Raw With Love
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Sometimes the memories the mind store are greater than the anger the heart composes. The poem Raw With Love by Charles Bukowski is very favorable for the portraying of the beauty that memories withhold- how they can stop one from causing harm to the one who betrayed them. When it says "little dark girl with kind eyes" (line 1) it means that the girl is told as little because of the betrayal or deceiving that she did to the guy. However, she has kind eyes, because as stated in line 36, "…you who made me laugh again". This means that it was because of the girl that the guy was able to find joy in life again; the key word "again" shows that the guy hadn't laughed in a long time or had a good time until she came along and made him. What I also found amazing is the choice of keeping the first letter of the poem "little" with a lower case L. I infer based on reading the poem, that this was done to show the amount of importance or how little the guy thinks of the girl, that he found there to be no importance to show the girl’s true value: by starting that word with a capital L would show that the guy focused his attention to write this poem. However, this was not the case. By choosing to leave the little with a lower case l,it shows that the poem is more of a confession towards the girl or a message because when you confess something, you don’t really care as to your grammatical correctness. Instead, you are just urged to pour out all your feelings and thoughts. So, I think Bukowski’s choice in grammar is to show the intent of this poem to be similar to a confession (not a proper poem like writing) and I thought that was very creative (amazing). This adds on to the melancholy pitiful, yet truthful tone of the poem. The poem's mood is induced of that of calmness, because of the steadiness of the diction- it is calm and suspenseful. Not only that, but the word little itself looks smaller without the capital L, so another reason for Bukowski’s choice in his style is to literally show how little the girl was considered (that even the word visually captivates his intent). In addition to this, the ending of the poem absolutely incredible: it left me speechless. Throughout the beginning of the poem, the author makes it seem as though the girl is the one who holds the knife: "when it comes time to use the knife I won't flinch and I won't blame you" (line three, stanza one). However, at the end it turns out that the boy has the knife instead and that twist left me thinking like wow. When someone is in possession of a knife, it represents killing someone or something. This sends out a tone of danger and warning towards the girl, resulting in a mood of being careful (in the girl's perspective). Gaining on that,the boy holds the knife, because he is the one who is able to hurt her more than she already has. The choice of bringing just as much pain and killing her in the grief of it is in his possession, not the girl’s (because she already deceived him in some way). The girl doesn't hold the knife, because the damage she’s done is already done and there’s no more that a knife can hurt the man, as much as she did. It is brilliant as to how Bukowski uses a knife to symbolize pain. In addition to this, it was really sweet of the guy to try to tolerate all the pain and try to convince himself that he won’t try to hurt her ten times worse. He says, "…and I won’t use it Yet" in the last line of the poem. The spacing of "yet" shows that he really tried to persuade and convince himself that he won’t try to use the knife against the girl, but his ego gets in the way and makes him write "yet" later. He knows that sometime he won’t be able to stand everything the girl did and he’ll have to avenge his broken heart. He’s trying to show some redemption for the girl, by saying yet in the end to show that he has pity for her to give her time to prepare for the worse. Overall, I love this poem! I love the meaning and the feel of this poem; I grasped onto the feelings of deep pain, love and pitiness. It is because of this poem that I can understand the pain that love makes you go through, and the boundaries it pushes you to. The boy’s attempt to replace the anguish with the beautiful memories they had created together touches my heart, literally- it also adds to the tone of tolerance and mood of resistance (of trying not to use the knife). For someone to be able to even try so hard to feel the same way they did like that, that’s one of the beauties within struggle. It is through the struggle that you can see how much someone is actually worth for you- you can see how much you are willing to keep those precious memories. I know, that the boy does have the knife and is planning to hurt her back sometime soon, but his thinking is just so beautiful. Within the lines I can literally feel the burn in his heart that he is trying to put out. I love the beauty of this poem. It is the most beautiful-est thing I’ve seen in the most ugliest of situations. |
Alone
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Despite the consistent thrive to be independent, the truth is that no matter what the case, we all can not make it anywhere alone. In the poem, Alone by Maya Angelou the simplicity of friendship and love is narrated contrary to the cold hard truth of selfishness. Throughout the beginning stanza of the poem, the tone is perceived to be calmness along with hope, because when you are alone you are all to yourself and you can gather and recollect all your ideas. Being alone is a time where you can sort out any tangles in your brain that are bothering you. Calmness is not the only tone in the first stanza, because throughout the lines in this stanza, Angelou keeps pointing out at things she wants to find as perfect. "Where water is not thirst and bread loaf is not stone" (line 4). In this imperfect way, she points out how perfectly she is imagining this house. When you are thirsty, you drink water, but when water is not of thirst that means that you are perfectly fine- you can remain at a homeostatic level. When bread loaf is not stone, it is soft and tender and not as hard as a brick- it is actually edible and delicious at the same time, not stale and old. This beauty of food found in this imaginary house of the narrator depicts a insightful look into hope. The diction of which she tries to depict her wishfulness shows such a positive insight of hope yet also the sadness of knowing that she doesn't have what she hopes for:finding a beautiful, perfect place. However, the last three lines of the first stanza, is when the essential core of the poem begins to unravel and can be seen at what she is pointing at. She believes that no one can make it anywhere alone. This message to me conveys a sense of unity yet a bit of selfishness. Although these thoughts completely differ, they are reasonable. Unity can be seen as how one needs others to make it through life. However, selfishness can be seen though the way that Angelou speaks out to her point through her diction. After envisioning such a beautiful, serenity filled place, she goes straight to concluding her thought of a person's life- no one can make it alone. She clearly concludes this because she thinks of this after she states that the bread in her house is hard as a stone, water is scarce and no one (not a single soul) is usually in her house. She means to