Select any important poem to analyze using the (1) explication & (2) scansion techniques we have worked on. Your poem may be from the famous sheaf or from the Hicks sheaf I gave you--or it may be another important poem you find on your own. You may not select just any song or basic poem. You'll know if the poem you find is important. If you are not sure, ask me for approval. If you select an unimportant poem, you may not earn any higher grade than a "D."
Type quotation marks around the title of your selected poem.
Click to find poems (or search with Google, of course):
Classic Poetry Aloud site
Poetry Foundation site
I. Follow the directions at the two links above, "(1) explication" & "(2) scansion," to make decisions about the poem. Explain how the poem's form, meter, rhyme, rhythm, diction, syntax, typography affect its meaning and the reader's experience.
II. Explain why this poem matters to you personally. What in it particularly "speaks to you"?
Type 300+ total words to earn the credit you seek. (The pictured Maya Angelou wrote many important poems.)
64 comments:
In Note to a Friend yet to be Born, Patrick Hicks is trying to make his legacy live on through his poetry. Hicks himself is the speaker talking to a future individual reading his poetry about carrying on his legacy by reading his poetry and embracing it because the poetry is not just for the writer, it is to make his life live on forever through his writing. He speaks about how he is a tourist, his spirit travels with his writings and time may separate him but he will be joined when the current reader passes as well and he will too embrace the legacy he has left. The vocab used by Hicks is basic on purpose because it is to be a simple address to the reader that his spirit shall be with the poem itself. He writes in three line stanzas to make the flow of the reading go by simply but beautifully. He really does not follow a rhythm at all and that is the beauty of this particular poem because it is not meant to be those most fantastic poem but rather a memo to future generation saying, “Hey, I am still here in spirit through these lines I have wrote because it is my legacy that I shall follow forever.” There really is not a whole lot of syntax involved either because it is supposed to be the simple but exquisite poetry that will go on for an eternity. The beauty in the end of it all is that it is saying no matter what you do with your life, own it and cherish it for it is your life and it is the only one that your legacy can carry so embrace it and live on through it. That is what I feel is being brought forth by Patrick Hicks in this poetry and that is why I have chosen this poem because it leaves a tremendous inspiration to ignite the fire from within.
Clark 2
In the poem Burqa by Patrick Hicks it is dramatized about how religions people can help each other even if they do not believe in the same occurrence. Patrick Hicks does not use rhythm only using two verses with three stanzas then a longer verse to describe the feeling of what the main character felt and then a two line stanza to finish of the poem that makes it end beautifully, making the reader compelled to the feel the same way as the main characters do. Hicks does not use patters in his poem he writes in all free verse. Themes in this poem are religious values, family and the help of others though simple gestures. The Speaker in this poem is Patrick Hicks, who in this situation views the event taking place as just another civilian tourist watching what is happening in a day to day life in London. Hicks is compelled to write this poem because religion should not change the actions you take to help others. Hicks voice is deep and distance from the event happening this is proven when by the way he describes being able to see the top of the stairs to the bottom of the stairs. The main characters besides Hicks in the poem is a woman wearing a burqa and a man helping her, minor characters are people around the man and the women are a “waterfall of people” around them. The plot of the poem is a women is going down a set of stairs with a stroller and many people around her, then the man grabs the front of the stroller and helps the women down the stairs without saying a word to each other, the women smiles at the man with her eyes because she is wearing a burqa, as the man is walking away he turns around and sees the women wave. This poem speaks to me because the man and the women did not let the matter of there religious views get in the way of help. The man may not agree with the women but he had enough respect to help her down a set of stairs. I think that people prejudge and do not understand a simple gesture does not mean that you have to believe in what others believe. I chose the poem because it makes you think about how to treat people and I think Hicks did an amazing job in burring the religions aspects of peoples lives and I think more people can learn of this event.
Dede 2
Patrick Hicks’ poem, “Burqa” is extremely important. The simple act of helping a woman might seem trivial, but the significance of this particular instance is meaningful. This poem dramatizes the conflict between religions. Hicks destroyed the religious barrier most of us are accustomed to in this poem. By making a simple gesture, helping a woman with a stroller down the steep stairway in London, the speaker makes a bold statement. Hicks literally stated he had to unstop himself, probably due to the internal conflict he was battling inside. The woman had a burqa on her head, but rather than concentrating on that Hicks focuses on the baby boy. Hicks notes that “all of us were once this small, / our bones this soft and compact.” He is likely thinking of his own son at this point, observing that we are all alike despite our beliefs. Throughout this poem, there is no dialogue, but the woman’s squinted smile and wave in the end is more meaningful than any words.
Unlike some poets, Hicks does not use rhythm or rhyme, instead he writes in free verse. Hicks starts the poem with a verse that has three stanzas. The next verse also has three stanzas, but the first stanza is extremely unique. Literally at the top of the verse, he states, “at the top.” This is not a coincidence, but rather strategically planned to draw attention to the fact the lady with the burqa and her baby boy stood at the top of the stairs alone. The next verse is five stanzas, which explains what the speaker internally thought, that everyone is equal. The final verse is only two stanzas. Hicks ends the poem with purposefully explaining the excitement in the woman’s gestures, leaving the readers challenged to break religious barriers too.
This poem matters to me because it challenged me to really think about the barriers I have placed in my own life, specifically religious ones. I wondered to myself if I would have helped the woman too, I hope I would have. Hicks’ poem also made me realize that a simple gesture toward another could have more of an impact on them then I ever knew possible. The effort Hicks made to carry the stroller was pretty minimal, but the result was huge—a religious barrier was destroyed.
Pollema 2
Schoolsville by Billy Collins is a poem that has meaning to me. The poem is told by a teacher. This is evident in stanza three when he talks about how he forgot all of their last names first and their first names last. The teacher seems to be bragging in the poem and a somewhat conceded. Supporting this, he says, “Once a teacher always a teacher.” The teacher describes his students by grades. Their grades are engraved in their clothing and style. In stanza 5 the teacher says, “The A’s stroll along with other A’s. The D’s honk whenever they pass another D.” This further describes how the grades describe each student. The A students hang out with other students who are smart and non-rebellious, and the D students hang out with other rebellious students. I also noted that the author uses stroll with the A students; whereas, he uses honk to describe the D students. The word stroll makes the A students appear friendly, whereas the word honk gives the image of a rude abrupt person. There appears to be no rhyme scheme in the poem, adding to the comical tone of the poem. Along with this there seems to be a nostalgic tone to the poem. This is evident with the way the author describes the students and how he is a mayor. Reading the poem is more than satisfactory, however, it has true meaning to it. The theme, in my opinion, is that school defines who you are as a person. If you are an A student, you take pride in your work and are not rebellious against the system. If you are a D student, you care little for school and are rebellious against the system. Although the people who are in the school may change, school life does not actually change.
Beukelman 2
“At the Globe with Shakespeare” by Patrick Hicks is a pretty fascinating and important poem. This poem presents conflicts or themes by making the reader ask themselves “If Shakespeare were here in our world today, what would he think? What would he like and not like?” By asking those to questions like this it also makes you think “Is this the way society should be? Or are we all wrong in what we do and take interest in?” In this poem, it makes the reader feel like the speaker, it forces you to think like Patrick Hicks. Both Hicks and you are asking yourselves what Shakespeare would think of the present day. In the end this poem says “There he would take out his notepad,… his hand fluttering like mad” Us the reader and speaker are imaging what Shakespeare would do in our world, in this case maybe he is writing madly about what he thinks of the world we live in today. I think by reading this poem it motivates us to really think about our world today and maybe take some of it into consideration. This poem asks a lot of rhetorical questions, the purpose of that is just make us think for a second and really focus on it. This poem does not have any rhymes, nor does it need any, it flows perfectly without them. Hicks uses words like metal bird to describe what he meant to be an airplane. This is a clever and cool way of making the reader think “yeah, I guess there like metal birds in the sky” I really enjoyed reading the poem it made me think. It also let my imagination run wild. This poem is important because it is not only impressive but also eye opening.
Eigenberg 5
Out Of Rhe Rolling Ocean, The Crowd, by Walt Whitman, is expressing the unwithering love and emotions that occurs when a loved-one dies. Whitman wrote this poem in short stanzas to not take away from the simplicity and beautiful language chosen. He doesn’t seem to follow any particular scansion or rhyme scheme but the poem is intended to convey feelings rather than a perfectly rhymed piece of literature—the free verse flows more naturally with the tone of the story. Typography is intentional used in this poem (especially in the first stanza with the use of “me and “you”) to draw attention to specific words so the reader evokes a certain feeling. I find this poem to hold deep meaning and express the pain from loosing someone beloved. My interpretation of this poem is the story of a woman who has lost her husband overseas at war. Every day at sundown she goes to the beach to listen to the waves crashing against the shore echoing his love for her still. She studies the shoreline hoping to see him emerging from the water to hold and look at her once again. The widow says how through the ocean and these meetings they are still together. The symbol of the ocean becomes a way for the couple to still connect with one another, but also seen as a barrier between their bodies and love. Once they have met at their place each evening, she tells him he are safe and can go in peace. A line that struck me was, “I salute the air, the ocean and the land.” At that moment the poem took on greater meaning than just a loss, but then entangled the suffrage and grief war brings. Her gesture of the salute was sad but showed her will power and gratitude. War is an extremely hard time for soldiers and their family and friends to endure. I have an incredible amount of respect and appreciation of the women and men who serve our country. What’s impressive is how Whitman was able to embody different emotions and tell such a meaningful story that the reader can’t help but feel something within themselves when reading this important piece of literature.
In the poem “The Hammock” by Li-Young Lee, a calm spiritual feeling is sensed within its lines. This poem is about fate, love, and the future. This poem shows that not all “things” are known and not every aspect of life is clear. Fate controls when you die or pass and we have no control over it but, we do not really die we live forever in the sky as stars, as a part of the universe. It says, “I think how day hides the stars” meaning they are still there we just cannot see them because we are too blinded by the sun or the issues that come in life. This poem says that there is not a goodbye because you never die. Life after “death” is “a little singing between two great rests.” Live your life to the fullest and do not worry about when life may end because your life never really ends. Your legacy lives on through your kids and your kid’s kids. The stars that are not shown in the day time are the babies of the future; the future of the world. I also like this poem because it shows the unconditional love a mother has for her child. This is shown when Lee writes, “waiting inside my mother’s singing to herself. And I remember how she carried me on her back between home and kindergarten.” The love is clearly coming through the words and you can feel the emotion while you read this section. Another section I have come to love is when Lee writes, “I think, Dear God, and remember there are stars we haven’t heard from yet: They have so far to arrive. Amen, I think, and I feel almost comforted.” This part is talking about how humanity has so much farther to go and we have not reached our potential yet. There is still more to come.
