Theme One: Faith and Hope
Still I Rise (By Maya Angelou):
You may write me
down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful cries. Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own back yard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.
Analysis:
The tittle of the Poem is still I
Rise. Before even reading it I can predict that the poem is going to be about
faith and believing. Still I rise is a very catchy title that gives the
reader a sort of idea of the containing of the poem, the author Maya Angelou
is a poet that has been through misery during the beginning of her life maybe
that’s why she wrote this poem to show the world that even if she’s been
through a lot still she’s stronger than before. From analyzing the tittle I
can predict that this poem is about pride, confidante, and faith. It took me
more than once to understand the true meaning of this poem, I can say that it
is kind of a message from Maya to the world telling them that what happened
to her before is nothing, that what didn’t kill her made her stronger. The
seven main poetic devises used in this poem are: REPETITION, RHYME,
SYMBOLISM, IMAGERY, HYPERBOL, METAPHOR, Rhetorical Questions.
-Repetition: all
along the poem, the poet continues using “Still I rise” it is a repetition
because it’s using the same phrase all over again. The purpose of it is to
that no matter what happens she will overcome it and she will rise. I think
the repetition identifies the theme of the poem that can be hope and faith.
-RHYME: In this poem
the rhyme is found in the end of the sentences and also they can be found in
words or in some endings of words. I find the rhyme of this poem the key that
gives the reader the clue about the message. It makes the poem richer. Here
are some examples: Lies and Rise- Gloom and Room- Hard and Yard.
-Symbolism: “I’ve
got oil wells pumping in my living room”. This is a symbolism because oil
wells is something very valuable and rich, the writer is trying to use it as
symbol of all the blessing that she has in her life also this can represent
her vast and rich confidence.
-Hyperbole: Maya mentioned “Shooting-Cutting-Killing…”
these are exaggerations and powerful words that connect to the reader like
me; they make the reader feel what she is feeling and think what she is
thinking. In this poem they are used to show the brutal treatment that she
was forced to face.
-Metaphor: The poet was comparing herself to the “Black ocean”,
maybe because the ocean is dark, gloomy and filled with terror she shared the
same characteristics when she was mistreated.
Rhetorical Questions: There are a
lot of questions in this poem but they are not asked so they would be answered,
they are asked for reflection: “Did you want to see me broken?” “Does my
sexiness upset you?” “Does my sassiness upset you?”…
I really liked this poem; the poet
Maya Angelou knew how to connect with the reader. She had a supercilious tone
that showed her confidence and transited the message. We can learn from the
message of the poem that no matter the situation you are in, there is always
hope and faith that can make you overcome your misery and sadness.
My Faith is larger
than the Hills (by Emily Dickinson).
My Faith is larger than
the Hills –
So when the Hills decay –
My Faith must take the
Purple Wheel-
To show the Sun the way -- 'Tis first He steps upon the Vane -- And then -- upon the Hill -- And then abroad the World He go To do His Golden Will -- And if His Yellow feet should miss -- The Bird would not arise – The Flowers would slumber on their Stems –
No Bells have Paradise –
How dare I, therefore, stint a faith On which so vast depends -- Lest Firmament should fail for me -- The Rivet in the Bands
Analysis:
The title of
the poem is “My Faith is larger than the hills”. Thanks to the word “Than”
the title is a SIMILE “Faith-larger than the Hills”. It is a comparison
between two objects her faith and the hills. From the tittle I can say that
this poem is based on one theme Faith. I predict a personal poem and a lot of
feelings expressed. I think that starting from the title the poet wants to
show the reader that her faith is endless that’s why she compared it with the
Hills because the hills are very high also she wants to inform the reader
that this poem discusses her faithfulness. This poem is very easy to
understand, it is composed from four stanzas and there are a lot of rhymes
patterns to it like: Decay-Way Hill-Will Arise-Paradise Depends-Bands… The
poetic devices used in this poem are: SIMILE-PERSONIFICATION-SYMBOLISM-
HYPERBOLE-IMAGERY-REPETITION.
-Simile: starting the title the poem
kicks off with a simile “My Faith larger than the Hills”. She wants to make
sure that the reader knows that she has endless faith, the faith that can
take her anywhere even if it’s higher than the hills. She even repeats it another
time to make sure that her message was sent and her faithfulness is felt by
reader. It’s also a repetition.
-Personification: The poet gave human traits to
none living objects (in my offense I think she is trying personify her FAITH
all along the poem) like: “To show the Sun the way”, she personified her
faith as leader (as her faith will lead the sun), also the sun as someone who
is lost and could be lead. Also there are other examples as: - “So when the Hills decay”.
- “No Bells have Paradise”.
-Symbolism: “My Faith must take the Purple
Wheel”. It is known that the color purple is normally
associated with nobility and royalty. I think the purple wheel is a symbol of the
right path that she wants to take.
