{"content":{"sharePage":{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"39356200","dateCreated":"1305921119","smartDate":"May 20, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"ellagicacid","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/ellagicacid","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1343664898\/ellagicacid-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/39356200"},"dateDigested":1531973910,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Daily Life","description":"Ella Nugent
\n
\nDaily Life
\nby Susan Wood
\n
\nA parrot of irritation sits
\non my shoulder, pecks
\nat my head, ruffling his feathers
\nin my ear. He repeats
\neverything I say, like a child
\ntrying to irritate the parent.
\nToo much to do today: the dracena
\nthat's outgrown its pot, a mountain
\nof bills to pay and nothing in the house
\nto eat. Too many clothes need washing
\nand the dog needs his shots.
\nIt just goes on and on, I say
\nto myself, no one around, and catch
\nmyself saying it, a ball hit so straight
\nto your glove you'd have to be
\nblind not to catch it. And of course
\nI hope it does go on and on
\nforever, the little pain,
\nthe little pleasure, the sun
\na blood orange in the sky, the sky
\nparrot blue and the day
\nunfolding like a bird slowly
\nspreading its wings, though I know,
\nsaying it, that it won't.
\n
\n
\n"Daily Life" is a poem by Susan Wood about her conscience which she represents as an irritating parrot that perches on her shoulder. The parrot constantly reminds her of the things she needs to do throughout the day (such as bills to pay, groceries to buy, clothes to wash). The parrot represents the never relenting inner voice that reminds you to do your homework, wash the dishes, do whatever it is you don't want to but know that you must. At the end she begins to say that "I hope it does go on and and on forever, the little pain, the little pleasure". This means that having a conscience, while irritating, can be a good thing because it makes you get things done. It will not stop chirping into your ears until you do something productive. The syllables of the poem have no stucture and the it has no rhyme or specific rhythm. The sentences are cut off at the end and then start a new line. The form reflects the content very well because the erratic rhythm and syllables reflect the erratic, distracted thought process of a human being with a lot to do in one day. The sentences also support this point; the chopped up sentences that cut off in the center and pick up on the next line relfect a humanly stream of consciousness or busy thought process that gets distracted and then picks up again. Another way the form displays the content is through the repetition near the end "a blood orange in the sky, the sky". This repetition of "the sky, the sky" is reminiscent of the repition of the parrot who repeats everything she says and re-states the things she must do. Through her poem "Daily Life" Susan Wood is able to show us how form can reinforce what the poem is trying to say, while giving us a topic that many of us can relate to; procrastination and being busy.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39354580","dateCreated":"1305919082","smartDate":"May 20, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"luisuarez","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/luisuarez","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1302804674\/luisuarez-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/39354580"},"dateDigested":1531973910,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Epitaph on a Tyrant","description":"Epitaph on a Tyrant by W. H. Auden
\n
\nPerfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
\nAnd the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
\nHe knew human folly like the back of his hand,
\nAnd was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
\nWhen he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
\nAnd when he cried the little children died in the streets.
