Professor Greene April 16, 2007 My Poems Anthology Michelle Fauci
An anthology is a collection of poems or other literary works. A poem is a form of art in which language is used for expression. Poems cover numerous feelings in almost every way. A person is bound to find a poem covering everything; from grief to love; from happiness to depression; from friendship to enemies and betrayal. In this Anthology, the poems are all about the unknown, continuing with life, the what if and the want to. These are all published poems of my liking by various poets. I chose poems which I am able to relate to and that I felt connected to in some way. I tried to keep a widerange of poets and poems in my anthology but as it turns out sometimes it s easier to associate one with certain poets over others. I am not going to go out on a limb and say this is all great poetry because appreciation is different for everyone. I will say that I enjoy all these poems and find myself in favor of them. I have included my explanations for why I acknowledge the following poems and I also included a small paragraph describing each of the poets themselves. * All quotes, information, and poems came from http://www.poets.org/index.php.
Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa Ontario. She is currently living in Toronto. She attended school at the University of Toronto and Victoria College where she earned a B.A. and also earned her M.A. at Harvard. Atwood has over fifteen poetry books, is the author of various other types of work such at short fiction, nonfiction collections, and children books. Atwood has also earned many honors and awards with her writings. You can find Atwood at many colleges and universities giving lectures and serving as a Writer-In-Residence. This is a poem of discovery. It goes back to a baby learning things for the first time. It is symbolic of putting two and two together. The hand is important because it represents steps and acknowledgement. The hand is what you use to grasp the meaning and the understanding. The poem as a whole is not just about discovering the world and things in it but discovering oneself. At first you discover your looks and your body. Next is your feelings, moods, and emotions; the colors of your personality. Then you realize all the things that can change you and all the influences, good or bad, in your life. You see how the choices you make can direct you on different paths. However, in the end you comprehend that you are you and nothing can change that. I feel I can connect with this because I recently discovered this for myself. I had a hard time figuring out who I was. So, I sat down and went through ever aspect of my life and finally came to my self acceptance. I found myself in the same steps as this poem goes through. I feel it s a poem about my life. You Begin By Margaret Atwood You begin this way: this is your hand, this is your eye, that is a fish, blue and flat on the paper, almost the shape of an eye. This is your mouth, this is an O or a moon, whichever you like. This is yellow. Outside the window is the rain, green because it is summer, and beyond that the trees and then the world, which is round and has only the colors of these nine crayons. This is the world, which is fuller and more difficult to learn than I have said. You are right to smudge it that way with the red and then the orange: the world burns. Once you have learned these words you will learn that there are more words than you can ever learn. The word hand floats above your hand like a small cloud over a lake. The word hand anchors your hand to this table, your hand is a warm stone I hold between two words. This is your hand, these are my hands, this is the world, which is round but not flat and has more colors than we can see. It begins, it has an end, this is what you will come back to, this is your hand.
Born on September 25, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois, Shel Silverstein wrote a numerous number of poetry book and other literary works. Shel s work is humorous and entertaining, as well as serious, spooky, and cunning. His work was loved by people of all ages. Shel also had a habit of drawing cute, little pictures in his books to go along with the poems. Shel passed away in May of 1999. I have been a huge fan of Shel s work for most of my life. I own all of his poetry books and still browse through it now and then. His poems are addicting and fun. It s hard to choose a favorite because they are all so different from each other. I like this poem because it takes me back to when I was younger. I always thought of cute, silly excuses for why I couldn t go to school. I also remember talking to my friends and we would always brainstorm up different things we could say. I can relate to this poem because it s something pretty much everyone can say that they have done at some point in their life. My favorite part of this poem has to be the last few lines. Peggy Ann McKay figures out that it s only Saturday and she doesn t have to go to school. So after all the complaining she jumps up and goes outside to play. It s an instant recovery from all the issues she claimed to previously have. Sick By Shel Silverstein "I cannot go to school today," Said little Peggy Ann McKay. "I have the measles and the mumps, A gash, a rash and purple bumps. My mouth is wet, my throat is dry, I'm going blind in my right eye. My tonsils are as big as rocks, I've counted sixteen chicken pox And there's one more--that's seventeen, And don't you think my face looks green? My leg is cut--my eyes are blue-- It might be instamatic flu. I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke, I'm sure that my left leg is broke-- My hip hurts when I move my chin, My belly button's caving in, My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained, My 'pendix pains each time it rains. My nose is cold, my toes are numb. I have a sliver in my thumb. My neck is stiff, my voice is weak, I hardly whisper when I speak. My tongue is filling up my mouth, I think my hair is falling out. My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight, My temperature is one-o-eight. My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear, There is a hole inside my ear. I have a hangnail, and my heart is-- what? What's that? What's that you say? You say today is...saturday? G'bye, I'm going out to play!"
