Journal #1: Soph Phase 5 ONLY! due Tuesday, Dec. 8
To perform a proper oral interpretation of your poem you must first fully understand it--not just the poem's "meaning," but also the poet's choices of structure, genre (sonnet, ode, ballad, villanelle, etc. ), rhyme scheme, meter, sounds, images, poetic figures of speech, symbols,tones, etc.
Write a (200 word or more) paragraph on why you chose your poem, what it means (to you?), and just as importantly, "how" it means. The "how" refers to the poet's artistic choices that developed and complimented the meaning of the poem. Post your paragraph here at the blog.
Write a (200 word or more) paragraph on why you chose your poem, what it means (to you?), and just as importantly, "how" it means. The "how" refers to the poet's artistic choices that developed and complimented the meaning of the poem. Post your paragraph here at the blog.
Read the archives from November 2014 to read what poems some senior students in the class of 2015 chose to write about and recite for their in-class Poetry Out Loud.
posted by JTF @ 8:52 AM
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The poem I chose for Poetry Out Loud is titled Catch a Little Rhyme by Eve Merriam. I was initially drawn to this poem due to its simple rhyme pattern and childlike nature. The poem contains couplets with fun and imaginative words to attract the reader's attention. It tells of a journey of an unknown person trying to capture the runaway rhyme after it "ran out the door". One facet of the poem is the nature of growing up; not just the physical person but also of objects growing in size. The beginning of the poem starts out with the unknown person as a child riding a bicycle as most young children do. It then continues with that the person wearing a hat, much like people do when they get older, and eventually they "flew far out of sight" as in death. Each object grows too, from a "cat" to a "whale" and lastly, a "skyscraper". Another layer of this poem demonstrates the nameless person becoming successful in the world. They start out as a child, then move into a "skyscraper" as an adult to work and make a living, and finally flying away so they can live alone. The tone of the poem underscores an uncomplicated adventure without conflict, gliding through life. Perhaps this mirrors the life of a poet who has become a success in some way; much like Eve Merriam. As you can see, this poem reflects more than just a short simple rhyming poem and these multifaceted layers led to my decision to select Catch a Little Rhyme.
I chose the poem Little Girl by Tami Haaland. I originally just went to the section that had poems twenty-five lines and fewer to pick out a short poem that was easy to memorize, but when I read this poem I really enjoyed it. It is about a young girl who is with her grandmother and mother. Her mom seems annoyed or upset that the little girl is not cooperating while she and the grandmother try to take pictures of the girl posing in front of flowers. The poem represents the girl trying to play and be free but instead is being forced to have her picture taken. I think this poem symbolizes lack of freedom. The girl is trying to be accommodating because she wants to please her grandmother, but she wants to go off and do what she wants. I like how the author uses the camera lens to show how the girl feels. She uses phrases like "mother frowns behind the lens" and "places to explore beyond the frame." There is also a focus on the flowers at the beginning of the poem and at the end. I think the simplicity of this poem is not only pretty but easily understood.
"To My Dear and Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet is a beautiful work of poetry that describes a woman who is expressing her undying love to her husband. This poem really struck me as exquisite because of the love I see between my parents every day. I enjoy watching the romantic gestures that they give each other, and this gives me an idea of what I want in a future husband. My parents serve as a great example of true love in my life. I, myself, am a hopeless romantic, who looks at the romantic part of true love as very important in a relationship, so this work of art is something that I found absolutely divine. This poem reminded me of my mom and my dad, and how their disagreements don't get in the way of how they truly feel about each other. Since I value dedication and loyalty, I am in love with this poem. Anne Bradstreet used iambic pentameter to create a rhythmic feel to her words, and I think this compliments the idea of love itself - it is an affectionate song that two people sing to each other. The rhyming scheme creates an artistic and musical presentation of her words, which also reflects what I believe to what true love is similar.
