Analysis Of The Poem ' Poetry Made Childhood Bearable '

Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is.

Lorna Dee Cervantes' poem, “Poema para los Californios Muertos” (“Poem for the Dead Californios”), is a commentary on what happened to the original inhabitants of California when California was still Mexico, and an address to the speaker's dead ancestors. Utilizing a unique dynamic, consistently alternating between Spanish and English, Cervantes accurately represents the fear, hatred, and humility experienced by the “Californios” through rhythm, arrangement, tone, and most importantly, through use of language.

The Poem “Introduction to Poetry” is by Billy Collins, an English poet, and it is about how teachers often force students to over-analyze poetry and to try decipher every possible meaning portrayed throughout the poem rather than allowing the students to form their own interpretation of the poem based on their own experiences.

Take a minute to imagine “Men looking like they had been/attacked repeatedly by a succession /of wild animals,” “never/ ending blasted field of corpses,” and “throats half gone, /eyes bleeding, raw meat heaped/ in piles.” These are the vividly, grotesque images Edward Mayes describes to readers in his poem, “University of Iowa Hospital, 1976.” Before even reading the poem, the title gave me a preconceived idea of what the poem might be about. “University of Iowa Hospital, 1976” describes what an extreme version of what I expected the poem to be about. The images I

Hooks did not fit in with her peers at either undergraduate university she attended. At the all girls school near her home the girls were all wealthier than she was and they lacked her educational ambition. Hooks “lived in the world of books ” while her classmates had “giggles and their obsession to marry” (26, 25). Their separate spheres kept them socially divided, but it didn’t stop the popular girls from going into hooks’ room and destroying and making a mess of all her things. They saw it as a joke, but hooks was not able to “replace broken things, perfume poured out, or talcum powder spread everywhere” (27). They crushed not only her physical items, but also her spirit. The other girls had a sense of entitlement because of class privilege. This blinded them to the feelings of others, and made hooks feel inferior. This sense of inferiority started much earlier in her life, and followed her throughout her academic career.

You selected a few different poems to interpret this week then my self. You have a marvelous post summarizing each peculiar one. I likewise read Nostalgia by Billy Collins this week. My conception of the author is he practically ridicules the diverse periods of time as they were portrayed. I enjoyed this poem considering the composer certainly drives the point home with this topic. An abundance of humanity complains about past generations although trends were not the greatest it's persistent rebalance of pros and cons about all aspects of life. I couldn't agree more with you that the theme of the poem demonstrates that humanity wishes regression to the way life once

The poem The Summer I was sixteen describes the summer of a sixteen-year-old American in the nineteen sixties. The writer of the poem, Geraldine Connolly, compares the shortcomings experienced by the United States to a sixteen-year-old summer. The theme of this poem is to remind the audience of childhood and calls for the need to enjoy the good fruits that life has provided.

I love the humour of this poem. Peter Cherches has crafted a wonderful, and figurative commentary on the Joy of youth and the pains of becoming an adult. We as a society train our young for life in the “real world” by issuing orders, regulations and commands. We expect unconditional adherence to our rules and guidelines. Cherches, has brilliantly framed an interesting paradox. How are we to train some one to lead? When the very act of training them, conditions them to follow! This is a paradox, and Cherches has framed it beautifully.

In the first stanza it is the semantic field of water: ‘waters’ (twice), ‘sea’, ‘drowning’ and ‘being drawn’. As I mentioned earlier, water is often the symbol of life but it also evokes tears, sadness and despair.

In the poem based on a true story, “To This Day”, by Shane Koyczan a young boy is constantly being knocked down by bullies throughout the school day. The bullying is slowly breaking him down to the point where he can’t take it anymore. The boys’ “broken heart strings bled the blues” because of the continuous bullying. The broken heart is made out of crumbled paper to symbolize how delicate his heart is. The piece of paper breaking from the heart is symbolizing that his heart is shattering into multiple pieces. The meaning of this image is to show that the bullying is becoming too much to handle and he is at his breaking point.

Ted Kooser, the thirteenth Poet Laureate of the United States and Pulitzer Prize winner, is known for his honest and accessible writing. Kooser’s poem “A Spiral Notebook” was published in 2004, in the book Good Poems for Hard Times, depicting a spiral notebook as something that represents more than its appearance. Through the use of imagery, diction, and structure, Ted Kooser reveals the reality of a spiral notebook to be a canvas of possibilities and goes deeper to portray the increasing complexities in life as we age.

Helane Keating opens the poem “The Envious Heart” by talking about apples and how they represent Autumn. This is when the queen states she dislikes Autumn, due to this being the time of year she married her new husband (the king). When the king married the narrator he told her he had a daughter which he rarely saw or had any connections to. She was his queen, and when the king told her she was his “only” queen he also gave her a mirror to remind her of it. However, as she met the king’s daughter she realised they were close in age and the king favored her more than he led his new wife to believe. The daughter, Snow White, hated the new queen for coming so soon after her mother had passed and made sure to steal as much of her father’s attention as possible. Eventually the new queen feels as if everyone has forgotten her existence because Snow White is the most beautiful. The king no longer pays any attention to his new wife, due to his daughter talking and calling for him all the time. This poem uses

The lakes in the Southeast are beautiful, the mountains too. A thousand-mile view is bestowed on you. Please treasure your trip, you can't travel more than a few times.

C.S. Lewis survives in the lives of many and continues to live on through his brilliant and artful use of language in his books. An adventurer at heart Lewis loved to create tales to entertain and inspire others. Adam Gopnik expresses, “The tales of the English children who cross over, through a wardrobe, into a land where animals speak and lions rule, which Lewis began in the late nineteen-forties, are classics in the only sense that matters—books that are read a full generation after their author is gone.” Gopnik portrays Lewis with extraordinary regard because of how his books have continued to affect current generations years after his passing. Lewis was a highly respected and religious man, and told fairytales to millions of children, forever impacting them with creativity and imagination. He explored fictional worlds while still bringing his love for religion to life through his characters. C.S. Lewis was able to balance his mind in his writings by focusing on the science of Christianity and storytelling and using them both in a work of literature.

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616. He is known as the greatest writer in British history for his plays and poems. One of his most famous sonnets is ‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer Day?’ In this poem, Shakespeare expresses his love and passion towards his partner by comparing them to summer. Wilfred Owen is a famous war poet that was born in 1897 and died in 1918 at age twenty-five. One of his well-known sonnets is ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, a poem about soldiers dying in war like cattle and are unable to have the funerals they can back in their home towns. William Shakespeare’s poem, ‘Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer Day?’ and Wilfred Owen’s poem, ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ both start with rhetorical questions and use metaphors