In this poem by Thomas Hardy a man is fighting a war and he is thinking about how he is basically killing people that he would probably be friends with or have very similar lives to if they weren't currently fighting against each other in a war. He does kill a man in the war and he tries to justify his killing by saying he was the foe and he had a job to do. He then says that he and this man were probably similar in the fact that they were both out of work and joined the army because they had nothing better to do with their lives. He finds it "curious" and "quaint" that he could be best friends with these men that are getting killed if they weren't in a war and he would probably loan them money or go out for drinks like best friends do. He's making the point that in war you only have enemies you don't have friends, you have one job to kill your enemies before they kill you first.
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In this poem, Mirror, it is told from the standpoint of a mirror. This allows you to hear the story from the mirrors view. The author uses personification of using the pronoun "I" to let the reader know it is from the mirrors point of view. The author tells the story of how mirrors don't lie and will always tell you the truth. The mirror state "I am not cruel, only truthful" showing even if you do no want to hear the truth or see the truth the mirror will always show you. The poem then tells about a woman who looks for insight in the mirror. She searches for "what she truly is" whether it be mental or physical means. Because the woman is constantly looking in the mirror It shows the insecurity in the woman's life. The woman looks into the mirror in hope of seeing herself young again because now she looks into it and sees her "agitation of hands" and is discouraged by her looks. For when she looks into the mirror she yearns for her young age but is greeted by the old. The woman sees herself as a "terrible fish". Because the women is described like this it shows her physical looks aren't appealing. AM In the poem filling stations Elizabeth Bishop talks about a family and where they live which is called the filling station. She describes the filling station as dirty and oil soaked and oil permeated. The way she describes it at first tells you that the filling station is a garage that the family works at, but later on you find out that it might be their house as well because of other materials they have laying around. In the last stanza the last line says "somebody loves us all" which makes you wonder if someone close to them left. In this poem there is no rhyming pattern. It is a little strange that in the poem they talk about everyone in the family except the mother, so it makes it seem like the mother left them and they feel unloved. In the poem "heat" Hilda Doolittle talks about the heat outside. She asks the wind to take away the heat. I interpret this as her saying the "heat" is pain and she is asking the "wind" to take the pain away. When she talks about fruit in the second stanza and how fruit isn't good in heat I interpret this as her saying that even nice, fun things aren't good in a bad time. After Apple Picking by Robert Frost is about a character who is apple picking and explains his thoughts about these actions. In the first two lines, Frost alludes to a biblical reference Jacob's Ladder. This biblical reference is a story about Jacob who dreams of a ladder that goes to heaven. The rungs on this ladder are built of good deeds, therefore the more good deeds you commit the faster you will get to heaven. In this poem the character is picking apples which could be considered a good deed. Throughout this poem the poet uses negative connotation towards apple picking. Fragments such as "I am done with apple picking" give the reader a hint that the character does not enjoy apple picking. He also repeats descriptions of the apples that appeal to your senses to show how the apples are always bothering the character, and are always on the characters mind. Later in the poem it speak of dreams that the character has which embellishes the idea of apples having a strong control on this characters mental state. This characters annoyance from the apple picking defeats the purpose of committing this good deed and does not help him climb Jacob's Ladder. The last part of this poem really helps establish the characters view of apple picking. He talks about "this sleep of mine, whatever sleep Is". By describing he sleep ways like this it shows that he doesn't sleep very well. All of his activity of apple picking really bothers him mentally and physically. Physically his sleeping habits have changed as he contemplates if he will sleep like a woodchuck or human.
AM BT 2/27/15
This poem starts out by setting the scene in a beach with the moon in the sky to let the reader know that it is dark. The poet uses personification by saying that the waves “leaped”. Also the man in the poem comes ashore to the “cove”. The cove sounds to me like a place if safety and shelter. After the guy in the poem is ashore, he begins his journey of walking to across three fields to get to a farm house. Apparently, the girl he either likes or is dating lives there. Once the house is in view he walks up to the window and knocks on it to get her attention. The ending I thought just meant that they were going to live happily ever after. The only thing I didn’t understand in this poem was the second to last line that states “And a voice less sound, thro’ its joys and fears”. I kind of just assumed that this meant that even though their life has struggles they will still love each other. The poem is interesting, since you cannot understand what the poet says in every sentence. However, from the background of the poet, we might get some kind of idea about what message she wants to deliver. Cervantes is known for fiminist poems, and it sounds like she is making some fiminist statements in this poem. What she is trying to say is a difference between the posibilities avaliable to men and the fate to which the women in the peom are doomed. The posibilities each gender has in life actually very different in our world. A man has a posibility, which is why his life can be a dymanic, a methaphor, changing thing with the possibility for bad and for good. A woman's fate is sealed, written in stone. She usually has no chocie or say. The statement is true for old days, but it is still true for most places today. Even in the current united staes. People still have some sterotypes for women, and a woman is judged by her appearances much more than a man is. We are much luckier than women in certain areas. But some say, that we are not lucky enough.
