Throughout the poem Erin depicts poetry as well put together and thought out. However what the point of the line is truly depicting is the exact opposite. Erin uses the word poetry to contradict the idea of her message, that people are not perfect. With this comparison the reader takes away a message of hope. The idea that noone is perfect no matter how hard they try.
There is a wise adage that says you cannot judge someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes. However, this is not just true for judging ways of life, but rather can also be extended to understanding and appreciating poetry. Through this assignment, I have discovered that one of the best ways to fully grasp a poem is by trying to write an original one that mimics the style of the one being studied However, it is essential to not just substitute words, but rather to create a unique poem by mirroring the style the poet uses while incorporating one’s own story, in this case relating to ethnical identity, and other poetic devices into it. In my poem “Running from Expectations" I strived to emulate the style and structure of Rita Dove’s
The poem Don’t Quit includes rhyme in every stanza which gives an intriguing play on words to get the message across. This gives the reader an easier way for decoding the message. By laying the information out like this, Guest is making it vivid that success does not come effortlessly nor does it come to those unwilling to compete. Contrastingly, Larson utilizes repetition throughout his poem with nearly every line beginning with “To”. He lays out each characteristic one must acquire by first starting with, for example, “To be” and then stating the characteristic that is so necessary to hold.
Hearing Jordan reading this poem is crucial to appreciating and understanding the power of her poetry. “Poem about my rights” is personal, intimate and has a quality where the listeners feel as if the speaker is talking directly to them. Jordan uses language boldly and fully. She does not shy away from stereotypically or conventionally cuss words or ideas which may upset some listeners. In the poem she speaks about social and political issues that are real and issues which she feels should not be.
We are both nothing and everything – provisional, shifting, molten” (The Practice of Poetry 67). I, the Divine is a metanarrative commentary about the difficult procedure of recounting, retelling, and recordings one’s autobiographical narrative. Alameddine’s narrative framing in I, the Divine does not limit itself to specific genre, perspective, or character. He creates a fictional, nonlinear story line that picks up and leaves off at different points in the protagonist’s life, Sarah, and he complicates the reader’s expectation of straight forward and traditionally written style by moving through genres of memoir, novel, and epistolary. Alameddine in I, the Divine explores the connection between autobiographical voice and the narrative structure of a fictional autobiography presented as a series of first chapters which is written mostly in English and sometimes in French.
Poetry tends to be more focused on the importance of rhythm and meter, especially the older poetry. Prose tends to be less focused on the rhythm and meter. Another difference between prose and poetry is whether the imagination is active or not. In prose, we are taken by the hand and show everything in detail, whereas in poetry, we fill in the description more with our imagination and thoughts. Compare to prose, poetry is more attractive and enjoyable whereas prose seems to be dull and monotonous.
For example, “Now you understand Just why my head’s not bowed I don’t shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing It ought to make you proud” (Angelou). The poem also utilizes a technique where the same idea is repeated, but not exactly the same words. The way in which Angelou used this method was a way where she made her characteristics part of story by making them good things rather than often looked at bad things. For example, “It’s in the reach of my arms The span of my hips, the stride of my step, The curl of my lips” (Angelou) is used in the first stanza.
Couplings – Menna Elfyn Couplings by Menna Elfyn is a poem about love, life and relationships: mainly about a couple starting their life together, written in the form of couplets. The poem uses provocative vocabulary, meant to jar you out of a peaceful mindset – ‘ruins’, ‘knock’, ‘skyless’… It perpetuates the idea that the house, which is a metaphor for the couple, isn’t perfect – it’s ‘crooked’, ‘creaking’. The fact that the lines don’t rhyme but they still get the message across could be to imply that the couple is imperfect but they still work well together. In the first line, Elfyn states that the life is like a house that is broken and that the couple which she writes about plans to fix it. She uses assonance to create a rhythm in ‘house’ and ‘up’, as well as in ‘is’, ‘in’, ‘ruins’, ‘fix’ and ‘it’, keeping to a similar sound range.
The poet does a very good job of creating tension by juxtaposing symbols of wealth, urbanization and the world with the issue of poverty. By showing the small sounds and details present in the world of the poem the reader is shown that whoever is speaking really pays attention to those aspects of the setting and not the quiet suffering. However, there is one line that I find odd and this is the fourth one which is, “Outside, the night exchanges words.” It is odd because although I get what the poet was trying to do, I believe that it creates an unrealistic image. Because for one, a conversation involves two people but in the poem it seems like the night is exchanging words with something not mentioned. Secondly, I understand that the persona is trying to point out the sounds and details of the setting but then I do not think that the “night” can make sounds on its own Second is the word choice and grammar.
Yet its words, when combine into lines, project the deepest of meanings – the meaning of life and existence, doubt in reality, time and its brevity. The afterimage in a reader’s mind is almost always dark and melancholy, leading to a state of isolation and thoughtfulness, which is exactly what the poet seems to be in when he wrote the poem. Now, before we get to critically analysing the theme of scepticism in the poem, it is of acute importance that we understand the poem’s technical