"Life Cycle of Common Man" by Howard Nemerov

I think this poem will be the never ending emotional cycles of mankind. Howard writes about how men leave behind things after they are gone. From material things, to words, to things that they use, he is amazed at all a human being does. The poem contains a metaphor (the world is his apple, and forces him to eat), a personification (would stagger the imagination), and imagery (cartoon's bubble of speech proceeding). Nemerov day dreams about all the things involved in a human's life and is infatuated. He wants his readers to share his fascination and reflect about his writing and relate to his opinion. The shift happens when he starts to question all the actions of humans in line 19. The title means what all humans do in their lifetime and what impact they leave. The theme is life is what you make it.

I think this poem kind of strange and used weird analogies but I liked it. The stuff that he was writing about was deep and not an ordinary poem. He actually made me think about what he was saying.

"My Mother's Face" by Brenda Serotte

I think this poem will be about someone reflecting about their mother's face. This poem says that this women is getting ready for work and she sees her mother's face looking at her in the mirror. Her mother cries and sighs and she states that if her mother had been silient she would of surely thought it would have been her in the mirror. Serotte uses imagery (red frizzled hair wild in all directions),and personification (smile weighted with loss). The shift occurs in line 12 when she says that her mother started crying without warning. The title means that she sees her mother's face in the mirror and it resembles her own. The theme is mother's are emotional about their children.

I thought the whole time she was talking about herself until she said that that if she would have been silent she would have thought it would have been her. I like this poem even though it's random. Her mother sounds straight up ugly.

"Dreamers" by Siegfried Sassoon

I think this poem will be about someone dreaming about something pleasant. The soldiers are surrounded by war and horrible conditions. Their only hope of getting home is surviving. They dream about being at home with their spouses and enjoying the little things. This poem has a metaphor (soldiers are citizens of death's grey land), personification (mocked by hopeless longing), and hyperbole (gnawed by rats/lashed with rain). I think Sassoon admires the soldiers and feels sorry for them at the same time. I think he wants us to try and imagine what they are going through and feel his sympathy for them. The shift happens when he says soldiers are dreamers. The title means that soldiers are the actual dreamers. The theme is dreams are not always reality but we all have to have hope.

I like this poem although I'm not usually into war poems. I think in hard times we all dream of a unrealistic reality. I feel sorry for all the terrible conditions they go through. Yet that's what the author wanted me to do, feel sorry for them.

"Dear Tia" by Carolina Hospital

This poem is about a child that never really knew their mother. She was scared to write for so long and tried to act like her mother never existed. The poem has a paradox (in a land so familiarly foreign), and imagery (the sweetness of your bath). The author feels scared to write to her mother. She feels depressed because she never got the chance to experience anything with her at all. I think the author wants the reader to feel some of the pain that she felt. The shift happens when she reveals that the person she's writing about is her mother in line 12. The title is the name of her mother. The theme is no matter what has happened it is in a child's nature to love their mother.

I loved how this poem is written but it made me depressed. I can't imagine how she feels. I would be so scared to write to my mother after all those years. I wondered how she even knew her address.

"The Sound of the Sea" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This poem is about someone who loves the sea and is dreaming in awe of it's raw and confusing powers. He describes in great detail of his view of the sea and explains that some things are beyond our reason or control. This poem contains a paradox (a voice out of silence from the sea), personification (the sea awoke), and a simile (as of a cataract from the mountain's side). Longfellow loves the sea but realizes that he will never understand it and that it's out of his control. I think he wants his readers to realize that as much as you try to understand something sometimes you have to respect the fact that you can't control it. The shift happens in line 9 when he stops describing the sea and talking about emotions. The title means that the sea's sounds, like the sea, are unpredictable and uncontrollable. The theme of this poem is some things are out of our hands.

I think he really loves and respects the sea. I think everyone should be passionate about something and the sea inspires him. I really liked all the descriptive words and the use of his paradox.

"Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden

This poem talks about a boy's father that did a lot of nice things for him. The boy never thanked him because he was scared to talk to his father and he didn't want to make him angry. The boy didn't understand that his father actually did love him a lot. This poem uses imagery (banked fires blaze, cracked hands, blueblack cold), personification (heat the cold splintering, breaking), and metaphor (love's austere and lonely offices). Hayden feels regret that he didn't thank his father and realize that he truly loved him. I think that he wants his readers to feel somewhat sorry for him and his loss and not to make the same mistake that he did. The shift happens when he said he was fearing the chronic angers of that house because before that it was just talking of all the nice things his father did for him. The title is him thinking back to those winter sundays that he spent with his dad. The theme is love speaks in many ways.

I feel really sorry for Hayden because he never did understand his father and was scared of him. I experienced the whole being scared of your dad thing but if my dad had done nice things for me I think I would have realized that he loved me. I know he regrets not thanking him but I'm sure he just didn't know how to.

"Woman" by Nikki Giovanni

I think this poem is about a woman who wanted to be so many things and when she looked for support in her partner he refused to be there for her. In the end instead of being depressed and upset she decided that it was alright that he didn't want to be a man for her. There are many metaphors in this poem because she compares herself to things(a blade, robin, web, a book, a bulb, and a woman). It also gives you imagery (grass amid the fields). I think Giovanni wanted this woman to feel disappointed and then self assured in the end. I think Giovanni wanted the readers to feel sympathy and somewhat happy for her independence with the ending. The shift happened when she decided it was all right when he didn't want to be a man for her. The title means a woman can be independent and it be okay. The theme is women are strong without a man to disappoint.

