Michael+X+Poetry+Journal

Poetry Journal:
 * Poet || Poem || Comments ||
 * Robert Burns || Coming through the Rye || This is more of a childish poem. There are adaptations as a children's song. Its rhyme, repetition and colloquial word choice are all of importance to consider. ||
 * Robert Burns || A Red, Red Rose || The title itself has a consonance of "R". Regardless, word choice such as "luve" instead of "love" are ||
 * ||  || Checked 18 September 2/15-25 KBoyceCollection and commentary need to be expanded. ||

3. Anna Akhmatova - I Don't Know If You're Alive Or Dead There is a strong presence of caesuras in this particular poem, perhaps to reflect the idea that the "You" which is talked about is not known whether to be living or dead? (period = dead, caesura = continuance/living?) The poem seems to have a loose ABAB rhyme scheme to it, perhaps to parallel the difficulty to determine whether "You" are alive or dead?

4. Anna Akhmatova - I Wrung My Hands This poem felt rather casual in the sense that the narration of what happens in the poem is quite easy to follow. The imagery of making someone "drunk/with an astringent sadness" is very strong, which very well depicts the sad mood.

5. Anna Akhmatova - Memory Of Sun <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">This poem is about the coming of the Winter and the cold mood which comes along. There is repetition of the line "Memory of sun seeps deep from the heart." The verb seeps is very visual and is very well chosen to create images. Likewise, depicting water to be "slowing in/The narrow channels" is also very sensual as the word "slowing" is not often used in such a way.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">6. Anna Akhmatova - Solitude <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I enjoyed the oxymoron of a pit becoming a solid tower. This poem depicts the strength and hope the speaker finds as an oppressed Muslim woman. "[seeing] the sunrise earlier" perhaps suggests that she will lead to a more enjoyable life than otherwise.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">7. Anna Akhmatova - Under Her Dark Veil <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">This poem is extremely similar to her previous one "I Wrung My Hands". It almost seems as though the exact same scene is taking place again, but under different conditions. However, a major difference is that the speaker in this poem asks the woman (supposedly the speaker from the other poem) why she is so pale, and the woman narrates the story through a dialog. The two poems fit together nicely and perhaps done so to hopefully show how easily a relationship can go awry.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">8. Anna Akhmatova - You Thought I Was That Type <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The speaker is supposedly mistaken to be either very revengeful or extremely clingy after the loss of a love. Alliteration of p's and occasional use of assonance make the poem fluent. Imagery is not very strong (at least compared to previous ones by her), but mood is strongly reflected using exclamation marks and strong word choice (i.e. swear by the miracle-working icon).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">9. Robert Browning - Life In A Love <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Peculiar rhyme scheme transition from ABBA to ABAB. Clear juxtaposition between the two lovers - the speaker the loving, the other the loathing - and using sensory imagery to depict abstract ideas ("old hope drops to ground").

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">10. Robert Browning - Love In A Life <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The poem is clearly in two sections (One stanza starting with I, the other II). In both stanzas, the speaker is talking to his heart (supposedly male as he seeks the beauty of a woman). However, the difference between the stanzas is that the former depicts a hope fulfilled (finding the woman's beautiful action of doing chores) while the latter depicts a hope unfulfilled. Strong word choice makes it obvious that what the speaker seeks for is important (i.e. "quest").

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">11. Robert Browning - The Lost Mistress <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Quartets with ABAB rhyme scheme where the meter of the odd lines are longer than those of the even lines. Beginning stanzas depict more passionate feelings through nature imagery such as "woolyl" "leaf-buds" "one day more [bursting]". Ending stanzas seem to convey a very strong and insightful point even though using weak words such as "mere", "little" and "only".

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">12. Robert Browning - Confessions <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Seemed to be composed of a mixture of feelings. Though the ending tone of the speaker is content, there are constant fluctuations in the mood between happiness and possibly confusion. Allusion to Greek goddess Eos (I believe, even though spelt Oes) of the dawn who lived at the edge of the ocean (horizon) is well employed to illustrate the "distance" between the two.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">13. Michael Burch - The Watch <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Strong sensory image of "moonlight spills down vacant sills". There is no rigid rhyme scheme as it is seemingly chaotic. Poem seems to depict the hope of chasing up to something (as shown through the hands in the watch catching up to one another).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">14. Michael Burch - She Was Very Strange, and Beautiful <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Each stanza starts with "She was" which exemplifies the importance of the woman the speaker encounters. The poem seems to convey the speaker's unsatisfactory feeling of not attaining the love of the woman he has met (Even though "[he] smiled", he did so in a "bereft" manner as he feels he has "nothing left").

