"The Apparition" by: John Donne

When first reading "The Apparition," I was slightly confused. Through group discussion, I realized a few things. The speaker is speaking in the future tense. He is speaking to a girl who has not yet done anything wrong to him or left him. He tells her that when she does break his heart and leave him, her next lover will not be able to shield her from his "ghost." He says that "thee...in worse arms shall see." Through this phrase, he says that no man will be as good as he was and no man will understand her like he did. This seems to be a very emotional accusation for something that has not even yet happened. It seems to me that the speaker has experienced a relationship that ended badly sometime in his past and for this reason, he cannot trust anyone.

"My mistress' eyes" by: William Shakespeare

My original thought of this poem from about line 1 to line 12 all I could think was "if this was my boyfriend and he wrote this poem about me, first I would cry, then I would dump him!" The speaker basically just writes about how his girlfriends eyes aren't as bright as the sun, her lips aren't as red as corral, and black wires grow on her hair. Basically, he writes about how imperfect and flawed she is. Unlike most love poems, he does not use cliches, instead, he uses the opposite of cliches. The speaker writes a love poem to his lover, insulting her. By the end though, he redeems himself by saying "I think my love as rare/ As any she belied with false compare." Basically, the speaker is saying, I could say all these things about you that are untrue, but this wouldn't be expressing my true love and feelings. He is admitting that saying all of the normal cliches about women is unrealistic and just lies. He loves her enough to say that she is not perfect, but because of these imperfections, she is more rare than any other woman who is lied to by her lover. I find this to be slightly romantic. For a man to be able to share his true feelings and love with his own thoughts instead of the cheesy cliches is much more personal and heart felt.

"Crossing the Bar" by:Alfred, Lord Tennyson

In "Crossing the Bar," the narrator uses many symbols, such as "boundless deep," "the bar," "a tide," "the dark," and "Pilot." These symbols all represent different things dealing with the end life, death, and Heaven. I found this poem to be soothing because it portrays a peaceful death, with no morning, and moving on to the afterlife and God. In this poem, I found "the bar" which the speaker brings up twice to represent a point in time which when passed, a person can no longer go back. It is the point in which a person crosses from life to death. When the speaker said "I hope to see my Pilot... when I have crossed the bar," this became clear to me. I viewed the Pilot, whom the speaker "hope[s] to see...face to face," as God because of the capitalization of Pilot. I viewed the "twilight" and "evening bell" that the speaker sees before the "dark" as symbols of the white light that people often speak of seeing in near death experiences. It is God calling the speaker toward Him. The darkness is death itself. Finally, I saw "the tide" as a person's fate. The tide is always moving, smoothly and slowly. Likewise, the speaker has no control over his fate, but his ultimate fate, death is not a huge catastrophic deal, it is slow and peaceful.

"Getting Out" by: Cleopatra Mathis

While most poems that deal with divorces or break-ups have a tone of hatred and bitterness, "Getting Out" seemed to lack this. The speaker seems to build a tone of sadness and regret. She never speaks negatively of her ex, but instead she talks of his "yearly letter." To me, this showed that the speaker and her ex are still on good terms. She establishes her tone of regret by using no negative descriptions of her ex-husband and by saying things like "we gave up," instead of it was his fault and i hate him now as most people who have suffered a breakup do. She establishes her tone of regret when she talks about being "startled by men who look like you" and when they "cried the last day. Taking hands we walked apart." To me, this proved for sure that the speaker was not angry or holding a grudge because of her divorce. She seemed to still be in love in some ways with her ex-husband because whenever she sees men who resemble him, she only sees him. The speaker is definitely still in love with her ex-husband, but for reasons she does not give, their relationship could not withstand the problems they were facing.

"Batter my heart, three-personede God" by: John Donne

In this poem, the speaker is praying directly to God for forgiveness for his sins and betrothal to God's enemy, the devil. When the speaker asks God to "knock, breathe, shine... break, blow, burn," he is asking for all 3 components of the Trinity in order to bring him away from the devil. Through a paradox, the speaker tells God that he wants Him to break him down in order to build him back up. The speaker wants God to break down all of his evil acts. He says "I love you... but am betrothed unto your enemy." Here, the speaker is saying that although he loves God the most, he is most close to and "betrothed" to the devil. He tells God that unless He "ravishes" him, he will never be chaste and free of sin. He wants God to take everything away so that he can follow God and go away from the devil.

