Not My Business Poem

The poem As Traffic is a different kind of poem from the rests. It has words and sentence that you wouldn’t expect in other poems. For example “Bitch, Fuck, without Rubber” (Hayes, ll 14-15). These are just a few of the words the author says but why does he say them? What does he mean by them? What is he doing? These are just a few question that will be answered in the next couple of paragraphs.

In the first stanza William Stafford stops realization. He describes a motorcycle below a bridge. The cycle is abandoned, “engine running as it lay on its side, ticking over slowly in the high grass.” To begin his poem Stafford gives

Furthermore, poetry, and the personification of poetry, conversations with old friends and family, should not need a special occasion, rather it should “ride the bus” with patience for the stops before your own and the understanding of other’s needs before your own (line 13). You can also say the bus can represent the speed at which life passes you by and how easy it is to miss something if you are not paying attention, or even, that these missed moments have a poem to help you along your long journey home. With the use of

‘Up the Wall’ by Bruce Dawe and ‘In the Park’ by Gwen Harwood both utilise the structure of the poem, dialogue and imagery to explore the idea of personal limitation and the loss of identity and love that accompanies maternal and domestic responsibility. Both poems have a third person persona where the use of “She” can indicate the mother’s universal sense of alienation and drudgery, which is further emphasised through the miserable and despairing tones of the poem. The incorporation of a generalised, impersonal pronoun adds to the evident struggle of separating her maternal identity from her identity as an individual. The poem ‘In the Park’ by Gwen Harwood is constructed in the form of a Petrarchan sonnet with an iambic pentameter and a rhyme

Throughout the poem, a young boy's curiosity takes control of a relationship with his father, as it reveals his regretful combative past. The boy asks questions repeatedly from many different aspects including, “why we dropped the bomb on those two towns in Japan” “where is Saipan” “Where is Okinawa” “where is the pacific” (Fairchild 5-16). The questions stand as the absences of order and by all means, progress, no answers mean no progress. As the questions continue the speaker describes the father and says “the palm of his hand slowly tapping the arm of a lawn chair,” (Fairchild 7-8). The slow tapping equivalent the slow buildup of anger and fear. Following, the speaker's description of the father’s face as his son continues mindlessly is “wooden” as his eyes freeze “like rabbits in headlights” (Fairchild 6-7). So small and helpless

The clever use of vocabulary to describe the digger assists the audience in visualising the digger, for example, “his body ached from the marching,” “the old digger then climbed to his feet” and the repeated use of the term “old digger”. The striking use of the words “ached” and “climbed” emphasize his age. The repeated use of the word hero, emphasises the theme of the poem. Hamilton also uses simple, but very effective language. The words and phrases are carefully chosen in this poem, making the poem easier to comprehend. Punctuation enhances the flow of the poem, such as the use of dashes after phrases for pauses. The use of direct speech throughout the poem offers depth to the poem, it immerses the audience into the moment and the conversation as though they were

W.H. Auden and Bruce Dawe, in their respective poems ‘Stop All The Clocks’ and ‘Suburban Lovers’, depict two different reactions to love. Auden’s use of an A, A, B, B, rhyme scheme creates rhythm through each of his 4 stanaz. Contrastingly, Dawe uses syllabic rhythm such as “on the fleet diesel that interprets them, like music on a roller-piano as they move, over the rhythmic rails”. Dawe also uses alliteration to create this similar pattern such as “breeze blowing”, “cliff of kissing” and “sandstone sustaining”. Both of these techniques create tone within each poem allowing the reader to reflect the mood of each poem. Auden’s rhyme scheme portrays a tone of sadness and grief in its simple structure and Dawe reflecting a tone of joy and longing

Form is an essential component of any poem; it can make certain words stand out, and can convey the author’s meaning even more. In Claude McKay’s “Subway Wind”, his repetition of assonance and consonance throughout the poem brings about a word flow that makes the poem read much more smoothly. In addition to using these devices, McKay’s careful use of ten syllables per line brings about a distinct structure and form to the piece.

The dominant contrast in "Oh, Oh" is created by the comforting versus harsh descriptions of the natural versus the mechanical.  This contrast is created not only through images, but also through a careful collaboration of word choices selected by Hathaway.  Perhaps the most easily recognizable of these is found in the middle of the poems only stanza.  After the author's persona and his girl have walked through the country, they encounter the invasion of a train.  But, the action of the intrusion is not what is important here; rather, the language that is used to describe both situations is what must be examined.

Throughout the poem, no one ever speaks or has a dialect. The narrator’s voice has an omniscient presence, which allows the reader to under the emotions and feelings that are being established during the poem. The narrator also establishes the setting and the

Use of free verse in this poem creates a lack of structure that appears to parallel the soldier’s own lack of structure and direction in his own life after he leaves the war. The poem begins with the image of a soldier's and his squadron raiding a farmhouse:

from a world of guilt and false livelihood. The story is based on the author’s own account

“Storm Warnings,” true to its literal subject matter, possesses flowy sweeping syntax created by the strategic use of commas and phrasing to draw parallels between the physical oncoming winds and the gales of life. The author crafts a long run-on sentence that spans the first stanza and carries on into the latter portion of the second to mirror the continuous flowing of windy weather and the forward motion of life. Once the speaker notices the brewing storm, they “walk from window to closed window, watching boughs strain against the sky.” In this portion of the affromented run-on sentence, alliteration, rhythm, and the repetition of words all contribute to the impression of movement. The various “w” sounds at the beginnings of words and the repetition of the word “window” create a sensation of continuously flowing forward, especially when read aloud; the comma adds a small swirling pause to the rhythm, which is then soon after resumed with the word “watching.” Just as the poem rhythmically moves forward with its long phrases connected with frequent commas, so must life carry on with each additional experience, whether it be misfortunes or joys. The elongated syntax allows all these elements to work together within sentences to highlight the similarities between physical storms and emotional struggle and to stress the inevitability of predicaments in life.

“The relationship between the energies of the inquiring mind that an intelligent reader brings to the poem and the poem’s refusal to yield a single comprehensive interpretation enacts vividly the everlasting intercourse between the human mind, with its instinct to organise and harmonise, and the baffling powers of the universe about it.”

Stafford furtively conceals the profound meaning of his poem behind a story of the narrator, who stops alongside the road to care for a deer. The genius behind poem is better understood when the superficial meaning is expressed deeply.