Sestina: Poetry Response #9

In each of the seven stanzas, Bishop introduces a new concept or idea such as “September rain”, “Little Marvel Stove”, “almanac” and a few more. She ties in these symbols in the first stanza eluding to each of their roles. In the end, the symbols are concluded in the last and only tercet with a parallel to their humanly characteristics such as “tears”, “draws” and “sings”. The middle five stanzas become somewhat monotonous as the repetition of those same three symbols remain consistent. Through this repetition, Bishop tells a story. She shares a seemingly simple story of a grandmother’s interactions between an almanac and a child. However, it seems to represent something more.
Bishop uses the almanac and Little Marvel Stove to brig out certain characteristics of the grandmother. It becomes apparent that she in an emotional state as the setting starts with “September rain falls” and continues as she “read jokes from the almanac” when, in fact, there are no jokes in the almanac (but maybe to the insane). This theme continues as the child enters the picture in stanza two. Even with the child, she drinks out of a “teacup full of brown tears.” Her tears expand

Poetry Response #8

Victoria Anderson

Mrs. Jernigan

English IV AP

22 March 2011

Poetry Response #8

            Each tercet in “Lonely Hearts” contains a new idea whether it is a “Male biker”, “Gay vegetarian”, “Executive”, “Attractive Jewish lady”, or “Libran” and connects each of these into “can someone make my wish come true” and “Is it you?” 

With the last quatrain, the author Wendy Cope connects these people’s desires to her own. She wants that someone who can sweep her off her feet and fill the desire of her wish. This villanelle focuses on one main emotion, the desire to find love. This oozes from each tercet to the last quatrain as Cope reveals her heart.

We all have one equal wish in life, to find that special someone. However, this could range from a husband to canine.  In “Lonely Hearts” however, the author is clearly looking for that significant other. She sees the eclectic persons around her finding this desire and she is ready for this feat as well. In each tercet I feel that she is attempting to show the relationship between herself and an “attractive Jewish lady” not by appearance or relation but through desire.  In the end, the last quatrain, or her final statement validates the parallel relationship that she shares with all of the other characters mentioned in the tercets. Through this, I feel she continues the theme, in a more dramatic sense, of the desire to find that significant other.

Poetry Response #7

Victoria Anderson

Mrs. Jernigan

English IV AP

8 March 2011

Poetry Response #7

“Ode to a Nightingale” personifies the sweet melody of the male Nightingale bird. In an attempt to find the perfect counter part, this animal puts itself on the line in a sacrificial manner in order to woe a future lover. Determined to find his missing piece, or in this case love, the narrator of Keat’s Ode utilizes the freeing ora of flora and fauna in order to escape from the worldly bounds of heart ache. These aches come from the staining taste of the Nightingale’s song. Once heard, the “beaker full of the warm South!” encourages the protagonist to follow the song and “with thee fade away into the forrest dim.” 

Through loosing reality in the song, justice creeps itself between the wavering line of delusion and actuality. The fourth stanza clearly communicates this fact with line thirty-four, “Though the dull brain perplexes and retards.” In fact, so lost in translation, confusion between the two persist into the outlook of this mind. Thus, the meaning of life comes into hand as the music ends, “do I wake or sleep?” What is real?