Adele\’s Awesome Blog

Syliva Plath- “Lady Lazarus”

This poem has three lines in each stanza. Some of the words are slant rhymes. This poem also starts off with a lot of n sounds. For example in the first stanza there are the words “again,” “ten,” “done,” and “manage.” In this poem Sylvia Platt uses symbols to represent herself. It shows that she is almost scared of the world. The sentence “Dying/ Is an art, like everything else.”  This is symbolizing Sylivia Platt because she tried to kill herself five times. Dying you can get creative with it like an art. Natzi’s would make lamps and furniture out of baby skin and this is the connection she makes in the second stanza of the poem. She compares herself to a Jew because they have just seen 6 million Jewish people die. Right after you die your identity is gone just like everyone else (the Jewish people).

Robert Frost- “The Road Not Taken”

In the poem the “The Road Not Taken” Robert Frost is monosyllabic with his diction and uses consitant rhyming. This poem is about turning points in a persons life. Robert Frost effectively camputres that essentaul moment through his use of rhyme and story telling. In the first stanza Frost sets the scene for the reader. Then in the second stanza Frost tells the reader that he chose to take the road less traveled by describing it as grassier and “wanted wear.” Frost also adds an element of chance and surprise by saying “and both that morning equally lay in leaves not step in trodden black” meaning there was no difference between the two paves when he was faced with a choice. The poem comes full circle when it is describes that he will eventually look back on this turning point and see the differences between these two similar paths.

Jean Toomer- “Reapers”

This poem has a rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme is A, A, B, B, C, C, D, D.  In this poem the lines are almost iambic pentameters. But it is not because there are some lines breaks in the middle of the poem and sometimes there are anapests. For example “with the sound” is an anapest. Because the “with the” is unstressed while “sound” is stressed. This poem gives a scary feeling and makes me feel scared.

Elizabeth Bishop- “Filling Station”

In this poem the first two stanzas almost make the poem seem like its going to be a sestina. The words “dirty” and “station” are used at the end of two of the seven lines in both the first and second stanza. The last two stanza’s do the same thing, they use the words “doily” and “plant” and the end of two of the seven stanzas. There is no rhyme in this poem; it has more of a natural rhythm. In the poem it talks about a “black translucency.” This shows that you can still see what it really is. Also in the second stanza one of the lines is in parenthesis it says “(it’s a family filling station).” This links the family to the station. This poem has a questioning, and puzzled tone. Which leaves the reader uncertain about exactly what’s going on in the poem.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning- “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways”

This poem has an A, B, C, D rhyme scheme. In this poem the lines have caesura’s. This poem also has repetition. For example the word “thee.” It is found in the first two sentences and then towards the end of the poem three lines start with “I love thee.” Even though this poem has a A,B,C,D rhyme scheme. This poem really speaks to whom ever the lover of Elizabeth is.

Shirly Geok-lin Lim- “Riding into California”

This poem as an internal couplet. This poem also has caesura’s because in some of the lines a sentence will end and a new one will start again. This poem really shows what America can look like to an outside. It is explained has having “Oil rigs litter the land like giant frozen birds.” The poem being titles “Riding into California” is just a small description about how an outsider to America can really feel neglected. You have to “be your own ancestor.” This would be hard to have no one want to sit next to because your foreign. This poem could really teach people a lesson about prejudice’s.

Paul Laurence Dunbar

“We Wear the Mask”

This poem has a rhyme scheme. It goes A, A, B, B, A, A, A, C, D, A, A, C, C, A, D. This poem is discussing how you wear a “mask” when you are grinning and lying because your not really being yourself and telling the truth. This poem uses archaic diction. This poem has many different ways that the “mask” covers your face. There is no actual mask its just when your not being yourself. There is a catholic or some sort of religion reference in this poem.

Robert Frost

“Nothing Gold Can Stay”

There is a rhyme scheme in this poem. The rhyme scheme goes A, A, B, B, C, C, D, D. These are couplets within a poem. This poem overall when you first read it you think that “Nothing Gold Can Stay” means that the gold buds or the early part of leaves are gold. The second meaning of this I think is that no one can be “gold” forever like no one can be honored or cherished forever.

Ku Klux

“Langston Hughes”

This poem is about the Ku Klux Klan. They describe how they “took me out to some lonesome place.” The descriptions in this poem really give a feel for what the people in the Ku Klux Klan acted like towards the black people. In this poem there is a rhyme scheme although a lot of them are slant rhymes it goes A, B, A, B.

