Poetry Project Jeremy Giles English 10 Ms. Leschhorn April 15, 2010
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Table of Contents Ars Poetica…3
Published Poems…5
Homage to Author Rimbaud…6
Nouns… 8
Beggar Boy…10
If You Forget Me…12
Pain…15
Explication of “Annabel Lee”…18
Original poems…20
Heirlooms…21
Aggravation Survival Guide…23
The King’s Throne…25
Numbers…27
Thorns of Glass…29
Works Cited…31
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Ars Poetica ‘’The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.’’ -Jean Cocteau Poetry is a part of life that I believe we cannot live without. I believe this because poetry is life itself. Through poetry, we are given guidelines how to deal with many of life’s constant struggles such as loss, survival, and pain itself. Through these emotions that we all feel and having poets as guides, poetry can lead us through the most difficult times of our lives. I believe without poetry, people would act in a more chaotic manner because of the anxiety that would drive them. This is because poetry has an infinite amount of forms: books, art, objects. Anxiety ensues in others because of their lack of satisfaction; unanswered questions and requests. Poetry brings an understanding to those who cannot understand more “practical” ideas such as religion. People are naturally attracted to things they cannot understand and they begin to make an effort to fully comprehend these, bringing a sense of order in life. Disrupting this order would only cause people to shy away from any type of order altogether. Though many do not enjoy poetry, poets are highly renounced in society because of their insight on the universe; reality. Poetry also gives us a view of someone else’s reality, and in this case it comes from the poets. Someone’s view of reality allows others to see life from multiple perspectives to invoke empathy when necessary, and learning from experiences that the readers may or may not have, making better people out of us all. Through the poetry I have written, I have been able to better understand what the experiences of others and what to expect in the future. Also through my works, I am able to express how I feel through a certain time even if I did not have someone to express these feelings to at the time. When those who personally know me read my works, they can see exactly what I was feeling and who or what I was thinking about as well; poetry allows me to communicate with those close to me.
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The ability to communicate with those close to me is one of many things I like about poetry. Another important thing that I like about poetry is that there is not a concrete set of rules; poetry is as free as the wind. Because of poetry’s freedom, each person is able to write in any way they wish, about anything they desire. We are also able to write poetry in the same form as someone else, but it still will not be the same. We can write about an emotion, and either hide it or allow it to easily be seen through the words we use and the way we align them on the page. The poems I like tend to be original; a free verse. Many of the poems that interest me have a type of irony in them, such as a poet writing about order, but words spread out chaotically on the page or something usually chaotic written in a very controlled manner. These poems usually give advice such as how to deal with pain or how to let go of someone I care about. Writing and reading these poems throughout this project gives me somewhat of a satisfying feeling. Through the course of this project, some of the deadlines were very close together considering the amount of time it usually takes for me to complete something. As something was completed, something new was assigned, sometimes before a previous assignment was due. Along with other stresses, this caused a large burden as to not fall behind in other classes and catch up on my work for this one. Now that it is all over, I feel as if a large burden has been lifted. I have also learned better techniques for time management and writing in general. Without this project, I would have to learn these lessons and techniques at a more critical and demanding time.
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Published Poetry
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Introduction to “Homage to Author Rimbaud”
“Homage to Author Rimbaud” is the second most appealing poem to me because it compares people to that of insects, savages in nature. Wright uses many metaphors to elaborate on the way people act towards each other, some without realizing it. This takes simple actions of human nature and uses this metaphor to elaborate how extreme these actions are, at a more “fitting” scale. He is poem consist of a pair of couplets, quatrains, and triplets with enjambment and end stops to allow the reader to fully obtain an image of what he ensues.
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Homage to Author Rimbaud Laying our eggs like moths In the cold cracks of your eyes, Brushing your hands with our dark wings --Desperate to attempt An entrance, to touch that light Which buoys you like a flame, That it might warm our own lives --, We cluster about your death As though it were reachable. For almost a hundred years We've gathered outside your legend (and been afraid Of what such brilliance affords; And knew the while you were risen, your flight Pneumatic and pure, invisible as a fever; And knew the flight was forever, Leaving us what we deserve Syllables, flowers, black ice; The exit, the split cocoon...
