The Day Milicent Found the World by William Stafford

This poem seemed to tell a story, the journey Millicent took to find herself and realize that she has a place in the world. The beginning of the poem says she started out staying "near light, the edge where bushes grew, where her way back appeared in glimpses among dark trunks behind her." This tells me she was curious to explore the world, or "the woods," but that she was not yet prepared to get lost and completely separate herself from the comfort of home and the life she has always known. However, one day she finally ventured her way far enough through "openings where giant pines had fallen" and reached her destination: Lost. Now she was lost, everything she would encounter would be new and surprising. I particularly liked the end of the second stanza where it talks about Millicent first realizing "she was part of the world and that it would follow wherever she went." That epiphany is something I think we all experience at some point, often in childhood.

As I was reading this poem, I really thought of myself and how I am still trying to find my place in this world among all these people. Millicent reminded me of the person I am now, being a Senior and trying to figure out where I want to attend college and what I want to become after college and really just the person I want to be in life. I’m scared to death to think about venturing out on my own and taking on this world, but at the same time. Millicent did not find out that she had a certain place in this world or what that certain place is until she ventured out on her own and became “Lost”, which in my opinion meant being around things foreign to her or being out of her comfort zone. When people are put into situations where they are uncomfortable and out of place, I believe this is really when they find out just how strong they are and what they can make of themselves in that situation. Stafford described Millicent as being a part of the world’s breath, she was a part of the world, a piece of the puzzle, and not just a bystander watching the puzzle being pieced.

Questions we have About Women??

Sorry this is late, but last night I was having technical difficulties with my computer and wouldn't allow me to post anything or get on the internet.

Questions we have About Women

Why were women chosen to give the beautiful gift of birth?
Why do women have to care so much?
How come women become overwelmed with life?
Why can the be so terrifying?
Why do women feel inferior?
How come there is so much pressure to be a mother?
Why do women want to escape the kitchen?
When will women have the upperhand?
When don't they?
Why do women want the upperhand?
And what dows it take to be a women?

Poem we did in class, I really like this poem and was an awesome activity.

Of Mere Being by Wallace Stevens

This poem was interesting. I love the imagery that the author shows throughout the poem. Along with the imagery though comes the confusion and misunderstanding of the poem. My first thoughts on the poem was that the structure of how the poem is made up of four tercets and no evidence of meter or rhyme scheme.

I think that the author is trying to explaing that you don't need a deep reason to enjoy life. Steven uses the bird to explain this reason. Using the bird by saying that the birds sing happily  without a reason for and proves the point that there doesn't need a reason to be happy. I thought that this was interesting because it is the opposite of when people are sad, everybody wants to know the reason for the saddness, that there has to be a reason for sadness, but from Wallace Stevens you don't need a reason to be happy. I wonder if he believes this for other emotions or just hapiness? Goinga along with the imagery aspect I really enjoyed when he talked about the imagary of what the bird looks like, I don't understand why the author put the color of the bird into the poem, does it have meaning or does it just add to the poem.? What most confuses me about the poem is the word "palm" at first i thought that he was talking about a hand, but if he is, it doesn't really fit with poem. I wonder if palm has a different meaning?

This poem for some reason really stumped me. I decided to do a response on it to here you thoughts on the poem Mrs. White and also because i really enjoyed the poem. The imagery portion of the poem really stuck out to me.

Song of the Powers by David Mason

My first thought was that this is one intense game of rock paper scissors. From this poem I feel so much more meaning in the words of Rock, Paper and Scissors. I thought that Rock, Paper, and Scissors was a simple game of deciding who has to do something, a game that you will probably play the rest of your life because lets face it, it is the fairest way of deciding. What I get from the poem is that when talking about Rock, Paper, and Scissors I kind of get the feeling as if you can not get though life without the other two. I get this from the lines,
 "So heap up your paper
and scissor your wishes
and uproot the stone
from the top of the hill.
They all end alone
as you will, you will."

