Poem Analysis: The Mermaid

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.

Would you ever think an indigenous poem about nature would have any similarities with a short story that is set later on in the future, where everybody is dependent on technology? “The Song My Paddle Sings” is by an early 1900s indigenous poet, Pauline Johnson, and “The Pedestrian” is written by early 2000s writer, Ray Bradbury. The short story and the poem both establish a very determined, lonely,anxious and gloomy mood. “The Song My Paddle Sings” is an indigenous poem that exemplifies to stay determined in every journey in life. The poem is about a man who goes sailing but there is no wind, so then he has to take down the sail and start canoeing but then the water gets faster and he accepts that he has to change for nature. Consequently

The poem titled Sea Rose by Hilda Doolittle tells about a rose, but not just a rose like any other. The poem instantly begins by going against the common connotation of a rose, the reader is given this passage “Rose, harsh rose,” (line 1). When the thought of a rose comes to mind the last word used to describe the soft petals and beautiful color would be harsh. H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) wants us to think about this rose as not an ordinary or normal rose but to see it as something more or something less. She goes on to say, “marred and with stint of petals” (line 2). To mar something is to disfigure or impair the quality/appearance of something, in this case a rose. Stint means to have an ungenerous amount; by this line we can understand that H.D. has begun to take a rose something commonly associated with beauty and love and twist into a disfigured and battered depiction of what it once was. The rest of the stanza goes on to say, “meagre flower, thin, sparse of leaf,”. A rose is meant to be a strong symbol of love and beauty, yet the depiction of the rose H.D. is giving the reader goes against the preconceived notions of what a rose should be. H.D.’s language and perception of the rose challenges to the reader to think of the rose as something more.

In the fifth stanza, the speaker makes inconsiderable progress in solving the crucial question regarding the randomness of the universe. As she realizes the overwhelming number of uncertainties in the universe, the woman chooses instead to concentrate on the task at hand, turning her “back…to the dark” or the unknowns. However, she is unable to resist the compelling temptation of mystery, and quickly attempts to contemplate the “stars and bits of stars and little bits of bits” which reside throughout the universe. While the “bits” in this statement signify randomness, the “stars” represent the unknown. This symbolism, coupled with the use of repetition and alliteration, emphasize the woman’s sheer confusion on the matter at hand. The vast uncertainty of the universe has forced her to consider the possibility of a wholly random universe. The persona’s confusion is confirmed through her question: “is it craft or art?” In this circumstance, “craft” represents a universe in which fate

Certain things some people do can seem beyond human powers, even defying gravity. In “The Juggler,” the poet Richard Wilbur describes the awe and wonder felt by the speaker watching the juggler; the speaker is amazed by the gracefulness of the balls flying in the air and even portrays the juggler as reeling in heaven itself. Through the use of imagery portraying the juggler’s magical performance, specific structure and syntax of the poem, and diction that elicits the godly powers of the juggler, the speaker describes the juggler as a superhuman who defies gravity while expressing the speaker’s own inability to overcome the challenges in his daily life and thus his negative view of the world.

A tragic story in its own right, is a story that deals with tragic events, including an unhappy ending that usually involves the death or demise of the main protagonist. Although “Mermaids” is a truly sad and unforgiving story, it does not classify as a tragedy. Mermaids by Richard Van Camp has close to none of the aspects that make a tragic story, truly tragic. The characters development, ending, and tragic pattern, all support the fact that this story is sad, but not tragic.

Once upon a time, there were these three mermaids. In the deep blue sea there names were Sirene,Nixie,and Lyla they were with their pod. The mermaids went for a swim away from their pod in they went to this island to look around in they found these starfish that they put on their ear. When the three mermaids left when they got where they pod was at they was not there the pod had disappeared ,so they want back to the island in was talking like where did our pod go.The mermaids heard people talking it was this boy name Zac and his family they were out there camping. Zac told his family that he was going for a walk in he saw this cave so he was thinking like should I go in then, so Zac end up going into the cave.When Zac went

In the third stanza, the diction of “heaven” and “noble” allows the speaker to craft an image of an almost godlike juggler. This view of the juggler creates the tone of amazement and ardent which breaks through the previous gloomy description of the earth in the first stanza which “falls/ So in our hearts from brilliance” (lines 3-4). This reveals that the world the juggler has made, unlike the earth which the speaker doesn’t appear to have fond feelings of, is a joyful and light-hearted place that the speaker is easily captivated by. As the juggler “reels that heaven in” (line 16), creates an atmosphere of an almost unearthly experience. This description of the juggler as a master of spiritual elements allows readers to view how the speaker's attitude is uplifted and enlightened.

Tragedy is defined as an event that causes suffering, destruction and death. When one is not fully aware of their knowledge, terrible events will correspond to what one has done. In the short story Mermaids by Richard Van Camp, the human suffering of Torchy resembles an Aristotle tragedy. Firstly, Torchy demonstrates hamartia when he is gambling. Additionally, the outcome of Torchy’s hamartia leads him to peripeteia which Torchy runs out of medicine. Lastly, Torchy wonders if he is a villain and this shows anagnorisis. Torchy’s actions ultimately lead his life to a downfall that is caused through accidental events, and this overall demonstrates the concept of an Aristotle tragedy.

The resources of the soul are immense and go far beyond our highest imagination. We do not know our soul’s potential, however, we do know that it is almost immeasurable.Finally, both men believe that the imagination can uplift and change our lives.

This composition reads like a fantasy story but it actually arouses the imagination and edifies the human mind to actually value its existence.

What is the significance of an individual’s essence within the vast universe? Surrounded in an environment where all life resides do humans play the role of hegemony? Each human is unique, separated by interactions and relationships compiled throughout the journey of life. But, no matter how these experiences could shape an individual, the most basic pillars of life will always endure. All humans share land on this planet, breathe the same air, and are equally mortal. Composed by Louise Bogan, the role of humanity is put into perspective in the poem, “Night.” The speaker emphasizes nature’s immense presence in the universe. As the plot of “Night” develops, the interconnected relationships found in nature are revealed, using imagery to show

The Fish is a narrative monologue composed for 76 free-verse lines. The poem is constructed as one long stanza. The author is the speaker narrating this poem. She narrates a fishing experience. The author is out in a rented boat on a body of water, presumably a lake. She tries to describe the fish to the fullest, which appears to be the purpose of the poem, without saying either the specie or an approximate age. The narration gives the impression that the fish is slightly old. There are a number of reasons as to why that fish got caught by the author, including time of day, the weeds weighing it down, fish’s age, and the fact that it has been previously caught five times.

Delvaux’s painting consist of a eight nearly identical woman sitting in chairs outside the doorways of grey rowhomes which head down a thin, long road. Towards the background of the painting, the houses are replaced by a lengthy, white wall and the road starts to bend dramatically. At the bend there is a black-hatted man walking away from the viewer and on the other side of the wall there are mermaids. Both the man and the mermaids are miniscule due to the extended perspective of the painting. The Village of The mermaids’ is confusing for many reasons. It has no central subject and uses size and perspective to minimize key figures and symbols that help the viewer form a holistic conclusion about it’s meaning. The Village of the Mermaids’ is not unlike a hydra, for every question answered two arise in its place. The painting has mysterious, eerie sentiment that plays on the viewer’s discomfort with the unknown. The Village of the Mermaids’ uses subtly unconventional geometry and positioning to achieve contradictory symbolism and ultimately a sense of discombobulation, but Mueller’s poetic analysis of the the painting fails to capture the full depth of this state of quiet disarray because people often feel the need to ground surrealist work in reality.