In "To Celia", the poetic speaker is trying to get his lady with his love, and to share his feelings. It is clear that she does not love the speaker because she immediatley returns the wreath token of love spoken of in stanza, she does not keep it. She does not love him. The theme of the poem, is unrequited love. The poem, with an inclusive "And" beginning the second and fourth lines, is an attempt to win the lady his heart. There is no indication in the poem of its effectness, but we can tell the plays the speaker uses to try to win the ladys love. Poetic extravagance was a play used to express love and to win love. The two conjunctions, "and" and "but" play a pivotal part in sorting out the ideas the poet represents in compressed poetic form. The setting is not givenh so may be one of a few scenarios, they may be at a public gathering where face to face communication may be difficult. Then they may be some place where face to face communication is very possible, he may be standing near her speaking. He is looking for a sign from her eyes to encourage him to plight, or pledge, his love and truth to her. He is suggesting that she drink to his love with her eyes, make a toast to his love for her eyes. Then he will pledge with a promise his undying love for her. He sent her a wreath of roses as a token of his love. The wreath was to also honor her beauty. Since the roses cant compare to her beauty, he promised the roses would be die in her care. She received a wreath but did not accept it. She kept the wreath long enough for her breath to fall on it and sent it back. That is a sign of rejection. He claims that since the roses have returned to him, they live and grow under sweet influence of her life giving breath. A.E.
I found the title to this poem very appealing to me only for the fact that it alluded to the legendary and deadly Sirens in the Ancient Greek times. So as usual, yet again, I started by counting the lines, and to my surprise it was not a sonnet!! Though interesting enough, it didn't have any real rhyming scheme to it. So I know one allusion is to the Sirens themselves but it mention in a line "will you get me out of this bird suit?" Though my general knowledge is vast in the Greek mythology, I can't seem to pick up that hint. Something else that is noticeable in this poem compared to the last three I have annotated is the syntax. It actually has periods, and other punctuation marks. As I kept reading over this poem a few more times, why is it really called the "Siren Song"? Then it came to me! The whole poem IS THE Siren Song! How is this so? Well it starts mentioning its a song everyone knows and is unable to resist it which ultimately leads to their deaths. Tying back to the syntax, it repeats the word "you" eight times. Obviously its focusing on the reader just like the Sirens would do to lure YOU in. I found it rather humorous. So once the Sirens were focused on "you" how did they lure you in? With a "secret". They ask "Shall I tell you a secret?" Then the poems feels like it goes on a bit of nonsense but still mentioning or hinting at the "secret". The mixture of lengthy and short sentences gives the reader a bit of a rush wanting to know this "secret". In the last three lines when it says "Alas it is a boring song but it works every time." this is the part when the Sirens would go in for the kill and its too late for the reader to do anything. This is the Siren Song. S.N
I Was Sleeping Where the Black Oaks Move is a poem by Louise Erdrich describing a traumatic flood experienced by a young girl and her grandfather. It is not a sonnet because it exceeds the 14 line limit of a sonnet. The poem also doesn’t seem to follow a rhyme scheme at all. I feel that this free form style was chosen on purpose by the author because the characters in the poem where so profoundly affected by this flood that the use of strict rules and limitations of traditional rhyming poetry would just seem out of place among the strong emotions felt by them. The overall tone of the poem could be described as depressing, mostly due to the diction Erdrich chose to use. She used words such as “helpless,” “hoarse-voiced,” and “broken” all of which create this feeling of despair and sadness. I feel like the characters in this poem are most upset about the destruction of nature this flood caused. In many instances, the poet personifies nature describing its “bones,” “teeth,” and “arteries.” The characters felt that nature was a living entity and were distraught at the thought of it being destroyed. S.N
The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes is a poem in which the speaker encounters an African American blues singer in a bar type setting in 1920’s Harlem, New York. It is not a sonnet, because it exceeds the 14 line limit of a sonnet. It seems to be more of a free form rhyme scheme, with rhyming couplets thrown in in certain places. The overall tone of the poem could be interpreted as sad. The reader could draw this conclusion based on certain diction Hughes uses such as “poor piano moan”, “melancholy tone”, and “crooned.” All of those words create that general feeling of gloom and sadness. There’s also a constant repetition of “the Blues” which is a constant reminder to the reader of sadness, much like the singer in the poem may be constantly reminded of sadness due to him singing the blues all the time. The inclusion of song lyrics give the poem an almost sing song-y feel, but not in a lighthearted way. At the end of the poem, when Hughes depicts the singer coming home and going to bed, he writes that “He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.” demonstrating that the singer has essentially “burned himself out” on singing the blues. A.E.
