Poem-a-day analysis

As Wendy Martin says “the poem leaves the reader with painful impression of a woman in her mid-fifties, who having lost her domestic comforts is left to struggle with despair. Although her loss is mitigated by the promise of the greater rewards of heaven, the experience is deeply tragic.” (75)

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.

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

Clint Smith is a writer, teacher, and doctoral candidate in Education at Harvard University with a concentration in Culture, Institutions, and Society. Smith Clint wrote a poem called “Something You should Know.” The poem is about an early job he had in a Petsmart. The poet allows the readers into his personal life, but before he had trouble opening up to people and his work. Moreover, Clint wrote an insight in the poem about relying in anything to feel safe and he says it is the most terrifying thing any person can do.

Construct a close reading of this poem that demonstrates your awareness of the poet’s body of work.

In this poem, symbolism is used to help reader’s find deeper meaning in the little things included and show that everything comes back to the father’s fear of the child he adores growing older and more independent. “In a room full of books in a world of stories, he can recall not one, and soon he thinks the boy will give up on his father.” This sentence makes a reader assume that the story the five year old so

Once I was able to associate these words to emotions and issues present in everyday life, the poem started to make me feel sad. I began thinking about all of the emotions and feelings that everyone hides as they go about life. For example, how the waitress I see once a week may have an eating disorder, or how the singer I look up to just lost her son, or the businessman who got laid off today. Everyone has their own personal battle that they carry everywhere, at any given moment. This explains why the setting is so plain, since the internal struggles people face affect them even at a bus stop. While each person waits, the waitress may be thinking about how much skinnier the person next to her is. The singer could be remembering when she held her baby. And the business man could be planning how to break the news to his wife. No matter how small, everyone experiences a type of trauma or bad experience, and this poem seemed to show what happens when these emotions become bottled up. No one can help each other because they are so stuck within their own issues. The difficulty helping others reminded me of the idea of having to take care of yourself before being able to take care of others.

The way the poet used powerful word choices and emotion to show how he felt throughout the poem In the beginning of the poem it starts off sad but by the end of the poem it shows a side of anger. I thought the poem was very strong and powerful because of the personification he used. I think his poem was powerful because it felt personal and something relatable in his life. Throughout the poem the poet seemed like he was talking about someone in his life such as his partner. I think if the poet did not seem like he was talking to a partner then it would not be as straightforward as it was. Since he used personification throughout the poem it made me as a reader to be able to connect with what the poet and it made it feel more personal. I really liked the word choice the poet used throughout the poem. Some of the words stood out to me more than others. One word that really stood out to me when reading this poem was the word “shit.” While most poets do not use profanity, it helped show how he was feeling and the emotions he was using at that time. I think this poet was speaking from his life experience and wanted to show the emotions he was feeling when this was happening. I think people write poetry for an act of self-expression. I believe when a poet writes a poem that they are trying to write about a personal experience in their life. Also, a poem can be emotional and creative with only a

This poem has a true meaning behind it. The meaning of it is of Antwone when he was little. He would cry himself to sleep. He would get beaten over an over again. It just kept building up and finally he cried for help on the inside. Luckily he got help from his psychiatrist before it was too late.

The passionate tone within the poem assists in bringing out the author’s message. For example in lines twenty-seven to thirty-eight:

During the act of describing a situation, like the base runners in a baseball game, it is importuned to be clear and concise. In the “Who’s On First” clip this was not the case. The main issue is the three base runners all have names that have other meanings in the English language. Who, What, and I DONT KNOW can all be interpreted in a different way rather than names. If Costello started his story with “Here are the guys name, Who, What, and I DON’T KNOW” and then told Abbott the order of the base runners there would be no confusion. Being clear at the beginning with the names would be the best option for situations such as this, but then again it wouldn’t have been funning.

Poetry can be divided up into different forms, more easily expressing an author’s emotions and intent with their poetry. For analyzing purposes I chose the poems Self-Help by Michael Ryan, Ghazal by Agha Shahid Ali, Psalm 150 by Jericho Brown, and Emergency by Michael Dylan Welch.

The short stanzas containing powerful imagery overwhelm the readers forcing them to imagine the oppression that the speaker went through in

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.