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                                  My Favorite Poem

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                                  My Favorite Poem

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My favorite poem during this unit would hands down be, "One Art", by Elizabeth Bishop. I've dealt with a lot of loss in my life, some losses that were within my control, and others that I could nothing about. As I get older I know that's not going to change, but I shouldn't dwell on it. Essentially, losing things is apart of life. I like how Bishop starts off with describing losing something small like keys, to losing places and people. I'm a very a nostalgic person, so I find myself thinking about good times that have passed with people I don't talk to anymore. My important take away is that life goes on, and eventually I should too.

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Something Other than Poetry That Represents Lowell's Idea

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Something Other than Poetry That Represents Lowell's Idea

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Lowell's quote talks about how poetry is one of the things that captures, "humanity in all its mood" and displays when, "the soul [is] confronted with the terror and wonder of the universe". While poetry does an excellent job at supporting that idea, I believe the news does as well. While the news can be full of bad things happening around us, and at times bias, they also include the great things have occurred. The news reports on any important events, and sometimes those events are a perfect example of humanity being the best they can be, but also sometimes humanity at its worst. Like poetry, the news shows us what humanity and its emotions are.

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See what the world searched for in 2016.

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Reggie Finlayson's poem, "Labrina's Blues", does an excellent job describing the emotions evoked from a tragedy that occurred. Finlayson achieves the authentic emotion by alluding to the actual events that occurred. Spilled milk, blood, assaults, and a severed artery are all things that happened, and by including that in the poem the reader gets insight knowledge as to what the poem is about. He goes on to describes Labrina's life as, "was life already sagging about her like some heavy load or was she like so many unstable compounds shook from hope," which could be because of the horrors that she has experienced.

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                                   One Art

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                                   One Art

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"One Art", by Elizabeth Bishop is another poem that does an excellent job of supporting Lowell's quote. The poem talks about the "art of losing", which is something that everyone can relate to. Everyone has experienced the loss of a friend, or home, or even just a memory. As we grow older and find ourselves reflecting back on our lives, we see what has changed. Losing something is inevitable but it's how we deal with it that matters.

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                                          We Real Cool

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                                          We Real Cool

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"We Real Cool", by Gwendolyn Brooks is an interesting poem since it's quite short but it has a whole message jam-packed into it. What the poem is literally about, is  a group of students that skipped school to do other activities, such as going drinking and listening to jazz. But like all poems, there is more than meets the eye and the other way to interpret it is that after leaving school the rest of the time spent is just filling empty time until death approaches. It's a short poem, but it manages to explore the wonder of life and if what we do is worth it in the end.

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                           Theme for English B

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                           Theme for English B

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"Theme for English B", written by Langston Hughes, is a poem that further examines racial discrimination and the emotions it invokes. The 22 year-old student from Winston-Salem is the only colored student in his class. Given an assignment about what is true to him, he writes about what he likes. He says that him and the instructor, although sometimes do not want to be apart of each other, they are. "As I learn from you, / I guess you learn from me- / although you’re older-and white- / and somewhat more free," is a powerful and fluently written verse to express how the separation between races feels to the writer. Here poetry is used to capture the poet's thoughts.

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                                The Whipping

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                                The Whipping

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Robert Hayden's poem, "The Whipping", introduces a bitter feeling that no one should actually endure, yet we all know the pain in a way or two. Robert Hayden catches the raw form of helplessness and abuse and fluently displays that feeling to the reader. In the poem the writer says, "The writhing struggle to wrench free, the blows, the fear worse than blows that hateful.", Robert Hayden was very descriptive, yet minimalistic, about how the events transpired, making the reader feel as if they too were the observer. Observing the bad things in the world and writing a poem about it is just another way that poetry helps understand what we feel.

