Poem 25

I read "I'm Nobody! Who are you? (260)" by Emily Dickinson.

I enjoyed this little poem because it showed how easy it is to be nobody compared to being somebody. It showed how you could be anyone you want or no one at all, but if you are somebody, you have to worry about appearances and the such. It was nice to read in adolesence because it is a time where you are trying to figure out who you really want to be in life.

Poem 24

I read "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost.

I wasn't really certain what to expect before reading this but I was surprised to see that it was about spring. It explained how precious the first leaf is of the new season, but how insignificant it is after a while. I thought of our insignificance in the universe after reading this. I was not really a fan of this poem.

Poem 23

I read "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death" by William Butler Yeats.

It was about exactly what the title says it is. I was a bit depressed after reading this. It was like watching an animal slowly die. Just not fun to read in general.

Poem 22

I read "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams.

It was about the importance of a red wheelbarrow. I also have a red wheelbarrow on the side of my yard which is glazed with rainwater, though it is not as important. I would have to say that this is a more useless poem than the last one, but not as fun to read.

Poem 21

I read "This Is Just To Say" by William Carlos Williams.

I loved this poem because it held the same intensity that I have at this point. It was about the author eating some ones plums. More of a note than a poem but probably the most pointless poem i have ever read all the same. I loved it.

Poem 20

I read "Landscape With The Fall of Icarus" by William Carlos Williams.

I enjoyed this poem thoroughly because for some odd reason I love the story of the flight of Icarus. It kind of put it in perspective on what the scenery on land was at the time. It also put in perspective how insignificant the splash was at the time. I loved this poem.

Poem 19

I read "The Hurricane" by W. C. Williams

It was a short little poem about the aftermath of a hurricane. A tree destroyed a garage.

It was kind of funny because the it meant for the garage to go to its heaven because it was killed by the tree.

Poem 18

I read "The Fist" by Derek Walcott.

I thought by the title it would be a poem about anger, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. It was about the struggle between love, sanity, and life. In my mind it was about a lover dying and the other being so sad as to almost die itself. Quite the sad poem.

Poem 17

I read "Break, Break, Break" by L. A. Tennyson.

It was a sad little poem, describing days and people lost while keeping a theme of waves breaking on a coast.

It was a nice poem to read, though the theme was sad. It had a nice way of describing everyday life and time.

Poem 16

I read "The Eagle" by A. L. Tennyson.

I thoroughly enjoyed this little poem, though i cannot really say why. It described an eagle pirched on a mountain ledge by the sea, waiting for its prey and then dropping in for the kill. I mostly enjoyed its abrupt ending. It was as if the eagle had actually left the scene, or if the poem was not about the eagle at all, but the position it was momentarily at.

Poem 15

I read "Miracle Ice Cream" by Adrienne Rich.

It reminded me of my childhood, hanging out at my cousins house in the summer. We could hear the songs of the ice cream truck from blocks away and we would all crowd outside his house and wait for it to roll by. It was one of the great joys of childhood, to break up the hot day with a few minutes of cool, tasty enjoyment.

Poem 14

I read "Homecoming" by Robert Lowell.

It was a poem different from all the other ones which i have read. It was about a night at a casino with Lowell's friends where he meets a woman and wishes to sleep with her, but something happens and he does not. He is left in a daze sometimes looking for her. It was an odd poem also in the fact that it did not speak of the beauty of this woman or his love for her. It really just seemed like a one night stand. Pretty odd poem in my opinion.

Poem 13

I read "Dreams" by Langston Hughes.

I initially thought that this would be more psychedelic poetry, but I was surprised to see that it was not. It was about having the concept of a dream. It was about holding fast to your dreams because if you do not, you will not live life to the fullest. I agree with this poem completely.

Poem 12

I read "Equinox" by Joy Harjo.

It was probably one of the most confusing pieces of writing I have ever read. I really do not know what her point is. I felt like she was describing the awfulness that is the ideals of our nation. How many people like war and industry and both are killing people and animals and the environment. But thats just what i got out of it. I really am not sure what the true point of this poem was, though i guess to keep it in modern, it must have no time at all.

Poem 11

I read "Vacation" by Rita Dove.

I actually had to read this a twice to get the scene she was describing. But aside from that she placed in her poem the joy that is waiting for a plane to your vacation destination. She describes how everyone seems to work for what she is experiencing and going to experience and how much she enjoys it. I agree with her descriptions on how such a stupid little thing like lying in the sun can make a person happy, but we work for it all the same.

Poem 10

I read "Death, be not proud (Holy Sonnet 10)" by John Donne.

This was a poem about death, but a different view on it, with consideration of Christian afterlife views. I have to say that I have never thought about death the way he did. He showed that death is truly only instantaneous if a person is passed to afterlife and lives there again. It was an interesting view that I enjoyed, but what irritated me again was the old english that it was written in.

Poem 9

I read "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain" by Emily Dickinson.

She described very vividly her feelings while she imagined a funeral in her brain. It was a total mixup of times in my mind because I was reading her english which i felt was from the 1800s, but her vision and description was, in my mind, more from the 1960s and '70s. It was an odd mix and reminded me of part of a Doors song called "Celebration of the Lizard." I enjoyed it very much.

Poem 8

I read "Answer to a Child's Question" by Samuel T. Coleridge.

He describes using old english what birds say when they are singing. He goes through all the seasons saying that the song's ideals never change.

It was probably the most happy piece of material I have ever read. I feel like there was no way not to truly enjoy reading it because it was so joyful.

Poem 7

I read "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron.

In this poem he describes a woman using many forms of comparison, but never actually giving any colors. He first mentions the woman's eyes as being dark and bright at the same time. He explains how in love he is with this woman.

I was not really a fan of the poem's old english, but i did enjoy how he described the woman.

Poem 6

I read "My Star" by Robert Browning

It was an interesting little poem about the night sky. He says his friends enjoy the light that saturn reflects, but his star is red and blue. I have never had any special sort of star or constellation in the sky that i depict as being 'mine.'

Poem 5

I read "Home is so Sad" by Philip Larkin.

This poem was exactly as the title held it. It gave a feeling of dreams long lost. It was such a simple description but it described home nearly perfectly. It made me imagine a town slowly diminishing in population and condition.

Poem 4

I read "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" by John Keats.

The poem gave the imagery of nighttime, when birds go to sleep and the grasshoppers come out in the summer. It then transitioned to the winter when crickets make noise in the night. I would have to disagree that the cricket or the grasshopper make any noises that can be heard as music.

Poem 3

I read O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman
While reading this I imagined the ship that the sailor was on with his father/captain dead. It gave the imagery of people happily greeting them on the shore but the sailor mourning over his father's death. It is defeat in the face of victory.

Poem 2

I read Design by Robert Frost.
It gave the imagery of a white spider and a moth caught on a web. It made me feel like I was a scientist examining how the spider worked. It made me think of the differences between its environment and mine; how capturing a moth is disgusting to us, but a daily thing for the spider.

Poem 1

I read The Shield of Achilles by W.H. Auden.
While I was reading this I was imagining the horrors of war. I imagined Achilles mother's surprise at the devastation left in her son's wake. She was expecting an average town, but looking over her son's shoulder, she gets a clean view of what her son had done.