“Summer” by Joanna Fuhrman is a very touching poem. I believe that the poet, Joanna, has lost her best friend. Her best friend is believed to the a host of some sort of party, but we are told that the host died from cancer. It’s also said that there was never a party, so most likely, Joanna is imagining this in her dream because she doesn 't want it to be true. Moving on to concluding that the poem is based on a so called, bad dream. The speaker, Joanna, seen to be the guest of a party; says in line three that she’s reluctant to be there, along with many other guests that must feel the same way. This party could be titled under exotic, as the host is giving away fictional animals to guests; animals such as electric eels and snake-dogs. Before this detail was mentioned, it was said that the host had a girlfriend, and she is “barely seen.” But reading farther along the poem, you come to a conclusion that the girlfriend and her animals are irrelevant. Nowhere else except the first stanza is the host’s girlfriend included; as for the animals being irrelevant in Joanna 's dream, another fictional animal comes into play in the sixth stanza. Looking back, when Joanna was offered the fictional animals, she miraculously “agrees to take a snake-dog.” After being offered, the poem shifts to a more scary or bad like dream, because she then says that she feels the snake-dogs sharp teeth in her shoulder; then Joanna states that she is worrying about the “welfare of our fragile cat,”
Explain (tell me what image the poem brings to mind)She begins by describing the "death of winter's leaves".
Literally, the persona of the poem is outside when some aspects of the nature around her, like violets and a blackbird, trigger a memory from her childhood. The poem then flashbacks to a childhood memory of the persona as a young girl, which is shown through the indentation of the stanzas, where the girl wakes up in the afternoon thinking it is morning and becomes upset when she
“Once upon a time there was a wife and mother one too many times” (Godwin 39). This short story begins with the famous opening, once upon a time, which foreshadows that the story line will be similar to a fairy tale. It raises expectations for the story that all will be magical and end happily. A typical modern-day fairy tale is that of a distressed character who overcomes an obstacle, falls in love with prince charming, and they ride off into the sunset; living happily ever after never to be heard from again. Godwin however, puts an unexpected twist on “A Sorrowful Woman”. This short story is a tale about what can happen when everyday roles take over our identity. Ultimately, this short story challenges societal expectations of marriage
“Boa Constrictor” by Shel Silverstein is a children’s poem portraying someone that is slowly being eaten by a boa constrictor. As the reader, one can assume that the person speaking is the one being eaten; by the use of the first-person language. Silverstein brings an order to the poem so the audience is able to relate; he says, “Well, what do you know? It’s nibblin’ my toes”. (Silverstein 7,8). When reading the sentence aloud, one can’t help but to feel like being eaten by a snake is as normal as eating breakfast. He gives a sense that circumstances such as this happen to him all the time. The poem then goes on to say “Oh, gee, It’s up to my knee” (Silverstein 9,10). Progression of the poem is starting to form as the image of one’s own body is being a quarter of the way consumed by a supposedly vicious animal.
T.S Eliot’s poem, “The winter evening settles down” is a short, simple to read poem with several different examples of imagery. Eliot uses descriptive words, for instance, “withered leaves”, “broken blinds”, and “lonely cab-horse” (lines 7-10). He paints an extremely bleak image of a town that seems to be deserted of people. The tone of the poem plays hand-in-hand with the imagery used. This town is an unpleasant place where it has seemed to be neglected for some years now. Eliot’s use of imagery takes the reader to this deserted, torpid place; however, at the same time, his goal is to bring the life back into this grim town.
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.
Helena has dreamed of a serpent, eating her heart away, while Helena claims to be as "ugly as a bear" since the other woodland beasts run from her ("for fear" she supposes, but we do not have to agree with this judgement).