say that it is because of who she depended on for providing food that she thinks this way; this way that no one can make it alone. She doesn't find a soul at her home which leaves her feeling lonely (alone), why? Because she like everyone else depends on someone- which is why no one can thrive by themselves. "[She doesn't] believe [she's] wrong" (line 6) when she thinks this, and this line is what contributes to the tone of assurance and confidence. If she doesn't believe she's wrong, that means she has just enough evidence in her life that can prove her point, that she doesn't have to doubt it. In other words, she has seen how people have gotten no where with selfishness. This convection of selfishness and greed in oneself that I got from just those few lines is what gave me a darker vibe. Especially having this thought being after a pretty, holistic imagination. Furthermore, Angelou further describes her feelings on her thought when she says: "To cure their hearts of stone" (line 16). Here, Angelou is speaking of the rich. She uses symbolism to speak of how even all the money in the world can't cure their hearts that are so cold and don't beat (like a stone). A heart that is of stone can not beat, and thus a person can not live. They are heartless people, those rich (according to this point of view). If with their money they can not stop their children from being sad, despite having such expensive (seen as the "best" quality) doctors to fix their emotions, then how can a heart that's not beating fix that? A heart that can not feel is what I think Angelou is trying to depict the message of selfishness with, because without a heart that show that you can't feel anything. This means no sympathy, no empathy, no affection- all of which deal with people other than yourself. This dark vibe is given by the true meaning of this poem. No matter what, no one can live in this world with just the contempt of themselves. |
The Vacation
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Everyone experiences things that they want to cherish forever; however, it is only some that know how to truly preserve these memories with their heart. I deeply agreed and valued how this moral is portrayed in The Vacation by Wendell Berry, because of how all the connotations led to putting together the message of the poem. Since the poem's speaker is an omniscient narrator that observes everything, this suggests that there is an important moral told that is passed on to the current generation of it's timer period. This is since, just like in stories, things told by a omniscient narrator go to show that there is something that the main characters are not able to see- which is why there is a narrator that watches and tells the actions of the characters. I think this point of view is used in order to tell the reader that there is a moral value that the character himself isn't able to see, which only others can perceive. The fact that the man is constricted to video taping everything, that means that one, the time period is that of a modern age (since video cameras were invented) and two, the man was too blind to see the beauty of having fun. The man's inability to actually enjoy his "vacation" is what lead the tone to being one filled with pity. The narrator expresses pity through the opposing cautiousness and determination of the man trying to get footage of everything, which is described by the diction in which the story is told throughout the poem. The consistency of this tone shows just how much the speaker feels pity for the man. From the very beginning of the poem, to the end, seriousness is conveyed through the diction. For example, the connotation "vacation" leads to thinking of fun, relaxing and just enjoyment. However, in line 11 the speaker states: "... preserving his vacation even as he was having it so that after he had had it he would still have it. It would be there... But he would...never be in it". The choice of words in these lines give away hints of what the speaker is trying to depict. Instead of using "having" to describe how the man was spending his vacation, he could have used "enjoying". However, he chose not to: this choice was the first aspect that grabbed attention in my head after reading the word. Expanding on noticing this, I infer that the speaker is trying to show how the man wasn't enjoying his vacation to the fullest, but instead just living through it-having it. Then the word "never" comes harsh as fire to depict the tone when I read it. The man would never be in the vacation he thought he "preserved", because he is no where to be seen in the footage and so in the future when he would probably look back at it, he would realize that what he recorded anyone could have recorded if they went. Other connotations in the poem lead the reader to thinking about how much the man actually valued his vacation, which was very little: "flick" in line 13, shows how the man thought he could just bring back these memories in an instant, with a flick of a switch. The thought of being able to do this shows the amount of stupidity the man had for thinking so. However, I'm not the only one that perceives the man as being stupid, but so does the speaker. The narrator says with short sentences afterwards that he would never be in it, showing how it is impossible for the man to do such a thing. And people who believe in something that can never be possible are usually perceived as stupid- just like the speaker and I; this perception is what shows the amount of pity for a fool in the formal diction. The man was too blind to see how real beauty should be valued: he couldn't understand the fact that nothing can be preserved forever (even if it is recorded, the feelings and experience will never come back). His lack of ability of trying to comprehend this is what led him to loosing a beautiful experience to the hands of a camera in the hops of trying to store the view and experience forever. Line 7 leads me to think this, because it states: "preserving it forever...behind which he stood with his camera". My ideas bounce off of this, because I think that this is exaggeration. No one can preserve anything forever, and so I feel a sense of the man being delusional. The tone is set off to unimaginable and unrealistically speaking, which makes the mood to feel that of disappointment, for being so delusional. I understand that he really enjoyed the view of the place, which is why he was behind his camera the whole time, but during all that time behind the lens, I don't think he was able to experience the true beauty of the place with his own eyes. For example, when he will look back at this video in the future, he wouldn't remember what he witnessed with his own eyes, but instead he will remember the same thing the video caught. If the man was enjoying the view so much, he would have described at least once about how memorizing the scene was (contributing to the absurd mood felt throughout the poem). However, he did not- which made me conclude that even if you try your hardest to preserve the memories you've once experienced, you will never be able to go back to them... just like how the man will never be in the video again. Furthermore, the imagery in the poem is evoked by the sensory details of the vacation: beautiful "rivers", "trees", the "sky"- all of which paint a image of an Earth so pure. The beauty of the Earth described in the poem contradicts with the