Traveling in the Dark: William Stafford (questions)

1. The color of the "warm exhaust turning red" (line: 15) symbolizes the recent death. Also it symbolizes his love and caring he feels in the time of pushing her over. The hood purring shows the silence of the wilderness in this moment of passion. I get the strange feeling of warmth from this poem. When I think of the exhast and the engine of a car I think of it being hot and warming. Warm is supposed to mean good though. Maybe the author is trying to show the good out of this situation.

2. The speaker's tone seems calm and warm. He makes it seem as if he has done this before and it is a normal, everyday thing to ppush a dead deer over the road. He seems very confident with his decission, like the deer itself would want him to do it.

3. The last stanza having only two lines seems to wake the speaker out of his daydream of telling his story. It concludes the poem in a subtle way with deep thought. What does he mean by "my only swerving" (line:17)? Does he mean that this was the only time he swerved, or is it that he had swerved once then killed another deer, pressing him to go slow and look now.

4. The poems title is "Traveling through the dark." This seems apropriate being that the speaker has his lights on and there seems to be no other cars on the road at this time. He has a time of traveling to get this deer into the darkness so this may play into it. The speaker seems to have "thought hard for us all" by acctually stopping to get that deer out of the road. He could have passed it up and let someone else swerve to hit another one, but he didn't. He thought about our lives, including the deer.

5. This could be specified as didactic. It is somewhat teaching you not to just pass up the dead on a road. Feel its pain. Feel what it would feel when someone swerves and hits another deer because of them.

next to of course god america i by: E.E. Cummings

This poem is rather difficult to read and process. It is very jumbled and has many run-on sentances. I think that this has to do with the fact hes trying to get through it because he isn't fond of the subject of patriotism. He seems to have strong feelings against war. He writes like a child rushing to get through his report on something the child hates. I think he did this purposley to show his hate on the subject. I have never had a harder time reading this.

This also shines through after line ten where he talks of the happy dead. This seems almost sarcastic. The last four lines are very powerful. He tells of the soldiers who died without thought and basically says the voice of liberty will stop with these fighters.

Dulce et Decorum Est by: Wilfred Owen

This poem is obviously about a war. The author makes you feel as if you are there. He tells the story as if he is talking to you right there on the battle field. He says Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! as if he is talking to you. This is how he grabs your attention.

Another thing I noticed was the use of colors to set the mood. He uses green as a sick eary feeling. The gas being a green foamy sea. His white eyes being pure. His face hung like the devil's skin. These are all terrible connections. It brings saddness and distress. The white eyes show the innocence and purity of these dying soldiers.

Fat is Not a Fairy Tale by: Jane Yolen

This poem is an outlook unlike any others on fairy tales. One about the princess being, well, fat. The poet uses word association, and negetives to get her point across.

Word association is a key factor in this poem. I can count at least six different ways in this poem that the author influences the readers thinking by just using a name similar to other princesses. It hits you. When you hear the name, Sleeping Tubby, instead of Sleeping Beauty, you're outlook changes. The poet is trying to get across the fact that it really shouldn't change your outlook.

The negetives are those such as NOT a fairytale and the repetition of not yet in the last stanza. Why does she do this? Doesn't she want us to think fat is a fairy tale? why would she use not? Maybe she thinks it just can't happen yet and has a grip on reality. Maybe she just wanted to confuse me along with other readers. The most legitimate thing i can think of though is that shes trying to coax us. Poeple go into this poem thinking it will be about revenge or some life story. Then they come out with a diffferent perspective.

In all honesty I connected to this poem as I was a overweight child. The thought of having a chubby princess would absolutely be an outrage to others, but I would have been perfectly happy. It is the same idea as having a bald princess for cancer patients. Also the same idea that Disney has already went through with being different ethnic backgrounds. It makes them fit in and not feel so alone.

Ode to American English: by Barbara Hamby

This poem was from the point of view of a traveler missing their homeland. The way America is described, it seems obnoxious although there is a place in her heart for it. The poem uses humor as a main device to connect to those who share the same homeland.

The humor used seems to make fun of America. It seems uneducated and fascinated by music and cars. By using the Bible as an example it hits hard to Americans reading this, ecspeacially those of the conservative party. This uses a southern approach to a translation of the Bible. Using the words, "wake up, dude" to rise Lazarus from the dead, instead of somthing a bit more sophisticated for the one most citizens follow. Those with an open mind really follow this poem because it really questions the American way, though if we are gone too long, we begin to miss it.

While reading this poem I had an ah-ha! moment. The fact we as Americans are crazy folk, and we don't understand why other people look down on us! Have you ever listened to a British person try and immitate an American? We sound pretty stupid. But thats the thing. We just don't care. We love it here and wouldn't have it any other way. Murica'!

Introduction to Poetry by: Billy Collins

The poem Introduction to Poetry different litterary devices are used. One being metaphor. The metaphor that caught my eye was "or press an ear against it's hive." This is comparing the body of a poem to a bee hive. Dangerous and scary and unknown, just like a poem before you read it. Personification is used more than anything though. The poem is given traits that are imposible such as being a maze, color slide, water, even a actual person with a room. The major theme brought out is that if you connect to a poem instead of hating it, you'll have a better time with annalysis.

This poem is very realistic in an easy to understand way. It lets the reader know what they want from you and what you usually do. This was one of the easiest poems for me to understand. Easier than Ba Ba Black Sheep was, though this one had more meaning. Basically, give the poetry the benefit of the doubt. Read it a couple times, put yourself in the readers shoes, connect with it.