Grey's Poetry Pages

This is a poet recommended by my mummy. This poem goes nicely with the previous poem. It, too is about love. If you read it by the sentence instead of by the line on your first read through, it will help with the understanding. Read it now!

http://www.bartleby.com/101/685.html

The first two lines (the first sentence) are a passionate plea to the listener. The poet says that any love she has coming to her should be for love's sake alone. In the second through sixth lines, one long sentence points out several reasons that one should NOT love her. For her smile, or how she looks, or that her thinking matches his on some points which makes life pleasurable for a while--all of these are not reasons to love her.

Lines 7-9 tell her reasons for not wanting to be loved for those things. She says that those things are all things that are subject to change. If someone loves her for those things and then they change, then it seems that the love they feel would change also. These things are so tenuous that basing love on them seems risky to the poet.

The rest of line 9 through line 12 are my favorites. She says that she doesn't want to be loved out of pity. All too often, people mistake pity and wanting to make someone feel better for tender feeling or love. She says that that's the riskiest reason of all, since the love given to the poor, pitiful person would make them feel better and stop being so pitiful. Then, the pity would dry up and so, too, would the love.

The last two lines state the whole purpose of the sonnet. She says that the only good reason to love her is for love's sake only. I enjoy the whole poem much more than the previous poem, since I don't agree with Shakespeare's intimation that love is a steadfast, unchanging thing. This poem is more realistic, I think and admits that love will change as the people feeling it change. I really, really wish that I could understand the whole for love's sake thing. It's the only part of the poem that doesn't speak to me. I've heard the old saying that "someone isn't in love, he's in love with being in love," and that's what she seems to be saying. Love me because you love being in love. That seems precarious to me. If someone is loving just for the sake of loving, it seems that anyone could satisfy their need for an object. I would love to hear your opinions of those last two lines.

Current Location: couch
Current Mood: guilty
Current Music: every day by carly commando

This sonnet is a love poem, so imagine my surprise when it made me sit up and take notice. It's not even a dark, angsty love poem, but still I like it! Here it is in all its glory.

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-116-let-me-not-to-the-marriage-of-true-mi/

The "marriage of true minds" is a metaphor for love. Old Will says that he doesn't want to do anything to impede true love where he finds it. In lines 2-4, the love is said to not change even though circumstances or the lovers themselves might change. Love doesn't alter or bend. He says it is a fixed mark, that doesn't move, like the north star guides the ships (wondering bark.) Love looks on the tempests of life and is yet unshaken and so on. All of this just emphasizes loves unchangingness and steadfastness.

Another way love triumphs over change is by being immune to Time. Love doesn't change while the mortal flesh encasing it does. Love stands fast even though the bodies wither and die. The last two lines give Shakespeare an edge over anyone who wants to argue with his assertions. He says that of course this is all true, and if it's not, then no one has ever really truly loved yet! he he he. What a way to head off arguments.

I, of course, disagree with him. Love can't be such a fixed unmoving thing. Love is a feeling that one person has for another. As either one of those people change, the love felt has to change, too. If it doesn't, they will find themselves in love with an idea, a model of a person who doesn't exist anymore. I find Shakespeare's vision of love immature and overly simplified, but it is a beautiful sentiment. There is something about believing in the unchanging and constant love of someone for you that everyone wants. No one wants to admit that they can fall in and out of love as people change. Weddings wouldn't be nearly as fun if the bride and groom didn't have immature notions to cling to! I think the best you can do is hope that you and your love change in the same way so that your love, though changed, remains with you.

Current Location: nest on my couch
Current Mood: sick
Current Music: pride and prejudice on TV

This is a super short poem from the book Holes by Louis Sachar. The poem is about wishes and being unhappy with your lot in life. Read it:

"If only, if only," the woodpecker sighs,
The bark of the tree was as soft as the skies.
The wolf sits below, hungry and lonely.
He cries to the moon,"If only, if only."

The two characters in the poem are both longing for something that they don't have. The reader is made to feel bad for the poor woodpecker who has to stand on rough, hard bark rather than a cushioned branch. Then immediately, we are given another character to feel pity for who is in a much worse situation. The wolf isn't longing for creature comforts (he he he, creature comforts...) He is longing for the necessities of life.

I love how this poem illustrates that we are all longing for something. Very few people are like Maesia from the last poem and accept their life for what it is and are happy with it. Everyone has an inner "if only" that they feel would make their life perfect. If only I had more money... If only I had more time... If only I had fewer papers to grade... Most people find that if their "if only's" are suddenly given to them, they rarely make the person's life better for long. We are creatures of neediness.

