Emma Conner
POETRY ANTHOLOGY 2015-2016
Anthology Entry #1 Sonnet #1 William Shakespeare From fairest creatures we desire increase, That thereby beauty's rose might never die, But as the riper should by time decease, His tender heir might bear his memory: But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes, Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel, Making a famine where abundance lies, Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel. Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament And only herald to the gaudy spring, Within thine own bud buriest thy content And, tender churl, makest waste in niggarding. Pity the world, or else this glutton be, To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.
I can relate to this in the future because at some point in the far future I will have children of my own. I will not live through my children but, I would hope that they would look up to and aspire to be like me even just a little bit.
Some things that make this sonnet a poem are its metaphors and its rhymes. A metaphor is a comparison of two things without using the words like or as. One of these metaphors is found in the second line where it says, “...beauty’s rose might never die,”. There is no like or as in this quote, also, our outer beauty is compared to a rose. This metaphor is significant because it tells you how beautiful this person really was , not just comparing the audience to a flower but, a rose which is often thought to be the most beautiful flower of them all. The second metaphor found here is on line 6 where it says, “...the world’s fresh ornament”. This metaphor compares the reader to an ornament and no like or as is used. It is significant because it relates the reader to something that is easier to comprehend. Rhyming is also a big factor in making of this poem. There are two types of rhyming in this poem, some rhymes in the same line some interlineal rhymes. There is really only one example of a rhyme within a line
which can be found in line 4 with the words heir and bear. There is also an AB rhyme pattern of end lines(last word). However, there are some exceptions to this pattern. Both lines 13 and 14 have an AA rhyme. The tone here is anger. The speaker has this tone because they believe that the audience is being wasteful with their beauty. The audience of this poem is someone who has said that they did not want children and wants to end their family line. No audience gender is specified. In the end all of these things that further explain or give patterns to the poem come together to make this beautiful sonnet.
Anthology Entry #2 Sonnet 13 William Shakespeare O that you were yourself! But, love, you are No longer yours than you yourself here live. Against this coming end you should prepare, And your sweet semblance to some other give. So should that beauty which you hold in lease Find no determination; then you were Yourself again after yourself’s decease, When your sweet issue your sweet form should bear. Who lets so fair a house fall to decay, Which husbandry in honor might uphold Against the stormy gusts of winter’s day And barren rage of death’s eternal cold? O, none but unthrifts, dear my love you know, You had a father; let your son say so.
I like Sonnet 13 because it deals with the human misconception of beauty: putting physical beauty above all. I am planning on having children one day and passing my legacy down to them and this poem has just heightened the stakes of those plans. This sonnet is a poem in part through its rhymes, its iambic pentameter and its use of figurative language. The poem has an “AB” rhyme through the lines except for the last two lines, which have an “AA” rhyme. This is very common in Shakespeare. Iambic Pentameter is also a common tool used in Shakespeare. Iambic pentameter has a vocal pattern of “weak, STRONG; weak STRONG” with five strong beats per line. Take the first line for example, “oh THAT you WERE yourSELF! but LOVE you ARE,” The syllables, “that”, “were”, “self”, “love”, and, “are” are the 5 strong beats in this line. This is important because it tells you which syllables to stress. There is much less figurative language than my last entry. One metaphor in this poem is in line 9 when it says, “Who lets such fair a house decay,” comparing the legacy of a family to its house. This is important because it compares the beauty to something we know much about to give us an idea of how much of a waste not using this beauty is; think of a beautiful house that gets left empty and begins to rot all alone and soon enough kids are daring each other to go in there because they think it's some sorta monster haunted house. The speaker seems to have some sort of anger towards the reader for wasting their beauty. This anger the speaker has towards the reader is important because it is the tone of the poem. We need to know this tone both so that we can know how to say the poem(kindly, angrily, lovingly, etc.) and also because it tells us how the author is truly
feeling. This poem starts by giving the impression of a female audience(given the fact that beauty isn’t often used to describe men), however, in the last line, it refers to the reader as a father implying that he is male. This is important because the audience is to whom the poem is being directed. No matter how different these language features jobs are they need each other to make a complete poem.
Anthology Entry #3 Sonnet 80 William Shakespeare
O, how I faint when I of you do write, Knowing a better spirit doth use your name, And in the praise thereof spends all his might, To make me tongue-tied, speaking of your fame! But since your worth, wide as the ocean is, The humble as the proudest sail doth bear, My saucy bark inferior far to his On your broad main doth wilfully appear. Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat, Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride; Or being wreck'd, I am a worthless boat, He of tall building and of goodly pride: Then if he thrive and I be cast away, The worst was this; my love was my decay.
