Chris+Todd

__Edwin Arlington Robinson - "Richard Cory"__

**Whenever Richard Cory went down town,** **We people on the pavement looked at him:** **He was a gentleman from sole to crown,** **Clean-favoured and imperially slim.**

**And he was always quietly arrayed,** **And he was always human when he talked;** **But still he fluttered pulses when he said,** **"Good Morning!" and he glittered when he walked.**

**And he was rich, yes, richer than a king,** **And admirably schooled in every grace:** **In fine -- we thought that he was everything** **To make us wish that we were in his place.**

**So on we worked and waited for the light,** **And went without the meat and cursed the bread,** **And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,** **Went home and put a bullet in his head.**

//Richard Cory by Edwin Robinson is a very// **ironic** //poem. It takes the idea of what people ** perceive ** and crosses it with what is actually// __happening__ //on the inside. It gives a different view of internal struggle and external personality. This poem is about a man name Richard Cory that everyone **wants**// //to be. It starts out describing him as “a gentleman from sole to crown” (Robinson Line 3). It tells how he likes to calm and collected, but always does the right thing and is always// **willing to help** //a fellow person in need. He is the epitome of what everyone wants to be. Everyone is working so hard to be like Richard Cory, but end then end, he is not what everyone thought him to be.// media type="youtube" key="5vS6luCtaOc" width="425" height="350"

// This is a definitely a poem of internal struggle versus how people perceive one on the outside. The first three stanzas show how everyone sees him on the outside, but in the end, it is shown that the only thing that matters is what is on the inside. When I initially read this poem, I was shocked when I got the last line. It just was not what I expecting. As I read it a few more times, it really makes one question if people are actually as happy as they seem on the outside. It makes one wonder what is actually going on inside. Richard Cory had everyone fooled. It appeared he had everything but it was actually his life was missing something major. From my interpretation, I find that loneliness is what ended up causing his demise. He didn’t have a best friend or significant other. He was loved by everyone, but close to no one. I believe this is Robinson’s way of saying that money cannot make someone happy. There are things more important in life than fame and riches. People need things like companionship to really make their life complete. //

//The whole time I was reading this poem, I was feeling the song "Transatlanticism" by Death Cab for Cutie. The reason behind is the mood and the way it builds all the way starting out soft and just continually builds on top of itself. With the gradual crescendo starting from the beginning and carrying throughout the piece, you don’t really realize how intense the piece has gotten until the final seconds when it hits it peek as the lead singer says “I need you so much closer” and then drops back to the dynamics that were felt quietly at the beginning. I felt this was a very good representation of what happened in the poem.//media type="custom" key="5747481"

__"Spring and All" by William Carlos Williams__

code under the surge of the blue mottled clouds driven from the northeast-a cold wind. Beyond, the waste of broad, muddy fields brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen
 * By the road to the contagious hospital

patches of standing water the scattering of tall trees

All along the road the reddish purplish, forked, upstanding, twiggy stuff of bushes and small trees with dead, brown leaves under them leafless vines-

Lifeless in appearance, sluggish dazed spring approaches-

They enter the new world naked, cold, uncertain of all save that they enter. All about them the cold, familiar wind-

Now the grass, tomorrow the stiff curl of wildcarrot leaf One by one objects are defined- It quickens: clarity, outline of leaf

But now the stark dignity of entrance-Still, the profound change has come upon them: rooted, they grip down and begin to awaken** code

//William Williams was well known for his// **modernism** //writing style. He was very good at __creating__// //an image in the __minds__ of his readers. This poem was not an exception. As the poem starts, it’s the winter and there is a very __**dark**__ imagine of// death //and sickness. There are plenty of dead trees and ** lifeless **fields. Then there is an awakening and the poem begins to enter Spring. Things are// beginning //to show signs of life and start to take// **shape** //. By the end, the forest is now making a __positive__ change towards what it// **wants** //to// __become__//. It is showing signs of ** life ** and// **independence** //.//



