Mood of Porphyria's Lover

\The Mood set in Porphyria’s Lover sounds like a scene out of a romantic novel. Imagining the candles and fireplace making the room glow is easy as the author describes his relationship, “And, last, she sat down by my side, and called me, she put my arm about her waist, and made her smooth white shoulder bare.” (Line13) “Happy and proud; at last I knew Porphyria worshipped me; surprise made my heart swell, and still it grew.” (Line 34) The relationship seemed to be going good till about halfway through the story when it got dark and scary. “That moment she was mine, mine, fair, perfectly pure and good: I found a thing to do, and all her hair in one long yellow string I would three times her little throat around, and strangled her. No pain she felt” (Line 36-42) He got very possessive and wanted her all to himself. “I propped her head up as before, only this time my shoulder bore, her head which droops upon it still the smiling rosy little head, so glad it has its utmost will.” (Line 49-53)
Nicole K.

Photograph of my Father in His Twenty Second Year/ Those Winter Sundays

I will be discussing the two poems "Photograph of my Father in His Twenty-Second Year" by Raymond Carver and "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden. I will be discussing the parent child issues and how the child views the parent and how the parent views the child, along with how children view their parents in todays world.
Nicole K.

Comparison of 2 Poems

I wrote my thesis on the comparison of "Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-Second Year" by Raymond Carver and "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas. I will show how each child will explore the complex child parent relationship from the adult child's point of view. How each one sees and feels about their father. Carver sees his father as a flawed individual, while Thomas sees his father as a heroic individual, but yet they both idolize their fathers.

Poetry Essay

I am writing my essay on how the speaker has an impact on the poetry. I am also going to compare the poems "The Man He Killed," by Thomas Hardy, and "Dulce et Decorum," by Wilfred Owen. Each of these poems has a different tone and style that the speaker uses. The similarities is that the poems are about the same thing, war. They are also written in the similar time scheme. These two poems will be exciting to dig into and find out truly what the authors are trying to convey. These two poems both have their unique styles, by all in all they are describing a similar concept; war, death, and soldiers.

"Poetry Topic Proposal"

For my poetry essay and am going to will be writing about two of Robert Brownings poems. I will be comparing My Last Duchess to Porphyrias Lover. Both of these poems are written in dramatic monologue. Porphyria and the duchess are very differently looked upon throughout the poem. I will be contrasting the use of irony and the difference between the women who are very different yet both end up dead by their lover.

Topic Proposal for Poetry Essay

I will be writing my poetry essay on the comparison between the tones of the two poems, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" and "Those Winter Sundays." I will be going through each poem line by line and determining whether that line has a positive or negative tone.

War

I will compare and contrast the poems "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "The Man He Killed". The theme of these poems is war, however, they use very different methods in portraying it. Wilfred Owen, the author of the poem "Dulce et Decorum Est", utilizes similies and metephores coupled with descriptive words as well as personification to plant visions in the readers minds. Thomas Hardy's poem "The Man He Killed" uses understatement to create a somber, "matter of fact" tone in explaining the strangeness of war. Both authors effectively convey their thoughts and emotions about such a terrible subject with their own unique style.

Topic Proposal

I am going to compare the poems, "you fit into me" and "Jump Cabling", and each poem's theme of love. Both poems use physical, everyday objects to describe people in a relationship with one another. "you fit into me", however, has a much graver tone, than the joyful newfound love expressed in "Jump Cabling". As I stated, both poems use rather odd objects in describing a "love" relationship, which makes them very distinct and memorable. Both poems talk about fitting together, as in "you fit into me" and touching and coming together, as found in "Jump Cabling". In contrast, "Jump Cabling gives many more details, while "you fit into me" is very short and simple.

