"There Was a Young Girl From St. Paul" by Anonymous
No information on Author.
There Was a Young Girl From St. Paul
There was a young girl from St. Paul,
Wore a newspaper-dress to a ball.
The dress caught on fire
And burned her entire
Front page, sporting section and all.
This poem is an example of anapestic meter. There are two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed one. In the second line the poem the stressed syllables are: news, dress, and ball. The first two lines are descriptions of the girl attending the ball… a young girl wearing a dress made of a newspaper. The next two lines in the stanza are full of action. They are also shorter than the previous two. Not only are they shorter but they are also indented. This intentional indentation is extremely important to signify a change in the poems tone. It quickly changes from a descriptive poem to an action-packed one. There isn't much description on the burning of the dress other than the fact that it burned completely. This is representative of how fast it happened. Finally, the last line goes back to being more descriptive than action.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Metaphor
"At the Hospital" by David Ferry
David Ferry is an acclaimed English poet and translator. After returning from the air force to complete his degree at Amherst College he began writing poems.
At the Hospital
She was the sentence the cancer spoke at last,
Its blurred grammar finally clarified.
This short, yet meaningful poem, is filled with surprise and irony. The poem alludes to a death that was long coming and has already happened. The quickness and brevity of this poem adds to the poem making it more powerful in contrast to the long coming death. In this poem, the speaker is not a human but rather a "sentence spoken." This is ironic because the human is not in control, but rather controlled. The poem implies that life is so short and precious and the moment of death can be so precise. The poem as a whole is compared to a book, but the deceased person is compared to a final sentence of a book. The final sentence of a book usually clarifies facts that we are unsure of, which is something that typically pleases us. However, in this instance, clarity is a cause for remorse. The tone of this poem is very candid, or matter-of-fact.
David Ferry is an acclaimed English poet and translator. After returning from the air force to complete his degree at Amherst College he began writing poems.
At the Hospital
She was the sentence the cancer spoke at last,
Its blurred grammar finally clarified.
This short, yet meaningful poem, is filled with surprise and irony. The poem alludes to a death that was long coming and has already happened. The quickness and brevity of this poem adds to the poem making it more powerful in contrast to the long coming death. In this poem, the speaker is not a human but rather a "sentence spoken." This is ironic because the human is not in control, but rather controlled. The poem implies that life is so short and precious and the moment of death can be so precise. The poem as a whole is compared to a book, but the deceased person is compared to a final sentence of a book. The final sentence of a book usually clarifies facts that we are unsure of, which is something that typically pleases us. However, in this instance, clarity is a cause for remorse. The tone of this poem is very candid, or matter-of-fact.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Language: Diction and Description
"Slim Cunning Hands" by Walter de la Mare
Walter de la Mare was an English poet born in to a well-to-do family. A winner of the Carnegie Medal, he is considered one of the chief exemplars of the romantic imagination.
Slim Cunning Hands
Slim cunning hands at rest, and cozening eyes-
Under this stone one loved too wildly lies;
How false she was, no granite could declare;
Nor all earth's flowers, how fair.
In this poem by Walter de la Mare he is describing a women who has passed away. It is evident that the speaker of this poem remembers the physical appearance of this women. He describes her as having "slim cunning hands" and "cozening eyes." This also gives us insight into the type of person that the woman was. A deceitful and sly person. The words such as "granite" and "stone" also give finality and emphasize her death. They both are part of the makeup of a gravestone, thus dealing with death. In the second line of the poem the syntax of the sentence leads us to be able to interpret it in two ways. The first way we can interpret it is that he loved her in a crazy manner. Their love was wild, but other people loved her as well. The second way we can interpret it is that the word "lies" at the end of the sentence relate to the lies she told. We can draw this conclusion because it connects back to the fact that she was initially described as cunning. In the third line the speaker tells us that no granite could declare her falsities because it is too permanent. It would be paradoxical to have something so permanent declare something that was so fickle. Finally, in the last line, the word "fair" just like "lies" can be taken two ways. First we can interpret it as him looking at her physical beauty again… his final thoughts could have been about how her appearance was fair. Or, he could be saying that this is just the way that no granite can declare her fickleness.
Walter de la Mare was an English poet born in to a well-to-do family. A winner of the Carnegie Medal, he is considered one of the chief exemplars of the romantic imagination.
Slim Cunning Hands
Slim cunning hands at rest, and cozening eyes-
Under this stone one loved too wildly lies;
How false she was, no granite could declare;
Nor all earth's flowers, how fair.