I thought that was interesting because in the game that is not the case. You use one to try and beat another. Each stanza before the last elaborates on each object. I get the feeling that the author is saying what each object means to him, describes the object in his own words. The Rock is brutal, but can be knocked when uprooted from a top a mountain. The paper are wishes and ethereal lives, and also pen is mightier than the sword or smothers the rock, and crazy thought you use pen to write on paper. The Scissors leave tattering wishes. Each object has a certain purpose and without the other two, you may not be successful. I believe that this is what the author is trying to say, but if I am wrong I did try.

Another thought about this poem, is that I really enjoyed it and just brings up those memories of who goes and gets the crayons for the group, I don't know lets play rock, paper, scissors to find out. They are not just old memories either I even do that now, as a senior in high school. :)

I started looking at the poems structure and notice that there was a ryhming sequence to the poem. ABCBCA. He does this ryhming sequence for the 3 stanzas then that kind of gets shot when the last stanza comes around. I don't completely understand the meaning of thie writing style.

It was a dream by Lucille Clifton

This poem I think is my favorite out of all the poems in the packet. Not exactly sure why that is but it really gets to me. I think part of that is because of the imagery in the poem. I may like this poem, but it doesn't mean I understand it. So, the first thing I thought was that this person, possibly the author is not happy with her life at all. It is like her alternate reality telling her that her life is a waste and a complete failure. If it was me, my self-esteem would be in the sinker. The imagery in this poem is awesome and really adds to the whole failure aspect. "She twisted her wild hair and sparked her wild eyes." This tells the anger the alternate self has with the life that the narrator is living. I also get dissapointment from this alternate self. If the poem is about the author, the good thing that the title of the poem is It was a dream because it turns out that the author has had a really successful career as a writer and a person.

Sorry this blog is not very good, but I have been working on my Independent Reading Assignment and i think my fingers have carpal tunnel syndrome, but I did enjoy the poem at least.

Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins

My first thought on this poem is that I liked it a lot. The flow of the poem was done really well and also makes the poem more understandable. The poem has awesome imagery and you can really feel what the author is trying to portray through his poetry. I believe that the Billy is trying to say that many people need to stop over analyzing poetry, stop trying to always derive a meaning from the words. Billy wants us to just enjoy the words, feel them, and just love the way poetry feels and sounds. I also think that each stanza could be maybe a different point of view of poetry from different poeple. These are the poeple that don't over analyze the poetry and just feel the poetry. Billy says to enjoy poetry, because when you start analyzing the poetry loses value. I think he is trying to say that maybe poets don't write for people to analyze the poem, they write for the enjoyment. This is how poets probably want people to view their poem through enjoyment, not over analyzation.

I really enjoyed this poem and I think that it is a little ironic that I am analyzing a poem that says not to analyze poetry.

Cottonmouth Country by Louise Gluck

Fish bones walked the waves off Hatteras.
And there were other signs
That Death wooed us, by water, wooed us
By land: among the pines
An uncurled cottonmouth that rolled on moss
Reared in the polluted air
Birth, not death, is the hard loss.
I know. I also left a skin there.


Let's just say I don't understand the poem exactly, so I had to do some research on some keyword throughout the poem. The first word I looke up was Hatteras, I assumed that this was a place near a patch of water, and I was correct Hatteras is a little town in North Carolina near the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. This is why fish bones are laying across it. The next word that I looked up was Cottonmouth, not exactly sure what that was and discovered that it is a snake, not just any snake but the only poisonous water snake in North America (Snakes our my greatest fear in my life, so I don't like this poem because of the snake!!) From looking up those words I tried putting the pieces together. I know most of the poem is about death, just by it talking about death, but what meaning is she trying to convey throught death and what does it mean to her. The title of the poem Cottonmouth Country which in translation means deadly snake. So i am going to make some assumptions about the poem by the poem saying that where ever the Cottonwood Snake goes, so does death. I don't if that is actually what the poem is saying, but that is my prediction for the poem.

I also know that this poem is octave strusture with a rhyming scheme. I believe that the rhyming scheme is ABABCDCD so it is pretty simple. This poem is a lyric poem, where the poem has a reflective tone and also has a subject to it. This poem is not a ballad because it is not written in quatrains, basic rhyme scheme, and not very songlike quality.