Midas and the Golden Touch Emory Parsons

There was once a King Midas who did a good deed for Saytr. So,Dionysus, God of Wine,agreed to grant him a wish of his choosing. Midas wished for everything he touched to turn to gold. We, as the audience, can see why this might not be a good idea, but King Midas thought it was brillant. Even Dionysus tried to presuade him not to wish for this power, but Midas insisted and his wish was granted. King Midas began turning everything around him into gold with much excitement. But soon, he started to get hungry. He picked up a piece of food, but he couldn't eat it because it had turned into gold. This was when he realized that his wish was beginning to backfire. He was going to starve! Midas's beautiful daughter saw that he was upset, so she went to comfort him. However, as soons as she threw her arms around him, she turned into gold too! Midas claimed, " The golden touch is no blessing". He went to the river and wept. The sand of that river turned as yellow as "fool's gold" for it is there, they say, that King Midas washed away the curse of the golden touch with his own tears.

Poetry #5

"Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes

Tone: Reassuring, teaching, inspirational. There is a shift in tone when the mother goes from talking about how her life has been tough to how she's overcome the difficulties and kept moving on. The second part of the poem is very inspirational and overall, the poem has a very didactic feel.
Word Choice: The words that stand out most to me in the poem are the ones the mother uses to address the boy when she's teaching him this lesson. She uses words and phrases like "Well, son", "So boy", and "honey" to address her son. This word choice is very comforting and loving, which shows that she really cares for her son and that what she is saying is heartfelt.
Imagery/Figurative Language: The mother describes her life by using a metaphor of a staircase and hallway. She creates the image of a worn down, beat up staircase and a dark hallway with corners and landings to show how her life has been a hard journey. This really helps the readers and her son get a good sense of how she has felt and the struggles she has faced throughout her life, as well as how big of an accomplishment it has been to move forward on her journey and overcome her difficulties.
Style/Syntax: The poem consists of mostly longer complex sentences that are broken up into short, choppy lines. The choppiness forces readers to take in each detail in every line as we read it, which gives us a deeper understanding and a better feeling for what she is talking about.
Theme: Even when facing struggles and difficulties, we have to keep moving forward to overcome them and  to get to a better place in our lives.

I feel connected to this because of the relationship that I see between the mother and her son. She obviously cares for him and wants to help him out in life in any way possible. The lesson that she is teaching him is very heartfelt and you can tell how strongly she feels towards him and how she wants to use what she has learned in her life to guide him. My mother cares for me so much and I resonate with the son that the mother is speaking to in the poem. I know that my mother wants the best for me and she has helped me out countless times throughout my life and I am sure she is always there when I need assistance.

PAUSE

I really enjoyed reading Pause because of its focus on that moment right before everything seems to explode. There have been so many times where everything seems calm in my house and right outside it, then the school bus comes and lets out a million screaming kids, with one especially loud child coming into my house. It always makes me wonder about my mother because it's usually the first sign that her day by herself is over and as Eamon Grennan says, it makes me wonder about "the shape of the live you've chosen to live". My mom is a stay-at-home mother to four children and works hard throughout the few hours at home before it's absolute chaos.

Symbol- I think that the bus of children is very symbolic for the chaos that the author feels in his life right before he makes a new decision.

Imagery- This poem does not lack in imagery at all and can thoroughly describe the "daughter in her blue jacket and white-fringed sapphire hat" that gets off the bus. The imagery makes it to be more real and really contrasts the poem's meaning with its literal meaning.

Figurative Language- I feel as though the whole poem's metaphor for the pause of a child coming home from school is crucial to the interpretation of how the author feels towards the moment where he had decided to live this way.

Tone- The tone is almost resentful, as the author resents all of the crazy things that happens in those moments and the decisions he made. He really emphasizes the "vast unanswerable intrusions of love and disaster" and compares it to the "winter clothes on the hall floor", proving to be significant to how pausing is crucial to one's soul.

I really liked this poem, but it did make me feel a little sad. I don't wan to always feel like the winter clothes on the hall floor, nor ever feel as though my decisions will lead to being laid around on the hall floor.

Those Winter Sundays

Those Winter Sundays

by Robert Hayden

Sundays too my father got up early

and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,

then with cracked hands that ached

from labor in the weekday weather made

banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.