Chryss Yost- Lai With Sounds of Skin

The title of this poem gives the poem a sexual feel. The poem does have a rhyme scheme and it is A,A,B,A,A,B,A,A and then in the second stanza A,A,C,A,A,C,A,A. This poem is a octet . He also uses a lot of alliteration for example “tightly, twisted, thin.” This poem consists of eight stanzas. The author does not ever specify what he is talking about in the poem, he uses symbolism. For example instead of saying that they are naked he says “Shall we dress in skin.” This keeps the reader interested because she has to keep reading to figure out what the author is talking about. In the second stanza of the poem he stresses the “like will, like has been.” He does this because it shows that the wool is unraveling. The wool unraveling just like the girl. Throughout the whole poem the yarn is being compared to the girl. This really becomes clear in the end when he states “skin to skein to skin.” Showing that he was comparing a bulk of yard (skein) to an actual human (skin). The last line of the poem is kind of like a sator or epiphany because the reader then realizes exactly what the author is comparing.

Emily Dickinson- I’m Nobody! Who Are You?

In this poem you can tell the Author, Emily is feeling alone. She wants to find someone else who is lonely so they can both be lonely together. She then goes in the second stanza starts being sarcastic by saying “How dreary – to be- somebody!” She compares it to being a frog and known creature to a bog which is almost like a dead frog or a waste of some sort.  She says that it would be nice to have people know your name instead of being “Nobody.” In every line of this poem there are caesura’s which is a pause in a line. This makes the poem feel as if someone is actually talking to you.  The poem does have a rhyme scheme in the first four lined stanza the first two lines are a rhyming couplet. In the second stanza the rhyme scheme is A, B, C, B. The words frog and bog are rhyming. This poem turns out to be ironic because Emily Dickenson does make a name for herself and is a well known poet.

Bruce Bennett – page 306

The Lady Speaks Again

This poem is sending a very strong message. If I had to guess I would say that this poem was written by a slave and is trying to tell her master something. She is trying to tell her that although the black people in this time period on earth are of less power in heaven they are all the same under gods eyes. The master of the slave seems to think she has the easy life in heaven too. The poem is only three lines but has a rhyme scheme of A, B, A, B. This poem is a tetrameter because there are four iambs in each line.

Jennifer Reeser- page 82

Winter-Proof

This poem is implicating that the flowers mentioned in the poem die in the winter. That is why he mentions the word “graveyard.” This poem has a A,B,A,B,C,D,C,D rhyme scheme but the A’s and C’s are all slant rhymes. The title of the poem really brings the whole poem because the title is ironic because most flowers are not “winter-proof.”

E.E. Cummings- page 221

Buffalo Bill’s

The first thing that draws my attention to this poem is the shape that it is in. This poem is not all together it stagers out. The main word that draws my attention is Jesus because it is the one that is the furthest out on the page. The way the author combined words is interesting. It is a good effect because people read and analyze poems by rhythm and by making it all one word it shows that this line is not as important. 

W.S. Merwin- page 221

“For the Anniversary of My Death”

The man in this poem really brings up a good point. Every year we pass up the day that our death is going to be. Without knowing which day it is. I have never thought of it this way and it really open up something. This poem does not really have a beat in it and also has no rhyme scheme. Although there is no rhythm there is a caesura in each line. This is where there is pause in the line. In the end of this poem the author talks about how once he does die he will not have to “wear strange garment” meaning he will not have to wear clothes. This poem is divided into two asymmetrical sections and the difference between the two is that the first one is talking about how strange it is that everyday could be the day that you die. The second part is talking about how dying might not be such a bad thing.

Arthur Guiterman- page 340

“On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness”

This poem is about how people kill things so they can use them for their own selfish reasons. For example the tusks of an elephant that are used in “mighty brawls” are now “billiard balls.” This poem has a rhyme scheme of A,A,B,B,C,C,D,D. Although the A,A and the D,D are slant rhymes. The title really portrays the poem well because the greatness of all the “earthly” animals and people are now simply something that someone buys for there own enjoyment.