When I first came across this title I thought it would be interesting to read because I know the name Byzantium which later became Constantinople when the Emperor Constantine named it the new Capitol. (Which is now known as Istanbul) So as usual I counted the lines to see if it was a sonnet, which it obviously wasn't. Its rhyming pattern is in the ABABCC form, again similar to a sonnet just like the last few poems. Though the odd thing about this poem's rhyming is when it gets to the CC part, the words do not sound the same but the consonance of the last two words in the last two stanzas were the same. As I read the poem a few times, I began to wonder was it talking about the how this city is becoming the "New Rome" because the line "whatever is begotten, born, and dies..." made me think of how empires are born and die. This city was the capitol of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, while the Western Roman Empire began to fall apart and "die." I didn't this was entirely true because why would it mention "old men" and "the young" and how something was "neglected" not to mention about art work and keeping an "Emperor " awake. I kept looking over it and asking myself those questions. Then it clicked, it mentions the "magnificent" sites such as the city itself and a "gold mosaic" and the sounds of music, but what were "the young" doing? They were neglecting all that was around them and the elderly were the only ones paying any true attention to it, even the "Emperor" stayed awake to admire these wonderful things that were around them. They knew that one day they will longer be here nor will these glorious sites hence the line "whatever is begotten, born, and dies." TV We often take for granted the beautiful magic nature is capable of. We seem to never take the time to appreciate the wonderful creations nature provides for our enjoyment. Most of us enjoy the aftermath of the storm, but never the storm itself. We simply don't give the storm enough credit, because without the snow storm, there will be no snow. In "The Snow-Storm" by Ralph Waldo-Emerson, Waldo-Emerson explains how creative and beautiful mother nature is, and she creates such amazing architecture in such little time. It created structures that humans simply can not. In the beginning of the first stanza, Waldo-Emerson writes "Announced by all the trumpets of the sky" which implies that this is a very important event. It seems as if the trumpets are welcoming the snow as it falls to the earth's ground. This is not a storm to be taken lightly, it holds much power and Waldo-Emerson shows that when he writes "The sled and traveler stopped, the courier's feet Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed in a tumultuous privacy of storm" in this quote the reader can interpret that the storm has halted travelers and has brought houses to stay indoors and gather around the fire. These actions show just how much power the storm has. Waldo-Emerson gives the storm a sense of artistic ability. "Come see the north wind's masonry" Emerson writes as if "the north wind" is a real person who may be the next Picasso. In the last few lines it seems as if Emerson is impressed at how quickly the "mad wind" could create such "frolic architecture". Emerson writes with a sense of awe in this poem, he seems to write with such compassion towards mother natures abilities that it creates an "awe" affect on the reader. The structure of this poem is not very complex, its a very simple poem that has no rhyme or rhythm, but I feel that this was done on purpose, as Emerson felt so strongly towards mother natures abilities to create such a beautiful masterpiece that he didn't want to take that away by adding a complex structure. He would rather write in a simple form and let the reader fully understand what he's preaching, than be complex and blur the message. The use of metaphors and personification help give the allusion that the storm is actually building, sculpting, and decorating all that it graces with its touch. In "to an Athlete Dying Young" A.E. Housman does a fantastic job with talking about how the guy was a terrific athlete and then slowly going into him dying young. It is a light subject that no one wants to talk about so they talk about the good more then the bad. A.E. Housman's sentence structure goes from easy to complicated just by the way he words the sentences and the words that he chose to say. For example "runner whom renown outran" and "and round that early- laurelled head". AE Housman describes the guy as a "smart lad" which indicates that he is young and smart. "Will flock to gaze the strengthless death" indicates that he died young. In the poem you find that the guy earns lots of praise and worship for winning the race and for just being an all around amazing athlete. Then when the athlete dies you find that everyone was there to mourn the loss of this great guy. A.E. Housman also established that no one broke his record and he still held the record when he died. TV A good poet is not just made of a scholarly writer, or a distinguished one either. The characteristics of a good poet is that of understanding, patience, and common knowledge. Anyone can put rhyming words in lines and stanzas and make a poem, but not everyone can put forth the emotion, and soul that it