Tofteland 2
I choose to do a poetic song by Harry Chapin, Called “Cats in the Cradle”. This poetic song is about a son growing up with out his father but still envying him as a man. The song is trying to compel fathers to be more caring. Through an insightful song, Harry chapin has neglected his own son at the beginning but as he grew the roles were reversed and it was then the son not having time for his own father so then the kid was now envied by the very man he once has envied. Harry wants us to slow down as a family, and wanting to pride ourselves on each other, not on our selves. We only have so much time on this earth and we should be more involved in your children's life’s then in our professional careers. If you don’t slow down and take moments to breath and grow with your family then it will pass you before you know it anticipating the day that you both have free, but by then something else will have come up and the plans will be canceled. The only real form of scansion is the easy tone and flow of words which stays consistent through out the song, as well as the instruments repeating the same chords or notes over again for a lot of the song. As far as the Explication he is making a gesture to encourage people to spend time with each other while they have it and some what of an apology to his own family/son for not being there for them both and tries to inform that your children will learn from what you do so even if you think they are a burden now when you are older and the role has been inevitably reversed you will need them but they will feel now sympathy because of the lack of compassion you have showed them, when they need your compassion and love most, then they will not show these same things when you need them.
Fontenille.Pd.7
I chose the poem Seeker of Truth, by E.E. Cummings. It is a very simple free verse poem consisting of only four lines. The lines are grouped together as one line, two lines, and one line. The first line states “seeker of truth”. This poem is being directed towards anyone who is looking for the truth. The next line is “follow no path”. Basically, Cummings is telling you to not follow any distinct path while looking for the truth because paths can easily be misleading. The third line, “all paths lead where”, is really interesting. Typically, whenever the word “where” is present, a question is being asked. Where do all paths lead? Anywhere? Nowhere? Finally, the last line reads, “truth is here”. Do not go searching for the truth, stay where you are in the present, eventually the truth will find you. The main syntax that I feel is important in this poem is the lack of punctuation. Without punctuation in this poem, the reader has to interpret it in his or her own way. This poem was kind of difficult to interpret and relate to myself, but that is why we do these. To me, this poem relates to choosing which college is the best fit for me, and what major I should choose. At first I was planning on attending school in California, but ended up not applying because I realized how difficult the transition would be so I decided to stick with SDSU and major in Psychology. I chose this poem because it informs the reader to trust their instincts, and to not stray away on some misleading path.
Johnston 5
I chose the poem “The Hammock” by Li-Young Lee. The explication in this particular poem is shown in various ways. The poem starts out before the poet is even born, and goes through his childhood, all the way until he has children of his own. This helps relate to the audience because everyone can relate to growing up. The alliteration of the “mother’s lab” and “son lays his head in my lap”, shows how the cycle of life continues. However you were treated and raised by your parents is often how you will treat your own kids. This is one way in which your parents live through you when they are no longer living. The line that reads, “Between two unknowns, I live my life.” States to the audience that no one knows when they are going to be born, or when they will die. The last line that reads, “Yes, and a little singing between two great rests.” Is implying that before birth and after death are just rests, because during both you were already living through other people’s thoughts. This poem matters to me personally because after reading, it gave me hope that even though one day I will no longer be physically living, my success and contributions on Earth will be remembered through my children and other people close to me. This poem also spoke to me by inspiring me to become successful and be the best person I can because I do not know how long I have, so therefore I want to accomplish and enjoy life as much as possible. This particular poem also stuck out to me because I often unconsciously think about my future children, and what I went them to do and accomplish. Overall, “The Hammock” is relevant to every reader that has, or will read it.
Hoff 5
At the Pub by Patrick Hicks is now my new favorite poem. When reading the poem I could relate in so many ways. The only difference is, in his poem Hicks is referring to soccer, where I can relate to this poem through the American version of football. My parents and their friends make the surrounding bars of Brandon their second homes during the college football and basketball seasons. When walking into the bar to go pick them up after a night of cheering on “their” team, I can spot the men who are always at the bar in their same spots just as Stonehenge; their jerseys strained over their huge beer guts. Then, just as in the poem, whenever a major play happens the place goes wild with people screaming and pounding on the tables to some even running around the bar screaming like a happy young child. But, once last call is heard the partiers slowly pay their tabs, wishing the night would never end. After paying their tabs they stubble out of the bar and return home to hear the words their wives have to offer to them after the fun night. In this poem Hicks does not use rhyme or rhythm; the poem also only has one stanza to it, with 13 lines. With Hicks writing the reader can picture this old pub in England filled to the brim with a bunch of rowdy men that stench of warm beer. All the men acting like they are 3 in a candy store; yelling, screaming and jumping around all the tables in the pub. Thanks to the great Patrick Hicks I now have a new favorite poem that makes me laugh every time I read it.
Sundvold, pd. 2
A poem that really spoke out to me and I can relate to is Patrick Hicks’ poem, “Burqa”. He wrote it after helping a woman get her stroller down a steep staircase in London. The act of kindness he showed was very simple but had a lot of meaning to it. The woman he helped was wearing a burqa, which is worn mostly by Muslim woman. He didn’t think twice about helping her though. He destroyed the religious barrier that some people have adapted to ever since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and went on to help a woman in need. As Hicks begins to grab the stroller the reader infers that he is having an internal conflict because he states that he had to unstop himself before grabbing the front struts. As we keep reading Hicks tells us through poetry that we are all equal despite the beliefs we all may have. He focuses on describing her son and comparing him to ourselves, telling us we are all equal. At the end the woman then waves to Hicks and gives him a squinted smile, saying thank you without any words being spoken.
When I read this poem I thought to myself if I ever helped someone in need with a different religious belief or did I see someone in need and not help. Then I remember I encounter different people all the time through my job. I try my best to make sure I treat every customer the same no matter what they look like or wear. Several times I have had woman come through my line wearing a burqa. I realize they are no different than me. We all are equal and as an employee it is my responsibility to make sure they feel like they are being treated fairly and like any other customer that walks through the doors.
Many poets have a rhyme scheme or rhythm to their poems, but it is not necessary. For example Hicks uses free verse when writing his poems. There is no rhythm or rhyme scheme, but he uses typography. He sends messages to the reader by putting one or two words on a line or indenting a certain line way in. In “Burqa” he puts the words “at the top” on a line by itself in order to tell the reader that the woman and her son were at the top of this steep staircase and they were all alone with no one around willing to assist her. This makes the reader feel bad for her and hope Hicks decides to help out. Even though the action was simple and possibly meaningless to people watching, it meant a lot to Hicks and the lady. She waved and smiled showing that a religious barrier had been destroyed. This also challenges other to do the same, and get out, and help people no matter what their beliefs may be.
Benz 7
Patrick Hicks, writer of New London, Minnesota is a great poem that I can relate to. This great work by our very own local compares two great and bustling places, with two completely different lifestyles. The poem talks of how the town New London, MN received its name, which is really probably from London, England. This poem infers how settlers came from the "old" London and founded the "new" London. A happy, sort of pride based vibe is given off from this writing, a feeling that the writer is proud of the New London town and yet respects and is proud of the heritage from the original London. Comparisons such as a grain elevator and Big Ben (a large clock landmark in London) also oceans versus prariegrass show the true differences, yet similarities to the two towns. Another great part of the symbolism of this poem includes: "A pond, pocked with waterlilies and bullfrogs, wears a crown of trees, a veil of butterflies." The pond symbolizes the Atlantic Ocean that is a barrier between the two places as well as the crown and veil represents the parliament that governs England. Parliament is referred to as corn in this poem as crops around New London "governs, controls" many activities of the region, just as the Parliament in London governs and controls policies too. This poem does not carry a set form for rhythm or meter. It flows very fluently and was carefully designed by the author. I really enjoy this poem and can relate to it because of my interests that are included in this poem. I can easily place myself in the setting with the farmer getting out of his pickup with the manure-tanged air. The comparisons of the two places are interesting because I have never thought of my surroundings from that of London. I have never been to London, but now I will think of some of these comparisons next time I see a grain elevator or imagine prariegrass as an ocean barrier to our homesteader’s old home. New London, Minnesota or London, England; experiencing the sites from both would be great someday.
Austin Carlson PD: 1
Like many people, I find "Burqa" by Patrick Hicks to be very intriguing. This poem is not only about handing out acts of random kindness regardless of ethnic differences, but about coexisting which I strongly believe in. The quote at the top of the poem by Edith Cavell even states, "Patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone." We can all agree that this is a pretty hard task to do, none the less I think we should try. Hicks uses beautiful imagery in his poem to describe the events taking place and to portray that the man's gesture toward the woman is beautiful and should happen more often. "A waterfall of people trickled down the stairs" shows how society tends to simply flow through daily life and not necessarily pay attention to someone in need of help. Hicks describes the woman's burqa being "full of sparks" implying sparks of passion toward her religion, showing that she feels no shame of her beliefs. Without saying a word, the man "unstops" (very cool way of putting it) himself to help the woman carry her stroller down a flight of stairs, emphasizing doing it together instead of merely saying "we carried her boy towards the ground." I think Hicks writes her "boy" to make the event more personal instead of just saying her child. He then explains how we have all been as small as her boy before, meaning that we are all the same with beating hearts that need help sometimes and that just because someone believes something different from us, does not mean they are any less inhuman. We can infer that the man's kind act is genuine because he accurately reads the woman's eyes as she uses them to smile and then he looks back at the woman to see her wave; sometimes people will help someone just to make themselves look better, not for the goodness of the act, and won't stick around to see the expression of the person they just "helped". With this amazing poem, Hicks destroys the religious barrier between people, shows that an expression is worth a million words, and that "actions speak louder than words".
-Huntimer, pd. 2
I believe the “Taste of India” by Patrick Hicks is an artistically crafted exhibit. This poem is quite short, but an interesting message is lurking under the literal words. A familiarity with vindaloo would help the reader grasp the poem much better. To my understanding, vindaloo is a curry dish served in various regions of India. Anything made with curry will taste very spicy to those not accustomed to consuming the unique spice. The first stanza mentions the author eating some vindaloo and desperately attempting to sooth his burning mouth by “dousing it with beer.”
