Prompt 2: “The Poem You Asked For”
In “The Poem You Asked For” by Larry Levis, he is comparing writing a poem by comparing it to a plant, stubborn person, and toad. Larry Levis, a 20th-century writer is well known for his brevity and surprise approach in poetry. This poem magnifies the complications that authors may face while trying to write something of such importance. The speaker uses an abundant amount of figurative language to personify how writing is so difficult, and can lead to many difficulties and dead ends. The author uses figurative language to portray the theme of difficulties in the writing process such as: difficulties prewriting, writers block, and how hard it is to let go of writing as an author.
Larry Levis ' poem, "The Poem You Asked For," illustrates how difficult the pre-writing process can be. In the poem, Lewis starts out by saying, "My poem would eat nothing. / I tried giving it water / but it said no" (1-3). When the speaker says “My poem would eat nothing” (Levis 1), it seems that none of the speaker’s techniques for writing have worked. When it comes to pre-writing, it is important to sit down and plan out the topic. One must make sure to brainstorm, because when one is presented with a topic it may seem to not make sense, or that the topic could be hard to find information on. If one doesn 't properly pre-write, then they will spend a lot of time procrastinating and stuck in the same spot for an abundance of time. In lines 1-3, Levis introduces
Any person will instantly think of a horse, twitching with fleas. Some metaphors she uses are "imaginary gardens with real toads in them." With this metaphor, Moore insists that true poetry should include both imagination and reality. A line that includes much imagery is when Moore says, “ The
The poem “Love Song” by Carol Muske-Dukes is about lost love. She uses a sparrow that lost its family. The life in this poem is being lived in a house in a village. The poem suggests this when it states, “He and I had a blue landscape, a village street, some poems, bread on a plate” (stanza 5). The poem doesn’t tell us when this poem takes place only where it happens. The tone of the poem is nostalgic. The bird misses its family. Two times the poem shows that the bird is nostalgic, “All day it pecks at the tin image of a faceless bird.” (stanza 3-4), “Love was faceless even when we’d memorized each other’s lines.” (stanza 6) The 1st quote shows that he wants his family back because all he does is stay with a tin bird which is the only resemblance
Throughout English 101, I learned that the following the writing process was imperative. Before taking this class, I use to always skip the pre-writing step considering that it is just an easy and unnecessary step. Consequently, I struggled to figure how to start writing, and most importantly I struggled to figure out the main point while writing the draft. And then I finish the first draft close to the deadline that I do not have time to read it not to mention revising. It was after I started this class that learned that pre-writing is vital, and requires time and attention as it holds the base of the whole writing. My professor used different analogies such as blueprint for building and map for navigation to explain the importance. It really speeded up my writing after I started to utilize it. I have learned outlining before, but part of the pre-writing that I was fortunate enough to learning in English 101 is the writing triangle. Even before outlining, the topic, purpose, and audience of the
How do authors generate ideas when writing? Many authors shape their works by reflecting on occurrences in their lives. While some utilize positive occurrences, more often than not, poets incorporate unpleasant experiences in their compositions. Mary Oliver exhibits this technique by incorporating her tough childhood into her poetry. “…with words, I could build a world I could live in. I had a very dysfunctional family, and a very hard childhood. So I made a world out of words. And it was my salvation” (Shriver). As a result of her sufferings, Oliver also turned to nature for inspiration. Mary Oliver’s works focused on her observations in nature, which provided an escape from reality. Mary Oliver’s experiences in life profoundly influenced
Sharon Olds in "True Love" wonders about a true meaning of love in her uniquely written poem about a married couple. She hints that true love is about belonging to one another. That belonging or self-possession is reflected via ties of marriage. She further says that children, which are a product of marriage, only tighten marital bonds even more. The speaker starts her poem by describing two people having sex and looking at each other in a “complete friendship”. However, as much as the poem at first seems to have a positive meaning, the message appears to be quite opposite. In fact, “after making love, we look at each other in complete friendship" (2-3) sounds odd if used when describing the love between friends with benefits or a married couple. Friends with benefits contribute to unhealthy relationships that they are in, which is built on lust and only physical desire. Her poem, perhaps is an ironic portrayal of true love. A true love, if it even exists, is very difficult to preserve and can take a different turn especially within the marriage.
Greed is one of the worst feelings you can live with. It welcomes fear and paranoy untill everything is dark and pointless. the universe has made it clear to me that when you want something too much, you will most likely never recieve it. The best advice I can give you is to just live life in the moment, be happy with who you are, but, also never settle for something below you. dream. Have the courage and the strenght to persue those dreams, but also don't go chasing them so much that you chase them away. Be patient. Follow your dreams and they will lead you to you destination. If it's meant to happen it will happen when it happens. So, go out, live your life and then one day, when you least expect it your dream will come true.