requires to publish a "great" poem. In Alexander Pope's poem "Sound and Sense" he states his opinion on what makes a great poet. Pope says to write quality poetry one has to be experienced and it required learning and practice. Pope's tone throughout the poem is quite didactic. Pope intended to try and teach his audience and tries to convey or instill his opinion on what qualities make up a great poet. The structure that Pope used was not too unordinary or spectacular, it consisted of sonnets within a heroic couplet. Pope choose this style, most likely because the rhyme scheme helps the reader follow along, and allows the poet, Pope, to convey his message. The literary devices in this poem, helped Pope get his point across of what makes a great poet. Alliteration helped with his sentence structure and gave the poem a sense of rhythm, allusion helped the reader create mental images of the precise characteristics of a good poet, and lastly, the use of metaphor created a sense of humor in Pope's writing. "The Cuckoo Song" is about the weather changing from winter to spring. There is new life everywhere. The sheep have had their lambs. The cows have had their calves. The trees and other plants are starting to grow again. And all through out the poem, the cuckoo bird sings. The poet repeats the bird's song to show the happiness through out the poem. That everyone is happy it is becoming spring again because it is a beautiful time. The poet ends the poem with the lines "The cuckoo sings well. Don't stop singing." He doesn't want the cuckoo bird to stop singing because when the bird stops singing it means that spring will be over and he doesn't want spring to end.
D.C S.N
Ode on Melancholy by John Keats is a poem about how to overcome sadness. It is not a sonnet because it exceeds the 14 line limit of a sonnet. In the first stanza, Keats elaborates on ways NOT to overcome sadness. He says not to go to Lethe, which is a river of forgetfulness in Greek mythology. He also says not to “twist Wolf’s-bane, tight rooted, for its poisonous wine; Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss’d By nightshade” which means not to commit suicide by way of poisoning. Lastly, the poem says that you shouldn’t become obsessed with objects of death such as “the beetle, nor the death-moth.” If you do all of these things, the poem says you basically will never overcome your sadness. The next stanzas deal with how you SHOULD overcome sadness. The poet emphasizes the importance of overcoming sadness with natural beauty such as “a morning rose” “the salt sand-wave” “globed peonies” and the eyes of a lover. The poem ends saying that those who can overcome sadness are the only ones who truly understand it’s power. In my poem "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence published in 1896; the poet uses word choice, hyperbole, and metonymy to show that humans hide there emotions. Laurence uses word choice in the first stanza: "grins and lies" (line one), "hides... shades" (line two), "dept" (line three), "myriad" (line five); these are all negative words that show something is being hidden from the public helping one to understand the meaning of the poem. the second stanza has word choice in line seven "tears and sighs" to show the pain and aggravation that people try to hide from themselves and others. the last stanza has several more examples of this negative word choice that explains how miserable people are through the long struggle of life. Stanza one line four "with torn and bleeding hearts we smile" this hyperbole shows who much pain we are in although we tend not to show it; our hearts are obviously not torn nor bleeding its just to show the pain we are in. Stanza two line seven "in counting all our tears and sighs?" this is a hyperbole because no one will ever count all our tears and sighs, which is the point of this poem; why should we care? Why should we worry about others and why should others worry about us? And why show that we are in fact hurting if no one cares? In my experience this is somewhat true. By this i mean we care when its necessary or obvious someone we care about is hurting. if its not someone we are close to though it tends to not matter to us although humans are instinctively curious our nature is to not act of it and stay away from anything new or different in the most part. People hide what they are feeling to also convince themselves they are happy not just everyone else. Think about it can you imagine if everyone always showed how they felt and let it consume they instead of acting happy; they would never get the chance to be happy even if only for a second. MM Shakespeare's poem, "Sonnet 138: When my love swears she is made of truth," is about truths, lies, and love. It has 14 lines (sonnet), 3 quatrains, and 1 couplet; with every other line rhyming. There is also a shift in this poem. His mistress swears she is truthful, although she knows she is lying. So he continues to believe her lies, while she thinks that he is just some ignorant young man. She likes to lie about everything and he doesn’t like to discuss his age. There is a shift in line 9 questioning why she doesn’t admit that she lies and why he doesn’t admit that he’s old. In the next couple of lines, it explains that it is easy to love someone who seems like