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.