The Poet With His Face In His Hands Analysis

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 poetry authors give their poems abstract titles with deeper meanings within them, but Oliver did not choose to do that method. As soon as a reader sees the title of her poem, they will have an idea in their head of what the poem will be about. Doing this makes it more simple and easier to read, but at the same time relay an important message that Oliver wants readers to know. The poem revolves around the idea of oxygen and the life it brings to everything, and Oliver’s way of directly giving that hint to readers is in the

Life can feel like lounging on the sand, staring into the cities of roses, however, with such happiness comes a deep, cruel truth called death. In this passage, Oliver’s style conveys the complexity of her response to nature by the double-meaning between the owl, the lie behind the “immobilizing happiness”, and the cold truth of these roses. Oliver’s style strives to show how nature is all but an illusion of life and death.

Overflowing her poem with the details of her vision, Oliver effectively transports the reader into the story being told. “My bones knock together at the pale joints, trying for a foothold, finger hold,” (line 13). The speaker in this story is struggling for what seems like endlessly, describing to the reader the exact torture that his/her body is experiencing.

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

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.

Immediately following the first statement, Oliver prompts that “You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.” The senseless wandering in a desert in harsh conditions is similar to the biblical story of Moses leading the Isrealites through the desert before reaching the Promised Land. By writing that the reader does not have to wander as a punishment leads into line four and five, where the speaker asserts that instead of being good, “You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” Instead of following what other’s want, the speaker proclaims that the only real necessity is to follow what your natural instincts, you animal, want. The speaker also declares inn lines six and seven that while you are talking about your despair, “the world goes on,” which proves that human traits of complaining and listening to others do not bring you closer to nature. In fact, the world continues as if you had not done anything at all. The poem then contrasts inert objects such as “the sun,” “the prairies,” and “the mountains” with objects that appear to be alive and move such as “the clear pebbles of the rain,” “the deep trees,” and “the rivers.” This compares the unmoving appearance of what society wants in the solid features of nature compared to the living and movement that is only sometimes perceived in the rain, trees, and rivers. The comparison can also be

To start, is how Oliver had believed that Kunitz was like Merlin when it came to writing poetry. It seemed to her that Kunitz was this amazing poet and it was effortless, just like magic. For example Oliver stated, “but their own good lives,/ where petals float upward,/ their colors exploding,/ and trees open their moist/ pages of thunder(8-12). These lines in the poem had been in the first stanza, when Oliver had first misunderstood Kunitz’s work ethic. When

Veterans are more susceptible to the memories of war, pain, suffering, and death. Memorials such as the Vietnam Memorial bring back many memories for veterans when they view these memorials. Those memories can attack the mind, and cause a veteran to feel vulnerable. Many veterans can only associate those memorials with the pain, suffering, and death that they had seen while at war. Yusef Komunyakaa expresses the pain that is felt within war veterans when they remember memories of war and survival in his poem "Facing It."

Oliver uses literary as well as rhetoric devices to convince her readers of the purpose. She does this in a short poem of only eighteen lines. In this poem, Oliver successfully gets

As a group, we picked poems that cover different aspects about which students in elementary school or even in junior high might be dealing with on a daily basis, affecting their lives emotionally, mentally, as well as physically.  We open up with a poem that is about each of us being born “in different ways.”  People are all born different sizes, shapes, and colors.  We each have a few poems that we feel fit both our differences as well as fit the majority of what students in elementary and junior high go through.  The poem Freckle Face is about a girl with freckles and her many ways of trying to remove them in order to look like the rest of the girls.  Four Eyes is about a child who feels his style is being destroyed and he is becoming a nerd due to the fact that he now has to wear

his face contorts in OBVIOUS perplexity at the oddly dressed man. this … suit ( costume ? ) he wears is painfully improper out on the street. what would INFLUENCE him to wander around in public like this ? he can’t bring himself to insult him; he’s too flabbergasted. the devil himself is at a lost for words. lucifer clears his throat before he speaks, eyes never once drifting from him, “ halloween is … far away, isn’t it ? or are you one of those … fanatics with video games ? ”

Poetry is not turning loose from emotion, rather it is an escape from emotion. It is a chance to be out of your body and express feelings from a third person perspective. Poetry is a surplus of emotion and power that is taken to paper to share with those who can relate. When you have nothing to say or don’t know how to say it – it is poetry. It can be as simple as explaining an ocean set landscape, to as complicated as explaining how you feel from the inside out. Sylvia Plath effectively expresses her complicated emotions in a form that is bizarre to some. Leaving the reader in curiosity, she uses the stroke of a pen to capture the people who can not capture themselves. Sylvia Plath effectively captivates her readers appeal through her poetry by using emotional appeal, powerful language, and profound and developing structure.

When Lucy Grealy was nine years old, she was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a type of cancer that has very low chance of survival. Grealy had countless surgeries, both successful and unsuccessful, to not only cease her illness but to try to reverse the effects it had on her appearance. However, Grealy’s journey with cancer ultimately left her lacking half of her jaw and revealed her similar lack of a support system. Cancer did not merely affect Grealy- it also affected the people around her in various ways, complicating the way everyone interacted with each other. Throughout her memoir, Autobiography of a Face, Grealy describes the complex relationship she had with her family members, mainly her mother. This portrayal of a misunderstood

Poetry allows the writer, the reader and even those listening to get a deeper sense of being. It gives us the opportunity to break free from simple and boring routine. If done correctly a poem will done correctly a poem will be able to stir emotion, and create wonder. In order to this however all the part that make up a poem must be in sync. Its tone, diction, imaginary, rhythm, symbolism and subject matter are all critical areas. A good poem will draw an emotional reaction from its audience, whether those are light and upbeat or darker more serious feelings they will come away with a new experience, changed by what they just experienced. Two such poems that embody what a good poem should be are “Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath and “Harlem”, also published as “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes. These poems elevate the experience for reading, listening and writing poetry, and serve as an excellent reference for a poem should be.