consistent use of the camera to show how the natural beauty of Earth is ignored in the existence of man-made beauty (like the camera- like technology). Since the context of the poem is shown to be written in a modern time because of the man's use of a video camera also shows how the issues of this time period correlate with each other. During modern times (which includes now too), people get lost in the excitement of technology and are fooled into believing that they can preserve their memories with such technology, when they are really just wasting the fun they could have had. Instead of indulge in in the experience, they rely on the camera to be able to let them indulge in it after that experience is gone. They pay more attention to capturing everything with a camera, rather than actually enjoying what they are experiencing. I think that the camera is symbolism for how blind humans have gotten, because when it is contrary to the elements of Earth in the vacation, it shows how nowadays, we let technology get in the way of our enjoyment of mother nature. We choose to overlook nature's beauty through the lens of cameras, when we could just take pleasure in the view with our bear eyes and keep the memories in both our minds and heart. Caught up in trying to save their memories, people end up creating none in their heart, but a bunch in the memory chip of a camera. |
I Loved You
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Sometimes, even the strongest of affection calls for sacrifice. I deeply admired the commitment of the lover in the poem I Loved You by Alexander Sergeyvich Pushkin, because the various tones of the poem send out an extraordinary feeling of sympathy. In the first line of the poem, the speaker states: "I loved you, and probably still do". "I" suggests that the speaker is the poet himself; he reffers to himself in the 1st person point of view. Through this persepctive, he is able to develop a tone of caring, loving, and reminisce. These tones create the feeling of true love: pain, care and trust. In addition, the use of both past and present tense shows the state of struggle the speaker is in trying to move on with the love that they once had with someone. "Loved" shows that the speaker loved this person before, which advises the reader that the relationship they were in before is no longer valid. In other words, they broke up and because the speaker refers to their feelings towards their love as they "probably still do" sets off a tone of confusion. The speaker is confused as to if they still love the person, because they don't want to let go. Usually when someone is unsure of something, it is because they have many options, and they want to think out their decision thoroughly. This un-sureness provides thinking of how the speaker really did love their lover. They want to make sure that they are doing the right thing by moving on, which they try to do so hard throughout the whole poem. However, the struggle to move on from their broken relationship is given help through faith, or religion. The diction of the poem's sweet, meaningful, holistic choice of words convey how the speaker can be seen as a religious person: they believe in God. In the last sentence (line 8) the speaker says: "As may God grant you to be loved again". Wishing for God to grant his love affection from someone else shows his faith in his religion. He believes that God can lead the path of betterment for others, which is why he gives God such a thoughtful, loving request for his past love. The specific words choices in the poem like "God" and "may" show a specific dialect that can be linked to faith (religion based), to induce hope for their lover's betterment. That is why the speaker is able to let go of their love, and hope that they don't suffer (by staying single and drowned in the grieve of their breakup) because they also believe in destiny. Their generosity in the hope for everything to get better shows that they believe that what is bound to happen is bound to happen regardless (which is also why they felt "hopeless"). Despite saying that he "loved" her, the tone progression of confused to paint to hope, love and care shows fluctuation in the tone of the poem. Due to these various tones, is shows how mixed the speaker feels about letting go; their mind is racing and wrapped around in many thoughts. Their thought progression is clearly shown by how the lines in the poem create enjambment. Since almost every line is a fragment of a sentence, it shows how much thought is put into each line. The thoughts are expanded (literally- on paper) by being broken up after each line. This suggest that it took a long time for the poet to write this, and put his thoughts into words. However, it is not only the lines of the poem that are short, but as well as the whole length of the poem, which only consists of one stanza. Since the speaker expresses their thoughts and feelings in very little words, this shows that they want to move on quicker; without thought, they want to get over this feeling of affection towards their "past" lover, because they know that if they keep expressing their feelings and thoughts about the situation, they will probably never stop. Trying to avoid their mind to think of other thoughts, the speaker's diction of seriousness and urgency of trying to move on is depicted. Not only through the length of their thoughts, but the fact that they don't use metaphors to express their thoughts. This means that they want to get right to the point, and don't want to waste time in grieving- they don't want to convey hidden meaning, but in fact want to get straight to the point, depicting a tone of honesty. Honestly, I believe that this whole situation of having to leave one another was created by the conflict of money, wealth and class. Essentially, the speaker says that they knew their lover was "jealous" and "shy". Since they described that as a factor that made their love so tender, that meant that this jealousy and shyness was not the real type. To elaborate, their lover was not jealous of their skills or talent, but in fact their position in the world. They were jealous that their lover was wealthy (because of all the luxuries they probably had) and were shy because they were afraid they wouldn't be able to meet their expectations (money wise- like buying gifts). This is what grew their love: the consistency of trying to believe that they can still make their love work despite their differences in class. This is logical to believe, because the speaker also describes themselves as feeling "hopelessness" (line 5). Usually, when someone feels hopeless, they know there is nothing that can possible happen to make a situation better. In other words, that leads to the thought of forcefulness- they can't fight the opposing force that is stopping them from getting what they desire, which is why they feel hopeless (whether it is destiny, parents, peers or whatever). I think that the speaker had to have a arranged marriage, so he knew it was hopeless to fall in love with this parent, because he knew that eventually their different classes would interfere with their love. If a rich person marries a poor or someone of a lower class, their reputation is also seen differently; both in a good and a bad way. Probably to avoid the ruining of their good reputation (wealth) in society, the speaker's parents didn't want him to marry someone of a lower