"To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell - Philisophy/Theme

"Thus, though we cannot make our sun/Stand still, yet we will make him run." This poem, on the surface, is about love. However, it turns out to be a lesson about life in general. The speaker discusses how he wants to be able to spend all of eternity loving his lover, but he realizes he can't. Time goes on even if he doesn't want it to. Then, he tries to tell his mistress that they need to speed up their relationship in order for them to love each other more in life. The lesson comes from this. The author is trying to tell his audience that life is short and we need to enjoy it while we can. Like this lover he portrays, we can't wait to do what we want in life. Time won't slow down for us.

"Hazel Tells LaVerne" by Katharyn Howd Machan - Syntax

"last night im cleanin out my howard johnsons ladies room whell all of a sudden up pops this frog." This poem lacks any form of punctuation. However, it is still easy to follow, unlike "next to god america i" by e.e. cummings. Why leave out the punctuation in this poem? By doing so, it reflects the speaker's education level. With punctuation, the person would have seem more educated, and the poem would have lost some of its substance. However, to make up for the lack of punctuation, the author made a new line for each thought allowing the peom to be followed easily. I liked the idea of substituting line breaks for punctuation. It reflected the character of the speaker while keeping it understandable. The last two lines, "me/a princess" show her disbelief by causing the reader to pause between the two lines. This shows her questioning of her own abilities.

"Hazel Tells LaVerne" by Katharyn Howd Machan - Vernacular

"an i hitsm with my mop an has ta flush." This poem reminds me of our AP Language summer reading book, Their Eyes Were Watching God. The poem is written in the language of the speaker. Clearly, the speaker is either uneducated, from the South, or both. The vernacular gave the speaker an attitude. She wasn't gonna take no "little green pervert"'s sass. The tone from this poem (established by the language) is a realistic and down-to-earth one. The speaker doesn't believe in such a fairy tale. The language made me laugh as I read the poem. If the poem wasn't written in vernacular, the speaker could be anybody, but by the language, the speaker is limited to the above suggestions.

"The Apparition" by John Donne - Imagery

"Then shall my ghost come to they bed." This poem is particularly full of imagery. The whole description is the speaker as a ghost coming back to haunt his lover. The descriptions display the speaker's dismay with his lover. She won't have sex with him yet and it's killing him. He says that when he comes back from death, he will haunt her like a ghost. He also says he doesn't want to give away what he's going to say now because he'd rather have her repent than be innocent. I see that as harsh. He would rather her do what she is doing and then torture her than ask her to do his desires and never haunt her. The imagery of this poem sets a tone of dark, haunting death.

"My mistress' eyes" by William Shakespeare - Simile

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun." When I read this poem, I was surprised by Shakespeare's description of his lover. He uses similes and metaphors to compare her looks to well-known items. He compares her eyes to the sun - saying that the sun is more brilliant. He compares her to perfumes, "and in some perfumes is there more delight." The inital effect of these comparisons is a taking down of this woman's beauty. But Shakespeare ends by saying that he loves how unique she is. He still see here "as rare." He believes that the above comparisons don't do her justice. The comparisons above don't give her enough credit for how amazing she is.

"Batter my heart, three-personed God" by John Donne - Calling Out to God

"...Take me to you, imprison me, for I, Except you enthrall me, never shall be free..." This quote is the speaker calling out to God in blind faith. He has come to realize that he cannot get to heaven without God. Unless he gives himself up to God, he "never shall be free." That's how the paradox in that line is justified. The only way to true freedom and happiness is through giving one's life up to God. "Imprison me" gives me the image of a big hug. The speaker is asking to be wrapped up in God's love. I respect this line greatly and believe it reveals a truth that all of us should realize at some point in our lifes. It's the only way we can live in eternal happiness. These minions are happy =)

"next to of course god america i" by e.e. cummings - I'm Gonna Die!

