My Mistress' Eyes

I am struggling with this piece of poetry. I understand that the beginning is supposed to be satirical. It mocks those men who lie to girls, telling them they are perfect in everyway. We all know this cannot be possible. Not everyone's "eyes are like the sun", and not everyone's skin is "white as snow". The speaker is trying to be realistic in describing his mistress. The part that I do not understand is why?! Why would the speaker call his mistress these things to her face? I know if it were me, LIE TO ME! No girl wants the truth! To all the males out there, LIE TO HER! We aren't perfect by any means, but we like to think so.
The last line of the poem does make a small compliment. "..I think my love as rare/As any she belied with false compare." The speaker is insisting that he loves her just as much, be he is not going to lie to her.

Getting Out

This poem is one of my favorites so far. Of course I'm a girl and all girls LOVE cute, sensitive, lovey things. But this poem is sort of a backwards love. I think it is very easy to understand because we have all been in some sort of this situation. Anyone who has experienced a break-up can relate to the speaker's attitde in the poem. The first two stanzas illustrate the actions that have previously taken place. "Exhausted, we gave up.." reveals that the couple has tried to work things out, they have tried to remain together. Things just simply were too broken to fix. "We held on tight, and let go" sets the tone into place. This couple has a great deal of love for each other, they held on as long as they could before things fell apart completely. The blame of this break-up is also shared between the two. It seems there is no bitterness about the other person, only sadness and regret of losing him.

The Apparition

I looked up the word "apparition" in Webster's Dictionary and received the following definitions:
1. an object or person appearing unusally
2. a visible spirt; ghost
3. one who appears or haunts unexpectedly
Each of these definitions reflect my interpretations of the poem. The speakers diction towards his ex lover is every creepy/spooky. He almost sounds similar to some kind of stalker? Words such as "muderess", "ghost", "repent", "scorn", and "threatenings" all reflect the tone of the work. The tone, in my opinion, is very haunting - made to sound creepy. Another aspect of the overall tone could be revenge. The speaker also makes an undefined threat to his ex lover in which reveals that he will make an unexpected haunting. This entire poem is sort of freaky for me. It reminds me of the movie disturbia in a way, about some freaky stalker rapist dude.

Crossing the Bar

The main tone of this poem is that of acceptance. The speaker discusess going out to sea, which is a big journey of some kind. Lines 3-4 state, "And may there be no moaning of the bar/When I put out to sea" which indicates good weather and water conditions. This more broadly stands for easy travel and good fortune throughout the journey. The speaker also reveals the possibility that the journey is going to Heaven. "Turns again home", "Crossing the bar", and the "pilot" can all be inferred as terms that represent crossing to afterlife, back again with God the creator. The speaker is really accepting of the death that is inevitable.

Emily Dickinson is MAAAADDD

Emily Dickinson drives me crazy with her capitalization, her overuse of hyphens, and weird poetry. Of course most poetry has a somewhat not normal theme, but this is a weird one. Someone who is "mad" may refer to an insane person. (i.e The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland -- that guy is pretty crazy.) The poem "Much Madness is Divinest Sense" is not really about an insane person, but Dickinson's word choice gives that sort of a vibe. Using the terms "mad" and "sense" illustrate two opposite sides of a spectrum, in a backwards way. She states that being mad is the sensible thing to do. To me, this translates to "following the crowd is mad, and being differnt (mad) is sensible." I wish Ms. Dickinson would not confuse us so.

Batter my Heart...

In the poem "Batter my Heart, Three-person'd God", the speaker reveals six different verbs that describe the action of the three-personed God. (The three-personed God represents the trinity: God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.) In my opinion, "knock" and "break" are referring to God. Knocking represents the way we all should let God into our lives/souls -- he is knocking on our doors. Breaking may represent God's power to control everything. "Burn" and "shine" are symbols for Jesus. Jesus is the son (SUN... SUN = SHINE) of God and he also burns in each of our hearts. "Breathe" and "blow" stand for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the grace that keeps us alive (like breathing). Also, the Spirit is always surrounding, similiar to air-wind-blow. I think all of these verbs describe the way the three-personed God reacts with human beings, more specifically the speaker of the poem.

