Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo’s “Mourning Song” is a poem about a person who is enduring loneliness and grief, as indicated in the following line: “Oh grief rattling around in the bowl of my skeleton.” The narrator’s grief is so immense that it has found the very place that supports her; that holds her up and allows her to move. Without her skeleton, she couldn’t be anything, and now it is stricken with such grief. Also, the fact that it is early evening means that the narrator is finally allowed to show her anguish. The night is significant because it is completely dark and no one can see her pain during the night. The line, “I need to mourn with the night” is significant because night-time doesn’t last forever. As soon as the sun begins to rise, everything is bright once again, and just as the moon sets, her grief will set as well.

Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brook’s “A Song in the Front Yard” is a poem in which danger is the central theme. “The front yard” is symbolic of a place of safety, while “the back yard” refers to a life of danger. The narrator states that she has always lived in the front yard and appears to have grown bored with the front yard and wishes to visit the back yard.

                                “I’ve stayed in the front yard all my life

                                  I want to peek at the back

                                  Where it’s rough and untended and hungry and weed grows.

                                  A girl gets sick of a rose.” (Lines 1-4)

The narrator even disregards her mother’s sneers at the “back yard” and the “wonderful things” (line 10) that take place there. The narrator seems to hold the mentality that the grass is greener in the back yard.  “Sadie and Maud” is another work of Brooks, and I found this poem quite amusing. The primary theme contained in this poem is that wealth and education is  always the key to success. Muad attends college; Sadie does not, thus “scrapping” by life: “Sadie scraped life/ With a fine toothed comb./ She didn’t leave a tangle in/ Her comb found every strand.” (2-4). Sadie appears to have a hard life. Everything that could go wrong seems to happen in her life, but Sadie doesn’t let it get her down. She still lives her life, and all the while smiling. Sadie then has two children out of wedlock, and the reader can conclude that the father was not in the picture: “Sadie bore two babies/ Under her maiden name” (10-11). Her parents were ashamed of the circumstances which their grandchildren were born under, but it not matter to Sadie; she was happy.  And when Sadie passed away, her children were with her and although she had nothing to pass down except her fine-toothed comb (which could also be interpreted as her good nature), she was fortunate enough to be surrounded by loved ones. Maud, who went to college and was well-educated, is all alone.

Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” is a poem about her father about how her father negatively impacted her life. The poem can also be interpreted as a declaration of independence from the clutches of her controlling father after he has passed away. Plath uses imagery in her poem, which makes it all the more effective. Such examples include the shoe, which Plath uses to describe her relationship with her father: “You do not do, you do not do/ Any more, black shoe/ In which I have lived like a foot/” (1-3). Plath describes herself as a foot, living her life covered by a black object. Also, Plath could be referring to “walking around on eggshells” with her father, as if she had to watch her every step. In the second stanza Plath goes on to describe her father using imagery once again.  Lines 7-10 illustrate him and also tell of how he died: “You died before I had time--/ Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,/ Ghastly statue with one grey toe/” (7-10). Plath’s father died of complications from gangrene, and she is describing this by telling of the “ghastly statue with one grey toe. Also, he was a God-fearing man and the reader can even be lead to acknowledge that he had a god-like mentality.

Philip Larkin

Philip Larkin's "Sad Steps" is a poem in which the narrator is envious of the moon. Unlike humans, the moon does not have an end and is symbolized almost as immortal. In the poem, the reader can grasp that the narrator is perhaps middle-aged and is not particularily happy, as indicated by the title: "Sad Steps". Also, he wishes to be young once again, and critizes the moon for not having a beginning nor an ending: It simply rises, becomes full, and sets just as it always does. The moon is unaware of its immortality, which the narrator yearns for. Also, the moon reminds the narrator that he is not getting any younger and that his youth will never be again, as stated in the following lines, "Is a reminder of the strength and pain/ Og being young: that it can't come again, / But for others undiminished somewhere" (lines 16-18).

