"Dreams Deferred" #11

Throughout this entire poem, Langston Hughes uses figurative language to get his point across to the reader. There are five similes and one metaphor used in this poem. When a dream is compared to a raisin in the sun, the author means to say that the opportunity for action is now. The dream is then compared to a sore that festers, meaning that it could spread profusely among people if shared with others. The third simile, that compares a dream to rotten meat, symbolizes the fact that dreams that are not taken into action can leave a person with a feeling of unforgettable regret. Next, the author compares a dream to a syrupy sweet. In this simile, the author is implying that deferred dreams can cause people to sugar coated their circumstances, which would result in no change or action. In the final simile, the dream is equated with a heavy load. I think the author is trying to say that a dream left inside of one's head can weigh a person down or inhibit them from reaching their full potential. The only metaphor used in this poem is separated from the rest of the piece. It is italicized, and therefore stands out as the stressed point of the poem. In this metaphor, the dream actually explodes. This has a very negative connotation, especially after learning about the background of the poet. The figurative language in this poem convey's the writer's attitude toward dreams. Through his combination of similes and metaphors, he calls the reader to action so their dreams can become reality instead of becoming deferred.

"Those Winter Sundays"

After studying the collection of eigth poems, I thought that this poem was one of the easiest ones to understand. I really liked this poem because of the nostalgic point of view of the speaker looking back on his or her past experiences. I could relate to the regretful and ashamed tone of the poem, because I have been in situations that are similar to the speaker's situation numerous times in my life. I also liked the fact that there could be more than one interpretation of this poem. When I initially read this poem by myself, I took it very literally. I saw no symbolism or deeper meaning. But when my small group discussed the poem in class, one member of my group thought that the father in the poem represented God and the son or daughter represented all of God's children on earth. I thought it was very interesting that there could be two completely different opinions about the meaning of the work. I'm not positive which one is correct or if either of them are correct, but I loved the universal message behind both interpretations. I liked how the poem gave the advice or the message to be thankful, grateful, and appreciative of the many things that others do for us.

"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" #15

After reading this poem a few times by myself, I was very confused about what was going on in it. When I went back through the poem and looked for patterns that stood out to me, I saw that there were sound repetitions incorporated in the work. This occurs three times in three different stanzas of this poem by Dickinson. In the first stanza, the word "treading" is repeated back to back. Following that, in the second stanza, the word "beating" is also repeated twice right next to each other. Finally, in the last stanza, the word "down" is used twice in the same line. Because these terms were used more than once, I realized that they were supposed to be emphasized and had further meaning. After reading the poem again in class with my small group, I realized that the poem should not be taken literally, and those repeated phrases started to make more sense. My group came up with the idea that the speaker was talking about his or her progression from reality and sanity to madness and insanity. All three of the repeated words collectively make me think of a huge weight on someone's shoulders. "Treading", "beating", and "down" make me picture someone losing a fight to some burden, problem, or issue in his or her life that they can no longer control. These significant examples of sound repetition helped me as a reader better understand what occurs in the poem. For my interpretation, they served almost like context clues by helping me fill in the blanks for what I didn't understand.

"The Convergence of the Twain" #6

I think that the central purpose of "The Convergence of the Twain" is to point out and ridicule human vanity and human glory. I think that Hardy understood that the sinking of the Titanic was a serious accident, but I don't think that is the main focus of his poem. Many people who read this poem probably thought Hardy was looking back and reflecting on the tragedy of the Titanic, but there is a deeper meaning than that. He does not go into depth or detail about the deaths of passengers on the boat, about the moment that the ship and the iceberg collided, or about the actual destruction and sinking of the boat. Hardy's main focus is on the luxury and elegance of the boat. In the fifth stanza, the fish that are near and that are looking at the boat ask "What does this vaingloriousness down here?". Of all the things that the fish could have noticed and said, Hardy chose for them to ask question why the boat was the way it was. In addition to the fish, Hardy also brings attention to "the Pride of Life" that planned and created the boat. Hardy's main point of this poem is to criticize human desire for pride, material things, and invincibility.

