Critical Analysis

In this course the three poems that I related to the most was the ballad of a chocolate Mabbie by Gwendolyn Brooks (130) , Bonny Barbara Allen by Anonymous (132), and The Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare (131). One of the main reason’s I found these poems the most interesting was because I was able to understand the writer and their point of view of the message on love that they were trying to share. The most easiest to analyze was the story of Mabbie, a poor girl who has a crush on a boy who barely notices who she is. I guess the main reason why it was the easiest was because I could relate to Mabbie, and thought that perhaps her name stood for something other than a true name of a little girl, perhaps Mabbie is whom ever or whatever you may want it to be. Truly the ballad is about desiring someone that you cannot have at this moment. The hardest for me to decipher was Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare, one of the main reasons this was not easy for me is because I have never been good at Sonnets in addition, William uses metaphors to deliver his message. In order to accuratly analyze his poems knowledge must be obtained about his era and how they communicated to one another and then try and decipher the poem. Regardless of the challenges faced while analyzing the poems I believe I successfully completed the task.

The first poem I analyzed was The ballad of chocolate Mabbie by Gwendolyn Brooks writes a poem about a girl named Mabbie, who has a crush on a boy named Willie Boone. This is evident in the second stanza lines 7 and 8, “ When she sat by him in history class, Was only her eyes were cool” (Brooks 130). She would wait for him at the front doors of the school, as she knew when to be expecting him. Although her efforts were in vain, as he did not recognize her admiration and as a result he was more attracted to a fair skinned girl.

This poem is a traditional ballad form poem written in the four in stanza. The first and third lines are written in iambic tetrameter, and the second and fourth lines are written in iambic trimeter. The scheme of the rhyme is ABXB, the x stands for the third line which does not have to rhyme.

The poem that I analyzed next was Bonny Barbara Allen, the author of this poem is unknown however it is a ballad written about a man loving a woman who does not reciprocate and proves that love conquers all. In the poem William becomes love-sick because Barbara will not come back to him, he sends for her when he learns he ill. She comes to see him and there he admits that he is ill. This is recognized in the second stanza, line11“ Young man, I think you’re dying” (132). He continues to try to persuade Barbara to come back to him but she does not. This is when the poem seems to take a turn in the tone and in Stanza 6, it William dies by the 9th stanza (132). During his funeral Barbara visits him to pay her respects. That is when Barbara becomes ill with grief and passes.

After analyzing the poem, The ballad of a chocolate Mabbie, the comprehension of this poem was rather easy. I was able to recognize the similarity of the two poems and the consistency of the ballad form of poetry. It seems this form is much easier to use when telling a story and the audience receiving the message that they are trying to provide. As mentioned before the ballad poem is written in four line stanza form. The first and third lines are written in iambic tetrameter, and the second and fourth lines are written in iambic trimeter. The rhyme scheme is the same as well ABXB.
The final poem was Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare, this is a poem of persuasion an argument point provided in metaphors. The message that is being delivered is the significance of true love and not being blinded by the artificial love that gets the best of most humans. As mentioned before metaphors were used in this poem, Shakespeare uses objects and beings to describe and help him deliver his message on the importance of knowing true love. In the 7th line he shares, “ It is the star to every wandering bark”, which simply means that love is the north star to a lost ship (Shakespeare 131). On the 8th line Shakespeare shares that “ love is not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks” here he is referring that love should have no time stamp on it through physical beauty (Shakespeare 131).

Clearly this poem is a sonnet, some of the rules that helps determine a sonnet is that it consists of 14 lines which are written in iambic pentameter. The scheme used in this poem is ABAB, this pattern helps the reader think about what is being written. The tone was the poem was the same with unstressed syllables, since it appears it was expected to be delivered in one tone tells me that Shakespeare was passionate about what he wrote. The poem seems to be augmenting the importance of finding true love more so than telling about finding true love.

Finally, the messages that were delivered in each poem has similarities all three poems had the message of being in love with someone and the importance of it to people. In the poems The ballad of chocolate Mabbie and Bonny Barbara Allen both authors shared the same poetic characteristics as they delivered their message. Gwendolyn successfully entertained the audience with her creative way of expressing the girl Mabbie. I believe that she was trying to help everyone relate to Mabbie in some way, for the name Mabbie seems more global than personal. In the ballad Bonny Barbara Allen, the author shares the love of a heart broken man, who becomes love sick and eventually dies. The lady that he was pursuing does not begin to acknowledge his love until he dies. The author message was entertaining but was delivered in a method that the audience would feel William’s pain and empathize with him. The last poem, Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare was to argument the point of view of true love and the importance of it. William creatively uses metaphors to help deliver his message and it seems that he accomplished this goal. Although the poem must be studied it could very well relate today’s society and their view on love. All poems discuss above were very interesting and well delivered. The messages that the three poems carried was related in the sense of finding and knowing what true love is and the hopes to gain love one day.

Works Cited:

Twiggs, Christopher, et al. Introduction to Literature, Second Edition, Florida State College at Jacksonville, 2009 print.

Cited: Twiggs, Christopher, et al. Introduction to Literature, Second Edition, Florida State College at Jacksonville, 2009 print.