"i am accused of tending to the past" by Lucille Clifton – Literary Critic

S: Mother/ Female
O: Birth of history
A: Those not aware of where it comes from
P: to explain the basics about historyS: History
Tone: warnful, bewaring

In “i am accused of tending to the past” by Lucille Clifton, I felt that she put out her point in the poem clearly. As I read this poem I paraphrase or summarized a couple of point in order to gain a better understanding. First of all, I understood that the speaker did not sculpt or make the past with her own hands. I think she was clearly connecting it to the people before her who sculpted it and then she learned from off it. Secondly, rather than making it herself, she claimed that the past was actually waiting for her, and that she birth and adopted history. Furthermore, she is taking history into her own life. Clifton is explicating that the speaker “took it to breast” (9) and really learned from it. Lastly, Clifton is conveying a bigger meaning, which history relates to the lives, languages, culture, and the times of humans. The speaker has the metaphor of a nurturing mother who cares about history and takes history with her wherever she goes, which could relate to history in school or just literally taking a history book with you and reading through it. Clifton states, “when she is strong enough to travel on her own, beware, she will” (15-16). I thought it was wonderful, how she personified history, and felt that if she would not personified history then the poem would have been too plain. I thought Clifton was a bit sarcastic, because some people are not fond of history, yet it seems that she’s telling them history is coming for them.

My Wicked Wicked Ways Are Over – Contemporary Poet

This is a late Poetry Journal #2...

This is my father
See? I’ve mentioned him before
Doesn’t he still look like Errol Flynn
Wait…
Where did his hat go?
That he used to tip over one eye
His baggy pants our long gone
But why?
Why does he still wear those shoes
The two toned ones
My mother hates

Here is my mother
She cried,
However… this time…
The sun wasn’t shining
But the woman,
The one my father knows,
Is here.
She’s been here for a while

This time my mother is sad.
Her face pale
And the shoe she threw,
Is on her foot.
However this time,
No one will forget,
And my mother’s days
Will come soon

My father’s funeral,
I am older now.
And my mother already knows
I am bad, but…
My father can’t punish me anymore.
My wicked wicked ways
Are over.

Analysis: Sandra Cisneros’ “My Wicked Wicked Ways” talks about how she will turn out bad, yet the majority of the poem is talking about birth. She clearly, explains her mother and father’s characteristic, explaining how her father physically looks and how her mother has to put up with something. However, she does not clearly state that it is pain that she is going through. I can interpret that is what Cisneros tried to convey because her mother had thrown one shoe at her father. In my contemporary response poem, I try to tie in her similar structure, and story telling, yet I talk about death. I also try to convey that because her father is gone and her mother is mourning, her father can’t punish her anymore and her mother is experiencing pain herself.

The Computation by John Donne - Comparative Critic

S: A man
O: Death/Afterlife
A: The one he lost and loved
P: To explain how long their love will last
S: Love and their relationship
Tone: reminiscent, longing, sad

This is my first journal, attempting to compare two different poems, so I will try to connect them as best as possible. As a critic, I will be comparing “The Computation” by John Donne and “Song – To Celia” by Ben Johnson. I felt that both poets and some great similarities. Both poets wrote about love, and wrote about how his or her love might have felt or did feel. In “The Computation,” Donne writes, “For forty more I fed on favours past, / And forty on hopes that thou wouldst they might last” (2-3). Even though his love is gone he hopes that she lived happy with him and that she felt they’re relationship was good and how it lasted. In “To Celia” Johnson writes, “But though thereon didst only breathe, / And sent’st back to me” (13-14). Even though, its not fully explicated how Celia felt for him, I can interpret that her love for him was less of his love for her because she had sent the rose wreath back to him. Therefore, I can come to the conclusion that there was some sort of problem with their relationship whether they were together or not. In a lot of Ben Johnson’s poems, I tend to see some sort of problem, yet he always seems to walk around that problem and turn it into a solution. Therefore, Johnson finishes of the poem with, “Since when it grows, and smells, I swear, / Not of itself, but thee” (15-16). Even though he got rejected from her, he was glad to be able to smell her aroma and its clear that he still loves her. However, in “The Computation,” there was never really a relationship problem, but I would explain it more as a longing or reminiscing moment because the speaker is sad, unlike the speaker in “To Celia.” Lastly, I felt that Donne also came up with a solution in his poem by stating, “Yet call this not long life; but think that I / Am, by being dead, immortal, can ghost die?” (9-10). His solution is that even though she’s dead and he knows that they’re going to die he’s alluding to the after life and possibly the Holy ghost, because he knows that faith will never die and that they’ll be together in Heaven one day.