One of the elements I liked about Sonnet 80 was the element of unrequited love. This was a topic brought up in Romeo and Juliet and I was quite entertained by it. While I have never been in love. In first grade I had a crush on a boy who did NOT like me back. No matter what I did he wouldn’t like me! I mean I’m SO likable! Anyway I kept chasing him for four years and got no where. It still hurts. I recently saw him at a confirmation retreat and he didn’t even remember me! Sonnet 80 is a poem because of its meter, its rhyme scheme, its comparasons and its tone. The meter it uses is Iambic Pentameter. It has an AB rhyme scheme, with an AA rhyme for the last two lines. There is one simile and one metaphor in this poem. In line 5 Shakespeare compared worth to the ocean. He also compared the speaker to a worthless boat in line 11. This is important not only because it relates the speakers thoughts and feelings to something that we already understand but, also because it they both keep with the same theme with an ocean and a boat. Shakespeare used a punctuation pattern of “, , , .” at the end of each line. This is important because it slows the poem down with an end stop on every fourth line. The audience to this poem is the girl to whom the speaker is attracted. The tone of this poem is very gentle, kind, and caring. Weather it’s comparing, giving rhythm or describing the speakers emotions, each language feature has a big role in the sonnet.
Anthology Entry #4 Sonnet 69 William Shakespeare Those parts of thee that the world’s eye doth view Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend. All tongues, the voice of souls, give thee that due, Utt'ring bare truth, ev'n so as foes commend. Thy outward thus with outward praise is crowned; But those same tongues that give thee so thine own In other accents do this praise confound By seeing farther than the eye hath shown. They look into the beauty of thy mind, And that in guess they measure by thy deeds; Then, churls, their thoughts (although their eyes were kind) To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds; But why thy odor matcheth not thy show, The soil is this, that thou dost common grow.
I have some experience with this. A lot of the time when I’m out with my friends, random guys my age will tell me they think I’m cute(it’s kind of disturbing). The most recent example was a group of; hoodie head, grey shirt and the two soccer nerds at skyzone. the guys who actually know me think I’m weird and annoying and want nothing to do with me. So that’s my relation to pretty looks;rotten smell.
Some things that make this sonnet a poem are its meter, it’s rhyme scheme, its comparisons and its tone. This sonnet has iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is often used in Shakespeare. This matters because it tells us how to say the poem; which syllables to stress or put emphasis on. Having it in Iambic Pentameter means it is spoken in colloquial language. The rhyme scheme is “AB” for lines 1-12 and “AA” for lines 13 and 14. This adds to the rhythm of the poem. The comparisons used in this poem are mainly metaphors. The metaphor I found here was on line 12 when it compares the audience to a flower saying, “To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds;” this metaphor continues onto line 14 when it says, “The soil is this, that thou dost common grow.”. This metaphor adds to the poem because it simplifies to a point where it is easier to grasp because we know what the speaker means on line 13 when he says, “But why thy odor matcheth not thy show,” symbolically referring to the odor of the flower. It helps to continue this metaphor because it takes the comparison we already know, something we understand, and adds to it instead of throwing a
different one in our face to try and re-interpret from the start. The tone in these 14 lines seems to change; however, to understand that you must first know who the audience is. The audience in this poem is a person who is very beautiful but does not hang out with people like them. The tone from the speaker to the audience seems to change from adoration to some form of anger. THe tone is important because it helps us know both what the speaker wants to say and how to read it ourselves. While all of these jobs are very different, they combine here to make 14 marvelous Shakespearian lines.
Anthology Entry # 5 Sonnet 109 William Shakespeare O never say that I was false of heart, Though absence seemed my flame to qualify. As easy might I from myself depart As from my soul, which in thy breast doth lie. That is my home of love; if I have ranged, Like him that travels I return again, Just to the time, not with the time exchanged, So that myself bring water for my stain. Never believe, though in my nature reigned All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood, That it could so preposterously be stained To leave for nothing all thy sum of good. For nothing this wide universe I call, Save thou, my rose; in it thou art my all.
I can relate to this poem, weirdly because of how I was born. I was born because my father had an affair with my mother. I’m assuming that my dad gave a speech like this to my stepmom at some point. Happily for them they just celebrated their 25 anniversary last summer. It is so sweet for her to accept me into her family and treat me like one of her own even though I am very far from it.
