David Wagoner's Poem, Their Bodies

“To an Athlete Dying Young” is an amazing poem that is an ode to a young athlete that did not get to live out the prime of their life because of an unfortunate event that sadly ended their life early. A. E. Housman, the poet of “To an Athlete Dying Young”, was born on March 26th in 1859, and was a Latin professor at Cambridge University until his death on April 30th in 1936. In “To an Athlete Dying Young”, Housman perfectly uses a different point of view, figurative language, sound devices, and a negative mood to tell the story of the poem.

Their Bodies written by award winner David Wagoner may seem dark and depressing at first glance. David Wagoner dedicates this poem to the students of anatomy at Indiana University. David Wagoner’s parents were donated to those students when they died. This poem is about Wagoner’s thoughts and feelings about this situation talking to the students who learned from his parent’s bodies. Wagoner uses an array of metaphors and other literary devices to express his emotions.

Naomi Shihab Nye is a Poet, and a well known one at that, she has written many great pieces. The three that are the most life changing are Wedding Cake, Hidden and The Rider. Naomi has inspired so many women and people of other races that they can do anything they want, just like her. She is an amazing person who by defying all odds and being different than everyone else in her life and still doing what she wants to do.

1.“Oh, yes. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Someday you be walking down the road and you hear something or see something going on. So clear. And you think it’s you thinking it up. A thought picture. But no. It’s when you bump into a rememory that belongs to somebody else. Where I was before I came here, that place is real. It’s never going away. Even if the whole farm - every tree and grass blade of it dies. The picture is still there and what’s more, if you go there - you who never was there - if you go there and stand in the place where it was, it will happen again; it will be there for you, waiting for you. So, Denver you can’t never go there. Never. Because even though it’s all over - over and done with - it’s going to always be there waiting for you. That’s how come I had to get all my children out. No matter

The poem, “Purity” shows a child approaching the speaker for her advice over the ducklings he is following. She gives him a brief instruction on how to help the mom duck and tells him not to touch the ducklings. The structure helps convey the detachment the speaker wants to have over the ducks as well as the disinterest the mom duck wants to have over her human touched ducklings.

Kincaid’s poem “Girl” uses the relationship between the daughter and the mother to show the strict, commanding tone of the story. Although the setting was not directly told by the narrator in the story, it gives you a idea in which the culture was written. The story gives a “sneak peak” into how strict parents were to their children in the 1980’s.

“The Blood Stained Banders” is an African American spiritual sung by Blind Jimmie Strothers. Strothers was a banjo and guitar player who was blinded by an explosion at the mines that he worked at. After being convicted of murdering his wife with an axe, he was sent to the state penitentiary. There, he was found by Alan Lomax and Harold Spivacke who were working on finding field recordings for the Library of Congress. They recorded multiple songs sung by Strothers, among which is “The Blood Stained Banders”, an original composition.

Child abuse and playing are complete opposites. “My Papas Waltz” is written two display both. “My Papas Waltz” is a famous poem by Theodore Roethke about a child and his father in the kitchen. It can be interpreted as abusive or playful. Reading the poem, the first time through it appears to be abusive. The imagery of “My Papas Waltz” can clearly be understood as a father waltzing with his son in the kitchen, tapping the beat too his son’s head, and his ear scraping his buckle against his child’s ear.

Both the story “Don’t Give Up The Fight” and the poem “Making Sarah Cry” have a common theme, which is being different. In “Don’t give Up The Fight,” Ava must deal with the fact that she is different than all the other people on her track team because she is the only girl. The main character in “Making Sarah Cry,” gets into a bicycle accident later in the story, which leaves him feeling different than all his friends. While both of these stories have a similar theme, the character’s actions influence others differently. In other words, in “Don’t Give Up The Fight,” once Ava tells her friend what was happening, that influenced her to tell the principal what had been happening. But, in “Making Sarah Cry,” the main character stands up to the bullies, which influenced them to be just like him.

Question: In the moments when Dawée rejects her life in the East is she longing to return to her original lifestyle, or is she longing for something separate from the two societies she has experienced? In other words, where does she feel she belongs?

The idea of the poem Their Bodies is living people should respect the dead, no matter the identity of the dead person.

Wagoner’s parents were kind and respectful to people all their lives. One example of this is when the author literally states in Their Bodies, “They had been kind to others all their lives and believed in being useful” (Wagoner 2.4-5). This shows that he believes they were kind to many people. This leads to Wagoner concluding his poem in the fashion, “If you’re not certain which ones are theirs, be gentle to everybody” (Wagoner 3.3-4). This means, the author, since his parents were kind during their lives, wants others to be kind and respectful to everyone. Wagoner wants others to be kind and respectful because his parents did so to him.

equates being diagnosed with cancer to transcending to a new land. He makes light of the

An important message that is conveyed in the poem 'The Womb' by Apirana Taylor is 'The Impact of Colonisation on the Land' This message is emphasised throughout the poem by using effective language features. These techniques include narrative point of view, imagery and contrast. A persona is used throughout the poem to talk directly to the reader and make them feel responsible. Imagery creates a powerful picture in the reader's mind making them realise the impact on the land. Finally, there is an admirable sense of contrast in this poem going from anger to vengeance.

In literature, there isn’t any literary piece that is interpreted exactly identically by different readers. The interpretation usually is based on the context of in what way the reader reads the poem (literature piece). Readers usually base their interpretation of the poem depending on the message of the poem that is related to the context that they are reading the poem.