Analysis of "Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter"

In, "Driving to Town Late to Mail a Letter," Robert Bly uses an earnest tone and imagery to describe the nerves of someone who has to mail a letter, but is having second thoughts. In the poem, the speaker is driving through town to go deliver a letter but just before they are about to drop the letter in the mailbox, they get cold feet. When the speaker says, "There is a privacy I love in this snowy night/ Driving around, I will waste more time," it is clear that they are just trying to work up the courage and waste more time before they absolutely have to send the letter. Through the image of the main street being deserted, the audience knows that it is late at night and the speaker has been contemplating sending the letter for a long time. 

Analysis of "She Didn't Mean to Do It"

In "She Didn't Mean to Do It," Daisy Fried uses a depressed tone and euphemisms to describe the reason for someone doing something they later regret. The author writes, "Certain thrills stay tucked in your limbs/ go no further than your fingers, move your legs through their paces/ but no more," which is a euphemism for doing something thrilling or pleasurable that is fine in the moment but after, they person who did it will regret it when the memory fades. The author also says, "But oh, she was sad, she was just sad, sad,/ and she didn't mean to do it," which provides a reason for someone doing something they regret. A person may act in emotions and then live to regret it after those specific emotions are gone. 

Extra Credit Quote Analysis

"We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin," this quote from Andre Berthiaume is extremely powerful. I relate this quote to myself and to general people of the world. Sometimes I can get so caught up in trying to be like others that even when I go home and the only person I have to please is myself, I still can't seem to remove the mask I put on for the world. It’s not because I’m ashamed of who I am, it’s just that I’ve become so used to hiding myself that it’s normal for me now. I can’t just spin out of who I am most of my day when I’m alone because I’m too caught up in the charade. I can’t just do whatever I want. I have to hide my opinions on certain topics I see on social media

I feel as though this concept of being too impacted by your mask to change is true for everyone though. People become so immersed in who they want the world to think they are, that the mask they wear seems to become part of them. They can’t ever act like themselves because they are afraid of who they are. For example, a girl could paint her nails and do her hair because that’s what society wants her to do even if she doesn’t care so much, but when she goes home she can’t change, she still has to change her nail color for the next day.

No matter how much people will try to deny it, everyone wears a mask, and sometimes those masks become such a huge part of people’s lives that they can’t leave them behind. Whether, you’re a girl or a boy, young or old, you wear a mask. Some people may hide themselves more than others, but in the end it’s all just self hatred. I believe that if people didn’t wear their masks, we might find things more in common with each other than we thought. However, masks have become such a huge part of everyone’s daily life that removing them would be extremely hard.

Masks have, unfortunately, become the norm in society. Everyone who wants to fit in must wear them. Even with my friends, who I feel so comfortable talking to, I find myself still hiding parts of myself and now that social media exists, I find that I had to hide myself on there too. Every time I send a Snapchat or post an Instagram picture, I have to stop and think to myself, is that socially okay to send? It’s exhausting to have to still wear a mask when people can’t even see my face, yet I’m so influenced by my mask that when I see other people who don’t post to my friends’ standards, I feel sorry for them.

I wish that masks weren’t the only thing that ties me and other people together, but they are. “Don’t wear that,” “Don’t post this,” “Don’t say that,” these sentences are what run through my mind everyday. Thoughts that should be positive turn negative, wouldn’t it make the world brighter if my head said, “This outfit is great, who cares if you’re a little over-dressed for school?” or “This picture of you is great, who cares if people will think you’re self-centered if you post it?”

Masks are depressing, but then again, how can I break out of the stereotype if no one else will? For now, I can only write about the pain of wearing a mask. Maybe, eventually, the norm will change and people will be free to be whoever they want. Masks keep us together but they also tear us apart, if only we had the guts to change it.

Analysis of "The Meadow"

In "The Meadow," Kate Knapp Johnson uses imagery and a depressed tone to show the audience the image of a girl daydreaming out the window. The line, " I wanted to know just one true thing," shows that maybe the speaker in the poem just wanted to think about one thing while she daydreamed but her mind wandered to so many things that she didn't even notice how much time had passed. The image of, "two inches of snow," that had fallen while she was looking out the window shows that time has passed since she began thinking. Through the imagery, the reader is able to relate to the concept of letting your mind wander. 