This sonnet is a poem because of its comparisons, rhyme scheme, meter, and tone. The comparisons used in this sonnet are similes, and metaphors. Similes are language tools that compare two separate things using like or as. The simile i found is in line 6 where the speaker compares himself to a traveler by saying “Like him that travels I return again.”. This simile is important because it gives you an image of the speaker in a way that you didn’t have before. The metaphor that I found was on the 14th line when the speaker compares the audience to a rose saying, “Save thou, my rose…”. This metaphor adds to the poem because it shows how much the speaker adores the audience; a rose is something beautiful that people love,on the other hand however, this could be considered as objectifying women. The rhyme scheme here, like in many other Shakespeare sonnets is an interlineal “AB” rhyme for lines 1-12 and another “AA” rhyme for the last two lines. This rhyme scheme helps give the poem rhythm The meter in this sonnet is iambic pentameter, it is fourteen lines long. The Iambic Pentameter gives it colloquial speech. The audience in this poem is a girl(or boy) which the speaker is passionate towards. This audience is important because it sets up the tone for the story, passion. THe tone is important because it gives you some insight to what the author is thinking and feeling. It’s amazing how many jobs need to be done in a poem: comparing, giving rhythm, giving emotion,
and much more. However, at the end of the day, they all come together to make a wonderful poem for the public’s enjoyment.
Anthology Entry # 6 Nowadays Marcia Lewis and Mark Hummel Lines 24-35, You can like the life you're livin' You can live the life you like You can even marry Harry But, mess around with Ike And that's good Isn't it grand? Isn't it great? Isn't it swell? Isn't it fun? Isn't it? But nothing stays In fifty years or so It's gonna change, you know But oh, it's heaven, Nowadays
This is a segment from the ending song, Nowadays from one of my favorite musicals, Chicago (please don’t be concerned I do not condone any of the character’s actions). I find it quite relatable because we all grow over time and things do change but we should appreciate the things we have today. There is a ton of repetition in this song, especially the quoted portion of it. For example when it says “Like the Life you’re Livin’” on line 1 it is using alliteration. Three of the 5 words start with L. This is somewhat echoed on line two when it says “Live the Life you Like”. The first three lines all start with”You can” both addressing the reader and enabling that reader to do something. Lines 6-10 start with the phrase “Isn’t it” by saying, “Isn't it grand?Isn't it great? Isn't it swell? Isn't it fun? Isn't it?” it asks the reader a rhetorical question and making them think. There are also a lot of allusions. In line 3 it alludes to a man named Harry. In lines 11-16 it compares now to 50 years from now saying “But nothing stays In fifty years or so It's gonna change, you know But oh, it's heaven, Nowadays.” To fully understand what the meaning, you would have to know what is/was going on in there lives at that point. There is no rhyme pattern, however, there are some rhymes in it. The word “like” in line 2 rhymes with the word “Ike” in line 4; in line 3 the last 2 words “marry” and “Harry” rhyme; the word “stays on line 11 rhymes with the word “Nowadays”on line 14; and finally the word “so” on line 12 rhymes with the word “know” on line 13. There are 14 lines of iambic tetrameter with 4 strong beats and strong beats on every other word take the first line for example “YOU can LIKE the LIFE you’re LIVIN’” “You, Like, Life and Livin’” are the strong beats and there
are 4 of them. This is an informative piece with a lot of heart pointed towards a general audience.
Anthology Entry # 7 Sonnet 18 William Shakespeare Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed. But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st. So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Summer is my favorite time of year! The sun the flowers, the water, the schoolless days, it’s all just so great! This is a typical Shakespearean sonnet. 14 lines of Iambic Pentameter and every other line rhymes. Throughout the sonnet many metaphors are used to compare the subject to a summer’s day saying, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed;” on lines 1-6 and, “By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed. But thy eternal summer shall not fade,” on lines 8 and 9. This is good because elaborating on the same comparison helps the reader understand it more by going into more depth and adding more details. On line 12 it compares the subject to a plant by giving them an aspect of growing through a metaphor by saying, “When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.” this is saying that while the subject grows it is still the same thing much like a plant is. This gives us something we know(plants) in order to give us a view of the subject through the speaker’s eyes. The masterful use of these devices gives the reader the feeling of warmth and shelter through the theme of a summer’s day.
