"The Man He Killed"

In this poem, the narrator leads me to believe if these two men would have met in person, they would have been friends. Hardy writes, "Had he and I but met/By some old ancient inn" (lines 1-2). These two men went to fight for their country. They left their civilian lives where jobs were of short supply. They both decided to enlist. "He thought he'd list, perhaps,/Off-hand-like-just as I-" (lines 13-14). As in war, one really doesn't know why they aim to kill a person. They just know it's their job. Not stopping to think this person has a family, like them. The narrator states, "Yes; quaint and curious war is!/You shoot a fellow down"(lines 17-18). If he would have had a chance to meet this man he killed, he might of changed his mind.

"Porphyria's Lover"

Reading this poem, "Porphyria's Lover", lead me to the unexpected. While I started reading, I figured it was going to be about an intimate moment between two lovers. I never expected murder. I enjoyed reading this poem because of its Irony. How the speaker realized that she loved him and he didn't want to lose that feeling, so he decided to keep her forever by killing her. The speaker also reassures himself that murdering her was okay by justifying that he was sure she felt no pain. " No pain felt she; I am quite sure she felt no pain" (Lines 41-42) When he said this, you knew he was deluded and that he didn't wish to hurt her and that he was killing her out of love. The speaker also mentions her yellow hair a few times, he sees her hair when she's full of life and later he uses it to kill her. The speaker also mentions his cheek when she is alive and after he kills her he mentions her cheek. I thought it was interesting how he described her when she was alive and when she was dead and in both instances he described it as if they are in love with each other and will be together forever and that this is what she would have wanted. Overall, I liked the way this poem was written, it kept me intrigued throughout.

"Barbie Doll"

In the poem, "Barbie Doll", the subject seemed to be happy growing up as a young child. She played with dolls and not caring about how she looked. She was content with just being a child. She was happy until puberty hit. We can all relate to the major change this was in our lives and the ackward feelings that come with it. Classmates can be critical on how you look and picking out your shortcomings. Piercy writes, "Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:/You have a great big nose and fat legs" (lines 5-6). This time can be hard in anyone's life and words of that nature can hurt for a very long time, as it did in this poem. She offered up her inperfections for aprroval of her peers. The narrator states, "Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said./Consummation at last(lines 23-24). It's too bad that some people just see what's on the outside and not what's within.

"The Man He Killed" Poem #5

My first thoughts on this poem before reading the explanation of it was that it was two men fighting over work, the one was no longer able to work so he sold his traps "Was out of work-had sold his traps" (Line 15) ; maybe he was no longer getting very much money and the price of furs were down. So in this struggle to hold on to jobs the one man killed the other because he threatened his job and also his ability to work. After reading the explanation under the poem I found that it had nothing to do with that except it was about a man at war, or explaining to someone about a man he shot, which was all his duty at the price of war. It must have been very emotionally traumatizing to him to have to go to war, and than come back home after surviving and explaining to someone how he had killed a man or many "I shot at him as he at me/and killed him in his place" (7-8). In wars there is no negotiating, it is just fighting to survive as neither side can have sympathies or feelings towards another man otherwise you will be killed. You must be tough and show no emotions if you are to survive an ordeal such as this. In the ending he capped it off with "You shoot a fellow down/You'd treat if met where any bar is" (18-19). In those last few lines he is saying that war is strange, because if you were to meet this man in a normal situation you would talk freely and treat him with a beer or possibly some food.

"Moving Camp Too Far" Poem #4

I found that this poem was very true, every word of it. The one lines that I did not understand was "counting coup/or taking scalps" (lines 6-7). I understood the taking scalps but not the counting coup. I looked up coup and the defintion was something like a small group of people overthrowing the government. Maybe this meant the indians working to keep their territiories, and also the fighting for it. Some battles lost but many others were won. The days from when the indians roamed free and hunted buffalo were a long time ago. Now many of the Native Americans left today only have the small reminders on tourist info and what they hear from their family to tell them of how it really was to "...hunt buffalo/or do the ghost dance" (9-10). I think it is great how the Native Americans have not let go of their ancestry as they still do things such as powwows and kept many of their old customs considering how civilized everything in the United States has become since those days. This poem was very straightforward and easy for me to understand. She worded it very well and definetely helped me to see what she was feeling.

