Poetry Analysis Essay – Human Nature by Alice Anderson

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.

Most poems, new and old, almost always have an important message to teach to all those who take the time to read it. Authors use poetic devices to get their message across in creative, yet effective ways. For example, Mary Oliver carefully uses several poetic devices to teach her own personal message to her readers. Oliver’s use of the poem’s organization, diction, figurative language, and title aids in conveying the message of how small, yet vital oxygen is to all living and nonliving things in her poem, “Oxygen.”

Born in Senegal around 1753, Phillis Wheatley became an important American poetic figure. At the age of 8, she was kidnapped and brought to Boston on a slave ship and upon her arrival to Boston, she was quickly sold to John Wheatley (Bio). Under her new family, Phillis adopted the master’s last name, taken under the wife’s wing, and showed her deep intelligence. Even though suffering from poor health, Phillis’s intelligence did not go unnoticed; she received lessons in theology, English, Latin and Greek. Being a slave did not stop Phillis from learning and experiencing her life, she participated in the master’s family events and eventually became a family member. The irony in this situation is

Poetry can follow your life all the way through, from the innocence of a child, to the end of your days. The comfort, seduction, education, occasion and hope found in poems are elaborated in Poetry Should Ride the Bus by Ruth Forman. As the poem reads on, you not only travel through the life of a person from adolescence to being elderly through vivid imagery, but also hit on specific genres of poems through the personification of poetry as the characters in the stages of life. This poem’s genres hit on what poetry should do and be, by connecting the life many of us live.

Anne Sexton was a poet and a woman, but most importantly, she was an outcast. Subjected to nervous breakdowns and admitted to a neuropsychiatry hospital, Sexton must have been all too familiar with the staring eyes and the judging minds of the public. Just being a woman in today's world often can be enough to degrade a person in the public's eye, let alone being labeled as a crazy woman. But Anne Sexton did not let society remain unchallenged in its views. She voiced a different opinion of women through poetry. In Anne Sexton's "Her Kind" the speaker of the poem embraces society's negative stereotype of modern, liberated women and transforms it into a positive image. Two voices, the voice of

When humans and nature come together, they either coexist harmoniously because nature's inhabitants and humans share a mutual respect and understanding for each other, or they clash because humans attempt to control and force their ways of life on nature. The poems, "The Bull Moose" by Alden Nowlan, "The Panther" by Rainer Maria Rilke, "Walking the Dog" by Howard Nemerov, and "The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop, describe what happens when humans and nature come together. I believe that when humans and nature come together they either clash and conflict because individuals destroy and attempt to control nature, which is a reflection of their powerful need to control themselves, or humans live peacefully with nature because not only do they

Giovanni brilliantly uses the literary devices of imagery, paralleled repetition and symbolism to depict a vivid journey of transformation, concluding with an exquisite moment of self-realization.

Friendship is a blessing, people say, and it is. Men often express their appreciation and respect for male friends through literature. A fellowship, medieval authors call it. A deep and unbreakable connection between males, transcending romantic love. A relationship based on mutual support and admiration, thriving of intellectual stimulation. Nothing is more valuable to a man than a friendship, not even the love of a woman; it is only a man, after all, who can understand another man. To seventeenth century men, friendship (just like everything else) is a male blessing – a patriarchal gift – not for women. Female friendship was “impossible,” for an amicable and supportive relationship between women could never exist. Platonic friendships existed between men, not women. Yet, several female poets challenged this notion, emphasizing importance of female friendships as male authors and poets do. Friendship is defined through a feminist lens in Aemilia Lanyer’s “The Description of Cookham” and Katherine Philips’ poetry in which female characteristics that are often overlooked are deeming meaningful through friendship.

Reflections Within is a non-traditional stanzaic poem made up of five stanzas containing thirty-four lines that do not form a specific metrical pattern. Rather it is supported by its thematic structure. Each of the five stanzas vary in the amount of lines that each contain. The first stanza is a sestet containing six lines. The same can be observed of the second stanza. The third stanza contains eight lines or an octave. Stanzas four and five are oddly in that their number of lines which are five and nine.

With the shock of coming face-to-face with death, she starts to let go of her power-hungry and deceptive behavior and decides to act out of love and humility. Her head has become clear, and more than ever she becomes aware of the situation. All her shallow and hypocritical thoughts seemed to have dissipated, and she sees the Misfit as a child of God just. The grandma notices a voice crack in the Misfit’s voice and thought he was about to cry; she murmurs, “Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children” (O’Connor 458-459)! The grandmother calls the Misfit one of her kids despite the crimes he has already committed; God’s spirit may have entered the grandmother and is attempting to offer redemption to the Misfit since she has now accepted it. The still figure of the grandmother is described as “her legs crossed under her like a child’s and her face smiling up at the cloudless sky” (459). God has given the grandma salvation now, and her spirit has a journey to heaven via the cloudless sky. O’Connor shows the protagonist to be hypocritical, but the protagonist found salvation and appeared happy after accepting God and feeling love towards the Misfit; the Misfit appeared to reject God when he shot the grandmother in the chest after she was trying to lend him a hand. The grandmother was able to find salvation through the violence the Misfit brought.

The poem that I chose for my essay was “Why Nobody Pets the Lion at the Zoo” by John Ciardi. This poem was a modern/rhyming couplet type of poem that included ten couplets. The poem is about a lion in a zoo desperately wanting to be pet, but not being able to trust his teeth enough to give anyone a chance. I realize the poem has a deeper meaning that is hidden beneath a simpler and more naive-like exterior. I believe the true meaning of the poem is not being able to control your actions and emotions around someone so you choose to stay away; losing an opportunity so the person is safe.

As I have been reading the poetry assigned by my literature professor, I found that each poem showed a representation of what I envision as the Human Condition and the Human Experience. In this reflective paper I will talk a little more about representation, what methods I used to develop my poems, how I made them stronger and what inspired the poems that I created. At the heart of human experience lies a yearning for self-definition and self-understanding. Developing a conception of who we are, for what purpose we exist, and how we should live our lives is basic to our consciousness.

Religion tends to play an important role in any person who believes in what they practice. Many of those who truly believe in a religion tend to be extremely devoted to it and have religious aspirations. One of the storytellers referred to as the Prioress narrates a tale about a boy whose mother taught him to reverence the mother of God. This story takes place in a Christian town which was also a ghetto in Asia. This little boy was killed by a murderer who was hired by some Jews because throughout the streets, he sang a hymn saluting Mary that did not abide by the Jews laws. According to this story, the mother of God put a grain in the little boy’s mouth to allow him to sing Alma Redemptoris so that the Christians and his mother would find his dead body and allow his soul to rest with God. As the little boy is miraculously singing an abbot states, “Dear child, I conjure thee By virtue of the Holy Trinity To say how singing is permitted thee Although thy throat is cut, or seems to be”. This holy man is astonished as to how he is still singing to ultimately be found and be at peace. The narrator attempts to get the reader to see that religion and prayer helps those who are defenseless, in this case the mother trying to find her son and the little boy wanting to be found to let his soul rest peacefully in heaven. Prayer

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.

A rhyme scheme. A small story. Poems are often viewed as simple things to read. People do not notice realize how powerful and perplex they can be. Poetry has its own way of telling a story. In only a few lines, one’s entire life can be explained. However, only some poets know how to connect to their audience on a different level. It takes a specific type of person to create vivid pieces of literature. Usually authors who thrive in writing have gone through experiences that made them full of wisdom. The way one writes reflects back on who he/she is as a person. As a result of growing up in a traditional black family, Mari Evans incorporates her values about being an African American in her poem, “I Am A Black Woman.”