You Know What's funny?

It's funny when people think everything is going to change once the new year comes. I mean some set new year's resolutions but in all honesty things change all the time nothing huge is going to change now that it's a new year. I'm sure you said the same thing last year, and is there a huge difference? No, probably not.

Maybe I'm not logged into life.

Ah, so blogging is kind of like writing in a journal, except, people get to read it. Which may or may not make it more interesting. As of today I'm going to share with you my story. I don't intend on getting on here everyday (my life isn't that interesting) but I might as well write a little something, something when I do get on.
Ok so my question is, is it possible to apply for like every job you can think of? I swear I've tried, and nothing...

The Sick Rose

The Sick Rose

William Blake

O Rose, thou art sick!

The invisible worm

that flies in the night,

in the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed

of crimson joy,

and his dark secret love

does thy life destroy?

This poem is interesting to me mostly because the worm that makes the rose sick is invisible, and how can a worm fly? Any who, the rose is sick because the worm has found out the roses dar secret. It is almost like the worm is guilt or some feeling that makes you sick but not sick like a cold, but sick like sad or bitter. Is it that the love for the dark secret is what is destroying the rose? Could be possible. The poem is two quatrain stanzas and is only two sentences. The first sentence is stating that the rose is sick, the second is asking if "his dark secret love does thy life destroy?" This is interesting and is something you can answer on your own from personal experience.

this is a photograph of me

this is a photograph of me

Margaret Atwood

It was taken some time ago

At first it seems to be

a smeared

print: blurred lines and grey flecks

blended with the paper;

then, as you scan

it, you see in the left-hand corner

a thing that is like a branch: part of a tree

(basalm or spruce) emerging

and to the right, halfway up

what ought to be a gentle

slope, a small frame house.

In the background there is a lake,

and beyond that, some low hills.

(The photograph was taken

the day after I drowned.

I am in the lake, in the center

of the picture, just under the surface.

It is difficult to say where

precisely, or to say

how large or small I am:

the effect of water

on light is a distortion

but if you look long enough,

eventually

you will be able to see me.)

Wow, there is so much to think about in this poem. Lyndsey and I are presenting this poem to the class. As I read through the poem I started drawing the picture in my mind, then as I read it the second time I drew the picture on paper. It terrifies me thinking about the picture as it sums up as a whole. The beginning is simply a picture that is slightly blurred and possibly in black and white. On the surface of the picture is a lake and hills behind a house. The branch in the left corner (as described) gives the idea that the picture was taken not in the open but almost as a secret. After the picture is described Margaret Atwood ends the last four stanzas in parenthesis which is kind of odd but has deep meaning. The first three stanzas are like you are looking at a picture but the words in the parenthesis make you feel like you are part of the picture and the use of parenthesis are what make words (or those words) fit into the poem or sentence. As depressing as it sounds I can relate to that feeling of being in the picture but not "really" being there. Everyone has those times when you are there but you can't see yourself there or even feel it. The feeling that the water (although it is clear) is covering you up, and it takes time to eventually see you.

Altogether the poem is seven stanzas long, the title is not capitalized and colons and semi-colons are commonly used. The poem doesn't seem like just a poem but a picture, a thought, but mostly a feeling.

Last weeks response

In our last poetry packet there was a poem titled Sort of a Song by, William carlos Williams, and in the new poetry packet is another poem by William Carlos Williams titled, this is just to say the title of the poem contributes to the poem a lot. The poem is three quatrain stanzas. The first stanza pretty much says, look I ate the plums in the fridge, the second one says, I think they were for breakfast and the last one says, forgive me. It is a simple poem that is just what it says. There is no punctuation or capitalization which also contributes the simplisity. Compared to the other poem we read by Williams this one is simple, the other one goes into great detail.

It was weird because I was on the phone with Monique Ramos as I was writting my blogs and I was on this one and hadn't picked a poem yet. I looked down and saw this poem thinking I may responed to this one but before making my final decision I asked her which one she is presenting to the class thinking I could do hers. She told me she was presenting the one about plums which happens to be this one. I thought that was funny so we went over it together, and she told me what she thought about how simple it is and I agreed then thought maybe I shouldn't do this one because of the simplisity. I thought about it a little longer and decided oh well if it's simple I want to do it. So here it is.