Publication Date

In the poem, "Publication Date," Franz Wright takes the audience on a ride of emotions with her comical tone and euphemisms to describe the feeling a person has when publishing their writing. The poem states, "One of the few pleasures of writing is the thought of one’s book in the hands of a kind-hearted, intelligent person somewhere," which gives the reader an idea of what authors hope for when they publish their work. Instead of just saying that writers hope good people read their work, the author says "kind-hearted" and "intelligent" as euphemisms so that the audience will know what the author means. Wright is also quite comical in this poem when he jokes about the publication day being, "National I Hate Myself and Want to Die Day." Through his humor and literary techniques, Wright is able to convey the feeling of authors to ordinary people.

Before She Died Analysis

In "Before She Died," Karen Chase uses a depressing tone and imagery and metaphors to describe the sadness a person has after one of their loved ones dies. Chase says, "When I look at the sky now, I look at it for you," which allows the reader to imagine a person looking to the sky for a person that they can no longer see. This image makes it easy for the reader to connect with the speaker. Chase also says, " It will take a long time to know how it is for you. Like a dog's lifetime -- long -- multiplied by sevens," this metaphor allows the reader to understand the feelings of the speaker, how the character misses the person they've lost and they know they won't see them again until they die themselves. Every year that they have to wait feels longer like seven years. 

Advice from the Experts Analysis

In "Advice from the Experts," Bill Knott uses a panicked tone, simile, and repetition to set the scene of a person about to jump off a building. The author describes the people urging the speak not to jump as, "a bunch of gawkers perched," above him. The simile of the people being gawkers shows that the people probably don't honestly care about whether the speaker will jump or not, they just want to stare openly at the drama. The speaker then says that they urge him, "don't, don't jump." The word "don't" being repeated could be an honest urge from the people that they don't want him to jump or they could have repeated it to add dramatic effect.

Domestic Work Analysis

In "Domestic Work," Natasha Trethewey uses an assertive tone and simile to describe the work of a woman who works as a cleaner in a house. The woman in the poem longs for a different job yet she still describes cleanliness as "next to godliness." Her apparent belief in god shows that even though she is upset at the job she has currently, she believes it's from god. She compares it to the work of god as in that she is doing what she is supposed to be doing and no matter how much she wishes she could do something else, ultimately, she is where she is supposed to be.

Tour Analysis

In "Tour," Carol Snow uses an indifferent tone and imagery to paint the picture of a person coming across a shrine in Japan. The image of a "swept path" and "camellia blossoms" allows the reader to think that the character in the poem is beautifying the shrine. In the next stanza, however, the speaker says, "Or — we had no way of knowing — he'd swept the path between fallen camellias," which suggests that the person didn't mean to make the shrine beautiful and that he actually didn't care because it was an accident. The poem suggests the idea that certain things in life are not important to some people as they are to others. Whoever made the shrine probably had a deep connection to it but a person walking near it might not have a similar connection. 

Prometheus Poem

Over and over again

Life is just the same

Prometheus schooled for years,

So that he may be able to contribute the fire in his mind to society

He writes life down on a paper,

Prints the pages, and sells the book

But in return for his gift he gets chained to the rock of creativity

They only want more and everyday it’s the same

He tries to reach his mind again

But there is nothing there

Day after day, meeting after meeting

They peck at his soul for another story, for more life

He cannot give them what they want

Every night, he drinks his sorrows away

His mind is not his anymore

And the alcohol destroys his liver

One thing can save him now

A retired man can break the chains

Leave it all and he may be free

Or stay contained to the rock forever

Analysis of "Radio"

In, "Radio," Laurel Blossom uses repetition and an annoyed tone to explain the aggravation of having a person break into your car when there's nothing of value in it. In a strange pattern of stanzas, Blossom repeats "no radio" over and over again. This repetition can seem somewhat annoying to the reader which allows them to empathize with the speaker. The way the poem is structured is somewhat choppy which might be a suggestion to what the car looks like after it was broken into. Blossom says, "In car, nothing of value," which gives the impression that the break-in was unnecessary because the car had nothing that a thief would want and really it's just an inconvenience for the owner of the car. The tone and repetition Blossom uses help create an image to the reader.

The Farewell

In, "The Farewell," Edward Field uses a serious and sad tone. She uses metaphors and onomatopoeia to show the reader what can happen to a person who is too trusting in other people. The poem starts by saying, "They say the ice will hold so there I go, forced to believe them by my act of trusting people," which uses the ice as a metaphor for something bad that the speaker encountered due to trusting people too much when they say it's okay. The poem continues with the speaker falling into the cold water after the ice cracks under his feet and he dies. In the last sentence, "'Goodbye my darlings, goodbye dear one," as the ice meets again over my head with a click," Field uses onomatopoeia to allow the reader to hear the "click" of the ice. Edward Field uses the metaphor of breaking ice to convey the message that a person shouldn't be too trusting in other people because they could end up getting hurt.

