Easter-wings by George Herbert

When first approaching the poem, I notice that it is written sideways. Also, it is in the shape of wings. This poem is deffinately not a traditional straight line, boring piece of work. The poem talks about the Lord giving us wealth and abundance in the beginging of life (Adam and Eve). But, how foolishly we lost the abundance. Through the Fall in the Garden of Eden is the main issue that George Herbert is approaching. When Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit they gained knowledge which shut them off from the presence of the Lord. For the rest of mankind, everyone must work for their food and must labor dillegently because of Adam and Eves sin. He talks of decaying more and more and this could mean how we lost the ability to be immortal. We now decay in the ground because we are mortals. It also talks of how poor he became, i'm guessing when he say 'he' he means mankind. Adam and Eve lost all the beauty and glory from God so they became poor in spirit. At different points in the poem he relates to actual wings; one of these being the larks. Larks are old world birds that sing sweet songs. Another point is; "if I imp my wings on thine, affliction shall advance the flight in me". Imp means grafting additional feather unto the wings of a hawk to imporve its flight. Moving on from the wings it goes into flight. I like to think of it like we are all birds of the Lord, but we need his help to soar. Overall great poem, lots of hidden meanings throughout it.

Harlem by Langston Hughes

This poem is short consisting of only 7 stanzas. Most of the stanzas are questions. The rhymes are sun, run ..sore, over..meat, sweet. Langston Hughes starts this poem off with a intense question; "What happens to a dream deffered?" (what happens to a dream postponed, or delayed). He then choses to answer that question with more questions throught the poem; "Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?". While we are trying to figure out what happens to a dream deffered, he keeps giving us more things to think about. From running, to sores, to sugar, to sags in heavy loads and the final question: "Or does it explode?". We don't know what happens to dreams when they are interrupted. They could go on in other places of the mind or wait for us to fall back asleep and continue. Maybe Langston is talking about dreams as in goals or things we look forward to. Do our goals in life dry up, fester, rot, crust over, sag or explode? We can't figure out what he is trying to mean because he answers each question with another question. I believe he wants us to believe that things we think too hard about explode. He gives us all those questions to contemplate and then he drops us off a cliff with the explode question. I think he doesn't want us to get a brain haemorrhage, but he does want to confuse us with what meaning it could be. I like how simple the poem looks, but it spans out into a million possibilities.

We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar

This poem has great imagery throughout the stanzas. The rhymes throught the poem are lies, eyes... guiles, smile, sighs, while, cries, arise, vile, mile, other-wise and over-wise (these don't rhyme exactly but it uses the "I" in its pronunciation). Paul Dunbar attacked the topic of hidding who we really are, in this poem. It starts out talking about: "the mask that grins and lies". Meaning we all may seem calm on the outside, but on the inside we are full of lies. Then it says, "the debt we pay to human guile" which means the things we do for humanity's deciet. "With torn and bleeding hearts we smile" also has to do with seeming calm on the outside but really fighting a war on the inside. The next lines kind of confront why we hide behind masks. It says we shouldn't because the world is not "over-wise" or over knowledgable. It basically says the world makes mistakes so why can't we? It then jumps back into the hiding part saying: "nay, let them only see us, while we wear the mask". We pray to God from our tortured souls and then we turn around and wear the mask. We should be humble and show our weaknesses and take off the mask. I also think this poem has to do with people not being who they really are. They hide behind a mask their whole lives pretending to be someone they are not. I like how it tells the world to dream otherwise, basically take off that mask and show the world for who you are.

