“The Garden of Love” Blog #15

My very last poetry blog EVER was, “The Garden of Love” by William Blake.  I chose this one as my last one because I wanted to do an author that I really liked.  Throughout the course of this year I have grown very fond of William Blake because he writes to dramatically, but it is put to where you can understand what he’s saying and feeling.  “The Garden of Love” started out very sweet toned and reminded me of “The Secret Garden.”  Two lines in the stanza followed a masculine rhyme scheme, however, the last stanza did not have any rhyme.  I felt like this might have been a sonnet…because to me, it sounded much like how a sonnet is written.  It was sweet in the beginning and then all of a sudden turned dark and evil.  I felt as though this poem represented things in our lives changing drastically.  At the start of the poem, he was describing this beautiful place he went when he was a child.  Then it changed to him returning to this place, but it being full of dark robes and graves.  The last couple of lines make me think that someones life might have been ended.  Perhaps this person was elderly and when he went back to a place he loved, it was a sign it was his time to go.  This poem ended with a very chilling tone, but yet I loved it so much.  It made me think about how some things might be when I return somewhere a long time from now.  Very sad…

Add a comment April 28, 2009

“She Walks in Beauty” Blog #14

This week’s poem is, “She walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron.  This poem caught my eye because it reminded me of one of the poems we analyzed in class.  It is very classic and plain.  The voice is that of a lord and seems to be very proper.  This first thing I noticed was that it was written with a feminine rhyme scheme and each stanza included six lines.  This is actually the first poem I have analyzed that contained six lines and I really liked the organization of this poem.  It was neat to see how the length and arrangement affects how the poem is understood.  I feel as though each stanza described a different aspect of the woman and that kept my attention.  After each line, there was a comma.  I thought this was a little bit different because I didn’t necessarily feel like a pause was needed after every line. So I had to wonder why the author chose to organize the punctuation in that way.  I loved this poem because it is very romantic and you can really picture this eighteenth century woman and man madly in love.  This poem contained a lot of unusual description and seemed as thought it was written more as a personal letter to someone.  The last thing I wanted to analyze about this poem was the title.  “She walks in Beauty” sounds almost like the beginning line of the actual poem.  I know that a lot of these poems didn’t really have actual titles back then, so people just took the first line of the poem and stuck it in as the title.  I wonder if this poem was like that, but I’m not sure.  It really catches a person’s eye, and makes it seem so interesting.  I love the zest in the poem and the personality.  This was a really neat choice for this week.

Add a comment April 15, 2009

“The Land of Dreams” Blog #13

“The Land of Dreams,” by William Blake was this week’s poem of choice.  I chose this poem because it struck home of feeling like someone you know is has passed on to a better world.  When I first read this poem, I began to think of a child sleeping and dreaming.  I felt that it was more of a poem from the inside of a child’s head.  However, I read it again and felt something completely different.  I realized that it was talking about heaven and using “the land of dreams” as a symbol to represent heaven.  It had quite a sad ring to it because it discussed how someone could not pass through to the “other side” to get to a mother and child in heaven.  On most of the lines, the first two sentences end with masculine rhyme scheme, but on other lines, there is no rhyme scheme.  I really love Blake’s writing because it always has such a sweet tone to it.  It is really the type of poetry that a person can connect to and understand on a personal level.  This particular poem used the most beautiful phrases such as, “Above the light of the Morning Star.”  This poem also contains some end stops.  I feel that technique is critical in a poem like this because it helps the reader to actually stop, look over the line, and make that personal connection.  William Blake is one of those poets who speak to the heart of everyone.  The words are elegant but also to where people can understand what he is trying to say.  I love his poetry!!

Add a comment April 8, 2009

“A Grace Before Dinner” Blog #12

For this weeks poetry entry I chose to analyze “A Grace Before Dinner” by Robert Burns.  I chose this poem because first of all, I love reading different dinner prayers.  I write my families prayers every year for dinnertime and I thoroughly enjoy it.  I was very interested to see how a dinner prayer might be arranged during the eighteenth century.  I was quite surprised to notice how short the prayer actually was!  It followed a feminine rhyme scheme but was only consistent every other line.  I feel that this might have been a standard scheme during this time because pretty much every poem I have read rarely keeps the rhyme scheme throughout the whole poem.  The second thing I noticed was how certain words were capitalized.  The words that were capitalized seemed to be all different words used to name God.  For example, “Heavenly Guide” and “God of Nature.”  I feel this was done in order to bring a little more life into the poem/prayer.  Also, I’m wondering if most prayers were written using that technique just because prayers are full of praise and glory and thanks and they use so many different names for God.  There were also quite a few end stops used.  This is used in order to bring to life the pause that most people hear in real prayers.  When you include that type of technique, it makes the poem so much more powerful and meaningful.  This poem really stuck out at me as a true representation of eighteenth century prayer.  I also feel that it reflects modern prayer as well because it fits in as being pretty standard prayer.

Add a comment April 2, 2009

“A Farewell” Blog #11

“A Farewell,” by Amy Levy is a unique poem that I found to be written in more of a modern tone.  The first thing I noticed about this poem was that every other sentence in the stanza follows a masculine rhyme scheme. I felt that this type of scheme was used in order to emphasize the stanzas and the point they represent.  I also noticed that a bit of cataloging was used when it listed, “With the birds, and the greyness, and the greenness.” I love how when there is a description of something, a list technique is used.  One of the main things I noticed about the way Levy writes is that she brings forth the traditional voice and words used in the early centuries.  I had never actually read any of Amy Levy’s work, and so this being the first time, I really appreciated the traditional poetry.  I feel that this poem focuses strictly on some sort of sailing voyage. It talks a lot about honor and friendship, which I feel is a very unique topic to write a poem about.  I also noticed the interesting fact that Levy opens the poem with the line, “The sad rain falls from Heaven,” and also closes with this line.  I can’t help but to wonder how much religion is actually tied into this poem.  After reading a bit into Levy’s biography, I saw that her family was Jewish.  I don’t know a whole lot about the Jewish religion, but I do feel that some of those beliefs were spewed throughout the poem. Overall, I liked the theme of this poem and the sailing setting it put off.  I feel that Amy Levy is a very in depth type of writer and that she pin points specific settings that make the reader wonder how or even if the situation is related to her life in some way.

