Adele\’s Awesome Blog

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.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson – page 111

“The Eagle”

The eagle in the poem is a strong figure compared to a thunderbolt. He is also said to be “close to the sun” so he is highly honored in the poem— he is a strong figure. The “wrinkled sea beneath him [that] crawls” symbolizes the eagle’s food moving around and the strong bird has to “fall” from the “mountain walls” to reach it. The bird is close to the sun and is “ringed with the azure world” which makes him seem almost like he is on top of the world. The eagle could also represent America, since it is our national bird. We are a strong country like the bird.

James Stephens- page 119

“The Wind”

The first stanza of the line talks about the wind, the second leave and branches while the third is someone talking. In the first stanza when it says “the wind stood up and gave a shout” this seems as if there is a strong man and his strong words create the wind. In the second stanza this strong man filled with wind “kicked the withered leaves about and thumped the branches with his hands.” The man who shouted so harshly that there was wind now is having a tantrum by kicking and yelling. In the third stanza “he’d kill and kill and kill, and so he will and so he will.” The angry man who is yelling and kicking is now wanting to kill something and says he will. This poem is very interesting because the author does only uses the word he twice so your not really sure what he is talking about until you analyze it. Also it is interesting how the worst part of the poem (the end) is the only part that rhymes.  

Langston Huges – page 377

“Song for a Dark Girl”

This poem was based in the time period of 1927 and you can tell with what is going on in the poem. A girl is in love but “they hung [her] black young lover to a cross road tree.” This is why the poem is called the “song for a dark girl” because this happens not to only this one girl but many black girls have had to experience this. In this poem there is rhyme scheme and it’s A, B, A, B. Then in the end of the poem she relates back to the fact that her love was hung on a tree by saying that “love is a naked shadow on a gnarled and naked tree.” In the south love is hung on a tree and its impossible to find for the punishments are to harsh for a “dark girl.”

• Line breaks really determine how the poem should be said
• The way Allison designed “pool players” really made you think about the seven boys and how they each did something different and then die in will soon die in the end.
• Line breaks can make you interpret the poem different for example when the “We’s” were at the end of the sentence it really brought out the fact that the boys were together.