\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.poets.org\/viewmedia.php\/prmMID\/15548<\/a>
\n
\nPoems in general I believe are affected with the form of the poem. They affect the way that the readers interpret the poem; they are very influential in terms of the content of the story. The form of a poem in any poem can be the shape on paper, the choice of words, the imagery, metaphors, the rhyme, the meter, the punctuation. Many things can affect the form in which a poem is expressed. The content can be expressed as the theme, the subject, and the message of the story. In the case of the poem \u201cEpitaph on a Tyrant\u201d, I believe that affects very little in the content of the story. In this poem, the only type of form that affect the content a little is the rhyming of the words \u201cfleets\u201d, with \u201cstreets\u201d; this causes the content to be seen very different. The rhyming of the last word with another line; emphasizes the ending words of the poem. This I believe affect the content of the poem, because it makes the words seem more important. In this poem, the form doesn\u2019t affect the content of the story because the only way the \u201cform\u201d affects the story is by the rhyming, anything else doesn\u2019t change the content. So in conclusion, in this poem the content doesn\u2019t depend the form, because it barely even changes the content.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39340240","dateCreated":"1305903350","smartDate":"May 20, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"cecyrodriguez","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/cecyrodriguez","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/39340240"},"dateDigested":1531973910,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"\"My Friend Tree\"","description":"\u201cMy friend Tree\u201d by Lorine Niedecker
\n
\n
\nMy friend tree
\nI sawed you down
\nbut I must attend
\nan older friend
\nthe sun
\n
\n
\nThe poet chooses very few words to give away a message. The theme in this poem is hidden, for the words very simple. The word \u201cfriend\u201d is used twice to emphasis how the poet\u2019s relationship is with the tree and the sun. There is symbolism and imagery in every line. The poet chose very few words to express his message. I believe it\u2019s a huge metaphor for something the poet is feeling. I think it talks about when you cut something out of your life, that you maybe had with you for a really long time, but its okay because it means that now you can attend be part of something bigger. The vocabulary is simple but it its enough to get the message across. Its not much the words, but what its trying to say. The form is very concise and it has similar number of words in each sentence. It is only one stanza, which means only one idea. It starts with \u201cmy friend tree\u201d and ends with \u201cthe sun\u201d, leaving the middle to explain their link. I really like this poem, because even though it is really short and simple, I think it is trying to give out a really strong message.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39326146","dateCreated":"1305871042","smartDate":"May 19, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"marinacoccaro","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/marinacoccaro","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/39326146"},"dateDigested":1531973911,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"\"Nothing gold can stay\"","description":"Nature's first green is gold,
\nHer hardest hue to hold.
\nHer early leaf's a flower;
\nBut only so an hour.
\nThen leaf subsides to leaf.
\nSo Eden sank to grief,
\nSo dawn goes down to day.
\nNothing gold can stay.
\n
\n
\n\u201cNothing gold can stay\u201d by Robert Frost may be a short poem, but what lies behind such few words keep a message of great importance. This poem can be interpreted through the fact that at a point in life, everything is golden. A person is pure and unknowns the presence of evil when a child, therefore turning it something precious and hard to hold, since childhood is only a very short and quick period of time in anyone\u2019s life. No one can remain golden forever, and nature plays a very important role with such theme. The force of nature is the only one powerful enough to make things grow old, and the only one to provide youth. Robert Frost first describes such loss of what\u2019s golden by showing examples from nature itself, and then diverging to a well-known example of how virtue and innocence are clearly vanished. By making every line have six syllables, the author keeps rhythm and melody flowing throughout the poem. The harmony all of the words share is transmitted through the delicate flow from one word to another. The author wisely picks the last words from each line, which last syllable rhyme with the following one. This whole poem is related to the process necessary in order to transform something into another, therefore the words hold, subside, sank, goes down and stay play a very relevant part in \u201cNothing gold can stay\u201d. The fact this poem\u2019s structure is short and concise emphasizes the message Robert Frost is willing to transmit; nothing in life will forever remain unchanged. The poem\u2019s structure emphasizes the need to show how things go by fast, and no matter how hard someone tries, turning something eternal will never be possible. Even though most trees and plants begin green, some types of vegetation start golden, and later on go developing into a darker, duller color. Its first gold is as precious as Eden, dawns and flowers; which are all connected due to the fact they last (or lasted) for a very short time. The falling from dawn to day is as inevitable as the decay of mankind. With few words Robert Frost explains an unavoidable cycle in life, and even thought no figures of speech are used, we can still project vivid images in our minds of all that is being read.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39325650","dateCreated":"1305868668","smartDate":"May 19, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"eli-picado","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/eli-picado","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1283475869\/eli-picado-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/39325650"},"dateDigested":1531973911,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"\"What the Living Do\"","description":"What the living do
\nBy Marie Howe
\n
\nJohnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some utensil probably fell down there.
