Ars Poetica

Ars Poetica
By: Archibald MacLeish

The diction of the poem is rather catchy, and that keeps it interesting to read. The 1st and 2nd stanzas rhythm within themselves, like the 9th and 10th. The speaker of the poem is the narrator, and is not involved in the poem, so he acts as a 3rd person, passing down knowledge.
According to the speaker, a poem has to be palpable and mute, meaning obvious but unheard. It also has to be Dull, wordless, frozen, equal to its topic, and be something, not mean something.

What the speaker is doing is giving an outline of what he considers to be an ideal poem to the readers. According to the speaker, a poem should be similar to a picture, it can't be heard but should be plainly seen. It also has to be similar to its topic, becoming the topic. What the speaker is trying to get across is that poems are not what people make them out to be, and are in reality much more complex. They are these obviously seen things, but manage to hid in the background of life. Poems need to be wordless, and paint a picture, and must be as similar to their topics as possible, becommeing what it is written about.

"Sick"

by Shel Silverstein
"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more--that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut--my eyes are blue--
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke--
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what?
What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is. . .Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!"

This is an adorable poem,in which we can all relate to. The speaker of this poem is Peggy Ann Mckay. She is trying to stay home from school by making up ridiculous excuses. "My hip hurts when I move my chin, my belly button's caving in...I have a hole inside my ear "(Silverstein). Then, she realizes that it is Saturday, and her symptoms magically disappear. "You say today is... Saturday? G'bye, I'm going out to play"(Silverstein). By this evidence, the speaker is most likely a child around the ages of seven or eight. The diction in the poem makes certain points that the speaker is trying to get accross, stand out. For example, "My back is wrenched". Wrenched is put in place of the words, bent, and broken. Wrenched, is used instead of these words because it is not commonly used, and it is a stronger word. Because the little kid is using this word, it stresses that this is an exaggitation.

Imagery is another element that silverstein uses to make his poem more relatable. Some concrete images are,"I have measles and the mumps, a gash, a rash and purple bumps...I counted sixteen chicken pox and there's one more--that's seventeen, and don't you think my face looks green? My legs are cut--my eyes are blue"(silverstein). In this part of the poem, Silverstien uses many descriptive words to describe many diseases. When I read this, I thought of a child sitting up in bed, whining, and dramatically emphasizing her symptoms."I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke...my voice is weak, I hardly whisper when i speak" (silverstein). During this part of the poem, I imagine the child's voice slowly getting to a whisper, and holding her throat. This imagery is critical to the understanding of the poem. This made me picture almost exactly what the poet was trying to portray. The rhyme scheme is, AA BB. This gave the poem rhythm, and made it flow nicely. Parodox is another element that is used. When the speaker states, "I cannot go to school today... I have the measles and the mumps" (Silverstein), she is stating that she is too sick to go anywhere. Then, in the end of the poem, the speaker says, "What that? What's that you say? You say today is... Saturday G'bye I'm going out to play"(silverstein)! The character changes from the beginning to the end of the poem when she contradicts herself. In the beginning, the speaker was acting sick, and whiped out. At the end of the poem, the speaker is excited, and energetic. The theme of this poem is not to lie, and if u do lie, you should get all of your facts staight. Sometimes people do not realize how foolish they look when they get caught in a lie.

Poetry

Don Paterson

In the very start of the poem we can see how the speaker compares a diamond keeping a "spark of the planet's early fires" to a bit of love stored in a poem, and then continues to describe how it expands from that point.
We can assume that the speaker of the poem is the narrator telling us the story, and is not incorporated into it directly. As the poem progresses we can see how a little atom of love can flare because of poetry. Making poetry the holder of the same sort of spark of the planet in the diamond, Based on the poem, the poets voice can sound different, it can be commanding, or can be drowned out by other things, but it is meaningful none the less. The speaker says that all poets will sound similar in the end, Anonymous but serene.
The elements and points stated above show how the meaning of the poem was set. The basic meaning is that a poem holds a little bit of love, and uses that to create itself and speak out. In the end, all poems make a difference, but the poets themselves only write them, and nothing more.

We Have Been Friends Together by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton

The Bagel

David Ignatow

I stopped to pick up the bagel
rolling away in the wind,
annoyed with myself
for having dropped it
as if it were a portent.
Faster and faster it rolled,
with me running after it
bent low, gritting my teeth,
and I found myself doubled over
and rolling down the street
head over heels, one complete somersault
after another like a bagel
and strangely happy with myself.

There are many literary elements in this poem that help contribute to its overall meaning: anyone can feel like a child at times. The speaker's perspective in this poem is one of the literary elements that contribute to the poem's meaning. In the beginning of this poem, the speaker says, "annoyed with myself for having dropped it as if it were a portent (Ignatow)." Through this quotation we learn that the speaker is annoyed at the situation he is in and is looking at dropping his bagel as a warning sign for more misfortunes to come. At the end of the poem the speaker's oppinion changes when he says, "one complete somersault after another like a bagel and strangely happy with myself (Ignatow)." Through this quote we learned that the poet is no longer annoyed with himself for initially dropping the bagel; he is showing a more childish part of himself in finding the joy and entertainment in the situation. The diction of this poem also contributes to the overall meaning of this poem. Through the connotation of the repeated use of the word rolling, the reader gets a sense of something that is out of the speakers control. The bagel just keeps rolling and it is unstoppable. Eventually the speaker begins to roll and he speaker begins to go with the flow and find the joy and humor in this situation. The diction in this poem also contributes to its overall meaning.

Although this poem is relatively short, the images it does have in it really help to contribute to the meaning. This large image shows the speaker's frustration and determination to retrieve the bagel, "Faster and faster it rolled, with me running after it bent low, gritting my teeth, and I found myself doubled over and rolling down the street head over heels, one complete somersault after another like a bagel and strangely happy with myself, (Ignatow)." You can tell that the speaker is frustrated by how he is gritting his teeth and that he is determined by how he is bent low and somersaulting just to receive a bagel. The figurative language in this poem also helps contribute to the meaning of this poem. The speaker even relates himself somersaulting to the bagel, "I found myself doubled over and rolling down the street head over heels, one complete somersault after another like a bagel, (Ignatow)." This simile shows the speakers childish humor which contributes to the meaning of this poem: anyone can feel like a child at times. There are many literary elements that contribute to this poem's meaning.

Examples of Poetic Terms

Anthropomorphism- "Mickey Mouse"
Apostrophe- "Books by Shakespeare"
Irony- "Dying on your birthday."
Metaphor- "The river is a highway for the salmon swimming upstream."
Paradox- "The policeman robbed a bank."
Personification- "Her hair danced in the wind."
Simile- "Her cookies were hard as rocks."
Synecdoche- "My crib (home)."
Tautology- "Her hands were dry and rough."
Understatement- "Being President is only a semi-stressful job."

The creators of Jomiju consist of Jordan, Justin, and Michelle. We decided to compose this blog to share our opinions and analyses of various poems we read and discuss. We hope to give readers a sense of our perspective of poems read throughout the remaining 2 weeks of the poetry unit. Poetry is a terrific way to express ideas and emotions freely. While we analyze a poem, we discover the intended meaning of it through diction and connotation. We enjoy reading, writing, but not so much studying poetry. In the duration of these next 2 weeks, we hope to better understand how the changing of a speaker's perspective helps contribute to the overall meaning of the poem.