Essay on An Annotation of Wallace Stevens' Of Modern Poetry

In this essay I am going to compare and contrast ‘When we two parted’ a poem of George Gordon, Lord Byron’s written in 1815 and Letitia Elizabeth Landon’s ‘Love’s last lesson’ written in c1838, both poets are British and of the romantic period.

In the poem there is also an idea of man verses nature, this relates to the survival of the fittest. John Foulcher shows this through the use of first person point of view. For example in the second stanza “Then above me the sound drops” this again possesses sensory imagery creating a deeper human aura throughout the poem. Foulcher further uses a human aura to build a sense of natural imagery for example in the last stanza : “I pick up these twigs and leave them” adding closure

Prompt: In a brief essay, identify at least two of the implications implicit in the society reflected in the poem. Support your statements by specific references to the poem.

Bradstreet makes a point to show her thought process of returning to the Puritan mindset when she begins to question herself in her poem. The following is an example: “The straight I ‘gin my heart to chide,/And did they wealth on earth abide?/Didst fix thy hope on mold’ring dust?/The arm of flesh didst make they trust?” (37-40). The repetitive notion of the author questioning herself allows the reader to see into her thought process regarding her current struggle with her beliefs. The author includes this process in the poem to enable the reader to fully understand her way of thinking and ultimately makes her writing more relatable. Bradstreet develops the content of the poem to show her external struggle to release her material possessions and focus on the process of regaining her Puritan beliefs, however, the form of the poem speaks louder to her unwavering internal faith.

The poem, “Gospel” by Philip Levine gives a vivid description of what the narrator sees around them. The narrator focuses their description on nature. They make many references to types of plants like lupine and thistles. Throughout the poem, nature can be seen as and abstract creature. Nature is giving and lively. The conflict in the poem is between the speaker and nature. The narrator tries to show how nature can give nice outdoor views and how the earth gives people a place to walk on while people give nothing back to nature. Levine’s speaker uses repetition and comparisons to show how nature is constantly pleading for the narrators attention yet they cannot offer anything to the relationship they have with nature. The poem slowly evolves

`In Robert Gray’s poems, he uses language to capture human experiences. In two of his poems; old house and late ferry, gray has effectively captured human experiences by his varies poetic languages and through insight and feeling. Throughout both texts late ferry and old house, gray’s main message in the poems, with his critical analysis, is the destruction of nature by mankind.

Through my studies of this poem, I was unable to find any documentation of the poet, Jim Stevens; therefore I was unable to assess his life and his reasoning behind writing this poem. Because of this I have had to make my own assumption that Jim Stevens might be writing this poem about himself. His lack of publication leaves a

Brooks’ poetry, so rich in personal detail and authenticity, often does not have to justify the moral side of issues like other poems usually do. Her work, for me, seems less confessional and more like realistic humanity, a difficult feat to accomplish when so much of the material speaks of inner turmoil, lost loves, and wistful sadness. Honest in tone and filled with common and often disturbing themes, the poems were ones I was able to connect with. “The Mother” and “The Sundays of Satin Legs Smith” are two poems that speak to me in terms of universal longing and pain. I have never had an abortion, but I know several people who have. In fact, last year I had an 11th-grade

Poetry has a role in society, not only to serve as part of the aesthetics or of the arts. It also gives us a view of what the society is in the context of when it was written and what the author is trying to express through words. The words as a tool in poetry may seem ordinary when used in ordinary circumstance. Yet, these words can hold more emotion and thought, however brief it was presented.

Throughout his poetry, Wallace Stevens is known for tackling subjects like human perception, objective and subjective reality, humankind versus nature, and many more. In one poem, Stevens asserts that “poetry is the supreme fiction,” which is noted to be his most profound quote. Stevens argues that religion needs replacing, and he feels that art is the logical substitute. Through his poem “A High-Toned Old Christian Woman,” Stevens mocks and questions the general notion the world has about religion.

poem is not merely a static, decorative creation, but that it is an act of communication between the poet and

The imagery of “Intellect” is challenging: the poem features a fountain, a wave, the shore, and wings—all in just six lines. This abstract imagery allows us to tap into our own intellect and it leaves room for the reader to interpret its meaning. Let us contemplate the fountain first. A fountain is often used to symbolise the source for something desirable: whether it be a drinking fountain, a fountain of youth, or the fountain of life we come across in Christian doctrine. Often times we crave rules; or we might just crave direction or someone to tell us what to do. Unfortunately, the source of these rules is often society. We choose to listen to the voice of society for direction, instead of turning inward. Perhaps by writing

A Commentary on Behavior of Fish in an Egyptian Tea Garden by Keith Douglas. *The description of the men drawn to her starts with the rich cotton magnate immediately establishing the hierarchy the author seeks to show*. This hierarchy is further developed*in the actions of the different suitors. The rich magnate ‘through the frail reefs of furniture swims out’, the inverted syntax* in the line* suggesting grace and power. *T*he self-assured manner in which he acts suggests that the rich man is above the petty rivalries* that the others have. H*e knows his wealth gives him an insurmountable edge* (and this is further shown in the last stanza)*. *Also, the* author shows this from the* fact that *though this* fish is far from pretty with

“The relationship between the energies of the inquiring mind that an intelligent reader brings to the poem and the poem’s refusal to yield a single comprehensive interpretation enacts vividly the everlasting intercourse between the human mind, with its instinct to organise and harmonise, and the baffling powers of the universe about it.”

Stevens makes this fact apparent from the beginning of the poem, when he notes not only “human revery” but also “the sexual myth” and the “poem of death” (1). Therefore, these defined formulations are only categories of a greater whole, which remains unmentioned in the poem. In deliberating on Stevens’s poems, we can come to understand this encompassing whole as the imagination, which impels an individual to make “eccentric propositions” about his or her life and fate (4-5, 10).