\nAnd the Drano won't work but smells dangerous, and the crusty dishes have piled up
\n
\nwaiting for the plumber I still haven't called. This is the everyday we spoke of.
\nIt's winter again: the sky's a deep, headstrong blue, and the sunlight pours through
\n
\nthe open living-room windows because the heat's on too high in here and I can't turn it off.
\nFor weeks now, driving, or dropping a bag of groceries in the street, the bag breaking,
\n
\nI've been thinking: This is what the living do. And yesterday, hurrying along those
\nwobbly bricks in the Cambridge sidewalk, spilling my coffee down my wrist and sleeve,
\n
\nI thought it again, and again later, when buying a hairbrush: This is it.
\nParking. Slamming the car door shut in the cold. What you called that yearning.
\n
\nWhat you finally gave up. We want the spring to come and the winter to pass. We want
\nwhoever to call or not call, a letter, a kiss\u2014we want more and more and then more of it.
\n
\nBut there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass,
\nsay, the window of the corner video store, and I'm gripped by a cherishing so deep
\n
\nfor my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I'm speechless:
\nI am living. I remember you.
\n
\nThe poem \u201cWhat the living do\u201d, by Marie Howe, portrays the daily life activities of a woman who recently lost her lover, Johnny. Throughout the poem, the reader can see how the narrator\u00b4s life has return to normality and then the main theme is revealed at the end, when the narrator exposes how all these little things remind her Johnny. The narrator is a simple woman who is already used to Johnny\u00b4s absence, but who still talks to him like he was there. She describes common annoyances in her life in simple language and sentences. These characteristics in the form of the poem make the reader feel it is a conversation with Johnny, like if Johnny was there. To the narrator, it is common to talk with Johnny about what is happening in her life and the events she describes are actually insignificant. She has no other purpose in telling all of this to Johnny than to let him know how is her life and to feel closer to him. Because of this, the poem doesn\u00b4t have a visible structure. All the lines have different lengths and the words seem randomly chosen, like someone spontaneously talking. This simplicity is what makes the poem powerful. The messy writing, the common events described and the way of describing them give reality to the poem. It makes possible for the reader to believe that it is possible to leave an indelible print in the living.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39325464","dateCreated":"1305867547","smartDate":"May 19, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"gmurphy3","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/gmurphy3","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/39325464"},"dateDigested":1531973911,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"\"The White House\"","description":"The White House by Claude McKay
\n
\nYour door is shut against my tightened face,
\nAnd I am sharp as steel with discontent;
\nBut I possess the courage and the grace
\nTo bear my anger proudly and unbent.
\nThe pavement slabs burn loose beneath my feet,
\nA chafing savage, down the decent street;
\nAnd passion rends my vitals as I pass,
\nWhere boldly shines your shuttered door of glass.
\nOh, I must search for wisdom every hour,
\nDeep in my wrathful bosom sore and raw,
\nAnd find in it the superhuman power
\nTo hold me to the letter of your law!
\nOh, I must keep my heart inviolate
\nAgainst the potent poison of your hate.
