Wednesday, October 19th
For today's reading, I looked at several poems in the Norton book including "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud", "We Real Cool," "Song of Myself," "Exchanging Hats," "My Papa's Waltz," Because I could not stop for Death," and "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner."
Poetry is one of my favorite things to analyze, so reading these classic poems and analyzing their meaning was fun.
Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud" was a good read, especially because of the imaginative imagery throughout. It was very easy to picture what Wordsworth was describing in my mind. The ABABCC rhyme scheme helped the flow and I enjoyed the form of the poem because it made the poem look clean. I had to look up what "jocund" meant (which it means cheerful), but besides that, I was easily able to understand every word and how it fit into the memory and imaginative theme. I also recognized the last stanza because I have analyzed it in another English course taught here. It was cool to see the whole poem and not just that stanza. I could relate greatly to this poem because I find myself daydreaming in my bed a bunch. Wordsworth seemed to put all of my daydreaming thoughts in a poem.
Brooks' "We Real Cool" was a different looking poem that was equally as impressive to me. The line breaks look funky, but they were actually executed greatly. The jumping from line to line added to the experience of the read and contributed to the theme of youth rebellion. The youthful theme was added to with the alliteration and rhyming of words like "lurk late" and "strike straight." While it is repetitive saying "We" over and over again, I think it really helped the poem's theme be driven forward. It reminded me of high school and felt kind of like it was mocking the "cool" kids, which was interesting.
Whitman's "Song of Myself" was a painful read for me. I know Walt Whitman is considered one of the greatest poets of all time, but I do not enjoy reading his work because it feels too much like a short story rather than a poem. I understand why this piece was a poem because of the different poetic devices that were used throughout, however, the form of the poem looked like a novel. While the look and feel of the poem was not my favorite, I recognize the great writing that Whitman did within the poem. His decision to start the poem in medias res helped add to biographical aspect.
Bishop's "Exchanging Hats" was probably my favorite poem in this collection. I liked how the poem explored gender roles and how fashion is more than just what you wear. If you couldn't tell yet, I am big on the form of a poem and I really enjoyed how this poem was structured. It was easy to follow and the content throughout was both clever and a call to reevaluate social norms. The reference to Alice in Wonderland in the line, "the natural madness of the hatter" was my favorite line.
Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz" was a dark poem that brought readers into the life of a son who feels tension with his father. After the first read I thought that this was a positive and happy poem about a father and son's relationship, but after the second read, I could tell something was off. The undertones of violence and things not being as they seem was executed perfectly and added to the overall experience of the read. It remained me of a father and son messing around and fighting at first but then seemed like this roughhousing was a sign of abuse.
Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death" has been one of my favorite poems for some time now, and rereading it was just as great as when I read it for the first time. Emily Dickinson is my favorite poet and the way that she personifies death before you even start reading is both evident and well-executed. The title itself tells more about the poem than most, with "Death" being capitalized. Once you read the poem, you realize that Death isn't the only character, but Immortality is also another character. Death is almost downplayed at the beginning of the poem before a dark twist happens and readers feel the wickedness of these two characters. I am a big fan of the show "Dickinson" on Apple TV so it was interesting seeing the poem in full length and seeing how it is portrayed on the show.
Jarrell's "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" was interesting with its use of war imagery to compare a newborn baby and a soldier in war. The way he compares a newborn baby coming out of the womb and a young man going to war both being helpless was excellent. I typically do not enjoy pieces like this, but I thought it was both clever and simple to read. This was a very short poem, but every word carried intense meaning.
Here is a link to a song that gives me the same vibes as "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud"