Blog 4
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.”
