{"content":{"sharePage":{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"39665864","dateCreated":"1306559261","smartDate":"May 27, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"maaayyyaaa","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/maaayyyaaa","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1222817730\/maaayyyaaa-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/39665864"},"dateDigested":1531973908,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"The Shark","description":"Unsuccessful poem
\nElla Nugent
\n
\nThe Shark
\nby Lord Alfred Douglas
\n
\nA treacherous monster is the Shark
\nHe never makes the least remark.
\n
\nAnd when he sees you on the sand,
\nHe doesn't seem to want to land.
\n
\nHe watches you take off your clothes,
\nAnd not the least excitement shows.
\n
\nHis eyes do not grow bright or roll,
\nHe has astonishing self-control.
\n
\nHe waits till you are quite undressed,
\nAnd seems to take no interest.
\n
\nAnd when towards the sea you leap,
\nHe looks as if he were asleep.
\n
\nBut when you once get in his range,
\nHis whole demeanour seems to change.
\n
\nHe throws his body right about,
\nAnd his true character comes out.
\n
\nIt's no use crying or appealing,
\nHe seems to lose all decent feeling.
\n
\nAfter this warning you will wish
\nTo keep clear of this treacherous fish.
\n
\nHis back is black, his stomach white,
\nHe has a very dangerous bite.
\n
\nI find this poem, \u201cThe Shark\u201d, by Lord Alfred Douglas to be very unsuccessful. For one, there is nothing interesting or different about the structure. It is a bland, repetitious structure of rhyming couplets with similar syllable counts in each line. Usually, one could argue that this supports the poem and gives it rhythm, but in this specific case, the structure only reflects on the dull, monotonous tone of the poem. There is no change in the way the poem is told, the same way the reader feels no change as he\/she reads it. Another reflection of this dreary repetition appears in the word choice; Lord Alfred Douglas uses the exact same adjective to describe the shark. Douglas uses the word \u201ctreacherous\u201d in the very first line of the poem and again in the second-to-last line to describe the shark. The words Douglas chose are all very simple and relatively easy to understand. This backfires, however, as the poem just washes over the person reading it. The poem gives no opportunity for the reader to infer, ponder what the poet might have meant or even think deeply about the poem, it just states facts about the shark tediously. This poem evokes absolutely no feelings from the reader whatsoever. Considering that this shark is supposedly so \u201ctreacherous\u201d and a \u201cmonster\u201d, we, the readers, should feel afraid as we read the description of this supposed terrible beast. We should feel chills running up and down our spines as we read it, had it been a successful poem. Instead, the easy words run right over the reader and leave them feeling like they hadn\u2019t even read the poem at all.
\n
\nps: just a reminder that today you said I could turn in this wiki before midnight for a 50%. Thanks Mr Webster,
\n
\nElla Nugent","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"39665888","body":"Oh hi Mr Webster sorry I wrote this on Maya's computer and didn't realize I was still on her account. Sorry.","dateCreated":"1306559387","smartDate":"May 27, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"maaayyyaaa","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/maaayyyaaa","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1222817730\/maaayyyaaa-lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"39565820","dateCreated":"1306360085","smartDate":"May 25, 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\/39565820"},"dateDigested":1531973908,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"\"when a woman loves a man\" ","description":"When a Woman Loves a Man
\nby David Lehman
\n
\nWhen she says margarita she means daiquiri.
\nWhen she says quixotic she means mercurial.
\nAnd when she says, "I'll never speak to you again,"
\nshe means, "Put your arms around me from behind
\nas I stand disconsolate at the window."
\n
\nHe's supposed to know that.
\n
\nWhen a man loves a woman he is in New York and she is in Virginia
\nor he is in Boston, writing, and she is in New York, reading,
\nor she is wearing a sweater and sunglasses in Balboa Park and he
\n is raking leaves in Ithaca
\nor he is driving to East Hampton and she is standing disconsolate
\nat the window overlooking the bay
\nwhere a regatta of many-colored sails is going on
\nwhile he is stuck in traffic on the Long Island Expressway.
\n
\nWhen a woman loves a man it is one ten in the morning
\nshe is asleep he is watching the ball scores and eating pretzels
\ndrinking lemonade
\nand two hours later he wakes up and staggers into bed
\nwhere she remains asleep and very warm.
\n
\nWhen she says tomorrow she means in three or four weeks.
\nWhen she says, "We're talking about me now,"
\nhe stops talking. Her best friend comes over and says,
\n"Did somebody die?"
