Getting Out

I though this poem was about the struggles of leaving a love. We see that the husband tried for "weeks" to leave over his pile of things but could never quite really leave. This tone of acceptance comes at the very end when the speaker says, "We held on tight, and let go." I took this as that their relationship was not working and although they it was hard to part they needed to. So in the end the learned to let go of each other knowing it was for the best to have a happier life. It also speaks of the conflict that is involved in marraiges. Their unhappiness is compared to prisons in which inmates "beat the walls" from being trapped. I think that is what these characters were feeling, the feeling of being trapped.

the apparition

In this poem the speaker has issues! It is odd that he seems to say that if you cheat on me i will haunt you. But this woman has not done it and yet the speaker's "love is spent". Which i do not understand how one's love is able to spent when his love has not cheated on him yet. That is what made me think that this speaker was a stalker. He has unrequited love for a woman and vows to haunt her if she finds solace in another man. He speaks of haunting when he says she will wake up her lover who will think she wants something sexual and therefore returns to slumber. The speaker is almost making this scenario all up in his mind.

My Mistress' Eye

The tone in this poem is one mostly of satire. For the speaker satirizes all the poets of the past comparing their lovers to very impossibly beautiful things from nature. Therefore the speaker compares his own lover to realistic objects or comes off as denouncing the woman's physical attributes. Yet that is not the speakers point for he calls his love "as rare" which means that he does love his mistress and that she is beautiful. But she is not as beautiful as the things the poets of old compared their ladies too. The tone of satire comes from when the speaker says that his mistress' attributes are not like, for example, the sun. It makes the satire clear.

Crossing the Bar

The literary term used most predominantly in this poem is a metaphor that sums up the whole point of the poem. The metaphor compares a sandbar that that represents the point of death. The poem's sentence about "one clear call" is about the clear call of death that the speaker seems to know is coming for him. The resounding metaphor stays with the reader because of the repeating theme of death is throughout the poem. The speaker accepts the fate and yet only wants his loved ones to not be sad. This poem is almost a reassurance to the loved ones. it is as if he is saying he will be okay with the "pilot" or God. That is why he is little more accepting because the speaker believes in God.

Sorting Laundry

The imagery in this poem describes the many items that one must sort for the purpose of functioning in a household. The speaker talks normally about what she must launder and sort. It is the most normal part of any relationship but she speaks because her lover is gone. We know that from the "former love" at the end of the poem. Also with all the images of so many clothes we see the immense task of laundering and yet with all those examples it cannot fill "the empty side of the bed." The purpose of poem's imagery was to show the reader all that she folded for her lover. But when he is gone even the simplest task is not enough to cover up the profound effect he had in her life. She thinks of even the little things through clothes that are a huge part of any person's life.

Batter my heart, three-personed God

The literary term used in the first quatrain of this poem is a paradox. The paradox is "three-personed God". It is impossible for one thing to be three persons but I think it alludes to the divine trinity. The speaker is talking of all three parts of God and what God does with all three parts. He seeks to mend, make me new, and defends us. Those are the three lenses of God that the speaker talks of. His diction shows his love for God but the struggle endured because of the "enemy". THe enemy is the devil or sin which we, as humans, are so inclined to do. This poem is almost a begging prayer for help to be more involved with God.

APO 96225

The poem title is a vietnam mailing dress. Which makes sense with the rest of the poem which is in the context of a young man writing letters to his mother. In the poem the diction used is one of nonchalance from the young soldier. He does not want to tell his mother what is really happening. I found that when the mother insisted and he still responded with avoiding the question I thought it meant that he knew she was not prepared to realize what her son was really doing. I also know that propaganda during the war was very bad so I thought the mother may want to have her son an outlet for someone to talk to. But when the son finally tells her what he did in a very emotionless way we see that the mother did not want to hear it. I think it alludes to the hard truth that civilians cannot understand the hardships of war or truly grasp what must be done. I think the mother was a symbol for all mothers, families, and friends who have loved ones in war that their friend or family member has to commit violence that we cannot comprehend. So we do not deal with it well if they do tell us because we have only one view and perspective of our loved one.

