The Apparation

"I rather thou shouldst painfully repent, Than by my threatenings rest still innocent." - John Donne

I don't have any idea if I know what this poem is actually saying, but the questions in the book helped a little. I'm going to do my best; I may be wrong, but I'll find that out later. The speaker seems to be imagining if he were to die. He would leave the earth and his lover would be alone. I think he wishes that if this were to happen she would mourn his death and not move on. He wishes that if he came back he would not see her in another man's arms. I think this is pretty selfish of the speaker. He basically wants her to live her life as if he were alive, but never get to see him. That's unfair to her. But it's a possibility he suspects that she is cheating on him, which is what brings about this wish to be a ghost in the first place. If that's the case, then he wants her to just confess and ask for forgiveness instead of him going through trouble to prove her unfaithfulness. 

Hazel Tells LaVerne

"well I screams ya little green pervert an i hitsm with my mop an has ta flush the toilet down three times" - Katharyn Howd Machan

I think this picture pretty much sums up the poem. Up until Princess Tiana actually gave in a kissed the frog, this poem was spot on with The Princess and the Frog! Hazel hits the frog with a mop; Tiana hits the frog with a book. They're very similar. I honestly thought she was going to kiss the frog and something miraculous and royal was going to happen. It was such a letdown to keep reading to find out she wasn't going to be a princess. I guess I watch too many Disney movies. I feel like I can't analyze this poem though. It seems just like a normal story that one lady is telling to another while they get their hair done at the salon. Maybe the ending can be analyzed? She seems to reconsider the whole crazy idea when she says "me a princess". Maybe she looked back and wished she would have at least tried. Who knows, maybe Hazel could've been the next Princess Tiana.

My Mistress' Eyes - Satire

"And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she belied with false compare."

The first time I read the poem I was kind of offended on behalf of whoever Shakespeare was speaking to. I then realized it was mocking the typical lovey-dovey poems we're used to hearing about. I honestly didn't expect this out of Shakespeare, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. He is basically telling the truth while shooting down sappy, romantic similes and metaphors other poets had used. No one can honestly say their lover's eyes are "like the sun", because they are just eyes. Their lover cannot be a goddess, because she is clearly human. All of these are lies that have been told to women in the past as flattery - that works. Shakespeare continues on and makes a great point at the end of the poem. He says that his love is unique and true, but it does not need to be represented by these cliches. Shakespeare hints that women do not need to look like flowers or the sun in order to be beautiful, because that is impossible. He simply wants to let his lover know how he truly feels without having to make up ridiculous comparisons that really make no sense. 

Just in case you didn't want to reread the poem, you can listen to Daniel Radcliffe read it instead!

Dover Beach - Imagery

"Ah, love, let us be true to one another! for the world, which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams, so various, so beautiful, so new, hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain" - Matthew Arnold

The questions in the booked helped me tremendously with this poem. The imagery clearly suggests the speaker is near a beach right around dusk. I can picture the tide rolling in and out and the mist flowing through the air. The aspect of faith that enters the poem around line 21 dominates the last 2 stanzas. The speaker is referencing the problems in the world and how faith seems to not be as important. It was once a top priority, but now it's just faded into the distance. The speaker has no remedy for the world's problems. Nothing could possibly solve everything that's gone wrong. The poem began with such a calm tone, but it soon became somewhat depressing and dark. The mention of "the eternal note of sadness" really just puts a damper on the beautiful beach images that were entering my mind.

Getting Out - simile

"Finally locked into blame, we paced that short hall, heaving words like furniture." - Cleopatra Mathis

This simile is comparing words thrown out in the heat of an argument to furniture being heaved. Just as furniture is heavy and bothersome to move (trust me, my mom is obsessed with rearranging), the words the fighting couple says to each other are sometimes tough to say. I think this couple tries to work things out, but they are just not meant to be. They have "matching eyes and hair" which I believe means that they are far too similar to have a working marriage. I pictured this couple as one that is blissfully in love for the beginning of the relationship, but then it takes a drastic turn where fighting seems constant. The poem starts off talking about getting out of the house during a fight, but it ends with getting out of the relationship. Although their breakup seemed messy and angry, I think the couple tries to regain some semblance of a friendship. The woman speaking still has feelings for the man since she's "startled by men who look like [him]". This poem was very realistic of so many relationships today when they couple is in love until things get tough, then they realize that friendship is much easier.

Mr. Z

"Disclaimed kinship with jazz and spirituals; chose prudent, raceless views of each situation." - M. Carl Holman

The last question about this poem in the book reads "What is Mr. Z's color?". I think Mr. Z is African American. The text supports this in multiple places, beginning with the first line. The speaker references how Mr. Z was taught that his mother's skin was wrong. After learning about the civil rights movement during my entire school career, African American was the first race that popped into my mind. Saying that Mr. Z didn't want associated with "jazz and spirituals" didn't really disconnect him with his heritage in my mind; it simply meant that he wanted to be more than just an African American. He didn't want to be labelled. The reference to "cornbread, yams, and collards" also hinted at the African American culture. The poem's 4th stanza is about Mr. Z's success, but it's not always positive. He defied stereotypes and became "one of the most distinguished members of his race". That ironic statement contrasted everything the poem had said up until the end. Mr. Z didn't want to be defined by his race, but in the end that's exactly what happened.

APO 96225 - Situational Irony

"So after a while, the young man wrote, 'Dear Mom, sure rains here a lot.'" - Larry Rottmann

I literally laughed out loud when I read this poem. Well...actually, I chuckled to myself, because it was silent in class and it would've been awkward if I laughed out loud. I really did enjoy this poem. The situational irony in it was priceless. I'm sure the mother of the soldier in Vietnam did want to know some details, but she couldn't handle the truth. It's not that the son was lying to his mother, he simply left out all the gory details that no one really knew about. I can just imagine the son trying to avoid the topic in his letters, but eventually he gave in. I think his mother was waiting for a letter that gave a few details about the war or the people he was facing, but his comments were unexpected. This relates to how the American public felt about the war. They wanted to know everything that was happening in Vietnam, but when they found out they wished they had never asked.