I like plums!

Late number 3

Oh No by Robert Creeley is a simple yet interesting poem. The main idea from the poem is death isn't really that bad. Once you've died you make it to wherever you believe in and your friends will be there waiting for you. Your chair will be nice. The poem is the authors interpretation of death and what happens when you die. Once you make it where you're going you will belong there as do your friends, and it's a good place because your friends are smiling and happy to see you. Robert Creeley was an American author who wrote poems and books. The style of the poem is short it is only two quatrain stanzas. There is only one comma and one period at the end of the poem. The first stanza describes the distance you go to get "there" and the second stanza describes the people and the place in short description. Oh No is an interesting title because it almost seems irrelievent to the poem, but maybe just maybe it's how the person started on the journey in an accidental way. Either way the title contributes to the poem in some way. The poem just doesn't seem to go further than that.

Late number 2

Music is truly a beautiful thing and to incorporate any relation of music into a poem is wonderful. 'The Guitarist Tunes Up" by Frances Cornford does that exact thing. The poem describes the guitarist as he prepares to play the guitar, but not as conqueror but as a lover. The guitarest can play the instrument simply because he has love from the woman he plans to play with. He isn't only going to play a guitar but going to be in love; he won't participate in love as a "lordly conqueror" but as a man in love. The whole poem is one sentence with an aa, bb, cc, dd rhyme scheme; the rhythm brings out the musical sense. Playing the guitar is a metaphore for the man's love and in the end the man and the woman play love together. A different way of looking at it is that the guitar is his lover because the last two lines say, "What slight essential things she had to say before they started, he and she, to play." The "she" is the guitar and the reason he doesn't play the guitar like a "lordly conqueror" is because he loves her (the guitar) for the music she makes. Wow it's funny how deep I thought about the poem at first and half way through my response I realized it's as easy as that, the guitarist loves the guitar and that is why he plays her.

Late number 1

I'm missing four poetry responses and this is the first one. I'm using the new poetry packet for all of them.

you fit into me
like a hook into an eye

a fish hook
an open eye
by Margaret Atwood

I found this poem very interesting after reading it a few times. Although it is short the analysis is interesting. In the first stanza she explains how "you" fit's into "me" and then clearifys that the hook is a fish hook and the eye is open. There are manys ways to take this poem in and I thought of it as sad. The thing fitting into her is a fish hook which is small and sharp and the fact that the eye is open makes the relationship of whatever is fitting into her hurtful. I wouldn't want a fish hook in my eye. The thing that fits isn't a good thing because of the metaphore of it fitting like a hook into an eye. Maybe this is a metaphor for love and how love hurts. Fish hooks are small and the love fitting into her is a fish hook making that fit a small fit. The first stanza opens the possibility of a positive relationship but the second stanza corrects it with the bitter hook and eye.

"It was a Dream"

"It was a Dream" is a sonnet by Lucille Clifton. Within the poem the author uses words like "me" and "my" but then tells the story in third person because the poem is explaining the dream she has about herself. The dream is more a nightmare of what she has become. "This." is repeated three times at the end of the poem to express the importance of what she has become. My thoughts were that the poem explains someone yelling at himself/herself for who he/she is. The poem has no capitalization except "This" at the end and there aren't very many stresses. There are only two periods used and just enough punctuation to help understand what's happening. There are fourteen lines which would make the poem a sonnet but there is no rhythem so it's a free verse. Lucille Clifton is an African American poet who just died last year due to cancer. She was proud of who she was being a woman of color, and that changes the poem. Maybe it's not a nightmare; it may just be a dream of becoming greater than who are and how dreams can come true. After researching Lucille Clifton it makes sense when she states in the poem "accussing me of my life with her extra finger." The women in Lucille's family where born with a genetic disorder called polydactyly which means they were born with an extra finger. Lucille Clifton and her poem means so much more now.

