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What is poetry? poetry is many things that suggest thoughts and emotions
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For this assignment I elected to read a collection of works by a poet I have grown to become more and more familiar with, the ever so syntactically brilliant Carl Phillips and his collection of poems titled Double Shadow. As a poet, I have been influenced a fair amount by Carl since attending his reading a month ago on October 21st. So when it came to reading a collection of works, I chose to read one the books of poetry I bought from that same reading. With regards to Carl and his literary style, Carl has mastered something that I am striving to reach, not just in poetry, but as an artist and human in general. That “something” I am referring to is this level of contemplation and thought provoking self-reflection. In his poetry Carl often creates a speaker who …show more content…
But then there comes this sort of coming to light moment for the "shadows" of these things. These can either be a realization that the situation is one to be fond of or one that speaks to the doom the speakers and/or characters find themselves in.
One of my favorite poems in this collection of pieces is titled Through an Opening. It is poem where the speaker recalls two individuals who are “trapped” in captivity after “stepping into the head of a wind god”. This first line is very indicative of the language Carl uses in many of his works and in this collection specifically. This is also an example of Carl’s language can seem to transverse into plains outside of reality. What is also interesting is how he uses this transverse metaphor to relay a complex strings of emotions that the characters experiences. In the next stanza the speakers mentions that they made their prison “a space they could sometimes recognize”. Subsequently going on in the next stanza to state that it “soon looked like a home” full of things such as “a chicken hawk; first stars; /a golden steeple.” From the
Ryan reminds us of the suggestive power of poetry–how it elicits and rewards the reader’s intellect, imagination, and emotions. I like to think that Ryan’s magnificently compressed poetry – along with the emergence of other new masters of the short poem like Timothy Murphy and H.L. Hix and the veteran maestri like Ted Kooser and Dick Davis – signals a return to concision and intensity.
The fear of reading literature and not being able to comprehend the ideas presented forces readers to create a deeper meaning through annotations, as expressed through Billy Collins’ use of comparative imagery and aggressive diction in “Marginalia” and “Introduction to Poetry.” Collins’ choice to
Yes, learning that I could truly enjoy poetry was an amazing, but also, a highly involved discussion. One I would rather focus on at another time. I would, though, like to elaborate on the profound similarity I felt in with the feeling of the narrator.
Alexander’s beautiful poems of witness and stream of consciousness; however, are the poems that I have gained the most from. In American Sublime, there is an entire section dedicated to witness poetry. While reading the witness poems, I noticed that Alexander put a significant amount of research into her witness poetry; from learning the names of slaves, to pulling official court documents. This demonstrates how serious poems are witnessing are. These are not poems that one can write without an extensive amount of knowledge. Elizabeth Alexander’s witness poems are a tremendous example of what a witness poem should be. In addition to this form of poetry, Alexander’s stream of conciseness poems have broaden my ideas on what those poems can look like. Until now, I have been intimidates by stream of conciseness poems. They were full of energy, often anger, and decorated with cursing. Although I enjoy reading these poems, I cannot bring myself to write this way. Therefore, I never attempted to write a stream of consciousness poem. However, Elizabeth Alexander’s stream of consciousness poems are not like this. While they are energetic, they are not an angry or annoyed tone; instead, they are explanative. This style is one that I am comfortable with writing, and plan to attempt one day. Hopefully, with the guidance of Elizabeth Alexander’s work , I will
Despite the beauty described in the first few stanzas of the poem, it was the feeling of doubt and pondering that approached at the end of the poem that truly was the most thought provoking. Instead of just writing of beauty, Poets must realize that they may be leading people to false ideals, and in doing so that they may actually be causing individuals to believe in something that is nothing more than a dream. This realization makes the image of the questioning poet by far the most important in the piece.
