Most Difficult Poem: The Chimney Sweeper

I found this poem very difficult to understand. The rhyme scheme is very traditional going AABB CCDD EEFF etc. The most I could get out of this poem was that even those faced with impossible adversity can be visited by the "Angel who had a bright key." The first-person narrator in this poem is "sold" away by his father as an infant and he grows up sweeping chimneys with truly no opportunity to seek his own explanation for life or find a religion to believe that would find him a "Heaven." The narrator makes another point towards this with the hair predicament. The white hair of Tom can be seen as the unscathed religious canvas that is painted throughout a person's life. When his father removes this "canvas" before it can be painted and "spoiled" by the worlds "soot," it takes away any chance for them to choose the wrong religion or wrong path in life. His dream finally leads him to conclude that all he has to do is do his job well where he can not be spoiled like his hair would have been by the world's "soot."

Miniver Cheevy

This poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson could be seen as an attack upon the "dreamers" of society vs. the livers. Mr. Cheevy has made the choice to live his life wishing he was part of an age that is no more; one which is glorified through fictitious myths and stories. These stories, in Mr. Cheevy's case, are many of the reasons which are cited for why he should live in these times. So basically, his life is being wasted away drinking alcohol wishing he lived in a time that nobody is sure even existed.

Richard Cory

Edwin Arlington Robinson's poem is a perfect example of the well-known theme that money does not buy happiness. It can also be connected with the theme of society's perfect vs. the individual's perfect. All the townspeople want to be Richard Cory because he is societal perfection epitomized; however, this perfection obtained can only bring sadness as those "perfect" people realize how empty this life is. Those people who are struggling and fighting to survive in society who are viewed as unfortunate can be seen as naive or happy. Naive if they want what Richard Cory had, or happy because they are pursuing authentic lives.

The Unknown Citizen

This poem by W.H. Auden exemplifies a theme that has already been portrayed by two texts so far in class. The first being "A Clean Well-Lighted Place," by Ernest Hemingway, and the second is Leo Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilych." However, as opposed to the direct confrontation with the theme in the other two texts, the poet in this texts fervently supports this man's doing, and his perfect role in society. The poem intends to leave the reader with a little pit in his or her stomach saying that "this perfect life being lived does not sound so perfect now that it is being described in all its glory." In no way does the poem ever directly say it to the reader, but this society dominated life shines negatively in the reader's eyes as the poem provides the outside view of a societally perfect life with the hope that the reader will abandon his or her attempts to achieve such a life. The rhyme scheme can be seen as an undertone to this theme as it is disorderly and abrupt with only a few rhymes. It gives the reader the feeling that something is "not quite right."

Let me not to the marriage of true minds (Sonnet 116)

This sonnet is Shakespeare's definition of love. Loves definition, according to Shakespeare, contains such a love that is everlasting, untempered, unyielding, and true. Love must be shared between two people who admit their problems openly and these "impediments" must be accepted by both parties and whether the traits are virtuous or not, they must not hurt the love shared. The Shakespearean-form sonnet is a heartfelt and romantic expression of love with the credibility of Shakespeare's writing thrown on the table to defend its description. He knows how good he is and uses his reputation to defend his point.

The Flea

John Donne's poem takes a intellectual approach towards the sanctity of maidenhood. The poem can be visualized as a man and a woman sitting in a room in which a flea bites first the man, then the woman, and just as she moves to kill it, the poet speaks. It can be seen as a poem of seduction, an attack at religious hypocrisy or both. The man's reasoning is that the blood shared inside of the flea has no effect on the woman's innocence, so why should they hold back from anything else. By the imagery of blood being shared, they have already become "more than married." Her attempts to kill the flea are explained as an even worse sin because she would be taking three lives so she might as well submit to him if she is going to commit such a mortal sin anyway. The rhyme scheme groups ideas into two rhyming couplets and one triplet for each of the three stanzas.

Respice Finem

Respice Finem means "Look to the End." Ivan had this saying engraved on a pendant that he wore along with the other "fashionable" apparel he bought after getting a law job. The irony in this is that Ivan never looked toward the end and realizes that only when faced with death. He was caught up in the selfish pursuance of his career and any other superficial, worldly pleasures available. He neglects the fact that he will one day die and therefore lives a shallow life with little care for anybody but himself. He never suspected his health would someday fail and he would need people who cared about him to be there for him.