The second stanza is where the after burn is really setting in. The vindaloo is making its way to the author’s stomach and his innards feel as if they are filled with bubbling lava. The tongue is scorched and turned to coal. The intense heat provided by the curry makes the author feel as if he will explode with fire. This stanza gives the reader a vivid description of how the author feels after consuming the vindaloo.
Stanza three to the end is where this poem becomes interesting. The white guys (meaning the author and his company) are the minorities in this setting. Native Indians are anxiously watching the white guys suffer from consuming the vindaloo. Grins and smirks begin to appear on the faces of the on looking natives. Seeing the usually dominating whites suffer possibly greater than ever before is quite amusing to the natives who could consume vindaloo all day and not even notice the curry. Native Indians are now receiving the revenge they have been seeking against the white Europeans that once ruled India. It is my belief that this poem is about revenge and redemption instead of simply the spicy consequences of consuming vindaloo. Scansion in this poem appears to be very minimalistic. This poem appears to be free verse. I am unable find any syllable pattern or rhyme scheme.
I have been in similar situations many times. My interesting taste of food allows me to be an avid consumer of Mexican food. It is rare that I have knowledge of what I am eating. The four native Hispanics who provide me with this excellent cuisine always rarely inform me of the dishes’ contents. I am not bothered by the lack of information in the least. The food always tastes great; the unique preparation and ingredients, which may frighten some, never halt my eager appetite.
Murren 1
“The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop, the poem is based on a person in the ocean. This person has caught a big fish and realizes that the fish has been caught before but got away because it had five holes with old fishing string in its mouth. Once the fisherman has caught the fish, they don’t know whether to keep it or to let it go. This poem is very detailed so you really feel like you are the fisherman or women in the boat. The fish is a major symbol in the poem because the fisherman or women first catches the fish talks about it being cooked on tin foil and then once they start talking about the holes in the fish’s mouth the fisherman or women realizes this fish is a special one. Later on in the poem the fisherman or women feels for the fish and start to respect it. At the end of the poem right before the fisherman or women let the fish go it talks about the rainbow tinted water coming from the engine. The only thing that gives water a rainbow tint is oil. A rainbow is also a sign of hope and happiness so Bishop was using the rainbow from the oil to hint the feelings of the fish and maybe even the fisher man or women. Also at the end of the poem the fisherman or women lets the fish go because of the respect. Bishop might have also been comparing the fish to the little boat that the fisherman or women was in. I think this is supposed to show us how to respect things that have gone through a lot in life and we should just let them keep going. Bishop uses free verse poetry to show control. She uses mostly the same length lines and it gives the impression of that it is all one stanza.
Thorson 5
Burqa is an incredibly wonderful poem that is full of humanity and respect by Patrick Hicks. This poem was written to show people that no matter what a person looks like, what they are wearing, or what their beliefs are, they deserve the same respect as the next person. In the poem you visualize a everyday man, Patrick Hicks, helping a women who generally is not helped by others. She has a burqa on, which means she is viewed as as a person of bad morals and not liked by society. To this man it does not matter what a person is dressed in. She needs help to get her baby down the stars and he is the only man on the stairs filled with people willing to help a women in need. He was so struck by the women in need that he became “unstopped” or pulled over by what he was doing to just help her. This almost romantic gesture gave the man a feeling of satisfaction. He not only helped the mother of the child, but the child as well. In reading this I saw how precious life truly is. The women was grateful for the mans help. Even though she could not show a smile with the burqa covering her face Patrick Hicks showed her how to smile with her eyes by saying, “The rectangle of her eyes squinted a smile.” She also thanked the man with a fare well wave of her hand. Patrick Hicks wrote this poem in free verse. It may be different from other poets but it is still a great way of getting his point across. This poem means so much to me, I believe it is how people should act to each other all of the time. It goes against what most people would think or do in a situation like this. If I were Hicks, I would do the right thing and help the women and her innocent little baby. Even though her religious views are different than mine, it would not mean that she should not be treated with the same respect that I would want to be treated with.
Dede 1
"While Strolling Through Highgate Cemetery, I Consider the Morning of My Own Funeral" is a poem wrote by Patrick Hicks. When he writes this poem there is no rhyme scheme. I also can not find any sort of stressed syllable pattern. The poem has no rhythm to it. The typography of the poem lets you read it more as a note. Making the reader connect to it more. By having it read as a note the reader can make it from whoever they want, a close loved one who died or close friend.
In this poem Hicks is trying to make death and grieving a happy thing, not that it seems possible when someone close to you passes away. He makes himself or if he is writing about someone else a non selfish person. The poem talks about how you should celebrate the life lived, not think about how the one you love is gone. This poem tugs at the strings of my heart because I recently lost a loved one. My Great-Grandma passes away on Thanksgiving. Reading this poem helps me remember to think about her and the good times we shared. To share my stories with the others that knew her. Death is never easy to deal with and we all wish we could have immortality. The last two stanzas stick out to me the most. He talks about when you miss the person think of them as the spaces between your words, or the breeze you feel outside. Hicks talks about wanting the music to be upbeat at lively. Just as my Great Grandma wanted hers. She was a person who was always happy to see others and was never selfish. This poem just reminds me to be happy and remember the good memories I have with her.
Grimmius 1
I am choosing to do the poem “Life Is Fine” by Langston Hughes. This poem is about someone who is not in the best part of their life, and they are ready to move onto somewhere much better. This person goes down to the river, and sits on the bank. After sitting on the bank, they go into the water. The water is really cold, otherwise they might have drowned themselves to death. After doing that and surviving, they take an elevator up sixteen floors and stand on the edge and think about their baby. If they had not been up so high, they would have jumped and died. After realizing that they could have died, but they were born to live, they turn around their life, and figure out that life is worth living; and life can be great. You just have to have a positive attitude about everything that you decide to do. Life Is Fine! The rhythm is ABCB all through out the poem. There really is not any way of reading the poem steadily because the lines all have different scansion's to them. It is somewhat easy to read because there are words that do rhyme, and that to me is always helpful in a poem. I really enjoyed reading this poem, and I think that others would enjoy it as well. It was a good lesson in itself. This poem just shows you how even at some of the worst times in life, there are always better options that leaving to go to heaven. If you stay on Earth, there will still probably be some struggles, but something good always has to come out of every bad situation. Every situation always has a good life lesson to be learned. I encourage you to read this poem if you have not already.
Drexler 5
My favorite poem would have to be Patrick Hicks’ “Burqa”. This short encounter seems to be incredibly powerful and life changing. It completely grasps the importance of eye contact and demonstrates the ability to communicate with no words. It shows how sometimes it is best not to say a lot and that messages can be hear through actions. This poem is simply beautiful. The idea that just because we have a culture and religion barrier does not mean we cannot get along; we can agree to disagree on certain topics. The gratefulness was portrayed wonderfully and the compassion is strongly evident. Unlike many poets, Hicks does not use a rhyming technique; he chooses to free verse. There is not a rhythm to this influential poem; it is just stated like a story would be. Hicks’ talks about the baby boy and how at one time in history we were all that tiny and frail. This seemingly pointless detail is what draws my attention to this poem in the first place. He uses this detail to describe that when looking past religion and race we are all the same. We start out young and cute, then advance to someone trying to live their life and make a difference. One of the biggest problems in society is our inability to accept everyone the way they are. We do not all have to agree but regardless we should not let our differences come between us. The ending of this poem satisfies my desire that we can change as a society. This poem forces many of us, including me, think about what barriers we place in our own lives. I would like to imagine the people I know doing the same thing Professor Hicks did, but I know that is highly unlikely. Maybe, after reading this, it will force a person outside of their comfort zones to help someone that is not identical to them. This poem might be in the back of their mind next time they are in a situation to be of help and it just might push them enough to actually listen and cross that fine line—the line of race and religion.
Christensen 2
I found great personal meaning and easily relatable points in Li-Young Lee’s poem, “The Hammock.” This poem largely explicates God and other religious factors. Words relating to these things are italicized drawing our attention to them without even having to reading the poem. Lee’s poem is written in Iambic pentameter. There is no rhyme scheme however; random sets of lines are rhymed at the end. This makes the poem seem less like the published document it is and more personal for the reader to relate. There are two characters in “The Hammock,” a mother and her son. Just in the first stanza, the reader is shown the great love this son feels for his mother and how he is reminiscing. Maybe he is making some drastic step in his life, graduation? Throughout Lee creates the feeling of insignificance, yet a very warm feeling. Everything about this poem shows the bond that mothers and their children share. The son starts out narrating silently within his head, and then the mother has her part. Parents are always worried about their offspring’s well being and truly want the best for them. The way the single sentences: “I don’t know what my mother’s thinking” and “I’ve no idea what my child is thinking,” makes the reader relate and realize that we never really do know what our parents are thinking yet we are able to understand one another.
I can relate to this poem because of the impenetrable bond I share with my mother. She not only is my parent, but my best friend. I cannot imagine life without her and my father. This poem is full of life and death and makes me question many of the same things the son is. Going through the teenage years I have had points where I struggled in my faith, and I really did question if there was eternal life and so on. There really are just two things set in stone in people’s lives, when they are born, and when they die. It is up to us to fill in that gap with the life experiences and memories we chose to create.
-Nelson, 7
"The Road Not Taken", Robert Frost is talking about the road less traveled. Not taking the easy way through life. They are both different in many ways: length, difficulty, and surroundings. In life you only get one shot to do things so chose the one you think is best. You can not travel both. He talks about how once you decide to take a path in life there is no turning back and you have to just keep on going with it no matter what. There is a little rhyme scattered through the poem. He says that whatever path you choose live that way to the fullest so when you look back and you can tell yourself you lived a good life. If the reader can see what Frost is trying to say I believe many people may look a pawn their own lives and question themselves If they went down the right path or not. When I read this poem it made me think of sports and the paths people chose to enter these sports and also the direction the athletes go to get better. Some people will take the high road and not work for whatever they do, but others spend much more of their time on the grind trying to make themselves as good as possible. Once some of these athletes high school is over you know that the ones that chose the harder path are the ones that continued to play. When I thought of it like that it really made me think about my own athletic career and made me look back wondering if I chose the best path for me. I like to think I chose a good path but I maybe could have made things harder for myself and push myself further but I can't change that now and after reading this poem I believe I can pass on its message and try my best to choose the better path in the future.