\n
\n\u201cThe White House\u201d is a poem about segregation between whites and blacks in the United States. Lots of metaphors are used to convey the poet\u2019s feelings. The poet uses the white house as a metaphor for the closed and ignorant minds of the white people. He is standing at the door of their house and they will not let him in, however, he does his best to stay proud and strong. The metaphor of the \u201cshuttered door of glass\u201d has irony because while glass is clear, shutters obscure what is behind it. So the door to the house cannot be seen through, representing how the poet cannot see the reason why whites are discriminating. The intended audience for this poem is people who feel the same way as the poet. This poem is very motivating and could be used as encouragement for fighting segregation. While the poem does not have a specific rhythm, it does rhyme. Also, the lines are not broken up in any way. Instead, the poem is one stanza. The words used are strong, powerful, and motivational, just like the message conveyed. In \u201cThe White House\u201d, form reflects content because the shape of the poem expresses it's main idea. The lines are not separated and are close together in one stanza. This reflects the nature of the white people, how they are close-minded and not open to movement or change. The poem literally looks like a closed house.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39319858","dateCreated":"1305856502","smartDate":"May 19, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"alabuda","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/alabuda","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/39319858"},"dateDigested":1531973911,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"\"Stanzas\"","description":"Stanzas
\nby Emily Bront\u00eb
\n
\nOften rebuked, yet always back returning
\n To those first feelings that were born with me,
\nAnd leaving busy chase of wealth and learning
\n For idle dreams of things that cannot be:
\n
\nTo-day, I will seek not the shadowy region;
\n Its unsustaining vastness waxes drear;
\nAnd visions rising, legion after legion,
\n Bring the unreal world too strangely near.
\n
\nI'll walk, but not in old heroic traces,
\n And not in paths of high morality,
\nAnd not among the half-distinguished faces,
\n The clouded forms of long-past history.
\n
\nI'll walk where my own nature would be leading:
\n It vexes me to choose another guide:
\nWhere the gray flocks in ferny glens are feeding;
\n Where the wild wind blows on the mountain side.
\n
\nWhat have those lonely mountains worth revealing?
\n More glory and more grief than I can tell:
\nThe earth that wakes one human heart to feeling
\n Can centre both the worlds of Heaven and Hell.
\n
\nThis magnificent poem by Emily Bronte slips into a mild of a person who is trying to express their thoughts to the audience. The content does include a story that may be either interpreted as a life- long experience ,or as a string of thoughts going on in the persons head in that particular moment. The use of words very much bucks up the point that is being made; that the subject is asserting his\/her fierce independence in life. The protagonist is pushing away all the norms that are said to be important in life, such as wealth and education, and declares to walk on their own, individual path. Each line has either 11 or 10 syllables, and they both create a pattern; first 11 then 10 then back to 11and back to 10. It creates a nice rhythm that goes well with the plot of the poem. While the words are floating due to nice rhyming, the form of the lines makes the words seem even more powerful than they already are. In the second and third stanzas, "not" is repeated four times in only eight lines; it emphasizes protagonist\u2019s point very strongly. In the fourth stanza she\/he moves from negation to affirmation. The lines no more include the 11- syllables structure; now it only uses the iambic pentameter. The switch in form changes the feeling of the stanza; it seems to be more affirmative, positive and determined. \u201cStanzas\u201d is not an ordinary poem; the words and form are used playfully to emphasize the intriguing content.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39312936","dateCreated":"1305848180","smartDate":"May 19, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"fabig1","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/fabig1","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1229012865\/fabig1-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/39312936"},"dateDigested":1531973911,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Poem","description":"Wiki 22
\n
\nFletcher McGee
\nby Edgar Lee Masters
\n
\n
\nShe took my strength by minutes,
\nShe took my life by hours,
\nShe drained me like a fevered moon
\nThat saps the spinning world.
\nThe days went by like shadows,
\nThe minutes wheeled like stars.
\nShe took the pity from my heart,
\nAnd made it into smiles.
\nShe was a hunk of sculptor's clay,
\nMy secret thoughts were fingers:
\nThey flew behind her pensive brow
\nAnd lined it deep with pain.
\nThey set the lips, and sagged the cheeks,
\nAnd drooped the eyes with sorrow.
\nMy soul had entered in the clay,
\nFighting like seven devils.
\nIt was not mine, it was not hers;
\nShe held it, but its struggles
\nModeled a face she hated,
\nAnd a face I feared to see.
\nI beat the windows, shook the bolts.
\nI hid me in a corner--
\nAnd then she died and haunted me,
\nAnd hunted me for life.
