Stephen Crane's Poem 'Untitled'

“Confession” is a poem which opens with an artist contemplating the morality of drawing his subjects with all their “defects” in great detail. He continues on by describing the loving attention he gives to each flaw, “I pamper each pimple,hump,massage,each incrustation,” (lines 5-6). Most of the poem consists of Dinh taking the time to account each particularly flawed feature he has unashamedly depicted in his art. These “flaws” on his models do not simply include rashes and other visual defects, but awkward poses and age, “Impossibly old, extremely young - onto appalling heaps,” (lines 11-12). While the narrator in the beginning of the poem seems uncertain if these actions are just, by the end he seems more certain that nevertheless it simply came from a place of doting accuracy or as he claims, “just so I could render the human condition most accurately and movingly,” (lines 14-15).

Poetry can sometimes allow one to explore the unknown. However, in some works of poetry, one can realise that some known ideas or values remain relevant to current society. This is certainly applicable to T.S. Eliot’s poems, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Rhapsody on a Windy Night. Eliot’s manipulation of poetic techniques in both these poems allows the responder to realise that some ideas prevail in both modern and post-modern society. These poems explore the unknown phenomena of the obscurity regarding the purpose and meaning of life. This unknown phenomena causes the persona in both texts to resort to a sense of isolation or alienation. Eliot uses poetic techniques such as metaphors and personification to convey his ideas.

“An Apology for Using the Word 'Heart' in Too Many Poems” is a poem whose theme circles around how the author, Hayden Carruth, attempts to persuade people to use the word heart with emotion behind it. The title is what captures the reader's attention to this poem. When first reading the word apology, people usually think of it as a regretful acknowledgment which is along the lines of saying, “I'm sorry.” But not this particular apology. Also, when reading the words “heart” or thinking of “love”, the first thought is usually a great feeling and happiness. The author uses his apology as more of a defense and explanation as to what he thinks of the heart. He also gives his viewpoint on how people use the

Poetry has a role in society, not only to serve as part of the aesthetics or of the arts. It also gives us a view of what the society is in the context of when it was written and what the author is trying to express through words. The words as a tool in poetry may seem ordinary when used in ordinary circumstance. Yet, these words can hold more emotion and thought, however brief it was presented.

In the first two lines of the poem, Herrera communicates his theme via speaker and half-rhyme. In the speaker’s first appearance, it instantaneously remarks, “Let us celebrate the lives of all/as we reflect & pray & meditate on their brutal deaths” (Herrera, 5-6). The phrase “let us” establishes the speaker’s first-person, collective point of view. While the first stanza objectively lists the names of those injured and killed in recent atrocities, as though to pin blame onto the harmful individuals who caused their pain, the speaker’s collective perspective elucidates the fallacy of this perspective. By associating the whole of society, with the death of some citizenry, Herrera illustrates the all-penetrating nature of the pain caused by the disasters outlined in the poem’s first stanza. The dismal nature of these events does not simply imply the broken nature of a few people, but of society. Subsequently, when Herrera notes the healing practices of reflection, prayer, and meditation (6), he incorporates a half-rhyme between his initial statement, “Let us celebrate” (5), and the word meditate, the final in the list of three. Through his half-rhyme, Herrera suggests healing spiritual practices as a practice for embracing all of humanity as a unified whole, his ultimate solution to progress beyond society’s crossroads. Through these meaningful, beneficial practices, one can shift from having harmful, shallow perceptions and, by abandoning concepts, reach the reality of unity between people necessary for society to progress.

(…) the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air—look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire (…). What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like

The use of symbolism and imagery is beautifully orchestrated in a magnificent dance of emotion that is resonated throughout the poem. The two main ideas that are keen to resurface are that of personal growth and freedom. Furthermore, at first glimpse this can be seen as a simple poem about a women’s struggle with her counterpart. However, this meaning can be interpreted more profoundly than just the causality of a bad relationship.

Auden’s poem is a criticism of human perceptions and how we use them to detect, or suppress human suffering. In the first half of the poem Auden “compares versions of indifference by portraying youth and age, animals, and humans” (Shmoop, 2014). In the first few lines of the poem, Auden comments on the perceptions of the “Old Masters” and how they were never wrong in their discernment of suffering. He then compares the old masters perceptions to the perceptions of children and animals and how they are unaware of,

such a terrifying beast?” and “Who is God who dares to make such a terrifying

Steven Herrick’s verse novel “By the River” is very successful in conveying the significant ideas about human nature. He uses key themes such as grief, environmental influence and coming of age to explore these ideas. To convey the themes Herrick uses multiple techniques such as imagery, repetition, personification and positive and negative influence throughout his text.

Unlike other forms of literature, poetry can be so complex that everyone who reads it may see something different. Two poets who are world renowned for their ability to transform reader’s perceptions with the mere use of words, are TS Eliot and Walt Whitman. “The love song of J Alfred Prufrock” by TS Eliot, tells the story of a man who is in love and contemplating confessing his emotions, but his debilitating fear of rejection stops him from going through with it. This poem skews the reader’s expectations of a love song and takes a critical perspective of love while showing all the damaging emotions that come with it. “Song of myself”, by Walt Whitman provokes a different emotion, one of joy and self-discovery. This poem focuses more on the soul and how it relates to the body. “Song of myself” and “The love song of J Alfred Prufrock” both explore the common theme of how the different perceptions of the soul and body can affect the way the speaker views themselves, others, and the world around them.

This collection of over ninty words is much more than just a poem. It’s a story of millions of people. It ties in rhymes, sadness, happiness, religion and anger though a broad spectrum of other ideas.

The poem suddenly becomes much darker in the last stanza and a Billy Collins explains how teachers, students or general readers of poetry ‘torture’ a poem by being what he believes is cruelly analytical. He says, “all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it”. Here, the poem is being personified yet again and this brings about an almost human connection between the reader and the poem. This use of personification is effective as it makes the

Within modern-day America, there are certain societal standards based on sexual relationships. Within the poem, the narrator, a young woman, questions why she has to “wear the brand of shame; /whilst he amid the gay and proud/still bears an honored name” (Harper 26-28). Within her poem, Harper exposes the hypocrisy of the

The poem talks about a man- an anonymous “he”- a perfectionist whose poetry was understandable and who, himself, understood “human folly” and the human psyche like “the back of his hand”. He was