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Techniques in interpreting poetry
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John Ashbery's Paradoxes and Oxymorons
This poem is concerned with language on a very plain level.
Look at it talking to you. You look out a window
Or pretend to fidget. You have it but you don't have it.
You miss it, it misses you. You miss each other.
This poem is sad because it wants to be yours, and cannot.
What's a plain level? It is that and other things,
Bringing a system of them into play. Play?
Well, actually, yes, but I consider play to be
A deeper outside thing, a dreamed role-pattern,
As in the division of grace these long August days
Without proof. Open-ended. And before you know
It gets lost in the steam and chatter of typewriters.
It has been played once more. I think you exist only
To tease me into doing it, on your level, and then you aren't there.
Or have adopted a different attitude. And the poem
Has set me softely down beside you. The poem is you.
Role Reversal
If a poem were to address the reader directly instead of taking a usual narrative point of view, what would the poem say? John Ashbery's "Paradoxes and Oxymorons" answers this question directly and with frustration. At first glance, the poem seems a structured mass of words, simply constructed. However, a second look revels the poem's straightforward attempt to, ironically, reverse the roles of reader and speaker. Through its diction, it is a unique portrayal of a simple poem's reaching out to grab the reader's attention, eager to express that it is not merely a collection of words but intricately related to whoever peruses it. An attitude of regret is also apparent. The speakerexpresses concern in that he cannot control the reader's ...
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...poer to examine and scrutinize literature in general, this role-reversal may come as a surprise to her. The poem now addresses her directly, as if to say, "This is how it's going to be."
A theme that prevails through this poem is the speaker's, or author's, realization of a specific concern. No matter what the author or speaker intends to generate through a work of literaturein general, it is up to the reder to truly decidee its meaning. Again and again in the realm of poetry there lies the possible nabilty for the reader to grasp whatever message the speaker has put forth. Ashbury's "Paradoxes and Oxymorons" demonstrates this theme by saying "The poem is you" - that is, to each his won interpretation. The reader must interpret for herself what a poem's purpose truly is, regardless of the speaker's intentions.
As serene as the speaker may try to appear in the poem “Changes” by D. Ginette Clarke, Clarke’s “calm” way of delivering the speakers message unintentionally brings forward his eager and desperate side; and this is revealed by Clarke’s use of the repetition of words. To begin, D. Ginette Clarke writes the poem with a distinguished amount of words in which she repeats. She does this to show that the persona is eager to get some answers and clarification as to why his relationship with this person has ended. The first line of the first stanza says “Speak to me” (Clarke, 1), and the obvious question of who the speaker is speaking to is soon revealed: “While last year you were my friend? / More than my friend, my confidante, my soul-be” (6-7). Later, Clarke beings to reveal the curiosity of the persona by using question marks. The speaker begins to constantly ask questions like “Why? / Why is it now we can’t talk together / Why must you tell him that secret?” (3,...
The metafictional devices in Larry Levis’ “The Poem You Asked For” are found in overt and subtle ways throughout the poem. The first metafictional device is the poem is about a character writing a poem. The narrator references the odious poem in every single stanza. Despite the narrator’s best efforts, the poem r...
In her poem entitled “The Poet with His Face in His Hands,” Mary Oliver utilizes the voice of her work’s speaker to dismiss and belittle those poets who focus on their own misery in their writings. Although the poem models itself a scolding, Oliver wrote the work as a poem with the purpose of delivering an argument against the usage of depressing, personal subject matters for poetry. Oliver’s intention is to dissuade her fellow poets from promoting misery and personal mistakes in their works, and she accomplishes this task through her speaker’s diction and tone, the imagery, setting, and mood created within the content of the poem itself, and the incorporation of such persuasive structures as enjambment and juxtaposition to bolster the poem’s
Poetry is something that is to be read delicately and cautiously if one wanted to find meaning through the words. Readers have to be gentle and patiently ponder about what they are reading in order to find any significance in the poem. If someone is not patient with reading, they will not feel impacted by poetry and will not want to read it. In Billy Collins’, “Introduction to Poetry,” he uses figurative language to help readers see that the way to enjoy and understand poetry is by reading between the lines and being patient with how each individual relates to the readings.
Good poetry provides meaningful commentary. One indication of a poem’s success in this is the depth of thought the reader has as a result of the poem. The poems I anthologized may take different
O. Henry once said, “The true adventurer goes forth aimless and uncalculating to meet and greet unknown fate.” The poem goes a lot a deeper than the words on the page, the items and decisions within it really make you see things differently. Three symbols really stuck out to me; adolescence, sadness, and timelessness.
This is very meaningful because it sums up the whole poem. It means that what you think
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by the name of Langston Hughes. A well-known writer that still gets credit today for pomes like “ Theme for English B” and “Let American be American Again.”
These poems are not as complex when compared to other poems, and with that being said they do not take an abundance of inference to determine the theme of the poem. Because they are not as complex as others all 3 of these poems are capable of being paraphrased to better understand the main idea of the poem. When putting the poem into different words, one can
T.S. Eliot had very philosophical and religious meanings behind this poem, and that helped me relate personally very well with this work of his. He used allusions to other poems, letting me make connections with works I have read before. He also used inclusive language and had the same opinion as me portrayed in this work. Based on these, T.S. Eliot has convinced me of his messages in this poem, as well as made this by far my favorite of his.
The elements in the poem work very well together to help set the theme of this poem. The tone set the overall mood of the poem, so show that it was rushed but not in a chaotic way. The imagery helps to show us little details of the setting, which are very helpful. And finally, the figures of speech, help the reader to compare the scene to things they have experienced in their lifetime to fully understand the poem.
The diction of this poem influences the imagery with the tone of the words . They are used to convey the message of how it feels to not feel the spark of love
There are many ways in which one can convey themselves. Marianne Moore uses her speaker's “dislike”(Line 1) of poetry to bring forth the idea that society has dictated how poetry must follow a certain strict and rigid formation. Poetry has always been written with a basic formula in mind. The poem should rhyme, it should have rhythm, there's a required need to have a certain number of symbols in each line. Moore strays from this (idea) by saying “I,too,dislike” (Line1). Commenting on how society has so much control over what we do. The idea of society not allowing for change is augmented (cemented) with “there are things that are beyond all this fiddle” (Line1) encouraging the writer (reader) to break way, to be different from what's being demanded.
The ironic use of rhyme and meter, or the lack thereof, is one of the devices Larkin uses to emphasize his need to break out of industrial society. The typical rhyme scheme is not followed, but instead an ironic rhyme scheme is used in the sonnet in the form of abab cdcd efg efg. Larkin writes this poem as a sonnet but at the same time diverges from what a typical sonnet is supposed to be. He is commenting on society’s inclination to form restrictions on those within it. By writing out of the accepted form of a sonnet, his writing becomes more natural because of a lack of constraints due to following certain rules and fitting a certain form. He breaks free and writes as he pleases and does not conform to society. Just as with the rhyme, ...
Over the course of my professional life, I have become increasingly involved in project management roles. Doing so has made me aware of the many varied challenges that can face projects and the project managers who are charged with bringing them through to completion. The success or failure of projects, in whatever economic, political or social field, rests not just on the quality of the project’s goals, but also on the abilities of those involved in the project – and above all those who are managing it – to bring it to successful completion. To do this, project managers need to be equipped with a very wide range of skills, many of which are unrelated to the type of project itself. So, for example, a project manager of an engineering project must not only have engineering