The poem I personally chose was called, American Hero I chose this poem because I can relate to this on a personal level coupled with the fact that it was very suspenseful and brought you off of your seat. This particular poem was developed by Essex Hemphill, he was born in 1957 and later passed on in 1995. He began writing in his early years and with all this time he developed 3 volumes of poetry Essex has been active in writing all his life and was a great role model to our future writers. American hero is a successful poem that signifies on self-acceptance and social acceptance, also denial. The poems setting was based at a basketball court with all eyes on the main character, referenced from page 307 stanza 1 the author wrote,’’I have
nothing to lose tonight. All my men surround me,panting, as I spin the ball above our heads on my middle finger.” The author wanted to focus the attention to the main character because it takes a lot of self confidence to be the spotlight for something big. In my opinion I think Essex purposely made the poem this way to show social and self acceptance. I can relate this to my personal life because sometimes I feel like I've been put on the spot , however after I get this feeling my social and self-acceptance becomes stronger. As I get deeper into this poem, the main character pulls through and overcomes his fear, with this he is able to win It for his team and self. with such excitement the main character talks about his Triumph during his basketball game. In conclusion the poem American Hero is the First Choice poem I picked I enjoyed analyzing his poem for a number reasons, I was able to relate to this on a personal level making it easy for me to explain and separate key details to be able to get a clear response.
The voice of the narrator in the poem, “Ode to American English”, by Barbara Hamby uses the first person point of view, irony, and character voice to openly communicate about the uniqueness and criticism of the English language. First, the use of first person point of view creates a distinctive internal voice of the character. The author states, “I miss the mongrel plentitude of American English, its fall-guy, rat-terrier, dog-pound neologisms, the bomb of it all, the rushing River Jordan backwoods mutability of it” (83). Hamby writing her poem from the first person point of view is the same thing as using voice, because the way she portrays herself through the poem seems like she was directly speaking to me. Secondly, through the use of irony,
Taffler, a character of Timothy Findley's book, The Wars, is a multi-decorated soldier who many people, such as his fellow soldier and the country he fights for, sees him a hero. On the other hand, the poem A.E Housman created "To an Athlete Dying Young" talks about an athlete who died young and offers a different perspective on dying. According to the speaker of the poem, the athlete is “a smart lad” for dying while being in the spotlight (9). The definition of heroism is when a person shows bravery. However, bravery is not the only characteristics of heroism but also doing acts that are helpful and inspire people. Aspects of heroism found on, "To an Athlete Dying Young" applies Taffler, in various ways, such as the requirement for an individual
Carolyn Forche’s “The Colonel” discusses the lack of value towards human life by totalitarian government and the United States’ stake in investigating these powers and challenging them. The speaker in this poem recounts his experience meeting the colonel to show the audience both the amount of presence of the United States in this foreign setting and the Colonel’s lack of regard toward human rights. Figurative language, such as similes, metaphors, and symbols, as well as the speaker’s first-person point of view descriptions reveal her experiences in El Salvador with a cruel military government. These elements in Forche’s poem successfully convey themes of oppression and cruelty, as well as heavy
In the film Hancock, Hancock is an archetypal hero because he follows the hero’s journey. Hancock is a vigilante superhero living in the outskirts of Los Angeles, California. His reckless ways cause the city of Los Angeles to essentially dislike the anti- hero. Hancock does more good for himself than he does for the city hence the “anti-hero”. He is disliked until he saves a man who links him to the journey of an archetypal hero.
In "I, Too," Langston Hughes is obviously in conversation with the earlier poem, Walt Whitman 's "I Hear America Singing." Both poems explore the idea of American identity -- who and what is an American? What characterizes the people of this nation? The two poets, however, reach somewhat different conclusions in response to these questions.
“Hay for the Horses,” by Gary Snyder I chose this poem because it was easy to understand and enjoyable. One other reason why I chose this because my father was once a farmer and this poem is about the hardships that almost every farmers face. The author writes a little bit about himself in the poem which makes it very interesting to read and understand. The second poem I chose to compare was “Guilty at the Rapture,” by Keith Taylor. I chose this poem because it was easy to understand, it was religious, and because it was very different from “Hay for the Horses”. Both author’s main character in the poems are very similar, which is another reason why I choose these two poems.
