DDCPoetry

Original poem reprinted online here:   "At Melville's Tomb" by Hart Crane Originally read: July 21, 2013 More information about the Poet: Hart Crane This poem is an homage to Herman Melville, in the sense that the references to nautical terms relate to the speaker's experience with Melville.  Written in quatrains, the poem also has an unpinned rhyme scheme -- making the poem more vers libre than any other form.  Also each stanza is end-stopped giving each stanza an individual importance. In the first stanza, the focus is on the the perspective.  There's two going at play here, the speaker and how the speaker interpreted the "he" to observe the same see.    So overall is what the speaker sees and interprets. "He" sees, "Often beneath the wave, wide from this ledge / The dice of drowned men's bones he saw bequeath / An embassy".  When the line ends with "An embassy" there's a judgment call -- yes, these are drowned men...

Original poem reprinted online here:   "My Grandmother's Love Letters" by Hart Crane Originally read: July 21, 2013 More information about the Poet: Hart Crane I've been re-reading this poem and my notes, and, the poem, and, yes, there's the theme of memory and forgetting; however, the poem is not as cut and dry with the theme.  Memory is described in a multitude of ways -- as a concept and in the personal. In the first stanza there's the rhetoric of memory being compared to stars, "There are no stars tonight / But those of memory."  In this way, there's a physical representation of memory.  "Yet how much room for memory there is / In the loose girdle of soft rain."  And with a physical representation there's a way to quantify memory. The second stanza continues with space, "There is even room enough /For the letters of my mother's mother, / Elizabeth."  Pat me noted the specific name giving a personal effect to the sp...

Original poem reprinted online here:   "Photo, Brownie Troop, St. Louis, 1949" by Margaret Kaufman Originally read: July 19, 2013 More information about the Poet: Margaret Kaufman The poem is told as a monologue from the point of view of instructing and "calming" the object.  From what I can gather, past me noted the voice was from, "troop leader?"  But that's a guess, in either way, the focus of this poem is judgement. The first line focuses on the comparative subject of "Karen Prasse" and the majority of the poem focuses on Karen's attributes, "an example of precocity"  --  and in this sense the poem avoids the other subject for the first half of the poem.  This leads to the assumption that the other half, the "you" is the opposite of Karen. So when there's description like this, "a girl who knew that the sky (blue crayon) / was above the earth (green crayon" the definition of precocity is exemplified t...

Original poem reprinted online here:   "Break, break, break" by Alfred Lord Tennyson Originally read: July 19, 2013 More information about the Poet: Alfred Lord Tennyson This is another poem that has a lot of analyses behind it.  I didn't know.  Anyway, here we go again. The poem is comprised of four quatrains with rhymes happening on the second and fourth line.  There's the play of connection and no connection here.  A sense of distance.  Furthermore, each stanza is end-stopped. Each one works as individual episodes that tie in together. The first stanza starts of with repeating the verb, "Break, break, break"  what needs to break "O sea!" where "On thy cold gray stones"  However, there's an inversion of linguistics here, it's not subject verb object, rather verb object subject.  I was wondering why construct this way.  The verb, break, is imperative in the first line, "how" is not as important, but "what" is ...

Original poem reprinted online here:   "Refrain" by Maggie Glover Originally read: July 18, 2013 More information about the Poet: Maggie Glover Update:  Got word from the poet, Maggie Glover , " the two '-' before 'groom' and 'rise' were mistakenly added by @ versedailypoems & aren't in the original" Yeah, it does change the way I read the poem. Mostly didn't think -room would be groom. I'll get back to this someday, but for now. Here's the analysis as I read it. ---- Past me wrote something similar for different lines, "conflicting metaphors," and "conflicting statement."  And I think this poem is comprised of conflicts.  Not a conflict that's developed, rather small, sometimes non-sequitur linguistics that change the focus of the line. For example, "I am learning that life is a pond. No. / I am learning that life is not a pond, but has a pond's boundaries,"  Here the change in l...

Original poem reprinted online here:   "The Day Lady Died" by Frank O'Hara Originally read: July 17, 2013 More information about the Poet: Frank O'Hara I didn't know this poem has many analyses about it.  I think the common thread among the analyses are the poem's references.  Yes, the lady in this poem represents "Billie Holiday."  And yes, there's numerous  mentions of pop-culture, place, and time.  I think the references have been covered over by Shmoop and Modern American Poets websites. So what can I bring to the table?  I'll go stanza by stanza. In the first stanza the speaker knows specifically the time, date, and place, "It is 12:20 in New York a Friday / three days after Bastille day, yes / it is 1959"  Why so specific?  It's funny the construction is specific as though the speaker wants to remember history, but also note that the poem is written in present tense.  The present tense serves a sense of immediacy.  The s...