The poem I chose to recite for Poetry Out Loud is "I, Too" by Langston Hughes. He was an African-American writer during the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement of the 1900s. This poem is about racism towards African-Americans in America. It talks about segregation, specifically how African-Americans could not eat in the same places as white people. They would often be told to go "eat in the kitchen" and were not treated as equals. The first part of the poem describes this discrimination, but the second half shows the future. In the future, African-Americans will be treated the same as others. Discrimination will go away, and those who looked down on African-Americans will "be ashamed." I think the main idea and meaning behind this poem can be found in the last line, "I, too, am America." This poem is about who is American. It tells the audience that all people born in America, despite ethnicity, are American and should be treated equally. I chose this poem because I like how it is direct and to the point. It doesn't use a lot of fancy literary devices and is very clear about its meaning. Despite being a short and simple poem, it is very powerful and full of emotional images. It caught my attention while I was searching for a poem because it seemed different from the others. This poem does not use a rhyme scheme or similes. But, it does use parallel structure which makes it flow smoothly. I also admire how the poem is structured with the beginning representing the past, and the end representing the future. To me, this poem is great because the average person would be able to quickly understand its deep meaning. "I, Too" by Langston Hughes is a powerful poem that forces the reader to see the past and do their best to make the future a bright reality for all.
When I first chose a poem, I picked "Here" by Joshua Mehigan. As I tried to write a blog on the poem I realized that I truly did not enjoy it, for it was a bit depressing. In search of a new poem, I stumbled upon "The Lamb" by Linda Gregg. I immediately fell in love with the meaning of the poem. The main theme of the poem focuses on finding the good in any situation. In "The Lamb" a cathedral was bombed and Gregg states that even with its roof blown off the cathedral "was not less godly". Considering all the bad things going on in the world today, this poem really makes me think differently. Despite the world being filled with bad people, it is also filled with so many kind, good people. The lamb mentioned in the last sentence of the poem is symbolized as the people effected by the war, the people faced with hardships. "The Lamb" is written in free verse style. I usually prefer poems that rhyme simply because they are easier to remember, but "The Lamb" is written with no rhyming scheme. One of the most important lines in the poem is, " I knew so much and sang anyway". This line reflects the major theme of the poem about the importance of perspective and even though bad things are going on around you, there is good still happening. The poem ends with an image of a lamb walking against the rubble, curious and yet unafraid.
For Poetry Out Loud I chose "[What Horror to Awake at Night]" by Lorine Niedecker. I think I speak for most people when I say that I want my life to mean something. You can do anything you want with your life, and I want to use mine to make a positive impact on the world. I find this poem scary and a bit depressing because of the repetition of "I've spent my life on nothing."
To me, this poem is about one of two things. It could either be taken literally, a person who woke up in the middle of the night and is now left to their own thoughts. At night, there are no distractions to keep you from thinking about absolutely anything. Their life up until this point has meant nothing. Or, it could be more of a story. A person is sleeping but awakes because they hear a mosquito buzzing around their room. The second stanza is about the mosquito. "Buzz and burn Is all I learn," bugs are attracted to lights, which burn them. Although the lights burn the bugs they don't learn to avoid lights, they are still drawn to them. Like the mosquito, the person hasn't learned, they keep making the same mistakes. These mistakes are causing the person to think that their life is rather meaningless.
For my poetry out loud presentation, I chose to recite "The Ocean" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I chose it because it was really descriptive and had interesting literary devices, and because I really like going to the beach. I believe that in this poem, Nathaniel Hawthorne meant for the top of the ocean to represent the turmoil of life and how sometimes it can be hard and rough, and that he meant for underneath the waves to represent death or what happens after it, because the ocean is so large and scary because of the unknown. I also think that the seamen in this poem are written to symbolize people who have died and gone to heaven. Another possible interpretation of this poem could be simpler, and that could be that Hawthorne meant for the poem to be about a ship wreck; the lines about "fury on the waves" and the "wearied seamen" and the guilty earth support this theory. The simple language of this poem and the calming rhythm contribute to the image of the sea and waves. Hawthorne uses many literary devices in this poem: personification, alliteration, symbolism, and rhyming. The ocean is given human qualities like feeling guilt or care and having fury. There is alliteration in the second line: "though there be fury on the waves". The symbolism is of the ocean and the seamen and their respective meanings of life and death and spirits. Finally, the poem has a simple rhyme scheme that alternates lines.