To this day the Vietnam War is still considered to be one of the most devastating wars in history and has been a topic of resentment to the American culture thirty-three years after its end. For the American public it’s marked as being the point in history where distrust in our government was at an all-time high, mainly because most of the war’s carnage was witnessed on television for the first time. For all the bloodshed American and Vietnamese soldiers suffered through, the war has left a perpetual mark not only on the United States but ultimately has left a permanent scar on the soldiers who fought and managed to survive the war. Renowned war poet, Bruce Weigl, like most young American men during the time was only nineteen when he participated in the war and fought for three years. The traumatic experiences he faced in the war and post-service back home in the United States helped him develop a distinctively emotional and explicit poetry which dealt bluntly with the atrocious images of Vietnam. When being interviewed by fellow poet and student of his, David Keplinger, Bruce openly states that, ““…it did not occur to me to write poems about the war for a long time. It was not exactly that it had not occurred to me, but I questioned why anyone would want to read about the war because it was already terrible enough” (Keplinger 141). With his time after the war, Weigl obtained his PhD. at the University of Utah and also made stops at Oberlin College and the University of New Hampshire prior to that. Weigl’s encounter with the war has enabled him to depict graphic illustrations of it and that effect seems to plod into the present. His work is highly saturated in the brutalities of Vietnam War and echoes that very sentiment.
Ernest Hemingway has the tendency to use his heroes in some unheroic ways. At first the hero may seem obvious, but later on it is discovered that the true hero is not who it seems to be. In A Farewell to Arms Hemingway uses the true hero to guide the main character into becoming a hero, but fails miserably.
of this for a very long time. He goes on to say '..From twilight to
The poem I have chosen to focus on is “I was Born into a World” by James Franco. This poem focuses on how humans have successfully changed the world we are living in for the worse. Franco describes how most aspects of his life that he has always thought of as being definite are now starting to disappear in front of his eyes. The way that humans have treated our planet is ultimately resulting in the downfall of its diversity and its beauty. This position that Franco holds is something that I believe both Henry David Thoreau, and David Haskell would agree with.
There were dozens of poets to choose from for the ORP, but out of all of them I chose William Carlos Williams. The main reason I chose Williams as my poet was because he’s my dad’s all-time favorite poet. He had many of his poetry books and information about him, so if I had any questions my dad knew all the answers. When I first started reading Williams’ poems, I thought they were rather strange. But as my dad explained how he wrote and what some of the poems meant, I started really understanding his poetry and now he is my favorite poet. From reading Williams’ poetry, I have learned one extremely special and important thing about writing poetry. That you don’t always have to write about things that have a message to have a great poem, you can write about random objects and still have a wonderful poem. I would recommend Williams to more advanced readers who really understand poetry and already know a little bit about his past, because knowing Williams’ background really helped me understand his poetry.
Through years of research and studies of various American literature and poetry only one name comes to mind. That of course, is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of the most widely known and best-loved American poets of his time. Longfellow has not only influenced generations of readers, his writings have had a significant impact on my life as well. It is in Longfellow’s distinctive writing style and realistic themes in which his poems express joy, optimism and capture the goodness of life. Longfellow felt it was his calling to encourage others through his literacy talents. It has been said of his audience that in times of confusion and despair he was able to provide a ray of light and sense of worthiness. Longfellow aspired to be a man of integrity, a man who wrote poetry to inspire his readers to aim for that goal as well. In studying Longfellow’s biography and analyzing his famous poem, “A Psalm of Life,” he has left a foundational imprint on me as an individual and helped to shed light on my perspective on life and the world in which I live in.
“They are slaves who fear to speak/ For the fallen and the weak.” This line is from the poem “Stanzas on Freedom”. It was written by one of the Cambridge poets, James Russell Lowell, during the 1800 's, a time when the issue of slavery was constantly debated, and was on everyone’s mind. Some felt that slavery was a completely virtuous practice, saying that life as a slave in America was far better than being a free man in Africa (Miller, 132) Others didn 't themselves agree with slavery, but believed that the citizens of a free country should be able to choose whether or not they wanted to own slaves. Others believed that slavery was completely and utterly evil; no man, woman or child should be forced to live a life not of their own choosing.
Emerson believes that a person must not care about laws in order to be a hero. However, there are multiple instances where a hero is a hero because they are fighting against certain laws that they view as unjust. Martin Luther King Jr, Gandhi, and Abraham Lincoln show that today’s heroes are fighting against the laws and therefore, contrary to Emerson’s belief, are heros because the laws motivated their actions.
If I had to pick a favourite poem, I would choose " But You Didn't",