When the rooms were warm, he’d call,

and slowly I would rise and dress,

fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,

who had driven out the cold

and polished my good shoes as well.

What did I know, what did I know

of love’s austere and lonely offices?

Tone: The tone is grave and somber. Although the poem is clear and easy to understand, it adds a heavy weight to it. The tone really helps the reader dissect the poem.

Word Choice: The word choice in "Those Winter Sundays" is critical for the understanding of the poem. It'd be one thing to write "my father got up when it was cold outside." It is another thing to write with excruciating detail that he "put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor." Other short phrases like "the cold splintering, breaking" and "chronic angers of that house" distinguishes this poem from others about hardship.

Imagery: The first stanza makes me imagine a frail old man rising at the crack of dawn with shivers crawling up his spine. I imagine him curling his toes and rubbing his arms for warmth. The last sentence, "no one ever thanked him," forms the picture of him with deep wrinkles and a permanent frown, wearing not a scowl but a melancholy expression that imprints itself onto your soul.

Symbols: The most prominent symbol I identified was temperature. The beginning of the poem describes the deathly cold that seems to cut the air. However, as the poem moves forward, the temperature seems to rise, finishing off with warmth. "The rooms were warm" and "driven out the cold" further this notion.

Theme: When you evaluate "Those Winter Sundays", you will find that the themes of love and sacrifice are found at the core. The love we see in this poem is communicated quitely and without much fanfare. It is not expressed with laughter and embraces but with the sacrifice of getting up at dawn. This love is exhausting but worthwhile. Along with that, it can also be easily forgotten because it's not as expressive. However, it is powerful all the same.

You asked me to choose a poem I identified with. After reading all the poems I could choose from, I felt that this one suited me best. No, I haven't grown up in poverty and I am privileged to have never experienced true adversity either. Still, I related to this poem because of the theme of quiet love. This is what I have with my father.  I have never hugged my father (once I gave him an awkward side hug before my 8th grade trip to D.C. but that doesn't count) and I have most definitely never told him that I love him. Not gonna lie, sometimes I cry about it and wish I could hold a conversation with him and fill him in on my trivial teenage shenanigans. However, even though we don't have my ideal relationship, I understand that we have established an understanding of each other over the years. He wakes me up every morning for school and before big events he tries his hardest to make a substantial breakfast for me. He'll quite literally wake up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning to drop me off at Speech and Debate tournaments, too. Sometimes I forget about these sacrifices my dad makes and how much he invests into my well-being and happiness. This is why I relate to the poem - because of my dad's un-showy love that frequently slips by me unless I remember to grasp it.

Poetry 5: Boys will be boys

Sharon Olds

rites of passage

As the guests arrive at my son's party
they gather in the living room--
short men, men in first grade
with smooth jaws and chins.
Hands in pockets, they stand around
jostling, jockeying for place, small fights
breaking out and calming. One says to another 
How old are you? Six. I'm seven. So? 
They eye each other, seeing themselves
tiny in the other's pupils. They clear their
throats a lot, a room of small bankers,
they fold their arms and frown. I could beat you
up, a seven says to a six,
the dark cake, round and heavy as a
turret, behind them on the table. My son,
freckles like specks of nutmeg on his cheeks,
chest narrow as the balsa keel of a
model boat, long hands
cool and thin as the day they guided him
out of me, speaks up as a host
for the sake of the group.
We could easily kill a two-year-old,
he says in his clear voice. The other
men agree, they clear their throats
like Generals, they relax and get down to
playing war, celebrating my son's life. 

Tone - The tone of this poem seems to be normal of a mother attending her son's sixth birthday. Overall, she seems to be very perceptive of the interactions between the group of young boys. It is also clear that she is fairly removed from the situation, which is important in the group dynamic of the boys.

Word Choice - There is definitely a lot of wartime phrases and connotations used throughout the poem. Examples include describing the cake as a turret and the boys as Generals. The descriptions of the boys are also carefully chosen, first using men, then banker, then Generals, all convey the ironic mindset of these children who have almost no context for their ideas and actions.

Imagery - The most vivid imagery in this poem is the various descriptions of the boys, which range form hilarious to creepy. Descriptions such as "jostling, jockeying for place, small fights" are the perfect description for these kind of social situations involving young children.

