Nothing Gold Can Stay- Poetry Respone 27

Nothing Gold Can Stay- Robert Frost

I read this poem, and then re read it, and I came up with two theories as to what it might mean. My first theory- all good things come to an end. Through out the whole poem, as short as it might be, the good thing goes to something else. The gold never stays. Yet, this explanation didn't really do it for me. I thought that it didn't fully cover the poem's meaning. Although the things, like flower, the leaf, and the gold, all go away... it's is not necessarily a bad thing. I concluded that just because things change, it isn't a negative. Using the word "gold" and making the poem talk more then just leaves, but mean something more valuable. So while the value changes and developes through time,. it never looses meaning or worth. BOOM! owned.

The Guitarist Tunes Up- Poetry response 26

The Guitarist Tunes Up - Francis Darwin Cornford

With what attentive courtesy he bent
Over his instrument;
Not as a lordly conqueror who could
Command both wire and wood,
But as a man with a loved woman might,
Inquiring with delight
What slight essential things she had to say
Before they started, he and she, to play

This poem is really cool! I is one continuous stanza. It is even one whole sentence. The rhyme scheme is aabbccdd (can you write the rhyme scheme like that???). In class a lot of the musical kids were saying that they thought this poem was a relationship between man and his instrument, but I have played music for a long time too, and I think the poem could be about both the relationship between man and instrument and man and woman. The man, in the beginning is caring, and nurturing, and looking to interact with the instrument, not conquer it. He is getting ready to play the guitar, and instead of looking to just jump right in and do what ever he wants, he listens to the instrument, this literally could be like tuning, or just strumming. This is where I think the poem could relate to a man and woman relationship because it shows the tenderness he shows, and I think of a man listening to a woman, before he loves her, instead of trying to conquer her. I like that idea a lot :) The slight essential things that women have to say, that very often go over looked by a man searching for power, instead of a meshed together, beautifully played relationship.

Many red devils - Poem response 25

We did this poem in class today, and I really liked the imagry in it. I think that the poet was trying to get across the idea that writing from the heart, is difficult. It is so real that it is intimidating, and many times we can't find the correct words to tell what we want to say. Our ideas, or concepts that come from the heart (just like the little devils) and small and fragile. The wrong words could crush their idea. The pen could smash them. Get it??? Also I liked what someone said about how readers struggle in the ink reading the things from the heart, because it is sometimes hard to read something that is so raw from someone's heart. The structure of the poem was cool to me! I liked how the author made short lines, and just one stanza, because it kept the poem simple yet so descriptive, and visually appealing.

“At the Cemetery, Walnut Grove Plantation, South Carolina, 1989-poem response 24

I often like poems about historical events, and this poem was no exception. Lucille Clifton's language was what brought this poem to life. The main idea of the poem is to recognize that these slaves, at the Walnut Grove Plantation, were complete nobodies. They didn't even have any records of them. Clifton says that no one mentioned slaves. I might be reading too far into this one, but I kind of think that this idea that people just don't talk about slaves at this plantation, could relate with the fact that a a nation, we like to overlook, and ignore that slavery ever happened because it is such a blemish in out country's stature. It could be a small example on a larger scale. Clifton also tells that only 10 male slaves were documented (although there were many more), she challenges another idea that only men were listed. Why? Clifton is a very brave and honorable woman to stand up for two groups of people that throughout history have been fighting for equl rights as men, and furthermore, white men. I especially like at the end how Clifton repeats 'here lies," four times, just so that the idea of respecting these dead slaves is known. She is saying that had she known their names, she would have paid them the proper respect. This poem is sad, but cool, and I like how Clifton incorporated a much larger picture to just one tour she went on of just one plantation.

Not Waving But Drowning- Poem response 23

Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

-Stevie Smith

After we analyzed this poem in class, I found that I really
liked it. The visual of the title is captivating.
Everyone has seen the classic scene of someone flailing
all over in the water that makes it look like they are waving
but really they are drowning. I like the 3 stanzas, and how
the last line, "I was too far out all y life
And not waving but drowning," completely comes back to the
first stanza and helps to tie the whole poem together. I
thought this poem was about a person who their whole
life had been living by their own rules, or "Larking"
all over, until what they liked actually made them die.
The person was drowning the whole time, and no body stopped
to actually help them, or ask if they need help. In class,
someone said that it is easier for us to just assume that
everyone is okay, and not actually take on the possibility
that the person isn't actually happy and reach out to help.
This poem is pretty cool :)

Sports??

Why do we play sports?
Why does one team win, and one lose?
Why is it called a sport anyway?
Where do sports come from?
How come they make us so happy, and then so sad?
What makes sports universal, like the Oympics?
-Insert question about sports here?-

The Final Buzzer

Goodbye to the squeaks on the hard wood,
to the whistle then, "On the line!"
and to the feeling of freedom,
bounded by desire and a gym.

Goodbye to the uniform,
35, purple, black and white,
worn proudly as a lion.

Goodbye to the ladies who shaped me,
to the feeling of unison, one
team, one pack, one den.

