The Wise Sea Poem 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.

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.

Throughout history, authors have used poetry as a way to express themselves and how they think or feel in an artistic way. There have been poems written about almost every feeling a person has ever had which is why poetry is so popular, because it describes feelings in a way many people cannot. In present day, people from all around the world look back at old poetry and try to define the true meanings behind poems using literally elements and context clues to aid them, this is known as explication. The writing named “Boat of Cypress” is a famous poem written long ago by an unknown author, and composed about a woman full of misery and despair from her personal point of view. Throughout this poem, the readers

The poem titled Sea Rose by Hilda Doolittle tells about a rose, but not just a rose like any other. The poem instantly begins by going against the common connotation of a rose, the reader is given this passage “Rose, harsh rose,” (line 1). When the thought of a rose comes to mind the last word used to describe the soft petals and beautiful color would be harsh. H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) wants us to think about this rose as not an ordinary or normal rose but to see it as something more or something less. She goes on to say, “marred and with stint of petals” (line 2). To mar something is to disfigure or impair the quality/appearance of something, in this case a rose. Stint means to have an ungenerous amount; by this line we can understand that H.D. has begun to take a rose something commonly associated with beauty and love and twist into a disfigured and battered depiction of what it once was. The rest of the stanza goes on to say, “meagre flower, thin, sparse of leaf,”. A rose is meant to be a strong symbol of love and beauty, yet the depiction of the rose H.D. is giving the reader goes against the preconceived notions of what a rose should be. H.D.’s language and perception of the rose challenges to the reader to think of the rose as something more.

This contrast serves to communicate the scattered nature of our consciousness with the unity, elegance and fluidity of our subconscious. Furthermore, these drawn out sounds serve to also further the imagery of the tide’s “uninterrupted sweep” which is particularly effective in conveying the image of the wave rushing to envelope the shore, the word “uninterrupted” conveying this sense that the wave of inspiration is all smooth and relentless. This imagery is furthered by the 3 line-long segment, uninterrupted by punctuation. Yet, the central point made in these four lines is when the speaker states that “(he) heard” the waves. The description of the sea gives you a mental image, but Longfellow stresses upon the fact that the speaker only hears the tide, as this can be seen reflected in the title of the poem “The Sound of the Sea”. Hearing is an auditory action that allows one to be aware of the presence of the object through the sound, but not visually or physically grasp it. This suggests that inspiration is similar, in the sense that one can be aware of it but cannot consciously grasp, control or dominate it.

William Butler Yeats is one of the most esteemed poets in 20th century literature and is well known for his Irish poetry. While Yeats was born in Ireland, he spent most of his adolescent years in London with his family. It wasn’t until he was a teenager that he later moved back to Ireland. He attended the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin and joined the Theosophical Society soon after moving back. He was surrounded by Irish influences most of his life, but it was his commitment to those influences and his heritage that truly affected his poetry. William Butler Yeats’s poetry exemplifies how an author’s Irish identity can help create and influence his work.

Dwight Okita wrote the poem "Responce to Executive 9066", while Sandra Cisneros wrote "Mericans", both are about American identity. Okita talks more about culture with your family and Cisneros wrote about cultural heritage and physical appearance. Those three things do not determine if you are fit to be an American or not.

Our differences are what makes us the same. We all try hard to be different but in the end we do have a lot of similarities amongst us. As we all strive to be individuals, we also strive to 'fit in' these are just a few of the many things in which we all have in common. We must not close doors of opportunity. We don't want to limit ourselves to having a small amount of choices in our lives just because something so little as the color of someone's skin, Our similarities come from our differences.

As an observation of the opposing natures of the ocean's surfaces and depths, Hawthorne's "The Ocean" illustrates the tranquility of a grave beneath the ocean's waves. The melancholy tone of the poem acts like a unifying current, pervading the text of the poem and saturating it with a feeling of peace mingled with undertones of sadness. Divided into two octaves, the poem first depicts the nature of the ocean referring to it as "quiet" and "alone" then the second half of the poem contrasts typical graves with the graves of mariners beneath the sea (2). The poem also relies on a detached observer to act as the speaker to directly connect the audience to the image of the ocean which it is describing. The poem starts with a description of the ocean and its caves and the first octave also establishes the inherent contrast between the ocean's "silent caves" and its "fury" (1-3).

The poet is disheartened with both the facts. He says that the soldier that fight, especially in the vanguard of the army, have funerals with the rejections of all rituals, for example, no flowers, no candles and not even their dead bodies. He concludes that first the soldiers are not sent but forced to fight in the war and then when they die their funeral is carried out for formality with no respect or even sympathy. He calls these rituals "mockeries" in a bitter and furious tone in the octet of the sonnet and the choruses "shrill, demented" and compares it to the falling of bullets of machine guns on the ground when he says "wailing shells"

Poetry from the Victorian Era shifted its focus from the Romantic ideals of nature and imagination to the political and social concerns of an increasingly industrialized nation. As an art form, poetry allowed for critical response to issues that plagued a specific moment in time. Robert Southey 's poem, “The Sailor Who Had Served in the Slave Trade”, presents an important reflection on the cruelty of the slave trade and appoints Christian values as a means towards redemption.

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” declared by an influential leader Martin Luther King Jr. As a soldier againsts unfairness, King strongly states that people should fight for freedom. Driven by human nature, humans are always chasing freedom. In “A Century Later,” the Pakistan-born British poet Imtiaz Dharker uses the poetic devices of symbolism, diction, and allusion to explore how perseverance drives freedom.

Aunt Ester is one of the primary characters in August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean. This is Wilson’s penultimate play in his ten decade play cycle which illustrates life in the 20th century for African Americans. Aunt Ester was born in 1619, the year the first black slave was transported to the new world on the middle passage. The story takes place in 1904, which makes Aunt Ester 285 years old. She is wise, and inviting, and compassionate. Aunt Ester lives with Eli, her houseman and caretaker, and Black Mary, her housemaid who washes people’s laundry, who Aunt Ester wishes to eventually, pass her wisdom on to. Citizen Barlow, a black man from Alabama who is looking for work, also lives with Aunt Ester later on, after asking her to cleanse him. Aunt Ester shows her compassion by offering Citizen Barlow food and a place to stay, and promises him that she will cleanse his soul. Her presence immediately makes people feel at ease, as we’re seen when Citizen is calmed down as soon as she steps in the room. Aunt Ester is known to have miraculous healing powers to wash the souls of people. Everyone knows who Aunt Ester is, and she knows mostly everyone in her town. Aunt Ester represents all of the Africans that lost their lives in the middle passage, she embodies their culture, traditions, and their memories. She means faith and trust to the other characters, and she is important to the play because she is the bridge between the African experience to the American experience.

W.B yeats was an irish poet and one foremost figures of the 20th century. He was a symbolist poet, in that he used allusive imagery and symbolism structures throughout his career.

Solomon wrote “I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept. I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots” (Song of Solomon 1:5-6, 9).