In this poem by Walter de la Mare he is describing a women who has passed away. It is evident that the speaker of this poem remembers the physical appearance of this women. He describes her as having "slim cunning hands" and "cozening eyes." This also gives us insight into the type of person that the woman was. A deceitful and sly person. The words such as "granite" and "stone" also give finality and emphasize her death. They both are part of the makeup of a gravestone, thus dealing with death. In the second line of the poem the syntax of the sentence leads us to be able to interpret it in two ways. The first way we can interpret it is that he loved her in a crazy manner. Their love was wild, but other people loved her as well. The second way we can interpret it is that the word "lies" at the end of the sentence relate to the lies she told. We can draw this conclusion because it connects back to the fact that she was initially described as cunning. In the third line the speaker tells us that no granite could declare her falsities because it is too permanent. It would be paradoxical to have something so permanent declare something that was so fickle. Finally, in the last line, the word "fair" just like "lies" can be taken two ways. First we can interpret it as him looking at her physical beauty again… his final thoughts could have been about how her appearance was fair. Or, he could be saying that this is just the way that no granite can declare her fickleness.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Context: Situation and Setting
"Aubade on East 12th Street" by August Kleinzahler
August Kleinzahler was born and raised in New Jersey. In addition to majoring in English, Kleinzahler worked multiple blue-collar jobs. Latterly, he has taught Creative Writing at Brown University.
Aubade on East 12th Street
The skylight silvers
and a faint shudder from the undergroundtravels up the building's steel.
Dawn breaks across this wildernessof roofs with their old wooden storage tanksand caps of louvered cowlings
moving in the wind. Your back,raised hip and thighwell-tooled as a rounded baluster
on a lathe of shadow and light.
In this poem Kleinzahler is describing the sunrise on one particular morning. He is illustrating the breaking of dawn. He uses explicit descriptions to bring his readers into the poem. In the first stanza it is almost as if we can feel the "faint shudder from underground" and see the "skylight silvers… travel up the building's steel." For Kleinzahler to choose the wilderness to compare the city to is quite ironic but works perfectly in this situation. Both are always changing and bustling with life. This poem is set in a city, most likely New York City, as dawn breaks. The author does a fantastic job describing the setting for us. With the ground shuddering from the underground, rays of light twinkling against the silver buildings,dawn breaks in the forever moving and changing city. The situation of this particular poem is a person, most likely the author, watching the sunrise from 12th street. He witnesses everything that he puts into the poem. It is possible that he is watching all of this occur from the top of a skyscraper building looking down on the city.
August Kleinzahler was born and raised in New Jersey. In addition to majoring in English, Kleinzahler worked multiple blue-collar jobs. Latterly, he has taught Creative Writing at Brown University.
Aubade on East 12th Street
The skylight silvers
and a faint shudder from the undergroundtravels up the building's steel.
Dawn breaks across this wildernessof roofs with their old wooden storage tanksand caps of louvered cowlings
moving in the wind. Your back,raised hip and thighwell-tooled as a rounded baluster
on a lathe of shadow and light.
In this poem Kleinzahler is describing the sunrise on one particular morning. He is illustrating the breaking of dawn. He uses explicit descriptions to bring his readers into the poem. In the first stanza it is almost as if we can feel the "faint shudder from underground" and see the "skylight silvers… travel up the building's steel." For Kleinzahler to choose the wilderness to compare the city to is quite ironic but works perfectly in this situation. Both are always changing and bustling with life. This poem is set in a city, most likely New York City, as dawn breaks. The author does a fantastic job describing the setting for us. With the ground shuddering from the underground, rays of light twinkling against the silver buildings,dawn breaks in the forever moving and changing city. The situation of this particular poem is a person, most likely the author, watching the sunrise from 12th street. He witnesses everything that he puts into the poem. It is possible that he is watching all of this occur from the top of a skyscraper building looking down on the city.
Friday, November 7, 2014
Speaker
"We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Brooks was a post-war poet born in Topeka, Kansas. As a teenager she began writing and publishing eventually becoming the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize. She ultimately died in her Chicago home in 2000.
We Real Cool
THE POOL PLAYERS.
SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.
We real cool. WeLeft school. We
Lurk late. WeStrike straight. We
Sing sin. WeThin gin. We
Jazz June. WeDie soon.
