My idea about poetry has changed drastically after I read the readings in week 11. It has given me the idea on how to observe and evaluate the meaning of the hidden text of the poems. Poetry has also shown me ideas and structure on how a poem is created by using repetition, sound, rhythm, and imagery. It has given me the idea of how poetry that expresses emotions can help us to process our experiences, and how to describe beauty objects or things in a fashionable way. I love how the poem ” My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun” by William Shakespeare clearly describes how beautiful a woman is by only using words and strong metaphors. For example in the poem William Shakespeare describes a woman he calls his mistress by saying “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”; “Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;”in the poem “. He is saying in other words how beautiful the mistress’s eyes are and how her lips have a bright beautiful red color. It is just magnificent how poetry is put together to give the reader a creative meaning just by using words.
Daily Archives: November 3, 2022
What I found interesting was the video explaining the differences between Italian sonnets and Shakespearean sonnets. Both are made up of 14 lines, however the way they are sectioned is very different. Italian sonnets are made up of two sections, the octave and the sestet. The octave is usually used to express a problem or argument while the sestet is used for the remedy of the issue. However, in Shakespearean sonnets it is split up 3 sections/ 4 lines each, usually on the topics of love or the effects of time on physical beauty and the last 2 lines are reserved for a summary of the message in the poem. I initially felt it might be difficult to understand how to differentiate the two styles but, the couplet is what will give you a quick guess to whether it’s an Italian or English sonnet. That’s because Italian sonnets do not have couplets. For example, in Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare, the entire poem describes a woman and how unconventional she is and how she doesn’t exactly resemble a desirable woman, although still managing to become someone’s mistress. The very end of the poem or the couplet, takes a turn by explaining that despite all those flaws, she is rare and describing her as his love in the same instance. Knowing they have different structures helps me know what to look for so that I may understand poem better.
One way my knowledge and understanding of poetry has been broadened by all of this week’s reading was by figuring out how to actually read a poem. One thing that was hard for me, especially with reading older poems, was knowing where the lines ended. After reading the article “How to Read a Poem”, it advised to read it out loud. Normally this isn’t something that I would do, but I was already having some trouble decoding the Shakespeare poems. When reading it out loud I found that I was naturally making stops. This made it make more sense to me, it allowed me to take more time to read it, and the natural stops made the line stops make sense to me. Also, since I was reading out loud, I was forced to slow down and that made the poem more digestible for me and help with my analysis of what was being said.
Activity 8 “What My Lips Have Kissed and Why and When” is told by a speaker who can’t remember her lovers in the past but only the happy state of mind she once had. This poem has two stanzas but gives a descriptive idea of the speaker, which has opened my mind to poems and how much information can be given in something so short. For example, in “what arms have lain Under my head till morning” the speaker is unsure why she has forgotten her romantic past or if it’s because it wasn’t serious so her mind wasn’t paying attention. Just a simple line has a descriptive meaning behind it which communicates the speaker’s mindset. My favorite line from this poem is “summer sang in me A little while, that in me sings no more” this tells me the speaker’s emotional state, summer standing for her feelings of happiness and fulfillment. Summer “sings no more” for the speaker because she knows she won’t have the feeling of happiness summer would bring her and is deeply sad in conclusion. Reading this poem showed me the unique language used and uses my imagination to interpret what the speaker is meaning, making me think more openly to figure out what she means.