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"We should read poetry because only in that way can we know [humanity] in all [its] moods--in the most beautiful thoughts of [its] heart, in [its] farthest reaches of imagination, in the tenderness of [its] love, in the nakedness and awe of [its] soul confronted with the terror and wonder of the universe." -Amy Lowell

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"We should read poetry because only in that way can we know [humanity] in all [its] moods--in the most beautiful thoughts of [its] heart, in [its] farthest reaches of imagination, in the tenderness of [its] love, in the nakedness and awe of [its] soul confronted with the terror and wonder of the universe." -Amy Lowell

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                                 Funeral Blues

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                                 Funeral Blues

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"Funeral Blues", by W.H. Auden expresses the what the heart goes through when faced with loss and fear. When the writer says, "Scribbling on the sky the message 'He is Dead'", shows the reality of the situation. The writer is aware of what happened, and as unrealistic as death may feel, they know that he is dead. Later when the writer says, "He was my North, my South, my East and my West," the reader can see the genuine love they had for the man. After acknowledging the loss, a sense of depression flows throughout the last parts, "The stars are not wanted now; put out every oneㅡFor nothing now can ever come to any good," which is just another way the soul confronts, "terror", of the universe, but also love since the writer loved the man so.

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                                  My Papa's Waltz

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                                  My Papa's Waltz

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"My Papa’s Waltz" by Theodore Roethke, truly grasps the feeling of terror as it examines the life of a boy and his experience with his abusive father. When the author wrote, "The whiskey on your breath / Could make a small boy dizzy;" he's showing just how drunk the father would get.
It makes one sad to think an innocent boy, would still want the attention of his abusive father. It's this kind of case though that shows how conflicted our emotions can be. Even though his dad mistreats him, he still sees good in him. Sometimes in life one finds themselves torn between what's the right thing to do, and what they want.

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                                          I, Too

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                                          I, Too

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Langston Hughes' poem, "I, Too",  is a powerful poem that shows what the reality of life for black males during a time when equality wasn't given. The writer, who is a "darker brother", is told to eat in the kitchen away from everyone else when company arrives, solely because he is darker. He thinks it's wrong that he's sent away to eat, because his "superiors" don't even know how he can be in a public setting, such as dinner with company. The character exclaims that he too can, "sing America", meaning he is just as American as white Americans. This is another example of poetry being used to send a message out that no matter one's skin tone, we all deserve to be treated equal.

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                         We Wear the Mask

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                         We Wear the Mask

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In Paul Dunbar's poem, "We Wear the Mask", the writer talks about having to conceal their emotions, thus wearing a "mask". The writer hides their emotions to the injustices they face, in order to appear like they're okay. The writer goes on to say:

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

The reader then gets the sense that the writer thinks it's better to conceal their emotions rather than letting anyone know something is wrong. Perhaps the writer thinks nothing can be done to improve their life, so they're trying to make the best of the situation. This writer is clearly confronted with, "the terror and wonder of the universe," as they try figuring out how to react to their experiences.

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         What Lowell's Quote Means to Me

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         What Lowell's Quote Means to Me

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In Amy Lowell's essay, "Why Read Poetry",  Lowell makes many strong points on why poetry should still be deemed relevant. Above I have included a quote from the essay, that stuck out the most to me. I believe this quote sums up what the purpose of poems is. For the most part poems are short, but when read correctly they tell a message or story. Poems are written to convey emotions that the writer feels. With the many poems that have been written, we as the reader get a variety of different experiences and emotions. Poems are the written way to explore the deepest parts of one's mind, and everything one has experienced in their lives.

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         A Martian Sends a Postcard Home

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         A Martian Sends a Postcard Home

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Craig Raine's poem, "A Martian Sends a Postcard Home", is written from the perspective of a martian. The martian describes cars as rooms with a lock inside, and when those locks are turned, humans can move. Time to the martian is, "tied to the wrist / or kept in a box" and, "ticking with impatience". Raines does a good job of writing from the perspective or a martian, making it clear to the reader that it is it's first time encountering humans. What was interesting was the way the martian described sleep. “At night,when all the colours die, / they hide in pairs /  and read about themselves - / in colour, with their eyelids shut.” By writing from the martian's perspective the writer captures the human experience in the rawest form.