Best Poetry Blog

I nominate PoetryinaCan for the best blog in the class. Throughout the semester I enjoyed reading the chosen poems as well as the in depth analysis. The format was clean, consistent and easy to read, and there were always comments to get others insight. I liked that his titles were more thoughtful than just the title of the poem.

She Breathes Art was a close runner up for me. I also read her blog the most throughout the semester. I think we shared a common interest not only in poets but the way we look at them. 

Thanks for all the great posts and good luck to everyone!

To the Future

Poets to Come by Walt Whitman

POETS to come! orators, singers, musicians to come!
Not to-day is to justify me, and answer what I am for;
But you, a new brood, native, athletic, continental, greater than
before known,
Arouse! Arouse–for you must justify me–you must answer.

I myself but write one or two indicative words for the future,
I but advance a moment, only to wheel and hurry back in the darkness.

I am a man who, sauntering along, without fully stopping, turns a
casual look upon you, and then averts his face,
Leaving it to you to prove and define it,
Expecting the main things from you.

In the first stanza the poet addresses the reader as future creative writers of all kinds. The voice is seemingly close to that of the poet because he writes in first person, using I and me. He says that the future should defend him and his work for the work of the future may be new and grand in all these ways but if it wasn’t for poets like him, they would be at a different place. He says that he only has a few things to say looking forward and only glancing for a moment he knows that when you face the new blood of your calling, you to will expect he or she to validate and defend you and your work as he has asked of you.

Taking this poem line by line is much more confusing than just getting the over all idea from the entire poem. I feel that it skips around from present to future in a way that needs to be visualized. I feel that the main idea of the poem is to appreciate those who have come before you so that your work can be that much more grand. I think of my art classes and how one must know those artist from the past in order to create something knew. One may have inspirations that you pull ideas from but its what you do differently that makes the work new, exciting and original.

I am glad I chose this poem as my last blog because it gives everyone who reads it something to look forward for. No matter you’re concentration or passion, it’s important to know your past because without it, you may not have ended up where you are.

I really enjoyed a lot of Whitman’s work and although I didn’t get it exactly every time, I was able to interpret it in my own way that made sense to me. I think that’s what poetry is about. Of course there is beauty in the way that poets write and the messages they want you to get out of them are important, but even if you may not get it but you appreciate it, I think that’s one step closer in the right direction.

A call for hope

“Hope” is the thing with feathers #254

By Emily Dickinson

“Hope” is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I’ve heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.

 

I chose this poem this week because I need a little pick me up. This poem allows the reader to find hope in their lives,no matter how severe the circumstance.

The first stanza talks about a metaphoric bird that lives within us. Although the bird may not know the song of hope, it sings the tune for as long as you need it.

The second stanza talks about how the song is heard and the pain is strong yet that little bird that protects us and gives us hope, doesn’t give in or give up.

The third stanza continues to talk about the song of hope and how it can be heard in the harshest conditions and even at its limits, even at its breaking points, it never gives is and is always there for you wanting nothing in return.

Emily Dickinson was pretty much a hermit, so for her to write about hope seems uplifting to me. Just because she didn’t socialize with much of the world, doesn’t mean she doesn’t have faith and hope in it. I think that one needs to have some form of faith to have hope; you need to believe in it in order to have hope.

I like this poem because no matter what, hope is there. Hope as a little bird could be surprising because one would view it to be fragile but it also has the ability to soar around any obstacles in its way.  The iambic tri-meter, the capitalization, the hyphens, and the loose rhyme scheme, all allow the flow of the poem to emphasize the spiritual power that it exerts. I believe that although the little bird (hope) will always be there for you, and has the power to stand through the toughest of times,  you must have the strength to call on it when you need it. Hope will never ask for anything in return but you need to ask it for help in the first place.