Structure - The poem is all one stanza with no apparent rhyme scheme. One of the major poetic structures used is enjambment, which can be seen throughout the poem to make smaller statements about the boys out of the larger situation.

Theme - I think that the theme for this poem is that children have no context for their thoughts and actions, and, when young boys get together, all that primal alpha male crap can start to show. The problem is that kids are, by nature, extremely self centered, so they all believe that they are the strongest/toughest in the group. When the speaker's son states that they could all easily kill a two-year-old, he is reminding the group that they are all strong. With their egos (or ids or whatever) satisfied, the competition ceases, but the context does not appear, hence the final description of the boys as Generals playing war. As a former young boy and older brother to three young boys, I have witnessed these exact events (minus the suggested infanticide) unfold at social gatherings such as birthday parties. Birthday parties especially actually because there's always candy, a tangible spoil of combat. Cake, I think, has dwindled in it's savage stimulus, as its distribution is highly regulated, but candy, especially if it's in a piñata, forget about it, just get back and watch your fingers.   

 

Family Poetry Blog Post

TWIST for "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes

Tone: The tone of this poem may be characterized as encouraging and optimistic yet contemplative and cryptic. Throughout the the poem, the speaker, a mother who is speaking to her son, acknowledges that while life is indeed difficult, it is never wise to dismiss all of one's aspirations and dreams. In speaking to her son, she offers words of consolation and comfort, contributing to the poem's optimistic tone: "So, boy, don't you turn back. / Don't you set down on the steps. / 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard."The tone of this poem is also cryptic as a result of the speaker's extensive use of and reference to metaphorical imagery, such as the crystal stairs.

Word Choice: The word choice in this poem is distinguished by the speaker's use of informal, colloquial language, such as "ain't," "'Cause," and "I'se." This informal language helps to contribute to the poem's encouraging and optimistic tone by giving it a more personal touch.

Imagery: As I mentioned, the speaker consistently refers to metaphorical imagery through the poem. In the beginning, the speaker states that "Life for ain't been not crystal stair.  It's had tack in it / And splinters." Essentially, the speaker is stating that it is erroneous to equate life to "crystal stair," a reference to easy living. The speaker also uses dark and light imagery, as well as the symbolic meanings associated with these contrasting elements, to further advise her son in facing life's many hardships.

Style/syntax: This poem is structured in a way that conveys the speaker's message to there son through a "stream of consciousness.: Instead of ending certain thoughts with punctuation marks, the speaker continuously connects her thoughts through additional conjunctive words. This non-stop sequence of thoughts, like the vernacular language, provides the poem with a personal touch.

Theme: The basic theme explored in this poem is that life is not easy, both with a little hard work, it is surmountable.

Like I said in my description of style/syntax, this poem does not really contain any clear divisions, except for one point in the poem where the speaker ends her comparison of life to a poorly constructed, deteriorating staircase and then immediately transitions into her discussion of how she has never given up on her aspirations, despite any hardships that may occasionally surface.

In this poem, Hughes explores themes of hard work, aspirations, and success, asserting that while life is not always easy, success is nonetheless achievable through hard work and determination. I identify closely with this theme. In fact, I chose to analyze this poem for its theme. I have always admired hard work and determination. My favorite quotation of all time concerns hard work and was spoken by Thomas Jefferson himself, the quintessential paradigm of man with superior work ethic: "I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the luckier I get." Considering my appreciation of the themes that Hughes conveys, I thoroughly enjoyed this poem.

Thomas Jefferson, the quintessential paradigm of a man with impeccable work ethic.

Poetry #5

“Marks” by Linda Pastan

My husband gives me an A
for last night's supper,
an incomplete for my ironing,
a B plus in bed.
My son says I am average,
an average mother, but if
I put my mind to it
I could improve.
My daughter believes
in Pass/Fail and tells me
I pass. Wait 'til they learn
I'm dropping out. 

Tone: Annoyed, insulted, disappointed. The tone seems to shift multiple times in throughout the poem-with each reaction to the grades or "marks" her family gives her.