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">15. Michael Burch - See <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The euphony in the poem in the majority of the poem is used to reflect the "loveliness" in the woman's hair and eyes. For example, many words start with vowels or soft letters such as w as in "wind" and s as in "soft". However, the poem ends with harsher sounds the woman leaves with "undismayed goodbyes".

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">16. Russell Edson - The Family Monkey <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Although I can't exactly figure what the “monkey" is being referred to, there is a definite parallel as to how the past is being replaced by the present (wind-up by steam, steam by electric/gas). The poem's end is the family monkey being "executed" which may possibly reference to modern technology not being as good as it is?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">17. Russell Edson - Ape <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">A very playful poem in the sense that husband and wife - supposedly "mother" and "father" of the "ape" (how the child is referred to?) - bicker over eating. However in another sense, the playful mood is juxtaposed with a less playful one as the father is reluctant to oblige with his "[cries]" and "[screams]".

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">18. Russell Edson - Grass <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Strong imagery of grass being overgrown in the house especially as it "extends miles and miles into the walls". However, contrast to such an unpleasant scenery, the speaker focuses on the importance of new life as the old man rocks in a rocking chair with an infant.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">19. Russell Edson - Counting Sheep <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">A rather (seemingly) satirical poem such that the speaker criticizes the unethical behavior of scientists. The scientists thinks of the sheep as commercially worthless and possibly a substitute of rice. Finally, as expected, the speaker makes reference to the act of counting sheep to fall asleep, as the scientists does so while counting sheep in the test tube.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">20. Russell Edson - The Floor <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">An interesting poem which takes on a different approach to seeing the floor. Whilst most see it as a mere platform on which we step on, the speaker also presents it as a hazard as people fall onto it. I enjoyed the imagery of "attention bleeding into/the cracks of the floor".

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">21. Jorie Graham - Mind <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I had difficulty understanding this poem even after several reads (a disincentive to read some of his other works). Although it was easy to pick up the analogy of the mind being like rain "entering the ground", I did not understand what this implied. Only other aspect I can comment about is the structure; each line is short in length and there is a frequent use of caesuras.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">22. John Keats - Lines <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I noticed the interesting structure of the poem to be a composition of three limericks. Keats makes connections with words which are not often associated with each other as in "ripest quiet" and "shadows of sweet sound". This makes the presence of silence more sensual, which contributes to the tense mood.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">23. John Keats - La Belle Dame Sans Merci <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The poem is divided into twelve stanzas of four lines each, every even line rhyming. Although there are loving scenes in the poem, the mood seems to be always rather bland and cold due to negatively connoted words such as "starv'd" and "slumber'd" as well as to the constant repetition of "pale" and "cold".

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">24. John Keats - Where's the Poet? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Although it may be stretching to say that this poem deifies poets, it definitely presents poets as a very potent being. This is seen most obviously as the word "Poet" is capitalized even though in the middle of the sentence (similar to how "He" is capitalized when referring to God). This is exemplified further as the "Poet" is not only able to understand all human, but also all animal's of the kind.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">25. Patrick Kavanagh - Epic <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">This poem was particularly hard to understand, perhaps due to my lack of general knowledge to pick up the many allusions made throughout the work.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">26. Patrick Kavanagh - Peace <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Peace is personified as a male existence. The sad and hopeless mood is presented through the imagery of overgrown grass and the country fellows worrying about food.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">27. Federico Garcia Lorca - Weeping <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Possibly a poem translated from Spanish as most of his other poems are in Spanish. Sad mood strongly established using allusions to Cyrano and Quixote, two men which are thought to be among the most unfortunate.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">28. Harold Pinter - Restaurant <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">This poem does not employ any extremely difficult words or complex literary features. The only apparent literary feature is the presence of mood in this poem. A bright mood is created at the beginning with "laughing" actions in a large, open, and crowded place like a "restaurant". The poem ends with a sadder mood as people "shed tears" in a more cramped space like a "taxi".