\n
\nWhen a woman loves a man, they have gone
\nto swim naked in the stream
\non a glorious July day
\nwith the sound of the waterfall like a chuckle
\nof water rushing over smooth rocks,
\nand there is nothing alien in the universe.
\n
\nRipe apples fall about them.
\nWhat else can they do but eat?
\n
\nWhen he says, "Ours is a transitional era,"
\n"that's very original of you," she replies,
\ndry as the martini he is sipping.
\n
\nThey fight all the time
\nIt's fun
\nWhat do I owe you?
\nLet's start with an apology
\nOk, I'm sorry, you dickhead.
\nA sign is held up saying "Laughter."
\nIt's a silent picture.
\n"I've been fucked without a kiss," she says,
\n"and you can quote me on that,"
\nwhich sounds great in an English accent.
\n
\nOne year they broke up seven times and threatened to do it
\n another nine times.
\n
\nWhen a woman loves a man, she wants him to meet her at the
\n airport in a foreign country with a jeep.
\nWhen a man loves a woman he's there. He doesn't complain that
\n she's two hours late
\nand there's nothing in the refrigerator.
\n
\nWhen a woman loves a man, she wants to stay awake.
\nShe's like a child crying
\nat nightfall because she didn't want the day to end.
\n
\nWhen a man loves a woman, he watches her sleep, thinking:
\nas midnight to the moon is sleep to the beloved.
\nA thousand fireflies wink at him.
\nThe frogs sound like the string section
\nof the orchestra warming up.
\nThe stars dangle down like earrings the shape of grapes.
\n
\n
\n
\n
\nThis poem proves to be a bad one since it doesn\u2019t contain the basic elements or the musicality good poem usually has. It talks about the relationship man and a woman has and what they should and shouldn\u2019t do. IT is very clear and straight forward what happens and how they feel. A poem should use beautiful words, and imagery to share a feeling with the reader. It should take the reader for a ride and awaken feelings within them, and this one just doesn\u2019t. There is no rhythm or beat it. The stanzas don\u2019t have the same number of syllables and the vocabulary used is very ordinary. What makes a poem beautiful is its imagery, metaphors, similes and message, but this poem seems to have none of those characteristics. I don\u2019t believe there are any hidden messages, or any real theme one can connect to. The last stanza talks about the couple falling asleep it describes he stars. Good poem would end with an electrifying last sentence, leaving the reader astounded or glad to have read the poem. This poem\u2019s last words are very common and boring, comparing the starts to grapes, that doesn\u2019t even have anything to do with the couple or their relationship. \u201cWhen a woman loves man\u201d by David Lehman is not a successful poem because no imagery, metaphors or rhythm are present, making this poem dull and not worthwhile.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39562736","dateCreated":"1306355408","smartDate":"May 25, 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\/39562736"},"dateDigested":1531973908,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Eating Poetry (Bad Poem)","description":"Eating Poetry
\nby Mark Strand
\n
\n
\nInk runs from the corners of my mouth.
\nThere is no happiness like mine.
\nI have been eating poetry.
\n
\nThe librarian does not believe what she sees.
\nHer eyes are sad
\nand she walks with her hands in her dress.
\n
\nThe poems are gone.
\nThe light is dim.
\nThe dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.
\n
\nTheir eyeballs roll,
\ntheir blond legs burn like brush.
\nThe poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep.
\n
\nShe does not understand.
\nWhen I get on my knees and lick her hand,
\nshe screams.
\n
\nI am a new man.
\nI snarl at her and bark.
\nI romp with joy in the bookish dark.