Barbie Doll

The first thing that popped into my mind when reading this poem was "that is so true!" The author captures the truly sensitive of psyche in today and even in the 1900's perception of themselves. For someone to trash on another appearance in such a awkward stage in puberty (although the author refers to that time as "magic puberty") is to damage their fragile confidence that is already small at this stage in life. When people spoke of her "big nose" and "thick legs" she "cut" them off. I took this figuratively. That in reality it was symbolic for plastic surgery for people at her funeral only talked of how she "pretty" "with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on". When she changed herself she also lost herself. The reader sees this in the diction used by the author of how "her good nature wore out like a fan belt." She tried to become the "coy" and over excitable girl that society today only accepts from women.

TOADs...AHH EWW

The toad in this poem seems to symbolize his utter hatred for his job. He talks of how its a "sickening poison-just for a few bills." He does it only for the sake of survival and getting his bills paid. It is almost a poem comprised entirely of a person complaining over his job. Therefore it also is funny when he talks about it hinders him from getting a girl. It is an excuse for his life that is not the way he wants it. Also one can clearly see his total frustration with the italicized phrase of "stuff your pensions."

Pink Dog

At first I took this poem way too literally and assumed it was about a dog. But the as i really read it i realized that this dog is symbolic for a prostitute. This poem talks about this "pink dog's" exploits. It makes the reader grasp how passerbyers react to prostitution or even homeless people. The "drawback and stare." There is also satire used when the speaker talks callously of what the city does to beggars. I thought it was his way of bringing into focus all that is wrong with his city. But also that even these people will be in the city and are apart of it. Although then he randomly talks about hte carnival which is Rio de Janeiro. It is a big carnival and i think he talks of the this so the reader sees that these lowly people will make it not as prettty. Or he means they can also have fun.

Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes

The imagery in this poem makes the dream into a live object. For the speakers asks what will happen to a dream left in the dark. All of the questions are rhetorical but the visual effect helps the reader see the effects when a goal is put aside. The imagery of a dream that "fester like a sore-and then run?" tells the reader that the dream will eat at you. It will become a regret because it went unfulfilled. Also the background of the author being an African American man in the 1930's and 1940's suggests that he is expressing to the African American people of what could happen if they do not reach for equality now. When the speaker asks his final question of "or does it explode?" My immediate picture was riots because of the built up anger against those who have oppressed African American people.

BRIGHT Star

In this poem the speaker talks to a Star. ALthough the reader never sees a response from the star the speaker has personified it with his persistence in speaking to it. He talks in a way that is of reverence for what the star is able to see but he would never want to be so alone. The readers then form an image of this star of being a wise old thing by how much it has been able to see. It sees "the moving waters at their priestlike task." Such sights with "eternal lids" suggests that the star will be up there forever. We read then that the speaker would rather be "pillowed upon my fair love's ripening breast". Suggesting that to be alone with out someone you love is unbearable and would rather "swoon to death."

February by Margaret Atwood

The first thing that passed through my mind as I read the word "bum hole" in this poem was, "is this lady nuts?" The entire poem is with a tone of total disgust for the human race. Firstly she compares humans to cats. Elusive and very unemotional animals only capable of sex and peeing on things. One can also deduce I am not a cat person. But that still does not lose the certain meaning of the poem. For she, this speaker, is in her bed not wanting to get out and her only companion that we know of is her cat. This cat , she speaks of, also does not care if she were dead. It creates an image of the speaker. It makes her appear lonely and grumpy.
We can also see that the time of which she is speaking is the month of love which she then proceeds to describe the month as the "month of despair with a skewered heart in the middle." AKA we need to get this lady a man or prozac. But then we see the light at the end when she personifies the cat by talking in positive but firm tones about seizing the day. Makes me think this Atwood lady isn't so crazy after all...well only slightly.

