Poetry Blog #9

Acquainted with the Night
By: Robert Frost

In Frost's poem, Acquainted with the Night, he uses many forms of literature to help make his poem effective. He uses repetition of the phrase, "I have," at the beginning of each line in the first stanza. He also uses the same phrase in the second and fifth stanza. This repetition helps create a connection throughout the whole poem and gives it a sense of unity. He also uses past tense throughout the whole poem such as," I have been," or "I have passed," which tells you he is recurring a event or thought that has already occurred. Frost uses many descriptive words throughout his poem and that really helps get his point across.

The theme or meaning behind this poem is that even though things may happen or decision have been made, you must move on from the past. You need to not live in the past because it will only hinder and hold you behind. If you keep reliving those past events that are troubling you, then that is what your life will be centered around. If you continue to hold those grudges and linger on those not so good decisions then that's your choice, but the best option is to move on because you can't change the past.

Poetry Blog #8

I, Too, Sing America

I really enjoyed this poem by Langston Hughes. I found it really interesting that he responded to I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman. It was a very brave and risky thing for him to do, but he did it anyway. I like how he uses the title of Whitmans' poem in his own title and how he really makes you think after reading both of the poems.

Hughes poem is about the American Dream. Whitman made it seem like the dream is only achievable by the white man because he never said anything about the blacks in America. Hughes wanted the black man to be included in this rejoicing of America. He starts his poem with," I, too, sing America" and ends it with the same phrase giving a great introduction to what the poem is going to be about and a strong conclusion finalizing and summing up his strong statement.

In stanza three he says," Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes." He is not literally says that tomorrow he will be at the table, but is using it figuratively as in someday in the future he will be able to eat at the table with the whites because he will someday not be segregate against.

I really enjoy Langston Hughes. Every piece of his that I have read has really touched me. His use of strong words, repeating important phrases really has a powerful impact on me.

Poetry Blog #7

Inoculation

This was a very interesting historical poem. It talks about real people such as Cotton Mather and his slave Onesimus. This poem was written during the time period of the small pox scare. During this time they were experimenting with new ways to cure those who had become infected. They would actually inject some of the virus into those who had been infected to hope that it would boost the body’s immunity to the disease. Injecting some of the disease would also reduce the severity of the infection. Many people were afraid to try this new method because they didn’t know if it worked or no, so Donnelly wrote a poem about this controversial time.

There is also a little irony in the last two lines of this poem. It says, "She scratched my skin and I got sick, but lived to come here, free of smallpox, as your slave." His slave had small pox, but survived, but he had to come work for Cotton Mather. Onesimus is free of the small pox, but is not a free slave. I found that last line very amusing and thought it made the poem.