they’re trustworthy, rather than someone who actually admits that they’re lying. It also exlpains that old people who are in love don’t like to discuss their age, because it makes them feel even more old. However, his mistress knew all along he was old because she remembered how he used to be back in the day. In the end, they both lie about each other’s faults, but continue to be flattered with their lies. This poem can definitely be compared to real life because some women actually do promise to men that they are truthful, although they are not. This type of relationship is very common nowadays because men are very naïve and women are very sneaky; being able to get away with a lot of things. Also, women are very good at being able to convice and bribe men to do whatever they want them to do. Overall, this poem shows that Shakespeare was not a naïve man because he knew all along his love wasn’t truthful. Also, it shows how witty he is to make his mistress believe that he belives she was telling him the truth. Lastly in this poem, he didn’t want the women to think of him as old, so he lied about his age indicating that if she can lie, so can he. All in all, they are “flattered” with lying about their faults and still love each other. MR The poem Snow-Flakes, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is the story of the grieving over the loss of a woman. This poem is made up of three sestets, and each sestet is made up of a quatrain and a couplet. The rhyme scheme in the first stanza is ABABCC (abab = quatrain, cc = couplet). The rhyme scheme in the next two stanzas is DEDEFF and GHGHII (The quatrain and couplet follow the same pattern in these two stanzas. In the first stanza it talks about snow suddenly falling from a woman’s garment; I picture this woman as an angel and if this woman is in heaven then something must have happened to her. Also since it said the snow fell suddenly to me it connects to the woman meaning she died suddenly. Throughout the poem it uses works like “air”, “cloudy”, and “sky” which also suggest something heavenly. In the second stanza it suggests that someone is finally accepting the sudden death of this woman. For example in line three, “Evan as the troubled heart doth make”. This line suggests that he has to come to terms with this sudden death. In the last stanza he uses words like “whispered”, and “silent” conveying that it’s lonely and quiet without her around. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote this poem to honor her existents. The diction in this poem starts very peaceful and calm illustrating the way the snow falls from this woman’s garment, then the diction becomes more negative because the person is grieving but learning to accept her passing. The last stanza’s diction changes to very peaceful; everything’s very calm and quiet without her around. PR To Autumn by John Keats is greatly known for its abundance of imagery. This helps to portray the sights and sounds of nature in the season autumn. Throughout the poem, autumn is personified as a person. It describes three stages of autumn: growth, harvest and death. The tone of the poem is contemplative and lyrical. It is contemplative because the poet is thinking about autumn’s nature. Also, it can be lyrical because of all the detailed images it gives. The first stanza is focused on the sights of this specific season. It discusses how autumn works with the sun to ripen apples and other fruit, swell the gourd and fill the hazel shells and let the flowers bud for the bees. Everything is growing at the moment. Keat exaggerates the growth of the crops because they are perfectly ripe. In the second stanza, it is mainly concentrated on autumn’s characteristics activities. It personifies this season as a woman. “She” sits on a granary floor, reaper asleep in the fields, a gleaner, and cider maker. This is the season of preparing for winter. Contrasting to the first stanza where everything is perfectly matured, the season of autumn is nearing the end. The last stanza is centered on the sounds of autumn. The gnats mourn, river swallows, lambs bleating, crickets singing, robin’s whistle, and swallows twittering. All of these sounds from the animals are just as beautiful as that of spring’s. The poet tells autumn to listen to her own sounds of music instead of spring’s because she has lovely melodies of her own. MH Lord Bryon’s (George Gordon) poem, “She Walks in Beauty” has a theme of perfection. Bryon brings up all the great qualities he sees in an unnamed woman. He seems to have reverent tone throughout his poem. Bryon says, “She walks in beauty like the night.” This seems strange because most people would consider night to be gloomy, but I believe the poet is referring to the dynamic of her beauty as she walks. Not only is her face is beautiful, but her as a whole is beautiful. In contrasts, she is compared to night as “cloudless climes and starry skies” inferring that she could have a very clear complexion or has a clear conscience. Bryon continues to talk about how wonderful this woman is with her whole appearance, especially her eyes. In lines five through six Bryon compares her to light as “tender” rather than the light received during the day time emphasizing how unique the woman is to him. He even insists that the ladies beauty is