Current Location: bed
Current Mood: restless
Current Music: fan blowing

This poem is named literally. You can imagine that you are simply overhearing a housewife at the laundry line singing this song to herself. It is short and sweet with a lovely message. Read it here:


http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/greene01.html



In the first stanza, Maesia sings about how peaceful minds are what really make a person rich in life. I love the first line. 'Savor' means to taste of something, so a mind that taste's of contentment is a sweet one. But savor also means to take pleasure in something, so it could also mean that a mind who dwells on the good and takes pleasure in the contentment that it gets is a sweet one. This dual message really covers everything. Minds that are naturally content are sweet, but minds who may not always be content can also be sweet if the contentment allotted is enjoyed to the fullest.

"nights in careless slumber" This part is one I agree with. I spend some nights tossing and turning and worrying about what I'm going to do the next day, but when I feel prepared and my mind is quiet, I sleep very carelessly indeed.

"The poor estate scorns Fortune's angry frown.
Such sweet content, such minds, such sleep, such bliss,
Beggars enjoy, when princes oft do miss."

I think this part is a bit of an over simplification. "Fortune's angry frown" implies that all rich people are unhappy while beggars are relegated to lives of easy sleep and bliss. I can name any number of exceptions to this rule. This sounds like a song meant to make poor people feel better about their lot in life. Maybe a sneaky rich person started this theory to keep his servants in line. What a dastardly thing to do. he he. I think that it is the first line that is true. It matters not a whit how much money one has. The mind that can savor its contentedness is the happy one.

The second stanza is more of the same. Now metaphorical houses represent the happy people. An ugly, unkempt house can harbor a lovely, comfortable inside and such. Country life, the music of the country, obscure lives--the simple, rustic life is mentioned again and again. This poem has the common, age-old message that the simple country life is the one that brings happiness. That's a common thought. "If only I lived back when life was simple and families ate together and we rode horses everywhere..." Many have longed for a 'simpler life', but I doubt a "content, simple, country man" from the 1800's would be much impressed with our longings.

The last line is the real, true message. This is the one you could quote to relate the entire point of the poem. A quiet mind is everything. In the end, you are going to be happy or not based on what you think. If you possess that happy talent to think of the positive and savor your good times, you will be richer than the richest! If not, no amount of money will save you.

Current Location: my blue chair
Current Mood: resolved
Current Music: dogs barking in the distance

This poem is a long-time favorite of mine, but the timing is not coincidental. My snake went for walkies by herself somewhere in the house this weekend. She is now safely accounted for, but it was an interesting search! This poem about snakes is a great representation of the feelings and emotions that a person like me gets around snakes. Here. Read it and then we'll discuss it!

http://www.readprint.com/work-487/Emily-Dickinson

The poem is easy to follow. There are a few phrases that might give one pause, but overall, it's easy. I like the first stanza where a snake is described as a "narrow fellow." It is surprising in its amiability toward the snake. A fellow is someone who is an equal or a comrade. An animal doesn't often get described as a fellow to a human being, much less the reviled snake. She opens with this description and that sets the tone for the poem. She is not a snake-hater then. She notes that seeing a snake is always a sudden thing. I agree!

The second stanza describes a snake moving through grass. I like how the grass is shown as dividing. It always makes me wonder how tall the grass is. If it is very tall grass, it would have to be a pretty big snake to divide it. The third and fourth stanzas describe the usual haunts of a snake and tales of snake-meetings from her childhood. The imagery in the fourth stanza is my favorite part of the poem. The snake "unbraids" and "wrinkles." When a snake is in a pretzel-like knot and suddenly decides to move, it does look quite a bit like unbraiding. Also, anyone who has ever tried to catch a small, fast-moving snake has seen one wrinkle and disappear. I just love those two words applied to snake motion.

The last two stanzas reiterate the poet's position regarding the lowly snake. She mentions a certain "cordiality" toward "nature's people," but allows that she still has a certain scared thrill upon meeting one. The descriptions of her physical responses to snakes are fantastic. She has a "tighter breathing" like she's lost her breath momentarily and feels "zero to the bone," as in chills.

I like this poems practical description of an encounter with a snake. I like snakes and am not generally afraid of them, but meeting one unexpectedly, whether poisonous or not, is a scary prospect. I think that there is something to those genetic memories that biologists talk about since so many people are afraid of snakes even if they've never even seen one.

I know that Miss Dickinson's and my view of snakes doesn't fit with the majority. My sister, who I discussed this poem with many years ago, said that her favorite part of the poem was the second stanza. When asked why, she replied that the grass was parting at the speaker's feet, then further away. That implies that the snake is LEAVING! he he he

Current Location: my blue chair
Current Mood: gloomy
Current Music: A choral rendition of the last poem I posted