DDCPoetry

Original poem reprinted online here: "Broken Music" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti Originally read: March 15, 2013 More information about the Poet:  Dante Gabriel Rossetti This is an Italian Sonnet.  I don't know why I have to point out form in the beginning of my analysis.  I think it's one of those literary technique I want to get out of the way first before going deep into content and other techniques.  Also, form is probably the first thing to see in a poem -- not really the words on the page, but the lines and the spaces.  This one is easy to decipher because the first stanza is eight lines, and the last stanza is six lines, and a quick scan shows a rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter.  I'm expecting a volta, and with the title like "Broken Music" I'm expecting some sort of sound or music in the poem. Then why is there a question mark on the top of the page.  I remember reading this the first time and not finding the music -- not finding how things a...

Original poem reprinted online here: "Ash Wednesday" by Louis Untermeyer Originally read: February 13, 2013 More information about the Poet: Louis Untermeyer This poem is comprised of two Italian sonnets.  What I didn't think of when I wrote notes on this poem is how the  form operates in this poem.  Usually, Italian sonnets are divided into an octave (first stanza) then a sestet (second stanza).  In the octave, there's a question being presented; meanwhile, the sestet answers the posed question.  Now with this poem, the core of the poem is what the answer to the question or the first sestet. The poem starts off thought with the question, "Shut out the light or let it filter through" -- the tone is one of a command but a command that (falsely) gives the power of decision to the reader; however, the speaker continues on what the filtered light illumiated: "feet that grew, "twisted and false," "cupids smirk from candy clouds," "Th...

Original poem reprinted online here: Analysis of "In the Park" by Gwen Harwood Originally read: January 3, 2013 More information about the Poet: Gwen Harwood So I warn my students about this when creating a sonnet -- "don't rhyme -ing words -- it's too easy."  Why?  Because my teachers warned me about doing such a thing.  On one hand rhyming verbs ending in --ing is too open (basically anything works); however, on the other hand the usage verb vs gerund would  be intersting (one focusing on action vs the other appropriating the noun with action).  However, this poem doesn't do that.  The -ing here, I won't say it's easy, but brings in a certain sense of the mundane that is a theme in the poem. On the first read, I only talk about form, "I'm not sure about the monosyllabic rhyme scheme.  A part of me thinks it's too simple, but simplicity, for the first part of the poem details the woman's life -- simply matter of fact." I to...