"next to of course god america i" by: E. E. Cummings

The form of this poem is rushed and there is little punctuation. The punctuation that is present serves an important purpose. The quotations at the beginning of the poem and the end of the first stanza serve to tell the reader that this part of the poem is a quote from an unknown speaker. The last line that is not in quotations serve to give the view of the speaker of the poem.

This poem serves to satirize patriotic people who speak out about their county and patriotism without really thinking about what they are saying. They don't actually care about people in the country and the speaker lets this view be known when he says "he spoke." He is proving the fact that the quoted speaker is like the people he is complaining about. He makes fun of people who try to say that they are patriotic people, but really they don't care about anyone but themselves.

"Much Madness is divinest Sense" by: Emily Dickinson

When I first read this poem, I was extremely confused (as is the case with ALL Emily Dickinson poems). Now, I realize that this poem contains multiple paradoxes. One that the speaker uses is "much madness is divinest sense." Here, the speaker is saying that in order to be sane, one must be mad. They must go against what the majority thinks and think for himself in order to be sane. This paradox functions to show the difference between what the speaker thinks and what society thinks. The speaker is telling the reader that in order to be sane, they need to go against the norm and think for himself. I agree with the speaker because if a person always follows society and the majority, they will never be able to think for himself.

"Barbie Doll" by:Marge Piercy

When I read this poem, it seemed to mirror closely the way in which I often view society and the way I sometimes feel. In this poem, the main purpose is to show how society negatively effects the body image of women. It is also to show how society requires women to conform to a certain "Barbie Doll" image. I have personally felt this strong "requirement" that society puts on all woman. They set standards for all girls to meet, but these standards are unrealistic. Like in the poem, often times women will change their personal appearance and image to fit societies standards. The speaker alludes to the young woman cutting off her nose and her legs. While most woman do not go so far as to have plastic surgery (although some do), they do go on diets, dress differently, and act differently in order to fit in to society. I agree with the speaker that this is utterly ridiculous and definitely not a happy ending for women who are forced to change.

"February" by: Margaret Atwood

February, by Margaret Atwood is one that at first, I was confused by, but now, I feel that I can relate to it in some ways. This poem has one main symbol, the cat, which the speaker uses to symbolize herself. At one point in time, the speaker says that "some other tomcat... has been spraying our front door, declaring war." Like the tomcat, girls often try to "mark" their territory and if another girl attempts to take over, they are declaring social war. After this, the speaker makes a shift from the cat to people in general. She seems to be somewhat pessimistic about love especially when she states that "it's love that does us in." She seems to have had some kind of a negative experience with love. The title of the poem, February somewhat validates this belief because February is a month associated with love, and she seems to dislike this month strongly. At the end, the speaker tells the cat to stop her greedy whining and to get up and have some optimism. This is a call to action for herself as well. She is telling herself to stop being so pessimistic and to go out and find love.

"Pink Dog" by: Elizabeth Bishop

This poem was confusing to me, but so far, I have my own thoughts of what it could possibly be about. I believe that the ill treated dog is symbolic of poor and homeless people around the time of Mardi Gras. Stanza 3 talks about people being afraid of the rabies that a stray dog may have and this is symbolic of people being afraid of the homelessness because of their sickly look. People avoid the dog/poor instead of helping them like they actually should. When the time for the carnival/ Mardi Gras comes along, the people of the city will either throw out the poor and needy or they will dress them up and hide them during the carnival. The last stanza says that the carnival is always wonderful. This seems to me to be from the point of a wealthy person who does not care about the trials of the poor and homeless. In the end, the speaker gives the "pink dog" a warning that they better dress up, or they will just be thrown out.

