Poem 5: Paradox

Paradox

By Catherine Cao

What if I could 

travel in time?

Could I create 

the perfect crime?

But if I did

what happens to the world

then?

What if I created

a 

Perfect Paradox

What happens to the world

then?

-

About

"Paradox" describes my curiosity towards the time paradox theory. What happens if I go back in time and change something? Will it change the future world?

This is a freeverse poem consisting of four stanzas of varying lines. There is also no specific rhyme scheme.

There are two kinds of poetic devices used in "paradox". the first is rhyme; shown in lines two and four. Also, there is an example of alliteration in line 10.

Poem 4: Cottage By the Sea

Cottage by the sea

By Catherine Cao

-

The waves wash up against the sand

as if greeting an old friend.

The reeds upon the shore wave

at the sand

shh

shh

Carrying the faint sent of 

the flowers and the fish 

towards that little

cream colored,

straw roofed,

Cottage by the sea.

-

           About

The "Cottage by the sea" describes a calm day at a little abandoned cottage by the sea. It is a freeform poem with no designated rhyme scheme, consisting of a single stanza of 12 lines.

The main poetic device used in this poem is imagery and personification. Imagery is used in the first line (the waves wash up against the sand)as well as lines 9, 10, and 11. Personification is used in several places (line 2,3,7). Also, there is one onomatopoeia used in lines 5 and 6 (shh) describing the rusting sound that the reeds make when the wind blows.

Poem 3: Breath

Breath

By Catherine Cao

-

Break and bring her breath

It was imminent death

Darkness descended upon doom

Like a wolf devouring the moon

Creeping, crying, careening

Twisting, turning, taking

away the air aflame

Bringing back her broken breath

-

About

'Breath' takes on the form of Madness in a literal way. Thus, like madness, it simply has no sense to it.

This is a freeform poem with the rhyme scheme of 'aa bb cdea' consisting of a single octet.

There are many literary devices used in this poem: Alliteration (used in lines 1, 3, 5, and 9), Metaphor (line 3 and 4), Onomatopoeia (line 5), Assonance (line 7), Constance (line 6), and Rhyme as mentioned above.

Poem 2: Feather

Feather

By Catherine Cao

-

I pick up a pure white feather

That glows softly in my hand

For some reason I don't remember

My mind is filled with sand

Despite my poor memory

I can remember a bird 

Singing in early January

a song that doesn't need a word

I can remember sitting

On my patio chair

and finding myself submitting

To that wonderful song in the air

Then suddenly and without a sound

The bird falls to the ground

-

           About

"Feather"  is an abstract poem about hope. It sneaks into your memory and blends in, and you work for and reach towards it. However, if you become lazy to try and enjoy it without the work, it will disappear just as quickly as it appeared. 

This poem is an English sonnet, following the rhyme scheme of 'abab cdcd efef gg'

This poem is a metaphor that can also be conceived as symbolism, comparing hope to a bird. It also makes use of imagery in the first two lines, describing the feather itself.

Poem 1: Legacy

Legacy

By Catherine Cao

-

-
To Create your legacy

Stray aside

To evil implied

And enter heresy

Interfere with the enemy

From the inside

Conquer and divide

Hidden from a divine entity

Then make your way into the world

as a hero denied

To face the surfacing purgatory

That mirrors the underworld.

Only then refuse to hide

The lies within your territory

-

           About

"Legacy" is about how you must make yourself different from other people in order to be seen for who you are rather than what you represent. However, you might also find that by looking from the 'left-hand' point of view, the 'right hand' view that most represent is not as perfect as is seems.

This poem is an Italian (or Petrarchian) Sonnet, following the rhyme scheme of 'abba abba cdecde'. There is no particular rhythm that was followed.

There are only two kinds of poetic devices used in this poem: Allusions and Rhyme. Examples of Allusion are on lines 4, 8, 11, and 12 referring to the state of the world as places from mythology. The 'divine entity' in line 8 represents a powerful figure in society. 

Otherwise, rhyme has been mentioned in an above paragraph.

Poem Analysis 5: Still I Rise

“Still I Rise,” 

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.

           About

Still I Rise is about how the person is constantly discriminated against for being who he/she is , but continues relentlessly towards his dream.

           Theme

"Discrimination only give hope"

The author gives clear examples of how the character will always get back up when he/she is brought down.

           Structure

There isn't any kind of clear rhyme scheme in this poem. It is, however, composed of 8 stanzas of mostly quatrains (sans last stanza).

           Poetic Devices

There are lots of examples of Similes in this poem comparing the character to various things that he rises like. Metaphors are used here in the same way.

Poetry Analysis 4: A Dream Deferred

A Dream Deferred

by Langston Hughes

- What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode? -

           About

This poem is a humorous take on what the author thinks happens when you forget about a dream. Because we've all wondered the same thing at one time.

           Theme

"Dreams don't fade" is the theme of the poem, because something spectacular has to happen first!

