Why Poetry Essay

Why Poetry Essay

From many centuries ago, people from all around the world has used words to express one’s emotions without directly saying its actual meaning but merely writing it in a form onto a piece of paper. The phrase “read between the lines” essentially means looking for the meaning within the words played on. The meaning of the words are divided by how effective the poet can interpret it through the use of words and what actual meaning these words are actually being displayed. To allow further understand of what the poet’s actual meaning of the poem is by “reading between the lines”. Poetry are used all around the world to expression one’s emotion and one’s stances to what they believe in or what must be done to take that stances. One of the best ways that many people has found to express themselves is through poetry that can be placed and expressed in  a whole idea of meaning into a certain form of literary devices that can be easier to write it out than explaining the whole idea or thought. Essentially, popularizing the whole idea of poetry that we know now today.

Poetry has become so essential to our everyday living style that it shows up everywhere around the world. Back when internet has not yet been created, poets had a lot of trouble in delivering the messages to the world. Though, with the click of a button or with the help of a search engine today, one can find a poem that was written back in the nineteen hundreds. Now that times have changed and one’s life style has evolved around the use of technology to communicate with one another around the world. For example, poets today have created personal blogs to express one’s idea or to create poems through blog websites such as http://www.wordpress.com, http://www.weebly.com, http://www.blog.com, and etc…. Poets allow themselves to use blogs to better deliver and to better express these hidden messages underneath the poems that are created and posted onto blogs for thousand or maybe millions of people to see and understand the stance. This is why modern poetry today has become such a huge revolutionary expressive format that delivers the messages with a post of a poem.

Since the two great world wars, poems are used to express poets emotion towards war and to express each soldiers experience throughout the war. There has be many poems discovered written by soldiers in the trenches that expresses the idea of war. One of the most famous poem from the war is “In the Flanders Field” written by a soldier, John McCrae. McCrae creates the idea and image of what the war was like and the after affect. Taking this idea of expressing what a war is like, many has started to a stance. Taking a stance is an important characteristic that each individual has to develop and make the world a better understandable place for people to live. Especially, since the announcement of another war in January 2003, America against Iraq, there has been many war poets against war. Many individual poets has writing to a website called Poets Against War [http://poetsagainstthewar.org/displaypoem.asp?AuthorID=47648#453125469]. This website that takes in response of poets idea of a war and posts it for everyone to see. It is evident that a whole community of people around the world has at least an opinion about the war, whether or not it involves one’s individual community or not. Through, the use of technology of today many people around the world are able to express emotions and thoughts about the war through these websites like “War Poetry”[http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/iraq_war_03.htm] without the use of verbal or physical action be used. Therefore, it is evident that poems are strong words that expreses the opinion and ideas towards the whole idea of a war breaking out.

Through the years, one can see that poetry is a strong lasting memory of poets who can express emotions and ideas towards a stance through different types of means that holds a hidden message.

Shadow

This poem is about my inner emotion to what i feel towards someone i really love. The music in the background is very quite but there is a piano written by this youtube user http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGx9nZvbjmA&feature=related

Shadow

In the stillness of the dark night;

I see your handsome presence,

I hear your soundless whisper,

I feel your cold chilly embrace.

In the darkness of the night;

You see my crack broken smile,

You hear my soundless empty laughter,

You feel the flats of my inside crumble.

In the silence of the night;

Together, we cast the two lonely shadows,

Dancing brightly under the moonlight,

Turning and fighting against the hollow.

But for now, nothing else really manners;

Because our souls are forever together.

Better Visual Poety

Here is a better one that i think is good enough

Nighttime

Nighttime falls in the city
Lights blink on everywhere
Yet the streets are full and busy
As excitement fills the air

Nighttime falls in the country
Beasts settle down to rest
Farmer with eggs of plenty
The climate is at its best

Nighttime falls in the mountains
Wind in trees dark and tall
A river’s foamy fountains
An ancient owl mourns for all
– Mary O. Fumento, 1981

 

Visual Poetry

This is my first time making a video. I hope this is good enough 🙂

The music is by Beach House called Zebra

This is on my youtube account luvkaka101

Age of Innocence

Mary O. Fumento

A child’s eyes view the potential of the world
Mankind appears as it should be
And not as it really is
Yesterday is gone
And today is forever
Tomorrow will always be
An unfathomable promise

Wonder and awe in a leaf
And in each blade of grass
Clean sheets and falling rain
Are personal luxuries
Squiggly worms, such a treat
Hidden in fresh, dark dirt
Drivelets of dew trickle
Down a cloudy pane

Crimson Blood And Poison Tears

Crimson Blood And Poison Tears
© Jessica
Rain, rain, go away,
Because of you the pain will stay.
Slit my throat, cut out my heart,
Leave me here, tear it apart.

Poison tears stream down my face,
My heart beats at a steady pace
As I try to stand again;
Alone and standing in the rain.

I don’t need you anymore…
Is what I think while tears pour.
I hate you like I hate my life;
But love is what cuts like a knife.

