Emerson's First Paragraph Poem Diction

The rhythm of this quote is simply soothing and majestic. I definitely agree with him in the aspect that one can find his inner self through nature. Not through pollution, cities, nor materialism. Emerson’s last nine words are what influenced me the most because man himself carries the Earth in his back. We all bleed blood, are made of soil, breathe oxygen, and has inner beauty the way nature does.

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.

Most people know the poem “Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost. It is pretty famous. But do most people know the meaning of this unique poem? What does Robert Frost mean when he writes “if the world had to perish twice?” Although it is short, “Fire and Ice” is a puzzling poem filled with words that hold a meaning that we have to unlock.

Walt Whitman was able to take the spark of an idea from Ralph Waldo Emerson and tend, nurture, and support it until the spark grew into a huge flame of something surprising and original - new American poetry. Whitman did not only learn from Emerson, but he also took Emerson's ideas and expanded them into something much more encompassing. Whitman was able to use Emerson's principles that are outlined in "The Poet" to springboard into something more expansive than Emerson was able to describe or create.

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.

     As imperative as individualism was to Emerson, developing one’s soul was even more so. The process in developing one’s soul was just as important. He states, “But man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoe to foresee the future (Emerson 157).” The word “heedless” means “carelessly” and by using the word “riches” Emerson means nature. What he meant by using these words together was that men forget about the beauty in nature because we see it all too often to notice it. Men are too wrapped up in their lives and thinking about the future that they overlook the splendor that nature has to offer. He also states, “These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God today (Emerson 157).” With this, Emerson is trying to convey the fact that God is present in nature and all its beauty.

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson can go by many titles: scholar, philosopher, wordsmith. All hold true in one of his greatest pieces, Self-Reliance. In which, he uses his words to spread an idea of individuality in thought and how essential it truly is. Scattered throughout the massage are examples of metaphors, comparing his vast and complex ideologies to comprehendible and mundane objects, he uses allusions as well, bringing to light not only Biblical themes, but also men of old more times than often seen as great and influential and referring time and time again to the Bible. In doing these things, Emerson conveys his ideas, swaying and bending the words to his will. A first arguably more evident example of this would be found in his metaphors.

Reflections Within is a non-traditional stanzaic poem made up of five stanzas containing thirty-four lines that do not form a specific metrical pattern. Rather it is supported by its thematic structure. Each of the five stanzas vary in the amount of lines that each contain. The first stanza is a sestet containing six lines. The same can be observed of the second stanza. The third stanza contains eight lines or an octave. Stanzas four and five are oddly in that their number of lines which are five and nine.

Ralph Waldo Emerson							I am writing this essay on the beliefs and thoughts of Ralph Waldo Emerson on the subjects of individuality, society, government, technology, and spirituality.

As one can imagine, the whole entire poem emanates Emerson’s ideals. For example, the first lines, “How happy is the little Stone That rambles in the Road alone, And doesn’t care about Careers” are similar to what Henry David Thoreau wrote in his work, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For.”. Within the pages, he wrote, “An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the Rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!”. These both share the main idea that a simple life leads to a better life.

Of course, this subject matter is the most apparent quality of the work. Puritanism as an ethical code is quick to condemn what it sees as sinful, and even quicker to condemn laziness. But, as Emerson so successfully puts it, his activities are not laziness. He is not sitting idly, but instead embracing nature, because nature holds dually divinity and knowledge. In the first three opening stanzas, he opens defensively, emphasizing the thought that he is both putting into and getting out of his life. A clever bit of personification tells that his flowers come loaded home with his thoughts, and a metrically superb fourth stanza reveals the value that Emerson finds in nature – a secret history, told by the birds. He ends with a powerful metaphor, showing both the source and value of his art (the first, nature, the second, the fruits of nature) at once. It is further testament to his skill, I think, to write so persuasively while still writing simply, though others may be critical of this straightforwardness.

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.

Often regarded as the leader of the Transcendentalist literary movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson believed that the individual must look inward to find truth and knowledge. He emphatically stressed that one must practice self-reliance: the ability to trust one’s intuition and not conform to societal standards. Through the use of strict form, powerful imagery, and a wise tone, Emerson’s poem “Intellect” urges us to stay true to ourselves by refusing the practice of blind obedience.

In Edward Taylor’s “Prologue” he seeks to demonstrate the inferiority of man in respect to God’s glory. Taylor begins his piece by creating a metaphor in which his own subsidiarity to God is described in terms of physical stature and uniqueness. He then purposefully includes phrases with erroneous meter and imperfect rhymes to demonstrate that his inferiority extends to his abilities as a writer. Taylor further attempts to establish his lack of authorial skills by including repetitious words, implying that he lacks an extensive vocabulary. When combined these tactics serve to support the idea that Edward Taylor has many shortcomings, both as a human and a poet, especially in comparison to the greatness of God.