The Rose That Grew From Concrete (Blog # 19)

I decided I don't want to procrastinate on my poetry blog for this week so I'm writing it today.(:

Anyway, so I know I totally don't seem like the type to listen to Tupac, but I do...and I really like this poem he wrote!

The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac:

Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping it's dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else even cared.

The whole poem is a metaphor, and the metaphor is pretty easy to detect. Basically, this is an autobiographical poem Tupac wrote about himself. He is the rose, and he learned to find his way by himself.

The poem is about Tupac having a hard upbringing by being poor and he got out of poverty himself because he followed his dreams. No one helped him through and against the odds he succeeded by getting out of poverty...at least that is what I took out of it.

The thing I like about this poem is that it is so simple, but very powerful.

Anyone can relate to this poem because it can be about overcoming a hardship and believing in yourself. I think that is why so many people like Tupac's music because the things he sings about are universal, everyone has struggles.

Alone (Blog #18)

This week I chose to write my blog on "Alone" by Edgar Allen Poe. This is the poem Taylor and I are presenting to the class.

This poem is very dark and has a depressing undertone. The poem is straightforward, but the description is very detailed and metaphorical. A think that "Alone" is a glimpse into Poe's actual feelings and it helps you understand how he wrote such dark, but cool stories.

In the first couple of lines, Poe describes how he sees the world differently than others, how he never fit in and basically, was alone. The feeling the poem generated for me was that Poe was so consumed and overtaken with being alone and never fitting in, that he turned to darkness because it was the only thing that accepted him. The last half of the poem made me think this when he described the cloud that formed like a demon.

Desert Places (Blog #17)

I picked Desert Places by Robert Frost as my first poem for the new semester because I really love his work. Despite the depressing mood of the poem I thought that is was enjoyable because of the comparison of nature to emotion is always very beautiful.(:

Frost describes the snow as something desolate and in a way, lonely. I really related to this because...winter is not my season and snow is not my thing; I am a summer person. Anyway, I think Frost's metaphor of his loneliness and the lonely feeling winter brings is brilliant. Even if someones favorite season is winter, they have to admit that it is the most lonely season of all.

I noticed the stanzas were rhymed verses and the rhyme scheme of the poem was:
A
A
B
A
The majority of the rhymes were masculine rhymes
and there was 4 lines in each stanza. There was a total of 4 stanzas.
The tone was reflective and melancholy.

Tone (Blog #16)

I tried my best...so here it goes:

It was after the crash. Bruised, and shaking, but still okay, we walked into the house. It looked a little run-down, dirty, and different, but it had the same nostalgia it had before and always will have. The floors were matted with dirt and the trash had not been taken out.
Chrissy apologized profusely for the mess; but I didn't care. It was the same; the stairs still creaked, the curtains were still the same, and the room by the kitchen still had a sticker on one of it's windows.
The world around it had changed, but the house still stood, in my eyes, the same. This had, and always will be my home.

I thank you god (Poetry Blog #15)

I am pretty sure this is my poem to present to the class, but I could be wrong...it has been awhile since I have checked.

Anyway, this poem was really optimistic and seemed like it had been some sort of epiphany or awakening..."I who have died am alive again today."

I also think the author may have had a dry spell in his faith and was renewed and saw everything with a different perspective. He describes things that humans see everyday and take for granted as extraordinary and profound..."the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky."

The structure of this poem was interesting to me because instead of the poem taking a more organized approach, it seemed like the poet just wrote down his thoughts and feelings without any hesitation, or again, structure. I thought that was cool, it was more sincere that way.

I also noticed how "YOU" was capitalized when the author was talking about God, which was interesting. I thought that it was because that he just felt very passionate and felt that way when he was writing and because the poem was directed towards God and her thankfulness. Or it could be an unknown reason?

By the way the poem was structured, it made me think that he wrote this poem because he wanted to for himself, not because he was trying to appeal to an audience...
This is random, but I just watched this French movie and they had this quote throughout the movie, I think by Karl Kraus, "Why do some people write? Because they are too weak not to write." I think this quote applies to a lot of authors and writers...I don't know...I just like that quote a lot. If that quote is true, I certainly think that this poem applies.

I know that E.E. Cummings is very famous and I remember that he wrote "I Carry Your Heart."

Thankful Poem (Poetry Blog #14)

Here is my poem for Thanksgiving. Sorry it ends kinda weird, I didn't know how to end it any other way without ending it the way I wanted.(:

Lately, the only thing I want
Is something far away
Made to always be there and taunt
Me into a slow decay.

Isn’t it ironic
That I want to enjoy life
When I am stuck in the chronic
Past causing me stress and strife?

Now when this time of year
Comes around the bend,
And when what I need is near,
I need to pull myself out of this dragging trend.

My family is what I need,
Friends around me too.
It is the wise words I need to heed,
To keep me from feeling blue.

What I appreciate
Is that I am here now.

Life needs to be enjoyed with every moment…
Then the future will turn out well
If I accept what is meant
And do not dwell

And I always, always, always
hold on to what is around me,
Which is love

The Secret (Poetry Blog #13)

This poem reminds me of the poem our class read called, "Introduction to Poetry," because it sounded like the author of "The Secret" was describing the concept that "Introduction to Poetry" explained about how people trying to analyze a poem get much more meaning and information out of the poem that the author of the poem had intended.

The author of the poem, Levertov, describes how two girls find something profound in a line of poetry that the author herself did not intend to write about.

I liked how the author was not upset about the girls finding something deeper in her piece than she intended. In fact, she described "the secret" the girls had found in the poetry, as a secret she had forgot about and was not able to find anymore. It is a great description of how poetry can have ambiguous meanings.

The poem is split into nine stanzas, and the stanzas are all four lines each. It is interesting how each of the sentences or lines are split up because it makes the poem choppier than it needs to be. The last line of each sentence has either one or two words.