\n
\n
\nI find this text very unsuccessful due to the fact that this poem is very confusing. It confuses the reader, because I believe that the theme in this story isn\u2019t very clear and understandable. For instance in the third stanza, we can see that an appearance of a dog, and it confuses me because it doesn\u2019t make much sense as the author says, \u201cthe dogs are on a basement stairs and coming up\u201d. This I believe isn\u2019t very clear in what the author wants to say, because it can be interpreted as many different things. The content and the form in this poem don\u2019t nearly fit; for the form in this poem there are random rhymes that doesn\u2019t makes the reader know what is really important in the text; for instance in the last stanza \u201cbark\u201d and \u201cdark\u201d is the rhyme; but in the second stanza the rhyme is \u201cunderstand\u201d and \u201chand\u201d. This is a pattern that I can deduce that the form doesn\u2019t affect the content, because the rhyming words don\u2019t have any real connection. In terms of the form affecting the content, this poem isn\u2019t really the best because the rhymes it contains don\u2019t tell us anything about what the poet is trying to tell us, or in other words the content of the story. Thus, the content and form doesn\u2019t work with each other, and makes the poem not very good for the reader, and that\u2019s why this is a bad poem because the form and the content don\u2019t connect thus making the poem not good.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39562674","dateCreated":"1306355258","smartDate":"May 25, 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\/39562674"},"dateDigested":1531973908,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"bad poem","description":"Wiki 23
\n
\nRome
\nby Brigit Pegeen Kelly
\n
\n
\nI saw once, in a rose garden, a remarkable statue of the Roman she-wolf and her twins, a reproduction of an ancient statue\u2014 not the famous bronze statue, so often copied, in which the blunt head swings forward toward the viewer like a sad battering ram, but an even older statue, of provenance less clear. The wolf had been cut out of black stone, made blacker by the garden\u2019s shadows, and she stood in profile, her elegant head pointed toward something far beyond her, her long unmarked body and legs\u2014narrower and more finely-boned than the body and legs of wolves as we know them\u2014possessed, it seemed, of a great stillness, like the saturated stillness of the roses, but tightly-nerved, set, on the instant, to move. Under her belly, stood the boys, under her black breasts, not babes, as one might expect, but two lean boys, cut from the same shadowed stone as the wolf, but disproportionately small, grown boys no bigger than starlings, though still, like the wolf, oddly fine of face and limb, one boy pressing four fingers again one long breast, his other cupped beneath it to catch the falling milk, the second boy wrapping both arms around another breast, as if to carry it off, neither boy suckling, both instead turned toward you, dreamy, sweetly sly, as if to chide you for interrupting their feeding, or as if they were plotting a good trick\u2026 Beautiful, those boys among the roses. Beautiful, the black wolf. But it was the breasts that held the eye, a double row of four black breasts, eight smooth breasts, each narrowing to a strict point, piercing sharp, exactly the shape of the ivory tooth of the shark.
\n
\nThis poem is not what a poem should look like and sound like. By just looking at the poem, I saw that it looked like a big chunk of meat without processing and cleaning. The point of a poem is to get an idea and use short and concise sentences in order to make it interesting and intriguing. This poem explains each detail to such an extent that it makes it boring and bland by the third sentence. Also the main topic of the poem is not very clear since it is so filled. It feels like an essay talking about something and not something filled with feeling and art. Also the form does not fit the content of the poem since it is a big chunk of writing with the theme hidden at the end. Also the theme is hard to understand until you read the last sentence or you search it up because it is a long and complicated story. The poem is also not good because it almost feels like it\u2019s filled with unfinished chunks of sentences and ideas. It goes from one thing to another making it hard to understand and get into. The main problem that this poem has is that it is so long and filled with so much information. It makes me want to start reading when I get to the middle and am not understanding anything.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39562668","dateCreated":"1306355227","smartDate":"May 25, 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\/39562668"},"dateDigested":1531973908,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"\"Another and Another Before That: Some Thoughts on Reading.\"","description":"\u201cAnother and Another Before That: Some Thoughts on Reading\u201d
\nBy Carl Phillips
\n
\n"One way to look at reading: as the lifelong construction of a
\nmap by which to trace and plumb what it has ever meant to be
\nin the world, and by which to gain perspective on that other,
\n ongoing map\u2014the one that marks our own passage through the
\nworld as we both find and make it."