Robert Hayden- page 341

“The Whipping”

This poem is a iambic trimeter. It is has a unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Although some parts of the poem do have anapest; for example when she says “and shouting to the neighborhood.” The “to the” makes the line a anapest. This poem is also a black verse because it is a unrhymed iambic pentameter. The speaker in this poem is an onlooker who has some relation to the women who is beating the boy. Although the author wants to make the reader feel like he has a attachment to the boy I feel like it is towards the woman who is beating the boy. I think this because it says “I no longer knew or loved…” Someone would not stop loving someone after they were being beaten but only if they were the one doing the beating.

The first poem “With Serving Still” is an iambic pentameter because it stresses every other word. The second poem Resume is an anapest because it stresses only the end word of each line. Both poems have a rhyme scheme of A B A B. 

Langston Hughes- page 379

“End”

This poem is talking about how in the life of a slave there is no time. Their is also no door for privacy. A slaves life they do nothing for themselevs just for their worker. Their isent light nor dark outside the door saying that no matter what they feel as if there is no hope. This poem does not have a rhyme scheme which I think has a dramatic effect on the poem because rhyming usually makes a poem more lyrical.

Anthony Hecht- page 463

“Adam”

The refrain in this poem is “Adam, my child my son” it is used twice. It is used at the beginning of two of the three stanzas.  The first stanza of this poem is in quotation marks. The author wants his song to actually feel like that is what he is saying to him. The rest of the poem (not in quotations) is talking more about God and how he is the father. This poem makes me want to believe in god more for I feel like he is a fatherly figure.

Jane Kenyon- page 125

“The Suitor”

This poem has very interesting imagery. It compares the lifting and falling of curtains to the breathing of someone’s chest. When the poem says “wind moves the leaves of the box elder” I don’t quite understand what it is saying. When the leaves move they show “their light undersides.” Saying how they change directions like a school of fish. This makes the person in the poem happy and she has been feeling this for awhile. Finally the timid suitor comes to talk to her. In this poem there are a lot of similes, which really make the poem come to life.

Bruce Bennet- page 306

“The Lady Speaks Again”

The lady speaking in this poem is the statue of liberty. Since the US just recently ended the great depression with the start of WWII it would seem things were getting better thus the door being more golden. This was also a time of great economic growth. This poem has a rhyme scheme and its A, B, A, B. This poem mimics the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus but adds a new spin to it.

 Robert Frost- page 255

“Nothing Gold Can Stay”

This poem is talking about the story of Adam of Eve and since Eve neglected her orders not to take a bite out of the apple she brought sorrow and greif into the world. The poem is titled “Nothing Gold Cant Stay” because once Eve took a bite out of the apple they were kicked out of paradise and brought sorrow to the world.

Hilaire Belloc- Page 163

“The Hippopotamus”

The Hippopotamus was shot down with platinum bullets because you have to shoot something nice with something else nice. This would be like trying to cut a tree down with a butter knife. Using leaden bullets would not kill the animal. This poem has a A,B,A,B rhyme scheme.

Dana Gioia- page 123 “Money” In the first stanza of the poem they discuss all the different names of money. In the second stanza they talk about what you can do with the money you own. The third stanza is harder to understand. I feel like its about the names of people who own a lot of money. In the fourth stanza it talks about what money does- it “helps feather a nest.” This shows that it provides. In the fifth stanza it talks about how money is an on going process. You give money to one person while you hopefully receive it from another—an ongoing process. In the end it says “Money. You don’t know where it’s been, but you put it where your mouth is. And it talks.” “You put your money where your mouth is” is a common phrase usually meaning something along the lines of prove it. In this case it is used in two way one being very literal. You put your money where your mouth is even though you don’t know where it has been is saying you literally do it. The second thing that this means is when it says “it talks” meaning money controls you and has its own voice. The more you have the more you can receive. There is no rhyme scheme but it starts of with telling you just different names of money then ending with a deeper meaning in what it does. Margaret Atwood- page 122 “You Fit Into Me” When I read this poem I think of two things. One of course is fishing. The fishes eyes are always open and the hook pierces through the fish and “fits into it.” This poem could also symbolize sex. The way the author ends two of her four lines with the word eye is effective. It really shows how the eye is an important part in the poem. William Carlos Williams- page 528 “To Waken an Old Lady” William starts off the poem by comparing old age or waking an old lady to a flight of birds being happy and cheeping. He explains how they gain and loose strength. He then goes to ask a question “then what?” everything after the question seems harsh. The “harsh weedstalks” and “the snow is covered with broken seedhusks.” This shows how old age and waking an old lady does have its ups and downs with the beginning starting off good then towards the middle the bird is “gaining and failing” then the end is weak.