along the barrel in my sleep.
If only they'd all consented to die unseen
gassed underground the quiet Nazi way.

Some different POVs:
i. Lauren- parallel with the Holocaust
ii. Tommy/Charlie- the “hawk-eye killer”
iii. Michaela- possible parallel between people and woodchucks?

What do you guys think? Is Kumin paralleling the killer with humans or the woodchucks? Is it possible that it is both? Are we both the murderers and victims at the same time?

[l(a]

External Form #4: "[l(a]" by e.e. cummings can be found on page 1042 of the Norton.
Click here to reference the poem that I am referring to. It's different than the one in the Norton.

I have actually wanted to discuss this poem since we read it in class earlier this year. I found so many things within it interesting.

I think the most obvious place to begin is cumming's separation of the words "lonliness" and "a leaf falls" as the basis of the poem. The poem seems to be mainly about just that--lonliness. Cummings is comparing a leaf falling from a tree to lonliness, which, I believe, is quite a valid metaphor. The image of a single leaf falling from a tree in the fall gives a feeling of lonlieness and emptiness.

However, Cummings seems to go even deeper into the subject of lonliness. In the Norton, the spacing of the lines is different than the other forms I found online. Cummings begins by separating the word lonliness from the beginning to the end of the poem. He is conveying that lonliness is separation and that it's both physical and mental. While we may feel mentally lonely (as represented in the metaphor of the leaf falling) we can also be physically lonely as represented by the spacing of the word.

Also, I am not sure if this is too far fetched, but the letters "la" and "le", the first two lines of the poem, are the feminine and masculine forms of the word "the" in French. In putting such a large gap between the two, he may be suggesting the separation of men and women. Further complicating the idea of lonliness. He is saying that without a companion or lover, humans feel the ultimate separation and lonliness.

Finally, right in the middle of the poem Cummings touches on the major theme of this poem. The 5th line is simply two lowercase L's next to each other: "ll". These L's can be looked at as "ones" when they are viewed as a single line in a poem. In putting them together, Cummings is saying that in the middle of lonliness, that the root of lonliness is one on one contact. Humans simply want one person to attach to and then lonliness is demolished. This can be further supported by his putting the letters O, N, and E on a line together spelling out the word "one." This seems intentional because it is one of the only lines with more than two letters on it.

Overall, I think Cummings has presented a complicated an deep poem as simple to fool us into thinking he has overlooked something. Yet, I think he planned it out to a "T" and was pushing us to look deeper for a meaning.

Let The Muse Be Free...

External Form #3: "One the Sonnet" by John Keats can be found on page 1025 of the Norton.

John Keat's sonnet, "On the Sonnet" follows neither the traditional Shakespearean or Petrarchan forms of the sonnet. Keats is actually criticizing both of these forms of the sonnet, saying that have such a restricted structure loses the essence of poetry.

Keats begins by alluding to Andromeda; it is a Greek myth of a woman who was chained to rock and left to die by the sea. He is paralleling the poem with Andromeda in saying that by using these "dull rhymes," poets are leaving their sonnets and poems out to be swallowed and forgotten forever. Keats wants the reader to think out of the box and go beyond Shakespeare and Petrarch. He refers to a letter he wrote called "Poesy", in which he expressed his distaste for the current accepted forms of the sonnet.

He also talks about the"misers of sound and syllable." A miser is someone who is afraid of spending money. In reference to this poem, Keats seems to be saying that in writing sonnets, poets become misers of sounds and syllables and instead of using them as they please they savor them and ultimately lose the meaning of the poem. Keats' final advice to use is to "let the Muse be free" and allow our imaginations to wander. He doesn't want us to be afraid of stepping out of the restrictions of a traditional sonnet. Actually, he encourages us to do so and move beyond the restrictions of time.

a space in the lives of their friends

External Form #2: beware: do not read this poem by Ishmael Reed can be found on p. 1040 of the Norton.