For my poetry out loud presentation, I chose to recite "The Ocean" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I chose it because it was really descriptive and had interesting literary devices, and because I really like going to the beach. I believe that in this poem, Nathaniel Hawthorne meant for the top of the ocean to represent the turmoil of life and how sometimes it can be hard and rough, and that he meant for underneath the waves to represent death or what happens after it, because the ocean is so large and scary because of the unknown. I also think that the seamen in this poem are written to symbolize people who have died and gone to heaven. Another possible interpretation of this poem could be simpler, and that could be that Hawthorne meant for the poem to be about a ship wreck; the lines about "fury on the waves" and the "wearied seamen" and the guilty earth support this theory. The simple language of this poem and the calming rhythm contribute to the image of the sea and waves. Hawthorne uses many literary devices in this poem: personification, alliteration, symbolism, and rhyming. The ocean is given human qualities like feeling guilt or care and having fury. There is alliteration in the second line: "though there be fury on the waves". The symbolism is of the ocean and the seamen and their respective meanings of life and death and spirits. Finally, the poem has a simple rhyme scheme that alternates lines.
The poem, "Let It Be Forgotten," by Sara Teasdale, is a beautifully sad piece. At first, I had a hard time choosing a poem to recite for Poetry Out Loud, but as soon as I read Sara Teasdale's work in the anthology, I fell in love with her writing. There is subtle alliteration throughout certain lines of the poem, and the words flow together easily and effortlessly. The rhyme scheme doesn't necessarily undulate like a simple ABAB pattern, but the second and fourth lines of the two stanzas contain slant rhymes, properly and clearly closing each stanza with the similar sounds. Besides the style of the poem, I really enjoyed the meaning. It has a bittersweet tone, alluding to the pain of regret and the healing of time. I was instantly attracted to the idea of letting mistakes made in the past slide into oblivion, just like the simple things in the world fade away. The thought seems very sad and remorseful, however, it also appears hopeful. Let the darkness of the past be forgotten like a dying flower or drowning fire, and time will bring to us another day on which we are wiser. Through this short, but beautifully written, poem, I've fallen in love with Sara Teasedale's writing, as well as poetry itself.
When searching for a poem to recite for Poetry Out Loud there were many important things I was looking for in the poem. I was looking for a title that jumped out at me, something in the poem's lines that drew my attention, and a message that had a deep meaning. I chose the poem "He Laughed with a Laugh" by Jonarno Lawson. When I first read the poem it reminded me of the complicated life of a high school student. It talks about a boy who dislikes his own laugh and tries to laugh a different laugh. He asks everyone around him if it sounds like his laugh but they tell him that it doesn't. It shows how hard people try to fit in, that they even change themselves and who they are for others to like them. The poem has a flowing rhythm that pulls you in to continue on reading. Jonarno Lawson even includes the sounds of the boy's laugh to add humor to the poem and show other meanings behind it all. I truly love the poem and its message behind the words. It shows everyone that fitting in and being popular is not worth changing yourself.
I chose the poem "Rocket" by Todd Boss. I searched the word "dance" and this was one of the results. It doesn't have anything to do with dance except mention the word once. It is about someone throwing a toy rocket into the air, trying to catch it, but it gets caught in a tree. I chose this poem because it reminds me of childhood. I had many toys similar to what is described in the poem and I can remember playing with them all the time. While mine never got stuck in a tree, I was always afraid it would. Another meaning is no matter how much you work on or care for something there is the possibility that you will lose it or it will be taken from you. When the rocket lands in the tree, the author makes it seem like their are little creatures in the tree who take the rocket for their own. This could also be compared to the people who steal away everything you've worked for. The author does a good job of describing all the care and effort that went into assembling the toy rocket. The poem is written in free verse and towards the end it only has one or two words per line. This could be seen as the person watching their rocket fluttering down. The end of the poem is seeing the toy rocket hanging in the tree. This could be compared to always looking back to what could have been.
The poem that I chose for the Poetry Out Loud contest is Auto-Lullaby by Franz Wright. This poem is fun and childlike, and it is written in rhyming couplets. I chose this poem because it is happy and playful, and it reminds me of lullabies that my parents would sing to me as a young child. The poem can be silly at times, and although the majority of it is happy, there is a line that states, "Think of that spot where you once skinned your knee." This bring an element of deeper meaning into the poem. The author wants you to look back on the good and bad moments in your life and really think about them and relate them to your life. I think the theme of this poem is to be thankful for what you have. At the end of the poem it states, "If you feel thirsty then drink from your cup, the birds will keep singing until they wake up." I think the author is trying to say that if you have something, be grateful for it because many other less fortunate people might not have it. As you can see, this poem might seem sweet and fun on the outside, but after putting thought into it it can become a thoughtful piece.