Crow, pd 2
The Hammock by Li Young Lee, is a calm, relaxing and very spiritual. When rereading the poem I believe it is about fate, future, love, destiny and a little fear. Life is a very confusing thing, noone trully knows what is going to happen to us life itself is unclear. You cannot control when you die or how you die that is your fate. You dont control who you love or when you will love that is destiny. Do we really die, or do we become a star? everything in unclear, everything can change. I think how days hides the starts, they are still there when the sun comes out we just cannot see them, they do not move. In this poem noone really dies we still live on in someones heart. I love this poem because it reminds me of my father. no matter were he is i know he is still out there. I know he will never disappear.
Knudtson7
For this blog task I chose “At the Pub” by Patrick Hicks, I chose this poem over more famous poems for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is that because I have actually met Professor Hicks I find this poem more interesting because it is not written by someone who I have never met and I can visualize the poem better. I also chose this poem because I can relate to it myself in a variety of ways. I myself am an avid sports fan, but unlike this poem instead of cheering on football I normally watch football and rugby. I can relate to this because there are times when I go to watch a sport event with some friends and there is often yelling at each other over who will win and so on. In this poem there is very little rhyming at all but the flow of it is very well put together. This poem to me is written in iambic trimeter, which I also find it very interesting because the lines are in threes before the period. I believe that the period at the end of every third line is to get you to pause briefly to let the previous lines sink in, so that you can better visualize yourself in this situation. This poem also gives great insight over how things are in other countries. In America the sports fans are very passionate but I cannot think of any fan base that is as passionate as some of the fans of the football teams in Europe. It takes on a vacation to see what other cultures are like, here in America we do not truly hate the opponents of our favorite teams because their players are still from the same country as us, overseas they truly do hate their opponents and you can often see riots breaking out after games. That is what this poem does for me, it is an excellent piece that I can personally relate to and many other sports fans will be able to do the same when they read this.
Brian Turner’s poem, “Here, Bullet” is a very important poem in today culture. Many of us have family members or friends over seas serving our country and risking their lives against the bullet every day. The bullet has much significants to anyone who has served and been over seas or in the millitary at all. Every day they are running from the bullet and doing everything in their power to avoid contact with the bullet. The bullet can symbolize their life in a tiny one inch shell. The enemy is also hoping that the shell meets the body of the ones fighting against them. Many people can relate to this poem and maybe even be very emotional when reading this and remembering having to run from bullets that were trying to get to their bones every day while over seas.
Paul 5
The poem I choose to do is “O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman”. The explication of this poem is very interesting, to begin with the conflict is not clear till the last stanza because even though the ship is returning home with the prize it set out for, it is returning with a dead captian. The speeker is the captians son speeking to crew or possably just to himself sort of moarning the death of his father this could possably be an aside in a play setting. The plot of this poem is that a ship went of to get something,we don’t know if it wa s a merchant ship or a military ship but seeing as the captain died it may be safe to assume that it was a military ship, and it was successful in retreving its “prize” and it is nearing its return to port. The captains sun says that he can hear the ringing of the bells, this could be the litteral ringing of bells on the dock that signal the return of a friendly ship or it could be a more mornful bell tolling for the death of the captian. The captian’s son is compeled to speek now in honor of his dead father. His modivation is that some one must tell his fathers story. This poem relates to me because I know that every victory has a price and that is one of the major things this poem is trying to teach us. Whitman says that everything has its price through the fact that as a whole the crew won there “prize” but to the speeker,who I beleve is most likely the captans son, this is a hollow victory because his father died to win it. This is true with our personal lives stating that every time we win we give up something. To get an A on a test we sacrafice time and effort we could have spent doing something else. Nothing is free everything has a hook in it be it a “prize” won at see or a grade won at school .
Sivertson 5
The poem I choose to do is “O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman”. The explication of this poem is very interesting, to begin with the conflict is not clear till the last stanza because even though the ship is returning home with the prize it set out for, it is returning with a dead captian. The speeker is the captians son speeking to crew or possably just to himself sort of moarning the death of his father this could possably be an aside in a play setting. The plot of this poem is that a ship went of to get something,we don’t know if it wa s a merchant ship or a military ship but seeing as the captain died it may be safe to assume that it was a military ship, and it was successful in retreving its “prize” and it is nearing its return to port. The captains sun says that he can hear the ringing of the bells, this could be the litteral ringing of bells on the dock that signal the return of a friendly ship or it could be a more mornful bell tolling for the death of the captian. The captian’s son is compeled to speek now in honor of his dead father. His modivation is that some one must tell his fathers story. This poem relates to me because I know that every victory has a price and that is one of the major things this poem is trying to teach us. Whitman says that everything has its price through the fact that as a whole the crew won there “prize” but to the speeker,who I beleve is most likely the captans son, this is a hollow victory because his father died to win it. This is true with our personal lives stating that every time we win we give up something. To get an A on a test we sacrafice time and effort we could have spent doing something else. Nothing is free everything has a hook in it be it a “prize” won at see or a grade won at school .
Sivertson 5
I chose to analyze Walt Whitman’s important poem O Captain! My Captain! After researching this specific poem, I learned that Abraham Lincoln is the “Captain” that Whitman is referring to. This was an important factor in deconstructing this poem because he is talking about Lincoln’s assassination. The rhyme scheme is aabb-cdcd. The mood of O Captain! My Captain! at first is a happy and victorious mood because they had won the battle. This is prevalent in the first three couplets. As the stanzas continue, they become shorter and full of troubles and grief. Whitman, along with the rest of the nation, was in the midst of mourning the loss of their treasured president. To express their love for Lincoln he uses the repetition of the word “heart,” and “fallen cold and dead” is repeated to express the nation’s sadness. There are many metaphors in this poem that the reader might notice as they read this exquisite poem. Besides Lincoln being the Captain, Walt also writes about a “fearful trip”. Given the time period in which this poem was written I assume he means the Civil War, and the prize they won was the preservation of the Union. There is no fixed meter to this poem, but there is an alternating writing technique of long and short stanzas.
I came by this poem because of the author. Walt Whitman is quoted many times in Nicholas Spark’s book, The Notebook. After reading through this important poem a couple times, I really liked the words he chose because they are rich and full of meaning: “mournful tread, grim and daring, and flag is flung” are just a few of Whitman’s wonders. We are also given a beautiful artistic perspective from that time period, which is important because then this important history and art will never die.
Merkel 2nd period
New London, Minnesota by Patrick Hicks is one of the poems that stuck out and related to me. This poem stuck out to me because of its comparison between two very different places but yet still great areas of the world. I could infer that the poem is explaining the difference between the large city London and the small tight nip town of New London. I could also infer that the settlers of New London were from the original London, on their way to settle in a new wondrous area in Minnesota. Patrick Hicks describes the people of New London, Minnesota to be very glad and proud of where they came from. These two places are very different but yet are similar to one another. The gently moving prairiegrass represents the soft moves of the ocean. You can also see the similarities when Hicks says, "A pond, pocked with waterlilies and bullfrogs, wears a crown of trees, a veil of butterflies." The pond is much like the Atlantic Ocean—they are barriers between the lands. Also the crown and veil represent governing parliament in England. The poem states that the corn in the elevator represents parliament. The corn is parliament because the corn is what controls the town of New London. Also the elevator is a lot like the great clock of Big Ben in England. The elevator is the only thing that can be seen for miles in this area like Big Ben. This is where I related to the poem the most—because I drive past a large elevator every day and I can also spot the magnificent structure from my home. I don’t think much of the structure like the old farmer that doesn’t care about the origin of the town’s name. But I am aware of its powers it has on our town. The way Hicks describes the town makes me feel close to this poem. The town of New London is much like the town I live in. I feel like I am living with in the poem. The poem does not have rhythm or meter, but the poem flows fluently and is very interesting even to some one that does not line in a land like mine.
Cody Brown Pd. 2
At the beginning of, If You Forget Me, Pablo Neruda creates wonder and question. He tells the reader that he wants you to know one thing. Even though he is talking about possibly a specific person, he makes it feel as if he is talking directly towards me. He uses this technique throughout the entire poem which keeps the reader intrigued because it’s as if he is talking straight to me. Neruda uses no scansion in this poem. The meters are scattered around and not even one line in the first stanza is 10 meters. In the first stanza, Neruda talks about this girl being everywhere in his life. He cannot even look outside his window or gaze at the stars without thinking of her. He says that everything he looks at is like sailboats carrying him back towards her island. However, in the next stanza, he talks about the feelings they share. He is connected to her just by the way she feels for him. If she loves him, then he loves her. But if she does not love him, then his feelings will dwindle away as well. He basically says that if she still has feelings for him, then he will always be waiting on her hand and foot right behind her. But if she does not have feelings for him, then he tells her to not turn around because he will not be there anymore. He does not say that she controls him, but he does state that his love feeds off of her love. This says to me that if you love somebody; make sure they love you as well. If they do not love you back though, do not waste your time on them. Your time can be used towards something that could be much more productive.
McClanahan Pd. 1
In the poem “Library of the Mind” by Patrick Hicks, the reader is mesmerized with so much vision and imagination. It had to be the poem of my choosing. This poem is vitally strong in structure and meaning. This poem’s form has a meaning in its shape, it has a mold, it makes you think of the inside of a book cover, when you first open it and see the first words. The meter in this poem is important because it shows the reader a peaceful flow. It is around seven or eight syllables in most of the lines. The rhyme scheme is that of no rhyme. This poem is a more serious, real-life poem with a direct connection to your soul and your life; our lives are libraries full of books! The rhythm is smooth and calm, like you would imagine a narrator telling a great story. The diction makes you feel like you are being read to, sitting by a cozy fire in a study. The typography is exactly what you think it would be in a library of the mind. It looks neat and tidy as a library does. The story shows you the tread of the tires of someone’s life, wearing down until they cannot be used anymore. This poem greatly stuck out to me because of the connections I could make with the lines. Patrick Hicks is such a true genius of poetry because I felt as if this poem was really happening in my life, as if I was in this poem, which has never occurred before, so I knew which poem I had to choose. “Library of the Mind” is one of the, in my mind, best poems ever written. Simply because I could connect to and with it so well. It is amazing how someone completely strange and foreign to you can have so much in common and be thinking the things you are.
Weisenbach. 1.
