poetry: February 2013

Thursday, 21 February 2013

10. Seeker of Truth by E. E. Cummings

The Seeker of Truth by E. E. Cummings is a very, very short poem. It's really hard to write 250-word reflection to this short poem. The seeker of truth should follow no path because the truth is here. What does this truly mean, the poem gets you thinking. When you first read the poem, you're thinking: it's just a sentence wrote with bad grammar. The poem's shortness is intimidating. The poem is really short and boring, but in order to appreciate it, you have to use your noodle. The poem is so vague, it doesn't tell a story, or any characters to tell it. What is the truth? The truth could be anything, this poem could be used in so many perspectives. It can be used to tell the story of anything. Am I the seeker, are you the seeker? I guess if you are looking for an answer, you could use this guideline to answer it. In that case, we are the seekers of the answers, or the truth. The Seeker of Truth is like a short guideline. It doesn't tell a story and it isn't entertaining. It is a nice guideline to live by if you've thought about it as much as I did, and if you understand it like I do. The poem can be beautiful if you seek the truth of the Seeker of Truth. Reading the poem wasn't fun at all, but thinking about it for this long, and writing this essay, all this time, made me really enjoy this poem.

9. To You by Walt Whitman

To You by Walt Whitman was a poem written in the mid-1800's, which makes it a little hard to understand. This poem isn't actually written in old English. The poem seems to be written to a loved one by the writer. It talks about the loved one being a dreamer, or dreaming to be something different; he mentioned him seeing her as who she really is, instead of being what she dreams of being. He keeps going on about how perfect she is. He talks about singing "grandeur glories" of her. The poem talks about how she is perfect the way she is, even though she tries to change herself. She does good deeds and acts but is hated for them. He loves her above all things, and more than anyone else. She is disliked for simple things, it seems, but these are the sole things he loves about her. And still, all the bad things, are "parted aside". He compares her to the greatest things a man or a woman can do. He then tells her to set aside all the hatred that is bared on her, and to be herself even though others don't approve. She is "immense and interminable" as is nature, but still, she can master them. The poem sounds like a long, great poem about a love for a man to a woman, but in the end, it talks about her as a "master", or "mistress". Still after all of that display of his love for her, the poem addresses her as a man or a woman.

8. The Road not Taken by Robert Frost

As I read the title: Two Roads Not Taken, I try not to think of the literal meaning, but I immediately think of two actual roads. Then, I read the first line of the poem: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood", I say to myself, oh, nope, it's actually about two roads. Then I read the next few lines, and I think about the features, like the "yellow wood", or "sorry I could not travel both". They tell me of some sort of fantasy state of mind. Now thinking a little harder, I think maybe he has to choose between two different "roads". Maybe into the future, it'll affect his future. The roads were too long to see to the other side, that indicates the roads leading off to the distant future, if you think about it as a state of mind. The next paragraph talks about the road he took being grassy, and maybe not walked upon for a while. But afterward, I think it talks about the roads seemingly the same, even though he contrasted them earlier. The next paragraph makes me feel like the man stopped in his tracks. It said that "I doubted if I should ever come back", which made me think of a perspective where the man chose his path and now he can't go undo what he's done. In the final paragraph, he tells his story with a disappointed tone. He may have chosen his path incorrectly, differently to others' paths. The man had to chose a way, even though he didn't know what the outcome would be in the future. Now he is suffering because of his choice, it "made all the difference".

7. There is another Sky by Emily Dickenson

6. Life is Fine by Langston Houghs

Life is Fine by Langston Houghs, this poem was a little confusing, to say the least, but after a few reads, I think a may be able to write a decent response to it. The poem uses two contrasting features: the fact that life is fine, and the fact the man IS TRYING TO KILL HIMSELF! The poem tells of happy thoughts, but then moves into the man trying to kill himself. After all this, it reminds us that "life is fine". The first section tells of a man trying to think things through on the edge of the river bank, when all of a sudden he's sinking to the bottom of the river! He thought things over, and made a decision: he decided that life is fine, but then he blames the decision on the freezing cold water. He took an elevator to the sixteenth floor, and thought about his lover, he went to the edge, and screamed. If he wasn't as high as he was, he would've jumped. After each of the sections, it emphasizes why he didn't do it. It's almost like he's making an excuse to the reader. In the end, he stopped trying to end it, but now he he has convinced himself, that he will not die for love, but he will live as he was born to do.

5. If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda

4. Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstien

Where The Sidewalk Ends is a strange poem that gets you thinking. The meaning of the poem is so vast that it can trigger your endless imagination. Our endless imagination resembles the end of the sidewalk. The sidewalk's end is like imagination itself. It is the end of the sidewalk and the beginning of the street. It's endless as is our imagination. No one knows what's at the bottom, and no one can see to the other side. Only the children go to the end because they are the only ones who are crazy enough, or imaginative enough to feel safe at the end of the sidewalk. Adults don't go to the end because they don't have the imagination that kids do. Also at the end of the sidewalk there are strange things that only occur in a child's imagination, such as the ,"peppermint wind", or the "moon-birds", or even the "soft, white grass". The sidewalk's end is a child's imaginative place where strange nonsensical things are, and where strange things happen. Also, at the end of the poem, it says that the children know where the sidewalk ends. The children, not the adults. This poem is very hard to understand and I wouldn't have understood if it wasn't for the internet, and Reverieb612, who explained the meaning.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_meaning_of_the_poem_titled_Where_the_sidewalk_ends_by_Shel_silversten

3. The Sniper by Liam O'Flaherty

2. The Incident in a Rose Garden by Donald Justice

1. The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

Sunday, 17 February 2013

Itroduction

I am a ninth grade freshman student at Saipan Southern High School. My name is William Eric Johnson, I love video games and food. I am doing this project under the instruction of Miss Ajoste, and it is about my thoughts and feelings about poems. In this blog, i will be writing ten different reflections on my take on the ten poems' meanings. In my blog I will be reviewing poems written by some of the greatest poets of all time. Shel Silverstien, who uses comedy, irony, in a fun childish way. Or Edgar Allen Poe, who uses spooky, dark perspectives in his writing. I hope you'll enjoy my Poetry Blog Project.