Barbie Doll

The poem "Barbie Doll" is an extended allusion. The allusion is in the title. We all know what a Barbie Doll looks like, what a Barbie Doll wears, and all about Barbie's many materialistic posessions. In my opinion, the title is an allusion to illustrate society's role in the meaning of the poem. This woman, the speaker, talks of having a big nose and fat legs. These qualities are NOT uncommon in women, but also NOT welcomed. Society tells women how they should look, what they should wear, and what they should have through the Barbie Doll. We all look at the doll, perfectly toned and skinny body, and we compare that to ourselves. The speaker is comparing herself to Barbie, realizing she isn't "good enough", and letting society in her head. The poem has a greater, world-wide message. We are all made differently, and Barbie is NOT the epitome of our womanhood.

next to of course...

E.E Cummings uses a signfificant amount of imagery in his poem, "next to of course god america i". Lines 8-10 illustrate a picture of the patriotic soldiers going off to battle. He compares these soldiers to lions. "..why talk of beauty what could be more beautiful than these heroic happy dead who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter.." The words such as beautiful, heroic, happy, dead describe the soldiers in greater detail than the comparison to the lions. For me, these specific lines paint a pretty vivid portrait of the scene. I can see lions running off to battle, feeling fierce, heroic, and looking of great beauty as they pursue their prey.

Pink Dog

I am not quite sure what to make of this poem. In my opinion, the poem could be one of two things: a satire of some kind, or an illustration of anger towards a certain people. The poem compares "pink" or naked dogs to the poor and homeless of the area, criticizing them. All of the diction throughout the poem gives a negative tone (anger, disgust, irritated, ect.); such as, "mortally afraid of rabies", ..poor bitch while you go begging.." All these things remind me of how people in biblical times treated those who had leprosy. They were completely outcast and thought of as dirty. My question is, is the author/speaker showing how they feel on these poor unfortunate people - or are they proving a good point that these people are treated badly but should'nt be?

Backwards Allusion

The poem "Dream Deferred" does not contain an allusion, but I believe it is alluded to in one of the most famous speeches in United States history. Martin Luther King's speech ("I have a dream..") contained a dream very similar to the one Langston Hughes speaks about. The poem was written in 1926, while the speech was given much later in the late 1960's. In my opinion, Martin Luther King used the poem as a basis for his speech, the speech that led America to eqaulity. The similies Hughes used to describe the dream -- "smells like rotten meat", "dry up", "fester like a sore", and "weighs us down like a heavy load." The struggle with the civil rights movement seems almost perfectly similar to what the poem describes. My overall question..does the great Martin Luther King Jr. allude to Langston Hughes' poem?

February

I can come up with quite a few assumptions about the speaker and/or the author of the poem. The speaker states that she likes to "watch hockey" and stay in her bed all day. One can infer that she is extremely lazy and it most likely winter makes her lazy. She also reveals that she "lusts for French Fries with a splash of vinegar," which also illustrates her laziness (couch potato). She compares cats to men, in a negative manner.. "some other tomcat, not yet a capon, has been spraying our front door, declaring war". I get the impression that she is angry at men, which leads to the assumption that she hates Valentine's Day. This could be why she hates February and cannot wait for the springtime to arrive. "Get rid of death. Celebrate increase. Make it be spring."

Bright Star

In this poem, the author uses an apostrophe as figurative language/literary techinique. An apostrophe is defined as "directly addressing an imaginary, dead, or absent person, place, thing, or a personified idea. (Referenced from Mr. Costello's AP Literary Terms handout). In the poem, the speaker is directly addressing the bright star. The speaker seems to be comparing and contrasting himself to the star. "Still unchangeable...would I were as steadfast as thou art". I believe the author incorporates the apostrophe to illustrate the direct connection between the star and the speaker.

Dream Deferred

This poem by Langston Hughes, an African American writer during the Harlem Renissance, is constructed of all similies and one metaphor. Each simile asks a question exploring what happens to these deferred dreams. "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" This is illustrating that if we do not chase our dreams now, it will dry up and no longer be available later. "Or fester like a sore and then run?" If sores are untreated, they get bigger and eventually become infected. Hughes is comparing sores to our dreams; if they aren't pursued then they will bubble up inside of us. "Does it stink like rotten meat?" This simile compares dreams to rotten meat and that if they are kept inside, they will haunt us forever. The last line, "or does it explode?", is the only metaphor in the poem. I am not positive if Hughes does this to set the comparison off from the others. The explosion is similar to what would happen if we left our dreams alone for a long period of time.