Word choice: Most words have a negative connotation like "incomplete" and "average"  and "could improve". She also seems to use simple words and phrases like she doesn't care anymore to impress anyone.. hence the "I'm dropping out"

Imagery/Fig. Language: All the images in the poem are created from the grades that the speaker's family is giving her. The "A" for supper , "Incomplete" for ironing, ect. are pretty self-explanatory images.

Syntax/Style: As previously stated, the author uses simple words and phrases to complete the poem. This could symbolize her exhaustion from the constant "grading" done by her family and by the end she's ready to "drop out ", so there is no need for fancy sentences and eloquent word choice.

Theme: The "marks" or judgments from everyday life, including from friends and family, are limiting and exhausting, making the easy way out seem like the most preferable.

I guess I can't exactly relate to this poem because I am neither a mother nor housewife; however, I can relate to feeling the same way the speaker does sometimes. I know what it feels like to be judged and evaluated, given a "grade" by family and friends and I know that it's exhausting. I know that sometimes when you feel people "grading" you, you feel restricted..like you can only amount to what someone labels you like when the speaker tries to convince herself that "if [she] put [her] mind to it [she] could improve"--she's feeling limited by her son's meager "mark" he gave her. However, the author and I are different when it comes to the end game. I don't think giving up-or in this case in- to all the judgements around you. If you ever want to "improve", you need to face those labels and prove to yourself-and yourself alone- that you are better than that. "Dropping out" is never going to be the answer, no matter how desirable it looks. 

My Boy Theo

I can relate to Roethke's poem twofold really. The obvious relation being the cherished moments that we all had in our childhoods of dancing around with our fathers, not unusually on their feet, when they were home from work. So this poem does have the sentimental taint of memory attached to it, but it also holds an ideal for the future. I hope to someday be this father for my children, a father who works hard, "palms caked hard with dirt", to support his family and still comes home with the energy to be fun. I like the image of the disdainful mother disapproving of her two boy's cavorting about the house. I want to be the dad who is still young enough to be a kid with his kids.
I think that the significance of the waltz being used instead of the term dance is the connotation the waltz has with Europe and the old life. Roethke was born in Michigan at the turn of the century so it is very probable that his father was a poor immigrant; this analysis would be consistent with his workplace wear and tear and the whiskey on his breath. I would most definitely say that this relationship is not abusive, the boy "holds on like death" only because he wants to be with his father who quite obviously works and drinks very late so he doesn't see often. The violence of the pots and pans crashing as a result of their dance may be because the father has had too much to drink, but he cares enough about his son to come home and make an effort to play with him.

Midas and the Golden Touch

Midas was the king of Phyrgia, he had everything a king could hope for. Even though he was super rich, Midas found his greatess happiness from gold. Dionyssus told Midas he would grant him one wish because Midas was kind to one of Dionyssus' satyrs. Midas wished that everything he touched would turn to gold. At first Midas thought "This is such a bless," then he realized "Oh crap I can't eat gold I'm screwed." Then he even turned his daughter to gold, they said it was unintentional but who knows. Midas prayed to Dionyssus to lift this curse and he did. Then Midas became more grateful for everything, yada yada yada. Moral of the story is don't wish everything you touch is gold because then you'll starve to death and die if you can't get it reversed.

The Pomegranate

"The only legend I have ever loved is
the story of a daughter lost in hell."
This opening line reminds me very much of my imagination as a young girl.  When my mind was threatened by boredom I would request a story. The story would usually start as any princess story would. The princess would be thrown into peril and as my raconteur attempted to save her, I would stop them, declaring that in fact she only awaited another peril. In this way, the tales of my childhood could in theory go on forever, the character (usually some version of Kiki) bound to a cycle of distress and salvation.
This likeness, however, is only extended throughout that first sentence, after which "and found and rescued there" strays from the trend of unsavable-ness.

Poetry and Family

"Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver

Tone: The poem's tone is gentle and consoling; Oliver begins by lowering the reader's obligations with "you do not have to." Then she describes very calm, lyrical images of nature, consoling those despairing with beautiful images. The way the poem is written second-person, directly to the reader, gives the poem an intimate tone.

Word choice: Oliver's most notable word choice lies in the images of gentle motion. Words like "goes on," "moving across," and "heading home." We have very clear images of the sun, the rain, and these geese moving across the land and the sky in a heavenly way, calling us to join.

