Stanford and University of California alumni Sandra Lim reads from The Wilderness on April 7, 2015, at Prairie Lights. As an alumna from the International Writing Program Lim was making her return back to Iowa City after 11 years. In The Wilderness Lim reads a collection of poems about love, spring and one poem that caught my attention was about the individual struggle of one's body within one’s mind. The poems are open to many interpretations but that is the way that I chose to interpret that poetry in particular. The interesting thing about Lim’s poem is how describes the body parts in some of her poems. It is very vague. It almost makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable but at the same time, I really like her style. The way she describes…
Peppers, parsley, pansy, pickles, and pears. Carrots, cabbages, celery, and cactus.There’s also rodgersia, rampion, and rapunzel.Oh, how I love my plants!…
1. Does the horse think, or is the writer using this to postpone his thoughts…
But none of it seems real to you – it has to be a dream.…
No, I don’t completely agree with this statement. In the first text, the weather was described to be quite violent because the wind outside was very strong such that the occurrence of ‘snails being blown across the patio like sailboats’ was to happen. Similarly, the weather in the second text is described to be powerful in the terms of the wind (‘shrieking wind’; ‘Wind slung Quoyle’). Although I do believe that in the second text the wind is more forceful and dangerous as the winds has direct contact with the main characters as they push Quoyle away from his aunt. It’s almost like fate didn’t want them to be together and the weather helps in making that happen. The quote, ‘Weather here beyond anything you know.’ suggests that even your imagination…
Tattoos are permanent symbols that last forever, while relationships can’t be guaranteed permanent now a days. Kim Addonizio chooses tattoos as a symbol in this poem “First poem for you.” Water and lightning is what makes the poem most symbolistic. “Lines of lightning pulsing just above your nipple can find as if by instinct the blue swirls of water on your shoulder where a serpent twists facing a dragon.” Though symbols can have more than one meaning to them the poem helps to point of the specific meaning of these symbols.…
Take a minute to imagine “Men looking like they had been/attacked repeatedly by a succession /of wild animals,” “never/ ending blasted field of corpses,” and “throats half gone, /eyes bleeding, raw meat heaped/ in piles.” These are the vividly, grotesque images Edward Mayes describes to readers in his poem, “University of Iowa Hospital, 1976.” Before even reading the poem, the title gave me a preconceived idea of what the poem might be about. “University of Iowa Hospital, 1976” describes what an extreme version of what I expected the poem to be about. The images I described above are just some of the horrifying scenes described by Mayes. This poem spoke to me about the pain and suffering patients endure while staying in a hospital (whether it be a mental hospital or a medical hospital) and the horrific images the staff see daily. Mayes uses several types of imagery and literary tropes in his poem to give readers an intense visual sensation as they read his poem. The visuals Mayes placed in my own mind while I read this poem were intensely real and stuck with me long after I studied the poem.…
“Slaveship,” by Lucille Clifton, is a free verse poem from the perspective of slaves that the white men capture and trade in the slave trade, forcing them to travel on the Middle Passage. Ironically, the ships bear the names of religious symbols and figures such as Jesus, Angel of God, and Grace of God (lines 14-15) even though the act of slavery is one of the most sinful systems in the eyes of these slaves and in the eyes of all decent human beings.…
In this essay, I will be comparing four poems: Checking out me history; Singh Song; The Ruined Maid and Give. ‘Checking out me history’ By John Agard is a strong piece which shows a hint of anger and almost betrayal as he enlightens us on his knowledge of unknown history. The second poem, ‘Singh Song’ by Daljit Nagra has a stereotypical Indian man who runs one “ov his daddy’s shop” bit it has the theme of romance added. Thirdly, The Ruined Maid by Thomas Hardy, the poem is a conversation between two female friends, the poem depicts a young country girl who has become a rich man’s mistress or a prostitute to escape her own poverty and the friend seems to envy her. Lastly, ‘Give’ by Simon Armitage, the poem is about homelessness and the way society reacts to beggars, the poem is in the eyes and voice of a beggar. I will be exploring the ways these emotional voices are presented and used to challenge the stereotypes.…
Most children grow up not knowing how the world works around them. They don’t understand why people are different from one other and they react differently to with jealousy or cruelty when someone is not like they are. In All Summer in a Day, by Ray Bradbury, the children are jealous and angry with Margot because she has experienced things in life they have not, so the kids treat her unfairly because of it. From the beginning of the story the kids never liked Margot and treated her cruelly. When she starts to tell the kids in her class how the sun is “like a fire in a stove” (Bradbury 1) she is cut off by a boy and told “you’re lying you don’t remember” (2). Another instance when she is treated horribly by the kids is when she is told to “speak when spoken to…” (3) by one of the boys in the class.…
The word or phrase that was powerful to me was “She walks in beauty, like the night”…
In the poem To Autumn, it celebrates the rebounding nature. The symbolic aspects of life, in preparation for death; Keats was devoted to poetry due to personal problems. In contrast of the extract, it’s about celebrating and sharing with people about the markets in Italy about the exotic vegetables; he’s excited and wants to communicate with the reader. Both texts are describing what they see like e.g. plumps, hazel shells, vegetables, and a sense of bountifulness – Very enthusiastic about their vegetables.…
The article “On Being 17, Bright, and Unable to Read” it’s deduce that many people don’t know how other are suffering and feeling only if they been in their place one time. He wrote about a how he suffered from dyslexia, also how he was feeling about what he face in difficulty, he feel that he’s dumb and he wish to be dead, he couldn’t learn anything. Also He always have to do something different that normal people don’t do. And only people who work with students like him can help him more, he became embarrassed if someone he knew know that he’s in disability program and mostly he take someone time when he do his homework. It conclude that sometime people perspective by the criterion they use about other who have some disability could be wrong because people don’t know what they may hide.…
Read John Agard’s ‘Listen Mr Oxford Don’. Then read Grace Nichols’ ‘Wherever I hang’. Write an essay that compares and contrasts the two poems, ensuring that, in line with the Study Diamond, you comment on their effects, the techniques used in them, interpretations of their meanings and any relevant contextual information.…
To those who lack the real understanding of poetry, it is seen no differently as any other literary composition; a text, written and understood by a certain group of people. However to those who appreciate, and possess even the slightest bit of understanding that the poet intended, is considered an accomplishment. Poetry is an art of discovery, it requires immense effort not only to understand but to compose. Indian Woman, a poem written by Jeanette Armstrong, evokes a number of emotions and thoughts. The poem describes the unfortunate lifestyle of an Indian women in that day and age, the duties and tasks which were performed, whether willingly or not. Indian Woman is a poem containing painful images, internal structure, and voice. Without the usage of these three easily understood literary terms, Jeanette Armstrong's Indian Woman would lack it's mood, and tone which makes the poem to represent such meaning .…