The Man He Killed

When I read this I got an image in my head of an elderly man in a bar with a beer in his hand telling old stories with another elderly man. This poem was well written and i'm sure many many many war veterans feel just the same as this man did. This man killed another man when they were standing face to face. (I shot at him as he at me, And killed him in his place) The man did not want to go to war I feel and is torn on the fact that he had to murder someone to save his own life. (I shot him dead because-- because he was my foe.) The man had no other reason to shoot him he says and was just there to do his duty. Im sure many many others felt this way after they got drafted and were sent there to kill others. This poem was a great poem to read for me because I have friends in the military and are proud to be there and I enjoy reading about it.

We Real Cool

I really enjoyed the poem "we real cool" mainly because these are my favorite types of poems. I like the short ones that quickly get the point across instead of a long story. In this poem I believe it is about kids in high school dropping out and being rebelious and thinking they are cool for it. (We real cool. We left school. Line 1) I also believe it is stating that they walk around late at night and and drink. And that they won't have much of a life and would have their life ended early because of it. (We die soon. Last line) I feel this poem had a very maternal feeling to it and I think the author Gwendolyn brooks had a soft spot for people like this.

"The Man He Killed"

I enjoyed reading the poem “The Man He Killed”. This man is telling someone his war stories while enjoying a drink. He tells about how he shot him right when he appeared “and killed him in his place.” (line 8) He was being approached by the enemy, and of course would shoot right away instead of being in the position of being shot first. I think that he feels bad that he killed him because he probably enlisted for the same reason as the narrator. “Off-hand like just as I/Was out of work had sold his traps/No other reason why (lines 14, 15, & 16). He has respect for the man he killed, but yet had to do what he did in order to survive himself. I think war is a very difficult thing to experience and since I have never had to, I will not understand what it truly is like. But I think if I was in that position I would be more worried about keeping my own life and would do what I have to without thinking twice about it.

"Barbie Doll"

The poem “Barbie Doll” shows how much pressure women and young girls have on them to be perfect like a Barbie doll. It shows you what the stereotype for young is like, it starts out with the toys that they should (and or do) play with. “and miniature GE stoves and irons” (line 2) “This girlchild was born as usual” (line 1), she played with all the right toys and did things just as she was supposed to do until, “The in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:/ You have a great big nose and fat legs.” (lines 5 & 6). All of the sudden she wasn’t the “usual girlchild” and was made fun of and hurt just because she was different. This poem is really sad, but pretty accurate on the pressure girls undergo. There is this “Barbie doll” image that so many girls strive for, but is an unrealistic to achieve. Though, with more women having cosmetic surgery it’s becoming more common. She struggled with the pressure to look like someone she was not and thought she had to be ashamed of it. “She went to and fro apologizing” (line 10) Even with trying to change herself with dieting, and exercising, she felt it wasn’t enough. “Her good nature wore out” (line 15) Sometimes the pressure can be too much where you have to do something drastic to get away from it. “She cut off her nose and legs” (line 17) Then “in the casket displayed on the satin she lay” (line 19) she finally reached the goal of everyone’s approval. “Consummation at last” (line 24).

Ozymandias

when i read ozymandias i was under the inpression that he was a king traveling and meet someone in the dessert. the man that he meet in the dessert was tore apart his limbs were everywhere and he was dieing. Ozymandias was telling him that he was an almighty king and lived beyond the mountains. To me sounded like he was begging to the older man that he is a king and the other one was not and that he left him there to decay in the dessert by himself. I did find this poem to be a hard one to read and understand what was going on in it as well.