This poem has multiple factors contributing to the external form and its significance to the poem. To begin, the apparent changes in punctuation and grammar stand out quite a bit. The author puts in a lot of spaces and commas as well as punctuation marks where they don't belong. I think he did this to give an exaggerated feeling to the poem. He puts spaces where he wants the reader to feel the detachment within the poem. For example, he uses a lot of spaces when he talks about the old woman in the beginning. We feel her detachment from the world through the author's use of the large spaces between words and phrases.

In addition, the author didn't use any capital letters, including in the title. I think this makes the poem feel more casual and like a story. He is telling the reader a story and giving warning at the same time. However, we do not pick up on the warning right away because of the casual nature of the poem. If the author had used all capital letters then we would get a more alarming feeling; but he chose to use all lowercase which presents a laidback feeling in the poem.

I think that the author used these methods to drag us in to the poem. Ironically, he is warning us not to get dragged in. He is warning us to stay attached to the world outside like the woman with the mirrors did. His imagery of the poem physically swallowing the reader is wen I finally caught his point. He wants us to step back from poetry and instead of letting it eat our minds and bodies, just enjoy it for what it is. Do not become like the old woman with the mirrors and simply become obsessed with your own mind. Share poetry with others and therefore make friends, if you don't listen to what he says then you will be separated from people forever.

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun...

External Form #1: Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare can be found on p. 1034 of the Norton :)

This sonnet by William Shakespeare is one of his few outright humorous sonnets. It is written in the traditional English Sonnet format consisting of the abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme. It is fourteen lines, just as a sonnet is classified to be.

Shakespeare uses the 4-4-4-2 format, meaning three quatrains and and one couplet in that order. He uses each quatrain to build up to his ultimate point made in the final couplet. The first quatrain in Sonnet 130 consists of four separate comparisons of the speaker's lover. Each comparison (or lack thereof) is described in one line. For example, the speaker describes his mistress' eyes in line one, her lips in line two, and so on.

However, as he continues, the speaker builds up his argument and utilizes two lines for each argument. This gives the feeling of more passion and thought in the speaker's mind. The speaker uses two lines to describe his mistress' cheeks, breath, voice, and walk. The extra description and space gives more significance the the speaker's opinion of his mistress. However, we must remember that the speaker is building up to a certain point which he reaches in the final two lines, or the last couplet.

Here, the speaker admits that despite the most human characteristics of his mistress, he loves her more than anything. He would much rather love her for who she is than try to make false comparisons to make her seem more beautiful.

I don't think Shakespeare's only purpose in this sonnet is to speak of the mistress. He also seems to be mocking many kinds of the traditional love sonnet. He says that while this mistress may be ugly and less than graceful, she is true and rare. Petrach, an Italian writer, wrote most of his poems describing a woman he did not know but was in love with named Laura. It is possible that Shakespeare was mocking his style and subjects of writing in writing this sonnet.

You can see all the way to Heaven

Internal Structure #2: Heaven by Cathy Song can be found on p. 1011 of the Norton.

Heaven is a story of heritage and gender gaps told through the point of view of a Chinese mother. She begins by talking about her son's view of what heaven is. His belief that heaven will be China seems odd to the mother. She says that it is "an octave away," meaning that he has a long way to go to reach this heaven. However, for the son, he seems to simply want to fit in. He sounds like a Chinese-American, as he got his "blond hair" from his father but he wants to return to China.

The mother seems conflicted in both senses. She sees the "black dot" of the map of where she lives and cannot seem to understand why she still lives there. There is air so thin "you can starve on it" and it's "mean and grubby." She refers to her son as the dreamer, as if he does not understand the way life is. Yet, she cannot understand "why here?". She knows that life is short and she should do something with it, yet she does not seem to have any desire to move forward and get out of the small "black dot" town.

The next stanza seems to be about her father, the boy's grandfather. He came to the "Gold Mountain," or America, with the hopes of making money and being able to return home. However, he was led further and further away from this plan until it was too late. The speaker's opinion on her father is conflicting. While she seems to admire his ambition in coming to America, she also recognizes that he died "in his sleep, dispossessed." He achieved nothing in coming to America and never got to complete his plan and return home.