Those Winter Sundays

I thought this poem was the relationship between a child and their father. Through diction we see that the realtionship is not close because of the "chronic angers of that house" suggesting that the father was the disciplinary one. But we see that he was also a hard worker because of the "cracked hands that ached". Through the long sentence describing the father we realize the gravity of his work. We see the long struggle he must do to provide for his family. Although his family never thanked him. I also read a tone of regret when the person talked of how the father made the house warm. Then the family "slowly..." rose and dressed. Also you saw the regret through the last line. It narrator questions his or her knowledge of the true boundaries of love and how there really isn't any. And so the reader sees the narraters remorse for grateful words left unspoken.

After Apple Picking

When I read this poem i was very confused to see if there was actually a deeper meaning to the poem. But all that came to my notice was that it was of a person who was tired of the same job and seeing apples wasted. I also thought maybe the apples that were to "surely to the cider-apple heap" was a symbol of one being fed up with what he was doing. He even thought of apples in his sleep. Maybe that was the sign of becoming unsatisfied. The narrator even says "I could tell what form my dreaming was about to take." He had a premonition of what was to come. He talks also of himself being "overtired" and I thought that was a sure sign of his unsatisfaction with his work. He lost his desire for it. But maybe he will regain it with "some human sleep."

London

The setting of this poem takes place in London and i though it took place at midnight. The reader can come to this conclusion when the narrator talks of walking "through midnight streets". It is in the slums of London also. We see this in the diction used to describe "the mark in every face i meet." Blake describes the sounds of the city and the "cry of every man..." and "the infant's cry of fear." When Blake begins to talk of the "soldier's sighs" i thought this might've taken place after a war and this was the after math of the war. The diction makes London appear gloomy and sorrowful.

I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain

I think the central theme of this poem is that the person who is hearing the funeral is really going insane. The readers sees that the person does not feel or see his or her own funeral but hears it. So we the reader automatically assume the person is inside the casket. When the person's "mind was going numb" I took that as a sign of the signs of one's sanity to also go. I thought this meant his or her sense of reason was starting to go. I also thought that the viewers were symbols of the sympathsizers who see the insane not really as people. But the "a Plank in Reason, broke" I took this as a realization that one was being insane. This realization is the "Finished knowing-then-". This poem's central theme was of the happenings of what will happen when one becomes insane and what the thoughts or feelings are to that person.

The Widow's Lament in Springtime

The Imagery in this poem is one of constriction. You feel it in the words when the widow talks of her yard "closes round me this year". The description of the white flowers are not ones of joy but of how she remembers her husband and so these flowers are almost a burden to her to see.The reader also encounters the imagery of white flowers on trees "in the distance". But the tone of the widow's thoughts is that of she will possibly go there but probably not. When she says that she would like to "sink into the marsh near them." It made me think she wanted to die. When I think of marsh I think of a sad and lonely place. That is what i think the author wants the reader to picture.

"The Nature of Proof in the Interpretation of Poetry"

I always assumed that in poetry the poet had a specific meaning that was going to be conveyed in a creative way through words. I though it was the readers job to try and find the meaning that the author wanted. But i also though that along the way one would be abel to find their own interpretation of the poem that had possibly struck a chord with the reader in a new way unexpected or anticipated by the author.Then comes a new theory that the reader's point of view on a work of poetry is correct. Perrine states that the reason poets give into this notion of all views on the their poem to be correct is because "no poet...likes to be caught in the predicament of having to explain his own poems." I understand the concept that, yes, an author is entitled to having a single explanation for his poem but isn't poetry a form of art? And if so does that not mean that it will affect the reader in a way that a painting would bring out an emotion or interpretation.
And yet What confuses me when Perrine says " If more that one interpretation satisfactorily accounts for all the details of the poem, the best is that which is most economical, i.e. which relies on the fewest assumptions not grounded in the poem itself." Does that mean in order to have a "correct" interpretation one must have something that includes all of the details? But if one does include all of the details does that make it what the author wanted? I just don't understand the concept that there has to be one correct interpretation. Although I would agree that if someone made something up about the poem and said that this is what the poem meant then i would have to disagree too. I guess my issue with Perrine's concept is that he is putting a limit on creativity and the different meanings one can take from it. Pretty soon we will be only relying on what the author means and where does the creativity come from , from then on? The authors only and the readers are merely the readers with no mind of their own or opinion.