Imagery: As I said before, the imagery is largely lyrical depictions of nature's gentle motion. Near the beginning, there is the contrasting image of crawling through the desert, an abrasive and exhausting motion, that serves to offer an idea of what mustn't be done. We must not torture and debase ourselves to be loved.

Structure: I would characterize the form of "Wild Geese" as largely free verse. There is most certainly a rhythm to the sentences, but there is no regular rhyme scheme. The sentences are broken into lines simply to isolate phrases of importance, to slow the reader and make them take extra care when considering the phrases. There is repetition of the "you do not have to" and then the "meanwhile." These choices lend the poem a cohesion.

Theme: "Whoever you are," despite whatever you have done or what has perhaps been done to you, you have a home and a family in nature.

While Oliver's message is applied specifically to nature, I feel that it is even more widely applicable. The idea that one's childhood home and biological, nuclear family must be one's home and family is inaccurate. As she explains, even nature offers itself up to us as a home and a family. I find that, in this case, nature is one form that a surrogate family can take. In the work of indie-darling filmmaker Wes Anderson, the family is a huge thematic focus--specifically the way we seek surrogate families in lieu of our own dysfunctional ones. While I have mostly come to terms with the ways in which it fails (largely through lengthy, illuminating conversations with my likeminded older brother), my family is not precisely how I imagine a comforting and safe family. Though I like my home, its inextricable ties to this family leave me ambivalent, so I am excited to seek out new replacements moving forward with my life. That isn't to say that I will cut ties with my parents; I simply will find people who can substitute in where they may have lacked. As Oliver explains, nature is one place that I might find that nourishment. I can "love what [I] love" and it will continue to call to me.

Poetry #5

Twist of Snapping Beans by Lisa Parker.

Tone: There's certainly some stress in the narrator's voice that clues that allows the audience to know that it is quite maddening to the author that she can't express her feelings adequately to her grandmother. That as well as the repetition of the phrase "I wanted to" certainly condone a yearning throughout the piece.

Word Choice: There's a contrast I think in the grammar that she uses when describing her home and when she's describing her school. At home, rustic terms like "fly-eyed mesh" or "splintering slats" are used to convey a certain at ease. At her school, the phrase that stood out was "swig of strychnine"which I had to look up, means a poison. Thus, these differences emphasize the different mindsets of her two lives.

Imagery: The poem utilizes imagery to paint the setting of her grandma and her sitting on the porch, and the nostalgia she feels, and the yearning to communicate (after all she is a first generation college student). It also paints a bold picture of her new life at school, and the imagery is quite unsettling as we know she is, yet we the audience knows she is happy.

Syntax: This poem contains lots of alliteration, repetition of the phrase "I wanted to tell", and corrosive imagery all which convey the speaker's unrest. No real breaks in the lines of the poem, it is formatted to be a stream of consciousness.

Theme: I think the theme of this poem can be interpreted many different ways, but the one I arrived at stems from the leaf (no pun intended) falling on the porch and the Grandma saying, "It's funny how things blow loose like that." I think this was talking about how Parker has blown loose from her family and gone off to school. It was something very different from what everyone else in her life has done, but that doesn't at all make it a bad thing. Rather it is special in its own way. So I don't think the author is necessarily trying to defend her decision to go off to college, rather just to tell it. It is what it is and she is who she is because of it.

I felt a connection to this poem because we're all about to go off to college and move away from the familiar and while I don't share the author's predicament, I can certainly appreciate it. I think this is a poem that builds a bridge between two worlds and I admire that of the author and the way she describes it. It will be interesting to see how we build our own bridges in the next couple of years and makes me consider the emotions I will soon be trying to process...

Poetry #5

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

TWIST:

Tone- gentle and encouraging. “whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination”

Word choice:

“soft animal” this connects humankind back to nature, our home.

“clear pebbles”, “deep trees”, “clean blue air” all very fresh and naturalistic

“harsh and exciting” convey limitless possibilities of humans

Imagery: many images of nature and beautiful landscapes. This ties back to the main idea that our family is this world, we share it with the creatures and all of our possibilities exist within nature. Also compares humans to geese to symbolize our ability to go anywhere

Style: use of commands. action words. Lyric poetry. Use of dash to show importance of last two lines. Reiteration of ‘you’.