class, which is why he felt "hopeless". Despite his parents, I felt that the love he had for his lover was real: to ask for the well wishing of their ex. Usually when couples break up, especially if it is because they had to for the betterment of the other person, the lovers start to loath the other in order to degrade their importance to one another- to move on. If someone really loved someone, then the only reasonable thing to think is that despite all the struggles they possibly could have, they could fix it- together. They don’t necessarily have to break up. If they have to, it can be assumed that the person who is the reason the relationship had to be called off, is the one who is hated for not being able to bear with the crisis. This is exactly what the speaker should have felt, since they recall their given love as given pain to their lover. However, instead they feel sympathy for their lover and wish upon God that their love would find another love. That is the sweetest, most considerate thing a lover can ever do: seeing their love be with someone else for their happiness. Even the sight of this can be aching. They want to see their lover happy… even if it is without them. Sometimes, true love requires true sacrifice. |
Confession
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Often times, society places responsibilities on each other based off of age. The poem Confession by Kenn Nesbitt goes against this stereotype in the most sincerest way possible, making it easy to fall in love with the context of the poem. Consisting of the use of “I” throughout the poem show that the speaker himself is involved in the poem. However, I was really intrigued by the way this poem grabbed my attention. At first, I was so curious and bewildered as to what the confession would have been (by just reading the title). It seemed so serious and deadly consequential- the confession. However, as I continued to read, the stanzas started to become more and more relatable: "not reading", "not washing the dishes", "not turning of the TV "are also things that I tend to do myself. So I figured that this poem is intended to grab the attention of youngsters (teenagers/kids). It is because of being able to relate through the conversational diction of this poem so much, that it can be inferred that the speaker is a kid or student. Homework is usually given to students and choirs are usually given to kids. As a result, my inference came out to be wrong: In line three, stanza five, the poet states: "I hope my students don't find out". Keywords: my students. As it turns out, the speaker is actually a teacher of some sort, since they have students. That, is what I loved the most about this poem. I was captivated by the pure simplicity in which the poet was able to reverse a typical stereotype of how only kids are capable of such laziness. Choosing to confess about how guilty and how much of these actions affect the well being of the teacher's heart sends out a heartfelt message to me: the tone of the whole poem was filled with so much guilt and sarcasm (over thinking) that it contributed to the innocence in the mood. The poet is trying to portray how often times, many people think that teachers are perfect- although they are not. Furthermore, context evidence such as "TV", "dishes", "cookies", "cakes", "chips" all contribute to depicting a modern time period. Because the speaker had so many things to do like do the dishes, do his reading, clean, it can be inferred that he has a busy schedule. Knowing how busy the speaker is, changes my understanding of the speaker's attitude which seemed to be filled with guilt. The speaker can also be seen as very tired or energy-less to not be able to do everything, as a matter of fact, anything. In addition to this, since the time period is that of a modernized time (with televisions), this understanding introduces a new perspective take on this poem. This is since, the teacher probably doesn't want his students to find out how much of a slob he is, because of society. Society expects so much for you to fit in (in modern ages) and so the teacher doesn't want to lose his place in society as a "perfect" teacher. He's scared for his students to find out the truth of how he really isn't how a typical teacher is portrayed (clean, perfect, smart) because he probably has no other place in society- which is exactly why I feel so much sympathy for him. Everything that he did instead of what he should have, like watching tv and eating baked goods all involves staying at home, which I think is said to depict his social life. He probably doesn't have a social life, because he didn't do anything that involved interacting with anyone else. IN addition to the things he didn't do, I think they all represent symbolism. Not reading goes to show that he is not as smart as he seems, not washing the dishes shows that he is not as clean as he is perceived, and not turning off the tv or lights show how he is not as careful and cautious as he seems. This is since reading usually is done by literate individuals, and studies show that the less you read, the less smarter you become. Applying that prior knowledge, I thought that is why the teacher could have been seen as less smart. Furthermore, not washing the dishes or cleaning up the mess, show an act of laziness and is usually done by those who aren't very organized (for creating a mess in the first place) and not very committed to cleanliness; this interpretation argues the thought that the teacher (like all other teachers) is actually organized and neat. Lastly, not turning off things that acquire electricity when not in use show the lack of eco-friendliness in one. Comprehending all of this from just the context of the poem is what changes the mood of the poem to sad. I truly felt sad for this teacher, because he has almost no life. That is why he stresses out for the littlest things like not reading, and I think that if he just loosened up and socialized, maybe he would have been happier. However, he amount of guilt is what touched me because, when most people probably read this poem, the first image that popped up in their heads was most likely the image of kids/ youth. Many people think only kids of a young age are capable of lacking such responsibility and they think that adults are grown up and wiser. This is how the stereotype of how age brings along maturity is contradicted. According to this poem this stereotype is proven wrong, because no one is perfect. Never once in my mind did a picture of a teacher appear while reading this poem, until I got to the end. I think this goes to show the difference of values (child v.s. teacher) and how teachers can feel so guilty for the same thing kids do. Not only that, but the amount of exaggeration (diction) for the consequences of each thing that the teacher didn't do shows how teachers tend to over think the littlest of things. Or, the fact that they are put under so much pressure to be perceived as flawless (or better than kids- due to their "maturity"). Behind every "perfect" teacher we think we see, there actually is a part of us in them too. After all they too are only human. In addition to how beautiful the message attempted to convey is, I very much loved how there was a type of format to this poem. What intrigues me the most is how meaningful the rhythm scheme is: the 2nd and 4th line of every stanza have an end rhyme, whereas the 1st and 3rd lines don't. The lines that don't pair up to rhyme, all are formatted in a I didn't do/ consequence form. I think since rhythm sounds beautiful and in sync, choosing not to make those lines rhyme shows how guilty the teacher feels. Since, if there is no rhythm, then the lines don't sound as beautiful, and the opposite of beautiful is ugly. Nesbitt chooses this rhythm scheme to further portray how guilty he feels about all his ugly choices, which resulted in uglier consequences. This format also adds to the diction of the poem which is developed through the exaggeration in the diction, which creates a tone of thoughtfulness. Since the diction of the poem is filled with hyperboles, it shows how much guilt there is in the tone; there truly is guilt, and it is not as sarcastic as the hyperboles. Overall, the guilt found in the tone made me feel the mood of sincerity within the teacher. Despite the guilt the teacher felt, I loved the poem! His guilt is what makes me remember that is still such innocence left in the world. |
