Introduction to Poetry

This poem is all about imagery. Every stanza has a different image given to the interpreter of how it feels to try reading a poem. Honestly, I think every reader experiences some puzzling, inquisitive feeling when reading a poem for the first time and this poem pretty much puts this into images. This poem uses similes to give the reader a feeling about poetry such as "hold it up to the light like a color slide." Collin talks about how he wants readers to probe through a poem just like a mouse in a maze and find the light switch in a poem's room, but instead people try to tie the poem to a chair and torture confession out of it. His point of view he's trying to get across is that people need to have patience and time when trying to figure out a poem and see the art and masterpiece behind the work, not merely just to read and find out what the poem is truly trying to say. The reader needs to enjoy the poem for what it is before just trying to get the job done and find the meaning. This piece teaches a lesson that poem is a type of art that needs to be enjoyed.

The Cat

Honestly, I can relate to this poem so much. I think of the cat as representing either a piece of the author of woman that left him. Because I just broke up with my guy, this poem kind of shows how I feel. I lost my guy just like he lost his cat and never saw it again, yet the author is reminded of it by the sound in the wind just like I'm reminded of my guy through certain memories and things I see throughout the day. The cat could also represent the author losing a piece of himself. Black kind of represents hopelessness and emptiness and a black cat disappearing into the night shows him losing a piece of himself. It seems like this because the last 2 lines says "and you listen intently to your own self" which makes me think that this cat represents a piece of himself that he had lost and is reminded of every once in awhile. This poem definitely can be looked at with different view points and angles

Untitled

The first thing that caught my attention to this poem is the fact that it's called untitled. Why wouldn't the author give this poem a title? Although this poem is only one stanza, there is a very "in your face" point proven in the poem. This poem is so simple and straight to the point that it makes the reader want to think deeper into the theme behind the text. The fact that he is eating his own heart shows that he is relishing in his own pain. It kind of symbolizes how humans rather feel pain than nothing at all, and that really every human is naked and alone in the world with all this emotion that we don't necessarily know what to do with; it shows individualism of every human that exists. Emotion is what makes us human, and although bitter at times, it is a very valued trait that humans get to experience. As for the desert setting, I see it as symbolizing how humans are all alone and have nothing but themselves, but it least we have emotion that we can express. The setting definitely sets the mood for the theme that Crane is trying to get across, and the dialogue helps to bring in the dramatic affect of the bitterness of the heart that the author feels. Although a simple poem, there is plenty of meaning behind it.

Song of the Powers

I never really thought deeply about rock, paper, and scissors. I mean everybody knows the game but what do these symbols stand for? The stone stands for power and more solid than simple wishes. It gets the job done and stands alone. Then there's the paper that, like the rock, stands alone but it is able to dominate not with power but by smothering. It is light and white, but is able to cover rock. Paper still stands alone, yet it is able to shape and become a part of an object, just like a rock is able to bend, shape, and crush scissors. The scissors gash through paper and is able to shape paper. This poem mentions a lot about wishes such as the scissors tattering wishes and the rock stronger than wishes. This poem represents the different wishes people have and the different ways they are conquered and brought back into reality. The poem ends with all the objects-paper, rock, and scissors-all ending alone which is symbolic of how wishes stand alone and can destroy each other if allowed. A person can only have so many wishes before they start to step on each others toes. This poem is able to make the reader think deeply on symbols that when glanced at seem simple but represent so much more.