poem analysis #3

Funeral Blues

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead S
cribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

W.H. Auden

Analysis:

In the poem, "Funeral Blues" by W.H. Auden, the author what true and unconditional love for someone truly means. It's not about what the physical world and materistic things that the world offers, but about what's in the spirit and the metaphysical world where we find everlasting love. The persona describes her loved one and how the death and the funeral made her to realization how and what truly love really means. The persona screams out to "let the mourners come" and to let the message that "He is Dead" to be "Scribbleing[ed] on the sky" emphasizing the fact that he no longer exist in this physical world, the Earth. Saying he was everything in her life she makes the readers become sentimental and feel sympathy towards the speaker. But on the contrast the connotations of the words "Dead," "silence[ing] the pianos" and "stop[ing] all clocks, cut[ting] off the telephones," all describes the persona's emotion and how it is devastating and killing to feel wat she is feeling.. But saying that "nothing now ccan ever come to any good," the persona speaks how the love will not die out and how it will be everlasting in constrast to whether or not he is there by her or not because nothing would be able to fill her heart as his love for her did.

poetry analysis #2

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Langston Hughes

Analysis:

With the title "Dreams" I think the author autimatically makes the readers think mystically and just go into their creative side. The poem seems to bwe very hopeful and full of joy. But when you paraphase the poem the readers goes into a more deperssing and emotional mood because the poem is saying that don't let your dreams die and hold on to them or else your cannot live freely and the life your living would be barren. First of all we look at the repitition, "Hold fast to dreams" on lines 1 and 5. This reptition puts a strong emphasizes with the next lines "For if dreams die", line 2, and "For when dreams go", line 6, in that people's dreams or destinies are things that are just temporary and that if you lose the time to put them into action you'll lose everything. With the metaphor, "Life is a broken-winged bird", line 3, you can see that without dreams humans can't do anything because mainly what birds do is fly and soar through the sky, but if their wings are broken they can't do the one thing in thier live that is meaningful. Also, from line 7, "Life is a barren field" we can see how much meaningless, worthless, and hopeless a life can be without dreams. Barren has this connotation, that connotes that dreams are very important. Finally, in the last line, "Frozen with snow", although snow has this mystical connotation, the world "Frozen" automatically puts chills on readers minds which makes them feel really bad. I believe the tone of this poem to be very depressing and saying that there's no hope. After finding the deeper meaning, I believe, the title is not bringing this mystical part to the poem, but a hopeful part, emotionally attaching to people's inner heart. Therefore the theme of this poem is a shouting from the author of not necessarily depression but from the great zest of life screaming that we need to grab onto those dreams and live life to the fullness and grab on to every opportunity and chance that life throws at us.

Reasons:

The reason why I chose this poem was because even though it is short, there are just so much more meaning and I wanted to show how the tone and the mood can be so different in just little play of words. I wanted people to see how much powerful just a couple of words could be and how much joy and hope it could bring to many different people.

English Poetry Post #1

Siren Song
by Margaret Atwood
This is the one song everyone would like to learn: the song that is irresistable:the song that forces men to leap overboard in squadron seven though they see the beached skulls the song nobody knows because anyone who has heard it is dead, and the others can't remember Shall I tell you the secret and if I do, will you get me out of this bird suit?I don't enjoy it here squatting on this island looking picturesque and mythical with these two feathery maniacs,I don't enjoy singing this trio, fatal and valuable.I will tell the secret to you,to you, only to you. Come closer. This song is a cry for help: Help me!Only you, only you can,you are unique At last. Alas it is a boring song but it works every time.

Analysis:
this poetry is allusion to the Odyssey by Homer. Atwood references the siren's there and their ability to get men to sleep. This poem has a unique voice because if you read it you would think how evil the sirens are actually are, but there's many evidence that the men are actually the ones who goes to them with no force. For example, "will you get me out of this bird suit?" is a use of a man's vulnerability and trying to make him sympathetic so that he can come by himself. Also, the siren saying that she's so picturesque and mythical makes the men imagine and vision how she looks like which makes their natural curiousity grow making them go to them with no force.

Reasons for liking this poem:
I think that this poem is very unique in the sense that it kind of tricks you. You kind of feel sympathy in the beginning but the end just makes you want to kill the bird. I like the way the author uses words, connotations, metaphors, and just the play of words by making this bird so likable and at the same time hate able.