Cement Backyard
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ADD ON TO TONE Many people often overlook beauty, because of the efforts it takes to maintain it. I really admire the focus on this issue in the poem, Cement Backyard by Lynne Sharon Schwartz, because it represents approaches a widely known issue with both exemplary diction and simple comparisons; the highly acquired diction of the poem provides a deeper understanding of the author’s perspective on beauty by using the extent of stereotypical thinking. When it says “He couldn’t tell a flower from a weed” (line 2), I think the stereotypes put on nature often give us the power to exterminate anything we think that will be a pain in the back. This adds on to the fact that the problems that we face in life are like the weeds, that we perceive as a burden, as extra work. Weeds are considered a pain, because they kill other plants which means that the landowners have to pluck them all out so that their land can look beautiful (not filled with dead plants). Not being capable of telling the difference between a flower and a weed shows the lack of understanding the father had between knowing what is beautiful and what Is unpleasant- through his eyes, everything is assigned the same value, whether it is happiness or a load of work. Happiness can be seen through the use of flowers which are contrary to weeds, because weeds are often seen as work for landowners, whereas flowers are typically seen plants that they can just be admired for their beauty. People like his father that can’t tell the difference between flowers and weeds are metaphorically perceived as those who can’t appreciate anything. The association between the other neighbors and his father’s choice in how to deal with the garden show how others actually let plants grow and enjoy or are okay with that, whereas his father is a rigid person who would prefer cement over natural beauty. Literally, this action kills all the plants, whether they are flowers or weed; this conveys the thought on how stiff the father’s heart is. The serious tone that is used throughout the poem shapes the dull mood of the poem and portrays something more wretched than boring - like the sadness of being blinded from the reality of beauty and work. What intrigues me is how well the serious diction of the poem clarifies the meaning through the choice of words. For example, the word grass versus cement- it literally sounds like grass is softer and cement is more stiff and hard. Not only that, but grass is literally a “happier” color than cement (grey is usually considered depressing). So the father’s choice of cementing the grass shows the killing of innocent plants, or in other words cruelty. Furthermore, the grass represents wildlife blooming in their backyard which is usually considered the beauty of planet Earth; after all, plants are what help us survive by providing us oxygen. The father’s choice of covering such beauty with cement shows how stern he is, because he doesn’t mind killing plants and putting a dull cover to a beautiful view. Not only is he stern, but he is also lazy. Through line seven, this trait is easily seen when it says : “Better to tamp the wildness down, unseen, than tolerate it’s careless brash intrusion”. This line affirms that it’s better to kill the plants in the garden, rather than to tolerate all the care that is needed afterwards to maintain them (ex: mowing, trimming the bushes, etc). This portray how lazy the father is, because he’d rather exterminate the sight beautiful plants, just because of all the effort it takes to maintain it. He’d rather kill them all just so he wouldn’t have to deal with them. Moving past the father’s cruel heart, what really struck me was the last sentence of the poem. It. Was. Deep. I loved it! “Just so, he labored to cement his heart”. The dialect of this sentence is just mesmerizing, in addition to it’s what it‘s trying to illustrate; This last sentence depicts that just like how the father was cruel enough to pave the garden over with cement, his heart worked his way up to the cement and stayed there, like an anchor pulling it down. Just the concept of the line itself, is mind boggling. He means to say that, when you pave something over with cement, the cement stays like that forever and the pavement is hard. Applying that to the context of the line, he intended to convey that his father’s heart would stop beating because the cement would cover it (of course not literally) and a beating heart means that the person is dead: a dead person can’t feel or think, just like how the father’s feelings and emotions are dead. Dead like the plants that were covered in cement…forever (because he couldn’t see the values in life anymore, his feelings became monotone). Death brings about sorrow and pain, just like the mood of this poem, to uncover the thinking beneath the father’s cemented heart. |
Strangers Make Me Nervous
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Sometimes, silence is the loudest cry for help. The poem Strangers Make Me Nervous by anonymous depicts the truth behind what we often think of beauty in understanding one another. Since there is an unidentifiable time period, it can be perceived that the moral of this poem is applicable to every time period. The diction that articulates throughout the poem sends out a tone of seriousness. Since the word choice is very sophisticated ("articulated", "intrigue") and not conversational, it portrays that what is being said is important and that the speaker is highly intelligent. The diction of the poem influences the understanding of the poem, because I think since the vocabulary is highly developed, the intelligence of the speaker induces the importance of what he is trying to convey. The nervousness that strangers make the speaker are true- no joke. What really stuck out to me what the fact that to the speaker, lovers are even more unnerving that strangers. The connotations strangers and lovers contradict so much, yet the speaker considers them almost in the same category of frightfulness; strangers usually implies a sense of dangerous, intimidating, and unknown whereas lovers imply the feeling of cute, adorable, nice and in love. There is a certain significance to the honesty of the speaker's perception of lovers as more scary than strangers, because the title is titled strangers. This leads to the