Theme: People matter and people belong; like geese, humans are a part of the family of nature.

Mary Oliver is known for her sense of community with nature in get poetry and this poem is no exception. I like that share emphasizes the role humans have in nature and that they can always turn to the ‘family’ for guidance and love.

I felt a connection with this poem because I have a passionate attitude towards nature and the place that we have in this world. We try to disconnect ourselves from nature, but it is part of our core. We cannot detach ourselves from our history. I have always lived in the countryside where I can sit in the trees in the summer and look up at the stars. I feel best when I am with my family - nature.

Poetry Blog

TWIST of “Marks” by Linda Pastan

My husband gives me an A
for last night's supper, 
an incomplete for my ironing, 
a B plus in bed.
My son says I am average, 
an average mother, but if
I put my mind to it
I could improve.
My daughter believes 
in Pass/Fail and tells me
I pass. Wait 'til they learn
I'm dropping out. 

Tone- insulted, solemn, apathetic. She talks about her family telling her she’s “incomplete” and “average”, and how she’s going to “drop out”. The poem overall gives a tone that she is sad and disappointed that her own family thinks of her this way and she’s not going to put up with it.

Word Choice/Diction- The diction is negative, again emphasized by words such as “incomplete” “average” “dropping out” “B”. The word choice is pretty simple.

Imagery/Figurative Language- The whole poem creates imagery of an imperfect family. We can visualize her “incomplete” ironing and “B plus” life in bed, and well as her son calling her “”average, and her daughter telling her she “passes” as a mother.

Syntax/Structure- Mostly simple sentences “My husband…” My son…” “My daughter…” However the first sentence and second sentences lack conjunctions. It’s all one stanza to show this subject does not have any room for negotiation; she is no longer putting up with how her family treats her.

Theme- Being blood related doesn’t make you “family”; Don’t put up with people who don’t respect and appreciate you. This poem points out that not all families are perfect.

This poem reminded me of my mom, in a good way. My mom is very independent and doesn’t put up with anyone’s crap. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and fight for what’s right. The woman in the poem also isn’t putting up with any crap, and is finally doing what’s right for herself. I also like this poem because it shows that not all families are not perfect, creating a more realistic idea about family life than the idealized “2.5 kids and a white picket fence”.

Poetry Post 5

The Hammock by Li-Young Lee

Tone- amazement and reflection; Lee is reflecting on the bond he shared with his mother
"how she carried me on her back
between home and the kindergarten
once each morning and once each afternoon"

Word Choice- As an overall, Lee uses simple language that all ages would be able to understand as he is trying to reach a wide range of people.

Imagery-Lee uses imagery through out his poem to show different experiences he had with his mother and ones he hopes to have with his son
"When I lay my head in my mother's lap
I think how day hides the stars,
the way I lay hidden once, waiting"
"I think, Dear God, and remember
there are stars we haven't heard from yet:"

Style- The poem has a stanza of 7 lines and then a one line stanza. The 7 line stanzas are more setting up the scene and then the one line is more a statement.
"I don't know what my mother's thinking." and "I've no idea what my child is thinking."
Lee italicized the only religious referencing words in his poem, "Dear God," and "Amen."

Theme- Li-Young Lee is getting his audience to think about being a present being in their lives. He goes back and forth from being cared for to caring for someone and in both he stops to think about moments that he will never forget and wants to almost relive.
"Between two unknowns, I live my life.
Between my mother's hopes, older than I am
by coming before me, and my child's wishes, older than I am
by outliving me. And what's it like?"

One thing I have learned from dancing is to never take a moment for granted because it can be taken away before you know it. I've watched 10 and 11 year olds work day in and day out to be the best and days before competition break their foot or tear their ACL. Years later they are back winning, but not because they are the best one on the stage, but because they are living in the moment.

Marks

"Marks" by Linda Pastan

My husband gives me an A

for last night's supper, 

an incomplete for my ironing, 

a B plus in bed.

My son says I am average, 

an average mother, but if

I put my mind to it

I could improve.

My daughter believes 

in Pass/Fail and tells me

I pass. Wait 'til they learn

I'm dropping out. 