Poetry Essay

For this essay I am comparing the experiences that the speakers of "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "The Man He Killed" had and how it impacted them after the war. Both of the speakers were tramatized well after they had left the war. They did not feel that what they had to go through was really worth fighting for their country. Their experiences changed who they are. The tone and images of the poems were different from eachother. The speaker of "The Man He Killed" had a lot of regret for his decision to kill another man and tried to justify his actions by saying he had to because he was his enemy. The tone of this poem was very sad and showed his obvious regret for what he had done. "You shoot a fellow down you'd treat if met where any bar is, or help to half-a crown." (lines 18-20) In "Dulce et Decorum Est" the speaker gives you a graffic view into what he saw. He felt that if the people who started a war really knew what it was like they would know that the old saying was a lie. The tone of this poem was disgust toward the war and the helplessness the soldiers felt being forced to trudge along.

Poetry Comparison Paper

In my poetry comparison paper, I plan to compare and contrast the relative effectiveness of the figurative language in the poems "Porphyria's Lover" and "To His Coy Mistress." Romantic love is a subject of both of these poems, but each poem's use of figurative language is quite different from the other's.

In "Porphyria's Lover," personification is used to establish the setting of the dramatic monologue. Lines 2-4 state that "The sullen wind was soon awake,/It tore the elm-tops down for spite,/And did its worst to vex the lake." Giving the wind human emotions and abilities allows the audience to sense the intensity of the weather that evening. However, the poem "To His Coy Mistress" utilizes personification to emphasize the hasty passing of time. The speaker urges his beloved to devour their time together, rather than suffer in "his [time's] slow-chapped power" (line 40). He concludes his argument with the statement, "though we cannot make our sun/ Stand still, yet we will make him run" (lines 45-46). He implies that his lover can choose to either suffer slowly through the passing of time or take full advantage of their time together.

A simile is used in "Porphyria's Lover" to describe the way in which Porphyria's lifeless body seemed to forbid her lover to touch her. The speaker states, "As a shut bud that holds a bee,/I warily oped her lids," as though he were scared of what he might find behind her eyelids (lines 43-44). Yet the similes in "To His Coy Mistress" have two purposes. They describe the inviting, fresh beauty of the speaker's lover, as in "the youthful hue/ Sits on thy skin like morning glew" (lines 33-34). They also expose the way in which the speaker desires to spend his time with his lover. He states, "Now let us [...] like amorous birds of prey,/Rather at once our time devour" (lines 38-39).

In my paper, I may also explore the use of metaphors, allusions, and understatement, and their effects on the development of the poems, but I think that discussing the similes and personification will be a logical way to start.

Comparison Paper Brainstorming

As far as what I will write about, I believe that I will go with the first suggested comparison. The comparison of "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "The Man He Killed" in their depiction of war, is what I will write about. In Dulce et Decorum Est the speaker's attitude towards war is one of horror, as the speaker uses graphic depiction with great purpose. The soldier in this poem sees himself as a victim of war and despises it. The Man He Killed, could also be seen as this type of poem, except for the fact that the speaker has a detached point of view. The speaker finds himself an objective angle of sorts in this manner and sees himself and the fellow he kills as both being victims of war, just as any other circumstance, but far more curious. The moral alternative to "kill or be killed," (Kirszner & Mandell, 710) might be kill to kill; the first implying little choice, the latter holding intent. Because of the implication that there is little or no alternative to the killing, and both speakers convey some sense of disdain for such acts, it could be said that both are victims of war. Both speakers are focusing on the war in general. In "The Man He Killed" the speaker is comparing the man that he killed to himself and figures that he too joined the war for reasons other than believing in the cause, which the speaker certainly doesn't find important enough to mention. In line 18, the speaker of "The Man He Killed" shifts to an objective standpoint saying, "you shoot a fellow down" (Hardy, 18) as though his moral reasoning is the same as everyone else and find morality in questioning the group mentality /morality that he sees himself subject or victim to. It is interesting that the speaker of "The Man He Killed" seems to want to find similarities between him and the man that he killed, even in the battlefield, this individual must feel some connection, some human interaction. At this point, the feeling of brotherhood may be his only source of human intimacy, even though the brotherhood is perceived; the speaker is reaching out. It almost seems a desperate act. "The Man He Killed" is devoid of any morality or personal belief, or selflessness. There is no belief in cause, this is an individual who may or may not believe in anything but himself. This begs the question, is there anything that this individual finds worth fighting for? "Dulce et Decorum Est" seems to hold to the ideal that oneself is more important than anything else. The poem is devoid of the idea that there is anything greater than oneself, anything worth sacrificing one's life for. Both poems compare the men to beggars in a sense, in that they must fight to feed themselves, as if they are being taken advantage of. "Dulce et Decorum Est" is an attack on the value of war, and the propagation of the idea of war. The argument is based solely on the fact that it is horribly unpleasant. The speaker in "The Man He Killed" is wishing a meeting somewhere pleasant, as if a pleasant meeting space would settle all issues. The naïve idea is that the soldier believes that the other individual doesn't believe in the war either and that none of their actions come from personal conviction, but rather, a paycheck. In reality, killing without any personal conviction, or reason for doing so is scarier than someone who believes in something and kills for it. "The Man He Killed" seems to be written by a man trying to find morality and reason in war, while "Dulce et Decorum Est" seems to be a protest against the pro-war propaganda of the day from a person that feels some conviction about its horror. These are the random thoughts I have right now and I'm trying to put them together.

