"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.