"Bright Star" by: John Keats

In this poem, the speaker uses many contradicting phrases in order to make his comparison between what he wants his life to be and what a star's life is. He states that he wants to be steadfast (staying in one place and never changing). In the same sentence, he says that although he wishes to be steadfast, he does not want to be left alone, lonely in the night. The next sentence, he states that he wants to be patient, but not sleepless like a star. Later in the poem, he ties his wishes for his life into that of a star. He says that he wants to remain forever with his lover, listening to the rise and fall of her breathing. He says that like a bright star, which lasts for millions of years, he also wants to live forever. He wishes to either live forever with his lover, or die at the peak of the relationship.

"Dream Deferred" by: Langston Hughes number 2

Back to the poem dream deferred again, but this time, I am going to focus on the tone of the poem. I think that the tone is one of urgency. The speaker is pleading with other African Americans so they will build up a drive to fight for their civil rights. He tells them they must do this before it is impossible to gain what they have always been dreaming about. This poem is a call to action for all people so that they will fight for rights and basic liberties. He is telling people that they must act now before their window of opportunity has passed and their goals will never be achieved. He believed that the most crippling event would be if the dream is deferred for so long that it eventually "explode(s)" and is completely gone. He says taht if this happens, African Americans will never be able to gain rights and they will be stuck in their current state of despair forever.

"Dream Deferred" by: Langston Hughes

I found the central purpose of this poem to be about dreams that are being put off and as a result, they usually come to an unhappy ending. I believe that the author, who grew up during the Harlem Renaissance, is speaking to other African Americans about what will happen to their dream of civil rights and freedoms if they keep putting it off. First, he asks "Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?." He is trying to state his point that if a person defers a dream, it will eventually shrivel up like a raisin and become no more. The original dream will eventually just die off like a grape dies and becomes a raisin. Next, he compares a deferred dream to a sore that runs. This simile is filled with imagery. When I picture a festering sore, I imagine oozing puss (for lack of a better term) which to me seems definitely negative! He is saying that eventually the dream will become infected and dangerous to the dreamer. He also expresses his belief that the dream will crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet. He is saying that eventually the dreamer will begin to sugar coat the dream. The only metaphor the speaker uses compares a deferred dream to a bomb; to him, this is the worst possible thing that can happen to a dream. It will become unrecognizable and will be unable to be retrieved or fulfilled.

"After Apple-Picking" by: Robert Frost

While reading this poem, I saw the whole poem as being symbolic of the speaker's life. In the third and fourth lines, I saw "two or three Apples (he) didn't pick," as being roads he never travelled or chances he never took. Although the speaker knows he has not experienced everything he is "done apple-picking" because he is tired. The speaker had worked so hard at life (apple-picking) and he is ready to die. I think that the "ladder...toward heaven" is symbolic of his good deeds that have gotten him closer to heaven. Sometimes, he "the ladder sway" and these are symbolic of his bad experiences and decisions in life that almost caused everything to be ruined. I feel that there may be a common theme throughout the many poems in this chapter. "Spring," "The Widow's Lament in Spring," "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain," "After Apple-Picking," and "Those Winter Sundays" all seemed to incorporate some kind of sadness or longing for death. They all seemed dark to me, including some kind of evil in life.

"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" by: Emily Dickinson

To me, this poem (like most) was exceptionally difficult to comprehend. I have always found ambiguous writing confusing because it is hard to decide what another person was thinking when the wrote something if they don't directly tell you. I picked up on the comparisons to a funeral right away because these were easy to see (or hear since there was not any sight in the imagery). In the first stanza, I saw mourners processing through a church to the front. Next, I heard the mourners sitting down and waiting in the second stanza. In the third, I heard a casket being carried down the aisle in the church slowly and steadily. I then heard bells ringing; possibly during the funeral service. Finally, I heard the casket being lowered into the ground to its final resting place.

While these comparisons were understandable to me, the symbolism of it was only clear as mud. I had no idea where to even start. During class discussions I was given the idea that it is a mental breakdown which I now see. This became clear to me when on the 17th line the speaker says, "Plank in Reason, broke." To me, this sounds like a person who has finally lost all control and went insane.