This poem kills me! But, in a good way! I'm going to hug this poem until I get it! I don't quite understand the point of the poem. Is it to discourage against those "who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter?" Or is it to encourage speed talking. I see contrast in the "talk of beauty" and "the roaring slaughter." I see paradox in "the voice of liberty be mute?' But I don't see the connection in the poem. I hope to shake it to pieces so I can get to the truth at the bottom. I have spoken. Now I'm going to eat some ice cream. Those past two sentences seem pointless, but they reflect the last two "sentences" in the poem. Seemingly pointless, but with a delicious truth behind them. I just have yet to taste that delicious significance.

"next to of course god america i" by e.e. cummings - Structure

"...even deafanddumb they sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry by jingo by gee by gosh by gum..." Two marks of punctuation. This poem counts as "something annoying." But in all seriousness, why do this? Why does the author exclude punctuation? One effect I feel when studying the poem is a feel of rambling. I see this person as an informed rambler who knows that most people who hear him won't listen, or won't understand. That's my shallow observation of the poem. My deeper look is that the syntax reflects what the speaker sees as the American people's blind acceptance of the American way. Americans just jump into anything for their country. Even the "deafanddumb" would go straight into war for America. They don't go into activities thinking. They simply jump into an activity, "who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter," and don't even realize that "they died."

"APO 96225" by Larry Rottman - Situational Irony

The mother in this poem doesn't really want what she says she does. She is like all mothers - she knows everything! The whole time she is begging her son to tell the whole truth because she knows he is holding back, "Son, we want you to tell us everything. Everything!" Yet when the son responds with what he is actually doing, she is apalled and her husband pleads, "Please don't write such depressing letters. You're upsetting your mother." She knows that the truth is bad, but she doesn't realize that she doesn't want to hear it. I loved how the poem started the same way it ended! That sealed the irony of the situation. What is the effect of the irony? The speaker is able to display how the public views war. They "want" to hear everything, but when they do, they respond negatively. The speaker is trying to tell his audience that sometimes being informed can be a bad thing. This video is my version of situational irony. The scientist doesn't really know what he was supposed to do.

"Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley - Irony

"'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings; Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains." That is one of my favorite few lines of all the poems we've read so far. The irony is just splendid! This man was king of a great land. He controlled all that the eye could see and had marked the whole area with his touch. He even made a statue of himself, so that the whole world could see that Ozymandias was the king of kings! Nobody could ever be greater than he! This is proclaimed on the plaque, while the whole area around him is crumbling apart. What is the effect of this irony? I see the irony as the speaker's way of displaying his theme - nothing lasts forever. That's his theme in cliché format. What he really is trying to tell the reader is that what you have in life now will not stay with you in eternity. Eventually, everything will change. If not, then Ozymandias' statue would be amidst a great city.

"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne - Mixed Feelings

I'm having trouble understanding what this poem is about. But I'm going to jump into the water and say what I connections I see. The first words I latched onto were, "Moving of the' earth brings harms and fears." Being a physics guy, this made me start thinking of the sun and the moon. I see that those two are the "lovers" the speaker refers to. The virtuous men are the planets and asteroids that orbit the sun. The earth causes fear during a lunar eclipse when the two lovers can't see each other. The sun is "in the center sit" and the moon is "the other far doth roam." The moon "leans, and hearkens after it." While this seems a stretch to some, I find it as perfectly logical and it means more to me since I am interested in physics - which deals with such objects.

One final note: "And makes me end, where I begun," refers to the Big Crunch. We started with the Big Bang and will end in the same point from which we were made - through the Big Crunch.

"Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes - Theme

"Dream Deferred" has an amazing message. It caused me to contemplate what will be the result of the dreams we let go. With they "dry up like a raisin in the sun?" or "does it explode?" What does the speaker mean by this - "does it explode?" I think his message is that some of lost dreams can come back to haunt. When we are older in age, we will look back and wish we had taken that chance. It reminds me of "The road less traveled by" mentioned in a Robert Frost. The speaker of "Dream Deferred" is trying to point out that our dreams are worth attaining. They very well may cause us pain if we don't at least try to achieve them. I believe that as long as we try to attain them, the worst that can happen is that they will "dry up."