           Structure

There isnt much in the terms of structure for this poem, but it does have a rhyme scheme: a bcdbefe gh h.  It's a very odd scheme, and really isn't used in any kind of convetional poem.

           Poetic Devices

Similes are the most used devices in "A Dream Deferred", comparing what Hughes thinks happens to the dream to something that can happen to other things.

Poetry Analisis 3: She Walks in Beauty

She Walks in Beauty 

by Elena Toledo, USA

-

She walks in beauty, eyes soft,

Innocent; silky breast that captures

men’s heart, her alarming whiteness,

making angels turn dark.

In times of sorrow, she's the light; if she

cries, her tears breakdown into drops of

divine moist. Wrapped in her skin, never

has a sin, her lips turn to fear in

the eyes of evil. Her sacred presence makes earth

heavenly; her beauty blinds the power of vision,

her virtuous is an envious, making instinct

jealousy take over. She walks in beauty.

-

          About

"She Walks in Beauty" is about how beauty is not always innocent. It may seem so at first glance, but go a little deeper and it becomes much more twisted in appearance.

          Theme

Like the last poem, the theme of the poem is unclear. However, "Beauty is deadly" would be my interpretation. The woman goes around wooing men, but then their jelousy takes over and blinds them.

          Structure

This poem is a freeverse, consisting of three stanzas of quatrains. There is no rhyme patter, or any kind of rhyme for that matter, at all.

          Poetic Devices

The most notable poetic device used in this poem is allusion. All of them are biblical allusions found in the following: line 4, line 7, line 8, and line 9. From these, one could guess that the woman in the poem could be a demon or something along those lines. It also makes use of enjambment in line 8 and 9, as well as most of the other lines.

Poem analysis 2: Ode to the West Wind

Ode to the West Wind 

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1795-1825)

First Movement

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,

Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead

Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing.

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,

Pestilence-striken multitudes: O thou,

Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,

Each like a corpse within its grave, until

Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill

(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)

With living hues and odours plain and hill:

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;

Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear!

-

        About

This poem is mostly straightforward, speaking of how the wind blows and causes havoc in it's wake.

        Theme

There insn't much of a theme for a descriptive poem like this. If there were it would be along the lines of: "Death comes in the wind" as the poem describes clearly the darkness that the wind brings.

        Structure

This sonnet follows the Terza Rima, a style created by the poet Dante and is composed of four stanzas of three lines, then one stanza of two. Teza means three, and Rima is rhyme. So, it follows exactly what is says on the tin. The rhyme scheme goes aba cdc efe ghg ii , as if alternating. 

        Poetic Devices 

This sonnet is chock full of poetic devices. For example; the first line, "O wild west wind" is alliteration. It also uses Personification throughout the poem, describing the winds as if it were a person who was bringing with her darkness and death. There is also imagery, like in line four, that helps bring a picture of what would be a otherwise colourless picture. The final line has two (or just one, depending on your opinion) examples of assonance: Destroyer and Preserver as well as hear and hear. Finally, this poem rhymes: aba cdc efe ghg ii as previously stated.

Poem analysis 1: Ballad of the Cool Fountain

Ballad of the Cool Fountain 

Anonymous Spanish poetess (15th century)

Fountain, coolest fountain,

Cool fountain of love,

Where all the sweet birds come

For comforting–but one,

A widow turtledove,

Sadly sorrowing.

At once the nightingale,

That wicked bird, came by,

And spoke these honied words:

"My lady, if you will,

I shall be your slave."

"You are my enemy:

Begone, you are not true!

Green boughs no longer rest me,

Nor any budding grove.

Clear springs, where there are such,

Turn muddy at my touch.

I want no spouse to love

Nor any children either.

I forego that pleasure

And their comfort too.

No, leave me; you are false

And wicked–vile, untrue!

I’ll never be your mistress!

I’ll never marry you!"

-

              About

    The "Ballad of the cool fountain" is almost a metaphor in itself, comparing love to a fountain's water. What was once pure and clean became murky to match the false love of the man and the lady's unwilling heart. 

However, it is also unsure whether the man was a fraud, or just the woman's denial that is speaking.

              Theme

This poem's theme is how love seems pure and peaceful at until it comes time to marry, especially if it is someone you don't want.

However, as this poem is from the fifteenth century, the theme is likely much different considering the traditions of marriage at the time. It is probably more rational to think that this woman is being forced into a money based marriage that she does not want.

              Structure

It was stated in the page where this ballad was found that it was a variant of a classic ballad that the commoners of the time wrote. This causes it to be much easier to write but simultaneously turns it into more of a freeverse in terms of structure.

             Poetic devices

As stated earlier, the poem is basically a metaphor in it self, comparing love to the water in a fountain. Otherwise, this poem also uses a couple of birds as symbols. The Nightingale (line 7) represents her husband, who uses falsely sweet words to try and woo her. The turtledove (line 5), on the other hand, represents her loneliness and want for somebody she could truly love. These birds are also examples of personification, because birds cant talk (in the conventional sense, at least).