Tone - Matter of fact, relying mostly on apparently simple statements of fact and occurrence which lack drama. There is a wryness in the last two lines which is not so evident before.

Word choice - Particularly notable is the way the author describes her family members - each is named by their relation to her, not by their name. There is also a high usage of personal pronouns, which contrasts noticeably with the dry tone and the three sections which focus on other's thoughts about the author.

Imagery/Figurative Language: The poem is minimalist, providing few details on specific images, although the word choice ("my son says," "my husband gives") indicates that the sections of the poem are probably inspired by particular moments. We are thus given a skeleton of images on which we can do a remarkable job of filling in. The poem centers on the conceit of a report card, with each family member using different language familiar to us from school grades ("A", "average," "could improve," "Pass/Fail," "dropping out")

Style/Syntax - The poem is constructed of 4 sentences. The first three each continue through several lines and are bookended by endstops. The last sentence begins with caesura and is considerably shorter. This is the only case of caesura in a poem otherwise characterized by frequent enjambment. Each sentence but the last starts the same, "My [relation] [verb]s..." The poem utilizes no rhyme scheme, instead moving with vocabulary and rhythm natural to conversation.

Theme - The poem explores the feeling of being judged on one's performance in a task others deem valuable, rather than judged and valued as an individual and human being, of whom the task at hand is just one part.

Though this poem is a single stanza and only 12 lines long, it can be easily broken into four sections along the lines of the sentences that form the poem. Sentence one describes the evaluation of the speaker's work by her husband - he judges her based on performance in singular, menial tasks which are given importance by their relevance to him. Sentence two describes the views of the speaker's son, who feels that overall his mother is "average" (presumably a C student) and that she "needs improvement." His lack of specificity is perhaps more enraging than his father's extreme specificity. Finally, the speaker's daughter seems to give the most positive remark, but the lack of substance of her feeling, the lack of nuance leaves the speaker feeling unseen and unappreciated once again. In the last sentence, the speaker implies that she is planning on removing herself from an environment wherein she is judged and valued so simplistically, i.e. dropping out.

Once again, I feel that this poem centers around the feeling of being valued only on others' terms, rather than on the terms of one's own existence. Certainly the poet intended to discuss this feeling particularly in a family setting (though it can exist elsewhere, hence the conceit of a school card). I can relate to this - often I feel as though my family, particularly my extended family, praises and values me on the basis of criterion I never asked for, often centering around academic achievement. This leaves me feeling not only isolated, but trapped by an ecosystem in which my being is constantly interpreted and limited by the needs and desires of those surrounding me. For this reason, I too wish to "drop out," though fortunately I have a more ready escape than the speaker does, in the form of my upcoming leave for college.

"Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes

"Mother to Son"

by Langston Hughes

Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor—

Bare.

But all the time

I’se been a-climbin’ on,

And reachin’ landin’s,

And turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

Where there ain’t been no light.

So boy, don’t you turn back.

Don’t you set down on the steps

’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.

Don’t you fall now—

For I’se still goin’, honey,

I’se still climbin’,

And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

Tone: The tone of this poem is very conversational using the vernacular language of a common woman. The language within the poem helps the audience understand that the speaker is less educated adding to the informality. Additionally, the relaxed and conversational tone of the poem indicates that the speaker wants her son to succeed but he will be forced to face difficulties in his future just like her.

Word Choice: The extended metaphor of the poem is crafted by poignant usage of specific diction utilizing words like "boards," "splinters," "tacks," and "landin's."Moreover, the vernacular diction of the speaker plays a key role in crafting the tone of the entire poem. 

Imagery/Detail: The extended metaphor of the staircase is the primary source of imagery and detail in the poem while the trials and tribulations of the speaker's life are described in great detail within the context of the stairs. For example, the speaker makes reference to the tacks and splinters of the staircase representing the painfulness of life that impede progress. Likewise, boards are missing from the stairs meaning that there could be gaps in the path of life that the speaker is forced to bridge through hard work and perseverance.Maybe not every step of life is safe but it is still possible to make it through intact. 