\n
\nThe form of this poem does reflect the content of the poem. Just by glancing at it, you can see that the author repeats a lot of the initiating words of each verse. The author wanted to make the repetition visible to show the reader something important that he wanted to make the reader notice. In the first three sentences, the author repeats and emphasizes about how a woman took the most important things, including life. Another important and visible repetition is how the entire poem is all about one enemy that makes the writer life miserable. There is also an important verse that affects the content of the poem. The verse is when the author says that \u201cI hid me in a corner\u201d, like if he wasn\u2019t really himself, almost like if he was split in two and one part of him was trying to hide the murder that he had committed while the other part didn\u2019t want to hide. The poem is very simple when you read it without paying attention to the form. Another important aspect of this poem is that there is only one stanza; it is all about one thing. Also the author tells us how there was something else that was with them at that time, and he gives it no real importance only calling it an it. The use of it here shows us how the author didn\u2019t want to really know what it was because he knew it was terrible and fearsome as he states a few verses below, \u201cModeled a face she hated, and a face I feared to see.\u201d The form of the poem greatly affects the content of the poem. If the readers do not take this into account, it will be hard for them to get the real meaning out of the poem.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39311260","dateCreated":"1305846401","smartDate":"May 19, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"lottej95","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/lottej95","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/39311260"},"dateDigested":1531973911,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"lotte jansen wiki question 22","description":"Where the sidewalk ends, by Shel Silverstein
\n
\nThere is a place where the sidewalk ends
\nAnd before the street begins,
\nAnd there the grass grows soft and white,
\nAnd there the sun burns crimson bright,
\nAnd there the moon-bird rests from his flight
\nTo cool in the peppermint wind.
\n
\nLet us leave this place where the smoke blows black
\nAnd the dark street winds and bends.
\nPast the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
\nWe shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
\nAnd watch where the chalk-white arrows go
\nTo the place where the sidewalk ends.
\n
\nYes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
\nAnd we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
\nFor the children, they mark, and the children, they know
\nThe place where the sidewalk ends.
\n
\n
\nThis poem is called \u201cWhere the side walk ends\u201d by Shel Silverstein. The poem does not just convey a story, it conveys the journey through life by explaining the negative and positive aspects of it. In the first stanza, the poet depicts life as beautiful and innocent, while in the second stanza, he shows us that life is sometimes dark and woeful. The form of the poem consists of a great deal of imagery. A vivid example of imagery is \u201cthe sun burns crimson bright\u201d and \u201cgrass grows soft and white.\u201d There are also a few phrases that make the poem feel more alive and connected with the reader, such as \u201cpeppermint wind\u201d and \u201casphalt flowers.\u201d The structure is considered typical and simple. Many of the words towards the end of the sentences rhyme with each other, making the rhythm smooth and flowing. The intended audience can be for children, although it is perhaps more for teenagers or adults because of the complex hidden message. The content of the poem is distinct from many others. The main theme or message is the transition from a certain period of life to another. The poem emphasizes the appreciation of the beauty of life and freedom of individuals. There is no specific narrative or setting, leaving the reader to interpret the poem through his\/her point of view. The content reflects the form in few ways. Silverstein\u2019s perspective of the theme of the poem is not negative but he highlights the aging of life through his many metaphors and images. The form also reflects the content in a couple of ways. The last two stanzas end with the same line \u201cwhere the sidewalk ends,\u201d perhaps emphasizing the meaning and subject of the poem. The rhythm and conciseness also apply to the audience (children and teenagers, sometimes adults), which makes it more enjoyable and inspirational as well. Also, we can see that the poem consists of 3 stanzas, and each of those stanzas portray some aspects about the journeys one pursues and embarks in life. The first stanza explains the positive aspects, the second the negative, and in the third we can see that the author tells the reader to take it easy and move on through difficult situations by following the white-chalk arrows. Perhaps in the third stanza the author also tells us that children should stay in their childhood until they\u2019re ready to follow the white-chalk arrows, or grow up. This wonderful poem could be based on many interpretations, and the form and content make the message alive.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39304322","dateCreated":"1305838364","smartDate":"May 19, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"mariangel94","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/mariangel94","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/39304322"},"dateDigested":1531973911,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"\"Still I Rise\" ","description":"Still I Rise
\nBy Maya Angelou
\n
\nYou may write me down in history
\nWith your bitter, twisted lies,
\nYou may trod me in the very dirt
\nBut still, like dust, I'll rise.