The Man He Killed

When I first read this poem I was not sure what was going on it seened like the two guys just meet and the one just shot him, but when I read it again it sounded more like they were at war and that they had ran into each other at a hotel and both went to go get liquor. they both shot at each other but only one had died. It sounds like to me that the one man or soldier was talking about how bad the war was and that he didn't want to be shooting anyone anymore. maybe he was feeling bad for killing people even though he was being shot at himself.

Fire and Ice

I read Robert Frost's poem Fire and Ice. I have read some of his poems before. I do enjoy reading his poems. When reading the poem to me it sounds like the world will end either by fire or by ice but either way he doesn;t care because he likes both of them. I enjoy reading poems that do rythm because to me it has a certain rythem to it that i like to read. Also when you read it the speaker sounds like he or she is agree about one thing or the other.

We Real Cool

I hate to admit it but until this class I did not know about Gwendolyn Brooks. I really liked her poem “We Real Cool” (746-747) written when she was about 50 years old. Although the lit book suggests that economy (755) of words is a feature of all poetry, Brooks has taken “We Real Cool” to an extreme. Consisting of 24 words (not counting the title and subtitle), Brooks communicates an entire story about the lives and future of young African-Americans (or Hmong, Hispanic or any poor ethnic group). Also impressive about Brooks’ poem is its age—more than 40 years old—and it is still a realistic picture of gangs found in urban areas all over America.

The “we” in the poem suggests that the individuals in the group do not have a separate identity. They judge themselves as a group (“real cool”) and act as a group (lurk, strike, sing, jazz). This type of peer pressure keeps the members in the group from doing more or improving themselves. Such an acceptance of “We Die soon” means that the group members are focused on enjoyment of their lives while they can. Also they do not plan for the future. The ending suggests this image was disturbing to Gwendolyn Brooks, who had a teenager in Chicago in 1967. What is even more disturbing is the image of teenagers without a future is still a reality in America in 2008.

"Porphyria's Lover"

This poem reminds me so much of "Rose for Emily". Both murders, whether assumed or not, or done out of the desperation of someone who needs the person that they are murdering to be with them for all of their lives. They are so overwhelmed by love that they are able to destroy the thing they love in order to keep it, even when the thing they love is already willing to stay. What is so ironic about this poem is that she was already there to be with him, in fact he could tell that, "at last l knew Porphyria worshiped me," (32-33). He was in love with this girl and he was willing to risk a lifetime of "moments" because," That moment she was mine, mine" (36). It is such a dark beauty in the sense that his motive was not at all evil or destructive. He was so captivated by her presence that he couldn't control himself. He had to live in that exact moment, of realizing that he was what she wanted, and she was everything he lived for, that he needed to find a way to capture it. Even with that, I think she knew that he was doing. After he kills her, he kisses her lips and props her head in a certain position, all the while, "The smiling rosy little head, So glad it has its utmost will," (52-53). This poem sticks in my mind, but it isn't sick or demented. It's a shame that they don't get to spend the rest of their lives together, but that moment will live with him, and she died after had professing everything.

Barbie Doll

In the poem “Barbie Doll”, the title is an object representing an unattainable female ideal. From the beginning girls and boys are taught how to act accordingly to their gender. Girls wear pink and play dress up. Boys wear blue and play with trucks. A problem arises when a girl’s body changes, or as the poem states, “Then in the magic of puberty,” (line 5). Puberty is when comparison overshadows everything else and a difference in body type between girls becomes a hindrance instead of something unique to be comfortable with. Men and women are bombarded with images of perfect women. Although the women in these pictures represent a very small percentage of women, they are the only images we have and so they become the standard by which everyone should compare to. The woman in this poem could be any woman because every woman has had to deal with playing into gender roles and expectations of an ideal woman. The woman in the poem was smart and strong but she didn’t believe this was good enough, “She went to and fro apologizing/Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs” (lines 10-11).