The poem that I chose for Poetry Out Loud is called "The End of the World" by Dana Gioia. I chose this poem because I love the imagery that the author uses in it. You can almost picture yourself going on an adventure to the "end of the world". I think that this "end of the world" in the poem really refers to a steep waterfall that he and his friends travelled to and that all of the beautiful images of nature prior to the mention of the waterfall are the sights and sounds that they experienced on their way. The poem also has a catchy rhythm and is filled with rhymes. It has some personification that I really like in the line, "the sound of the water, and the water's reply".This poem relates to me because I love to go for bike rides on a trail in the woods by my house. It reminds me of riding my bike because the trail is in a forest with trees everywhere and it even has a little waterfall near the path. I believe that the author of this poem came up with the idea to write it by just being in the outdoors and admiring its beauty. He might have also liked to adventure and find new areas to explore just like I do.
The poem that I chose for Poetry Out Loud is called “Introduction to the Songs of Innocence” by William Blake. When I was searching for a poem, I did not have any specific poem that I wanted to chose. However, knew I wanted a poem that portrayed happiness. “Introduction to the Songs of Innocence” reminds me of the happy stories that I read as a child. When I was little, my dad or mom would read a children’s book to me every night. I always wondered where the writer would come up with the ideas. The poem teaches that if you have a fun or even child-like idea that someone is always out there to appreciate it. If you write it down and share it, other people could maybe smile from it. The boy on the cloud represents that child-like imagination that many people can appreciate. He represents innocence. Every person can appreciate the want to be that young, happy, and innocent. When he tells the piper to pipe the song again, it shows how the poem parallels the catchy, happy songs of childhood. The boy also tells the piper that he must share that joyous song so that every child can feel that happy. The meter and rhyme give the poem a very melodic sound. The melodic sound allows for the reader to understand the story and grasp what the message is. “Introduction to the Songs of Innocence” sends a message that sharing happiness with other people is very important.
For the Poetry Out Loud assignment I chose the poem "After The Disaster" by Abigail Deutsch. I chose this poem because of its imagery and symbolism. I believe that it's free verse structure adds to the beauty behind its words. The poem, which starts out by stating the setting, "New York City, 2001," is about the time shortly after 9/11. Ms. Deutsch refers to the tragedy as "the disaster" at both the end and the beginning of the poem, giving great meaning to the event that happens between first and last lines. In the poem, the narrator is riding a train not long after the most infamous terror attack in U.S. history when a whimsically beautiful girl boards the train car. The narrator describes her appearance as, "...Hair that looked to be all feathers. And a half moon smile." The strange girl emits an aura of calmness and general good feeling to the train full of tense, weary, and suspicious people as displayed by the line "Making open air of our small car." During the second stanza, the girl seems to be looking for someone, and as she searches she annoys the other passengers by pushing through the crowds, hastily scanning for one person in particular. By the second to last line of the second stanza, the girl finds the narrator. At this point, Ms. Deutsch stops writing the story as it happened literally and wrote the feelings of the narrator. In the poem after the girl finds the narrator, the narrator says, "We dove under the river." Which I believe means, the girl revealed the narrator's thoughts, feelings, and depression that was caused by 9/11 and the narrator had pent them up inside himself or herself. Or the narrator didn't know the feelings, thoughts, and sadness were there, but the girl helped the narrator to discover them. The entire third stanza is what I believe to be the girl helping the narrator feel happiness again. The girl frees the metaphorical birds in the narrators mind, or what I believe to be as feelings that the narrator no longer felt like he/she had the capacity to feel anymore. This occurrence is explained when the narrator says "Then she took my head between her fingers, squeezing until the birds began to stir." Ultimately, the girl helped the narrator "see into that feather-world," a world that before she stopped for him he couldn't see into. I believe that the "feather-world" is what the narrator considers either normality or any state other than unrelenting sadness. She helped the narrator by what I assume to be was understanding, or sharing the pain of the experience with the narrator. In the last two lines of the poem, the narrator silently thanks the girl for her help, and then says, "Such things were common after the disaster." Which I can only interpret as there were many people who needed the assistance of their own feather-haired girl as they were experiencing what the narrator was before he received help. The poem really explains the mental trauma that citizens who weren't technically victims of the terror attack, but were victims of the terror that came after it. I believe that the free verse structure of the poem helped with the narration, as if it were a story that anyone could tell, and not a carefully planned recollection of something that happened years ago. The poem makes the pain relatable, and makes the event seem all the more real, as many people around my age have no memory, this poem helps make the attack less surreal. The rhythm of the poem is also very beautiful and adds the the mystical qualities to the girl, and also the wonderment of the narrator during the experience with the girl. All in all, I really enjoyed this poem, how it was beautifully written, the incredible meaning behind the words, and it's ability to bring back fresh emotions for an event that happened over a decade ago.