Kevin Young expressed and introduced several powerful ideas about poetry. For instance, he suggested that the form of poetry occurs organically; the form suggested fuels the subject for which poems he planned to write. This further confirmed the work our class does on essays whenever we explain how the subject the poet writes about is further suggested within the poem’s form. Kevin Young opened my eyes to the external effects on poetry. For example, Kevin Young described things about his office. I found it interesting how he would keep little things around that inspired an idea about a poem or further enhanced a thought of his. On the other hand, Kevin Young stated that not everything external effects his work. He explained that watching television and listening to several different types of music in the background doesn’t necessarily always effect his writing. Additionally, Kevin Young revealed that poetry doesn’t always come easy. For instance, he responded to a students question about line breaks by stating
The definition of poetry, instead of becoming more selective and exact, has become a much more broad and open minded classification of literature. From It's beginning's in romanticist Puritan literature, to its more modernistic function on present society, poetry has become a way to blend the psychological side of human intellect, with the emotional side of human intuition and curiosity. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman were two early poets from the late 19th century. Unlike Walt, Emily liked to write at home, she was a more secluded author who enjoyed to look out the window for inspiration. Walt on the other hand loved to travel. He found inspiration through nature and the diversity of thriving cultures throughout the world. Although these writers found inspiration from two different methods, their poems have distinct similarities in theme, images, and main ideas.
I do not know how without being culpably particular I can give my Reader a more exact notion of the style in which I wished these poems to be written, than by informing him that I have at all times endeavored to look steadily at my subject; consequently, I hope that there is in these Poems little falsehood of description, and my ideas are expressed in language fitted to their respective importance. Something I must have gained by this practice, as it is friendly to one property of all good poetry, namely, good sense; but it has necessarily cut me off from a large portion of phrases and figures of speech which from father to son have long been regarded as the common inheritance of Poets.
1. What does this statement mean to you: On page 51 Coates said, “the craft of poetry….what my mother taught me all those years ago – the craft of writing as the art of thinking.” What personal experiences have you had to illustrate this point?
“In what ways does the poet draw you into the world of poetry? Detailed reference to 2 poems”
“I sometimes speak from the last thing that happened to me. I got asked today if I think up poems. Do I think them up? How do I get the right one? Well, it is the hardest thing in the world to tell. But I don’t think up poems. I pick up a lot of things I thought of to make a poem; that is a lot of scattered thoughts through the days that are handy for the poem-that’s about all. That’s where the thinking comes in.”
Although difficult and challenging, I have compared and contrasted the works of two American Poets, Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickinson, based on literary elements used in their writings. Their differences both in style and subject are contradictory to the fact that both Poe and Dickinson are writers/poets of the same personal nature. The use of literary elements showcase the iconic statuses of the writings created by such reserved yet fame dependent poets such as Poe and Dickinson. To an extent, their chosen elements are what create their uniqueness. Further, it establishes a uniform perception that they are similar yet different poets of the personal essence. Through their writings, readers are able to grasp the concept that they are rarely drawn to the fact their lives were perfect. Dickinson seemed to be a writer of distinct but subtle characteristics. Poe, on the other hand, was considered to be a writer filled with a dependancy on fame and fortune.
Restlessness is the main focus of Phillips’ article, it is the title of his article and in his opinion it is the reason why poems exist at all. “Poetry is the results of a generative restlessness of imagination… uncertainties become obsessions to be wrestled with, and with luck, the result is poetry…” (Phillips 132) Phillips, in summary of his article, claims uncertainties in life trouble our minds until the uncertainties become obsessions. We become restless in our quest to understand the uncertainties we face and by writing poems we can organize our thoughts and try to understand the things we do not. Phillips furthers his explains his claim by admitting “ I write poetry for the same reason that I read it, both as a way of being alive and as a way of trying to understand what it means—how it feels—to be alive.” (Phillips 133).
Shadows can be a threat because they are opposite representations of an individual’s ideals of himself/herself. Because of this trait, a physical shadow will be the representation of an individual’s concealed evil traits with an actual form. Many people fear what the physical representation of their shadow may be. When concealed within oneself the shado...
Poetry is a craft of near-paradox. Poets often say that they aim to encase the abstract within the concrete, describe without adjectives or adverbs, and expound upon concepts with the utmost concision. To meet these formidable challenges, they keep several important literary devices at their disposal, one of which is the conceit. Commonly defined as an elaborately extended metaphor, the conceit often allows poets to capture complicated ideas through comparison with images closer to readers’ everyday experiences. If the concept that the poet wishes to illustrate comes from the theological or philosophical fields, figurative language like the conceit can rescue the poet from didacticism as well as opacity. “On a Drop of Dew,” a short poem by the metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell, employs the conceit for just this purpose. Marvell’s use of the conceit allows him convey the Christian story of the human soul in his poem with subtlety and simplicity, from its birth in heaven through its placement on earth and eventual reunion with God in heaven.