\n
\nThe characteristic that differentiates a poem of any other text is the power it has over the readers\u00b4 feelings. A poem is supposed to evocate more powerful images and feelings into the readers minds than those evocated by other text. To achieve this, poets use the content as well as the form of their writings. But, there are always exceptions, and the poem \u201cAnother and Another before That: Some thoughts on Reading\u201d, by Carl Phillips is one: the content of the poem is not successfully reflected by the form. As a reader, one could interpret that the intention of the poet is to transmit the feelings reading cause in people. However, the choice of words doesn\u00b4t reflect the feeling of reading. The feelings are supposed to be powerful and intense, but the words used are so rigid and rational, that the feeling is not conveyed. Another aspect is that when you read, yours go through the words fluidly and rhythmically, what gives the poet a perfect opportunity to include rhythm and rimes to his work. However, this poem doesn\u00b4t have rhythm. The title also fails in reflecting the content. It is too structured and doesn\u00b4t invite the audience to go further into the reading. Because of these characteristics, the form of this poem does not successfully reflect the content of the poem.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39561798","dateCreated":"1306353810","smartDate":"May 25, 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\/39561798"},"dateDigested":1531973908,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"A Boy Juggling a Soccer Ball","description":"after practice: right foot
\nto left foot, stepping forward and back,
\n to right foot and left foot,
\nand left foot up to his thigh, holding
\n it on his thigh as he twists
\naround in a circle, until it rolls
\n down the inside of his leg,
\nlike a tickle of sweat, not catching
\n and tapping on the soft
\nside of his foot, and juggling
\n once, twice, three times,
\nhopping on one foot like a jump-roper
\n in the gym, now trapping
\nand holding the ball in midair,
\n balancing it on the instep
\nof his weak left foot, stepping forward
\n and forward and back, then
\nlifting it overhead until it hangs there;
\n and squaring off his body,
\nhe keeps the ball aloft with a nudge
\n of his neck, heading it
\nfrom side to side, softer and softer,
\n like a dying refrain,
\nuntil the ball, slowing, balances
\n itself on his hairline,
\nthe hot sun and sweat filling his eyes
\n as he jiggles this way
\nand that, then flicking it up gently,
\n hunching his shoulders
\nand tilting his head back, he traps it
\n in the hollow of his neck,
\nand bending at the waist, sees his shadow,
\n his dangling T-shirt, the bent
\nblades of brown grass in summer heat;
\n and relaxing, the ball slipping
\ndown his back. . .and missing his foot.
\n
\n He wheels around, he marches
\nover the ball, as if it were a rock
\n he stumbled into, and pressing
\nhis left foot against it, he pushes it
\n against the inside of his right
\nuntil it pops into the air, is heeled
\n over his head--the rainbow!--
\nand settles on his extended thigh before
\n rolling over his knee and down
\nhis shin, so he can juggle it again
\n from his left foot to his right foot
\n--and right foot to left foot to thigh--
\n as he wanders, on the last day
\nof summer, around the empty field.
\n
\n
\n\u201cA Boy Juggling a Soccer Ball\u201d by Christopher Merrill illustrates how a poem can turn out to be unsuccessful due to its form. Due to its length, the reader is easily bored right in the beginning of the poem, and doesn\u2019t feel the necessary motivation to keep on reading. The words don\u2019t flow very well, therefore there\u2019s a lack melody and rhythm present in this poem. Also, the absence of rhymes turns this poem into something boring to be read, and it feels as if the author didn\u2019t express such joyful experience of playing soccer to the fullest. Christopher Merrill should have explored deeper feelings that connect to a person as they play this sport, and not only focus on the graphic and literal parts of playing soccer. Us readers can easily visualize a little boy playing with his soccer ball as we read this piece of work, but there\u2019s no enough information for us to interpret what he is feeling. There\u2019s no message being transferred to the readers in this poem, and the way the author wrote this seems as if he was in a hurry. The punctuation used was definitely not the best one to be picked. Sentences seem choppy, and the reader can\u2019t take a break while reading this due to the excessive use of commas. This poem contains too much visual information, and it\u2019s easy to lose track of what\u2019s happening since the presence of descriptive words are infinite. Also, its structure doesn\u2019t seem to have any relevant impact on the poem\u2019s theme. Reading this poem turns out to be a tiring experience, and the feeling the author didn\u2019t explore the fullest potential of such theme is very disappointing.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39556784","dateCreated":"1306347103","smartDate":"May 25, 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\/39556784"},"dateDigested":1531973908,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"\"The Guitar\"","description":"The Guitar
\nby Federico Garc\u00eda Lorca
\nThe weeping of the guitar
\nbegins.
\nThe goblets of dawn
\nare smashed.
\nThe weeping of the guitar
\nbegins.
\nUseless
\nto silence it. Impossible
\nto silence it.
\nIt weeps monotonously
\nas water weeps
\nas the wind weeps
\nover snowfields.
\nImpossible
\nto silence it.
\nIt weeps for distant
\nthings.
\nHot southern sands
\nyearning for white camellias.
\nWeeps arrow without target
\nevening without morning
\nand the first dead bird
\non the branch.
\nOh, guitar!
\nHeart mortally wounded
\nby five swords.