This year for Poetry Out Loud I decided to choose the poem "A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky" by Lewis Carroll. I found this poem after I searched for Carroll's name in the index originally hoping to find "Jabberwocky", however "A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky" was the only one available by him. I was a bit disappointed since "Jabberwocky" has been one of my favorite poems since middle school but I was pleasantly surprised once I read it. This poem originally appeared at the end of Through the Looking Glass and the first two stanzas start by telling of when Carroll first told the story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to the three Liddell sisters on a rowboat ride one summer. I interpreted the third and fourth stanzas to be a metaphor of how the three girls have since grown up and the memory of him telling them his story is now long gone and how Alice Liddell, his muse for both "Wonderland" stories, is now no longer a child and is now living her own life away from him. The last three stanzas I feel are Carroll saying that even though he isn't as close to the Liddell family as he once was, he will still meet other children to tell his stories to and make more memories with. Another interesting thing to note about this poem is that the first letter of each line spell out Alice's full name, "Alice Pleasance Liddell".
I chose Across the Bay, by Donald Davie, because it was intriguing to me as soon as I read it. When I first read Across the Bay, I thought it would be about an ocean or a bay, but afterwards, I realized it had nothing to do with bodies of water. Davie uses imagery to paint a gloomy picture in the reader's mind about still water and a sparse amount of birds. In the middle of the poem, the picture is set as a desolate limestone quarry. The final four lines really stood out to me in that I had the wrong image in my head all along. I registered this in my mind after reading the first of the last four lines. Davie now gives the reader a limestone quarry with few birds. This quarry turns out to be where a murder had taken place. This new perspective altered how I felt about how Davie had formed this poem. I was really fascinated by how much effect these last four lines had on the entire poem. As one can see, this poem is more than just words. It could resemble a memory or even an occurrence. The poem means so much more than twelve lines, which is what enthralled me to chose Across the Bay by Donald Davie.
For Poetry Out Loud I chose the poem "Hope" is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson. In this poem Emily Dickinson compares hope to a bird that "perches in the soul". She says that this bird never stops singing, which implies that hope itself is always inside a person. She also goes on to say that it would take an awful storm to "abash the little Bird", which means that it would take something exponentially awful for hope to be lost. To end the poem, Emily Dickinson states that she has heard this bird in "the chillest land" and on "the strangest sea" yet it has never asked for anything in return from her. This line means that hope can be found anywhere and in the most awful places but it never needs anything in return. I chose this poem because I liked how she viewed the idea of hope and I also liked how the poem's rhythm flowed. It is almost like one could create a song out of the poem itself. Emily Dickinson basically just creates an extended metaphor, comparing hope to a bird. She uses long dashes to break up some of the rhythm and to indicate a pause. This poem is also in iambic trimeter and often includes stresses on the last words in each of the stanzas.
The poem I chose to recite for Poetry Out Loud is "I Find No Peace" by Thomas Wyatt. This poem is about inner conflict and how it can be the biggest struggle of all. The opening line of he poem "I find no peace, and all my war is done" shows how the speaker's war and outer struggles are done and resolved but they still struggle with something inside themselves and cannot find peace. The poem shows conflicting emotions and desires, just as the tide of war switches back and forth between two sides. The speaker can't seem to make up their mind: "I desire to perish, and yet I ask health" "I love another, and thus I hate myself". They clearly are struggling with an inner conflict possibly about another person, this one they love. They say that they hate themselves for loving that person, which is something I feel like I can relate to. The poem has a very hopeless feeling throughout but especially as they say "displeaseth me both life and death". This seems to state that they are unhappy in life and believe they will not even find happiness in death. They say that whatever this thing is that is tormenting them will not "letteth me live nor die" and it "holdeth me in prison". By some of the language used in the poem, you can tell that it was written long ago. I think much of the poem is still very relatable to this day, because everyone deals with inner conflict and struggles with their emotions and decisions.