"Those Winter Sundays" by: Robert Hayden

To me, this was one of the most understandable poems. I saw the central theme to be the father's hard work during the winter for the family and the families failure to thank him. This poem was more of a narrative poem rather than a figurative poem. I enjoyed it because I like reading stories that are more straight up with a definitive meaning.

I also enjoyed the plethora of imagery: "blueblack cold," "cracked hands," "fires blaze," cold splintering," and "chronic angers." All of these images brought the situation of the speaker and the father closer to me. It also caused me to have some sympathy for the father who worked hard in the extreme cold, with cracked hands until he had fulfilled his duties for his family. It also seemed that all the father did for his family was work. He never shared his love in other ways, which caused tension and indifference toward him. It seems that his work was the only way in which he knew to express his love, but nobody else realized this or thanked him.

"The Widow's Lament in Springtime" by William Carlos Williams

While reading "The Widow's Lament in Springtime," I felt that the speakers tone was one of sorrow and grief. This tone is first established in the title, when the speaker gives the reader an important piece of information; she is a widow. It is reinforced multiple times beginning with the first line when she speaks of "sorrow in (her) own yard" (line 1). She also incorporates words such as "grief" and "sink into the marsh" (lines 15 &28). Her choices of words are all extremely bland with no sense of happiness or relief.

In the beginning of the poem, the speaker addresses her yard which can be seen as her memories with her deceased husband. When she looks at her yard in springtime, it brings her sorrow. The "grief in (her) heart" is stronger than the memories she has of her husband. The speaker seems rather distressed and by the end of the poem, when she states that she wants to "sink into the marsh," (line 28) it seems that the speaker wants to fall into the ground to be with her husband. It seems that the speaker is not able to move on from her past, so her grief is the only thing that seems real to her.

"Spring" by Gerard Manley Hopkins

In "Spring," there are many symbols. When I first read this poem, I read it as the beauty of spring and descriptions of the beauty. On my first read, I found multiple symbols, one of them being "racing lambs" (line 8). I saw this to be white fluffy clouds floating hurriedly through the sky, symbolizing that spring is passing quickly. I thought that "Eden Garden" (line 11) symbolized the purity and beauty of spring and "sour with sinning" (line 12) was spring ending and a new season coming.

After having our class discussion I have also been given an insight on another meaning of the poem, one that is less literal. The spring is actually a person. At the beginning of their life, they are innocent and sinless, but like Adam and Eve, they too sin, ruining this "Eden Garden" (line 11) of holiness. Eventually, a person becomes "sour with sinning" (line 12). This poem is a sort of warning against sinful deeds and evil.

Perrine Poetry

Poetry has always been an area of confusion for me. Unlike other forms of literature which are for the most part cut and dry, poetry seems to be ambiguous and difficult to interpret. When reading Laurence Perrine's essay on interpreting poetry, I found his approach to determining correct interpretations helpful. I never understood how there could be one perfectly correct interpretation when the poet never interprets what he/she means himself/herself. Perrine says that anybody can be correct in their interpretation as long as they account for all the details and do not contradict any one and the best is that which is most economical. This helps me to more effectively interpret a poem because it incorporates more than just guessing at what the poet was trying to get across. This essay also helped me to better understand the 4 poems I read because it not only gave more than one interpretation, but it also backed up or invalidated the interpretations. It also invalidated my interpretations and showed me how I was wrong and what was the most correct.

One aspect of this essay that I found helpful was the analogy of a rock being dropped into a pool with limits being compared to symbols. This helped me to realize that although a symbol can have many meanings, it must be within reasonable limits. The poet may leave it up to interpretation, but the reader can not twist it so much that the symbol does not match the interpretation at all. While i found this helpful, I also found it slightly confusing. Who is to say how far is to far? Although "the pool... has borders," how does a reader know how far these borders extend? I find it difficult to understand poetry completely and once it is seen in one light, it is difficult to understand it as another person does. I believe that poetry will always be difficult for me to completely understand, but this essay helped me to see that I can never be completely incorrect.