"Pink Dog" by Elizabeth Bishop - Logos

Pink Dog has a message familiar to those from South America and other Spanish-speaking countries. Carnival is a worl-wide celebration on the American Mardi Gras. Unlike the American celebration, though, Carnival spurs a celebration with nearly full participation from the people. They come together as a family and celebrate until Ash Wednesday. Bishop's logos for writing this poem was persuading the outsiders, non-participaters, and particularly Americans that Carnival was a celebration for ALL to celebrate. The "pink dog" is the outsider who doesn't participate. This can also represent the"radios, Americans, or something, (that) have ruined it completely." She wants to tell people that Carnival is an event that shouldn't disappear - it should be celebrated all the more! She is encouraging even the "beggars" to dress up in some way for the event. She doesn't want to lose her Spanish culture to the American business-like culture.

"Toads" by Philip Larkin - Tone

Mr. Larkin has ATTITUDE! He sets a tone evident throughtout his poem. From, "Why should I let the toad work/ Squat on my life?" with "No one actually starves," he brings a feeling of bitterness towards the lower class. Why bitterness? Bitterness towards the poor seems to be a paradox. Where could this bitterness towards the people that work for him come from? I believe it stems from the speakers desire to have some of their lifestyle - their friends, their family, their sense of community. The speaker has a bitter tone because he is jealous of some aspects of their lifestyle. I think the author did this to point out that those who are last have something that those who are first don't have, "For something sufficiently toad-like/Squats in me, too." That's his confession of his true feelings.

"Toads" by Philip Larkin - Extended Metaphor

I see an extended metaphor in the poem "Toads." The poem is regarding the poor, unskilled laborers of society. He refers to them as toads - ugly, worthless creatures. He rejects their desire to have a better life. He says, "Ah, were I courageous enough to shout Stuff your pension!" Wow! He acts like no matter what they do, they will survive, so why try? He basically says that with,  "no one actually starves. He explains this by comparing them to toads - they seem to survive no matter what. But he does confess that he sometimes has the same desires as the "toads." This can be interpreted as every girl's desire (little or small) to be the toad/frog in the princess stories. Even though being the toad is so despicable, the result is amazing. I see that the author, even through his snubbing of the lower class, is expressing his occasional desire to be with them by using the toad metaphor. He wants to have something they have that he doesn't - community.

Robert Hayden - "Those Winter Sundays"

Wow. I am used to Sundays being happy days because I get to sleep in before going to Mass. I see how lucky I am to have what I'm blessed with when I read this drab poem. I never fear "the chronic angers of that house." I can't imagine waking with the fear that my family will be angry and I may have to face difficult arguments. But then again, I do appreciate my dad more than the author did during his time. I don't speak "indifferently to him." If my dad gets up early to make a fire for us, I'm always sure to thank him. The author realizes later in his life how much his father did for him, and he feels sorry for the way he treated his father. I'm glad he's come to this realization, but it always seems to come too late. I hope that this poem sends a message to kids of all ages to appreciate all that their parents do for them and to thank them for it.

Imagery - William Carlos Williams - "The Widow's Lament in Springtime"

The poem "The Widow's Lament in Springtime" emphasizes the imagery of certain situations to bring out the meaning of the poem. For example, "flaes as it has flamed" shows how brilliantly colored and lively the yard used to be during the springtime. But it is contrasted with "the cold fire that closes round me this year." These juxtaposed images bring out the sorrow due to the loss of the widow's husband. Also, the masses of lowers" aren't as noticeable as in years previous as she "turned away forgetting." The imagery of these flowers is used to develop the brilliant beauty of the yard. But, since she has lost her husband, all of this beauty is lost. The author's imagery of the yard help emphasize how much of a loss the widow feels because, despite the beauty, the author is still depressed and doesn't notice it. This poem used more imagery than the others and culminated in the desire to "fall into those flowers and sink into the marsh near them." This was the author's point that no matter how beautiful the scenery was, the loss of her husband still drug her down.