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Introduction to “Nouns” by Charles Wright
“Nouns” by Charles Wright reveals the idea of a role model; the ideal person. The entire poem is a metaphor using the part of speech, the noun, and the actions of a person and the noun itself. Wright uses this poem in order to explain the role of the noun in sentences and what it means to be a noun in real life; knowing who to precede and whom to follow. The tone of the poem insists it was written as if to declare an important statement rather than to tell others something they did not originally notice. The voice of authority seems easier to grasp because the poem is written in couplets with the use of enjambment to connect the middle stanzas together. I like this poem because Wright cleverly writes it in a form that makes nouns sound like people, yet they always have been; the connection was always visible, but overlooked constantly.
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Nouns Nouns are precise, they wear The boots of authority; Nouns are not easily pleased. Nouns are assured, they know Whom to precede and whom to follow, They know what dependence means, That touchstone of happiness; They need no apologist. When nouns fall to disuse, and die, Their bones do not coalesce. Such absences implicate No person, no place, no thing.
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Introduction to “Beggar Boy” by Langston Hughes
“Beggar Boy” by Langston Hughes surfaces the ideas of human connections though experience and empathy. Because the speaker does not have these connections with the beggar boy, questions are raised about how he could possibly be happy. From what the speaker can see, only the outer appearance, it seems impossible for the boy to have any type of joy at all. The author uses enjambment to emphasize features of the boy and the lack of connection between him and the speaker; as we cannot see what has happened as we read, the speaker cannot while looking at him. This is an excellent poem because the message is apparent to everyone, yet it is also so necessary at the same time. Along with the message, it speaks of things that go through our heads when we look at others who we do not personally know and puts it into context of their origin.
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Beggar Boy What is there within this beggar lad That I can neither hear not feel nor see, That I can neither know nor understand And still it calls to me?
Is not he but a shadow in the sun – A bit of clay, brown, ugly, given life? And yet he plays upon his flute with a wild free tune As if Fate had not bled him with her knife!
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Introduction to “If You Forget Me” by Pablo Neruda
“If you Forget Me” by Pablo Neruda uses the idea of destiny to convey his feelings for someone he cares about. He uses many metaphors and enjambment to further attempt to explain his seemingly ineffable feelings such as the inanimate objects acting as boats, sailing toward his love. His passion for his writing is expressed mainly through the enjambment; his specific details create a more intense feeling. The way in which he wrote the poem makes it seem that he wrote his poem to be read in a certain way; perhaps to force the reader to have a visual picture in their head of every stanza before continuing to the next. He may have changed the published writing into this form in order for the future readers to see the images that he also saw in his mind as he wrote it. This is a very moving poem because it captures the idea of true love which many are not able to find.
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If You Forget Me I want you to know one thing.
You know how this is: if I look at the crystal moon, at the red branch of the slow autumn at my window, if I touch near the fire the impalpable ash or the wrinkled body of the log, everything carries me to you, as if everything that exists, aromas, light, metals, were little boats that sail toward those isles of yours that wait for me.
Well, now, if little by little you stop loving me I shall stop loving you little by little.
If suddenly you forget me do not look for me, for I shall already have forgotten you.
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If you think it long and mad, the wind of banners that passes through my life, and you decide to leave me at the shore of the heart where I have roots, remember that on that day, at that hour, I shall lift my arms and my roots will set off to seek another land.
But if each day, each hour, you feel that you are destined for me with implacable sweetness, if each day a flower climbs up to your lips to seek me, ah my love, ah my own, in me all that fire is repeated, in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten, my love feeds on your love, beloved, and as long as you live it will be in your arms without leaving mine
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Introduction to “Pain” Kahlil Gibran
“Pain” by Kahlil Gibran uses knowledge and pain itself to convey his points about pain itself. His points consist of learning why everyone must experience pain and how to overcome it. Gibran uses enjambment to make his comparisons more noticeable along with the liminality behind these ideas. He uses stanzas with different numbers of lines and the least number of lines usually indicates its importance. His shortest stanza, put near the middle of the poem, is his most important idea; most forms of pain are self-chosen. I find this poem to be the most important I have ever read because the content is apparent in all modern aspects of life though it was written long ago.
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Pain Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.
Much of your pain is self-chosen.
It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.
Therefore trust the physician, and drink 16
his remedy in silence and tranquility:
For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen, And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.