Shel Silverstein's "The Perfect High"

Shel Silverstein’s “The Perfect High” symbolizes the typically selfish desire of mankind to constantly yearn for perfection, even though it does not exist.  In the poem, Gimmesome Roy (whose name is ironically significant)  is a boy who spends his days experimenting with drugs in search of the perfect high. Despite his numerous attempts, he fails to find a drug that gives him the rush he so desires. Gimmesome Roy eventually learns of the way to find the perfect drug and spends fourteen long years attempting to climb his way to Baba Fats, who can supply Roy with the perfect drug.  Upon being told that the perfect high can only be found within himself, Roy threatens Baba Fats and demands knowledge of how to obtain the perfect high. Baba Fats then has no choice but to lie to Roy, fabricating a story as provided in the following lines:

“A wretched land of stone and sand where snakes and buzzards scream,
And in this devil’s garden blooms the mystic Tzu–Tzu tree.
And every ten years it blooms one flower as white as the Key West sky,
And he who eats of the Tzu–Tzu flower will know the perfect high.
For the rush comes on like a tidal wave and it hits like the blazing sun.
And the high, it lasts a lifetime and the down don’t ever come.”

 Gimmesome Roy is far too determined to achieve the perfect high that his ignorance inhibits him from truly understanding what Baba Fats is trying to tell him. Roy is willing to slay beasts and swim in creature-infested waters to get his perfect high, even though it does not, nor will ever, exist.

T.S Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

This poem is one of the longer and more complex works we have studied.  The poem is narrated by J. Alfred Prufrock and uses dramatic monologue to express what he feels and believes as he takes a walk down the city streets. The destination isn't known or stated, as the following lines expresses: "Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?'/ Let us go and make our visit." (lines 11-12). The excerpt that is found beneath the title of the poem is from Dante’s Inferno, which is a story about the journey of a man as he traveled through the different levels of hell. It is rather ironic that the title of the poem states that perhaps this could be a poem on romance when the excerpt is taken from such a contrasting piece of literature. Also, the reader is lead to believe that Prufrock is comparing love to hell. Alfred J. Prufrock is an extremely critical individual, especially towards himself. The line “With a bald spot in the middle of my hair/ (They will say: ‘How his hair is growing thin!’/ (lines 40-41) provide evidence of his criticism, more so about himself and his opinion of his thinning hair.  It is as if he does not feel adequate enough, especially in the following lines: “In the room the women come and go/ talking of Michelangelo.” (lines 13-14). These lines show that he perhaps wishes he could talk to such women, but he feels intimidated by their topic and he doesn’t feel that he is worthy of their attention.

T.S Eliot

T.S Elliot’s “Gerontion” is a poem in which I met with much difficulty as I attempted to read and interpret this particular work. I believe that Elliot’s purpose of making the poem difficult to understand is significant to its meaning. The man in the poem is reflecting on the life he lived, and he has lost his purpose and has failed to understand the meaning of his life now that he is older. Just like the poem is complex in understanding, the man’s purpose of life is difficult to understand as well. 

W.H Auden

W.H Auden’s “Who’s Who” is a poem is composed of an octet as the first stanza and the second stanza is composed of a sestet.  This poem is about a famous person who achieved great success in their life.  They “climbed new mountains;/ named a sea:” (line 6) and accomplished miraculous things, and yet despite of achieving such success, something is missing from his life.  The lines “Some of the last researchers even write/ Love made him weep his pints like you and me.” (lines 6-7) lead the reader to believe that he is unhappy about the loss of a love.  Even though he has experienced a grand success, it isn’t enough to truly make him happy and make his life complete.  “As I Walked Out One Evening” is a poem that is composed of fifteen quatrains and is about time and the different views from two different viewpoints. I believe the viewpoints are from love and time itself. The point that is first described is time from the viewpoint of love. The line “Love has no ending.” (line 8) is typical of what lovers believe. They believe that their love will last the test of time and go on forever, even after they are no longer walking the earth. The next viewpoint is time, and it believes that it cannot be conquered, not by love; not by anything.

Langston Hughes

“The Bitter River” is a poem dedicated to two fourteen year old boys who were lynched together beneath a bridge in Mississippi in October of 1942. He writes about “a bitter river/ flowing through the South” (lines 1-2) which is interpreted as segregation and the prejudice African American’s endured in the South during this time.  Hughes goes on to write that he has drunk from such a river before, and this river “strangled his dreams” (line 16).  This can be construed to mean that he has been a victim of prejudice and although no one is literally stopping him from pursuing his dreams, the racist thoughts of others are disabling him from following his dreams.  The lines “The book studied—but useless,/ tools handled—but unused,/ knowledge acquired but thrown away/ ambition battered and bruised.” (lines 16-20) sum the troubles some African Americans, including Hughes, have suffered through.  Although they have pursued an education and have the necessary tools required to succeed or simply do a job does not matter; they are still mistreated by the white society, and their ambitions, goals, and dreams are thrown away.  The “bitter river” washes such things away.

