Dawn

Hayden Myrick

Jernigan

AP Literature

February 28, 2011

“Dawn”

            “Dawn’s” structure as a Petrarchan poem adds to the effect the poem on the reader. The rhyme scheme exhibited through the poem intensifies certain nouns and verbs that require emphasis in order to create the proper emotional and sensory feelings that the author, Ella Higginson, strives to create. For example, in lines 1 and 4, the words “three” and “dreamily” connect to create an airy sense of time and beautiful disorientation. The rhyme they share further relates them; therefore creating tremendously more vivid sensory feeling. The volta as the rooster crows and at the end of the poem when the “crimson shaft of dawn” pierces the dreams of the dreamer. The poem does not possess a definite problem that gets resolved. The dreams of the individual experience an ending, just as they do every morning. The volta cannot be avoided; therefore making it common, nonetheless important.

            This poem invades the deepest feelings of the subconscious; the feelings that a dream creates. The ghost-like images and settings relate to the reader in ways other poems cannot. Dreams make known a humans deepest subconscious secrets and desires. The scene portrayed in the poem relates to all humans. All experience this same kind of dream state when they awake and remain connected with the outside world but still in touch with the world within their mind. 

Childhood

Hayden Myrick

Jernigan

AP Literature

February 23, 2011

“Childhood” by Margaret Walker

            Recounting her days as a young African American, Margaret Walker describes a sensory memory that occurred during her childhood. She lived in Alabama during some of the most intense years of racism. In this Petrarchan sonnet, Walker uses the octave to set up the Volta that occurs in the sestet. The first eight lines seem to disregard any racial tension directed at blacks. One may assume that the miners of Caucasian descent, but she does not directly state this. The continual use of red imagery suggests that race should not matter. Whatever color skin lies beneath the red dust does not matter. All races possess the same capabilities to accomplish the same work and tasks. Walker embraces her heritage indirectly by refraining from wishing she could change her skin color. The red covering suggests that all races possess equal chance of enduring ridicule and discrimination. The only true way to avoid racism completely is to cover one’s skin with a false, unnatural color.

            The Volta appears in the second half of the poem. Here Walker moves from collective racism into the racism endured by blacks. The “low cotton country” symbolizes the cotton fields in which countless African Americans spent their days working for menial wages. The workers live in “rotting shacks” and constantly deal with “famine, terror, flood, and plague…” These conditions described seem all too common in early twentieth century America. The bitterness within the blacks still remains. Hatred still remains. The comparison between the black skin and the red dust creates conflict within the reader. Its seems that the miners were free to walk about town, looking unnatural in red clay, but the blacks continue to endure the discrimination that the “red men” do not experience. 

"The Unknown"

Hayden Myrick

Jernigan

AP Literature

February 7, 2011

“The Unknown”

            This poem examines an event that occurred during Edgar Lee Master’s life. He speaks directly to the reader, addressing them as “aspiring ones.” This introduction into the poem acts as a word of wisdom or a warning to the reader. He describes himself as “reckless and wanton”, two character traits that few envy. As he wonders with a gun, Masters displays his recklessness by shooting a nearby hawk for no reason other than it happened to perch near him. Although he does not show much remorse, he shows no further signs of brutality. All in all, Master’s represents a troubled youth that feels caged in to his surroundings.

            One striking aspect of this poem appears as Masters begins caring for the bird he maliciously shot. The bird does not die, but sustains a broken wing. This broken wing symbolizes the bird’s inability to get away. The entrapment of the bird builds when Masters puts it into a cage. As soon as he puts the bird into the cage, Masters attempts to nurture the bird by feeding it. This completely contradicts his previous action of shooting the bird. At the end of the poem, Masters feels a deep connection to the bird’s situation. He wishes to “offer him the friendship of on whom life wounded and caged.” Master’s feels the same way the bird feels. He feels trapped by the world. The world crippled and caged him so he, in return, crippled and caged a creature that he could control and relate to. 

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"Winter" Poetry Response

Hayden Myrick

Jernigan

AP Literature

January 31, 2011

“Winter” by Czeslaw Milosz

            In this dramatic monologue, Czeslaw Milosz speaks about one of his newly deceased peers. While he addresses Aleksander, he jointly addresses the reader as a whole, calling out to “you” many times throughout. Milosz uses Aleksander’s death as a catalyst to jump-start his mind into pondering death in general, more specifically, his own death. He knows that he nears the end of his life. As he looks back on it, he recognizes his faults yet seems to find peace in the fact that life possesses no greater meaning than the search for meaning. Death exists as an extension of that adventure when life concludes. By contrasting the meaninglessness of life and the adventure found in death, Czeslaw Milosz toys with human emotion and tendencies, leaving the reader wrapped in a mind state of opposing thoughts and feelings.

            Milosz’s monologue’s primary theme of meaninglessness vs. adventure creates an intricately unique poem. He states “…a name lasts but an instant. Not important whether the generations hold us in memory. Great was the chase with the hounds for the unattainable meaning of the world.” It seems that life only exists so it’s meaning can bring adventure and a sense of value to humans. Milosz places death’s venture on the same level as life’s. This juxtaposition between life and death creates turmoil within the reader. Hopelessness develops initially. If death posses just as much meaning as life, why continue toiling through life? Why not end it all now? Upon further analyses, one realizes Milosz does not seem to sink into sorrow due to this interpretation of life and death. He looks to death with excitement. He sees it as a further vessel to continue the journey he started in life. Death should not be feared, but welcomed. It brings about a change and a journey that cannot develop in life.