Reading both Mary Oliver’s poem, “Morning in New a Land,” and James Wright’s poem, “A Blessing,” I noticed a protruding thematic similarity between the two poems and what the authors were trying to say. Though "Morning in New a Land” focuses on the rising dawn upon the new beginning day and “A Blessing” takes a more opportune outlook on the experience that the author had, both poems employ a feeling of peace, contentment, and a newfound inward enlightenment that both these authors felt.
Often, a poems title can be just as, if not more so, important to the theme of the poem then the actual poem itself. Mary Oliver and James Wright didn’t just pick random titles for these poems, they thought about what phrase or word could best represent this
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poem and help the reader understand what they are trying to say. If we take a step back and focus on each of the poems titles, instead of the poem itself, the poems become more clear to us. Mary Oliver titled her poem “Morning in New a Land”. When just looking at the title, you are filled with a sense of unfamiliarity, yet also a sense of curiosity and adventure for what lies ahead. Mornings signify a new beginning and the start of a new day. A day where you don’t know what’s ahead or what may happen. That’s what Mary Oliver was trying to get at with the title, “Morning in New a Land.” She’s trying to make us feel the childlike wonder before we actually start reading the poem. So when we do read the poem, we have a better understanding of it. James Wright also picked a title that has a more intuitive meaning, and a deeper connection with his poem. “A Blessing” could represent a number of things, and what that blessing could possibly be is infinite. By only reading the title we, as readers, become intrigued and curious by what the blessing could be. It makes us want to read the poem and to figure it out for ourselves. James Wright uses his title, “A Blessing”, to captivate his readers and to urge them to read his poem. And by knowing that James Wright’s poem has something to do with a blessing, we aren't lost in his imagery and descriptions of the scene and of the horses. Both authors, Mary Oliver and James Wright use their titles to help their reader understand their poems. The literal meaning of a poem is also significant, once we understand the literal meaning it helps us understand the theme of the poem. Mary Oliver starts her poem “Morning in New a Land,” off with a bird flying away when dawn is just barely starting to rise. She, the author/speaker of the poem, looks out across the filed and watches a few horses climb the the hill along with the mist. The author/speaker stands under the tree alone for a couple minutes longer, silently observing her surrounding and realizing how beautiful everything is. The poem is just her simply recalling peaceful event that happened to her. In James Wright’s poem, “A Blessing,” he starts out with him (the author/speaker) and his friend stopping on the side of the road to go pet some horses in a nearby field. He too is simply recalling peaceful and happy eventful that took place in his life. The similarity of both these events being peaceful and happy in a literal sense is important to understanding the theme. Both authors want us to realize first that these were happy moments, a moment where time stood still for them. The theme is the most important and significant part of the poem. The simple complexity of what the author might be trying to actually say and help you understand is what makes these two poems so famous and beautiful. As you read Mary Oliver’s poem, you begin to feel that you are there with her at that moment in time. Where she started to realize the incredible gift of life and every adventure and beautiful morning it has to offer, and it’s like she’s seeing it for the first time. That maybe she’s been looking at life all wrong, that it isn't some burden you have to carry around with you, that when you push past the thick fog and part those leaves you start to understand the miracle and the beauty of life. You begin to see the world for what it truly is. That even though life might be scary and hard at some times, and you might feel as if you are waking up in some strange new land, that every morning is a opportunity for you to begin again, for you to see the world in a whole new light. In James Wright's poem he stops his journey to live in a simple moment. It wasn’t where he was going, but it was where he needed to be. That at that certain time and place, he needed to be exactly where he was to receive that enlightenment that he could blossom out of his own body with happiness and be himself. I believe that is what James Wright is trying to say. That we plan our lives out day my day, and sometimes minute by minute. But it’s not about the destination, or where we are striving to get to. It’s about the journey along the way, and all the experiences you have with that journey. The journey is what helps us realize who we truly are and helps us blossom into our full selves. It’s not the destination, we don’t arrive somewhere and magically become a whole new person with new life experiences. We get those life experiences and those enlightened thoughts on our journey, and that’s the ultimate blessing. A major similarity between these two poems is the tone and mood that both these poems hold.
Tone and mood both help us, as readers to depict how the author really feels about what he or she is actually saying in the poem itself. When you finish reading Mary Oliver’s poem, “Morning in New a Land,” you have a sense of hopefulness for the future to come, and an optimistic outlook towards the rising morning. We see a similar sense of tone and mood being reflected in James Wright’s poem, “A Blessing”. The whole poem itself seems to be in some sort of daze, mainly to due to all the describing words and imagery that the poem itself unfolds. By the end of the poem you are left feeling light and as if you’ve seen something in yourself you haven’t quite noticed before. Both of these poems hold a very hopeful feel, and that’s partly due to what makes them so enjoyable to read and re read. In summary, poetry is made up of many aspects, and is not just the poem itself. It’s about the title of the poem, the literal meaning, and tone of the poem and most importantly the theme of the poem itself. While comparing Mary Oliver’s poem, “Morning in New a Land” and James Wright’s poem, “A Blessing” we see that often times poems can resemble one another quite closely yet have completely different
meanings.