//This poem is overall a poem of death to life. It is the awakening of something beautiful. All the negativity at the beginning setups and a very dark image, but as the poem continues, it shows the reader a very distinct evolution. The cold winds start to leave and the muddy waters are beginning to dry up and there is a sense of happiness that was not there at the beginning on the poem. The way he writes it, he makes it like there is a child being born. This shows Williams view on nature resetting itself every year. Every year there is a new child that is born with the same new beginning that it had the year before. He gives the image of that innocence and purity as the nature comes to life. Nature is fighting for that first breath of life just as a newborn child. By the end, the nature is born into a new Spring, ready to thrive. I the song that I felt goes with this one is “Recycled Air” by Postal Service. I just get a sense of awakening from it. It is very much a transitional piece of music. It takes a mood from a dreary feel into a new beginning.// media type="youtube" key="I5ASEfYFADs" height="344" width="425"


 * __"The Fugitive’s Wife" – Frances Harper__**

It was m sad and weary lot To toil in slavery; But one thing cheered my lowly cot - My husband was with me.

One Evening, as our children played Around our cabin door, I noticed on his brow a shade I'd never seen before;

And in his eyes a gloomy night Of anguish and despair; - I gazed upon their troubled light, To read the meaning there.

He strained me to his heaving heart - My own beat wild with fear; I knew not, but I sadly felt There might be evil near.

He vainly strove to cast aside The tears that fell like rain: - Too frail, indeed, is manly pride, To strive with grief and pain.

Again he clasped me to his breast, And said that we must part: I tried to speak - But, oh! it seemed An arrow reached my heart.

"Bear not," I cried, "unto your grave The yoke you've borne from birth; No longer live a helpless slave, The meanest thing on earth!'

//Frances Harper was well// __known__ //for her works because she was a very ** powerful **writer that was against slavery. Her poetry was made famous for her use of **imagery ** and careful word choice to portray the message she was trying to ACCOMPLISH. In this poem, it tells the story of a slave family. The family has been stuck in slavery, but they are// **__ happy __** //that they still have each other. One night, the wife notices a change in her husband’s face as he senses evil near by. At this point, she starts crying because she knows her husband is going to have to leave. They hold each other and she is heart broken as he tells her they have to s-e-p-a-r-a-t-e. //



//This is a good representation of Harper’s view of how things were. By calling this “The Fugitive’s Wife”, it shows how these slaves were hunted. She does a very good job portraying how bad the situation was even though the family had not done anything wrong. The family fears for their life just because of who they are, not because of what they had done. Harper also did a good job of provoking ones emotions as the poem is read. It makes the reader sad knowing that this family is never going to be the same again. The emotions keep building until the end of the poem when the wife begins to cry. The poem has about as good of a resolve that could come from it though. The wife knows that her husband is no longer going to be a helpless slave and that gives a sense of happiness even though all these bad things are happening.//

__**Grass by Carl Sandburg**__

code PILE the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo. Shovel them under and let me work— I am the grass; I cover all.

And pile them high at Gettysburg And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun. Shovel them under and let me work. Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor: What place is this? Where are we now?

I am the grass. Let me work. code

//This is was poem written to make people stop and think what war is doing. It is short and// __simple__ //and has a very ** clear point **. People are dying at war and they are just being covered up and forgotten as if they don’t matter.// ** Shovel ** //all the bodies into a pile and let the grass cover them up. They are ** lost ** with time and no one// remembers //what has happened where so many people once died. The grass has done its job.//

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//The simplicity of this poem serves the best points in this poem. It starts with just piling bodies up and places were big battles have taken places. Since the narrator is the grass, it just presented in a matter-of-fact sort of way. He refers the bodies as if they are just trash, something that doesn’t have any meaning. He is trying to cover it up. The narrator wants the bodies to be up under him so he can work. The whole poem is written like it is the narrator’s job to cover up the history of these fields. All the lives that have been lost and all the bloods that been shed doesn’t seem to matter as much after they’ve been covered. An interesting thing that I noticed is that all the cities aren’t places inside the United States. This is not a dedication to lives that have been lost from the Americans, it is showing how we need to remember the lives of all the people that have died in battle at one point or another not forget about them. While I read this poem, a very appropriate scene came to mind. In __Remember the Titians__ Coach Boone made all his players run to where the battle of Gettysburg took place. He looks at his team and says, “Does anybody know what this place is?” and the team looked at him as though they didn’t know and he said, “Gettysburg. This is where they fought the battle of Gettysburg.” Both this poem and that scene are very moving pieces of work to encounter. Remember and respect those that were lost.//

Sympathy by Paul Dunbar

I know what the caged bird feels, alas! When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, And the river flows like a stream of glass; When the first bird sings and the first bud opes, And the faint perfume from its chalice steals — I know what the caged bird feels!