The road not taken by Robert Frost

This poem is fantastic. I love the first scentence in the begining it says: two roads diverged. It's almost as if you can see the two paths. I like how he talks of looking down one road as far as he could ,but it bends and he can't see any further. I also like how he describes each path the first one being bent in undergrowth and the second one being grassy and wanting wear. He talks of both paths being worn almost the same and they equally lay with no leaves crunched by walking feet. So, either road he takes no one has taken, is what i'm getting out of this. He then says I doubt if i should ever come back. This poem has allot to do with choices we make in life. We can chose to do a career in medicine or in government, either choice will take us down a totally different path. We all try and look into the future as far as we can and see where we will be in ten years. That is impossible to do, no one can know where there going to be. That's the exciting part about life, not knowing what's going to happen. I like how Robert Frost ends the poem he says " I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference". He's basically saying don't be a follower. Make your life how YOU want it. Make choices that are yours.

To an Athlete Dying Young

When I first read the title 'To an Athlete Dying Young' I imagened an athlete dying when he first started a sport. When I read farther it had an amazing discriptive part about ,The time you won your town the race. It talks of people cheering, and bringing you shoulder high and setting you at your threshold down. That in essence, means like a throne to me. All athletes are on a pedestal in the peak of their careers. Then the poem switch gears and starts to get gloomy. The poem talked of fields where glory does not stay, so we know something happened. Either the athlete grew old and lived on or the athlete is dead. I see how it could be both because, an athlete can die in any one of us. But, the vibe I get from the rest of the poem is that he grew older and became slower, less athletic and someone faster and stronger replaced him. The poem says the name died before the man, that sentence is like a realization point in the whole poem. We realize that he's talking about how the man is still alive but the athlete inside of him is dead. No one remembers what he did, all they remember is a name that gets replaced with the next athlete. Glory doesn't last forever for athletes. It's brief and it leaves you to fend for yourself.

Poetry

Some people believe poetry stands for Pain Of Every Type Ruining You. Not all poetry is evil and boring. I like poetry, it can be exciting. Poetry is a release of all your sufferings and heartaches. It can be a spiritualy uplifting experience to release built up emotions. Poetry isn't just the old, boring, watered down bull crap you are used to. Poetry is modern and intruiging in every aspect. If your thinking of a dark coffee shop where goons who want to get on stage and bear their soul to the beat of a drum, your right and wrong. Coffee shop readings are still around but there is also slam poetry. People are picked by random and come on stage to express their every emotion. You can read slam poetry in anyway you like (fast, slow, in different languages, in different tones, your body language can also attribute to how you perform),their is no topic. You can talk of your struggles, your weaknesses, your day-day life or anything you can possibly think of. My perspective on poetry is slighty altered. Poetry is like music, the olden day music bores me and modern day music is fun to listen to. I like the newer poetry, but the older poetry puts me to sleep. Poetry can be fun depending on how you look at it.

How to read a poem.

Ah the joys of sitting down and reading a confusing poem. Most people are excited, but I groan at this thought. Poetry to me, is a confusing jumble of words meant to make me angry when I try to guess it's meaning. How to read a poem made me feel like less of a failure. It pointed out how poems are indeed confusing and theres not always one set way to interpret it. Reading a poem has a lot to do with attitude and technique. It's important to get the background on the author or where the poem is located in order for us to understand it. It's also important to know that you probably won't get the poem the first time you read it. Nothing is wrong with you, you just haven't cracked the code yet. Missing the point to a poem is very common and irritating. But, also understand that the poem cam mean anything readers want it to mean. If you are having a good day and the poem seems happy then it's happy. Poems are meant for us to interpret them and figure out what they mean to us. Reading poetry is a challenge, but it takes practice and as you read more poetry you'll start to grasp their meanings. Encountering a difficult poem is like a game or sport, it makes you work a bit. You can't expect to speed through a poem and grasp it's meaning. It's also a good idea to ask questions when approaching a poem for the first time. For example:
Who is the speaker?
What is the tone?
What situation is present?
If the poem is a question, what is the answer?
If the poem is an answer, what is the question?
These questions can help us to better understand the meaning to poems. The task is to grasp, to connect and to understand what the authur is trying to portray. Predictable and easy to digest poetry is very rare to come by. So, be prepared for the ultimate torment of trying to comprehend most poems.