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