The Guitarist Tunes Up

I really like this poem because I can relate to it in the fact that I play the guitar, but I think anyone who plays an instrument or composes some types of music can relate to this. I think Cornford is talking about the art of music, or in this case, the guitar. He is saying that is not something to be conquered, but is something that is to be  relished as a beautiful thing--in this case he uses the analogy of comparing the guitar to a woman. It seems like he compares the playing of the guitar to making love with a woman, that it is a beautiful thing derived from pure and intense emotion, not being able to have power over the guitar...or woman. The poem had an AABBCCDD rhyme scheme, which I think the poet used to make it lyrical, as a song might be. It also gives the poem better rhythm. There is only one stanza, but the rhyme scheme made the lines pop out like couplets, which gave a lot of organization to Cornford's ideas throughout the poem. I really enjoyed reading this poem because of the way I was able to relate to it, but now I should be off to Calc Camp!

The trees in the garden...

I really enjoyed this poem a lot, mostly because I tie it to political meaning. This poem reminds me of the constant struggle between the left and right, and Social Darwinism. The poem talks about how a tree blossoms flowers and the most skilled and opportune children are able to grab them and bundle them. Chance flowers then blossom for the rest and the skilled children find it unfair, but the father let the protesting child know that it was perfectly fair, and questions the child's own integrity. This could also be seen in a religious light, in terms of those who have found God and followed him from early on, but the others who find God later also get into Heaven, and the early followers claim it is unfair. The voice of the father may be God himself. I guess the fact of the matter is that this poem may be seen from different social perspective. There doesn't appear to be any rhyme scheme to this poem. Although, Crane does use a lot of dialogue towards the latter half of the poem, and I think this is to show the interaction of the child and the father more vividly, and be able to show the reader the lesson the boy was learning without having to come out and say it. I think that there isn't really a designated stanza structure because of the flow of the actual poem, so it reads like actual lines of a story or script. The message, more than the structure, fascinated me with this poem and I really enjoyed reading it.

It was a dream

I don't know if this poem was supposed to be funny in a weird sort of way, but to me it was, or at least the picture i got in my mind. Structurally, this poem does not have a rhyme scheme nor does it have a certain defined stanza differentiation. This poem does not use capitalization until the end to mark the words of the crazed "greater self" in the dream. Also, the word "what" seems to be highlighted in the seventh line of the stanza; in my opinion, to shift ideas. I think Clifton does not capitalize to represent herself and what she has not accomplished--the whole reason her greater self seems to appear in her dream to resurrect from her. I think it just displays the mediocrity of herself, but then the words of her greater self are capitalized. But also, the poem uses a lot of imagery through this "greater self" who i imagine looking like a witch with fiery eyes and crazy hair, and by saying "This.This.This." she was pointing to herself and telling the lesser self to be a little bit crazy sometimes; get out of your shell a little bit. I really didn't like this poem upon the first time reading, but now that I have found humor and meaning in it, I found it very interesting and am now quite fond of it.