She can no longer tolerate the charade she is fronting. “Her good nature wore out/like a fan belt/So she cut off her nose and her legs/and offered them up” (lines 15 -18). The irony in this poem is in the end she finally achieved what society wanted from her. Her nose, although fake, was perfect, “Doesn’t she look pretty? everyone said./Consummation at last./To every woman a happy ending” (lines 23 – 25).

"Porphyria's Lover"

As i began to read this poem I thought it was going to be a nice descent story about man and a woman. As I continued to read it seemed like he was not interested in Porphyria and wanted nothing more to do with her. The statement that made me question his love for her was, "And, last, she sat down by my side/ and called me. When no voice replied."(Lines 14-15). I thought why didn’t he answer or was there something wrong with him so he wasn’t able to answer? Backing up to the beginning I wondered why did he split up the word "To-night"(line 1), is there a specific reason which ties in with the poem some how? The next statements " The sullen wind was soon awake/it tore the elm-tops down for spite/and did its worst to vex the lake"(lines 2-4). These lines gave me an image a storm, with the wind blowing hard knocking on the trees. I looked up the word "Vex" (line 4), which means to bring trouble, which also goes with the storm and it brought trouble to the lake. I cam imagine then the waves crashing and water flying. When I continued reading from the pleasantness of not knowing the ending, to finding out that he kills her! I did not see that coming at all! One big question of this poem is how much we should consider that “Porphyria” is a disease. Is this poem actually talking about killing a disease? Or is it merely a love story horror?

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"The Man He Killed"

In the poem “The Man He Killed” written by Thomas Hardy, the point of war is hidden in there, “I shot at him as he at me/”I shot him dead because-/Because he was my foe. (Lines 7-10)” Basically if you don’t kill the other person, who is trying to kill you, more than likely that person would end up killing you. Hardy has a point; however, I don’t like the point of war. I have family such as dad, uncles, grandparents, and cousins, and I have seen how much they change. I could never image what terrible things they have went through in a war. When we read about wars in history books and even now in the newspapers and on the News, we can only get a tiny glimpse of what is going in a war, and most of the time the things that we hear about may not even be the worst things that are happening.

Stop All the Clocks, Cut Off the Telephone - Blog 4

This is my favorite poem so far! For some reason I really like it when the words at the end of a line of poetry rhyme. It creates a sing-songy-kind-of-lilt that I really like.

After the first reading to me it sounded like this poem is talking about someone very special to the speaker who has died. "Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come." (line 4) T0 me, this speaker is basically saying, the world should stop because this person has died. "The stars are not wanted now: put out every one/ Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun." (13, 14)

When I read the poem through a second time, it also spoke to me in a way of lost or trampled dreams (my marriage is something that came to mind; as it feels rather lost and trampled on). "I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong" (12) Looking at it this way, the beginning of the poem creates an imagery of the death of something that was very important to the speaker, and the rest of the poem creates the scene of the world of nature also mourning this loss; "Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood." (15) The speaker seems to feel so sad, mournful and hopeless: "For nothing now can ever come to any good." (16) In some ways its hard to read that because sometimes I feel the exact same way...

"Moving camp too far"

With the area that we live in , I feel that a lot of us can relate to this poem. No we can't go back in history and see what it was really like for Native American's. There are a lot of stereo types about Native American's today and how we view the culture today. For example the second paragraph that starts out with "I can" all of those lines point to the stereotypes of modern times. At the end when the speaker says "I can & unfortunately I do" (lines 21-23) this refers to how sad it is that these stereotypes are the closest ways of being in touch with the culture. I feel it can also be a respect issue, that we've lost a sense of dignity for the culture as well. Eating buffalo burgers hardly compares to having the audacity to actually hunt buffalo. I feel that this poem was kind of a reawakening about how we as a society get lost in modern stereotypes and take for granted the history before us.