\n
\nDoes my sassiness upset you?
\nWhy are you beset with gloom?
\n'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
\nPumping in my living room.
\n
\nJust like moons and like suns,
\nWith the certainty of tides,
\nJust like hopes springing high,
\nStill I'll rise.
\n
\nDid you want to see me broken?
\nBowed head and lowered eyes?
\nShoulders falling down like teardrops,
\nWeakened by my soulful cries?
\n
\nDoes my haughtiness offend you?
\nDon't you take it awful hard
\n'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
\nDiggin' in my own backyard.
\n
\nYou may shoot me with your words,
\nYou may cut me with your eyes,
\nYou may kill me with your hatefulness,
\nBut still, like air, I'll rise.
\n
\nDoes my sexiness upset you?
\nDoes it come as a surprise
\nThat I dance like I've got diamonds
\nAt the meeting of my thighs?
\n
\nOut of the huts of history's shame
\nI rise
\nUp from a past that's rooted in pain
\nI rise
\nI'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
\nWelling and swelling I bear in the tide.
\n
\nLeaving behind nights of terror and fear
\nI rise
\nInto a daybreak that's wondrously clear
\nI rise
\nBringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
\nI am the dream and the hope of the slave.
\nI rise
\nI rise
\nI rise.
\n
\n Maya Angelou\u2019s poem \u201cStill I Rise\u201d tells people how she can overcome anything that is put in her way, and thus nothing can bring her down. The main theme that she portrays along the poem is one of self-confidence and defiance of what others want her to be like, but in the last stanza it becomes evident that there is also some historical context to what she is saying. By bringing up the past and her ancestors one could even think that this poem is intended for white people in the \u2018you\u2019 and she represents the black people. Taking this into consideration one could interpret that what she is saying is that her color won\u2019t bring her down; she will still be able to rise no matter how much white people block her way, and thus live the way her ancestors dreamed. Throughout the poem, the author doesn\u2019t only convey the message through the content but also in the form of the poem. Imagery is very important because each stanza provides the reader an image of her rising from whatever circumstance she is put in, and this reflects her message of pride and confidence. The punctuation used in the poem is also very important to convey her message. She uses quotations around the answers to her rhetorical questions as she gives the reason of why \u2018you\u2019 feel as she implied, and this defines her voice, it personalizes it. In stanza number five, for example, she asks the audience if her arrogance offends them, and follows with her reasoning of why it should, or why it is that it does: \u201cDoes my haughtiness offend you?\/Don't you take it awful hard\/'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines\/Diggin' in my own backyard.\u201d The question and answer format also brings the audience into the poem and helps portray her confidence since she herself answers the questions she asks. The poem is composed of nine stanzas and the first seven follow a general pattern. They all have four lines, and the second and the fourth lines of each rhyme. In the last two stanzas however, the pattern is broken: the number of lines per stanza changes along with the rhyme. In stanza number eight the lines increase to six and the rhyme changes to lines one and three, and five and six. In stanza number nine she changes once more, this time to nine lines and more repetition of the phrase \u201cI rise\u201d. This defiance of the norm used in the previous part of the poem could symbolize her defiance of what others want her to do, and shows the confidence of doing whatever she wants. These components along with the strength of the words used and the rhythm of the poem cause great impact on the reader since not only is the message strongly conveyed through the content but through the form as well.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]}],"more":true},"comments":[]},"http":{"code":200,"status":"OK"},"redirectUrl":null,"javascript":null,"notices":{"warning":[],"error":[],"info":[],"success":[]}}