- Hyperbole: “The Bird would not arise”; “The
flowers would slumber on their stems”.
- Imagery: I think the whole third stanza
is imagery, the reader can imagine the vivid descriptions that the writer is
using.
As I
predicted before reading the poem it has a lot of
feelings and expressions that are deeply personal. The whole poem she
discussed faith in a faithful and spiritual tone that might inspire a lot of
the readers.
Theme two: Life:
The
River of Life (by Thomas Campbell)
The
more we live, more brief appear
Our life's succeeding stages; A day to childhood seems a year, And years like passing ages. The gladsome current of our youth, Ere passion yet disorders, Steals lingering like a river smooth Along its grassy borders. But as the careworn cheek grows wan, And sorrow's shafts fly thicker, Ye stars, that measure life to man, Why seem your courses quicker? When joys have lost their bloom and breath, And life itself is vapid, Why, as we reach the Falls of Death Feel we its tide more rapid? It may be strange—yet who would change Time's course to slower speeding, When one by one our friends have gone, And left our bosoms bleeding?
Heaven
gives our years of fading strength
Indemnifying fleetness; And those of youth, a seeming length, Proportion'd to their sweetness.
Analysis:
I can predict from the
tittle “The River of life” that it will be discussing the circle of life in
general. The title of the poem is a metaphor because life is being described
maybe long like a river or deep like a river… (Maybe when I read the poem I
will understand what the poet meant). It is composed from five stanzas and the
rhyme scheme is represented as “a-b-a-b”: “wan-thicker-man quicker”. The theme
of the poem is Life and the tone of the author is very deep and intense. It
took me time to truly understand this poem but the message is crystal clear
that in life time ticks and passes quickly, stopping for no one. One minute we
are children the next we have children of our own, we blink and it’s over. Time
flies. Thomas Campbell’s poem identifies this fact. All along the poem we can
find many poetic devices that give a better meaning to this poem like:
ALLUSION, PERSONFICATION- RHETORICAL QUESTIONS- HYPERBOLE- OXYMORON- METAPHOR-
IMAGERY- REPETITION-SIMILE-SYMOBLISM.
-Metaphor: The main metaphor found in the poem is that
of life being like a river. Describing each stage of life, the poem starts with
us in youth, then becoming adults, and finally to old. There are other
metaphors like: “A day to childhood seems a year”…
-Simile: “And years like passing ages.” “Steals
lingering like a river smooth”. The word like is the reason of the simile in those
sentences. Comparison between years and ages. Steals and river.
-Rhetorical
Questions: there are many questions in this poem used to make the
reader stop and think they are formed to be answered by they are formed for reflection
and to show how time flies quickly: “Feel we its tide more rapid?”- “Why seem
your courses quicker?”-“And left our bosoms bleeding?”
-Oxymoron:
“Time's course to slower speeding”. Slow
and speed and two contrary words but have a different meaning when they are put
together.
-
Allusion: “Why, as we reach the Falls of Death”.
-Hyperbole:
“Along its grassy borders”.
Exaggeration in the description of the borders.
-Imagery: “But as the careworn cheek grows wan,
and sorrow's shafts fly thicker”. Very deep description that makes the reader
imagine the actions of the poem.
-Repetition: “The
more we live, more brief appear”. “When
one by one our friends have
gone”.
-Personification: “When joys have lost their bloom and breath” the writer personified joy as a human who can breath and stopped breathing. “Ye stars, that measure life to man” the stars are unanimated and none living objects but the poet gave them human traits “to measure”. “Our life's succeeding stages” personified life a human who has and can succeed stages.
-Symbolism: “Ye
stars, that measure life to man”, this symbolizes things human do in their life
like getting married, buying a house, and having. Also “Falls of Death”
symbolizes time passing by faster just like a river before a waterfall.
The
Streets of Purple Cloth (by: Karen Connelly)
She has lost her
way in the street
of purple cloth and copper skin. Wandering alone in the city, she has touched the veins of silk and gold. The hill tribe men laugh at her sharp nose, her chalk fingers. The beggars smile from their caves of tin. The roads fray to paths scattered with green-eyed goats, to old houses splintering now and dreaming ghosts. They lead to temple yards warm with rose light where voices chant the bronze language of bells and wind. The stone shoulders of giants curve to sleep. Dragons with scales of brilliant glass close their tired jaws. The paths darken to wagon ruts deep with the hoof-prints of oxen. They swirl down to blue-roped rivers banked by flowers and mud. Women there stand in waist-deep water, twisting silver from their hair. She walks to a clearness and looks back at the city’s old face. The green light of the field trembles around her. She hears frogs and crickets but listens to the song of her blood. For the first time, she understands the words.