Anthology Entry #8 Not forever. not for long. just for now. I put on a smile she smiles back. What is it she has that I lack? She took my hope; The little bit I had; I knew I had no chance but still I was sad I felt like a little girl whose toy was taken I thought we were close but i was mistaken You had been just out of reach but, now you’re light years away She had stolen you with her flirty little sway And in her flirty nice girl way She took you out to sea and left me reaching out from the bay You were gone that much was true, I don’t know why i’ve decided to tell this to you. I’ve been in denial for so long, But still you’ve known that you weren’t wrong. I pushed you around and called you names While you insulted me and made me play your games Do you not know, your words can mold me like clay Do you not see my soul hopeless and ready to pray I didn't want to feel like this I tried to lock it away I tried to push my emotions back day after day But i knew i know that like the rain I knew i know no one can stop pain Not forever. Not for long. Just for now.
This has 24 lines without a regular meter. There is interlineal rhyming usually in AA, BB, CC and so on. However, lines 8-11 and 18-21 have an EEEE rhyme so the interlineal rhyme pattern comes out to be "A,B,B,C,C,D,D,E,E,E,E,F,F,G,G,H,H,E,E,E,E,I,I,A". There is a lot of repetition in this poem. First of all line 24 is a direct repetition of line 1 saying, “Not forever. not for long. just for now.”. There is also word repetition some words and phrases that repeat are flirty in lines 9 and 10 saying, “She had stolen you with her flirty little sway” and “And in her flirty nice girl way”, Do you not in lines 18 and 19 saying, “Do you not know, your words can mold me like clay” and, “Do you not see my soul hopeless and ready to pray”, and i knew, i know in lines 22 and 23 saying, “But i knew i know that like the rain”and, “I knew i know no one can stop pain”. THis repetition is good because it keeps with the language you know and understand instead of introducing new concepts with new meanings. It is written in first person point of view and for lines 12-19 the speaker addresses the intended audience which is the person she likes that was taken away from her, saying, “You were gone that much was true, I don’t know why i’ve decided to tell this to you. I’ve been in denial for so long, But still you’ve known that you weren’t wrong. I pushed you around and called you names While you insulted me and made me play your games Do you not know, your words can mold me like clay Do you not see my soul hopeless and ready to pray”. This is important because the point of view and the audience impact the tone. In this case the tone is sorrowful. There is a lot of figurative language in here including; similes metaphors allusions hyperboles and personification. On line 6 the speaker uses a simile to compare herself to a child saying, “I felt like a little girl whose toy was taken” she uses this to represent innocence. On line 8 the
hyperbole, “You had been just out of reach but, now you’re light years away” is used to exaggerate how far the audience member is. This hyperbole shows how dire the situation is in her eyes. On line eleven she uses the metaphor, “She took you out to sea and left me reaching out from the bay” to stress how far away the audience is. This again stresses how she feels about the situation showcasing a body of water separating the two. On line 18 she uses a simile to say how the intended audience makes her feel saying, “Do you not know, your words can mold me like clay" and on line 19 she uses personification to describe the same thing saying, “Do you not see my soul hopeless and ready to pray”. This is important because giving two different descriptions helps narrow down to the most accurate description.
Anthology Entry #9 Sonnet 14 William Shakespeare
Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck; And yet methinks I have astronomy, But not to tell of good or evil luck, Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons' quality; Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell, Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind, Or say with princes if it shall go well, By oft predict that I in heaven find: But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive, And, constant stars, in them I read such art As truth and beauty shall together thrive, If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert; Or else of thee this I prognosticate: Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.
I always thought it would be neat to go to a psychic and have my fortune told. In this Sonnet Shakespeare talks about the great desire to know the future held by of all kinds of people. Shakespeare says that he cannot know the future but that he is confident in the reader’s beauty. This sonnet has 14 lines A,B,A,B,C,D,C,D and so on and so forth, as a rhyme scheme, in Iambic Pentameter. It is written from the first person point of view with a loving and sincere tone. The sonnet includes a number of metaphors alluding to the theme of Astronomy, a type of science having to do with stars. For example, on line 10 eyes are compared to stars, “thine eyes my knowledge I derive, And, constant stars,”. Also on line 10 the speaker compare eyes to a book saying, “in them i read” and the intended person to art, “such art”. These all describe the eyes giving three different ways to understand how much the speaker adores those eyes. In line 14, hyperbole is used, “Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.” it exaggerates the beauty because it is well known that beauty does not die with one specific person and for someone to have so much beauty to break that common knowledge is truly remarkable so the fact that the speaker sees the intended audience in this way shows how much devotion the speaker has toward them. The author uses these devices to express adoration for a beautiful person, and perhaps to woo her/him to adore the author in return.