if i love You by e.e cummings – Personal Response

S: A man who cares for a lady
O: Dreaming
A: the one he loves
P: to express his feeling to her (to be with her)
S: Love will turn into reality
Tone: emotional

In my opinion, I love how the E.E. Cummings structures this poem. This poem is small but can relate to my own life and also others lives. I notice how the only words that he capitalizes in the whole poem are “You” and “Flowers.” I think that this shows the comparison of beauty, and he’s trying to portray the resemblance in beauty and possibly smell of the woman who he seeks for in life. We all seek for someone in life. Currently, I have someone in my life that I care for a lot. Another structural element he uses in order to intertwine both perspectives of him and his love, we the use of parentheses and line breaks. I see both of them believing the same thing, which is very interesting. If you take what’s in the parentheses it almost seems as if he believes what she believes also and vice versa. Furthermore, he is trying to convey the idea that if they are not together, then his and her own relationship will only be in a world full of dreams for the both of them. Furthermore, the last stanza represents their connection coming into a real world and representing the beauty of the sky, clouds, and possibly heaven if looked at from a religious sense. I feel that this connects to me and everyone else because he’s writing this to say that if you have feelings for someone or love someone then why not go for it, because if you wait or hold back then you’ll only have them in your dreams and not reality. As for structural elements I see a lot of assonance with the use of “ly” at the end of many words in the poem, and it really gives a connection between lines and makes the poem sound more fluent to the ear.

i love you much (most beautiful darling) - Contemporary Poet

S: A man in love
O: His lover’s arrival in wintertime
A: The beautiful darling (his lover)
P: to express his emotion for her
S: love
Tone: happy

i love you much (most handsome man)

more than anyone on earth and i
like you better than any other mistress

-my arrival (what the most beautiful day)

although cold and snowy
i hear nature singing for me
dark but the sun still shines when i think of you

you have always been true

and if what calls itself a world should have
the luck to see such an attractive man (that
stands out in the darkness whenever around
through gayer than gayest my heart at your each

nearness) but forget about others because only us (my
most beautiful darling) have to believe in nothing but love

Explanation: I attempted to take the approach of what the woman would say if she were to write this poem. In away she’s expressing her love and I also incorporate a belief that she does not want to lose him to any other lady. And she definitely does not want to get cheated on, which is why she only cares about their relationship. I used similar lines because when she is arriving they both witness a similar setting and similar emotions. I also used a similar structure to give a similar presentation. There are a couple of structural similarities also to give the rite tone. Lines are set up similarly, and there also is the use of lower case letters, and also approximate rhymes.

Literary Critic - "We Wear the Mask"

In “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar, he conveys the idea that certain people put on a mask as a front. I read this my junior year, but what I have never really understood, is if the people who wear the mask put on the front purposely or if others just see them in a certain way and put that mask on them. It may be true in both cases. Many seem to believe that this poem is a reference to African-Americans, because of their own struggles and negative experience in the past that they have undergone. However I feel that the author does not just focus on a certain race or a certain type of person or people, which may be somewhat unclear. Obviously the mask is a bad thing as the author says, “We wear the mask that grins and lies.” Furthermore the author doesn’t have any problems conveying to the reader or audience that the mask is a facade. I also understand that whoever wears the mask is a victim of some torment or unfair treatment guile as he says, “with torn and bleeding hearts we smile.” Lastly, the author expresses in a religious sense that even though some may not see others behind their own mask, God sees all. God sees the many who suffer and also the people who try to get away with their harmful treatment towards others. I also feel that the rhythm of the poem is just right, and makes the poem stand out and easier to catch on to and possibly memorize.

Personal Response - "Everything... is done in a circle"

In “Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle" by Black Elk, the poet conveys the idea that nature and life moves in circles; furthermore, this was a belief by many Native Americans. I understand that he had related to the idea when he saw two hawks circle him after he had a stroke. Throughout the poem he constantly explains how certain everyday things are in circles. Examples can be the earth, birds’ nests, and, the life of man. After reading this poem, I can connect it to my own life because the poem is true. Everything explain in the poem is done in a circle, but I feel that there is deeper meaning to this poem. Specifically, I read the last two lines, and was somewhat confused when he had said, “From childhood to childhood” but after reading it over and deep thought, I understood his point. I understand that it was a good way to end the poem because life maybe the most important aspect to him after what he has undergone. When he ends the poem with those last two lines I think about my own life, and I also think about how humans constantly reproduce in our own world that we live in, and many other organisms reproduce also. He also explains how when he encountered the hawks he saw the good and the bad in his life and he knows that even thought we go through those experiences we continue to live through them. I agree, and I feel that my life and everybody’s life is the same way. If I were to add an aspect to this poem I would have mentioned, time, school, and work because time always seems to continue in the same pattern and we use time to go through a daily schedule at work and school.