Patchwork Boland Summary

Immediately revealing the central theme of the poem as well as alluding to the narrator’s apparent self-doubt, the first stanza is an imperative aspect of this piece. The speaker begins by stating that she has “been thinking at random on the universe, or rather, how nothing in the universe is random”. So commences her journey to solve the question:

The work of prominent feminist writer Edna St. Vincent Millay continues to hold value in the educational space, illustrating a sense of humanity and fragility through her verse. In nineteen twenty-three, she published her Italian sonnet “I will put Chaos into fourteen lines,” a powerful work that showcased her ability to command language. Millay’s sonnet chronicles her experience of pitting Chaos into that confining structure of an Italian sonnet, making the figurative cacophony mingle with Order. The sonnet emphasizes the importance of creativity through the form of chaos interacting with the limiting structure and confines of rules and limitations represented by order. I can prove this assertion through Millay’s use of personification, Italian sonnet stanza structure, and meter iambic pentameter.

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

In his introduction to the topic, Barry opens up the piece by establishing the passage’s tone and the roles of certainty and uncertainty in

Structure is a defining device in poetry; however, readers often overlook its importance. The structure of the poem emphasizes certain aspects of a poem and reveals clues regarding the overall meaning of a piece. In Tony Hoagland’s poem, Special Problems

The most chaotic element of the poem not actually found in the quite disordered first stanza, but right at the beginning of the second stanza lies the revelation of the reason for the overwhelming chaos. The speaker had a dream, a desire, to leave this chaotic world. The speaker experiences being told that “it didn’t matter.” The speaker must have perceived all the past images to be chaotic because of his depressing experience. However, even if this is the climax of chaos, it is in a way a turning point toward are more ordered and peaceful world.

“Contemplations” by Anne Bradstreet is a poem of thirty-three seven-line stanzas. It has an ABAB CCC rhyme scheme. This complex poem exists as a justification of writing as a unity with God that ends with the questioning of humanity’s placement in the hierarchy of the universe. The theme is presented as a tightly woven structure of different concepts, nature and religion go hand and hand. The poet is conflicted because she has hopes of being able to glorify God, but is hindered by a sense of her own insufficiency. The word contemplation is another word for meditations; therefore, this poem provides the reader with several different scenes of meditation. Some of the scenes include the poet mediating on how God made nature and how it is supposed to mirror Heaven. The poet believes that humans need to meditate on this fact on a daily basis and remind themselves of their placement within the universe. “Throughout the poem the poet ultimately resolves that God alone is eternal and human-made objects, designs and history will fade eventually”

“Where what breathes, breathes / and what drinks, drinks,” the persona says (3,5). Natures relationships depicted in the first stanza are beautiful. At first, something as simple as the “islands” may seem unimportant (1). Once analyzed, its purposed is defined by providing a warm home for life to sustain. Without the “restless wind” and “incoming tide,” the animals could not sustain (4,6). Everything in the universe is interconnected.

The composition of the poem is very loose with only two stanzas and a lot of verse lines, some of which only consists of one word. The verse lines with only one word suggest that the reader also has to interpret the way the poem is read; not only the message and theme. Bluebird also has an unusual graphical look that confine, just like Bukowski’s

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:

It is human nature to interpret and reinterpret life and find meaning of one’s place in the world. Without such knowledge, or belief for that matter, any possibility of humanity is lost. Hence, humans are plagued with the necessity to interpret themselves and their connections to their surroundings—both human and physical. Because one’s connections and contexts for interpretation are endless in some sense, humans are inherently a divided self—the culmination of all given interpretations they make for themselves and interpretations from others. In addition, this totality of interpretations through the lens selves as being what is around you, it follows that poetic-rhetorical language is necessary in discussion of the divided self.

Understanding her own purpose in writing, Barrett set out to perfectly portray it to others. This search for clarity in vocabulary is what drove her to create such complicated poetry that, unfortunately, more often than not, perplexed her critical contemporaries. Barrett characterizes her process of writing as being "thought-tied"

“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.”

The poem "Design" explores whether the events in nature are simply random occurrences or part of a larger plan by God, and if there's a force that dominates and controls our very existence. On that point both Jere K Huzzard and Everett Carter aggress on. They differ in their interpretations of the poem's ending and what they think Frost wanted to convey with his vague ending. Both agree that the last line of the poem was written in an undefined way with purpose on Frost's side. But each critic poses his own ideas regarding what is the meaning of that line. While Carter examines the whole poem in order to answer this question, Huzzard chose to focus only on the last two lines.

The reader must participate in the making of the poem or story by digging the structure out and create coherence out of the seeming incoherence. Therefore, the search for meaning, even if it does not succeed, becomes meaningful itself.