so perfect that if you added “one shade” and messed up “one ray” then you would destroy her beauty. The poet also seems unsure about what makes her ungraceful because she’s “nameless.” Bryon’s can look beyond her outer beauty and see her inner beauty because of her “serenely sweet” expressions. She seems innocent and valuable in Bryon’s eyes when he said “dear.” Along with that, in line thirteen the poet says, “so soft, so calm, yet eloquent” it portrays that the woman is quiet and also elegant. “Her smiles that win, the times that glow (line 15).” Emphasizes that her face is expressive even when she doesn’t talk. In the last part of the poem it finally explains what her smiles are expressing which is her good deeds that she has done. Because she is such a good person her “mind is at peace with all below.” Continuously, she has a loving heart, but a heart that does not love a certain someone. The first thing I noticed about this poem is it followed the "AB" pattern of a regular sonnet. Though it isn't one due to the fact it has twenty-eight lines in it. Another interesting thing that caught my attention is that some words are purposefully capitalized, such as: Faith, Fear, Undying Life, Deity, Immortality, Existence, Death, Being, and Breath. As I kept looking over these words, six of them have a rather lighter or more positive connotation, while the other two have a negative connotation. I wonder, did Emily Bronte do this as a way to personify "Fear" and "Death"? Maybe so because throughout this entire poem I have picked up on a few biblical allusions, one of them obviously being God, but the "thousand creeds" and "Almighty...Deity" could be allusions. When I read the "thousand creeds" part I thought of the Apostle's Creed that is regularly mentioned in a Roman Catholic Mass. Before that was the "Almighty..Deity" and not only does it make me think of God, but of the Holy Spirit that can reside in all of us if we allow it just like she said in line five. When I got to line sixteen, "The steadfast rock of Immortality" it made me wonder is she also pointing at the fact that Jesus Christ said "Upon this rock I shall build my Church"? As I approached the next stanza the first two lines in it sparked the thought of God's endless love for us and how if we accept that it "animates" us. I can understand the use of the word "Pervades" but why use the word "broods"? A definition of brood is: deeply thinking about something that makes one unhappy. Well if a person were to "brood" about God why would that make them unhappy? The last two stanzas made me think of two different books from the Holy Bible. In the sixth stanza how it described the universe before God created it made me think of the book of Genesis. It sparked this thought because God was the only Deity there and how it was all nothing before he created everything. The last stanza makes me think of Revelation because when the time comes God will end everything. In this book there is no more "Death" no more sorrow or suffering but paradise for the righteous and damnation for the wicked. So the big question is, why is the poem call No Coward Soul Is Mine? Is it because if we allow the spirit and presence of God in us we shall not "Fear" anything? AM Feb. 13th, 2015 In the poem, A Noiseless Spider by Walt Whitman, my interpretation was that he was comparing the spider o a humans soul. Throughout this poem the spider goes on a journey from a high ledge and then launches into a new adventure. I found a lot of symbolism throughout this poem one being the ledge the spider was on. Whitman uses the descriptive diction, "promontory" to describe the ledge the spider was on. Promontory is a high land that stands over a large body of water. To a spider, water could be a scary factor. Just like water is to spiders, overcoming a problem in a persons life is a massive accomplishment. The spider looks over the large cliff and is described as isolated, as when any people face problems they feel as if they are alone too. In the first stanza it is comparing the spiders surroundings and actions to that of a human when it is having problems in life. When you begin the second stanza you start to get the sense of the comparison to the human soul a the author starts to stat "O My Soul". Whitman slowly describes the spider with words that also apply to that of a humans soul searching for answers. The diction "surrounded, detached, ..." are words that are very common to people who are facing problems. As many people are surrounded by advice but don't know how to use it, and detached from society because of the problem. The spider on the cliff was facing problems moving to his next step and so are some people in life. The spider seeks for an answer to his problem by forming a bridge to his next move, just as a person should do. Lastly the spider flings himself to catch something, hoping that every person take their problem and use it as an incentive to do something about it and stop it. |
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May 2015
AuthorsFocused, determined, and a whole lot sassy: Mrs. Costisick's AP Literature students want you to delve into the ostentatious world of poetry with them as they augment their own understanding of some of the most famous writings known to us. No Dr. Seuss here. Categories |