Sylvia Townsend Warner

Sylvia Townsend Warner’s “East London Cemetery” is a somber poem about death in which it is personified.  The poem is about what death would say and do if it could speak to its victims.  Personifying death gives it a bigger sense of depth, which makes death even more daunting. Townsend presents death as indifferent as to who it claims and the lines “this house of call/ show sign-board wears no boast/save beds for all” provides evidence that death does not grant rights or privileges. The second stanza and the first line of “Narrow the bed, and bare/ and none too sweet” could possibly be referred to a coffin.  The line “Comfort, says he, with shrug, is but degree” symbolizes that there is no need for comfort when a person becomes a guest for death.  Also, the title is symbolic as well.  The “East London Cemetery” when used with words such as “comfort”, “sheet”, and “luxury” lead the reader to believe that social class plays a role; however, death does not favor such things and class won’t matter when you become a victim of death.

D.H Lawrence

It is stated in D.H Lawrence’s biography contained within the book that his writings of the relationship between a mother and son are “ruined by possessiveness, an excess of feeling”, and Lawrence’s “Piano” is just that.  The poem begins with a woman singing and playing the piano.  It takes the narrator back to when he was a child.  The singing brings back memories of the child’s mother singing and playing the piano as well.  The narrator may very well be Lawrence himself; the use of the word “boom” and the way the pressing of the pedals with his mother are described lead the reader to believe that he actually experienced this.  The narrator allows himself to relive these memories in such a way that he wishes he could go back those those Sunday evenings at home.  As the woman continues her song, the narrator’s present-life is cast behind his childhood memories and he weeps like a child for his past.  Something as simple as a woman’s singing voice and piano triggered memories of the narrator and the times he shared with his mother, and it gave her the power to possess this moment in life by reminding him of his childhood.  It is common for an adult to reflect back on their childhood and wish they had done certain things differently, and it is as an adult that these feelings trigger regret, and therefore the narrator’s immense emotion is portrayed in the last line.

Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein’s “Why Do You Feel Differently” was a bit difficult for me to understand the first time I read through the poem.  The use of anaphora, the repetition of the title contained within the lines several times, and the recurrence comparing small objects to large ones lead me to believe that they were of no significance in the poem; however, I was mistaken.  The ‘turkeys’, ‘sheep’, and ‘snails’ seem like they have no contextual meaning either, but after re-reading the poem several times, they provide ample meaning.  To me, Stein’s purpose of the first few lines have to do with society’s tendency to believe “the bigger the better”.  You feel differently about a larger snail than you would a smaller one because the bigger snails are better, and the same goes for a medium-sized turkey and several sheep.  Bigger is better.  Also, the line, “All nice wives are like that” provides meaning as well.  I believe Stein is referring to the conventional standards of the 1920’s wife, and how they should be.  The use of “to be” and “please” perhaps leads the reader to be a bit confused or lost, and I believe Stein is making a connection between the confusion of these repeated lines and the feelings of these wives that please those around them rather than themselves.

Amy Lowell and Ezra Pound

Amy Lowell uses imagery in “The Pike” to describe the pike and its surroundings by vividly illustrating how an unnoticed pike does what it always does and then one day becomes increasingly noticeable by simply flicking its tail and changing how its movement is seen about through the dark and muddy water.  In the poem, the fish that Lowell is referring to is the pike, or various superficially similar fishes.   This pike is hidden beneath the shade of the reeds and it is very difficult to see the pike among the stems, and the fish goes unnoticed.  However, once the fish flickers its tail, its green and copper luster runs beneath the water and is now visible through the reeds.  The pike’s bright colors could even be seen on the opposite banks.  To me, the pike is symbolic of human nature.  It is very common for people to go about their daily lives in the same way every day and in doing so, it’s as if they’ve become hidden and not noticeable to others and just the flick of their tales can dramatically change everything.  Ezra Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro” is perhaps imagery at its finest.  Pound wrote that after riding on a metro train in Paris, he saw a beautiful face followed by another beautiful face, and then another, and another, and another.  He tried to put his sight of these beautiful faces into words, but failed to do so because he just couldn’t find the right words to describe them.  Nothing seemed worthy of recounting the beauty he had seen or the sudden emotion he had felt.  After several attempts and still finding nothing, Pound unexpectedly found the expression rather than the words.  In the first sentence of the poem, Pound describes seeing their faces through the crowd.  It illustrates us as humans going about their daily lives.  The second sentence refers the faces to flower petals after the rain, which in nature symbolizes life.  However, the “black bough” shows the exact opposite of the beauty of flowers in the rain: death.  Like the beautiful flower petals, everything comes to an end.  The combination of these two sentences, as contrasting as they both are, symbolizes that even through humans are different from certain elements in nature (such as petals and rain), we eventually all suffer the same fate. 

