“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.  

“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.  

“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

“The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is an entrancing poem about a person’s connection to the sea.  The title itself contains so much of a symbol.  I see it meaning that no matter what happens during the day, or where we go, the tide will always rise and fall.  It’s almost something so comforting, you would want to think about it everyday just to know there is one stable and assuring thing in your life. One thing I noticed that Longfellow used was a sort of repetition at the end of each stanza. I feel this is used to enforce the deeper meaning of having something there for you at the end, regardless of what has happened. Also, the beginnings of the stanzas and the end of the stanzas have the same line. The poem follows an AA BB rhyme scheme with of the course the enclosing lines that are both “the tide rises, the tide falls.” This poem seems to have a very simple meaning and doesn’t really contain much literary technique. I get the feeling that Longfellow was a very simple man, and wrote to simply bring certain things to view.  I also noticed one line that was strictly personification. “The little waves, with their soft, white hands, efface the footprints in the sands.”  This line gives the waves human like characteristics by suggesting they efface footprints with soft white hands.  This also struck a bit of a memory for me! The very first time I learned about personification in school was by an example that described the ocean as having white hands.  I find personification being a very powerful way to describe something.  I really really love the way Henry Longfellow writes poetry. It touches the heart and is very comforting. J

“To You” by Walt Whitman was a poem that was presented in class. I loved it so much that I wanted to do my fifth blog response to it.  When I first looked at the title of this poem, I immediately thought it was going to contain somewhat of a letter…a love letter to be specific. It just seemed as though it would focus on a romance during the war, or some type of old fashioned affair. However, I was completely wrong. This poem is so short and simple, yet so deep. It holds a message that I feel many of us keep in the back of our minds as we travel through life. It summarized how we pass so many people, yet we don’t ever say a word to them. Why not? This poem made me ask that question. I began to observe my life a bit and think about why this simple concept isn’t carried out in my life. I didn’t come up with any other answer except maybe that I’m shy, or too busy to notice. Whitman writes with such an observant eye and such a great deal of awe. This two-sentence poem contained one of life’s biggest questions. The question of why as humans we are afraid to confront people, or reach out to someone who looks like they need a friend to talk to.  Judging by his writing, Whitman seems to be a very down to earth poet who can take one observation of pretty much everyone in this world and write a poem about it to reach people.  It just amazes me and I feel it will continue to amaze me until this world makes a change.