For poetry out loud, I choose the poem "After the Winter" by Claude McKay. When I was looking for a poem, I had no idea where to start. I wanted to do a poem that related to me and that was interesting. Scrolling through the available poems, this poem caught my eyes. The title captured me to read it and I enjoyed it very much when reading it. The poems title is something that I enjoy, and the title is referring to spring. I am someone who doesn't enjoy the winter, so when spring comes around, I get very excited. The poem talks about how the animals and nature come alive when spring comes around. That relates to me as I come alive and get more energetic once spring comes around. It is a very simple poem, but it is effective. It grabbed me from the first sentence and I enjoyed it. I do not read much poetry, so I was shocked when this poem grabbed my attention as I would have never expected it. It it's the the most complicated or well written poems, but I enjoy it while reading and I knew that I had to chose this poem.
I like many of the choices so far!
The Poem I chose is to recite for "Poetry Out Loud" is "Auto-Lullaby" by Franz Wright. I chose this poem because I can relate to it due to the happy connotation and the message it presents. This poem means to me that when you're tired you should think of all the happy memories and maybe some of the sad ones to help you fall asleep. There are also lines that are fictitious, such as,"Think of a sheep knitting a sweater." Usually when I'm tired and can't sleep, I like to think of happy moments that I have experienced while listening to soothing music. This helps me forget about all the stressful things in my life for a couple minutes in order to fall asleep. Franz Wright used a rhyming scheme in his poem and he also used the method of personification with certain lines. I really enjoyed this poem because he's trying to explain that before you go to sleep, you usually think of the memories that are usually forgotten through the stress and anxiety of life.
I chose the poem "The Ocean" by Nathaniel Hawthorne for my poetry out loud. I chose this poem for many reasons. One reason is my love and curiosity for the ocean. I am fascinated by all the possibilities of the ocean. There could be numerous sea creatures that we have never discovered or places that we have never visited under the blue sea. I find it mysterious and intriguing how planes, boats, and people dive underneath the surface never to be seen again. I also love the ocean because I visit the beach with my family every year. I enjoy fooling around with my cousins in the water and riding waves in with my brother. Another reason I chose this poem was for its jaunty cadence and simple rhyme scheme. This poem entertains and interests me in a way that incouraged me to share it with my classmates.
Initially I found "Love Song" by Dorothy Parker because it was listed in a link you sent. I began to read this poem and quickly realized it is not only humorous, but relatable. "Love Song" is about a women who is madly in love with a man but also hates him at the same time. I know the feeling. Parker uses conduplicatio when she repeated "my own dear love." This shows she really does love this man but, ironically, the last sentence of every stanza she says something very contradicting that shows her hate for him. She uses parallel structure here by starting with "And I wish..." everything. She talks about how she wished she never met him and then that she wished he was very far away. Finally, she says she wishes he was dead. This poem is very tongue-in-check, in my opinion, she doesn't actually want him dead but is expressing her frustration. She cares deeply about him and talks very fondly about him. Then she shows her anger by sharply contradicting it. I understand the feeling of liking someone but them doing things that make you hate them at the same time. This poem made me laugh and made me think about my recent relationships. I can't wait to share this poem to the class!
I decided to recite the poem "Auto-Lullaby" by Franz Wright. This poem appeals to me for a couple of reasons. First off, I love the poem's relation to nature. The author makes several references to birds, horses, sheep, trees, and the life of the nature around. Also, I like the poem's rhyme scheme as it is simple but rhythmic. An example of this is: "Think of your cat asleep in a tree; think of that spot where you once skinned your knee." The rhyming appeals to me because of its simplicity, but also for its complexity. I also like the repetitive use of some words in certain parts of the poem. For example, each paragraph, except the last, start with the word "Think". The use of imagery makes this poem not only appealing but at times pleasing to me. The author says "Think of a big horse galloping south; think of a fly, and close your mouth." I can really understand the image that the author gives to the reader. I think that this poem was written to make people feel happy because that is what I felt. The author states "Think of a sheep knitting a sweater; think of your life getting better and better." This poem is very interesting and makes me feel happy. That is why i picked this poem.