Analysis:
It’s hard to analyze the
title because it does not give much information, it’s even hard to read the
title of the poem and then before even reading start predicting what’s it
about. Connelly’s poem, “The Streets of Purple Cloth,” is about a woman who is
lost in the big current world now; she is presenting how life can be hard
sometimes and how much effort she had to put in trying fitting in. The theme of
the poem is Life. The hidden meaning behind this poem lies behind the example
which the poet uses of being lost on the streets. Moreover, the rest of the
poem includes rivers and roads which that the speaker is going through an in
life or on a journey. She made sure to make her poem realistic and mentioned
the fact that in life each individual faces all kinds of people, the speaker
faces the nice ones the smile, and the bullies that judge.
More specifically Karen is expressing everything that she sees and symbolizing it. However, most of the symbolization which the speaker uses shows how lonely and sad she feels (or even how her life was sad and miserable). For example: “old houses,” “ghosts,” “the paths darker,” and the list goes on. There are four stanzas in this poem and it’s written through allusion, symbolism, personification, metaphor, hyperbole and imagery. I think that the whole poem is based on Imagery, her vivid description makes the reader imagine what her life is like and what she is going through: “The hill tribe men laugh at her sharp nose, her chalk fingers. The beggars smile from their caves of tin.” “They swirl down to blue-roped rivers banked by flowers and mud” and more…
-Personification: “she has touched the veins of silk and gold.” Karen
personified silk and gold that are unanimated and nonliving objects when she
gave them veins that are tangible and can be touched. “To the song of her
blood”, “where voices chant the bronze language of bells and wind.”
-Metaphor: “Women
there stand in waist-deep water, twisting silver from their hair.” “Twisting silver from their hair gives a
clearer meaning of the women she meets in her life. It’s a way to show the
reader that they are very rich and have uncountable blessings that surrounds them
in all sorts of way unlike her.
-Hyperbole: “The paths darken to wagon ruts, deep with the hoof-prints of oxen”.
In conclusion, the poem “The Streets of Purple
Cloth,” represents in an angry tone how a person can feel unwelcomed in a place
far from they’re from, and how this might make others feel bad, and this was
shown to us through the struggles the speaker was facing!
Theme three: Confidence 
Don’t Quit
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill When the funds are low and the debts are high And you want to smile, but you have to sigh When care is pressing you down a bit Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns And many a fellow turns about When he might have won, had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow
You may succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man; Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt And you never can tell how close you are It may be near when it seems afar; So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.
Analysis:
Only
reading the tittle of the poem gives me a hint of its containing. I think that
it’s going to be preaching about never giving up and to hold on to what we
believe in, also how to have confidence because it’s the key to everything in
life. The tittle is an order from the poet “DON’T QUIT”, it’s as if he’s
writing this poem to guide and advice the reader. This poem is composed from
five stanzas, it is based on rhymes and the rhyme scheme is AA-BB-AA-BB:
“out-doubt”, “hit-quit”, “up-cup”, “than-man”… The poetic devises used are
METAPHOR-OXYMORON-IMAGERY-PERSONIFICATION-HYPERBOLE- SIMILE.
-Metaphor: “It may be near when it seems afar”.
-Oxymoron: “When the funds
are low and the debts are high”-“And you want
to smile, but you
have to sigh”- “Success is failure turned inside out”- “It may be near when it seems afar”. Contradictory
words used together in one sentence but have a different “stronger” meaning.
-Imagery: “Often the struggler has given up”- “The silver tint of the clouds of doubt”- “And he learned too late when the night came down”- “Often the goal is nearer than”. These are all wide description from the poet to make the reader imagine what is he discussing and to feel like they are living the same moment the poet’s living.
-Personification: “When care is pressing
you down a bit” The poet personified Care as someone who can stress
and press someone down. - “Life is queer with its twists and turns” The
poet characterized life like a human with its ups and downs “twists and turns”-
“Often
the goal is nearer than” The poet personified goals as someone that can be near or can be far,
also someone who can be tangible.
-Hyperbole: “You may succeed with another blow”-“When the road you're trudging seems all uphill” these
are figurative speeches used by the poet to create emotions to the reader. They
are exaggerated by the speaker on purpose to assure the reader’s effect and the
message’s transition.
-Simile: “When things go wrong, as
they sometimes will”. The word “As” makes this verse a simile because it is
comparing the things that Can go wrong with the things that ALWAYS WILL using
the word as.
Theme four: Happiness
There's just no
accounting for happiness,
or the way it turns up like a prodigal
who comes back to
the dust at your feet
having squandered a fortune far away. And how can you not forgive? You make a feast in honor of what was lost, and take from its place the finest garment, which you saved for an occasion you could not imagine, and you weep night and day to know that you were not abandoned, that happiness saved its most extreme form for you alone. No, happiness is the uncle you never knew about, who flies a single-engine plane onto the grassy landing strip, hitchhikes into town, and inquires at every door until he finds you asleep midafternoon as you so often are during the unmerciful hours of your despair. It comes to the monk in his cell.