"Topic Proposal" by Leah Siewert

War has always been interesting to me, that sounds weird.  My father was in the Vietnam War which I believe is what has sparked an interest for me.  I remember watching war movies with my dad and in the last 10 years or so he has told us stories that we never thought he would share, and sometimes wish he hadn't.  Because I have never been in a situation of being sent off to war and I see how my father still deals with the memories, nightmares, and PTSD is what drew me to compare "The Man He Killed" and "Dulce et Decorum Est". 

Both poems explain war.  "Dulce et Decorum Est" brings you deeper into the battle and the effects the war has had on the soldiers.  "The Man He Killed" states, "Had he and I but met By some old ancient inn, We should have sat us down to wet Right many a nipperkin" (710).    Overall the message you get is when at war you do what you have to do in order to survive.  "Men marched asleep," as stated in "Dulce et Decorum Est"  showing the reader they continued on as it was part of their mission, not to give up (887).  

Each poem carry's the tone of telling a story, how things are.  The writer's are not necessarily upset but they attempt to explain the best they know how to make the reader feel a part of the poem and understand the message they want to share.

Poetry Essay

For my poetry essay, I am going to approach the subject of war within poems. It is a difficult subject to read and write about but also something that is a reality to us in whatever era we lived or are living. I am goin got compare the poems "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "The Man he Killed". I will compare how they are alike and how they differ. Both of these poems are well written and both approach the subject differently and have a bit of different content to them but the writers have also used some similarities in their descriptions of the horrors of war.
Sue Bartel

Brainstorming

For my poetry essay I am thinking about comparing "Do Not go Gentle into that Good Night" to "Those Winter Sundays". These two poems speak volumes about the relationship between parent and child. Both of these poems show a glimpse of how different the parent child relationship can be. They are similar in that they both use a child as a speaker as well as talking about the speakers' fathers. The differences include that in "Do Not go Gentle", the speaker is talking about his father dying and in "Those Winter Sundays" the speaker is talking about how lonely he is and how he is resenting his father. Perhaps the focus of my essay will be on the disposition of the speaker (the child) towards their fathers. I will also talk about how the tone helps in getting the message across and sets the mood for the poems. Also, I will take into account that both of these poems say more about the children than the fathers they speak about.

"Do Not go Gentle into that Good Night" to "Photograph of my Father in His Twenty-Second Year"

In my essay I will be comparing and contrasting the poems, "Photograph of my Father in his Twenty-Second Year" and "Do Not go Gentle into that Good Night. They are both similar in ways that they are about parent-child relationships. They are differnt in ways that one is the son talking about his father and the other is about a father talking about his son and then it turns around to a son talking about his father.