Original poem reprinted online here:   "Flat-Spired Three-Toothed Snail" by William Kelley Woolfitt Originally read: July 17, 2013 More information about the Poet: William Kelley Woolfitt Here's the picture of the "Flat-Spired Three-Toothed Snail" WIkipedia Article about the Flat-Spired Three-Toothed Snail Why do I give this much information about the animal.  Because the animal indicates place -- West Virginia, the Appalachia trial.And, with regards to this poem, place and setting seem to be the central idea. Written in five sestets, the poem starts out with sayings describing the setting, "Dog days, shut sky, zero rain, / wood-sorrel and lamb's tongue / smell like hot pennies"  Here the speaker sets up a hot day, time frame unknown, but the language, the continuous usage of idioms, appeal to the visual and the olfactory.  The simile here is interesting because how tangential the other half is, but is a reader can still relate. "copper scorch...

Original poem reprinted online here:   "Dulce Et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen Originally read: July 16, 2013 More information about the Poet: Wilfred Owen Wikipedia Analysis Shmoop Analysis Both links have really strong analysis for this poem, and I do recommend reading their analysis for an understanding of this poem.  So what can I bring to this poem that hasn't been already written?  Coming upon this poem for the first time on July 16 of last year, I knew this poem was famous, I knew a little bit about Wilfred Owen.  But I never really analyzed the poem I thought it'd be fun to look at this poem with an analytic eye before reading what others had to write.  I looked up a couple things with this poem.  The latin, of course.  "Dulce Et Decorum Est" is from Horace and translates to "How sweet, how honorable" and plays on the idea of "serving one's country is both sweet and honorable."  I also looked at the bottom latin a s well.  The ...

Original poem reprinted online here:   "Eating Poetry" by Mark Strand Originally read: July 15, 2013 More information about the Poet: Mark Strand A couple of notes past me wrote on this poem.  "End stopped lines.  Child like Appeal." "Punctuated Insanity."  Past me had fun with this poem.  It is a fun poem to for bibliophiles.  Anyway, the poem works like a surreal narrative in which the tercets, and the punctuation add a sense of structured madness. The poem starts out on the focus on ink and how it is on the corner of the speakers mouth because, "I have been eating poetry."  Yes, the metaphorical meaning is strong here. Perhaps eating poetry means excessively reading.   But the metaphor doesn't matter to the speaker. The actions of the speaker are centered around the surreal. Meanwhile the actions of the librarian, "The librarian does not believe what she sees. / Her eyes are sad / and she walks with her hands in her dress" focus ...

Original poem reprinted online here:  Analysis of "Ibex Have Evolved for Life at the Top" by Lisa Olstein Originally read: July 15, 2013 More information about the Poet: Lisa Olstein So this is an Ibex: Past me wrote an encompassing idea of the poem: "Transition to choices to simulate Darwinism."  Well, I don't know what past me meant.  But I do know that there's a scientific feel to the poem because of the cumulative deconstruction of definitions in the majority of the stanzas. And even though the poem is a single stanza, there are three parts to this poem: 1) cumulative deconstruction of definition 2) the illusion of choice through the usage of "if", and 3) Choices laid out in the form of rhetorical questions. Part 1: Cumulative Deconstruction of Definition The title serves more as a tone setter.  The poem starts out with an interesting statement in which there's a more likely chance that the speaker will look at how the Ibex has evolved for ...

Original poem reprinted online here: "A Ballad of Dreamland" by Algernon Charles Swinburne Originally read: July 14, 2013 More information about the Poet: Algernon Charles Swinburne Ballad . So what appears to be octaves are actually two quatrains with a "abab" rhyme scheme pushed together.  And even though the meter may be a bit loose, the rhyme scheme alternates between soft sounds (-es, -red) to harsh sounds (-art).  Also what the octave form brings is immediate juxtaposition that ties in together rather than separate individual stanzas. In the first stanza the focus is with the speaker, "I hid my heart in a nest of roses" and past me wrote "flowery metaphor" as more of a pun.  But this is the direction the poem goes in the beginning -- the comparison to the self  to metaphor on a slight hyperbolic scale.    The image is nice, but lines like, "Under the roses I hid my heart" invite a symbolic interpretation that leads to the same -- ...

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Death" by Kwame Dawes Originally read: July 14, 2013 More information about the Poet: Kwame Dawes Here's Kwame Dawes reading "Death" .  And there is a difference of how I read the poem in my mind versus how Kwame Dawes read the poem.  For me, the violence and the viscera stood out for me, but when I heard Kwame Dawes read the poem -- it's not the violence, it's what's learned through progression. The poem itself uses narrative technique, but also reinforces a sequence with first couple of lines, "First your dog dies and you pray / for the Holy Spirit to raise the inept / lump in the sack,"  For me, the language of "dog" and "inept" has more of a cynical view already set in the beginning.  But when I heard the poem, the line seems more innocuous, and the focus is more towards:      [...] but Jesus's name      is no magic charm; sunsets and the      flies are gathering.  That ...

