DDCPoetry

Poem found here:   "A Poison Tree" by William Blake This is an either/or poem which is very heavy on the second part.  The first part follows the idea of forgiveness, "I was angry with my friend: / I told my wrath, my wrath did end."  When dealing with emotions, for friends, it's best said and done with, one way or another.  Get it done quickly and move on in doing more friend stuff. But, say you like revenge or have some enemies.  This is where the poem goes into a bit too much detail, starting here, "I was angry with my foe: / I told it not, my wrath did grow."  Why hold in such anger?  The reasons don't matter.  Just like The Cask of Amontillado , all that matters is that an injustice has happened.  Now what? "And I watered it in fears. / Night and morning with my tears;"  A little bit sappy here, but feeding wrath with emotions to make it grow -- sorrow and fear the nutrients.  "And I sunned it with smiles, / And with soft ...

Poem found here:  "The Fly" by William Blake From condescending to humble, the poem plays with tone as the speaker plays with the concept of "the fly."  The initial stanza, "Little fly, / Thy summer's play / My thoughtless hand / has brushed away" has a sense of play from it.  It's dismissive of the existence of the fly as a nuisance.  As the poem progresses, there's a change of thought. "Am not I / A fly like thee?"  I wonder what caused this kind of crisis.  A twist of the hand?  Something as simple as that to go introspective.  Well, this type of rash thinking plays with the adjective "thoughtless" as thought the insight is still in play. "Or art not thou / A man like me?"  So a dual simile is set up.  The question is what criteria is a man like a fly or a fly like a man: "For I dance / And drink and sing, / Till some blind hand / Shall brush my wing."  These lines focus on the physical at first -- sin...

Original poem reprinted online here:  "Three Things to Remember" by William Blake Originally read: November 5, 2013 More information about the Poet: William Blake  The conceit with this poem is in the title, "Three Things to Remember."  So there's already a didactic effect going on here.  However, each couplet goes with a similar formula -- bird / effect. "A Robin Redbreasted in a cage / Puts all Heaven in a rage."  Here the speaker automatically takes a prophetic stance and can tell the reaction of the divine.  Keeping a Robin Redbreasted in a cage, puts Heaven in a rage -- yet it's sort of an impotent Heaven.  Yes, there's rage, but what is the action from the divine. Furthermore, the Robin Redbreasted could be an allusion to the nursery rhyme "Little Robin Redbreast"   which adds a sense of metapoetics to the poem -- don't try to cage a poem like a bird. "A skylark wounded on the wing / Doth make a cherub cease to sing...

Original poem reprinted online here: "The Lamb" by William Blake Originally read: March 20, 2013 More information about the Poet:  William Blake As promised long ago, this poem is a companion piece to "The Tyger" by William Blake.  Here's my "analysis" of "The Tyger" here .   Why the quotes around analysis?  Because the poem has been explicated to death by Academia, and so, what is there to add to an analysis of this poem?  Instead I listed different types of analysis and how each image, symbol, line, theme, idea, etc. is looked through from the lens of certain critiques. For, "The Tyger"  I looked at the poem through: Marxist Criticism, Structuralist Criticism, and Atheist Criticism (not really a criticism, but looking at the poem through at an objective [not scientific] lens).  So, conveniently, I should look at this poem and the connections through opposite means. Note, the notes I wrote about "The Tyger" still apply an...

Original poem reprinted online here: "The Tyger" by William Blake Originally read: Long time ago, but reread on Writer's Almanac on February 17, 2013 More information about the Poet: William Blake I think this is a required poem to read.  What grade level?  Who knows.  In any case, I have different outlooks on this poem from when I first read it in high school, broke, college, broke, after college, broke.  I've heard some very interesting perspective about this poem, but to be honest, the poem lends itself to interpretation through the use of rhetorical questions (not the questions themselves, how they operate) and the images (which range from nature to allusive to industrial).  So I'm going to post down some of the interpretations I've heard an how they are argued.  Note two very important background information about this poem: 1) This poem is found in "The Song of Experience" which sets up a sense of time, distance, age to the poems in the collect...