In Gwendolyn Brooks poem "We Real Cool" there are obvious characters present. The first two lines of the poem let us know that there are seven pool players--probably young boys. The speaker of this poem, according to Brooks herself, sees these boys playing pool during school time. She then begins to wonder what is going through their minds, what they're thinking of themselves. These boys, young enough to be in school yet old enough to skip on their own and go to the Golden Shovel, are rebellious and the author is speaking as if they are the ones talking. The words of this poem are the thoughts of these young boys. Rather than being judgmental, the author is simply being curious as to what is running through the minds of these boys. The tone of the speaker in the poem would be rather contemptuous. The boys are very proud of what they do and very willing to broadcast their actions. The language the author has them use, as in incorrect grammar, is to emphasize the fact they skip school and the overall arrogance they might have. Also, it is to show the "too cool for school" attitude they possess.
Gwendolyn Brooks was a post-war poet born in Topeka, Kansas. As a teenager she began writing and publishing eventually becoming the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize. She ultimately died in her Chicago home in 2000.
We Real Cool
THE POOL PLAYERS.
SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.
We real cool. WeLeft school. We
Lurk late. WeStrike straight. We
Sing sin. WeThin gin. We
Jazz June. WeDie soon.
In Gwendolyn Brooks poem "We Real Cool" there are obvious characters present. The first two lines of the poem let us know that there are seven pool players--probably young boys. The speaker of this poem, according to Brooks herself, sees these boys playing pool during school time. She then begins to wonder what is going through their minds, what they're thinking of themselves. These boys, young enough to be in school yet old enough to skip on their own and go to the Golden Shovel, are rebellious and the author is speaking as if they are the ones talking. The words of this poem are the thoughts of these young boys. Rather than being judgmental, the author is simply being curious as to what is running through the minds of these boys. The tone of the speaker in the poem would be rather contemptuous. The boys are very proud of what they do and very willing to broadcast their actions. The language the author has them use, as in incorrect grammar, is to emphasize the fact they skip school and the overall arrogance they might have. Also, it is to show the "too cool for school" attitude they possess.
Monday, November 3, 2014
Tone
"Mother of the Groom" by Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney, born in Ireland, published his first poetry book in 1966. Heaney won the 1995 Nobel Prize in literature. He became a professor and speaker and eventually passed away in August of 2013.
Mother of the Groom
What she remembersIs his glistening backIn the bath, his small bootsin the ring of boots at her feet.
Hands in her voided lap,she hears a daughter welcomed.It’s as if he kicked when liftedand slipped her soapy hold.
Once soap would ease offthe wedding ringthat’s bedded forever nowin her clapping hand.
"Mother of the Groom" by Seamus Heaney is about a mother who experiences both sadness and shock through the marriage of her son. In the first stanza the mother is remembering bathing her son when he was a small child. In this stanza Heaney uses a nostalgic tone to remember this event. The mother remembers washing her son's "glistening" back symbolizing the beauty she saw in her son. By the author choosing the mother to remember the child's back shows how he is leaving his mother. In the second stanza Heaney uses "voided" to describe the mother's hands. This is used to show the mother's emptiness she feels as a result of the marriage. The second line of this stanza is the first time a daughter-in-law is present. The final two lines of the second stanza are a description of how the mother feels. Heaney describes the sound of hearing her daughter-in-law as her baby son kicking and being dropped in the bath. This word choice leads us to believe that the mother was not approving of the marriage, yet the son still got away and has caused the mother as much pain as she would feel as if she dropped her son. The final stanza is how the mother views the marriage ending up: in divorce. The soap will "ease off" allowing the wedding ring "bedded forever now" to be removed.
Throughout the entire poem the author continues to go back to the picture of the baby being bathed. "… she remembers… /his glistening back/in the bath," "It's as if he kicked when lifted/And slipped her soapy hold/ Once soap would ease off." This is all to show how a mother has a certain connection with her son from the time of infancy through marriage where she will always view him as "her little boy."
Seamus Heaney, born in Ireland, published his first poetry book in 1966. Heaney won the 1995 Nobel Prize in literature. He became a professor and speaker and eventually passed away in August of 2013.
Mother of the Groom
What she remembersIs his glistening backIn the bath, his small bootsin the ring of boots at her feet.
Hands in her voided lap,she hears a daughter welcomed.It’s as if he kicked when liftedand slipped her soapy hold.
Once soap would ease offthe wedding ringthat’s bedded forever nowin her clapping hand.
