Part 1: Written Assignment.
There is no question that the poems you have read these past two weeks vary widely with respect to the poets' use of the poetic elements of "speaker," "situation," and "setting."
Your written assignment for this week is to compare and contrast the ways in which two poets you have read rely on these elements to create a unique effect on the reader. Who is speaking? What is going on? Where? When? How do the two poems compare?
Your goal is to write a 1-2 page comparison and contrast essay. Be focused and specific in order to stay within this page range. Use sample poems to illustrate your statements. Cite your sources.
Part 2: Discussion
You are learning this week that to enjoy poetry, you need to pay attention to "the particular meanings and implications of individual words," to quote Booth, Hunter, and Mays. What do they mean by this? Do you find that they are correct in their assessment? Use sample lines of poems from the Norton textbook, "Chapter 10: Language," to support your assessment of the power of words in poetry.
After that, post a thoughtful and detailed response to one classmate.
Classmates Response on Discussion Question:
1. In the poem "There's No To-morrow" it seems to me that the poet is speaking of getting married "tomorrow" but tomorrow never comes so he is free. "When tir'd at length, and meaning no Redress, But yet the Lye not caring to confess, He for his Oath this Salvo chose to borrow, That he was Free, since there was no To-Morrow" (Finch, 1713)
In the poem " Sex without Love" I think the poet is speaking about life, and maybe how some embrace it without a care instead of like love and caring, they just glide through it. "They do not mistake the lover for their own pleasure, they are like great runners: they know they are alone with the road surface, the cold, and the wind, the fit of their shoes, their over-all cardiovascular health---just factors, like the partner in the bed, and not the truth, which is the single body alone in the universe against its own best time." (Olds, 1984)
Booth, A., & Mays, K. J. (2011). The Norton Introduction of Literature. New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
2. “Fiction and drama depend upon language just as poetry does, but in a poem almost everything comes down to the particular meanings and implications of individual words” (Booth, A., 2009). I believe this basically means that behind every poem is a specific message or meaning that is being portrayed. And it also means that it is very important to pay close attention, and also to fully understand certain words when you are reading a poem because one particular word may give the meaning of the whole poem. I believe that this assessment is correct because ultimately if you do not understand what you are reading, or why certain words are used, than you are missing the meaning of the poem.
In Walter De La Mare’s poem “Slim Cunning Hands,” the first line reads, “Slim cunning hands at rest, and cozening eyes- Under this stone one loved too wildly lies” ( De La Mare, W., 1950). Without knowing the meaning of cunning and cozening you will not understand what type of person the speaker is trying to describe. Cunning means “skill employed in a shrewd or sly manner,” and Cozen means “to cheat, deceive, or trick” (Dictionary.com). Buy putting the two meanings together, a person who may be typically good at deceiving other, perhaps a thief, are described. In Roo Borson’s poem “After a Death,” it is easy to tell that the “chair” is the main object of the poem because it is mentioned in the beginning and at the end of the poem. The second line reads, “I turn his absence into a chair” (Borson, R., 1989), which tells us that the speaker has lost someone dear to them. This poem exhibits ambiguity. The last three lines reed, “And I can return then with my useless love, to rest, because the chair is there” (Borson, R., 1989). The chair stands for security and stability, a comfort zone and peace for the speaker.
Booth, A., & Mays, K. J. (2011). The Norton Introduction To Literature (10th ed.). pp 545. United States: W. W Norton & Company, Inc.
De La Mare, W., (1950). "Slim Cunning Hands." The Norton Introduction to Literature (10th ed.). pp 548. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. New York, NY.
Borson, R., (1989). "Slim Cunning Hands." The Norton Introduction to Literature (10th ed.) pp 586. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. New York, NY.