\n
\nA successful poem is one that uses imagery, form, and rhythm to convey its message. It should use beautiful imagery and metaphors to give the reader its message. Since poems are written to be said out loud, they should rhyme and be easy to read. Also, the form is important and should reflect the main ideas of the poem. The Guitar by Federico Garcia Lorca is the perfect example of an unsuccessful poem. This is because it does not have any of the qualities that make a great poem. First, it has no rhythm what so ever. The verses are chopped up into different lines and are not easy to read. \u201cThe Guitar\u201d is successful in the sense that it uses imagery and metaphors. However, it fails to convey these metaphors in a poetic and rhythmic manner. Finally, the form and content do not coincide because a poem that describes the beauty of a guitar playing should be written in long flowing lines that resemble the strumming of a guitar. Instead, the poem is choppy and short, with some lines containing only one word. In conclusion, \u201cThe Guitar\u201d is an unsuccessful poem because it does not contain qualities that are necessary for a poem to be successful.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39553204","dateCreated":"1306343516","smartDate":"May 25, 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\/39553204"},"dateDigested":1531973908,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"\"Myslef\"","description":"Myself
\nby Edgar Guest
\nI have to live with myself, and so,
\nI want to be fit for myself to know;
\nI want to be able as days go by,
\nAlways to look myself straight in the eye;
\nI don't want to stand with the setting sun
\nAnd hate myself for the things I've done.
\nI don't want to keep on a closet shelf
\nA lot of secrets about myself,
\nAnd fool myself as I come and go
\nInto thinking that nobody else will know
\nThe kind of man I really am;
\nI don't want to dress myself up in sham.
\nI want to deserve all men's respect;
\nBut here in this struggle for fame and pelf,
\nI want to be able to like myself.
\nI don't want to think as I come and go
\nThat I'm for bluster and bluff and empty show.
\nI never can hide myself from me,
\nI see what others may never see,
\nI know what others may never know,
\nI never can fool myself -- and so,
\nWhatever happens, I want to be
\nSelf-respecting and conscience free.
\n
\nThe poem\u201dMyself\u201d by Edgar Guest is not one of the most successful poems. One of the reasons the poem can be referred to us \u201cnot so good\u201d is because of the way it is written. In the first 3 lines the author seems to be suddenly cutting off the information at the end of each line. Instead of adding the interest and attention to the poem, it makes it rather annoying. The content is supposed to be reflecting the form and vice versa. In this case the author is talking about himself, and the content of the poem is rather thoughtful, honest and serious. With the unsuccessful use of form, however, the content is forgotten. The structure of the lines and the sudden \u201ccut\u201d at the end makes the reader frustrated rather than interested. Also, the author could change the words used in the poem. Even though the poem does keep some rhythm, it is not arranged well. The lines skip form 10 to 9 syllables without a specific pattern. It makes the poem seem unorganized and all over the place.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39552550","dateCreated":"1306342844","smartDate":"May 25, 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\/39552550"},"dateDigested":1531973909,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"lotte jansen wiki question 23","description":"Birches
\nby Robert Frost
\n
\nWhen I see birches bend to left and right
\nAcross the lines of straighter darker trees,
\nI like to think some boy's been swinging them.
\nBut swinging doesn't bend them down to stay
\nAs ice-storms do. Often you must have seen them
\nLoaded with ice a sunny winter morning
\nAfter a rain. They click upon themselves
\nAs the breeze rises, and turn many-colored
\nAs the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
\nSoon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells
\nShattering and avalanching on the snow-crust--
\nSuch heaps of broken glass to sweep away
\nYou'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.
\nThey are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,
\nAnd they seem not to break; though once they are bowed
\nSo low for long, they never right themselves:
\nYou may see their trunks arching in the woods
\nYears afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground
\nLike girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
\nBefore them over their heads to dry in the sun.
\nBut I was going to say when Truth broke in
\nWith all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm
\nI should prefer to have some boy bend them
\nAs he went out and in to fetch the cows--
\nSome boy too far from town to learn baseball,
\nWhose only play was what he found himself,
\nSummer or winter, and could play alone.
\nOne by one he subdued his father's trees
\nBy riding them down over and over again
\nUntil he took the stiffness out of them,
\nAnd not one but hung limp, not one was left
\nFor him to conquer. He learned all there was
\nTo learn about not launching out too soon
\nAnd so not carrying the tree away
\nClear to the ground. He always kept his poise
\nTo the top branches, climbing carefully
\nWith the same pains you use to fill a cup
\nUp to the brim, and even above the brim.
\nThen he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,
\nKicking his way down through the air to the ground.
