William Blake "The Sick Rose"

I enjoyed Blake's poem and its illustration of the destruction of beauty. Transcendentalists often use the contrasts of death and life as well as the ugly and the beautiful to illustrate that one cannot exist without the other. Blake's uses this same logic with the analogy of the "worm" and the "rose." The "worm" is clearly analogous as Blake give it traits no true worm has "The invisible worm/ That flies in the night" Though Blake uses the word "he" in the second stanza to describe the "worm" it seems as though this word applies to a deceitful person not a worm. The rose too is uncovered to be a person when Blake uses "thy" to refer to what the "worm" kills.

Sonnet 130

I love Shakespeare's poem Sonnet 130 for it's unconventional approach to praising a female. In many poems written with the intent of fawning over a loved one the cliches that Shakespeare lists often appear, and they are displayed by the poet as proof that their love could not be any greater. However, here he one-ups any other love poem by declaring that his love goes beyond any mere comparison to the physical world. His love goes beyond the physical world because it does not do justice to how she looks to him; it confines his ability to describe her true beauty. In this way he has truly given her the greatest of compliments. The way the poem is structured also adds to the effect of what he is saying. Instead of just starting out by saying "your beauty is more than can be described by anything on earth" he waits until the end to make this sweeping statement. The insulting nature of the poem builds and builds until the point where you could almost see the woman he is presenting this to walking away in a fit of rage. At this exact point he drops the last two lines, making everything he said before become sweet-natured and somewhat comical.

Sestina

Sestinas are possibly my favorite form of poetry.  I love the repetition and the plays on words that the poet is required to make.  I think this particular sestina by Elizabeth Bishop is fantastic.  The fact that Bishop is able to use the obscure word "almanac" and make it work well in ever stanza is very impressive.  I love how the grandmother's tears turn into tears from the tea kettle and then into tea in the cup and then finally back to tears. I also really like how the relationship described in the sestina, that of the child and the grandmother, is one that isn't regularly explored in poetry.  Typically its more of the relationship between a child and a parent.  Anyway, overall I love this poem, not just because of the form but because I think Bishop pulled it off and made a story beautifully.

Sonnet 130

I thought Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare to be a sarcastic poem based on the falsity of love and the superficial image. Shakespeare addresses the cliches in declarations of love with how he discusses the beautiful qualities such as the whiteness of snow and the red of coral and how his lover does not match these. Her breats are of dun and her cheeks lack the beauty of both red and white roses. Our author's lady does not hold the vibrancy and compelling aspect of the sun in her eyes and her breath "reeks" compared to the delight of some perfumes. This poem addresses the absurdity of lover's opinions on their partners, how they will decorate their partners with the perfections of fantasies when they in no way can compare. Yet despite the false images which lover's create they still desire their partner and believe they are completely intrigued with them. This poem most certainly brings to discussion the power of love and its control of one's entire being. or is Shakespeare addressing the issues which inevitably come with romantic feelings, such as loss of them? what is one to do once the *magic* of new love has faded and no longer is the couple seeing eachother in an enhanced way by raging hormones, is it still called love then?

Blake's "The Sick Rose"

WilliamBlake’s poem, “The Sick Rose”is a rather disturbing piece. William Blake has poems from two anthologies; Songs of Innocence and Songs of experience. “The sick Rose” must be in the latter anthology because it embodies the idea of corruption as the “worm” “destroy(s)” the “rose.” The poem as a whole is ambiguous. Even the title connotes an ambiguous object; the rose. After all, a rose is beautiful, sweet smelling, and a symbol of romance yet, the “experienced” reader knows that a rose also has thorns. The “worm” that corrupt(s)” the rose is a phallic symbol, which is conveyed through its “fly(ing) in the night” to the rose’s “bed.” This poem is far from one of Blake’s Songs of Innocence pieces because the worm furtively goes to the rose’s “bed” where the act of “crimson joy” is committed. Blake emphasizes that the worm is robbing the innocence from the rose, which is the opposite of pure intentions. If the worm “flies at night” and is “invisible” is corruption through “experience” inevitable? I do not think one can possibly avoid an “invisible threat.”

Sestina

The poem 'Sestina', I think, encompasses many elements of a family that was once whole, as well as different conceptions of time. I took away that the grandmother and child are the only two remaining of this family. The father and mother of the child are absent, and it is not clear where they went, but it has left the grandmother and child with the company of kitchen appliances and an almanac. What I also saw was that the grandmother knows she is nearing death, and I think the almanac tells her this, as well as the Marvel Stove. But even in the first stanza it is obvious that she is close to death.

"September rain falls on the house.
In the failing light..."

"She thinks that her equinoctial tears..."

These two quotations are evidence that the grandmother is dying because September rain means that it is nearing the end of the year, thus the end of her life. The failing light also represents this, and also implies that the failing light is happening faster than usual (as realized by the grandmothers mentioning that it is time for tea), faster because winter is soon upon them.

The adjective equinoctial also represents the grandmother's death drawing closer. Equinoctial means (as found and directly quoted from the OED) "Happening at or near to the time of the equinox; said esp. of the ‘gales’ prevailing about the time of the autumnal equinox." The equinox is the turning point of the year, but it also represents the end of one period of time and the beginning of another. This is the end of the boy having his grandmother, and the beginning of him living alone. I wonder if the other equinox, the one of summer, was when the parents left the child to the grandmother.

There are many meanings to what the repetitious tears are, but I think one of them is that the grandmother is mourning that the boy will soon be alone as well as "the teakettle's small hard tears", which are mourning the loss of life in this house. I mean to say that the father and mother, who have left, have taken away life from the house, and now when the grandmother dies, there is more loss of life.

Reasons for Attendance

I liked the poem Reasons for Attendance because it is interesting to see the stages of this man’s thought process and how he came to a final decision. The poem starts out with a man drawn to the window of a dance club, where he ponders whether to join the couples inside or remain outside. He sees these couples who are supposed to have “the lion’s share of happiness” and knows that this is pure “inaccuracy.” By the end of the poem, the question is no longer whether he should go in or stay outside, but rather, where he can find happiness. The couples inside the club believe that they have found it together through dancing, but he knows that the music will not help them find the happiness they are looking for.