Goodbye to the metal rim, unforgiving, and
the net's sweet sound when I succeed. The 1,400
career points, 4 years worth.

Goodbye to the smell of dust and sweat,
the cool leather that feels so right in my hand.
The the taped ankles, jammed fingers,
poked eyes and bloody knees.

Goodbye to the traditions,
the tie dye, the Chinese food, the
bracelets we wove together... and the initiation.

Goodbye to the long hot summers at camp,
stuffy loud gyms, where I spent my
sacrificed time.

Goodbye to the community who loved the game,
to the hours of drills,
the frustration and the overcoming.

Goodbye to the announcer, "and senior guard..."
to the competition that drives me,
and the adrenaline that fuels me.

Goodbye to the peace I felt on the court,
to the belonging in a large school, and
to the tears and smiles of my teammates.

The final buzzer sounds, only to be replaced...

Hello to the tip off of college,
basketball over again.
A new venue, a new team, a new uniform, a new family,
and a new school to represent. Yet, the same sport,
and the same 8 year old girl, who fell in love with
the game.

The Day Millicent Found the World- Poem response 22

We discussed this poem in class, and I thought I would do my blog about it because it really stood out in my mind. The three longer stanzas kind of act like a story. The first stanza is where she goes past her comfort zone, far away, deep into the forest where she is lost. Then the second stanza is where she really comes to realize the beauty of the forest and of the world. With vivid metaphores like "...the round at her feet had a velvet nearness," or " She felt caught up and breathing in a great powerful embrace," really help to make the poem interact with the reader. The last stanza is where something snaps her back to reality, yet her new found knowledge makes her a different person. I really liked the style of the poem being more of a story, but the meaning behind it was also really cool. The whole concept of immersing oneself into the natural world to actually discover a unity. Cool idea. :)

Cottonmouth Country- Poem response 21

This poem is pretty intense! First off, a cottonmouth, is a really poisonous snake, found in swamps. Also, Hatteras (which I have never heard of before) is a place on the shore of North Carolina. Cape Hatteras actually. So thoe two things help to better understand the poem. The rhyme scheme is ababcdcd. It is all one stanza. The poem is about death, clearly, with lines like "fish bones walked the waves," it just gives this image of a bunch of dead fish in the tide of the ocean floating along. So the combination of dea fish in the water, and cottonmouth snakes slithering in the grass, "An uncurled cottonmouth that rolled on moss," gives this sense of death and danger at every turn. The author talks about how death was there on land or in the water. The author also talks about the pollution of Hatteras, and that could possibly by why there are dead fish. I don't completely understand the lines about birth being loss, but I think that it means, the child being born already lost because they are born right into this place of death. I could be wrong. I know a lot of other blogs thought it was about changes, and I could see that side as well. I like the last line about leaving a skin there, because it brings the poem back around to the title refereeing to a snakely habit. the author left a skin in Hatteras, and knows the losses she suffered?

Sort of a Song- poem reponse 20

Sort of a Song

by William Carlos Williams

Let the snake wait under
his weed
and the writing
be of words, slow and quick, sharp
to strike, quiet to wait,
sleepless.

—through metaphor to reconcile
the people and the stones.
Compose. (No ideas
but in things) Invent!
Saxifrage is my flower that splits
the rocks.

I am trying to do more poetic terms, and
analyze the structure using
the notes we got in class. This was the
poem that Steph and I taught this week.
the poem is very short, divided into two
 stanzas, composed of 6 lines each. There
is no rhyme scheme. The flow of the poem, musically
speaking, is very sticatto
(spelling??). As a reader, I found myself speaking
 in a very short and light manner.
It is because of his line breaks, which provide
 a sort of punctuation. The breaks
between under/weed/writing in the first stanza create
 this kind of sticatto sense,
whichreflects nicely back to the title of
the poem, "Sort of a Song."
The 2 lines of the poem break the mold
 of the first stanza, but they
alone have their own rhythm.Williams broke the
 line at "splits" which
I think  is very cool, because not only
 does the
image of this flower splitting a rock come
 to mind,
but also the actual line is
 broken at the word split.

Steph and I determined that this poem was about a poet, who is
being compared
to a snake, and how he comes
up with different things, and writes them down
quickly as to invent a new idea. These ideas are so
powerful, that they can split someone's mind.
Compose, and invent are used to produce this idea that a poet has
the ability to write something that is completely
brand new, and can be used.

This is a really cool poem!

It was a dream -response 19

First a little BK on the author, Lucille Clifton was an African American poet as well as equal rights activist for blacks and women. In this poem Clifton uses so much description through figurative language to really paint the picture of the dream she had. It was a reflection upon her life, and asking the questions challenging if she had lead a fulfilling life. she mentions her "greater self." I thin this is a strong opening because we all have that ideal image of our selves, and wish we could rise to be the greatest. Her greater self is creaming things that she could have done differently in real life. This short poem gets right to the point that we all try and figure out what we could have done differently in our lives to get certain things accomplished, or reach certain goals, yet sometimes we fall short. By the sound of things Clifton was successful in her endeavors, so I guess she was just struggling with a lot of internal conflict. The poem does a good job pointing out that we as people usually ask what we could have done, after it is already too late. I liked this poem, and it was interesting to read about the author.

