Analysis Of The Poem Originally

The Past, an ever growing pool of time, is always biting at the heels of a person. It reminds him of what they have done wrong, done right, or when he did nothing. For most people, recalling the past leads to loose ends and blanks where memories should be. No matter how much a person may want to return to the past, it is not possible. It is lost forever. These forgotten moment lead to uncertainties and confusion in the present, and chaos in the future. Forgetting the past leads to spirals, spinning downwards as people look to what they have lost. They retrace their steps hoping to find a sliver of who they are and what may become of them. In the poem, Itinerary, Eamon Grennan shows how an individual searches through his past, but can never return to it. Through the poem and with a personal experience I will explain how individuals deal with uncertainties in their pasts.

Individuals respond in various ways to transitioning into a new phase of life and society, these transitions can be challenging and confronting. They can also be transformative and thus some individuals accept and others reject because it’ll often initiate a series of consequences that may accelerate one’s personal growth and involuntarily change one’s perspective and/or attitude. These ideas are manifested in J.C Burke’s, ‘The story of Tom Brennan,' a move about the transitions that characters face after an indelible accident. In correspondence to the short story, ‘Neighbours’ by Tim Winton and is about a young couple moving from the city to the village and finding it difficult to reside with the European migrants.

The young man in the poem loses his identity as he develops into the ruthless world of adulthood with its dehumanizing competition of ‘money-hungry, back-stabbing’ and ‘so-and-so.’ These exaggerated words and clichés

In the 1960’s the author was growing up with her mother and five other siblings, moving from place to place in search of a home where the

Whether you realise it or not, the act of representation is a constant and significant aspect of our lives. It defines and influences our perceptions of things in either a positive or negative way. One poem that I particularly admire from Harwood’s collection is ‘The violets’ , as it recognises the inevitable act of evolving without our childhood memories. The art of growing up and moving forward is only fully accomplished when we recognise and accept the experiences and explorations of our childhood. Harwood’s poetic style reflects her conservative, traditional and religious upbringing, as well as her interests in literature, philosophy and music. As one of Australia’s finest poets, and it is an honour to introduce Harwood’s latest poem anthology.

Not only do adolescents face challenges in the city of Woodburn, but so do parents and any immigrant individual. In chapter twenty of Behold the Dreamers Jende and Neni get in argument because Liomi heard his mom on the phone saying that they were returning to Cameroon, the country they escaped from for a better opportunity. Jende gets very upset with Neni as he says the following “is that what you think? You think we should tell a child his father might be deported? You want Liomi to know what’s happening to me?” (Mbue, 2016, p. 128). Jende’s and Neni’s fear of immigration is definitely a fear many immigrant families have always had in the city of Woodburn for many years. these families are scared to be separated and to come to an end in their “American Dream”. Neni and Jende fear for their son because they want him to get a good education and to grow up in a country with opportunities. Their dream is for Liomi to not grow up in a poor city like they did. Their dream is also to become someone in life and to own their own house, which is something many families in the city of Woodburn are also eager for.

In the essay “Our Fear of Immigrants,” Jeremy Adam Smith writes about why it is we fear immigrants. Smith divides his essay with numerous examples and comparisons, through biological, sociological and psychological explanations. As unorthodox as it sounds, our hesitation towards outsiders can be explained in various ways we never believed imaginable; in Smith’s investigation, he unveils the bewildering reality about the contrasts between ourselves, as adults, and children when it comes to immigration. He begins with a distressful story of a classroom of 4th graders from Berkeley, California, who missed their classmate named Rodrigo when he didn’t return from Christmas break, due to his parents’ expired visa. Rodrigo’s classmates thought that it was so unfair, that they complained to their congressmen. Smith then contrasts this response of empathetic children to unsympathetic adults from Berkeley, California, who protested against immigrants who seek shelter in the U.S for the families. Smith pondered the questions: “Why do immigrants provoke such strong feelings of both empathy and revulsion, a polarization that pits fourth graders in Berkeley against the citizens of Murrieta?” and “What characteristics and qualities do Rodrigo’s classmates possess

The result of the condition was found to be inimical to our own safety. To allow the children of foreigners, who had emigrated here, to be taught from early childhood the language of the country of their parents was to … educate them so that they must always think in that language, and, as a consequence, naturally inculcate in them the ideas and sentiments foreign to the best interests of this country.