In "Lighting the Christmas Tree" by Patrick Hicks, there is one theme that really stands out to the reader. This theme is the theme of conception and how a person's mind thinks about the way a human comes into this world and how they come out. In the first stanza it talks about The Big Bang theory and how everything needs a spark to get going on its way. This stanza seems to be referring to conception. In order for a child to be born they have to have that spark, or conception, in order to grow to come to the earth. In the second full stanza it talks about us beginning and returning through life. That is talking about birth you come from light and in death you return to the light. In the third stanza it talks about not being able to imagine a time before our time began. What comes before void? Nothing? God just sitting in a chair? No one knows and everyone relates that to the lighting of a Christmas tree because there is nothing until you plug in the lights to use the spark to create life. The typography in this poem is unique because there is one line that is by itself which seems to be emphasized because it makes the reader wonder what will happen and it puts way more emphasis on that imagery. There really is no rhyme scheme to this poem but without that rhyme scheme it still tells a wonderful story. The way it is written is to the point with lots of imagery placed throughout without much moving around the subject. The scansion is stressed then unstressed for the syllables which makes it trochee. On average, there is about six feet per line which makes it hexameter. This plays a role in the flow of the poem and the way the scansion works throughout makes the poem fun to read and flow nicely. For me, this poem shows the wonder people have about the universe and how we come to be in it and how it all started. What was the beginning before the beginning? What was the universe like? It brings up the unanswered questions that I want to know and I'm sure a ton of other people want to know. It brings the feeling of thoughtfulness and unknowing up to the surface and urges me to want to figure out some theories on the unknown.
Shaina Sorensen pd. 7
The poem “At the Pub” by Patrick Hicks is one of special importance to me. It is something I can most swiftly and easily relate to because I have been this situation so many times in my life. “These lads yell stadium anthems, they thump the floor, ready for war.” Only a true fan does these things away from the stadium, and it’s something I do myself. Some may not think it is an important poem, but I believe that importance is up to the person reading it. This poem has no sort of iambic rhythm, switching from seven syllables to eight to nine, back to seven, etc… The end of the poem is what I find most interesting because it says “…after last call, they will count pennies and answer to their wives.” Those crazy people who scream and well at a TV screen are just the same as we are. They live normal lives but have an alter ego, one in which they take pride in something they can’t control. They win with them and lose with them and are through thick and thin. I think that the person writing this poem doesn’t exactly understand sports. I’m not saying whether or not Hicks does, what I mean is he is using the PERSPECTIVE of not understanding why people love sports so much and why we jump off of our chair and scream bloody murder at the television when Francisco Liriano gives up another home run. The line that states “…as immovable as a Stonehenge” is also important because it pertains to them never giving up on their team. Win or lose they will always be there, never faltering nor shying away from their team. In a way, Hicks may be using football as a way of using this poem as a life lesson. No matter what it is in life, sports, your wife, your kids, your friends, you should never abandoned, you must always be an immovable Stonehenge, because there is one in all of us.
Rokeh 7
Li-Young Lee’s poem, “The Hammock,” really stood out to me as a reader. There are a lot of things said in this poem that I have never thought about that made me feel good inside. The main theme however is how much mother’s and father’s care for their children before they are born and after they themselves have passed on. I the first stanza Lee says, “I think how day hides the stars, the way I lay hidden once” this really popped out to me. This is the child’s life before being born. They are still out there but they are just hidden for the time being. Then in the last stanza Lee says, “and my child’s wishes, older than I am by outliving me.” This states the child fulfilling their wishes even though their parents aren’t there anymore, but now their parents are the stars in the sky hidden by day. The poem as a whole has so much truth in it that it is unreal to me. There is so much that goes on “Between two unknowns” as Lee puts it that we take a lot of things for granted. There are so many lives that have yet to be lived, and we on earth need to prepare for those to come. We need to think of those before they came and not forget about them after they have left. At the very end of the third stanza there are three questions answered with one “Yes.” This a very unique to me. I feel like Lee is telling the reader to relax and not ask so many of these questions and just enjoy what they have in the moment. Also, to not over think what it means. Simply just a yes makes the poem’s ending so much more brilliant. “Yes, and a little singing between to great rests.” You’re life in a beautiful song, and you have the chance to make up the words. Make the words as beautiful as the melody given to you.
Corcoran, pd. 5
In Patrick Hicks’ famous poem, “What I Have Learned After 37 Years,” I immediately feel like I am in the described setting. He does not just say, “It was foggy, birds were chirping and I was thirsty for coffee,” but he more so uses beautiful metaphoric descriptions such as, “The foggy dawn hides the sun, it weaves the grass into a beaded quilt.” When he is describing first stepping onto his bedroom floor to start his day, he even describes the floorboards as skis, fitting his feet perfectly. “The robins plucking their trumpets and the crickets rubbing their ukulele legs together” allows us to not only visualize but subconsciously listen to those sounds from our own experiences. This poem says a lot to anyone who reads it and not just him, being 37 years old. He wonders why he is still here—here on this earth because it is so beautiful. Hicks makes it clear to me that I should “never love a day more than this one” and never wish my days away, for every single one is important in a small way. This poem is short and has not a specific rhyme scheme but Hicks uses poetic imagery throughout the whole single stanza. Though the poem is short and consists of only 7 lines, there is not one moment of this poem that a reader cannot visualize or understand, therefore it is a favored and key poem.
Hoffman 5
I have selected the poem “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe. I chose this poem because it is my personal favorite. One reason why I like this poem so much is the fact that one of my favorite bands, Cradle of Filth, has lyrics that are so similar, it’s almost startling. It really forces you to connect with the narrator, and feel sad with/for him. It does this by being just vague enough that you can insert yourself into the situation and really feel the grief that he feels for his dearly departed. The poem is written in a way that makes your eyes go in a swaying motion from one line to the next, because every-other line has an indent. This could add the feeling of sudden grief, because he swayed from being extremely happy to being unimaginably sad in such a short time. Poe references that “…her high-born kinsman came and bore her away from me…” I’ve always interpreted the “high-born kinsman” as her dead relatives, coming to bring her along to join them in death. Poe also hints that angels were so jealous because Annabel and the narrator were so happy together that they were the ones who killed her. This could also fit into the theory because often when someone is grieving after the death of a loved one, someone will state that the loved one in question is an angel in heaven; therefore comforting the grieving because it gives them a glimmer of hope for life after death. Poe almost always has stories about love and death. They usually revolve around the death of a loved one, and the subsequent life of someone close to them. This poem is the perfect example of his writing style. It brings together love, death, supernatural forces, and grieving. He really emphasizes how happy the two were together before Annabel Lee’s death, which makes us feel more affected to, because we had grown to enjoy their enjoyment of life, almost as if we were living vicariously through the couple in the poem.
Hair 5
The poem “At the Pub” by Patrick Hicks was very tantalizing and forced me to reflect on life. When I started to read this poem I plunged into a very vivid setting, a bar in a dying small town. I saw a bunch of out of shape men getting drunk and being rowdy while reliving their glory days. These men were likely football stars during their high school days and failed to attack life with the same intensity as they did on the football field. Not saying all football players end up like this! Though alcoholism is a popular trend in America. Mr. Hicks paints a very humorous picture of sloppy men pounding on tables and yelling at television screens! He is truly a master of the written word. This poem has no rhyme scheme in it, and when I read it aloud I have to take frequent pauses. Maybe it’s just me but I have trouble reading this poem with flow. Hicks is using scansion to put stress on certain syllables and not on others. When I first read the poem, I saw it as a simple description of a night at the bar. After pondering for a moment, I decided Mr. Hicks does not want the reader to burn out in life early on, but to have drive and compassion throughout. This may seem like a sad and depressing outlook although the poem is happy and upbeat until the last three lines. The men have there fun, gather up the little money they have, and go home to there wives who may be dominant in their relationships. This is without a doubt an odd feeling for these strong football players who used to be so dominant! “At the Pub” also made me think about graduation. Life is going to change for each and every one of us. Patrick Hicks wants us to live full and happy lives, not end up in the slums or on bar floors at night.
Klumpp 2
Patrick Hicks is a profound, scholarly poet. A packet of poems and to only choose one is difficult. Hicks’ poem, “To My Hands”, is not only a thank you—but a lesson. He realizes one of the most neglected yet most important body parts. Our hands help us continually throughout our life. Hands open new doors, wipe away tears, and guide us through darkness. Patrick Hicks expresses the hands as a best friend. He talks about scanning through phonebooks and creating tunes on the piano. Throughout the poem he describes the careless tasks we forget to notice. Hicks thanks his hands for the times they have endured and he acknowledges the retirement of himself and his hands. His fingers have halos; the halos are his finger nails. The finger nails are the hands’ guardian angel.
“To My Hands” does not have any prominent rhyme or rhythm. The poem is a thank you to his hands. The only rhythm I can find within the poem is the frequent eight syllable lines. Hicks could be representing his eight fingers with this pattern. The first stanza and the last stanza also have eight lines in them. These stanzas could represent the two hands on the outside and the body in between.
This poem taught me to appreciate all of the small events or people in my life that we abuse to notice. This poem is not just saying, “be thankful for your hands”, but to be thankful for your home, your body, and your life. Throughout a normal life there are positive times and grim times. With the extent of handling and learning from them builds character. People that do not appreciate life do not appreciate the little aspects of life. More people need to slow down and think of all the people, feelings, and possessions they are thankful for; and this poem speaks to me in that way. This poem is great because anyone can relate and think about what they are thankful for. Our hands are a great example of a neglected piece of life. This poem creates a question about our society. Is our society so arrogant to not be thankful for a simple body part like our hands? Some people do not have functional hands or hands at all! So let us be more thankful for the smaller, more special aspects of life. And think, what would you do without your hands?
NATE BOSCALJON PERIOD 1
My favorite poem was Patrick Hicks’ “Burqa”. This poem was a very, understandable short poem, but it seemed to have the most meaning to me. This poem was influential and empowering. At the beginning of the poem Hicks describes the people on the staircase as a waterfall. At the top of this challenging staircase he finds a woman having trouble descending with her young child positioned in a stroller. This woman was wearing a burqa, which is worn mostly by Middle Eastern women. The first impression when people notice these new, different apparels is to avoid or ignore them. However, Hicks does not even have that thought cross his mind. It was a just a simple task that had so much meaning to him. The religious barrier between the two had been destroyed. That is a big step ever since the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Helping two in need is such a sweet act of kindness and a way to move our society out of the thoughts of segregation—between race and religion. With our society moving in a new direction we can overcome the ability to accept everyone the way they are. As the readers keep reading Hicks focuses on the woman’s son and how he relates to us. We have all been a young child at one point and Hicks grasps our attention by comparing the little boy to us, explaining how we are all alike and equal. After Hicks’ kind action the woman gave him a silent smile. This smile was probably the most symbolic action of the entire poem. Judging by her eyes she was very appreciative and gave thanks without any words.