Add a comment March 25, 2009

“By the Sea” Blog #10

“By the Sea,” by William Wordsworth, was my choice for my tenth blog.  I chose this poem by noticing the title.  I think that poems describing the sea in anyway are amazing.  I have not read a lot of Wordsworth because I’ve been stuck on mostly 19th century poems and poets, but I decided it was time for a change.  This poem appeared to me to be very religious because it had a lot to do with comparing God to the mighty sea.  I noticed there was a lot of comparison in this poem, using similes and metaphors.  For example, “The holy time is quiet as a nun.”  It starts out slowly by describing someone walking by the ocean, and then progresses to realizing that God is always with us, even when we don’t realize it.  Also, cesuras are placed in the most perfect spots. There is one in particular that struck me, “A sound like thunder-everlastingly.”  I love how the pauses make the reader stop, and realize what the author is really describing.  As far as the rhyme scheme goes, it was a very unusual one. I noticed that the first and last lines rhymed, and then the two in the middle rhymed.  This is for the stanzas that have four lines total, but then there are some lines that only have three lines and no rhyme scheme.  I personally like how Wordsworth mixed this up a little bit because it gives the reader a different taste of poetry.  The last thing I did notice was how the words that had to do with God or religion were capitalized.  That seemed like a neat way to emphasize the big picture of the poem.

Add a comment March 2, 2009

“We Wear the Mask” Blog #9

“We Wear the Mask,” by Paul Laurence Dunbar is an interesting poem I chose to read for my ninth blog entry.  The very first thing I did before reading this poem was read the biography on Paul Laurence Dunbar, just because I noticed he was African American.  I wasn’t entirely sure how they were treated during this time period, so I wanted to see if there was any information leading to an influence on this poem. I did read that he was a former slave, but his parents schooled him in history and he became very smart.  I feel that, even looking at the title, this poem has a lot to do with slavery and perhaps how they are exactly the same as everyone else, they just wear some sort of “mask.” So I am going to say that the “mask” in the title is a symbol for being a slave. The second thing I noticed was how strange the rhyme scheme appeared to be. It follows an AA BB C masculine format, but doesn’t quite follow that format throughout the whole poem. I also noticed that there are a couple places where cesuras are used. For example, “Nay, let them only see us, while…”  I found this to be such an excellent technique to include in this particular poem because it really helps the reader to stop and think about the words. It also helped me to picture an African American giving a speech or reciting this poem, and really being able to connect with his passion about who they are. The last stanza is a bit of a sonnet just because it flows about negative things, and then the last two lines are bright and seem to be a change in attitude. I really enjoyed this taste of culture and history in the poem and I thought it was very well written.

Add a comment March 1, 2009

“Family Love” Blog #8

“Family Love,” by Amado Nervo, is a touching poem about a man’s mother and father.  When I first read through this poem, it sounded as though the voice of the poem was a young boy.  The first thing I noticed was that there was no rhyme scheme.  This is one of the first poems I have read that does not follow either a masculine or feminine rhyme scheme.  However, I did notice that there is some metaphor in the poem.  One that stuck out for me was, “My laugh is the sunshine for them.”  By looking deeper than the technique in this line, I discovered that this family is possibly in a bad situation such as poverty because by saying his laugh is the sunshine for them, you can see that there isn’t much that makes the family smile.  I also noticed that the first and last paragraphs end with the same line.  I did read Nervo’s biography and noticed that at age 13 his father passed away. However, the poem has a line about how his father does the best for him, so I wonder if this poem was written about the author before his father passed, or if it isn’t even about the actual author.  This poem had a very emotional voice, which really helps add to the characters role.  This poem seems almost like a prayer to me.  It had this young voice talking about how much the parents’ do and how they are always there for him.  It is such a simple concept that goes so deep.  

Add a comment February 23, 2009

“Let These Be Your Desires” Blog #7

“Let These Be Your Desires,” by Khalil Gibran is a unique poem about what our desires in life should be. However, the tone is nowhere forceful or demanding, it reminds me so much of “If—“ by Rudyard Kipling.  It is as though the author is giving advice to all the readers.  There is no rhyme scheme, and so I am thinking this was written during the time period where they were breaking free from the expected rhyme and rhythm of a poem.  I did notice how much personification and metaphor is used to describe the desirable feelings.  I don’t quite remember the name for the literary term that puts two unlikely things together, but it was used a couple times in this poem by saying, “To bleed willingly and joyfully.” I found this line very peculiar and strange, almost as if it was trying to represent some sort of pride.  This poem is also pretty much made up of putting two things together-one that is an emotion and one that is somewhat an action. For example, “To wake at dawn with a winged heart,” and also, “To sleep with a prayer.  I find this way of writing to be most effective since it is such a different way to describe something. On a personal level, I found this poem to be very encouraging and eye opening much like, “If.” These types of poems just really open up my eyes to a better life and self improvement and just being happy and “desiring” the simple things represented in this poem.  I can honestly say I love the non-rhyming free verse poem so much better than the standard rhyme because it appears so much more natural and I really enjoy reading them. J

Add a comment February 10, 2009