Thursday, April 17, 2014
Saturday At The Canal by Gary Soto
I was hoping to be happy by seventeen.
School was a sharp check mark in the roll book,
An obnoxious tuba playing at noon because our team
Was going to win at night. The teachers were
Too close to dying to understand. The hallways
Stank of poor grades and unwashed hair. Thus,
A friend and I sat watching the water on Saturday,
Neither of us talking much, just warming ourselves
By hurling large rocks at the dusty ground
And feeling awful because San Francisco was a postcard
On a bedroom wall. We wanted to go there,
Hitchhike under the last migrating birds
And be with people who knew more than three chords
On a guitar. We didn't drink or smoke,
But our hair was shoulder length, wild when
The wind picked up and the shadows of
This loneliness gripped loose dirt. By bus or car,
By the sway of train over a long bridge,
We wanted to get out. The years froze
As we sat on the bank. Our eyes followed the water,
White-tipped but dark underneath, racing out of town.
Analysis
Gary Soto addresses a real life experience to question his teenage years. He's with how his life has turned out so far because being seventeen was not how he imagined it. Soto uses imagery and his point of view to help convey the message of being able to experience the good things even if they are negatives in way.
Soto uses a lot of imagery in the beginning of the poem to describe high school. A tuba is playing loudly because the school was confident that their team was going to win their game. He says the teachers are too old to understand their excitement for winning later that night. One way to interpret the line, "The hallways
Stank of poor grades and unwashed hair," is that the students don't care much for their own grades or hygiene. This line also helps see that the students' lives are too boring for them to care which can also explain their excitement for the game.
When Soto talks about what happens at the canal, we feel sorry for them. They wanted to go to San Francisco to experience new things but for some reason they couldn't. Soto says, "We wanted to go there, / Hitchhike under the last migrating birds / And be with people who knew more than three chords / On a guitar." He wants to see new things and see people who know more.
He says that they don't drink or smoke but they look like troublemakers by hanging out by the canal and from their shoulder length hair. This can also draw sympathy because they aren't doing anything wrong but their appearance makes them seem like they are.
Gary Soto uses the first person point of view to show convey his message. By writing the poem in the first person point of view and also the point of view of a student, we can easily relate to him. High school students can relate with wanting to get out of their hometown and experiencing more but they just can't. They're stuck in their hometown until either they go to college or a better opportunity comes along.
School was a sharp check mark in the roll book,
An obnoxious tuba playing at noon because our team
Was going to win at night. The teachers were
Too close to dying to understand. The hallways
Stank of poor grades and unwashed hair. Thus,
A friend and I sat watching the water on Saturday,
Neither of us talking much, just warming ourselves
By hurling large rocks at the dusty ground
And feeling awful because San Francisco was a postcard
On a bedroom wall. We wanted to go there,
Hitchhike under the last migrating birds
And be with people who knew more than three chords
On a guitar. We didn't drink or smoke,
But our hair was shoulder length, wild when
The wind picked up and the shadows of
This loneliness gripped loose dirt. By bus or car,
By the sway of train over a long bridge,
We wanted to get out. The years froze
As we sat on the bank. Our eyes followed the water,
White-tipped but dark underneath, racing out of town.
Analysis
Gary Soto addresses a real life experience to question his teenage years. He's with how his life has turned out so far because being seventeen was not how he imagined it. Soto uses imagery and his point of view to help convey the message of being able to experience the good things even if they are negatives in way.
Soto uses a lot of imagery in the beginning of the poem to describe high school. A tuba is playing loudly because the school was confident that their team was going to win their game. He says the teachers are too old to understand their excitement for winning later that night. One way to interpret the line, "The hallways
Stank of poor grades and unwashed hair," is that the students don't care much for their own grades or hygiene. This line also helps see that the students' lives are too boring for them to care which can also explain their excitement for the game.
