Simile

"I'm startled by men who look like you."

The poem "Getting Out" by Cleopatra Mathis contains a simile that really helps to interpret the poem. The excerpt above means that the speaker still hasn't gotten over her love for the man who she used to be with. "Heaving words like furniture" told me that is was an ugly break up. However, the woman has not totally let go of her memories of the man. It says that she still has pictures of good times that the couple shared together. "We held on tight, and let go," the last sentence, also helped me to interpret this poem. This means that they were in a very strong and serious relationship. However, at the end of it, they just gave up instead of trying to fix it and now they are split up.

Tone

"The sea is calm tonight, the tide is full, the moon lies fair"

The poem "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold has a tone that is, to me, relaxed, peaceful, and somewhat observant. The excerpt above is the opening lines of the poem. These set the tone immediately and it continues throughout the work. Even the clash of the armies at the end seems relaxed to me. There are not any words or phrases that stand out to me that would make the tone suspenseful or intense. Also, I don't believe that these armies are literal. I believe they are figurative and stand for love and hate. I believe this because the poem says "hath neither joy" and "love, let us be true." These two phrases contribute to the armies of love and hate.

Imagery

"Then thy sick taper will begin to wink"

In the poem "The Apparition" by John Donne, imagery is used to help visualize what is happening in the poem. The excerpt above helps me to picture a dim candle flickering in the dark. This also helps me to understand the time period because the man in the poem most likely does not have lights if he has a candle. Also, the phrase "Bathed in a cold quicksilver sweat" helps me to visualize a person who is pale and sweating bullets. I believe that this poem is about a man imagining himself as a ghost visiting a woman. In the poem, he accuses her of having lost her virginity. I believe he is visiting her to get her to admit to cheating on him. He wants her to admit something, and he belives that she has sinned and demands repentence.

Personification

"But such a tide as moving seems asleep"

In the poem "Crossing the Bar" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, personification is employed to assist the speaker in progressing through the poem. The tide is personified to help show that it is deceptively strong. It seemed to have jumped up on the speaker all of a sudden. "When that which drew from out the boundless deep" illustrates that the tide blended in with the rest of the ocean. "Turns again home" seems to give the impression that it comes and goes swiftly because "home," to me, meant the bottom of the ocean. I thought that this poem meant that a sailor was embarking on a dangerous journey in which he wasn't sure if he would live. He "(hopes) to see (his) Pilot face to face" when it is all over. This also told me that his Pilot was someone who meant a lot to the sailor.

Dialect

"i hitsm with my mop an has ta flush the toilet down"

In the poem "Hazel Tells LaVerne" by Katharyn Howd Machan, the dialect that the speaker uses is very peculiar. It is clear that the speaker is either a child or a very uneducated adult. Words like "musta," "ta," and "hitsm" make this claim clear to me. Also, I noticed that this story sounded very familiar, and after reading the questions after the poem, I realized why it did. This poem is a revision of the fairy tale "The Frog Prince." Hazel's language and dialect in the poem reveals her childish personality. She screams when the fish asks to kiss and and then kills it. Her dialect also adds humor to the childish nature of the poem.

next to of course god america i

The poem "next to of course god america i" by e.e. cummings makes absolutely no sense to me. However, there are some things I noticed about this poem that could help me to deconstruct it. First of all, the majority of the poem is in quotation marks. This sort of gives off the idea that this is a quote of some sort. Next, I noticed that two patriotic songs are partially quoted, the Star Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful. I believe that these help the author to add a unique "American" effect to the poem. Finally, this poem gave off the idea that the speaker could be a preacher. The quotation marks and the drink of water at the end tell me that the speaker was most likely speaking to a certain group of people about America.

Personification

In the poem "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley, the hand and the heart are personified to help add an effect to the poem. The hand "mocks" and the heart "feeds." The effect gained from this is that the hand of the sculptor helped to mock Ozymandias. The heart of the sculptor is where all of the hate for the tyrant came from. This also helps to show that Ozymandias was a tyrant and a bad leader. I believe that he is a symbol of corruption. He is an example of what can happen if a leader lets power get to his head. It has happened many times and history, and Ozymandias portrays a perfect example of how people think about these leaders.

Paradox

In "Batter my heart, three-personed God" by John Donne, a paradox is used in the first quatrain that is used to describe God. In the paradox, the speaker asks God to batter his heart, but then says that He "seeks to mend." How can one "batter" a heart and be called a mendor at the same time? I believe that this adds to the speakers attitude towards God. The speaker seems to get frustrated but then turns to God for help. The speaker also says that he is "betrothed unto your enemy." I took this to mean the devil. The speaker is a sinner, but he goes to God for repentence.

Metaphor

In "Sorting Laundry" by Elisavietta Ritchie, the first stanza contains a metaphor that largely impacts the rest of the poem. The speaker compares folding clothes to "folding (her lover) into (her) life." I took this to mean that she wanted her lover with her at all times. She cannot stand to be away from him. This metaphor comes up again later in the poem when she speaks of folding her own clothes. She says that she could not do it. She could not be without her man. She says that nothing could fill that empty gap in her life. This poem is all about how she needs her man in order to function in her life. She would be lost without him.

Situational Irony

In the poem "APO 96225" by Larry Rottman, situational irony is used to add a certain effect to the poem. The situational irony occurs when the soldier decides to give in to his mother's request and tell her what he is really doing in Vietnam. The soldier wasn't giving in, and he had been describing the physical conditions of Vietnam, such as the weather. Finally, the soldier informs his mother that he killed a man and many women and children. He then recieves a letter from his father that discourages his graphic description, so the poem ends by him sending the weather report back to his mother. This adds the effect of portraying how the American public viewed the Vietnam War. They knew something bad was happening, but they didn't want to know. The mother knew something bad was going on, but she really didn't want to know.