obviousness that the poem should have been all about strangers. However, I think that lovers are also seen as strangers to the speaker. Saying such a thing, I was left wondering why he would categorize lovers as strangers, because love is a beautiful thing, so why should people fear it? However, line 4 expands on this thought: "[reaching] that phase- an accomplishment to most- where more is left unsaid than articulated". This line is trying to depict how when two people love each other for a long time, there comes a time where they say less than they did before. For most people, this is perceived this as an accomplishment (according to the speaker- which adds to the happy mood of the poem), because they are able to stay together in love despite not talking. They 'know', they are so assured that they love each other so much, that even silence is fun when they are with them. That reminds me of how some people say how they love their best friend, because even when they stay quiet, they are okay with that because they know they love each other. Although this contributes to the tone of understanding, and empathy, the mood concludes sadness and fear for the speaker because of the lovers. Silence has very little value to lovers- they can go passed that because they are so assured of their love. However, the speaker says that this in particular is what makes him fear lovers the most. That they can just sit there (not talk) and they see that as an accomplishment, that they are able to "understand" each other so well. Although this might be the case for many lovers, it definitely is not for the speaker. Instead, he thinks of this as a the exact opposite. In line 9, the speaker says that this pride reminds him of: "insects pressed against a glass window, usually out of intrigue, mostly out of boredom". Just from this one sentence, my mind wrapped itself around so many thoughts. He is trying to say in other words that this type of love that he sees is what reminds him of insects (which I think it's size represents how concealed people tend to be when they are in love) that usually are pressed against glass (blind) because they are curious but mostly bored. Comparing such love with an insect being pressed against a glass window represents how he thinks that when people see silence in a relationship as a accomplishment, they are usually stuck behind glass. The glass is symbolizes their thinking, which blocks them from reality- or the world outside the window. He is trying to say how their perspective seems blind, because they are bored. The reason why people tend to see being able to not talk yet still love each other in a relationship as a milestone is because they are truly and initially bored. They are too bored to talk, or express their love further because they know that they already got what they wanted. They already grabbed their love's attention and classify that as being in love. However, the speaker is trying to show how that is not love. That is what scares him: people being able to say that about love. He is afraid that the world will become strangers if they continue remaining lazy with love... if they start to change the definition of love and commitment. That is truly what makes him nervous and afraid. Even the quietest of silence can lead to the loudest of thoughts. |
Ballad
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*****
Love comes in all forms and ways, yet some still argue what age is appropriate to indulge in commitment of love. The poem Ballad By Sonia Sanchez constructs her diction to work in hand with the tone to create a sophisticated thought about love. The speaker’s diction helped me establish the tone of this poem, which led me to figure out the meaning of this poem; tone is what helps give the reader various hints as to what the intent of the poem is. In the first line of the poem, the speaker states, "forgive me if I laugh". The speaker’s choice of words clearly suggests that she is being cynical. In other words, she is mocking love that exists in various age groups (young and old). "Forgive" and "laugh" both send out two contradictory vibes which infuse to lead the reader into grasping onto the essential tone of the poem. Asking for forgiveness is only done by someone who feels guilty about something. In this case, the speaker feels guilty for laughing at love. Laughing however, is done in the presence of humor. Adding both forgiveness and humor, it can be concluded that the tone of the poem is mocking/cynical because of the humor she finds in love. The diction of this poem, is what aids in portraying the fact that the speaker feels pity in what people see true love as. She laughs at those who are too young or those who are too old who are in love, because she thinks that they are fools. She is trying to illustrate how if one is too young and you is in love, they will face many problems and won’t be able to live their life as it should be lived. Instead, being in love causes your life to have a huge burden on it; love can distract you away from many things (such as education, or family) when you are young. Being so gullible to what the world has to offer, sometimes the most important and valuable things in life are forgotten. For example, sometimes when teenagers fall in love, if anyone says something against their love, they are even willing to go against their parents who have been there for them since they were born. Just like that, simple values are thrown in the trash and degraded, because they believe to have found true love. Young love is not real love, because it is all composed of first experiences and hormonal changes. They don’t know how cruel the world is, so they end up settling for far less than what they deserve. Furthermore, some young lovers are so in love that they end up making mistakes that could impact their entire life. For example, some teenagers become pregnant and are left to face a pile of responsibilities to raise themselves and their growing baby. Although young love can come with consequences too, so can people of a much older age. In the fourth line of the poem, the speaker states: "and I too old to learn of love". I think this is meant to say that the speaker’s age is one that is very old (elderly). He is too old to learn of love, because of all the experiences he’s had in life. As life goes on, we all experience difficulties. However, sometimes many hardships still chill us to this day. This goes to show that as we grow old, our experiences gather up and we start realizing what reality is; it is not as pretty as we often thought it was as a kid. As we grow, our responsibilities grow and our stress increases. All of these factors can contribute to changing our perspective about life. About love. When we are stressed, we often tend to scream or move away from those we love. We don’t want to hurt them, yet we don’t want to see them in pain. In other words, the speaker means that she is too old to love, because she is not capable of loving based off of her entire life experiences. This is since when a person’s age is a matter of attention, they are considered as elderly people; the first thing we notice about them is their age, and age is what leads us to thinking about all the things they've probably went through. In stanza 3, line 4, the poem states: "I fixed my body under his and went to sleep in love all trace of me was wiped away". From reading this sentence, I get a tone of change. Adjustment and acclimatization. "Trace" and "wiped away" stand out the most and endorse symbolism. This line is trying to depict how sleeping with this person they are thought to be in love with cause their history or what they are made up of to dissolve away. In other words, their past is forgotten because of love. Even though this can be seen in a good way, because their lover does not care about their past (not judge able) it can be perceived in a darker way. "Wiped away" sends out a tone that says that the speaker was not very pleased by that. When something is thought to be wiped away, the first thing thought about are usually tears, and tears are caused to troll down when you are sad- so the tone is clearly distress. Due to this tone, it can be concluded that the speaker thought that she was seen as nothing or invisible by her lover. If there was no trace of her, that meant that there was no existence to be seen of her. This is why, the poet laughs at those who are very young and those who are very old: they both aren't capable of understanding the true meaning of love. |