When I read poetry, I often tend to look first at its meaning and second at how it is written, or its form. The mistake I make when I do this is in assuming that the two are separate, when, in fact, often the meaning of poetry is supported or even defined by its form. I will discuss two poems that embody this close connection between meaning and form in their central use of imagery and repetition. One is a tribute to Janis Joplin, written in 1983 by Alice Fulton, entitled “You Can’t Rhumboogie in a Ball and Chain.” The second is a section from Walt Whitman’s 1,336-line masterpiece, “Song of Myself,” first published in 1855. The imagery in each poem differs in purpose and effect, and the rhythms, though created through repetition in both poems, are quite different as well. As I reach the end of each poem, however, I am left with a powerful human presence lingering in the words. In Fulton’s poem, that presence is the live-hard-and-die-young Janis Joplin; in Whitman’s poem, the presence created is an aspect of the poet himself.
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
Strand, Mark and Evan Boland. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. New
For many people, the early hours of the morning can hold numerous possibilities from time for quiet reflections to beginning of the day observations to waking up and taking in the fresh air. In the instance of the poems “Five A.M.” and “Five Flights Up,” respective poets William Stafford and Elizabeth Bishop write of experiences similar to these. However, what lies different in their styles is the state of mind of the speakers. While Stafford’s speaker silently reflects on his walk at dawn from a philosophical view of facing the troubles that lie ahead in his day, Bishop’s speaker observes nature’s creations and their blissful well-being after the bad day had before and the impact these negative thoughts have on her psychological state in terms
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.”
Billy Collins has used a specific metaphor, simile, rhyme and personification in his poem ‘Introduction to poetry’ in order to show how one should better understand a poem. This poem focused on what the poem actually mean and how a poem should be clearly understood. Throughout the poem, Billy Collins has presented a clear way of understanding the poem by using a very interesting imagery, symbolism, metaphor and a very sensitive sound. The words used in this poem are so powerful that the readers are convinced to think about the issue presented in the poem.
Before reading this poem, one might not be too intrigued by its title, but ...
A metrical composition; a composition in verse written in certain measures, whether in blank verse or in rhyme, and characterized by imagination and poetic diction; contradistinguished from prose; as, the poems of Homer or of Milton. This is but one of Webster 's definitions of a poem. Using this definition of “poem,” this paper will compare and contrast three different poems written by three different poets; William Shakespeare 's Sonnets 116, George Herbert’s Easter Wings and Sir Thomas Wyatt’s Whoso List to Hunt.
Poetry is more than just a correlation of words; poetry contains power. Poetry works by sculpting the English language in such a way that it produces sound, while endeavoring to recreate experiences. I really grasped this concept when we read Dulcem Et Decorum Est, by Wilfred Owen. Among other things, this poem contains haunting imagery, and a rhythm that produces the sound of being in the trenches. While reading this poem, Wilfred Owen’s words made me fearful and paranoid. The slightest sound could hold my attention. I also noticed how silent the room felt after we finished the poem. We were all struck and disturbed by the old phrase Dulcem Et Decorum Est.
Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology. 3rd ed. Ed. Helen Vendler. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
Tone and mood are two essential parts to writing or telling a story. Mood is the the atmosphere, climate, or feeling of a text while tone is the attitude and or feelings of the person presenting the story. “Adam” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and “Why soldiers won't talk” by John Steinbeck have two different moods and tones. Mood and Tone affects the way that the reader feels while reading the story.Sometimes all it takes to state the mood and tone is one sentence. While the tones of both stories are vastly different, there are similarities in there too.
In this essay I will compare and contrast a collection of different poems by Carol Anne Duffy, Robert Browning, Ben Johnson and Simon Armitage.
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia, eds. An Introduction to Poetry. 13th ed. New York: Longman, 2010. 21. Print.
Poets often use techniques such as tone, imagery, themes, and poem structure to create a more complex view of their stance on the subject. These features can make the poem more interesting to the reader and helps to develop their story. The use of imagery in a poem can take the reader on a journey filled with sensory images that help the reader to connect with the subjects of the poems. The tone of the poem determines the mood and feelings that the reader will experience. The theme of a poem holds the true meaning and point of the poem and is explained using the above literary techniques. While “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath and “Piano” by D.H. Lawrence both contain imagery and tone to convey the poets’ common theme of the longing for the past to revive itself, the poets use different poem structures that further convey their overall message.
For this assignment we have to compare three poems; for mine I ended up choosing “I Want to Die While You Love Me” by Georgia Douglas Johnson, “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” from play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, and the third is “ Song for a Dark Girl” by Langston Hughes. When you first read these three poems they really don’t have much in common, but once you begin to compare them all to one another you really start to apprehend what’s being written. Comparing poems has many benefits; you can discover different writing styles, different emotions the literature makes you feel, along with experiencing many different types of rhythm and rhyme.