Whenever modern poetry is mentioned, there is an overwhelming consensus that it involves an onslaught of free verse with irregular structure “Modern poetry was seen as not rhyming, even when it did rhyme; as obscure and difficult, even when it was at its most lucid and limpid” (Schmidt, 3). There is also a stereotype that traditional forms of poetry that were popular in the past were abandoned. However, when looking at examples of modern poetry, it becomes clear that this is not the case. Whilst it is true that many modern poets have embraced the free verse form of poetry, others have adopted classical poem forms. Tweaking them slightly so that can adapt to the modern world. Thus reviving these forms and making them more fresh and relevant.
The collection of poems named Dizzy In Your Eyes:Poems About Love by Pat Mora contains five poems On Guard, Please, Spanish, Broken Home, and Questions. The collection has multiple stages of love including self love, teenage love, love of parents, and heartbreak after a divorce (from the children’s p.o.v). The structure of these stages seems to be done to represent a cycle of love. Whether the poems are reflecting Mora’s personal feelings we as the readers don’t know, but we know the narrator shows us exactly how their feeling. In the poem On Guard that is especially true with the harsh language and intense criticism of others. In On Guard Pat Mora uses her language backed by possible personal experiences to criticize the narrator in On
1. The Favored Man 2. The Ruler Releases yet Coming to Run the show 3.
Prewriting means to get all of your ideas for what you will be writing about in front of you. Different people have different ways of accomplishing this step. Some start out by brainstorming or making lists, but I usually use a little less conventional prewriting activity. If the assignment requires research I do that first thing just to educate myself on what I will be writing about, but if it something that is based on opinion I have a horrible habit of jumping straight in and typing out the piece then revising it (which is considered free writing), because I simply think better that way. I also develop my thesis statement before beginning any piece (even though there have been occasions when I’ve had to go off the top of my head because I couldn’t focus at the time). It is easier to being prewriting and developing your overall assignment when you already have your main idea to build around.
A poem that I picked is called The Poem it is written in Spanish but is translated below the Spanish version. It is about a man that twirls around his head and then he finally finds it and tries to keep it but it vanishes, so then he makes his own from whatever he can use and then the poem disappears and carries on to the next person like a family going through different generations and passing it down to the youngest one. This poem reminds me of losing your favorite toy and then finding it a month later. Then you don't even want it any more and give it to a different person instead of keeping
We composed journal entries, poems, summaries, jokes, analyses, epitaphs, and arguments. This allowed us to receive quick feedback, which proved to be invaluable. Mr. Trenthem's praise, corrections, rants, and endless stream of humorous stories inspired and motivated me to write more and think more about what I wrote. In fact, our class' study of American poets from Robert Haydn to Langston Hughes drew out some of the best writing I have ever crafted. I am very fortunate to have had such a fastidious and authentic person to challenge me every week to improve my writing and myself.
Poetry, an expression of the soul, a way to show the musings of the inner mind, and a super cheap gift for a college student. I once wrote a book of love poems for a boyfriend. I didn’t have much money and I’m not very artistic. We decided not to spend more than $10 on our gifts to each other months in advance. Coming up with heartfelt, unique, and classy gift proved to be more difficult than I originally imagined. The deadline for giving the gifts felt closer to me than the weeks, if not longer off, which separated the worry and the day. I continued to be completely stunned, until, in my creative writing class, we were assigned to write a love poem about things someone else wrote on a piece of paper. Ten things about a locker room, park, or classroom, then the poem was to be written about five of those ten things. That’s when I wrote my first love poem, or at least the first one I felt proud of and wanted to share.
Writing is not for the timid. Writing is not for the faint of heart. Writing is not for the strong-willed or the cowardly. Writing is not for the beautiful or the weak. Writing is not for the fierce or the mild. It is not for the admirable. Not for heros or villains. Not for the lazy. Not for the boastful or fragile. Not for the perky or the afraid. Not for the graceful or gloomy. Not for the young or aged. Not for the good or the bad. Not for the tall or short. Writing isn’t for audiences, readers, writers, or editors. Writing isn’t for anyone.
Mattie was three years old when he started writing; he also had a rare case of muscular dystrophy. He never saw his condition as an obstacle between him and his goals. Mattie had profound wisdom for his age. He passed away at the age of thirteen years old, just one month shy of being fourteen.