Hughes was born in Joplin Missouri on February 1, 1902. He lived in an assortment of places taking on a variety of jobs. He was influence by many different poets including Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman. His writing is primarily focused in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Hughes wanted to capture the true life and culture of this time, including the music, laughter and language. He also wrote and published many literary works. Hughes died on May 22, 1967 due to prostate cancer complications. I am a dreamer. I always think of the future and what could be. I believe that it is important to look ahead and think of what could be and to dream of how you want things because it gives you something to hope for and something to strive for. The poem explains exactly how I feel. It explains that without dreams life is a bird that can not fly. A bird is known for being able to fly and when people wish they could fly they compare themselves to birds. A bird that cannot fly just seems pointless. Not having dreams is also compared to dry, unprofitable, snow-covered field. This field would be useless. Nothing can grow and it would cause a lot of difficulty attempting to fix it. Again, the field would be pointless, no one would want it. Both of the examples offered back up my beliefs on dreams so therefore I feel connected to this poem. I agree completely with it and that is why I enjoy it so much. Dreams By Langston Hughes Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow
Marguerite Johnson was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. However not many know her under this name because she known as Maya Angelou. Maya does a lot. She is an author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist. Many people such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton acknowledged Maya for her eloquent work and achievements. She has accomplished a bountiful amount of things in her life. I agree with the three main lines in the poem completely; I feel the same exact way. It is not possible to truly live in this world alone. I am not talking in the physical sense of being alone. It means without friends and family. It is important to have people in your life because you need them to express yourself to, to help you out in tough times, and to be truly happy. A person can have everything in the world, the perfect wife / husband, millions of dollars, or the best services but if they are alone then they can not be happy. It just goes to show that having all the commodities in the word can not create happiness. You can t make it out here alone because this unhappiness can not be tolerated and can lead to depression and such things like that. Loneliness puts you in jeopardy and is an unhealthy way to live. Since I feel that this poem speaks the truth I do my best to always include everyone and to never leave people out. I try my best to make everyone feel like they are not alone. This poem is just a reminder of that and very truthful. Alone By Maya Angelou Lying, thinking Last night How to find my soul a home Where water is not thirsty And bread loaf is not stone I came up with one thing And I don't believe I'm wrong That nobody, But nobody Can make it out here alone. Alone, all alone Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone. There are some millionaires With money they can't use Their wives run round like banshees Their children sing the blues They've got expensive doctors To cure their hearts of stone. But nobody No, nobody Can make it out here alone. Alone, all alone Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone. Now if you listen closely I'll tell you what I know Storm clouds are gathering The wind is gonna blow The race of man is suffering And I can hear the moan, 'Cause nobody, But nobody Can make it out here alone. Alone, all alone Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone
On October 14, 1894 Edward Estlin Cummings was born in Cambridge, MA. He received both his B.A. and M.A. from Harvard. Cummings experimented radically with form, punctuation, spelling and syntax, abandoning traditional techniques and structures to create a new, highly idiosyncratic means of poetic expression. Even though Cummings was greatly criticized, after his death on September 3, 1962, he became the second most widely read poet in the US. This poem is about a love. To explain it I will say a man is speaking to his true love. The first stanza explains how there has never been a relationship and it the man admires his love from a distance in fear of nothing happening. The second and third stanza moves into how the man s love affects him. His love can open or close him up, meaning emotionally. The love can cause him put himself out there, let his feelings out, just let lose, and live free just as easy as the love can cause him to pull back, hide, keep quite and to himself, and to hold everything in. The last verse explains how it is unexplainable for why his love does this to him. He can t figure it out because it is just one of those things. It is naturally. This mystery is what causes this love to be his true love. I can connect to this poem because that how I feel a true love should be. It is someone that causes you to do things, without reasons. Someone that can make you feel amazing and free. Just someone that makes things special. Somewhere I Have Never Traveled, Gladly Beyond By E. E. Cummings somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond any experience, your eyes have their silence: in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me, or which I cannot touch because they are too near your slightest look will easily unclose me though I have closed myself as fingers, you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens (touching skillfully, mysteriously)her first rose or if your wish be to close me, I and my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly, as when the heart of this flower imagines the snow carefully everywhere descending; nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals the power of your intense fragility: whose texture compels me with the color of its countries, rendering death and forever with each breathing (I do not know what it is about you that closes and opens; only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses) nobody, not even the rain, has such small hand