Rainer Maria Rilke - "The Panther"

The Panther saddened me and reinforced my dislike of zoos. I hate to see an animal that has "grown so weary that it cannot hold anything else." I also hate to see them behind "a thousand bars." I believe that animals deserve to be in the wild where they can use their God-given abilities. While I believe it is sometimes necessary in order to save a species, I don't like to see an animal with "a mighty will (that) stands paralyzed." This poem evoked a feeling of sadness and despair for the poor panther. The ending was the final erasure of all hope. The animal seemed to have caught a spark in something, but the near attempt at normality is crushed through his surroundings. I find that this poem serves as a good, strong message towards the bad side effects of zoos.

Thomas Hardy - "The Convergence of the Twain"

What is the central purpose of the poem, the poet's fictional point?
"And the Pride of Life that planned her..." That statement is the first of many in which the author blames the death of many humans in the sinking of the Titanic on pride and vanity. The purpose of the writer is to inform the reader that excess pride or vanity can lead to destruction, "Lie lightless, all the sparkles bleared and black and blind." The author points out that God does not like pride. We are called to humility. "The Immanent Will that sirs and urges everything" is the reference to God. He "prepared a sinsister mate" who "in the shadowy silent distance grew." The shipwreck represents the victory of the humble (silent in last quote) over those with "human vanity." The author is simply warning that our vanity can lead to our downfall and disgrace.

Emily Dickinson - "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain"

Discuss the adaptation of sound to sense. The entire poem by Emily Dickinson is based around sounds, since it is felt in her brain. "Like a Drum" brings the sense of solitude. Without other instruments, a drum is monotonous and simply carries out a given beat that drones on. "I heard them lift a box/And creak across my Soul" brings a sense of longing. The sound of creaking reminds me of ghosts and such, and soul reinforces that idea by saying that the person lost is no longer visible to the author. "And I, and Silence... Wrecked, solitary, here-." This phrase also appeals to our sense of hearing. Silence is the absence of noise, and that brings about a sense of solitude and loneliness. But it also brings about God. We hear God in the silence of our minds. I believe that's why the "Plank in Reason" broke through. She realized that she had to get out of her horrible state of mind from the funeral.

Bringing Science to Literature

"In poetry, context may function to expand meaning as well as to limit it." (The Nature of Proof in the Interpretation of Poetry, pg. 4) Always go into a new experience (or reading) with an open mind. The article by Laurence Perrine regarding the interpretation of poetry really opened my eyes. As evidenced in my interpretation of the Emily Dickinson poem we read in class, I was a strong hater in the interpretation of literature. I believed that I could interpret anything I wanted in a literary work, so I despised taking classes studying works and determining a "correct" answer. Now, my eyes are opened and I understand that I could incorrectly interpret a poem. While variations in interpretation DO exist, they are limited by the words in the poem. This makes poem reading more fascinating to me. While I still am not a literature interpreting maniac, I appreciate that a fairly scientific approach was brought to literature.
While this is all well and good, I do see a downside in Perrine and his opinion. He seems to be a creativity hater. Yes, I understand that completely abstract ideas can be thrown out, but I still stand by my laundry interpretation of Emily Dickinson's poem. While it may not be the easiest, most simplified interpretation, that doesn't eliminate its effectiveness. If the author wanted the poem to be simple and have a straight-forward interpretation, he would have simplified the poem and made it straightforward. I will make a concession based on this phrase, "...the best is that which is most economical, i.e. which relies on the fewest assumptions not grounded in the poem itself." (TNPIP, pg. 1) This idea of having the simplest method be the most correct struck me as a science-guy. In physics, the most successful equations and theories are the "beautiful" ones. What makes an equation or theory beautiful? Its symmetry and "shortness." So, I do see how the simpler the interpretation, the more correct it is. But that doesn't make a less simple interpretation incorrect. When Einstein made the laws surrounding electricity and magnestism simpler, it didn't make Maxwell's equations incorrect or unvaluable. So, I don't believe that a more complex interpretation is necessarily incorrect.