It comes to the
woman sweeping the street
with a birch broom, to the child whose mother has passed out from drink. It comes to the lover, to the dog chewing a sock, to the pusher, to the basket maker, and to the clerk stacking cans of carrots in the night. It even comes to the boulder in the perpetual shade of pine barrens, to rain falling on the open sea, to the wineglass, weary of holding wine.
Analysis:
Happiness is a short
simple poem in four stanzas. I predict a meaningful poem with many advices of
living happily and in happiness. Its meaning is clear from the title, when I
analyzed it before reading it I knew it was going to discuss happiness and how
to live a happy life. The tone of the poet if happy and anxious and that helps
in the transition of the message that is to live a happy life and enjoy every
second no matter what, cause there are the happy times and there are the sad
times but still we have to overcome them and live happily. The poetic devices
that Jane Kenyon used
are: ALLITERATION-ENUMERATION-REPETITION-SIMILE-METAPHOR-PERSONIFICATION- IMAGERY-HYPERBOLE-RHETORICAL QUESTIONS-OXYMORON:
-Alliteration:
“and to the clerk
stacking cans
of carrots”-“with
a birch broom, to the child”- “onto the
grassy landing strip, hitchhikes”.
-Enumeration: “It comes to the lover, to the dog
chewing, a sock, to the pusher, to the basket maker, and to the clerk stacking
cans of carrots in the night.”
-Repetition: “It comes to the monk in his cell-It comes to the woman sweeping the street”. Repetition of to come to assure that sooner or later happiness will take over. -Simile: “or the way it turns up like a prodigal”-“as you so often are during the unmerciful”
-Metaphor:
“No, happiness is
the uncle you never”. He is comparing happiness to an uncle he never got to
know
-Personification:
“that happiness saved its most extreme
form
for you alone” “No, happiness is the uncle you never knew about, who flies a single-engine plane”. Personified Happiness and gave it a human trait “its flies and saves”…
-Imagery: “who comes back to the dust at your
feet.” The reader feels the descriptions.
-Hyperbole:
“having squandered
a fortune far away.” EXAGGERATION.
-Rhetorical
questions: “And
how can you not forgive?” No used to be answered but to make the reader
reflect.
-Oxymoron:
“you could not
imagine, and you weep night
and day”
Luci
Loughlin’s poem:
Happiness is that which everyone longs but so few of us actually get Happiness is that which rights all wrongs and leaves us without regret Why then does happiness torture us so when all we want is to feel what happiness does in the lowest of low when everything just seems too real Happiness comes to so many of you you who think it will always be there Happiness leaves you without the clue that living without is a nightmare If happiness could be passed on would you then give it to me Will you then cry when it is gone and realize what it is to feel lonely
Annalysis:
There isn’t a title to
this poem; but the containing and the message is very meaningful and filled
with wise sayings… The message of this poem is that Happiness is what every
single human being wants and needs. Not everyone on earth is lucky enough to
find it but the one who lives happily have no sorrow or misery. Luci writes
about happiness in four simple and short stanzas and she includes rhyme scheme
that goes like this: ABAB “so-feel-low-real”, “you-there-clue-nightmare”, “longs-get-wrongs-regret”…
The poetic devices used are OXYMORON-PERSONIFICATION-IMAGERY-EXAGGERATION-REPETITION.
Moreover I think that the poet is personifying Happiness and she’s trying in
all sorts of way to give happiness human characteristics so she would make the
poem seem more realistic and to show the importance of happiness as if it was a
human who had a an actual role in life: “and leaves us without regret Why” “then
does happiness torture us so” “If happiness could be passed on” all these
verses of the poem shows the way she personifies Happiness…
-Exaggeration: “that living without is a nightmare”. The poet is exaggerating
in the way she explains what would be life without happiness.
-Imagery: “what happiness does in the lowest of low”. Her
vivid descriptions make the reader imagine what happiness is like.
-Oxymoron: “Happiness
is that which rights
all wrongs”. Two
contradictory words in one sentence that make a different meaning.
-Tone: Happy
and Joyful tone.
Poem By ME:
It's a bit stormy now,
the rain is falling above us, and the lakes are drying beneath us. But you're by my side and this is more than enough for me. It's getting harder now though you whisper in my ear, "Hang on," and baby I'm not letting go. Our love is stronger, I feel safe between your arms and this is where I'm supposed to be.
Promise me that
you’ll always be here.
Because you’re the
reason that I breath
If I find myself
lost in fear and filled with tear
You’ll make everything
worthwhile as long as you’re by my side.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment