In reading Sketch of a Man on a Platform by Mina Loy, my views of the poem changed from the first time I read it and the second. When I first read the poem, I was focused on finding the correct hidden meaning, however after reading Holbrook and learning that the way I read it is also correct I was able to come up with my own understanding of the poem. When I first read the poem it seemed like Loy was simply describing one man she saw at a train station. When she was describing him I noticed that she pointed out a few of his strengths and flaws. His flaws being that he is “fundamentally unreliable” and that his “genius is so much less in his brain than in his body.” When I read it for the second time I felt as though she described him a …show more content…
In the first stanza my view of the man did not change, he was simply a strong man that was comparable to a tree. In the next stanza she softens his appearance, making him seem both strong and graceful, saying that he is “unassailable savor of the airy-fairy of the ballet.” Again my view did not change too much from the first time I read it. In the third stanza when I first read it, I thought of the man as a soldier who had just come off a battlefield, “has meddled in the more serious business of the battle-field,” but the second time I read it I thought of him also trying to find a girl because he, “snuffles the trail of the female and the comfortable passing odors of love.” The fourth stanza was simply a criticism of him stating that while he was handsome he was not intelligent. In the fifth stanza when I first read it I did not really think much of it, just a man going through his day, but the second time I thought more about the word THINGS and felt that it referred to people. The writer states that he is “ pushing THINGS in the opposite direction to that which they are lethargically willing to go,” meaning that his attitude is so strong that it pushes others into doing things the way he wants them done even if that is not what they had originally planned. In the sixth stanza I think it implies that the man is your average man that pushes his ideas on
Although there are many people that don't live a stable life like many in reality, those are the ones who are the most humble sometimes. In this case, fhe readers can infer that the man's face might reflect how he might be lost in place or tired because of how he's living. Throughout the poem, the lady accuses him because the way
In the beginning stanza, the speaker’s use of personification reveals the tone of a grim and melancholy existence. “A ball will bounce, but less and less. It’s not/ A light-hearted thing, resents its own resilience./ Falling is what it loves” (lines 2-3). The speaker can be compared to the ball which begrudgingly bounces back time after time. This can be viewed as the speaker’s own perception on his stance in life. The speaker’s boredom
Each part was broken up after a noticeable shift and atmospheric changes in the poem. The first part of the poem is during “Sad is the man...with one”(Ln 1-2), and repeats again at “In a room...on his father”(Ln 6-9). These lines create a shift into a narrative stage. It puts a pause on the poem to introduce or explain the scene in the poem. The narrative is important because it shows the point of view of the poem. The second shift is created with “Already the man...should never disappoint”(Ln 10-18). This shift is when the father is thinking about his fears and desires, to be more blunt, the father’s fantasies. It creates an unrealistic tone to the poem an shows the father’s dismay when he cannot remember a story for his son. The last shift begins with “His five-year-old...scratches his ear”(Ln 3-5), and ends with “But the boy...up to silence”(Ln 19-23). This shift bring the poem into reality. In fact the poem states that the “emotional rather than logical equation”(Ln 20) is where most people get confused and frustrated at the world. The poem also states the conflict of fantasy and reality. This conflict is what creates the the multiple shifts and the complicated relationship between the father and the
He came off as very insecure with all of his stalling. He was so down on himself that he even believed his question could “disturb the universe” and thought that his potential lover would take his question the wrong way. The poem was centered on the insecurities of man and the inability to act. The speaker was a coward and made excuses so he wouldn’t have to ask the question he so wanted to ask. Everything seemed to make him anxious and his anxiety stopped him from getting what he really wanted.
In On the Subway, Sharon Olds expresses the differences in a white man’s life as opposed to a black man’s life while riding the train. However, the poem starts off just describing how the main character viewed the black man. Based on his attire and “look” he was profiled to be a mugger; of apparent lower class. While the main character talks about his fur coat and how the “mugger” can easily steal it from him. As the poem progresses the main character change his tone of fear to questioning and insightful; compared to his original thoughts of him amounting to nothing but a mugger, he begins to realize their lives (including their challenges) are different.
Stanza three opens with relating “menthol” and “eggshell” (9). Other than what “menthol” actually is, the reader is obligated to figure out its characteristics (9). I would say its traits are minty and fresh. And how would one define “eggshell” (9)? What’s leftover? This could easily be an argument stating that he is original and new, while she is always a little more bland and derivative. The next sentence states that while the bride is “atrocious”, he is equivalent to “spellcheck” (10). This is a statement that means that whenever
In the poem “Self’s the Man” he portrays Man to be more superior to women. His opinion of love’s initial excitement contrasted with the
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
The poem was written in a way that is similar to an autobiography. The narrator of the poem is telling the story from a first person perspective, mostly speaking in a non-traditional manner. The tone of the poem sounds carefree as if the narrator was having a conversation with the reader. For example “I won 't be keeping myself chaste for long, for when one husband from this world is gone Some Christian
Although this is a short poem, there are so many different meanings that can come from the piece. With different literary poetic devices such as similes, imagery, and symbolism different people take away different things from the poem. One of my classmates saw it as an extended metaphor after searching for a deeper connection with the author. After some research on the author, we came to learn that the
These two seemingly opposite tones and moods existing in one poem simultaneously resemble the ambiguity in the speaker that he reveals when he describes his condition very ambiguously. For instance, in the first line, he portrays himself as a “dead man”(1), but in the line immediately after, the dead man is moaning, which is biologically impossible. The unclear subject raises the issue of who the speaker is, if he should not be able to comment on himself because he is already dead. When the speaker uses the same pronouns, “he” and “him” from both the first person and the third person perspectives to refer to himself, this becomes even more puzzling; the readers are no longer sure of who the speaker is and who the subject of the poem is. One possible cause of these uncertainties is the discrepancy between the speaker’s real self and his public self; one that resembles who he
The poem talks about a man- an anonymous “he”- a perfectionist whose poetry was understandable and who, himself, understood “human folly” and the human psyche like “the back of his hand”. He was
Once his prized possession is gone, he will have nothing left for him, as he did not beget any children. In the ninth line, "Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament" the man is glancing back at the past where he was young and vital, and his “pretty-face” was just another decoration piece. However, like any glass ornament, they can soon break and lose all of their value. Once every ornament is gone, there will be none left, therefore this man is contributing to a diminishing race. In line eleven, “within thine own bud buriest thy content", the beauty which he is keeping to himself, is being destroyed on his own will. Once time has left a mark on him, he will be nothing but the ashes of a fire, or a dead withered, once beautiful, rose. Line 12, "and, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding", shows the paradox of the words “tender” and “churl” which is a waste in hoarding. This is referring to youth as being completely useless and worthless, if one does not
Finally the poem has an emotional appeal. The poems tone is positive in a negative way it is sort of uplifting even though there is nothing encouraging about the situation. This is shown tough the use of words such as " I am the thousand winds that blow/ I am the diamond glints on the snow" these phrases have positive connotation saying that he will always be with us
This piece has several “mini” themes given to almost each stanza, emphasizing reminiscing, grief, and isolation. Appearing to be from the point of view of a man (apparently the writer himself) profoundly grieving the departure of a lover who has passed on. He starts by calling for quiet from the ordinary objects of life; the phones, the clocks, the pianos, drums, and creatures close-by. He doesn't simply need calm, but be that as it may; he needs his misfortune well known and projected. Its tone is significantly more dismal than earlier versions, and the themes more all inclusive, despite the fact that it talks about a person. There is almost an entire stanza demonstrating a bunch of analogies that express what the speaker intended to his lover. The style in the piece readers typically perceive it as a dirge, or a mourning for the dead. It has four stanzas of four lines each with lines in