On The Pulse Of Morning Poem Analysis

Society judges those who are different both physically and mentally and those that don’t fit in with the social norm but it is up to the individuals to look past that and rise against their judgement. Shane Koyczan’s ‘To This Day’, is a poem about those who have been bullied throughout their lives and its long term impact it leaves. The poem tells multiple stories of the victims of bullying due to their physical appearance or their mental state. The poem begins with a personal adecdote talking about how he earned his first nickname. The anecdote is used to allow the readers of the poem to relate as it doesn’t rely on the abstract logic as the anecdote provides proof. He tells his story about how he used to love pork chops, and didn’t know the difference between pork chops and karate chops, until he was called pork

The main ideas that we have read in our readings covered what Women’s Studies is and Dominant Ideas About Women. Three passages that caught my attention out of the 32 passages were “A Work of Artifice” by Marge Piercy, “Gender Inequity in School: Not a Thing of the Past” by Karen Zittleman and David Sadker, and lastly, “Have you Ever Heard of Asian-American Feminists” by Stacey Yap. With these three passages, there was good information for me to interpret and to reflect upon in these readings.

Richard Blanco is a Cuban- American poet who was given the oppurunity to write an inaugaration poem for Barack Obama's second swearing-in. He wrote a poem titled "One Today" that praised the good and unique things about the United States and also the everyday people who's daily routines help to make America the proud country that it is.

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.

I personally have read theses six poems a few times each now. Starting with “Introduction to Poetry,” “How I Discovered Poetry,” “Poetry Should Ride the Bus,” “How Poetry comes to me,” “Making It in Poetry” and “Poem.” I for one will be explicating each poem and discussing how they are similar and different in their own ways. As well as explaining my own thoughts on the poems themselves and summarizing what I believe them to be.

A poem can paint a thousand images in one’s mind. The poem, Acquainted with the Night, presents a graphic picture of a lonely, depressed man, who is possibly an insomniac, walking the streets on a sad, rainy night .This poem shows the different emotions that the author goes through in order to cope with heartbreak. The poem is aimed at the world in general, and the themes of depression, loneliness, and sadness prevails across the entire poem. The poem follows the format with 3-line stanzas and a scheme of rhyming aba bcb cdc dad aa. This poem proves that the author is going through turmoil within himself and is struggling as the love of his life has moved on with no trace like a thief in the night. The author starts the Poem off as follows;

“Something More” by Tracey Moffatt is a formal and stylistic experimentation photography and her work draws on her own childhood memories, popular culture, as well as the history seen in still cinema, art and photography. Apparent in her works are themes such as childhood cruelties in suburban life, the mutiny of stereotypes and relations between white and black Australians. In her works, referencing to the artist’s own life and experiences, Tracey Moffatt draws on her Aboriginal background as a foster child growing up in Brisbane in a foster family in the sixties, avidly consuming images from magazines, films and television.

Beginning during the birth of America, challenges had always risen that left our citizens in despair. Between the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the United States had become the victim of several issues. American people were faced with challenges that we still have yet to overcome. Government spending, debt, public education, immigration, war, and racial inequality are just a few of the many issues that challenged Americans during this time frame, and still stand in our country today. The poems “On the Pulse of Morning” by Maya Angelou and “One Today” by Richard Blanco both highlight some of the issues that had faced the nation.

In class we read 3 Cinderella stories and one poem. Ashenputtle is German, Yeh Shen is Chinese, The Algonquin is Native America, and the Interview is a poem. There are over 900 different Cinderella stories in every cultures. I am going to compare and contrast the ones we read in class.

The message of “On the Pulse of the Morning” is all people of the world need to come together and realize that nature is an important part of our lives, and how we are similar. The poem mentions the many things that America is challenged by. Equality can still be received by people from all different backgrounds and places. Nature should be respected in a way a person is treated. It is like starting a new beginning and heading towards change.

The rhyme and pattern is AAA,BBB. It is supposed to be a romantic poem. It wants humans to be in touch with their souls and natural beauty. The poem wants you to appreciate how nice nature is.

Oh, have me step, then run a 400 In a gruesome pile of mud filled with worms. Or swallow the bark of a tree; Get kicked in the stomach; or lick a cat. Change the WiFi password or cancel it, Give me milk, mayonnaise, egg, and jelly Combine all of it and have me to drink.

The short stories, “A Sunrise on the Veld” and “At the Pitt Rivers”, have nothing in common if you analyze them on a shallow literature level. “A Sunrise on the Veld” by Doris Lessing, highlights some of the reasons why life is so valuable. Lessing hints her readers that this short story is set somewhere in the desert by, “ … the flesh of his soles contracted on the chilled earth, and his legs began to ache with cold… He slung the shoes over his shoulder… they would be necessary when the ground became too hot to bear,” (Lessing, pg. 1212). Most deserts get heated by the sun by day, but loses the heat at night. The boy starts hunting, at first, but then is distracted by a wounded buck. Seeing this buck suffer, depicts him especially sad. A boy is also the protagonist in “At the Pitt Rivers” by Penelope Lively. This boy spends his time in a museum, observing people and writing poems as the time passes. He keeps track of a couple he sees at the museum. The couple catches his attention because they are not his “ideal” of what a couple should look like. If a kindergartener read these two short stories, he/she would find nothing in common with the stories. But, if the reader has the ability to analyze the text in more depth, he/she would find that they are more similar than the kindergartener would think.

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” declared by an influential leader Martin Luther King Jr. As a soldier againsts unfairness, King strongly states that people should fight for freedom. Driven by human nature, humans are always chasing freedom. In “A Century Later,” the Pakistan-born British poet Imtiaz Dharker uses the poetic devices of symbolism, diction, and allusion to explore how perseverance drives freedom.

Some of the poems and essays I have read during this class were relatable to me. Being away from college, I have struggled with not being at home. I have become a different person when I am at school, but when I am home, I feel like I am my normal self again. Some of these authors of the poems and essays that I have read throughout this class has struggled with being somewhere where they don’t belong and that they are someone else when they are not home. Unlike the other poems and essays we have read throughout the course. I enjoyed reading the ones about “home” because I actually understood what they are going through and that I can relate. Some of these poems and essays include “Going Home” by Maurice Kenny, Postcard from Kashmir”, by Agha Shahid Ali, “Returning” by Elias Miguel Munoz and “Hometown” by Luis Cabalquinto. All of these poems deal with duality.