The Quiet World
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*****
ADD TONE I'm sorry Mcdaniel. I'm afraid it's going to take me more than 167 words to express what I felt during this poem; I have to break your government's rule. The love expressed in the poem The Quiet World by Jeffrey McDaniel is brings up the most simplest idea of love with such complex diction. The information of the restrictions in the poem's society is clearly dictated to the reader in the first stanza. Without any emotions or feeling, the speaker informs the reader with a monotone diction and fills them in on the surroundings of them. It is because Mcdaniel is stating the facts of the society that the tone is directed to a assured tone. In the first line, the factive details are expressed with complex symbolism: "In an effort to get people to look into each other's eyes more". This very first sentence made quite a thinking process in my head as to how it should be interpreted. I knew that I couldn't really take a clear jab at what it's intent might be (since it was just the beginning) but it sounded so intriguing that I couldn't stop myself. At first, I thought that the people in the society Mcdaniel is speaking of, must be very busy that they can't even look each other in the eyes when they speak. However, reading that line again my initial thought led to a different directions of thoughts. Reading on, I figured out that this is all due to the government. They are trying to help people take time to appreciate or take notice of the littlest things. For example, if they had a limit to how much they could speak, they would have to choose their words more wisely and they would need to use body language (e.g. eye contact) to communicate their thoughts and messages. This communicates a mood of unity and togetherness amongst the people. Originally, I hated the thought of the government doing such a thing. However, once I understood the underlying meaning as to why they might have done so, I thought this law would lead the community to be more unified. For instance, the second stanza coveys how saving a word (like "hello") was so important to the narrator. He himself uses his body (fingers) to point to the chicken noodle soup instead of saying "here is the chicken noodle soup". It is because of the constriction to their use of words that the community would have to work together, and thus they can be more collusive. For people like the speaker, that choose to save their words, the people they communicate to would have to pay close attention to both their words (since they don't want to waste their words) and actions (to comprehend what they are saying). This not only requires collaboration amongst everyone to communicate properly but also respect. For example, if someone gets extremely annoyed or angered over the fact that they can't understand someone's words, then they would probably express that anger through their words and end up wasting them. Due to this carefulness seen in the second stanza, the tone perceived from these lines was a tone of being cautious/aware. This conclusive statement was led to directly after reading line 10: "I am adjusting well to the new way". Being able to adjust to this restriction shows from the cautiousness the speaker takes in trying to save as many words as he possibly can. He tries to do this in order to speak to his long distance lover at night. This dedication to such love is absolutely touching. Despite not hearing her voice on the other end, he is able to understand that she probably used up all her words. I found that to be the cutest thing in the world, to be able to trust someone you love so much. Acknowledging this trust, the tone is changed to reassured and trustworthy- there is a certain confidence see within the speaker's trust towards his girlfriend. These tones together convey a lighter, more happier mood because of the seeing the beauty in their love from their trust and commitment. Without even be reassured that his assumption was right (that she ran out of words), the lover was able to not take the lack of verbal support negatively- that is beautiful. What really captivated my mind was the fact that he chose to whisper thirty-two and a third times i love you. One thing that struck me was that, why would he choose to whisper? I mean, why not just say it normally, since he has every right to (still has words). However, then I thought back to how it was late at night that he was calling, and so I figured that whispering i love you so many times is like a lullaby he sings with his love to her. His use of words like "whispered" give thought to connecting his voice to a lullaby. A lullaby usually repeats (just like his i love yous) and are also said in a soft voice. This lullaby of I love you the speaker said to his lover was because he wanted to reassure her that everything would be alright: that it's okay that she can't talk, because he understands. It's okay they are far apart in miles, he still loves her. It's okay that now they are even restricted to talking and sharing out their immense affection towards each other, because he'll always love her. Angelic and beautiful. Those are the only words that I seem to be able to use to describe such dedicated love. What touched me even more was the actual calculations. He said that he said to her: "I only used fifty-nine today. I saved the rest for you" in line 12. So 59 plus the 12 it took him to say that adds up to 96 words in total. Then, he says he said i love you 32. 3 (32 and one third) times to her. So, since i love you has three words, 3 x 32. 3 = 96. 9. If you add 96. 