Love is death and death is you;
Its pain stains like a black tattoo.
Those memories come back again
And bind me in the ropes of pain.

Crimson blood streams down my head
Like a long, silk ribbon, tied by a thread,
To a platinum bullet, a hole in my skull…

...Now just a memory that’s faded and dull.

The Crimson Blood and Poison Tears initiates the poet’s feeling towards her our life. Expressing each pain through her our form of figure of speech. The poem describes the pain and loneliness of the poet’s tears “Rain, Rain, go away/Because of you the pain will stay/Slit my throat, cut out my heart/Leave me here, tear it apart”. The poet uses rain to represent her tears and sadness, as well as, depressing moment. Rain can be seen as a symbol of her tears and the amount of pain there is as the pain can go on forever or for a period of unknown time, meaning that the pain can never possibly go away. By using rain as a symbol in the beginning of the poem, the poet can set the pass and lead the readers into something unpredictable. The poet describes her tears like poison (metaphor “Poison tears steam down my face”). She uses poison to denote that ever tear that comes out of her eyes are like poison burning ever surface of her skin. The pain of her tears are unbearable to the point that it’s about to kill her. It is clear that the poet is heart broken after a failure of a relationship. This is when she uses simile to explain how hurt she was when her love has disappear in her life  “I don’t nee you anymore…/Is what I think while tears pour/ I hate you like I hate my life/But love is what cuts like a knife”. Using simile she can compare the pain of her life. The poet uses simile for comparison and to move the poem to a newer level of pain. Towards the end of the poem the poet uses another simile to describe the darkness that is left in her life to the point where it is seen as misery and un-erasable just like a tattoo that is inked into the flesh of the skin “Its pain stains like a black tattoo”. The comparison is so strong that the readers can really experience and understand that this pain is inked into the flesh, that ever needling that is done on the skin is pain being produced, and that this pain is forever as a tattoo is forever, it is embarked into the skin.

Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day

Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day
Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed.

But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Imagery/Metaphor:

One of Shakespeare famous metaphor sonnet poems. This sonnet is filled with metaphors of a person who is compared by the most favorite season summer, but this person is not revealed throughout the poem but simply known as “thee”. The poem explains and compares “thee” as the youth of summer’s day. During Shakespeare’s time each seasons meant to describe or compare. In this poem, summer is meant to describe beauty like the shining warm air of summer and revival of life that has been so long covered by winter’s snow. This can be used as a figure of speech to transfer the poet’s passion and impression by comparing someone or a thing to the familiarity of one’s comfort feelings. This can be seen right in the beginning of the poem “Thou art more lovely and more temperate/ Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May”. Shakespeare uses this to empathize the importance of his feels about this person “By the eternal summer shall not fade” meaning that the eternal love will never be forgotten like summer’s adventure and memories that are as vivid as the summer’s bright shining sun.

Personification:

This poem also uses personification to express that the love and the meaning of this poem would remain as time passes and goes on by, never running away. This can be seen through the end of this poem ” Nor shall death drag thou wand’rest in his shade/When in eternal lines ti time thou grow’st/So long as men can breathe or eyes can see/So long lives this and this gives life to thee”

Alliteration:

“By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;”

Shakespeare uses alliteration to move the poem forward and making the readers to keep going on and reading the poem. As well as, allowing the readers to understand why Shakespeare uses his love to compare to summer. Before this line there were con points of summer “Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines/And often is his gold complexion dimmed;/And every fair from fair sometime declines”. Shakespeare tries to avert the reader’s attention to how bad summer is, but then uses alliteration to empathize what he’s trying to say in the poem that “by misfortune or by nature’s planned out course” “…your youth shall not fade” [http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/18detail.html]

Imagery:

“Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May”

Shakespeare uses imagery so that he’s readers can image how his beloved is. By describing that this person is care free or calm even when rough times come by shaking up the summer of May.

Concrete Poem

My concrete poem that i made at home about Love.

Words i used: Love, Longing, Lover, Obsession, Hurts, Forever, Valet, Vital, Elated, Euphoric, Enchant, Heartfelt, Held, Honest, Sensual, Striking, Handsome, Heavenly, Happy, Heart, Pretty, Potent, Perfect, Profoundly, Pulsing, Lust, Lithe, Fond, Feminine, Faithful, Indulgent, Innocent, Kind, Vital, and Sexy

Cinderella

By Sylvia Plath

The prince leans to the girl in scarlet heels,
Her green eyes slant, hair flaring in a fan
Of silver as the rondo slows; now reels
Begin on tilted violins to span

The whole revolving tall glass palace hall
Where guests slide gliding into light like wine;
Rose candles flicker on the lilac wall
Reflecting in a million flagons’ shine,

And glided couples all in whirling trance
Follow holiday revel begun long since,
Until near twelve the strange girl all at once
Guilt-stricken halts, pales, clings to the prince

As amid the hectic music and cocktail talk
She hears the caustic ticking of the clock.