I like this poem because it shows the strength of this woman. Although she wanted him to be so many things for her when he refused she decided that it was okay. Every woman on earth is disappointed by a man some time in their life and for her to be able to accept it gives inspiration.

"Another Descent" by Wendell Berry

I think when winter comes around these people in the poem feel like they aren't even on earth because the weather is so harsh. When spring comes back around they feel like they have their home again and everything is brighter. This poem uses hyperbole (We walked above the ground on fallen sky), simile (rivulets run like songbirds on the slopes), personification (branches of light sing in the hills), imagery (branches of light, March warms), extended metaphor (Winter is another planet, and spring is their earth). I think the author feels on one hand miserable and on the other hopeful. I think he wants the readers to feel sympathetic for him and the people. The shift happens when he talks about the warm March and the hope that March brings. The title means that they were descending from a harsh winter which felt like another planet, to a warm home they call earth. The theme for this poem is life goes through its cycles of ups and downs.

I think this poem is very expressive and emotional but in a reserved way. I liked the fact how he expressed how he felt and made me paint a mental picture.

"Marks" by Linda Pastan

I think this poem is about a mother who is always graded by her family and feels unappreciated for all that she does for them. She knows that she could improve as a mother but she doesn't even want to because of the way her family treats her. Pastan uses an extended metaphor for the whole poem comparing her performances and actions to a report card from her family's grading. I think Pastan feels like nothing she does is good enough so she uses sarcasm to express her depression and fed up attitude. I think she wants her readers to feel empathy for her and resent her family. The shift occurs when she says that she's going to "drop out". The title stands for the "marks" or grades that her family gives her. The theme is you never know what you have until it's gone.

I think a lot of mothers feel this way and Pastan is about to have a mental break down. I like this poem in a way because it shows how women are unappreciated but I don't like how her family grades her. She's human and not a report card and for her family to grade her is just mean. If my husband told me a was a B+ in bed I would tell him where to stick it.

"After Making Love We Hear Footsteps" by Galway Kinnell

I think this poem describes a married couple making love and afterwards their son jumping in bed with them. They make love while they think their son is sound asleep. When they are finished to their surprise their son appears in this baseball pajamas and hops in bed with them. He falls asleep and they look at each other and smile. This poem uses personification (only the mortal sounds can sing awake), simile (snore like a bullhorn), hyperbole (the necked opening so small, he has to screw them on), and symbolism (the smile that they share represents the love they share with their son and one another). I think the author is happy in life and has experienced what he's writing about because it comes across in a very loving way. I think he wants his readers to feel the love and happiness that he has felt himself. The shift in the poem happens when his son appears in his baseball pajamas. The title says that their son walks in after they make love. The theme of the poem is love brings many blessings.

I really like this poem because it makes me smile knowing that a couple could be that happy and in love. I don't however like how they know that their son wakes up to them making love yet they leave the door open for him to come in. That's not an appropriate for a kid to be in a bed with his parents naked. I do like how they express how much love they have for their son by comparing him to a blessing. I love how the author shows that this couple doesn't view it as having sex but as making love.

Poetry Notes

TPCASTT

• Title- What is the Significance? What does it mean?
• Paraphrase- Summary of the action/plot in 2-3 sentences.
• Connotative Language -Sound Devices-rhyme, alliteration, rhythm, assonance, consonance, repetition, onomatopoeia,
  Figurative Language- symbol, personification, paradox, synecdoche, simile, metaphor, alegory allusion, oxymoron, parallelism, irony, imagery, metonymy, enjambment
• Attitude- Tone- how the author/speaker wants you to feel
  Mood- how the author/speaker feels
• Shift/"Turn" in a Sonnet- a change in attitude or tone- Why? Indicated by transitions: ( ), -, and, but
• Title-Rethink its significance
• Theme- Universal truth stated in one or two complete sentences.
  

Scansion-analysis of rhythm in poetry

The Foot- a combination of syllables, the basic building block of poetry

• iamb(iambic)- (unstressed stressed): today, because
• trochee(trachaic)- (stressed unstressed): happy, lightly
• anapest(anapestic)- (unstressed unstressed stressed): obvious, regular
• dactye(dactylic)- (stressed unstressed unstressed): cigarette, interrupt
• spondee(spondaic)- (stressed stressed): downtown, slipshad

The Line- count feet per line

• 1 ft = monometer
• 2 ft = dimeter
• 3 ft = trimeter
• 4 ft = tetrameter
• 5 ft = pentameter
• 6 ft = hexameter
• 7 ft = heptameter
• 8 ft = octometer
• 9 ft = nonometer

The Stanza- lines per stanza

• 1 = line
• 2 = couplet
• 3 = triplet/tercet
• 4 = quatrain
• 5 = cinquain
• 6 = sestet
• 7 = septet
• 8 = octave

Rhyme

• Masculine = end rhyme is stressed
• Feminine = end rhyme is unstressed
• near/slant rhyme-same ending consonant but vowel sound is close (not same)
• internal rhyme- rhyme within the line

Sonnets

Italian/Petrarchan

• Francis Petrarch loved Laura
• 14 lines long
• 1 octave- establishes poem
• 1 sestet- shift/turn, reveals solution
• abbabba cdecde- rhyme scheme
• Organization- general to specific, comparison/contrast, cause/effect, before/after, question and answer

English/Elizabethan/Shakespearean

• 14 lines long
• 3 quatrains
• 1 couplet
• abab cdcd efef gg- rhyme scheme
• Organization-beginning, middle,end; thesis example, example; past, present, future; morning, noon, night; birth, life, death