Robert Frost, born in San Francisco in 1874, moved to Lawrence, MA at the age of eleven when he became interested in poetry. His wife became his main inspiration until her death. His work was primarily focused on life and landscape of New England. Frost happened to become the number one most widely read poet in the US, after his death in Boston, MA on January 29, 1963. I don t see this road as an actual road; I see it more as a symbolic one. The character is making a decision in his life. This poem is symbolic for all decision-making in a person s life. There are always two ways to go. This poem is about making choices. The character in the poem is forced to choose which path to follow. He needs to make a choice about where he wants to go and what he wants to do. It is about following the crowd or taking charge and being a leader. There are two paths, one is worn and the other is a bit over grown. The choice is does the character go down the same path as everyone else or does he do something different. The character chooses to be different and goes down the path less traveled. I like how Frost chose for the character to go down the road less traveled because it shows that it is ok to be different and not to do as everyone else does. Even though the character said next time he would go down the other path as he travels he realize he probably won t. Finally, by the end of the poem the character seems satisfied that he had made the correct choice by saying, And that has made all the difference. The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference
Marguerite Johnson was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. However not many know her under this name because she known as Maya Angelou. Maya does a lot. She is an author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist. Many people such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton acknowledged Maya for her eloquent work and achievements. She has accomplished a bountiful amount of things in her life. I find this poem very appealing because it sums up Maya s life a lot. Since she was a black, female, civil right s activist she was always being insulted and shunned. Maya was a powerful women and people would have been threatened by her and would do and say anything to try to turn others against her. In this poem, Maya stands up and says that no matter what happens she can surpass it and strive. She explains she can beat it and they can t control or stop her. This makes her strong and I think it s important for someone to fight for what they believe in. I see this poem as very inspirational and influential. To read how she stands up for herself and still moves forward to rise showing that its possible to be powerful under all circumstances. This poem shows Maya as a great roll model. Her determination and assertiveness is shining through. It how I wish to be and I feel if I just rise through it all I can be as respected and idolized as she is. Still I Rise By Maya Angelou You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries? Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own backyard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.
Walt Whitman came from a family of nine children. He was born on May 31, 1819 as the second son. From 1836 until 1841 Walt started his work career as a teacher, after which he turned to journalism. Whitman experienced a lot of suffering in his lifetime, especially after his brother was wounded in the Civil War. He also struggled to support himself earning a small salary throughout his life. He never had money to save because he had always been spending his extra money on war patients, his brother, and mother. After suffering a stroke, Whitman couldn t do much to help out others and bought himself a small house in Camden. There he spent the remainder of his life working on writing and editing his work. He eventually passed on March 26, 1892. The Voyager in this poem is an explorer ship from the 1800s. The ship was sent out to discover places and thing that people didn t know about. It was a way to explore and reveal what people wanted to. Whitman mentions it as a symbol of exploration for the known. Everyone has an untold want, a secret to uncover. There are many things I am limited to not getting or not knowing because of my surrounding or capabilities. The Voyager is my way to discover these mysteries. I connect with this poem because I there are lots of things I want to know but can t figure out. I am forced to search for my answers because they do not come easily to me. My life and land limit me. The Untold Want By Walt Whitman The untold want, by life and land ne er granted, Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find.