Analysis

Simile- There are two similes in this poem comparing the whole magical shining moment of the “strange girl” becoming the centre of attention and the experience of how it feels to become part of a high society. The author uses comparison to empathizes and describes the surrounding, for example “Where guests slide gliding into light like wine;” the guests are being compared to wine that can be seen as transparent and pure. This comparison increases the vibe of the moment of admiration that the “strange girl” is feeling. The author also describes the moment of the “Strange girl” when she is being introduced to a REAL prince by comparing her hair to a “flaring in a fan, Of silver as the rondo slows” (this can also be personification, but the author directly wants the description of the girls fluttering heart to be empathize), so this simile compares the strange girl’s flutter heart of pure repetition that slowly becomes strengthen as the hours tick by.

Personification-“Rose candles flicker on the lilac wall” The personification used in this poem is used to strengthen and capture the whole imagine of the strange girl’s moment and the description of the surrounds. This personification strengthens the reader’s imagine of the surround.

Metaphor-“The whole revolving tall glass palace hall” this metaphor allows readers to compare the palace hall to something that is grand and big such as a tall glass. This allows the reader to think of the palace hall to be a dream come true to the strange girl in the poem. The author uses the metaphor to empathize that the strange girl’s unfamiliarity of the whole high society’s balls and enhance the magical feeling of the strange girl that this is coming true and that this is once in a life time. Another metaphor that can be found in the poem is when the author describes the couples in the palace hall; “And glided couples all in whirling trance” this metaphor is in the poem to be used as a image comparison of how couples are in a trance of half-conscious state of mind that there is no care in the world at the moment. This is just like the strange girl’s situation. During the moment of the whole magical moment she has no care in the world. She does not have to worry about anything at that moment but to enjoy herself in an once in a life time moment. Author uses the metaphor to portray the strange girl’s situation and moment, so that the readers can understand that the strange girl does not get this chance that often.

Figure of Sound: Figure of sound is important in this poem, as it tells the ending of the magical moment of the strange girl. The figure of sound can be seen when “She hears the caustic ticking of the clock”. This reminds that strange girl that her magical moment is coming to an end and reality must be faced once again. The author placed this figure of sound to remind the strange girl and the audience that magical moments in life aways comes to an end and that everything comes to an end.

Poem 1-Love by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Love
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
We cannot live, except thus mutually We alternate, aware or unaware, The reflex act of life: and when we bear Our virtue onward most impulsively, Most full of invocation, and to be Most instantly compellant, certes, there We live most life, whoever breathes most air And counts his dying years by sun and sea. But when a soul, by choice and conscience, doth Throw out her full force on another soul, The conscience and the concentration both make mere life, Love. For Life in perfect whole And aim consummated, is Love in sooth, As nature's magnet-heat rounds pole with pole

The creator of this poem is Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who uses figure of speech to denote the meaning of love. There are to sides to this poem, as Browning views the world of love through the man’s and the women’s point of view of eternal love. Throughout this poem it talks about the inter connect of couples that live to love and express their “mutually” feeling to each other. The poem uses “there” as a reference of the image of the world that a couple can enter in and out. Browning also uses personification of “sun and sea” as feelings and sights, in such as way, that it expresses the brightness and calmness of the future that lays ahead. Browning also uses simile to compare love to the truth like the “nature’s magnet-heat rounds pole with pole” this is used to enhance the theme love in the poem, so that the readers can have a lasting impressing on the theme of love.

Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Death

“Because I could not stop for death” by Emily Dickinsin.

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school, where children strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

Or rather, be passed us;
The dews grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.

We paused before house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then ’tis centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses’ heads
Were toward eternity.

You will need to include at least 4 figures of speech for EACH poem. You will then describe how this figure of speech is used by the writer. Is it used to enhance the theme? to give information about the topic, to deepen our understanding of characters in poem, to get the reader to think a certain way.

Alliteration- Throughout the entire poem the Author used the constant “s” to strength the mood of the poem. This figure of speech is used to enhance the theme of Death to create the feeling of death as the character in the poem is feeling about death. The author wants the reader to feel the way the character is feeling through the transition of different phases. This guides the readers to the sense of fear of the unknown

Metaphor- The whole entire poem is build on metaphors of the character’s experience and the character’s views on death. The figure of speech is used to convey the feelings of the character, so that readers can understand the emotions that the character is going through.

Personification- There are a lot of personification in this poem. For example; We passed the fields of gazing grain, We passed the setting sun,The dews grew quivering, We paused before house that seemed A swelling of the ground. These are used to express and enhance the mood of the character, so that the readers can view the nervousness of the character as death slowly takes the character alway. This allows the Author to enhance the title of the poem, Because I Could Not Stop For Death” the author points out through personification that the character cannot avoid death and that death would eventually take over though the character expresses its feelings that death cannot be frighten but to be accepted as a nature of life.

Imaginary-Examples;The roof was scarcely visible,The cornice but a mound. Imaginary plays an important part within the poem as it expresses and explains the surround of the character. The author tries to tie the emotion of the character with the readers and forcing upon the reader to feel the dread and loneliness of the fearless character as it is being taking down the path with death.