Cups Without Wine

The tone in these lines are often humorous and at the same time genuinely loving. In short, the tone of this poem is as complex as the subject with which it so memorably

Some thought it was super natural, others thought it was only for gods. Around 3150 BCE one of the earliest Egyptian Kings was buried with seven hundred jars of wine. Keep in mind that these jars had to transported, and it wasn’t cheap! On the other hand around 825 BCE, the Assyrians had wine drinking established to a formal social ritual. In Greece it was drunk at many formal drinking parties and believed that, “To rich and poor alike hath he granted the delight of wine, that makes all pain to cease.” (Page 53) Wine obviously contained alcohol, so many judged others by how they conducted themselves after drinking it. The Greeks always mixed their wine with water, opposed to the Scythians and Thracians who never mixed their wine with water. Wine as well had its own game! The name of the game was kottabos. It was played in certain rooms involving flicking the last drop of wine on targets. Now a days, it seems crazy, but back then it was considered to help with concentration. This section was filled with so many wonderful quotes from poets and philosophers that stuck in my head through-out the reading of this book. A Greek poet by the name of Aeschylus said, “Bronze is the mirror of the outward form; wine is the mirror of the mind.” (Page 56) Another quote comes from a Greek philosopher named Eratosthenes, “Wine reveals what is hidden,” (Page 62) Wine can still today “reveal what is hidden” that brings us to modern day

The lines of the poem are short, the sentences are choppy, and one idea seems to flow right into the next from line to line. This hints at a very childlike mentality, as well as a plethora of scattered thoughts in the speaker’s mind, hinting at the speaker’s confusion and distress.

Though written in a very light and simple manner, the poem comes across as something very profound, laden with meaning through its incongruities. The persona, wanting to see something, often goes to the well and looks down at the water to see it. This certain search below the water's surface can be compared to man's search beneath the human experience for meaning, for certainty.

A common theme throughout the poem is the coping mechanism used for his troubled relationship. He does not view his alcoholism as a fault, but as a comfort and an escape. He yearns “to sleep beneath a patchwork quilt of rum”. (Clarke 6) Furthermore, he wishes to drink until he is unaware that his relationship is troubled. He wishes for “the slow collapse of language / [w]ashed out by alcohol.” (Clarke 7-8) He desires to detach, and isolate himself from the situation mentally, rather than remove himself physically. This suggests that he has no wish to recover from his alcoholism, and no desire to leave his

The study of any poem often begins with its imagery. Being the centralized idea behind the power of poetry, imagery isn’t always there to just give a mental picture when reading the poem, but has other purposes. Imagery can speak to the five senses using figurative language as well as help create a specific emotion that the author is trying to infuse within the poem. It helps convey a complete human experience a very minimal amount of words. In this group of poems the author uses imagery to show that humanity is characterized as lost, sorrowful and regretful, but nature is untainted by being free of mistakes and flaws and by taking time to take in its attributes it can help humans have a sense of peace, purity, and joy, as well as a sense of

In poems it is essential to be a creative writer. The author uses many techniques from from exposing deep thoughts to giving humorous jokes throughout the sentence. As a human being, we may have difficult times in understanding what is trying to be said. We may agree or disagree depending our viewpoints on life. One of my Favorite poems is “The Ballad of Sue Ellen Westerfield” by Robert Hayden. My favorite poem is the type of poem that has some history and confusion. When getting the audience confused, it makes them want to know more and reread the whole passage again. Hayden’s poem is a fresh new opening that brought an old dimension, his creativity to open the minds of others and look back to the past.

Wine was originally very scarce and exotic, meaning the only people to really drink it were very powerful, prestigious, and privileged people. It was mainly drunk during public meetings and debates, or symposia’s, to express one’s self much more freely. While beer was known to have medicinal benefits, wine was known to clean wounds.

I find this poem to be interesting because the ideas and meaning of the poem are simple, but they can easily be interpreted in another meaning. This poem did not have the effect on me that I thought it would have, although I did think it was fascinating to read and listen to. The words seem to blend together, and it makes it smooth to hear. The diction is simple and easily understood, but the some of the concepts may not make sense the first time. I had to read the poem multiple times to attempt to grasp the gist of the

Wine is made of fermented juice of crushed grapes stored over time. “Natural yeasts, present on the grape skins, convert the sugars in the juice into alcohol.” Explains author, Tom Standage [page 47]. One-way wine was consumed, by the Greeks, was by mixing water with the wine before intake. In order to figure out how much wine to add, the Greeks used ratios to determine the amount of water to wine. Wine started out as a drink for the wealthy, which involved “drinking parties”, called Symposions. Eventually, it didn’t matter whether you drank wine or not. What mattered was which type of wine you

I wrote this poem to display my difficulties throughout the year. Fortunately, looking back at these problems at the end of the year makes me realize how these challenges have impacted me and shaped me into the person that I have become. Abusing, kicking, and hitting the plants in my garden symbolizes the actions that I took to try to overcome these problems; however, they proved to fail at fixing anything. The last stanza displays how broken I was by the middle of the school year. I had lost my best friend to menacing schedule differences, I was barely surviving science with a low grade, and I even had to force myself to eat lunch everyday due to loss of hunger. This poem means so much to me because it encourages me that I can surpass any difficulty that comes my way and conveys the true emotions involved in my seventh grade metaphorical

Wine, to the many, is something that is drunk at a celebration; yet, to the few, a bottle of the best wine is worthy of ten thousand dollars. Despite beer and liquor being the predominant get together drink, wine is still prominent at formal gatherings. Just like the Greeks, a host would invite guests to a celebration, and more often than not serve wine. Similarly, the Greek way of drinking wine is mixing it with water and serving it out of a Krater. Although the practice of diluting wine is uncommon, guests usually share a common bottle of wine. In addition, the average Joe would be content with a fifteen-dollar bottle of wine; however, wine

Jews have a special place for wine in their heart and it is said that the Jews place

This collection of over ninty words is much more than just a poem. It’s a story of millions of people. It ties in rhymes, sadness, happiness, religion and anger though a broad spectrum of other ideas.

Great wines can also be dependent on a given mood or occasion. During an East Coast Grape of the Night meeting, a comparison was made between two top Australian Shiraz wines, Molly Dooker Boxer and R Winery First Class. I could not say that one was better than the other. The Molly Dooker Boxer was a thick heavily extracted fruit bomb wine that had a long lingering finish. The R Winery First Class was more subtle, reminding me more of a French style wine, slightly dry in the finish with well defined flavors on the