From Poetry 180:

Introduction to Poetry

Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

In this poem, the speaker is probably an English teacher. The teacher is talking about his students and how they analyze poetry. He compares it to how he wants them to analyze poetry. His descriptions make poems in general sound like inviting and curious places. There are many metaphors and similes in this poem, each comparing poems and poetry to several different complicated things. This is to show the many layers and meanings a poem could have. "I ask them to I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide" (Collins). A color slide contains many different colors and shades, just like a poem can have many different meanings and emotions.

The speaker keeps the diction friendly and warm when describing his or her methods of analyzing poetry, because that is his or her opinion on analyzing it. Poems are welcoming and inviting. When the speaker describes his or her student's methods or determining meaning, his diction has a painful connotation. He uses words like torture, confession, and beating. This poem, "Introduction to Poetry," is a poem about poems. It uses similes, metaphors, and diction to show that the meaning of poems can be discovered through gently diving into the poem and really familiarizing oneself with it. It can not be discovered by "beating it with a hose to find out what it really means" (Collins).

Poetry Analysis: Hand Shadows

Hand Shadows
by Mary Cornish

http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/035.html/

The speaker is Mary Cornish, the writer of this poem. The diction is very simple and creates lots of imagery. The poem tells about an event that occurred in a tent while camping. Her father makes hand shadows of animals in the lantern light that show up on the canvas wall. The animals and their actions as shadows also occur in reality in the wilderness. Life goes beyond what is seen in front of us.

Poetry Analysis: Facing It

Facing It by Yusef Komunyakaa

My black face fades,
hiding inside the black granite.
I said I wouldn't,
dammit: No tears.
I'm stone. I'm flesh.
My clouded reflection eyes me
like a bird of prey, the profile of night
slanted against morning. I turn
this way--the stone lets me go.
I turn that way--I'm inside
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
again, depending on the light
to make a difference.
I go down the 58,022 names,
half-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke.
I touch the name Andrew Johnson;
I see the booby trap's white flash.
Names shimmer on a woman's blouse
but when she walks away
the names stay on the wall.
Brushstrokes flash, a red bird's
wings cutting across my stare.
The sky. A plane in the sky.
A white vet's image floats
closer to me, then his pale eyes
look through mine. I'm a window.
He's lost his right arm
inside the stone. In the black mirror
a woman's trying to erase names:
No, she's brushing a boy's hair.

In this poem, the speaker is a Vietnam War veteran who is visiting the Vietnam Veteran Memorial in Washington, D.C. Seeing the names of past soldiers is hard for him, because it is bringing back past emotions and memories from his time serving in Vietnam. He sees his reflection in the black granite, and says: "I'm stone. I'm flesh." The connotation of stone is hard and unfeeling. Flesh connotes a person, but does not bring the image of soul and life, just the physical existence. This short section shows emotions the speaker is feeling. The wall evokes many memories: "I touch the name Andrew Johnson;I see the booby trap's white flash." Images switch back and forth from the present to the past, showing the speaker is still haunted by his experiences in Vietnam.
The black granite wall resembles the war with all 58,022 names on and the people who can be remembered by looking at this wall. "A plane in the sky. A white vet's image floats closer to me, then his pale eyes look through mine. I'm a window.He's lost his right arm inside the stone." The veteran's arm was not lost in the actual wall, but it was lost in the war. As the speaker looks at the wall, he sees the past memories and events that occurred while in Vietnam. In order to read this poem with a clear understanding of what the poem means and signifies, you have to "read beyond the text". Each line means more than what is being written. "I turn this way--the stone lets me go. I turn that way--I'm inside the Vietnam Veterans Memorial again, depending on the light to make a difference." These lines do not mean that he was trying to leave the Vietnam Memorial sight, it means that when the black granite wall is in front of him, there is no letting go and getting away from the tragedies and losses that occurred in Vietnam.

Examples of Poetry Devices

anthropomorphism: Spongebob Squarepants.

This is anthropomorphism because it is a sponge that can walk, talk, and behave like a human.



apostrophe: While doing homework, Bob said, "Why did you give us so much homework Mr. B?!"

Mr. B is not actually there for Bob to address.



irony: You win a lottery ticket. The next day, you die of heart failure.

This is opposite of what was expected to happen.

metonymy: I drove with the steering wheel.

Steering wheel replaces the noun car, and you do not drive with the steering wheel.

paradox: Bob thought the test was easy, but when he got it back, he got a 45%.

This is a contradictory statement that might nonetheless be true.

personification: Cruela Devil is the personification of evil.

Cruela, a human, is the representative of evil. Therefore this is personification.

synecdoche: The United States won the gold medal in gymnastics.

The Unites States did not win, the American gymnast did.

tautology: Bob was very tired and very sleepy.

Tired and sleepy mean the same thing, and it is being repeated in the same sentence.

understatement: Bob said, "Winning the gold in the Olympics was pretty cool, I guess."

This is an understatement because winning the gold is much more exciting than Bob is letting on.

Introduction

Christa, Katherine, Liana

We are writing this blog for our English 9 class. The purpose is to blog about poems and their meanings to continue our poetry unit. We hope to communicate our interpretations and thoughts on different poems and factors of poetry. We all agree that poetry can be difficult to decipher and analyze. By using the correct methods and knowledge, poetry can be equally interesting!

The past few weeks of English, we have learned what can be used to determine the meaning of a poem. This includes diction, imagery, the speaker's point- of- view, similes, and metaphors. Throughout the next few weeks of our poetry study, we hope to improve our understanding of poetry.