"Mother of the Groom" by Seamus Heaney is about a mother who experiences both sadness and shock through the marriage of her son. In the first stanza the mother is remembering bathing her son when he was a small child. In this stanza Heaney uses a nostalgic tone to remember this event. The mother remembers washing her son's "glistening" back symbolizing the beauty she saw in her son. By the author choosing the mother to remember the child's back shows how he is leaving his mother. In the second stanza Heaney uses "voided" to describe the mother's hands. This is used to show the mother's emptiness she feels as a result of the marriage. The second line of this stanza is the first time a daughter-in-law is present. The final two lines of the second stanza are a description of how the mother feels. Heaney describes the sound of hearing her daughter-in-law as her baby son kicking and being dropped in the bath. This word choice leads us to believe that the mother was not approving of the marriage, yet the son still got away and has caused the mother as much pain as she would feel as if she dropped her son. The final stanza is how the mother views the marriage ending up: in divorce. The soap will "ease off" allowing the wedding ring "bedded forever now" to be removed.
Throughout the entire poem the author continues to go back to the picture of the baby being bathed. "… she remembers… /his glistening back/in the bath," "It's as if he kicked when lifted/And slipped her soapy hold/ Once soap would ease off." This is all to show how a mother has a certain connection with her son from the time of infancy through marriage where she will always view him as "her little boy."
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Ars Poetica
"The Aim Was Song" by Robert Frost
Frost was born in March of 1874. After spending the first forty years of his life unknown, he became well-known after returning from England in the midst of WWI. He ultimately won four Pulitzer Prizes before his death in January of 1963.
The Aim Was Song
Before man to blow to right
The wind once blew itself untaught,
And did its loudest day and night
In any rough place where it caught.
Man came to tell it what was wrong:
It hadn't found the place to blow;
It blew too hard -- the aim was song.
And listen -- how it ought to go!
He took a little in his mouth,
And held it long enough for north
To be converted into south,
And then by measure blew it forth.
By measure. It was word and note,
The wind the wind had meant to be --
A little through the lips and throat.
The aim was song -- the wind could see.
This poem written by Robert Frost tells the story of how song came to be. In the first stanza we learn that wind, before the influence of man, blew on its own with no boundaries whether it blew at night or during the day. The first appearance of man's influence is in the second stanza. "Man came to tell it what was wrong." By the third stanza there is a shift in how the wind works. The third stanza contains a description of how wind was turned into song. Finally, the fourth and final stanza reveals to us that the aim of the instruction given by the man was for wind to become song. In this particular poem Frost is discussing how poetry has evolved over time. He uses four stanzas with the same meter throughout to get his message across. Moreover, each of the four stanzas has a particular rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme throughout the entire poem goes as follows: abab cdcd efef ghgh. The metaphor of the wind changing over time is meant to represent how poetry changes over time. In addition, it is a perfect description of how man disrupts nature. In the poem there is no evidence that says there needed to be a change, but, with that said, man still makes a change. Also, Frost is saying that song are a form of poems, just as wind is a form of song. With a little rhythm, meter, and melody a song is formed through poetry and in the case of the poem, through wind.
Frost was born in March of 1874. After spending the first forty years of his life unknown, he became well-known after returning from England in the midst of WWI. He ultimately won four Pulitzer Prizes before his death in January of 1963.
The Aim Was Song
Before man to blow to right
The wind once blew itself untaught,
And did its loudest day and night
In any rough place where it caught.
Man came to tell it what was wrong:
It hadn't found the place to blow;
It blew too hard -- the aim was song.
And listen -- how it ought to go!
He took a little in his mouth,
And held it long enough for north
To be converted into south,
And then by measure blew it forth.
By measure. It was word and note,
The wind the wind had meant to be --
A little through the lips and throat.
The aim was song -- the wind could see.
This poem written by Robert Frost tells the story of how song came to be. In the first stanza we learn that wind, before the influence of man, blew on its own with no boundaries whether it blew at night or during the day. The first appearance of man's influence is in the second stanza. "Man came to tell it what was wrong." By the third stanza there is a shift in how the wind works. The third stanza contains a description of how wind was turned into song. Finally, the fourth and final stanza reveals to us that the aim of the instruction given by the man was for wind to become song. In this particular poem Frost is discussing how poetry has evolved over time. He uses four stanzas with the same meter throughout to get his message across. Moreover, each of the four stanzas has a particular rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme throughout the entire poem goes as follows: abab cdcd efef ghgh. The metaphor of the wind changing over time is meant to represent how poetry changes over time. In addition, it is a perfect description of how man disrupts nature. In the poem there is no evidence that says there needed to be a change, but, with that said, man still makes a change. Also, Frost is saying that song are a form of poems, just as wind is a form of song. With a little rhythm, meter, and melody a song is formed through poetry and in the case of the poem, through wind.
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