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">29. Harold Pinter - Poem (Don't look...) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The World is personified to "chuck out all its light" and "stuff us in the chokepit of its dark". Strong imagery such as "fat suffocated place" to reflect the unpleasant state of the place.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">30. Liam Wilkinson - HAIR <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hair is used as a symbol of age; as his hair grows long, he feels older. The speaker compares himself to John Lennon and The Beatles, however recognizes that he is not as grand as them, hence he is in the "arena of my own cup".

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">31. Liam Wilkinson - WELCOME HERE <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The speaker mocks what are considered heavily symbolic and literary poems? He is nauseated by the "pieces of their metaphors and similes/jammed between the margins" and feels that they degrade the paper on which this poem is written. Strong imagery as "resounding rhythms" leave "fingerprints" and "humorous wordplay" are compared to "a bad smell in the bathroom".

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">32. Liam Wilkinson - ON BLAKE STREET <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">This poem mocks the poems in which speakers reveal their longing of a woman having seen her in a populated area. This speaker feels that poems like such are much too common and have been seen "after all these years". Very interesting poem.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">33. Quincy Troupe - Snow & Ice <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">More of a descriptive poem without punctuation or any capitalization in the body of the text. Strong imagery of being "swept by cold", "chewed skeletal choices", and "fangs of piranha gales". All of this contribute to the desolate and worn-out mood.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">34. Edward Lear - There Was an Old Man with a Beard <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">A rather humorous poem about an old man with a big beard in which dwells birds of different kinds along with their nests. The exaggeration of the size of the beard reflects the man's old age.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">35. Edward Lear - There was a Young Lady Whose Eyes <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Another humorous poem by Lear which differs from some standard poems such that the latter often will descry a woman's eyes' beauty. This one has more of an interesting twist such that people will become surprised seeing a wide-open eye, which is probably due to the lady'z surprise?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">36. Thomas Lux - A Kiss <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">A kiss is described using a great deal of sea imagery. Last line is very strong such that a kiss will "carry me -- closer than your carotid artery -- to you", or closer to the heart than the common carotid artery.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">37. Thomas Lux - The Man Into Whose Yard You Should Not Hit Your Ball <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">A bit of implied humor as the man mows his lawn every day, spring, summer, and fall, but not winter as the speaker suggests that he could not mow the snow. Fun reference at the end about "stones, or sticks" to "sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me", perhaps to show how the children are hurt by seeing the baseball shredded.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">38. Yahia Lababidi - Truth in advertising <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Its stanzas are in the form of haikus. Offers an insightful view to daily advertisement which often sound catchy as their slogans are usually poetic in some sense.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">39. Yahia Lababidi - If <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Very beautiful poem with strong imagery such as "unquiet blood". Also allusions to religions to reflect how different the world would be with the "if"s.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">40. Pablo Neruda - Saddest Poem <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Many repetitions such as those of "My soul is lost without her", "Far away", and "I can write the saddest poem of all tonight." Sad mood is created by juxtaposing the beauty of the woman and the loss of it. Another juxtaposition of "Love is so short" and "oblivion so long".

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">41. Li Po - Good Old Moon <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Translated poem from Chinese. Nostalgic mood created through vivid imagery of the moon as a "white plate of jade" and "great mirror" in the sky. Allusion to ancient Chinese Legend where 9 of the 10 suns are shot down due to their mischievousness.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">42. Li Po - She Spins Silk <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Hyperbole of silk threads which "never end" emphasize the hardworking nature of the silk worms. Alliteration (post-translation) of the "gr" sound in "grass grows green" perhaps implies original also had some similar literary device?

5 December 2011 42/45-75

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">43. Stevie Smith - I Do Not Speak <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Four rhyming triplets. Speaker settles for an average life not reaching for prosperity and status. Speaker implies that people should live a carpe diem lifestyle. Structural similarity in beginning many lines with "I do not".

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">44. Stevie Smith - Happiness <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Happiness is depicted as not such a happy thing, as it "speaks equivocally for friends" and "will not state a case", both of which have negative connotations. Grief is portrayed to be sadder than the word itself, as it is "explicit", "talks apace" and sings a "song [that] never ends".