The British War Poets

This particular group of poems differs greatly than the other poems we’ve previously studied.  These poems are recollections of the authors’ experiences as soldiers in World War I and are grim and realistic concerning the matter of death.  Siegfried Sasson’s “Blighters” is the contrast between the horrific experiences of battle and civilians’ experiences at a comfortable and safe distance.  While soldiers are at war, the normal lives of civilians continue. It is as if they are completely oblivious to the carnage that their sons, fathers, or brothers are enduring.  You are also lead to believe that their attitudes about the war and the casualties are unsympathetic from the following lines from the poem:  “I’d like to see a Tank come down the stalls/ Lurching to rag-time tunes, or “Home, sweet Home/ And there’d be no more jokes in the Music-halls/ To mock the riddled corpses round Bapaume”.  Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” is another brutal and horrifying experience of the war.  Owen grimly describes watching a fellow soldier die from Mustard gas and just how it affects him.  The line “In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, / He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning” provides such evidence. 

The American New Poets

There is much irony contained within Edgar Lee Masters’ “Hamilton Greene”.  Hamilton Greene is the biological child of Thomas Greene and Elsa Wertman, a German peasant who worked at the Greene’s.  Mrs. Greene learns of Elsa’s secret and decides to take the child as her own since she has no children of her own.  Hamilton lives his entire life never knowing who his biological mother is and pays homage to his parents, who are of “valiant and honorable blood both” and states that he owes them his success.  Hamilton believes he inherited certain traits from both his mother and father that resulted in his achievements, meanwhile being completely oblivious as to who he really is.  Another poem that contains irony is “Rueben Bright”.  In this poem, Ruben Bright’s wife passes away and he is absolutely devastated.  Since he is a butcher, people were surprised that he would show such emotion, especially on the matter of death. 

W.B Yeats

W.B Yeats’ “When You Are Old”, to me, projects a somber message to a person Yeats once deeply cared for.  I got the impression that this person was no longer in Yeats’ life at the time the poem was written.  In the poem, he is telling this person to reflect back on their life when they are older and to remember what once was: the happiness this person brought unto others, and also their beauty (perhaps inner as well as outer beauty) whether it was meaningless or not.  Also, this person was loved for their young and innocent soul and continued to be loved throughout the years as they grew older and changed physically and mentally.  But sadness is to be expected after reflecting on the past: “…a little sad, from us fled love”.  Yeats (or the speaker) is no longer in this person’s life and when this person is looking back they’re reminded of this.  The last line of the poem also suggests that they’re practically strangers now.  Yeats’ poem, “A Coat” is referencing to the changes that were brought about by the English, such as their attempts to convert the Irish into Protestant or replace their language.  The “song” in which Yeats writes about could be the Irish traditions that are trying to be altered.  I view the “fools”, as stated in the fifth line, as the British that are forcing the Irish to do away with their heritage and the normalcy of their everyday life.  Not wanting to conform, the speaker would much rather do away with his “coat” as opposed to being forced to change his traditions. 

Thomas Hardy's "Hap" and "Neutral Tones"

I interpreted Thomas Hardy’s “Hap” as an approach to question religion and God, for that matter, and that he believes the universe is controlled by sheer chance and isn’t due to a higher being.  If there was a God, then there is no way that evil would occur due to perhaps punishment.  It would be brought on by chance.  Also, if God does exist, why would He allow such evils?  The first stanza is evident of Hardy’s lack of belief in God by not capitalizing the ‘g’ in God.  This expresses that he fails to believe in a higher being.  He also states that people allow themselves to come to terms with the suffering they’ve endured by believing in something that is much more powerful than anything they’ve ever known; they are comforted by the idea that God knows they have suffered and He will ease such pain:  “Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I had willed and meted me the tears I shed.”  Hardy’s poem “Neutral Tones”, to me, is about the ending of a long and tiresome relationship.  The standard tone in Hardy’s poems is “a man meditating on his losses, surrounding by ghost of what he has loved or hoped for” (Ramazani 44), and this poem is no exception.  The title signifies that there is no color in Hardy’s life; no love.  The nature of the relationship is also evident in the tenth line.  The dead smile may support that there is no longer any happiness being sustained within the relationship.