Metaphor

In the poem "Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes, there are numerous similes and one metaphor. The similes directly compare the deferred dream to something. However, the metaphor stands out. The metaphor brings a comparison of a bomb into the poem. This is effective because when a dream is postponed, it becomes a bigger deal to fulfill it. The explosion is saying that it occurs in a grand fashion. It is a happy and joyous time when one fulfills a dream. The speaker may have fulfilled a dream that he had been waiting to fulfill all of his life.

Extended Metaphor

The poem "I taste a liquor never brewed" by Emily Dickinson is one large metaphor. The alcoholic intoxication is being compared to being intoxicated by a fresh summer morning. Some "liquors" named are "Air " and "Dew." She also speaks of people flocking to the sun. I can relate to this because I love summer mornings. I love the feeling of the air and the unique feeling of the dew on my feet. She says the summer mornings make her want to drink more. This means that she wants more summer mornings because she can't get enough of them.

Apostrophe

In "Bright Star" by John Keats, an apostrophe is present throughout the poem. The speaker is addressing the personified star. This is more effective than just describing the star because it makes it easier to visualize the star. I can put myself in that situation. I could go outside and speak to a star if I wanted, and I would have more insight than just staring at it. It allows you to picture yourself as the star. I can see myself looking down at the world and seeing the sun in space. This provides a softer tone for the poem.

Paradox

In "February" by Margaret Atwood, a paradox adds an effect to the poem. The paradox is "it's love that does us in." This paradox means that we are overpopulating because we are "loving" to much. The phrase adds to the effect that we can control our destinies, but we are headed for trouble. The speaker is so passionate that she requests castration. I do not understand how this paradox relates to February though. It may be that it is in February when she sees the cat reproduce. This reminds her of the growing population which she has a very strong opinion on.

Tone

In "The Joy of Cooking" by Elaine Magarrell, the tone is very odd. It is both amusing and bitter. The speaker seems to amuse herself by speaking bitterly of her brother and her sister. She gets joy out of preparing her sister's tongue and cooking her brother's heart. However, this tone leads you to believe that this poem is not literal. If it was, I believe that the tone would be dark and sinister. The brightness that this tone gives off says that the speaker is probably just venting about her brother and sister. She has held it in for a long time, and she is letting loose in an odd way.

Panther

I also found the poem "The Panther" by Rainer Maria Rilke to be very interesting. The panther seems majestic because it is calm and observant, unlike a lion would be. The panther also brings a sense of darkness to the tone of the poem. Panthers are dark, and this one is confined against its will. The images of confinement are achieved by the phrases "constantly passing bars" and "cramped circles." Rilke keeps the tone in darkness by the way he ends the poem. The poem is ended without a final picture of what happens. The reader is left to interpret how the scenario ends. I believe that the image of the home of the panther enters its heart and leaves as it is taken away to an unknown place.

Funeral

I found the poem "I Felt a Funeral, in my Head" by Emily Dickinson very interesting. In this poem, Dicksinson metaphorically describes a mental breakdown in which her logic collapses. The poem is a metaphor of a funeral procession. An example of a detail that represents a funeral is when she says "I heard them lift a box." This phrase means a casket is being lifted by pallbearers. Dickinson's logic is being put to rest in her mind. Her imagery is also very vivid to hearing. She speaks of hearing a "creak" and bells beginning to toll. There is a funeral procession being played out in her mind.

Tone

The tone of the poem "The Convergence of the Twain" by Thomas Hardy is something along the lines of "I told you so." It is a condemning tone that almost gives the impression that the author knew before the ship sailed that the Titanic was not invincible. There are parts in the poem where the author sets a dark mood. An example is when the author describes the extravagant jewels but then ends the stanza describing them as "lightless" and "blind." However the author becomes sarcastic when he talks about the fish asking why it's so "vainglorious down there." The author also uses visual imagery to portray the ship sinking and people dying. He also uses visual imagery to refer to the ship at the bottom of the ocean. An example is when he talks about the sea worms "grotesquely" crawling on the sunken ship.

Personification

In the poem "To Autumn" by John Keats, personification is used to describe the season of autumn. Autumn is personified as a young child. This describes the season as a child. The child seems calm, like the middle of the season. There is a soft wind and "twined flowes" as well. The soft wind ruffles the child's hair while he sits carelessly on the floor. I can relate to the carelessness of fall because I am careless while watching football on the weekends. That is all that is important to me, and I am also calm during that time too.

Oxymoron

In the poem "London" by William Blake, an oxymoron is used to help the author make a point. The author is showing sympathy to a prostitute rather than placing blame on her. The author shows that the setting is miserable, and there may be nothing else to do for money. The oxymoron is "Marraige hearse." This phrase is adding to the effect that people are in pain and dying. Royalty is not paying attention to these people, and the soldiers are turning their backs. All the social classes in society are being affected by these hardships. People are miserable and everyone seems to be crying.

Perrine Reflection

Prior to reading Perrine's essay, I had the idea that I would be in disagreement with the author throughout the work. However, after reading it, I changed my mind and now agree with Perrine. His criteria of accounting for detail and reliance on the poem itself make perfectly good sense to me. His interpretation of the poems make sense and contain explanation on why he interprets them the way he does. I now see how I am wrong in my interpretations of the poems. I did not dig deep enough and pay attention to detail closely enough. I also agree with one of his final conclusions. He says that a symbol cannot mean just anything, and I see how that is true. Using this idea, I found the differences between my interpretation of "The Sick Rose" and the author's interpretation, and I saw where his ideas were more logical than mine.