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Explication of “Annabel Lee” This poem dramatizes the idea of everlasting love. “Annabel Lee,” by Edgar Alan Poe, speaks through the lover of Annabel Lee. He speaks of their story of how they met, envied by others, and pulled apart from each other while still holding onto their love. The Speaker begins in explaining that they lived “In a kingdom by the sea” and also explains how he and Annabel Lee are highly blessed “With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven Coveter her and me” (2, 11-12). Later, his love, Annabel Lee is killed because of an illness he suspects was caused by the gods themselves, but regardless, he stays by her grave and they continue to love each other. The writer drives this poem with the themes of love and jealousy. Because of “The angles, not half so happy in heaven, /Went envying her and me--” this couple was separated by “the wind came out of the cloud, chilling/And killing my Annabel Lee” (22-23, 26). The speaker means that because of jealousy, the most precious things can be taken from one as was his Annabel Lee. The reason for this jealousy reveals itself through a brief mention of her “highborn kinsmen”, her royal family (17). Her royalty would not play a role in this, unless the speaker is far from royalty: a peasant. This small of class is mentioned only briefly perhaps to imply that their difference in social ranking did not matter to him or Annabel Lee; just as it should not with anyone who falls in love. In the last stanza, Poe introduces alliterations in order to attempt to explain the depth of the speaker and Annabel Lee’s love. When the speaker sleeps, “the moon never beams without bringing me dreams/Of the beautiful Annabel Lee” (33-34). This is of utmost significance because Poe does not use metaphors in any of his other stanzas within his poem. In his other stanzas, there is not an attempt of further explanation of anything that is stated. This may in order show additional words are needed to express how he feels, perhaps not infinite amount of words. As the speaker sinks into depression over
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her death, he feels her presence because “the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes/Of the beautiful Annabel Lee” (35-36) Though she died, this did not separate them because “Our love it was stronger by far than the love of those who were older than we—/Of many far wiser than we—” (27-29). As she was in her grave, her love still lived on and her lover, the speaker, stayed beside her “In the sepulcher there by the sea, /In her tomb by the side of the sea” (39-40). The speaker wishes to tell the readers that true love expands past that of the gods, social status, and death.
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Original Poetry
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Introduction to “Heirlooms� Objects can tell just as many words as pictures, sometimes even more. They say that a picture can tell a thousand words, so what exactly can a picture and an object tell? Together, they can tell a story that could be centuries old with the picture as a mental reminder, and an object as a physical reminder. Old pictures and objects are passed down in some families through their generations as heirlooms in order to remind the family of these words they would otherwise be easily forgotten.
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Heirlooms I am forged from the hearts of two families Enemies for hundreds of years, guarding two objects that are sacred to them. A large brown crystal, as dark as the hearts of those Lives looking like lust lingered inside them for generations. Heresayers had hopes Of a summer wind, blowing, singing down the valleys to a precious mineral of their own. Silver slates were salvaged from a dying wish, a will with two joining hands to unite the families and forge a new sacred object. As a feuds spirals out of control, so will the stem of this object. As humans must atone For their crimes against another, so must this stone be put behind bars.
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Introduction to “Aggravation Survival Guide� Aggravation is an emotion many feel for most of their life. Some feel this emotion more than any of the positive ones. Because of aggravation, many act on instinct instead of finding a way to solve a problem analytically, costing them more than they had hoped. Unwise thinking puts others in situations that only increase the effect of the problem to others, and a larger burden on themselves; thinking before acting is key.
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Aggravation Survival Guide Tolerance is necessary to keep a level head. You may not really like it much but out prison stead. vibrations continue chaos can bid others need meds A fight with your bad impulses But losing makes people dead
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Introduction to “The King’s Throne” In life, people take different paths which they eventually shy away from. These paths are either left out of fear, the pursuit of happiness, or the pursuit of someone else. Many are given chances while going down a road that are worthwhile, almost foolish to give up. At times in life, people are placed on a throne high in the sky with a crown on the top of their head. Many lose this throne and crown because they have not truly deserved it. No one deserves a crown or a throne of any kind until it is earned.