\nSo was I once myself a swinger of birches.
\nAnd so I dream of going back to be.
\nIt's when I'm weary of considerations,
\nAnd life is too much like a pathless wood
\nWhere your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs
\nBroken across it, and one eye is weeping
\nFrom a twig's having lashed across it open.
\nI'd like to get away from earth awhile
\nAnd then come back to it and begin over.
\nMay no fate willfully misunderstand me
\nAnd half grant what I wish and snatch me away
\nNot to return. Earth's the right place for love:
\nI don't know where it's likely to go better.
\nI'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,
\nAnd climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
\nToward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
\nBut dipped its top and set me down again.
\nThat would be good both going and coming back.
\nOne could do worse than be a swinger of birches.
\n
\n
\nThe poem \u201cBirches\u201d by Robert Frost is a wonderful poem. It has a beautiful message that is based on several different interpretations. In my opinion, the poem explains the idea of life and how it can change a person\u2019s perspective and attitude. Life is not full of wonderful surprises but one has to face difficult problems and learn how to grow up. The poem could also say that the boy (perhaps Robert Frost himself) was different from other boys because he climbed trees rather than played baseball. This poem should be read by many people not only because of its message but also because of its metaphors and examples of imagery. However, the poem is unsuccessful for a number of reasons. First of all, it has several lines all jumbled into just one paragraph. The form does not reflect the content because it is written almost messily because of its structure. It would have been better if Robert Frost had separated it into paragraphs to emphasize the \u201cstages\u201d of one\u2019s life. The poem is not as fluid as most readers. We can also see that the different emotions of the boy, such as the happiness he feels when he climbs the birches but the annoyance and sadness he feels during the winter, are squeezed in one paragraph, again, violating the fluidity. The rhythm of the poem could also confound the reader and create uncertainty as well. Overall, this is a fantastic poem that gives room for different interpretations, but it is unsuccessful because of its lack of fluidity and organization of ideas.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"39547696","dateCreated":"1306338057","smartDate":"May 25, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"Josermq","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Josermq","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/39547696"},"dateDigested":1531973909,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"\"Insomnia\"","description":"Insomnia
\nby Alicia Suskin Ostriker
\n
\nBut it's really fear you want to talk about
\nand cannot find the words
\nso you jeer at yourself
\n
\nyou call yourself a coward
\nyou wake at 2 a.m. thinking failure,
\nfool, unable to sleep, unable to sleep
\n
\nbuzzing away on your mattress with two pillows
\nand a quilt, they call them comforters,
\nwhich implies that comfort can be bought
\n
\nand paid for, to help with the fear, the failure
\nyour two walnut chests of drawers snicker, the bookshelves mourn
\nthe art on the walls pities you, the man himself beside you
\n
\nasleep smelling like mushrooms and moss is a comfort
\nbut never enough, never, the ceiling fixture lightless
\nvelvet drapes hiding the window
\n
\ntraffic noise like a vicious animal
\non the loose somewhere out there\u2014
\nyou brag to friends you won't mind death only dying
\n
\nwhat a liar you are\u2014
\nall the other fears, of rejection, of physical pain,
\nof losing your mind, of losing your eyes,
\n
\nthey are all part of this!
\nPawprints of this! Hair snarls in your comb
\nthis glowing clock the single light in the room
\n
\n\u201cInsomnia\u201d by Alicia Suskin Ostriker, is an example of a poem, where form and content, are not interdependent, and the message is not successfully conveyed. First of all, the actual visual structure of the poem does not reflect its content. In the first two stanzas, fear and failure are being addressed. However, the structure of the poem does not reflect those ideas. Secondly, throughout the poem, there is not an element that is constant that expresses the ideas present in the content. There is punctuation, and some of the words are not capitalized. However, this is not present at a constant order. Instead, it is all over the place, and no clear pattern can be established. Furthermore, its lack of rhyme and meter do not contribute to the ideas that are being expressed. When the poem is read aloud, there is no rhythm. Due to this lack of rhythm, the poem is not successful at conveying its ideas, and attracting the intended audience. The images that are being expressed, are not very clear and therefore, its ideas are not clear. Consequently, form and context are not mutually dependent in this poem, and that is reflected in its overall transmission of ideas.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]}],"more":true},"comments":[]},"http":{"code":200,"status":"OK"},"redirectUrl":null,"javascript":null,"notices":{"warning":[],"error":[],"info":[],"success":[]}}