The final stanza combines each of the three subjects in the poem. The ideals of the different generations, while different, come to the same idea: heaven. While each family member may have a different idea of what heaven truly is, each can appreciate that you can see all teh way there through those vast mountains and "pancake plains..."; heaven is there somewhere.

Took it and took it, in silence...

Internal Structure #1: The Victims by Sharon Olds can be found on p. 1006 of the Norton.


The first section of The Victims gives the reader a glimpse of the speaker's opinions from an earlier age. It is as if we are hearing the thoughts the speaker's childhood, watching her parents get divorced. The speaker is greatly influenced by his/her mother's distaste for the father. The speaker recalls, "she had taught us to take it" meaning that the children's opinions were influenced by the mother. She had probably taught the children how to deal with the problems the father caused by laughing in his face. We can also see the speaker's dislike for his/her father in her referencing him as "you" for the first half of the poem. It is as if he/she does not consider the man who who left to be a father, simply a "you."

However, in line 17, the speaker's tone changes. The speaker addresses the man who left as "Father" and shows more sympathy with him. This half of the poem seems to be the speaker's more mature, adult side. He/She realizes the possible effect that the family could have had on the father and where he may be now. The speaker is able to sympathize with the bums on the street and wonder how they got here. Perhaps he/she realizes that Father could be one of these bums, sitting on the street, with no one to love them. This final feeling of regret is all we are left with at the end of the poem. The speaker seems to feel regret for the way her Father was treated and can only simply wonder what to do about it.

The Lockless Door

Language #2: The Lockless Door by Robert Frost.
This poem can be found by clicking here.

The Lockless Door mainly utilizes the method of figurative language known as a parable. It is similiar to an allegory in which it is a story that is told to illustrate or teach a kind of truth or lesson. Robert Frost wrote many poems using parables. In The Lockless Door, Frost writes about self-imprisonment and escape.

He begins the poem letting the reader know that "it went many twenty years" before the knock arrived at the door. These twenty years suggest that the speaker went through a long period of seclusion. However, they are probably not literal seclusion. The speaker most likely experienced internal seclusion of some kind and when he heard the knock on the door he finally had a realization. Whether this knock was some kind of opportunity or a way out we are not told, but it was a life altering moment nevertheless.

The fact that the door was a "lockless" one leads me to think that the speaker was the one entrapping himself in this room. If the door had been able to be locked then it would be more likely that someone else was keeping him locked up in this room. However, the door cannot be locked so the speaker could have left at any time. Since he didn't, there was more than just a physical entrapment in this cage. Something from within was keeping the speaker in this room with the lockless door.

The following stanzas are talking about the speaker's attempt at escaping from his "cage" that he was probably living in for those twenty years prior. He does not "bade a 'Come in'" until he has safely escaped the cage, out the wide open window. Ironically, the speaker does say that he goes on to "hide in the world" after leaving this cage. Instead of hiding in the cage he's been in for so long, he is going to bring himself to the world and hide amongst all of the people. Does this truly mean he is escaping? I believe so because while he may be hiding in the world, the speaker has found himself. The escape was not from the cage itself, but the escape from the internal imprisonment he'd experienced for those twenty years.

The overall poem appears to simply be about an individual's escape from a dark, enclosed room. However, it holds a more powerful meaning and representation. It is about the human desire for escape. Humans have a tendency to lock themselves up internally and live life safely, instead of going out into the world and "altering with age." Frost is making a statement about how we as humans should escape the cage with the lockless door and allow ourselves to live among the world.

Jane, stay where you are in my first mind...

Language #1: The Leap by James Dickey can be found on page 957 of the Norton.

The Leap is an example of the use of symbolism in a poem. Dickey utilizes two objects or actions within the poem as a representation of something more significant.

