The Explosion

This poem is composed of eight tercets followed by the concluding line being singular. There seems to be no apparent rhyme scheme. The sixth stanza is written in italics, assuming importance or a quotation. So in the beginning, this poem makes me think of a bunch of men hiking down a mine, because it refers to the word "pit" twice, and miners oftentimes use explosive dynamite to mine. As the poem went on, it confused me and I retracted the idea of them being in a mine. The eggs seem very symbolic somehow, as they are found in the third stanza and are again brought up in the last stanza of the poem. Maybe the explosion happening and this giant tragedy happing in the middle of what they're doing is symbolic for what we do today. Example: we heard about the earthquake and nuclear disaster and tidal wave in Japan, but we gave a quick shocking thought to such a humongous event, and then turned around and started back at our routines. I think the fact that the men go back to their interest in the egg after the explosion was specified to possibly killing a lot of people shows how caught up they are in themselves and their own lives--just how we are in ours. Few amounts of people dropped everything they had--jobs, families, lives--and went to Japan and just started volunteering to help. We just got right back onto our routine 5-9 jobs and let someone else handle it. I believe this is definitely one way that this poem can be interpreted, but it could also be seen way diffferently with a different frame of mind.

The Golf Links

Seeing as I have no knowledge or interest in golf, I chose this as the poem to analyze. This poem is only for lines long, but there are 2 indentations that break the poem into two couplets. The 2nd and 4th lines rhyme but the first and third don not. Maybe this is just to parallel the four lines into two couplets again using this tactic. I get a very strong visual from this short poem. This poem gives a giant contrast in perspective just as good as any other. The first line starts the reader out right in front the tee on the fresh green, and then like that, the poet changes the perspective in a 180, to the poor children watching the rich men playing golf. Poor is implied here through the word "laboring." I think this is a wonderful display if the conflict of class in today's society--the long-treaded war between the white and blue collars. Come to think of it, this poem has nothing to do with golf and I'm glad I picked it. It's sort of ironic, too, that the golf links are near the mill--that the golfers probably manage or own. This poem does not have a complete message, but is simply just an argument. I really love tis poem!

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Mrs. White! I don't know if I am past the deadline, but I commented on Wacker and Kaya's posts. :)

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

The first thing I noticed about this poem was actually its structure. The first four stanzas start with "When" and have paralleling description of something that would be found in a NASA laboratory. Then in the most solid stanza from lines from 9 to 11, Whitman says he becomes tired and sick, and then he starts to describe himself in a place--"...rising and gliding out by myself,/ In the mystical moist night air...Looked up in perfect silence at the stars." The poet makes it to seem as if he falls into a daydream or falls asleep, but what is described is actually the image of what being a true astronaut would be. Maybe he is setting this image next to the preceding comments in the poem about charts and diagrams and proofs and figures in order to mock the profession, possibly suggesting that imagination is the tool that should be utilized, or possibly that this dream of space should continue to stay in our dreams and imagination. It is very clear where the line is that separates the two ideas: 1-8 and then 9-11. There also seems to be no rhyme scheme as well, but I just forgot to add that into the structural specs. I think this poem can definitely be one to come back and look at in some time, as added perspective may let me find a different view into this poem.

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.