Patrick Hicks writes his poems in a unique way. As most poets use a certain rhyme scheme and rhythm, Hicks does not. In this particular poem he decided to you free verse. Free verse has no rhythm or rhyme scheme. He strategically places his words and lines in certain distances. For example he uses the words “at the top” on a line at the beginning of the stanza to imply she is alone at the top of the stairs. This poem all comes back together to show Patrick Hicks’ readers that religious barriers can be destroyed and should be in the future.
Hovde 2
My favorite poem that we read in class of Patrick Hicks was “Burqa.” This poem was extremely emotional for me because it makes us realize doing little helpful things mean a lot to people. We as a society have become very selfish and we do not think of others as often anymore. “Burqa” almost seems as a romantic kind of poem. Patrick Hicks describes the lady’s expressions as somebody beautiful in his eyes. I love how out of all the people on these stairs he talks about he decides to help this certain lady, someone who is not like everyone else on the stairs. I also believe that Patrick seeing the small boy made him have more love for children and this could have lead him wanting a son. Most short poems have a very noticeable rhythm but “Burqa” does not. Patrick Hicks uses free verse in this poem and many other poems he has written. I like the idea of free verse, it makes it seem more of a story than a poem and we can relate and understand better. In his second verses he brought down the ending of the first verse “at the top” so that it would literally be at the top of the verse. I thought that was extremely creative and interesting. I love that his poems are descriptive such as “The rectangle of her eyes squinted a smile” I have a very similar picture in my head of this because I know we all squint our eyes when we smile, and even though he cannot see her mouth he can still tell she is smiling. The ending is heart touching, I realized how powerful little actions we do to help people are so kind and always make the person feel better, and make you feel better about yourself too.
Meyer 2
I choose the poem, “Scratching My Eye” by Patrick Hicks. I selected this poem because I can relate to it and it has a significant message behind it. When you first read the poem it looks like it is just a story about a person scratching his eye because something got in it, but as you look into the poem he wrote it has a life lesson behind it. He talks about seeing the world differently. It could be for better or it could be for worse, but you will see it differently. This could happen after a tragedy or a near death experience. After a near death experience you may appreciate life more and everything the world has to offer. The poem is short but as a strong point. There is no rhyme scheme and it is not an iambic pentameter. Some sentences are on their own line and indented to show the importance of the word or phrase. He does that so we draw special attention to that line and understand what he means by it. In his poem, Hicks talks about if his vision will ever be the same. That can be interpreted to a tragic event happening in our life and we change because of what happened, and we wonder if we can ever be normal and back to the way things use to be. This influential poem tells people that they need to see as much as they can through many different lenses. This poem is so close to my heart because it is a great message he is getting across and it has taught me to see things differently. Petersen 7
In Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends, a euphoric society is vaguely described. There is a place where the sidewalk ends and before the street begins, depicts an imaginative society, almost an after life reference. And there the grass grows soft and white, And there the sun burns crimson bright, And there the moon-bird rests from his flight To cool in the peppermint wind. The soft and white grass can be symbolic for heavenly clouds and light on earth. The peppermint wind adds a relaxing, youth effect. Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends. These two lines describe the reality and hell on earth. The black smoke represent the destructiveness of modern industry, and the dark street’s bends represent the poor choices you can make in life that will lead you farther into the darkness of hell. Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow, the asphalt flowers is a clever synonym for weeds, the only plant able to survive in the wretched places that we have created. The slow measured walk is symbolic of our short insignificant time on earth amongst the vices that survive like weeds. And watch where the chalk-white arrows go, To the place where the sidewalk ends. The chalk white arrows symbolize our conscience, white in the purity of our superego and chalky where our decision can easily be changed and washed away. Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow, And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go, For the children, they mark, and the children, they know, The place where the sidewalk ends. In the final stanza even in the children’s innocence they still understand the difference between right and wrong, and the values of society. This poem is especially important to me as it is the first poem that I selected as a child.
Braden Heidbrink pd. 1
Patrick Hicks’ poem, “Lighting the Christmas Tree” is not about a Christmas tree at all. It is about the creation of the universe. You notice this in the first line: “The Big Bang also needed a spark”. A big bang and a spark is not normally something you would associate with lighting a Christmas tree, but it is an appropriate way to describe a metaphorical Christmas tree that Hicks brilliantly describes in this poem. I think the title is extremely creative and makes the reader and/or audience think the poem is about an actual Christmas tree and then they realize that it is not, making them infer what the meaning is and make a connection between the poem and the title. There is not any rhyme or rhythm to this short poem, but Hicks is able to effectively paint a picture and tell the story of how the universe began. I like the last four lines of this poem. It is almost impossible to imagine what things were like before our time. Darkness and emptiness as the extent of all existence is hard to comprehend and visualize. Comparing light to an unlit bulb and waiting for the plug and socket is a brilliant way to help the audience paint a mental picture of what happened from the “Big Bang”.
Grogan Pd.5
William Buter Yeats’s “The Second Coming,” written in 1919, exemplifies the essence of history. It accurately predicts the future which is a philosophical and prophetic feat of immortality. The typography in this piece of literature is nothing to shake a stick at, however you truly need to take a step back and examine the powerful symbols used in the poem. The falconer on line two symbolizes an immense figure with great power. The use of this symbol here really sets the scene for the rest of the poem. The falcon not being able to hear the falconer is like having a people who cannot wake up and hear the rest of the world, the government, or the signs of an apocalypse. This steps the poem into its next realm which is predicting the future. It says if we do not recognize the signs that war is coming, war will come, and it will come hard. The second coming is repeated multiple times in the second stanza. It indicates the second coming of Christ, possibly. If not that, it must indicate the coming of a war, perhaps. Second coming would make it the second war, world war two. It all fits into place so naturally!! The sphinx is another powerful symbol in the poem. The Egyptian monument is a symbol of power, control, and peace. The stance in which it sits hints that it cradles the earth. It controls the earth, and since its nose fell off, it is saying that the control of the world is waning. War, death, and destruction are imminent. At the end of the poem it talks about darkness dropping and possible the sphinx waking up, to cause the darkness. Everything is moving into the direction of oblivion. Besides that, the scansion of the poem allows it to flow rather nicely, however it has no definite regular rhyme scheme or meter. This free verse poem must be included in every poetry book ever produced as it is stunning and prophetic.
Hosman 5
I thought the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost was very cool interesting. It really makes you stop and think about your life and the "road" you want to travel. Once you make a choice in life, you have to give one hundred percent and give it all you have. There is no turning back and if you mess up, you do not get another shot at it. The rhymes scheme makes it more fun to read and quite clever on Frost's part. It is definitely a meaningful poem and I am sure it is studied everywhere. It makes you think about your life and really question your descions. This poem makes me think about my choices a lot. It questions my dedication with sports and if I did the right things. Did I do hard things and give it my all? Did I take "the road not taken?" Frost wants the reader to connect to his poem and relate to it. If everyone is an individual and takes the "road not taken" then the world will be a better place. We all need to leave our mark and make our own legacy.
Brock Wickett pd 5
In the Poem, The Angel, by William Blake he uses few words to express deep feelings and experience. William is talking about an experience he had with a woman in his youth, the dream of that angel had ended and relived too late. When he was young he was living in his dreams. He had a girl who was shielding her heart from the one she loved out of fear of what might happen to it if she torn down the shield she built around it. The inability to take them down torn her apart day and night and he comforted her, but it was not enough. He loved her and because she had that shield around her heart that she was unable to give it to him. He left to live a life with someone that loved him back, not knowing that all along that angel did love him. When they meet again they were older and knew that it was too late, but that love with still there all this time.
When I read this poem it really spoke to me. It reminded me of how little time we have on this Earth and how much I take things for grated. Reading this is like connecting yourself with a perfect stranger, it is making us put our life inside the story. I image this in my life and it makes you mad at yourself for being so stupid not to give up your everything for someone you love. I looked at my life and what I have and the people that were placed in my life for a reason and if I am not willing to give up things for them, than do I really love them? Because if I did than I would give my life up for them. It makes me think about what I should do in order for my own angel to know what my heart feels without hesitation that way the two of us do not have to find out when we are 90 years old and its too late that we were meant to be together and that shielding off my heart was the reason that we were not together.
Form- 4 stanzas
Rhythm- / ^/^/^/^ (trochee)
Meter-8
Scansion- / ^ / ^ / ^ / ^
“ I Dreamt a Dream! What can it mean?”
Rhyme-A,A,B,B,C,C,D,D,E,E,F,F,G,G,E,
South Pd.1
Jack Prelutsky's "Be Glad Your Nose Is On Your Face" is probably one of the more humorous, yet it really gives a very important lesson. When our nose wanders, we don’t mind our own business, the result can be very unpleasant. Reading the poem, we see a nose, our nose, as an entity of its own. Thinking of our nose as a mind set, we know when its where it should be and when its wandered. Like a face without a nose, it becomes obvious to others when we’re making their business our own. We become freakish, something to be gawked at. Thanks to our nosiness, we are made to feel unwanted. We no longer like ourselves. The once curious soul has now become the material of curiosity. We are not being attacked, but, rather, being educated along with our young person. In a non condescending way, Prelutsky softens a harsh lesson and politely recommends people to mind their manners. He teaches through example, the best way I believe, to help people rid themselves of bad habits.If you believe, as the poet obviously does, that teaching children early the difference between right and wrong is an effective way to save them some embarrassment and trouble later on, this poem can be a wonderful teaching tool.
Hillman pd. 1
The poem I chose to analyze was If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda. As I analyzed this poem I realized it could be said to be about a petty teenage relationship. When it talks about the old wrinkled tree it could be talking about a person who thinks they are the more mature person in the relationship. The poem mentions and isle, this could be the person wishing that their relationship will go to that next level and be together for ever, that they will get to walk down the isle together and be husband and wife until death do them part. When the poem is talking about waiting for them it could be a long distance relationship where one person wants the other to wait for them and keep their love strong. When it say s “little by you stop loving me” it could be talking about how a relationship spirals downward. Like in any relationship the best feeling ever feeling goes downward as time goes on, it never stays 100% unless you work on it and most people don’t think that a relationship is worth fighting for so they just give up and the relationship slowly falls apart. The poem then says that “little by little I will stop loving you,” to me this just seems like a petty little teenager saying “oh well since you don’t love me anymore I’m going to pretend like I’m doing better than you to make you feel like you’re the one who missed out.” Then next line talks about if they forget the writer the writer will have forgotten them first, this is another petty teenager thing to try to compete with your ex and make your life seem better than there’s. The next paragraph talks about forgetting each other. The writer says that they have already forgotten the person by the time the person has forgotten them and that they are already out flying through life and having a better life without them. The last paragraph says that if the other person still wants to be with them then they will be here with them forever. Its just like a teenage relationship where the other person decides to come back and the person that was left before forgets how mad they were and just forgives them and starts planning on how they are going to be together forever. This just shows that the poem could be compared to a teenage relationship in more ways than one.