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The King’s Throne I walked down the endless road to the Throne of the king slain. This road filled with statues of those fallen before I from the sky. And the streets lined with people with hearts of frost and voices of flame. I remember running to the road to the left of this into the rye. Where I played with friends and scorned empathy and sadness All was so peaceful, but I knew and felt nothing, all a lie. I remember running from the road to the right, from the madness Where I was struck by quintessence and lost all except my mind and sight All was so chaotic, but I knew and felt everything, even minor gladness Now I may skip down the road in the middle, my birthright. Where all experiences have been taken in and utilized by every nerve. The twisting tempests and the roaring tides cease for an eternal night. I have finally reached the place I worked so hard to deserve. Here I shall look over all until the day I fall as well and await a new .
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Introduction to “Numbers� Hypocrisy is a large issue that many people have; see it in others, but not in themselves. As Ironic as this is, many are told about their hypocrisy and are highly offended, as they should. The issue is that people begin to ignore their hypocritical ways or lash out in anger when being challenged. This fear of opposition makes them begin making claims with many flaws in them, without truly thinking. Perhaps this will force them to think more clearly.
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Numbers They say they are independent, but they never make rational choices I wish they would compromise, but to them, that word is Irrational The aggravation caused by them makes you hear imaginary voices They tell me that I should think rationally, but what I express is their decision I am told to think for myself though they try to hide what is real They say they are independent, but they never make rational choices You are encouraged to think of your future, though it is greater than out vision The future, fast, complex and impossible to determine; dreaming seems surreal The aggravation caused by them makes you hear imaginary voices We wait for acceptance, though its arrival is never at a perfect precision. We are scorned for seeing everything as computable instead of "real" They say they are independent, but they never make rational choices They claim to have love so complex that we must prepare to expedition Our emotions must be protected our emotions from a possible steal The aggravation caused by them makes you hear imaginary voices In order to protect our numbers, we must try an organized excision This type of interest is not natural; it must have great, but wrong zeal They say they are independent, but they never make rational choices The aggravation caused by them makes you hear imaginary voices
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Introduction to “Thorns of Glass� Many people have problems with facing reality when this reality is not what they truly desire. These may be because of personal beliefs and upbringing or many other causes. Because they refuse to look at what is in front of them, they begin to lie to others around them, and eventually, themselves. These false realities, usually created by others who seek control, can seem real and stable until they begin to slowly fall apart. As these false realities begin to break, so does a part of themselves.
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Thorns of Glass I am caring, perhaps too much. Perhaps I am too observant, too flaming, too cynical. I am imprisoned in a free environment. I can have fun with others, but happiness only with one person: myself. I can see it just as I can see glass. Even the most beautiful things can leave small cuts. I can’t do math, but even I know It will eventually add up. My bars are formed from those around me. I am in pain Not a rip though flesh or a scar screaming at a broken heart. This pain is for others because of how desperate, feeble-minded, hypocritical, people can be. False realities, false tears and smiles seduce, lie, enthrall us to hold on as if nothing else matters. I see things for what they are not for what I want it to be. Why can’t everyone else?
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Works Cited "Jean Cocteau." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2010. 14 April. 2010. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jeancoctea107260.html>
"Pain by Khalil Gibran." PoemHunter.Com. Web. 09 Mar. 2010. <http://poemhunter.com/poem/pain-2/>
Hughes, Langston. “Beggar Boy” Arnold Rampersad ed. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. 29. New York: Knopf, 1994. Print.
Neruda, Pablo. "If You Forget Me." The Poetry of Pablo Neruda. 24 Ilan Stavans, ed. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. Print.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “Annabel Lee” Kelly ed. The Seagull Reader Poems. 249-250. New York:W.W. Norton and Company, 2008. Print.
Hard Freight.1st ed. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan UP, 1973. Print. Wright, Charles. “Homage to Author Rimbaud” Charles Wright, Hard Freight 13. Print Wright, Charles. "Nouns." Charles Wright, Hard Freight 26. Print.
Schneider, Darryn. Sunset at Casey Station Antarctica. 2006. Photograph. Blue Skies and Red Sunsets. Atmospheric Optics. Darryn Schneider. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. <http://optics.kulgun.net/Blue-Sky/>.
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The Georgia Guide Stones. 2009. Photograph. Wired. By Randall Sullivan. Randall Sullivan, 20 Apr. 2009. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. <http://battleofearth.wordpress.com/2009/04/>.
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