Anthology Entry #10 Sonnet 4 William Shakespeare Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend Upon thyself thy beauty's legacy? Nature's bequest gives nothing but doth lend, And being frank, she lends to those are free. Then, beauteous niggard, why dost thou abuse The bounteous largess given thee to give? Profitless usurer, why dost thou use So great a sum of sums, yet canst not live? For having traffic with thyself alone, Thou of thyself thy sweet self dost deceive. Then how, when Nature calls thee to be gone, What acceptable audit canst thou leave? Thy unused beauty must be tomb'd with thee, Which, used, lives th' executor to be.
I feel that this is a very common problem in our world. Saying that you’re not good enough because you aren’t as pretty as your favorite actress or Victoria’s Secret model. Comparing yourself to an unrealistic standard and feeling terrible about yourself when you can’t reach it. That is the main problem with teenage girls today. They are so insecure because when they look in the mirror and don’t see an 100% perfect model like figure looking back at them, they automatically think that they are the most disgusting creature that has ever been known to man and no one will ever like them and a million other things. There is a great Rowan Blanchard quote that I found a few weeks ago. It says “I don’t think it’s fair that you have to base your self-worth on whether or not the cute guy likes you back.” Rowan Blanchard is famous among many young girls for her work on the disney channel show Girl Meets World although most of her press is for her extreme feminism. I agree with her on this point. Girls shouldn’t base how they feel about themselves based on the world’s view but rather their own comfort in themselves. This sonnet is not so much about how to measure beauty as how to use beauty. It has 14 lines of iambic pentameter. It has an A,B, A,B, C,D, C,D and so on and so forth rhyme scheme. It is a first person narrative with an angry tone. In line 1-2, It compares beauty to money, using the metaphor, “why dost thou spend Upon thyself thy beauty's legacy”. There also is an aspect of personification which gives beauty the personal attribute of a legacy. In line 3, it gave nature the personal attribute of lending and having a bequest by saying, “Nature's bequest gives nothing but doth lend,”. Lines 5-6 use the hyperbole, “ why dost thou abuse The bounteous largess given thee” to give to challenge the subject of the poem by using harsh words like abuse and emphasizing words like bounteous. Line 8 is another example of hyperbole in exaggerating the “sum
of sums”. Line 11 gives nature the personal attribute of calling by saying, “ when Nature calls thee to be gone,”. In sum, the author uses many devices to warn the reader that beauty is fleeting and should be used generously.
Anthology Entry #11 Is There Somewhere Halsey You were dancing in your tube socks in our hotel room, Flashing those eyes like highway signs. Light one up and hand it over, rest your head upon my shoulder. I just wanna feel your lips against my skin. White sheets, bright lights, crooked teeth, and the nightlife. You told me this is right where it begins. But your lips hang heavy underneath me. And I promised myself I wouldn't let you complete me. I'm trying not to let it show, that I don't want to let this go. Is there somewhere you can meet me? 'Cause I clutched your arms like stairway railings. And you clutched my brain and eased my ailing. You're writing lines about me; romantic poetry. Your girl's got red in her cheeks, 'cause we're something she can't see. And I try to refrain but you're stuck in my brain. And all I do is cry and complain because second's not the same. I'm sorry but I fell in love tonight. I didn't mean to fall in love tonight. You're looking like you fell in love tonight. Could we pretend that we're in love?
This is a typical teenage love story so while I have never felt this way before I probably will at some point in my life. On line 2 a simile is used to compare the audience's eyes to highway signs by saying, “Flashing those eyes like highway signs.”this emphasizes how bright the subject’s eyes are. On line 3 of this section it uses a simile to compare the intended audience's arms to railings saying “I clutched your arms like stairway railings.” This showcases how reliant the speaker is on the intended audience. There is a lot of word repetition with “clutched” in lines 4 and 5 which explains their mirroring actions, you/you're/you’re in lines 1,3,4,6,7,8,10,11,12, 13,14,15,19, while each usage is in a different context, the audience is still directly addressed in each use. I/I’m/me/my is also repeated in lines 3,4,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13, 15,16,17,18 This makes sense considering the song is written in 1st person. These terms are used in many different ways but usually to explain the relationship between the speaker and the audience or the feelings the speaker has for the intended audience. The term “in love” is repeated in lines 17, 18 19, and 20 telling how the speaker feels about the audience, how the audience seems to feel about the speaker and ending with a question about how emotions can be faked. In line 6 there is a sense of dialogue when it says “You told me this is right where it begins.” this is important because first of all it shows that they do in fact talk and secondly, it shows a beginning.