The first, and probably most recognizable, is the leap that Jane MacNaughton takes. To the reader, the leap is simply a moment befoer the dance class. When the speaker first mentions the leap, it seems insignificant. However, as the poem goes on we realize that this single moment represents a larger meaning for the speaker. He is mesmerized by the image of her floating through the air. The speaker recalls that Jane "reached me now as well, hanging in my mind" as she leapt to touch the "paper-ring decorations" in the room. In his memory of her, Jane is this carefree, graceful young girl who could leap above everyone in his class.

However, when he reads that Jane committed suicide by leaping out of a window in the fourth stanza, his memory is damaged. He comes to a cruel realization of the "enternal process most obsessively wrong with the world." He realizes that death and unhappiness can come from even the happiest of memories. However, instead of accepting this truth the speaker tries to ignore it. He tells Jane to "stay where you are in my first mind." He chooses to reject this image of her "body crushed-in the top of a parked taxi" in order to preserve his fondness of this moment.

The says that when Jane leapt she "touched the end of something I began." This phrase connects the leap with the other significant symbol in the poem; the paper chain. The speaker sees the paper chain as his connection to this mesmerizing event of his past. He tells Jane to "hang on to that reing I made for you" in the hopes that if she will hang on he will be able to as well. He is rooting himself in the past, in this memory, and hiding from the tragedies of the present. The paper chain is his connection not only to Jane, but to the happiness of his childhood.

Listen to a Lady's Cry...

Situation and Setting #2: "In Westminster Abbey" by John Betjeman
This poem can be found on page 907 of the Norton.

This poem is about a woman in Westminster Abbey during World War II. Both the time and place of this poem have great significance to the overall meaning and tone of the poem.

Firstly, this woman is pleading to God in a cemetary in England. However, she has quite an arrogant tone while speaking to Him. She wishes to save only those like her, woman and whites. She asks the Lord to "bomb the Germans. Spare their women for Thy Sake." She seems to be telling God that in saving and killing certain people, he will be doing it for his own good. Ironically, she is surrounded by the most substantial people in England's history. Some of these people have died for their country while others ruled over England. Either way, this woman is speaking as if she were not only higher than them, but higher than God. She says that she will "pardon" his mistake if he does what she is asking. Her arrogance is oddly placed among the highest officials in England, and the highest official of all, God.

Also, the placement of this poem during World War II is significant to the overall meaning. Amidst the chaos and murder occuring in the world at this time, the woman is merely worried about her "luncheon date." She acts as if she is doing the country and God a favor in volunteering to be apart of the "Women's Army Corps" and to "was the Steps around Thy Throne." It seems that the lady does not understand the severity of the war at this moment. Instead, she is telling God that she will do him small favors if he will keep her alive. She says that she has committed "no major crime" and therefore believes she shouldn't be punished when there are innocent people all around who are being slaughtered for no reason. This woman does not understand what she is asking of God and the severity of the position her country is in.

Why do we bother with the rest of the day...

Situation and Setting #1: "Morning" by Billy Collins
This poem can be found on p. 903 of the Norton

I really enjoyed this poem by Billy Collins. Collins does a great job in utilizing diction and tone in order to give the reader a certain feeling about the setting he chose. The poem is speaking about the time in the morning, right after we first wake up. It's that moment of "buzzing around the house one espresso". The worries of the day have yet to begin and the issues of the past are left in the past. This short period of time in the morning is like a fresh beginning to life.

Collins refers to the "swale of the afternoon,/ the sudden dip into evening." These phrases present a heavy feeling. The "sudden dip," in particular, makes me think of being rushed into the evening's events. However, the morning "is the best." The items that Collins chooses to describe leave a feeling of tranquility. If he had chosen to write about the nighttime in a similar way, it probably wouldn't have had the same effect. Morning brings a feeling of renewal and a rebirth.

The setting of this poem has everything to do with the overall theme of the poem. Collins is trying to connect with the reader's senses in order to give a tranquil feeling of the morning. He wants us to feel the calmness that he feels when first laying his "feet on the cold floor."