The Second Late Response.

Last week we went over the poem, "Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins, I had a bit to say but didn't get the chance, so here it is. We did read this poem at the beginning of the year and I realized this within the first two lines. I remembered this poem easily because I really apprceiate it and agree with it. The poem is seven stanzas with each stanza containing either one line, a couplet, or a tercet. The metaphores used in this poem are fantastic. It made me think that what we are doing right now is exactly what the poem says not to do. We are beating each poem with a hose and obviously it's what you have to do sometimes because you can't just leave a poetry response blank on the AP Lit tests. Each poem creates a light or an idea in your head and by analysing it we turn on the light or think the idea. "Waterski across the surface of a poem" I'm going to do just that and leave it at that.

On of the Late Ones.

Today I decided to try something different and start my blog with what I noticed about the poem just glancing at it. I haven't read the poem yet and I notice that the authors style is different the poem is one stanza with fourteen lines; this means that this is a sonnet. The title is "Praise in Summer" and it's writen by Richard Wilbur. Now I'm going to read the poem. It doesn't make complete sense right now but does create the image of summer in my head. Wilbur uses the term "I said" often throughout the poem, which clarifys that he is speaking. The poem refers to how being praisful is the way to be and Wilburs love for nature. Things won't be strange if you are praisful. A brief summary on Richard Wilbur is that he was in WWII and while he wrote poetry he also translated French plays.

Response

"Sort of a Song" by William Carlos Williams is the poem I have decided to do this week. The poem is separated into two sestets: there are two stanzas. The first stanza explains how words are like a snake. The poem is more like a song as the title referes too. Both a writter of poetry or song have ideas like the movement of the snake. Most writters think quick and have to quickly write down their thoughts, which then sit there and wait to be read or sung. The second stanza reads,

"-through metaphor to reconcile

the people and the stones.

Compose. (No ideas

but in things) Invent!

Saxifrage is my flower that splits

the rocks."

The thoughts in this stanza is maybe that metaphors are the thoughts that split the rocks. The style of the lines and phrases is short and the tempo seems almost speedy but understanding. (the picture above is the saxifrage flower.)

Number 4

" The Book" by Miller Williams is a very odd poem about a notebook bound in skin. This disgust me and made me upset. The first time I read it I was confused wheather this skin bound book was a metaphor or a real book wrapped in skin. The second line in the poem says, "He had ound it in a fallen bunker" which helps make sense of the poem. The second time I read it, I read it allowed to my friend Emily. I announced to her how gross this poem was and then read it to her. before she began to tell me about how the wife a Nazi leader would have jews killed and skinned if she liked tattoos that they had and use their skin as lamp shades and other furniture coverings: which is terrible. Te meaning of the book is now different for the person in the poem because in the first three stanza's including the first line the author doesn't know what the book is bound in but knows the importance inside the book. After finding out that is is bound in skin many unanswered questions are asked, "what child did this skin fit?" The last stanza shows the change and the horror the book now holds in place of beauty. There are seven stanzas and they range from one to five lines. Only the last stanza has rhyeming the rest almost seems to fit together like a story. The author seems like he used free style with this poem.

Untitled.

This is my first blog of 2011, and it is also my first poetry response for second semester. I decided to start off with the poem titled, Untitled by Stephen Crane. The poem is more of an image. I could see this creature eating it's own heart and enjoying it. The thought disgusts me, and maybe it's because the creature's heart is bitter and that's what makes it so good or because it's bitter. At first i thought of just the image and how gross it is but as I thought more deeply about it I thought of suicide or something simular too it. The creature is eating itself and enjoying it. Then I asked the obvious question- Why is it called untitled? Is it because it's almost vague or because the title Untitled is just that. The authors style is odd as well; it is one stanza of ten lines. Half of it is a conversation: a question and an answer, which make the poem what it is. The creature answered saying, "bitter" twice which is what makes you believe the heart is truly bitter. After all maybe the poem isn't too digusting but almost bitter- yes, bitter.