Corliss 7
The poem I chose to analyze was If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda. As I analyzed this poem I realized it could be said to be about a petty teenage relationship. When it talks about the old wrinkled tree it could be talking about a person who thinks they are the more mature person in the relationship. The poem mentions and isle, this could be the person wishing that their relationship will go to that next level and be together for ever, that they will get to walk down the isle together and be husband and wife until death do them part. When the poem is talking about waiting for them it could be a long distance relationship where one person wants the other to wait for them and keep their love strong. When it say s “little by you stop loving me” it could be talking about how a relationship spirals downward. Like in any relationship the best feeling ever feeling goes downward as time goes on, it never stays 100% unless you work on it and most people don’t think that a relationship is worth fighting for so they just give up and the relationship slowly falls apart. The poem then says that “little by little I will stop loving you,” to me this just seems like a petty little teenager saying “oh well since you don’t love me anymore I’m going to pretend like I’m doing better than you to make you feel like you’re the one who missed out.” Then next line talks about if they forget the writer the writer will have forgotten them first, this is another petty teenager thing to try to compete with your ex and make your life seem better than there’s. The next paragraph talks about forgetting each other. The writer says that they have already forgotten the person by the time the person has forgotten them and that they are already out flying through life and having a better life without them. The last paragraph says that if the other person still wants to be with them then they will be here with them forever. Its just like a teenage relationship where the other person decides to come back and the person that was left before forgets how mad they were and just forgives them and starts planning on how they are going to be together forever. This just shows that the poem could be compared to a teenage relationship in more ways than one.
Corliss 7
The "Red Light District" is a poem that I found extremely intriguing. Patrick Hicks described the life of a prostitute through clever imagery such as "an orgasm of light". The tragic future of this young girl is described through the eyes of Hicks in his personal experience. I related to this poem because I deal with many of these young women every day. Working in a hospital I see many women looking to prostitution as easy money and end up ruining their life because of it. Although Hicks did not seem interested in the young girl he was drawn in through her huntress-like stare through such fragile eyes. The last stanza pictures the young girl being as easy as sliding open a button which is a sad image to picture and a tragic life for such a hopeful soul. This poem has opened my eyes to the variety of women who turn to this career.
Donovan 7
In the poem titled I taught myself to live simply Anna Akhmatova captures the reader immediately when she talks about living life simply and wisely. Every person wants to live life simply- no one wants to have a complicated life. People also want to be wise and intelligent. I have never heard of a person wish to be ignorant. This odd start is also interesting. I found the fact that Akhmatova mentions God in the second line fascinating. Normally, when a person wants to live life simply-they do not look to God. God and religion is very complicated. I also noticed from the beginning that there was no set rhyme scheme. The poem is short and feels almost like a story. In the poem Akhmatova says, “I compose happy verses about life's decay, decay and beauty.” This verse was very interesting to me because what could be happy or joyful about decay? She not only mentions decay once, but twice! I felt that Akhmatova was clearly making a statement about life. Life is full of death and decay. Death and decay in the world is plentiful however life is beautiful. It was interesting that beauty was only mentioned once. The entire poem also sounds like a dream. It talks about how she will “come back” as if her mind drifted for a bit, like a daydream. At the very end Akhmatova says “if you knock at my door I may not even hear”. This statement is very dream-like and meaning full. It’s the perfect ending to a poem entitled “I taught myself to live simply” because it’s easy to not answer the door, it is easy to not open up to new things. The ending also works perfectly with the daydreaming affect the poem has. If a person is daydreaming, they may literally not hear the door-because their mind and attention is somewhere else, yet daydreaming is also very easy to slip into. This poem relates to me personally in the way that I am always thinking about life and death and religion. All three of these things enter mind everyday. I try my hardest to live life simply and let things come to me rather than go after things. You are more likely to knock on my door than for I to knock on yours.
Vivens 5
Patrick Hicks takes the time to notice one of the most over looked body parts of any being, his hands. In the four stanza poem, “To My Hands”, Hicks takes the time to analyze and reflect on all that his hands do for him. A person’s hands do practically every task for them- open doors, write notes, shake hands and type blog tasks. They are highly trained muscles that do multiple specific tasks throughout a normal day. He quotes in stanza one, “I have taken you for granted, yet you hang before me, obedient as puppets” your hands will always be with you (unless you are unfortunate enough for something horrible happen to them) and they always follow your commands. Later in that same stanza, Hicks mentions that one day his hands will swell, slowing them both down and realizing that his quick and efficient hands will slowly start to weaken. In stanza two he recalls a few profound memories he shared with his hands, such as “fluttered neckties into shape” or “that time you tried to feed me with chopsticks.” He is thanking his hands as if they were an actual human being standing right next to him, accepting this out pouring of praise. In the third stanza Hicks states that his fingers have halos, these being his finger nails at the tips of each flange. Lastly, in the fourth stanza of “To My Hands,” Hicks predicts his future with him and his hands, “The day of your retirement will come, when we will both sit in a wheelchair. You will be twisted with arthritis…” He goes on to thank his hands for the lifetime of overlooked use and effort they have put in over the years and tells them, “understanding, I hope, that you finally deserve a rest.” Hicks does not use overriding rhyme or rhythm to complete this brilliant poem. Patrick Hicks is a thoughtful and reflective guy, who notices the little minimal tasks that could not be completed if it weren’t for your hands. Be thankful that you have all ten halos! McDonald. pd2.
I picked the poem “While Strolling Through Highgate Cemetery, I Consider the Morning of My Own Funeral” written by Patrick Hicks. Hicks is trying to explain to the readers of this poem that dead is never a happy thing, but that it is ok to mourn over the loss of a loved one. In the lines were he says “Go ahead and cry a little, I think I’d like a few tear.”, he is telling his loved ones that he wants them to cry over his death, because it shows him that throughout his life he has touched other people’s hearts and actually means something to a lot of people. This poem also tries to get you to cheer up and let everyone know that his death isn’t all bad. He mentions he wants something “joyous and lively” at his funeral, because he wants everyone to know not everything has to be sad because now he is in a better place. When he says the phrase, “…and makes me boogie into the cloudless vast where I will hang, briefly, like an ellipsis…” he is letting his loved ones know that his soul has risen up into the cloud, which most people can infer that the clouds could represent or symbolize heaven. In the very last two stanzas he is telling his loved ones to just read these words so that they will think of him. What I think he is trying to say that is even thought he is physically dead on this earth, that he will always be alive in our memories. So whenever you missed a lost loved one and wish they would come back so you can see them, just think of the good memories you’ve had with them and it will feel like they never even left your side.
Stoltenburg pd. 5
Patrick Hicks takes the time to go back and look up minor details when writing a poem. In the poem “Lighting the Christmas Tree” he talks about the world getting started. The world needed a spark to start up just like the ideas to write these blog tasks. This poem shows the world going from nothing to something huge, from no light to light just waiting to be plugged in. He is saying here that life will end the same way it started. We will go back to the light much as we came to the light when each of us were born. The poem contains no rhyme scheme or steady rhythm. I believe he wrote this poem to show how he thinks the world got started. To show his creative ideas and to see if anyone would agree with him after reading this poem. The darkness creates wonder, mystery, and builds suspense. We know there is going to eventually be light to shine through the darkness. This poem is like going to bed, it is dark and there are no lights on and when you wake up the next morning the sun is shining through the window. The diction here is just any old narrator going through time and telling the way the universe got started. Bringing in a peace of the bible, he starts to say part of the three wise men story. On this journey they are set out to find a new halo or leader. This poem has potential to be the actual way of how life could have started as long as the readers know their stories from the book. The biggest thing in the poem that speaks to me would have to be just the way the world got started and we will end life the same way we started it.
McConniel pd. 2
I choose the poem “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou because I believe it pertains to what society has made women think they should be like. Society says that you are not a “phenomenal” woman unless you have beauty. The woman in this poem knows she is beautiful even though she says, “I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size.” She still can get the guys she wants to look at her without being the stereotype woman. The woman in this poem is trying to prove to all the other women that society has brought down that it is not all about the appearance on the outside, but more important is the woman who is inside. She is explaining to them that it is her personality that makes “The fellows stand or Fall down on their knees,” not her appearance. You have to have confidence to be the “Phenomenal Woman” that every girl aspires to be. The over all meaning of the poem is that your character is the only standard a woman should judge her self by, not by what others look like. I choose this poem because I think that society gives women the wrong impression of what we should look like. Women see other women in magazines daily that have flawless curves and a “to-die-for” body, when in reality none of those girls really look like that. Photo shopping pictures is one this that women and girls of all ages will always be tricked by. There are even girls in our schools who are influenced by the photo shopped girls they see and then do not take care of their bodies and get the nutrition that they should. To be a “Phenomenal Woman” you must be you and not want to be anyone else.
Cushing pd5
I choose the poem "To My Hands" by Patrick Hicks. I believe this poem has a significant meaning in all our lives. Our hands make us who we are, whether it is writing a paper of building a house. This poem shows us how forgetful and ungrateful were are to our hands. Hands, they hold other hands, comfort many with the tight grasp of a hug, shake hands to show your self confidence and social interactions, without our hands we would not be human. Hicks mentions that one day his hands will swell, slowing them both down and realizing that his quick and efficient hands will slowly start to weaken. In stanza two he recalls a few profound memories he shared with his hands, such as “fluttered neckties into shape” or “that time you tried to feed me with chopsticks.” He is thanking his hands as if they were an actual human being standing right next to him, accepting this out pouring of praise. He goes on to thank his hands for the lifetime of overlooked use and effort they have put in over the years and tells them, “Understanding, I hope, that you finally deserve a rest.” The rhythm of the poem is iambic pentameter. It has this nice and steady pace read for the reader to become fully enveloped in the words. As you read you feel as if you and your hands are ageing together, it begins with punching out the womb and ends with that you finally deserve a rest. As the cycle of life goes on your hands will always be there to comfort you.