Irony in "To His Coy Mistress"

The speaker of this poem intends on convincing a women to chose him over all others. He uses a lot of flattery to try to get her to pick him, and even says that her fate is in jeopardy if she does not. "And your quaint honor turn to dust, and into ashes all my lust." (lines 29 & 30) He says his love for her has been and will be forever and that he will praise her. " I would love you ten years before the flood...My vegetable love should grow vaster than empires and more slow." (lines 9, 11-12) The irony in this poem is that the speaker seem more egocentrical than focused on his mistress. He states how he has loved her so long and will wait and that if she doesn't chose him she may die lonley and that time is running out so she should decide quickly. His speach makes him look overly confident, which his mistress may find offensive.

Symbolism in "Porphyria's Lover"

Porphyria herself was the symbol in this poem. To the listener she symbolized the speaker's need for comfort. "She shut the cold out and the storm, and kneeled and made the cheerless grate blaze up, and all the cottage warm" (lines 7-9). The speaker felt her presence soothed the chill of the storm and and made him more comfortable. She also symbolized his fantasy of being worshipped and desired. "And called me. When no voice replied, she put my arm about her waist...Murmuring how she loved me" (lines 15, 16, 21). He longed for this moment and soaked in the attention he was recieving. Porphyria also symbolized pureness and her presence was so infectious to him like a disease, which her name suggests, that he could not let her go. "Perfectly pure and good: I found a thing to do, and all her hair in one long yellow string I wound three times her little throat around," (lines 37-40). The speaker decided to strangle her so he could selfishly keep her to himself.

Tone of "Ode on a Grecian Urn"

The tone of this poem is the peace and happiness that surrounds a grecian urn. "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter;" (lines 11-12) These lines show how even though music may not be heard it is still there, and leaves the atmosphere serene and cheerful. Peacefulness is represented by the urn and how it sits quietly and mysteriously, unable to leave. The speaker talks about how happy the trees are and that they seem to never age. Everything is so beautiful and peaceful and to take it all in can leave one feeling too full. "happy , happy boughs!that cannot shed your leaves...happy melodist, unwearied for ever piping songs...For ever panting, and for ever young...That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd," (lines21-29) Even though the person who the urn holds cannot experience this atmosphere, the people who mourn can. "Beauty is truth, truth is beauty," (line 49) The diction of the poem is formal because the speaker talks in a language that was common in that era. It makes the poem seem almost like a hymn you would sing in church.

Jock

I would title my opposing feminist poem as Jock, or maybe Athlete of the year. Boys still have peer pressure, and the social norm to be athletic and strong just as girls are portrayed to be skinny and pretty. When boys are little parents put them in sports and make sure they play outside to get a good workout. In the first paragraph I would change the big nose and fat legs to no muscles and squeeky voice or fat tummy and ugly face. I dont think the boy would be as appologetic as the girl is but i still think people would see the same thing. I can see the boys nature wearing out, and he would start taking a protein shake everyday and lifting weights if he was skinny, or dieting and working out excessively if he was overweight. I can see a weight loss surgery or implants to the skinny guy some how added into this poem or possibly maybe even anorexia or bulemia to go to the extreme that this girl went to. He would finally be happy after he ruined his body with all the plastic surgery or ruined his teeth and organs from the purging.
Nicole K.

My Last Duchess

I started to picture the man as a mean control freak. The type of guy that freaks out if he doesnt know where you are, who you are with and what you are doing at all times. He is also demanding of the painter he is speaking to in the beginning of the poem, "Will't you sit and look at her". (Line 5, p. 703 Browning) Will't please you rise?" (Line47, p.703 Browning) Also he started to boss The Duchess around after he started feeling unappreciated when she talked to him the same way as every other person. "Much the same smile? I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together." (Line 46, p.703 Browning) He sounded like he was on a pretty high horse and thought he deserved the most respect and the best treatment from everyone. I think that he almost was accusing her of cheating too because she thanked men and assuming because they gave her gifts, but he didnt know how she thanked them. He thought his name should have been a good enough gift to her. "She thanked men - good! but thanked somehow - I know not how - as if she ranked my gift of nine-hundred-years-old name with anybodys gift" (Line 32, p.703 Browning) He let his true colors show in this poem and we were able to see that he is a very jealous and powerful man, that doesnt like to be disrespected.

Nicole K.