Style: "Mother to Son" is entirely free verse with no clear rhyme scheme or rhythm, but Hughes does make a concerted effort to ensure the length of a particular line stands out. The word "Bare" stands alone indicating the presence of solidarity in life. Hughes includes a few examples of alliteration in the poem like "Don't you set down on the steps" as well as repetition  earlier in the piece beginning two lines with "And."

Theme: Using an older matron to provide advice to her son, Langston Hughes is addressing the challenges of life. Life is like a staircase, it must be climbed steadily without rushing because it is full of hazards like gaps and splinters ready to strike. Similarly, it must be addressed with forcefulness and strength because it has the power to destroy one's willpower. 

At the very beginning of the poem, the author immediately acknowledges that life has not been an easy journey for her contrasting her own staircase to one made of crystal. The staircase is full of tacks, missing boards, and places with no carpet. Yet, the speaker kept climbing up the metaphorical staircase in darkness and in light without sitting down or turning back because one must keep going even if life hasn't been or will be easy. 

I felt a strong personal connection to this poem because I have a close relationship with my mom and I would hope she would give me this kind of advice considering her life hasn't necessarily been the easiest. She has always worked outside of the home when a lot of my friends growing up had moms that were there all the time, but my mom has always made me proud because she is one of the only female lawyers in Lexington that has practiced for a long time in a truly male dominated field. Life hasn't been easy for her but she just keeps on going. 

Poetry Blog #2

The poem "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell discusses the evanescence of human life and the inevitability of death. Throughout the poem, the speaker addresses his mistress, who is apparently reluctant to engage in any serious love affair and has been slow to respond to his sexual advances. In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker describes how passionately they could love each other if they had "but world enough and time." Continuing to muse about this hopeless fantasy, the speaker further declares to his mistress that her coyness would be unfounded in such a case and she would have no choice but to submit to his advances. The speaker then returns to reality in stanza two. Lamenting  the ephemeral nature of life, he remarks to his mistress that "at my back, I always hear / Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near," and that eventually her "beauty shall no more be found." In the final stanza, the speaker concludes that since their time on Earth is relatively short, his mistress should therefore requite his attempts to love her and that they should make the best of the remaining time they have in life.

Archibald Macleish's poem "You, Andrew Marvell" also addresses the subject of the evanescence of life, though to a greater extent. The title of the poem is a direct allusion the Marvell's poem "To His Coy Mistress," which serves to establish the connection between the themes addressed by the two poems. In this poem, Macleish compares death to the ever-approaching, "always coming on of" night: "To feel the always coming on / The always rising of the night: / To feel creep up the curving east / The  earthly chill of dusk and slow." The constantly approaching nature of the darkness within these lines suggests that death will eventually encompass everyone. Moreover, as the poem progresses, the speaker begins to list locations that have already been enshrouded by the darkness originating in the East. These references serve to symbolize the destruction of past civilization; not only will time eventually claim human life, but it will also eventually erode human civilizations, even those in the West. Additionally, the speaker's inclusion of civilizations that reacher their peak in ancient times seems to suggest that this cycle of life and death is an old process, as old as time itself, and will continue to occur while time exists.

From his personal narrative "On Becoming a Poet," excerpted from his book Weather of Words, Mark Strand cites "You, Andrew Marvell" as the catalyst responsible for initiating his career as a poet. In his examination of the poem, Strand contends that "You, Andrew Marvell," with its subtle, though-provoking devices, impelled him to pursue a life as a poet after he realized that the thoughts and feelings presented in the poem were very similar to his own thought and feelings. In fact, this is what intrigues me most about Strand's argument: poetry's ability to connect with its audience on a personal level. As Strand notes, we are often able to recognized and explain to at least some extent how a particular piece of poetry might attract us. For example, Strand indicated that it was his ability to identify with the figure "face down beneath the sun" whose mortality was certainly evident, a  thought that had been troubling hime for some time. Nonetheless, Strand notes that we are hardly ever able to explain why poetry attracts and arouses such deep emotions within us: "There is something about [poetry] that moves me in ways that I don't quite understand, as if it were communicating more that what is actually says.: I agree with this notion that poetry often elicits inexplicable and mysterious feelings that depend on a certain poem's content. Lyrics included in songs, after all, are a form of poetry. I can say from personal experience that lyrical poetry often conjures intense emotions that I can only begin to explain as well, so I understand Strand's position on this topic.