Alexander 7
I am choosing the poem "The Hammock" by Li-Young Lee. Lee uses the comparison of the hammock to life because the hammock is a very comfortable relaxation item we use. He talks about stars that we haven't heard from yet. The stars can be considered babies because whether or not we see or hear them, in the future they are there; that is what Lee is trying to say. You may not have fully existed in the past, but you were there. Just like "The Lion King" when Zimba says all the stars represent all the past kings, the stars in his poem represent the future babies in our lives. The stars are always here even during the day because the stars just don't go away, the day just hides him. Lee states this in his poem and it is a true statement. The poem is an iambic pentameter. Every 'feet' there is two syllables for a total of 5 'feet' and 10 syllables. It is a typical pentameter that is just like "Othello" and "Pantaloon in Black", which we obviously studied together. The poem, like i said earlier, is mainly about life and how when we are not born yet, or when we die, we are still here. We are here in memories and thoughts in those we have influenced, and to those who impacted your life. It is a journey, life is, and some days we just need to relax, on a hammock, and think about the important events or material things in your life.
J. Nelson 7
Wysten Auden’s “Funeral Blues” personally relates to my first time at a funeral, and expresses the same swollen thinking of the one person who never belongs anywhere, but in writings and where the person lies. The context of the poem relates to a relative, a child, a boyfriend, and a brother because the author is not specific. The vagueness adds to the poem, and for a male to write about a love of another man may imply a homosexual relationship. Auden could be metaphorically talking about the rights of gays being buried. The rhyme scheme is aabb ccdd eeff and I believe the author chose to make this poem flow smoothly as death and grief seem to combine and life seems less fulfilled and not as abstract. He wanted the poem to be straight forward in regards of death, but metaphorically describes the deaths of rights in society. The poem definitely does not have excitement intentionally as the poem expresses a hard issue for some, and an inevitable fate for everyone. I’m surprised with the poem’s typography with how neat and uniform the beautiful writing appears centered. The author took a different route instead of going all out with making the poem seem awkward as death can be not knowing where the person’s soul or peace of mind have really travelled. In the poem the lengths of sentences do not reflect a certain syntax, although the iambic pentameter is consistent. The policemen wearing the black gloves expresses the strictness in death which their hands will never be able to bring another life back. Black is the abyss and the shadow that everyone faces when life comes to an end. Auden refers to putting out the other stars as what he really means is nothing else matters in the universe except for the love he lost.
Franklin PRD 1
I decided to do my poetic analysis on professor Patrick Hick’s poem “Infamous”. His poem focuses on the grizzly murders of notorious serial killer, Jack the Ripper of London. professor Hicks does a fantastic job of describing the terrifying ways in which Jack the Ripper would torture his female victims. My favorite stanza from “Infamous” is, “his knife goes slashing into her marrow, blade sawing-sawing-sawing through rubbery vocal cords, her womb is slooped out, the wet oyster of her ribcage shimmers, then he, the Ripper, crushes the pumping pearl of her heart.” This stanza creates the imagery that professor Hicks wants the reader to see in their heads about how the victim’s body would look, as the Ripper would rip through their bodies. The descriptive words and rhythm of the poem add to the tension and suspense the reader feels as they read line to line. The reader can just sense the fear that those women must have felt when they walked into that dark alleyway. I have read this poem to myself and the class several times now and every time I do I can just see the terror in the victim’s eyes at they looked at the face of the infamous and unknown Ripper. This poem makes me wish that someone could have saved that woman. She was just in the wrong place and the wrong time in that dark alleyway in Whitechapel, London. It also makes me hope that something as horrible as that will never happen to may family or my friends. This is my favorite poem that professor Hicks has written and I hope to continue reading his poems. Someday I hope that I have an English professor who is as insightful and creative as he is. I also know that because of Coach C and professor Hicks, I am now prepared to be a better student in college.
Klumpp Pd. 5
I decided to do my poetic analysis on professor Patrick Hick’s poem “Infamous”. His poem focuses on the grizzly murders of notorious serial killer, Jack the Ripper of London. professor Hicks does a fantastic job of describing the terrifying ways in which Jack the Ripper would torture his female victims. My favorite stanza from “Infamous” is, “his knife goes slashing into her marrow, blade sawing-sawing-sawing through rubbery vocal cords, her womb is slooped out, the wet oyster of her ribcage shimmers, then he, the Ripper, crushes the pumping pearl of her heart.” This stanza creates the imagery that professor Hicks wants the reader to see in their heads about how the victim’s body would look, as the Ripper would rip through their bodies. The descriptive words and rhythm of the poem add to the tension and suspense the reader feels as they read line to line. The reader can just sense the fear that those women must have felt when they walked into that dark alleyway. I have read this poem to myself and the class several times now and every time I do I can just see the terror in the victim’s eyes at they looked at the face of the infamous and unknown Ripper. This poem makes me wish that someone could have saved that woman. She was just in the wrong place and the wrong time in that dark alleyway in Whitechapel, London. It also makes me hope that something as horrible as that will never happen to may family or my friends. This is my favorite poem that professor Hicks has written and I hope to continue reading his poems. Someday I hope that I have an English professor who is as insightful and creative as he is. I also know that because of Coach C and professor Hicks, I am now prepared to be a better student in college.
Klumpp Pd. 5
I have a poem that you all have never heard of before. The poems that I am talking about are poems written to me by someone special to me. He always knows how to make me smile. His name is Chris Sutter. He is a great poet. He writes poems that make you feel like you are the only person in the world. He writes about how he really feels about people. He wrote one that is really close to my heart and it goes like this “O dear Miss Haley. I think of you daily. I wish to be free. You have the key. Will you go out with me?” The reason it is so close to my heart is because I said yes and we are still together today. He may never be a famous poet, but he seems to be pretty famous around school. Mr. C. can maybe agree with me that Chris can write once he puts his mind to it. He does not seem like the kind of person to write amazing poems but he can. In Patrick Hick’s poem a friend yet to be born, I feel kind of fits the same message a little bit. Sometimes you have to write like no one is watching and express yourself to people. Writing to someone not born yet would be really neat to see if they ever find or answer your poem. Sometimes it is the little things in like that we need to cherish and not take for granted.
Haley Jones
Modern society highly values women's beauty. Due to that pressure, and the speaker's achievement of that standard, the other women who respond to the speaker, also wish to reach their "potential" as women, and to "fit in." Their desire is a genuine one. They seem not to know what it means to be unique, but regard the highest aim as the standard society sets for beauty. It is however, a faulty aim, the speaker explains. In her powerful response to the pressure of society, the female speaker elucidates to her fellow women that it isn't just about how a woman's looks or her built, but it's about who the woman is as a person. Attractive personality is much more powerful than attractive genetics or any ability to fill in an impossible role. The speaker then explains to these women, and rightly to all women, that it is her own attractive personality that is the reason men "stand or fall down on their knees" before her. It does not mean that she does not try to be her best, but she does not see conformity as justifiable and therefore the reason why "[her] head's not bowed". She then goes on to explain in detail her own reasons and her own aims in attractiveness. She measures her own achievement by measurable decisions she can make such as her "smile", "style", and "stride", not impossible standards. A notable speaker declares that one must measure another by the "content of their character" not based on futile appearance, (though the phrase is spoken in a different context). The message is effective in conveying that quality of character standards are the only standards by which women should judge themselves and the way they see others. Her positive decisions give the speaker her well-earned title of "Phenomenal Woman," and allow her to live out her full measure of personal worth. The beautiful conclusion therefore allows the speaker, and gives hope to all women, that she and they (respectively) can live as beautiful women and enjoy that life in the process.
Ryan Carnes Pd. 7
Li-Young Lee’s poem, “The Hammock,” had a pretty profound effect on me as an audience. The whole essence of this poem is to create wonder and contemplation inside the reader and it did just that to me. The main theme is how much love parents have for their kids even before they are born. They know that they want to leave a legacy in their children’s lives but are unsure how. Right after the first stanza, Lee writes “I don’t know what my mother’s thinking.” This intrigues me because humans really never have any idea what others are thinking. Even as the mother is enduring great physical struggles for her child, the child is still naive to what she is doing for him. In the second stanza, Lee writes “ther are starts we haven’t heard from yet.” You can take this in many ways but I interpreted it as unknown heroes that have yet to be born. Each of us know someone who is a hero to us. At some point in time, they were an unborn star, comforting us from afar. In the last stanza Lee says, “and my child’s wishes, older than I am by outliving me.” This shows the child fulfilling his wishes even though his parents have moved on—to again be a star in the vast sky. Just as real stars die, as will our parents, however, it is their choice perhaps to leave an eternal legacy to those around. That is the main meaning behind this poem to me. Whether you make a conscious effort to do so or not, every person in this world will die having left a great mark of someone else’s story. There are so many lives that have not yet began, and us visible stars need to ready the world for those to come. We need to not only prepare for their arrival, but also for their departure. While this poem is quite reserved and sensitive in a way, it does talk about death. It interests me that death is mentioned in this poem partially because it seems like it is rejoicing the new life that is beginning, not concentrating on the dark ending, allowing us to think about, yet not obsess about when the time comes for the stars to die and make room for new stars. At the end of the last stanza, there is a simple, reassuring “Yes” that encourages us to be positive and to live our lives as brightly as possible.
Oleson Pd. 2
In Patrick Hick’s poem, Burqa, he does a splendid job at breaking a barrier that most people would not dare to break. An American man helping a different race woman with a stroller. He notices that she is in need of getter her baby boy down the stairs safely, and he in a way comes to her rescue. Although he cannot see her face, her eyes can say a million words. He says that he “unstopped” himself. Well what in the heck could that mean? To me it means that he was kind of called to help her by God, in a sense. Even though they did not have the same God, he felt that it was important to help this woman because it was the right thing to do. When he says “the rectangle of her eyes squinted a smile,” it is kind of just like looking at a picture, it can say so much by just looking into her eyes. This poem meant a lot to me because, seeing an expression on a person’s face is all you really need to see to understand what kind of mood they are in. And being strong in faith throughout my entire life, I only wish I could break a barrier even as little as helping another religion out by doing something totally simple. It does not matter what religion you are, it only matters that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and we all love the same God. And in every religion, you can branch out to even help another religion, it is not like it will hurt you or anything. Most people may think what’s the point? I won’t get anything out of it. Well you will, you will get the reaction of someone who may not get a lot of help. Break down that barrier and help.
Nelson 1
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