Original poem reprinted online here: "I Speak Not" by George Byron Originally read: July 12, 2013 More information about the Poet: George Byron So this is more of the typical Romantic love poem here.  I don't know why I chose it then if it's typical.  Reading this poem again nothing really stands out for me as stemming away from the typical love poem style of: yearn, bargain, win.  But the poem is interesting none the less. Written in rhymed couplets, the speaker goes through some hyperbolic thoughts, "I speak not, I trace not, I breathe not thy name. / There is grief in the sound, there is guilt in the fame." The mention of the name triggers this sense of grief. "But the tear that now burns on my cheek may impart / The deep thoughts that dwell in that silence of heart."  Deep thoughts?  Well sequestered not philosophical turmoil.    But at this point the speaker is searching for something within the "silence of the heart" -- sometimes sa...

Original poem reprinted online here: Analysis of "If I Were a Dog" by Richard Shelton Originally read: July 11, 2013 More information about the Poet: Richard Shelton The poem works as a narrative with the speaker imagining his life as a dog.  However, the poem is not as simple as this.  The poem where it hiccups is what interests me, but the hiccups aren't at the end; rather, they are spliced into the narrative and a very forthcoming as though to state, "this is different, but what does it matter in a poem like this." "Poem like this" well a persona poem is a tricky thing -- especially from the point of view of a dog.  There's inherent humor there.  And the first stanza focusing on:      peeing a little here and there      wherever I felt the urge      having a good time what the hell      saving some because it's a long road well, peeing.  Marking territory.  The first hiccup happens in stanz...

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Lessons of the War" by Henry Reed Originally read: July 10, 2013 More information about the Poet: Henry Reed "Reed's most famous poem is 'Lessons of the War,' a witty parody of British army basic training during World War II, which suffered from a lack of equipment at that time." So the poem makes sense to me a little bit more now.  There's a whole lot of technique going on in here...an overuse of it -- epigraph in Latin, a regards in the beginning, a part one without a part two.  And that's not even getting into the poem.  From the language, yes, there's a sense of a dry parody as well.   But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Past me didn't do this, but I think the translation to the latin is " U ntil recently I have fought duels and led a soldiering life, not without glory"  or " For ladies's love I late was fit, /  And good success my warfare blest, "  which is a quote from...

Original poem reprinted online here: "After" by Robert Browning Originally read: July 10, 2013 More information about the Poet: Robert Browning Inescapable.  That's what I thought after I reread the poem.    The structure of the poem has a couplet in the beginning and the ending, but what's inescapable is the second stanza -- the emotion that the speaker holds -- even after. "Take the cloak from his face, and at first / Let the corpse do its worst!"  The first line has a tone of anger behind it towards the unknown subject; however, note how the speaker addresses the corpse to "do its worst".  But what can a corpse do other than rot in the speaker's mind?  Well, I guess I gave it away. It's not necessarily the person that the speaker holds onto, it's the conceptual.  Furthermore, the rhyme scheme that goes aabbcc..(and so forth) chokes the poem into a forced connection, "How he lies in his rights of a man!" The speaker then add...

Original poem reprinted online here:  "I" by Michael Ryan Originally read: July 10, 2013 More information about the Poet: Michael Ryan "When did I learn the word 'I'? / What a mistake."  The opening lines of the poem is humorous.  But the humor is self referential and also language based.   This poem plays not only with the definition, but also visual representation. "For some, / it may be a placeholder, / for me it's a contagion."    The speaker contextualizes the usage of "I" with "for some" and "for me".  The differences between inferences.  Note how the "for some" part focuses on a placeholder -- not so much of a definition of the self.  For the "for me" part the contagion line is more tricky.  Contagion -- harmful spreading, but not so much in this poem as far as length, but possibility.  The poem looks at many different aspects of "I" but not in a personal way. "For some, it...

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Paper" by Stephen Ackerman Originally read: July 7, 2013 More information about the Poet: Stephen Ackerman How paper is used in this poem.  But not actual paper, more like the various usages of paper in conversation, or in play but not in a direct way.  The construction of the poem doesn't allow any sort of individual definition or offshoot to be an emphasis since the poem is a single stanza.  What this opens up though is forced connections, as though to make sense of something well known on paper.  Like knowing the definition of "the." First usage, "looks good on paper."  The idiom "we looked good on paper" is used, and expanded upon, "'To be young, beautiful, professional / stood them through the processional / but not many years beyond.'"  And through the explanation, "they papered over their differences".  Verb form of paper as in to gloss over.  The overall tone of the pi...

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Prague" by Khadijah Queen Originally read: July 7, 2013 More information about the Poet: Khadijah Queen I'm still figuring out how the first line works.  Sounds weird but, syntactically, the line, "Yes as thievery," can cut different ways.      *If the title Prague is the focus, then the affirmative of yes compares Prague to thievery -- which has       a more scenic focus.      *If the simile compares the word "yes" to "thievery" then there's a focus on more of the saying, more       and more of the speaker. Does either or both meanings matter since in the same line the speaker negates the phrase, "except if saved for / a fantasy" This is also what I'm debating as well.  At the end of the poem, there's a strong message which I could see relating to one or the other, but if both, like one is analogous to the other -- then the meaning becomes muddled. So from the first line, l...