Poetry

Nothing Gold Can Stay

By: Robert Frost

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

Poetic devices:

·      Nothing gold can stay […] Nothing gold can stay: The repetition of the same verse twice at the beginning and at the end to confirm to the reader that nothing stays forever.

·      Her hardest hue to hold: There is alliteration in this verse, repeating the letter “H” four times at the beginning of every word. 

·      “Dawn” and “down”: homophone, both words sound the same.

Message: 

The poet wants to deliver a message to the reader that is nothing can last forever, nothing is permanent is your life. Everything has an end, good things and bad things.  

Theme:

      The theme is change by time, it means that you will change no matter what happened, your life will never be every day the same.

Tone:

The tone of the poem is a tone of regret, the poet regretting the good things that disappeared from his life.

The Lesson

By: Maya Angelou

I keep on dying again.

Veins collapse, opening like the

Small fists of sleeping

Children.

Memory of old tombs,

Rotting flesh and worms do

Not convince me against

The challenge. The years

And cold defeat live deep in

Lines along my face.

They dull my eyes, yet

I keep on dying,

Because I love to live.

Poetic devices:

·      I keep on dying […] I keep on dying: Repetition of the same verse two times, at the beginning and at the end of the poem so the poet deliver us his point clearly.

·      I keep on dying because I love to live: There is an oxymoron because there is two parts in this verse that are contradicting.

·      Veins collapse, opening like the small fist of sleeping children: Simile where the poet comparing the collapse of the veins like the opening of a small fist of a sleeping child.

Message:

The poet wanted to deliver us, the readers a message, this message is to accept death, and that we are living to die because a lot of persons do not believe this concept.

Theme:

The theme is facing death to know how to live.

Tone:

Calm tone.

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<><> <><> Still I Rise By: Maya Angelou You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful cries. Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own back yard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise. Poetic devices: ·      ·      But still, like dust, I’ll rise: Simile where comparing her rising like dust. ·     Just like moons and like suns: It’s an oxymoron, because there are two contradictory parts, moon and sun. ·      Just like hopes springing high, still I’ll rise: Simile where comparing her rising as hopes springing high. ·     You may shoot me with your words: Personification, where comparing his words as bullets shooting her. ·      I rise […] I rise […] …: Repetition of “I rise” shows us the confirmation of the poet that she will rise.          Theme: The theme of the poem is persistence.                       T    Tone:       The tone of Maya Angelou was strong to show her persistence. Fire and Ice By: Robert Frost Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.       Poetic devices: ·      Fire and ice: There an oxymoron because there is two contradictory parts. ·      Some say […] Some say: Repetition at the beginning of two different verses so the poet shows us the two different points of views also there is also an alliteration. ·     Message:       The message is that if the world ends by freezing or burning, it’s the same thing, it leads to the end of the world at the end. Such as a love and hate, they lead to the same thing.        Theme: ·      The theme is that love and hate can lead to the same thing, to the destruction of a human mentally for example.             Tone:             The tone is calm so he could deliver the message wisely.                                            A conceit by Maya Angelou

Give me your hand

Make room for me
to lead and follow
you
beyond this rage of poetry.

Let others have
the privacy of
touching words
and love of loss
of love.

For me
Give me your hand.

Poetic devices:

The privacy of touching words: It’s a personification, where comparing the words as human being touched.

Give me your hand […] Give me your hand: Repetition so the person that she is talking to, give attention to her.

The message:

The message is to show love, with words and physical movements.

Theme:

The theme is love.

Tone:

The tone is peaceful and calm to deliver the message of love.

                                               Insomniac by Maya Angelou

There are some nights when
sleep plays coy,
aloof and disdainful.
And all the wiles
that I employ to win
its service to my side
are useless as wounded pride,
and much more painful.

Poetic devices:

There are some nights when sleep plays coy: Personification, where comparing sleep as a human playing coy.

All the whiles that I employ to win its service to my side are useless as wounded pride: Simile, where comparing the whiles useless as wounded pride.

Side, Pride: There is a rhyme between them.

The message:

The message is to show how Maya Angelou suffered during insomniac.

Theme:

The theme is insomniac.

Tone:

The tone is full of pain.

                                                      

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<><> <><> <><> <><> Remembrance by Maya Angelou

Your hands easy
weight, teasing the bees
hived in my hair, your smile at the
slope of my cheek. On the
occasion, you press
above me, glowing, spouting
readiness, mystery rapes
my reason

When you have withdrawn
your self and the magic, when
only the smell of your
love lingers between
my breasts, then, only
then, can I greedily consume
your presence.

Poetic devices:

You press above me, glowing, spouting, readiness, mystery rapes my reason: There is an Imagery because there is a group of words following each other that’s describing the situation. Also there is an alliteration in “rapes my reason”.

Message:

The message is to show the tenderness and the softness of the man with Maya Angelou, where there is a lot of love.

Theme:

The theme is tenderness and love.

Tone:

The tone is calm and tender to show the write image of the situation to the reader.

                                                Woman Work by Maya Angelou

I've got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor to mop
The food to shop
Then the chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I got company to feed
The garden to weed
I've got shirts to press
The tots to dress
The can to be cut
I gotta clean up this hut
Then see about the sick
And the cotton to pick.

Shine on me, sunshine
Rain on me, rain
Fall softly, dewdrops
And cool my brow again.

Storm, blow me from here
With your fiercest wind
Let me float across the sky
'Til I can rest again.

Fall gently, snowflakes
Cover me with white
Cold icy kisses and
Let me rest tonight.

Sun, rain, curving sky
Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone
Star shine, moon glow
You're all that I can call my own.

Poetic devices:

[Tend, mend], [mop, shop], [fry, dry]: There is rhyme between every two words in the first stanza.

Shine on me sunshine, rain on me rain: There is an oxymoron, because both parts are contradictory, completely the opposite.

Sun, rain, curving sky, mountain, oceans, leaf and stone: It’s imagery where Maya Angelou describing her love by all that.

Message:

The message is that when a women works, she suffers a lot because she has her job outside home and inside home, so she has a double job, but after she suffers, her husband should treat her with tenderness and softness, being charm because he is the best thing in her life.

Theme:

The theme is the sufferer of a working woman.

Tone:

The poem began with an exhausted tone but it ended with a tender tone.

                                                                   My poem
                                                              Love is everything

It is blind

For who cannot search and find

It regroups all

 Happiness, tenderness and sadness

For a big and small

For a short and tall

It is love that no one can control

It’s the destiny grouping two together

So they could stay together for ever

Whenever you are in a relationship

You feel the sweat smell of success

Hopping to die old together

Love makes you wait for a thousand years

Until you find your life partner

Love is like water in our lives

No one can live without

If you don’t have it, it’s like you’re out

It is love, love, love