Only once or twice was there a dramatic touch. It was a repulsive, sickening, nauseating story, but he conveyed it as meekly as the simplest chronicle of the utmost common episode of the most ordinary reality. He was neither an egotist nor an adulator. He neither bragged of his horrendous offenses nor sobbed in fake regret and shame.

Ben Lerner makes an assertion in The Hatred of Poetry, that when people come in contact with poets they expect them to create poems that will bring social unification. He continues claiming that if put on the spot he would be unable to meet this “impossible demand”, because it is beyond one humans possibility. Though when poems are unable to do this people are quick to criticize poetry as a whole, whether it be because the poet failed to create, or the reader failed to understand. This stance comes from his previous run ins with non-poets who have put him on the spot, where he has been unable to meet the expectations of the public. Though Learner claims that criticism of poetry comes from it meeting failed expectations of social change, he is generalizing his one experience, with one person, on all of the critiques of poetry.

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.

Whether you are currently measuring your life with coffee spoons or questioning ‘’so how should I presume to dare disturb the universe,’’ T.S Eliot encapsulates the insecurities of humanity in modern society through the tantalising masquerades of his suite of poems. He comments on the futility of humanity in society in both Preludes and Rhapsody on a windy night through the projection of the modern world as an urban wasteland which is devoid of individuality. This rejection of the natural poetic focus highlights the contrast between the previous era of romanticism and the pessimistic recognition of the limitations of literature. Yet perhaps why his suite of poems is so enduring is because of his emphasis in the negligible aspects of life, giving them significance hence allowing the audience to reevaluate

   By imitating writing styles of ancient poets, Ezra Pound exhibited his attitude toward modern civilization, and his famous poem, Hugh Selwyn Mauberley, is the stereotype. In this poem, Pound revealed his disagreement with industrial society. The poem is an imitation of other old poetic styles, or epic style; however, it presents ironic meaning. To fully understand Pound's divergence from modern culture, the ways of presenting his position will be firstly explained. Next, the focus is on the contrast between the elitist and popular culture. Finally, to highlight Pound's attitude, I prefer to make comparison with other literary masterpieces, Odyssey, which have similar poetic style,

Typically, Pound’s poems are densely packed with subjective allusions related to the themes of history, literature, politics, economics, and culture. Following Pound’s move from America to Europe, an additional theme found in many of his poems is a general form of cynicism towards America. This criticism of America and mass culture is exemplified through his poem, Hugh Selwyn Mauberry. In this poem, Pound’s new found understanding of European culture allowed him to complete a cross-cultural reflection of literature in the United States. Pound ingeniously constructed this poem by dividing it into several distinct sections. In the first section of this poem, Pound discreetly characterized himself as a struggling poet in America who appreciates aesthetics and the beauty of poetry. However, American society did not view literature in the same manner. Thus, he concludes America is a “half-savage land” in which his art and ideas are unable to flourish. To illustrate the feebleness of literature in America, Pound constructed a second section containing an allusionary autobiography using a third-person alter ego named Hugh Selwyn Mauberry. Pound used Hugh in this section to subjectively describe his experience as a 20th century poet in America. In this section, Pound criticized artists and publishers for caring more about sales and profits than the craft of literature itself. Throughout this allegory, it becomes apparent

These "bankers, schoolmasters, and clergymen" (13) already consider the time that poets spend working on their lines, wasteful and unproductive. Therefore, despite the success or failure of any piece of poetry, a poet's status is already "predestined" to be an "idler" (12) by the same people whom poets try to enlighten.