The Cat- poem reponse 18

I think i discovered the pattern of the poems I have recently read out of our poetry packet. The theme is, conformity to society, or the lack of. This poem, The Cat, by Miroslay Holub, I think, is about confomaty too. In the first stanza, the author introduced the setting; darkness. The night time was a book with out letters. I think that this metaphor is representing the potential that night has. Not yet written on, the night could be anything. Because he lives in the city, the lights from the buildings strain out the light of the stars, creating a black black sky. Reading through the poem for a second time helps me to understand the second stanza. He is talking about a woman he loves, and she wants to go, to leave into the city. If she leaves, she will become nothing but a blending black cat into the background of the night sky. "But a window was opened and she went," at first doesn't fit with my interpretation. Then I started thinking that again the window could be symbolic, for an opportunity was opened. A chance to escape.

The woman left and she conformed to the city. She was a black cat, against the black night. The author uses repetition to help emphasize the idea that the woman was lost in the landscape. I really like the part where he says, "no one ever saw her again. Not even herself." This is powerful, because a lot of times people will conform and forget who they were before the change.

From the outside people can barely recognize her anymore, and they get brief glimpses of what she was before. When we hear her, it forces us to listen to our own selves and what we are truly. I think that's what this poem is trying to get across.... I'm just gunna go with it!

Desert Places- Poem Responce 17

Robert Frost, in Desert Places really captures the feeling of isolationism. He compares the frozen snowy field to how he is feeling. The words "snow," "night," and "falling," really make the reader feel the emptiness. The second stanza shows with out a doubt that Frost is feeling alone. He talks about the animals in the surrounding forest, and how he is to absent minded to count them. He is to alone to care. It is sad! The last line of stanza 2 includes the word loneliness, which transitions into the third stanza:

And lonely as it is that loneliness

Will be more lonely ere it will be less—

A blanker whiteness of benighted snow

With no expression, nothing to express.

This is another sad stanza. He is so depressed in this stanza. Whiteness of benighted snow. Nothing to express. This is so hopeless in this part of the poem. I really like the re-occurrence of the word lonely. In the last stanza, Frost talks about how the empty spaces won't scare him. HE has created them in his mind. We are left with the sense that he will overcome this. I really like this poem because it is kind of an insight in to his mind in a depressed place. I am feeling depressed right now (not that MS. White is my therapist and im seeking advice) because I fouled out last night, hurt my ankle and we lost. Tangent, sorry. But I can relate to the kind of cold feeling, then thinking I need to overcome it. Robert Frost is a good poet!

Introduction to Poetry- Poetry Response 16

I remember talking about this poem way back in the beginning of the school year, when we were first starting to get into poetry. I remember how we talked about the line, "But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it." As I reread the poem just now, that line continually stands out to me! In the movie Casino Royal (I think?), James Bond gets tied to a chair and the bad guys just beat him with this rope/club thingy. They are trying to get him to confess something. This visual carries over into the poem for me! I feel like teachers, in some cases, try to drill out a central meaning, or a 'secret' the author is reveling in the poem. Why can't the authors just be writing poems because they are funny, or because they retell a story in a shortened way? I really like how this poem challenges the way students view poetry! The author of this poem says he just wants students to look at the poem in a different light, or try to hear the buzzing of the poem, test the poem in different situations, or feel the poem out as if blinded. I think that in our discussions we do what Billy Collins wants students to. We don't over analyze poems, or give them false credit. I like how this poem tries to bring back the simplicity of poetry.

Much madness is divinest sense- poetry response 15

Corey and Justin taught this poem in class, and I really liked it, so I'm choosing it for this week. First, the title. The word "divinest" stands out because it is not a recognized word that we use a lot today. I think it is to out emphasize on the idea of divine, while giving it a "madness" touch. I think Emily Dickinson was very aware that it is not a real word, and it would even be mad to write a word that isn't what everyone else would write. So it ties into the rest of the poem. The main idea of this poem is to go against the norm. If one demurs, as Dickinson says, from everyone else, from the majority, he or she is dangerous. Possibly using the word to show that she is deferring from everyone else. She is challenging English in the slightest way, but she has written her future in saying she will be handled with a chain.

The chain was the other part in this poem which really captivated me. In poetry, each word the author uses must portray EXACTLY the feeling, imagery, tone, voice, etc., that the author is aiming for. If Dickinson as to say something like, "And handled with repercussions," or "And handled with something bad," the poem would not have the severe, weighing, fearful tone that it leaves the reader with. After I read this poem, I was astounded with the though of being bound b a chain, whether self imposed, or by another body, the idea that if I go away from the common thread, then something will cause me to be restricted with some form of an unbreakable, thick, metal chain.

Just some thoughts about why and how Dickinson creates the feeling, and writes the way she does, according to ME!

<3