I know why the caged bird beats his wing Till its blood is red on the cruel bars; For he must fly back to his perch and cling When he fain would be on the bough a-swing; And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars And they pulse again with a keener sting — I know why he beats his wing!

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,— When he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings — I know why the caged bird sings!

//Paul Dunbar was an African American that wrote during the time of the American Renaissance so many of his poems reflected the African American felt during the 1920s. This poem is another// **interpretation** //of his view on ** slavery ** and oppression. He starts out with the view of a// **caged** //bird in the sunlight. The bird has to watch the rivers flowing by and the wind stirring the soft grass, but cannot leave his cage. The poem then presents the idea of the bird __** beating **__ his wings inside the cage. This is// hurting //the bird’s wings and he is not going anywhere, but he is still beating his wings. The narrator also says that the bird has <span style="font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">pain is in the “old, old scars” (Line 12 Dunbar). The// __bird__ //has been beating his wings for a long time. The last idea that is presented is this bird is now <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; vertical-align: super;">**singing**. The bird is still trying to get out of the// **cage** //by beating his wings but is only causing himself more <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">pain. He is not singing a song of happiness at this point, the song that the bird is singing is a// __** prayer **__//. The narrator is of this poem is sympathetic of the bird in the cage.//



//This poem is one about oppression and slavery. The bird in the cage is an analogy for African American people in their troubled times. The narrator makes it clear he knows how the bird feels when he is locked inside the cage. He understands why the bird beats his wings against the cage even though he can’t fly anywhere. He understands the feeling the bird has to keep trying even when there isn’t much hope. His wings get bruised and hurt, but he’s is not going to give up. Lastly, he understands why the bird sings. This isn’t referring a happy voice; this is the African Americans' prayers to get ahead in the world. Even though the prayers haven’t been answered before, they will keep singing to the Lord above. I find it interesting that the poem is called sympathy. Yes, the obvious statement is the narrator has sympathy for the bird because he understands what it is going through. The thing that I find interesting is that the content of the poem is referring to the sympathy of the bird, but narrator isn’t looking for sympathy. The way it appears to me, the narrator is going through these hard times, but he’s not looking for a sympathy card. He doesn’t want the reader to feel sorry for him. He wants to fight his way out and rise up on his own two feet. He wants to be freed, but he looks like he wants to do it himself.//

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//Work Cited//

Dunbar, Paul Laurence. "Sympathy." __The Norton Anthology of American Literature__. Ed. Nina Baym. 7th ed. Vol 2. New York, 1979. 646. "Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911)." National Women's History Museum. 29 Mar. 2010. <[]> Garber, Eric. "Richard Cory Video (Interpreting a Poem)." 29 Mar. 2010. <[]>. Harper, Frances Ellen Watkins. "The Fugitive's Wife." __The Norton Anthology of American Literature__. Ed. Nina Baym. 7th ed. Vol 1. New York, 1979. 1194. "Paul Laurence Dunbar." //Poets.org//. Academy of American Poets. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. <[|http://poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/302]>. "Plant Physiology." Ensminger, Ingo PHD. University of Western Ontario. 29 Mar. 2010. <[]> "Recycled Air." Postal Service. 29 Mar. 2010. <[]> "Remember the Titan's: Coach Boone." __Remember the Titan's__. Boaz Yakin. <[]> Robinson, Edwin Arlington. "Richard Cory." __The Norton Anthology of American Literature__. Ed. Nina Baym. 7th ed. Vol 2. New York, 1979. 722.  Sandburg, Carl. "Grass." __The Norton Anthology of American Literature__. Ed. Nina Baym. 7th ed. Vol 2. New York, 1979. 814. "Transatlanticism." Death Cab for Cutie. Mar 29. 2010. <http://www.emp3world.com/mp3/72441/Death%20Cab%20For%20Cutie/Transatlanticism> Williams, William Carlos. "Spring and All." __The Norton Anthology of American Literature__. Ed. Nina Baym. 7th ed. Vol 2. New York, 1979. 836.