The poem that I have chosen is called "Love Lives Beyond the Tomb" by John Clare. I found this poem by searching the word "love." The poem that I have chosen sounds very sad by the title, yet it is not because it connects with the aspects of life. I found that this poem related to my life very well because I have unfortunately had quite a few of my loved ones pass away. Since the age of five, I have not had any living grandparents. I wish I had more years with the ones I knew because even though I was so young, I only have glimpses of my memories with them. And from being so young it is hard to remember what was real or what I have been told about them. And my grandparents weren't the only loved ones I have had pass away. My great-aunt and great-uncle both passed away within the past 5 years. They played a big role in my life because when my grandparents had passed, they took on that role unasked by my parents. Those are only a few among some others I have also lost. Everyone wishes they had more time with their loved ones that have passed on, to say they love them and get some closure but in reality that does not happen. Yes, I am sad about my loved ones passing away but it has shaped me to be who I am today. This poem relates how even beyond the death and the tomb there is happiness. There is happiness in the warmth of sunshine that many seem to find with ease. And with an angel's wings there is music and love. And I agree with the poem because when I see the things that were once my loved ones it brings me happy memories. We tend to find all the good and happy things that we love about someone when they pass away, and I think that is the essence of this poem.
The Arrow and the Song is the poem I have chosen. I chose it because I like the rhythm and rhyme scheme. I also like the thought of shooting an arrow into the sky and not knowing where it will go. This makes me think when you do something in life you don't really know what will happen after. I believe the poet wrote this poem in a way to draw people in and keep reading. It is very light and airy. I believe the poem truly talks about the words you say leave a mark on someone. The arrow represents the harsh words you say, and the song represents the nice things you say. If you say mean things it will stab into a person and hurt them. If you say nice things it will stay with someone in their heart and make them smile. I believe it also means when you say something you never know who is listening, and whether they could help or hurt you. This poem is very interesting and entertaining to me.
I chose the poem "A Boat Beneath A Sunny Sky" by Lewis Carroll. This poem is in the form of seven triplets, and in triplets, each line rhymes. That is one of the reasons why I chose this poem. I wanted to choose a poem that I could memorize with ease but still have it be a longer poem. Another reason I chose this poem was because this poem reminded me of The Great Gatsby. The image of the boats and the talks about dreams make me think of the end of the book and the imagery that is there. The poem is about dreams, and how they resemble summer. It gives talks about how life is but a dream. It also associates the dream with summer. It displays summer in a good way, so the author thinks that dreams are good and so is life. This poem does not mean anything to me other than that I like it. I think that it has good imagery and is written very well.
The poem I chose, Corn Maze by David Barber, is very interesting, and I enjoy reading it. There are many different rhyme schemes and meter in this poem. One of these is an a, a, b, b, b rhyme scheme and a meter of three syllables and then five syllables. As well as this poem being a sonnet. Like it's structure it has different meanings. One of these meanings is to remind you of getting lost in a corn maze as a kid. As well as there Being the different meaning of how it shows Greek mythology and has a darker meaning in the end. The ending meaning's point is shown with the extra imagery and metaphor. With the author using odd, strong vocabulary words improve the rhyme and power of the poem.
The poem I chose for Poetry Out Loud was "Makin' Jump Shots" by Michael S. Harper. It describes basketball, and all the plays and details of the game itself. The word choice and flow of the poem makes basketball sound leisurely and carefree. Also, it uses some older terms such as the word "chains". Chains represented the net of the basketball hoop as we know it today. When the poem says "hits the chains", it means the player in the poem made a jump shot, as the title would refer to. Growing up as a kid, I loved the sport of basketball. I used to play it in middle school, and I thought I was quite good at it. Considering my size, I was always the big man, posting up and grabbing rebounds. Even though I do not play basketball anymore, I still love watching basketball, especially college basketball. March Madness is one of my favorite times of the year for basketball. March Madness is an extremely crazy time for most colleges and even high schools, with teachers and players making brackets to bet on who will have the best predictions. College basketball has always been one of my favorite sports to watch, because even when the losing team is down a lot, they show the maximum effort and never give up, which I think is truly awesome. Since I love basketball so much, I thought this poem would appeal to me, and it really did.