When Soto talks about what happens at the canal, we feel sorry for them. They wanted to go to San Francisco to experience new things but for some reason they couldn't. Soto says, "We wanted to go there, / Hitchhike under the last migrating birds / And be with people who knew more than three chords / On a guitar." He wants to see new things and see people who know more.
He says that they don't drink or smoke but they look like troublemakers by hanging out by the canal and from their shoulder length hair. This can also draw sympathy because they aren't doing anything wrong but their appearance makes them seem like they are.
Gary Soto uses the first person point of view to show convey his message. By writing the poem in the first person point of view and also the point of view of a student, we can easily relate to him. High school students can relate with wanting to get out of their hometown and experiencing more but they just can't. They're stuck in their hometown until either they go to college or a better opportunity comes along.
sincerely yours,
the breakfast club basketcase
Thursday, April 10, 2014
if you like my poems let them by E. E. Cummings
if you like my poems let them
walk in the evening,a little behind you
then people will say
"Along this road i saw a princess pass
on her way to meet her lover(it was
toward nightfall)with tall and ignorant servants."
Analysis
E.E. Cummings sticks to his style by writing his poem in lowercase letters. When says, "if you like my poems let them walk in the evening,a little behind you," it's as if he wants you to keep them in mind. The second stanza establishes what happens if you do keep his poems in mind. He tells us that we can see "a princess pass on her way to meet her lover (it was toward nightfall) with tall and ignorant servants." This being said, putting E.E. Cummings poems behind you allow you to see the world in his point of view.
An interesting thing is how there's only one capitalized letting in the poem. Capitalizing only one letter brings a bigger contrast to the rest of the poem. It can be used to show that this is what you can see if you were to like my poems. But another interesting thing is when Cummings has to point out the time when the person sees the princess and puts it separately from the rest.
walk in the evening,a little behind you
then people will say
"Along this road i saw a princess pass
on her way to meet her lover(it was
toward nightfall)with tall and ignorant servants."
Analysis
E.E. Cummings sticks to his style by writing his poem in lowercase letters. When says, "if you like my poems let them walk in the evening,a little behind you," it's as if he wants you to keep them in mind. The second stanza establishes what happens if you do keep his poems in mind. He tells us that we can see "a princess pass on her way to meet her lover (it was toward nightfall) with tall and ignorant servants." This being said, putting E.E. Cummings poems behind you allow you to see the world in his point of view.
An interesting thing is how there's only one capitalized letting in the poem. Capitalizing only one letter brings a bigger contrast to the rest of the poem. It can be used to show that this is what you can see if you were to like my poems. But another interesting thing is when Cummings has to point out the time when the person sees the princess and puts it separately from the rest.
sincerely yours,
the breakfast club basketcase
When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be by John Keats
When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;--then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
Analysis
John Keats writes about what he wants in his life such as fame and love. Although he wants these things, he knows that he probably won't be able to see them in his living life.
The first two lines ask the question, "What if I died today?" Going on to the next two lines, Keats continues his question and adds "Before high piled-book, in charactery, / Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd grain." He asks "What if I died before I was able to write a lot of books?" Connecting that to his want of fame, he worries about not being able to fulfill his goal of fame because of death. The next four lines Keats discusses how he wants to be in love. This being a sonnet, there is a turn in the last two lines. Keats goes from talking about all the things he wants but the last two lines show that he knows that his wants are useless compared to the whole world.
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;--then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
Analysis
John Keats writes about what he wants in his life such as fame and love. Although he wants these things, he knows that he probably won't be able to see them in his living life.
The first two lines ask the question, "What if I died today?" Going on to the next two lines, Keats continues his question and adds "Before high piled-book, in charactery, / Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd grain." He asks "What if I died before I was able to write a lot of books?" Connecting that to his want of fame, he worries about not being able to fulfill his goal of fame because of death. The next four lines Keats discusses how he wants to be in love. This being a sonnet, there is a turn in the last two lines. Keats goes from talking about all the things he wants but the last two lines show that he knows that his wants are useless compared to the whole world.
sincerely yours,
the breakfast club basketcase
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