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Showing posts from May, 2021

Analysis of "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns

 Poem found here: "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns The line "A Red, Red Rose" stuck with me because it's iambic.  I remember reading this line in various sonnets and iambic poems and always wondered "how does this work, why is it iambic when you breathe out the words. In any case, this poem is a classic love poem that hyperbolizes until beyond the end.  How much can this love endure? It's a young love, "O my Luve's like a red, red rose / That's newly sprung in June;" note the semi-colon which means both sentences are connected, "O my Luve's like the melodie / That's sweetly play'd in tune."  Ah how lovely -- sight and sound of love (luve). As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in luve am I: And I will luve thee still, my dear, Til a'the seas gang dry  I think this is a pretty direct stanza.  Love until the seas turn dry -- an apocalyptic image.  I wonder why not end the poem there, at the end. Til a't...

Analysis of "A fourteen-line poem on Adoration" by Julie Carr

 Poem found here:   "A fourteen-line poem on Adoration" by Julie Carr In my notes, I reminded myself to remember that this is a definition poem.  The poem defines "Adoration" in different ways kind of like Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird .  This poem also reminded me of a sonnet because of the fourteen lines, and how the idea of adoration would fit well in a sonnet.  But the first line is pretty blunt, "1. It does not take much."   A direct approach based on implication.  The line implies adoration doesn't take much -- which is a good lead into to the next line, "2. Half an hour here, half an hour there."  What time it takes to adore and what is adored, "3. It's not a 'presence' I adore" not a manifestation, rather the actual. "4. The erotically swollen moon" is a direct image.  I feel the language is on the nose for a reason to heavy handedly imply something physical (swollen moon -- pregnant, perhaps)...

Analysis of "Triolet on a Line Apocryphally Attributed to Martin Luther" by A E Stallings

 Poem found here:  "Triolet on a Line Apocryphally Attributed to Martin Luther" by A E Stallings This is a tough poem.  But a tougher title. The Poem The poem itself, without the title, is a fun set of rhetorical questions in the triolet .  So why this form for this poem.  There's a certain rhythm and song like quality to this poem based on the rhyme scheme  "ABaAabAB" which the 1st, 4th, and 7th lines are the same word "tunes" as well as the 2nd, and lst line of "night."  These are the main concepts of the poem -- or at least stand out the most. "Why should the Devil get all the good tunes, / The booze and the neon and Saturday night,"  Ah, the luxury of sin on a Saturday night.  This makes me think of the type of music found in clubs and night life -- a more fast paced, open energy: dance, disco, electronic, drum and bass.  I'm trying to listen to the songs now, and just imagine being lost in the beat.   Then this line appear...

Analysis of "The Byronic Method" by Christopher Salerno

 Poem found here:  "The Byronic Method" by Christopher Salerno I don't know if a reader needs to know Lord Byron or the 'Byronic Hero'  to relate to contextualize the poem.  Rather, I think the poem does the job of garnering interest in someone like me, who fell away from poetry and is somewhat coming back, to look up the terminology.  Don Juan, the moody passionate lover.  There's an added dimension when looking up the reference. And what does this poem reference to?  When reading the first two lines, I'm stationed in the "now" "There is no code or corrective shoe / Only raspberries to cover the tips of my thumbs."  When I read the word "code" next to "raspberry" I think of technology, raspberry pi; however, to the context of the lines, this also could refer to Lord Byron as well along with the image of the "corrective shoe" that refers to his club foot.  So there's already an intertwining of the liter...