Life and Apple-Picking

Robert Frost's poem Apple-picking really strikes me as a poem about morality. I think the whole poem represents life. He mentions the ladder sticking up through a tree towards Heaven. This symbolizes that life (apple-picking) is all about getting to Heaven and spending eternity with God. "There may be two or three apples I didn't pick.." may represent the choices someone makes in their lifetime. Either they chose not to do something for the good, or they missed out on some great opportunity. The speaker also talks about "sleep" after a long day's worth of apple-picking. This sleep may foreshadow the eternal sleep given to one when they complete life on earth.

Widows Lement

Today in class there were so many interpretations of the poem "Widow's Lement in Springtime" and I have several opinions on the meaning. First of all, my main inference is that the widow wants to ultimately be with her husband by experiencing death herself. She wants to "fall into the white flowers" and "sink into the marsh". The white flowers represent the joy and peace of the Kingdom of Heaven - an overall positive feeling. The marsh seems to have a more negative meaning. The dirty marsh represents death. No matter the reason (like being with a loved one) death is never a pleasant thing. I also believe the author chose this event to occur in the springtime because of its irony. Usually spring is parallel to new life or birth. In this case, death is the theme set in an unusual spring setting.

Diction of "Spring"

Perfect diction is incorporated in the poem "Spring". No matter what the actual deeper meaning of the work is, the author uses right on target word choice that simply represents the springtime. "Garden of Eden" is mentioned in one stanza, which to me, illustrates a beautiful setting full of flowers and plants in bloom. Also, Eden was the first sign of life created my God on the earth. It represents new life, or youth, which is also an example of spring. The word "rich" is used as well. In my opinion, "rich" means bountiful or plentiful. Everything - flowers, fruits, plants, even positive attitudes - arise during the springtime. The author uses this diction to really put emphasis on the spring, which can be inferred from the title, the overall theme of the poem.

Imagery

Emily Dickenson uses great imagery in her poem "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain". She most prominently touches the sense of sound. In the second stanza, she illustrates the congregation and the funeral service by saying "..like a Drum -- kept beating -- and beating.." She then illustrates the casket being moved -- "..And then I heard them lift a box and creak across my soul." Finally, the third stanza is all about the auditory sense. Dickenson uses the diction "bell", "ear", and "silence" to show the desent into Heaven and the reaction of the congregation/loved ones. The use of the auditory (and not sight) imagery gives the reader the idea that the speaker may be the one inside the casket.

Those Winter Sundays

The poem "Those Winter Sundays" seems to have an overall negative tone. There are many words that can describe the tone including: guilt, regret, fear, and distance. The speaker may regret not thanking the father for everything he has done for the family. This also leads to the speaker feeling guilty for causing an angry household through ungratefulness. The "chronic anger", coming from the father, most likely results in the fear of the children. The children are afraid of their father's anger which causes distance between them. The negative tone is achieved through the diction used in the poem. The words "harsh", "pain", and "cold" are used in the first stanza to describe the work the father did. "Chronic anger" is also mentioned, which describes the father's attitude toward his family. This also puts a negative feel to the poem.

YOU ARE WRONG.

Remember the days when poetry was broad and generalites could be made? When the most far-fetched ideas were possibilities of interpretation? After reading Perrine's article on interpreting poetry, I'll look at poems from a whole different perspective. I thought we were doing perfectly fine analyzng what we were reading, comng up with symbols and finding the rhetoric strategies. Now Perrine tells us that we were wrong. I completely dsagree with the article. I believe that poetry cannot be interpreted completely correct or completely incorrect. No one but the author of the poem knows exactly what is being said, not even the smartest literature professor in the world.

I don't like being told that I am wrong, especially when there is no clear answer. Literature isn't math class where one plus one is always two. There must be room for educated guessing and high level analyzation. I do not understand the concept that if one thing is off track when in figuring the meaning, then the whole meaning to you is wrong. Bits and pieces of literature can work together to come up with a common, general theme. In my opinion, simply having an educated idea about the meaning and symbols of the poem should be considered correct. No one but the author of the poem can tell me that my interpretation is 100 percent wrong.