9 to 96, you get exactly 167.9 words that he used in total. Just a tenth away from crossing the limit. That was so smart, and adorable and... I'm speechless. It is only because of the poet's precise diction that a reader like me was able to comprehend why he chose such words. His diction is so straightforward and accurate, that it gives way to realizing the complexity behind it. It is so cute how he manages to say the most I love yous to her to show his love!! The words thirty- two and a third times convey a serious tone. It depicts how serious and committed the speaker seems about his love. He loves his lover so much that he is so precise (as seen by the diction) in trying to fit in the most I love yous as he could. When someone is so exact with the counting of something, you can tell that whatever they are counting means a lot to them; otherwise who would want to do work for no reason? His diction allows the reader to both see and feel how wholehearted he is towards his relationship. Even the ending leaves me thinking about true love. Despite not being able to talk to her, because of running out of words, he is chooses to still stay on the line and listen to her breathe. They listen to each other breathe. I think this symbolizes how they appreciate the fact that they are still alive, and hearing each other alive connects them more than ever. Even though they can not talk, their hearts can. They live on each other's existence and it is through such a simple thing like listening to their breath that they can show each other that they still want to keep it together. Despite all other ways of communicating their love, this seems to be the only one left. In addition, I think it shows their commitment to their relationship, since both of them are able to stay up (waste their sleep) just to stay in touch. Overall, you can perceive the tone progression from the beginning of the poem to the end to go from calm and assured to deeper more revealed emotions (sentimental/ loving). From stating the truth, to what he does, at the end he finally reveals why- which not only puts a stop to the poem, but a stop to the reader. Leaving them speechless... Through each breath, their hearts syncs and intertwines, leaving their hearts closer than ever even though their bodies stretch miles away. |
Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale
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*****
Sometimes the standards that the media sets for society can interfere with our true values of beauty. Fairy is Not a Fairytale by Jane Yolen portrays this major issue in the cutest, simplest yet most innocent way ever. Yolen puts her simple thoughts of how society never thinks about being fat as beautiful in explanatory way. To be honest, I very much enjoyed the use of her connections to not one, but various fairy tale texts and movies; it proves her point very well and leaves the reader left speechless. Starting off the poem, Yolen starts with a very happy tone: "I am thinking of a fairy tale". "Fairy" and "tale" commonly propose a very happy, situated lifestyle which sends out a vibe of positivity of beauty beyond what life can withhold. Yolen is trying to direct the reader at how once fairy tale pops up in their mind, they start wandering off in a fantasy of where the world is perfect: in this world, skinniness, slenderness is what truly defines the meaning of beautiful. However, further on in the poem, creative twists in legendary fairy tales are created by Yolen’s imagination by replacing words in the titles of all these fairy tales. Instead of Cinderella, it's Cinder Elephant. Instead of Sleepy Beauty, it's Sleeping Tubby. Instead of Snow White, it's Snow Weight. Despite the different stories these all involve, they all have one thing in common: they all are twisted into a story where the princess is not the ideal weight that often idolized as beauty- instead, these princesses are crowned with their weight. Elephants, tubby, and weight all describe the complete opposite of what typical Disney movies compel and brainwash society into thinking what beauty really means. It is because of this new and completely opposite approach at this typical thinking process that goes through everyone's mind by the sound of fairy tales that the reader feels guilty. Especially me. I felt guilty for even picturing every princess in my head so thin. My intention was not to agree with this ideal size of weight because, I personally don't think that's the true definition of what a princess would look like, but sadly it's what I was brainwashed to see since I was a kid. It is because of this thinking that the media has put in fairy tales that the tone of the poem starts to change into a more serious tone. This solemnity is what shatters the obscene thoughts of what our minds automatically picture when it thinks of fairy tales. It is because Yolen implores a different side of fairy tales that the tone changes to a serious one, because when we think of fantasies, they appear to be dreamy and happy, making us think of such a place as beautiful (in the world of fantasies). However, when we realize that not everyone is as happy as they appear to be in real life that we see how ugly reality can be. This ugliness can precisely be viewed by how we barely think about a overweight or obese person to be seen as a princess. Ugliness is not even the word to describe this way of thinking. It is beyond ugly... because of the labels we place in society. This contemptible thought is what changes the mood from serious to shamefully sad; sad for how we as a society have taught each other such standards for being viewed as “beautiful”, whereas everyone should be beautiful no matter the weight. As the poem deepens so does it's conviction of it's message; Yolen continues to rename the fairy tales into those with a more realistic view. Repoundsel as Rapunzel Bounty and the Beast as Beauty and the Beast. Why is it that we seem so allured by the contrariness of these titles? Why do they seem so cute and adorable? We see this type of thinking as true beauty: if someone can see a person despite their weight as beautiful as a princess, that is what truly captivates the mind and heart, which is exactly why I fell in love with this poem. Towards the end of the poem, the tone changes to a more wishful type of tone, leading the mood to change to a brighter one- one filled with hope. This insight is directed off of the diction used. I thought over and over about how the ending could have been different. I thought, Yolen could have used the words never instead of not yet. They both mean almost the same thing (they both seem discouraging), but they are just expressed in a different way. That is where I found out exactly why her choice of words were such that. Not yet compared to never seems like a less harsher word: it makes it seem as though there is still hope for something to start. Not yet gives way for thinking of something to come still, whereas never makes it solid: it will never happen, no matter how hard you try or think, this will never happen. This thinking will never come true. Yolen's diction plays a huge role in the tone of the last stanza. Her tone is what contributed to a softer ended poem that shows her insight of hope for princesses (or beauty) to also be seen within the obese/overweight. That is what I thought was amazing powerful. Despite the typical way this poem would have been perceived if it was written differently (in a more angered way), it was perceived in a way that was extremely sweet, warm and fuzzy even though there still was roughness to the reality of what it was conveying. I love this poem. It's diction speaks out to me- it makes me feel that there is still hope for humanity. If someone like Yolen is able to make such a disgusting way of thinking be transformed into a more beautiful hope-filled thought, I'm reassured. Reassured that there are still people like her that do care about everyone else. Everyone else that is not apart of that "beautiful fairy tale". Who are not apart of society's manipulation... Who are not seen as the princesses they wish to be seen as. |