Harryette Mullen: Poem Analysis

The speaker in the poem figuratively hooks the reader in through the readers own predictable insights about love and intimacy. What was thought to be yet another poem about love and intimacy, manages to surprise and challenge traditional views. In only two stanzas there are many different Post-Modern literary techniques used to grab the reader’s attention. The atypical form underscores how traditional perceptions are meaningless in today’s world, and it makes the reader feel uncomfortable. Further drawing focus to its honest connotations.

The pilgrims had to analyze their settings and know what material they need in order to survive in the foreign land. Readers of poetry must require skill to be able to fully understand and correctly read the poem. The reader must understand the poet’s attitude toward his subject or subjects. Readers must also understand the literary devices being used and why it is being utilized. It is also very important to understand the tone of a poem, such as whether the tone implies humor, sadness, happiness, confusion,

Poetry is a very unique type of writing. Poetry allows people to express their emotions in a way they feel comfortable. Every poem has a meaning to it, whether it is talking about food, interest, or a moment in their lives. Readers often mistake the poet as the narrator, although in many cases this is true. Many poets are the narrators and the poems are about their personal life.

June Jordan’s poetry is known for its immediacy and accessibility as well as its interest in identity and the representation of personal experiences. Her poetry is often deeply autobiographical, political and often displays a radical, globalized notion of solidarity amongst the worlds oppressed. “Poem about my rights” by the poet, June Jordan can be seen as spoken word poetry rather than page poetry where oral performance and repetition are used to convey her feelings and messages to the listeners. Poetry can be divided into two groups; written poetry and spoken word poetry. Written poetry, also known as page poetry, is written and is analysed by the reader.

The two elements are necessary for a poet to have in their arsenal of tools for writing. In the poem “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” by Emily Dickinson, there are multiple uses of imagery to assist the audience in understanding exactly what is happening in the poem. The poem, itself, is describing to the reader what it would be like

To start off, the specific word usage that Wayman chose to use gives off the impression that poets have their drawbacks. Not once throughout the poem does he put in a positive word for the poet. In order to look at the figurative meaning of the poem we should look at the literal meaning of the text. For instance, “Cannot recognize visual absurdities” (Wayman, line 10). This quite literally means that the poet has trouble recognizing or simply cannot recognize anything that is absurd visually.

The poetry anthology is a collection of selected poems that is highly recognised. The poem ‘Travel’ by Edna St. Vincent Millay should be in the poetry anthology as it is an engaging poem with a deep meaning and sophisticated poetic techniques. The meaning behind this poem is not as direct as it seems. It is about someone who wants a change in their life and decides to take a different path and does think about the outcomes it has. The poem uses figurative language to help the reader draw an image into their mind and to get the meaning across.

Postmodernism is thought to include many “theoretical movements such as poststructuralism and deconstruction… through a common emphasis on discourse and the power of language in structuring thought and experience”. Writing a poem or a story is a pretty difficult job, and sometimes it can be a struggle to find the right “words” to depict a story, and keep the reader interested at all times. By using proper nouns and action verbs a writer is able to build a clear picture of the object, person or activity, and allows the reader to “feel” and “see” what is happening very clearly. Some writers often make the mistake of relying on adverbs, adjectives and “being verbs” to portray the images in their poems, which sometimes produce meager results and disengages the reader. The poem or story comes across as being “reported” rather than “enacted” and inhibits the reader from fully experiencing it.

Pastor Martin Niemoller’s work of literature is titled “First They Came.” This piece is identified as a poem, which is defined in the Longman Dictionary as a piece of literature that expresses emotions, experiences, ideas, especially in short lines using a rhyme scheme, but not always. On the other hand, Eve Bunting’s piece is titled “Terrible Things,” which is a short story, but more specifically an allegory. The purpose of Eve Bunting writing “Terrible Things” in the way that she did was to tell a story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, but while keeping the audience entertained. “First They Came” was written to

Each stanza also makes the readers question their opinions and their understanding of the poem and the street. While analyzing Kenneth’s poem we see his use of imagery , personification, metaphorical language and repetition. With the end of each stanza repeating the words “you find this ugly, I find this lovely” the use of repetition gives the audience the sense of how the poet is displaying his message with this literary technique. The repetition also gives insight in how he see’s something that everyone calls ugly as something beautiful.The readers are also always drawn back to processing their opinions with his use