The poem Always Something More Beautiful by Stephen Dunn captures the feeling a runner that has prepared and trained for a race as he approaches the starting line. I can strongly relate to this poem as I have had this experience countless times in my life as a runner. The feeling before you toe the line and the time before they shoot the gun are emotionally draining. Focusing on the strategy you have made and how you are going to execute it pacing and placement wise. For this reason in terms of relations I felt like it would be easier to commit to memory and recite. To me part of the poem is the calm before the storm and the other part is what goes through your head while racing. It may not seem exciting or tense but when running you're excited and tensed enough so your thoughts are calmer. To convey the fact that not everything about running is uniform and the same for everybody, he uses the 5th cousins twice removed when finding words to convey the message. He also shows how you can do anything and catch anyone during the race, as he approaches his rival with the long graceful stride.
I chose to recite the poem "A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky" by Lewis Carroll. One of my favorite poets and writers is Lewis Carroll so when I went on the Poetry Out Loud website I immediately searched his name. I love his poem "The Jabberwocky" which appears in his book Alice in Wonderland. I fell in love with the story of Alice in Wonderland when I was younger and still love it today. I read both the books in grade school. I used to act in plays and the first play I acted in was Alice in Wonderland. There is something about the mystery and fantasy of the book that I love. When I saw the poem "A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky" I knew that it was the right poem for me. The poem talks about Lewis Carroll and the children he used to tell his stories to. It specifically talks about Alice Liddell, the girl who the Alice in Wonderland books were based off of. The poem talks about summer ending and fall starting and looks back on his memories of the children and Alice. He remembers the memories of the children living in a dream world during the summer. My favorite thing about the poem is that it ends in the question, "Life, what is it but a dream?" I feel like that gives the poem a mysterious side along with a part that lets you dream and fantasize.
I chose the poem From Space to Time by Carolyn M. Rodgers. I was originally just scanning through the poems trying to find the shortest ones to pick out. When I saw this poem however, I immediately fell in love with the poem and its meaning. The theme of this poem is the love between two people. It shows how they used to be deeply in love but eventually fell out of it. They were trying to get back to a time when they did love each other but they couldn't reverse time. I could relate with this poem because it reminded me of the book The Great Gatsby that I read earlier this year. Gatsby was trying to repeat the past so that him and Daisy could be together, but Daisy was no longer his. This novel put the poem From Space to Time into a story. Some people may be able to find their true love again and regain the love between themselves. Unfortunately, other people aren't so lucky. An important line in this poem is, "What did we find? Nothing. Everything when we closed our eyes, which anyway had never been open." This means that the two people were constantly living in a dream. They didn't want to face the reality of what was really going on in their lives so they put it behind them and pretended everything was okay-like they were living in a dream. This poem doesn't relatively have any rhyme scheme in it, but the words flow with each other when you read it. The poem ends with with couple falling, but not in love. Even though this poem ends dark and fairly sad, I love it because it shows that you won't always get the things you want in life but to never give up hope in your dreams.
The poem I chose for Poetry Out Loud is "Solitude", by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. I had originally been looking for a nice cheery poem with a simple rhyme that is easy to remember, and I had certainly not been expecting to choose the one I did. The poem is a rather somber one, written about the responses of people to someone who is happy against the those to someone who is sad. People often respond openly to joy and celebration, but are turned sharply away when they are needed to comfort others. I saw this poem as a harsh truth when I had read it, as I had seen it happen to others, felt it happen to me, and I –as much as I hate to admit– have been guilty of it myself. There is no difficulty in joining the happiness of another, while it is very taxing mellow yourself to share the depression of one who is grieving. However, it is in depression when you find those who are truly friends. When you lose your merriment, you lose all those who claimed to be your friends, and only the closest companions will stay to suffer with you.
I chose the poem "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. I first recognized this poem as being one of the poems on the wall of Mrs. Eane's classroom which I liked reading every English class. I think all of Robert Frost's poems are interesting but I enjoyed this poem particularly because it reminds me of the Christmas season. I can relate to this poem because one of my favorite things to do in the winter is to watch snow fall at night. The last stanza of this poem (which is the part on Mrs. Eane's wall) creates a peaceful image in my head of sparkling white trees in the moonlight by describing the woods as "lovely, dark, and deep." It also makes me think about the hardship of any type of journey or commitment when it says, "But I have promises to keep." It has iambic-tetrameter and a regular rhythm which makes it easier to remember. Also, the last quatrain really emphasizes that the person has a long journey ahead with the repetition of the phrase, " And miles to go before I sleep." "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" shows how lovely it is to stop rushing through life and just look around at the beauty that surrounds us.
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