"The Widow's Lament in Springtime" #8

When I first read this poem, the tone was one thing that stood out to me from the very beginning. The tone of this poem by Williams is grief, anxiety, and entrapment. This tone is achieved throughout the piece through Williams' diction and repetition. The wife in the poem who is grieving for her husband shows her emotions by using words such as "sorrow" and "cold fire". She implies that she is trapped in her grief and other mixed emotions when she states that the cold fire "closes round me this year". Also, telling how long she had been with her husband (thirty five years) added to the tone because it made the longing for the past that much stronger. Lastly, her desire of "falling into the flowers" and "sinking into the marsh near them" can be linked to death as her only option to get away from her negative emotions. The repetition used in this poem plays a key role in contributing to the tone. The phrase "masses of flowers" is used in the twice right next to each other. This repetition emphasizes the amount of flowers present in the spring. After focusing on this, Williams then compares the widow's grief to the masses of flowers. Her grief is said to be stronger than the number of flowers, which makes the tone of the poem so much more effective. The second word that is repeated in the poem is "today". I think the purpose of this use of repetition is to compare the widow's reactions to and feelings toward spring now and in the past. "Today", the widow has no appreciation for spring. In the past, parts of spring were her "joy formerly". The tone of anxiety and grief in Williams' poem is made clear through both rhetorical strategies of repetition and diction.

"Spring" #9

I think that Hopkins' diction is a very important component of his poem. His diction serves two main purposes in this poem. First, Hopkins' diction paints a picture of the beauty of spring and why he appreciates the season so much. He conveys what goes on during spring, including the activities of plants and animals. Hopkins expresses his love for spring by calling it "beautiful"and comparing it to "juice" and "joy". He also describes the weeds as "long and lovely and lush". In addition, Hopkins conveys how pleasant spring sounds by describing the song of the birds and the enthusiasm of the people who hear that song. Second, Hopkins' diction suggests that he is from a strong Christian background through his references to holy figures and his symbolism. He talks about "Christ, lord" as well as the "Eden Garden", which are very strong and apparent allusion to religion. I think that the lamb mentioned in the poem is a symbol and stands for the Lamb of God, or Christ. Lastly, I think that this poem not only expresses love for spring, but also appreciation for new life, new starts, and renewal.

Perrine Poetry Blog

Before reading this essay, I had the typical view of poetry analysis. I thought that poetry means whatever you as an individual want it to mean (within reason), so different types of people could potentially see different meanings for the same poem. While reading the beginning of this essay, I had the impression that Perrine was narrow-minded in his methods to poetry interpretation. His chosen diction (critical commonplace and critical heresy) in the second paragraph may cause readers to take offense. But after reading Perrine's essay, I now understand poetry and its meanings in a new way. One of Perrine's ideas that struck me and opened up my mind was his opinion on symbols. Perrine states that "the cone of light is the area of meaning". This metaphor and vidual picture definitely made sense to me. It showed me that there may be multiple interpretations of an idea, but some interpretations are more correct and closer to the point of the cone than others. I think that this view of literary analysis can allow me to be less intimidated by poetry units this year in class.
Although there were multiple methods of ideas introduced by Perrine that I agreed with and liked, there were a few strategies and concepts in his piece that I did not agree with. The one idea that bothered me the most and stood out to me was his criteria used for judging an interpretation of a poem. I hated the fact that two answers can be correct. What also irritates me is that one answer is more correct than the other. If they are both correct in some way, then how can one be superior to another. That concept is really hard for me to grasp, understand, and apply. If poetry is going to be this way, as well as other tests, how can I learn to tell which interpretation or answer is more correct? I don't recall Perrine going into depth or explanation of how to do this. If our class is going to be working with poetry for the remainder of the first quarter, than I want to be able to better understand and utlilize this concept that Perrine introduces in his essay.