The Poet

In, "The Poet," Tom Wayman uses a indifferent tone and icons to explain the mind of a poet. Each stanza is about certain things a poet can or cannot understand. The icon in this poem is the poet himself and each line is a complex statement about the poem. For instance, when the author says, "Cannot give clear verbal instructions, Does not understand what he reads, Does not understand what he hears." He's explaining the inner-mind of the poet. Wayman is trying to show the reader how different the mind of a poet can be and might possibly be trying to show the audience inside of his own mind because he himself is a poet. 

Analysis on "Did I Miss Anything?"

In "Did I miss anything?", Tom Wayman uses a sarcastic tone and allegory to show how a teacher feels when a student asks if they missed anything when they weren't in class. The poem has a double meaning by saying that the student missed both nothing and everything. In the first stanza the speaker is being sarcastic by saying, "Nothing. When we realized you weren’t here we sat with our hands folded on our desks in silence, for the full two hours," which shows how annoyed the teacher is with the question. The next stanza, where it shows the allegory, is somewhat serious and is probably what the student actually did miss in school, " Everything. I gave an exam worth 40 percent of the grade for this term and assigned some reading due today on which I’m about to hand out a quiz worth 50 percent." The tone and allegory of the poem show the true meaning and feelings of the teacher. It shows that every experience in life matters whether it be in a classroom, or somewhere else. The speaker says that the student did not miss anything sarcastically because any moment that a person could experience but doesn't is a moment missed, sure the student could get the notes from a friend but they wouldn't have the experience of learning it first hand in the classroom and that's an experience they'll never be able to get back now. 

At the Un-National Monument Along the Canadian Boarder

In the poem, "At the Un-National Monument Along the Canadian Boarder," William E. Stafford uses a serious tone and imagery to show how unimportant a perfectly good place is because nothing important happened there. Stafford says, "This is the field where the battle did not happen, where the unknown soldier did not die," to show that the insignificance of a place where nothing bad happened. It's almost as if America glorifies past despair and even though this little area of land is perfectly nice, nobody appreciates it because there's nothing that happened there worth remembering. When the author says, "Birds fly here without any sound, unfolding their wings across the open," he's trying to convey to the reader that the land is serene and beautiful even though nobody seems to care. Stafford's serious tone and imagery show the reader what society is missing because they're too focused on on places when battles took place and people died.

Numbers

In the poem, "Numbers," Mary Cornish uses a playful tone and imagery to explain what she likes about numbers. The author is trying to convey to the reader that numbers are not like people, they won't judge you or care who or what they are used to count for. She says the line, "two pickles, one door to the room, eight dancers dressed as swans," to allow the reader to imagine what she is counting. In each stanza she goes through the basic concepts of math and gives images of examples of how to use them. For example, when she says, "add two cups of milk and stir," she is talking about addition and when she says, "of fish times fish, whose silver bodies breed beneath the shadow of a boat," she is giving an example of multiplication. What the other is trying to show in this poem is that numbers can be used for anything. You can count anything and anyone with the same numbers that every other person in the world uses. She uses imagery to show the meaning of numbers. Numbers are not just for the rich or the intelligent, they are for anything. 

Fight

In "Fight," Laurel Blossom uses a hostile tone and imagery to show the difference between the speaker and their partner and why they are not a good match. The speaker begins by listing things that make them different from each other. The author uses imagery to show the difference between them with quotes like, "And a red flannel shirt. That's not what I do. I put the top down as soon as we arrive." The first stanza compares the two people in the relationship saying, "You dig in the garden. I swim in the pool," and "I like to wear cotton. You like to wear wool." The speaker is trying to compare the way the two of them live their lives differently. When she says, "You want to get married. I want to be free," it is shown to the reader what the real problem between them is. Through imagery, Blossom gives the differences of the couple and shows how they're not good for each other.

The Summer I was Sixteen

In “The Summer I was Sixteen” Geraldine Connolly uses a thoughtful tone and imagery to reflect on her teenage years and explain what it was like to be young. The speaker uses imagery in the first stanza to show the reader her fun experience swimming in a pool. She says, “The turquoise pool rose up to meet us,” and “we plunged, screaming, into a mirage of bubbles,” to give the reader the ability to see into her memories and give the reader the sense of being there. The line, “We came to the counter where bees staggered into root beer cups and drowned. We gobbled,”  gives the reader the ability to imagine the food stand that they went to eat at. At the end of the poem she says, “tossing a glance through the chain link at an improbable world.” Which shows the way she felt about growing up and not being young like this anymore. Through powerful imagery Connolly shows the reader carelessness and freedom of a teenager.