“Contemplations” by Anne Bradstreet is a poem of thirty-three seven-line stanzas. It has an ABAB CCC rhyme scheme. This complex poem exists as a justification of writing as a unity with God that ends with the questioning of humanity’s placement in the hierarchy of the universe. The theme is presented as a tightly woven structure of different concepts, nature and religion go hand and hand. The poet is conflicted because she has hopes of being able to glorify God, but is hindered by a sense of her own insufficiency. The word contemplation is another word for meditations; therefore, this poem provides the reader with several different scenes of meditation. Some of the scenes include the poet mediating on how God made nature and how it is supposed to mirror Heaven. The poet believes that humans need to meditate on this fact on a daily basis and remind themselves of their placement within the universe. “Throughout the poem the poet ultimately resolves that God alone is eternal and human-made objects, designs and history will fade eventually”
Summer by Josiah Conder , is describe as an a completely opposite Summer than the one everyone is familiar with. When thinking of the summer, thoughts of heat, vacation, and fun are usually associated with it. Conder describes the Summer as being a miserable time, where the skies are gray and gloomy. The sonnet itself is English/Shakespearean model which makes it easier for Conder to express different ideas in each quatrain but still relate them. Also Conder was a poet during the Romantic era where any feeling could be expressed towards anything. And that is what Conder does when describing the Summer. In the poem the speaker is having a conversation with no one , while they describe the Summer. Conder uses diction, imagery, alliteration and metaphor to help convey the idea that the Summer is not as fun and appealing.
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.
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.
Using the carnival as a background is appropriate because it is a time of celebration when everything is in chaos and people have lost their self-control. The carnival may be a symbol of Montresor’s own madness and the crazy thoughts in his head. The carnival usually indicates joyful social interaction but it is distorted by Montresor. Montresor’s reference to the bones and vaults of his family foreshadow the story’s descent into the underworld. The underground travels of the two men are a metaphor for their trip to hell. The carnival is essentially for the living but Montresor takes it into the vaults underground, to the realm of the dead and the satanic. The setting Poe chose for the story adds to the terror. Most of the events of the story runs in dark, damp tunnels piled with the bones of dead people. By taking Fortunato into the vaults, Montresor cuts him off from help. The two characters are underground and isolated.
John Nicholson Ireland(1879-1962) was a British composer who was consistently inspired by nature. He was born in Bowden, Cheshire, UK, and was orphaned by the time he was 15. Throughout his life, he frequently visited the Channel Islands where he was moved by the natural beauty. Rupert Brooke(1887-1915) was a poet, born in Rugby, Warwickshire, UK. Both Ireland and Brooke lived in the same time period, and were effected by the same historical events. Britain was knee deep in a world war for most of their adult lives. The war is known to have inspired some of Brooke’s most well known poems, but Spring Sorrow was neither mans most popular work.
The title of the poem “My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun” suggests that the speaker is not in love with his ‘mistress’. However, this is not the case. Shakespeare uses figurative language by using criticizing hyperboles to mock the traditional love sonnet. Thus, showing not only that the ideal woman is not always a ‘goddess’, but mocking the way others write about love. Shakespeare proves that love can be written about and accomplished without the artificial and exuberant. The speaker’s tone is ironic, sarcastic, and comical turning the traditional conceit around using satire. The traditional iambic pentameter rhyming scheme of the sonnet makes the diction fall into place as relaxed, truthful, and with elegance in the easy flowing verse. In turn, making this sonnet one of parody and real love.
At the mere age of seventeen, Pablo Neruda wrote ’Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair’ and it has since become one of his most famous collection of poems. Once, in an interview, Neruda stated that he could not understand “why this book, a book of love-sadness, of love-pain, continues to be read by so many people, by so many young people” (Guibert, 2015). He also mentioned that “Perhaps this book represents the youthful posing of many enigmas; perhaps it represents the answers to those enigmas.” (Guibert, 2015). Neruda was one of the first poets to explore sexual imagery and eroticism in his work and become accepted for it. Many Latin-American poets had attempted the same, but failed to become popular with their critics. He merges his own experiences and memories with that of the picturesque Chilean scenery to present a beautifully poetic sense of love and sexual desire. The collection hosts quite a controversial opinion, however, amongst critics and readers alike, with the risqué themes running throughout the poems. Eroticism being one of the most evident and reoccurring themes.