DDCPoetry

Poem found here:  "Bantams in Pine-Woods" by Wallace Stevens This poem made me automatically search for analysis of it online.  I don't understand this poem at all.  Of course I'll put down my own thoughts, but this seems like a poem I could read from a L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poet who plays with meaning and the technique to go against meaning and technique.  And I think the analysis on Wikipedia goes along those lines with: The new world's "inchling" poets are defiant towards the traditional literary canon, and particularly defiant against the unnamed, arrogant, self-appointed gatekeeper of literary tradition; they are confident instead in their own free powers of innovation in the New World. Sounds about right. Anyway, the first couplet is a play on language moreso than a play on content, "Chieftain Iffucan of Azcan in caftan / of tan with henna hackles, halt!"  I think this is referring to the bantams in an overblown way -- the repetition of the &q

Poem found here:  "Unusually Warm March Day, Leading to Storms" by Francesca Abbate The content of this poem is a bit chaotic -- the nice day comes at the end of the storms in a sense.  However, the technique in this poem: the weight of similes, the conceptual conceit, interests me the most. "Everything is half here"  is such a broad conceptual statement which is then followed by the simile of:      like the marble head      of the Roman emperor      and the lean torso      of his favorite The simile, the other half, doesn't really compliment the concept; rather, they appear more at odds.  Not in the sense of one or the other, but rather the "marble head / of the Roman emperor" is taking either more or less space than the, "lean torso / of his favorite."  Nothing too visceral, nothing too extreme, just the question asked -- which half is more important.   This idea follows through with a catastrophic scene of the funnel cloud which doesn'

Poem found here:  "Marriage" by Lawrence Raab This poem does transitions really well: from hypothetical to real, to male to female, to third to first person and so the content of the poem is more of a compliment to the form and vice versus; however, the content of the poem is quite contrasting. The poem is a narrative which starts off with the background that "years later" -- more like an afterthought.  The narrative starts out with the husband asking hypothetical questions?      What if      I hadn’t phoned, he says, that morning?      What if you’d been out,      as you were when I tried three times      the night before? Note that this is the only lines the husband have -- he is the one that brings in the doubt in the relationship.  Or rather, by instigating the questioning he's awaiting a response (there is no response from the husband later on in the poem.  The transition then is to the woman who "tells him a secret." "She's been there al

Poem Found Here:  "The Darkling Thrush" by Thomas Hardy I remember doing an analysis of this poem when I was in college, and even though it has been a while, I think my analysis is still the same.  Well, not really. In my past analysis, I focused on how the thrush was the focus of the poem -- the poem is titled as such and the big "event" in this poem centers around the thrush.  However, my interpretation now is that the thrush, like it's song, is just a ruse. But the form first.  The poem is written in an alternate rhyme scheme (ababcdcd) in four octaves -- there's some balance at play here between the speaker, the landscape and the thrush.  The introduction though focuses on the speaker and the landscape, "I leant upon a coppice gate / When Frost was spectre gray,"  Note that introduction of the speaker is interacting with the landscape which opens up to the season, "And Winter's dregs made desolate / The weakening eye of day."  And

Poem Found Here: "A Person Protests to Fate" by Jane Hirshfield This poem has a very didactic/koanic feel about it. The flow of the poem is very straightforward: the exposition, the insight to extremes then to "the long middle,"   but the very last sentence of the poem confuses me, but not like a koan, but grammatically. First, the general person asking a large statement:      A person protests to fate:      "The things you have caused      me most to want      are those that furthest elude me." Very straightforward and telegraphed.  The protest is clear of not getting what they want the person wants.  This statement will be the core of the poem since "Fate" responds "Fate nods. / Fate is sympathetic." Then there's a situation showing want:      To tie the shoes, button a shirt,      are triumphs      for only the very young,      the very old Note two things -- yes, these lines are easily comprehended, but note the tone of the spea

Poem found here:  "The Wine" by Michael Metivier This poem is a one sentence narrative and has a "koanic" effect on the outside, but really there's a feeling of a "if/then" proposition placed in. So the exposition:      When the townspeople      gave teenaged Buddha      a glass of wine      so delicious he grew      to an unthinkable size Now the key terms in these lines are the adjectives.  "Teenaged" representing a younger Buddha -- maybe not so experienced and still on his way to enlightenment is specified in the poem; however, Buddha's physical change to an "unthinkable" size changes perspective.  "Unthinkable" is an adjective that relies on the readers and observers to create the image, and, in this sense, the poem plants a seed on the difference between what is observed to what actually changes.      and froze into a blue statue      that shielded the town      from a wave that broke      upon his back      and